The shadows that shrouded my corner of the cavern weren’t as deep as those inside the crevasse, but they were enough to hide me from immediate detection. I clung to the wall ten feet above the ground, as Hobbes squeezed around me with my backpack and hung from the wall using shadowy purple tendrils. As a ghost pokemon, the darkness was not nearly as much of a hindrance for Hobbes, and I allowed him to guide my hands and feet to the appropriate holds down the wall, gently testing each one to make sure they wouldn’t shift before committing my weight, until I made it to the ground. I shuffled behind a short stack of boxes seconds before the ekshrew gave an annoyed hiss and moved to search the corner I had just vacated.
It didn’t take it long to find the hole that led to the crevasse, and its tongue flicked out curiously before it slithered upward. I released a tense sigh, relieved that I hadn’t tried to retreat back to the mine shaft — I doubted I’d have been fast enough to make it out before the ekshrew caught me.
Although, my current situation wasn’t much better.
Ideally, I’d be able to hide until they gave up their search, and then retreat through the mine shaft or out through whatever entrance the Rockets were using, with them being none the wiser to my presence. But the koffdude was still methodically moving through the cavern, and I doubted my current hiding spot was enough to evade its notice. If I wanted to stay hidden, I had to escape its search area — which meant I had to move.
Hobbes was on the ground next to me with my backpack, peering around the edge of the bottom of the stack of boxes, and I crouched down to be next to him.
“We need to get out of here,” I said, my voice barely more than a breath. “Do you know which tunnel leads to the surface?” Hobbes had access to senses I lacked, and I hoped he could divine some clue as to the path out of here.
But I was disappointed when Hobbes shook his head.
There was a slight breeze that I thought was blowing down the tunnel on the far side of the cavern, but I had no idea if that meant it was the exit or if it just led deeper into the cave. Regardless, it was my best bet. Plus, it led away from where the koffdude was currently searching and wasn’t adjacent to the Rocket member’s desk.
“We’ve got to move before the ekshrew gets back,” I whispered to Hobbes, and he gave another quick nod. “Let’s go for that tunnel. Scout it out?”
“Di.”
He used double-team, his outline blurring until he was all but invisible in the darkness. And then, without a sound to mark it, Hobbes disappeared, shadow-sneaking across the cavern. I waited in tense silence for most of a minute, scared that any second the ekshrew would pop back out of the crevasse, but unwilling to move without having more of a plan.
“Di!”
Finally, Hobbes returned, getting my attention with a quiet squeak. A thin, purple tendril reached out from under his disguise, grabbing my hand, and I gave a firm nod.
“I’m ready,” I said, attempting to convince myself that it was true.
And then we were moving.
It wasn’t nearly as fast as Hobbes could move unhindered, but it was much faster than I’d have been able to go if I were on my own, checking my own sightlines and watching for every loose rock underfoot.
I didn’t worry about any of that. I just trusted my pokemon and tried to step lightly.
It wasn’t a non-stop dash across the cavern. Hobbes picked a route that meandered between large stacks of boxes, pulling me behind them and pausing while he checked if koffdude was still distracted on the other side of the cavern. We stopped for a full minute in one hiding spot, and I waited in a tense crouch while he peeked over the edge before a firm tug signaled for me to move once again. At one point, the ekshrew emerged from the crevasse, hissing and making “shrew” noises at his partner in crime, and we were able to move even further during the distraction. Until finally, with my legs tired from the tension and constant crouching, we stepped out of the main cavern into one of the three connecting tunnels.
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I stretched my back, straightening fully for the first time since climbing into the crevasse, but I didn’t let out the sigh that wanted to escape. Hobbes was preening from his successful guidance, and I rubbed the top of his disguise in thanks, but I couldn’t allow us to relax. We weren’t out of this yet. Not by a long shot.
“Scout out ahead,” I whispered. Hobbes sobered up and gave me a serious nod. “We’re looking for a way out first. But if we can’t find that, a place to hide.”
I pulled out my phone as Hobbes scuttled away — zero bars. It wasn’t a surprise, but I allowed myself to dream as I flicked through a few apps, hoping that one of them might give me some way to communicate with the world outside the cave. But I was left disappointed, the lack of connection even causing some of the apps to glitch out as I opened them. I snapped the phone shut as Hobbes reappeared and grabbed my hand with another tendril.
The tunnel was dark, lacking any of the floodlights that illuminated the main cavern, but I couldn’t afford to turn on my flashlight where it might be seen. I followed Hobbes into the darkness.
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“…more diamonds,” I whispered to Hobbes as I gently replaced the lid to the half-filled box. I never thought I’d be disappointed to find what had to be at least a few pounds of diamonds…but that was the situation I was in.
Since seeing the Rockets, my mind had been awhirl with the possibilities of what they were searching for down here: evolution stones, fossils, rare pokemon…I’d even considered mega stones, which I still wasn’t even sure existed in this world. It was sad to realize their goals were so much more mundane.
Diamonds — boxes and boxes of them. There were a few other types of precious stones mixed in, but for the most part, it seemed like the entire purpose of this operation was diamonds.
More mundane than my hopes, but no less mind-boggling. I didn’t how much they would be worth in pokedollars, especially without being able to easily tell the quality of the diamonds, but the sheer quantity had me thinking this mine might be enough to crash the entirety of Kanto’s economy.
Of course, that was assuming these diamonds had the same worth as diamonds in my previous world. I had no idea how the presence of pokemon like carbink might affect the diamond industry. But still…they had to be worth something, right?
Regardless, I decided to pocket a handful of the glittery stones…as evidence. In case the authorities needed proof of what the Rockets were doing. I had to juggle my beanie-wrapped flashlight, dimmed so that it wouldn’t give away our presence in the darkness of the tunnel, but eventually I managed to pack the diamonds in a pocket they couldn’t easily slip out of.
“Kyu!” Hobbes quietly called a warning, and I flicked off the flashlight before crouching behind a larger rock outcropping. A few moments later, I saw the bouncing of a flashlight’s beams across the walls as two Rocket grunts walked through the tunnel.
“…I’m just sayin’. With how much they’re makin’ from this operation, you’d think we’d get paid better than this.”
“I hear that. Cooped up in the dark all day, we deserve more! Especially those of us on sableye duty. Little gremlins give me the creeps.”
“At least you’ve got a shot of getting assigned somewhere else,” the first said with a sigh. “With my granbull, I doubt I’ll ever get a better assignment.”
“Hey, your fault for choosing it as your signing bonus.” They paused just a few feet away from my hiding place, and I held my breath as they opened one of the boxes I had so recently been examining. “Wait a sec. I coulda sworn this one was more full. You didn’t try and take any off the top, did ya? I wouldn’t rat you out, but I’m hurt that you wouldn’t cut me in.”
“Hah! You insane? They’ve got this place locked down tighter than a snorlax’s pantry. No way to smuggle anything past the checkpoint, and you’d be an idiot to try. Remember Sammy?”
“How could I forget? I had nightmares about his screams for weeks…but then where’s the rest of the product? I coulda sworn it was more full?”
“Ah, you’re crazy, it’s just as full as it was. Besides, our jobs ain’t security. If someone took some off the top, it’ll be found in the checkpoint.”
“What if it ain’t a person? What if one of the sableyes slipped their mask?”
“Not a chance. But if it makes you feel any better, we’ll check all of ‘em when we get back. Need to give number four a thrashing again, anyway — had another escape attempt last night.”
“For real? He’s persistent, I’ll give him that…”
The voices slowly faded as they turned and walked back up the tunnel from where they came. Only once I was sure they were gone did I flick my flashlight back on and step out of my hiding space.
Unfortunately, it didn’t sound like this tunnel led to the surface, and if their discussion of ‘checkpoints’ was correct, none of the tunnels would provide an easy exit. But there was something in their conversation that tempted me to investigate this tunnel a bit further.
“Sableyes, huh?” I muttered to Hobbes, who looked at me curiously. “Seems like we might not be Team Rocket’s only enemies down here.”