Here's another chapter, not having anything to do with my time is really making these fly out!

Hellraiserphoenix: Yup, just unconscious. In a dying sort of way.

Aakareo Kokokuhikari: Rast and Alk have harmonia, Rui does not. And yes, harmonia ranges in effectiveness. Alk is significantly more powerful than her brother, but because she's so young she can't use her full power properly.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 150

Sango and Aidan made it up the final hill, the Seventh Station in sight. They'd run like their lives had depended on it, because they very much had. But they weren't done yet. Sango saw the waystation where the cable car stopped, and used what energy she had left to make a beeline straight for it. The radio, she needed to get to-

So focused on what she was doing, she missed the door swinging out, knocking her off her feet as a figure walked out of the station, having just arrived at the cable car. Sango looked up and her eyes grew wide, as she began to tear up. A relieved smile broke out across her face.

"How is your leg doing?" Blake asked. He and Caelia were moving through the cavern slowly. Unable to walk, Caelia was on the back of her Rapidash, Racer, leading the way with the pokemon's glowing crimson mane as Blake walked beside her. Racer's pacing was awkward, having to move through the rough and uneven terrain of the inner caverns, navigating through the twists and turns. Fortunately, the heat was not a bother to her.

"I do not know," Caelia replied. "…It doesn't feel any different."

Blake wasn't sure if that was meant to be a joke, but either way he decided it wasn't something he should be laughing at.

"I wonder how far away from the surface we are…" Blake sighed, looking around. They'd been going mostly up, but he had no idea how far down they had fallen, or if the "up" they were going would lead them in the right direction. For all he knew, he could be walking them into a pit of lava.

No, no, that's ridiculous. There's no way we could be the close to the center of the volcano, right? Blake realized he did not actually know how close a human could reasonably get to lava without being set on fire.

"It's getting hotter," he told Caelia, as she was unable to tell, "which means we might be getting near the heart…"

"Is that where we want to go?" Caelia asked.

"No," Blake said, shaking his. "…I don't know. Maybe. I just know we need to get out."

"Then what about that?" Caelia asked, pointing her finger ahead. There was a break in the path. One tunnel went to the left, and another side passage curved around toward the right. "Which way?"

Blake looked at the left tunnel, then the right tunnel. There was much more heat coming off of the tunnel on the right.

"That direction is hotter," Blake said, pointing to the right. "If we're trying to get to the surface, then the path on the left might be better."

"As you wish," Caelia nodded. "To the left, Racer." Racer began walking toward the path on the left, but Blake paused.

I don't know… I wonder… Blake frowned. He wasn't entirely positive if left was the right direction. At the very least, he did know that, being hotter, the path on the right would have to go somewhere. Even if it might not be the way out.

"Wait, Caelia," Blake said, Caelia turning back to look at him.

"What?"

"I think the right path is better, instead," Blake replied. "It… it just is."

"Understood. Right, Racer."

Caelia and Blake walked down the path to the right, and it only got hotter and hotter.

"Urgh…" Blake looked down. The ground was getting really hot now, he could feel it through his shoes. He might begin to blister if this kept going any longer.

"Caelia," Blake called. "I don't think we can go much further?"

"Why not?"

"The ground, it's too hot, I don't…"

"I see. Should we go back? Or would you like a ride?"

"What?"

"Racer can fit two people," Caelia replied. "Her hooves tolerate heat. She will let you on."

"Rapidash!" Racer agreed, pulling to a stop.

"…Sounds like she said 'neigh' to me," Blake joked.

"Not funny."

"…So you do know what a joke is."

"Do you want a ride? Or not?" Caelia asked.

"Yes, please," Blake said, climbing onto the back of the horse pokemon. He wrapped his hands around Caelia's waist to hold on. "Excuse me."

"For what?" She asked, glancing back at him.

"For… never mind, I guess." Blake rolled his eyes. He still had a long way to go to get used to the idea that she didn't even feel him hugging her.

"Ouch, that's too tight," Caelia quietly told him.

"O-oh, sorry, I-" Blake stopped himself, narrowing his eyes.

"That's how you tell a joke," Caelia replied.

"Very funny," Blake rolled his eyes.

The air was getting hotter and hotter. Blake wiped his face with his sleeve, and yet he was still sweating. A glance at the nape of Caelia's neck and the sticky feeling on his arms told her that he was not the only one. It seemed that even if she didn't feel it, her body was still susceptible to heat as much as anyone else.

Blake reached up and brought his hand to Caelia's brow, wiping away the sweat on her forehead.

"What are you doing?" Caelia asked, glancing up at his hand in front of her face.

"You're sweating, I was wiping it away," Blake said.

"Pointless," she dully responded. "I wouldn't notice. Don't waste your energy concerned with me."

"Nope, I will," Blake replied. "One of us has to. Do you still have any water left?"

"I did not need any. Take as much as you like."

"Not for me, for you," Blake replied. "With those burns… you need to stay hydrated."

"I'm not thirsty."

"Would you even know?"

"I still feel hunger and thirst," Caelia replied. "I just feel them differently than you do. It isn't a rumbling… I can't describe it."

"But you aren't thirsty now?"

"No."

"Bullshit."

Blake reached into her backpack and withdrew a bottle of water. It was still cold, thanks to the insulated lining of the pack. He unscrewed the lid, and held it up to her lips.

"…You can't feel it, can you? Open."

Caelia opened her mouth. Blake tilted the water up into her mouth, emptying about a fourth of the bottle. He drank another fourth himself, and then returned it to her backpack, making sure it was sealed tightly, in order to prevent any of the cold from escaping.

"You didn't even feel that, did you?" Blake asked. "It's not just your skin, is it? Even feeling water going down your throat…"

"I didn't, no," Caelia said, shaking her head.

"Then you can't even taste anything, no wonder you don't bother eating," Blake sighed.

"…I can taste," Caelia replied. Blake's eyes widened. This was a surprise.

"Really? You can taste food?"

"I can tell what it tastes like. But not if it is hot or cold. I can't feel it on my tongue, and yet… is that odd?"

"I would say so, yeah," Blake said. "…Do you like tasting things?"

"I don't know. Tasting things gives nothing. It is… like looking at colors on a wall. It's there… and I know it's there… but I get nothing from it. Just a different… emptiness."

Blake didn't really get it, but he didn't really have any way of understanding, so he just nodded.

"Do you have a favorite food?"

"No."

He was starting to run out of conversation topics. Hopefully, they'd get to where they were going soon, if for no other reason than to give them something new to talk about. The heat was starting to get unbearable, he didn't need awkward silence along with it.

"What is that?" Caelia mused, staring at a strange, ominous glow from around the corner. Blake had a sinking suspicion. Apparently, no, they were not going in the right direction if their goal was to find their way out of this place.

Rapidash turned the corner, and Blake was smacked in the face with a wave of heat that forced his eyes shut. "Urgh…"

Blake removed his hands from Caelia's waste and moved them in front of his face to protect himself as the Rapidash walked the final stretch of the tunnel and into the glowing chamber.

"Blake, is this-" Caelia turned to him and stopped talking. "…Why are you covering your face?"

"Because it's too hot," Blake responded. "I feel like if I open my eyes, they're going to boil out of my skull."

"Ah. I do not feel what you mean, but I remember that feeling well."

"Can you tell me what you see?" Blake asked.

Caelia looked out over the chamber. There was a pouring river of magma coursing through the chamber several feet away from them. She followed it back to the far wall with her eye, where she could see a cascade of magma from a higher chamber.

"There seems to be a river of lava… and we're close to it. Should I get a closer look?"

"No, get… as far back as possible," Blake replied. "That should hopefully make the heat a little more bearable. What else do you see?"

"Racer, to the far wall," Caelia ordered. "There's a lot of red rocks, and the walls are red as well… but there's something else." Racer sidled up behind a stone shrine carved into the side of the chamber, made of the same crimson stones as the rest of the chamber. At the center of the shrine was a curved head like a dragon, its claws spread wide, and in its mouth was a stone that seemed to glow with a mixture of orange and red, twisting and shifting with the light like the stone itself was made of fire.

"What?" Blake asked.

"There's a stone shrine. And a red… orange… something. It looks like a fire stone. But… not. I don't know."

Blake swallowed. The heat was to his back, and so he slowly opened his eyes. "Is it… about the size of an egg?"

"I believe so," Caelia confirmed.

"Yeah… Sango said she found one of these… in an underground chamber…" Blake murmured. He opened his eyes fully, and took in the shrine. It was strange, the shape… it looked so familiar, it-

A throb of pain shot through his skull, and he clenched his head. No, it's… where have I…

The heat was unbearable! Black flames everywhere, and that figure… that thing, it was…

"AAAAGH!" Blake shouted, clutching his head, falling off of Racer's back. He rolled on the ground, ignoring the pain of the rocky floor beneath him, even as it burned. The fire he was imagining burned far, far hotter.

"Blake, what's wrong?" Caelia asked, glancing down at him in confusion. "Are you injured? Do you need help?"

"Help me, please, stop! The darkness, it's…"

"There's no darkness here," Caelia said, shaking her head. It was no use, she wasn't getting through. She saw his shirt was beginning to catch fire. "I will help, then."

Caelia looked down at her waist and found Kara's pokeball, sending her out.

"Kara, get Blake," she requested. The Charizard nodded, reaching up and picking up the thrashing human.

"Strange…" Caelia said. "Blake's reaction is quite strange…"

She turned to look at the shrine, and blinked. Was there something there she wasn't seeing? Something that people could only feel? Maybe it had to do with the stone. She turned to Kara.

"Kara, please remove it," Caelia said, nodding at the stone. Kara nodded back, walking over to the shrine. Holding the panicking Blake in one arm, she reached out the other and pried the stone free from its place. She walked over and reached out to Caelia. Caelia held her hand out, and Kara placed the stone into her palm, curving her fingers over it gently.

"Char…" Kara looked at her worriedly.

"Does it hurt?" Caelia asked. "Did it wound you?"

Kara turned her claw up, revealing her orange scales were slightly tinged red.

"It burns…" Caelia glanced down at the orb in her hands. She couldn't feel the heat radiating off of it. She glanced up at Kara. "You need not concern yourself."

"Char!" Kara growled, shaking her head, her eye brimming with worry.

"My gloves resist heat," Caelia replied. "You know that."

"Char…" Kara sighed, and nodded.

"Blake…" Caelia glanced at the boy, frowning. She didn't really care if she escaped or not. A volcano was as acceptable a place to end her worthless existence as any other. But she supposed that she should at least find some way to get Blake out.

"Kara, do you see an exit?" Caelia asked, glancing around. There were no caves or side tunnels. "It seems we will have to backtrack…"

"Char." Caelia turned her head and followed Kara's claw. She was pointing at a large opening up in the side of the wall, above the lava flow, just wide enough for the Charizard's wings to fit through, it seemed.

"I'll need you… to carry me…" Caelia murmured.

"Charizard!" Kara nodded her head, reaching down to grab onto Caelia's waist, lifting her off of Racer. Caelia looked down to her belt and found Racer's pokeball, recalling the Rapidash.

"We can go," she murmured. Kara growled in agreement and beat her wings, flying up into the air and over the sea of magma toward the far wall. She flew up and hovered in front of the hole, which seemed to be made of cooled magma. She set down, looking up at the tunnel curving up. It was a steep slope, certainly not a climb her trainer could make. Kara flapped her wings once more, flying up the steep tunnel, hoping with every turn not to fly into an irate fire pokemon or land herself in a pool of magma, killing all three of them.

After a few minutes of worried flying, Kara touched down on a piece of flat floor, where the tunnel evened out for walking purposes. She leaned down, and set Blake down on the ground. He had calmed down, but right now he was asleep. Caelia frowned. Should she leave him there? No, they still didn't know how to get out. Then how should she wake him? She glanced down to the stone in her hand. That could work.

"Kara, set me down," Caelia ordered. Kara set Caelia down beside Blake. She reached down and pressed the stone down on his bared chest, Blake gasping in pain, shooting up, clutching the red marking the stone had made on his skin.

"What?! I…"

"You're awake," Caelia replied, looking up at him from where she was seated. "I used this to wake you up. You had lost consciousness."

"Yeah, there… there was a cave… and lava… and a shrine… Then my head started hurting, and I…" Blake shook his head, trying to recall what he had remembered.

"We are no longer there," Caelia said, shaking her head. "We are somewhere else."

OH, that's very helpful… Blake thought, rolling his eyes. He stood up, looking at the scorched remains of his shirt. Oh well. He stripped the cloth off and wrapped it over his burned arm. As he did, he felt something, and his eyes widened. He had hoped to feel that again. The feel of a breeze. It was faint, but it was there.

"Caelia," Blake said, pointing to the cave entrance. "That way."

Caelia glanced at Kara.

"Kara, go make sure, before we go," she ordered. Kara nodded and spread her wings, flying in the direction Blake had pointed, leaving the two of them alone.

"Blake-"

Blake couldn't hear the rest of her sentence, because suddenly the ground around them had begun to shake. Caelia continued talking as though nothing had changed, but Blake had long since stopped paying attention.

The shaking died down, and a few rocks fell loose from the tunnel ceiling.

"This isn't good," Blake said, frowning.

"What isn't good?"

"Didn't you feel that shaking?"

"I saw you flail around," Caelia replied. "Is that what you meant?" Blake rolled his eyes.

"We might not have time for Kara to scout out," Blake said, walking over to her. He helped her onto her feet, trying to help her walk.

"What are you doing?"

"Helping you get out of here," Blake said. "Although you might not be able to feel it. Can you try walking? Not with your left leg. Just your right."

"I don't know how."

"Just… try moving it," Blake said. She hobbled forward with him, as he held onto her as tight as possible, pressing into her side. He could feel the rough texture of her burned flesh under his fingers, and winced.

The ground shook again, and Blake looked up. Cracks had begun to form in the rock ceiling and walls. Dust fell onto their heads, as an even stronger fissure appeared. Blake realized what was about to happen.

"Move, Caelia!" Blake shouted, running forward as fast as he could, pushing her forward. Caelia stumbled forward just as Kara appeared in front of her, wrapping her arms protectively around her to shield her as the cave collapsed on top of them.

When the dust settled, Kara and Caelia were okay.

"Blake!" Caelia cried, turning back to the rubble. Kara lunged forward and grabbed a large stone, rolling it off of Blake, and dug him out with her great strength.

"Is he alive?" Caelia asked quietly.

"Char," Kara nodded. He was pretty badly hurt, though. Fortunately, he was breathing. And there didn't seem to be anything in need of immediate medical treatment.

"Gahhsk…" Blake coughed, spitting blood out of his mouth and hazily blinking himself awake. This was the third time he'd awoken from unconsciousness in the last half-hour, and he was really starting to grow concerned that he'd be getting some serious brain damage from this. His vision was red, blood oozing down his forehead.

"Well, I think I'm alive…" Blake muttered blearily.

"Kara, does that way lead out?" Caelia asked calmly, changing her priorities now that Blake was no longer something to be concerned over.

"Charizard," Kara said, grabbing onto Caelia and Blake. She let out a roar and flapped her wings, holding on tightly to the two humans.

"Blake…" Caelia's voice was soft, barely audible over the beating of Kara's wings. "Are you okay?"

"I don't know," Blake muttered, shaking his head. "Everything hurts…"

"Why did you push me out of the way?" Caelia asked. "If you had just left me there you could have gotten away. It would not have mattered. This worthless body of mine cannot feel pain, so I-"

"Yeah, maybe, but… still, I guess I couldn't do it," Blake laughed.

"…I see." Caelia looked away from him. Her eye widened. What… that…

It was… off. What… what was that? There it was again. A… strangeness… she glanced down at her chest. That… my heart… is it… how…? For the first time… since before she could remember… Caelia felt the pounding of her heart in her chest.

After years and years of emptiness, it seems that just maybe… Caelia has felt something again. Hopefully, this is a step in the right direction. Only time will tell…