Caving In
The cavern had returned but the only exit had vanished, leaving Tyson trapped inside it. The stifling heat fogged the air and caused it to ripple as the earth shook. The great beast emerged from the magma, fixing its eye on him just like the day before. This time when it roared a tidal wave of magma rose up and over him. It engulfed him, viscous and burning hot as the roof caved in and buried him in rubble. It was so hot. So hot, so suffocating and so… soft?
The heat got unbearable and Tyson squirmed violently, shoving a large pile of blankets and pillows off him. Two heavy thuds and laughter made him sit up, seething at the two children lying among the linen mess.
"He's awake!" Shido cackled. On the other side of the mess Daichi laughed uproariously at him.
"Why did you cover me in blankets to wake me up?" Tyson snapped, furiously untangling himself from his bedding but he still ended up tripping out of his sleeping bag. "What if I got heatstroke and died? What then, huh?"
"You weren't going to die," Hilary snickered, watching from the central table while eating her breakfast toast. "We would have stepped in if it went on for too long. Buuut now it's your job to put all of the linen away because, once again, you're late and we have a tunnel to get to the other side of."
"Huh? I thought the tunnel was a bust."
"It was yesterday. Ryan went into the tunnel earlier this morning and he says the Pokémon have calmed down a lot. He's still not sure why they were upset in the first place. But at least now they're not going to bother us much so we'll be able to make it through."
"Really? Great!" Tyson grinned. "Kinda convenient in a weird way, but great."
He sniffed the air, full of the smells of toast, butter and jam. Some of the company were seated around the table still going through their breakfasts. There was a stack of toast on a plate in the middle with two blue strawberry-shaped berries that nobody had touched, which was odd given that Daichi was already awake but if they'd saved it specifically for Tyson then there was no way he was going to complain. Some of the travellers were totally unaccounted for – namely Mari and Ryan – but anyone else who wasn't still at breakfast was somewhere in the cabin. The twins had volunteered themselves for the dishes and were getting a head start before more were piled on. They talked between each other in low voices, using a different language to what they had been speaking before. Kai sat on the edge of the mats near the corner of the room with his shoes on and his bag packed, exploring the features of his Pokédex while he waited for everyone else. Togepi lay in his lap, nodding off.
Meanwhile, Ray had taken up the computer again and was back on the complete Pokémon database. However, unlike yesterday he didn't have the first clue about what he was searching for so he stuck to a simple search, keying appropriate words into the search bar. He typed: Lava. The database returned four results: Heatran; the lava dome Pokémon, Quilava, and Slugma and Magcargo; the lava Pokémon. Ray frowned. The icons beside them didn't look anything like what he was looking for. Typing 'magma' only turned up Magmar as a result. He tried 'cave' but it also gave him useless results: Gabite and Druddigon; the cave Pokémon, and Terrakion; the cavern Pokémon. Running out of ideas, he just typed 'ground'. The database paused for a split second and then returned a results page with the message:
Did you mean: ground-type?
This was followed by a list of every known ground-type Pokémon. Ray sighed and rubbed his face with both hands. He wasn't in the mood and they probably didn't have the time to scroll through the entire list and see what he recognised. His shoulders hunched in defeat but then he straightened up as an idea came to him. He amended his search: Legendary ground-type.
This time only three results returned in their National Dex order (whatever that meant, Ray wasn't sure) but he was sure he recognised the top one. Groudon. Mari had told them all she knew about it but that wasn't a lot and her information was bogged with mythology and folklore rather than fact. Nevertheless, with shaking arms he dragged the cursor to click on the entry. When it came up he sucked in a breath. There were no photos of the Pokémon, only an artist impression and a photograph of an ancient cave painting. It was different to the paintings in the Oldale ruins but it showed the same thing: a large red Pokémon with blue markings and lava dripping from its mouth. And like the Oldale temple art, it bore striking resemblance to the monster they had encountered in the cave.
Ray read through the information in the entry but there wasn't much to read – only three small paragraphs representing supposed actual facts about the Pokémon, assuming it was real and not completely mythological. Evidently it was real; Ray swore he saw it last night. The only further information was in the academic databases and the Pokémon databank. Every entry had a link to those at the bottom but they cost an alarming amount to money to access. The meagre information in the entry was all he could get for now.
"What're you looking at, Ray?" Max asked, sidling up to him, looking over his shoulder at the screen. "Hey, that looks like one of the monsters we saw in Oldale Town. Which one—oh, wait, it says at the top. I didn't know that you were really into myths and stuff too."
"Not really," Ray replied. "I was looking it up because I swear Groudon is the monster we saw in the cave yesterday."
"The cave that magically disappeared?" Max said, raising an eyebrow. "I didn't want to say this last night because you guys looked so freaked out but are you sure you weren't all just mass hallucinating in the heat? I bet we could have fried an egg on the parking lot and you guys tried to climb a whole mountain range."
"How can you say you don't believe us?! You saw our Pokémon! We didn't knock them out ourselves."
"No, I mean, are you sure you guys didn't hallucinate a monster and a disappearing cave specifically."
"We didn't," Ray muttered, folding his arms and looking down at the keyboard. "There's no way. I don't know about Tyson and Daichi but when it looked at us I felt… it was like there was some kind of connection. Like it was holding my soul."
The memory of the bright blue gaze made him shudder. Even now he couldn't quite put that sensation into words. It was the unparalleled awe of looking into the eye of the earth itself and witnessing all of its power at once.
Suddenly a heavy weight leaped onto his back. Unprepared, Ray tipped backwards, flicking his legs up and banging both knees on the underside of the desk. The weight jumped off before it hit the ground and left him to hit his head on the mats. Ray looked up as the slim face of his new Pokémon appeared, looking down at him.
"Grovyle…" he groaned. "I'm glad you already feel better but please don't do that again."
Max laughed. "I was wondering about him last night. Treecko really changed into that?"
"Yeah, it was amazing! I just wish the circumstances had been better. There wasn't really a good time for congratulation."
"So it's a Grovyle…" Max muttered, looking him up in the Pokédex. "What does that mean for him now?"
"Grovyle, the wood gecko Pokémon. The leaves growing out of its body camouflage it in dense forests and jungles. Its strongly developed thigh muscles give it astounding agility and jumping performance that allow it to leap from tree branch to tree branch swiftly."
"That sounds right up your alley, Ray," Max chuckled.
"I just wish he wasn't jumping on me," Ray complained, rubbing his aching knees. We should probably get moving soon. Aren't we trying to beat the Zubats?"
"We're just waiting for Tyson to finish his chores. Ryan said he'd come and get us if he saw the Zubats returning."
Speak of the devil, Tyson came shambling past, carrying more linen in his arms than he should have been able to carry and grumbling all the while. He tried to shove all of it in a cupboard in a messy pile, only to get Hilary shouting at him to put them away properly. Ray and Max observed him, half amused and half exasperated. Then Ray crawled to his feet, shaky on sore knees, to prepare his own things for the day ahead.
Eventually the busy atmosphere in the cabin created by everyone packing up spurred Tyson to complete his job properly and quickly. He was the last out and rushed outside to join the rest of the group, still stuffing something in his bag. He nearly paused when he got outside and looked up at the sky.
"What gives? It's still dark out."
"Of course it is," Hilary said, rolling her eyes. "We went through this so many times yesterday! We're going into the tunnel before the Zubats come back so that they don't freak out when we're in their cave."
"Helps that the temperature has gone down a lot," Devlin said from up the front of the party. The twins were both burdened with hefty navy blue backpacks while Shido got to travel light with a small, pink sling bag. "Quick heatwave, wasn't it?"
"Weather in Hoenn is weird, isn't it, Skorupi?" Shido said, looking down at her Pokémon. He clicked in agreement.
"Might get hotter when the sun comes up," Ryan said pragmatically. "Another good reason to get into the tunnel earlier – it'll be cooler."
Furthest from the group, Mari sat on the fence with Mawi out of her Pokéball, moving around restlessly and making joyful noises that sounded like singing. Her jaws even twitched. Mari looked up at the sky. The dark was starting to lighten but there was no sign of the Zubats yet. She noticed someone approaching by their muffled steps and Mawi's cry of greeting, prompting her to turn away from the skyline.
"Hey, Mari," Tyson said. "We're going into the cave now, we're just waiting on you. What's the matter? You sick?"
"No…" Mari replied, giving him a bemused look. "Why would you think I'm sick?"
"Well, you're staying away from everyone so I thought you didn't want to share your germs. Plus you look kinda miserable."
"Miserable?" Mari grabbed her face with both hands, as if she might somehow mould it into a different visage. She stood up. "Sorry, didn't realise. Been thinking again. Since you're ready that must mean everyone else is too. Let's go."
She marched on ahead, ignoring Tyson's indignant shout. Mawi managed to do a cartwheel despite her massive jaws and skipped after her trainer.
"Your Pokémon looks really excited," Tyson remarked, jogging a bit to catch up with her.
"She is. Caught Mawi in a cave about five months back. She gets excited whenever we go into caves because it reminds her of her old home. Arnie loves it too, actually. Should maybe get him out, except he might be too huge to fit inside some parts of Rusturf…"
The party was finally prepared to move in earnest once the two of them returned but Ryan paused at the entrance of the tunnel to shine his torch on the sign beside it. "Would be a good idea to read up on the rules of the tunnel before we all enter, even those of us who have been down here before. Don't want to upset anything and get in big trouble."
Mari blew a raspberry. "It's not really that complicated. All we have to remember to do is stay as quiet as possible and try not to cause huge disruptions."
Even as she said this her eyes were drawn to the sign, mentally skimming over a list of things she had already read. Right at the bottom of the list written in black marker was an extra bullet point:
DON'T forget that Mari is a huge loozer – Derryn
"He didn't even spell 'loser' right," Tyson muttered, reading down the list and getting to the little bit of vandalism.
Devlin shrugged. "Probably one of those guys who hasn't been to school since he was ten."
Mari went red-faced and huffy. She suddenly screamed out loud and kicked the sign savagely, almost knocking it over. "THAT STUPID JERK CAME THROUGH HERE!"
She took off running into the tunnel at full speed. Mawi started and then scrambled to catch up with her. Everyone gawked at them until Ryan squeaked in panic and ran after them.
"Mari! Wait! If you go screaming down there you'll disturb the Whismur!" he wailed.
"What?" Devlin snapped, grabbing Angelo by the sleeve. "We don't have time to get held back by Whismur as well!"
He almost yanked Angelo off his feet when he sprinted after the forerunners. Shido and Skorupi cried out in dismay at being left behind and ran in after the twins, trying to keep up with shorter legs. Hilary and the bladers gawked at the sudden turn of events and exchanged glances. It quickly occurred to them that they had been left behind and they took off as well.
It took Ryan and Mawi some time to catch up to Mari. Mawi latched onto her leg, which barely accomplished anything but slowed her down enough for Ryan to tackle her to the ground. In the subsequent scuffle the two of them calmed down enough to wait for everyone else to catch up. The twins refused to stop with them, citing that they would much rather catch up with their work schedule although Shido wanted to at least say a proper goodbye to Hilary. She dawdled while the rest of the group caught up.
Hilary collapsed onto her knees, breathing heavily after straggling behind the bladers almost the whole way. "Why… do we have… to run?"
"Why do we have to run in here?" Max added, swallowing between laboured breaths. He'd almost twisted his ankle when he stepped on a loose stone some way back. The tunnel's surfaces were all rough and uneven, either because they were natural of because of incomplete construction. The unsealed road widened and narrowed with a gradual tendency to getting narrower. The only indication that this was tunnel was ever meant for human use was the string of dim lights along the ceiling that were just bright enough to see the path by.
"We can't! We shouldn't!" Ryan hissed, glaring at Mari, who glared back fiercely. "Running fast will cause vibrations that will upset the Pokémon, maybe just as much as a vehicle. Can't you hear? The Zubats are coming back to roost and are filling the cave."
The group fell quiet, listening. There were high pitched screeches echoing in the cavernous tunnel and the beating of several hundred pairs of wings in the darkness. A squeaky wheeze in addition to that surprised them and they looked around for the source. Nearby, huddled around a tiny opening under a rock that might have gone into a different cavern within the ranges, were three pink Pokémon with rabbit-like ears and small eyes. They shuffled around each other uneasily in the company of the humans.
"Hey, what are those?" Tyson asked, pointing to one that had shown its back to them. "And why is its butthole sticking out like that?"
"That's Whismur and that's not an anus, that's an earhole," Ryan answered.
"An ear? It listens out of its butt?"
"That's just the rear ear," Ryan tried to explain but Tyson and Daichi were already giggling immaturely about 'butthole-ears'.
Ray sighed and got his Pokédex out, lining all three of them up on the Pokédex.
"Whismur, the whisper Pokémon," the machine said, loudly relative to the quiet they'd been keeping. The Whismur all squealed and scrambled around each other, trying to squeeze back into their hidey hole while the dex talked. "A timid, quiet Pokémon that usually murmurs but if it is startled badly it will cry loudly. The sound of its own crying can startle it further and cause it to cry harder. It can breathe through its ear canals, allowing it to cry continually."
Ray winced at the unexpected volume and put his Pokédex away quickly after the entry finished. Yet he felt piercing eyes on him and turned around to find Kai glaring at him darkly. That look from his was like an admonishment for the second time that Ray had allowed such a thing to happen. Togepi cooed quietly and waggled a stubby little arm at him.
Luckily the Whismur had not begun to cry and managed to all get out of the main tunnel. The party all sighed with relief but the quiet was immediately broken again, this time by footsteps running towards them from the opposite direction. Shido came back, leaving Skorupi behind momentarily and almost tackled Hilary back to the floor with a hug around the waist.
"Heard a Pokédex and thought you must have caught up," she explained in a low voice, mindful of the tunnel rules.
"Aren't you guys way ahead already?" Mari asked.
"We are, but…"
"Shido!" Angelo hissed, jogging back to them with his brow slanted in frustration. "We have work to do. If you want time to go to a Verdanturf Contest you can't dawdle like this."
"Skorupi told me that I should say goodbye to Hilary properly if I have the chance," Shido replied huffily. "I want us to be friends even if we don't get to meet or compete against each other again."
"Aw, that's sweet of you," Hilary said, stroking her hair fondly. "But it's okay. You're in a rush, right? I wouldn't want to hold you back. And I hope you have the best of luck in a Verdanturf Contest."
"Best of luck, huh?" a woman said loudly enough to be shouting. "But you had the worst of luck being right here right now!"
She shrieked and another woman muttered something inaudible. From the eastern end of the tunnel three figures stepped into the middle of the tunnel where they could be seen in the light. Even though it was dim they recognised Jamie's frizzy hair and Jemima's ambitious up-do as she hopped along holding her shin. The woman leading them was tall and as they got closer her blonde afro popped out of the bandanna confining it. She caught the bandanna before it fluttered to the ground and twirled in casually.
"Since my stupid grunt can't keep her mouth shut, might as well see what we have here, face-to-face," she said with a congenial expression even though her voice was acidic.
"Ugh! Those dumb kids and Little Miss Champ again!" Jemima grumbled.
The admin kicked her in the other shin. "Why are you so loud all the time? We're in Rusturf Tunnel, you idiot! I take it these are the kids who have been giving us trouble these past couple of weeks?"
"Team Aqua?!" Mari exclaimed, jumping to her feet and ignoring Ryan shushing her. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh my god!" Max murmured in dread, only loud enough for the bladers standing close by to hear. "Are we blacklisted? Are they following us?"
"Man… sucks," Jamie muttered. Purrloin purred in agreement from over his shoulder. "Always seem to be where we are."
"Gotta be kidding me," Devlin muttered exasperatedly. He and Angelo exchanged glances. "Look, we have nothing to do with you. Just let us get through to Verdanturf Town and we'll let you get through to Route 116 without a problem."
"Sorry, but we already have a problem," a new voice said from the other side of the tunnel. Heads turned and faces paled at the sight of three people in red hoods approaching from Route 116.
Daichi screamed and immediately Ray muffled him with a hand. Daichi shook himself free of the restraint and pointed accusingly at the blonde androgyne. "It's him! It's that guy from yesterday!"
The blonde cocked their visible eyebrow and smirked. Jono and Julie flanked them and they both snickered at the turn of events. Julie mischievously cast her gaze towards Team Aqua.
"Fancy meeting Team Aqua in a place like this," she giggled. "Guess you could say it was… out of the blue?"
She laughed at her own joke and Jono even snorted. The andogyne sighed and rolled their eyes. "Hate you guys," they muttered to themselves before turning their attention back to the large gathering in front of them. "Well this is bad, running into Sandy and her grunts."
"Ugh, it's Blaise," Sandy growled under her breath. "What are you even doing here? Thought Team Magma would be busy starting a pot plant nursery or whatever."
"Hmph. Like you'd understand what our operations are," Blaise retorted. "Rotten luck. These kids, though…"
"They're the ones," Jono said with a nod. "They were there at Pretty Petal Flower Shop, probably were the ones who told everyone about us. No good being in the press like this."
"Why didn't you kill them then?" Blaise said, irritated.
"Tried to," Julie replied, "but we had to retreat when Alex showed up."
"Yuck, he's the worst. Sounds like these kids are in cahoots with you, then."
"Yeah right!" Sandy snapped. "These kids have been getting in our way just as much."
Angelo glanced at the bladers and the girls. "Geez, what have you been getting up to?"
"Sounds like, just this once, Team Aqua and Magma are in alignment," Blaise remarked. "Maybe we should team up and end this here."
"Wouldn't ever team up with the likes of you!" Sandy scoffed, expanding a Pokéball with a Team Aqua sticker. "Wailmer, use Earthquake!"
Her Wailmer barely fit between the rough walls of the tunnel but it still had just enough room to bounce around. Cracks formed in the floor and up the walls and the lights flickered as the tunnel swayed. Blaise called out a Mightyena and barked an order than nobody heard over the rumbling and cracking around them. It dived into the earth, moving around with incredible speed and deforming the ground where it went. It jumped out right under Wailmer, sending it bouncing high enough to hit its head on the ceiling. That exacerbated the cracks. Mightyena's digging had destabilised the ground and when the tunnel collapsed the fractured walls began to tumble down too, bringing the ceiling with them. The admins returned their Pokémon before the rocks could fall on top of them. The humans scrambled to get out of the way of crashing boulders as the cave went completely dark.
A/N: Here's a nice cliffhanger for you. You enjoy that for the next however long the next update takes. I thought it wouldn't take this long but I got busy all of a sudden... yet I still thought it wouldn't get this long. C is very sorry... T_T