Dee.
The Next Morning.
"Aw, what...Amber, Dee, check this out."
We looked over Riley shoulder. His digital map showed the cave we found, with one entrance. But, it had two different exits; one at Floraroma, and the other at a dead end.
Astro stood on tiptoe. "What? What's wrong?" He asked.
Riley sighed. "This friggin' cave. The map says it'd take half a day to travel, but a lot more if we take a wrong turn and go to the dead end. And the girls' contest us in that window of time, right?"
"Yeah." I looked up into the mouth of the cave. "But, kids make it through all the time, right? So it's not like it's all that difficult."
"Mm." Riley shrugged. "Guess we just gotta try."
He put his map up, and we went in.
A few minutes into the cave, we started seeing lights strung up at the top, probably for travelers like us. Riley looked unsettled by the lights.
Weirdo, I thought. Probably just some weird miner's son thing.
There wasn't much talk between the three of us during that time. Riley kept feeling the rock wall with his hand, like he could feel something we didn't. Astro watched him carefully; they had both been doing a lot of that. Watching each other.
Then, Riley stopped. Amber and I kept walking a few more steps in front of him before we noticed. Even Riolu was startled by his trainer's behavior.
"Riley?" I asked, arching my eyebrow.
"Is something wrong?" Amber sounded genuinely concerned.
He looked like he could see a ghost. His already pale face was sheet-white under his baseball cap.
"Something's wrong." Riley balled his hand in a fist. "Really wrong...Amber, Dee, on the ground!"
Riley's voice sent a shiver down my spine. Amber and I glanced at each other, but we got on our knees and crouched down.
"Look out!"
A loud crash. Amber and I screamed, and put our hands behnd our heads. I shut my eyes tight. I could hear the rocks above our heads crumble in like building blocks...
"Aron, protect the girls!"
I heard a pokeball open, and Aron cried out. Nothing happened; we weren't crushed in by the roof of the cave or anything. I opened my eyes and peeked out, and so did Amber.
Riley's Aron was standing in front of us, using Protect to summon a green forcefield to protect us. That had stopped the rocks from killing us. A huge Onix had drilled through the rockbed, causing the partial cave-in.
"That Onix is really agitated..." Riley told us. "Aron, let it down. Riolu, use Force Palm!"
Aron stopped the shimmered forcefield. Riolu came up right behind him, running up and smacking Onix with energy from his paw.
Onix stopped moving for a second. Riolu had paralyzed it, immobilizing him for a moment. Riley took a pokeball attached to his belt, and threw it.
The Onix went into the pokeball, starting to thrash again. It fell to the ground, and started rocking. Riley slowly approached it, and picked it up when it stopped moving.
He sighed. "Great...I caught it." He minimized the pokeball.
I pushed myself off the ground. "Great?" I demanded. "We all nearly got murdered, and you're glad you caught a giant rock snake?"
"Yeah, what was that about?" Amber agreed. "How'd you know it was coming?"
Riley ignored the question, hooking the new pokeball to his belt. He looked in the direction Onix must have burst in from.
"Something made that Onix mad," Riley murmured. "Something...guys, c'mon. Let's go check it out."
Astro scoffed. "And you guys get killed? You must be on the hardcore stuff."
Riley shrugged again, and headed off into the dark hole. Riolu looked back at us, nervously, then headed off after his trainer.
Amber and I sighed. We saw no choice but to follow him; out of the three of us, Riley had the only map. Astro was already one step ahead of us, following after his Riolu friend.
Amber.
I thought it was kind of cool, how Riley had known that Onix would try to attack. Dee and I followed him into the dark tunnel.
After a while, we couldn't see a thing. Onix had damaged the electrical lighting that had been set up.
"Riley!" I called out. "Are you still there?"
"Right in front of you, Amber!" He sounded a little out of breath.
We kept going, until I heard Astro hit a solid wall. Dee and I groped around in the dark until I grabbed Riley's shoulder.
"Hey there," He laughed. It was dry, almost humorless.
Riley pulled out his map, and the screen lit up in the dark. I saw Astro, Riley, and Riolu in the dim light; Dee was right next to me. Riley's face was sweaty and dirty.
"What's going on?" Dee demanded of him. "Why're you taking charge all of a sudden, Riley?"
"It's weird," I agreed.
He looked behind him, at the wall of rocks.
"Somebody agitated that Onix," He repeated. "Wild pokemon don't fly off the handle like that. I felt something was wrong before we entered the cave, but-"
"It's a dead end, Riles," Dee pointed out. "Look, let's just go out and get back on the path-"
"No!" Riley shouted. "No, if somebody's making the pokemon this upset, I won't let it go on!"
There it was. That voice. That sense of urgency. Why did it feel so important for him to get mixed up in it? We were just kids. It didn't concern us at all.
Astro nodded. "I can feel it, too," He agreed. "There're people on the other side...bad people." He closed his eyes. "Bad people...with bad intentions."
Riley motioned for us to back up a few feet. "Astro, Riolu, I need you both to attack that wall."
"It'll cave in again!" I squeaked. Dee swore at him.
Astro nodded. "'Kay." He faced the wall.
"Hyah." Riolu followed lead. They each charged up a Force Palm; Riley put his map away, and the cave lit up with light green energy.
Riley let them build up energy for a bit. Then, he ordered, "Release!"
Astro and Riolu released the attack's energy in two concentrated blasts, obliterating the wall. I had to shield my eyes from the bright light.
When I could finally see again, I was astonished.
There was a large machine in a clearing on the other side of the wall, drilling into the ground. There was already a large hole in the ground. A man stood beside the hole, dressed in silver and black jumpsuit, holding a control panel.
Riley gasped, like he'd seen the guy before.
"It's you assholes!" He yelled. "You're disturbing the pokemon here, too! Stop!"