Ash still hadn't moved from where he was kneeling; after spending the next several minutes in shock, he proceeded to try to call down to Brock and Charizard, hoping and praying for some kind of response from either of them. Behind him, he could hear Jessie and James trying to contact Meowth on a walkie-talkie before quietly accepting that they weren't working after the collapse, or perhaps he had lost his in the fall, or perhaps… (They had left that thought unfinished).
Realizing that he was getting no response, either, Ash was now trying to move the debris by hand as Pikachu tried to point out that it wasn't going to work. Ash ignored him, trying to move a large chunk of rock that was clearly too heavy for him to budge.
Misty, who had been quiet all this time, now walked over to him, her heart twisting as she saw him struggle in vain with the rock.
"Ash?" she asked, her own voice shaky.
"Uh-huh?" he asked, only half-listening.
"…Ash, do you really think that's going to work?"
"Yes," he replied, and then a pained look crossed his face. "No? I don't know. But I have to do something to try to save Brock and Charizard!"
Misty looked away, feeling the same sorrow.
"Ash, you know they're my friends, too, and I want to do whatever we can to help them," she reminded him. "But you know as well as I do that we don't have the strength to move this pile."
"Then what are we supposed to do!?" Ash exclaimed, blinking back tears. "How're we supposed to get 'em out of there if we can't…" His voice choked up and he looked away now, pulling his hat down so that the brim hid his crying eyes.
"Pikapi…?"
"It's all my fault," Ash confessed. "This whole thing is my fault! Brock warned us about the tunnel being unstable—he told us we should go around it. But I insisted on going through the tunnel… It's my fault that they're… That they're…"
"Ash, I insisted on going through the tunnel, too, just because I wanted to take a stupid shortcut," Misty said, bitterly. "I'm just as much to blame as you are."
"I guess we can shoulder some of that, too," James said, quietly. "You probably would've made it out of here if we hadn't stopped you."
"He was even trying to warn us, too," Jessie recalled.
"…Okay, so all of us are at fault here," Misty said. She looked around from Jessie and James to Ash and Pikachu. "It's tearing us up, but we can't let that get in the way of finding out friends!"
"But what if they're—" Ash began.
"We're not going to think about that," Misty insisted. "Not while there's still a chance that they could be alright!"
"You really think so?" Jessie asked.
"…I have to think so," Misty finished.
Jessie looked surprised, but nodded; of course, she understood that sentiment—there was always a part of her that held on to the hope that her mother was alive somewhere, seeing as though no one had ever been able to confirm exactly what had happened to her. Even after years had gone by without hearing from her, Jessie couldn't allow herself not to hold on. And Jessie couldn't give up on Arbok, either—or even Meowth and James's Weezing.
James also seemed to be thinking along the same lines.
"Supposing they are okay—how are we supposed to reach them?" he asked. "We can't clear that pile—even if you used that older twerp's Geodude, there'd be too much risk of that rubble collapsing further if you tried."
"I know," Misty said. "I'm still figuring that part out—I'm making this up as I go, you know…"
Ash blinked as he listened, remembering that Brock had intended on saving his Pokémon when he had thrown his backpack across the chasm. James was right about this debris pile—but maybe Geodude could come in handy later.
"Maybe we can dig or find a way through another part of the cave floor," Ash said. "If we find somewhere thinner—or somewhere with a small hole, we can get Geodude to stabilize the hole and send my Heracross through it to fly around in that underground chasm and see if he can find everyone."
Misty thought for a moment.
"Geodude might be our only hope in the digging department," she realized. "It's too risky to send out Onix when the tunnel is still very unstable. And we can probably send Zubat with Heracross—his supersonic will help find the others."
"Right," Ash realized. "Well, at least we've got a plan—should we continue going down that tunnel and try to find another spot as we go?"
"We might as well," Misty said. She looked to Jessie and James. "You can come with us if you like."
"Really?" James asked. "Even though we delayed you from escaping?"
"Yes, but stop reminding us of that before you make me change my mind," she replied, frowning.
"…Noted."
"There's something else we've gotta figure out, too, after we find the others," Ash said. "What was that explosion that caused all of this?"
"Like James said, I swear we don't know anything about that," Jessie insisted. "We wouldn't have stuck around if we had set that—how dumb do you think we are?" She blinked as Ash and Misty stared back at her. "…Don't answer that."
"Hmph, well," Misty sighed. "If Ash is okay with it, then yes—we can have a temporary truce."
Ash nodded.
"Yeah, I'm okay with it—I'll take whatever help we can get to find the others," he said. "And then, we'll try to find who did this."
The others nodded, and, slowly, they made their way down the tunnel, back towards the entrance.
As they walked, Ash looked back at the pile of rubble, once again blinking back a few tears.
You've gotta be okay, he silently transmitted to Brock and Charizard. Just promise me that you're okay, and I swear we'll find a way to get you out of there—but please… we can't say goodbye like this.
"Pikapi?"
"I'll be okay, Buddy," Ash promised, quietly. "Just as long as Brock and Charizard will be."
"Chaa," he agreed.
And they lapsed into silence as they headed down the tunnel.
