“That’s a lot less impressive than I thought,” I admitted, looking at the opening that should lead into the Underground, that massive network of caves and tunnels that spanned the entire Sinnoh Region. In my mind, the image I had of the entrance had been a grand one, with cold winds coming out of it, shadows devouring the land around, turning the whole world gloomy and foreboding as colours started to fade into grey.

The reality was, without the landmarks, I might have missed the entrance entirely. It was a simple crack in the rocks, a chimney leading up the mountainside, only that it went deeper than it initially appeared. The opening was maybe a metre and a half wide and three metres high at the highest point, a somewhat irregular opening, the upper side jagged and rough, the lower side washed smooth by water

“It looks open,” Claire didn’t get too close to the entrance, looking at it with cautious eyes. “And there’s the marker pointing towards Eterna City,” she gestured towards the location-marker that allowed anyone familiar with the system to easily recognise where in Sinnoh they had left the underground. Otherwise, it would most likely be incredibly difficult to recognise your location, unless a major landmark like Mount Coronet was easily visible. But here, within the walls of a valley, no such landmarks were visible unless you made the difficult climb to the top.

“I think we should take a closer look,” Lucas suggested, poking his head into the crag and peering into the darkness, “Though, looking closely doesn’t seem to do anything.”

“You think Snuggles can check if the passage is blocked somewhere nearby?” I asked, referring to his recently caught Gligar, so named for its rather peculiar habit of grabbing onto people and snuggling up to them. She was careful not to hurt them with her pincers when she did, but there was something disconcerting about waking up with a weight on your chest and a massive, poisonous stinger draped over your face, as Cliff had learned one night. Why Lucas had Snuggles out of her Pokéball, I had no idea but Cliff’s scream had been enough to scare Claire and me awake for quite some time.

“I can ask her,” he shrugged, taking out the Pokéball and sending her out. The moment she appeared, she hopped over and grabbed onto his arm, holding on and nuzzling against it. I could only shake my head, not quite sure how to take it but given how attached Vio was to me, I was likely in no position to judge, to say nothing of the connection I shared with Charm.

“Ok, Snuggles, I need you to check if the tunnel here,” Lucas ordered, though none of us knew just how deeply we should check. From what we could see, the first few metres were fine but deeper, and there was only darkness.

With a chirp, the Gligar hopped away from his arms, not even trying to fly and glide in the narrow tunnel, instead, she used her tiny hind legs and wings to walk in, letting out high-pitched chirps that seemed to echo in the distance. When she vanished in the darkness, we could still hear her chirping and after a minute or so, she walked back out, a little dusty but otherwise looking just fine.

With a happy chirp, she hopped back onto Lucas’ arm, snuggling against him and coating that arm with dust.

“I guess that means the entrance is okay?” I wondered, the Gligar not giving me the impression of distress or trouble. To me, that meant we had done our task and could move to the other entrance unless I had missed something.

“Looks like it,” Cliff shrugged, looking a little uncertain, just like I did.

“Let’s take a look at the other entrance,” Claire suggested and while Lucas kept glancing at the entrance, we collectively decided to leave it be. There was a bit of temptation to venture into the depths, to explore a completely different world, we all knew that we were lacking strength. Maybe some day in the future but for now, it would be unwise.

To get to the other entrance, we had to decide, to either travel back for most of the day or go climbing across the ridge to our south and back into the valley on the other side. One path was far longer but easier to traverse, travelling back on the path we had come from, the other was shorter in distance but a lot more difficult - and more interesting.

Instead of travelling back and likely encountering the same Pokémon we had beaten on the way in if they choose to challenge us again, we took the hard route, climbing up the steep, southern slope.

Making our way upwards was fraught with difficulty, loose rocks, treacherous footing and the steep slope forcing us to focus on setting our steps or we would go sliding down. There was no path, so we had to make our own, with each of us taking the lead at one point or the other, slowly venturing upwards.

I had believed myself to be fit but climbing that slope taught me otherwise, it taught us all. We needed to get up to the top during daylight, or we would be in trouble, but when we looked back after about an hour of climbing, I could feel my mood fall. It looked as if we had barely made any progress, the Underground entrance we had departed from still easily visible. Just judging from the distance, I would have guessed we walked just ten minutes, but the clock was a harsh mistress, shredding my delusion.

Wiping off my sweat, I looked past Lucas, who had taken the lead, before glancing back to Claire and CLiff. Both of them looked sweaty, just like I did, but neither complained, so how could I?

Gritting my teeth, I pushed forward, my eyes focused on the path, my ears open, listening for danger. If a Pokémon was attacking, it didn’t even need to be malicious to accidentally kill us here, getting jostled, or even just surprised, might be enough to make you lose your footing, followed by a swift, painful and possibly deadly tumble down, into the valley.

Ahead of me, I noticed Lucas step onto a rock, only for that rock to slide sideways. Reacting quickly, I managed to grab his shoulder and pack. For a moment, I felt myself slide as his weight was added to mine, but he scrambled around and together, we somehow managed to remain upright. I felt my heart beat rapidly in my chest, my mouth suddenly dry.

“Could you take the lead for a bit?” he quietly asked, struggling to right himself.

“Sure,” I agreed, the fact that I needed to swallow in trepidation before nodding my personal secret.

Moving past him, I looked up the slope and planned my path. There were some areas where stubborn, yellow grass clung to the rocks and earth, others where I could see the rocks almost shift as they were lying around.

Taking a deep breath, I pushed ahead, checking each step before taking it, looking ahead every other step. Just the added responsibility of leading the way made my muscles tense up and knowing that there might be a Geodude or other Pokémon hiding ahead only added to the stress.

A part of me considered asking Claire or Lucas to have their flying partners out, to add overwatch and if there was trouble, the first line of defence but the fact remained, if they were out, they, and thus we, would become an instant target for any nearby Pokémon. Without Pokémon out, it would become a coin-flip, with them out, a certainty. There was no right answer, only considerations.

Some time later, I let out a shaky breath, again wiping sweat from my face.

“Let’s take a rest,” I suggested, looking down into the valley, my breath catching again. On one hand, it felt like we hadn’t made any distance at all, at least when looking across the valley. But when looking down, it suddenly felt as if I was getting pulled down, my balance shifting and my mind wobbling. Pushing myself, I fell backwards, landing on my behind.

“Everything alright?” Lucas asked, looking concerned.

“Yes, everything’s well,” I assured him, trying to convince myself of that. “Just need to take a bit of a break,” I assured him, and the others more or less did what I had, only without the ‘looking into the valley and reeling’-bit.

Sitting there, on the sunny slope, with the wind blowing past us, I stared upwards, into the pure, blue sky, with nary a cloud in sight. My hand rose, into my field of view, as I reached for the sky, remembering the dreams of flying, riding on Charm’s back, up, into that pure, blue sky. The feeling of freedom and wonder, so much better than climbing up a mountain.

One day, I would get back into the sky. And hopefully, nothing would drag me back down.