Okay, so going after Miriam was a bad idea. But if the rangers went in later and found her dead, and Hayley had stood by and let it happen, then what was she supposed to say to Miriam's mother? To her own mother? To Connie? "Sorry, Ms. Taylor, I could have saved her, but it would have been too risky"? "Mom, I know you told me not to go anywhere dangerous, but I dragged my partner to Granite Cave anyway, and now she's gone"? "Hey Connie, just so you know, if we're traveling together and you get into trouble, I'm not going to help you if I think I might get hurt"?
Those were the thoughts tumbling through Hayley's head as she ran further into the darkness. Her flashlight was in her backpack, so she was lighting the way with her phone—white light, because she couldn't remember how to change it to red, and every second she spent fiddling with the settings was a second Miriam would get further away.
She could hear the Mawile giggling in the distance, and Miriam and Xena shouting after it, and she raced after those sounds as fast as she could, slipping on patches of loose rock and scraping her arms on narrowing walls. The sound should have been enough to find her. That was what she was counting on. But then she got to the first intersection—two tunnels right next to each other, about equal in size, one sloping up and the other sloping down. And when she leaned in to listen, she couldn't tell where the sounds were coming from. They echoed out, bounced off the walls around her, and circled back, so that they sounded from everywhere at once. She stuck her head in one tunnel, then the other, and the noises from both were exactly the same.
Maybe the tunnels joined together again? Maybe it didn't matter which she picked. Maybe she should go back. But then there was the crackling of a thunderbolt, and a yelp of pain, and Miriam shouting "Xena!" And she knew she had to keep going. It was the tunnel going down, she decided—it had to be. She dashed inside and ran on. As she went on, the sounds of battle got louder, and then—then they got quieter. Was there another intersection here? Had she gone past it? She craned her neck to look over her shoulder, but her feet still carried her forward, and as a result, she slammed directly into a solid wall of stone. A dead end.
Not really a dead end. There was a small crevice, no taller than her waist, just wide enough to admit her if she squeezed. Dazed and out of breath, she took a moment to kneel down and shine her phone's light down it, wondering if somehow… But the tunnel past the crevice was completely silent, and sloped down further than the light could reach. There was no way Miriam was down there. She had to turn around.
She turned around. There was a Graveler blocking the passage she'd come from.
Oh no. Oh, shit. Hayley yelped and dropped her phone, and the cavern walls twisted and strobed in light and shadow until it landed face-down with a crack, pointing its beam at the ceiling. In indirect light, the Graveler was nearly invisible against the stone, but she could see its beady eyes glittering. On the wall behind it was a battered, reflective numeral four. Zone Four? How had she gone that deep already? She—
The Graveler gave a snarl that sounded like rocks sliding down a mountain. Hayley stepped back a pace, raising her hands in front of her, and the Graveler responded by taking a step forward. But it wasn't attacking; maybe she still had a chance to get out of this. What did she know about Graveler? They were territorial. Dumb as a brick. Explosive. Depending on how old it was, Barrett and Ceres might be able to work together to hold it off—if she could get them out of their balls in time, which she doubted—but they wouldn't be able to stop it from blowing up.
The narrow crevice down into darkness had just become her best chance at survival. Hayley tried to crouch down, but the moment she moved, the Graveler roared and smashed a fist against the cavern wall. The rock around her shook, and Hayley dove to the side and covered her head just as a stalactite crashed into the ground where she'd been standing.
"I'm sorry," she gasped. It wouldn't understand her words, but maybe the apology would get through, and what other options did she have? "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to come here, I'll go, I'll—"
Another roar. The Graveler stamped its feet, and shards of the fallen stalactite lifted into the air and pointed at her. Hayley whimpered and buried her face in her arms. She didn't want to die. Not here. Not at all. She…
There was a sharp crack, and Hayley screamed and sobbed. But there was no pain of rock tearing through her skin. The Graveler bellowed again, and—there was something else. Trembling, Hayley pulled her arms apart just far enough to peek between them. The Graveler was fighting another Pokémon. A Meditite.
A fraction of the Graveler's size, the Meditite nevertheless faced its opponent down fearlessly. The Graveler lunged at it, all four arms outstretched, but the Meditite sprang into the air, vaulted over its rocky body, and landed behind it, right in front of Hayley. Its right hand lit up with spark of blue energy, which then exploded outward as its palm made contact with the Graveler again. The Graveler was knocked backwards with more force than should have been possible, crashing into the cave wall several feet away. The Meditite charged after it.
But the Graveler was ready this time. It spun on its feet as it rose, catching the Meditite in the stomach with one of its massive upper arms. The Meditite flew through the air and hit the rock by Hayley with a sickening crunch. Breaking out of her daze, Hayley reached for her belt, intending to bring out Ceres with the precious few seconds she had left—but she stopped mid-throw when the Graveler began to fluoresce a soft orange. It was getting ready to explode.
Shit.
Hayley snapped Ceres' ball back onto her belt, and scooped up the unconscious Meditite, because if it stayed here, it was going to die. Then she shoved herself into the hole just as the air ripped apart behind her.
Tumbling down the chasm was like being tossed around under a rough surf, but with stone instead of water. Sharp blows landed on her elbows, knees, and head as she curled up tighter, not knowing which way was up, not knowing when or if this would end. And then, abruptly, it was over, and she was lying flat on her back in perfect darkness with only the sound of dripping water and her own breathing.
Not just hers. The Meditite's, too. Hayley sat up straight and smacked the buttons on her Pokéballs, enlarging them and dropping them to the ground. Barrett and Ceres materialized, and before anyone could panic or start asking questions, Hayley ordered, "Barrett, start up a fire spin. A tiny one."
Barrett grunted, but a moment later, a candle-sized mote of flame flickered to life. He held it steady between his hands, which cast odd shadows over his face, like a person shining a flashlight under their chin. It wasn't enough to see more than a few feet, but it was enough to let Hayley unshoulder her backpack—ignoring the bites of pain in her shoulders and arms and elbows as she moved—and dig out her flashlight at last. With the press of a button, a wide cone of dim red light spilled out and illuminated their surroundings. They were in a huge, high-ceilinged chamber riddled with stalactites and stalagmites as big as she was. She'd landed neatly between two of them; it was sheer luck that she hadn't been impaled. In fact, it was sheer luck that tunnel hadn't dropped her far enough to kill her on impact. It was luck that she hadn't cracked open her skull or broken her leg. It was luck that the chasm hadn't narrowed on the way down, trapping her and leaving her to suffocate to death.
She had been lucky. But she didn't feel lucky. She felt terrified, and she felt stupid. All of this had been a bad, awful, stupid idea.
Panic hammered in her chest like a drum, but Hayley forced it down and took a long, deep breath. Stop and think. That was what the Taillow Scouts had taught her, and what the school's wilderness survival classes had taught her—stop, think, observe, plan. How could she get out of this? What did she have with her that could help? She had her backpack, and all her gear, minus the camping supplies she'd left at the dorm. She had enough food for a couple days, if she rationed it and kept her Pokémon in their balls. She didn't have a lot of water, but she might be able to find some in the cave or purify what Ceres made. She had two relatively healthy Pokémon, and a third unhealthy one that might be able to help her if she got it back on its feet.
She still had the revive crystal in her first aid kit. She'd saved it for an emergency, and this definitely counted as an emergency.
She took a closer look at the Meditite that she'd laid on the ground next to her. It was male, based on the height of the ears. And he was in bad shape. His skin had only shallow scrapes, but the way his breathing hitched and stuttered on each inhale meant there was something wrong she couldn't see. Broken ribs, she guessed, at the very least. The Graveler had thrown him hard. A revive wouldn't heal broken bones, but it would help with the bruising, staunch anything that might be bleeding, and give him enough adrenaline to wake up. It was better than nothing.
As Barrett and Ceres watched, Hayley pulled out her first aid kit, retrieved the revive crystal, and put it under the Meditite's tongue. Over the course of half a minute, it dissolved, and the Meditite's breathing began to steady. For a moment, nothing more happened, and then all at once his eyes snapped open and he jumped to his feet—only to double over and collapse back to his knees with a grunt.
"It's okay, you're safe," Hayley said, despite the fact that things were very definitely not okay or safe. The Meditite lifted his head and spotted her and her Pokémon, and immediately tried to stand again. For the third time that day, Hayley lifted her hands in parley. "We're not going to hurt you. I'm Hayley, and these are my Pokémon, Barrett and Ceres… Um, can you understand me?"
In a motion that was all too reminiscent of Barrett, the Meditite nodded while keeping his eyes fixed on her. Hayley exhaled. "Okay, good. I don't know if you remember, but you were fighting that Graveler? And—thank you for that, because I think I would have died if you hadn't come in." She swallowed past the tightness in her throat. "You got in a good hit, but then it knocked you out and exploded. I grabbed you and uh, jumped down that tunnel." She pointed towards the dark opening several feet up. "And now we're here."
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
There was a snort, and Barrett stepped forward. He glared at the Meditite, and Hayley saw the judgment in his eyes. The Meditite was no bigger than he was, he was probably thinking; how had he stood up to a Graveler? Then Barrett swiveled his head and turned his judgment on Hayley, and she knew he was demanding to know why he hadn't been allowed to fight the Graveler too.
"I was going to bring you out," Hayley half-lied. "But there was no time. By the time I had an opening, it exploded."
Barrett turned towards the Meditite again and slowly, deliberately, raised his arms into an X. The Meditite read his intention and staggered to his feet, drawing one hand back in a fighting stance. Realizing what was about to happen, Hayley leapt up and jumped between them.
"No fighting," she said. "No right now. We're deep in this cave and we all need to save our energy for any wild Pokémon that might attack us, and—besides, Barrett, Meditite is hurt anyway, so it wouldn't be a real fight."
Barrett stared her down. So did the Meditite. The three of them were stuck in a standoff until, from the sidelines, Ceres gave a loud yawn and rolled onto her side. She was gazing at the Meditite with unbridled curiosity, which the Meditite returned with a tilt of his head. The tension passed from the air, and Barrett stood down with a huff, though he was still glowering.
"How about this?" Hayley pitched. "If we can get out of this cave, then, Meditite, I can bring you to a Pokémon Center to get healed. And once you're better, the two of you can both fight at your full strength."
The Meditite examined her for an uncomfortably long time, but finally gave a taciturn nod. Barrett grumbled. Good—they could make it a little further, at least, before the two of them tore each other apart.
"So, we need to figure out how to get back to the surface." She glanced up at the hole she'd come from. "I don't know if we can go back that way; the tunnel might have collapsed behind me. Meditite, can you—?"
She was going to ask if he could lift himself with telekinesis, or maybe lift her, so that he wouldn't have to move so much. But before she could finish, his eyes flashed a soft green, like a Meowth's eyes catching a glint of light in a dark room. For a moment, he was perfectly still, but then his eyes dimmed again and he shook his head.
Was that a foresight technique? Well, whether it was or it wasn't, they weren't getting out that way.
A low roar echoed through the cavern, and all four of them froze, looking around for signs of danger. Nothing came to attack them, though. The darkness pressed in on them, still and undisturbed. But for how long?
There were two options from here. Hayley could stay where she was and wait for the rangers to find her, or she could try to get out on her own. Staying put was supposed to be the safer option, but that only worked if the place you were staying in was safe—and this cave definitely wasn't. Trying to blindly find an escape route was even less safe, but if this Meditite lived in these caves and had the advantage of foresight, then maybe…
In a tone that she hoped didn't sound as desperate as she felt, Hayley asked the Meditite, "Do you know another path out of the caves? One that's safe for us to take?"
The Meditite surveyed her once again, and then the green glow returned to his eyes. Hayley waited with bated breath for a full minute before the Meditite lifted his head, stood, and pointed into the darkness. A path to freedom—hopefully. A pack back to safety.
Before she left, though, Hayley took her trail chalk from her backpack and scrawled a crude arrow on the floor. She labeled it with the date and her initials. If this didn't work out, then maybe the rangers could still find her. Or, worst case scenario, they could find what was left of her.
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Hayley stayed tense as they walked, ready for a dangerous Pokémon to jump out at every turn. Barrett and Ceres followed closely beside her, and the Meditite, after a great amount of protest, let himself be carried in her arms. He was too hurt to go more than a few steps without falling to his knees. Hayley did her best to cradle him without jostling his ribs, but it was difficult. They were deep underground, in tunnels not meant for humans, and there was a lot of scrabbling over high rocks and squeezing through narrow passageways. It actually might have been easier without Barrett and Ceres, but both of them loudly refused to be put back in their Pokéballs. So she'd have to push Ceres up a sheer wall, follow one-armed with Meditite, then turn and pull up Barrett after her.
They made a lot of noise, and she knew they'd attract the attention of a wild Pokémon eventually. When they did, it was a Rhyhorn.
The massive Pokémon made an appearance from a side passage, pawing at the ground and tossing its horn. Barrett stepped forward, ready for a fight, but before Hayley could give him a direction, there was a prickling at the base of her skull, and her mouth clamped shut. It wasn't just anxiety shutting her up—no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't make a sound. As she struggled, the Meditite in her arms sat up straighter and locked eyes with her. He curled his hands into fists, crossed his arms at the wrist, then swept them out again. It took Hayley, still on the edge of panic, a few long moments to realize what the gesture meant.
Safe. She hadn't taught the sign to Barrett yet, because she was still working on it herself. Had the Meditite read it from her mind? Had he… Her mouth came unstuck, and she inhaled to ask the question, but the Meditite broke eye contact with her and faced the Rhyhorn instead.
The Rhyhorn looked up from Barrett towards the Meditite and growled. The Meditite stared back at it, unblinking, not moving a muscle. A few seconds of silent passed, and then the Rhyhorn grunted and stamped its feet. Afterwards, it fell silent again and returned to staring at the Meditite, as if waiting for an answer.
They were having a conversation. An argument. Hayley didn't know what it was about, and she didn't know which of them was winning. She could only watch helplessly as the wordless exchange passed back and forth. Finally, just as Hayley was about to shake apart from the stress, the Rhyhorn gave one last toss of its head, huffed, and turned away to clomp back into the darkness. The Meditite shut its eyes, and its body went limp.
"That—that was amazing," Hayley whispered. "Were you talking to it? Convincing it not to attack us?" The Meditite didn't answer. His breathing had become labored, and she felt a sweat breaking out on his skin. Whatever he'd done, it had taken a lot out of him.
Barrett came back to her with crossed arms, upset about the fight that had been taken from him. Hayley sighed, far too exhausted to have this fight right now. "We'll come back here when you've evolved, and you can fight all the Rhyhorn you want. Okay?" It wasn't enough. His face twisted up, and puff of smoke came from his nostrils. "Remember the Zangoose?" Hayley continued. "The Pokémon in here are even stronger and scarier than they were. And if one of them cuts you in half when we're this far from a Pokémon Center, there's nothing I can do to help you."
Barrett sagged at the reminder of his brush with death in Rustboro. She hadn't wanted to bring it up, but he'd forced her hand. Shoulders hunched, Barrett shrank in on himself and settled for glaring daggers at the Meditite. The Meditite didn't glare back. He didn't even seem to notice.
Ceres was staring at the Meditite too, though her stare was one of awe. She trundled forward, nudged Hayley's leg with a gentle headbutt, and jerked her head up towards him. Hayley smiled down at her as best as she could. "He's a psychic, Ceres. That means he can talk to other Pokémon inside their heads. You're a psychic too; if you practice a lot, you might be able to do that just like he can." Ceres' eyes grew wider; whether with confusion or comprehension, Hayley couldn't tell. Whichever one it was, she kept staring at the Meditite, expression unchanging, until the Meditite stirred and pointed them forward again.
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Further into the cave, they encountered a Nosepass, a small group of Geodude, and a Lairon. The Nosepass ignored them, letting them pass without making so much as a sound. The Geodude were more aggressive, but were quickly driven off by Barrett and Ceres. The Lairon, though, needed the Meditite to play mediator again. The wordless conversation went on far longer than the one with the Rhyhorn had, and the Lairon kept its guard up the whole time, ready to charge and trample them all at a moment's notice. By the time it gave up and clomped away, the Meditite was breathing in short, painful gasps, and his whole body was shaking. "Are you okay?" Hayley asked uselessly. "Do you need to rest?" The Meditite shook his head. He opened his eyes again, and they flashed green for just a second before squinting shut once more. Hayley could only keep going down the passageway and hope that by the time they came to a junction, he would have recovered enough to guide them again.
They had to be close to the exit by now, right? They'd been walking for so long. They had to be close. Hayley repeated it over and over in her head and had begun whispering it out loud when, abruptly, the tunnels around her changed. Turning a corner, the passage went from irregular eroded stone to a sharp, clean-cut corridor. Support beams rose around her like a Wailord's ribcage, smooth steel tracks ran underfoot, and unlit lamps dangled above her head. This was a mining tunnel. All they had to do was follow it, and they would be free.
Hayley half-laughed, half-sobbed in relief. "You did it!" The Meditite lifted his head weakly, then lowered it again. Hayley's joy died an ignoble death. Right—they weren't out of this yet. She looked to her left, then to her right. The tunnels ran in both directions. "Do you know which way we should go?"
There was no answer. He didn't even lift his head. Hayley was going to have to guess. So, based on gut feeling alone, she decided to walk to the left.
They made much better time now that they were walking across flat ground. No Pokémon jumped out in front of them, either; the rangers must have kept this tunnel clear. The knot in Hayley's stomach was about to start loosening when, up ahead, she heard the rhythmic tink, tink, tink of metal against stone. She froze in place, looking for signs that a Mawile or Lairon might have moved through here. But there were no shattered lamps or chewed wires, and the rail tracks ran smooth and straight without a single dent or bite mark. Hayley shut her eyes and strained her ears, and gradually, she made out another sound—footsteps. Human-sounding footsteps. And a long refrain of off-key humming.
Mawile could mimic human sounds; more than one traveler had been lured to their death investigating what they thought was a crying child or screaming woman. But the tune that was being hummed was one that Hayley knew. It was Silicobra Serenade, a Galarian song that had been played on the radio nonstop of a couple of months ago. So either this was a Mawile with current knowledge of popular music—which was possible; you could never underestimate a fairy-type—or there was another human down here.
Hayley looked at Barrett, at Ceres, at the half-unconscious Meditite in her arms. "What do you guys think? Should we check it out?" Barrett shrugged; Ceres and the Meditite did nothing. It was up to her, then. Hayley steeled her nerves. "Let's keep going. Barrett, Ceres, get ready for a fight. But don't attack until I tell you to, all right?" The last thing she needed was to escape death by wild Pokémon only to get arrested for maiming a miner or a ranger.
They approached slowly, cautiously, sticking as closely to the tunnel wall as they could. Hayley switched her flashlight to its lowest setting so that the red beam barely illuminated the ground in front of her feet. That turned out to be unnecessary, though, because as the tunnel curved around, bright white light shone out from the distance to meet them. Hayley nearly fell to the ground as the tension went out of her in a rush. A person! There was another person here! She detached herself from the wall and practically ran towards the light, only slowing down so that Ceres could keep up. They were so close to getting out of here, so close; she could practically taste the salty ocean air.
But Hayley had been only half-right. The light was coming from a person, but they weren't a miner or a ranger. Or at least, if this woman was a miner or a ranger, she wasn't dressed like one. Her back was turned to Hayley as she ran her hands along the wall, but Hayley could see that she was wearing a tee shirt and jeans. There was no Pokéball belt at her waist, and her long hair, held back by a bandana, was dyed a lurid teal green.
Blue-green hair, Hayley remembered with a start. "You'll know her when you see her."
Amaya.