Nysa gulped in fear, as she craned her neck to meet the unhappy-looking Pokemon. She turned to Zara to tell her to brace herself, but she had already done that – on the back of Nysa’s neck, while shivering.

  ‘Zara, what am I supposed to do to protect us here?!’ Nysa hissed. But she understood; among other things, Zara’s typing would make this Rock-type – and probably Fire-type too, judging from the red glow around so much of their body – a natural predator for her.

  ‘Relax, idiot, I’m here, remember?’ Athena said, while narrowing her eyes at the behemoth.

  Oh, right. Nysa got scared for a second, so she forgot. And the Pokemon here were supposed to be more docile than usual, so she was probably fine. Still, the sheer presence of the Pokemon made her freeze.

  ‘This one’s species is called Coalossal, by the way,’ Athena said.

  ‘How’d you know that?’

  ‘I’ve been in more caves than you, so I’ve fought some before.’ Athena answered.

  ‘You’ve fought this before?’

  ‘Pay attention!’ Athena hissed.

  Right, she was trying to distract herself. She looked back up at the Coalossal.

  ‘Um, hello!’ she smiled nervously. The giant Pokemon narrowed her eyes at Nysa and gave a small growl. ‘I was just trying to make friends with this little one, just giving her food.’

  Thank god for Rolycoly just then, because the small Pokemon started nestling Nysa’s leg at that point, while humming in a low tone. Nysa sighed in a bit of relief at that, then looked at Coalossal and gestured at Rolycoly with her hands, like ‘See? She likes me.’

  They all stayed like they were for a few seconds, and Nysa got the feeling that Coalossal was thinking something over. Then with a huff, and a puff of steam from their back, they muttered something Nysa couldn’t understand, and turned around to walk deeper into the cave.

  ‘She said to follow her. Want to go?’ Espeon translated.

  ‘Calm down, me, you’ve faced so much in your life, you can do this,’ Nysa thought, trying to reassure herself.

  ‘Alright, let’s go,’ Nysa said, letting out a deep breath.

  As they walked further into the cave, aside from Coalossal’s booming steps, Nysa also noticed that the tunnel was somehow getting brighter. The cave eventually opened up to reveal a huge cavern, with lots of stalactites hanging from the ceiling, which contained quite a few different types of Pokemon.

  Aron were crawling around in a space to their left, playing around with each other while a Lairon watched over them. There was an underground lake at the opposite end of the cavern from the entrance, and Nysa could see a group of Pokemon from here sipping from its water. They were pretty tiny, with a floppy, cylinder-shaped body, and… blue whiskers? It was hard to tell from here, the cavern was so large. There were so many more Pokemon in the cavern, just living in harmony.

  After walking for a bit more, Coalossal finally stopped walking, and Nysa could see a horde of Rolycoly right behind her, as well as a similar looking type of Pokemon that looked like a… minecart? Probably another evolved form of Rolycoly. They were all watching Nysa and her group curiously.

  Nysa crouched down a bit, remembering what she did earlier, but also realizing that the new Pokemon was a bit taller than Rolycoly.

  ‘Hi everyone! I’m Nysa, this is Zara,’ she said, as Zara gave a trill to greet them, although she was still kind of cowering behind Nysa’s neck. ‘And this is Athena!’ She gestured to the Espeon.

  ‘...Hi,’ she said awkwardly, raising a paw in greeting.

  The Rolycoly all started wheeling towards her then, while the other Pokemon huffed and turned away. Oh well, that was better than nothing.

  When the other Rolycoly saw the one that was currently holding on to Nysa’s leg, lots of opened their mouths and made sounds, probably asking something. Imagine a really bad smoker talking to you, that’s what the sound from their open mouths sounded like.

  That, Nysa realized, probably made sense for the coal Pokemon.

  Her – or at least ideally soon-to-be hers – Rolycoly made them same sound back at them and gave a small smile. Then they all rolled up to her and started nestling Nysa too.

  ‘Whoa!’ Nysa exclaimed, as she stumbled back and fell to the ground. Her Rolycoly let out a yell and wheeled over to her face, which was now at the same vertical level as him, and looked at her with what Nysa thought – or hoped – was worried eyes.

  ‘Y-yeah, I’m fine, don’t worry,’ she said, with a bit of a grimace. The other Rolycoly and Zara looked worried as well, although Nysa couldn’t help but notice Athena looking to the side and shaking.

  She was laughing.

  Nysa’s eyes narrowed, then she smiled evilly. She had an idea.

  ‘Hey everyone, she likes hugs too! Show her some love!’ Nysa said, pointing at the feline.

  Athena’s head snapped to glare at Nysa. ‘You bitc-’ was all she could make out before the Rolycoly swarmed her, innocently nuzzling and squishing her.

  That was fun. Nysa then looked down and realized that her Rolycoly hadn’t left her side, and he was cutely staring at her.

  ‘Aww, you really do like me! Come here, please,’ she said, holding out her arms with a big smile on her face. Rolycoly then leapt into her arms.

  Wow, the Ranger wasn’t kidding when he said that the Pokemon in the Safari Zone were really domesticated. Nysa doubted she would be able to get away with things this easily in the wild.

  Zara trilled from on top of Nysa’s head, finally having felt confident enough to not hide. She fluttered over to Rolycoly and landed on his head, which she was more than light enough to do without hurting the coal Pokemon.

  ‘Do you like it here?’ Nysa asked, remembering her conversation with Athena earlier. Rolycoly bobbed his head up and down. That was probably a yes, right?

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  ‘Okay, good,’ Nysa thought, as she started to rub Rolycoly’s head, which he clearly liked.

  Just then, Athena came over, covered in dirt, and scowling. The other Rolycoly had scurried off. There was no way they liked Nysa or Athena that much yet, they were probably just uninterested in them. Nysa smiled innocently at Athena.

  ‘Have fun?’

  ‘Fuck you,’ Athena bluntly responded.

  Nysa gasped and covered Rolycoly’s head. ‘Athena, you can’t swear in front of little kids! What if his mom heard that?’

  Rolycoly frowned at that, and shook her head repeatedly.

  Nysa was confused. ‘You aren’t a kid?’

  ‘Don’t assume that. Look at the scars on his body, that’s almost certainly not a kid, just at first glance,’ Athena pointed out, sitting down to Nysa’s right.

  Oh, she was right. Now that Nysa was taking a closer look, there were definitely some very visible gashes running along his sides.

  ‘Can I touch?’ Nysa asked. Rolycoly simply nodded.

  Her worries about touching a Fire type went out the window pretty quickly. Rolycoly’s body was just warm to the touch, and smoother than Nysa originally thought, including his scars.

  ‘Do you mind if I ask where you got them?’ Nysa asked. It was probably a sensitive subject, but Nysa figured it was fine to ask, if she was already touching him.

  Rolycoly made noises over the next minute or so that Nysa again couldn’t understand, then dipped his head a bit, in what Nysa thought might be sadness. She turned to Athena for help, and couldn’t help but notice Athena’s deep frown.

  ‘He said that he has been with a lot of Trainers over the past 20 years, so he’s been through a lot of battles. His last one dumped him here after some government regulations meant he couldn’t keep using Rolycoly as a coal resource.’

  Nysa frowned, suddenly overcome by a spark of anger. Assuming Rolycoly had been through harsh enough battles, how could his Trainer leave him after that?

  ‘And, it would be tough to leave again and get disappointed, wouldn’t it?’ Nysa asked sympathetically. Rolycoly gave a silent nod, still looking quite depressed. Zara gave a squeak and fluttered her wings, trying to cheer him up, but it didn’t seem to have much effect.

  Nysa took a deep inhale, looked up at the cave ceiling, and exhaled.

  ‘Maybe I know a bit of what that’s like,’ she said, which caused Rolycoly to slowly lift his head and look at her.

  Nysa hesitated for a bit before continuing. ‘My life has been… hard up until now, to put it lightly. Sometimes, in the back of my head, I think I feel like there’s no point in trying to find something better. Like, I’d just be disappointed, since I’ve only expected misery before.’

  Wow, saying that out loud felt good. Like weight had been lifted off her shoulders. It also helped that Zara had flown back to her head, and Athena was looking at Nysa with concern.

  ‘So,’ Nysa started, staring down at Rolycoly and flashing a small smile. ‘Why don’t I stay here for a week?’

  Athena scrunched her eyebrows in concern when she heard that. ‘Uh, your brother would be annoyed with that, wouldn’t he?’

  Nysa shook her head. ‘No, I don’t mean the entire week. I’ll come here everyday and stay here for most of the day and hang out with you. That way, you,’ she said, now looking at Rolycoly, ‘and your family have plenty of time to see if I’m worth it, right?’

  Rolycoly stayed still for a few seconds, looking Nysa in the eye the whole time. Then, slowly, she nodded. Nysa started rubbing his head again, which he clearly appreciated.

  She had a feeling that this was the start of a beautiful bond.

  -----------

  Kiran could hear terror all around him.

  The area around him was constantly distorting, and there were barely visible souls all over the place. Heartbreak, rage, resentment, fear, and more. It would make anyone not used to the sight collapse in terror, and the physical distortions would be incredibly difficult to navigate.

  Hell, even Kiran was having a difficult time. A lot of this felt like his inner fears and other feelings haunting him as loudly as the possibly could.

  And… then it was gone. The area around them returned to Lilycove Beach, with the morning sun glaring on them. Waves were crashing against the shore not too far in front of him, the sand was what they were standing on, and to their left was a rock formation, complete with what looked like a cave.

  ‘Ughhh, shit,’ Kiran groaned, annoyed with how long this move was taking to nail down. In front of him, Joan collapsed to the ground and sat there, exhausted from attempting that move repeatedly over the course of the last three hours.

  She turned her head after a few seconds, and looked at Kiran apologetically.

  ‘No, don’t be sorry,’ he said, walking over to sit next to her. ‘I did want to see it work, but I know you’re trying your best, so don’t worry.’

  Joan’s shoulders drooped in relief. Or exhaustion? Maybe both, at this point.

  Kiran leaned backwards on his hands where he was sitting. He’d tried to get up early today to practice, and he had managed to find a large, isolated stretch of beach on the north end of Lilycove Beach, right near a large rock formation and cave. Aside from the fact that Nysa had just hijacked his Pokemon before he could even wake up, he had been feeling good.

  Right up until now.

  Joan lifted up her left arm, and pounded it into the sand. Then she made some noises, which Kiran knew meant she was frustrated.

  ‘This is the first time you haven’t been able to get a move for this long, huh?’ he said. She nodded, frowning. ‘Well, it’s not like we have to use it next week.’

  Joan began to nod, but then tensed up, and looked behind her.

  Kiran whipped his head over to where she was looking. She was looking at a really run-down shack behind them, which they had passed by on their way here.

  ‘You sense something?’ Kiran asked. She nodded again, glaring at the house, and made a loud grunt. Looking closely, Kiran could see some small shadows peeking out from behind the shack.

  ‘Hey, you heard her. There’s no point hiding from us,’ he called out.

  There was a pause, then two teenagers slowly shuffled into view. They both looked just a bit younger than Nysa. The girl had long hair that went well past her shoulders, and the boy had shorter hair that had some green streaks going through it. They both looked like they were a bit frightened of him, but at least the girl seemed a bit defiant on top of that.

  He raised an eyebrow. ‘Yeah? What is it?’ he asked.

  They flinched a bit at the bluntness of his tone. ‘W-we just heard some really weird, loud noises coming from here, and then we felt some really weird things happening to our bodies. S-so we came to check it out,’ the girl said, while giving him a glare.

  Crap. Did the attack affect them as well? ‘Shit, that was supposed to be more controlled…’ he muttered to himself.

  But then he frowned as he realized something. ‘Wait, that’s a lie,’ he said, frowning at the two kids, who seemed to freeze a bit at the accusation. ‘This is obviously way too far out from the city to just ‘stumble upon’.’

  It was honestly kind of cute, how they then looked like they just got caught stealing something.

  But not cute enough. They were just kids, but Kiran really didn’t like being stalked. ‘Out with it, c’mon,’ he said, a little bit annoyed.

  ‘Could, um… could you keep a secret?’ the boy almost pleaded softly.

  ‘Kid, I have no clue who you are. Who was I gonna tell?’ Kiran deadpanned.

  The girl sighed and crossed her arms. ‘Fine. I know the adults tell us to stay away from the Aqua cavern, but we’d been trying to work up the courage to come explore it before we start our journeys this year, sorta like a test of courage,’ she said in resignation.

  ‘Aqua cavern? That’s a weird name, isn’t it?’ he asked.

  ‘Yeah, it does sound pretty stupid. But apparently Team Aqua wasn’t very original,’ the girl said.

  ‘Who’s Team Aqua?’

  They both snapped their heads at him, looking like he just grew a second head. ‘Y-you’re joking, right? They almost destroyed the whole region! Everybody knows who they are!’ the boy exclaimed.

  ‘I’m not from Hoenn, kid,’ Kiran explained. ‘What are they, a gang?’

  ‘Wwere a gang. They apparently summoned some Legendaries about ten years ago, and they immediately caused so many natural disasters. So many people died too, it was horrible. Ten years later, and lots are still dealing with PTSD from them,’ the girl explained.

  Kiran tensed up a bit at that. He knew a lot about gangs. And one important thing was that there were, more often than not, surrounding circumstances that made them. The ‘ten years ago’ thing wasn’t that comforting to him.

  He looked behind him, at what he assumed was the Aqua cave, and thought for a second. Finally, he turned back to the kids, who were now staring at Joan with a bit of fear and awe. Yeah, she tended to have that affect on a lot of people.

  ‘I’ll come with you then,’ Kiran declared. They both looked back at him with surprise on their faces.

  ‘Wait, why? We wanted to do our test of courage! It has to be on our own!’ the girl complained.

  ‘Kid, that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,’ Kiran said bluntly. ‘One of two things will happen if you go in that cave alone. Either it won’t have anything in it because it was abandoned, in which case you don’t gain courage. The other option is that someone too strong for beginners like you, whether its Pokemon, Trainer, or both, are in there, and you end up getting severely injured or even killed.’

  The two teens blanched a bit at ‘killed’. ‘And besides,’ he said. ‘If you do get really hurt or killed, and people found out I was nearby and could’ve helped you, I might get in major trouble for that.’

  He had to admit, getting in trouble was mostly what he was concerned with here.

  They gave an uneasy glance at each other. Kiran sighed. ‘Look, unless we encounter something too strong for you, I won’t step in, alright?’

  Finally, they turned to Kiran and nodded at him. ‘Alright, good. Joan, let’s go,’ he said.

  Joan nodded, tried to get up, but had to grunt from exertion to even do that.

  ‘You know what, never mind, I’ll just put you in your ball for now,’ Kiran said. Joan nodded at him in relief. He brought her Pokeball out, and she disappeared in a flash of red light.

  The kids had walked closer at this point, and they were now staring at Joan’s Pokeball. Had they not seen a Ceruledge before?

  They then started walking towards the cave. When Kiran had said they were near it, he wasn’t kidding, it was literally a fifteen-second walk from where they were. In no time at all, they were right in front of the entrance to the cave.

  Kiran brought out Blubby, who saw Kiran and immediately started panting and wagging his tail. Kiran smiled softly at that and rubbed his head.

  The cave was beckoning, or at least Kiran felt like it was. ‘Alright, let’s do this,’ he said, looking back at the kids.

  The cave was abandoned, so nothing would go wrong, right?