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Chapter 2
"How about... Blue?"
I stared blankly at my new companion. The first thought that went through my head was that he was making a joke, albeit a strange one. But one look at the expression on his face brushed that thought away under the rug. He was staring at me with a serious, almost expectant look. Feeling put on the spot, I shuffled my feet nervously and replied.
"What do you mean by that?"
His serious expression was replaced by a look of disappointment. A sudden sense of guilt washed over me as I saw that look.
"I-I'm sorry, I wish I could give you a better answer..." I hung my head down sadly, a little ashamed at my uselessness.
"No...it's alright. It's not your fault." He said. I pulled my head up and saw that the disappointed look on his black-striped face was replaced by a small smile. He thumped his chest with his paw and laughed.
"In fact, I should be the one apologizing," He said, jokingly, "We've just met, and I'm already demanding answers from you."
"Ehh...?" I was taken aback by how forthcoming he was. It was a little surprising, considering that he was just unconscious a few minutes ago.
"It's strange." I heard him mumble to himself, "I can't seem to remember anything from before you woke me up."
He made a grumbling noise and cocked his head to the side, looking like he was confused and annoyed at the same time. It was such a strange looking sight that I couldn't help but giggle a bit.
"Oh, sorry." He quickly raised up his paws apologetically, "Did I offend you?"
"N-no that's not it!" Unintentionally, I found myself mimicking his action. The two of us ended up with our paws up in the air and facing each other.
"Hehehe..."
"Hahaha..."
Suddenly, the two of us began to laugh. Maybe it was because of how just how awkward we were being or how ridiculous we looked, but the two of us just started laughing and laughing. The two of us flopped onto the sand, big smiles plastered on our faces like clowns.
We kept laughing for a few minutes. I was a feeling happier, much happier than before. Despite how strange he was, or how weird the atmosphere became, I felt like I've made a new friend. I rolled over onto my belly and tried to pull myself back up, but a sudden wave of giggles prevented that.
"Oof!" I tripped over my own feet and flopped back on the soft sand, still giggling uncontrollably. Embarrassed, I blushed bright red. I tried to get back up again, only to fall down onto the sand again.
"Here, let me help." My new friend reached out and grasped my paws. His grip was firm, but gentle. He helped me back onto my feet and then let go. Feeling self-conscious, I drew back and pretended to dust the sand off my fur when I was actually trying to hide the luminescent blush that was slowly creeping onto my face. After getting all the stray grains of sand off my ruff, I shyly looked up at his face.
I expected him to be smiling at me, maybe even laughing a little, but what I saw was nothing like that. Instead of a smile, he was grimacing. He was gritting his teeth tightly, and his eyes were tightly shut. He looked like he was in severe pain, his entire body was doubled over and twitching uneasily.
"Guu..aaaghh!" Suddenly, he let loose an unearthly roar and fell onto his knees. I watched in horror as his hands shot up and clutched the sides of his head, grabbing his fur violently as if he was going to tear it out.
"H-hey...-are you alright?" I was terrified, and I wanted to run away. But the sight of him suffering like that, to be in such pain prevented me from running away. I wanted help, but my panicking mind couldn't come up with any ideas. I anxiously swung my head around, desperately trying to find something – anything that could be of any use.
But then, he suddenly stopped moving. I watched as his arms suddenly dropped to his sides, loosing his grip on his head. Then, his body began to collapse and fall forward like a puppet with its strings cut.
"Watch out!" I shouted as I rushed towards him, placing myself underneath his falling body before he hit the ground. However, his body was heavier than I expected and the both of us ended up face down in the shore anyway.
"Geh!" I spat sand out of my mouth and shook my head. I craned my head around to see if my friend was okay. I sighed in relief as I saw that he was uninjured from the fall. Unfortunately, his body was still draped over mine like a heavy blanket, making it difficult for me to move. Despite my best efforts, I couldn't muster the strength required to untangle myself from underneath him.
"Ooogh..." I heard a mumbling noise from somewhere above me, "What...-what happened?"
"Are you okay now?" I asked, craning my head back again to look at him in the eye, "You kinda went...weird earlier."
"I...what?" He sounded dazed, as if he had just woken up. He shook his head and looked around him confusingly. He looked down at me, who was still pinned underneath him in a fairly awkward position.
It took an uncomfortable few seconds before he suddenly realized what he was lying on. He gave a short yelp and pulled himself off as fast as he could.
"I'm sorry," He said, shaking his head so fast that it looked like a blur, "I didn't mean to lay on you like that – wait no, I mean, I didn't – uh – gah!"
"Um, you don't have worry about me right now." I replied, a little amused by how frantic he was being. I got up and dusted the sand off my body and smiled at him, "Are you fine now? That's what I'm worried about."
He stumbled back a few paces before stopping to compose himself. He placed a paw on his chest and breathed deeply, trying to catch his breath. After a moment, he sighed and replied.
"Yeah, I think I'm fine now." He said to my relief, "Sorry for making you worry like that.
"It's alright if you're fine now." Truth be told, I was still a little surprised at his sudden change in attitude earlier, but he looked like he was back to normal now. I decided to quietly hide my discomfort and smile back at him.
"Do you – um, do you know what happened?" I said hesitatingly. Despite that even being, well, terrifying, I was still fairly curious about the reason behind that. He frowned and crossed his arms, his eyes closed as he tried to recall the events.
"I don't actually know. Everything happened so fast," He said, "when I touched you earlier, my vision suddenly blacked out."
"Blacked out?"
"Yeah. Everything just... vanished all of a sudden."
I didn't fully understand what he meant by that, but I nodded anyway so he'd continue.
"A few seconds afterward, a bright flash of light suddenly exploded from within the blackness," He illustrated the event by swinging his arms out widely, trying to show an explosion, "and it came with it a painful headache." He added on as he tapped his head.
"When the light and pain went away, I found myself on the shore again." He gestured towards the beach, "But...it was different."
"Different? How?"
"The sun." He glanced over at the setting sun in the distance, "It wasn't there. Instead, there were storm clouds covering up the entire sky. And there was a lot of rain too, just torrents and torrents of rain crashing down."
I shuddered involuntarily. His description was eerily similar to the weather earlier today. Curious, I kept my mouth shut and patiently waited for him to continue his story.
"And on the beach I saw..." He suddenly trailed off and stared directly at me. I tilted my head questioningly.
"And? What did you see next?"
He didn't respond. Instead, he suddenly turned around and glanced at the other end of the beach. I craned my neck around him and tried to see what he was looking at.
The beach itself was pretty small, with only one way down from the town and was surrounded by a series of tall, craggy cliffs. The other side of the beach held a dead end, but it held an interesting feature. At the end of the beach lied a large crack that stretched down the center of the cliff wall.
I've heard from the townspeople that beyond the crack was a massive cavern, and that the cavern was inhabited by many dangerous Pokémon, as well as having a ton of unsafe passages that lead to dead ends and even traps.
Naturally, being a coward, I've never even dared to get anywhere close to that cave.
"Who's in that cave?" I was jolted out of my thoughts by his sudden question.
"I've heard that there's nothing really interesting in there." I lied. The coward within me wanted him to drop the subject of the cave as fast as possible. I don't even know why he brought it up anyway, "Un-unless you like seeing rocks and sand, I guess."
He turned around and stared at me. I felt the temperature rise on my face again as his eyes bored into me. I quickly looked away, trying to appear as nonchalant as possible, which was proving difficult considering that my face was becoming redder by the second.
"No. That wasn't what I was asking." The seriousness of his voice pierced me. I felt my heart beat faster and faster as he continued, "Is there anyone inside there right now?"
Instantly, images of those two bullies filled my mind. Koffing and Zubat, the two mean Pokémon who stole my precious treasure. I remembered that the two of them were probably still hiding in the cave, since I've never actually seen them come outside.
Did he know about them? If so, then how? There was no way he could've been able to see us in the storm, much less mile away from shore and unconscious at that. Did this have something to do with his headache earlier? Was he planning on entering the cave if I answered his question?!
"Well?" I was suddenly snapped out of my wild thoughts by the sound of his voice, "Is there anyone in there right now?"
"Mmh..." It's not like I didn't want to answer his question, but the thought of entering the cave...and meeting the bullies again prevented me from saying anything. Inwardly, I was still pretty afraid of those two bullies. I didn't want to meet the pair of them again, and the thought of seeing them again made cold fear surge through my body.
My friend sighed at my silence. I felt my ears droop down when I heard the disappointment in his voice.
"Is..." My voice was tiny, almost inaudible as I started to speak, "Is there any reason why you ask?
I didn't receive a response. Instead, he just turned away and faced the cave entrance. Then, he took a step forwards. Then another, and another, and another.
What was he thinking?
Was he going to enter the cave?!
Why!?
Panicked thoughts raced through my head as I watched his back slowly shrink farther and farther into the distance. After a moment, he stopped in his tracks. He paused for a moment, then he turned around. Even in the far distance, I could still see his two bright red eyes. He extended his right arm towards me and made a beckoning motion.
He wanted me to follow him.
"W-what?!" I heard myself shout out of the blue, "Why?"
Of course, he was already quite a distance away and couldn't actually hear my incredulous outburst.
I didn't know what to do. The coward inside of me wanted to stay rooted where I was. The prospect of entering such a dark and scary cave was making my insides turn ice cold. My imagination started to run wild, conjuring up all sorts of terrifying thoughts of what could be inside the cave. Dangerous traps, bottomless pits, scary Pokémon...
However, as I sat there, embroiled in fear and self-loathing, I saw my friend stand in front of the cave, still watching me intently with his arm outstretched. As I looked into his eyes, I felt a slight tinge of envy. I wanted to be brave like him. But, here I was, sitting on the sand with my body paralyzed with fear at just the thought of what could be inside the cave.
"Come on Fée! Let's go get your precious treasure back!"
The sound of crashing waves, swaying trees and the cries of distant birds suddenly vanished. The only sound I heard was his shout. I gaped at him, desperately trying to process what he said as fast as I could. He had no fear on his face at all, instead, he wore an expression of determination and confidence.
"Don't be afraid!"
I barely knew this Pokémon for more than an hour, and yet, his voice was slowly melting away the fear that surrounded my heart. A small spark of warmth flared up within my chest, filling my body with an emotion I couldn't quite recognize.
"Fée!"
Then, it clicked. The warmth I felt, the emotion that is filling my body now...
...It was courage.
I closed my eyes and saw inside me, a glowing flame that resided within my heart. It wasn't much, but it felt incredible. The cowardly side of me still screamed, desperately begging me to stay away from the cave, but my new growing strength slowly drowned it out.
"So, are you coming or not?"
I put on the bravest face I could muster, and stepped forward.
The Beach Cave wasn't originally a cave in the past. In fact, the reason it even became a cave in the first place was by a complete accident that involved a particularly energetic Dugtrio and an earthquake. Originally, the cave was but a small, underwater grotto that existed underneath the cliffs that surrounded the beach. Worn away by time, sand, and the ocean waves, the grotto eventually grew larger and larger until it became a veritable maze of rock, sand, and seawater.
Once the grotto was revealed to the world, Pokémon of all kinds began to inhabit it. Water types, grass types, and even the odd rock type moved into the new cave, calling it their home. Furthermore, the vast network of mysterious tunnels and passages that made up the cave brought curious explorers to plumb its depths for adventure and the possibility of treasure.
Fée and her friend had entered the Beach Cave through the entrance, and were now slowly making their way into the labyrinthine depths. Visibility was limited, as their only sources of light they had were from the occasional beam of sunlight that entered through holes in the rocky ceiling. Long, sand-colored stalactites hung menacingly from the ceiling, hovering over similarly shaped stalagmites protruding from the ground. Seawater dripped from the ceiling at regular intervals, creating an unsettling ambiance around the pair.
The two of them huddled close together as they moved through the dim cave. Fée in particular stuck closely to her friend out of fear of being left alone in the darkness.
Fée shuddered as she walked through the trudged through the dim tunnels, quietly trying to keep her wits about her as she ventured deeper and deeper. In comparison, her partner showed absolutely no signs of fear at all. He walked straight ahead at a steady pace, only stopping every once in a while to scout out the route ahead or to avoid tripping over a stray stalagmite.
"S-so what should I call you?" Fée suddenly asked out of the blue, "I don't actually...know what your name is yet."
"My...name?" Her partner stopped and turned around. A brooding look appeared on his face as he thought about the question, "I actually don't remember what my name is, to be honest with you."
"Oh... right." Fée replied sheepishly, "You said something like that earlier, didn't you?"
"Yeah. Even now, I still can't recall anything." He shrugged, "It's getting a little annoying actually."
"Hm, how about I give you a name?" Fée said, an idea suddenly sparking in her head, "At least until you remember your real name."
"I don't mind." Fée saw him nod in the dim light, "Don't give me something embarrassing though."
"Hehe, I'll try." The Eevee pondered for a second to think of a good name for her friend. She stared at him, trying to glean some sort of inspiration off of him. After a moment of deliberation, Fée revealed her idea.
"How about...'Blue?'"
"'Blue?'" Her partner replied questioningly, "Why Blue?"
"Well, your body is mainly blue colored, and it's a pretty easy name to remember." Fée reasoned, "It sounds better than Black, I think."
"I suppose..." He said, sounding a little disappointed, "As long as you don't call me Black n' Blue, I guess I don't mind."
Fée giggled happily as her partner gave a little shrug. The mood now lightened, the newly-named Blue and Fée resumed their sojourn in the damp cave.
After a few minutes of wandering around in the darkness, they found the walls around them widening slightly, giving the two of them more room to walk through. The ground, however, became progressively damper as they continued deeper into the cave. Eventually, the floor was completely covered by a thin layer of water. Now, every footstep the pair took was now accompanied by loud splashing noises as they stepped through the wet floor.
Anxiously, Fée glanced around them as they walked. Their trip through the Beach Cave had been uneventful thus far (of which she was quite thankful for), but with every step they took, Fée felt more and more uncomfortable with her surroundings. Out of the corner her eye, she thought she spotted something move in the darkness. Gulping nervously, she tugged on her partner's hooked tail to make him stop.
"Hey, Blue?" Fée whispered, her eyes darting around them, "Do – do you see anything around us?"
"Yeah." Blue said bluntly as he stopped in his tracks. He pointed up, towards the dark ceiling above them. "They've been following us for a while."
Fée looked at where he was pointing, and immediately regretted it. Numerous pairs of glowing eyes were staring down on them, watching every move they took.
"Eeeek!" She let loose a loud shriek that echoed around the cave. Upon doing so, the ceiling began to be filled with movement. Clattering and skittering noises filled their tunnel as the darkness on the ceiling began to shift. Blue, sensing danger, immediately grabbed Fée by the waist and picked her up.
"Hang on!" He shouted as he began to sprint forwards as fast as he could. From behind them, Fée saw the glowing eyes drop from the ceiling, hitting the floor with wet splashing noises. Soon afterward, the creatures began to scuttle towards them, filling the air with a multitude of creepy skittering noises as they ran through the tunnel with alacrity.
The scuttling sounds grew louder and louder as the creatures drew closer to them. Blue, despite running as fast as he could, found traversing the increasingly deepening water was becoming more and more difficult. Not to mention the added weight of carrying Fée under his arm. Gritting his teeth, refused to give up and strained his muscles to run faster.
"T-they're getting closer!" Fée screamed in a panicked voice. Hundreds of those creatures were chasing down the dark tunnel, their scuttling noises combined to make a sound frighteningly similar to that of an ocean wave.
Eventually, the cave walls gave away to a large, atrium-like chamber. The rocky ceiling had collapsed in the center, allowing a bright beam of sunlight to shine straight down into the atrium, brightening up the surroundings considerably.
Blue, seeing the light, put on another burst of speed and charged into the bright chamber. In doing so, however, he tripped on a small stalagmite hidden beneath the knee-deep water and accidentally let go of Fée.
"Whoa!" Blue shouted in surprise as he suddenly found himself facing the water. Fée was sent flying into the air before also hitting the floor in a wet splash.
Gasping, Blue quickly pulled his head out of the water. He quickly glanced around the wide chamber, panicking and searching for his missing companion. To his relief, he found Fée lying in the water beside him, looking a little dazed and scared.
"Fée, are you alright?" Blue quickly waded over to where she lied. Fée shakily stood back up and shook off the water that coated her fur before turning to face him.
"I-I'm fine, I'm just a little shaken up."
Blue nodded at her, relieved that she was unscathed. However, his relief was short lived as the tunnel behind them began to rumble dangerously. The scuttling noises began to quickly fill the chamber as the creatures closed in on the pair.
"Shoot!" Blue, realizing that there was no way for them get away in this situation, quickly put himself between Fée and the rapidly approaching creatures.
In less than a second, the tunnel exploded with a veritable flood of activity. Hundreds of small, brown-shelled creatures burst from the tunnel and began to surround the pair with incredible speed. Their small black bodies were covered by a large, rock-like brown shell. A pair of eerie, glowing eyes protruded from the front of their bodies. Finally, four golden claw-like legs extended from underneath them, making noisy clacking sounds as they moved around the rocky walls and floor.
"It's a horde of Kabuto!" Blue heard Fée shout from behind him. He didn't know what a Kabuto was, nor did he really care. He watched the creatures scurry around them intensely, not loosening his guard for a second.
Suddenly, all motion stopped as the last Kabuto skittered into the room. Now, the atrium was filled to the brim with the brown-shelled Pokémon. Creepily, the Kabuto all moved at the same time, rotating their circular-shaped bodies to face the center of the chamber, where Fée and Blue stood. Their eyes, red and unblinking, were fixated on the pair.
"W-what do they want?" Fée whispered in a timid voice. Blue, still in a fighting stance, shook his head and glared angrily at the horde of Kabuto.
"Whatever it is they want, it's not friendly."
As if they were agreeing with Blue's words, the horde suddenly began to rapidly clack their tiny claws together, creating an incredibly noisy din that echoed around the chamber. Blue and Fée quickly covered their ears with their paws, trying to drown out the maddeningly loud sound.
Upon seeing that, the horde struck. Waves upon waves of Kabuto rushed forward, encircling themselves around the pair.
"Fée!"
"Blue!"
Blue quickly grabbed onto Fée's paw and leapt upwards. He quickly glanced down at the chaos underneath them. Kabuto crashed against Kabuto, creating a mess of claws and shells. Quashing the idea of how devastating it would've been if he was just one second slower, Blue quickly adjusted himself in midair and landed on one of the Kabuto's shells.
"Fée!" Blue shouted as the Kabuto began to angrily thrash about, trying to throw him off its back, "Whatever you do, don't let go!"
"Eek!" Fée grabbed tightly onto Blue's torso, clinging onto him for dear life. Blue slung one arm around her in order to keep her steady and began to hop across the horde of Kabuto shells, one by one.
The Kabuto horde, suddenly realizing that their prey was somehow above them now, attempted to crawl over each other to try and reach the pair. Unfortunately, for the Kabuto, every attempt they tried to strike at Blue only resulted in them receiving a sharp kick in the face.
Blue quickly looked around them for any stable footing that wasn't made out of a shell. He noticed a large ledge hanging over the atrium, directly ahead and above them. After punting away another frisky Kabuto, he began to slowly make his way over to the ledge.
Fortunately for the two, the Kabuto lacked the means to coordinate together long enough to shake them off. Furthermore, the sheer amount of Kabuto that currently resided in the chamber actually prevented them from being able to move, as their shells took up too much space in the atrium, preventing many a Kabuto from being able to even move. In their frustration, the Kabuto began to clack their little claws angrily at Blue as he used their shells as footholds.
Eventually, Blue managed to navigate their way over to the ledge. Blue detached himself from Fée's grasp and reached up, transferring her onto the ledge, wherein she quickly backed into the tunnel and hid behind the nearest stalagmite, quivering in fear. Blue quickly clambered up the outcropping to follow her.
"Agh!" Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through his left leg. Blue looked down from his current position and saw that one of the Kabuto had somehow managed to break out from the stuck crowd and rigidly attached itself to his leg by means of its golden claws. Wncing in pain, Blue quickly pulled himself up the ledge, bringing the little rocky Pokémon in tow.
Once he was on solid footing, he swung his leg into the air, trying to dislodge the little shellfish Pokémon, but it obstinately stayed on. Blue reached down and gasped the Kabuto by the sides of its brown shell.
"Ghh!" Blue grunted painfully as he tried to pull the Kabuto off his leg. The creature clamped down even tighter in response.
"Blue!" Fée shouted, running out from behind the stalagmite and towards him.
"No! Stay back!"
The Kabuto's red eyes glowed sinisterly as Fée neared them. When the Eevee was close enough, it detached itself from Blue's leg and skittered towards her. Fée screamed as the Kabuto leapt towards her, its tiny golden claws glinted in the dim light.
"No!" Ignoring the searing pain coming from his leg, Blue forced himself to get up as fast as he could and launched himself at the Kabuto. He reached out his arms in an effort to grab the shellfish before it injured Fée.
Luckily, right in the nick of time, he managed to just barely grab onto the sides of the Kabuto's shell, inches before they reached Fée's face. Roaring loudly, he swung the Kabuto away from his partner and threw it as far as he could. The Kabuto, its feet flailing around wildly, sailed through the air before striking the ceiling of the cave with a loud crunch.
Panting heavily, Blue watched the Kabuto cautiously as it fell to the floor, twitching disturbingly. Only when the Kabuto finally stopped twitching did he let down his guard. He sighed in relief as he fell to the ground. His leg was screaming in pain, but he ignored it. He quickly turned over to his partner beside him, who was frozen in place like a statue.
"Anyone home?" Blue waved his arm in front of Fée's stunned face, "Helloooo? Fée?"
"Eeeee..." A strange noise escaped from Fée's mouth. It sounded like a cross between a whimper and a whine. Suddenly, she sprung forwards, tackling Blue and grabbing onto him in a tight hug. Tears streamed down her face as she sobbed into his shoulder. Blue, a little stunned, consoled her by gently patting her back.