S.R: We now bring you back to the program!

M.R: The hell?

S.R: I was trying to make a "we now bring you back to your regularly

scheduled program" joke but this isn't scheduled or regular.

M.R: You are such a dork. But since I married you that means your my dork. Also to the reviewer with the name "Phoenix" since we can't respond via pm I'll do it here. Hubby's the one that reads the reviews, not me though he decided to show me your reviews. He does most of the stuff on here, because I took my work down to redo it and haven't gotten around to re-posting any of it. Besides why would I want to kill him like you suggested? I need him for… reasons.

S.R: Let's move on to the story before I start teasing you for that statement….

ASH'S POV

Waking up I found myself feeling nice and cozy. As I blinked the sleep from my eyes I recalled that after it got really cold Cynthia and her Pokemon joined Brock and I in our tent. Yawning I went to sit up and stretch only to find I couldn't move. Turning my head I found that the spot next to me where Pikachu normally slept was filled by someone else. That someone had an arm thrown over my stomach with their head on the corner of my chest.

Blushing as I realized that Cynthia was somewhat cuddling against me I turned my head to the opposite side. As I looked away I noticed Pikachu had moved and curled up in a ball with my Growlithe, the two of them laying on top of my sleeping bag over my legs. Apparently hearing my movements Brock who was already awake, opened the tent and said good morning.

Then he noticed that Cynthia had moved in her sleep and how she moved and had a teasing grin on his face. He went to say something, but closed his mouth instead probably deciding not to risk waking her up. Sighing I just laid there and waited for Cynthia to wake up. It was both funny and cute when she finally stirred.

Yawning cutely she opened her eyes before her face went red as she saw our positions. Quickly getting up she stuttered as she tried to tell me it was an accident. Chuckling to myself I recalled the brief exchange we had back on the S.S. Anne when she woke me up instead of Brock.

"I don't mind since it was kinda cute. Besides, I seem to recall you trying to tease me back on the S.S. Anne."

"No you teased me!"

"But you're the one that started it."

Cynthia went to respond to that, her mouth hanging open for a moment as she thought back to that morning. Closing her mouth in defeat she started pouting.

"If it let's me see you being cute like this I'll tease you some more."

I taunted making her face flush again, before she quickly scrambled away leaving me to prepare for the day. Eventually I made it outside the tent and ate breakfast with Brock, who at this point couldn't help but tease me about how I woke up. Once we finished eating I went back to the tent to wake up Pikachu and Growlithe letting them get breakfast as I let the others out of their Pokeballs.

After everyone had eaten we joined the site managers, informing them that we'd heard their announcement about letting trainers come hunt for fossils. One of them I recognized as one of the men that came to help us yesterday when we had to deal with the trio of ridiculously strong Rhydons.

"I figured that would be the case for you two since the young girl you're traveling with already came by. You should be able to find her in one of the two caves over there"

"Huh, so that's where she went. I haven't seen her since shortly after I woke up. Maybe we should check on her.."

"That's a good idea Ash. Why don't you go do that?"

"Brock, please stop with the teasing..."

"I'm not trying to tease you right now. I'm super excited to look for some fossils, and I'm fairly certain I just saw my idol Bruno over there so I'm going to search over there. Maybe I'll run into Bruno and be able to search with him for a bit."

"Oh. Okay then Brock. Even if you don't find him, have fun."

With that we split up and I made my way towards the caves the one site manager pointed out. As I entered the smaller of the two I noticed something weird just barely being able to see the outlines of things one the ground. Noticing the light from outside didn't reach very far into the cave I realized that I'd need some extra light. Calling out Charmeleon I asked him to light up the area. As he did we saw a lot of mining equipment just scattered around on the ground. Wondering why all this stuff was left so close to the entrance I had Pikachu and Charmeleon on alert as we wondered deeper into the cave.

After about an hour we found a gigantic hole in the floor. Pikachu and Charmeleon looked at it with worry, both of them had their ears twitching. Moving closer I kneeled down and peered over the edge. I could just barely make out a few people lying down so I had Charmeleon come a little closer for better lighting. As he did, there was movement from one of the few people I could see that wasn't laying down. The person looked up and was able to spot me.

"Hey kid! The floor gave out under some of us. Those of us that were towards the front heard the screams and came to see. Unfortunately the floor gave out under the rest of us when we came got here. All of our equipment is up there so we're trapped! Most of us are injured too! Can you get help?!"

"Yeah! Hold tight I'll be back with the others soon!"

With that I stood back up and ran out of the cave. Gathering up a large group I lead the way back to the hole and we safely got everyone out.

"Since we were more concerned about making sure everyone was okay we didn't really explore down there."

"Well we've got the equipment here now so let's gather up a small group to send down there."

The one that asked me for help and one of the foremen for the site conversed, both looking happy to possibly make a new discovery. Stepping forward I volunteered to join the people exploring the cavern.

"Are you sure kid?"

"I may be young but my Pokemon and I are very capable."

"Sir, this is one of the kids that sent up a flare while fighting off some of the wild Rhydons our digging upset."

"Normally I'd say that means he shouldn't be offering but if he held off one of the wild Rhydon's he's got some skill."

"I've already earned 5 badges. Plus Professor Oak has given me Trainee Field Researcher Status so I can take up to 9 Pokemon with me, though right now I've only got 7."

"If that's the case they you're more capable than a few of the less experienced miners we've got here. I'll give the green light on this then."

"Thanks."

As we talked a few of the more experienced people from the site decided to join me, and some of the Pokemon Trainers that had quickly gotten to the dig site after the announcement too. Brock was one of them. Sadly I still had yet to find Cynthia and she wasn't one of the people to join me in exploring the giant cave below us. Once we were all ready it was a group of six counting myself and Brock that were allowed to descend into the cavern.

As we looked around we found several tunnels. Not taking a chance we split up into three teams of two each group marking the tunnel we went to search. Brock and I followed our tunnel into a cavern that was even larger than the previous one.

In the grotto we had lowered ourselves into it was still small enough that we could see the entire space. The one Brock and I walked into, was a different story. It was so large and dark that even with our headlamps and a few flashlights we couldn't see the whole thing. Even when we looked up we couldn't see the ceiling. Splitting up Brock and I decided to stay within eyesight of each other as we explored the room more. We heard a flapping of wings for a moment but before we could figure out where we heard them from I was picked up by my shoulders and carried away.

I noticed Pikachu firing off a Thunderbolt to hit whatever was carrying me, despite crying out in pain and almost falling back down whatever it was carrying me continued on, leaving Pikachu behind pretty rapidly. Looking up at the weird Pokemon that was carrying me I had to drop my jaw. I knew it was possible for scientists to revive fossil Pokemon but from the rugged appearance of the one carrying me, there was no way that was the case. The flying beast carrying me was an Aerodactyl. I knew that because I had seen a battle between Lance and Agatha of the Elite Four in which Lance had Aerodactyl as one of his selected battlers.

I knew it was a natural born wild Aerodactyl though because of how worn out and tired it looked. As if it had gone weeks without eating. Which now that I thought about it was probably true. Either the excavation here at Grampa Canyon woke it up, or drove it's prey away leaving it unable to eat. Considering Aerodactyl has also been found in small numbers in other regions I know it's not fully extinct just extremely rare and ancient, So I could see them having a hidden colony here that was never discovered making me lean more towards the latter.

But what concerned me was the fact that Aerodactyl hunt in pairs, yet there was not a second Aerodactyl. Deciding to find out what was going on, I gently reached up and placed a hand on one of the clawed feet carrying me. Releasing my aura in a calming way I made a bond with the Aerodactyl.

'You have ancient abilities?!'

'You already know about aura?'

'Aura is old. Elders told about it. Aura lets beings understand each other.'

'Exactly! Anyway I made this link so I could ask what was going on. Aerodactyl's hunt in pairs don't you?'

'Shaking and loud noises drove prey away. Haven't eaten in long time. Partner has already stopped moving.'

'I'm sorry to hear that. But I can get food for you. You don't have to eat me.'

'Not eating you. don't have time. Taking you to nest. Please care for baby.'

'You want me to raise your baby?! Are you sure?'

'I too weak, I die soon. Rather help baby survive.'

Nodding my head at the Aerodactyl's words I went silent and I let the flying Pokemon carry me to it's nest. I noticed it was getting slower, but I could tell it would push itself as far as it needed to in order to get me to it's nest. After a while I closed my eyes and took a nap, not knowing how long we'd be moving. Eventually I felt Aerodactyl place my feet on the ground and woke up. After setting me down the Aerodactyl slowly struggled to move stopping beside an egg in the center of the nest. It placed it's snout on the egg and closed it's eyes probably planning to cuddle the egg one last time.

Letting the Aerodactyl have a moment I waited until I couldn't see the rise and fall of it's chest anymore before taking my bag off my shoulders. Rearranging everything inside of it I placed the egg in my bag. Reaching to my belt I let out Gengar and Golbat. I told the two the situation and asked them to see if they could get me down from the nest safely. They nodded their heads and left me alone for a few moments as they scouted the area out. As they did I paid my respects for the Aerodactyl promising that I would take care of the egg in my possession.

About ten minutes passed before they returned. Gengar took my bag, gently carrying it to the cavern floor as Golbat slowly lowered me to the ground. Thanking the two for their help I called out Charmeleon to give me a bit of light to see with since my flashlight died once we had safely gotten down from the nest.. Taking my bag back from Gengar I asked the trio to stay alert as we tried to find our way out of the cave.

We walked for hours before anything interesting happened. Off in the distance we could hear battling. Curious about what we heard I had the group move forward. When we got close enough I was flabbergasted at what I saw. Cynthia was standing behind her Lucario and another Pokemon I didn't recognize. With her was another trainer, who had a Bellsprout standing in front of her. The three Pokemon were battling a large group of weird looking Pokemon that had blades for arms. They had brown bodies and small ridges along their spines. Despite how skinny they looked, the fact that Cynthia's was using two Pokemon instead of one led me to believe they were pretty strong, or at least there were enough of them that Lucario couldn't handle them all.

Deciding to join in I told Gengar to surprise them with a Dark Pulse while Golbat swooped in from above with Wing Attack. The two moved ahead as I kept Charmeleon with me in case the weird Pokemon tried to attack me while I moved to Cynthia's side.

"I'm glad I found someone. I was about to go crazy."

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WORRIED I WAS WHEN BROCK TOLD US THAT YOU GOT CARRIED OFF WHILE EXPLORING DOWN HERE?!"

"Sorry to worry you, but can the scolding wait until after we've dealt with these things?"

"He's right. We have to deal with this fight first. Then you can blow up on your boyfriend"

The other girl teased, causing Cynthia to blush as she realized she was yelling at me instead of focusing on the battle. Taking a deep breath she looked at the wild Pokemon and nodded.

"They're called Kabutops. This one guy I battled back home in Sinnoh told me they are Rock and Water types. He also said they're weak to ground, fighting, grass, and electric types."

"Yup. they're fairly strong too."

"Good to know. Charmeleon use Dig, Golbat return. You've done great so far but this isn't your battle. Gengar you to."

As I returned them to their Pokeball's I let Squirtle and Conan out. As soon as they were out I told Squirtle to go wild with Mud Slap and had Conan run around the group of Kabutops to use Brick Break from behind.

"Oh yeah, Pikachu is with Brock. The site managers wouldn't let them join the rescue party because right after you were taken they were attacked by a group of Kabutops as well. Pikachu was pretty worn out and Brock actually got hurt before he could get his team out to battle."

"In other words after we deal with this all we have to do is get back to the surface?"

"If you two are finished flirting can we get through this battle and leave?"

Cynthia and I both went red in the face at our companions words, but nodded and turned our attention to the group of Kabutops. Since Conan was the only one with multiple moves that they were weak against I told Charmeleon and Squirtle to keep using Dig and Mud Slap while Conan alternated between Brick Break and Force Palm.

The wild Kabutops were pretty tough though. Strong enough that the experience our Pokemon gained was enough for Squirtle to evolve after my trio of Pokemon downed their fifth Kabutops. Eventually we managed to defeat all the Kabutops, and I congratulated Wartortle on evolving, and praised my team for their hard work. After that, not wanting to spend any more time down in the twisted maze of tunnels and grottoes we made our way out of the caverns everyone staying quiet, so as not to attract any more attention.

S.R: Hopefully this will last you all a bit, as M.R will be leaving on a trip for work for about a month.

M.R: I don't wanna, but hey they're paying me to do it.

S.R: You'll have fun. You normally do. Also because it's a pain in the ass to remember I gave up on getting the accent thingy over the e in Pokemon and Pokeball.

ON HAND:

1. Pikachu (m) 2. Riolu (m) 3. Golbat (m) 4. Gengar (f) 5. Charmeleon (m) 6. Wartortle (f)

TRAINEE FIELD RESEARCHER SLOT ADDITIONS:

7. Growlithe (f)

AT THE RANCH:

1. Bulbasaur (f) 2. Pidgeot (f) 3. Gyarados (f) 4. Beedrill (m) 5. Nidorino (m) 6. Muk (m)