It felt like yesterday when Larry harrowingly snuck his way down the second layer like he was in a stealth video game, only to get struck with the fact that all the Pokemon down here were friendly and coexisted peacefully. The idea felt antithetical to Larry's entire worldview of Pokemon. Sure, some Pokemon in the games and anime were nice, but generally, any wild Pokemon acted just as wild as animals in the games and anime, they attacked if threatened and kept to themselves, not looking to build communities in any way.
‘Now, just to put Phanpys word to the test…’ Larry thought anxiously as they walked their way down the walkway of the second layer. Unlike in the third layer, one side of the walkway opened up to a cliff that hung open into deep darkness, the cave openings lower in the second layer gave off enough sunlight to illuminate the inside of the cavern somewhat, but the funnel in the middle of the cavern was still so deep, that no end could be made out in the darkness.
The cave's other side consisted of a far less dramatic cavern wall, mostly composed of loose stone and gravel. Large stones lay next to the wall of gravel, having seemingly loosened themselves after who knows how many years of tectonic movements. Last time around, Larry had used the multitude of boulders and loose stones to jump between them and conceal himself from any inhabitants of the second layer.
Larry and his mom walked down the wide walkway leisurely, they weren’t hurrying themselves along, but the prospect of meeting friends again put a slight spring into Larry's step. The second layer's walkway was far wider than the third layer. Where the third layer was nothing more than a round tunnel that had been left behind by a Pokemon and appropriated by trainers as a way to ascend Mt. Silver, the second layer looked to be naturally formed with the way the funnel appeared.
Size-wise, the third-layer tunnel had a diameter of 5 or so meters if his mother was the average height for a Tyranitar, with about two meters of usable walkway until the tunnel seemed to roll up into its walls. In contrast, the second layer was a giant flat walkway that spiraled down the funnel, at least 5 meters in width, with its wall being far steeper than the ones of the tunnel on the third layer.
Looking down into the funnel, there was no sheer drop, but a sharp decline, of around 75 degrees. You would almost certainly slip and roll down. Larry still felt inclined to hop down and into the funnel and simply hope to survive, since it was much faster than slowly walking his way around the rim to make his way down, but he swallowed those intrusive thoughts back down and returned to his mom's side.
As he joined his mother's side, she looked on in amazement at the view below, “...Unsure if I’ve ever been here…”
“What? Aren’t you supposed to be the strongest thing on the mountain?” Larry questioned, “How could you have been sure of that if you haven’t been in the whole mountain?”
She scoffed, “I know that nothing down here can beat me.” She fixed a stern glare down the funnel at some of its inhabitants.
Larry was prone to agreeing, but he just wasn't sure. The Machamp he'd seen last time around had taken apart the Onix when it appeared handily. Maybe he just hadn't seen the full extent of his mom's strength, ‘Tyranitar are supposed to be able to destroy entire mountain ranges, maybe she just hasn’t gone wild yet.’
They continued on their way down the walkway, it wasn't as steep at points as the walkway down the third layer, so their trek was quite easy. Eventually, they came upon the first inhabitant of the second layer, a Golduck who was relaxing in a small pond that had accumulated in a divot.
It floated atop the water with its eyes closed, sleeping, with its arms and legs spread out to its sides. Larry wasn't sure if it was common courtesy to wake him before they walked past, so he simply urged his mom to step past the Golduck before it could stir awake.
His mother's heavy footfalls shook the earth as they approached and Larry could see the disturbance of his mother's steps reverberating in the still water of the Golduck's tiny pond. ‘Alright, so this guy will probably wake up when we get closer, let's just play it cool. We're the stronger ones anyway.’
…
THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.
Golduck blinked his eyes as he slowly woke up and rubbed the grime off of his eyes. He stretched with a loud groan and smacked the insides of its beak a few times for effect afterward, only then did he turn his head to the side.
‘Tyranitar!’
Almost immediately, his eyes practically bulged out of their sockets as he saw a giant Tyranitar slowly approaching his pond. The Water-Type lost its balance in the water and accidentally slipped backward into the water, comically dunking himself head-first as his legs wheeled around wildly, trying to find purchase in the air before he finally disappeared completely into the puddle, rising out of it again far more gracefully, yet still with a severe expression on his face at the prospects of the giant Tyranitar approaching him.
A tiny baby Larvitar walked in front of the Tyranitar, it waved him down enthusiastically from a distance, which Golduck returned with a slightly confused look on his face. They kept approaching and eventually, they were close enough to talk.
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“Hello! I hope you're having a wonderful day!” The Larvitar yelled out energetically.
“Uhm…” Golduck looked at them with confusion, lost for words at the fact that a Tyranitar was so close to him.
He’d heard the legends when he was still a small Psyduck, ‘The ruler of the mountaintop’, as his mother had called her. A force of nature incarnate, having the strength to bring down the entire mountain on top of them if they so pleased. Last year's event was still in the back of his mind.
A Tyranitar was forced to chase a group of humans down the mountain in the hopes of getting its young back. The second layer was lucky the humans didn’t pass through here, instead trying to flee using a flying Pokemon, the tremors still almost killed him. He remembered hiding away underwater on the second level as the earth began to quake, he’d hidden away underwater in an attempt to survive and gotten lucky when a giant boulder crashed into his pond, missing him by a hair.
Golduck was rocked out of his musings when the Tyranitar craned her neck down, stopping inches from his face, and ground out words practically laced in venom with a sour look on her face., “When someone greets you, you greet them back.”
“Eep! H-H-Hello.” He squeaked out quickly as he backed, deeper into his pond.
The Larvitar quickly stepped over and grabbed at its mother's head, “Mom! Don’t scare them! We’re trying to be nice!” When its mother finally acquiesced and stood tall again, the little Larvitar took a stance in front of his mother and bowed apologetically, “Sorry for my mother's behavior, she’s just a little overprotective!”
Lost for words, Golduck didn’t even know how to answer for a second as his eyes jumped from the Larvitar to its mother, then back to the Larvitar, and back to its mother again. The Tyranitar cleared her throat again and Golduck jumped when he realized he had forgotten to answer again.
“Uhh, sure. Don’t worry about it.”
“We won’t be here very long, but I hope we can stay friendly!” The tiny Larvitar spoke in a chipper voice, “We’ll be meeting with Donphan and Phanpy for a bit, so if you want to chat, come down and talk for a bit!”
‘Donphan?’ Golduck was interested now, “How does a little Larvitar like you know Donphan?”
“Little?” The Tyranitar ground out behind the Larvitar and Golduck felt his soul get ready to leave his body before the Larvitar grabbed at its mom again to calm her down.
“Mom! C’mon, stay calm! I am little, y’know?” Its mom turned away with a pout as it turned back to Golduck, “I snuck down here before,” It said slightly smug, as it pointed at the rocks behind his pond, “I snuck past you actually, made my way behind those rocks there.”
“Seriously?” Golduck said in a surprised tone, he wasn’t the biggest fighter, Machoke was far more of a fighter than him. Golduck was far more comfortable relaxing in his pond, “Why sneak around the second layer?”
“I, uh, kind of didn’t even know you guys were nice,” The Larvitar scratched behind its head sheepishly, “I’m, uh, used to the rudeness in the third layer.”
Golduck understood that this Larvitar seemed to be quite young and if its mom never explained the circumstances it might’ve thought the situation down here was the same as in the third or first layer. Even as a small Psyduck, he had simply taken the peaceful atmosphere for granted, it was quite a culture shock when his mother had taken him below to the first layer to train.
“Oh, I understand.” Golduck nodded thoughtfully, the little Larvitar had a quality about itself that made him forget the giant, violent, and bloodthirsty Tyranitar behind him eyeing him like a Braviary. He was inclined to accept its invitation, even if it was just to get its mother off of his case, “Thanks for the invitation, maybe I’ll make my way down later.”
“Sure thing! See you later!” It walked away with its mother in tow. When they were out of earshot, he plopped back down into his pond, exhausted at the prospect of a party with a Tyranitar.
…
Larry felt a spring in his step, he’d finally been able to talk to another Pokemon, it had been far too long since he’d been able to talk amicably to another Pokemon and not get kidnapped, ambushed, or just straight up blown up. It had been a joy when he’d gotten the run-down on Mt. Silver by Dwebble. It had also been an amazing time when he’d been able to relax and kick back for an evening with Phanpy, just not being in a dangerous environment for once was an amazing change. Larry felt safe, he felt excited and he also felt loved, with his mother strutting behind him protectively, going out of her way to adventure down Mt. Silver with him.
The walkway rose into a giant cliff before the two of them, Larry remembered this place, there was a tunnel to his left he could walk down to continue on his way. He’d probably be able to dig his way up there or have his mom simply terraform the ground to let them continue, but he felt like he didn’t want to redecorate the second layer without its inhabitant's consent, so he urged his mom onwards and they continued their way down.
‘Now, if I remember correctly last time I went down there, I found a group of Gravelers who were talking to each other,’ Larry thought as he marched on, he’d found himself in a pickle back then and taught himself Dig in a desperate attempt to escape.
Surprisingly, the chatter from last time wasn’t anywhere to be heard, and when the cavern opened back up into a giant round cavern, not a single Graveler was around.
‘Hmm? That's weird,’ Larry mused, ‘Were they around when Golem and his compatriots blew themselves up?’ Larry didn’t have much love left for rude Pokemon who blew themselves up during a fight, so he wasn’t fretting over their wellbeing. He explained his encounters down here to his mother, telling her about the Machoke he watched beat the crap out of a rouge Onix, him sneaking past Golduck, and finally, the Graveler that was around here last time. She agreed that they might’ve been part of that Golems troupe, “Pity they were stupid enough to blow themselves up for such a weakling,” she agreed with a slight bit of interest.
They had continued on and finally came out of another cave back onto the walkway and in the distance was another interesting thing Larry had been forced to ignore.
A giant Ursaring was laid down against a cavern wall with two Teddiursa cuddled up next to it, all three of them seemed to be in a deep sleep. Just a few steps next to her stood a giant cave exit, a blank of white could be seen on its outside and Larry felt a hit of excitement rise up at the sight of something he hadn’t seen in a long time.
“TREES!”