“There it is, there it is!! A little further, Blitzer!”

Light shone in from above, as if Arceus itself had come to bless them. The two children valiantly struggled their way up the final slope, panting and groaning as their hearts raged with adrenaline, and their feet were on the verge of giving up. They had been determined to get out of the tunnel as fast as they could, fearing what would’ve happened had they continued at a cripple’s pace.

Unable to respond to so much as a wild bat, the two had reached the entrance. The caves had been empty on the way back, despite the infestation of bats that had greeted them the other way around. With the little energy he had spared to think things through, George especially had expected to be swarmed on the way out, and his hopes were raised once his expectations had been subverted, odd as it was. There was no time to examine any of it, not with Blitzer limping along next to him, groaning with every step.

The entrance was only a few steps away; with loud heaving, ragged gasping, and gritted teeth, George and Blitzer stumbled out into the grass, their faces sharpening with sheer joy as the stone under their feet turned to grass. They were out at last. George threw himself onto the grassy plain, fiddling and twirling a handful of green blades around his fingers. Blitzer dropped his tired body onto the field, careful his tail wouldn’t go anywhere dangerous.

“We’re out… we’re out!” George shakily said, smiling and sobbing as the grass brushed all around his face.

“I thought I was never going to make it…” whimpered Blitzer, feeling beside him until he found a tuft of George’s light blue fur. “T-that was, the s-scariest thing I’ve, I’ve ever seen…”

George rolled onto his side and reached out to the Charmander with a hand. “It’s okay, we’re safe now.”

“I never, never want to see another Drilbur, ever again, ever.”

Blitzer’s breathing was slowly returning to a healthy rhythm. Despite everything, he was wearing a slight smile on his face, one George could see between the grass. George lazily drummed his belly. Treasure or no treasure, brave or cowardly, he was safe. And Blitzer was safe, too. The struggle back up the cave hadn’t been for nothing. That thought alone kept the two smiling. As long as they had each other, everything was going to be alright.

“How are you feeling right now, Blitzer?”

“All I want to do, is sleep in my bed. My legs hurt, and my back does too.”

“Can you still walk?”

“Yes, just give a moment. I want to rest a little.” Blitzer rolled onto his back, his lower back coming to rest on a dewy piece of grass. His tail dipped downwards, scorching a portion of grass black in the process. “Ah, that hits the spot.”

George sat upright, putting a little pressure onto his own tail in the process. “As long as you’re okay, I’ll be happy,” he said, twirling his ears back and forth.

Blitzer spread his arms and legs over the grass, much like a star in the night sky. “What about you? Are you feeling alright?” he asked, eager to await an answer. George tilted his head backwards in response.

“Me? Oh, I’m just a little tired, that’s all.” George waved the smoky air away.

Blitzer chuckled back at him. “Haha, that’s fantastic! You know, after all that water breathing, back there in the cave, what I saw and heard from you, I was kind of worried. You’re still not used to it, right?”

George nodded. “Not really, no. But I’m getting a little better now. At least, that’s what I think. Either I’m learning how to handle myself, or I’ve gotten used to the aching,” he said, then gulped. “Sorry for breathing water onto you back there, by the way.”

“No worries.” Blitzer’s smile took a sinister turn. “...Georgie.”

To this, George reacted with a gasp, a retreat, and then a scowl. “Hey, what’s that all about?!” Blitzer laughed right back at him, body rocking back and forth in the grass like a baby in a crib. Apparently, it was highly amusing for him to say that after a near death experience, one George had pulled him out of. George’s frown grew deeper the longer he watched Blitzer bob around. If it wasn’t for his back, he’d have been rolling all over the place, laughing his way into a coma all the while. It was humiliating.

“I’m, I’m sorry George, I just couldn’t resist!”

“Yeah, I’m sure you couldn’t.” George stared off into the plains leading back home. No wild Pokemon to spot anywhere. Just when he had the craving to spot some. Anything to take his mind off from things would’ve been welcome, yet it was just him and Blitzer all by themselves. ‘ Why can’t things go right for me today. What’s next, did I drop the flute piece somewhere? ’

Seeing that laughing wasn’t impressing George, Blitzer took a different approach.“Oh, come on now. You have to admit that I deserve a little fun, especially after you leaked a little water on me back there,” he said, brute forcing his way through the pain until he was sitting up straight. George gritted his teeth, still staring away in hopes of finding something out there on the fields.

“Yes, I know… I just don’t like being called Georgie, okay?”

George’s response came out a lot angrier than he had anticipated. Worse than that is that he wasn’t shocked about it. Yelling was the only way to make his feelings clear. Blitzer wouldn’t understand.

‘ Come on, try to do something, Georgie! ’

‘ Aw, you wanna go cry? Cry to your mommy? ’

‘ Your mommy even thought you were stupid! ’

* * *

“George? George!!”

A cold breeze suddenly pelted him in the face. “Wha- what?” George said, his eyes drawn all over the place as if being tugged on from all sides. Confused, he looked over his shoulder to see Blitzer sat upright, tail curled around him, bearing a morose look which he wouldn’t show directly.

“George, um, I’m sorry.”

“I-it’s okay, I promise.” George felt a cold wave wash over him. ‘I’ve ruined everything, haven't I? ’

“Are you, or, no…” Blitzer muttered his way through several sentences. None of them were satisfactory for the question he had to ask. “Is there any reason why you don’t… why you don’t like being called Georgie?” he finally decided on, his voice still soft.

A tear crept out of George’s eye. “I don’t want to talk about it,” he blurted out. Right after, as it dawned on him what had come out of his mouth, he slapped himself in the face. ‘ You’re only making things worse for yourself, George! ’ Frustrated, George grabbed onto the soft white fur on his head and started to pull.

“g-George! Don’t do that!”

By the time Blitzer’s pleas reached his ears, George had already yanked a tuft out. He let it slide through his fingers, and allowed a frigid wind to carry it away. Moments after, he let his hands sink to the ground. Now was not the time to wave things off. Not to a friend.

“It’s me who should be sorry, Blitzer. Not you.”

“n-No, don’t worry about it-”

“Me acting out like that was completely uncalled for. I should apologize. You were right. You should be allowed to joke around a bit. It’s just.” George clicked his tongue. ‘ Your mommy didn’t even love you !’ “There’s something I can’t explain. Something just hit me, and I lost it.”

Blitzer let out a deep breath through his nose. “Do you know why?”

George’s body vibrated at the thought. “Yes. Yes I do. But I can’t tell you. It’s… it’s too much,” he said, ears pressed against his head. Further tears rolled down his cheek. Of all the times and places to think about his old life, right this second had to be one of them. As far removed physically as he was now, it had been following him the whole time.

‘If only I hadn’t been such a bad person. Maybe then I wouldn’t have ended up there. Maybe I could be telling Blitzer actual good stories about myself. But I can’t. ’

A hand suddenly touched George on the shoulder, whose ears perked back up from a familiar groan. George looked up to see Blitzer having crawled up to him, giving him an encouraging stare.

“If it makes you feel any better, I also should apologize,” the Charmander said. “I mean, you saved my life back there! If I had gone down there alone, I would have been toast! And not the kind my mom makes, either.” Grinning, he wiped the tears off George’s cheeks, who only tepidly nodded back.

“Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

Blitzer poked George with his elbow. “More like the kind my dad makes, am I right?” he said, to which the corners of George’s mouth sharply curled upwards.

“Yeah,” he said, before chuckling. “You mean Nero, or your biological dad?” ‘ Maybe that was too far .’

“What’s the difference?”

Blitzer spread his arms wide and wrapped them around George. The two keeled over backwards, laughing. One final tear left George’s eye, before those emotions were put to rest. He turned back to Blitzer, this time with the frown turned upside down.

“Thanks Blitzer, I needed that.”

“No worries, George. I’m glad to help out anytime!” he said, scratching the back of his head with a thump of his tail. A burnt smell hung in the air, before being blown off by another cold wind. A glance above revealed darkened clouds gathering, which made Blitzer audibly swallow the buildup of saliva in his mouth. “We should probably head back before Kyogre drops an ocean onto us.”

“Yeah,” George replied, pulling himself onto two feet. “Does it often rain around here?” ‘ And what is Kyogre? I should’ve paid more attention when I was learning about this stuff. ’

“Absolutely,” Blitzer said, groaning as he got up. “In fact, it rains so often, it’s a miracle you haven’t seen any yet. It’s been really dry these past two weeks. Oh well,” he said with a shrug. George folded his arms over his scarf, reeling as he imagined getting doused in water from a passing car.

“Well, I’ve seen plenty of rain back in the city. At least here I won’t get scolded for getting myself wet in the rain.”

Blitzer cracked up. “Wait, what? Why would anyone do that? It’s rain!”

“Ha, yeah,” George said, glancing at the grass for a split second. “City rules. Or… what was that word again… Eh-tee-ket. Apparently it was very important. Not here, right?”

“Nope,” Blitzer said with a sly grin.

“That’s better.” George clasped his hands together. The idea of lying in a warm bed while it poured outside was like hot cocoa on a winter morning as the clouds overhead thickened further. “We haven’t forgotten anything, have we?”

“What about the treasure?” Blitzer pointed at the fold in George’s bright red scarf with a few curious flicks of his tail.

“Wait, ah!” The Oshawott’s hands flew up to the scarf to rummage through the folds; fortunately, he discovered the flute piece sitting snug as a bug inside one, and pulled it out. “Phew, that was a close one. Thought it was gone for a second, there.”

Blitzer wiped the sweat off his brow, despite the fact that he was a Charmander, and thus incapable of producing sweat to begin with. “After all the fighting, it’s a miracle that you didn’t lose it! Better, because no one is getting me back in there, no chance,” he said, scratching the lower end of his back.

George raised the flute piece up to his nose. With it now being quiet, spare for Blitzer’s mouth, he had ample opportunity to study it. The piece gave off a dull shine. Even without sunlight, there was an elegance to it unlike anything back home. This wasn’t something you’d find in the middle of nowhere. The flute’s touch revealed a level of sophistication only a master would be able to achieve. Was such a thing even possible? Were there great cities in this world where civilization had bloomed to such an extent? And if they existed, why would a stranger ask a small Oshawott and a stubborn, zippy Charmander to dive underground for it? Unable to answer these questions himself, George handed Blitzer the piece, and explained his thoughts.

“Huh? So you think an ordinary Pokemon made this?” Blitzer twiddled the piece around, observing it from many directions with exaggerated motions.

“No, I said a great craftsman, not anyone ordinary,” George grumbled, his tail swatting at the air. Blitzer shook his head back.

“That’s not what I meant. You think there are people out there capable of making these sorts of things? Ordinary Pokemon, and not Legends? Because, uh, I don’t think there are any people like you describe, George.”

George tilted his head. “What do you mean?” he said, then leaned back. ‘ To be honest, I might already have an idea. Soldiers, or something. ’

The Charmander took in a deep breath, as if to prepare himself for a lecture he was about to give. “Well, I have never heard of anything like that. You know, I vaguely remember being in a city when I was really young. But there was nothing like this there. Not at all. I don’t know what human society is like, George, but maybe you would find things like these there? If you’re telling the truth, then wow!”

As the wind howled yet again, George felt uncomfortably dry. Something in his body was telling him to jump into a pool of water. “So, uh, does that mean no?” he asked, clenching his gut to try and shake off the feeling that he’d been lost in a desert for hours.

“What I mean is, this is probably not made by an ordinary Pokemon,” Blitzer said. “Makes more sense that way. Why else would it be lying underground?”

George laid a hand on his cheek. “I don’t know..”

“We might have gotten our hands on something special, George. Or, in other words… Treasure!” Blitzer’s tail suddenly flared happily. It didn’t take long for him for his arms to fly through the air; were it not for his injuries, his feet would’ve been up there too.

“Haha, yeah, I guess,” George awkwardly mumbled, while scratching at an itch near his freckled cheeks. ‘ Some treasure it is, though. We can’t even show it to anyone .’

An extra cold wind blew onto George’s back. The tension in his muscles lessened; a wave of humid air had been blown over by the wind. Given the clouds, the rain couldn’t have been far off. Believing Blitzer would want to be indoors by the time the rain arrived in full force, George turned tail to start the trek home. But, much to his annoyance, Blitzer wouldn’t have it that way.

“Heey! Where are you going.. Ah!”

“Back home. Where else?”

“Why though?”

“Doesn’t it look like it’s about to start raining?” George pointed up with a slap of his tail.

“Yeah, but it’s only a little rain. No worries!” Blitzer said, stretching his arms out to let the wind flow over his body. “Cold, though!”

Thoroughly stumped, George tried pointing out the obvious to the Charmander. “But you’re a fire type. Don’t fire types hate rain?” He made rapid gestures all around his face with both hands to try and bring his points across, complimented further by flicks of his ears and twitches of his nose. “You know, with getting wet and all being bad? Fire types don’t like that? Or just getting cold in general? Water can get pretty cold. Especially rain.”

Blitzer’s response was to put one hand on his head, the other on his side, and tuck his tail upwards. “I don’t know. Other fires, maybe, but not me! I can handle getting a little wet! If bathing’s no issue, rain is nothing! I’ve handled rain before, it’s nothing big.”

George rolled his eyes. “Are you sure?” ‘ Your father sure told me a different story. With bathing, which I’ve seen for myself. And smelled more than enough times, too... ’

“Sure am! Now then, the flute…” Blitzer took the piece between two fingers. “What should we do with it?”

The former human folded his small arms over one another. “Well, we can’t go around showing it to anyone. Not your parents, either. They’ll probably start asking questions if we do.”

Blitzer nodded, and straightened his tail. “You’re right. Don’t need the entire village to find out. Especially not with the Soldiers around. I don’t want them getting their greedy paws on it.”

George hummed in agreement. “Yes, and don’t forget the message. I don’t think whoever wrote it wants us to go around and show everyone what we did.”

The expression on Blitzer’s face soured considerably. “Oh yeah, I almost forgot… we can’t tell or show anyone anything. But why though? Why does whoever wrote us that message want this so badly?”

“I don’t know,” said George while shaking his head, “but I don’t want to find out what happens if we don’t follow that.”

“Uh huh.”

George breathed in deep, and back out. Blitzer held the piece out in front of him, and George eyed it further. It couldn’t have been so simple, could it? Would anyone just leave a piece of a flute lying at the bottom of a cave? His eyes went back to the encounter with the Excadrill. Those azure eyes came rushing back. For a second, he’d fallen back into the cave. The way they stared right back at him was off. It wasn’t hatred, or anger that served as their driving force. No, it wasn’t that. It was far more like the gaze of a police officer keeping an eye over a playground.

His eyes were pried open by a large drop landing square on his nose. Surprised, George twitched it around, as more drops started falling. Another large one fell square on the crown of Blitzer’s head, causing the Charmander to jump. “Ah!”

“Blegh, well here’s the rain I was talking about,” George said.

“You know what, how’s about we get out of here?” Blitzer said as more drops started falling all around the two. “I wanna go home.”

George looked off beside him, bearing a smug grin. “Feeling homesick, Blitzer?”

“Yeah, somewhere warm and dry sounds fine right about now.” ‘ Knew he was fakin’ it .’

Grinning as the rain caressed his fur, George once again put a foot forward. “Well, what are we waiting for? It’s a good half hour until we get back.”

Blitzer audibly gulped. “Are you sure?”

“Well, it depends on how fast you can walk.”

“Uuurgh…”

And so, the two made their trek home, the flute piece once again tucked away into George’s scarf. Of all the danger they had gotten themselves into, one thing was certain about today’s dosis: They had better come up with a darned good excuse by the time they got home.

END OF PART I