Several hours were spent trying to scrub the stubborn ink off of everyone's faces, which proved only moderately successful; when the marks had been reduced to faint traces, everyone agreed it was good enough, and they packed up. So it was that, at last, the three friends approached the entrance to the cave system that ran all the way through Mt. Moon; eager to get on their way, they ignored the Pokémon Center Jovi had noticed earlier and headed straight inside.

"Maybe I should have come this way first," Mary-Sue remarked as cold earth surrounded them. "these caves are a lot bigger than Diglett Cave."

"Diglett Cave?" Jovi inquired.

"I came from Celadon City, and I decided to take Diglett Cave to Viridian Forest, rather than going around this way," Mary-Sue told her. "It's a straight shot, since it was made entirely by Diglett, while this is a big natural cave system full of all kinds of Pokémon, so I figured it would be easier." Gulping, she looked around at the expansive tunnel. "But I'd never been in a cave before, and Diglett Cave is really narrow…"

"Claustrophobic, huh?" Jovi nodded. "Makes sense."

"This is much better," Mary-Sue agreed.

"Dark, though," Jovi said, and she took out a Pokéball and opened it. "Mimi, use Flash, won't you?"

"Min min!" squeaked the blue-tipped mouse, and it began to glow, illuminating the passage ahead of and behind them.

"Yeah, Pokémon who live in caves are used to the dark," Mary-Sue said, "so it's illegal to install electric lights, even in caves that people pass through all the time. It's important to share the land with the Pokémon."

"Huh." Jovi tilted her head, her eyes going distant. "I wonder if we didn't do things like that in Orre, and that's why they all went away?"

Before long, they had gone far enough to leave any trace of sunlight far behind, leaving Minun's glow as the only way to see anything. The Pokémon's range was broader than the flashlight on Mary-Sue's Pokédex, but it didn't seem to travel as far, leaving massive shadows all around and above them. Just like in Diglett Cave, it was almost chilly despite the season.

"Maybe it's not so much better," Mary-Sue whispered, hugging herself.

"Don't be scared," Aaron spoke up unexpectedly. "Just don't panic and you'll be fine." When the girls turned to him, he smiled. "Ballonlea's a lot like this," he explained. "Didn't think a cave would feel more like home than a forest, but I could get used to it."

Mary-Sue looked around as she walked. Diglett Cave had been a tunnel, there hadn't been much to look at, but the rock formations in here were like nothing she'd ever seen. Of course, she'd read about stalagmites and stalactites, but seeing them in person was something else entirely; in the stark light, they almost looked like fangs, as though the three travelers were walking through a gigantic mouth. "I don't think I could," she said softly.

"Do you know where we're going, Masie?" Jovi asked.

"Uh…" Mary-Sue frowned at her. "I've just been taking the biggest openings."

"Because I feel like we just came through there." Jovi pointed to a black hole across the chamber they'd just walked into.

"We did," Aaron confirmed. "But don't panic." As the girls hesitated, he walked to the front of the group. "You just need to keep yourself oriented, and stay aware of your surroundings. I doubt this cave is too dangerous when it's the only way between Pewter City and Cerulean City, it would take either hard work or a total panic attack to get truly lost in here."

"What do you mean, 'hard work'?" Mary-Sue all but grumbled.

"Like, you'd have to have a way to completely blind yourself or erase all your memories," Aaron shrugged. "And even then, you wouldn't stay lost. There are only so many paths in this cave; if you keep in mind which ones you've already traveled, process of elimination will get you out."

"Then why don't you lead?" Jovi suggested.

"Sure." He walked ahead, not even hesitating.

Suddenly, a shrill, piercing noise echoed through the cave. As they covered their ears, ducking down reflexively, something flapped between them, its touch barely brushing Mary-Sue's face; when she looked, all she saw was a winged thing disappearing into a dark alcove high above. A moment later, the noise faded.

"Must've been a Zubat," Mary-Sue said. "Good thing it didn't attack us, they can cause real trouble for travelers."

"Min min," added the Pokémon lighting their way.

"What a noise," Aaron commented unhappily, and he was still rubbing one of his ears when they started walking again. "Fairy tricks are easier to deal with…"

"That was just Supersonic," Mary-Sue told him. "Zubat are known for it. Actually, I'm kinda surprised it left us alone…"

"I'm not complaining," Jovi said.

No one argued, and they proceeded.

To Mary-Sue's concern, Aaron's path seemed to take them downwards, further underground, rather than straight forward. Every now and then, there were knotted rope ladders to help humans climb up and down steep slopes, so it could be assumed that they were going the way they were supposed to, but Mary-Sue didn't like it. Movement occasionally flickered just outside Minun's glow, and sometimes there were skittering noises in the shadows, but nothing else attacked them for a while. At one point, Mary-Sue almost lost her footing when a Sandshrew poked its head out of the dirt just under her boot, but it ducked back down into its burrow before she could do much more than yelp.

"How deep do we have to go before we climb back out?" Jovi eventually asked, speaking the very thought that had been on Mary-Sue's mind.

"I don't know," she answered. "I think the caves shift over time…"

"Batbatbatbatbat!" something hissed suddenly, and a winged creature dove at them, specifically at Minun.

"Miiin!" it yelped, tumbling from a rock it had just climbed.

"Bat zuzu!" the Zubat rasped; it almost sounded like it was laughing.

"Mimi, Shock Wave," Jovi ordered, but the Zubat had already disappeared into the shadows again.

"What a jerk," Mary-Sue huffed.

"You okay, Mimi?" Jovi asked her partner.

"Min," it smiled, a few sparks popping from the marks on its cheeks.

"Then keep on glowing for us," Jovi told it. "We really appreciate your help."

"Minun mi!" it squeaked, and it hopped over to where Aaron was examining a three-way fork in the path.

"Aaron?" Mary-Sue asked, jogging to his side.

"One of these goes up," he mused aloud, "but it looks like it turns the wrong way. What do you guys think?"

"I'm just following you," Jovi shrugged.

"Yeah, I'm no good at this stuff," Mary-Sue agreed.

"Hmm…" The foreign boy tilted his head, then turned for the left-hand path and continued walking, his friends following him without hesitation.

This path did indeed lead upwards, not so steeply that a ladder was needed but enough that it started to wear on Jovi - after a little while, the teenager started lagging behind despite her longer legs, her heavy panting lending an unnerving ambiance to the caves.

"You okay, Jovi?" Mary-Sue asked.

"I'm fine," she wheezed. "Good thing it's cold in here."

"Let's slow down," Mary-Sue suggested. "My legs are starting to get a little sore."

Jovi grumbled something that sounded like, "Kids."

"Zuzu!" An abrupt fluttering punctuated by a hiss caught their attention, and a Zubat swooped directly for Jovi's face.

"Aah!" she yelped, and she fell backward, tumbling down the dirt slope and scrambling to stop her fall. The sounds of dirt and rocks being dislodged stopped long after she was out of the range of Minun's light.

"Bat bat bat," chuckled the Zubat, and it disappeared into another alcove high above.

"Stop that!" Mary-Sue called after it. "That's mean!"

There was no response.

"Jovi!" Aaron shouted.

"I'm okay!" came the older girl's voice, and a minute later, she crawled into view on all fours, climbing the passage with the help of her hands. She was dirty, and a bit battered, but she didn't seem injured at least. "Though I'm starting to get really tired of that Zubat."

"You think it's the same one?" Aaron asked.

"Seems like it," Jovi grunted, rising to her feet. "It keeps doing the same thing."

"Yeah," Mary-Sue agreed. "I think it's playing with us."

"Here I was hoping we'd find someone from Cipher in here by now," Jovi went on, all but stomping ahead, and the others followed. "But all we've seen is a Zubat who wants to give us trouble."

"And a Sandshrew," Mary-Sue added.

"Barely," Jovi grumbled.

"It is interesting that we haven't seen any signs of Cipher, since Ethan said he saw one of them come in here," Aaron remarked.

"Yeah, but he said that was two days ago," Mary-Sue pointed out. "They were probably on their way through to Cerulean City, like us."

"After all that stuff you said about what makes this mountain special?" Aaron questioned. "I thought for sure they were going to be up to something in here."

"Shadow Pokémon can't evolve," Jovi said, surprising her companions, "not even with stones, so I doubt Moon Stones would be of any use to Cipher…unless they were trying to find a way to create Shadow Pokémon that can evolve, which I wouldn't put past them."

"Is that something that can even be changed?" Aaron inquired.

"I don't know," Jovi groaned. "The abilities of Shadow Pokémon have been changing over the years, and I'm not just talking about XDs being invented. Whatever it is Cipher does to close the doors to Pokémon's hearts, it's a process they're constantly refining. But it doesn't look like they're working on that here."

"Refining…" Mary-Sue shivered. Bad enough to seal Pokémon's spirits away from their bodies, but for there to be a process to doing it that could be 'refined' just chilled her blood.

"And did we have to go so far down?" Jovi went on, almost whining. "Who can climb a staircase for an hour straight?"

"Hopefully, this isn't a dead end," Aaron said.

"Don't say that!" the older girl yelped.

Eventually, the ground did level out, even as it split into more paths. Impatient and out-of-breath, Jovi picked the next path, which they followed down a twisting, winding way before it got too narrow to continue.

"Dead end," Aaron remarked.

"Shut up," Jovi mumbled.

"Min min?" her partner asked her, putting a little paw to her boot, and she smiled and patted its ears.

"I'm sorry, Mimi," she said. "You've been working harder than any of us in here. Do you need a break?"

"Min!" it assured her, shaking its head.

"Can your other Pokémon use Flash?" Aaron inquired.

"No," Jovi sighed, "only Mimi. Pluplu knows more offensive moves, while Mimi's better at providing backup. It's a trooper," she added fondly, smiling at her friend.

"Min min!" grinned the little electric rodent.

"I'm sure we won't have to go all the way back," Mary-Sue offered. "But we probably should get some rest soon; I'm getting tired, too. It feels like we've been at this for hours…" She rolled her shoulders, which had started to ache under the weight of her backpack. "Definitely seems like we took the scenic route."

"There's a scenic route?" Aaron asked.

The three friends blinked at each other for a minute as they considered getting upset by the implications, then all sighed in unison.

"I shouldn't have taken the lead anyway," Jovi said. "Aaron's the one who knows what he's doing."

"I've honestly just been getting lucky," Aaron admitted as they started retracing their steps, the boy in the lead with Minun. "That, or there have been multiple right ways to go all this time…probably that."

"'Scenic route'," Jovi muttered furiously behind them.

The moment they returned to the last branch in the tunnels they'd passed, a fluttering noise above them caught their attention.

"Zuzu!" hissed a Zubat, presumably the same Zubat. "Zubat bat!" It flitted around the three of them, all flapping wings and a big mouth of sharp teeth, then dove into another passage. "Zuzuzu!"

"Hey, get back here!" Jovi exclaimed, running after it.

"Jovi, wait!" Mary-Sue cried, running after the teenager, and Aaron grumbled once before following.

"Zubat bat!" the wild Pokémon spat, sounding almost as though it was taunting the travelers, as the passage began to narrow vertically, until they had to crouch to follow. Eventually, the Zubat barely flew under a narrow gap that was too small for any of the humans to squeeze through, and Jovi swiped at it once in vain before it disappeared.

"Stupid pest," she growled.

The three humans were on their hands and knees, squeezed together.

"At least we've eliminated this as the right way," Aaron offered as they struggled to turn around and back out into the more spacious part of the passage.

"Don't act like that stupid thing did us any favors," Jovi snapped. "This place is bad enough without that little jerk bothering us."

"I really do think it's playing with us," Mary-Sue said again as they finally managed to reach a place where they could stand up.

"What do you mean, 'playing'?" Aaron inquired.

"Zubat are really dangerous," the youngest of the trio explained. "That was one of the biggest things we were taught in Wilderness Traversal class, to be careful of Zubat. Zubat can eat Pokémon food and berries just fine, but wild ones mostly survive by sucking the blood out of people and other Pokémon. If this Zubat really wanted to harm us, it would have tried to bite one of us by now."

"Eek!" Jovi exclaimed, her shoulders hunching to her ears. "They suck blood? That's so creepy!"

"Yeah," Mary-Sue sighed. "They almost never kill, or even severely injure, but it's still best to keep them away. But this one's just pranking us, so…I think it's just being playful. Kind of mean-spirited, but maybe it doesn't understand that."

"Does it think we're just spending the day in here for fun?" Jovi grumbled.

"Who knows?" Mary-Sue sighed. "But I really don't think it wants to hurt us."

They returned to the fork in the path, and Aaron took the lead as they went down the only other option. A few minutes later, they reached an impassible pile of rocks.

"And my luck has run out," Aaron remarked dully.

"Are you serious?!" Jovi all but screamed. "We have to go all the way back?!"

"I'm exhausted," Mary-Sue groaned. "Can we sit down for a minute?"

"Sounds good," Aaron said, and they all collapsed where they stood.

"I didn't think Mt. Moon would be this difficult to get through," Mary-Sue remarked, leaning against a rock formation. "Does everyone have to do this?"

"You said yourself, it's a natural formation," Aaron pointed out. "Nature isn't exactly known for making things convenient for people."

"You can turn off the light for a minute if you want, Mimi," Jovi told her partner.

"Mi mi!" it protested.

"If you say so…" Jovi dug around in her backpack, eventually pulling out a small cookie. "At least have a treat."

"Min!" the little electric-type said happily, and it began nibbling the food.

After a few minutes, the group wordlessly got to their feet and turned back, trekking all the way back down into the bowels of the mountain. None of them wanted to waste their breath talking, and when a Paras approached them curiously, Jovi told Minun to send it scurrying with Shock Wave before Mary-Sue could even consider catching it. Eventually, they made it back to where Aaron had hesitated; they tried the middle path, but it became impossible to push through almost immediately, leaving them with only one option.

All of them were flagging as they turned down the final path; it was difficult to keep lifting their legs. Even with her hardy, comfortable boots, Mary-Sue's feet were starting to hurt. The sprint down Diglett Cave had been exhausting, yes, but she hadn't given herself time to notice until it was over; this was a slow drag, and she couldn't take much more.

Suddenly, Minun's light revealed something new: A thick, sturdy ladder, leading straight up for further than the light could reach. When Mary-Sue squinted at the blackness above them, she thought maybe she could make out a faint, natural light.

"Is that the way out?" she asked.

"It better be," Jovi remarked, grasping the rung just above her head. She tested the structure for a minute, then looked down at Minun and said, "Mimi, ride in my pocket, okay?"

"Maybe I should go first, then," Mary-Sue spoke up. "I don't know if Mimi's light will reach past both me and Aaron."

"Fine," Jovi sighed. "Let's just go."

They started climbing, Mary-Sue first, then Jovi with Minun, then Aaron. At least climbing a ladder worked mostly different muscles from walking, and the mere chance that they could stop and camp soon kept Mary-Sue going. After a few minutes of climbing, the air grew somewhat warmer, which wasn't helpful but was definitely encouraging.

Finally, Mary-Sue heaved herself up the last few rungs and onto solid ground, scrambling out of the way so Jovi and Aaron could follow. For a minute, she just caught her breath, barely registering the sound of running water; when she finally looked up, she lost her breath all over again.

They were in a large, open chamber of the caves, with a fissure overhead open to the sky above, revealing the star-studded night sky that proved they'd been caving for far too long. Unfortunately, that appeared to be the only opening to the outside, and was definitely not possible to reach. Within the cave, though, was a spring that looked crystal clear; water tumbled from one wall into a pool, then ran through a rivulet into the opposite wall. It wasn't the exit, but it was beautiful.

All three travelers lay on the ground, staring for a minute at what they'd discovered. When the silence broke, it was Jovi who broke it.

"This isn't the way out," she said, her tone completely flat.

"Let's just camp here for the night and start looking for the way out in the morning," Mary-Sue suggested.

"I'm glad I suggested we bring firewood," Aaron remarked, already shrugging out of his backpack. "You can never be too prepared."

Jovi tried to keep her grumbling to a minimum as they released their Pokémon and started setting up camp. Magikarp seemed delighted by the pond and waterfall, quickly setting its sights on trying to jump to where the water poured in; Plusle comforted Minun, who finally seemed to be allowing its exhaustion to show, and Budew, of course, huddled by Mary-Sue while Aaron's Pokémon played around him.

"Don't go too far," Aaron called when Zigzagoon began darting away.

"Zig-zagoon!" it barked, and it vanished into the shadows.

"Is it okay to let it run off?" Mary-Sue asked.

"It always runs off," Aaron replied, returning his focus to his cutting board of berries. "Zigzagoon loves to wander around; I'm pretty sure that's how it ended up in Ballonlea Forest. It'll follow the smell of the curry back pretty soon, though."

"Zuzu!"

A hiss and fluttering overhead caught everyone's attention, as a single Zubat circled the crack in the ceiling.

"Not that dumb Zubat again," Jovi groaned.

"We should be careful," Mary-Sue said; "if it just wants to play, we can ignore it, but we need to make sure it doesn't try to bite us."

"Bat zuzu!" the wild Pokémon said in its raspy, high-pitched voice, and it flew over to where Magikarp was jumping at the waterfall. "Bat bat?"

"Magikarp, karp karp," huffed the fish, ceasing in its efforts to glare at the flying-type.

"Zuzu, Zubat bat, bat bat bat," it replied.

"Karp!" Magikarp snapped, and it flipped its fin to splash water on the wild creature.

"Zuuuu!" it hissed, flapping wildly away. "Zuuu-baaaat!"

"I really wish I had let Meowth come with me," Mary-Sue sighed, lightly stroking Budew. "I want to know what they're saying."

"A Meowth?" Jovi asked.

"Yeah, my parents' Meowth speaks human language," Mary-Sue explained quickly. "He offered to come with me on my journey, but…I don't know, I wanted to go it alone. I thought I could figure everything out by myself."

"Not many people have a means of translating Pokémon speech," Aaron pointed out. "Pretty much every trainer has to guess what their Pokémon are saying."

"True," Mary-Sue conceded.

"A Pokémon that speaks human language," Jovi mused. "I wonder what it would say a Shadow Pokémon was saying?"

"Maybe when we go through Celadon, we can ask him," Mary-Sue suggested. "We'll be going there at some point for the gym, so…"

"Hopefully, this poor thing will be purified by then," Jovi remarked, taking out the one Pokéball she hadn't opened. "The Purification Ceremony is quick, I'll be able to convince Michael to let me borrow a Chamber for a few seconds once Bibarel's ready. It's…just a matter of getting it to that point."

"Maybe, after it's purified, you can ask Masie's Meowth to have it give an account of what was done to it," Aaron suggested. "Of just exactly what it's like to be turned into a Shadow Pokémon, and purified too."

"Professor Krane would probably like that," Jovi admitted. "But…I was hoping to set this big guy free once it was purified. I'm not really a trainer, and it should be allowed to live its best life once it's healed."

"There's probably no harm in holding onto it for just a little while," Aaron pointed out, and he stood up from where he'd been stirring the wok. "Dinner's ready!" he called, raising his voice, presumably in hopes that Zigzagoon would hear.

"Zuuuuuu-bat!"

"Karp!"

A hiss, followed by a yelp, drew everyone's attention, and Mary-Sue gasped to see that the Zubat had struck Magikarp in midair with a glowing wing.

"Magikarp!" she exclaimed, jumping to her feet and running over.

"Karp karp, karp!" ranted the fish as it recovered from the fall and poked its head out of the water. "Magikarp karp karp!"

"Bat zuzu!" hissed its opponent. It was difficult to interpret an expression or tone to the creature, but its gaping mouth lined with sharp fangs definitely made it seem threatening. "Zuzuzu, Zubat!" It dove for Magikarp again.

"Dive under the water to dodge it!" Mary-Sue shouted. "Then jump up and Tackle!"

"Karp," her partner nodded, and it submerged just in time for Zubat's fangs to only graze the surface of the pool.

"If it's a battle you want, it's a battle you'll get," Mary-Sue told the wild Pokémon.

"Kaaarp!" Magikarp leapt from the water and smacked the flying creature with its tail.

"Zuuuu!" it rasped angrily. "Zuzu, Zubat bat bat bat bat!" Its wings began to glow again.

"Wing Attack, huh?" Mary-Sue mused. "Alright, Magikarp, Splash into the waterfall!"

"Magi-karp!" the water-type creature trumpeted as it obeyed, quickly disappearing into the airborne spray of foam. Zubat followed it, then stopped, seemingly unwilling to get wet.

"Tackle!" Mary-Sue shouted.

"Karp karp!" From out of the cascading water, Magikarp materialized, flying at full speed and smacking Zubat down.

"Zuuuubat!" it cried as it fell for the pond, and it flailed its wings in a vain attempt to recover, seemingly panicking about the idea of landing in the water.

Mary-Sue hesitated for a moment, then grabbed a capsule from her bag and threw it. "Go, Pokéball!" she shouted.

The device hit the falling Pokémon just before it splashed into the cool liquid, and it disappeared inside in a cloud of red light. The orb sank into the water, button flashing.

"Magikarp," remarked the orange Pokémon, having landed nearby, and it dove down to catch the sinking Pokéball and push it back to the surface.

"Thanks, Magikarp," Mary-Sue smiled as she fished the twitching ball out of the water. A moment after it was safely in her hands, it clicked and ping!ed, signifying a successful capture. "All right!" she cheered. "I caught a Zubat!"

"Way to go, Masie," Aaron spoke up, and Mary-Sue turned to see her friends smiling at her, while the other Pokémon had all gotten started on their curry.

"Thanks," Mary-Sue grinned. She tapped the button on the Pokéball, and the flying creature emerged.

"Bat bat," it hissed.

"You're going to travel with me now, okay?" Mary-Sue asked it.

"Zu…" It faced her for a moment, its head bowing slightly as it beat its wings to stay airborne.

"I know you've just been playing with us," Mary-Sue told it. "I'm not upset about your little pranks, really. Maybe we can have fun together? And I'll give you plenty of Pokémon food, so you won't have to bite anyone."

"Zu," it mused, and then it bobbed its head. "Zubat bat!"

"Great!" Mary-Sue grinned. "Why don't you come have some curry?"

"Zuzu!" it said, its mouth twisting into something like a smile, and it flapped past her towards the campsite.

"Hey, how about an apology?" Jovi asked it pointedly. "You tripped me and Mimi while we were lost in these caves."

"Yeah, you were a little mean," Mary-Sue agreed.

"Zuzu?" it asked.

"Say you're sorry, Zubat," Mary-Sue told it.

The fluttering creature flew up to Jovi's face and tilted its head. "Zu…Zubat," it said.

"And to Mimi too," Jovi added, pointing to the tired mouse by her foot.

"Mi mi," Minun said quickly, waving its little paws. "Minun, mi mi."

"I don't think Mimi's upset," Aaron said.

"Zubat bat," Zubat said, flying down close to Minun.

"Min min," it assured it with a smile. "Minun, Minun."

"So, I'm Mary-Sue," Mary-Sue said, and Zubat flew over to her. "My friends call me Masie, I guess. That's Jovi you tripped, and this is Aaron…How about everyone introduces themselves?"

While the Pokémon became acquainted, Mary-Sue scanned her new partner with her Pokédex.

"So you really don't have eyes," she mused aloud; "you just sense what's around you with sound waves, and those big ears of yours. You really don't like sunlight, either…I'll try to only call on you at night or when we're indoors."

"Zig zig!"

"Hey, Zigzagoon!" Aaron greeted as the striped creature zigzagged its way back to the campsite. "About time you came back! Did you find anything interesting?"

"Zig zig," said the furred Pokémon, and it held something up in its claw. "Zig-zagoon!"

"What's this?" Aaron took the object, holding it up in the firelight. "A…root of some kind?"

"Zuzu!" Zubat exclaimed, flapping over immediately. "Zu, Zubat bat. Bat zu!"

"You want this?" Aaron guessed, holding the root out to Zubat.

"Zubat!" it hissed, and it ducked its head to drape the lumpy root over its neck.

"Well, you can have it if you want, then," Aaron laughed.

"Zuzuzu, zuzu, zuzuzu," it chattered, flying around everyone.

"Here, you can have some of my curry," Mary-Sue said, holding up her bowl. "The rest will go to Magikarp."

"Zu…" Zubat turned in the direction of the pond, and even without eyes, it seemed to be glaring. "Zubat," it hissed, teeth gnashing.

"You and Magikarp are going to be allies now," Mary-Sue told it firmly.

"Zuuuuu…" The flying creature did not seem happy about this.

"How about we all just finish eating and get some sleep?" Aaron sighed.

"I have a better idea," Jovi piped up; "how about, after we sleep, Zubat shows us how to get out of here?"

"Can you do that, Zubat?" Mary-Sue asked it. "We're really hopelessly lost."

"Not hopelessly," Aaron muttered.

"Zuzu!" it nodded. "Zubat bat, Zubat!"

"Great!" Mary-Sue exclaimed, almost collapsing in relief. "Thank you so much, Zubat. We need to sleep now - I know you sleep during the day, but we can't see in the dark, so we need to travel in the daytime. Don't worry, I won't ask you to go out in the sun, but tomorrow morning, once we're back underground, you'll lead us out, okay?"

"Zu-bat," it declared affirmatively.

"Alright, then eat up," Mary-Sue said.

They ate dinner, Mary-Sue helping Magikarp gulp down the last mouthfuls in the wok while the other dishes were washed, and then they all crawled into their tents, aching and exhausted.

At least we'll actually sleep in our sleeping bags tonight, Mary-Sue thought as she drifted off at last, the sound of falling water drowning out her heartbeat.