Chapter Three: Quite A Vision To Behold

Three Weeks Later

"How does it feel to be the trainer of a Vibrava?"

"Amazing!" Tally beamed, light from the setting sun making her eyes glint amber. "I didn't expect her to learn a whole lot of new moves as well."

Flutter hadn't just learned Dragonbreath on evolving - she'd also learned Screech and Supersonic. She was still getting used to those moves.

The three trainers had left Verdanturf the morning after the competition. They'd travelled to Mauville, then all the way up to Fallarbor. AJ and Jade were settling well into their new teams. Carla had almost expected Jade to manipulate someone on Tally or Bruno's teams into giving her food, but she hadn't.

They were miles from the nearest town, and Carla was officially out of clean clothes. She was wearing the grey lace-up top she'd bought in Sinnoh; it was completely inappropriate for travelling, but she didn't have any other choice.

Maybe they could find a river or stream to wash their clothes.

"Hey, speaking of evolution, Del can't have long now," Bruno pointed out. "He's a lot bigger now than he was when you first got him."

"Let's not talk about pokémon just now," Tally said. "I feel like that's all we talk about!"

"We're trainers," Carla told her. "Pokémon are our lives - why shouldn't we talk about them? But you're right. We'll have a lot more to talk about when we reach Meteor Falls."

Tally's face brightened. "Are they really that gorgeous?"

"Yes, but it's easy to slip and fall. Someone actually did that while Dave and I were there."

"Hey, um..." Bruno said carefully, "how is Dave? Do you know?"

Carla shook her head. "I've texted him a couple of times. He hasn't replied to any of them." Thinking about her friend made her eyes prickle, so she changed the subject. "How's your family, Bruno?"

"They've got a whole bunch of new pokémon in the daycare; Dad says they might need to expand the enclosure! Either that, or they'll have to start turning away customers. They can't really afford to do that, but there's been a lot of trainers coming to Floe Island lately."

"Don't they mind that you're still in Hoenn and not helping out at the daycare?" Tally asked curiously.

"Nah, not at all! They say if I want to be a breeder, I need to have pokémon worth breeding from so I need to make sure I've got a good team, but they said I should go to another region if things get worse." Bruno shook his head. "If they knew I was in Sootopolis during the attack, they'd tell me to go somewhere else."

Carla hadn't told her family she'd been there either. She wasn't sure if her dad would even speak to her, but she needed to at least check if her sister was all right.

A slight chill caressed the left side of her neck. Carla smiled. She liked knowing at least one of her invisible bodyguards was close by.

"My family would want me to come home," Tally murmured. "I really hope they don't want that." Her eyes widened. "Is that it?"

She pointed at a cavern in the rock face ahead of them.

"That's Meteor Falls."

"Why do I have a feeling I'll wish I brought a camera?" Bruno asked as they went inside. His jaw dropped as he took in the sight of the waterfall tumbling into the huge crystalline pool. "Yeah, I definitely wish I'd brought one."

"It's beautiful." Tally walked across the bridge, woodwork creaking beneath her trainers. "Why is it actually called that? I mean, what formed those craters if it wasn't meteors?"

Carla thought for a moment. "Maybe it was Draco Meteor. The Draconids live around here, remember? This is a perfect spot for dragon tamers."

Tally took out a capsule and tossed it into the air. Flora materialised, then Teleported herself onto her trainer's shoulder. Her tiny mouth fell open at the sight of the massive waterfall.

"I know, isn't it amazing?" Tally looked at the top of the cliff. "I wonder what's up there?"

Flora blinked.

The world shifted.

Carla staggered and nearly slipped. She grabbed at the closest thing to steady herself, which was a half-damp rock. A loud shriek rang off the cave walls.

Carla stared wildly around. "What just happened?"

In front of them was a wide pool, with a thin cloud of spray rising from beyond the edge. Flora squealed, clapping her hands together.

"Did she just..." Carla stepped closer to the pool. "We're at the top of the waterfall."

With a blast of cold air, Zoe shot through the spray and straight towards her trainer. She wrapped her arms around Carla's shoulder in a hug.

"I'm all right, Zoe." Carla patted the Froslass' arm. She closed her eyes and breathed out slowly, trying to calm her pounding heart.

Zoe's yellow eyes narrowed and she glared at Flora, who shrank back and pushed her face into Tally's hair.

"Hey, easy!" Bruno stepped between Carla and Tally, hands raised in a placating gesture.

Carla needed to take control now. "Relax, Zoe. Flora didn't mean any harm. We're OK."

There was a chance it could have gone wrong. Flora could have miscalculated and sent all of them into the pool, which meant they might have gone over the falls. Worse, she'd acted without an order from her trainer.

Bruno turned to face Tally. "Look, she can't do that, Tal. She can't just Teleport us somewhere unless you tell her to."

"OK. I'm sorry." Tally gently stroked Flora's back. "I'm going to return you now, Flora."

"Hey, how are we going to get down?" asked Bruno.

"I just want to let her calm down. Zoe scared her."

Zoe's eyes were still narrowed. The cold air she radiated felt hostile and sharp.

"Zoe, we're fine," Carla said, trying to sound as firm and soothing as possible. "It's all right, and Tally won't let that happen again."

The Froslass stared into her trainer's eyes, then nodded. Slowly, she relaxed.

"OK, so how do we get down?" Bruno gestured towards the cloud of mist. "I could get Holly to fly us over the waterfall. You guys ever flown before?"

"No. Have you?" asked Carla.

Bruno grimaced. "No."

There had to be a way back down into the main part of the Falls from here that didn't involve going over the edge.

Carla put her hands on her hips. "I guess we'll just have to keep going until we find a way out. The Draconids live in the deeper levels; we're not allowed down there, but maybe they can help."

"And there have to be lots of cool Dragon-types around here, right?" Bruno asked eagerly.

"Do you want to catch one?"

Bruno nodded. "Still got one space left on my team."

"Then let's get going."

"This is wonderful, isn't it?" Even though Tally spoke softly, her voice echoed through the damp cavern. "It feels like we're walking through something sacred."

"I think we are." Carla's stomach was beginning to creep with unease. They'd been wandering for close to an hour now and they still weren't any closer to finding a way out.

Maybe they'd already crossed into the lower levels. If they had, they were officially trespassing.

"Let's have a rest. There's a huge pool just over there." They could think about what to do then.

Carla sat down at the edge of the water and called out Auna. The Vaporeon looked eagerly at the surface, the tip of her tail twitching.

"You know what to do."

Auna dived into the pool and began to swim back and forth rapidly. After a few laps, she disappeared beneath the surface and playfully rolled around, flicking her tail. She wasn't as graceful in the water as Wallace's Milotic yet, but she was a much stronger swimmer than she had been.

Something else moved under the surface.

Carla tensed, unable to move, as a slender serpentine shape rose from the depths of the pool and began to swim around Auna. Then there was another one - three, four, five, then eight.

"Guys. Guys, come and see this!"

She heard Tally draw in a sharp breath. "Are...are those what I think they are?"

"Yeah. Those are Dratini." Bruno knelt beside Carla, shaking his head in wonder. "I never thought I'd get to see one!"

Auna kept pace with the Dratini as they sported and played with her. They weren't remotely afraid of the interloper in their pool. They looked like something out of a vision, or a dream.

"They're so beautiful," Tally murmured. "Are you going to try to catch one?"

Bruno kept watching the water for a moment. Then he said: "What if they're not wild?"

Tally frowned at him. "What do you mean?"

"Carla, you said the lower levels of the Falls were for the Draconids. What if these Dratini are meant for them? I know which Dragon-types are native to Hoenn, and Dratini isn't on the list."

His words were an uncomfortable reminder that they probably shouldn't be in this part of the Falls. Carla got to her feet. "We should get out of here in case the Draconids do arrive."

She slapped the surface repeatedly; after saying farewell to her new friends, Auna swam up and emerged onto the stone floor.

"Did you have fun?" Carla asked. "Your swimming's improved so much; I'm proud of you."

Auna rubbed her head against her leg, leaving a damp patch on her trousers. Carla returned her with a slight twinge of regret; neither of them would ever have an experience like that again.

"I'm seriously starting to think we should ask Holly to fly us over the falls," Tally grumbled, "or getting Flora to Teleport us down again now that everyone's not so emotional."

"Do you think that could work?" asked Carla. "She did get us up here pretty easily."

"Absolutely. She'll be able to focus better now." Tally's face suddenly brightened. "Or why don't we just make camp in the Falls? It's probably too dark outside by now."

As they walked away from the pool, Carla glanced over her shoulder to see a small blue head rising up from the surface. The Dratini squeaked once in farewell, then dived back down again.

They heard the waterfall before they saw it. Carla went to the very edge and checked there was nobody - human or pokémon on the cave floor below. "Nobody's there."

Tally called Flora out and said: "Can you get us back down?" The little Ralts squeaked, the breath left Carla's lungs and the next moment they all landed at the bottom of the waterfall - thankfully on the wet rock floor.

"I don't think we'll need tents, right?" Bruno asked. "Just a place that's sheltered from the spray."

"That sounds perfect. I just hope Zubat don't attack us while we're asleep."

It was then that Carla had an idea. "Maybe I could get Layla to make an alcove for us. She's gotten a lot better at using Secret Power."

The little Buneary landed lightly on her paws. She looked around, ears twitching; when she saw the spray rising from the pool, she hopped over to the edge of the rocky platform and gazed at the scene, entranced.

"Layla, can you check if there's a safe place to make an alcove?" If there wasn't, Carla wouldn't tell her to use Secret Power. It wasn't worth the risk.

Layla's ears quivered as she studied the damp, cool wall. She felt along it carefully with her paws and leaned against it with one ear upright. Then she hopped away from it and nodded.

"You sure?"

Layla nodded.

"OK - use Secret Power!"

The Buneary put her front paws together, then slowly moved them apart. A hole appeared in the cave wall, and grew larger and larger with a loud crumbling sound. Moments later, there was a small cavern in front of the trainers.

"Think that'll be big enough for the three of us?" asked Carla.

Bruno went over to the entrance and peered inside before nodding approvingly. "Yeah, that'll do!"

"Know what I'm craving right now? What I really, really want to eat?"

The three trainers sat side by side at the edge of the alcove, gazing out at the waterfall. Their bags were tucked away behind them.

"What's that, Bruno?" Carla asked, wrapping her arms around her knees.

Her friend grinned. "A cheese sandwich. If I could have any food at this moment, it'd be a cheese sandwich."

"I'd like a hot dog," Carla said, "bought from a stand on the beach. With ketchup. What would you have, Tally?"

Tally frowned thoughtfully, tilting her head up. "I think...I'd have...oh, I don't know, actually. Wait, yes I do! A sweet pastry - homemade, covered in sugar and cinnamon. We sometimes have those for breakfast."

Carla sighed heavily. She needed to check how much battery her phone had; it had been a while since it was last charged.

It was at ten percent - but the screen also showed something else.

"Carly? What's up?" asked Tally.

"I've had a missed call from Dave."

Tally shifted over to peer at the screen. "Has he left a message?"

"No." She'd have to wait until the phone had more power to call him back and anyway, she had no signal in the Falls. He must have called while they were outside, and she'd missed it.

A shadow fell across the mouth of the little alcove. It was far too large to be a Zubat.

Cautiously, Carla crept to the entrance and peered out, taking care to hide her body in the shadows.

Her heart dropped as she saw four masked figures in black.

This chapter's soundtrack is from Loreley by Blackmore's Night.

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