Chapter Text
Rocks spilled down into the collapsed cave opening, a deep black darkness claiming it.
I sweated from the thought of being caught up with it, and the sun beating down on us, the sweat making my hair stick uncomfortably on my forehead
Looking at Ledyba- still holding his prize- we both give a sigh of relief.
“Wew, that was really close huh”.
“Ledy…”
“Now c’mon then, let’s see what prize we got out of this at least”
Ledyba proudly presented his find to me, a large yellow feather.
“What’s this..” I pluck it out of Ledyba’s grip, a brief shock making my body zing for a split second.
“What the-”
Giving it a closer look, Ledyba crowds closer to me as we behold the treasure. Glowing a radiant yellow, it looked like it would almost glow. Bigger than my entire hand, it was quite large at that too. It looked almost familiar, my mind niggling at me that I should know something.
But… What was it? It was no Rainbow Wing, or Silver Wing. Not even a Health Feather. Electric type? The only electric fliers I knew were the genie with no feathers- the VGC god Thunderus- Zapdos, and Kilowatteral’s line. Some Delta or Tera nonsense? Unlikely.
I’d never seen Watteral or Kilowatteral in the area before, and Zapdos? Maybe. But- I thought as I looked down into the new cave opening.
This was a world filled to the brim of myths and legends, observable and creating literal divine interventions. Just a year earlier I had an encounter with one such- one of the legendary Beasts at that.
Then me and my partner visit it a year later, to find what can only be called a ‘Key Item’, with an opening to what is most likely the Dark Cave being created right after it gets collected.
The world might as well be shouting at me, and for my goals I should probably listen.
Ledyba follows my gaze and hurriedly shakes his head.
“Hey c’mon. I know it’s dangerous, but this is probably divine intervention happening”
I wave the feather across his face.
“Don’t worry- we’ll pop in for a bit, to not lose track of the entrance and come back up. You remember Flash, don’t you?”
He gives me an unsure look, then eventually nods. I understood his hesitation, back when we went to class together, the rangers would volunteer every now and then to teach us. The Dark Cave was enlightening- because of the scale of the region and the fact that terraforming pokemon like Onix existed, the Dark Cave was the name of the huge cave system travelling under the mountain range.
One of the sticking points the Ranger warned about was this was home to Ursaring and their Teddiursa dens, and if we heard a whiff of them, we’d be skedaddling. Hopefully I wouldn’t need to call Mom if such a thing happened- she would be disappointed and I don’t want to make her feel scared. Also an encounter with the normal brown bear (heh) would not be great in general.
I stashed the feather into what I would dub the ‘Key Item’ slot of my bag, Ledyba hooked around my back so he could catch me with his wings if we tripped, and I skidded down the rubble into the cave.
The light from the entrance illuminated around us, but at a certain point it was a wall of darkness.
I stepped out of the spotlight and Ledyba stuck to me like glue.
“C’mon there’s nothing to be worried about. We’ll be fine”
I turned my head towards my back, his face looking nervous back at me.
“Now- Ledyba use Flash”
The spots on his back illuminated brightly- once, twice, then maintaining a steady glow the third time.
The whole cavern illuminated. Stalactites hanging from the roof, calcified minerals making patterns on the ground, with a few stalagmites meeting them, and the skuttle of what appeared to be a dunsparce- by the brief look of white feathered wings- hid away.
Then a thought occurred to me, and I quickly glanced at the roof- only to sigh in relief with no zubat in sight. I was not interested in getting swarmed- I had enough of that in the games. If there were any here, they were most likely scared by the sudden collapse from earlier. Thank goodness for small mercies.
Though if needed, one of the complementary items for trainers in the Silph bag were 5 repels. Though according to the camping courses I took- it's better to use them at a static location as they wear out fast and aren’t as effective if you walk around. The weaker the repel, the faster it becomes ineffective, reminding me of the in-game step counter.
Ledyba’s flash, which made the spots on his chitin illuminate a steady glow which showed the way further. There were tunnels of all sizes making up the cave system we could see, but we did not dare go into any of the smaller holes- only travelling through the cavernous depths with huge open spaces, and ceilings high above me. This also had the plus of making it easier to navigate the way back though.
Though maybe this was a bad idea- I thought as a lifetime ago of watching cave diving videos flashed through my mind. Ledyba was still staying close to me throughout it. But what made me not regret it was how cool everything was.
There was an underground lake we found, peering down into it we saw goldeen, and at the other side of the lake I could see a Graveler looking over two geodude wanting to wrestle- was that a Makuhita?
The reflections that Ledyba produced on the calm waters was stunning, and so were the curious goldeen and magikarp looking up to see that light. While Ledyba was also giving them a curious look back, I quickly dipped my fingers in and gave them a lick. No salt huh.
Travelling further, we could hear the echo’s of Zubat squeaking, but after pausing we realised it was far away, deeper within the tunneling paths. I thought Zubat were cool, but didn’t want to try my luck with them.
It was stunning to see, and while I had fears I didn’t regret coming down. I’d never been in such a large cave system before in any memory. It was much different from the fields and forests by Cherrygrove and the sea nearby. Peering down one of the paths, the ground looked torn up on all sides. An Onix? While I could fit in it, I ignored it as I continued to follow the larger tunnels.
At one point Ledyba and I came across another wide open Cavern. The slow rhythmic drips coming down from the largest Stalactite I’d seen echoing throughout it.
And in the middle of the room was a deep dark pit, going further into the Earth. Ledyba gave me a judgemental look as I edged myself further, reluctantly following me.
We looked down. There was a steep drop going deeper and deeper, darkness swallowing the depths where Ledyba’s light couldn’t illuminate further.
Gulping, I took a step back. “Hey Ledyba, let’s just… not”
Before Ledyba could respond, we both heard the loud noise of claws scraping across rock coming from above, echoing throughout the cavern.
Turning towards the sound we looked up towards another entrance of the cavern, high up on some rocks, Ledyba's glow highlighted the stark fur of the beast.
Red eye’s looked down at us, locking its stare with mine. While never seeing it in this life, I immediately recognized what was one of the most popular in my old world.
The sound of its sharp claws against the rock started again.
“Ledyba…. We need to move”
“Ledy..?” He sent me a confused look.
“That’s an Absol- we need to move now!”
That kicked him into gear. Divine intervention or not, if an Absol is here I’m outta here. I know my lore, I’m not that stupid. Ledyba hooked around my back, still providing light and we quickly left the cave feeling Absol’s stare against my back.
I was thankful that my memory was decent, and that I took all the larger paths so I knew which ways to go in the cave to get back to the surface. We raced through, Ledyba fluttering making all my steps larger, and footsteps lighter which was a life saver on the more uneven surfaces.
We passed the underground lake, and we were almost at the opening before I felt something hook- Ledyba saving me from falling flat on my face from the sudden stop. I quickly turned, not seeing anything that could’ve done that. We were just around the corner from the entrance and we were stopped just now.
Tentatively taking a step backwards I found I could do it. I went forward again and it was fine.
But when I took more steps towards the entrance, it was like something was preventing me from going anything more forward.
I took another look at the ground before I noticed something weird.
“Ledyba, can you make your flash a little stronger for a moment?”
Ledya immediately did it, the sudden stronger flash making our shadows move in ways it shouldn’t, a deeper black than it should be against Ledyba’s light before it settled down.
Seeing a path, I followed the shadows where it was a little darker than normal, before it hooked around a boulder.
I briefly hesitated, thinking if I should do it. But I’ll be stuck here if I don’t.
I called out.
“I know you’re there, can you please reveal yourself?”
I waited and nothing happened.
I shared a look with Ledyba before I steeled myself to call out again.
“Hey, I kno-” “WOBU!”
I blue blob flailed behind the boulder, jumping out then striking a pose at me.
Oh no.
I cringed at the sight of a Wobbuffet in front of me, with the darker shadows connecting him to us. That was Shadow Tag.
I was so concerned with Ursaring and their ilk in the Dark Caves, that it made me completely forget about the rare Wobuffet.
The Wobuffet continued posing at us to my partner's bafflement while I considered my options.
Absolute nightmare’s to fight, and if Ledyba gets taken out? Despite being so close to the entrance, being in pitch blackness will be a death sentence and I don’t want to bet on my chances.
I cursed myself for not being prepared and not bringing a flashlight as a backup plan. Never again.
So a battle is unideal- but I do have bribes.
Opening my bag, with both Ledyba and the Wobuffet I pulled out our last snack, a single roasted Apricorn.
“Hey, this is food- I’ll give it to you if you let us leave?”
The Wobuffett stared and eventually gave a slow nod.
“Wobu” he affirmed.
I gave it a lob, and the Wobuffet caught it. Giving it a bite, we could hear the crunch of the shell before it gave way to its softer roasted insides. He was humming as he ate it.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Ledyba and I started to leave, but were still stopped from going forward thanks to the shadow tag.
“Are we good to go?” I asked after he eventually stopped eating the snack.
“Wobu Wobu Wobbuffet!!!!!” He exclaimed, before giving us the universal gimmie motion with his arms.
Are you kidding?
“We don’t have more” I gave the wobbuffet a deadpan look.
“Can we seriously, just you know- go?” I gestured towards what would lead to the entrance.
His head twisted into a distinct shake of a no.
“Ledyba-” We locked eyes, “Use your strongest flash”
A sudden flash bang went off, the entire area of the cave lit up a brightlight and I felt the shadow tag’s grip come off.
Since the shadow tagged worked through the shadows, I wondered if the sudden banishment of all shadows would let us free- and I was right.
But it quickly wore off, with us only able to get a few meters away before we were trapped within the Shadow Tag again- the Wobuffet angry muttering at us covering his eyes.
Ledyba’s usual constant flash was not as bright as before too.
“Hey Ledyba- can you do that again?”
“Ledi Ledi Ledyba” he responded, gesturing, with a shake of his head.
So he could do it, but after that flash, it’s gone. With him using flash constantly, doing a huge flashbang for us will mean lights out afterwards which is one of our lose conditions. And if Wobuffet’s not letting us go…
“Hey Ledyba- looks like it's time to battle!”
And Wobuffet met us head on
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Our advantage was that Ledyba had both physical and special moves. Sadly as a bug type he was sorely lacking, with only bug bite to his name- a move which gives plenty of time for Wobuffet to prepare his Counter- which we realised when he hit back hard, the first connecting hit from the pokemon.
Another benefit was Ledyba’s moves were weak, so Wobbuffet’s Mirror Coat and Counter weren’t that devastating. The downside was that Ledyba’s moves were weak, so it was a battle of chip away and who goes down first.
We quickly learnt to identify the differences between Wobuffet doing Mirror Coat and Counter, with Mirror Coat looking more reflective like its namesake, while the Counter just a tell-tale glow.
One of the first things we did was set up Ledyba’s Agility so he could react and move too quick for Wobuffet- chaining together Air Cutters and Swift when Wobuffet when he was preparing for a counter with Ledyba being close, or doing quick jabs with ineffective Mach Punches in between moves trying to find a chance to let off Dizzy Punch’s for hopefully a lucky confusion. It doesn’t help that sometimes Wobuffet’s body flailed when Ledyba got close sometimes, making it particularly difficult to make contact with the pokemon. In between belting out moves and instructions for Ledyba, I pondered if that was Wobuffet using splash.
But that doesn’t mean we avoided them all- I was quick to belt out a Light Screen or Reflect when it looked like Ledyba couldn’t dodge if there was contact with any of the respective moves, which we were thankfully able to avoid hitting most of the time. Doing all this- not to mention Ledyba’s still active flash?
We were on a tightrope and hoping we didn’t fall.
Ledyba let loose a swift that hit Wobuffet and his monstrous health, before heading close for a hopeful dizzy punch- please get confused- when Wobuffet starting clapping
“Ledyba- abort, abort!”
What was supposed to be a punch, soon became more stars heading straight towards a Wobuffet whose body started to shine with the reflectiveness of a mirror.
“Ledyba- dodge!”
A condensed ball of the power within the swift attack shot towards Ledyba, which thankfully no longer carried its sure-hit properties. He barely dodged it.
But it didn’t stop the momentum of the attack, and I could see it travelling with me right in my path.
“Ledy!”
I barely managed to move, trying to move in a direction not restricted by the shadow tag.
My heart leapt to my throat as the attack just barely passed me, my feet catching on a divot on the uneven cave ground with it swiftly beginning to meet my face.
Then- Darkness.