“There it is! A little further, Blitzer!”

Light shone in from above, as if Arceus itself had come to bless them. The two valiantly struggled up the final slope, groaning as the adrenaline came close to running out, and their feet were on the verge of giving up. Yet tired as they were, to give up meant to subject themselves to the vivid horrors they imagined in their heads.

The caves were empty on the way back, despite the infestation of bats that had greeted them on the way in. With what little energy he had left, and with Blitzer limping along with him, George couldn’t help but smirk a little.

‘Talk about expectations subverted… Just hang in there, Blitzer!’

With loud heaving, ragged gasping, and gritted teeth, George and Blitzer stumbled out of the cave and into the sunlight, elated as the stone under their feet turned to grass.

“We’re out… we’re out!” George cheered, his voice shaking as let himself fall over. He thrashed his limbs around, revelling in the funny sensation of having all the little blades of grass and clovers twirl around his body.

Blitzer dropped onto the plains with a heavy sigh. “I thought I wasn’t going to make it…” he whimpered in between pants, trying to keep his tail from sparking up the grass. He felt beside him until he found a tuft of George’s light blue fur. “T-that was, the s-scariest thing I’ve, I’ve ever seen…”

George rolled onto his side, then reached out to the Charmander. “It’s okay, we’re safe now.”

“I never, never want to see another Drilbur, ever again, ever.”

Blitzer’s breathing slowly returned to a healthy rhythm. Despite everything, he wore a slight smile on his face. George drummed his belly in a lazy rhythm. Treasure or no treasure, brave or cowardly, it didn’t matter. They were safe. They were safe. That thought alone kept them smiling. As long as they had each other, everything was going to be alright.

“How are you feeling, Blitzer?”

“All I want to do, is sleep in my bed. My legs hurt, and my back does too.”

“Can you still walk?”

“Yes, just give a moment. I want to rest a little.” Blitzer rolled onto his back, his lower back coming to rest on a dewy piece of grass. His tail dipped downwards, scorching a portion of grass black in the process. “Ah, that hits the spot.”

George sat upright, putting a little pressure onto his tail. “As long as you’re okay,” he said, twirling his ears back and forth. “I didn’t come all the way out here just to lose you. I’d never forgive myself.”

Blitzer spread his arms and legs over the grass, much like a star in the night sky. “What about you? Are you feeling alright?” he asked, eager for an answer. George tilted his head backwards.

“Me? Just a little tired, that’s all.” George waved the smoky air away.

Blitzer chuckled back at him. “Haha, that’s fantastic! You know, after all that water breathing, back there, what I saw and heard from you, I was kind of worried. You’re still not used to it, right?”

George nodded. “Not really, no. Still feel like I’ve been wringed out to dry. But I’m getting a little better, at least. Either I’m learning how to handle myself, or I’ve gotten used to the aching,” he said, then gulped. “Sorry for spitting water onto you back there, by the way.”

“No worries.” Blitzer’s smile took a sinister turn. “...Georgie.”

George frowned. “Hey, what’s that all about?!”

Blitzer laughed right back at him, body rocking back and forth in the grass like a baby in a crib. Apparently, it was highly amusing for him to say that after a near death experience, one George had pulled him out of. Doing his best, yet still laughed at. His frown grew deeper the longer he watched Blitzer bob around. If it wasn’t for his back, the Charmander would have been rolling all over the place, laughing his way into a coma all the while.

“I’m, I’m sorry George, I just couldn’t resist!”

“Yeah, I’m sure you couldn’t.” George stared off into the plains leading back home. No wild Pokemon to spot anywhere, just when he had the craving to spot some. Anything to take his mind off from things would’ve been welcome, but alas.

Seeing that laughing wasn’t impressing George, Blitzer took a different approach. “Oh, come on now. You have to admit that I deserve a little fun, especially after you leaked a little water on me back there,” he said, gritting his teeth through the pain until he sat up straight. “It’s only a joke-”

“Yes, I know!” George snapped back. “I just don’t like being called ‘Georgie’, okay?”

The Oshawott’s response came out a lot angrier than he had anticipated. Worse than that was that he wasn’t shocked about it. Blitzer wouldn’t understand.

‘Come on, try to do something, Georgie!’

‘Aw, you wanna go cry? Cry to your mommy?’

‘Your mommy even thought you were stupid!’

“George? George!!”

A cold wave washed over George.Confused, he looked over his shoulder to see Blitzer sat upright, tail curled around him, bearing a morose look which he didn’t want to show.

“George, um… I’m sorry,” Blitzer muttered, his muscles tensed up. “Is there… is there any reason why you don’t… why you don’t like being called ‘Georgie’?” he asked, his voice soft. “a-And again, I’m really sorry. I mean it.”

A tear crept out of George’s eye. “I don’t want to talk about it,” he blurted out. Right after, he slapped himself in the face. ‘You’re only making things worse for yourself, George!’ Frustrated, he grabbed onto the soft white fur on his head and started to pull.

“g-George! Don’t do that!”

By the time Blitzer’s pleas reached his ears, George had already yanked a tuft out. He let it slide through his fingers, and allowed a frigid wind to carry it away. Moments after, he let his hands sink to the ground. Now was not the time to wave things off. Not to a friend.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“If anything, it should be me who’s sorry, Blitzer. Not you.”

“n-No, don’t worry about it-”

The Oshawott sighed. “Me acting out like that was completely uncalled for. And I get it. It’s a joke. You should be allowed to make jokes. It’s just.” George clicked his tongue. ‘Your mommy didn’t even love you, Georgie!’ “There’s something I can’t explain. And it goes deep…”

Blitzer let out a deep breath through his nose. “Do you know why?”

George’s body vibrated at the thought. “Yes. Yes I do. It’s… it’s my old life. it’s too much,” he said, ears pressed against his head. A tear rolled down his cheek. Of all the times and places to think about the past, right this second had to be one of them. Even though that past was so very far away, it was only right around the corner.

‘If only I hadn’t been such a bad person. Maybe then I wouldn’t have ended up there. Maybe I could be telling Blitzer actual good stories about myself. But I can’t.’

A hand suddenly touched George, whose ears perked back up. He looked up to see Blitzer having crawled up to him, patting his shoulder.

“If it makes you feel any better, I wouldn’t ever want to make fun of you on purpose,” the Charmander said. “I mean, you saved my life back there! If I had gone down there alone, I would have been toast! And not the kind my mom makes, either.” Grinning, he wiped the tears off George’s cheeks, who tepidly nodded in return.

“You could say that.” ‘And I would’ve laughed if I could, honest…’

Blitzer poked George with his elbow. “More like the kind my dad makes, am I right?” he said, to which the corners of George’s mouth sharply curled up.

“You mean Nero, or your biological dad?” ‘Was that too far?’

“What’s the difference?”

Blitzer spread his arms wide and wrapped them around George. The two keeled over backwards, laughing. One final tear left George’s eye, before those emotions were put to rest. He turned back to Blitzer, this time with the frown turned upside down.

“Thanks Blitzer, I needed that.”

“No worries, George. Glad to help out anytime!” he said, scratching the back of his head with a thump of his tail. A burnt smell hung in the air, before being blown off by another cold wind. A glance above revealed darkened clouds gathering, which made Blitzer audibly swallow. “We should probably head back before Kyogre drops an ocean onto us.”

“Yeah,” George replied, pulling himself onto two feet. “Does it often rain around here?” ‘And Kyogre makes it rain, huh…’

“Absolutely,” Blitzer said, groaning as he got up. “In fact, it rains so often, it’s a miracle you haven’t seen any yet. It’s been really dry these past two weeks. Oh well,” he said with a shrug. George folded his arms over his scarf, reeling as he imagined getting doused in water from a passing car.

“Well, I’ve seen plenty of rain back in the city. At least here I won’t get scolded for getting myself wet in the rain.”

Blitzer cracked up. “Wait, what? Why would anyone do that? It’s rain!”

“Ha, yeah,” George said, glancing at the grass for a split second. “City rules. Or… what was that word again… Eh-tee-ket. Apparently it was very important. Not here, right?”

“Nope,” Blitzer said with a sly grin.

“That’s better.” George put his hands together. The idea of laying on a warm bed while it poured outside was like hot cocoa on a winter morning. “We haven’t forgotten anything, have we?”

“What about the treasure?” Blitzer pointed at the fold in George’s bright red scarf with a curious flick of his tail.

“Wait, ah!” The Oshawott’s hands flew up to the scarf to rummage through the folds; fortunately, the flute piece still sat snug as a bug inside one. “Phew, that was a close one. Thought it was gone for a second, there.”

Blitzer wiped the sweat off his brow, despite the fact that he was a Charmander, and thus incapable of producing sweat to begin with. “After all the fighting, it’s a miracle that you didn’t lose it! Better, because no one is getting me back in there, no chance.”

George raised the flute piece up to his nose. With it now being quiet, spare for Blitzer’s mouth, he had ample opportunity to study it. The piece gave off a dull shine. Even without sunlight, there was an elegance to it unlike anything back home. This wasn’t something you’d find in the middle of nowhere. The flute’s touch revealed a level of sophistication only a master would be able to achieve. Was such a thing even possible? Were there great cities in this world where civilization had bloomed to such an extent? And if they existed, why would a stranger ask a small Oshawott and a stubborn, zippy Charmander to dive underground for it? Unable to answer these questions himself, George handed Blitzer the piece, and explained his thoughts.

“Huh? So you think an ordinary Pokemon made this?” Blitzer twiddled the piece around, observing it from many directions with exaggerated motions.

“No, I said a great craftsman, not anyone ordinary,” George grumbled, his tail swatting at the air. Blitzer shook his head back.

“That’s not what I meant. You think there are people out there capable of making these sorts of things? Ordinary Pokemon, and not Legends? Because, uh, I don’t think there are any people like you describe, George.”

George tilted his head. “What do you mean?” he said, then leaned back. ‘To be honest, I might already have an idea. Soldiers, or something.’

The Charmander took in a deep breath, as if to prepare himself for a lecture he was about to give. “Well, I have never heard of anything like that. You know, I vaguely remember being in a city when I was really young. But there was nothing like this there. Not at all. I don’t know what human society is like, George, but maybe you would find things like these there? If you’re telling the truth, then wow!”

As the wind howled yet again, George felt uncomfortably dry. Something in his body was telling him to jump into a pool of water. “So, uh, does that mean no?” he asked, clenching his gut to try and shake off the feeling that he’d been lost in a desert for hours.

“What I mean is, this is probably not made by an ordinary Pokemon,” Blitzer said. “Makes more sense that way. Why else would it be lying underground?”

George laid a hand on his cheek. “I don’t know..”

“We might have gotten our hands on something special, George. Or, in other words… Treasure!” Blitzer’s tail suddenly flared happily. It didn’t take long for him for his arms to fly through the air; were it not for his injuries, his feet would’ve been up there too.

“Haha, yeah, I guess,” George awkwardly mumbled, while scratching at an itch near his freckled cheeks. ‘Some treasure it is, though. We can’t even show it to anyone.’

An extra cold wind blew onto George’s back. The tension in his muscles lessened; a wave of humid air had been blown over by the wind. Given the clouds, the rain couldn’t have been far off. Believing Blitzer would want to be indoors by the time the rain arrived in full force, George turned tail to start the trek home. But, much to his annoyance, Blitzer wouldn’t have it that way.

“Heey! Where are you going?”

“Back home. Where else?”

“Why though?”

“Doesn’t it look like it’s about to start raining?” George pointed up with a slap of his tail.

“Yeah, but it’s only a little rain. No worries!” Blitzer said, stretching his arms out to let the wind flow over his body. “Cold, though!”

Thoroughly stumped, George tried pointing out the obvious to the Charmander. “But you’re a fire type. Don’t fire types hate rain?” He made rapid gestures all around his face with both hands to try and bring his points across, complimented further by flicks of his ears and twitches of his nose. “You know, with getting wet and all being actually bad for your health? Or that fire types just don’t like that? Getting cold in general being bad? Water gets pretty cold. Especially in the rain.”

Blitzer’s response was to put one hand on his head, the other on his side, and to start rubbing. “I don’t know. Other fires, maybe, but not me! I can handle getting a little wet! If bathing’s no issue, rain is nothing! I’ve handled rain before, it’s nothing big.”

George rolled his eyes. “Are you sure?” ‘Your father sure told me a different story. With bathing, which I’ve seen for myself. And smelled more than enough times, too...’

“Sure am! Now then, the flute…” Blitzer took the piece between two fingers. “What should we do with it?”

The former human folded his small arms over one another. “Well, we can’t go around showing it to anyone. Least of all your parents, either. They’ll probably start asking questions if we do.”

Blitzer nodded, and straightened his tail. “You’re right. Don’t need the whole village to find out. Especially not with Soldiers around. I don’t want them getting their greedy paws on it.”

George hummed in agreement. “Yes, and don’t forget the message. They explicitly told us not to, didn’t they?”

The expression on Blitzer’s face soured. “Oh yeah, I almost forgot… we can’t tell or show anyone. But why though? Why does whoever wrote us that message want that so badly?”

“I don’t know,” said George while shaking his head, “but I don’t want to find out what happens otherwise.”

“Uh huh.”

George breathed in deep, and back out. Blitzer held the piece out in front of him, and George eyed it further. It couldn’t have been so simple, could it? Would anyone just leave a piece of a flute lying at the bottom of a cave? He closed his eyes, and reimagined the encounter with the Excadrill. Those azure eyes right after it disappeared. The way they stared right back at him was off. Hatred, or anger... No, it wasn’t that. It was far more like the gaze of a police officer keeping watch over a playground.

His eyes were pried open by a large drop landing square on his nose. Surprised, George twitched it around, as more drops started falling. Another large one fell square on the crown of Blitzer’s head, causing the Charmander to jump. “Ah!”

“Blegh, here’s the rain I was talking about,” George said.

“You know what, how’s about we get out of here?” Blitzer said as more drops started falling all around the two. “I wanna go home.”

George looked off beside him, bearing a smug grin. “Feeling homesick, Blitzer?”

“Yeah, somewhere warm and dry sounds fine right about now.”

Grinning as the rain caressed his fur, George once again put a foot forward. “Well, what are we waiting for? It’s a good half hour until we get back.” ‘Knew he was fakin’ it.’

Blitzer gulped. “Are you sure?”

“Well, it depends on how fast you can walk.”

“Uuurgh…”

And so, the two made their trek home, the flute piece once again tucked away into George’s scarf. Of all the danger they had gotten themselves into, one thing was certain about today’s adventure: They had better come up with a darned good excuse by the time they got home.

END OF PART I