Setting:
•Union Cave, Johto•
•Late February, Late Afternoon•
•Amber (Wolfe Alias) POV•
Chapter Thirty
Plan C
This time, Gold won our race, and I ran up panting behind him. We then had a race to see who could climb the wall out first, and thanks to my experience of staying on mountains in Kanto, I won that one easily and had Chika help Gold up the rest of the way with her Vine Whip.
Once we made it back to the ground floor of Union Cave, I looked at Gold. "So, back to square one, huh?"
He replied, "Check your GPS to see if we're still lost. I don't recognize this part of the cave, though I guess I wouldn't even if it were the place we went through earlier."
"Good idea," I checked my pokegear's GPS to find out that it still could not locate us on the map. I groaned. "Ugh, man. Guess we'll have to do this the hard way."
"Hard way?" He asked with a groan.
"Yeah, as in walking around until we find the exit." I sighed.
"What if the exit leads back to Violet City?" Gold asked curiously.
"It's a chance I'm willing to take. Hell, I'm about ready to just climb the rocky terrain of the cave's exterior to get to damn Azalea. We've already killed too much time in here as it is. Though, I am glad we could help Lapras." I sighed.
"Wait, whoa, hold up! I don't think it's a good idea to go over the cave. I mean it's a tunnel for a reason, right? What if it's dangerous?" Gold warned.
"You forget, Gold, we got some Onix from this cave. I bet they'll help out, though I'm going to release mine once we make it to the Azalea side. I just want to get to Azalea already. Those poor Slowpoke are suffering; I don't want to see what Team Rocket is planning next. For all we know, I bet they have something to do with that strange radio signal Lapras was talking about." I realized.
"Hmm, well alright, I guess. I think I'll release my Onix, too, when we get to Azalea Town. I mean, I don't exactly want an Onix since I'm scared of them. Do you really think Team Rocket is behind the thing that made them go crazy?" Gold asked with a frown.
"Very possible. Wouldn't be the first time they've experimented on Pokémon. Team Rocket is about two main things: money and world domination using Pokémon as their weapons. They don't care who or what they hurt to achieve those two things; not even their own members…" I trailed off, thinking about a very terrible accident I was involved in from my Team Rocket days.
The landslide in the caves of Mount Moon led to my leaving Team Rocket for good. Forty-eight fellow grunts died in it; I was the only one to survive thanks to my Nidorino, King, and my Jigglypuff, Melody. Rocket thought I was dead too, until I revealed that I was challenging the organization to disband.
"Wow. That's so heartless. They really are evil, aren't they?" Gold said sadly.
"A lot of them are. The higher-ups? Yeah, they are definitely. The grunts? Most are in it for the money; some do it because they get free Pokémon, and some do it because of false promises that they'll become better trainers or better people, or they'll get a badass reputation." I supplied. The promise of becoming a better trainer is what got me recruited, after all.
"Wow. Still, I don't see how anyone could join something so villainous as Team Rocket…" Gold trailed off.
"You'd be surprised… Anyway," I said, changing the subject before Gold could pry deeper, "I think we better find that exit. Agreed?"
"Yeah."
"Lizardus, you're back out to light the way!" I called out my little Charmander once again, and before long, we continued walking around pretty much aimlessly with the fiery Pokémon leading the way.
After getting the sensation that we had been more or less walking in circles for a while, I stopped. "I think we need a new method. I feel like we've been walking around in circles. I swear I've seen that formation of stalactites before."
"You're right. Man, this isn't good! How are we gonna get out of here? What if we're trapped in here forever?!" Gold was starting to panic.
"Chill, Gold. Let me get Mudflaps to show us the way. I should've done this from the start." I called out Mudflaps once more, and before long, he was guiding us using the sensor fin on the top of his head while Lizardus lit the way.
More time passed, but soon enough, I could see a change of lighting up ahead in the cave. "Can it be? The exit?" I asked hopefully.
"Race ya there!" Gold seemed revitalized at the sight.
"You're on!" I grinned.
We took off with my Pokémon, and I beat Gold this time as I raced out of the cave, very happy to be in the wonderful fresh air again compared to the cave's dank atmosphere.
"Finally! Fresh air! I thought I'd never see the light of da—"
Before I knew what was happening, and I wasn't paying attention since I was too happy just being out of the damn cave, I hit a body of water with a very resound "sploosh" and my mouth began to fill since I was talking while not watching where I was going.
As I swam for the surface, something hard and slimy bumped into me, tackling me backwards. I reached the surface and spat out the water in my mouth before looking around at my surroundings.
Gold was on the shore nearby, which was grassy. "Hey, are you alright?!" Gold asked; he sounded kind of concerned. My two Pokémon looked a bit worried, too.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Though I think a Pokémon just bumped into me. Ugh, I can't believe I fell into this pond or whatever. I was just getting dry too," I added ruefully.
"Here, let me help you out," Gold extended his hand, which I took as I stood up, though soon enough, I fell right back down again as the slimy hard thing tripped me.
"What the hell?!" I asked a little upset that whatever it was had the nerve to mess around with me.
"Hey, Wolfe, don't look now, but I think a Pokémon is behind you. Though really, I can't tell what it is. It's kinda dark…" Gold said cautiously.
It was dark, which made me look to the sky regretfully; the sun was down, and the moon was in the sky. I could tell sunset had occurred maybe only an hour ago, though. I then turned around to see two beady eyes staring at me from the water's surface.
"Quag," replied a dopey voice, which I guessed was the Pokémon.
"Oh cool! A Quagsire!" Gold replied enthused.
"What's a Quagsire?" I asked curiously.
"That Pokémon behind you. It's the evolved form of those Wooper we saw earlier. I heard they live in the Ruins of Alph." Gold supplied.
I looked at the Pokémon, which then stood up. It was probably about a foot or two shorter than me. It was what I guessed to be a light blue in color. Its head and neck practically blended in with its bipedal body. Its front arms were stubby and thick with light-tipped flipper-like paws.
From the back of the head, I could see a fin-like protrusion which I guessed proceeded down to its tail, since I saw a thick-clubby tail that reminded me slightly of a Poliwag's tail protruding from the water. The Pokémon looked somewhat dopey—not really menacing—which I guessed was a good thing.
"Wait, if that thing is there, then, we must be at the Ruins! That's not good!" I looked at my pokegear, which confirmed my suspicions. The GPS showed us to be located at the Ruins of Alph. I groaned.
Gold sighed. "So, now what? I mean, it's nighttime, and we're even further away from Azalea Town than before. Maybe we should go back to Violet City and try again tomorrow."
"You can go, but I'm not," I replied sternly, which earned me a look of shock from Gold. "I'm going to help those Slowpoke and stop Team Rocket no matter what, and I want to get there as quickly as I can. You with me, Gold?" I asked as I got up. The Quagsire dove under the water in what I guessed was a getaway attempt.
Gold sighed. "Alright, I'm with you. I'm pretty tired, though…" He trailed off.
I had forgotten that Gold wasn't used to the traveling that I was used to. Thinking about it, I was pretty surprised he didn't complain or mention it before now.
Feeling a little guilty for the kid, I smiled at him. "Don't worry, Gold. I'd say we'll rest when we get to Azalea, but I know for sure I won't. You're free to if you really want. I do promise we'll get there tonight, though."
"Rest and let you take on Team Rocket by yourself?! No way! I already asked before if I could help out any way I can, and I'm going to do it! I want to be a great Pokémon professor some day, so there's no way I'd let Pokémon suffer and not do anything about it! I'm with you all the way, Wolfe!" He seemed to have recaptured some of his gumption at just the thought of the tail-less Slowpoke.
"Heh, that's the spirit. Time for plan C. Onix, go!" I let out my giant rock-snake as soon as I was on dry ground. The giant snake looked at me with its large white eyes. "Listen, Onix, we need to get to Azalea Town as quickly as possible. I promise I'll return you to the wild when we get there; we just need help. Some really bad people are cutting tails off of Pokémon called Slowpoke, and I'm sure they are the ones who used the radio signal that made you end up in that watery floor of the cave. Can you take us to Azalea?"
The Pokémon roared at me as it nodded its giant head. "Heh, looks like we'll get there, Gold." I smirked. The Onix lowered its head so I could hop on, and I did so as I held on to the giant handgrip type rock that jutted out of the top of its head. I guessed it really was a horn or something, but it was a pretty good handhold, too. "Come on, Gold!"
"Are you sure it's a good idea? I mean, have you ever actually ridden an Onix before?" Gold asked skeptically.
"Nope," I replied truthfully, "but there's a first time for everything. It'll be easy. I mean, what could possibly go wrong?"
"Thanks, you just cursed us," he hopped on next to me and stood on the opposite side of the horn. We both held on tightly as Onix slithered its way back into the cave.
I quickly found out that the good part about riding an Onix through a cave was that it actually knew where it was going. I unfortunately also found out that our Onix was not used to having passengers since it kept burrowing tunnels or diving into ones that it barely fit into, which caused both me and Gold to scramble in between the boulders of the rock snake's body to prevent being squished. To top it off, it was a very, very bumpy ride—one that I would never want to repeat ever again.
Onix did do its job, however, since after some time, it brought us to an exit, and it was pouring raining outside. Onix lowered its head, allowing us to jump off. "Thanks, Onix. You're free to go."
I pressed a very special button inside of Onix's pokeball, which released a white light, which in turn, released Onix to the wild. Once more a wild Pokémon, Onix quickly burrowed its way away. Gold followed suit with his own Onix.
After that, Gold looked outside of the cave and then back at me. "So, now we have to go through the rain to get there?"
"Looks like it. Man, I'm taking a nice, hot shower tonight. All this water I've been in today, and none of it's hot." I laughed.
That earned me a grin from Gold. "With all that water today, I think I'll skip a shower all together tonight," he joined in the laughter.
"'Kay, guess we better get a move on," I stepped into the rainy route.
It was pitch dark outside; clouds in the stormy sky covered the moon and stars. The only light was via lightning, which struck quickly, though none of it looked close, thankfully, as the thunder rumbled in the distance. Gold and I walked onward, closer to our destination: Slowpoke Well of Azalea Town.