Chapter 5--Cavern Catastrophe
Willow stopped at the Pokemon Center outside of Mount Moon to purchase a map of the cave's layout, but she was sadly disappointed. "I'm afraid that no map has ever been made of the inside, Willow. Mount Moon is actually much larger in the below-water level caverns beneath the path. Luckily, Mount Moon is sealed off from most water flow, so the caverns are rarely flooded, except during bad storms. I would advise you to follow the path. Some parts of the caverns have lanterns, so don't stray from those. It's usually fairly dim, because the Pokemon inside can't flourish with too much light, so watch your step! I would be careful if I were you; recent reports have said that some areas of the cave floor have been weakened, and could collapse if too many people walk on them. Be careful."
Willow nodded. "All right, Nurse Joy. I'll get going right away."
Nurse Joy shook her head. "There's a storm brewing, a big one if I'm not mistaken. You should wait it out here, in the Pokemon Center. It's the only place you'll be able to heal your Pokemon for some ways."
Willow stubbornly insisted on leaving immediately. "Nurse Joy, I have to hurry! I need to get to Cerulean City as soon as possible."
It may have been unwise, but Willow set off at once. She headed outside, just as furious, iron-gray storm clouds began to roll in...
Willow shivered. A storm was brewing, and she could tell that it would be a fierce one. Stepping into Mount Moon, she waited patiently for her eyes to adjust to the dim light. Once she was ready, Willow headed through the caverns.
At first, the path was well-marked, and Willow hurried forward. Before long, however, the trail split. One fork led to the left, and the other led to the right. So far, every time Willow had tried to follow a path through anywhere, she had gotten lost. In light of this, she decided to ask her Pokemon for help in choosing. Alas, Willow had forgotten that none of her Pokemon had ever lived underground! They all agreed on the left path. Willow returned them, choosing to follow their decision.
She strode resolutely forward--and quickly found herself in a dark, narrow passageway. "Oh, no! Not again! Every time I go somewhere, I get lost!"
Sadly, this was true. Willow could not, for the life of her, figure out which way would lead her back to the crossroads. In trying to find it, she got herself even more lost! Willow had unknowingly wandered into a very dangerous part of Mount Moon--the below sea level caverns Nurse Joy had spoken of! Not only that, the storm outside was getting worse. Willow might soon find herself surrounded by raging torrents of water.
"Hmmm...I'm almost certain I can hear water somewhere, but how can that be? I thought that Nurse Joy said Mount Moon was sealed off from most water sources..." Willow stepped forward through the darkness toward the source of the sound--and into an oasis of light!
An underground river ran through the cavern At that moment, Willow was aware of another sound. A thin, frightened wail came from the river. Willow saw a faint splash as a Pokemon vanished below the surface. Without thinking, Willow plunged in after it. She grabbed hold of the drowning Pokemon--and was drawn into the surprisingly fast-moving water herself! Willow resisted the urge to scream--opening her mouth would be a mistake. Instead, she made certain that her Pokeballs were secure and held her breathe.
Luckily for her, the water carried her into another cavern, as opposed to deep underground, where she would surely have drowned. Willow lay still for a moment, then rolled over and coughed up water. She looked around in amazement. A small, weird cavern lay before her. A pool of water at the center of the cave burbled with the force of the underground river flowing below. Plants that never saw the sun flourished in the luminescent glow of an odd rock in the center of the cavern.
"Wow! I think that's a meteor! But how did it ever get inside this cavern?" Beside her, the rescued Pokemon was waking up.
"Saur..."
It was a Bulbasaur! Willow whipped out her Pokedex in an attempt to find out more information about it, but all it did was spark for a moment, then fizzle out. "The water must have damaged it. Hmm..I still don't think that Bulbasaur looks normal. Its skin is so pale...almost white-green. And its eyes are blue-green! I wonder how it got underground? It must have been living down here for years, until one day, it fell into that river...it's a lucky thing I happened to come by! So, how do you feel, Bulbasaur?"
"Saur...bulbasuar!"
"It looks like you'll be okay. Now, where in the world are we?" Willow felt something grab her Pokeball belt. "Hey--give that back!"
In amazement, the tiny Clefairy who had grabbed it stepped back. Then, seemingly as an afterthought, it dropped the belt. Willow reaffixed it to her waist, then looked at the colony of Clefairy who had surrounded her. "Do you all live down here? Maybe you brought the meteor to this cavern after people bothered you on the upper floors..."
Willow thought about this. She had to get back to the upper floors, but she certainly couldn't go back the way she came! Only the Clefairy would know the way out. "Clefairy? I'm sorry I disturbed you, but I need to get out of here. Do you know the way?"
"Fairy fairy!"
The Clefairy seemed friendly enough. Willow got the impression that they didn't come here very often. Perhaps it was a ritual of some sort. They led her through a number of cramped tunnels, and finally, she came to a wider hall. Here too the water ran across the cavern.
"The whole place must be connected by underground streams," Willow thought. She struggled to remember something someone had told her, that seemed very important, but it was of no use. She could not remember Nurse Joy's words.
The Clefairy danced around her merrily, but Willow could not see the way out. "Where do I go now?" At that moment, something nudged her hand. "Huh?" It was the Bulbasaur! It had followed her and the Clefairy from the other cave. "Do you know the way out, Bulbasaur?"
Bulbasaur nodded and motioned to the ceiling with one of its vines. "Oh! If we could somehow break through the ceiling, we could get out of here? I suppose the Clefairy must have some other way, though..." She looked around, and noticed a tiny passageway. "I'll never fit through that! I guess the ceiling is the only way. Go! Fins! Use your tackle!"
Fins tackled, but nothing happened.
"There's no getting out that way, I guess. Maybe I can somehow widen the passage used by the Clefairy." Willow and her Pokemon endeavored to do this. After about an hour, she had made no great impact on the tunnel. The Clefairy looked questioningly at her, but made no move to help.
"Maybe there is no way out of here...I think I'm stuck!" Bulbasaur, mean while, had been sitting unnoticed but the underground river. Suddenly he began to tug Willow's sleeve. "What is it, Bulbasaur?"
Willow turned to the stream--and saw that it had swelled! Suddenly, she remembered what Nurse Joy had told her. "These tunnels will flood if the storm gets bad enough! We have to get out of here!"
The Clefairy looked up in alarm. They fled through the small tunnel. Willow looked at the stream. If it continued to rise, they could be drowned. Suddenly, Willow had an idea. "This cavern can't be too far below the surface--maybe if we pound on the ceiling enough, someone will hear us!"
Willow knew that they had, at best, an hour or so. By that time, the water would rise enough to drown them. "Come on, Bulbasaur! We have to pound that ceiling!" Willow and her Pokemon proceeded to do so, with help from Bulbasaur. It was a race against time, and time was running out.
Willow didn't know it, but the storm outside was a record breaker. Nurse Joy had telephoned a rescue squad, and they were evacuating Mount Moon. Nurse Joy looked at her list of trainers who she knew had gone into Mount Moon. "We're missing a few! They must have gotten lost!"
In fact, Willow was in luck. She was not done for yet, and while Bulbasaur was with her, she was not lost. Willow looked away from the ceiling at Bulbasaur's distressed cries. She saw that the rapidly rising river, before flooding her cavern, had gone through what was apparently the Clefairy's safe area.
Willow, hearing the shrieks of the fairy Pokemon, immediately leaped into the stream once more and battled the current until she was thrown into the other cavern. Bulbasaur followed her. Willow stood up, already knee-deep in water. She realized that the Clefairy could drown if she didn't do something!
Willow looked around, and saw a cracked and decayed ceiling. "The Clefairy must have weakened it by tunneling in this area so that they can pass through the caverns! Go! Fins! Use Slam attack!"
Willow returned Fins after he broke a sizable hole in the ceiling. Willow shouldered the Bulbasaur up into the tunnel above, then held out each Clefairy, one by one, to be lifted to safety. Finally, Willow herself was carried upwards--just as the cavern was filled with the raging water!
"Fairy! Fairy fairy!" The Clefairy ran off to safer havens, while Willow and the Bulbasaur sat on the edge of the hole in exhaustion. After a while, they moved away, knowing that the water could still rise. She didn't know how right she was! Willow was not the only missing trainer; two others were trapped in another section of the caverns. No one knew where they were; who would save them now, as the water continued to rise?
Willow left the cavern, with Bulbasaur still tagging along. Nurse Joy raced over and checked her name off of the missing list. "Officer, we're still missing two! They may drown! The ends of the cavern are the most likely to be hit...the Pokemon inside know that, and they'll take cover, but most trainers don't!"
Willow, soaking wet, said, "People are still missing?"
Nurse Joy nodded sadly. "That's right. This storm is the worst in years, and I'm afraid those trainers don't have much chance of survival. Most people believe that the tunnel portions of the caverns are the most water-unsafe, but that isn't true. A couple of caverns lower down look safe, but are very likely to flood. That's why most Pokemon burrow in the tunnel walls!"
Willow looked back at Mount Moon through the rain. She had to go back! As Willow ran off towards the caverns, Nurse Joy called, "Wait! It isn't safe! You could drown, Willow; come back!" It was of no avail. Willow dashed back into Mount Moon to save the other two trainers, who were very much in need of rescuing.
Deep in Mount Moon, David and Stacy finally came to a tall cavern. "We should be safe in here; the water won't rise THIS high, will it?"
"I hope not..."
The two had actually entered the most dangerous area. It was very close to Mount Moon's exit, but the water had risen enough that they couldn't get out. No search party would ever reach them; at this point, Willow was the only one looking.
"Go! Rafael! Try to find the others trainers by smell. Listen for them too! You help, Sleet!"
Willow's Pokemon quickly led her toward the exit of Mount Moon. Mount Moon was actually a very short trip, for most trainers. Its underground caverns were much longer than the trainer paths. Willow ran along slick pathways, noticing that many side caverns were filling with water. Hopefully, the two trainers were in one of the upper galleries.
Willow soon found the path they had taken, and leaped down a small ledge to reach it. She realized that there could be no return in that direction. Willow heard voices up ahead. Returning Rafael, she ran forward.
"Hello? Listen, we have to get out of here! This cavern will flood very quickly! Come on!"
David and Stacy followed without argument. They all ran for the exit. It was a race against time; slipping and sliding on the ever-wetter floor, they began the climb upwards just in time.
Walking at a slightly more relaxed but never the less rapid pace, the three trainers saw daylight at last. They stood outside Mount Moon, panting--and saw that they had come all the way through the mountain! Willow was happy. She had finally reached the other side of Mount Moon. Suddenly, she remembered the Bulbasaur that had helped her so much in Mount Moon. Happily, it too had escaped, having followed her all the way through Mount Moon.
"I guess you want to come with me, huh? Thanks, Bulbasaur! You came from Mount Moon, so I'll call you Lunus. Stacy, David, I'm sure that you're heading to the Pokemon League too, so good luck!"
Stacy smiled. "Good luck yourself, Willow. You saved our lives, and David and I are very grateful. I'm sure you'll make it to the Pokemon League!" Willow had found some new friends under the most unlikely circumstances, and as they parted ways, she knew that she would never forget them.