Breakfast was simple fare, eggs, vegetables, and cheese beaten together into a soft fraittata. A pile of meat strips added to Riolu's portion, and an incense stick lit for the Ghost's honour.
Now, Linh sat over his map, digesting the information as he digested the meal. In the background, a game of chase between the dogs, and Poppy throwing a ball for them to chase. Rubber, bouncing off the stalagmites like the shadows.
"Hey, Poppy." Linh spoke up, "Alfornada's south west, yes? Where's the road to it?" Alfornada looked to be on a large plateau, and the only road that looked like it would go in that direction, actually stopped three quarters of the way. Or just wasn't drawn down—there looked to be a road coming out of Alfornada, that could connect to it. But there was just a large gap of wild space in between.
"There's this big cavern underneath the cliff, a tunnel's been built right through it, all the way up to Tulip!"
Linh sniffed and nodded, looking back at the map. His hand reached out reflexively, and held Menace back from sitting on it.
Menace rasped, indignant. Linh settled him down by dragging him into his lap. "Underground tunnels, ey? Anything interesting in there?"
"Lotsa things! Its big and wide and lots of space to explore, even with the two big roads—the car one and Diglett one! Big and dark, but everywhere there are these standing torches and lights, the little dinos fight over them with the Fighting Types! Then there are Dunsparce suburbs and they're always fighting for space with the Diglett routes. Oh! Oh! And the ceiling has all these moving glints. Like stars!"
"Sounds cramped."
"It's beeeegg." Poppy spread her arms wide, to emphasise the largeness.
Their conversation stalled by a distant sound. A loud scrape, something heavy dragged across the floor, from the caves entrance. All activity paused as they waited for the reveal.
It was Tinkie, her large hammer dragged behind her. Her face set in irritation, a hand clutching something.
"Tinkie! You're back!" Her smile fell as she saw Tinkie's hand, she tilted side to side, looking behind Tinkie, "Only one?"
Tinkie shrugged. Then opened her hand. A pile of rocks and an oddly shaped metal thing clanged as it hit the floor.
"The only one who was interested..." Poppy said, "That's. That's fine!"
"Can I have an explanation." Linh mildly said, approaching from behind. He eyed the pile of rocks, and twitched back as it twitched.
Poppy paused, "That's right! It was a surprise!" She turned, and slammed her fist into her palm. "Well. I only had Riolu, but you have Casket and Menace. That's not fair, so I asked Tinkie to find me a Pokémon!" She stepped to the side, pointing at the shifting refuse on the floor. "There it is!"
Tinkie coughed something.
"There she is!" Poppy pointed at the Pokémon as the rocks rolled into position. One rectangular one, and four disc like rocks at the corners. The scrap of metal shifted, and flowed, fitting itself atop the central rock. A pipe extended out the back, and out dribbled a purple liquid, staining the tip. A block extended out above it, square and indented in lines. Two yellow eyes formed on the sides of the metal block. At the front, a protrusion like a proboscis extended. The opening at the front shifting like a mouth smacking its lips.
With the sound of a starting engine, piston's rotating, and a puff of choked smoke seeping through the grates on the block, and from the exhaust in the back, Varoom awoke.
Linh stared, somewhere between unamused and bewildered. Then a shift in the stance, "Varoom are not native here."
"Yeh."
Linh's gaze went from Varoom to Tinkie, and took her in. There were twigs in her hair, sand stuck to her hammer, dirt marks were across her cheeks. She gazed back resolutely. Linh shifted to impressed, and Tinkie gave a tired smirk.
Poppy stepped forwards, towards the wild Pokémon. Varoom stared back at her and something in her internals clicked. Like a spark plug arcing sparks. Linh, frowned, and stepped forwards himself. The clicks sounded like a warning.
Poppy took another toddling step. Linh gestured behind his back, and he heard Casket running forwards. Ready to intervene if Varoom did anything. Varoom clicked again, and then rolled forwards slightly, a slick purple ooze dripping from her exhaust.
Poppy took another step, and before Linh could bark a command, Varoom darted forwards—!
"Hey!" Poppy shoved her finger forwards, and waggled it in front of her. Varoom stopped, discs spinning grooves in the cave floor. "No!"
Varoom growled, piston-like. But Poppy just shook her finger again. "No!"
Varoom stared up at her reproachfully, and then froze, as she heard a metallic fall. Tinkie was standing behind her, bouncing her hammer's haft in her hands.
Poppy, slowly, knelt down, keeping her eyes on Varoom the entire time. Linh held his breath, watching. A command on his lips and held back by Tinkie's flicking gaze. Poppy reached into a pocket...
... And pulled out a Pokéblock. A specially made powder of flavour and nutrients shaped into a cube with a paste. One of the many food products to efficiently feed Pokémon. Poppy set it down in front of Varoom, and then sprinkled coal dust from another pocket onto it.
She remained motionless as Varoom approached the block, and slowly ate it. Then, when even the crumbs were gone, she raised a hand. Varoom watched it warily (but less so) as it approached, unmoving.
"Tag." Poppy said, poking Varoom right on the mouth. "You're it!" And she ran away, hands in the air, shrieking laughter. A moment later, Varoom chased her.
Linh watched her go, then exhaled. He turned to Tinkie, "She do that often?"
Tinkie opened her mouth—"No, of course she does. This was normal for her, wasn't it?" he finished. She laughed.
Linh walked to stand beside Tinkie, and they watched the game of tag between Poppy and what would undoubtedly be her next Pokémon, Varoom. Varoom was faster, but had difficulty turning—which Poppy took vicious advantage of with the many stalagmites removing straightaways.
Their other Pokémon were joining in—well. The two dogs. Casket and Riolu, both on all fours and barking because Poppy was making noise.
"She going to do this more often? Send you away, and then you come back with some random arse Pokémon?
Tinkie thought, then shrugged carelessly, then sighed, and Linh looked over her haggard frame again. Did she even sleep while she was looking for Varoom?
"You seem tired. Also hungry," Linh remarked, "You want breakfast?"
Tinkie's eyes sparkled.
Dark, cool, air. Gloom in the half-sphere cavern. A rolling landscape cut by a four lane road. Linh's group stood at the entrance, on the path by the road leading in. He turned to Poppy, astride Cyclizar.
"Let us go over the rules of cave trekking again." He said.
Poppy nodded, her eyes looking up and away as she ticked off the fingers on her hand. "Do not summon a Pokémon bigger then the space allows. Do not use earth shaking moves because that compromises struc-tu-ral stability," her cadence took on Rika's in that moment, "Loud noises like Roar and bright lights scare Pokémon, so we shouldn't do them if we don't want attention!"
"And the rules for us, specifically?" Linh nodded.
Poppy tilted her head. She made a confused sound.
Linh chuffed, "First, don't go running away without telling me, if I get separated from you, I'll get sad." And also scared for Poppy, but she doesn't need to know that. He continued, "Second, if we do get separated, rely on Tinkie and call me on your cellphone." He pointed to the road as it passed into the dark. Periodic along the side, boxes on poles stood. "With the number of repeaters inside, we should have reception. Get to the road and call me, and we can link up and I won't be lonely anymore, yeah?"
Poppy nodded, then asked, "But don't you have Casket?" She pointed at his feet
Linh looked down at his shadow and he saw Casket, betrayed. He picked her up and continued. "Never mind that. Now, let's talk about what we want to do inside the cavern."
"Get to Tulip!" Poppy raised her arms, eager.
"We can do that just by following the road." A car passed them by, rolling on tarmac. "What else?"
"Um. Oh! Fight Trainers!" Poppy grinned. "There's always a few hikers and treasure hunters around. Cuz there's always shiny stuff in the tunnels. We could see what Pokémon wants to fight us too!"
"I see. What else?" Linh asked again, smile widening.
"... Explore?"
"Yes yes. What else?" Linh asked again, a teasing note in his voice.
Poppy squinted at him.
"Have fun, obviously, we're packed and ready—let's go!"
Poppy did not exaggerate the size of the cavern under Alfornada. Nor the variety. Dotted across the stone, warm fire lights and cold electric lights stood out like buoys in an ocean. The ones on ledges and high places seemed to attract Fighting types, Meditites and Makuhitas. Who refined their martial stances and katas against each other in the light. The low lights attracted more animalistic Pokémon. Larvitar and Deinos, Bagon and Gumshoos. Pokémon who fought for the light with a cacophony of growls.
There were also people, striding fearlessly through the cavern on desire paths and otherwise. Climbing up and down with hooks and ropes, or taking the faded pale trails.
"Hey you! Wanna fight!" Poppy pointed at a man, standing atop a higher ledge.
The man jolted, his thermos cup tilting, a bit of tea splashing down. "What?" He looked down, the hanging trinkets from his bag hitting his bare arms. "Oh, hello there!"
"Do you want a fight?" Poppy asked again.
The hiker recapped his thermos, and nodded. "Sure—sound's fun." He patted down his tank top until he found the Pokéball pinned at his belt, and palmed it. "As challenger, you throw first!"
Poppy grinning, turned to Linh, "I had the last one, so you can have him Linh!"
Linh snorted, "Well, if the young lady desires." He called out to the hiker, "I'll be your opponent! Go on, Menace."
Menace rasped.
The hiker nodded, he picked a different Pokéball, "Grass type, well that looks like a job for Numel!" He threw, another flash of light. Stretching to the floor.
A small dromedary like Pokémon cried out, rearing back and stomping the ground. Yellow fur, grassy shade on the hump. A red gloopy spit droplet falling from her mouth, hardening into an uneven pebble on the ground.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Fire Ground, against Menace's Grass. Linh hummed at the counter-pick.
In a fight this casual, there was no need to call a beginning, or a referee to grandstand for an audience. It only needed Linh and Poppy to take a few steps back, to create space to fight in. The hiker, straightening up from up high, pointed. "Let's start with a nice Dig!"
Numel drove her hooves into the ground, stones flaring up in plumes.
Linh commanded, "Before she goes, Bullet Seed."
Menace spat the brace of seeds, flying straight and true. They collided with Numel, just as much as they collided and spun off of the pebbles Numel drove up. Numel disappeared underground.
"'Bout even speed," Linh told himself. "Menace, ready to dodge aside—you'll feel them coming—and then, Strength Sap."
Menace hissed something, affirming, and then tensed as the ground rumbled and cracked, vibrations travelling through stone and up to his roots from—
—Behind! Menace rolled and jumped, and Numel's form clipped him. The earth-brown shroud around Numel weak against Grass. Yet momentum matters, and Menace was flung into the air.
"Now—latch on!" Mid-air, Menace's Strength Sap connected. And what damage Numel did was recovered, in exchange for Numel's physical attacks, like Dig, being weaker. Not a very fair trade at all.
Menace bounced on the ground and ended up upside down. He rasped something mocking and foul at Numel. Spite. Numel stumbled a bit.
The hiker blinked, then scowled. "Ember, Numel!"
"Bullet Seed—Give it something else to burn!" Linh commanded.
Menace spat seeds and Numel spat fire. Both collided in bursts of popping. Yet Numel proved stronger, and the Ember flakes proved more numerous. Menace took hits, ashes falling into his desiccated cracks and burning inside. He rolled haphazardly, flailing from the fire.
The hiker laughed—"Now, again! Push him down!"
Linh scowled—"Menace, you need to stop it! Nightshade—send!"
Menace rolled out the last of the embers, and then turned a spiteful eye towards Numel. The eye rotated and spun over and over, a Ghostly power coming from it.
Numel flinched—Nightshade was a Move to induce a horrible image into the foe.
"For—Numel, Mud Slap up, cover for Ember!"
"Nightshade again—project!"
Numel hit the ground with her hooves. Instead of stirring up the dust, the ground smushed like mud. Mud flung up into the air, obstructing the view. Can't send nightmares without eye contact. A moment later, little firebolts shot through, too fast to dodge!
They flew into Menace and through. Not detonating. Menace did not visibly react.
"What the..."
"Now," Linh grinned sharply, "Bullet Seed."
Menace flickered, then disappeared with the sound of shattering glass. Nightshade needed eye contact to send visages only the victim can see. But a projection visible to all needs only the effort taken. The illusion of Menace faded away, two feet to the side of the real Menace. Bullet Seeds soared, Bullet Seeds hit, Bullet Seeds fainted.
Numel hit the floor with a thud, and then disappeared in a flash of red. "Well then." The hiker shook his head. "Good fight."
Linh nodded back, "Thank you, you too. And—let's skip the payout, yeah? Looks like a climb." He did not hear the hikers next words, instead he turned to Poppy. She cheered as she approached.
In the dark away from the lights, stranger things lurked. Digletts built packed dirt roads—only for Dunsparce to replace with their burrow homes. An architectural battle underground between gridlocked stone edifices and sprawling dirt cottages. And at the edges, Sableye and Glimmet lurk. Feeding on the churned up material left behind.
A gentlemen's agreement: the Glimmet got the waste stone to leech minerals from, while the Sableye got the gemstones to gnaw on.
Sableye—this particular Sableye—wandered the tunnels. They looped up and down and stretched far around. Even all the way to the cavern roof, with many holes looking down on the cavern.
This Sableye liked to lurk from the top and look down, watching the lights. At this distance, it all looked like stars in polluted skies. An interesting view. Sableye gnawed on a ruby as he watched, the lights refracting in his gem eyes. Little pinpricks of light on the cavern roof.
A sound echoing down the tunnel behind Sableye, something small crunching the ground. Not with the soft padding scales of a Salandit, or the steady thump of dense Larvitar. Rubber and muted—shoes. A Trainer!
Sableye turned and crawled forwards, purple goblinoid hide blending into the dark. He had no intention of being captured, and all the intention to give a scare.
Blame the ghost in him, the shadows shifted as he crawled. And the swipe of his claws dragged up around him. Alterations. Purple turned white, limbs lengthened. Eyes clouding over, and jaw distending. A rake thin figure.
Sableye approached with silent steps, waiting for the Trainer to get closer. Small, with a Cyclizar following.
Wait...
Wait...
Now! Sableye's jaw slammed open, screeching the worst sound he could at the top of his lungs. His limbs wrenched into the ground and pushed, a gallop on too long limbs. He raced down the tunnel with a banshee cry.
The girl, short and blue, stared eyes wide. Then ran. "Linh! Linh! I found him!"
Sableye chittered, he ignored the words, and focused entirely on modulating his stride. Fast enough that Cyclizar grabbed the girlmand hauled her on, slow enough that they were always just far enough away. And never too close or too far.
Can't have the girl get caught. What would he do then? A harrowing chase is better, so she never comes back.
Down winding tunnels the Cyclizar runs, claws scraping stone at each turn. Every step of the way Sableye's wretched illusion so very close. Close enough Cyclizar can feel the wetness of its breath, the warmth of its lungs, the stench of cloying mud between teeth!
A final turn is made, reaching a crossroads. Cyclizar takes a turn and stops so Poppy can watch.
Sableye rounds the turn, and pauses. There is a man facing away from him. Another Trainer. Motionless.
Sableye stopped, so as to not bowel him over. And he screeched.
No response, the man's back stayed exactly as it was. The shoulders didn't even twitch.
Something is wrong.
It was a strange conclusion, but it arrived in Sableye's mind the same way the hairs on his neck raised. Sableye looked left, then right under his illusion. Then took a single step forwards.
Then another, and another. The crawl of a creature. The illusions white face steadily approaching in an unnatural glide.
Nothing. With some hesitance, Sableye reached out. Clawed hand getting closer and closer to the man's back before—
—a bone cracking snap, the mans head twisted all the way around! And on that head!
No face! Just skin, patch of flesh! Smooth, unnatural!
Sableye flung backwards, forgetting his illusion, left hanging in the air and wafting away. He screeched.
With another snap, of cartilage and bone crunching and tearing, the man's limbs turned around. Rotating in place one by one. Sickening and inhuman. A backwards man stood there.
Sableye hissed a warning, and then fled as the thing took a step forwards. Screeching into the tunnels on purple claws.
A moment passed. The illusion faded. Linh, with Menace in his arms, looked down. "Now see that? That's how you do a jump scare. Silence, then sudden action. Abnormality, turn it into a threat."
Menace rasped in his arms, pleased.
Poppy ran up, displeased. "Linnhhh-na! You were supposed to catch him!"
Linh smiled apologetically, "Oh, was that what you wanted? I'm sorry Poppy! But, I'm not seeking another Pokémon right now, so let's try talking to me first, next time?"
At the final stretch of the cavern—where the light of the outside can be seen stretching in—it narrowed. The walls coming closer to the road, and the slope turning upwards. It ended in a breach in the ground, the ground of Alfornada's plateau.
Linh and Cyclizar walked along the side of the road, so the many cars and trucks can pass.
Cyclizar glanced longingly at each vehicle that passed, each one moving faster than a walking pace. He knew what he was assigned to do, walk so his rider doesn't have to, but that was so slow! Boring! The speed demon in his soul wept.
Linh's pace was also slow—tiredness. His fingers and shoes were muddy, for Casket had found the one (1) muddy puddle within the entire cavern.
Poppy was sitting on Cyclizar's back, humming the 'Cultivation Friends' theme song to herself. She played with a Pokéball in her hands. Varoom's empty ball. Varoom herself rolled up the hill with more energy then the group.
She ran up to every object on the road, the poles of the repeaters, the streetlamps up high, the boxes with the fuses and the stones on the sidewalk. Not out of curiosity like Riolu, but instead as checkpoints in her imaginary race.
Varoom was also a speed demon, and in between each lap she turned a goading glare up at Cyclizar. She would drive to Cyclizar's feet, and make three loud revs—exhaust puffs and all—and then roll
ahead at speed towards some distant feature. Rock wheels skidding on the ground.
Every time Varoom shot ahead, it was harder and harder to resist the urge to run as well. Poppy noticed immediately, yet Linh noticed only when Cyclizar started to sprint after Varoom, only to catch himself.
Linh sighed, then looked ahead—nothing in particular in the way. "You know," he said, "We can race, if you want."
Cyclizar looked up, his scaled lips spreading into a grin.
"Let's just make sure Poppy's got a great big grip, yeah?" He poked Poppy's shoulder, and when she startled he pointed down. Varoom was staying by his feet, puttering engine ready. Under her, Cyclizar braced himself, head low and hindquarters wriggling.
"Oh, oh!" Poppy grinned herself, leaning down and grabbing at the inbuilt seat in Cyclizar's back. "Race time!" she cheered.
Linh nodded, then reached down into his shadow, and picked up Casket. She whined in his grip, the tips of her fur stained brown. Linh ignored her, "Okay, Varoom? Cyclizar? Ready?"
Cyclizar snapped something, Varoom revved up.
"Then, to the end of the cavern—into the light. Ready, set, go!"
Off they went, leaving Linh behind. He looked down to Casket, disappointed she couldn't join. "Oh, no. I ain't letting you out of my sight just yet missy. I'm not letting you run into another mud pit, somehow."
Casket maturely responded by twisting in his grip, and planting her dirty paws onto his clothes. While the mud was long dried, it still left flakes and smudges.
Linh sighed, then carried her under his armpit. "That won't convince me. You're staying right by me."
Casket made a half-hearted attempt to wriggle out, before going limp.
Linh continued up the road, hand wrapping around the electric poles he passed. Up and up on that gentle slope, towards the light. A solid wall brighter then the cavern, one that hurts the eye before it's adjusted to.
"Alfornada, huh." Casket looked up curiously.
Linh looked down, "Ready for Tulip? She's the Psychic type Gym Leader—should have the advantage throughout the fight."
Casket barked eagerly, and they stepped into the light together.