Diglett Cave (2/3)

[Words: 1664]

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"And so it begins," Izan muttered under his breath.

He didn't doubt for a second that something was about to go drastically wrong. Even if the mission didn't say they had to do much besides observe and report back? It was a cave. If you see something in a cave, it sees you too. Usually.

At least Diglett Cave wasn't an imposing sight. If anything, it looked brittle like it would topple over at the slightest touch.

It wouldn't, but still.

The idea of it collapsing on top of them sent shivers down his spine. Being buried alive was one of those primal fears that are nearly impossible to get over. Like the fear of a plane crashing, knowing how unlikely that is but still unable to shake it.

A small squeeze and a tilted head from the budding assassin on his shoulder did put a smile on his face though.

"It's nothing, Sandshrew." He sighed, letting the fear ooze out of him. If there was one thing she was good at, it was digging things up. No matter what happened, he trusted her.

And what was up with him, lately? He was not an emotional person. Not in his past life, at least.

He could admit it, he was an adrenaline junkie. But that was only because of how calm and collected he normally is. Things just didn't excite or surprise him as much as others. That was why he thought being a Pokemon trainer was a blessing, the exciting battles, and adventures.

Plus, you know, the free magical monsters.

So why the hell was he of all people worried about a cave collapsing? Even if Bruno's massive Onix somehow fell on top of them, they'd be fine.

He knew that, and yet…

'Wait, did Bruno even catch that Onix yet? Is it still ripe for the takin-'

"So… what are we waiting for?" Joe asked, interrupting Izan's scrambled thoughts and ignoring the rest of the group's nervousness. "It's not like a giant Onix will fall on us or something."

Izan blinked in surprise.

Robin gave Joe a look. "Y'know, that's not impossible. There are other Pokemon than Diglett in these tunnels."

Joe nonchalantly waved her off. "Yeah, yeah. C'mon already, we're burning daylight out here!"

"Wait."

Before Joe could brazenly step into the cave, Lora yanked the back of his hoodie with psychic energy.

"Whaaat, what is it now?" Joe whined, letting himself get pulled back.

Robin didn't miss a beat. "Because you completely missed the sign, you dolt."

Izan would be the last person to admit that he also ignored the sign and was going to walk in without reading it.

"Oh!" Joe perked right back up. "It says uh, 'No hunting or capture. Violators will be prosecuted.', so we can't catch any Diglett? Not that I was planning on it." On the sign was a picture of a Diglett with the universal 'no' symbol on top.

"It's because Diglett is on the protected Pokemon list. It's illegal to capture or harm wild ones because they were hunted to near extinction by farmers. Being herbivores that naturally ruin land wherever they go made them pests at the very least." Lora replied matter-of-factly.

That explained a lot that Izan always wondered about. Like why Lt.Surge thought it was a smart idea to start an electric gym next to a ground-type Pokemon's main habitat. Any smart trainer would just go catch one and use them against him.

But if they were unavailable in the first place, then the only Pokemon you could get around Vermillion City would be water types or birds. And something like the occasional Rattata had no chance against a Raichu.

Even the Nido siblings, who weren't assumed to be native to this area, weren't that useful until complete evolution.

Speaking of Nido siblings, did that mean he wasn't supposed to kick those Diglett's asses before? …Oops.

"Fine. Don't attack the mole Pokemon, got it." Joe flippantly stated. "Let's go already."

Izan huffed before following the rest into the dark cave. Beams of light shot through cracks in the ground and into the cave, causing it to be dimly lit. A feeling in his gut was urging him to just 'get on with it' but that same gut feeling was the main reason he accepted to join this group in the first place.

He was genuinely starting to mistrust his gut.

Lora seemed on edge for some reason in particular, but if she were anything like Rachel, then… he'd keep an eye on her.

Just as he thought about doing that, Lora's Natu suddenly opened its wings wide and began to emit a low humming sound. Its eyes glowed pink in the barely illuminated darkness.

"Uh…" "Natu is scouting the area since we don't know where the problem is. Like echolocation but with psychic energy." Lora abruptly said, cutting him off.

"Oh, that's pretty useful." Izan idly commented after a moment.

…

This excursion was less exciting than he'd thought it would be.

…

And much more awkward.

--0-X-0-X-0--

Hours passed in relative silence.

They hadn't encountered much of anything thanks to Natu sending off random psychic waves to scare off any Pokemon. It was putting Izan on edge, and his gut feeling kept getting worse the more they continued along.

"Obviously, Charmander is better than Squirtle. It's a dragon that breathes fire. What's cooler than that?" Robin started.

"Uh, obviously the turtle that can rock those sunglasses like it's nobody's business. Have you seen Squirtle? Squirtle squad for the win, you plebian." Joe replied.

"You don't even know what a plebian is."

"Neither do you!"

"Yeah, well at least-"

Oh, yeah, that was happening as well. Joe and Robin kept arguing about nothing every so often.

"Shut up, I think I hear something." Izan interrupted. There was a low rumbling coming from behind them. "Also, Bulbasaur is clearly the winner. It's cute, it sweeps like half the gym circuit, and it's designated #1 in the Pokedex."

Even so, they both stayed quiet, but the glares they sent his way were very loud.

Almost five minutes passed of silence, and although they seemed to be getting more and more annoyed, the entire group stayed quiet.

Suddenly-

"Run!" Lora sprinted into the darkness as if her life depended on it.

Not wasting any time, Izan sprinted after her, running past her due to her weaker physique. If there was one thing growing up in a relatively dangerous neighborhood taught him, it was that if someone is running, you run too.

Questions are for when you're safe.

Izan glanced behind him at the confused faces of both Robin and Joe. They took a moment, but they too started hurrying after them. Looking in the far distance, he could see a bunch of… 'somethings' in the darkness if he squinted.

Whatever it was, it was gaining on them fast.

"What are we running from?!" Joe yelled for him.

"A… horde… of Diglett." Lora responded, already winded. She needed to start working out or something. "On the right!" She continued.

Izan didn't slow down, jumping and pushing himself off the wall so that he didn't lose much speed when turning. Lora was losing speed, and fast. He had to do something or his escape button would get trampled and they'd be lost.

"Sandshrew, can you use [Sandstorm] while running?" He asked, totally not forgetting she was there.

"Shrew!" She nodded, confident.

She hopped off his shoulder, landed on the ground, and ran alongside him. Picking up speed, she was a few meters ahead before jumping and turning back with her arms wide.

*CLAP*

With a bang, all the dust that accumulated from the landing and scurrying coalesced and shot out behind them.

Almost perfectly timed, Izan caught Sandshrew out of the air without stopping even a bit.

"Good…hah… thinking! Take a… left!" Lora managed to pant out, Natu seemingly giving her directions in the darkness.

Quickly running around the corner, they collectively held their breaths and stayed low to the ground, trying to stay as silent as possible.

"Diglett, Dig, Diglett Dig." "Trio Trio Trio"

The horde passed harmlessly by for a full minute, losing them in the confusion and darkness.

When they did, they each took their sigh of relief.

Joe slapped Izan on the back. "Nice going, Izan! I was gonna make the trio use [Fake Out] but that probably wouldn't have been enough."

"Oh, Tyrogue knows that move. I just… didn't think to use him." Robin surprisingly admitted. Her face was hard to see but she sounded embarrassed by the sound of her voice.

"I'd suggest we keep our Pokemon out but the cave might be a little small for that," Izan whispered, ignoring the thanks. It wasn't that big of a deal. "Maybe we should- What is it, Lora?"

Lora had been tugging on his sleeve for the entire minute they'd been holding their breath from the Digletts. He thought it was a nervous tick but now it was getting annoying.

Izan turned and saw quite clearly what 'it' is. Maybe he should've trusted his gut a bit more.

"Oh." Oh, was right.

He wasn't short by any means, and he still had to incline his head upwards to get a good look at it.

They all turned to look straight into the eyes of an enormous pink dog, a pit bull that was well over 7 feet tall almost frothing at the mouth at them. Its red eyes were staring straight at them. Its nose twitched in their direction and saliva hung in slippery ropes from disgusting yellowish fangs.

And if that wasn't enough, it was oozing a miasma that screamed with malice.

"GRAAAAAAAAAGH" The Granbull let out an ear-piercing roar, forcing both Natu and Sandshrew back into their Pokeballs. Slobber splattered onto Izan's face.

There was only one reasonable response to something like this-

"Bleegh" Robin suddenly threw up.

That was not what he meant. At all.

A/N:

Uh... Hi?