We decided our first excursion would be to investigate that cave from earlier. Well, it was my plan, but I quickly won over Twilight and Rarity with my exceptional charm and unmatchable charisma.
“Alright alright! We’ll go if you just shut up! We get it, you wanna check it out, now let’s go before you start acting more like a spoiled brat!”
Mission accomplished.
So we leave the town equipped, though Rarity has opted to let Ledyba follow us outside of a ball. For such a low-level Pokémon, this is a bad plan, especially in a cave which would most likely be home to many Rock types. Rarity assures me that Ledyba will be fine. After we get back to the top of the slope and backtrack, we see the cave. But something seems odd. Something about the entrance.
“Hold on girls, something’s not right.”
“What now?” Twilight moans. “First you bug us for hours about coming here, then you-”
I cut her off by covering her mouth with my hand. “Shhh... I have a theory.” Twilight rolls her eyes but lets me continue.
I walk up to one of the large, roundish rocks and gesture at it to the girls silently. They look at me like I’ve completely lost my marbles... and was going to look for them in a hardware store. Then I give them a shock when I pick up a smaller rock and throw it at the roundest of the larger ones.
It moves. Arms uncurl from it’s rounded body, and eyes open revealing a very pissed Geodude. It grumbles and charges at me. Heh, a Wild Pokémon appeared. Smirking, I throw out my own... wait, I don’t have a pokémon! The ball flies through the air, and the Geodude smacks it to the ground, cracking it in half. The stony pokémon leaps forward, pushing off with its hands to fly at me, and I throw another pokéball, more to delay it than anything. The rock pokémon goes to smack the ball again when it overextends, and the almost-comical look of surprise on its face as the ball clicks against its head/body would likely be more amusing if I hadn’t just been charged by an angry 44lb rock. The pokémon disappears into the ball, and it thuds to the ground.
I hold my breath, as the ball twitches and shakes. It doesn’t move for a long moment, and I cheer.
Then, the pokéball splits in half, and the Geodude is back, even more angry. “Oh come on!” I yell. “I know there’s, like, a 3-in-10 chance of success here, but really?”
I just toss the next Pokéball I grab from my pocket. Sure, the one he broke out of is fine, but I’d rather not go near him as of yet. The red and white orb flies out, and catches the enraged mini-boulder, and taps it right between the eyes as it jumps, hands outstretched as if to strangle me.
A flash of red light, and the pokémon disappears again. I take the time of his capture to walk around so I’d end up behind the potential flying boulder of rage. Readying another pokéball in advance this time, I’Il watch and wait for him to pop out. Surely if he wouldn’t expect to be hit from behind the second he’s out, right?
I watch the Premier ball on the ground twitch and spasm, not even blinking as I wait for the light to shoot out of it, signifying another failu-
*Ding!* The entire ball pulses red for a moment.
The fuck? I pick up the ball and hold it. Yep, he’s definitely in there. Hot damn, I actually did it.
Holy crap, I have a Pokémon! I begin share my enjoyment with the humanized ponies watching the entire proceeding. “Ha! Beating the odds like a boss! That’s how you catch a Pokémon! Oh yeah, who’s awesome? Who’s totally completely awesome!?”
“Er... good job, Anthony?” Rarity says.
Twilight chimes in with, “Well, you caught a rock-type... That’s a pretty good starter pokémon, because they’re really sturdy and dependable, right?”
I just look at her. “You say that as if I don’t know that, genius. But also don’t forget the forests are teeming with Grass types too. The cave is fine, but this guy won’t do much if we end up fighting something with two advantages on him at once.”
I toss the premier ball into the air and the Geodude pops out in a flash of red. I look over my recent capture. “Although... he is pretty tenacious. Maybe he won’t do so bad even at a disadvantage. Looks sturdy, definitely not a child by any means... the fact that his exterior isn’t as rocky is a sign of maturity, but he’s definitely not too old to dish out a heap of trouble... Heh, not a bad catch if I say so myself. He’s perfect for a starter!”
The Geodude gives me a look, then points two fingers at his eyes, then at me. Eesh, tough crowd...
“Anyways...” I return Geodude to his ball and place it on my belt before turning to the girls again. “So, you up for a little spelunking?”
They turn to each other, then back. After a moment’s consideration, they nod. “Alright, but we’re going to turn back to ponies, if that’s alright.” Rarity says askingly.
“As unicorns, we can unravel spell with some concentration.” Twilight explains.
“Alright, I guess if you’re going somewhere with a ceiling it might be easier. Go ahead.”
After they’ve turned back and put some enchantments on their new clothes to have them change next time the template polymorph spell is cast, we enter the cave. Through the dark and gloom, I can see the eyes of some sort of bat pokémon on the roof, and something shifts in the darkness nearby.
It’s perfect.
Well, except for one thing.
“Uhm, how are we supposed to see?” Twilight asks. “If I put up a light spell, it’d probably be strong enough to irritate any bats in here.”
I shush her though. “Zubat and Woobat, the most common bat pokémon around, can’t see worth crap until they evolve. But if you don’t shut up and stay quiet they’ll hear your damn hooves a mile away.” I whisper harshly to them.
I eyeball a Roggenrola that toddles by. I’d go after it, but I already have a rock-type, and those little suckers rarely go anywhere without a Boldore nearby.
We continue the journey through the cave, when Rarity stops us. “Hold on, I have an idea!”
Her horn starts to glow, and she starts walking further into the cave. It takes me a minute but I realize she’s doing that gem-hunting spell she does. After a time, I hear Rarity let out a gasp and I run forward to see what the problem is. There by the wall is a pair of huge blue gems.
Odd. Why does that set me on edge? They’re just ge- oh crap! I grab Rarity’s tail and yank her back. Just as she’s about to protest, the gems jump forward and reveal to be the eyes of a Sableye, and it looks pissed!
Instinctively, I make an order of the nearest friendly Pokémon. “Ledyba, use Supersonic, now!” startled, the bug Pokémon lets out a shrill cry, sending visible but wavy yellow rings, and the Sableye clutches it’s head, clearly distracted and off-balance. I grab the mares under either arm and run further into the cave.
I set Rarity and Twilight down, and take a seat, adrenaline leaving my system. “That was close...”
“What... what was that thing?” Twilight asked, obviously rather spooked.
I take a few deep breaths to calm down. “Sableye. Nasty. Don’t mess with them.”
“Would it kill you to give a bit more detail?” Twilight complained.
I shake my head and take a deep breath. “Sableye are dangerous Pokémon. Their Dark and Ghost types combine to create a Pokémon with only one disadvantage. If you can’t invoke it, the only way to win is to beat them in a battle of pure strength or attrition alone.”
“And... what happened to their eyes?” Rarity asks. “Those weren’t fake, those were real gems I assure you!”
I sigh. “Yes, they are real. Sableye eat gems, much like dragons do in your world. The difference is, they did it so much that it started to affect them. You know the phrase ‘you are what you eat’? Well, that’s literally what happened to them as a species. They are both animal and mineral now.”
“That’s... fascinating!” Rarity exclaims. “They eat gems and become them?”
“Yeah, but they are violent and territorial. Their sharp claws for digging through stone and teeth for breaking diamond are lethal weapons they use frequently in battle. Do not get in a fight with one unless prepared.”
Twilight and Rarity nod in understanding and we continue on once we are all calmed down. Ghost types used to be so cool. Now that they are real though... Psychic type just moved to number one on my ‘to catch’ list.
I sigh, and the girls sit down for a moment. I look around, seeing mostly more darkness as Twilight lights up her horn and also inspects the cave. There’s more pockets of gemstones peeking through down here, though most look gnawed on and discarded. I can also see a few sand-lined holes in the walls wandering off horizontally, though there isn’t enough light to see the far end. Maybe a few Dunsparce carved them... no, Dunsparce is far bigger than that.
Either way, the holes aren’t large enough to investigate without a ton of scraped elbows and torn pants, and I’m not up for that right now. I realize I forgot to get a flashlight. Damnit!
In the meantime, I can at least Spark up still, the glow barely resembling my former power, but enough for me to see by. I probably also stick out pretty easily, so the girls won’t get lost and wander off. With Rarity not having any light of her own she just follows between me and Twilight as I lead us further into the cave.
It’s surprisingly quiet, but not entirely soundless. It’s just not echoing as much as I expected. And so far, there’s hardly any Pokémon. Odd, in my experience we should be stopped every ten steps. That’s when I realize we didn’t buy any repels, despite the fact that I clearly saw them available at the ‘mart. Goddamnit, 20-20 hindsight.
Slowly, I look up, and stifle an unmanly shriek of fear as I see that the ceiling is literally carpeted in a mat of Zubat. They’re currently quiescent, but if any of us raise our voices. I’m literally just about to speak up to the others when Rarity spies an unnibbled chunk of tigerseye, clearly not recalling the last time she rushed towards a random gem. Sigh, women.
When her excited yell is noticed, we are swarmed... of fucking course
We run, screaming, moving as fast as we’re physically able in any direction we think might be closer to the exit. They’re all around, almost blindingly thick and leaving thin, painful scrapes all over me.
Looking up, I see the terrifying visage of a grown Golbat staring down at me. Then I blink, and it’s just a few shadows on the roof of the cave and some passing zubat. Thank goodness. Those things already weigh about half what I do, and they can drink their weight in blood, and... I don’t want to think abou-
Without warning, I trip over a rock... which turns out to be a geodude. Short story shorter, it throws me like a javelin, which hurts a lot.
Scrambling and stumbling, the girls and I get out of the cave, into the glorious sunlight. I’m so glad those things won’t follow us into the daylight. then I see the sky, and realize it’s almost night, and we’re not near the town anymore. Also, all three of us are scratched and bleeding.
Fuck. My. Life.