Chapter 213: Spelunking into sleepy situations!

Chapter 213: Spelunking into sleepy situations!

“Ohhhhh you!” growled Ash towards his rival. His fist clenched around a pokeball and he raised it up, his mouth opening to no doubt demand a challenge.

Only for Misty’s hand to lash out and grab him by the back of his shirt and shake him. “What do you think you’re trying to do? We’re next to a canyon! Do you not remember the last time you got into a fight in terrain like this!?” she snarled.

I quirked an eyebrow. That sounded like quite the story.

Gary for his part only smirked harder. “Hoh? What’s this? Ashy boy not paying attention? I seem to recall several classes where you were the same! Remember Ashy Boy?” he said, leaning in to put the screws to his rival.

Mia put her hand on his shoulder. “Gary, you’re not much better. Remember that time you used an electric attack with your Jolteon when we were standing in ankle-deep water?” she said with a very fixed smile.

Gary stiffened. “I thought we were never going to talk about that!”

Mia, and I noted the cheerleaders all shot Gary an extremely flat look. “We agreed to no such deal,” Mia said, acting as the group’s spokeswoman. The cheerleaders nodded their heads in solidarity.

Misty looked over at them. “You girls as well? Ash does that sometimes when he get—”

Ash’s hand flapped up into her face. “Misty! Not in front of Gary!” he said with a whine.

“Yeah! What Ash said!” You’re ruining my reputation!” said Gary.

Forrest sighed. “Just give it up guys, they’re going to do it anyway. I find it helps to just have a thicker skin,” he said with a shrug.

Misty shot him a smile and a nod which Forrest huffed at before turning back to me. A steely glint entered his gaze. “That said, it was not cool of you making Erika trick us like that Brock!” he said, shooting his finger out to point it right in my face.

I smirked. “Ho? What’s this?” I said playfully.

“You! You made her demand that Ash and I fight her in dresses! The girls there called me Frou-frou!”

“I was called Ashley!” said Ash in despair. Gary snickered at him.

“Really dresses? You guys are such chumps! No way I’d get caught in a dress like that!” he said.

Mia gained a glint in her eyes and the Cheerleaders tittered. Gary, demonstrating amazing self-awareness, shot them all a worried look.

I raised a hand. “Alright, alright girls stop beating up on the boys. We get it, they’ve made some mistakes.” I raised a single finger. “But I’m sure we can all recall some of our own mistakes which were equally as poorly thought out, no?” I said, doing my best to give off the vibes of a man preaching to a church. I tried to embody the idea of cast only a rock ye who have not sinned.

The boys looked at me in relief while the girls nodded contritely. Or at least they did for a few seconds before the Cheerleaders shared a wink. I decided to ignore them. They were not my problem and too old and therefore set in their ways.

Not that I was going to voice that.

I gave Forrest a look. “Sorry for setting up that trap,” I said only for my lips to twitch at the unfortunate, if Freudian slip.

Forrest glared at me and in doing so gave up that he’d probably gone a little too deep on the pokenet.

I repressed my amusement in the face of his ire. “Big Brother prerogative?” I suggested.

Forrest raised a clenched fist in front of his face. “Mark my words, brother, I will have my vengeance for that embarrassment! It might not be today, but it will come! It will be swift! It will be bold! It! will! be! Legendary!” he stipulated with his fist held up to the heavens.

I coughed and decided to kill his vibe by clapping politely. “Cool story,” I said.

Forrest growled at me. Ash decided to add his own two cents. “Make sure you get him back for the underwear as well!”

Everyone paused. I frowned. “Uhm... underwear?” I said.

Ash nodded. “Yeah! The girls included underwear with the dresses! Said they’d be able to tell if I wore something else!”

Forrest put his hands together in front of his face. “Ash... they were lying, those dresses had so many frills you could hide anything under there! Please tell me you didn’t wear the frilly girl underwear the girls left.”

Ash blinked slowly only to smile. “I did not wear the underwear! He said.

Pikachu, who’d been riding his shoulder, made a face and refused to look at his trainer.

Forrest opened his mouth to a question no doubt burning on the tip of his tongue, but he shut his mouth realising he really didn’t want to know the answer. He turned away. “Yeah! That too!” he said pointing at me.

I coughed. “Uhmmm, I think you might need to take that up with the girls of the Celadon Gym. I said trick them into wearing a dress, and get some pictures,” I said raising up my Xtransciver to showcase a pair of pictures with a furiously blushing but pleased Forrest holding up a Rainbow badge while Ash did the same in the next picture.

A final picture showed off Misty standing between the boys with her own Rainbow badge, her smile huge while the boys blushed in their dresses.

“I even told them not to push it if you said no,” I said. “The underwear thing... that was the girls,” I said. I could only conclude that the underwear had been one of the trainers going above and beyond... or being particularly mean.

It struck me as something Erika would be too shy to do.

I felt my stomach rumble and I coughed before waving the group to follow. “Let’s grab some lunch!” I said leading the group back to the cafeteria tent I’d seen earlier.

As we moved Gary slunk up next to Ash. “You went commando, didn’t you?”

I walked a little faster, not wanting to hear the answer to that question. I felt like I already knew too much.

Damn, Celadon girls, that was cruel. I sped up. I didn’t want to truly know the answer. If I could keep even a smidgen of ignorance, I’d cling to it harder than a naked man would cling to a towel.

Lunch proved to be a suitable distraction with our group claiming a full table.

“So? How’s it been going for you?” I asked. “I heard you were having to train up for Kong and Sabrina?” I prompted.

Forrest and Ash grimaced. “We have to work on our strategy,” Forrest said. “Kong was more than ready to deal with my Metang.”

I paused. “Oh? You got it to evolve? Good work. Have you...” I paused realising I was about to encroach. I coughed. “What are you doing for him and your other pokemon?” I said, adjusting my words quickly.

Forrest perked up. “Well it’s really interesting having a Psychic pokemon on my team! I have Metang working on building up the power of his attacks and his control, while others are building up their defence!”

I nodded along happy to listen even as I found myself having to bite down the urge to make some suggestions. I didn’t need to step in and ‘fix his methods’ he could learn, or he could ask for them if he wanted to. He had access to the Gym’s training methodology for various pokemon after all. I could tell that he’d built a good program from it already, it just wasn’t eking out the full potential.

I glanced about at the others and spotted something. Ash was sulking, which wasn’t odd considering how Gary was taking the chance to needle him, while Misty was happily bouncing in her seat.

“I take it Misty won her match?” I said, causing Forrest to perk up and begin singing Misty’s praises much to the girl’s delight.

“I’ll say! She had it worked out really well with her Starmie! And oh! Just this week her Wartortle evolved after beating the Battle Club President! It was awesome! Now we have Misty’s Blastoise and Ash’s Charizard! It’s so cool!”

The cheerleaders, who’d claimed their own table glanced over and giggled as they shot Misty and Forrest teasing looks that had Misty blushing further while Forrest didn’t spot them.

I swallowed the mouthful of sandwich I had. “So, does that mean you’re going to get a Bulbasaur?” I said teasingly.

“What? No! I think I like Steel and Rock Type pokemon!” Forrest said firmly. He then waved a hand towards Ash. “Ash has a Bulbasaur anyway.”

Gary choked on his sandwich and Mia helpfully swatted his back a few times to help clear his airways. “Urk! You? Ashy boy have two of the Kanto starter pokemon?” raged Gary.

Ash blinked. “Uhmmm no? I have all three? I have Squirtle, Bulbasaur and Charizard,” he said cluelessly.

Everyone within earshot turned and shot him a look of disbelief that quickly morphed into envy. Ash wiped at his face? “What? It wasn’t that hard,” he said.

Gary put his head in his hands. “Not that hard he says! Argh! My rival is a stupid lucky idiot!” he said.

Forrest and Misty both nodded. Ash growled only to notice them. “Hey! That’s not true! I’m smart!”

I chuckled as the others pretended to not meet his gaze as though he’d just said something embarrassing. Ash turned watery eyes towards me, fishing for a compliment. I laughed and rolled my eyes. “At pokemon battling you have some great instincts. I think the issue isn’t one of intelligence but rather wisdom which will come with experience,” I said easily.

Ash considered this for a moment before tilting his head. “What’s the difference?”

I grinned. “Intelligence is knowing that a Tomato is a fruit, but wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad,” I said.

Forrest, unable to stop himself completed the quote, “And charisma is being able to sell a tomato fruit salad!” he said with a grin.

I paused. That... actually fit the Team Rocket trio to a tee.

“What’s this new nerdery?” Gary said, affecting a cool attitude as he cleaned his ear.

Squirtle, realising how redundant if not outright counterproductive it was. He whipped the shades off and didn’t meet Blastoise’s eyes as he hopped into the pond. Ash squatted at the side of the pond, his eyes hidden in shadow while Pikachu matched his stare into the pond.

I watched him. It hadn’t happened in the anime, but I got the feeling that with Misty advancing with her pokemon and Gary showing off, Ash was suddenly rethinking a few things about how his pokemon grow.

I left him to it, sending out Shin and Chou myself. Both of them appeared only to stiffen in surprise. “Hey guys, “ I said, greeting them with a smile. “We’re back in the caves I found you doing some exploring? Want to show us around?” I asked.

Shin perked up and did just that. He began walking around, gesturing with his sycthe at various alcoves, miming sleeping and eating actions. When he reached the pond he gestured and waved his scythe in a complicated action that I couldn’t work out.

I shook my head and Shin shrugged, unable to convey what he meant. I released Titan and he appeared with a giant yawn and a shudder.

I twitched. And started to copy him only to break it off. “Oh, don’t start that bud, I’m already tired,” I said. Titan shot me a look before inspecting his surroundings.

“Ty?” he said, his head cocking to the side as he took in our surroundings, noting their familiarity. When he saw Forrest he stopped looking over the cave and instead stalked over to rub my little brother’s head.

Forrest squawked at the attention but hugged the larger pokemon back. “Hey to you as well, big guy,” he said.

Gary took the moment to sneak up next to Titan and take a selfie. Titan, spotting this, adopted a low stalking pose before his fingers shot up into a V. Gary cackled at how cool it looked. Shin, deciding to get in on the action, moved up next to Titan and Gary happily took another few shots.

Flint let it go for a few moments before coughing. “As nice as it is to see you enjoying yourself, I would ask you to stop using a flash,” Flint said.

Gary stiffened, his gaze snapping up just as a flock of Zubat began to flutter towards him. Titan swept his tail and knocked them all out without even giving them a look. Gary stared for a moment at the casual display of power, before coughing and ducking his head. “Sorry about that!”

Ash snickered and shot his rival a smirk, finally having something to tease Gary about.

I shook my head and directed Titan and Shin to work with us. Shin repeated himself about the pond and Titan listened before turning to me and waving his hands in a flowing pattern. “There’s an underground river?” I asked.

Titan nodded slowly. And continued to weave his hands. I tilted my head. “It goes for a long way?”

Titan glanced at Shin who nodded. I grunted. “Anything else down there? Pokemon? Other fossil pokemon or fossils themselves?” I asked.

Shin shook his head for the note about pokemon before shrugging. I opened up my Xtransicever and showed him what I was looking for. Before long he was diving into the depths and looking for anything on the list that I complied with Flint. I turned back to find what everyone else was up to.

The boys were now examining the walls and alcoves and Flint was approaching with a serious look on his face. “Something up?” I asked.

Flint nodded. “The message back at the forks. The one you made when you were eleven?”

He worked his jaw. “It’s not uncommon to find messages like that when you explore caves.” he said, his eyes moving to lock with mine. “Those sorts of messages are made by men who know they’re going into danger,” he said.

I didn’t say anything. He was right. I had known I was coming into a dangerous cave. I had as soon as I started exploring the caves all those years ago. I also hadn’t had as many safety measures like Selene or my much stronger pokemon such as a Tyranitar back then.

It had been Guybro, Dwayne, Titan and Bertha, albeit much younger and nowhere near as powerful. Don had been extremely feral back then which made it tougher than a normal fight, especially with how I hadn’t wanted to cripple him.

“Yeah,” I said, settling for the one word answer. “It worked out,” I said.

Flint’s jaw clenched, not liking the answer. He inhaled and exhaled. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised considering you’d wandered into Mt Silver all those years ago... You really were a lot more reckless back then.” he said leaning back to sit on his haunches. “Guess I just don’t like finding out how much I missed back then.”

I didn’t know what to say. It had been a risk, a big one back then, but there had been sizable pay off. I stayed silent and didn’t say anything. I wasn’t going to say it was a bad call. In fact, it was one that I didn’t regret and would make again if I had my time over.

That wasn’t the answer that would placate Flint though. Not that he’d like any answer I could truthfully give.

When the kids called out they’d found a pair of tunnels leading out, I clapped him on the shoulder and squeezed for lack of anything else to say.

“Let’s see what you’ve got?” I said to the others leaving Flint to stare into the past.

The tunnels weren’t that impressive, roughly my height and only just barely could two people walk shoulder to shoulder down the first. With how it had been tucked into a wall it was rather easy to overlook unless you inspected the full circumference of the cavern.

This tunnel, when inspected, led to a dead end roughly fifty metres along itself. I ran my hands over the sides and noted a number of geodes. “Hey Flint! We might have something here!” I called back.

Flint shook off the ghosts of the past and trudged up. His shuckle arced its head this way and that casting the walls in and out of light with the motions. He paused at a few sights and tapped his fingers, ran his hands, or in one very concerning moment licked the wall.

The boys all grimaced at this while I raised an eyebrow.

“Chalky,” said Flint. “This section is m’ He then led the boys back to various points. “These points here are worth digging at. I think there are some gem deposits here.”

That had Gary, Forrest and Humphrey to perk up. “Can we start digging now?” they asked.

Flint waved a hand. “Woah there boys, we need to set up secure walls first,” he said.

“What about my tunnel?” whined Ash.

I clapped him on the shoulder when Flint glanced in my direction. “How about I look it over?” I suggested.

Ash happily led me to his find. Much weaker and newer than everything else around it. This tunnel might only be a few weeks old.

The second tunnel was much like the first with how it tucked into the wall subtly. What made it different was that it was much smaller.

You’d need to crawl on your hands and feet, smaller.

I nodded to myself, releasing Izumi. She appeared, took in her surroundings and nodded. Then she rolled into the tunnel without complaint. Ash fidgetted. “Should we.. go after her?”

“She’ll check the tunnel, make sure it’s not about to collapse on us. Tight tunnels like this can be a problem due to having potential narrowings where we’d get stuck,” I explained.

Ash accepted that with a nod, deciding to run his hands through Pikachu’s fur. In doing so his own hair began to stick up in places that were almost iconic for him. Huh, was his spiky hair caused by his grooming Pikachu?

I’d never thought of that before. Neat.

It took a few minutes for Izumi to come back. When she did she was dusty, but that didn’t stop her from grinning at us and firing a thumbs up.

She tapped the ground and mapped out the tunnel showing that it was a rather long tunnel but that it led to another cavern which was sizable. It also had a lot more openings leading into it.

I whistled. “Looks like you’ve found something,” I said to Ash, causing him to pump his fist.

I relayed the information to the others and they wavered. The boys were obviously weighing up further adventure against potential gains in this tunnel while Flint wanted to secure this site.

“I can go with Ash and check out the tunnel,” I said feeling nostalgic.

After all, Brock and Ash were an iconic set of friends.

Flint’s head jerked and he let us be, I had a feeling he was still feeling it from the message I’d left last time, but I wasn’t going to touch that here and now. Instead I led Ash into the tunnel with me leading the way

Or I was until Pikachu raced ahead of me.

I chuckled as a small fluffy tail was what I had to look at for a few minutes until the tunnel opened up. When I reached the cavern, I whistled as I found a number of exposed geodes of gems.

“This... is a much bigger find,” I said. Izumi, who’d been next to me glanced at the geodes before shrugging. Ah that’s right they wouldn’t matter to a pokemon too much.

Ash and I happily took some pictures before we began to inspect the other branching tunnels, a few of them seemed to tuck around back in on themselves creating a maze of sorts. One had another cavern that looked promising with the crystals lodged in the walls.

Ash paused to inspect a particularly large crystal just as I stepped into another tunnel, marking it off with the glow in the dark paint as I did so.

I walked in a little ways and found a small cave with a raised platform. It reminded me of Titan’s den with the softer earth being used as a bed.

That had me stiffening up, only to pause when a soft voice chirped up. “Jiggly?”

I blinked as a Jigglypuff hopped up onto the raised bed of rock. “Oh, hello there?” I said.

Jigglypuff smiled and waved, in its off-hand a red... pen with a fluffy lid was held. Something about that sparked a memory.

It wasn’t until it raised the small red pen to its lips and began to Sing, that I remembered why Jigglypuff with a pen was a menace. I reached up to stuff my ears but a yawn ripped through me causing me to shudder.

Damn Mewtwo, I thought to myself as I slumped down next to Izumi to fall asleep to a gentle lullaby. I was too tired to resist and so slumber claimed me.

What was the harm in a little nap after all?