Chapter 6 - Hill of Promises

Drilbur Mines. That was where Pancham had told us to go. Why such a specific location, I didn't know yet.

Right away, the atmosphere of the corridors we were enclosed in were damp and dreary. Here, I could at least be appreciative of the anatomy I'd been given, regardless if I knew who or what was behind it. I could slide through tight spots without much struggle, and there were plenty of them the further in we got. The same could not be said for my companion, however, whose tail and ears became battered and dirtied as they scraped against the wall. I didn't have to look back to tell; Leah would make a discontented sound every time she encountered such an obstacle.

When we reached an end to the monotonous mineshaft, there was no treasure to be found. Waiting for us instead was the entrance to a cave wider than the hallways we'd been walking, which constituted a sigh of relief from the Pokemon behind me.

It was at this point where we began to encounter wild Pokemon: rock and ground types that were perfect subjects for developing my one grass technique. The accuracy of vine whip still wasn't where I wanted it to be, and on occasion I felt like I was just swinging for the sake of swinging (the lackluster lighting didn't help). Still, I could now reliably hit something within range if given the proper angle of engagement. For now, that would have to do.

Leah had a bad time trying to do anything against most of the Pokemon in there. She wasn't useless by any means, but her fire-typing made her susceptible to taking a lot of damage. Fortunately, a couple of bug-types showed their faces, to which I happily obliged to let her ember attack go to work. Other than those few moments, however, she stayed behind me and watched our six.

Except… when she didn't. To my shock, I discovered that at one point she was not following me at all. She hadn't run ahead of me either, nor had she so much as tapped on my shoulder to give me any sort of heads up—absolutely nowhere to be found. I lost a good twenty minutes looking for her and battling wild Pokemon alone in the underground before finally locating her at a dead end. If not for the various stones that provided the dimmest light imaginable, I would have been alone in the pitch darkness without her fire.

When I tried to question her, she said that she "heard something cool and had to check it out."

Fifteen minutes later, she did it again.

Misadventures aside, the expanding exit to the cave's final room eventually presented itself to the two of us. Leah was radiating excitement in anticipation of finding treasure. I, on the other hand, grew more and more on edge with each passing minute, getting the feeling that this wouldn't be as simple as Pancham had made it out to be. It simply didn't add up that he would claim this place was any more challenging than the Foreboding Forest, where the wild Pokemon were just as inept and I had a general type advantage.

It all made sense as soon as we entered in the deepest chamber of the cave. A navy blue Pokemon larger than any of the enemies in the cave stared at me, his red belly contrasting the color of his blue scales and complimenting the glare of death in his yellow eyes.

"I heard you two stomping around in my cave!" he half-roared, half-groaned. "I'm so tired of petty thieves coming to steal my loot!"

Leah's eye's briefly grew wide before she began to laugh. "No, of course not! We actually—"

"Quiet, wretch!" the Gabite snapped, his voice coarse from years of breathing the gases circulating through the dank air of the cavern. He launched a blue pulse of energy from his maw directly at me, the commencing attack catching me off guard. It slammed into my side, and I felt a burning sensation where the attack landed as it forced me tumbling to the ground.

"Hey!" I heard Leah's surprised voice echo through the room. Her laughter immediately turned to fire, all of which was directed straight at the dragon. I hopped up and ignored the sting I felt in my hip, preparing to help her.

Gabite recovered quickly and slashed at Leah, who was momentarily regaining her breath. She barely rolled out of the way, yelping when the attack landed where she'd been inches prior.

As he prepared another strike, I whipped out a vine and curved it towards his arm, going a bit too far and accidentally looping it all the way around several times. Panicking, I pulled back in an attempt to regain my vine, consequently yanking his arm from the air and leading it to miss the vulnerable Fennekin by inches a second time. Gabite's balance was temporarily thrown off, and with a sweep of my other vine across his ankles he was sent crashing to the ground.

"Youuu—pests!"

His enraged growl filled the cave, another dragon rage attack already building up in his jugular, when a laser of energy smashed into his forehead the moment he looked up. His head snapped back with a direct hit, and he ceased movement entirely.

Me and Leah both sat staring at him, gasping for breath.

I shook my head. "Why didn't you… open with that?" I asked in a voice caught somewhere between a laugh and a cough.

Leah continued staring at him, and even as she chuckled at my comment, I could see the hint of concern on her face. "I didn't want to hurt him, y'know?" She continued staring at the Gabite for a moment longer, finally resolving to give him the one oran berry we'd picked up on the way to the mines. "Oh well. Hopefully he'll understand."

Regardless of our victory, we weren't thieves. I knew I had overheard Hippopotas say that Leah swiped something of his the day before, but made her intentions clear as Gabite woke up and stared at us in fear.

"Listen," she tried reasoning with him. "We aren't here to steal anything, m'kay? If it matters that much to you."

"Ugh…" Gabite mumbled, and proceeded to shakily stand himself up. It didn't seem like he was all there just yet, and I briefly wondered if the way his head snapped back had brought about a concussion.

"Is that so? …Fine. Because you beat me, and because you kids promise you aren't thieves, I'll show you my collection. But you shall not spread the word, understand?"

We nodded in unison. He gestured for us to follow him to the back of the chamber. What we found was not a few red gems, but rather a plethora of riches and treasures piled into a single storage room. This Gabite was insanely rich. Why didn't he store his things in a bank or something? Didn't the Pokemon world have an economy?

We bid the dragon farewell (after a few minutes of gawking at his collection) to allow him to tend to his aching skull. We reached the entrance to the mine after a walk back through the mineshaft, and were delighted to arrive back above ground. The Drilbur at the entrance paid us no mind as we walked by them a second time, heading back to Serene Village.

"Sssoooo…" Leah started, breaking the evening silence. "That was a pretty cool combo attack we did back there."

I rubbed the back of my neck. "Yeah, I guess. Really you were the one who did the attacking, I just tied him up." I looked at her with a hint of respect in my eyes. "You really hit him hard with that attack. How do you even know a psychic move if you're not a psychic-type?"

She shrugged. "I've known it from birth. The teachers at school mentioned moves like that once… But it wouldn't have mattered if you hadn't done that super-cool lasso thing with your vines," she added with a look of gratitude. "It would've been my head hurting right now instead of that Gabite's if you didn't step in. You really had my back in there."

I smiled at her. "Don't worry about it. I'd do it again."

"Nah, come on!" she continued, even more giddy with excitement than usual. She was absolutely beaming at me. "I gotta repay you for letting me come on this mission when you could've just cast me aside like Pancham. And saving me in the cave, I owe you for that too."

She sped up a little bit and looked back at me as a gesture to follow. "There's this one spot in the village with the best view in the whole valley!"

Already having a head start, she left me in the dust. I was not far behind, however, and eventually caught up beside her. She was quicker on the open path than I'd given her credit for. Whenever I glanced sideways at her, any hint of exertion she might've been feeling was overlapped by the unyielding smile she wore as she ran. Virtue of my tiny legs and unfamiliar body, I sent a prayer that I wouldn't have to run after her like this too often.

Would I?

We arrived back at the village after a few minutes of running, but Leah didn't stop there as she continued running through the plaza and across the stream. She took a left down the path leading to the forest I had woken up in only a couple days ago, and took another left to walk up the large hill with the giant tree that I had seen upon first arriving at Serene Village.

I followed her up to the top and slowly walked up to take in the view. Before me stretched the entire village, but there was also so much more. An entire valley laid down to be admired, something I hadn't really noticed my first time walking through this back trail with Nuzleaf. Trees—so, so many trees—kissed the tops of mountain ranges rising from seemingly all angles. Everything was coated in a bright orange blanket from the falling sun. Growing shadows from the western mountains were soon to overtake the whole valley, but not quite yet. We'd made it back in time to see this amazing sight. Somehow, that made the whole day feel worth it.

Up closer I focused on Serene Village itself, observing the concluding work and games of adults and young kids, respectively. They would all soon return to their homes and sleep the night away, to repeat the same process the following day. The lake, which I had never really realized was as large as it was until just now, shimmered in the dying sunlight.

Something was burning in my lungs, and I realized I'd forgotten to breathe.

"Check that out…" I whispered.

"Come sit with me," she beckoned as she plopped herself down on the grass, still facing the view.

I obliged, causing her to wag her tail briefly.

"This has been my favorite spot in the whole village ever since I was born," she said. "Sometimes I'll come up here to relax in the shade and think about… well, anything running through my mind. It's a pretty popular spot, but I've always personally felt like this hill was special. T-to me, at least." She tilted her head back and forth as though juggling an idea in her head. "Like… almost like it understands me."

I wasn't sure what to say. Based upon my first impression of Leah, I never would have guessed she was capable of stopping every now and then and pondering things. She had initially come off as nothing more than a troublemaking bundle of fur and energy. By no means was she in total control of herself. I could not give her that credit, though I got the feeling she didn't care much for it anyway. But irrational and explosive were not fair descriptions of her, which I felt was an opinion that I might very well have been alone in holding.

A pang of sympathy struck me upon that realization.

Her voice snapped me out of these thoughts. "You see those clouds racing across the sky?" she said.

"The clouds?"

"Yeah." She smiled.

I tilted my head. "What about them?"

"They're free to fly wherever the wind takes them. They aren't held back by little bits of negativity or responsibility. They get to travel the world as they please." she sighed. "I… wanna be exactly like those clouds."

She stood up. "It sounds stupid and poetic… stupidly poetic, I know. But I wanna leave this village and see what the world has to offer, if it's the last thing I do." She began to stare off into nothingness, her eyes gleaming. "I wanna join the Expedition Society and become an adventurer! It's my dream. It's always been my dream, but…" she looked down at the grass, frowning.

"Just… what?"

"It's just… whenever I voice this dream to those in the village, they laugh. The adults don't trust me, and my classmates think I'm… well, they think I'm a lot of things. Nobody really believes in me, you know?" She exhaled through her nose. "Sometimes I wonder if they're right—"

"I think you could do it."

She looked up, her pessimistic expression replaced with one of innocent disbelief. "…You really think so? Why?"

"Why not?"

A heavy silence ensued. No, I can't just say that. That's stupid.

I fidgeted with my collar as I continued. "Listen, uh… from what I've observed, you've got a sense of adventure that I've never seen so keen in someone before."

Not that I've met hardly anyone to judge… but I'm not gonna tell her that.

"Don't you think I'm irritating though?" she prodded.

"No," I stated. "No I don't. You're not irritating, you're just…"

"A little crazy?" She smiled and wiggles her eyebrows.

"Yeah, a little bit." I answered, returning the smile.

"Crazy like my dream?"

I hesitated and frowned. "Your dream isn't crazy. I can honestly see it happening." I spread my arms out in front of me as I declared, "You: an explorer."

"Seriously?" she said.

"Serious as a Miltank."

Her laughter filled the evening sky.

"Then… would you help me achieve it?"

I froze. What?

She wanted my help with something like that? We'd known each other for like two days! Hell, I've only been a Pokemon for three.

The more I thought about it though, the more it made sense. She clearly didn't have any friends who she could tell this kind of stuff to. The way she was filled with excitement when she first met me, the way she panicked when she ran into me this morning, the way she pumped her paw in the air when I vouched for her to come with me to complete Pancham's challenge. They spoke for her. Serene Village didn't ever get a whole lot of new kids from what Espurr said, if any at all. She didn't want to screw this up and distance herself from me, I realized. She just wanted friends.

And I probably needed them too.

"Sage?"

I drifted off into thought for a bit too long. She was looking at me expectantly, her head tilted a few degrees to the right.

This was too good to pass up. A mutually beneficial relationship: she wouldn't have to be lonely, and I could have someone besides Nuzleaf that I could trust. Someone to relate to.

"Yeah, I'll help you achieve your dream," I said with a nod. "However I can."

"You will? For real?" she happily exclaimed.

"For real."

She gave me a look of genuine gratitude that gave me a flighty feeling inside.

"…Thank you."