A dark shape flew out in front of them and paused, turning its blind face towards them.
"Zu!" it said, as though in surprise. Then it flew closer, and started screeching.
Mirus shoved his hands over his ears. "Jazz!"
The pokemon obliged with a quick Thundershock, which was weak but enough to send the zubat flying off in terror. Jazz sighed and sat down where he was, panting. It might not have been a strong attack, but he had been keeping off zubats for some time now, as well as walking all this way.
"Jazz?" Mirus asked him, sitting down and running his hand over his back. The static stung his fingers, but he ignored it.
"Maybe we should stop to eat," Heron suggested. Her vineslice hissed and wound herself around her legs now that they had stopped.
"Elec," Jazz agreed. The light he was emitting was definatly dimmer than before.
Mirus nodded. "Some food and maybe a Potion will get you feeling better, OK?"
"Elec!"
"Interesting picnic," Heron mumbled, taking her backpack off and sitting down. Vineslice hissed again angrily at the disturbance, but settled when she saw a packet of pokemon food appear.
Mirus stared. "How much of that do you have?"
"I picked some up at the last Centre," she replied casually. "Here."
Mirus caught the packet and ran his fingernail along the top. To his surprise, it split open easily, and he poured some onto a relitively clean part of the rock floor, where Jazz immediatly started devouring it.
"Have all you want," he told him. "Unless you've got nothing for us to eat, Heron?"
"I've got some fruit," she said, producing an apple. She threw that to him too. "Don't I think of everything?"
"Where'd you get this?"
"From the Centre."
"The food's free there?"
Heron sighed. "You can take it to go," she said, very casually indeed.
Mirus dropped the topic. "I really ought to remember to bring food."
"Yeah, you should." She laughed. "No, don't worry. I always seem to have more than I need. I've got some bread here if you want a bit."
"Elec!" Jazz said as Heron handed over the bread.
Mirus grinned. "You're not still hungry, are you?"
"Strike, electrike," he replied happily.
"OK, fine. You can have some."
They continued eating for several minutes more, Mirus sharing what seemed like most of his food with his now vividly excited pokemon. After he'd finsihed, he sprayed on a quick Potion, just in case. Heron had already eaten, and now she stood up, loking around.
"Hear something?" Mirus asked her, standing up as well.
She shook her head. "No, there's just supposed to be an underground lake around here."
"You know where it is?"
"Maybe." She pointed to the nearest wall. "Look."
Marus looked, and saw, in the light supplied by Jazz, something glinting. Closer inspection proved it to be moving down the rock and dissappearing when it met the floor.
"Water."
She nodded. "Hopefully, that means there's that lake nearby."
"Wouldn't that be on the floor above us?"
She shrugged. "Yeah, probably. I don't know much about the structure of water in caves, but I'm guessing that it goes in somewhere near the top and cuts a passageway through. That could be flowing from it or feeding it."
"That means that the lake was on the floor below," Mirus said. "Or it could just be escaped rainwater?"
Heron grinned. "Well, I'm thinking it's from the lake that's supposed to be here, and there could be pokemon in that lake." She turned away and started walking. "Come on."
Mirus sighed as Jazz ran ahead to be at the front, and caught up with them. "Does your pokedex say anything about a lake here?"
She nodded. "I checked before and there's definatly one in here somewhere. I'm not sure where it is, but I'm hoping it's on the path."
"Me too. I don't want to be in here for hours."
They walked on for a little while, until Jazz's tail started wagging and he ran ahead, taking the light with him. "Wait!" his trainer yelled.
Heron was running as well, with vineslice just in front of her. "It might be the lake!" she yelled.
What's so exciting about water? Mirus asked himself, but he sprinted after them. After all, their light source was running away, and it could be the exit.
He rounded a corner and caught sight of Jazz in his little ring of light. Heron was right behind him, looking left and right, excited.
"This is it!" she said.
"What?" he asked. Then: "Oh, right. The lake?"
He walked towards them. Jazz was bent over, lapping up water. Mirus guessed this was why he had run off- he hadn't had a drink all day. In fact, now he thought of it, nor had he. He sat down next to his pokemon and scopped up some in his hands, drinking it form there. Some spilt, but he ignored it.
Heron was leaning over, looking into the water.
"What are you looking for pokemon for?" Mirus asked her. "You won't find any snakes there."
"That's where you're wrong," Heron said. "Look over there."
She pointed, and Mirus saw another light source. This one, though, appeared to be light coming from outside, and he could hear a splashing noise. As his eyes adjusted slightly and the light area seemed to spread, he saw that there was a waterfall pouring in from outside and splashing into the lake. He could see the lake clearly now, because it was darker than the rock surrounding it. It looked dead and lifeless.
"That waterfall comes from a stream outside," Heron explained. "I think that it's big enough to have a pokemon washed through, don't you?"
Mirus nodded. "It would have to be a small pokemon," he said. "But the only water snakes I know are gyradoses and milotics, and they definatly couldn't fit through here."
"No, but their pre-evos could."
Mirus looked at her. "You mean like a magikarp or feebas could fall through there?"
"It's a possiblity. And then I could train it until it evolves."
Mirus nodded. "So how are you going to get them to come to you?"
"I thought of that." She took off her bag again, and searched inside, finally drawing out a chunk of leftover bread. "Like feeding the pidgeys," she grinned, and tore off a piece, throwing it in.
"What if there're no pokemon here?" Mirus asked her. "Or if you attract the wrong sort?"
"Well, magikarps and feebas are weak enough ot get washed through. I'd say that other pokemon would be stronger. Hopefully. Tentacools might be, but they're not freswater pokemon."
He sighed and left her to it. "Good luck," he mumbled. "Oh, and if you do find a suicune, would you--"
Heron cut him off mid-sarcasm. "I see something. OK, Vinelice, phase two. Dangle your tail in the water."
"If a pokemon grabbed hold of that, it would hurt," Mirus said. "Anyway, it's too dark to see anything. You might end up with a blind pokemon that catches her." He wasn't critising, just suggesting, but Heron ignored him anyway. He watched, slightly fancinated, as Vinelice, supported by her trainer, dangled her tail over the water, leaves just skimming the surface.
"Any moment now."
Mirus sat and watched. Jazz watched too, having finished his drink. His tail had stopped wagging and he looked nervous. No wonder, Mirus thought. Any moment now something's going to burst out of--
Vineslice gave her tail a final flick and something took the bait. Something pretty big. It wasn't light enough to see more than a dark shape, but it definatly wasn't a magikarp.
"OK, Vinelice, use Stun Spore!"
"Slice!" she replied, flicking orange dust out over the water. The opponent seemed to stiffen, before diving underwater.
A silence. "I think I lost it," Heron said sadly. "And it looked like a snake, too."
"Slice," Vineslice echoed.
Mirus turned ot her. "What was it, anyway?"
Before she could answer, the pokemon burst out of the water again.
E/N: Ooh, suspence. And I know, I updated pretty quickly (for me) so feel free to praise me. Hallelujah. BTW, I'm not sure what the plural of "gyrados" is, but having the singular as a plural just sounded wrong... if anyone knows, please tell me.
Nicknames for a grass dog are STILL appreciated- I've already got the species name (but I'm not going to tell you what it is for an unkown reason). I don't know why I'm making such a big fuss about it, but hey. I'd prefer the name to be a word that is irrelivent but fits- "Bark" is the best one I've had so far. I can't remember who sent it, though...
As for the 'mystery pokemon'... well, there arere only two guesses as to what it could be, and knowing me, well... you know. Ladies, gentlemen and sentrets, please place your bets!
I mean, review. Please.