Continuing their Pokémon adventure, our heroes had finally entered the landmass known as Ghastly Gorge. Now accompanied by their friend Pinkie, the five teens and their Pokémon companions began their journey to the gorge's exit, which would result in Pinkie's hometown of Baltimare and Flash's third Equestria Region gym challenge.
Now our heroes find themselves officially off the beaten track, the path that led down into the gorge having ended and was replaced with holes and tripping rocks. They would need to watch their step, or risk breaking their necks. It was here that Twilight looked up from her journal to watch Flash stride over a hole, then repeated for the third time that day. "Be careful everyone."
"We heard you the first time Twilight," Spike grumbled as he climbed over a large rock. Peewee was clinging to his shoulder, not flying for fear of the powerful wind that had sent Pinkie careening off course earlier.
Pinkie, who was hopping from rock to rock, giggled. "Yeah, stop worrying Twily! This is fun!"
Twilight sighed as she rubbed the bridge of her nose, "Have you forgotten what Solid Stone told us?! This place is dangerous, so we have to be careful!"
"I'm with Twilight," Doc added as he pushed a rock aside. "It took a lot of convincing to even get in here. Stone was adamant that whatever's in here that's not us will want to harm us, so we have to be careful."
Flash just sighed at this, turning back to Twilight with a frown, "Come on you two, we can still have fun and be careful. Just make sure to weigh the risks before deciding to do anything, okay?"
"Riolu," Springer nodded, the others slowly moving their heads as well.
Twilight continued to plot her route through the canyon, only for her journal to freeze up. "What the-" She tried refreshing the system, but the journal refused to cooperate. Instead, it just went white, now showing that accursed buffering symbol. "What's wrong with this thing?"
"Here, let me see it." Twilight handed it over to Doc, the gym leader inspecting the device before moving to a nearby wall. He tapped the rocky surface, humming to himself, "Hmmm...alright, I think I see the problem."
"Great! What's the problem?" Twilight asked as she took it back.
"The rocks in this place are laced with some kind of metal. I believe that is what is making it difficult to get a signal to your journal. As such, your journal can't function like its supposed too."
Twilight moaned as she put her journal away, Spike speaking up at the sight. "You think Stone knew about that?"
"I wouldn't put it past him," Flash replied before a click went off in his head. "Wait...didn't he give us a map?"
"Oh yeah," Twilight reached into her bag and pulled out the rolled up paper. The others soon crowded around her as she stared at the map, only for all of them to blink in confusion. This was because the thing looked like it had been drawn by a three year old, the paper being covered in doodles like the Onix that sat right in the middle of the page. "What the-how is this supposed to help us?!"
"I guess its not." Flash commented as he gestured them to follow him. "Come on guys, guess we'll have to make our own path."
And so, they ventured through the caverns, making sure to be careful but having fun whenever they found the opportunity. But it wasn't long until they came across one of the obstacles Stone had warned them about, this one being a large pile of rocks that had fallen between the two canyon walls. The group looked up at the pile, seeing that it filled half of the canyon. "Well, we knew we'd come across one of these eventually."
"So what do we do?" Spike asked next.
"You think we could climb it?" Twilight suggested, causing Pinkie to do exactly that.
"First one to the top's a rotten Pokémon egg!" she exclaimed as she started climbing. But as she was a third of the way, one of the rocks came loose. And as her hand grabbed it, the two under her feet had the same reaction, causing her to tumble back. "Whoa!"
"Pinkie!" Doc exclaimed as they caught her, only to pull her away as more loosened rocks tried to fall on top of her. A cloud of dust soon followed, causing to let out a coughing storm before the dust settled.
"Well, so much for that," Flash commented as he waved in front of his face.
Spike turned to his sister, "Now what do we do?"
Twilight rubbed her chin at this, biting her lip as she scanned what little of the gorge they could see. Seeing nothing worth looking at, she let out a sigh, "I...I'm not sure."
Pinkie decided to throw in her two cents. "We could always take that passage way over there." The others turned to where she was pointing, seeing a man sized hole in the canyon wall which they then saw a Crawlder step into and disappear.
"How'd we miss that?" Flash asked, scratching his head.
Twilight walked up to the hole and looked inside, "Hmm...looks like it goes straight down. You think it's a good idea to go down here? We have no idea where it might lead."
"Our only other option is to go back," Doc replied before taking off his bag. He then pulled out a long coil of rope, which he tied to a rock and began to unloop it. "Okay, we've got two miles of rope to use in case we need to find our way out. We'll head inside and if we run out of rope before we find a way out, we come back and discuss our options." The others all nodded at this and simultaneously turned the torches atop their helmets on.
With that, the seven of them hopped into the tunnel. They spent the next several minutes traversing the dark tunnel, relieved that the place was at least stable. That is, till they came across a junction with several new tunnels to pick from.
"Which way do you think we should go?"
"Good question Spike," Doc commented as he inspected each tunnel. "Three of them seem to be heading upwards, which could mean they lead to an exit."
Flash hummed. "Okay, that still leaves the picking part."
Pinkie chose this moment to start pointing at each of the three tunnels. "Eenie meenie miney mo, catch a Luxray by its toe. If it zaps, let it go. Eneie meenie, miney...MO!" She was pointing at the central hole with a huge smile, "Let's go!" She started skipping up the tunnel, the others not following as they shared unsure glances. Eventually, they saw she was getting out of view and rushed after her, catching up as the path leveled out. It was another ten minutes of wandering before Doc made them stop.
"What's up?" Spike asked as they turned back to him.
"What's up is that we're officially out of rope," Doc tugged on the end of the rope to show his point.
"Looks like we're heading back," Twilight told them.
The others all nodded, and were about to begin their long trek back. "Maybe one of those other two tunnels will lead us out," Spike suggested, only for Flash to come to sudden stop.
Twilight raised an eyebrow as she watched him stare back at the tunnel they had been going through. "What's up?"
"Do you guys not hear that?" Flash asked, making everyone stop and listen. It was then that they heard it, a quiet but noticeable whistling noise.
They all smiled as Pinkie added, "Wind."
"Sounds more like a draft," Doc commented next.
"In other words, a way out," Twilight finished.
"It must be close," Flash turned back, the others following as they followed the draft. It wasn't long till they reached an open stone chamber, causing them to come to a stop. "Where is that wind coming from? You guys see anything?"
They all shook their heads no, until Twilight spotted a speck of light and looked up. "There!" The others stared at it as well, Twilight then taking out a pair of night vision binoculars, a gift from Stone, and zoomed in, "Looks like we could use that as the way out. I think its big enough for us to get through."
"Sounds good to me." Flash commented before feeling an odd shiver. He then held up his hands, his eyes staring at the floor as he kept his hands out.
"What's the matter?"
Flash kept staring at the ground. "The floor, its...moving."
The others all went wide eyed and glared at the ground. They soon caught on and started focusing their torches on one spot. There, they saw a kind of long snake like Pokémon. It was roughly eight feet long and had a rounded tube like body, which was light brown with gray stone like spikes running along its back. Wrapped around its neck was a pair of gray collars, while a rounded stone sat on its forehead between its eyes and ears. The group watched these Pokémon, whose numbers they guessed were probably in double digits, and saw that they were all asleep.
"What are those things?" Pinkie whispered.
As Flash pulled out his Pokedex, Twilight replied. "They're...Burroworms."
Name: Burroworm
Category: Burrowing Pokémon
Type: Ground
Info: This Pokémon lives underground and senses the vibrations from above to know if something lays above it.
"What do we do?" Spike asked next.
"I'm not sure," Doc said with a slight gulp. "You think we should risk it?"
Flash, Twilight and Pinkie grimaced as they looked down at the Burroworms, several of which seemed to wiggle around in their sleep. Flash then turned to Twilight, "What do you think the chances are that we'll wake them up?"
Twilight gulped at the question. "Well...since we were talking at normal volume before we noticed them and they didn't wake up, I'd say if we keep our voices down...and be careful where we step, then we should be fine." The others all nodded and began to slowly step into the horde of sleeping worms.
"Careful..." Pinkie whispered as she slowly placed her tip toe on a clear piece of ground.
"Careful...careful..." Spike repeated as he did the same. But as soon as he did it, one of the Burroworms wiggled around, which caused its tail to wrap around his foot. Spike let out a strangled cry as he looked down at his trapped foot, Twilight seeing this and carefully moving over to him.
"Hold still," she told him as she reached down and slowly unwrapped the tail. Once Spike was loose enough, he stepped out before the tail curled up once again.
"Thanks." Twilight nodded and the group once again made their way through the crowd, eventually getting about halfway across.
It was at this moment though, that everything went wrong. A Burroworm near Pinkie had just swept its tail along the ground, kicked up a dust cloud that went right into the girl's face. Pinkie had also been breathing in at this moment, causing the dust to go right up her nose. Everyone turned to watch as Pinkie's nose twitched, causing her to speak up, "Ah...ah..."
Flash reacted and reflexively put his finger under her nose. Pinkie sniffed several times, feeling no irritation, causing her to smile and give a thumbs up to Flash. The other sighed in relief at this, Flash removing his finger before-
"ACHOO!" Pinkie's sneeze echoed through the room, bouncing off the walls before finally dying down. Everyone had flinched up at this, Pinkie now giving them an apologetic look. "Uh...oops."
They all looked down and saw that one by one, the eyes of the Burroworms opened up. "Oh Arceus," Twilight mumbled as the eyes stared at the group.
"BURROWORM!" They all screamed, the worms now slithering around the room in a panic-filled fury.
"Whoa!" Flash cried as one of their tails hit him in the back, making him kiss dirt.
"Ahhh!" Twilight and Spike felt their feet be swept out from under them, Doc and Pinkie also knocked down by a train of wiggling worms. It was here that the Burroworms started burrowing into the cave floor to escape, causing a series of cracks to appear under the teens. But before they could do anything, the whole floor crumbled.
"AAAHHH!" The teens and Pokémon screamed as they fell into the darkness.
To be Continued...
Right now.
Flash moaned as he felt himself regain consciousness. His eyes twitched as he shook his head. Giving his brain a few seconds to pick up on what had just happened, his eyes now telling him in was in another dark tunnel. "Great..." he groaned as he looked around, "Springer? Twilight? Spike? Doc? Peewee?"
No response.
"Oh no..." he moaned as he picked himself up. "Now what do I do?" Feeling a little uneasy being on his own, Flash reached back to pull out his other Pokémon...only to find that his Pokeballs were gone. "Oh no...where are the-no!"
Panic began to truly set in as he looked around, only for relief to fill his heart as he then saw three Pokeballs on the ground. "Thank goodness. Come on out guys, I need your help." He enlarged the balls and unleashed the three Pokémon, revealing-
"Hoo," Owlicious flapped its wings as floated in place.
"Tock?" Tockwork stared at Flash in confusion.
"Jiggly?" Jigglypuff asked as it looked around, tears coming to its eyes as it couldn't find its trainer.
Flash facepalmed at the sight, "Oh geez. I hope the others are alright."
Meanwhile...
"This could be a problem," Doc commented as he picked himself up. He had just woken up, only to feel one of his legs kick something. Looking down, he saw it was one of two Pokeballs. "Good thing I didn't lose these," he picked them up, only for his ears to hear a new sound. Turning around, he gasped as he saw a familiar Terragon pull its head out a rock pile.
"Terra...."
"Peewee! You're okay!" he ran up to it and picked it up. "Thank goodness."
"Terragon!" Peewee nodded.
"You must have gotten separated from Spike," a sinking feeling filled him as he looked down at the Pokeballs in his grasp. "And I get the feeling you're not the only one." Opening them up, they released the twin energies that took the shape of Skyler and Gummy. "Not good...not good at all." he added as he watched them look around in confusion.
"Twilight!" Spike's voice echoed through one of the tunnels, "Peewee! Flash! Doc! Are you out there?!"
"Aquana/Fay/Scor!" The three starters called out as they walked behind him. Like Flash and Doc, Spike had woken up in a blocked off tunnel and found three Pokeballs, which were all Flash's Pokémon.
"Awww man, what am I gonna do?!" He looked back at the Pokémon, all of them shrugging in response. It was here that his stomach started grumbling, making him moan. "Twilight, Peewee, Flash, anyone...Please find us soon. You have all the food."
The first thing Twilight felt when she was waking up was the feel of someone poking her cheek. Her eyes drifted open, causing her to see Pinkie, Springer and Higear smiling down at her.
Pinkie's smile brightened, "Wakey wakey! Rise and shine Twily!"
Twilight groaned as she sat up and looked around, discovering she was in a tunnel like the others. "What happened?"
"We fell into a tunnel and the way we came has been filled up with rocks. Its no biggy….Oh! I also have no idea where the others are."
"WHAT?!" Twilight screeched as she tried to pick herself up, "This is bad! We have to find-augh!" She felt a pain shoot up her leg, making her stop and clutch her ankle.
Pinkie kneeled down with a glum frown, "Are you okay?"
"I think I might have twisted my ankle," Twilight grimaced as she gripped her foot. "But I can't let that stop me. I have to find-"
"Whoa whoa whoa," Pinkie flash her palm in front of Twilight's face. "Take a chill pill Twi. We'll find them, but you can't walk with an injury like that. Besides, getting all freaky-deaky ain't gonna do ya any good." She reached into her hair and pulled out a familiar red muffin. "Poke-Muff?"
Twilight raised an eyebrow at this but took the tasty treat anyways. A few bites later, she felt herself slightly calm down before turning to Springer, "Can you find their auras?"
Springer closed his eyes and began to reach out through the cave system, only to open his eyes and shake his head. "Ri..."
Twilight sighed at this. "Walls are probably too thick for you. We need to move somewhere else to scan for them."
"Alrighty then!" Pinkie squatted down and gestured to her back, "Hop on."
"Huh?!"
"Well, you can't walk with that ankle, so I'll carry you."
"Pinkie...I don't know about-"
"Oh come on, it'll be fun. Don't worry, I'm as strong as a horse. You wanna find your brother and Pokémon, don't you?"
Twilight opened her mouth to respond, only to sigh and slowly climb aboard the pink haired girl. Once Pinkie had a lock on her legs, she shined a huge grin. "And now...onwards!" With that, they began to trek through the underground labyrinth.
Back to Flash...
Flash, Tockwork, Owlicious and Jigglypuff were still making their way through the cave system. Tockwork was using Flash to light the way, allowing them to see as they came across a junction with three more tunnels, "Great...now where to we go?!"
The three Pokémon all shared a concerned look as they saw Flash moan. They might like this trainer, but they weren't sure if they wanted to put their escape in his hands. Tockwork moved over to the first tunnel and shot its light into it, only to see nothing. It did this for all three tunnels, only to find nothing in all three. "Nothing huh? Hmm..." Flash mumbled to himself as he saw this. "What would Twilight or Doc do?"
Owlicious tilted his head slightly before turning to Jigglypuff. "Psy, psy."
"Jiggly!" The round Pokémon nodded before inflating itself. Owlicious then moved it over to the tunnel and waited before moving her to another one.
Flash scratched his head at this, "What are you doing?" He continued to watch as they moved to the third tunnel, the two frowning as Jigglypuff deflated. "Oh...I get it! You were seeing if you could find a breeze, weren't you?" The two nodded while still looking downtrodden, causing Flash to pat them on the head. "Still a good idea. Let's just pick a random one and see which way it takes us."
The three nodded and took the first route. Jigglypuff walked ahead, boredom already setting in for the Pokémon. As such, she decided to do the one thing she always did when it came to boredom. She started singing. "Jiggaly...puff...jiggaly...puff! Jiggaly...puff...jiggaly." A new sound appeared besides her song, making Jigglypuff stop and turn around. There, it saw its three companions laying on the floor sleeping, their snores filling the cave. The little puffball inflated in anger at the sight, soon floating down to Flash's bag before pulling out a pen, an evil glint appearing in her eye.
Meanwhile...again.
Doc was walking down his own tunnel, Peewee now flying while carrying Gummy as Skyler rested atop Doc's helmet. But as they made their way, the group stopped as they entered a chamber that had no exit. "This could cause a bit of trouble." Doc mumbled while rubbing his chin. It was here that Skyler let out a tweet, pointing up with his wing. Doc followed the bird Pokémon's wing, soon seeing a ledge high above them that had another tunnel.
"So there's this tunnel's exit." Doc commented as he looked inside his bag, only to grimace as he remembered he had lost all his rope when the cave had collapsed. "Shoot...that's not the solution. Come on...think." He glanced at the Pokémon, a half frown on his face. "Any ideas?"
Peewee flew up to the ledge and dropped Gummy there before he and Skyler grabbed Doc by the shoulders. The two beat their wings as hard as they could, but it was no use. Doc laughed at this, the two collapsing on his shoulders while heavily panting. "Nice try guys, but I'm too big for you." He looked back up at the ledge and saw Gummy had made his way right up to the edge, his lifeless wide eyes staring down at them. "I don't suppose you have any idea to help me get up there?"
Gummy just blinked at this question, only to open his mouth as a blue ball of energy appeared before blue lightning shot out. The blue electricity struck the ledge, causing it to freeze as the lightning moved downwards. Doc, Peewee and Skyler's jaws all dropped as they watched Gummy make an ice ramp, which reached right down to the tips of Doc's toes.
"Well I'll be," Doc chuckled as he smiled at Gummy. "Guess you're as full of surprises as your trainer." With that, he began to walk up the ramp, only for the icy surface to make him almost slip. Luckily, Peewee and Skyler grabbed his jacket sleeves before pulling him up the slope and onto the ledge. Once there, Doc crouched down and patted all the little Pokémon on the head. "Nice work everyone."
"Terr!" Peewee agreed as he once again picked Gummy up before the three began to head down the new tunnel.
"Oh come on," Spike moaned as he and the three starters stared at what was keeping them from advancing. It was a massive chamber with no floor, which of course led to a drop so deep that Spike didn't want to see the bottom. Filling this hole were a bunch of flat stalagmites, which formed platforms that Spike could jump across. He spotted another tunnel entrance that was opposite him, meaning it was either cross the hole, or be trapped.
Spike looked down at the starters and saw them staring down into the pit, a look of nervousness on each of their faces. "Prongs," the Thawn looked up at him, "you take Viper across." Both Pokémon gulped but did as they were told, Viper wrapping his body around Prongs body.
Spike picked up Riptide and told him to hold on tight, Riptide nodding as they moved besides Prongs. "Here goes nothing. Go!" he and Prongs charged ahead, both leaping to one of the platforms. But as they landed, they felt the platform already start to crumble, causing the to leap again.
"Keep going!" Spike declared as they leapt to another, both stumbling on the rock. "Careful...gotta be careful."
"Fey...fey...fey," Prongs said to itself as it hopped onto another platform. But as it was about to get to the other side, the ledge Prongs landed on broke. "Fey/Scor!" The two cried as they began to fall.
"No/Ak!" Spike and Riptide yelped as they saw the two begin to fall into the darkness. But as they did this, Viper stretched out his body, biting down on one of the ledges as he kept himself wrapped around Prong's stomach.
Spike breathed a sigh of relief at this sight. "I'm only twelve, but I swear I almost had a heart attack." After rubbing his chest to calm himself, he then said, "Don't worry you two, I'll get you back up."
Pinkie was still carrying Twilight as they, Springer and Higear made their way through another tunnel. Twilight looked down at Springer, "Anything?" Springer shook his head again, making Twilight sigh. "Great...still nothing."
"Buck up," Pinkie hopped into the air and jiggled Twilight around. "We'll find them."
Twilight sighed yet again. "You don't know that. What if they were crushed by the rocks, or ran into other wild Pokémon that saw them as a threat?! These caves are dangerous!"
Pinkie shook her head at this, "I know that. But there's also a chance that they weren't crushed by the rocks or found a way to get out of the caves. Just because something bad could have happened, that doesn't make it any less likely that something good could have also happened. If you keep looking at everything in a negative light, than sooner or later you'll find you won't be able to find a positive to a situation. Unless you absolutely know something bad is gonna happen, then don't worry about it."
Twilight blinked at this, a small smile trying to form. "How'd you learn to be so positive all the time?"
Pinkie giggled at this. "You know how I once told you that my home is super boring?" Twilight nodded, "Well, because of that, I learned to see the bright side of everything. If I hadn't, then I would have never lasted there." It was in this moment that they reached a fork in the tunnel, leaving them with a choice. "Any ideas?"
Twilight's eyes blinked at the tunnels, "Hmmm...you have any chalk?" Pinkie nodded before pulling out a piece of chalk out of her hair. "How did you-neveremind. Pick a path to take and mark it. That way, if we end up back here, we'll know and won't end up constantly going in circles."
Pinkie nodded and picked the left path, drawing an X on the floor as they headed down into the tunnel.
Meanwhile...one more time!
Flash and the Pokémon with him were now all awake, Flash, Tockwork and Owlicious now all sporting frowns along with many doodles that littered their faces. The target of their glares was Jigglypuff, who was marching ahead while holding the pen that it now refused to give up. The three then started to wipe the doodles, only for them to hear a rumbling sound. "What was that?" Flash asked, only to get an answer when they turned the corner.
It was Geodude, tons of them rolling down the tunnel at high speed. "Holy Miltank!" Flash exclaimed as he saw the horde, his eyes looking to the Pokémon with him. His battle mind took over, causing him to think about all the typing Twilight had taught him. Owlicious was at a disadvantage, being weak to rock. Tockwork was too slow to stop them all, so that left...Jigglypuff. "Oh no...I'm gonna have to do that again, aren't I?" A long gulp followed. "Jigglypuff..." he stuck his fingers in his ears as the Pokémon turned to him, "Use Sing."
Jigglypuff smiled at that command, turning to the Geodude before taking a deep breath while Owlicious and Tockwork covered their ears. "Jiggaly...puff...jiggaly...puff! Jiggaly...puff...jiggaly." The song echoed through the cave, striking all of the Geodude. They immediately started slowing down, all soon coming to a complete stop a few inches away from Jigglypuff. The balloon Pokémon breathed a sigh of relief, that is until the sound of snoring from behind her made her turn to see her friends were also asleep.
"Jiggly!" she yelled as she inflated before popping the cap of her pen.
Spike, Riptide, Prongs and Viper were heavily panting as they sat on the ledge next to the hole. They had managed to get Viper and Prongs back up before leaping over to the other side, now resting as they got past the pit. "Oh man...if we don't get out of here soon, I don't know what I'm gonna do. I don't know how much more of this I can take."
"Ak/Fey/Scor," the three nodded in agreement.
It was then that a sound caught the fours' ears, a high pitched whistling noise that echoed off the walls. Spike looked up and stared down the tunnel, "Is that-"
"What I think it is?" Doc finished as he and his group heard the whistling as well.
"Terra/Chick," Peewee and Skyler both nodded while Gummy simply stuck out its tongue and wiped his eyes once again.
"That whistle..." Twilight spoke up. "It has to be the wind! And that means-"
"A WAY OUT!" Pinkie exclaimed before running after the noise, Twilight having a hard time holding onto the pink haired girl while Springer and Higear followed.
"Jiggly! Jiggly jigglypuff!" the balloon Pokémon exclaimed as she shook the sleeping boy.
Flash let out a yawn as he sat back up, blinking as he saw Jigglypuff staring right at him. His lips smacked themselves as he yawned again, glancing over at Tockwork and Owlicious and saw they'd been drawn on again. "Not again.." he mumbled as he saw his reflection in Tockwork, sighing at the sight of pen glasses and moustache.
It was then that he also heard it, the whistling that flew through the cave like a haunting ghost. "That's..." he whispered as he looked down, seeing the still sleeping Geodude horde. Gulping at the sight, he slowly woke the other two, both not happy at being drawn on, before they all started tiptoeing around the rock Pokémon. Once free of that landmine field, the four picked up speed and ran after the source of the whistle. As he did, the other three teams made their way as well.
And as the whistling sound continued to echo through the cave, the four groups suddenly came to stop as they all ran into the same chamber. There, a ray of light illuminated the area, causing them to all smile at the sight of their friends.
"Guys!" Flash joyfully cheered.
"RI/CHICK/AQ/FEY/SCOR!" His five Pokémon all body checked him into the ground, the teen throwing his arms around them.
Flash laughed as he felt them rub their faces into his. "I'm so glad to see you're all alright."
"Owlicious!" Twilight hugged her partner.
"Psy!"
"Peewee!" Spike did the same with his, "I'm so glad you're okay!"
"Terra!"
"Are you two alright?" Doc asked as he inspected his Pokémon, the two nodding while Doc noticed the squiggles covering Tockwork. "What the-what's this?!"
Twilight and Flash's Pokémon also noticed the pen marks, making them raise an eyebrow. Pinkie, who had been busy hugging the air out of her Pokémon, also noticed the shapes and laughed. "You fell asleep while Jigglypuff was singing, didn't you?"
Flash laughed nervously, "Yeah...twice actually."
After washing off the ink and seeing to Twilight's ankle, they all turned to the ray of light. There, they saw it was originating from a small hole coming from the wall. Doc moved up to the wall as Tockwork gave him a leg up, allowing him to look through it. "No doubt, this'll lead us outside."
"But that hole is way too small for any of us," Spike told him. "How are we supposed to escape?"
"Maybe we can break through the wall," Twilight suggested. "How thick is it Doc?"
"Not very," Doc jumped back down. "I'd say we could break through it if we all focused on the exact same spot."
"Alrighty then," Pinkie skipped over to the wall and used her chalk to draw an X on it. "Then this is where we'll strike." The others all nodded as they began to line up in preparation.
"Okay guys, the only way we're gonna break through this thing is if we work together. Remember not to do anything that might weaken the effects of someone else's attack, alright?" Flash commanded as his Pokémon all gave their respective cries to agree.
Doc turned to Flash. "Let's start by weakening the wall Flash. Use your Pokémon to rapidly heat and cool it."
Flash nodded before focusing on Viper. "Okay, use Flamethrower!"
"Hiss...SCOR!" Viper unleashed a torrent of fire, which struck the wall for about a minute. Then, both Riptide and Gummy stepped up.
"Alright, now Riptide-"
"You too Gummy," Pinkie added as they pointed at the spot Viper had struck.
"Water Gun!" The two reptile Pokémon both spat out a thin cold stream of water, causing the hard rock to steam up while cracking. Another minute later, Springer, Peewee, Skyler, Prongs, Owlicious, Higear, Tockwork and Jigglypuff went next.
Flash nodded at them all. "Now, Aura Sphere, Steel Wing and Energy Ball!"
"Peck," Twilight added.
"Dragon Breath!"
"Gear Grind and Bullet Punch!"
"And you use Pound!"
The eight Pokémon all launched their attacks, the long range ones hitting the cracked wall first before the close range added the pressure. It was here that a huge crack showed itself on the wall. Flash then called out, "Again!" And so, the process was repeated, Viper, Riptide and Gummy hitting the wall with fire and water before the others struck it with their attacks. "Again!" Over and over they did this, more cracks appearing before covering the entire wall.
"That should do it," Doc commented as he gestured the Pokémon to step back. "One good attack on every point of the wall is sure to break it."
Flash nodded as he turned to Springer. "Alright bud, let's use Aura Sphere Barrage."
"Ri!" Springer nodded as it started using Double Team to copy and paste himself several times. Once that happened, they charged with a smaller Aura Sphere before leaping up at the wall. "RIO...LU!" The army of Springer yelled as their attacks struck the damaged wall, and-
SMASH!
Everyone's eyes went wide in joy as they watched the wall finally crumble, light from the other side bursting into the chamber. "We're free!" Flash spread his arms wide in joy, Springer doing the exact same thing as they ran out.
Twilight sighed joyfully. "It's so good to be out of there."
"I'll say," Doc agreed before looking around. "Except now we have no idea what part of the gorge we're in."
The others realized he was right and wondered how far that little detour had gotten them, that is until Spike spotted something on the canyon wall. "Hey, look!" He pointed and everyone followed his finger, spotting a group of round rocks that stuck out of the wall that appeared to be stacked on top of each other. Above the very top rock was some kind of carving, representing a drawing of a familiar Pokémon head.
"It's an Onix," Flash spoke up.
"Onix?" Twilight whispered to herself, only for her eyes to go wide before reaching into her bag. She then unfolded Stone's map and pointed at the drawing of an Onix on it. "Ugh...I'm such an idiot. The doodles are supposed to represent landmarks in the canyon!"
"So...we're already halfway through?" Pinkie asked.
"Looks that way," Twilight replied as she put the map away. "Come on, let's keep going." She started to walk only for her ankle's pain to flare again, making her stop and hold it. "Ow!"
The others then helped her over to a large rock. "I think we should wait until your ankle is feeling better," Doc commented as she sat down. "We've already made some nice headway, so let's rest up for today and continue on tomorrow."
The others all nodded in agreement. Twilight wanted to argue back, but sighed as she felt her ankle strain again. With that, they started to make camp, Twilight asking as they got done, "So, what do you guys wanna do until it gets dark?"
The others all started to think, unable to get an answer. That is, till Spike spoke up, "Hey, I know! Let's sing a song!"
Flash, Pinkie, Owlicious and Tockwork's eyes went wide, but before they could say anything, Jigglypuff leapt up onto a rock with a smile on its face. "Wait!" Pinkie reached into her pockets to grab her ear plugs, but it was too late.
"Jiggaly...puff...jiggaly...puff! Jiggaly...puff...jiggaly." The Balloon Pokémon stopped singing when it heard the sound of snoring, making it look down to see everyone and their Pokémon was asleep. "Jiggly!" she inflated in anger again before popping the cap off her pen. When the team awoke later, they would all be in for a good laugh when they saw the images drawn onto their faces.
Their first day in the Ghastly Gorge had been a hectic one, filled with many obstacles and pitfalls. But in the end, they had managed to keep themselves alive by working together and keeping calm. Now they could rest up, for tomorrow would be yet another busy day through this great landmass. What adventures await our heroes next? You'll have to stay tuned to find out