After checking the Graveler, we took a closer look at the crevices it had come out of. From up close, they looked just as confusing and difficult as they looked from afar, with multiple openings that led into the rock, some of which looked almost as if some massive beast had carved the stone.

“Did any of you find the sign yet?” Lucas asked, making me realise that the marker was missing.

“No,” I replied, with a shake of my head. Thinking for a moment, I looked across the valley, hoping that it might be in some sort of crevice over there, only visible when exiting the Underground. Sadly, there was no indication of such a sign, so it either didn’t exist or it was so badly placed that finding it was too difficult.

“That might be it,” Cliff called out, having moved a couple of metres to the side.

We all walked over, inspecting the crushed rocks he had pointed out. Looking closely, there was a bit of sheet metal, crumbled between them. Pushing a couple of smaller rocks aside, we could make out the letters ‘tern’, allowing us to conclude that it had been the marker.

“I guess that means we’ll have to report this one,” Claire muttered, “Let’s see if the entrance is blocked, too.”

“Let’s find the actual entrance first, then we can see if it’s blocked. So far, there are too many entrances, who knowns which leads to the known areas down there.” Lucas frowned.

“Maybe Snuggles will be able to make sense of things. Gligar like living in caves, don’t they?” I grinned, trying to hide my annoyance at being unable to do more to help. None of my partners was terribly useful when it came to underground exploration. I made a mental note to try training Su’s special senses, as Luxray’s were supposedly able to see through walls. Maybe Su could be trained to access some of that ability early.

“Let’s see,” he nodded, taking out the Pokéball, calling the Gligar out, “Snuggles, same deal as last time. There should be a tunnel into the Underground here, hopefully not blocked. Can you find it for us?”

Listening to his instructions, Snuggles wiggled against his arm for a moment, before hopping off, making its waddling way between the rocks. There, it started to let out the almost inaudible, extremely high-pitched whines, making me grimace from the unpleasant sensation.

Suddenly, Snuggles whine shifted, becoming deeper in frequency and stronger in magnitude, now threatening to cause serious headaches.

“What do you think that means?” Claire quietly asked, trying not to disturb the searching Gligar.

“No idea, maybe it needs to hear through the rock?” I suggested, shrugging my shoulders.

For a minute or two, Snuggles continued hopping around, screeching into the various openings before she suddenly stopped and focused on one of them. Her screeching intensified once more and after a few moments of intense whining, she stopped, hopped over to Lucas and started pulling on his pants. It didn’t look like she was looking for attention and her whining sounded a little urgent.

“There’s something wrong,” Lucas stated, reaching the same conclusion

“Should we go in?” Claire asked, looking at the entrance, obviously uncomfortable.

“I think we should,” Lucas replied, letting himself get dragged forward, taking out Champ’s Pok#ball, to have a source of light. Cliff followed his companion, though he didn’t look as comfortable as Lucas. Claire and I looked at each other, and I could see Claire’s shoulders fall, before she pulled herself up and started forward, after the other two.

Looking into the dim cave, I reached at my belt, pulling out Charm’s Pokéball.

“We’ll bring up the rear, Charm,” I told him, giving one of his claws a squeeze as we made our way into the dark.

There was something to be said about walking into a hole in the ground, knowing that there are hundreds, maybe thousands of tons of rock, all waiting to crash down on you in a single instant. For the first few steps, it felt as if the mountain itself was resting on my shoulders, the walls threatening to slam together, crushing me between them. My breath started to quicken, until Charm places a claw on my shoulder, returning the gentle squeeze I had given him earlier.

Closing my eyes, I tried to push my fears aside, focusing on the fact that the mountain would be steady and everything would be fine. There was a small, treacherous voice in my mind, reminding me that the very mountain had been shaking just yesterday but I somehow managed to ignore those whispers. Everything would be fine.

Before the light of day behind me faded, I picked up a small rock from the ground, planning to leave markings so we wouldn’t lose our way in the tunnel. It went steeply downwards, into the earth and I could see the flickering flame ahead of me. The footsteps of the others echoed weirdly, the crunching of gravel and sand beneath their boots causing shivers to run down my spine, making me think of breaking rock.

After a few markings, I heard an unknown voice shout from ahead.

“Hello? Help!” it echoed in the tunnel and a part of me wanted to pick up the pace, but given the difficult terrain, haste was the enemy. Only a slow and steady approach would get the shouting person the help they needed and the task of Charm and me was to guard the back.

With a bit of sliding and climbing, we managed to make it down an especially steep part, when I could see the flame of Champ flicker ahead of me, showing that I had almost caught back up to the others.

By now, I could hear the others talking, though the strange echoes made it difficult to understand their words. It sounded like they had found the person shouting for help and were trying to assist. Just as I was about to follow after them, Charm suddenly stiffened, his gaze focused on one of the side tunnels we had passed by.

Nervous, I moved behind him, ready for trouble. “Let’s make some more light,” I quietly asked him, and he obediently flared the flame on his tail, lighting up the tunnel.

There, mostly hidden by the darkness, I could see a small, reptilian Pokémon, maybe coming up to my thigh when standing upright, with dark green scales and a bright, red patch on its stomach. From the looks of it, we had disturbed the Larvitar and it didn’t take kindly to that. Looking at it, I remembered the evolutions it would undergo in the future and felt my blood boil in eagerness. I wanted to dominate the small creature and dominate its future greatness even more.

Softly cursing, I considered sending out Vio, simply because Charm had yet another horrible type match-up with the Ground/Rock-type or even call one of the others for help, but something made me hesitate. I felt unwilling to call in the others and from Charm’s stance, I could see that he was unwilling to simply give up and give way.

Suddenly, the Larvitar stopped growling and started to move, stamping one of its small feet down, only for a slate-grey rock of energy to materialise from the ground. In the next moment, the Larvitar smacked the rock with one of its arms, launching it forward at Charm, forcing him to hurriedly dodge aside to avoid the Rock Throw.

“It’s on,” I growled, my anger being echoed by Charm. “Burn him, Dragon Breath,” I ordered, planning to use the primal energy of Dragons to avoid the Larvitar’s formidable resistance to fire. One of the books I had written had stated that Larvitar were born in the molten depths of the Earth, how could such a creature fear fire?

Exchanges of dragon’s fire and thrown stones were completed and each time, Charm frantically dodged aside, while the Larvitar seemed to be able to simply take the attacks. I could see Charm getting weaker and felt incredibly annoyed at my failure to teach him the right way to deal with the situation. Finally, after Charm failed to dodge and got struck directly, I couldn’t help but call for help from the others.

“Claire, some help please,” I called out, my heart burning with shame and anger. Moments after my call, just as Charm managed to dodge out of the way of another rock, Claire came running back, Pokéball in hand.

“Charm, come back to me,” I called out, not using his Pokéball to recall him, as we’d be in utter darkness if I did.

“Twiggy, go,” Claire quickly realised the problem, sending her partner between the Larvitar and Charm. The Larvitar looked from the wounded Charm to Twiggy, realising that it couldn’t wind the fight any longer and instantly turned to run, even as Twiggy launched Razor Leaves after it.

Next to me, Charm growled in pain and anger, the flame on his tail flickering wildly, but there was little either of us could do. The only thing coming to my mind, was to give Charm a hug and promise him to look for the right kind of move, so he wouldn’t be caught out like this again.

And, in my heart, I made another promise. I would catch a Larvitar at some point. Not today, but at some point.