The soft spritzing from the potion bottle sounded calming to Crystal's ears. A gentle sound of healing that could only be heard by the two of them in this long, dim tunnel. "Not too much," she could practically hear the nurse's soft whispering voice speaking to her, "a little goes a long way."
"Guess helping Blaire out has its perks, huh?" Emizella asked, her eyes staring down at the small paws starting to work the bandages around her wounds.
A soft chuckle blew past Crystal's lips, "It's just the basics, but I'm glad I can be useful for something."
"Hey, you own that healing touch." Emizella said, playfully stern with a small pout on her lips.
Crystal breathed out a short laugh, her mind much too focused to put more into it but she appreciated her humor, nonetheless. Her touch was light and tender, wrapping the bandages just tight enough to protect her hands during her healing but not too tight as to cut the area off from the rest of her body. "Aaand done." she finished tying the knot with a nod of her head, "How does that feel?"
Emizella took her hands back, giving her digits a few testing clenches and feeling out the balling of her fists before grinning at the fennekin. "Awesome! Couldn't have done it better myself."
Crystal nodded her head happily, grateful that her dabbling into first aid care was proving to be this convenient outside of the nurse's medical hut. She placed the potion and the extra bandages back into her bag, settling the flap over the top and slipped it back on. "Well, ready to get moving?" she asked.
Emizella's eyes blinked back their surprised stutter, "You want to keep going?" she asked, her breath sounding light and fainting.
For a moment, Crystal wondered if her words were a bit too much of a shock before her ponderings were substituted with soft, revitalizing giggles. "I mean, we only just started. And you still have shinier things to show me, don't you?"
That was a bluff, of course, but Emizella was happy to take the excuse. "Yeah! Yeah, of course!" she declared, hopping to her feet with an extra burst of pep. "Let's go this way next." she said, pointing towards a forking pathway just up ahead and leading their pair forward.
They traveled deeper and deeper, down branching path after branching path. It wasn't as solitary of an expedition as Crystal would have figured given the warning sign out front. A great number of cave dwellers still found it a suitable place to get things done. A boldore and roggenrola pair collected stones for costume jewelry and accessories. A woobat trying her best to get stronger and asking anyone she met if they would accept her challenge. Emizella agreed, of course. And a golbat searching for something his little brother lost the last time they were playing in the caves.
Through all their small encounters and little trinkets they found here and there, Crystal couldn't put any of them as stressful or as irksome as that drilbur. Granted, there was always a special level of "eccentric" everywhere, but such an outlier in this place seemed kind of… odd.
"You doing okay back there?" Emizella asked, apple in hand and munching away the peckish feeling edging itself in her stomach.
"I was just thinking… back when that drilbur was insisting that those were precious gems,"
Emizella let a soft groan slip past her, "You really shouldn't be giving a guy like that the satisfaction of even an ounce of brainpower."
"I know, but I was wondering… everyone- well, most of everyone, should know that those stones aren't as valuable as rubies or sapphires. But he was so adamant that he knew what he was talking about. It's strange, isn't it? For someone to be so convinced of something despite what everyone else knows for a fact."
"Can't help stupid, sometimes." Emizella shrugged, "Let's just be grateful that he was a special case."
A special case, Crystal repeated, Yeah, just an unlucky special case. At least everyone else has been pleasant.
"Yeah… guess you have a point there." she muttered, snuffing out the soft, nagging feeling knocking at the back of her head. "You think that golbat found what he was looking for by now?"
"Possibly," Emizella said with a short chuckle, "but things have a tendency to move around in this place. You drop something in one chamber and it ends up in a hallway on the other side of the mine."
"Guess he's got his work cut out for him."
Abruptly, Crystal's steps stilled at the mouth of a dark chasm that echoed with life and laughter. Her eyes narrowed in on the sound, a gathering of sorts with five… maybe six separate voices. What could be going on down there?
"Hey Emi," she called the riolu to stop with her, "What's down there?"
"That place?" Emizella hummed, her eyes closing as she mused over the mine's layout she had internalized in her mind. "I'm pretty sure that's a dead end… Oh, wait! Actually, I think this leads to a luminescent chamber. The stones down there have a strong glow to them that- You know what, it might just be better to show you. C'mon!"
"You sure that's alright?" Crystal asked, her eyes following Emizella's steadily darkening figure, "It sounds like there's some kind of party going on down there."
"Even better!"
Crystal danced on her toes, turning with frantic hesitation and debating whether she should proceed on or insist they go some other way. But every second she wasted was another step further Emizella took. Running out of time. No time. No time!
Blindly, she ran forward into the shrouding black of the chasm's maw. "Wait for me!" she cried, running past where the lanterns' light could reach until she bumped into something hard, solid and familiar. "…sorry."
"No harm done." Emizella's voice spoke through the inky black air, giving Crystal something to fix herself against as she clung to her side.
They walked close together, or rather Crystal refused to give Emizella even an inch of space. She had to cling close, it was a matter of necessity. If she let her have that inch, if she allowed even a sliver of space, then she felt like the darkness would gobble her up. A bit childish, possibly, but not an impossibility.
At least Emizella wouldn't say anything if she thought it an improbable fear. She just continued to walk on, guiding her through the tunnel with a gentle hand resting on her head to satisfy her need for the unbreaking proximity.
The black monotone began to break just up ahead, a soft glow radiating at the tunnel's edge. "You can see it now, right?" Emizella whispered, the outline of her figure pointing forward and slowly starting to regain shape.
She could see something. And the voices were getting clearer the closer they got. There was definitely a little get-together going on, and they were quite the lively bunch. Through their thunderous laughter, she could make out bits and pieces of what they were saying.
"… believe…bought it…"
"…asshole."
"Probably…like a jackass…"
Now why did they sound so familiar? Her legs carried her forward, her body inching closer to that beckoning light. More and more until she could fully appreciate the powerful, luminescent glow of the jutting stones piercing through the cave walls, drawn into its alluring trap where five crouching silhouettes occupied the glowing space.
Zangooses.
"Huh? Who let you guys in?" Their laughter stopped, their conversation redirected and all attention was focused in on the two of them. "Dude! you were supposed to be watching the door!"
"Watching what? It's pitch-black out there!"
"Whatever, just get rid of them,"
"It's fine!" Emizella spoke up quickly, wrapping an around Crystal's stomach and lifting her up like a sack of rice, "We'll just get rid of ourselves. Sorry to bother you."
She attempted to leave with her, turning on her toes and taking one step back into the black. If only she had been a second faster, even a millisecond on point, then she wouldn't be feeling the hand pressing down on her head nor would she be seeing the long, sharp claws dangling right in front of her eyes.
"Hang on… Axel, don't you think these two look a bit familiar?" he asked, turning Emizella's head and forcing her to eye the gang's leader.
"Hm?" he raised a curious brow, standing up from his crouched position and stalking closer to them. "Oh yeah… the little fennekin and her bratty friend." he said in a sing-song tone, happy for all the wrong reasons. "First you ram into me and now you're crashing my parties? Man, what am I supposed to do with you?"
He reached a hand out to Crystal, the movement feeling painfully slow to her eyes. The memory raced through her head, bringing with it panic and petrifying fear.
"Don't touch her!" Emizella shouted, ducking and shoving their long claws out of her face, her body turning to shield away the trembling body still clasped tightly in her arms.
"Oh? You wanna go first then, is that it? Fine, let's see if we can't break that heroic spirit of yours." He nodded his head towards the others, a menacing smirk playing on his lips with all the devious intent he could cook up in his eyes.
Emizella's grip tightened, "Listen, you'll have to make a run for it. I'll hold them off here." she whispered.
Crystal's ear flickered, a chill filling their veins from the tip and down into her head. She couldn't mean that, could she? But she did. The way her eyes glowed in the dim light, scowling and gritting and bracing her nerves for the consequences her actions were bound to carry, she meant it with every fiber of her being.
"Now! Run, Crystal!" she shouted, tossing the small body back into the dark tunnel.
"Don't let her get away!"
Crystal could hear them scrambling behind her, pained grunts and thudding blows. Bodies hitting stones and claws slashing mercilessly through the air. And Emizella's voice imploring her to run.
She ran. With stinging eyes and a loud ringing in her head, she ran forward through the pitch-black.
Coward, she called herself, swallowing back the lump clogging her throat. Am I really so weak? Am I so powerless that all I can do is run away?
She panted harder, suffocating in the dark alone. She felt her legs slow to a stop, her sobs tearing away at her chest and ripping apart her wretched body. An agonizing pain filled her head, pumping itself through her body and consuming her heart with an unbearable ache.
She couldn't do it. As she turned on her heels and sprinted through the darkness, she knew she couldn't make it to the end without Emizella.
Crystal raced back to the glow, back to the riolu's staggering figure. She could see one of the zangooses' silhouette move in to finish her off, her heart skyrocketing into her ears. Was she going to make it? No, it was too far for her legs to close the distance on their own. She needed something with reach, something that could distract them long enough for her to get there.
She pursed her lips, building up the blazing heat in her chest before letting the flickering embers fly. They weren't hot enough to fly far, but they were bright enough to gain his attention for just a second.
"What the… holy shit, she actually came back." Axel whistled, sounding almost impressed behind his sarcastic veil.
Crystal jumped in front of Emizella's body, her teeth clenching and a growl rolling in her throat.
"Aw, that's cute. You think you're a threat." he chuckled, cueing his boys to laugh with him.
"Crystal… you were supposed to get out of here…" Emizella muttered, her body already battered and cut. Nevermind the small scratches on her palms, a zangooses' claws were no joke. And a gang of them against one riolu… yeah, there was definitely going to be blood.
Crystal gritted her teeth at the sight, trying to still the quivering in her limbs but finding it more and more useless the harder she tried. She wanted to cry. No, she was definitely crying, but she couldn't move from Emizella's side, her fur standing on edge as she grabbed onto whatever shred of bravery she had in her tiny body.
"Ooh, scary." Axel mocked, "C'mon then. Come at me."
"Crystal, please, just run." Emizella begged, her voice breaking in her distress.
"Emi!" Crystal barked, "If I could run… don't you think I would? I'm so scared right now it feels like my legs are about to give out right under me… I should run, right? But I can't. My body won't allow me to run away… Not without you."
She looked to Emizella's eyes, watching them glitter and shine with her unshed tears. A look of fear and despair. So even she can make that kind of face.
"It's okay," Crystal whispered, her voice dipping into silence in her soft tone, "what are travel buddies for, right?"
She tried her best to smile, feeling the edges of her lips turn up but their line trembling and shaking uncontrollably. She couldn't say how much she believed in her own words, but she had to make them a reality. It'll be okay. They'll be okay.
"Enough with the sap! Let's see what you're made of!" Axel's voice echoed, his claws raising up to slash at her body.
She let the fire build in her chest again, letting out her flurry of scattering flames at his body. He braced for their scorching touch, letting them land on his arms without paying them mind.
"You think that's going to work a second time?!" he shouted, claws slicing through the air and making contact with the side of Crystal's face.
Her body was sent flying like a ragdoll, hitting the cave wall and falling limp to the ground.
"Crystal!" she heard Emizella crying through her haze, a short scuffle knocking the air out of her body while claws scraped against the ground.
"Ha! I knew she was nothing but a little weakling." Axel laughed, the sound pounding on her head worst than the leaky feeling trickling down her cheek. "Too bad she won't get to watch us rip her friend apart."
"Bastards…" Emizella coughed, breathless growls rolling from her pinned body.
"Don't worry, you'll be joining her in a second."
Crystal gritted her teeth, her bones screaming at her to stay still, to stay down. Fighting felt so painful, but to give up now, to fall here, was even more agonizing. "No…" she muttered, pulling her legs under her body and pushing herself up. "I'm not done yet…"
Axel turned to look at her, his smirk widening with mirth and amusement. He beckoned her to try again, claws raised to show how worthless her attempts were. She could see it in his eyes, how he was loving the chance to put her down again and again. It was playing into his game to try again, and yet, she built up that heat, tasted the flames burning touch at the back of her tongue and spat it towards the approaching zangoose.
He flicked off her burning embers, laughing at the pathetic display. It was pathetic, Crystal could agree with that much. Hotter, she continued to let them out, even hotter, even brighter.
She closed her mouth again, taking in a deep breath and working the inferno in her stomach harder than she ever thought this body of hers could manage. An intense spice broke out over her tongue, soft flickers slipping from her closed lips before she bellowed it all out.
A spiraling flame roared from her mouth, filling the room with her colors as it flew towards the zangoose.
"What?!" he managed just before his body was wrapped in a flaming vortex of her own design, shouting in pain at her fire's searing touch that consumed every inch of his body.
"Boss!" one of his boys called out, attempting to break him out only to burn his hand in the raging inferno.
"What the hell... Since when could that brat use fire spin?" another muttered, voice soft in utter disbelief.
Crystal couldn't stop yet, her body charging towards the two that kept Emizella's body pinned against the stone floor. The air around her ignited, surrounding her body in a heated ball of fire. She launched herself like a flaming cannonball, crashing her body into the zangoose's head and sending him tumbling back.
His partner's jaw dropped, eyes trembling and struggling to decide whether to believe what his vision was telling him or count these witnessed events as his own delusion. Was this tiny fennekin, this quivering little ball of fluff, really turning the tables on his crew?
His hesitant grip lightened the pressure on Emizella's back, giving her just the inch she needed to push him off. Her fist glowed, white and hot, and rocketed towards his jaw. His teeth clattered, connecting in a bone-cracking clench. A hand went to cover his mouth, a muffled screech adding to the panicked symphony filling the tight space.
Crystal checked back, seeing Emizella stand back to her feet. "Emi!" she called her name, leaping to her side and catching her stumbling body.
"I'll be fine… but we gotta get out of here." Emizella said, shaking out the nerves making her legs wiggle like gelatin.
She nodded her head, there was no need to tell her twice. She wasn't sure how fast those shaken legs of hers could carry her, but it was better than leaving her behind by far. Besides, it wasn't like her own body was much better either.
While the gang of zangooses were distracted tending to their sudden surge of casualties, the two hurried their way back through the tunnel. Biting back the aching in her paws and the pulsing headache at the back of her head, Crystal ran through the black pathway. She could vaguely hear her flames dying down behind her, a shout from Axel's voice screaming at the others to follow after them. If they weren't mad at them before, then they were definitely furious now. They were talking personal vendettas for nine generations kind of mad.
"They're getting closer…" Emizella panted, "Crystal, keep going to the end. I have an idea."
"Emi… I swear if you're trying to pull another self-sacrificing stunt…"
"I'm not! Trust me,"
Curse her trust me's, Crystal internally cried, her rational mind melting away to blindly follow her lead. "Fine!" she yielded, pushing her legs harder and feeling Emizella's presence lingering behind.
Her ears focused on the sounds behind her. Scraping claws, a steadying breath, and then an earth-shattering break that made the cave quake under the sudden blow. The tunnel rumbled, small stones breaking off from above one after another before the falling debris grew heavier and louder. Silence followed after just a second.
Crystal made her way back into the lantern filled hall, halting the second she made it under its warm glow. Her eyes turned back, searching through that stilled chasm. She choked down her pants, trying to swallow down her frantic breathing so that she could hear over the internal screaming of her own organs. It was all too loud; she couldn't hear a thing despite how she desperately willed her ears to focus.
"Emi?" she called, her voice breaking while her tail tucked itself close to her legs.
Her ears lowered on her head, hopeless despair washing over her eyes and darkening their sunny glow. After all that… was I still not strong enough? She laid her stomach flat on the ground, her paws folding over her muzzle and hiding her crying eyes.
Her eyes gave up seeing. Her ears gave up listening. They could not see the limping figure making her way over to her sobbing body. Nor could they hear the soft, breathless chuckle that pushed itself from her nose.
"What are you crying for?" she asked, pressing a paw to her head and stroking the space between her ears. Crystal sniffled, her head shooting back and seeing Emizella's smile through her foggy gaze. "We made it out in one piece. Shouldn't you be smiling?"
"Emi… you're…"
"Heh, you think I'd be stupid enough to get buried under my own cave-in?" she asked, "Please, give me some credit."
Even though Crystal knew Emizella was hurt, even though she knew they were both hurt, she couldn't stop herself from pouncing at the riolu's body, taking them both down. She heard a stinging hiss escape from her clenched teeth, but her face was too busy burying her nose into her chest to care. Consider it as punishment, she figured as she continued to cry into her fur.
Emizella accepted it, holding her closer and letting their shivering, aching bodies comfort one another with a warmth that shouted, "They were alive."
~uwu~
"Emi?"
"Yeah?"
"I've been thinking… when you become an adventurer, will you have to fight bad pokemon like that?"
Emizella looked down at her, the glow in her eyes flickering with hesitation. Her lips opened, taking a moment to suck in a breath before cautiously letting her answer flow out into the air.
"Sometimes I'll have to… It's all part of the job, you know?" She tried to wipe away the dimmed tone of her eyes with a smile, but her face felt much too tired to keep up a façade.
Crystal's lips pursed together, keeping up the rhythm of her breaths and counting the beats echoing in her head. "By yourself?" she asked, her voice soft and small.
"If I have to, then I will." she said sternly, her voice steady as if she had rehearsed that one line over and over again.
Crystal's eyes searched the ground, searched the leaves and searched the stones for the resolve to keep talking. To talk this train into its final destination and give the growing aspiration in her heart a voice.
"What if…" she fixed her cracking voice, "What if you didn't have to do it alone? Would it- Would I be a bother…if I wanted to come with you?"
Emizella stopped, "What?"
Crystal stopped herself as well, turning and looking into Emizella's vacant gaze that debated whether her words were real or if she had hit her head too hard back in the mines. "I want to go with you. I want to be an adventurer too and fight by your side. I want to be braver. I want to get stronger. So, the next time you have to fight and the time after that, we'll have each other." She gave Emizella a chance to respond, to criticize her if she was being stupid or yell at her for wanting to put herself in even more danger. But she didn't, only staring at her like she grew a second head. "Or… maybe that's too impossible, huh?" she asked, her gaze shying away. Yeah, I'd just be a lost cause if I tried…
"No!" Emizella exclaimed, her hands clenching into tight fists by her side, "No, it's not impossible at all. I just didn't think… I always thought one day this would all be over. That you'd find your own way and I would have to go mine. But you…you really want to be an adventurer with me?"
Crystal didn't think she could cry anymore today but hearing something so heartbreaking and lonesome was testing her limits. She swallowed back the stinging feeling poking her eyes and wringing her throat. "I mean…I have a lot of catching up to do to if I want to stand by your side, but I'll try my best." she said. The smile on her lips was nervous, maybe even a little scared of the high bar she just set her sights on, but there was no denying that the words leaving them were genuine and true.
"Then, let's work hard together, partner." Emizella held out a hand to her.
Even though the sun had already set and the day was long since done, the smile Emizella showed off to her managed to start a new dawn in Crystal's eyes. Silently, it whispered to her heart that she was making the right decision. That this was where she was meant to be.
"Yeah," she breathed a relieved sigh, raising a paw and resting it in Emizella's.
Another promise made, another vow to keep.