Cashe woke the next day with the morning sun. Lindon was already up, which was both surprising and unsurprising, considering his usual habits and how much he slept the previous day. He was clamoring around the camp, making breakfast with all the delicacy and grace that could be expected of a twelve year old boy.

Cashe glanced around camp, the long shadows cast by the morning sun shortening swiftly as it rose. Emilia had returned to the camp sometime after he fell asleep. He hoped that it was because she was busy at the Pokemon Center, but he wasn’t going to wake her to find out. She was asleep, laying away from the fire pit, perpendicular to him, her feet by his head. Cashe got up slowly, taking his time so as not to disturb anyone, though his effort was likely lost with all the noise Lindon was making.

Cashe picked at his shirt, pulling it away from him with a look of mild disgust. He didn’t have the opportunity to wash off yesterday and now he stank. He walked over to where Lindon was attempting to prepare one of the Chansey eggs they had for breakfast.

“Lindon,” Cashe whispered, “Can I borrow Slowpoke to wash off, I didn’t get the chance last night.”

Lindon nodded and tossed out his pokeball, summoning Slowpoke. The pokemon took several seconds to realize it was being summoned, teetering back and forth on the ground where it stood, before blinking asymmetrically and turning to face Lindon.

Cashe suppressed an internal sigh. This was an intelligent Slowpoke.

“Slo?”

“You need to wash Apollo off. Quietly.” Lindon whispered, pointing away from the camp to an area of empty grass. Slowpoke stared at Lindon for several seconds and nodded, turning to move to the appropriate area.

Cashe took a step away, but Lindon held him up, pulling out another pokeball from his pockets.

“Could you give Goomy a bath, too?” Lindon said, “She doesn’t need it but she hasn’t got out of her ball much since we started on this route and she loves the water.”

“No worries,” Cashe said, taking the pokeball. He stepped into the area where Slowpoke was now waiting and was immediately sprayed with a torrent of water.

“Jesus Christ,” Cashe held up a hand in front of his face to stop the water from spraying in his eyes and mouth. He quickly summoned Goomy from her ball and began stripping off his clothes so he could get properly clean.

He was in the middle of pulling off his pants, bent over and struggling to pull the soaked clothes over his feet when something squishy pressed against the back of his legs. He bent further down and peered between his legs to see Goomy pressing against him. She wanted to be held.

“One second,” Cashe muttered, yanking off his pants violently. The action successfully removed the pants from his legs, but it also unbalanced him. At the same time, Goomy decided now was the perfect time to become insistent about being picked up, and nudged his leg again, sending him crashing into the now muddy field.

He splashed around getting covered in wet dirt and mud, just in time for Slowpoke’s stream of water to redirect itself at him and spray him in the face once again. Cashe spluttered and jumped to his feet, finally excising himself from all his wet clothing, excluding his underwear, and scooped up Goomy in his arm.

“Goooom!” Goomy chirped in delight as the water refocused on them both. Cashe held Goomy out to block most of it from hitting him as he took a second to reorient himself. Goomy squirmed with happiness as the water sprayed over her body. Holding the little pokemon was strange. Goomy was…well, a big ball of purple goo. A pair of antenna, twin, thin sensory organs, poked out of her head and a thick layer of mucus covered her body to protect her from attacks and to help stop her from drying out. The mucus was sticky, but stuck much more readily to Goomy and it to itself than it did to anything else, meaning even though she was slippery and squishy in his hands, at least he was not also covered in snot.

The sound of an involuntary laugh reached Cashe’s ears and he sighed, turning back towards the camp, even as Slowpoke continued to spray him down. Lindon had a carefully blank look on his face, but Emilia was watching him with glee in her eyes, pinching her mouth together with obvious effort to hold back teasing laughter.

“Good morning, Cashe,” Emilia said, voice tense with suppressed amusement, “Taking a morning shower?”

Cashe refused to dignify her question with a response, turning back towards Slowpoke to let the water remove the mud and dirt from his body. Goomy squealed as his foot slipped on the muddy grass and he almost took another tumble into the ground.

Lindon snorted and nearly knocked the enormous pan of eggs he was cooking out of his hands and into the fire. Emilia’s eyes bulged and she coughed harshly as she all but failed to restrain herself.

“That’s right, laugh it up,” Cashe said, “I’ll have my revenge.”

“What are you going to do, drip on us?” Emilia said, raising an eyebrow in challenge.

Cashe snorted. “Maybe I will.” He jogged across the camp and up to Emilia’s sleeping bag, looming over her, dripping with water. A few drops fell off of Goomy and spattered onto the sleeping bag. Lindon watched them with a confused look on his face.

“Oh no,” Emilia laughed, but her eyes went wide as she watched him, “How will I ever recover?”

Cashe said nothing, but smirked and held up his hand, holding up three fingers.

“Three? What’s your point?” Emilia said.

Cashe dropped a finger, holding up only two. Emilia’s face twisted in mild confusion.

“Are you counting down?”

Cashe dropped his next finger, giving Emilia a smug look.

“I don’t get it?”

Cashe grinned.

“Arh, what the-?” Lindon shouted.

A torrent of water crashed into Lindon, moving past him quickly and spraying all over Cashe and Emilia as Slowpoke finally registered that Cashe ran across the camp.

“CASHE!” Emilia shouted, scrambling out of her now soaked sleeping bag. Goomy chirped with glee as the water fell around them. Cashe laughed.

***

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

Verdant Cavern wasn’t really a cavern. Or it was, but it was also a tunnel. Light shone down in patches on the floor of the small cavern, illuminating the area with a dim glow. The cavern was huge and open, with paths leading around the edges, but also to a sunken center, making the cave appear to have tiered layers.

At the bottom of the cave, right behind a beam of light, a small, dark den sat. Cashe could see similar dens littered around the walls of the cavern and along the paths that led to the bottom of the cave.

Moss grew in patches around the cave, covering surfaces that the light would never touch. The entire area glowed with an ethereal light as the morning sun bounced off the walls and the small clouds of dust and water vapor that hung in the air. A small stream spouted from the far end of the cave, trickling down and into the center before disappearing through another underground hole.

The air was heavy in the cavern, as if something of great import took place here, the presence it had almost otherworldly and profound. The cavern opened at the far side, revealing a second area beyond the main cavern. Light winked through the entrance and Cashe could see the sky shining through. A man stood at the far end of the cave by this entrance, his arms crossed as he watched Cashe, Lindon, and Emilia enter the cave.

A large sign was planted in the ground as they entered. It contained many things, including a history of the cavern, a summary of the trail system that existed before the Pokemon League appeared in Alola and the importance of the Totem Pokemon to the Alolan people and culture. The most prominent feature, however, was an enormous warning.

An image and a drawing accompanied the warning, both featuring the same pokemon. The image was rather blurry, as if taken by someone with shaking hands. The drawing was much more precise, almost anatomical in nature. The pokemon depicted in both was Pheromosa. The pokemon, or Ultra Beast, was an insectoid creature - a humanoid creature with insect features. The images on the sign depicted it in a one to one scale. Pheromosa stood nearly six feet tall with long antennae sprouting from its head and dropping down to its feet. Its body was incredibly thin, segmented and jointed like an insect’s, but in the shape of a human. It had two transparent structures protruding from the back of its insect head, resembling wings, though Cashe doubted they were, considering where they were attached to the Ultra Beast. The entire creature was white, with only a few flourishes of color anywhere on its body, all gold.

“Warning,” Lindon read as they came upon the sign, “Pheromosa is a dangerous Ultra Beast that is known to appear in Verdant Caverns. If spotted, retreat slowly and contact the Poke Rangers immediately. Pheromosa is not territorial, but is aggressive when threatened.” Lindon swallowed and looked over his shoulder at Cashe and Emilia, “Are we going to see an Ultra Beast?”

“No,” Emilia said, her tone short.

“Ignore her, she’s just grumpy.” Cashe said, giving Emilia a glance, “But no, I think we are probably safe. Besides, if we see a Pheromosa, we can just retreat, like the sign says.”

“I’m grumpy because someone got me soaking wet an hour ago,” Emilia muttered.

“Pretty sure you were asking for it,” Cashe said lightly.

“You ruined breakfast!”

“Some people enjoy wet eggs,” Cashe sniffed, walking into the cave shamelessly with Lindon.

“Who?” Emilia called out, marching after them, “Who likes wet, cold, eggs?”

Cashe glanced down at her as she caught up to them, eyes sparkling, “Ever heard of caviar?”

“We were not eating caviar!”

Cashe grinned, “A poor man’s caviar, perhaps.”

Emilia crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, “You’re unbelievable.”

“Thank you. I do my best.”

Emilia blinked at his response and turned her head away from him, unable to keep a smile from her face, “That wasn’t a compliment.”

“I take what I can get,” Cashe shrugged.

Emilia snorted and thumped him lightly on the arm, “You’re an ass. My sleeping bag is going to be wet tonight.” She complained, still fighting a grin, “It’s never going to dry out wrapped up in my backpack.”

“So leave it out,” Cashe said, “We don’t have to travel today. We can head down to the beach. Isn’t there supposed to be a surfing contest around here? We can have a picnic and watch that.”

“That’s on Big Wave Beach. That was back before the berry farms. We missed it by a full day.”

“Oh.”

“But a beachside picnic does sound nice,” Emilia looked him in the eye for a long moment and uncrossed her arms, relaxing, “What do you think, Lindon?”

“Lindon?” Cashe broke eye contact with Emilia glancing around them. Lindon had disappeared from their side, “Where did he go?”

“There,” Emilia pointed to the center of the cavern.

“Wasn’t he worried about Ultra Beasts a minute ago?”

Lindon was long gone, a couple hundred meters away at least. Cashe hadn’t even noticed he left them behind. The kid was on his hands and knees, in front of the pokemon den in the center of the cave, poking around it and trying to see inside. Even from here, Cashe could see pokemon moving in the shadows of the den, which was likely what attracted Lindon’s attention.

“We should probably go make sure he doesn’t get a Rattata attack to his face or something,” Emilia said, stepping down the path that led further into the cave. Cashe followed, walking beside her. The cavern was vibrant, blooming with light. What he first took for moss lining the walls were actually a large variety of plants, nearly glowing with vitality. As the light from the cave entrance faded, the streaming pillars of light from the cavern’s roof seemed to bloom. Zubat darted around the beams, searching for food as the haze from the stream sparkled in the air around them.

“Whoa,” Cashe breathed, the sight leaving him awestruck.

“It makes you appreciate what the Trials must have been like,” Emilia agreed in a quiet voice, “Imagine being a kid and coming in here to learn about pokemon and prove yourself. It must have been magical.”

Cashe nodded and they both slowed, taking their time as they made their way to Lindon. When they arrived, he was crouched over a hole in the ground, his arm stuck deep inside it like he was searching for something.

“Did you drop a pokeball?” Cashe said, trying to figure out what Lindon was doing.

“No.”

“It’s a Diglett hole?” Emilia said.

Lindon nodded, “I wanted to see what the rest of their body looked like.”

“Don’t do that,” Emilia said. “You’re scaring the poor things. They never come above ground for a reason.”

“I want to catch one.” Lindon said.

“Do you?” Cashe asked.

“No.” Lindon said shamelessly. He pulled his arm from the hole, “But I really want to see one out of the ground!”

Cashe rolled his eyes, “We were actually discussing not doing much traveling today and wanted to know your opinion. We were thinking about heading down to the beach for the day after this.”

“I don’t mind, but I want to see the Totem Pokemon’s Den first.” Lindon said, bouncing to his feet after his unsuccessful attempt to catch a Diglett.

“Don’t worry, we want to see it, too,” Emilia said, “This cavern is breathtaking.”

“Is it?” Lindon took several deep breaths, “I don’t seem to have any trouble breathing.”

Cashe grinned, “That’s not what breathtaking means.”

Lindon gave him a confused look, “I was making a joke.”

“Really, Cashe,” Emilia teased, “Do you think he didn’t know that?”

The pair continued to pester Cashe about his perceived insult as they made their way to the entrance of the Totem Pokemon’s Den. As they approached, the man standing by the entrance took several steps towards them and held up a hand.

“Sorry, folks,” he said, “You have to turn back. There’s something going on in the den and we can’t let anyone through.”

“Oh, I wanted to see it,” Lindon said, disappointed.

Emilia nudged him on the shoulder, “It’s fine. We’re spending the day, we can always come back later.”

Cashe, however, frowned. There was something about his voice that was familiar. And his phrasing.

“Have we met?” Cashe said, looking closely at the man.

“Um, no?” The man frowned and looked at Cashe’s face, before his eyes widened in panic.

And recognition.

Cashe didn’t miss it. Nor did he miss the man reaching for a pokeball. Or the flash of green on his clothes.

Or the stylized star, embroidered on his jacket.

*****