After the rest, Larry blearily blinked away the scum in his eyes before fully waking from his slumber.

“Ugh! Stupid muscle pain!” his body still hurt all over from the training from the last days, so actually getting up from his sleep hurt far more than normal. He fought his way to standing just in time to see his mother stir awake behind him, she didn’t seem to have the same complications as him.

“Good morning! You said we had a big day today? What did you have planned?” Larry excitedly raved to his mom, the training had brought them closer together and his mother had even opened up to him a bit during their training, shedding her terse sentences for real conversation in parts.

“Mmm… Morning…” His mom stirred, tossing herself over once before speaking up in a raspy morning voice, “You’ll see…”, she turned back over before falling back asleep with a loud snore.

‘Seems we're back to simple sentences…’ Larry ignored his mom and let her get a few minutes more of shuteye, as he did some simple stretches to get rid of the morning muscle pain. ‘I’ve barely been together with my mom for a few days and I’ve already learned so much.’ Finally, Larry felt like his second life had given him a place in life, this wasn’t just some kind of divine accident, but he had family and something to look forward to in the future.

He continued after his stretches by doing a simple routine of TE circulation, his mother hadn’t taught him about any kind of Type-Energy and simply talked about ‘energy’ anytime the topic came up, it seemed that while wild Pokemon had a concept about some energy inside their body powering their moves, it was far more instinctual for them than Larry had assumed. His mom never used the term TE, she simply conjured the moves and talked about feeling the energy inside oneself.

Larry himself had different ideas though, his ideas about TE seemed to be working, so he had gotten himself into the habit of stirring the energy inside himself to keep it moving, like stirring a pot of liquid. He could feel the energy inside himself begin to move and empower him, it wasn’t something as noticeable as a stat boost, but it felt like his pulse had quickened and the sleepiness of the morning was stirred away by his TE circulation.

‘I can’t wait to hear what mom has planned today!’ Larry finally shot up, childlike excitement finally bubbling over as he hopped back to make a second try at waking up his mother.

…

He excitedly followed his mother, who was still fighting the morning sleepiness, as her eyes occasionally fell shut while she was walking. His mother hadn’t said a single other word since she woke up even though Larry had pelted her with question after question during their walk, so he’d quietly resigned himself back to listening to the sounds of footfalls on the cavern floor.

‘I know she is a bit of an awkward battle-junkie, but I wish she’d be able to hold a conversation about things outside of training and battle strategies…’ Larry quietly grumbled to himself. He’d resigned himself to the fact that his mom was a bit of a weirdo, none of the other Pokemon he’d made friends with had been this weird.

By now Larry was almost 100% sure that his young Larvitar body was influencing his mind, he loved his mom and he cared for her deeply, yet he’d only met her at most a week or so ago. He also remembered how back when he was still making his way down and later back up, the roar of his mother terrified him mentally even though they weren’t that different from other Pokemon roars.

There was also the fact that fighting for his life against what was the Pokemon equivalent of Godzilla had been an exhilarating and fun experience to him instead of the terrifying death-defying feat it had been posited as in his mind. Larry loved the fight and it gave him a bit of a mental breakdown to think about the implication that his thoughts and actions weren’t entirely his own.

The concerning train of thought was immediately squashed as his mother finally spoke up, stopping in her tracks.

“Larry…” she held for a tense second before continuing, “We’re going down to the first level.”

The declaration almost didn’t register in Larry's mind, forcing him to run what his mother had said through his mind a second time, “Huh?! Really?! Why are we doing that?”

His mother looked down at him with a bit of sadness in her eyes, “Because, you were planning on leaving.”

“Uhm…”, he stopped and looked up to his mom with a quirked head, before he realized, ‘Oh crap, yeah. I never actually told her that I wanted to get out of the caves!’

“Uhh…”

‘What do I say now? Should I be honest about it and say I want to leave? Or should I keep trying to live here?’ Larry looked down at the ground with guilt in his eyes, but before he could explain himself his mom spoke up once more, “Mo-”

“I can’t come with you, Larry…” He saw the disappointment in her eyes before a silent, stewing rage replaced it.

“I’m sorry, I didn't mean to hide it from you,” Larry said apologetically.

The air was tense between them, as his mother looked down at the ground with a hard expression.

“But why can’t you mom?” Larry wondered aloud, leaving the caverns alongside his mom would’ve been the dream choice, he’d only just met her but Larry knew he’d miss her if they ever split up again in the future.

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His mom bit back something before scoffing, “It wouldn’t matter…” She bent down to Larry and caressed him with the rocky skin on her face, Larry reciprocated the action leaning into the action like a cat would with adoration only a kid could feel for his mother.

“I don’t want you to leave…” His mother finally bit out as she hugged him to herself, “Pupitar are supposed to leave, not little Larvitar…”

Larry didn’t want to leave his mother behind, and he didn’t want a repeat of the raging Tyranitar incident which made him break off his entire trip previously. He decided to make a compromise, “I’ll become a Pupitar, Mom! I’ll evolve and then you won’t have anything to worry about anymore!”

His mother's demeanor immediately brightened as she squeezed him tighter, almost crushing Larry in her grip, “You’re right, Larry!” She released him and Larry stumbled away from his mom as she turned with determination in her eyes, “You’re a natural Larry, it won’t take long until you evolve!”

“Y-Yeah! Mom, I'll do it!” Larry said, still slightly bruised by his mom's superpowered hug. Larry did still have questions though, “I still want to know, why can't you follow me to the outside Mom?”

The determined look in his mom's eyes was almost immediately replaced by a stewing rage as she almost growled to herself.

“Humans.”

The thought went through Larry's mind before he finally realized what his mom meant, ‘That's right, the exit down below on the first level opens up onto a Route if I remember correctly!’

His mom went on to stiffly explain what a human is. Although her explanation wouldn't have helped much if Larry hadn't already known what a human was.

“They're smart Pokémon, but really weak.”

“So they catch and train other Pokémon to fight for them, really strong ones.”

A giant Tyranitar not just descending from the mountain but also leaving the cave to go live on a Route used by Trainers would be like a giant wild animal deciding to live next to a freeway. Granted, the Route around Mt. Silver was only accessible by Trainers who'd managed to get all eight badges, but Larry still felt like it wouldn't end well.

She looked down with sadness in her eyes, “I’m strong Larry, but not invincible.”

“I think I get it…” He said more to himself than anybody else before nodding.

His mom nodded back, “If you want to live outside, you'll have to make it past the humans.” She said with a sneer on her face, “I know you can.”

‘Wow, she really doesn't like humans, wonder if there is some history there.’ It felt weird to Larry that his mother, who supposedly was a wild Pokémon knew so much about humans.

‘Let's not rock the boat too much, her mood has already dropped pretty far just at the mention of humans.’ Larry decided.

“I’ll move with you,” His mother finally said resolutely with a determined expression on her face, “I’ll train you for your evolution down there.”

“Then, you can leave, and be free.” She said with finality and a solemn look.

Larry almost couldn’t believe what he’d heard, not only was his mom, the same one who’d almost destroyed an entire mountain to find him, willing to let him go in a heartbeat if he didn’t want to stay with her. No, she has decided to keep up her training of him until the very end and help him with his aspirations until the very end.

‘She isn’t just a mom, she’s a super mom. To think she thought she couldn’t care for a child of her own…’ Larry thought, ‘A terrible kid like me doesn’t deserve a great mom like her…”

“Thank you, Mom,” Larry said, as he hugged himself close to her.

“Let's keep going.” His mom said after reciprocating his hug.

…

The cavern walls slowly closed in around them as they advanced further downward, they had made their way past the open cavern of the third level, walked back around the rampaged open area his mom had destroyed, and finally found themselves in the broken walkway Larry had been forced to walk back up.

It looked terrible, if it was falling apart when Larry had rushed his way through it, then by now it was actively decrepit. Walls had cracked and crumbled in parts, dropping in parts of the ceiling in huge mounds of dirt they were forced to scale.

Large sections of the floor had cracks inside them, forcing Larry to play an impromptu session of hopscotch for several hundred feet. His mother didn't seem to have the same reservations though, as she opted to simply barge her way through any unfavorable terrain.

Larry didn't know how she’d do it, every time a perilous or unstable piece of floor seemed to be crushed under his mom's oppressive amount of weight, it simply rearranged itself under her feet to a stable footing.

‘That must be some kind of trick with Ground and Rock-TE. She can't be that lucky…’ Larry thought to himself as he watched his mother simply stomp over a series of unsafe cracks in the ground, when her foot lifted though, the cracks were simply gone.

With Larry being quick on his feet now due to the rigorous training his mother put him through and his mother's cheating abilities they made short work of the walk down to the second layer.

The largest contributor to their quick pace though, was that Larry didn't need to hide anymore, his entourage certainly wasn't stealthy and if there was anyone up on the third level who could hold a candle to a Tyranitar, then he'd love to watch the fight anyway.

‘I really am itching for a scuffle again, weird…’ Larry felt his tiny arms clench and unclench at the thought of a nice battle. He’d certainly had his fair share of Training with his mom, but there was a clear difference between the sessions of training he'd endured under his mom's tutelage and the single riveting fight for survival against that Misdreavus.

‘Alright, maybe I don't have the biggest history yet, but that can change at any moment!’ He thought to himself excitedly, before deflating.

‘Argh, who am I kidding?! Who the hell is going to fight when a goddamned Tyranitar will be watching over the fight!’ The idea alone gave him a headache, he couldn't just jump a poor cave Resident while his mom watched him beat the daylights out of them, no.

This had to be an attempt at his life! And Larry already had a plan, as his mom found a nice large hole in the side of the cavern to settle down in he spoke up.

“Mom, I’ll go around a bit and look for a fight!”

His mom, already having settled down on all fours, blinked open an eye, before letting out a low “Mhmm…” in acceptance.

“Scream if you're in danger…” she said as she let a yawn escape her mouth.

Larry was finally ready to go battle some Pokémon, he was done hiding!