CHAPTER 77

“I love you, son. This wasn’t your fault. You aren’t weak,” he said. “You’re perfect.”

Chase Karlson woke up with Riolu worryingly shaking him. He got up, spat out a mouthful of dust, and he felt at his face. It was caked with dirt and bleeding. The teenager stared at the ceiling he had just fallen from and saw thousands of shining crystals illuminating this part of the cave. His right shoulder and upper arm hurt like hell, and he couldn’t put too much weight on his left knee. Chase shivered, and his teeth chattered. It was so cold.

Still, he was alive somehow. Chase touched his head and was happy to feel his trusted cap still on it. Luckily, it had grown slightly too small for him, so it stuck to his head easily.

“Thank you, Ri,” Chase said with a wince. Suddenly, he felt a surge of panic. “Where’s Charjabug?”

Riolu pointed toward the Pokeballs still attached to his waist and nodded.

“You put him back in? Was he injured from the fall?”

The fighting type nodded again.

“Good,” Chase said before his foot started to bounce. “Got no potions to heal him up though, couldn’t afford ‘em.”

He should never have come to this cave. A fucking Rhyperior? How had it even evolved? Humans didn’t even know what triggered their evolution, so to see one in the wild? Plus, it reminded him too much of the Iron Islands. Falkirk had been built in one of the cave’s entrances, and the ground shaking reminded him of that day, which is why he had frozen up and fallen down there in the first place.

He and his team had paid the price for it. And it gave him this shitty ass dream that he hadn’t gotten in years.

“We need to find a way out of here,” Chase said. “Maybe find some of the people who fell down there on the way. Your aura’s still fucked from the cave?”

“Riolu,” He said with a disappointed nod.

“Even worse than before, huh? No prob. It’s about time I and the others start pulling our weight,” Chase said before grabbing a Pokeball. He released Houndour, who whined worriedly. His body warmth was a nice rest from the frigid temperature. “I’m fine. Just a few scratches. I need you to guide us and find a way out. Keep an eye out for threats.”

The dark type barked, and Chase began following him with a limp. The rational part of him wanted to just high-tail it out of here. Even though it pissed him off, he recognized that his skills as a trainer were nowhere near what was needed to survive down here. Chase stared around the dimly lit cave. There was no clear exit, and staring up, the hole seemed to have closed, or at least he had ended up somewhere that wasn’t anywhere near it.

If he hadn’t followed Obel deeper into the cave, everything would have been fine.

But Chase couldn’t stop himself. She was clearly unwell and suffering from… something. Chase couldn’t really imagine what had pushed her this far. In his mind, Obel had been born with everything she could ever ask for and more.

Chase started to think more about the fall. He had been falling right next to the others, and yet they were nowhere to be seen. Unfortunately, logic seemingly didn’t apply to Mount Coronet. He sucked in air through his teeth as pain racked his leg. His best hope of surviving was finding the others, even though it hurt to admit it— even more than his injuries. Still, Pastel was sick, and Obel was down in the dumps— only Williams seemed to be fine, which made Chase hope he’d be the one he found.

With his shit luck, though, he’d probably end up finding one of the girls. If he even found anybody at all.

“If they survived, they’ll fucking owe me big.”

——

Cecilia tumbled through the air with a shriek, but her body suddenly came to a stop a few feet off a giant lake. It hovered there for a few seconds before dropping again, and she fell into the water and swam up, her body not even registering the cold. It took a few seconds for it to finally seep into her skin and down to her bones. Her skin felt like ice, completely numb to the touch. Every inch— every pore hurt so badly it was like her skin was getting stabbed by thousands of tiny needles. Every gasp of air was painful and burned her throat and lungs.

She was shaking too much. Cecilia could barely control her hand when she released her Deino and Fletchinder. Slowpoke had been out of his Pokeball to break her fall with Confusion just in time. The water type lazily swam up to her and out of the underground lake.

“F—F—Fletchinder, I—I need you— you to warm me up. Deino t—too,” Cece stammered, her teeth chattering so loudly it echoed through the cave. She stared guiltily at Fletchinder, who was still angry at her for coming to such a place and endangering herself.

Deino grunted and blew a small, continuous Incinerate next to her while Fletchinder’s body burst into flames with Flame Charge. Cecilia quickly took off her clothes and began drying herself as fast as she could. She had messed up, and messed up badly. Grace, Denzel, and that other boy had fallen down here, and it was all her fault. All her fault.

Now they might be dead while she still lived.

They can’t be dead. They can’t. No, no, no, no, it couldn’t be—

Suddenly, she heard a cough coming from the lake. Cecilia hurried to grab her flashlight and pointed it toward the body of water. There were some crystals lighting up a further section of the cave far up ahead, but it was still somewhat dark here. She saw a human figure struggling to swim— no, it would be more accurate to say that they were flailing underwater.

“Hold on, I’ve got you!” Cecilia said before remembering that she ought not to yell. “Slowpoke, go help them!”

The psychic type let out a complaining yawn, but he sank into the lake, approached the drowning figure, and used Confusion to lift Denzel out of the water. The teenager was just as cold as Cecilia had been, and he was hacking liquid out of his lungs. Cece hit his back, trying her best to help, and after around thirty seconds, he seemed to be fine.

“Fucking hell,” he breathed out. “Tha— thank you for saving me—”

“Take off your clothes! You need to dry and warm yourself, or you’ll die!” Cecilia yelled.

Denzel let out a hiss of pain as he moved his arms to take off his wet coat. “I’m so happy you’re alive. We must have fallen from one hundred feet into the water,” he stammered as Cece wrapped his towel around him and had her Pokemon dry him. “I managed to recall Eevee while I was swimming, but I underestimated how heavy everything got when it was wet. I got tired… and I couldn’t go on—” Another wince. “Fuck! I feel like I’ve just run straight into concrete. The adrenaline’s leaving me, I might have a few broken bones somewhere,” he continued before his eyes widened. “Wait. Have you seen Grace anywhere?”

Cecilia’s heart began to race with anxiety, and she had to steel herself not to cry.

“No…” she said with a slight sob. “I don’t know where she is.”

Denzel began to breathe quickly. “She… she had Frillish and Togetic still out. Togetic could have stopped her fall with Extrasensory, and Frillish could have helped her out of the water. She’s… she’s fine. We’ll find her.”

“We will,” Cece whispered.

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Her words were doing very little to convince even herself. Grace might be dead, and it was all her fault. She would never forgive herself.

“We have to get going. The quicker we group up, the more chances Grace has of being unhurt. We might come across Chase too, and he might be able to help us find her,” Denzel said in a determined tone before standing up. “My legs seem fine… my ribs and my arms hurt like hell. I can manage.”

He grabbed Eevee’s Pokeball and released him. The normal type let out a cry of relief when he saw his trainer was still unharmed.

“I’m sorry for worrying you,” Denzel said, wincing as he petted Eevee. “Grace is missing.”

Eevee immediately grimaced, his face full of worry.

“My flashlight’s gone,” he continued. “Dropped in the water when I was panicking. Cecilia still has hers, but our visibility is terrible. We’re going to need your hearing to guide us.”

“Vee!”

“Right on,” Denzel said. “I reckon we should head toward the part with all the crystals?” he asked.

“My flashlight won’t have batteries forever, so I think that would be best,” Cecilia nodded before recalling Fletchinder. There were too many rock types lurking in the shadows to risk her. Deino and Slowpoke would suffice for now, even though the water type despised walking, and his sensing powers seemed to be affected by the cave. “Plus, Grace would probably head toward there too. It’s the only place with lights. Are you dry?”

“Dry enough,” he quickly replied as he put on fresh new clothes. “Thank Arceus, our bags are water-proof. Let’s go.”

Cecilia could only help but hope they would find Grace and escape.

But even if she made it back to civilization, she would be doomed, and the others would potentially be too.

To think that her father would go that far. To make her worst fear a reality.

Cece shuddered, and it wasn’t because of the cold.

——

I passed through a strange patch of air and then fell onto the cold, hard, rocks. My fall hadn’t been fast enough to injure, but it still fucking hurt. I groaned and clutched at my shoulder, but soon enough, it wasn’t my shoulder that was hurting the most. It was my head. It was pounding, giving me an agonizing headache. I let out a few coughs as I carefully stood up.

At least I could still do that.

I had apparently dropped my flashlight during the fall, but that was the least of my worries. I was sweating buckets. My body felt hot and cold at the same time, and my vision was swimming. Frillish flew toward me and placed both of his tentacles on my shoulders, asking if I was alright. Togetic was right behind him, and she rubbed her head on my hand. My extremities felt numb. It was cold— at least negative ten degrees celsius.

“I’m— ah, holy fuck, my head. I’m not okay, but I’ll be fine,” I said, my face contorting in agony. I looked up and saw that the cave was dimly-lit thanks to some kind of shining rocks on its ceiling, so at least I had that going for me.

Then it sunk in. We had fallen down a chasm opened up by that Tyranitar.

I was alone, and Denzel and Cecilia might be dead.

And the others who hadn’t fallen probably thought me to be dead. They’d probably inform the rangers and call my dad and mom about it today.

All of them would be heartbroken.

My fingers trembled as I released Elekid and Tangela for the first time and brought them up to speed on what had happened as fast as I could. Elekid worryingly tapped my leg, and Tangela rubbed one of his vines on my cheek.

“First things first,” I said, groaning the last word out. “Frillish, can you go with your sister— with Togetic to check if the fissure up there’s closed up? Or if it’s even still there? Come back immediately if there’s any danger.”

They both began to protest, letting me know that they weren’t going anywhere without me.

“Fine,” I sighed. “It was probably a pipe dream anyway.”

I moved my body around to check if I had anywhere I couldn’t move properly or put weight on, but my only problem was my sickness. It was getting worse.

“We need to find the others,” I said. I wasn’t even going to entertain the idea that they were gone. It would only serve to slow me down. I was already struggling to get my mind to work. Worrying would only worsen the situation. They were strong. They survived.

They survived.

“Tangela, your electric attacks won’t be that useful—” I started before cutting myself off. “I meant Elekid. Sorry, hon.”

I was so fucking out of it.

“Stick close. You’re only here to use Ice Punch and keep the wild Pokemon off of me,” I continued. He crossed his arms and gave me a fierce nod. “That’s my boy,” I smiled. “Frillish and Tangela, you’re my heavy hitters. Angel, you see anything get too close, you restrain with as many vines as possible. Buddy, you’re using Water Pulse and Bubblebeam— I’ll leave you to pick which one works best depending on the situation.”

Tangela blinked twice and caressed my ankle, and Frillish just nodded. It pained me to see him so worried.

“We’ll make it out of here,” I told him softly. “I promise. Princess, your job is to Sweet Kiss anything as soon as angel locks them down. Remember to stay low. A lot of Pokemon have Smack Down in here. If the Pokemon is too strong like Rhydon was, we’re going to be running anyway. If we’re running, you’re going to use Ancient Power behind us to slow the threat down. Angel, I want you to let spores out while you run like Denzel’s Budew did. Maybe Leech Seed, too, although we haven’t practiced that move much yet, so I don’t even know if you know how to aim it. Did everybody get all of that?”

They all nodded and were ready.

“Good. First objective, find Cece and Denzel. Then Chase. Then, we figure out how to get out of here somehow,” I said as I began to walk.

I was about to leave, but I heard a cry behind a rock. I thought it was my feverish brain playing tricks on me again, but there was another cry. It was full of pain and anguish— not like the aggressive ones I had heard so far from everything in this Arceus damned cave.

“Angel,” I said, pointing at the rock. “Grab whatever’s behind that with a vine and pull it toward us. Keep it far, just in case, I just want to get a look at it.”

Tangela nodded and sent out two vines forward that snaked around the boulder. The Pokemon let out a raspy yelp in surprise, and it took me a few seconds to realize that I was staring at the same Larvitar that had been up there. It was hurt— albeit not too badly— its armor had protected it from the worst of the fall. I realized then that it hadn’t cried because it was in pain. It had been crying because it had just lost its parent.

Although right now, it was letting out enraged screams, trying to get out of Tangela’s hold or potentially scare us. I thought it was going to make a move, but it was just thrashing around. It was just a baby, it probably didn’t know that many moves or how to use them properly.

I didn’t want to waste time, but it was a Pokemon in need that had just lost its parent… I thought I had lost my soft spot for non-aggressive wild Pokemon, but I felt compelled to help it out. It was way too weak to be here, just like we were. It would get killed and eaten by something without help. I clutched at my head as I opened my Pokedex. The bright light was making my headache worse.

“You fell down here with us, huh?” I said sadly.

Larvitar, the rock skin Pokemon. Larvitar is born deep under the ground. To come up to the surface, this Pokemon must eat its way through the soil above. Until it does so, Larvitar cannot see its parent’s face.

Type: Rock, Ground

“That’s… so sad,” I sighed. The rock type kept squirming around, roaring at the mention of its parent. “Let him down, Tangela.”

Angel gently dropped Larvitar on the ground and petted its head with more vines.

“I’m not here to hurt you,” I said as softly as I could and crouched to appear less threatening. “I have two potions to use on you that’ll make you feel better, and I’d rather be able to carry you so we can go faster while you recover from your injuries.”

“Tar!” It hissed.

Frillish hovered in front of me, his eyes glinting, but I held him back and shook my head.

“Leave it, bud. It just… lost its parent. It’s allowed to be angry.”

The water type huffed and got back behind me.

“Look,” I said. “Leave it or take it. I’m looking for my friends, and I can’t waste time trying to convince you to save yourself. As much as it would hurt me, I’d leave you here, and who knows what would happen to you?”

Larvitar frowned angrily and hissed at me, but it was less angry than a few seconds ago.

“I’m going to pick you up now, alright?” I said. I placed my hands under its stubby arms, and I was surprised to see how coarse its armored skin was, but more surprisingly, it was heavy— maybe 130 pounds, which was heavier than I was. I placed it against my chest. I probably would only be able to carry it for a few minutes. “See? Not that bad, is it?” I huffed.

Finally, I began to walk forward, spraying Larvitar’s injuries with my few remaining potions at the same time. Cece and Denzel were alive, and they were in here, I was sure of it.

I had to be, or I would never find the motivation to get out of Mount Coronet.