It hadn't quite seemed real yet. As Milo had tripped and fallen back, he'd felt something – some presence nearby, but hadn't a clue what. But now wasn't the time for that.

A strange sense of clarity filled his mind as the ground beneath him rapidly approached. His eyes glanced down, seeing his soon to be grim fate, yet somehow fear eluded him for the moment. Milo's brain cranked into overdrive – some sort of survival instinct taking over. He wobbled clumsily in the air, until finally his feet were facing downwards. In position, he tucked in his chin and wrapped his arms around his neck.

Good. Brace your neck, break your legs.

Arceus above, he really didn't want to break his legs. The realization almost threw him back into panic. It took all his willpower to not curl them up and land in some pathetic fetal position. With that, the few seconds that he had in reality were up, and he held his eyes shut as the floor beneath him drew close.

Something was wrong. He hadn't felt a sickening crunch or a surge of pain. Did the shock dull the pain that much? Milo hesitantly cracked his eyes open, seeing… darkness?

He was still falling. As his eyes tried to adjust, they darted around, making out only faint shapes. Staring upwards, he saw nothing but another veil of black. How was this possible-?

With a terrible splash, Milo was underwater. That surge of pain he'd expected had finally arrived, and his entire lower half felt almost numb. His eyes had instinctively slammed shut as his mouth moved to scream out, doing nothing but letting a mouthful of water flood in. Sputtering out and gripping his face, he forced his eyes open, looking up. Light.

He could barely feel his legs, but they miraculously still worked. Kicking himself up, the light from the surface came closer and closer.

Gasping and coughing, Milo's head surfaced. Picking a direction at random, he swam, pathetically paddling off whatever adrenaline still remained. Before long, his arms touched the beautiful feeling of dry land.

Clawing himself up, he flipped and fell backwards, simply lying there, catching his breath. Milo's mind was still racing with instinctual panic, his breaths refusing to slow. Only when he felt his breath hitching from overexertion did it finally slow, and he felt himself get his bearings back.

Sitting up, Milo shook off and wiped away whatever water he could. He could already feel the water chilling him, and quickly peeled off his shirt to wring it out. Checking inside his backpack, the contents insides weren't quite soaked, but they weren't exactly dry either. Picking out his spare shirt, Milo quickly tossed it on – better than soaking wet.

It was then that Milo finally took a good look at where he was. Gazing back towards the water, Milo felt his heart quicken at the sight.

"A cenote… holy…"

He'd read about such sinkholes before but had never expected to stumble upon one. Light vegetation grew around the waterside, covering the rocky formations in the cavern. Somehow, light was reaching the bottom, illuminating the body of water and its surroundings softly. Yet, when he looked upwards, there was nothing but that same veil of darkness that the light inexplicably extended from. There was definitely something unnatural about this place. Deeper in was shrouded in black, so Milo couldn't make out much of anything.

With the wonder fading, Milo's heart sank with the realization of the predicament he was in. The soles of his shoes had been ripped off, but his legs somehow felt mostly fine. He'd felt the impact go all the way up his chin, but luckily his teeth were still intact, and he hadn't bitten off his tongue.

Still, he had no clue where he was, nor any realistic way to get out. He knew his best chance was to stay put and wait for help to come.

"Ah crap, Clara doesn't have the map. Arceus, I hope she can find her way back…"

So that was it. Stay put and pray Clara could find her way back to civilization. Emptying out his bag to dry things out, Milo took inventory of what he had.

Unfortunately, Clara had been carrying most their supplies, which left Milo with a rather paltry selection. He could probably stretch out what food he had to last a week, but it wasn't going to be fun. Milo laid out his things on a flat rock to dry out. He shivered, feeling the cool air against his damp clothes and hair. His matches were soaked and wouldn't work to light a fire until they dried out fully, if even.

And this was going to be his life now for the foreseeable future. The boredom kicked in after what couldn't have been more than a couple hours. Milo found himself pacing around the cavern, trying to find any spots that felt slightly warmer, to no avail. He was unsure if the plants he found around were edible, but that was a bridge to cross when he got truly desperate. By the end, Milo resigned himself to huddling up, covered by layers of his damp clothes in an attempt to stay warm.

He wasn't sure how much time passed. Milo hadn't even realized that he'd fallen asleep until his eyes fluttered open. His stomach groaned. He really should hold off, spread out his food as thin as humanly possible, but…

"Just a bit…"

As Milo went to check on his rations, he was met with the dreadful sight of half of the plastic bags being chewed through, the food inside nowhere in sight.

"No, no, no… no, no! This can't be happening."

With a depressing chuckle, Milo felt his will wavering, "I'm gonna die down here…"

Packing up whatever was left, and taking a small bite from a sandwich, Milo hid the rest of his supplies inside his backpack, zipping it up. Hoping to scare away whatever had just halved his time till destitution, Milo poked around the area, trying to find any signs of the thief.

It was faint, but he found a small trail of disturbed brush. Silently following, Milo found himself in a small corner of the cavern he hadn't noticed before. Curled up, sleeping, he found it.

A Vulpix. He could barely make it out. Milo moved to jump and scare it away but found himself hesitating. As he got close, he felt its warm aura radiating out, a welcome feeling. Its breathing and small whimpers in its sleep made it feel like he'd be kicking a puppy – it wouldn't actually be that far from it.

Resigned, Milo trudged back. "Ugh. Hope you enjoyed the meal, buddy…"

Time felt like it blurred again as Milo sat there, trying his best to not go insane. He'd actually gotten quite good at skipping pebbles along the water, until he ran out of pebbles. Luckily for him, his matches seemed to have survived the plunge after drying out, and by the time night fell and the air grew even chillier, Milo had a small fire to cozy himself up next to.

After some time, the warmth of his fire had seemingly attracted another. Milo watched, as a small vulpine figure approached cautiously, nose twitching. He had half a mind to try and scare the Vulpix off again but found it difficult to muster up the will to actually do it. At this point, the company might help him from going insane.

The Vulpix slowly approached, looking up at Milo who remained still. It paced around for a while, before eventually settling on the opposite side, curling up by the fire. Milo cracked a small smile, watching the small fox.

'Man… I miss Gigi.'

After a short while, Milo pulled out one of his hidden bags, taking out the sandwich inside for another bite. Somehow, the Vulpix immediately caught a whiff, inching towards Milo.

"Sorry bud, I'll starve if I share…" Milo held the sandwich out of reach as the Vulpix approached. It simply sat on its haunches, staring upwards, a begging look in its eyes. Milo looked away, but then felt the Vulpix inch closer, its snout resting on his legs.

"Seriously? Ugh."

He couldn't help it. He peeled out a slice of salami from inside the sandwich, tossing it to the Vulpix. "Guess we'll starve together."

Milo hadn't the energy to really care how much time had actually passed. Two, three days, maybe. He ended up naming his new friend and resident food thief: Felix. The Vulpix probably somehow fell down here too and would likely meet a similarly dreadful fate in due time.

The last of his supplies didn't last long, with two mouths eating away at them. Milo just hoped he'd bought enough time for a rescue crew to soon find this place and save them both. He really didn't want to find out what he'd be willing to do once desperation really kicked in.

Lying down, with an aching stomach, the only comfort given to Milo was the soft feeling of stroking Felix's fur softly. Felix didn't seem quite as starved as Milo, but didn't seem to be full of much energy either. Falling asleep, Milo dreamed of the piles of food he would devour if he ever made it out alive.

Blinking his eyes open, he heard a strange sound. Milo sat up, noticing Felix wasn't next to him anymore. Looking around, he spotted the small fox, eating.

Milo rubbed his eyes, making sure this wasn't still a dream. Crawling over, his eyes hadn't deceived him. Resting in a fairly neat pile was a variety of colourful berries. It took all his self-control to make sure he picked out only the berries he recognized.

There were more than enough for Milo to fill himself. It was only after his short feast that he realized how much smarter it'd have been to at least try and ration them. Well, what's done is done, and his belly certainly thanked him for his impulsiveness.

Felix was curled up, happily licking berry juice off his lips as Milo packed the rest into plastic bags. There wasn't much left, but it was better than nothing. It was only then that it occurred to Milo.

How on earth had a giant pile of berries suddenly appeared out of thin air? Milo glanced around the cavern, but didn't see anything strange.

"Hello? Is someone there?"

His voice reverberated out gently, yet no response came. Milo huffed; clearly if something was there, it wasn't keen to show itself.

For the first time since he'd fallen, Milo felt he had enough energy to think clearly. Unfortunately, with this, he found himself stuck thinking about how stupid he was.

What on earth was he thinking? Why did he approach the cliffside like an idiot? He'd gotten so enthralled in that strange magical presence that- This was exactly what his dad warned him about. And probably the exact kind of situation his mom got caught up in before…

Tears fell as his introspection reached the ugly and likely truth. His mom was probably dead. And he would've been too, if not for whatever was watching over him. Milo wanted to hold on to the hope that his mom would be found one day, but he knew better. And being stuck in the middle of a dank cavern with nothing but his thoughts – he broke down. Thoughts of never seeing the surface again, of what horrible fate his mom likely similarly faced.

'You'll die if you stay down here, you know.'

Ugh, of course he knew. But he had no other choice. Stay put. That's what- wait.

That wasn't his own voice. That wasn't his own thought. Milo's head jolted up, but he saw nobody except Felix who had decided to curl up nearby.

"Huh? Hello?"

'Nobody is going to find you here. It seems the humans have forgotten you, too. Usually, a team of them would be poking around by now.'

The voice didn't come from any particular direction, rather it felt like his own thought, just with a different voice. "Wh-who's there? Are you the one who helped us?"

'Come now, Milo. You've travelled the world, yet can't put two and two together yet?'

With that, a flash of pink light appeared in front of him, dissolving into a strange creature. It didn't quite look exactly like what he knew, but Milo could immediately tell what was in front of him.

"M-Mew… You're Mew."

Milo could barely believe the irony. Maniacs like his mom had spent their lives searching for mythical Pokémon, yet somehow, he'd stumbled into one while actively trying to avoid them all his life.

'It seems a waste for you to die here, Milo. If the humans aren't searching for you, then perhaps…'

It occurred to him that the Mew knew his name. In retrospect, it made sense; Milo had read that Mew were powerful psychics. Still, caught up in his thoughts, it hadn't quite registered what the Mew was actually saying.

The Mew suddenly flew up close to Milo's face, eyes glowing with a strange light.

"Wait, huh?"

'I'll see you soon, kitten.'

In an instant, all was black.