To seek the Sea Temple

You must complete the map

Each comes with a hint and clue

Just do not leave a single gap

A world of stone,

Of gold and bone

Must be in hiding

Deep in the unknown

Chapter XIV

August could hear her heart as it ratcheted in her chest.

At night, when she was sure everyone was sleeping, she snuck out of the bed chambers and through the tunnels. Her Beautifly, Poochyena, Zigzagoon, and Wingull all lay hidden under her blanket—hopefully looking somewhat human-shaped, if anyone was to pass by August's cot. Hopefully human-shaped enough to stop anyone from noticing that August was most certainly not there.

Only her Shroomish and Mudkip accompanied her as they entered Nosepass' chambers.

So many of the stones surrounding Nosepass looked whitewashed as August raised her torch towards them. They were all skulls—half-crumbling, perched atop the giant Nosepass. No sound or light within. Not even a single puff of air from the Nosepass' mouth.

But as August moved closer, the flames of her torch flickering, she could hear it.

She could hear it snoring.

"Nose…"

Faint.

"…pass."

An ugly, steady hum.

"Nose…"

Enough to make her want to run.

"…pass."

But she remained there, staring up at it. The way it towered across the whole cavern. The way the map lay just on top.

Shroomish's vine would grab the map. Snatch it up.

And then they would all run like hell.

Together, with both Shroomish and Mudkip held close in her arm and pressed against her chest, they paused. And listened.

"Nose…pass…Nose…pass…"

An ancient, horrible sound. Almost like a clatter of rocks and a thrum of stones were moving along with each breath.

August's breaths were tight in her chest, but she forced herself to keep it even. To breathe through her mouth. To ease her foot forwards.

Dead skeletons lay all around her, warning her. And beside each skeleton were monuments—things of the humans that had come here. Books and shells. Herbs and shoes. Dolls and crystals. Chains and pearls. Swords and ribbons.

She could smell the fear in the fabric of her shirt as she took another step forward.

"Nose…pass…Nose…pass…"

She saw the light, then. The smallest trickle of starlight, lacing down from a small crack in the ceiling of the cavern. The rocks up there were all scraped and weak—possibly from the Nosepass' head grazing against it. She could see some of the rocks crumbling, falling off invisible hinges and onto the ground.

"Nose…pass…Nose…pass…"

August followed that pulsing starlight. She moved as close as she dared, past broken knives, leather books, and tarnished jewels.

Shroomish did the rest.

A twisted vine rose from her. August watched, her heartbeats screaming.

"Nose…pass…Nose…pass…"

The snoring was loud enough to make August's head scramble. But Clarisse the Shroomish was quick, quiet, and calm. Ever so quiet as her vine plucked the ring from atop the Nosepass' head.

And the Nosepass stopped snoring.

August froze, feeling Mudkip and Shroomish also pause against her.

Perhaps the Nosepass was just having a short moment of disturbance. It would go back to sleep.

Perhaps.

The Nosepass let out a small grumble.

August backed a step. And another. She was only five steps away from being out of that chasm, of being back towards a safer place, perhaps a smaller cavern where the Nosepass wouldn't fit—

The Nosepass lashed out with a roar. And, suddenly, the hall that August had come from had stones tumbling down from the ceiling.

Piling up, up, and up.

Completely blocking her exit.

Oh, Arceus.

Fear—unbroken, unrelentless fear—slammed into August. And it all came crashing into her—how stupid this plan was. How she was not a pirate, a thief, an adventurer, anything. She was just a weak, helpless person.

Out. She needed to get out.

But there was no way out. There was no—

As her Shroomish reeled the vine back in, the map tightly gripped there, August felt her heart skip. Like the map was saying something to her. Like it was calling for her.

The Sea Temple.

The—

The Nosepass stood. Its body creaked and groaned.

But it had found her. And it was furious.

She had to get out.

And there was a way. A stupid way. A reckless way.

But perhaps the only way.

August lunged, tossing her torch forwards. Fire erupted, and the Nosepass shrieked—so piercing, so shattering, August felt her blood boil with the fear. She could see those rocky, jagged teeth. The black hell inside that could easily eat her in a single bite.

August hurtled for the stone wall. Her Shroomish threw out another vine, clinging onto the top, desperately using whatever strength she had to haul them up.

But August was too heavy. Clarisse's vine was not enough.

"Take Magnus," August cried out. "And go. "

Clarisse didn't hesitate. She wrapped her vine around the Mudkip, releasing August, and the two small Pokémon used the vines to slide up the stone wall. There was still no way to the other side, but perhaps if they were that high, the Nosepass would miss them, ignore them—

August grabbed onto one of the rocks and hauled herself up, arm buckling. She felt so weak, so ill, as she tried to climb up with her single arm.

She felt weak.

She felt stupid.

But the soot-stained rocks were jagged and uneven. Perfect for her feet to find bigger ledges and scramble up.

Faster.

She needed to go faster.

Her shoulders scraped against rock. Her sweat coated her hand. And the Nosepass' screaming was just getting louder as it scraped its body towards her.

August's breaths turned into her sobs as the next rock. Her fingernails broke as she hauled herself up violently, her arm protesting as she squeezed past more stones, as she reached the top of the stone wall—

And, from there, she, Clarisse, and Magnus were stuck.

Stuck, as the Nosepass' face—those closed, black eyes somehow staring down at her and just knowing where she was.

And August realised just how little space there was between her and the Nosepass.

Her head emptied. She pushed against the ceiling of the cavern, but it wouldn't budge.

She was going to die there. The Nosepass would slam into her, rip her apart, and if she survived that, it would set that giant, hideous mouth over her and gnaw and bite and shred her flesh—

The panic rushed in again, black and desperate. And she couldn't breathe, couldn't see, couldn't—

The Nosepass' red nose scratched against her leg. It let out a roar—making the cavern tremble, making the stones rumble beneath her, threatening to collapse. And the air that blew from its mouth made August gag from the smell, from the bloodiness, from the absolute despair within.

But—

But—

As the Nosepass growled again, the stones shook. Her own bones rattled. But the stone wall was clattering the loudest, sliding back ever so slightly from the hot air, from the loud strangled screams.

Magnus and Clarisse cried out as August kicked and kicked against the Nosepass' nose.

Another roar. The rocks beneath her shaking. Tumbling backwards.

Breathe.

Think.

She went for another kick, but the Nosepass was too fast. It pressed its nose against her stomach, pushing her back into the stone, so much that it felt like someone was tearing open at her insides.

It hurt almost as much as her arm had, all those years ago. It felt like her guts were being torn out of her.

But, just as the Nosepass was about to press down and crush her, water slammed against it. Water—from her Mudkip, pulsing and sloshing down.

The Nosepass hissed. Debris rained down as it growled yet again.

And before August could even launch another kick, or even regain her breath, she saw her Mudkip glow.

And, somehow, her Mudkip had grown fists.

For that fist, water curled around it, smashed down into the Nosepass.

No longer a Mudkip, but a Marstomp.

Something about the glowing light—about the punch that sent the Nosepass shrieking—made August breathe.

She survived the ocean to Hoenn.

She survived a Sharpedo attack all those years ago.

She survived.

And she would survive again.

Her Marstomp pounded his fist into the Nosepass over and over again, and the hideous creature roared.

Roared loudly enough for one of the stones in the stone wall to loosen and slide free as August pushed against it.

Loudly enough that, as Clarisse the Shroomish lifted the giant stone with her vines and shattered it against the Nosepass' nose, August didn't hear the way her heart soared.

Rocks crunched, and the Nosepass shrieked, falling back. But August rammed her shoulder into the stone wall she was perched on, skin tearing beneath her blouse. The loose rock they had thrown had started a landslide of stones—all of them were tumbling and shaking, ready to collapse, ready to send her hurtling down into cold, hard concrete.

But her Shroomish and Marstomp were one step ahead. Her Shroomish hauled both of them into vines, and together, as the stones collapsed beneath them, one last vine shot up. Clinging desperately onto any rock against the cavern walls.

Stone broke beneath them. Around them.

But August didn't wait. She scaled down, down, down. Scrambled across the ground. Launched herself over the rocks along the ground.

And, with her Shroomish in her arm and her Marstomp by her shoulder, they ran. Farther and farther, those screams chasing after her.

People in Rustboro were waking from all the tumultuous noise. But August ran straight past anyone and everyone, the map secured with her Shroomish, her breaths hitched in her throat.

No one seemed to notice her. Not when a giant Nosepass rose from within the cavern, wrecking hell as it searched. People screamed, people gathered their weapons, but no one took any notice of the young girl with one arm who wove through the people. Not even as she ran into the bed chambers, throwing her blanket away, snapping at her Pokémon.

And as the people of Rustboro fought against the hell August had raised, she and her Pokémon ran out of Rustboro Caverns.

Swearing to never return ever again.

To seek the Sea Temple

You must complete the map

Courage will be your guide

And greed will be your trap