The majesty of the hills of Granite Cave was only somewhat undercut by the giant open-air quarry that took up half the view. An entire section of trees and soil had been cut away to expose bare gray rock, which had then been cut away in chunks to form a massive, blocky pit. Down at the bottom, both Pokémon and construction vehicles were at work, pushing around piles of dirt and lifting slabs of stone. Scaffolding ran all along the walls, and reinforced framing and dark shadows marked the entrances of manmade tunnels going deeper into the earth.
"What do they mine here, anyway?" Hayley asked. Did people really go to this amount of trouble just for rocks?
As if he was reading her mind, Howie said, "The limestone and sandstone get shipped all around Hoenn for the construction industry, but Devon's mostly interested in the prima materia they can refine into revive crystals and evolution stones. Some of the rangers think there might be the right materials for key stones and mega stones too, but—obviously, they wouldn't tell us if there was."
Miriam perked up at that. "So there might be mega stones inside? If we find one, do we get to keep it?" Howie shook his head.
"It all belongs to Devon. Besides, you can't just dig a mega stone out of the ground. It has to be processed before it can do anything." And of course, Devon was the only company in Hoenn with the rights to do that. Miriam dimmed considerably, and so did Hayley. She'd known this already, but being reminded of it was still a buzzkill.
The main cave mouth was occupied by a handful of trainers and tourists, so they skipped over it to find another entrance. Even without counting the manmade mining passages, Granite Cave had dozens of places where tunnels met the air and opened onto the sand, the sea, and the hills. The tunnels themselves ran for miles and miles, and most connected to other tunnels at some point during their run. It was possible to enter through practically any opening and exit through almost any of the others—as long as you knew where to go. Even with the Ranger markings, the routes were circuitous and complicated, and it was easy to get turned around. Howie knew the caves well by now, though, and he knew the best spots to find Pokémon. Having him with them would hopefully speed up the process from a week of searching to just one or two days.
Howie directed them to a half-hidden overhang some distance away. When they stepped inside, the glare of the sun dropped away, and the temperature fell by several degrees. Despite the overhead lights and the ever-present humidity, Hayley felt momentarily blinded and chilled. The cave was completely silent, except for the dripping of water from the stalactites hanging above their heads. A blazing white numeral one on the walls let them know they were in Zone One, and a battered informational placard on a pedestal beneath it reminded them of all the hazards the ranger at the desk had told them about earlier—including that these very stalactites might impale and kill them if they happened to knock one off the ceiling.
She let out Ceres and Barrett, and Miriam let out Xena. Howie didn't release any of his own Pokémon, which was good, because the cavern was already starting to feel pretty crowded. She could only imagine what it would be like if they were all trying to fit full teams of six.
Miriam squatted down and showed her Pokédex to Xena. "All right. This is an Abra, remember? If you see one, I want you to shock it as hard as you can until it faints."
"I still don't think we're going to find any Abra," Howie said. "There hasn't been a reported sighting of one since last week."
Miriam stood up again and shoved her Pokédex into her cargo shorts. "I don't care. Just bring me to wherever they usually show up. And if we find one, it's mine, got it? I call dibs."
Howie looked over at Hayley, who gave a halfhearted shrug. He pulled out his Pokégear and turned on the screen. "Okay. Abra usually show up deeper in zone two, but fighting types live outside by the northern and eastern outlets. Which do you want to look for first?"
"Abra," Miriam said without hesitation. Hayley shot her a pointed look.
"I'm fine with looking for Abra first, as long as we don't leave before we look for fighting-types, too." It would be just like Miriam to find a Pokémon she wanted, declare she was done, and skip out of the cave before Hayley had a chance to catch anything.
"Okay. If we follow this path—" Howie traced a long, complicated route on his Pokégear—"then we can hit a few spots where people have reported seeing Abra before coming out one of the exits to the north. Does that work?"
"That works," Hayley agreed. "Miriam, do you and Xena want to fight any of the wild Pokémon we find on the way?"
Miriam looked like she was going to say no, but Xena lifted her arms and shouted, and she changed her mind. "I guess Xena could use the practice."
"Howie? What about you?"
"I'm going to let my Pokémon rest for now," he said. "It's our day off, and—uh, if there's any trouble, it'll be better if they're at full strength."
A worried prickle ran down Hayley's spine, but she ignored it. "Right. So inside the cave, Barrett will take the first encounter, then Ceres, then Xena—"
"Why am I going last?"
"Because we're looking for Abra first." Apparently that was good enough reasoning to shut Miriam up. "If we see a fighting type, then Barrett will fight it, and if we see an Abra, then Xena will fight it. Are we all happy with that?" Nods all around. Howie looked vaguely impressed. Hayley was, unfortunately, getting pretty good at anticipating arguments and heading them off before they could begin.
No Pokémon appeared while they were in the well-lit Zone One. Leigh had explained that Zone One was mostly meant for tourists, and so it was kept as clear and safe as possible. That changed, however, when they took a side tunnel and entered Zone Two. The tunnel narrowed and roughened, white light turned to dim red, and in a matter of moments, a Zubat fluttered down from the ceiling. It hovered above them, opened its mouth, and shrieked, making all of them cover their ears with their hands—all of them except Ceres, who didn't have hands, and who actually seemed completely unbothered by the piercing noise. When Hayley and Barrett got their bearings, she ordered an ember, and the Zubat flapped away the moment the attack grazed its wing. Barrett looked supremely disappointed that this had counted as his turn, but Hayley was just glad none of them had been poisoned. She'd heard all sorts of horror stories about Zubat attacks in caves.
As they picked their way across the slick, red-tinted rock, the second Pokémon to emerge was a Geodude. It uncurled itself from a corner as they passed, beating its chest and letting out a gravelly roar. Its bravado was quickly extinguished, however, when Ceres doused it with a water gun. The first attack stopped it in its tracks, and the second sent it scurrying away into a passage too small for them to follow. This time, it was Hayley that was disappointed. After the terror that had been Roxanne's Geodude, she'd expected this one to put up more of a fight.
The third Pokémon was an Aron, and Hayley could have sworn she heard Howie say "Aww." Xena was sent up to fight, and the Aron charged fearlessly at her, not stopping even as a thundershock sparked across its metal frame. It landed a solid tackle followed by a headbutt before Xena shocked it again, and this time, it went down. Just like she'd done for countless fainted Wurmple in Petalburg Woods, Hayley helped Howie move it to an out-of-the-way spot where it could recover. Hayley inexplicably felt guiltier about this than she had about any of the Wurmple, despite the fact that it hadn't been her Pokémon that had fainted it, and despite the fact that an electrical shock was less nasty to recover from than a burn. Maybe it was because she was thinking of Mona.
"There'll be a patrol down here later today," Howie assured her. "If it's really badly hurt, they can help it out."
"Well, what if it gets picked off by another Pokémon or something before they get here?" Miriam asked, probably more to get under Howie's skin than out of any real concern for the Aron. Howie responded with a one-shouldered shrug.
"That's life. Pokémon die out here all the time, and not just because of trainers."
His voice was unusually somber. Hayley was going to ask him whether he'd seen any dead Pokémon during his internship here, but stopped herself just in time. This wasn't the right place to bring it up.
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After several more encounters, they reached the first cavern where Abra had supposedly been spotted. Unfortunately, there were currently no Abra to be seen. Miriam was undeterred. "Look around," she demanded. "There might be one hiding somewhere."
There weren't actually that many places to look, but Hayley obligingly scanned the walls anyway. Miriam took a more active role, standing on tiptoe and pulling herself up to examine every nook and cranny, as though an Abra might have somehow crammed itself inside of a two-inch crevice. Rather than joining them in searching, Howie kept his eye on Miriam, likely making sure she didn't do anything stupid.
"This would be easier if I could see," Miriam grumbled after a few minutes. "You're sure we can't use our flashlights?"
"Not in this part of the cave," Howie said. "It'll disturb the local Pokémon."
"What Pokémon? There aren't any here—ugh!" Miriam yanked her hand out of the latest opening she'd shoved it into. It was covered in white slime. "Ew! What is this?"
Howie stiffened suddenly. "That's Zubat guano."
"Ew!"
"Keep your voice down. There might be a colony—"
He didn't have time to finish before Zubat exploded out of the crack in the wall. Miriam shrieked again and lost her footing, tumbling to the ground. The Zubat followed her, beating their wings and scratching their claws against her skin. "Xena, thundershock—!"
"Not when they're that close to you!" Howie reached to his belt and released Willa. The Nuzleaf materialized with blinding white light—which the Zubat didn't notice—and a pop—which they did. Half the colony split off from Miriam to swirl towards her instead. "Willa, razor leaf, drive them back! Hayley, help out!"
Hayley shook herself out of paralyzed shock. "R-right! Ember and water gun! Hit as many as you can!"
Willa's leaves didn't do much more than distract the Zubat, but the distraction was enough to buy them precious seconds. Some of the older Zubat opened their mouths wide, fangs emerging from the skin of their gums, and she prioritized them, knocking each one out of the air before they could sink their teeth into any of the humans. Barrett's cloud of embers was more effective, dissipating the throng that had gathered above Miriam, but some stayed put—they were tangled in her hair. Miriam screamed. Willa cried out too as one of the Zubat finally latched onto her and began pumping poison into her body. The Zubat joined the chorus with a cacophony of ear-splitting supersonic attacks.
"Water gun and swift the ones on Miriam! Ember the ones in the air!" They did as they were told, or tried to. Barrett's ember scared off another handful, and Xena's swift knocked two away from her trainer. Ceres' water gun was slow and clumsy, though, and managed to miss all of the Zubat and soak Miriam instead. Willa sank to her knees, and Howie recalled her and replaced her with Mona. There wasn't much the Aron could do against the Zubat, though—or so Hayley though.
"Roar!" Mona planted her feet, lifted her head, and bellowed into the din. The sound startled the Zubat so badly that some collided midair and fell to the ground. Barrett finished them off with ember to make sure they didn't get up again. Xena fired three more swift stars and finally dislodged the last Zubat from Miriam's head. Another approached for one last attack, but Ceres finally redirected her water gun and blasted it into a wall. At last, the air was still, and the battle was over.
Hayley rushed to Miriam as Howie released Willa again. "Are you okay? Did any of them bite you?"
Miriam uncurled herself, sniffed, and rubbed the heel of her hand against her wet cheeks. "I don't think so. But your stupid Slowpoke hit me in the face." The thick sound of her voice and the redness in her eyes suggested something else, but Hayley didn't say anything. She just extended her hand and helped her back to her feet. Miriam ran a hand through her knotted hair, shuddered, then looked down again as Xena attached herself to her ankle. Miriam opened and closed her mouth a few times, then shook her head.
"Thanks," she muttered at last, so quietly that Hayley could barely hear it. "You helped me out. I guess you all did."
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By the time the sound of waves began echoing from the tunnels ahead, they'd fought four more Geodude, three more Aron, countless Zubat (thankfully all in ones and twos and not another giant colony), and a Mawile. The Zubat colony had been the most dangerous thing they'd faced, but the Mawile took second place. It had sashayed in front of the three of them, put on its cutest face, and then leapt up and attempted to snatch Howie's Pokégear with the giant jaw on the back of its head. It had only been Howie's quick reaction time that kept his Pokégear, and the hand that was attached to it, from ending up inside the Mawile's belly. It had technically been Ceres' turn to fight, but Hayley had ordered Barrett after it instead—the thing was too quick and too strong to mess around with. Barrett had landed a solid ember on it and had been readying a second attack when the Mawile blurred forward, bowled him over, and disappeared down the tunnels again. To Hayley's surprise, Howie had actually thrown a Pokéball after it, though he missed the throw by a wide margin.
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"Were you trying to catch it?" she'd asked.
"Not for my team, but it needs to be relocated. Mawile aren't supposed to be in this part of the cave." He'd sighed and re-shouldered his pack. "They keep showing up in Zone One, harassing tourists and chewing through the relays and lights. If it comes back, try and catch it, and the rangers will comp you for it."
The Mawile hadn't come back, though, and they'd eventually made their way to their planned exit. It was a huge, roughly circular chamber with high ceilings and smooth walls, and the middle of the floor dipped down and was consumed by the rushing sea. The lapping, rushing sound of the surf echoed around them, and the water carried in the sunlight from the outside and reflected it across the walls. It was beautiful. Also, it was slimy. They had to recall their Pokémon as they picked their way across the part of the floor that wasn't covered by water, attempting not to slip on the wet, weathered rock. On the other end of the pool, the floor widened and jutted up a bit, leaving several feet of rock that formed a solid surface to stand on, if not a particularly level or dry one.
"What's our plan from here?" Howie asked, as Miriam dropped down and took a swig from her water bottle.
"There should be some fighting-types on the beaches and hills past here, right? Howie nodded. Hayley chewed the inside of her lip. "I kind of… If I'm going to meet my new Pokémon, I kind of want to do it by myself. Do you think that'd be okay? I won't go too far." The specter of her failures in Petalburg Woods loomed large in her mind, and Hayley was currently consumed by the fear that she would find the perfect fighting-type, only to have it decide to go with Howie—or even Miriam—instead of her. She'd rather just be rejected outright.
Howie frowned, his brow creasing. "It's better if we stick together."
"I won't go far," Hayley repeated. "I'll stay close enough that you'll be able to hear me if I need help—and our phones work out here too, right?" She pulled out her cell phone to confirm, and sure enough, she had one and a half shaky bars.
"I want to stay here anyway," Miriam interjected. "You promised I wouldn't have to go to the beach, and that—" she jerked her thumb at the rocky shoreline outside—"is a beach."
Howie crossed his arms and mulled it over. "I guess… If you want to go out looking and you want to stay in, then I can stand by on the beach? Then I won't be too far from either of you. And I need to get Bea some exercise anyway."
Hayley breathed a deep sigh of relief. "Yeah, that would work. I'll check back in after an hour? And if something happens, you can call me."
With their plan of action decided, they all released their Pokémon, and the small ledge was suddenly crammed full of feet, hoofs, and paws. Most of them struggled to keep their footing and not trip over their new neighbors, but Bea immediately locked on to Miriam and Xena, two new friends she hadn't seen before, and lunged at them with a slobbering tongue. Miriam squealed in disgust and pushed the Growlithe away, which of course only excited her further and made her redouble her efforts to cover Miriam's face in spit. Howie called her back to her side with a sharp whistle and a clap of his hands. "Bea! No jumping!" Shooting an apologetic glance at Miriam, he added, "Sorry, I don't normally keep her in her ball this long, and I guess she's wound up."
"Wound up" was an understatement. Bea spent all of two and a half seconds at Howie's feet before leaping over the other Pokémon, bounding over the inlet at the cave mouth, and rocketing down the coastline. Howie called after her, but she ignored him until he reached into his bag and pulled out a folded rubber frisbee. The moment he did, she froze in place with an almost telepathic instinct, turned to face him, and bowed, hindquarters waggling in anticipation. Mona and Willa watched the display with the jaded, judgmental expressions of tired older siblings, Ceres stared, and Barrett scoffed. Xena, however, grew just as excited at the sight of the frisbee as Bea had, bolted from the cave, and began hopping up and down on the rocks outside.
Miriam was ready to play too, though not with the frisbee. She retrieved her Gameboy from her own backpack and switched it on. "If any of you see an Abra, just attack it for me, okay? I need to get the rest of the stars in Super Lucario Galaxy."
"Didn't you finish that already?" Hayley asked. Miriam rolled her eyes.
"No, I finished Super Lucario World. They're different games. Obviously."
At least she wouldn't be alone. Willa had walked out onto the rocks to photosynthesize—she was still looking a little battered after the Zubat fight, despite first aid and potions—but Mona was clearly less enthused about the idea of water and sun, and now curled up at Miriam's feet. With everyone having decided on their activities for the next hour, it was time for Hayley to get started. She looked at Barrett and Ceres and nodded, half to herself, half to them.
"All right. Let's go."
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The ocean was at middle tide and slowly going out, so the shoreline was wide enough for them to walk comfortably without risk of falling into the water. Hayley figured she would start her search here, then move up into the hills. There was a spot not too far from here where stairs had been built into the rocks, and using them would be safer than trying to scramble up the cliffside. Going off on her own was a little reckless, sure, but Hayley was still going to do it as safely as she could.
It was easy enough for Hayley to cross over the rocks, but Barrett kept slipping and stumbling. Similarly, a jutting rock or pit that she could step over without thinking became daunting barriers and yawning chasms for Ceres. They'd managed to keep up with her without too much difficulty on the well-trod floors of the cave, but now she constantly had to stop, wait, and occasionally unstick Ceres from whatever insurmountable obstacle she found herself up against. Fortunately, it didn't take too long for them to find their first target: a Machop performing a series of arm thrusts against a boulder sticking out from the cave wall.
"Hey!" Hayley called out to it, and it immediately stopped what it was doing and took a fighting stance. She stopped where she was and held up her hands to show she wasn't about to sneak attack it or throw a Pokéball. "Uh, my name's Hayley, and this is Barrett and Ceres. I was wondering if you wanted to spar?"
It eyed her suspiciously, but the suspicion gave way to intrigue when Barrett stepped forward and huffed. It looked at Barrett, looked at her, then nodded, rolled its shoulders, and took up its stance again. Hayley nodded back.
"All right. Barrett, fight however you want, okay? It's all you. But if the Machop taps out or runs away, you need to stop fighting. Got it?" Barrett snorted, lifted his arms, and then vanished in a puff of smoke.
The Machop hadn't been expecting the feint attack. Barrett appeared behind it and landed a perfect ember. His advantage didn't last long, though, as the Machop spun around and kicked Barrett's legs out from under him, knocking him onto the rocks. Barrett grunted and rolled away just before a karate chop came down, then lunged forward and headbutted his opponent in the gut. The Machop staggered back, winded, and Barrett crossed his arms for a cross chop. But before the attack could make contact, the Machop dodged, grabbed Barrett by his wrist and shoulder, and threw him against the cliffside. Hayley winced as Barrett's body went limp. The Machop stepped back, admired its work, and then turned back to Hayley searchingly.
"O-okay," she stammered. She hadn't expected it to be over quite so fast. "Uh. Good fight. You wouldn't maybe be interested in joining our team, would you?"
The Machop looked at her like she was stupid, scoffed, and went back to fighting the rock. Well, that was an obvious no.
Hayley only had one revive crystal in her first aid kit, and she was saving it for an emergency, so she settled for spraying Barrett down with a potion, then picking him up and carrying him. She'd really expected Barrett to last longer, if not win outright. Clearly, he still wasn't great at thinking up strategies for himself. When he began to stir several minutes later, she put him down and backed away, knowing he'd be fiery and pissed. Sure enough, the moment he came to, he hopped to his feet and glared around the empty beach, trails of embers following his beak as his head swiveled from side to side.
"Sorry. You lost." Barrett looked up at her and growled. Hayley held up her hands, just as she'd done for the Machop. "It's definitely not my fault, so don't even try it. Do you want me to give you battle commands next time? Because I can."
Barrett growled again, crossed his arms, and kicked a pebble away from him. Ceres yawned, and he fixed his venomous glare on her—
"It's not Ceres' fault either. Don't be a bully, or you're going back in your ball." After that, Barrett settled for silently fuming.
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The rest of the beach was a bust, so at the half-hour mark, Hayley decided to try her luck on the hills. She had to recall Ceres to get up the stairs, but Barrett insisted on taking them himself. Very slowly. One at a time. It took him five whole minutes to get to the top, and when he did, he glared at her like she had been the one to make him do it. Hayley couldn't fault him for it, though. Her mother had told her too many stories about times she'd done the exact same thing as a toddler. The hills, at least, were easier for all three of them to navigate than the beach had been; there was even a dirt trail that had been cleared from the stairway into the groves of cedar trees.
Hayley was hoping to find Timburr here. Before they evolved into Gurdurr and gained the strength to swing around metal and stone, they practiced by training with planks of wood, and so they liked to hang around trees. Taillow and Wurmple also liked to hang around trees, of course, but most of them turned tail and ran at the sight of a human and two Pokémon, and the ones that stood their ground and issued a challenge weren't strong enough to even slow them down. Barrett might have lost to the Machop, but at least he'd improved enough that losing to Wurmple was no longer a possibility. The series of quick, easy wins went to his head, of course, and by the time they came across a group of three Timburr sitting on the ground, his ego had fully recovered.
Hayley waved to them, just like she'd done to the Machop. Two of the Timburr regarded her with curiosity, while the third, smaller one shrank back. "Hi. I'm Hayley, and I'm looking for a new Pokémon to join my team. Do any of you want to spar?"
The two bigger Timburr looked at each other, then turned in unison to the smaller one. One of the bigger ones got up and prodded the smaller one on the arm. The small one flinched and shook its head, but the bigger one grunted and said something indecipherable. The other bigger one, still sitting on the ground, grinned.
"Um. If you don't want to, that's fine…" The big one that was standing shook its head, walked behind the small one, and pushed it to its feet. The small one shot a desperate look at the one that was still sitting, but it just shrugged its shoulders. The small one visibly swallowed and, with a resigned expression, picked up its length of wood from the ground.
At that point, Hayley would have just left, but Barrett was already squaring off for battle. She sighed. "I guess you're fighting the little one," she said. "Just—don't be too hard on it, okay?"
The two larger Timburr got out of the way, and the small one hefted the wooden beam onto its shoulders. It looked like it was struggling under the weight. Barrett once again opened with a feint attack and ember, and the moment the attack hit, the Timburr cried out and dropped its beam again. Barrett followed up with a cross chop to the back, and the Timburr fell to the ground—
—and started to cry. Hayley watched helplessly, and even Barrett stopped in his tracks, as the Timburr dissolved into wracking sobs that sent tears rolling down its cheeks. Was this a trick? Was it trying to get Barrett to let his guard down? But even as Barrett circled around to the front of the Timburr and leaned in with an astonished expression, it just curled up on itself further and continued to cry. The two Timburr off to the side curled their lips and dissolved into snickers.
All right, that wasn't how she'd expected this to go. Barrett left the field and came back to her, face twisted in disgust. Hayley deliberated for a moment before saying, "Maybe we should catch it? It looks like it's having a rough time, and we can help it get stronger." But Barrett huffed and vehemently shook his head. Hayley bit her lip. She really did want to catch it—it felt so wrong to leave it like this. But she'd promised Barrett she wouldn't catch anything without his permission. And so she took one last look at the Timburr, apologized awkwardly, and went on her way.
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After that debacle, they were starting to come up on an hour, so Hayley had to turn around and go back. She held out hope that maybe another fighting-type would cross her path as she backtracked, but didn't have any luck. At one point, as they walked back across the beach, a shape on a ledge above her caught her eye—but it was only a Meditite, which opened one bloodshot eye to observe her. Only its eyes moved; the rest of its body, veiny stick-thin limbs attached to an emaciated torso, didn't so much as twitch. It didn't even turn its bulbous head to watch her go, just shut one eye and opened another as she passed by. Hayley shuddered. Freaky.
Barrett looked where she was looking and pointed the Meditite out, but Hayley shook her head. "It's a Meditite. You don't want to fight one, they're… weird." Like a Riolu, but if a Riolu was super messed up and hated you. Besides, this one didn't look interested in coming down from its ledge. Hayley kept shooting glances over her shoulder at it as she went, feeling its eyes on her back until the beach curved around the cliff and hid her from view.
They passed the Machop, which had moved on from fighting the rock and was now punching the air. Barrett tried to issue another challenge, but the Machop ignored him and kept punching. Hayley pulled Barrett away before he could do something stupid.
"Maybe if we come back tomorrow, it'll want to fight us again," she said, by way of consolation. "You'll be ready for it next time, and maybe you can beat it."
Howie, Xena, and Bea were still playing on the beach, though the Pokémon had moved on from catching frisbees to trying to shoot a softball out of the air. Howie called out to Hayley as she approached: "Any luck?"
"No," she said, shoulders sagging. "I found a few, but none of them worked out."
"That's too bad." Howie bent down and took the ball out of Bea's mouth. "Maybe next time."
Inside the cave, Mona was dozing, and Miriam was absorbed in her game. And there was—
There was a smudge of yellow hovering over the pool of water in the cavern. Hayley's jaw dropped, and she heard Howie gasp.
"Miriam," Hayley whispered, trying to be loud enough to alert Miriam without also startling the Abra at the center of the room. Miriam didn't hear her, so Hayley grabbed her phone and texted: "look up!"
Miriam grumbled as her phone vibrated next to her on the rock, and she picked it up with a roll of her eyes. Then she looked up, and her eyes went wide. She leapt up, abandoning her Gameboy on the rock below her.
"Holy shit. Xena, shock it! Shock it!"
Xena yelled and ran into the cavern, swinging her arms. The Abra had heard Miriam too, though, and cracked one eye open in a way eerily reminiscent of the Meditite. Xena's thunderbolt changed path midair and shot into the ceiling.
"Shoot it again! Don't let it get away!"
It wasn't actually trying to get away, though. Why? Didn't Abra usually run, rather than fight? Hayley took her eyes off the fight for a moment to glance around the cavern, and that was when she spotted the Mawile picking its way across the rocks towards Miriam.
"Miriam! On your left!" The Mawile, having been spotted, had no more reason to be stealthy, and it closed the distance between itself and Miriam by digging its jaw into the cave wall and flinging itself the rest of the way. Miriam turned just in time to see it at her side, and she yelped and jumped back. Hayley and Howie charged in, shouting battle commands. But the Mawile wasn't after Miriam. It giggled and, in one smooth movement, snatched her Gameboy up with its jaw and leapt away. Then it ran back the way it came. At the same moment, the Abra teleported out of sight.
Had they been working together? There was no time to think about it. Miriam screamed "You little bitch!" and took after the fleeing Mawile, Xena following hot on her heels. Hayley and Howie glanced at each other and, without a word, recalled their Pokémon and ran after them both. They slipped and scrabbed around the pool, down the corridor, and back into Zone Two. The Mawile was crafty and quick, but its legs were short, and they'd almost caught up to it when it slipped into a dark side passage and disappeared from sight. And that should have been the end of it, except Miriam, with a scream of fury, threw herself into the darkness after it.
"Miriam, don't!" Hayley tried to follow her, but Howie grabbed her by the arm and held her in place.
"We can't go in there!"
"But Miriam—!"
"She can't be in there either, but if we go after her, we'll be just as screwed as she is! We need to call the rangers!"
"But—" Hayley stared into the darkness. She could still hear Miriam yelling and Xena shouting. She'd only been in there for seconds, and Hayley knew she could catch up to her and drag her back. How long would the rangers take to get here? Minutes? An hour? She could be dead by then. And she was so close right now.
The look on Howie's face said that he knew what she was thinking. He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Hayley yanked her arm away from him, ran into the tunnel, and was swallowed by the darkness.