{A few days later}
Ash, Dawn, and Verity walked through the Oreburgh Gate and finally arrived at Oreburgh City. Immediately, Verity almost ran out of the cave they had just been in now that they were finally in a new town.
"Freedom!" Verity shouted as she threw her arms into the air, practically skipping down the path, "Fresh air! Civilization! Actual buildings!"
Ash stepped out behind her, stretching his arms over his head, "You know, it wasn't that bad."
"You know full well that's not what I meant," Verity shot Ash a look, making Ash smile and stick his tongue out.
Since Verity decided to pull what she did, thinking she was being funny, that clearly meant she was asking Ash for extra training. Ash is no gatekeeper, so he had to oblige and give her double the training for every day they were out there.
Needless to say, Verity was not happy, and right now she wasn't even interested in the Gym. She just wanted to find a hole in the ground and sleep.
Dawn walked behind them, looking around at the city with wide eyes, "Wow...so this is Oreburgh?" She looked pumped and quickly pulled out a little booklet she had and flipped through it, "According to the guidebook I got in Jubilife...Oreburgh is a mining town blessed with a surplus of natural resources."
"Natural resources?" Verity said as she walked forward in front of the group with her Piplup resting on her head. Then she stopped when she saw it, "You mean like that coal mine?"
She pointed forward, and there Ash and Dawn both saw the giant excavation team working in the mines.
Dawn looked in awe, then she quickly flipped through her little book and found what she was looking for, "According to this, coal is an energy resource that's dug from deep underground. Long ago, plants were washed away by rain and rivers and buried deep underground. Earthquakes caused fissures that forced them further down, and after thousands of years, the heat from the magma, the lava at the planet's core, terraformed the vegetation into coal. So, if you think about it, coal is just baked plants."
"Well...technically..." Dawn flipped through the booklet again, "That's basically what it is."
Ash rubbed his chin, "Huh. I never thought about it that way."
Verity looked at Ash in disbelief, "Don't encourage her!"
Ash shrugged, "She's not wrong."
Verity sighed and continued walking, "Great. We're surrounded by nerds."
Dawn smiled proudly as she tucked her booklet away, "I'm just interested in learning about the places we're visiting."
"And I'm interested in finding a bed," Verity muttered.
Ash laughed, "Come on. We just got here."
"Exactly! Which means I can finally sleep somewhere that isn't a cave floor!"
"Oh come on, we spent most nights in tents in the forest. I mean, look at Dawn, she learned to stop complaining," Ash said.
"I know you're not trying to pull that. Dawn still needs 30 minutes to do her hair every morning," Verity pointed out frantically.
"I like my hair," Dawn said, passing her finger through her hair.
"That's not the point," Verity said, "You wake up before everyone else just so you can spend forever fixing it."
Dawn crossed her arms, "I do not take forever."
"You took so long, Ash has to help you do your hair," Verity huffed.
And no, she wasn't joking. Ash helped her do her hair when it was crazy in the morning. It's not too hard for him since, one, Green forced him to do her hair when they were growing up, so he had to learn, and two, Ash does Molly's hair when he's there, so he is surprisingly good at that.
Dawn huffed, crossing her arms, "My hair is difficult in the morning."
"It's hair," Verity said.
"Easy for you to say!"
"What does that mean?"
Dawn pointed toward Verity's head, "All you do is keep your hair up in that weird ponytail on the top of your head."
"Hey, it keeps my hair out of the way, and I like it short."
"Yeah, but you barely have to do anything with it," Dawn said, "I have to actually take care of mine."
Verity rolled her eyes, "Oh, please. You're acting like your hair is a Pokémon that needs a twenty-minute grooming session every morning."
"It does not take twenty minutes!"
Verity stopped walking and looked at her, and even Ash couldn't defend her on that one.
Dawn hesitated, "...Okay, sometimes it takes twenty minutes."
"Thirty," Verity corrected.
"Not every morning!"
"Thirty."
Dawn looked toward Ash, "Ash, tell her she's exaggerating."
Ash rubbed the back of his head, "I mean...sometimes it does take a while."
Dawn narrowed her eyes, "You're supposed to be helping me."
"I do help you. I also like the truth."
Dawn gasped, "Traitor."
Ash laughed while Verity nodded approvingly.
"See?" Verity said, "Even Ash agrees with me."
Dawn crossed her arms and huffed, "Fine. At least my hair looks good."
Verity immediately smirked, "Mine looks good."
"With the ponytail?"
"With the ponytail."
Ash looked between them as they continued walking through Oreburgh City, "I actually think Verity's hair looks better when she has it down."
"Eh?" Verity immediately felt like she got punched in the face.
"Hm, didn't you hear me? I said—" Ash was going to say it again, but Verity quickly raised her hands and waved them in front of him, stopping him.
"Okay!" Verity quickly interrupted, her face suddenly getting warm, "We don't need to keep talking about that!"
"I mean, he's not wrong. Your hair is nice. I don't know why you keep it up in a ponytail all the time. You should try something else," Dawn added.
Verity stared at Dawn for a second, then slowly reached up and touched her ponytail.
"I like it like this," she said defensively.
Dawn smirked, "Sure you do."
"I do!"
Ash gave a smirk and put on a dumb expression, "Hey, what's wrong?"
"Nothing!" Verity immediately answered.
Dawn gave her a look.
Verity's face got even warmer, "I mean...nothing important!"
"All I said was that I think you look better with your hair down," Ash said with that cheeky little smile he always gives.
"Exactly!" Verity said, throwing her hands up, "And now we're done talking about it!"
Dawn and Ash both looked away, covering their mouths, trying their best not to laugh, and Verity was left looking away while she tried to hide her face.
"Anyway, I wonder if Barry and Lucas are still in town," Dawn finally said.
"Eh, probably. Knowing Barry, he probably came here immediately, tried to challenge the Gym, and got his teeth kicked in," Ash said.
"That does sound like Barry," Dawn tapped her chin, "Well, knowing him, we'll run into him soon. I really want to do something."
Verity huffed, "What do I care? I just want to—"
She tried taking a step forward to walk away, and as she did, she passed some weird-looking cylinders in the ground. But then the ground started to shake.
Ash grabbed her by the back of her shirt and pulled her back, raising his jacket to cover her face as burning-hot steam burst out of the cylinders.
Once the hot steam finally stopped, Verity slowly raised her head from where she was hiding, "What the heck was that!?" Verity shouted.
Ash looked at her, "Steam."
Verity slowly turned toward him, "I KNOW THAT!"
Ash shrugged, "You asked."
"That thing almost blasted me in the face!"
"Yeah, which is why I pulled you back."
Verity stared at him, then looked at his jacket, "Wait...why did you cover my face?"
Ash raised an eyebrow, "Because I'd rather not let your face get melted off."
Verity immediately went quiet.Ash said it so casually that it took her a second to process what he had just said, "My...face melted off?"
"Verity, that was scalding-hot steam," he said with a deadpan expression. He could protect himself with Aura. Verity could not.
Verity slowly looked back toward the vent, "That's...terrifying."
"Yeah."
"WHY ARE THOSE THINGS JUST IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD!?"
Dawn suddenly poked her head between the two of them, "Actually!"
Verity jumped, "Dawn!"
Dawn was already holding her little booklet open, looking through the pages, "I knew I saw something about that!" she said excitedly before finding the page, "Here!"
She held it out toward them. Ash and Verity leaned over to look.
Dawn pointed to a section on the page, "Be careful around the vents," Dawn read, "They release built-up steam from all the mining operations."
Verity slowly looked at the ground. Then back at the booklet.
Then at the mine in the distance.
"So the city just...randomly shoots boiling steam into the air?"
Dawn nodded, "Basically."
Verity stared at her, "I need a nap…"
"Okay, if you want, I already reserved a hotel in the city," Dawn said, already pulling out her phone.
Verity immediately perked up, "Really?"
"Yep!"
Dawn tapped on her phone for a moment before holding it out.
Verity slowly looked at the screen. At first, she didn't understand what she was looking at. Then her eyes widened.
The picture showed an enormous suite with polished floors, massive windows overlooking Oreburgh City, multiple bedrooms, an enormous living room, and furniture that looked like it belonged in the home of someone who had more money than they knew what to do with.
Verity blinked, then she looked at the price and her entire body froze.
Ash leaned over her shoulder, "Oh."
Dawn beamed, looking proud of herself, "Pretty nice, right?"
Verity didn't answer. Her eye twitched as she looked at the phone again, then at Dawn.
"Dawn…"
"Yeah?"
"What...is this?"
Dawn looked confused, "The hotel?"
Verity slowly pointed at the screen, "No, no, no. I understand that this is a hotel. What I don't understand is why the hotel room looks like someone combined three houses and called it a bedroom."
Dawn looked back at the screen, "Oh! That's because it's a suite."
"A suite!?"
"Yeah."
Verity stared at her, "There are multiple bedrooms!"
"It's a large suite."
"There is a living room!"
"Yeah."
"WHY DOES THE BATHROOM LOOK BIGGER THAN MY HOUSE!?"
Dawn paused, "...Your house is probably bigger than that."
Verity slowly pointed at the price again, "DAWN!"
Dawn finally looked closer, then her expression suddenly changed, "Oh."
Verity's eyes narrowed, "Oh?"
Dawn looked apologetically at her, "I...I'm sorry."
Verity blinked, "What?"
Dawn lowered her phone slightly, "I'm sorry we have to stay somewhere this low-end."
Verity looked at Dawn, her eye twitching, while Dawn looked genuinely apologetic, "I tried looking for something better, but Oreburgh really isn't known for having high-end hotels."
Verity felt like falling over and foaming at the mouth. She couldn't get used to this. She really couldn't. Even after traveling with Ash and Dawn, she still couldn't.
"Okay, you know what?" she said, "I'm not even going to question it anymore. I just want to lay down and go to sleep for three days."
"Okay, you can go. I want to go there," Dawn said, standing on her tiptoes and pointing at the mine.
Verity stopped and slowly turned to look at Dawn.
"You want to go...to the coal mine?"
"Yeah!" Dawn nodded excitedly, "Reading about coal mining is one thing, but oh! To experience it myself!"
She closed her eyes and thought about it, imagining herself in those mines. 'I want to touch the coal with my own two hands. I want to touch the coal with my own two arms!' But then, when she opened her eyes, she realized she was doing the imaginary motion of shoveling coal.
Verity and Ash saw the whole thing.
Verity snorted, "Did, you just—"
But the words didn't leave her mouth.
Dawn appeared in front of Verity so fast she didn't have time to react. Then Dawn looked down at Verity with a blank expression, "I did not."
"B-but—" Verity tried.
Dawn didn't let her finish. She just got closer, "I assure you I wasn't."
"O-ok," Verity finally said, slightly frightened.
Ash covered his mouth with his hand, his shoulders already starting to shake. Then he took a breath and locked in, "Okay, if you're going to the mine, then I'll go with you."
Dawn turned back toward him, "Really?"
"Yeah. It sounds interesting, and I'm not letting you go alone."
Verity looked between them in disbelief, "Wait."
Ash and Dawn both looked at her.
Verity slowly pointed toward herself, "So you're both going to the mine."
"Yep," Dawn said.
"And I'm going to the hotel."
"Yep," Ash said.
Verity stared at them, then she smiled, "Perfect."
She immediately turned around, "Great teamwork, everyone. Have fun in your giant underground hole full of rocks and steam that can apparently melt my face off."
She waved one hand behind her without turning around and started walking down the street. Piplup, still resting on top of her head, raised one of his little flippers.
Dawn watched her leave, "Are we just letting her go by herself?"
Ash shrugged, "Eh, let her go. I'll get her back when I wake her up at 5 AM for training," Ash said casually.
Dawn snorted, and she almost felt bad for Verity. Then they walked down the path together to head toward the mine.
—
About an hour later, Ash and Dawn were walking around the mine. They found a miner who was on break and asked him for a tour. He told them that apparently his supervisor, Roark, was out today, so he couldn't get much done, and there was no harm in showing them around.
As he showed them around the mine, Ash thought about that. That probably meant that even if he went today or tomorrow, Roark probably wouldn't be able to take his challenge. After all, Roark kind of had a job here.
Which again built on his theory that Gym Leaders don't make as much money as they should, since he was yet to meet a Gym Leader who didn't have a second job. But whatever, that was for later.
Ash was walking next to Dawn as she listened intently. Even Dawn's Piplup looked like he was dozing off at her feet.
Ash was honestly pretty surprised she was so curious about this, but hey, when has he not supported the people close to him?
As he was lost in thought, their guide was still explaining things to Dawn, walking up to a big pile of dirt.
"And this is the slagheap known as Mineral Hills. It's made of all the dirt we dig up from the mine. Here's a factoid for ya...in the Hoenn region, they call their slagheap 'Petroleum Hills.'"
"How odd…" Dawn muttered, looking at the pile.
Then the miner scratched the back of his head, "Yeesh, I'm so sorry! So sorry! Are you bored to tears?" he said, seeing that Piplup was yawning.
But Dawn just kept a smile, "Not at all."
The miner sighed in relief, "Well, that about covers everything," he said as he started walking them back out.
He didn't take them into the mine just yet, not without supervision, and that was a bummer since Dawn kind of did want to go and see what it was like to dig up coal.
But as she walked, Piplup noticed something. He tapped his flipper on Dawn's leg and pointed toward where it looked like there was a hole in the mine.
Dawn looked over and tilted her head, "What's that?"
"Oh, that? Nothing really important right now, but the coal miners around here sa—"
He was about to explain, but that's when he heard the sound of heavy machinery. He turned back and saw that a Psyduck was in one of the excavators and moving it around.
He immediately stopped and ran toward the heavy machinery, "Hey, you pesky Psyduck! Get out of there!"
And he ran off, leaving Ash and Dawn alone. Dawn was going to look over to Ash for advice, but that's when Dawn's Piplup started waddling toward the hole.
Dawn blinked, "Piplup?"
The little Pokémon didn't stop.
"Piplup, wait!"
He continued toward the hole.
Dawn immediately went after him, "Piplup!"
Ash looked over just in time to see Dawn chasing after her Pokémon.
"Dawn?" Ash called.
"Piplup is going somewhere!"
Ash looked toward the miner, who was still desperately trying to get the Psyduck out of the excavator.
"Hey!" the miner shouted in the distance, "Don't touch that! That's not a toy!"
Ash slowly looked back at Dawn, "Yeah, I don't think he's coming back anytime soon."
Dawn was already running, "PIPLUP, STOP!"
The two of them followed Piplup toward the opening in the side of the mine.
Dawn was getting closer, "Piplup!"
He happily called back, somehow not understanding that Dawn was yelling at him to stop, "That's not what I meant!"
Piplup finally reached the entrance.
Dawn lunged forward, "Got you!" She managed to catch him just before he could disappear into the opening, grabbing him and pulling him back into her arms. Piplup blinked innocently up at her.
Dawn breathed heavily, "Piplup..."
"Pip?"
"What were you thinking!?"
Piplup pointed toward the hole and Dawn looked toward it.
Ash caught up a few seconds later, "You know," Ash said, "most people stop running when their Pokémon starts doing something suspicious."
But Dawn wasn't looking at him. She was looking down the hole, "Ash..."
"Hmm?"
"Look."
Ash stepped beside her.
There was a staircase, and it descended deep underground. The stone steps disappeared into darkness, the mine above them only barely illuminating the first few feet.
Ash raised an eyebrow, "Well."
Dawn stared down the staircase.
Piplup leaned forward in her arms, "Pip?"
"What do you think is down there?" Dawn asked.
Ash looked around, "Probably more mine."
Dawn slowly turned toward him, "That's boring."
"I mean, we're standing next to a coal mine."
"Yeah, that's fair, probably," Dawn admitted.
But that's when they heard it. The sound of music playing softly coming from the mine.
Dawn's eyes slowly widened, "Do you hear that?"
Ash nodded, "Yeah."
Dawn looked down at Piplup, Piplup looked back at her. Then both of them slowly turned toward the staircase and Dawn smiled.
Ash immediately saw that smile, "Oh no."
"What?"
"That look."
Dawn blinked innocently, "What look?"
"The look you get when you're about to do something you probably shouldn't."
Dawn looked offended, "I do not have a look."
"I know that look because I have that look, and I know you probably want to go into that mine to see what's down there," Ash said.
"...Okay, maybe a little," Dawn admitted, a bit grumpy that Ash could figure her out so easily.
Piplup excitedly pointed down the stairs, "Pip!"
Dawn nodded, "Exactly!"
Ash sighed, "You two are really not helping my argument."
Dawn took a step toward the staircase.
Ash immediately followed, "Wait."
Dawn stopped as Ash got beside her, "If you're going down there, I'm going with you, duh. Stay close," he said as he reached into his bag and pulled out Pikachu by the ears. Pikachu saw the darkness and understood. Using a quick [Flash], he lit the way.
Dawn smiled, "Thanks, Ash. You're the best. I can always count on you!"
The two carefully started down the staircase. They just kept going down while all they could hear was the sound of that music.
Chit-chit...chiiit...
Dawn slowly looked around, "It's getting louder."
Ash nodded, "Yeah."
Finally, they got to the bottom, where it was a much clearer area, kind of like a battlefield. They looked around while Pikachu's light shined like a flashlight. Then Dawn saw something move in the darkness, then another, then another.
Dawn slowly took a step backward and tugged on Ash's sleeve, "Um...Ash? I think we're about to find out where the music is coming from."
Suddenly, dozens of tiny figures emerged from the darkness, and they were...a bunch of Kricketot.
Dawn's eyes widened, "Kricketot?"
But then more appeared, one after another, Kricketot crawled out from behind rocks, from small tunnels, and from deeper within the mine. The little red-and-black Pokémon surrounded the tunnel, their antennae twitched
Dawn slowly looked around, "There are a lot of them."
Ash nodded, "Yep."
Then a much deeper sound echoed through the tunnel.
KRIIIIIICKET!
A much larger Pokémon stepped out from behind the Kricketot, then another, and another.
A bunch of Kricketune emerged from the darkness, staring Ash and Dawn down. The smaller Kricketot immediately moved aside as more Kricketune appeared.
Ash and Dawn slowly looked around.
There were Kricketot everywhere, and several Kricketune. The Kricketot suddenly stopped making noise.
Dawn slowly blinked, "Why did they stop?"
As soon as she said that, every Kricketot slowly turned toward her.
Dawn froze, "Me and my big mouth."
The Kricketune stepped forward and let out a cry, "KRICKET!" Then every Kricketot immediately moved into position.
Dawn blinked, "...Oh."
The entire group took battle stances.
Dawn slowly backed up, "Ash?"
"Yeah?"
"Are they..."
"Yep."
"Are they getting ready to battle us?"
"Looks like it."
Dawn stared at him, "Why do you sound so calm!?"
Ash shrugged, "They're Bug Pokémon."
Dawn slowly looked toward the army of Pokémon, "There are like thirty of them!"
"Yeah."
"And several Kricketune!"
"Yeah."
Dawn pointed toward the Pokémon, "ASH!"
But before Ash could answer, Piplup jumped out of Dawn's arms and landed directly in front of her.
Dawn's eyes widened, "Piplup!"
The little Pokémon puffed out his chest, "Pip!"
Despite the massive group of Pokémon in front of him, Piplup didn't move. Instead, he stood directly between Dawn and the Kricketot, puffing out his chest protectively.
Dawn stared at him for a second, then she smiled, "You really want to protect me, huh?"
Piplup nodded, "Pip!"
Dawn crouched down slightly, "Okay," She stood back up, "Then let's show them what we can do."
Piplup grinned, "Piplup!"
Meanwhile, Ash casually reached for one of his Poké Balls and pulled one out, throwing it. Out came his Starly, as he stood there next to Dawn.
Dawn looked between Ash and the massive group of Kricketot, "You're seriously not worried?"
Ash shrugged, "Not really."
"Why?"
Ash gave her a small grin, "Cuz I'm here, and I promised I'd protect you, so let's do this one together."
Dawn said nothing. But hearing Ash say those words made her gain more hope. Like just standing near him made her more confident. So she slapped her cheeks and got ready, staring down all the Bug Pokémon.