Chapter 42
If anyone back at the base asked Andy what it was like to have gone soaring across dimensions and time to confront an enemy of all Pokemon kind, he would have failed to put it to words. If Andy could share the memories of what he felt, then it would have made a better story. His form felt like it was being twisted and turned and wrung in all kinds of directions, yet could still feel the Dragonite’s scales soundly as they were barreling among the cosmos.
The environment didn’t seem to be stable either. Andy could see flashes of places and situations all across his field of view. He couldn’t check to see if the Dragonite was disoriented or not, but her wings kept beating in the same direction as they were when they started.
Soon after the environment began to calm down as the area began to be fixed on one object. As they flew closer more and more details could be seen. It was a large stone with an opening that stood upright, almost like a cave that existed without a larger rock to be based upon.
Huh, so among the space-time continuum there’s a cave that just...floats around? Freaky.
They landed on the rock and Andy said goodbye to the Dragonite.
“I’ll wait here when you’re ready to go back.”
“Thank you.”
Andy looked into the cave and felt a sense of anxiety come over him. He could only see so far into the cave before the darkness made it hard to see through. He wanted to turn back and give his friends a bit more time to defeat Vincent, but he knew that if he didn’t do something he was never going to hear the end of it from Josh. Or maybe West, but Andy didn’t think that would be in his nature. Claire would also be another good candidate, but Andy needed to focus on the task ahead.
He went inside the cave. The light from outside shone in and illuminated certain parts of the cave. Andy made sure to duck and carefully maneuver around obstacles in his path.
One the light was no longer enough to illuminate a part of the cave, Andy didn’t know where to go. He needed a light source, but without the Aura to help him find his way he was a sitting duck for the cave and what may be living inside it. Shadow Claw wasn’t going to be much help, Dragon Pulse would destroy things rather than light things up. The only move that was useful in this situation was Blaze Kick.
Okay, let me see how that would work. From my own experience in using the move, the fire must’ve either come from my own body or from the speed of traveling through the air. I’m not sure how it would work, but...here we go.
He began a Blaze Kick, except unlike other times when he would already be in the air to use it, he stood still on the ground. Every instinct told him to jump, but he had to ignore them given the low ceiling. A warm feeling came about his legs, and when he looked down he was on fire. The cave was lit, but he was feeling like he was burning alive. He quickly put out the fire.
Being part steel type is not going to help me out with this one. An aura sphere would be useful right about here. Well, if they can go without it, I can too...somehow.
He put one hand on the wall, another straight out, and one foot poking the front of him. In this awkward pose did he move on to finding his friends.
***
Andy didn’t know how long he was fumbling in the dark for. One more than one occasion did he lose the wall and need to find it again, and one did he smack his face into a piece of earth that was high enough to avoid his arm feeling it first. He counted his luck that he hadn’t fallen into a pit or something terrible finding him along the way.
After walking for what seemed like an hour or so, Andy’s legs grew tired. Not only his legs, but his spirit was daunted by the realization of the task that settled in. He wanted to stop, but a part of him told him to keep going, even if the cave sprawled into infinity.
If I’m not going to give up, then I at least need to take a seat somewhere. Even the ground itself seems comfortable right now. But don’t caves usually have nasty stuff on the ground that would get onto your clothes? I remember how cave trips always tried to remind us not to lean or sit against the wall since it has nasty stuff on them. I don’t feel any gunk on my hands though, so maybe a sit down will be good…
Andy stopped moving and sat down. He leapt back up on something poked him. He reached down to the ground and retrieved a stick.
“Oh, Claire’s stick! Now I know I’m in the right place! And if I know anything about Braixen, it’s that these sticks can be on fire for a long time.”
Andy used Blaze Kick and kicked the stick into the air. The top part lit on fire and Andy caught it. Now with light and renowned vigor he pressed onward into the cave.
After some walking Andy heard a squelching noise as he walked, and something darted out of the light and into the shadows. Must’ve been a slug or something, he thought to himself as he scraped the slime on the bottom of his foot across the ground to get it off. As he continued walking he noticed a lot more of the little slugs darting out of his path and into the walls. Andy could not see the other end of the creatures, only what was sticking out of the wall. Andy thought it strange, but didn’t spend too much time thinking about it.
It wasn’t long until he eventually heard a kind of squelching sound, and the creatures were appearing more frequently than before. It got to the point where he now he didn’t bother if he stepped on one or not. The bigger ones didn’t retreat at the light or by getting stepped on, and the little ones were starting to get more aggressive. Some began crawling up his legs, and when one got to his waist he began to run down the tunnel.
As he ran down the tunnel a flash of color raced by him. He slowed down and cautiously moved back to the source and found Claire, West and Josh pinned against the wall by the creatures. Long, veiny-like strands had planted themselves inside their mouths, like huge tubes feeding off of the inside of their bodies.
Andy lost focus for a moment before he realized that by stopping, the creatures had begun to take a hold of him as well. He stomped on them, but the most effective means of driving them off came to him when he dropped the torch and the creatures where cleared away on the spot. Seeing this he quickly picked up the torch and began to drive them off by setting them on fire. The creatures began to recede back into wherever they came from, and Andy’s friends were freed.
They were knocked out, however. With the time it would take for them to get back up and going, Andy has to be careful of the nonsense that would happen while waiting on them to recover.
He laid his friends across the floor to recover. He had Claire face-down to use her tail as a holder for the torch. He carefully took a Revival Herb and fed it into their mouths. All of them had their eyes bolt open with the taste of the herb. They got up gagging, and Claire accidentally snuffed out the torch. She picked up the branch and re-lit it.
“Andy,” she said, “that wasn’t very nice of you. What was that?”
“”It was a Revival Herb. It revives Pokemon and restores them to full health, except...”
“I lowers friendship.” West said.
“But you guys aren’t going to just decide we aren’t friends anymore because I tried to help you, right?”
“We’ll think about it.” Josh said. Andy wasn’t sure if he was kidding or not, but he didn’t care right now.
“Why are you here?” West asked, “You should be in bed recovering.”
“I decided that I needed to go out and check on you guys, and it’s a good thing I did. You all seemed to be in a little pickle there.”
“Yeah, I guess so. How did you find us?”
“I guess I got lucky. Claire dropped her stick, so I used Blaze Kick to light it up, and then I just kept following the tunnel.”
“And none of the slimy things got to you, right?”
“Not until I found you three did they become aggressive.”
They spent some time getting caught up with the exploits of the other party until they were caught up.
“Oh, hey, can you still use the aura?”
“Uh...no.”
“Have you tried?”
“Negatory.”
“Wanna give it a try?”
Andy nodded. H wasn’t sure what it would do to try, but he figured it was worth a shot. He held his arm out and tried to concentrate like he usually did. Nothing. He tried to close his eyes to sense the area. Once again, nothing.
“That’s no good,” Claire said, “but if we can get by without using any aura abilities, then we know you can too.”
“Yeah!” West said, “Plus, Lucario can learn cool moves, so maybe we can find one for you to use after we get back to the base.”
“I guess so.”
“So what is next?”
“I guess we keep exploring the cave and try to find Vincent. He’ll be around here somewhere. Well, he and Rufus. I know the two keep together. Shall we continue?”
“Yeah.”
Next: here
If anyone back at the base asked Andy what it was like to have gone soaring across dimensions and time to confront an enemy of all Pokemon kind, he would have failed to put it to words. If Andy could share the memories of what he felt, then it would have made a better story. His form felt like it was being twisted and turned and wrung in all kinds of directions, yet could still feel the Dragonite’s scales soundly as they were barreling among the cosmos.
The environment didn’t seem to be stable either. Andy could see flashes of places and situations all across his field of view. He couldn’t check to see if the Dragonite was disoriented or not, but her wings kept beating in the same direction as they were when they started.
Soon after the environment began to calm down as the area began to be fixed on one object. As they flew closer more and more details could be seen. It was a large stone with an opening that stood upright, almost like a cave that existed without a larger rock to be based upon.
Huh, so among the space-time continuum there’s a cave that just...floats around? Freaky.
They landed on the rock and Andy said goodbye to the Dragonite.
“I’ll wait here when you’re ready to go back.”
“Thank you.”
Andy looked into the cave and felt a sense of anxiety come over him. He could only see so far into the cave before the darkness made it hard to see through. He wanted to turn back and give his friends a bit more time to defeat Vincent, but he knew that if he didn’t do something he was never going to hear the end of it from Josh. Or maybe West, but Andy didn’t think that would be in his nature. Claire would also be another good candidate, but Andy needed to focus on the task ahead.
He went inside the cave. The light from outside shone in and illuminated certain parts of the cave. Andy made sure to duck and carefully maneuver around obstacles in his path.
One the light was no longer enough to illuminate a part of the cave, Andy didn’t know where to go. He needed a light source, but without the Aura to help him find his way he was a sitting duck for the cave and what may be living inside it. Shadow Claw wasn’t going to be much help, Dragon Pulse would destroy things rather than light things up. The only move that was useful in this situation was Blaze Kick.
Okay, let me see how that would work. From my own experience in using the move, the fire must’ve either come from my own body or from the speed of traveling through the air. I’m not sure how it would work, but...here we go.
He began a Blaze Kick, except unlike other times when he would already be in the air to use it, he stood still on the ground. Every instinct told him to jump, but he had to ignore them given the low ceiling. A warm feeling came about his legs, and when he looked down he was on fire. The cave was lit, but he was feeling like he was burning alive. He quickly put out the fire.
Being part steel type is not going to help me out with this one. An aura sphere would be useful right about here. Well, if they can go without it, I can too...somehow.
He put one hand on the wall, another straight out, and one foot poking the front of him. In this awkward pose did he move on to finding his friends.
***
Andy didn’t know how long he was fumbling in the dark for. One more than one occasion did he lose the wall and need to find it again, and one did he smack his face into a piece of earth that was high enough to avoid his arm feeling it first. He counted his luck that he hadn’t fallen into a pit or something terrible finding him along the way.
After walking for what seemed like an hour or so, Andy’s legs grew tired. Not only his legs, but his spirit was daunted by the realization of the task that settled in. He wanted to stop, but a part of him told him to keep going, even if the cave sprawled into infinity.
If I’m not going to give up, then I at least need to take a seat somewhere. Even the ground itself seems comfortable right now. But don’t caves usually have nasty stuff on the ground that would get onto your clothes? I remember how cave trips always tried to remind us not to lean or sit against the wall since it has nasty stuff on them. I don’t feel any gunk on my hands though, so maybe a sit down will be good…
Andy stopped moving and sat down. He leapt back up on something poked him. He reached down to the ground and retrieved a stick.
“Oh, Claire’s stick! Now I know I’m in the right place! And if I know anything about Braixen, it’s that these sticks can be on fire for a long time.”
Andy used Blaze Kick and kicked the stick into the air. The top part lit on fire and Andy caught it. Now with light and renowned vigor he pressed onward into the cave.
After some walking Andy heard a squelching noise as he walked, and something darted out of the light and into the shadows. Must’ve been a slug or something, he thought to himself as he scraped the slime on the bottom of his foot across the ground to get it off. As he continued walking he noticed a lot more of the little slugs darting out of his path and into the walls. Andy could not see the other end of the creatures, only what was sticking out of the wall. Andy thought it strange, but didn’t spend too much time thinking about it.
It wasn’t long until he eventually heard a kind of squelching sound, and the creatures were appearing more frequently than before. It got to the point where he now he didn’t bother if he stepped on one or not. The bigger ones didn’t retreat at the light or by getting stepped on, and the little ones were starting to get more aggressive. Some began crawling up his legs, and when one got to his waist he began to run down the tunnel.
As he ran down the tunnel a flash of color raced by him. He slowed down and cautiously moved back to the source and found Claire, West and Josh pinned against the wall by the creatures. Long, veiny-like strands had planted themselves inside their mouths, like huge tubes feeding off of the inside of their bodies.
Andy lost focus for a moment before he realized that by stopping, the creatures had begun to take a hold of him as well. He stomped on them, but the most effective means of driving them off came to him when he dropped the torch and the creatures where cleared away on the spot. Seeing this he quickly picked up the torch and began to drive them off by setting them on fire. The creatures began to recede back into wherever they came from, and Andy’s friends were freed.
They were knocked out, however. With the time it would take for them to get back up and going, Andy has to be careful of the nonsense that would happen while waiting on them to recover.
He laid his friends across the floor to recover. He had Claire face-down to use her tail as a holder for the torch. He carefully took a Revival Herb and fed it into their mouths. All of them had their eyes bolt open with the taste of the herb. They got up gagging, and Claire accidentally snuffed out the torch. She picked up the branch and re-lit it.
“Andy,” she said, “that wasn’t very nice of you. What was that?”
“”It was a Revival Herb. It revives Pokemon and restores them to full health, except...”
“I lowers friendship.” West said.
“But you guys aren’t going to just decide we aren’t friends anymore because I tried to help you, right?”
“We’ll think about it.” Josh said. Andy wasn’t sure if he was kidding or not, but he didn’t care right now.
“Why are you here?” West asked, “You should be in bed recovering.”
“I decided that I needed to go out and check on you guys, and it’s a good thing I did. You all seemed to be in a little pickle there.”
“Yeah, I guess so. How did you find us?”
“I guess I got lucky. Claire dropped her stick, so I used Blaze Kick to light it up, and then I just kept following the tunnel.”
“And none of the slimy things got to you, right?”
“Not until I found you three did they become aggressive.”
They spent some time getting caught up with the exploits of the other party until they were caught up.
“Oh, hey, can you still use the aura?”
“Uh...no.”
“Have you tried?”
“Negatory.”
“Wanna give it a try?”
Andy nodded. H wasn’t sure what it would do to try, but he figured it was worth a shot. He held his arm out and tried to concentrate like he usually did. Nothing. He tried to close his eyes to sense the area. Once again, nothing.
“That’s no good,” Claire said, “but if we can get by without using any aura abilities, then we know you can too.”
“Yeah!” West said, “Plus, Lucario can learn cool moves, so maybe we can find one for you to use after we get back to the base.”
“I guess so.”
“So what is next?”
“I guess we keep exploring the cave and try to find Vincent. He’ll be around here somewhere. Well, he and Rufus. I know the two keep together. Shall we continue?”
“Yeah.”
Next: here
