Hoshi wasn’t quite as familiar with the path heading east of the city as he had been when he was younger.

After the incident with that stupid fucker of a kid, he’d… sort of just avoided it. Not on purpose, but it was like there was an invisible hand dragging his mind away from the place. He stopped gambling with the old men, let that section of his life turn into a faintly blood-stained memory.

So he was actually slightly surprised by how well-kept the route was. “Huh, they turned this place into a damn golf course.”

He was exaggerating, but only a bit. The grass, which was long and unruly in his memories, was now cut short. Not in the same way as city grass – it still came up past his shins – but the difference was enough to be jarring. I didn’t get that much taller in the last four years, did I?

“There’ll still be Pokémon around,” Casca replied. “Speaking of that, what should I go for? Candy’s weak to grass and electric, sooo…”

“So a ground type would shore up one weakness but double down on the other.” He pondered it for a second. “Grass is the logical choice. They’re more common north of the city, but we should be able to find something.” Hoshi smiled, bumping his girlfriend’s shoulder. “Maybe show those two-bit drug runners what a real oddish can do.”

She bumped back. “Eh, maybe? That’s another stone evolution; I don’t want too many of those. Rocket pays good, but not that good.”

“Just a thought. We’ll see if anything jumps out.” Where the fuck are the others? They were a fair ways in already, passing by a few kids and old people casually battling – old veterans showing the newest generation what was what. “Didn’t you want a specialist team, anyway? I remember you being into the idea before- before we got serious.”

Casca tipped her head. “It’s a nice idea, but… Like, I’m never gonna be an elite agent, I know myself enough to tell I don’t have that kinda drive.” Another shoulder-bump. “Not like you, stud. Nah, I don’t have the tactical chops to beat a type disadvantage – your uncle proved that. Better to have a good spread, and just switch to what’s strongest.”

Hoshi grunted, then stopped in his tracks. His eyes drew over the late afternoon path, lingering on each figure. “Okay, what’s going on here? I told everybody to meet up at the start, and we’re coming up on the half-way point. At least one of them should’ve shown up, right?”

----------------------------------------

They spent an hour fruitlessly combing Route 11, all the way up and back. Hoshi passed by a few magnemite that enticed him, but in the end he kept moving; if his pack of idiots were getting eaten by a band of wild arbok, better to find them right away. And if they just ditched me, I want enough time left before sunset to kill their collective ass.

Casca battled a toddler for pocket money while he climbed a tree to get a bird’s eye view over the route. He could admit it was stupid – they’d been from one side to the other and the land was too flat to obscure a group of four, especially Puce – but he was annoyed enough to start doing stupid shit. “Waste of my Tuesday afternoon. I could be fucking training right now – or fucking fucking,” he muttered to himself.

A pidgey hopped out of its nest to peck at his hair, and Hoshi sighed. Useless. He descended back to the ground just as Candy finished mopping the metaphorical floor with the kid’s machop.

He handed her what was probably a fiver. “Thank you for the battle, ma’am.” Glasses and sweater – would have expected him to have a ‘nerd’ Pokémon like a venonat. I guess stereotypes only take you so far…

“Aww,” Casca cooed. “You too, little guy. Make sure you give your buddy plenty of rest outside his ball, alright?”

Hoshi came up beside her and the two watched the child – he couldn’t have been older than nine, younger than most trainers – amble back towards the city.

“See anything?”

“Nothing. Either they’re invisible or they’re not here.” The kid left their immediate sight, obscured by the remaining low shrubbery and ongoing battles. “You think that was one of those super-geniuses that could get a license legit? I don’t think they’d give out an emergency one to a school kid.” Not before an honest working man, I hope to Arcus.

“Maybe? He was an okay battler.”

Hoshi grunted, then sighed. “Well, I’m ready to call this thing a bust. Wanna go home?”

“Aww, c’mon,” she cajoled. “Let’s at least throw a ball at something – let me guess, you want a ground type, right?”

He nodded, letting himself be moved. “Yeah. Normal and poison-flying are both weak to rock and steel, and ground plugs that hole perfectly.”

“Sure, stud. And it’s got nothing to do with watching geodude sweep the Gym your whole life, right?” She shot a cheeky grin his way, and Hoshi found some of the day’s recent frustration lightening.

“Hey, I didn’t say that. There can be more than one reason.”

----------------------------------------

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, people!”

One minute. That was how long it took between walking through the cave entrance, and bumping into his Arcus damned pack of fucking idiots. “Why the fuck are you in here?! Do you know how long I looked for you?!”

Kenny, Puce, and Ryan looked back with various levels of surprise and contriteness, the whites of their eyes poking out from the gloom of the badly-lit cavern like dim stars. “Ah, Hoshi,” Ryan began, his dragon out and bouncing around its trainer. “You’re just in time. You see, we’ve-”

“I saw a rare Pokémon,” Puce interrupted. “It’s my fault, I’m sorry. Please don’t yell at anyone else.”

Hoshi bit his tongue to keep from cursing. “And so you all piled into the cave, just like that?”

“Hey, don’t be like that.” Moony, I swear I’ll kick your roided-up balls into your fucking mouth..! “We left Nerd out at the entrance to wave you down. What, you didn’t see her?”

Again, Hoshi bit his tongue. Don’t blow up. It’s just one afternoon of your life – and fuck, if there actually is a rare ‘mon then that’s a good thing. “Fine, whatever,” he spat, grateful for Casca’s light touch on the small of his back. “What Pokémon are we looking for?”

Kenny snorted. “Oh, you’re gonna love this…”

“I, uh,” Puce stammered. “Don’t remember the name? But it’s a rare one, I know that.”

Slowly, in his head, Hoshi counted down from ten. “Yeah?” The flatness of his voice made the large woman flinch. “Fancy that, you not remembering a thing.”

“S-sorry…”

“But this is an opportunity, isn’t it?” Ryan said, stepping in front of Puce. “With a third strong companion, our collective star will shine even brighter. While it’s unfortunate that you and Miss Rose missed each other-”

“Zip it,” Hoshi snapped, drawing a subdued grimace from the blond. “You’ve convinced me. Just-” I need to cool the fuck off. “I’ll go get Nerine, you three catch Casca up on what it is we’re looking for.”

Before anyone could say another word, he was off.

----------------------------------------

Nerine was dreaming.

It was easy to recognise, because she wasn’t her. No, Nerine was just a little thornbush, one amongst many, brothers and sisters crowding around her to make a solid wall.

One wall of a maze. One part of one wall of a maze, that was her.

Sometimes, people would walk past – and when their back was turned, instinct compelled her to move. She lifted up her roots, slithered across the cold ground, and moving as a single piece the wall came with her.

The maze shifted, the answer changed while no one was looking, the puzzle became inescapable.

It was… good. It felt right, to be part of the wall. It was right that these people were here, wandering, kept inside forever. It was good that her siblings were around her, their branches tangled into each other so strongly that they moved as one.

And then, something that didn’t fit.

A mop of unruly brown hair, hiding his eyes. The smallest hints of a potbelly stretching the bottom of his plain button-up shirt. A nametag, bearing a partial triangle in the corner.

Something told her that this time, it was wrong. This man shouldn’t be here, and it would be better for everyone if he escaped – but the wall was moving. The thorns turned from purple to black and red, and she was moving whether she wanted to or not. He turned back for a moment as the path to freedom closed behind him, and-

And something gently but persistently nudged Nerine awake. Her eyes opened to see the darkening sky, and two blurry shapes – after a second’s confusion she reached up to adjust her glasses, and they resolved into Hoshi Mutsu and the crown of the tree she was laying against.

“Wha..?”

“Decided to take a nap, huh?”

His voice was unimpressed, and the tone cut through her sleepy brain to jolt her right awake. Oh, shit. I didn’t think I’d- I didn’t mean to actually fall asleep!

She stood, motions a touch unsteady despite the hit of adrenaline. “Sorry, I… I haven’t been sleeping great lately.”

The Senior Grunt grunted. He gestured with his chin, not bothering to uncross his arms, and started walking. She hurried to catch up, a light blush rushing to her face. “Seriously,” she continued. “How long did you-” He’s angry. More than usual. That’s for a reason. And the sky was darker than she was expecting, too. “…You already found the others.”

“After searching for a damn hour, yeah. Next time, don’t take a nap in a flowerbed that looks exactly like your shirt.”

His words made her look back – and yeah, now that she was more lucid that was the worst possible spot she could’ve picked. The entrance to the cave was a public park, and she’d nodded off at the foot of a tree just off the path; with the shadows and the green-purple-pink flowers, she’d have been the next best thing to invisible. It would almost be impressive if I’d done it on purpose, came a rueful voice from her subconscious.

“Sorry,” she repeated.

“Whatever,” Hoshi shot back, obviously still seething. “Let’s do what we came here to do. Puce said she saw a Pokémon?”

The entrance to the cave was almost unadorned, with only a small plaque bearing the name of the tunnel marking it as a place humans had ever touched. “Yeah. She didn’t-”

“Remember the name, yeah. Go on.”

“…Right.” The interior of the cave was a bit less naturalistic; there was a single line of hanging bulbs strung up across the ceiling, providing just enough light to keep from bumping into the walls. “She said it was pink? That’s all I heard before volunteering for guard duty, anyway.”

Another grunt as he forged ahead – but a second later the man stopped and shook his head violently.

His mouth moving like he was chewing raw onions, Hoshi choked out, “Sorry. I’m kind of… not feeling great, right this moment.”

She didn’t know how to reply to that without just saying sorry again, so she stayed silent.

“It’s stupid – I know it’s stupid, and that makes it even worse. Everything is going great, and then… Some little thing, something that doesn’t even matter, goes wrong… and I blow up!” He mimed an explosion. “Pow! Over nothing! It’s- I already said it’s stupid, but it really is. So, sorry. And… apology accepted, for what it’s worth.”

He took a breath, audible in the tight confines of the cave, and then kept walking – and Nerine felt some sort of thin, perverse amusement that he hadn’t once turned to look at her while apologizing.

What do I even say to that? Should I say something?

Hoshi Mutsu was… familiar to her. He had a certain aura, a wild energy that came out when he moved, and built when he stayed still. It was something that the best and worst people in Fuchsia had. All poisons are medicines, so said that old piece of folk wisdom. He’s… showing a bit of vulnerability. I should say something.

She opened her mouth, hesitated, and then pushed through despite not being able to actually think of anything. “I’m sorry about your parents,” said her mouth, and the rest of her face froze incredulously. Arc. I’m really, really, really not getting enough sleep.

Hoshi turned, mouth slightly open, his face slowly changing shape as if he wasn’t sure yet if what he’d heard was real.

…Fuck it. “Casca mentioned it at the beach thing – well, she said ‘Don’t ever talk to Hoshi about his parents,’ which makes it obvious that something happened, and… I guess… I’m doing the exact opposite of what she told me to do.”

He blinked, face still slack.

“And I just thought… My parents died when I was really young. I had to live with my uncle, like you did, and… And I don’t know where I’m going with this. I just…” She put her hands up. “You said something mushy and I had to say something back. This is weird. Sorry.”

The Rocket kept his slack expression for a moment – and then choked out a sound like a sad hypno, a long, half-stifled honk of laughter. A harder blush warmed her cheeks as he very nearly doubled over.

“You,” he got out between breaths, “You really are a teenager.”

Thankfully, it was probably too dark for him to see how embarrassed she was – but even so, she couldn’t look him in the eye. “Really?” she said, injecting sarcasm to dampen the heat radiating from her cheeks. “Never noticed…”

“No, it’s just- I’ve been thinking about you lot like some problem I need to deal with, and that’s…” The laughter died. “That’s a shitty thing for me to do. I am, as much as I hate thinking about it too hard, in charge of you. You’re like, fourteen, I can’t expect you to have your shit together.”

“Fuck off,” she mouthed, the sound not quite making it out of her head. I’m fifteen.

“I guess we’ve all got to like, work together and shit.”

“We’re already doing that,” Nerine again failed to say.

“Fuck.” He shook his head again. “I needed that. Catharsis, you know? Puts shit in perspective.” Another of those deep breaths, in and out in a rush like he was trying to expel every bit of gas from his lungs. There was silence for a second, and then he kept walking.

She followed, and as she did he moderated his speed so they were more or less side-by-side.

“Sorry about your parents, too. Was it the war?”

“The war ended before I was born,” she mumbled, dregs of embarrassment still clinging tight.

Hoshi shook his head, and this time the motion was calm, measured, almost sad. “No it didn’t. War’s been going on every damn day since nineteen eighty-eight.”

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Nerine didn’t know what to say to that either, so she remained silent – at least until an image came to mind, one that was burned so deeply into her brain it might as well be a cattle brand: that flimsy plastic nametag, Parnass Nishiki in black marker next to the official League symbol. “…I want to say you’re wrong, but you really aren’t, are you?”

----------------------------------------

When they found them, the group was arguing.

“It can’t be a clefairy, that would be boring,” came Casca’s voice from around the next bend. “Come on, think of something with a little spice.”

Hoshi and Nerine rounded the corner to see Kenny rolling his eyes. “What’s boring about that? It’s a rare Pokémon, pretty strong, beats dragons to a pulp…”

“Kantonian clefairy are normal type,” the teen at his side called out. “And I’m surprised you’d admit they’re strong, Moony. You seem like the kind of guy who’d throw up if they have to be around a girl’s Pokemon… no offense,” she tacked on at the end.

“Oi,” the man grunted. “Uncalled for. I’m all kinds of progressive, bitch. That old-fashioned shit’s dumb.”

Ryan cleared his throat as they joined up. “As I said earlier, a clefairy would make the most sense. The other end of the cave comes out reasonably near Mount Moon, and if it was driven off from its natural habitat then it would try and find somewhere similar to its home – hence, Diglett’s Cave.” He nodded at his own logic, causing Casca to stick out her tongue.

“Boring. I’m hoping it’s a slowking. Does that sound right, Puce?”

The woman was drawn in on herself. “…Maybe? I didn’t get the best look at it, but I think it was bipedal?”

Hoshi sighed. “That doesn’t exactly narrow it down. I’m assuming that none of you’ve seen a glimpse of this thing since I left?” Four shaking heads. “Fantastic.”

His eyes went to the cave walls. They were soft dirt, unlike the solid stone of most of the country’s caverns, and if he squinted he could just make out a dozen shadows that might have been side paths on this stretch alone.

Mapping out Diglett’s Cave was impossible; the Pokémon it was named for regularly reshaped the entire thing with their migrations. Only the large main path, the lit one they were on, was remotely consistent.

Sigh. “Well, we’ll have to get our hands dirty then. Casca, you brought a flashlight?”

“Two of ‘em,” she replied. “Battery isn’t great, though – they aren’t proper caving lights.”

“Should last for one trip – and these tunnels were carved by living things, not water or whatever, so they should make some amount of sense.”

His girlfriend dug in her bag, handing him a sturdy box-with-a-handle style flashlight a second later. “Hmm, sounds like something you’d hear in a horror movie, right before the horror bit happens. We’re splitting up, then?”

“Unless you want to be here all night. One group of three can take all the left-side offshoots, while the other-”

Before he could finish, Casca interrupted. “Ooh, girl’s night!”

----------------------------------------

“Anything?”

Hoshi’s voice echoed slightly, despite the packed earth absorbing a lot more sound than stone walls would’ve. Ahead of him, past Kenny’s bulk, the light dipped around. Ryan swung it side to side, inspecting both the floor and ceiling before turning back.

“Dead end,” he reported, disappointed. “No tracks I can see, either.”

The next two minutes were spent extricating themselves from the narrow tunnel, and when he was finally back in the main path Hoshi took the opportunity to stretch. Damn thing is leading us around the place. Does it know it’s being followed?

Kenny squeezed his dirt-coated torso through the opening, and Jorm followed close behind with his bulbous snout nearly touching the ground. The bagon growled and began hunting for their prey’s scent again as Ryan brought up the rear.

“Damn moles,” Kenny hissed. “Why make so many little tunnels to nowhere? Ain’t even a burrow at the end’a most of ‘em…” He brushed at his shirt, which was more mud than fabric.

“Don’t be glum, Kaneth. This is good experience!”

Of the three of them, Ryan was the only one happy about the situation. I can’t believe he managed to train his dragon to track scents on top of battling – he has to have a whole team of people helping him, the rich fuck. But as much as it annoyed him to admit, Ryan was right; the steady stream of diglett they were encountering were a boon for their Pokémon.

Mostly where speed and precision were concerned; the tiny things were fast, diving down and repositioning in the time it took to blink. But crucially they weren’t very strong, and so the Rocket’s four Pokémon weren’t in much trouble even when they ran into a group of five or six.

He didn’t want to dig out his Mini-Dex with his hands covered in muck, but Hoshi was pretty sure that if he did he’d see Crow on the edge of learning Astonish; she’d been diving down to squeak at her last few opponents before latching on, the sound oddly startling even when Hoshi was bracing himself.

I should try and train her to do something like Jorm – I bet I could get her to answer yes or no to ‘Is there something down this tunnel?’ pretty easily…

Something to think about another day; the bagon jumped and yipped, drawing their attention to a different tunnel.

“Good man,” Ryan praised, while Kenny sighed in resignation.

“Was hopin’ to get out and find somethin’ else, but this’s gonna take all night…”

Hoshi patted the large man on the back as Ryan followed his Pokémon into what must be their thirtieth tunnel at least. “Not planning to fight Ryan for whatever this thing is?”

“Naw. I’m tired ‘a losing so much.”

Hoshi snorted. “Hey, look on the bright side…”

The beam of light turned back, and Ryan’s voice echoed through the small – but big enough, like the rest; we’re dealing with something a lot bigger than a jigglypuff – opening. “What’s the hold up back there? If we don’t hurry, the other team might find the quarry before us!”

“…That little dragon of his is gonna take forever to evolve. Pretty soon we’ll have a sandslash and a raticate, and it’ll be him losing every match.”

Kenny perked up. “Hm. That sounds pretty good.”

As the two of them slithered into the damp opening, Hoshi took a moment to look back and think of Ryan’s comment. Wonder if the girls are having better luck than us…

----------------------------------------

“Water Gun!”

“Hu-huh!”

Candy shot out a picture-perfect beam of water, not a drop of liquid spraying to the side – but to Casca’s immense frustration the trio of conjoined heads simply dove down below the soft earth, her staryu’s attack carving a narrow trench and little else.

“You need a hand with that?” came a much-too-calm voice from behind her back.

“No, keep the little ones off!”

She chanced a glance back and saw Nerine and Puce holding the line with their poison types. It was actually a surprise how well they were doing; the numerous diglett might have them outnumbered and at a type disadvantage, but they were scared of the ekans in a way that they just weren’t of Casca’s staryu.

It was also nice that, being close to the ground, Potato could hit them with gas without knocking all the humans out. Thank fuck ground isn’t outright immune, or this’d by a different fight-

A meaty smack drew her attention back to her own battle, and she turned to find Candy shaking mud off her gem.

“Rapid Spin! Keep a Water Gun primed, and shoot it when it next pops up!”

For a moment Casca worried that she’d given her Pokémon too confusing an order – but then the staryu twirled in place, sending mud flying in all directions, and lowered her top arm down to scan across the chamber’s floor.

Tension, and as the seconds dragged on the urge to turn and help the others with what must be at least forty wild Pokémon almost overwhelmed her…

But then the dugtrio reappeared, directly under Candy’s feet. Casca’s Pokémon was flung up into the air, and she clenched her jaw as she followed her with her flashlight, the wild tumbling sending shadows across the cave as Candy’s gem reflected the beam. Damnit, it’s not dumb enough to fall for- wait. The Water Gun hasn’t gone off!

“Shoot down, Candy! Straight down!”

The spinning star obeyed, stabilising herself until the primed arm was pointed in the right direction. The cave shook as the dugtrio turned Casca’s way, obviously building up for a much stronger ground type move than it had shown so far – only for the super-effective jet to strike its middle head right at its apex.

The wild Pokémon bellowed, angry, and abandoned what it was doing to fling mud upwards. Candy was hit again, right in the gem, forcefully enough to send her into the nearest wall.

“Candy!” Don’t faint! It’s just a Mud-Slap, you can take it!

…Right?

Unfortunately, her hopes weren’t enough to change reality; Candy flopped down, lay still, and the dugtrio turned her way again.

Casca panicked. Fuck, she thought as the ground shook under her feet. What do I do? Call for help? There was only a fraction of a second before the attack completed and broke her legs at the very least. Can I dodge? Attack it? I- I don’t have any options! Throw my damn flashlight-

Her breath stilled as the insight crashed through the panic like a thrown brick. Lightning fast – thank you, long boring training sessions – her hand closed around a round shape in her bag. She threw the concealed Rocket Ball she’d bought with street cred, and prayed.

Come on. It’s damaged, and the instructors always talk these things up like they’re Ultra Balls or something-

A tremor took her off her feet, the impact like hitting the ground after a ten-foot drop. Pain shot up both her ankles, and there was a snap-

But it wasn’t the sound of her bones breaking; the ball had hit the wild ‘mon right in its middle nose, and it let out one last stuttering cry as it transformed into red light. Casca watched the ball twitch for a pregnant second as she sprawled on the ground – and then she snapped to attention.

Don’t lie there, dummy! Groping blindly, her fingers found a metal tube-shape as she pushed her sore ankles to their limit. As the ball shook a second time she crawled forward and knelt over Candy, spraying the Super Potion across her Pokémon’s waxy skin.

“Wake up. Wakeupwakeupwakeup!” she hissed. I should’ve shelled out for a Max Potion!

And to her relief, the staryu’s limbs began wriggling without coordination. Candy regained consciousness as Casca turned to see the ball vibrating violently, the trapped dugtrio straining to break free.

“Candy, prep water gun.”

Another tense second passed – and her order was rendered obsolete as the rocking ball calmed. Whew… I feel… light-headed…

Actually, that was probably the Clear Smog working itself into her lungs from being so far down. She stood, using her Pokémon as a brace, and retrieved her new team member. Oh, Hoshi’s going to be so jealous.

Then she turned to the ongoing battle with a shaky grin. The other girls were winning, she was pretty sure, but that wasn’t a reason to slack off. She pointed at the nearest diglett, who was turning in confused circles searching for its disappeared leader. Its beady eyes were red and irritated from the wafting poison, but they still widened when it saw what was coming. “Water Gun!”

----------------------------------------

A dead end, a dead end, another dead end…

It has to know it’s being tailed. That’s the only thing that makes sense.

Hoshi bared his teeth as he pulled, and Kenny tumbled free as the walls lost enough of their integrity to allow him through. “Gah-!” the muscular grunt exclaimed, toppling forward and sending them both down.

Three splashes sounded out as the three men ate mud, then another smaller one as Jormungandr joined in on what was, for him, probably a very fun outing.

“Ugh…” Hoshi groaned. “Get off me.”

Ryan rolled off, then Kenny, and finally Hoshi pulled himself up. I’m gonna kill this fucking thing, I don’t care what it is. Damn it, there’s mud in my backpack…

The trio straightened out, and at this point even Ryan was looking haggard. But as his Pokémon hopped around his feet, and as he cleaned the muck off Casca’s flashlight, the blond attempted a smile.

“We’re very nearly at the end, aren’t we? It can’t be far.”

“Unless it’s left the cave,” Hoshi pointed out, pausing to spit before continuing. “Nobody said it had to stay here. And I don’t feel like tromping through Pewter or Viridian Forest in the middle of the night.” It must be midnight by now. “If we hit the end and don’t find it, I say we leave.”

“Seconded,” Kenny added, and Ryan's fake smile dimmed.

“…Fine. Shall we keep moving, or do you require a nap, Boss?”

Hoshi spit again. “Fuck off,” he said, but there was no emotion behind the curse; he was too tired to get his blood up. “I’m up. Let’s go.”

The next tunnel was empty, and the one after that had three diglett. Guts, Bubbles, and Jormungandr took one each, but it was clear that the Pokémon – the former two, at least – were as out of steam as their trainers.

“I’m outta Potion,” Kenny said as they rested against the burrow’s wall.

Ryan grunted and reached into the small pack on his belt, but after a moment’s digging his expression turned to confusion. “Hm? I could have sworn…” He dug further, removing several Antidotes and other medicines, but whatever he was looking for eluded him. “Fiddlesticks, I could’ve sworn I’d packed a Full Restore, but…”

“Here,” Hoshi broke in, holding out one of his own potions. “I’ve only got two left, and the other one’s mine; if you run out again, we’re bugging out.” Neither of his subordinates complained as Kenny began spraying his sandshrew with the healing liquid. “None of us were prepared to go this deep in.”

Ryan stroked his dragon’s snout. “Agreed. But…” He perked up, seemingly regaining a touch of energy. “This is what being a trainer is about, isn’t it? Braving the wilds, facing danger with one’s companions at their side…”

Hoshi let out another groan, and Kenny joined in. “Damn samurai spirit…” The comment drew a tired chuckle from Ryan, and they managed to stand up a minute later.

The next tunnel was a thankfully-short dead-end… and then they were looking at the last offshoot before they hit open air.

“Well, last chance…” As always Ryan took point, following his bagon’s nose, and the three men ventured through the tunnel to find… a dead end.

“Damnation,” Ryan cursed, but Hoshi found that he was almost feeling better than he had a moment before. Welp, it’s done. We tried, but it gave us the slip – unless Casca’s group caught it. Not impossible, but unlikely; without Jorm’s tracking ability the other three were probably still somewhere around the midsection of the cave.

“Damn,” Kenny agreed, his mood closer to Ryan’s than Hoshi’s. “What a let-down. I wanted to know what it was!”

“Probably just a clefairy.”

“Yeah, but what if it wasn’t? I’m gonna be thinkin’ about it all day tomorrow…”

They made their way back to the main tunnel – and Hoshi saw a sliver of light coming through the distant cave mouth, barely managing to overpower the dim electric lights. Wow, my sense of time was way off – in hindsight there’s no way we walked all the way to Route 2 in just a few hours…

“Back?”

“Back.” “Back.”

They trudged with heavy steps back towards the Vermilion end of the tunnel – but Ryan paused. “Mutsu…”

“No,” Hoshi answered before he even heard whatever the man had to say. “We’re done. Our Pokémon are done. I’m gonna fucking die at work tomorrow…”

“Yes, yes, but look!” Ryan grabbed him by the arm, and Hoshi considered smacking the man off before concluding he didn’t have the energy.

“Fucking- what?” He looked; Ryan was pointing at his bagon, the baby dragon hopping around flaunting its energy. “What? He’s just jumping around like he always does.”

“Not like this! Look – he’s so excited about that tunnel! The trail must be incredibly fresh! Come on-!” No, don’t say it, I’ll fucking hit you you- “One more! Surely we can do one, last, final side path?”

Hoshi looked at the man with all the disgust he could muster – but as Jormungandr continued to try and get their attention, jumping around and running in circles around the entrance to the right-hand tunnel – which was on their left, as they’d turned around – his heart started to beat faster.

“…One more. But if we run into more than a single diglett in there, I’m kicking your ass.” Tomorrow, after I sleep for twelve hours.

The man didn’t answer, instead following his Pokémon into the narrow opening. Kenny made an exhausted noise, but followed Hoshi’s lead when he went in himself.

Don’t know why I’m getting my hopes up, this trip has been nothing but-

The thought was cut off as, only a few feet in, a flash of pink was illuminated by the flashlight’s beam. Oh, no fucking way. It stopped at literally the last tunnel on the girl's side?

Jormungandr sauntered forward, fangs bared, and Ryan fumbled for his Pokéball. “No, it’s obviously asleep- Jormungandr, return!”

The dragon disappeared before its jaws could snap shut on the mystery Pokémon, and they breathed a sigh of relief. Hoshi poked Ryan in the side and whispered, “Move it.”

They entered the little room at the end of the short tunnel – it was a proper burrow, their quarry must have chased the diglett out before falling asleep – and quietly surrounded it.

“What the fuck is it?” Kenny asked.

“No idea,” Hoshi answered. It must have been rare indeed, because Hoshi didn’t recognise the ‘mon in the least.

But apparently, Ryan did. “Son of a whore,” he whisper-shouted. “Of all the- we came all this way for a damned lickitung?” He sounded like the soft-looking pink blob was a pile of shit.

“Lickitung?” Kenny repeated. “Is that a rare-”

“It’s rare and it’s useless.” Ryan hissed, forcing the flashlight into Hoshi’s hands. “I’m leaving. Of all the wastes of time- a lickitung, the Dexus take me but I'd have preferred nothing…”

The two men watched him go, then looked at each other.

“Wow. And he was all gung-ho a second ago,” Kenny whispered.

“Right? Anyway, it’s asleep; it shouldn’t put up a fight. Let’s catch it and go.”

They turned to the lickitung – but then back to each other. As the bubblegum-pink Pokémon snored softly, the two Rocket Grunts shared a thought. Okay, but there’s two of us and one of it. Who gets it?

Hoshi’s hand reached for Crow’s ball – but he stopped himself. “You catch it for now. If it’s as rare as we think it is, we can sell it and split the money.”

Kenny hesitated, searching Hoshi’s face for deception, then gave a small nod. He plucked a Pokéball from his belt, and with a slow underhanded toss the thing disappeared.

The ball didn’t even wiggle.

----------------------------------------

Hoshi couldn’t muster the willpower to look at his watch, but given how high the sun was when they emerged from the cave… Somewhere after six.

He would have to call in sick – heck, he wouldn’t even be lying; he felt dead tired.

The group said their goodbyes and split up, Puce heading south and Ryan north. Kenny and Nerine broke off a bit later, leaving Hoshi and Casca to walk the long path to the city’s western edge alone.

“Casca…” he breathed.

“Yeah?”

“If I ever suggest going hunting after work, stop me.”

“Yeah…”

They got home at around the time Hoshi would have been leaving, and he slumped in a chair in the kitchen while waiting for his girlfriend to finish her shower. His thoughts were a mire… but one thing stood out.

Lickitung… Lickitung… I’m… ten, twenty percent sure I’ve heard that name before. Some foreign tournament winner… But that didn’t fit with Ryan’s comment, or his own knowledge of strong Pokémon. The name… Could I be wrong? I’m almost asleep, here…

In the morning, I’ll look it up in the morning…

Hoshi woke up four hours later, and had to drag an unconscious and pruney Casca from the still-running shower.