Chapter 3

Wrestling through Roots

"Waaaaaaah, you said you wouldn't get mad!" The Scorupi quickly pressed his arms back onto his eyes.

Bella was concerned with other things than to not scare the scorpion. This was bad, this was really bad! Root Cave was filled to the brim with bad Pokémon, someone like Tooty wouldn't stand a chance against them! Her heartbeat accelerated as she began to panic inside. What should she do? What could she do?

"Uhm," Sam pulled her out of her panic attack by speaking up, "what's Root Cave?"

"I-Its a really dangerous place beneath the Pillar Woods!" Bella hesitatingly answered him, "All sorts of nasty Pokémon call it their home. During this time of the year a big Paras colony also lives down there and they're known to be very hostile! I-I-I," She tried to gulp down the heavy lump inside of her throat, with little success, "I don't even want to know what they could do to Tooty!"

"Alright then," Sam twirled one of his little arms as if he was warming up for a fight, "let's go and save her!"

Bella stared at him speechless. He didn't just suggest that they should go there, did he?!

"Are you serious?! Do you have any idea how dangerous that Cave is? Even adventurers tend to skip it, especially when the Paras are down there!" She said shocked.

"Do you have a better idea?" He simply harrumphed.

A better idea? She thought about that question for a while. They could go and ask some adventurers on the street to help them or maybe put up a assignment on the Bulletin Board. But with all of those Paras that currently resided in there she doubted that anybody would take the job. On top of that was it getting late and less and less Pokémon roamed the streets who they could ask.

As much as she hated to admit it, Sam was probably right. The only way to ensure Tooty's safety quickly enough was by going on their own. She took a couple of deep breaths after she realized this. Their little adventure suddenly turned into a big gone.

She tried to canalize as much bravery as possible before she said these next words. She was going to regret this.

"Erm, what about me?" Scorupi asked just before she was about to talk, his arms slightly hovering above his head.

Bella grumbled annoyed. This Scorupi was getting on her nerves! She got him in her sight and sharpened her voice. "You go and tell your friend to never trick someone ever again!"

The purple scorpion nodded ferociously. "Understood, understood!" He then crawled over to the still unconscious cat and poked her slightly with his tail.

"Pelly, never trick someone else ever again!" He waited a few seconds and when he didn't got an answer he repeated the sentence.

The Buneary shook her head. He was probably going to be busy for a while. She turned her face back to Sam who still was anticipating her response. After taking another deep breath to help her say those next few words fast before she got second thoughts, she began to blurt them out. She really was going to regret this.

"Okay, let's go to Root Cave!"


"This way!" Bella led Sam and Golbi through a overgrown path. She hoped that this was the correct way.

"Finding the Pillar Woods is pretty easy." She explained to the two while hiking through the woods without even getting asked to do so, "Simply follow the imposing trees that stand in the distance!"

For some reason she began to teach the two about how to find the Root Cave. She told them about the trees that had to look out for and which clearings they needed to pass. It made her feel nice and maybe even a bit complacent to know something someone else didn't.

"The entrance is somewhat hidden between a wall of bushes and trees right at the borders of the Pillar Woods." She turned her head so she faced Sam to make sure he was even listening. His facial features were luckily showing interest into what she was saying. Taking this to fuel her self-assurance she resumed her explanation.

"That it is at the border and not inside the woods is a good thing, otherwise it could happen that some wild Pokémon would attack us even before we reach the cave."

"The cave itself was actually created by the trees of the Pillar Woods! The long roots of the ginormous trees shoved so much dirt around that it created a big tunnel-system."

"Boy, you sure do know a lot, Bella." Sam said in awe.

Her face blushed under her fur from his compliment. It felt a bit weird having someone praising her other then her mother, but it was a kind of weirdness that also felt pretty good.

"It's just something I happened to catch up." She mumbled sheepishly.

Bella never actually visited these places personally, but instead heard about it from some visitors of Flow Town. A little tingle was rising inside her belly. Being able to finally see of what she had heard so much made her feel thrilled.

"There!" She called out as she pushed aside a bushy twig. Right in front of them laid a little ledge erected by the roots of the massive trees from the Pillar Woods. Inside the ledge the roots also formed a big passage that led into the depths of the Root Cave.

Well, at least the entrance was supposed to be big, but the gnarled roots only left a couple of small holes, through which only a equally small Pokémon could crawl.

Bella frowned confused when she saw the unimpressive ledge."I don't get this, there was supposed to be a huge cave here!"

Great, she misled them! She put one of her fluffy ear tips into her mouth and munched on it nervously. At this rate they would never find Tooty in time.

"Whe nheed twoh pfindh theh rheal enthprance!" She exclaimed, her mouth still stuffed with her creamy fur.

Sam stepped forward and climbed up to one of the holes to get a better view of what lies behind them.

"I dunno," he said dubious, "this looks like it's going pretty deep. You sure this isn't the place?"

Her ear flopped back out of her mouth as she led go of it. She was sure that she followed the directions the adventurers gave her pretty accurately, yet this here wasn't the same huge cave entrance they all were talking about, even if one would remove all the roots. It couldn't be!

Unless... They were all just exaggerating...?

"I... I don't know..." She hung her head low, "I never was here before, you know? I just always heard that this place was supposed to take your breath away..."

"Hey, don't sweat it!" Sam jumped off the root he was clinging to and walked over to Bella. He placed one of his tiny paws on her shoulder to console her, "You brought us here, didn't you? Now we can go and save Tooty, so lets not if worry about the stupid cave being big or not!"

She slightly smiled and nodded. Saving Tooty was their number one goal and not sightseeing. Bella herself now walked over to one of the many holes inside the ledge. They were all pretty small, but Sam and she should have no problems crawling through them. Golbi on the other hand...

Bella bit on her tongue as she tried to guess how wide the hole was. She took a measurement of it with her arms and walked over to Golbi, her arms still extended. When she arrived she placed her arms on Golbi. They barely covered a third of his broad body.

"I don't think Golbi is able to squeeze through one of those holes." She concluded after her little experiment.

"Then I guess he just has to wait outside." Sam boldly suggested.

This was bad. The cave would be a challenge even if the three of them went together. But especially without Golbi their chances of saving Tooty were slim. Very, very slim. She didn't wanted to leave him alone, but looking at those massive roots she doubted even Golbi would be able to move them. And even if he could, every second they would spend outside here with weeding could be a second in which something horrible happens to Tooty.

There were objections inside her mind, begging her to get help from somewhere, find another way in or just give up on the whole thing. But she had set her mind, Sam and she had to go inside the cave without Golbi.

"Golbi," She spoke to the mute Golem, "I need you to wait her until we come back out of that cave, okay?"

The Golem stared at her blankly. Oh, if she could just read this strange rocks mind.

"Let's go. Sam!"

Without wasting much time she jogged over to one of the holes, the Sentret following her closely. She began to crawl into one of the many openings, into the darkness that laid ahead. Her head turned around to get one last glimpse of Golbi. He stood in silence, his glowing eyes however staring directly into hers. She hoped that he was going to be okay, but hoped more so that they would be okay without him.


Sam and Bella transcended further and further into the dark cave. A few meek sunbeams that were somehow able to struggle through the entangled root ceiling lighted the passage they took. Beyond the entrance the cave system was way more broad. It still was nowhere near enough to fit a Onyx inside, but both of them were at least able to stand up straight. She wondered if the tight tunnels where the real reason so many adventurers tend to skip this place.

Bella tried to stay as close to her friend as possible to not lose him at the next corner of this winding tunnel. That was harder as one might consider as he constantly ran ahead on all four of his paws.

The wood beneath their feet emitted dull sound whenever they made contact. These tunnels impressed her greatly. It wasn't like that this place was just a simple stony cave, no, the whole tunnel was made out of roots! She couldn't find a single speck of earth beneath her feet, probably even if she would try her hardest to look for some!

"Hey, you coming?" The Buneary heard Sam call out to her.

"H-huh?" She hadn't noticed that she stopped when examining the amazing tunnel they were in.

"Sorry," She apologized as she picked up the pace again, "I'm just really fascinated by this tunnel. I mean, we are currently underneath a huge forest and this here was created by it over hundreds of years!"

Her eyes always sparked up just at the mere thought of this places beauty. To be finally able to see it herself was almost overwhelming.

"They just look like a couple of roots to me." Sam said when he looked at one of the roots more closely.

"Just look like a couple of roots?" She couldn't believe his narrow outlook, "They form a giant tunnel system! How can you say that they just look like a couple of roots!"

"Well, they just do!" He replied, amplifying his own voice to match the increased volume of Bella.

This was something she wanted to experience her entire life, how was he able to act like this was nothing special?!

"They don't! They're-!"

Her voice got caught within her mouth and her entire body froze when her ears suddenly captured a few rustles that echoed through the tunnels somewhere in the distance behind them. Sam apparently heard it too as his head turned cautiously towards the tunnel behind them.

She hold her breath to not tell whoever made those sounds that she was here. After what felt like an eternity, the rustling stopped and there was pure silence again. She almost wanted to exhale the pent up carbon inside her body in relieve but tensed up again when the rustling came back. And it was getting louder. And it sounded like there was more rustling than before!

"Run!" Sam shouted.

He didn't had to tell her that twice! She ran as fast as her little legs allowed her. Small twigs that stuck out of the roots slapped her face and left a stinging pain, but she couldn't care less about it. She praised Sam for his long tail or otherwise she would've lost him every time a junction came up. They ran so far into the Root Cave that she couldn't remember at all how many turns they took, how many tunnels they ran down, meaning that even if they outrun their pursuers, they would be completely lost inside this cave.

After a few unbearable minutes of nonstop running the roots around them began to part, forming the size of what she would consider a normal size for a cave. Out of nowhere Sam abruptly stopped, making her run headfirst into him, causing both of them to stumble into a heap. In the chaos, Sam somehow managed to land on top of her.

"Oooooh..." Bella groaned because of the weight the Sentret body was exerting on her.

"Why did you stop?" She asked while she tried to shove Sam down from her.

Thankfully Sam lifted himself from her body, taking her burden of doing so herself, however he pressed his paws into her belly, causing her to groan once again.

"'Cause this is a dead end."

Her eyes opened wide when Sam mentioned 'dead end'. She frantically searched around the room for some exit beside the one they entered from. Much to her horror, Sam appeared to be right. The roots all knot together at the very end of the cave and they did not leave any space anywhere unrooted. They laid so narrow to each other that only a single ray of light managed to pass through, giving them barely any visibility of the somewhat larger cave part.

Her whole body heated up causing her fur to get sweaty. They were trapped and now at the mercy of whatever was chasing them. It didn't took the rustling long to catch up with them. Three orange insects with mushrooms growing out of their back emerged from the entrance, their slender legs scurrying over the roots.

"Looks like we gotta fight them!" Sam anxiously jumped in front of her into a battle pose on all four of his paws, as if he was eager to leap at their chaser.

"B-b-but there's three of them!" Bella gibbered in fear. There was no way Sam would be able to beat them! He was just a little Sentret and still wounded on top of that! Granted, the Paras weren't any bigger them him, but he was outnumbered!

He turned his head to Bella and gave her a cocky smile. "Guess I have to fight three times as good then!"

While Sam tried to act cool one of the Paras took the chance of him not paying attention and leaped forward.

"L-look out!" Bella still managed to scream before the incoming attack.

With blinding speed the Sentret ducked under the insects claw. His fast reflexes did not only caught Bella off guard but also the Paras as it tripped over his huddled form. Without hesitating he flung the orange insect right back over his head using his striped tail, hitting one of the other Paras with it. The third enemy attempted to hit Sam, but he jumped with ease on his back and smashed it with its tail strong enough to knock it out. The other two Paras had recovered themselves and now attacked the Sentret at the same time from two different angles. As they lunged forward, Sam, swift like a bolt, leaped into the air, letting the two crash into one another. Instead of simply landing on his paws again, he skillfully turned inside the air and slammed his body into the pile of orange bugs, knocking out the two still conscious ones.

After reassuring that the Paras no longer were a threat by kicking their unconscious body's, he hopped off of them, slowly walked over to Bella who was still laying on the ground and offered her a paw the second time this day.

The Buneary was so shocked that she didn't even registered Sam's offer. Her mind was still back at the fight. H-he was so fast! She can call herself lucky that her eyes even register more than half of the moves he performed!

"Hello~, earth to Bella!" Sam waved his right paw over her face to pull her back into reality.

Bella snapped out of it but still didn't took hold of the paw that was wiggling in front of her eyes.

"H-how..." She shook her head just to double check that she didn't just imagine thinks. Nope, the three unconscious Paras still were there, "How did you do that?!"

"They weren't very smart so they were a peace of cake! Mmh, I could go for some cake right now!" He answered, his head instantly in clouds at the mere thought of baked goods.

"How can you be hungry again? You already ate a bowl filled with berries and a big apple!"

"Well, I need to grow bigger somehow!" He joked, crossing his arms as if he was taking himself serious, but a little smirk on his face betrayed his real attentions.

He was acting so casual, childish and even a bit adorable despite the situation that she couldn't help but laugh. It put her mind off Sam's incredible ability, which was probably his goal anyways.

"Want to go on?" Sam asked, "Or do you need a moment to rest?"

She shook her head. "Nah, we really need to get going, I want to be back out of this cave before it gets dark."

She stood up by her own and both walked back the way they came, past the mountain of knocked out Paras. Looking over the mess that Sam made gave her confidence that they might actually be able to save Tooty. No, that was wrong. It gave her confidence that Sam is able to save Tooty and she was only going to slow him down...


They were completely lost! Every hallway, every twist and every turn, everything looked the same! When they went right they could've sworn they already been here, when they went left it generally was a dead end and when they turned around they weren't sure that this was the way they came from.

Luckily, they learned how to avoid any further contact with the Paras. They walked quietly, only spoke in hushes and whenever a rustling was heard, they turned around back from where they came and tried a different passage.

Bella broke off a little twig reaching out of the ground with her foot in frustration. How should they be able to help Tooty out of this chaos when they couldn't even remember where the exit was? The rays of light that illuminated their way grew dimmer and dimmer with every passing moment they stayed inside this cave, declaring that the day was coming to an end.

Sam let out a load yawn, infecting Bella to have one of her own. The constant walking in this giant tangled mess of a cave tired their bodies out. On top of it was she growing peckish. She tried to muffle her growling stomach with her paws but it was to no avail. The grumble of her stomach was so loud that it resonated off the wooden walls making her blush embarrassed.

"Also hungry?" Sam giggled which amplified the intensity of her glowing cheeks.

"Yeah..." She sat down and leaned her back on the curved wall.

Her flushed face disappeared and was replaced with a crestfallen expression. The cold night air pressed through the gaps in the whole tunnel, stealing away the already pretty cool air. She shuddered when a sudden breeze blew by from below one of the many tunnels. Wait, a breeze?...

A glimpse of hope formed in her mind. Maybe the tunnel from which the breeze came from led to an exit? But even if it did, they still haven't found Tooty and who knows if it even was the right exit and not one that would end them up in the middle of the Pillar Woods.

She sighed winded. They were tired, hungry, cold and lost. Bella slapped herself mentally for not getting anything for preparation like rations or, more importantly, remedies. What would've happened when Sam had wounded himself while fighting the Paras? She couldn't even picture the consequences!

"I think we should better rest." Bella recommend, thinking it was for the best.

Her eyes grew weary. She curled up both her ears and tucked her head into her fluffy fur on her bottom to warm her up. The roots she leaned against were hard and her cream-colored fur only helped partly to keep the cold air out. What she wouldn't give to be back home in her bed. She slowly closed her eyes, not caring if something dangerous could come their way. Right now, everything she wanted to do was sleep.

She heard how Sam toddled up and down while rubbing his hide, who was suddenly aware of the chilly air. "It's p-pretty cold."

He was right, it was a lot colder than it normally should be, even outside without any walls protecting yourself. The Buneary wondered in her dozy state if maybe the roots where absorbing all the warmth, but quickly dismissed it as silly. The roots themselves also had no warmth to them, in fact, they almost felt dead in a way. Strange...

"Hey, B-Bella?" Sam stuttered clearly freezing despite his fur.

She opened one of her sleepy eyes to look the shivering Sentret.

"Yeah?" She said, snuggling herself deeper into her cozy fur.

"C-can I h-huddle up into your fur a-as w-well?" His jittering lips curled into a little smile, "Y-you look p-pretty warm there."

Did he...? What?!

Her ears rolled out and eyes flew open. Her whole head turned bright crimson when she saw Sam's expecting smile. H-Huddling up into her fur? W-w-was he serious?! Even in her thoughts was she stumbling over words out of sheer embarrassment.

"S-So, can I?" Her friend did not desist his idea the slightest and was even nearing in on her.

Bella's heart beat like wild inside her chest. She pulled her fur over her face to hide her glowing face from Sam's view. Her whole body heated up so much that she completely forgot about the frosty air.

"N-no..." She managed to say through her wooly fur. Why was he being so stupid?!

"C-come on, I-I'm freezing over h-here!"

He was getting dangerously close now. When in reach, she stretched one of her feet to keep his body off of her.

"I said no!"

They shoved each other back and forth until a low rumble in the distance interrupted their quarrel. Both froze on the spot and their ears perked up. It was impossible to tell where the rumbling came from, however it definitely was far away. Bella let the tension back out of her body. After a hearty sigh a strange glow that wasn't there before coming from the end of the rooty hallway, right around a corner, caught her attention.

"Sam, look!" She pointed at the navy light so he would notice.

The Sentret looked at where her paw suggested. The light pulsated intensely, impossible to overlook. How did she or Sam miss it before?

"What's that?" He asked

"I dunno." She answered just as clueless, "You think it's more Paras?"

"There's only one way to find out!"

"W-wait, you don't want to-?"

Oh yes, he did. Without any precautions he boldly stepped up to the pulsating light. The brown Sentret walked far enough around the corner and stopped until there was nothing left to see of him but his tail.

Why did he stop? She really didn't wanted to run into any more danger but curiosity got the better of her and she jumped back on her feet in order to walk over to her friend. Oh please let this not be another flock of Paras!

Bella reached the end of the corridor, peeked around the corner and behind it her partner gazed awestruck at the light. Surprised by his reaction she dared to look over his shoulder. What she saw was possibly the most beautiful thing her eyes ever laid upon.

Her mouth began to hung open wide. In front of her the roots departed and finally ended to show a cave made out of dirt. Inside this cave a vast amount of navy blue glowing mushrooms grew, nearly covering every last inch of the ground and walls. More than half of them towered her by a treble! The air itself was filled with small spheres shining in the same blue as the mushrooms, illuminating the place the their color.

Amazed, she touched one of the fungi. When her paw made contact the mushroom began to shake, spreading even more glowing orbs from its insides. She sneezed when a couple of the spores flew into her nose, creating a whirlwind of twinkling lights. Looking at her paw she noticed how a blue paste was sticking on it now. Having no object or place to wipe it off on, she decided to just leave it there.

"And who... might you be?" Bella jumped when she heard a sluggish voice resonating out of the fungus forest. From between the giant mushrooms one of them suddenly began to move. The major difference that this mushroom had, compared to the others, was its red color with yellow blotches dispersed across it. Oh, it also had a giant, orange bug carrying it.

She gasped, appalled at its sight. It looked like a Paras, only three times as big. The giant mushroom covered the insects back and its glassy eyes just barely peeking out from underneath it. The huge bug slowly came closer, those silvery eyes staring through her body.

"Hey, no step closer, creep!"

Sam leaped between Bella and the overgrown mushroom-bug, snarling as best as he could. The only sound that left from between her partners teeth however was a cute squeak that faintly reminded the Buneary of a toy of hers.

The living fungus stopped his progress. "Oh... sorry for... spooking you." Its voice sounded rather nice for such a creepy looking creature, albeit it spoke like it had trouble forming sentences.

"It's just... hard for me... to tell... how someone looks... from afar."

Bella noticed how it wasn't focusing anything with its eyeballs. Was it... blind?

"You're not fooling us!" Sam snarled at the orange bug some more, "Three of you already attacked us earlier!"

The insect shook its head ashamed. "That must've... been the... bearers... They are... always so... over-protective... of us."

"Bearers...?" Bella muttered confused. What did he meant by bearers?

"But enough... talk for now." The talking mushroom turned around and reached between some of the fungi with its claws, "You sound... tired and... hungry."

It retrieved two red roots and offered them to the two. Bella examined the plant warily. It had small hunches all over it and was covered with dirt. It looked... unappetizing to put it nice.

"Just break it... open and... eat the insides." It handed, or clawed, them the two roots. Hesitant both Sam and Bella accepted the present. She did as the big fungus explained and broke it into two pieces. Pearly white juices emerged from the root and ran down its side and into her fur. She took a good sniff of the leaking pulp inside the red root. Bitter.

Her gaze went over to Sam who apparently had the same worries as she did. The bunny almost wanted to decline the treat, but a loud rumble from inside her stomach reminded her that she hadn't eaten for what felt like ages.

With an faltering shrug she took a small bite out of the root. She tried her best to keep the stuff off her tongue to not taste it. Sadly, little chunks managed to get their way through, and the taste was... not too bad, actually!

Baffled she looked down at the leaking root. Though still mostly bitter, it had a unique flavor to it that filled her body with new vigor. A tingle ran through her body when her limbs one after another began to wake up again. Greedily she ate the rest the root had to offer. Loud munching to her left revealed to her that Sam must've also discovered this roots amazing attributes.

When she was done sucking out the last bit of the juicy white stuff from the root she dropped the red skin that was left over and stretched her now energized body.

"Wowy, what's inside this thing?" She heard Sam say. He jumped up and down, as if he had too much energy to spent now.

"Oh... just some of... the roots that... certain Pillar trees... grow during this... time of the year." The big paras answered with a faint smile. He opened his mouth again to say something but it was cut short by another rumbling, louder than the one from before.

It shook its head and frowned melancholy. "What now?... First the trees... of the Pillar Woods... start dying... and now this!"

Bella's ears perked up when it mentioned dying trees. Is something bad happening to the forest? "Wait, what do you mean the trees are dying? What happened to them?"

"If I'd... only know... Tree by tree... the forest slowly... dies... Maybe because of... the raising number... of bad Pokémon,... or maybe because... the forests time... just has come..." The walking mushroom sighed depressed, "The bearers need... the trees roots... to feed themselves... and us. Without... these roots I... will fear the... worst."

A stinging pain shot into her heart when she looked down at the remnants of the roots she and Sam just eaten. Did it gave them some very important nourishments they needed?

"Don't worry... about these roots,... young one... You two... needed them more... than us." The big insect quickly said, conscious of Bella's troubled mind.

"Tell me though,..." The bug looked at Bella directly despite its lack of an iris, "what are... two small Pokèmon... like you doing... here all alone... in a dangerous... place like this?"

"We are looking for a friend!" The Buneary answered, "Have you seen her? She's looks like a small feathery ball."

"Small feathery ball?..." The fungus Pokémon repeated, "I recall having... talked to something... that might resemble... that... A really... impatient and bold... one that was!"

Bella's spirit lightened up at his description. "That's her! Do you know where she is now?"

"Of course..." He pointed towards an entrance to his right. "Right this way... She was a... smart one... that little... feathery ball... She used... the mushrooms pollen... to mark the... path she took... Just follow... the glow... and you should... find her."

"Thank you so much!" The Buneary was practically beaming with joy, "Now I at least know that nothing has happened to her!"

The fungus shook its head with a grave expression. "I told the... bearers to not... attack her... but in these... caves a lot of... bad Pokémon reside... She could be... still in danger."

"Then we'd better hurry!" Sam, who decided to sit on one of the glowing mushrooms while the two were talking, jumped back onto his feet.

"Right!" Bella balled her paws into fists and pressed them on her chest so showcase her own confidence.

"Thank you again, uhm..." She pondered about what to call this strange mushrooms.

"Just call me... Parasect." he waved one of his claws dismissively, "I don't... need a proper... name."

"Okay, thank you, Parasect!"

Before she turned around to follow Tooty's markings she asked Parasect a question that she had on her mind since she heard Parasect first say it.

"Hey Parasect, uhm..." she pondered on how ask this question, but decided to just directly say it, "why do you call the Paras 'beares'?"

The bug just chuckled. "Oh, don't... worry about that... for now." Her waved with his claws, gesturing her to leave, "You go now... and save your... friend."

Frowning at his disappointing answer she waved him goodbye and finally pursued the promise she made Noctowl. They were going to rescue Tooty, no matter what!


Sam and Bella followed the glowing pollen that Tooty had left behind for a while now. She reached quite the distance! But it was no problem, the roots that Parasect has given the two had awaken such incredible stamina inside of Bella that she easily was capable of following Sam. It wouldn't been too hard to rediscover him anyways when she would lose him because the mushroom he sat on earlier made his backside glow brightly, much to her amusement.

It rumbled again, louder this time, making Bella nervous. What was this menacing sound when not more Paras and why was it getting closer? Did she really wanted to know?

"Hey Bella, keep up the pace!" Sam shouted at the worried Buneary.

She took a last glimpse at the direction of the rumbling, but nodded and continued to follow the marked trail. The path Tooty took preferred the direction in which the wood that surrounded them began to loose more color and the air grew even colder. Of course, the Hoothoot absolutely had to take the creepiest way possible, didn't she? Any other noises besides their footsteps and the eventual rumbling in the distance, that might have resound in these caves, disappeared. Was this one the dying places that Parasect has mentioned? It certainly felt that way...

The tunnel once again parted and entered another big cave, bigger than any of the previous once they encountered. Looking up she noticed that the reason why it appeared to be more spacious was because they directly stood underneath a gigantic tree. It was absolutely amazing! The tree got lifted off the ground just by its own roots, making no contact with any form of dirt at all. The underside of the tree was filled with mushrooms, these however were all brown and wrinkled, probably dead, except one. It was lusciously green compared to the rest of them and rather strangely formed with two red growth sticking out of it.

"The markings end here!" Sam walked into the middle of the room and poked the last glowing splotch of mushroom pollen with his feet, "Does this mean that Tooty's around?"

"I guess..." Bella didn't give Sam much attention, but instead kept the mysterious green mushroom in her vision.

"Okay then," The Sentret took a deep breath and then began to scream obnoxiously loud, "HEY TOOTY, YOU HERE?!"

The intensity of his voice got amplified by the hollow cave, causing her and even the mushroom to cringe. Her ears rang a bit- Wait, what?!

The mushroom was moving! In fact, it was lifting itself off the ceiling, showing a white face with a menacing frown on it. Looking closely it was actually some strange bipedal Pokémon that held onto the the tree with some sharp, red claws. It suddenly let go of the tree and dropped directly towards Sam. There was no time to warn him. Even with his incredible speed he couldn't dodge this Pokémon in time. So instead she leaped forward and threw her friend out off the way. Her bravery got rewarded with a crushing punch to the back of her head.