Barn, Elf, Adrianna, and Topaz are following their treasure map deep into the mountains! But just what secrets does it hold, and what, if anything, guards such a treasure?
Prepare to find out!
-.-.-.-.-.
"Just what does the map say, again?" Elf pressed as they followed the light of Adrianna's torch. Barn sighed and replied exasperatedly, "This is the third time you've asked. The answer hasn't changed."
Earlier, when they had first started their spelunking expedition, Barn and Elf hadn't been bothered at all by the dark – being owl Pokemon, they found the darkness very comforting. But Adrianna was very unnerved as the light was sucked out drop by drop, and reached down to grab a stalk of a flammable cave plant that she found growing nearby. With a whispered "Thunderbolt," she caused the plant to burst into flames, creating a very effective torch and momentarily blinding the two owls.
And now, as they walked deeper into the tunnel by following Barn's instructions, Elf was nervously pestering her friend as to what lurked within. "Please, Barn, it'll make me feel better if I know for certain what we're up against," she pleaded.
With a weary sigh, Barn glanced down once more at the map. "OK. From what I can see here, the tunnel goes perfectly straight until we reach this wall of… what looks like mist? Anyway, after the mist, there's a fork in the tunnel, and we're supposed to take the left one. Then there's a Zubat nest, and farther down, there's what looks like a Drilbur warren. Then the tunnel forks again, and we have to take the right one, because the left one is circled three times and marked 'monster lair, do not enter'. After we turn right, we travel through the winding tunnel until we exit and reach the cavern at the end with the big 'X' slashing across it."
He cleared his throat and waited for a reply after his lengthy monologue. At first, there was only silence. Then Elf said in a strangled voice, "Doesn't sound too bad." Barn looked down at his friend and saw that she was shaking madly and her beak was chattering with fear.
"Don't scare the poor dear, Barn," Adrianna chastised gently from behind him. She shifted Topaz in her arm and held the torch a little higher. "Hey, she asked," he protested. "I'm only telling her what's on the map. Speaking of which, we should be coming up to the wall of mist at any second."
They rounded a bend in the tunnel, and stopped dead.
There was indeed a wall of fog blocking their progress. It seemed to be a simple mist, nothing more than a bunch of suspended water particles, but when Elf tried to proceed, she found her progress halted completely by it.
"OK, that's weird," she commented, trying a Peck attack. She bounced right off the mist and toppled to the ground, holding her beak in pain. "Ow…" she muttered, her voice muffled by her wings.
"That is strange," Barn muttered, putting the map aside and holding a wing up to the wall. Adrianna held her torch near it, as if trying to reveal some hidden secret. The mist seemed to flinch away from the light and heat, but otherwise didn't budge.
"Extrasensory," the Noctowl said, and his feathered ear tufts glowed. They send out waves of psychic energy that rippled across the mist, causing it to shift in waves. Then they started hearing whispers and murmurs, as if the mist was alive and in pain. The moment Barn stopped with his attack, the mist stilled and the voices faded.
"What was that?" Elf asked, sitting up again. Barn stepped back and smiled faintly. "I think I know. Elf, can you use Foresight on that fog?"
The Hoothoot facepalmed and muttered, "Why didn't I think of that?" She hopped up to the mist and fired twin beams of red light from her eyes that struck the wall. The beams spread until the entire wall was covered in red light.
The mist faded and cleared completely, revealing a large group of Gastly. Their eyes bugged upon realizing that their ruse had been discovered, and quickly fled into the darkness when Adrianna held up her torch again.
"Should have known it would be Ghost-types," Barn said, unfolding the map. "And… yep, there's the fork! Come on, let's take the left path. Next stop, Zubat nest!"
Elf rolled her crimson eyes. "Lovely," she said sarcastically, but hopped after him, Adrianna following close behind.
The next half hour of the journey was very uneventful, just more walking to be done as they wound their way deeper into the cave. Each Pokemon was alone with his or her thoughts. Elf wondered blissfully what the treasure would be like – she always imagined hidden treasure to take the form of piles of gold and jewels, stuff that would make you as rich as a king or queen.
Barn, too, wondered about the treasure. But his thoughts were mostly about the Guardians and where they could find them. So far, he was no closer to finding out how to get to them and warn them of the Darkfeather gang. Then he had a trivial thought – what if this treasure they were looking for would help them find the Guardians? It was something he would have to think long and hard about.
Adrianna thought about how well the rest of her family was doing. The storm that was probably still going on didn't help her nerves, and she was endlessly worrying if Gaby was all right. Has she made it safely through that storm? And what about Lancelot? She knew he was an explorer, and worked with the Guardians, so was almost always busy rescuing some helpless Pokemon or other. But was he safe?
As for Topaz… well, who knew what kind of thoughts were running through his little head?
Soon, as they followed the map, the quartet came across a huge cavern, just like the one on the map. It consisted of a gigantic chasm that stretched on seemingly forever, and so deep that it gave way to pitch blackness. The only means of crossing it if you weren't a Flying Pokemon was a natural bridge made of rock, very narrow and very treacherous. Although it looked strong, none of them knew how old or how fragile it was.
"Barn, I thought you said 'Zubat nest'?" Elf hissed at him, but Barn silenced her and pointed up. Far above them, nestled amongst the stalactites, were more than ten thousand sleeping Zubat and Golbat. A few were indeed awake, swooping around and snatching Spinarak from their webs when they could find them.
"We can keep moving as long as we're very quiet," Barn cautioned. "They won't attack if they aren't disturbed by anything. Remember, they can't see well, so they rely on their hearing to get around." Adrianna nodded and made sure that Topaz was content for the moment. The happier he was, the more likely he would stay silent.
Elf hopped off the edge of the chasm and took a few wingbeats forward, only for Barn to pull her back. "No, your wingbeats are too noisy," the Noctowl said. "Cross the bridge, and if you fall, then you can use your wings. Got it?"
The Hoothoot nodded reluctantly, and then began to cross the bridge. Barn nodded for Adrianna to follow her, and the Gardevoir gulped with fear. Tightening her grip on Topaz, she took a few careful steps onto the bridge.
As they slowly moved across the rock bridge, Barn flew circles around them, muttering words of encouragement to them and making virtually no sound as he flapped his wings. Occasionally, a passing Zubat would hear them and swoop down to attempt a bite, but the Bat Pokemon were easily thrown aside each time by Barn's Extrasensory or Adrianna's Psychic.
They were about halfway across when Barn suddenly motioned for them to stop. Elf looked at him like he was crazy, but then saw that he was hovering in the air, not moving forward, tilting his head one way and then the other. The Hoothoot knew that he had heard something only he could, and silently assured a distressed Adrianna that it was fine. "He can hear something up ahead," she said. "We need to stop and be as quiet as possible while he tries to figure out what it is."
Meanwhile, Barn was trying to catch the sound that he had heard. It seemed to have come from inside the cavern, but it had sounded very far away. He rotated his head constantly as he scanned the chasm, trying to figure out where it had come from. What was it? Where was it? Barn thought with frustration as he tried to pinpoint the sound again.
But wait, there it was again! It was a faint shriek, Barn was sure. He was also sure that it had come from the bottom of the chasm. He whispered from the side of his beak, "Something's down there. Keep walking, but try to be as silent as possible."
They began to move forward across the bridge once more, moving at a Slowpoke's pace as they tried to quiet their footsteps as much as possible. Adrianna looked around fearfully, asking herself what Barn had heard and if they should be worried about it.
Just as she opened her mouth, though, Elf's foot landed on the very edge of the bridge, and a section of stone broke off with a loud, echoing *crack!* Everyone froze as the rock fell down into the chasm, disappearing in just a few seconds.
Everyone looked up at the Zubat reflexively. The colony didn't seem to have been disturbed in the least. Breathing sighs of relief, the group continued forward once more –
And were halted in their tracks as an incredibly loud, continuously echoing, ear-shattering screech roared up from the depths of the chasm.
The Zubat and Golbat above completely lost it. They flew up in a swarm of blue and purple, squeaking and chattering madly as they were scared out of their wits. In their confusion, the entire ten-thousand-strong swarm dove at Barn, Elf, Adrianna, and Topaz, mistaking them for the source of the noise and ready to make them pay for it.
-.-.-.-.-.
Evelyn and Alphonse had indeed found a cave. It was a very large one, much more than big enough to shelter them as they waited for the storm to end. As they waited at the entrance, watching the rain pour down, they used the opportunity to talk and plan.
"We're near Seaside Village, right?" Alphonse asked. Evelyn nodded and replied, "I think so. When the storm stops, we can try to find a boat to Vulcana City and tell them about the earthquake."
The Tentacruel glanced at her incredulously. "Wait, why would they care? Shouldn't we go directly to the Guardians?" Evelyn shook her head and explained, "If we ask for the location of the island, they most likely either won't tell us or brand us as suspicious Pokemon. After all, the island's location is supposed to be a strict secret except for the rescue teams that come and go from there."
Alphonse lashed a tentacle, the Tentacruel's version of a finger snap. "Alright, then we should go see the mayor. If we tell him Diamond Island was destroyed, he'll want the Guardians to know about it."
Evelyn nodded and responded, "Precisely. The best I can figure is that the Guardians will probably want us there in person for questioning. A rescue team might ferry us there to their secret island and we can warn them about the natural disasters."
As Alphonse was about to reply, a strange noise came from the back of the cavern, audible even over the heavy rain. Both of them instinctively whirled around and stared into the blackness before them.
"What was that?" Alphonse asked after a tense moment. "I don't know," the Dragonair replied, "but that storm will be here a while. If whatever causing that noise is dangerous, it'll be a danger to us until we can get out when the storm ends."
The two friends shared a look. "Investigate it?" Evelyn asked with a slight grin. "You bet," Alphonse replied, and the two wandered deeper into the cave.
-.-.-.-.-.
The vast cavern was complete chaos.
Zubat and Golbat flew everywhere in a huge, whirling vortex of wings and fangs, surrounding the quartet of spelunkers. Every so often, ten or twelve of the Bat Pokemon would emerge from the midst of the colony and attack, but they were always beaten back by a combination of Pecks, Psychics, Thunderbolts, and more.
The three combatants were beginning to tire the twentieth time this happened. "How much longer can we keep this up?" Elf asked as she kicked a Zubat away. "We're going to run out of energy long before they run out of interest!"
Adrianna rapidly sent out a Thunderbolt, electrocuting a dozen Zubat at once. They fell lifelessly down into the chasm as she replied, "We can't lose! Not when I have a family to take care of!" She hurled another Thunderbolt at a Golbat that tried approaching, frying its wings and sending it plummeting downwards as well.
A series of loud, harsh clicks suddenly rang through the din of squeaks and shrieks. From above dove a huge, purple Crobat, angry as well and eager to get revenge on those who had disturbed its rest. Knowing how powerful the Poison-and-Flying-type would be, all three Pokemon faced it and took aim, ready to bring it down together.
That was when another screech blasted up from the chasm, sending the colony around them into another frenzy. But this time, the Zubat, Golbat, and even the Crobat turned tail and fled deeper into the cavern, disappearing and leaving the area empty in only a matter of seconds.
"Could someone please tell me what that thing thinks its doing?" Adrianna asked tiredly, referring to the unknown beast. Elf peered over the side of the bridge and gulped, "More importantly, can someone please tell me what it is and what it wants?"
Barn cocked his head again, hearing a different sound. Faintly, he could pick up the sound of something striking the wall of the chasm, steadily growing louder. He realized with a flash of fear what it was – it was the mysterious creature crawling up the side of the chasm. "I think we're about to find out," he whispered.
And then, from out of the blackness in front of them, the monster scuttled into view. Crawling up the side of the cliff face, it was huge and nimble, effortlessly scaling the rock and quickly approaching the top. It had massive ears and beady yellow eyes, as well as fearsome fangs and claws. Its wingspan was impressive, rivaling that of even the largest Crobat.
The monster climbed up over the edge of the cliff and turned to face them. It flared its gargantuan wings and screamed ferociously at the Pokemon, and Elf fearfully squealed its name – "NOIVERN!"
-.-.-.-.-.
Huzzah, Noivern for the win!
Guys, guys, guys! I have three Absol requests. At least one of them is going to end up getting a species swap.
I know that you guys probably don't know what other readers are requesting, but please try to be more original and pick Pokemon like Surskit or Audino or Muk.
Speaking of which, you guys might be seeing some Pokemon of my own creation sometime soon! I'm going to first draw a few and post them on Deviantart, and then publish the chapter – so if a chapter is taking a while to upload, either I'm busy otherwise or I'm finishing a drawing. XD
Review, please! See you as soon as I can get a drawing done!