Dwebble had really done it now...

‘I just HAD to go out here today...’ He glanced back at the giant Larvitar following behind him, it looked around curiously in the walkways of the cave. ‘Just my luck...’

The edges of the cave were, damp, dark and just really spoke to Dwebble, he disliked how open and vulnerable the inner parts of the cave felt, with their high ceilings and stalactites and stalagmites interspersed between shallow and deep pools of water.

‘Just what is mom going to think when I get back home?’

The Larvitar behind him seemed to revel in the open areas of the cave, stomping around loudly behind him, without a care in the world. He almost couldn’t believe it that no Quagsire or Golduck had yanked them into one of the pools of water yet and simply killed them. ‘Guess that’s what’s it like, being a predator.’

Dwebbles knew the injustice of cavern life, you either hunt or are hunted and Dwebbles are firmly in the ‘hunted’ cast. His mom had told him what it was like to live outside, apparently there was no roof, so you were always vulnerable from above. Just the thought of that made Dwebble queasy.

Another sigh escaped Dwebble, which was happening a lot today, he turned back to his new kidnapper, “S-So, why do you want to leave the caves anyway?” The Larvitar wasn’t like any other predator he had the pleasure of meeting before, no violent tendencies, no running for his life, it still seemed far too good to Dwebble. For now, he decided if he wasn’t dead, that it was good enough for him.

It took the question as a rhetorical, looking at him quizzically, “Why wouldn’t I, I mean the outside world is great! Sooner or later, I’d need to go there anyway.” It looked around in slight distaste, “Also, I couldn’t stay here for long, I just can’t stand the darkness.”

To Dwebble it seemed almost antithetical, like someone telling you water didn’t refresh you, or they needed to sleep inside a congregation of geodude. Dwebble loved the dark, damp cave he and his siblings and mother lived in, he couldn’t even imagine himself willingly walking a single step closer to the pools of water in the middle of the cavern. He couldn’t imagine himself walking around the cave openly, not staying in the shadows.

“I see...”

The droning silence of the cavern around them, their footsteps crunched against the stone and gravel floor of the cave and the distant sound of waterfalls filled their journey.

Before long, Dwebble finally stalked far enough along the large stone walls of the cavern that he saw a well-trodden path. “We’re here...” Large footprints marred the entire walkway, from the footwear of trainers he heard from his mother rarely walk through here, to the claw marks of the feet of an Ursaring, with smaller Teddiursa claws following behind. Large trunked footprints of Donphan run along the path that snakes along the interior cavern walls.

The Larvitar behind him never seemed to care much about acting inconspicuously and sneaking about, never even thinking to sneak anywhere along the way. Surprisingly they also didn’t meet a single other Pokémon along the way. ‘Guess that’s just the predator life...’ Dwebble thought to himself.

“So, this is the walkway trainers use, huh?”

It looked at the walkway leading up along a small channel that flowed downwards with clear interest, the path was far more open than any other part of the cavern with the path clearly damaged by fights and at parts dug free of any obstacles.

“The humans always come from down below and return from the top. Humans are rare though, the large walkways more prone to be used by the territorial bosses.”

The Larvitar pondered his words for a moment, “Hmm, who are the territorial bosses?”

The bug Pokémon was again flabbergasted by the Larvitar, “What? You don’t even know that? Have you not met the Ursaring, Donphan, Onyx or Golem?”

Rrrrrr...

The Larvitar shook its head and Dwebble got agitated, “What about the Machamp, Crobat or Parasec?”

RRRRRR...

Once more it shook its head, “Did you just hatch?! Have you not even heard the roars of the Tyranitar that lives further up the mountain cave?! That thing could destroy the entire cave if it wanted to?!” Dwebble was properly mad now, bristling itself up to the giant Larvitar in front of him. Who was this Larvitar to entirely disregard the biggest threats to Dwebbles entire life, he remembered when the Golem rolled by his cave recently.

His mother had corralled all his siblings back into their home cave and then hid back into it herself, when they were all hiding away, they finally heard the entire horde of Geodude, Graveler and Golem roll by, the entire walkway shook and dust from the roof of the hole had filled the cave they hid back in. Back then he’d feared not just for his life, but his entire family's life, ‘How does this Larvitar not know any of this?! Are the lives of predators really that simple?!’

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“Oh yeah! I was b-, oh uh, -hatched just recently. I still need to find my way around here.” Larvitar looked back down at him without a hint of malice. He casually tried to reach behind his head, but his arm only went up to his neck.

Rrrrrrrr....

It took another second for Dwebble to realize what he had just done and quickly extradite himself away from the Larvitar he’d just threatened. ‘I really need to not get so worked up... If this was another Pokémon, this could’ve ended badly...’

‘WAIT!’

“You JUST hatched?! How can you talk and walk around then?!” Dwebble practically yelped at the Larvitar, who tried to cover his ears with his arms, but again, just couldn’t reach.

RRRRRRUU...

“Ugh, yeah. What’s so weird abou... Oh!” The Larvitar seemed to realize something mid-sentence and quickly adjusted, “No! You got the wrong idea! I-It’s been some time since I hatched! I just haven’t had much time to myself, you know! Uhh, umm... You know how cagey moms can be, right?”

It looked at him like it was expecting a proper answer, but Dwebble was just confused by now. And finally, it noticed the rumbling sound in the distance as the volume of their conversation finally reduced.

Dwebble went stock still it knew what this meant. The Larvitar looked at him quizzically, but he knew.

“We need to hide.”

“We need to hide.”

Larry looked at the Dwebble in front of him, it stood like a statue, simply letting the statement hang in the air for a moment before it suddenly jumped into action.

It took one of his arms into his pinchers and dragged him along and away from the large walkway, “Wah!” Larry wanted to protest, but he had begun hearing it as well.

RRRRRRRRRUUUUUMMM...

Whatever was coming at them, was coming at them fast, faster than they would probably be able to get away. Dwebble seemed to have a plan and Larry was absolutely clueless, so he simply followed along.

They ran back into the winding corridor they had come from, large stalactites and stalagmites jutted out of the edges of the corridor and Dwebble rushed between them, Larry followed along but the Bug-Rock Types small size meant he would be left in the dust in the dark expanse of the stones if Dwebble deemed him too much of a hindrance during their escape.

‘Just what is all that noise? And why did Dwebble have that look on his face?’ Larry did his best to follow, but the noises behind them simply got louder and louder. The entire hallway was shaking at this point and dust was raining from the roof in places.

“Here!”, Dwebble finally seemed to find a suitable hole in the side of the wall and practically jumped inside the crack in the wall, Larry followed shortly after, and it seemed that he followed just in time. As behind him the entire hallway filled with stalactites and stalagmites suddenly was simply bulldozed down, giant groups of boulders rolled along the cave. ‘What the?!’

RRRRRRRRRUUUUUMMMBBBBLLEEEEEEE...

Dust and debris invaded their hidey hole, Larry was pelted by pebbles and the dust burned his eyes as he stared out of the hole in the side of the wall in terror. ‘What is going on?! I-I almost just died a second time, didn’t I?’

He turned back to Dwebble, the thing looked like it was already simply waiting for the end, its eyes were shut tight, and it shook like a leaf. The rumbling outside was dying down and the pebbles and dust Larry had been pelted with before seemed to finally subside.

The Dwebble quirked open an eye, looking around the hole carefully, when its eye fell upon Larry it seemed to jolt, before realizing what it had done, “D-Did we survive?”

“Kind of a stupid thing to ask now, isn’t it? What was all that just now?!”

“A Graveler migration, these happen every year. Again, how do you not know this?” At this point, the Dwebble seemed almost haughty at their survival, before suddenly shrinking back again.

“L-Look, I’m sorry.” Larry said, more genuine this time, “I guess you could say I am pretty young... You’ve helped me out so much by now, showing me the way around the cave system and telling me the rules of this place. I...” He down, straight at the Dwebble, “I guess what I really need to say is, thank you. You probably just saved my life there.”

Larry stood up and dusted him off, at least the places he could reach with his stubby arms. He helped up Dwebble who seemed to be stewing in his thoughts once more. ‘I guess Pokémon life is far less civil than any Anime or video game makes it seem. It really should’ve seen that coming.’

Having come to a decision, Larry decided mentally, ‘I need to adapt, survive, and become stronger if I want to live my second life properly. This isn’t sitting in an air-conditioned room my entire life anymore.’

He finally turned back to the cavern interior, when he poked his head outside and glanced around, he saw sheer destruction. Nothing of the cave interior stood tall, stalactites and stalagmites lay around the floor, beaten and broken by dozens of Gravelers dozing straight through or over them. The walls of the cavern don’t look much better for wear and cracks seemed to have formed on the roof of the cavern.

Dust still filled most of the cave and even now Larry could hear the distant rumble of the Graveler horde still rolling along in search of a new place to call home.

A pebble that fell from the roof hit him in the head. Larry wasn’t a geologist, or whoever was supposed to know about the structural integrity of caves, but even he knew that this wasn’t a safe place for to make a new home or even stay for extended periods.

“C’mon Dwebble, let’s go. I don’t think staying here is a good idea.” He turned back to Dwebble, the poor thing still looked a little shellshocked, but it shook itself back to life.

“You’re right. Let’s go, Larvitar.”

“Call me Larry.”

Dwebble looked a bit dumbfounded, “What’s a Larry?”

"It’s my name. A way to differentiate myself from others.” Larry understood Dwebbles confusion a bit, “You’ve never heard a name before?”

“No actually, my mom has a name... But how’d you get it?” Dwebble seemed conflicted to tell him about his mother but told him anyway.

‘Hm? Some backstory there it seems.’ Larry decided not to prod any further for now.

“Doesn’t matter,” He stuck out his stubby arm in greeting, “If we're going to stick together for longer, let’s do a simple introduction. I’m Larry the Larvitar.”

Dwebble stuck out a pincer in turn and shook Larry's arm, “Dwebble, the uhh, Dwebble?”