I don’t know but I’ve been told
“I don’t know but I’ve been told.”
This cave makes me really cold.
“This cave makes me really cold.”
Sound-off.
“One-two.”
Sound-off.
“Three-four.”
Sound-off.
“One-two, three-four.”
The mounted lights went on for about 60 feet into the tunnel until abruptly stopping, and, hoping to save my flashlight battery, took the one at the tail end off to use as a lantern for Buddy and I. I have it shoved between my belt and my pants on my right side, and I’m holding Buddy in my arms to prevent any “oh no we got separated” shenanigans from occurring.
I’ve seen movies. I know what happens if we get too careless
Both of us got nervous in the combined silence and darkness, so we were whispering a tune to keep us more attentive, courtesy of…Buddy, somehow. No idea where he picked that up, but it’s certainly reminiscent of summer camp and some old war movies I half-paid attention to. He’s a good boy. Confusing boy, but good boy.
I also have a folded piece of paper in my left pocket along with a pen, thanks to Mark’s earlier generosity. I’m planning on mapping the cave out so we can find our way back, and not get completely lost. We’re planning on sticking to the right side, so worst case scenario, we end up at the entrance back near Mahogany Town. That’d be days travel in the cave though, most likely… We’ll see. As long as we don’t get completely lost, we should be okay. Soon as we’re out of the straight shot, I’ll mark down approximately what we’ve traveled and try to draw what we see. Hopefully it’s just a fork and not a larger area, because that’ll take a lot of time to cover and map properly.
Speak of the devil, an honest to goodness fork in the tunnel. I stop walking, eyeing the directions we can go, when Buddy squirms out of my arms and lands on the ground with a soft pat.
“What’s up,” I whisper to Buddy. “You okay?”
Buddy doesn’t respond for a moment, instead sniffing the floor around the leftmost fork. After a few moments, he spins at attention and faces me, and whispers.
I smell humans.
“Humans?” I question. We’re… not looking for humans, though.
Yes, humans, Buddy. They did this too.
“They did…what?”
The rock. The wall. Look.
Buddy turns around and does his best pointer-dog impersonation at the edge of the tunnel, and though it takes a moment and some concentration, I see what he’s referring to. This… is not natural. The tunnel we’ve been following so far has had smooth edges, clearly worn down by time. Water, wind, you name it. This though… it’s almost jagged, but there’s suspiciously precise straight lines in some points. Almost like someone cut through the wall.
“I see what you’re talking about,” I say, as I rub my finger on the edge. “Check and see if it looks that way further up. Just a little bit though, like ten feet. I’m curious if they knocked down a wall or created an entirely new tunnel. Humans may not be our concern if it’s the latter, they could be mining something.”
Buddy nods and steps further down the left path, sniffing the ground and the wall. Seems like he’s good at detailed work like this…which honestly surprises me, based off what little I know of him. Still learning, I guess. I check out the wall too, but nothing stands out to me like it did right at the fork, which worries me…
Poachers, maybe? I mean, just catching wild Pokemon is fair game, but destruction of the environment that Pokemon live in should be a serious offense, right? Knowing we’re here to save a Pokemon baby…child…dammit, Buddy. Knowing we’re here to save a child, I’m worried that perhaps this is a hint towards where we have to go.
I smell something too. Ruff. Like me. Not me, but like me. You get it Buddy, yes? This part of the tunnel…ruff. Was already here. Humans broke a wall…ruff.
Welp, that’s not a good sign.
“Okay, good boy, Buddy,” I tell him. He preens at the affection and comes back to me to get a pet. “I know I said we were going to hang right, but we’ll go left instead. I don’t want to get in like, a fight with anyone, but… I got a bad feeling about this, and if I’m gonna uphold my end of the deal, I can’t back away now.”
Ruff..What are you thinking, Buddy?
“Honestly? Someone broke this down to steal or hurt some Pokemon here,” I tell him. “I figure breaking parts of the cave wouldn’t be legal, and the only types of folks that would do that without, yknow, construction signs outside saying they’re mining or something, would be the bad guys. And in a world like this… nothing is gonna motivate a bad guy more than money, and you can make some money from selling rare Pokemon. Presumably, anyway.”
Ruff… We still need money, yes, Buddy? We will not do that, will we?
I do my best to look offended and scoff at him. “Of course we wouldn’t. I just said they were bad guys. Are we bad guys?”
Ruff…no. Dani is the bad guy.
“No, she’s not either, she just misunderstood,” I say. “We can…talk about morals later. Suffice to say I’m afraid someone might be stealing a baby fro… a child from their home, and that’s who we have to save. That’s what I’m thinking so far, anyway.”
The baby, Buddy! Let’s go save the baby!
Buddy turns and i make a quiet clicking sound with my tongue to get his attention. “Chill, Buddy, please. Let me map this real quick, then we can go. Quietly, okay?”
Ruff… fine.
Buddy reluctantly walks back to me as I pull out a piece of paper to draw the tunnel we went through and the fork. I estimate it’s about 600 feet from the entrance to the tunnel, but it’s only a guess. No idea how close I am. Can’t see much light though, not anymore. I make a note that the tunnel to the left seems manmade too. Pocketing it, I give Buddy a pat and nod my head in the direction of the left tunnel, and we continue forward.
‘Kay, so, seems like this is a Godforsaken ant hill. We’ve stopped so many times to mark off forks on the map, some of them splitting three or four ways, and I swear, it’s almost impossible to tell if we’ve actually been at that particular fork before, given how hard it is to judge distances. I’ve mapped the best I could, and I’m continuing to do so, but we’re now fully reliant on Buddy’s superior sense of smell to find the humans and Pokemon in question. The tunnels are apparently flooded with the scent of the Pokemon, but there are stronger scents from certain spots. I figure that means it’s more recent, as Buddy can’t seem to elaborate further. The human scents though, it seems as if they’re following a specific path, like they knew… or if they're still here, they know… where they’re going. Or…
“They could have been chasing one?”
Ruf…. yes, that makes sense, Buddy.
Well, fuck.
After what feels like multiple circles through a crowded amusement park, but in the complete darkness and not knowing where any rides and concessions are, the anthill-type style of the caverns seems to die down, and we’re met with slightly longer tunnels leading to simple two or three way forks after a few hundred feet. Still following the combined humanoid and Pokemon scent, Buddy chimes up.
Ruff… the Pokemon. It smells burnt.
“Burnt? Like they set it on fire?”
Ruff… no, Buddy. Like it is fire. Not on fire. Is. Ruff.
“So… maybe a fire type?”
Ruff.. I do not smell like this, Buddy.
He turns his nose up at me for a moment, as if insulted, before continuing to sniff and lead us down the path.
“Okay, but like, bear with me here,” I say. “Your fire is all inside your body, yeah? What if it’s outside. Heard of a Charmander? Litwick?”
Ruff… maybe. But no. That is fire. But it is not burnt. This smell is burnt.
“Any ideas what that means then? I’m tryin’ to figure it out here, bud.”
Ruff… Sorry, Buddy, I know. I do not know, though. Just burnt.
“Hopefully the baby ain’t burnt,” I joke, realizing immediately my mouth moved faster than my brain, and that was in poor taste.
I…ruff. I think it is the baby that is burnt, Buddy. Ruff.
Gaping in horror at what he said, but settling down quickly hoping it’s just an anatomy thing I reply. “So.. you can smell age?”
No, Buddy, but… ruff. I can not explain. I think it is young. That is all. Ruff.
“Aight. Well, okay,” I whisper, slowly skipping forward to give him a quick pat. “Keep on doing your best. If we get close, don’t engage unless it seems immediately dangerous. I’d rather watch and learn first, okay?”
Buddy turns his head to nod at me, and turns his nose back to the floor for just a moment before he whispers.
Buddy. Come.
I can tell he’s serious, so I elect to push the dog-command he gave me to the back of my mind. As I get closer, he tells me to put out the light. There’s no button, so I shove it in the side of my jeans. It’s uncomfortable, but the denim blocks the light well enough and I’m not about to open a zipper when he’s clearly wanting me to be sneaky.
“What is it, Bud?” I whisper, kneeling down and getting my face close to where his was. It’s too dark to see, but I have a hand on his back and I can tell where he is. “What do your Hisui eyes see?”
Ruff…. nothing. But they are close. And the burnt smell. It is stronger, buddy. Older too…. Ruff. Come. Close, quiet. Ruff.
He steps quietly on the pads of his paws forward, and to remain as quiet as I can while still being in contact with him in the pitch dark, I decide to crawl on my hands and knees. I whisper at him to “Keep your tail up so I can feel it on my face, I can’t see,” and he obeys, giving me something to follow. I’m blind with my head nearly up Buddy’s ass, but I’d rather not die again, thanks. Caution is the name of the game, especially if not just our lives, but a childs life is at stake.
A few minutes of crawling later, my knees are sore from the rocky floor. Buddy has also stopped, and there’s light visible in the distance. A flickering of a flicker, it seems, around the bend. It’s hard to tell how far away it is with darkness between us, and if we can see the light… we can’t use any light ourselves without being found out in return. I slowly crawl up to where I can see just a bit of Buddy’s white fur now, and tap the side of his head lightly with my own.
“We’re gonna have to check that out. Smell goes that way, yeah?”
Yes, Buddy. Humans..ruff. Old burnt, young burnt… ruff. Things I do not know either, Buddy. The closest thing I can think of…ruff. The ball.
“The ball?”
My ball. The ball. Red and white.
“Your pokeball? It smells like that?”
Ruff… what it is, Buddy. Not the ball. The thing that made the ball.
He’s losing me. “...It smells like… Silph co? Devon? That place in Kalos?”
Ruff… maybe. I do not know. Buddy, it is like… ruff. Dinner smells like dinner, buddy. But also dinner smells like berries. Berries are in dinner, buddy. Ruff… so.. That is why dinner smells like berries.
“...the fuck?”
Ruff…sorry. I do not know all the words.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“No it’s fine, i’m sorry. Like.. wait. Metal? Metal is what Pokeballs are made of. At least partially. Like how your dinner is made of berries? Is that what you meant?”
Yes, Buddy! Ruff… good. Yes. So metal. Old burnt, young burnt, humans, metal. That is what I smell. Ruff.
“Huh. Okay. Well, something that’s made of metal could have definitely made the hole in the wall we saw when we first got here. So it may not be a huge concern. Good job though, Bud.”
I feel his tail wag in pleasure at the positive reinforcement and he slowly pads forward. I can very faintly see him now, and I stay at his side, moving as slowly and carefully as I can. We eventually reach the corner where the light is peeking out, and I give him a pat on the head. He looks at me, and i get my face very close to his ear and say as quietly as I can “I’ll look first, just wait.” I can feel him nod, and I nod back, turning my attention to the bend of the cavern. I slowly lean my face around the corner and…
Not wholly realizing what I’m looking at, I stare for about ten seconds. When it all becomes clear, I pull my head back fast. Okay, so. Yep, that’s totally where we’re meant to go, fuckin’ shit. I do my best to remain as silent as I can, and slowly breath deeply in and out, fearing I’m about to hyperventilate. I can very faintly see Buddy facing me, and he pads towards me. I’m sitting with my back leaning against the cave wall now, and he steps on my lap and gets as close as he can, nuzzling the top of his head into my chest. I can tell he’s trying to comfort me. He can’t even see me and he’s being so sympathetic… Oh, good boy, good boy. I do eventually regain my composure and steady my breath, and I pet Buddy and pull him slightly so his head gets closer to my mouth so I can whisper what I saw.
“Stay. Calm. Do not yell. Do not bark. Just breathe. I will tell you slowly so you can stay calm too, got it?” I whisper, feeling my voice shake just from recalling the scene. I feel his head nod, and I prepare myself to continue. “No idea what Pokemon they are. Never saw them before. Two are stacked on top of each other. I think they’re dead. The two dead ones, they’re… I think I know what you were smelling. One of them looks like it was a fire type. It’s like a human body, but between the height of like… Chansey and me. It looks like it has armor on, yellow. It’s body is red. I can’t see much else. The other one might be just a little taller, but still shorter than me. It’s body is like, black. Maybe a dark blue, hard to tell in the light. It’s arms are really short. Not sure what type it was either.”
I have to stop to take a more controlled breath, and I can feel Buddy shaking in some form of anticipation. He’s breathing just like me, slow and steady. I think I can…feel….the anger radiating off of him.
“And..a cage. A little taller than you, but square, so not as long. Whatever is in there is smaller than you, and it looks like it has fire on it’s head and back. Red body, maybe some black or dark blue in. I guess it probably evolves into one of the…” I pause, thinking better of finishing that sentence. “There’s two people, too, laying down next to some big ass box, facing a fire that’s between them and the cage. So.. they might be sleeping? Maybe? I can say…” I pause again, to take a deep breath. “Those bigger Pokemon. I looked long enough. They either don’t have to breathe, or they’re not, and they’re dead. The little one was definitely breathing. And… I think i was right. That’s who we gotta get. They’re poachers. Pretty sure, anyway.”
Buddy finally stopped shaking next to me after I said that I thought I was right. He breathed deeply in one last time, let it out, and gave me a lap on the cheek. He then, very unsteadily, spoke in my ear.
What…ruff..do we do now then, Buddy?
I think.
I think more.
“I don’t know,” I finally say. “We don’t know the story. We only know that the small one is in a cage. I only think the bigger ones are dead, and I only think the humans are poachers. There’s no evidence. I… don’t know what I would do if we were wrong, and we hurt those people in there when they could have a perfectly good explanation for everything.”
But…it’s in a cage. You said you thought the others were dead! Ruff…sorry.. But…what would make that okay, Buddy? What?
“Nothing would, Bud,” I say tenderly. “It’s not that I’m thinking they have an excuse for killing them, it’s just like…” I pause, for longer than a few seconds. I’m not sure how to say this without spending too much time explaining exactly what happened to me. I looked suspicious as hell to that guy that killed me. He probably felt justified. These guys look suspicious as hell too. I… “don’t want to hurt anyone….” I let out at the end.
Ruff.. Buddy… But…
I take a slow, deep breath in and think. Think! How can I prove this? Or, rather, how can I find out the truth? That’s better. I don’t need to prove they’re the bad guys to justify hurting them, if I even can hurt them. I need to know the truth. That way, I can clearly pick my next avenue of approach. Whispering, I start quietly mumbling what’s going through my mind, not realizing I’m actually talking aloud. “If i could just talk to the guys, I could probably learn the truth, or at least infer it based off of how they behave. Suspicions are nothing to punish people for, I know that better than anyone, even though my ass deserved it. No, that doesn’t mean they deserve it, if anything I’m the biggest piece of trash anyway. But that baby is in a…fuck. God dammit, Buddy. I mean, that child is in a cage, and what could be the reasoning for that? Maybe I should look again? Maybe I can tell if those bigger ones really are dead. If they are, that just makes thinking up excuses for the humans harder to determine…”
Hey.
“...But like, it could very easily be a misunderstanding, it’s hard to tell how they’re dressed and your uniform doesn’t always display what you do for a living anyway. Maybe they’re scientists, or some sort of conservation-minded people, and they knew something about this habitat and they’re here to save the little one, there’s not even any guarantee this is the one we’re supposed to save, right? It’s not like we were told, so…”
You’re Silas, right? The Messenger? And the aide?
“...But at the same time, who the fuck would even set up camp near two dead Pokemon? Everything I’ve ever known in the past few days has been complete absurdity so maybe this isn’t as insane as it seems? Maybe it’s normal? I’m certainly not one to know what’s normal, so who am I to judge this situation? Buddy clearly doesn’t know either, he’s just as new to this as I am. He’s got hella instincts but he doesn’t even know my whole situation, so I can’t even begin to explain this to him. Agh, fuck, this is confusing…”
Is he always like this?
Sometimes Buddy is, yes.
Can you do something about it? I have a message from Suicune. Bro’s spazzing.
I take a sharp breath in and I feel Buddy’s fangs enter my forearm, stinging me out of the daze I was in. “What??” I sharply whisper, not noticing the elephant in the room.
Miss Suicune sent someone, Buddy. Ruff. There.
Buddy looks to his left, and I see a little bit of light shining on…nothing? No. I can see the whites of its eyes.
Sup bro. Welcome back.
“Hi… uh…” I reply, trying to figure out who I’m talking to. Wait… no, I heard it. Eon, Um, Um, it said? “Umbreon?”
Yo, got it in one. Good job, bro. Yeah, so boss lady sent me, fam. How do?
“It…do,” I say, dumbstruck. Dudebro eevelution around the corner from an absolute mess of a situation. Yep. This isn’t a dream, right? Well, nightmare? “Boss lady? Buddy said Suicune. What is it?”
Yeah no bro I gotchu. So I guess God told boss lady you prooooobably be trippin out and havin’, like, analysis paralysis, yeah. So then she yelled for me, and i came a runnin’, yeah, and she told me that God told her about you trippin out, yeah? So then I was like, yo, miss beautiful Suicune boss ma’am, ‘cuz I gotta be respectful, yeah? I was like yo, so who’s this guy, and why do you need me, and she was like…
“Can you speed this up? And talk quieter? There’s literally people like twenty feet away and caves echo,” I say.
Oh right on yeah, okay, sorry. Anyway, yeah. God said they did it, don’t feel guilty. Uh, i was also told… fuck, i had to use the right words. Uh… oh, okay. Got it. “Those men killed that childs mother and father in cold blood, much like you were killed,” or some shit like that, yeah? No cap, even if you’re obv alive. So yeah. We good?
“Are we…good? Ha,” I dryly chuckle. “You fuckin’ with me?”
Nah bro on God they’re straight thugs. You gon’ ice ‘em?
“...No. Umbreon, can you do me favor?”
Yeah bro no i gotchu fam, whatchu need? You chill.
“Do you know confuse ray?”
Yeaaaaaah bro!
“Can you make someone see something specific?”
Yeeahh brooooo!
“So if I wanted to go tie those guys up, could you use confuse ray on them so they don’t think anything is even happening to them?”
Uh…..Yeah. Bet.
“Okay,” I say, slowly standing up. I lean over after I get to my feet, getting my face closer to Buddy and the Umbreon that I can’t really see. “Do that please.”
Why tho, ain’t this your job bro?
“...yes, but you can easily help me, right?”
Yeah but… nah fam, I’m not chill with getting in the middle. You good, you got the message, I’m out.
“No, Umbreon, please, I can make it wor…” his eyes disappear, and I can barely hear the pads of his feet disappearing in the distance. “Shit…” Buddy pushes up against my ankle, and I sigh and bend down again so I’m close to him. Defeatedly, I mumble “yeah?”
Whatever you decide Buddy. I am with you. Kill or not. But we need to do it now, before we are found, yes?
I stand back up, and sigh again. I’m silent for a moment, going over everything I know. Two men killed two Pokemon for unknown reasons outside of poaching their child. Umbreon said that they were killed in cold blood, much like I was… So… for no reason, other than their own, did the men do this. I don’t know how they killed them, but… thinking rationally. Buddy could probably body me without an issue. He’s stronger than me and he’s, what, less than half a week old? If those presumably evolved Pokemon were outright killed, those men are exceedingly dangerous. And… I sigh again, after those few seconds of contemplation. Buddy nudges me in his usual fashion, and waits for my decision. It’s made, Bud. I hate it, but it’s made.
“Fine,” I whisper. “Follow me. I’ll strangle one. You bite the other one in the neck as hard as you can. In the middle, right here,” I lean down for a moment, lightly touch underneath his muzzle and poke where his throat is. “Got it?”
Yes, Buddy.
I nod, and step around the corner, tip toeing to the now clearly sleeping men. I can see Buddy grimace at the sight of the two stacked Pokemon, who are… yeah. They’re dead. Still no idea what they are, but they’re dead. The caged Pokemon is sitting down, leaning against the side of the cage, facing away from his captors. Just as well. The captors are both breathing lightly, and now that we’re closer, it’s clear that they’re sleeping. One of them is sleeping on his side, and the other is on his back. The one on his side will be a lot easier for me to grab, so I point towards the one on his back, and Buddy understands. We both get close, so incredibly close to these men. I refuse to look long enough at their faces to take note of their features. Buddy and I glance at each other as we’re in position, and we exchange nods.
It doesn’t take long. It isn’t very hard. I’m bigger than he is. I’m stronger than he is. I felt like I could feel the separation of bones, if I’m being honest, and I can barely withhold my vomit as I try my best to ignore what I’m doing. His struggle is short-lived, much like the other perpetrators. Buddy bit clean through his trachea and jugular. I think his died faster than mine. The man I’m assaulting fights, kicks, and groans his last bit of oxygen out of his lungs for the last time in his life. It’s over, almost as soon as it begins.
There, Arceus. I did what you wanted. The kid is here, his captors are dead. But his parents are dead too, right? Does death beget death? Was this what you wanted? Sure sounded like it. Filled with regret at the option I decided to take, I release a sigh and close my eyes to escape this image, if only for a moment.
I whited out.