Half an hour later, Blitzer and George stumbled upon an opening at the base of a large hill. They hadn’t seen anything besides fields and a handful of wild Pokemon, most of whom had ignored the two, spare a few Pidove who were easy to dispatch. Bearing the strength they had found in the encouragement from the other kids, they stared into the opening.

“So, this is it?” George asked Blitzer, who nodded back at him.

“Should be. We did as was asked, didn’t we? We went north from the village, right? So I guess this must be it. There’s the sign, right there. ‘Little Rock MD - keep out!’ Has to be it.”

George stared further down into the bright descent. “Are you sure this is the place they meant with ‘hidden from the eye of the Leo’? We don’t even know what that means. And it sure looks bright for a cave.”

Blitzer shrugged. “Well, it’s worth a try, right? And if it’s not, we’ll try again some other time. Because heroes never give up. Right?”

“Right.” George nodded.

“Awesome!” Blitzer said with a tough smile. “It does look oddly bright in there. But you want to know what that means? We won’t have to rely on my flame just to see!” he said, holding up his tail with one hand. George chuckled back at him, drumming his belly in anticipation for what they’d find down there.

“You’re right, that’s not any good, either. I’ve never told you, but that fire of yours doesn’t light up anything particularly well. Sorry if that comes off as rude, but-”

“Why would it be?” Blitzer asked with a shrug.

“Oh, well…” George scratched the top of his head. “I don’t know. Might not be nice to say that to, uh, to a fire type and all. Might be like calling someone weak, saying that they don’t have powerful fire.”

Blitzer reassured George with a nod. “You’re right, actually. But it’s not in the way you think. My fire right now is weak because I’m still young. It gets stronger as I get older. You’ll see.“

“Oh, okay.” George swallowed a speck of his own saliva. ‘ That almost went really badly .’

“Alright then…” Blitzer stretched his arms out in front of him, the sound of his bones audibly cracking as he prepared his claws for the road ahead powerful enough to make George take a step back. “...let’s do this!”

George breathed in deep. “Here goes nothing.”

And so, with their hearts full of courage and their steps heavy with confidence, the two began their exploration of Little Rock. It was time to see whether the message’s promises of treasure and more held any water, or whether it was all hot air from someone out to prank them. Whatever intentions the sender had, the joke was on them; Blitzer and George were happy enough to have explored at all. Another step up that ladder towards the life of their dreams; that was all the motivation they needed to enter worlds unknown.

The tunnel went on a downwards slope for a small while, before widening up into a space that two fully grown Pokemon could traverse side by side. Light emanated from numerous torches hanging from the wall, bright enough for the smallest pebbles to be seen before being stepped on. Despite their crackling and strong light, the torches bearing the flames never burnt up, or showed any signs of burning up. They emitted no smell, smoke, or much in the way of heat, for that matter. They burned in perpetuity, casting their light over the walls of the cave in a lonely glory.

Sometime into the larger tunnel, George felt his feet ache from the pressure of the pebbles and the cold stones underneath him. While Blitzer happily marched on without worry, George found the stress of walking pressing deeper into his skin. If his feet were taste buds, the stone below would be that morning’s soup.

“Blegh.”

“Something wrong, George?”

“It’s just my feet being cold. And lumpy. Maybe going in here barefoot wasn’t the best idea.”

“Huh? But I’m feeling fine.” Blitzer lifted his feet off the ground to study them for a few seconds. Upon putting them back down, his teeth were sticking out of his mouth in a smile. “Actually, I think I’m feeling great! You have to admit that this is better than the dewy grass from Azure Hills, George.”

George sighed. “I don’t know. That wasn’t nearly as bad on my feet.”

“Well no, of course not. You’re of water, remember?” said Blitzer, pointing at the scalchop on George’s chest. “Of course you wouldn’t mind wet grass so much. That’s another way in which we’re different. Different kinds feel more at home in other places. That’s why you enjoy bathing so much, while I hate it. Or why I like walking on stone, while you find it clumsy. Deep down, you want to feel the water course through your fur, while I’d love to go hiking in the mountains!”

George stared towards the Charmander with a raised eyebrow. “But I thought I could handle stone. And grass is still grass, isn’t it?”

Blitzer bit his lip, pupils slowly moving across his eye as if he were tracking something on the ceiling of the cave. “Well, it’s complicated. Very complicated, ha. I wouldn’t worry too much if I were you.”

“Sure thing,” George said. Even after his halfhearted explanation, however, Blitzer was still incredibly preoccupied with the ceiling. Any and all attempts to try and handwave it away were betrayed outright by his body language, which didn’t do anything to bolster George’s confidence in the situation, either. Between the pupils darting back and forth, the odd way he was holding his arms, and him now falling silentt, George had an inkling that Blitzer was seeing something he’d rather not be looking at.

‘ Something doesn’t feel right. It was only a stupid question, wasn’t it? Well why is he… looking at the ceiling…? Wait, what is that smell? ’

A musk of mushrooms and dusty fur emanated from above. George dreaded having to look up to see it for himself. The growing frown on Blitzer’s face told him to shirk back, to move on and forget the matter. But the smell marched further up his twitching nose, and into his mouth, down his throat, leaving a taint on everything it touched. It was alluring, irresistible to anyone who couldn’t look danger dead in the eye. And so, he looked.

“George, no-”

“SKREE!”

As if thunder had struck, a flock of bats awakened from their slumber and swarmed over the tunnel. One flew past George’s face with a piercing screech; George’s ears went flat as he fell backwards, the cold stone pressing into his fur with blunt force.

“Aaaah!”

“Geeeorge! Quic-, br- b-e!” Blitzer’s yells were buried under the screeching of the dozen Zubats and Woobats that swarmed around them like a chorus of wasps.

“What?! I can’t hear you!” George yelled back. The bats beating their wings and screeching at their brethren drowned him and his partner out. Like a little flame having an ocean dumped over it. The shrieking bounced off the walls. George reached for his ears, only to find a sharp pain on his arm. He cried out, when the table was suddenly flipped upside down; the shrieking faltered to the sound of flames bursting from Blitzer’s mouth.

‘ That’s it! ’

George pulled on the energy stirring inside him. The water surged to his mouth and shot out in the blink of an eye, just as one of the Zubats flew past. The Pokemon flew backwards, straight into one of its kind. George closed his mouth prematurely; the water went back down. A wing slid past the top of his head; his eyes snapped shut, but George forced them back open to see a Woobat fly past. George reached for his energy and doused the attacker in half a second of water.

‘ Argh, there are so many of them… ’

The volleys of water and fire kept up, and the tunnel air gradually thinned out. George spat in short bursts with varying degrees of accuracy. For every hit there was a miss, and for every hit there’d be another attempted strike on his body somewhere. Over time, his head started spinning, and his stomach began to ache. Water breathing was taking its toll on his body. And all the while the bats continued buzzing around, seemingly waiting for the right moment where they could all converge upon George.

But he was not on his own, as a gust of flame whizzing past would show. Blitzer fought back with a strong control over his own fire. Many Zubats and Woobats lay spread over the ground, singed with twitchy wings. If any tried to attack, Blitzer had his claws ready. It was thanks to him that the bats eventually fled. They were smart enough to not stick around on the losing side.

Once the last of the bats had disappeared, George sighed and rubbed at the ache in his head. The energy had been sucked out of his body from all the water spitting he had been doing, and that lack of energy was now leaving its mark. A sore throat, a pain in his belly, the headache, they had all flared up as the fight came to an end. George gasped for breath, his feet asking for a reprieve which he was all too willing to give. The aquatic energy flowing through him demanded someone far stronger than George.

“Phew… that has got to be the last of ‘em. Sorry for not warning you, heh,” Blitzer said, sidestepping the knocked out bats like ordinary rocks. Aside from slightly faster breathing, he wasn’t any different than before the attack. Not a scale out of place. “That’s something to remember for the next cave we’ll explore: Don’t forget to watch the ceiling! Zubats and Woobats left right and center, eh? No Noibats though. Maybe they live deeper? Or not here at all? I wonder.”

George crawled up to a cave wall to rest his back, for as much as the cold would allow him to. The aching had simmered down enough to not leave him vulnerable should another bat show up, but still it stung hard. The scratches on his arms were barely even noticeable over the exhaustion and soreness he felt elsewhere.

”I’m just glad we got out of that alive… thank god.”

“Uh, are you alright over there?” Blitzer asked.

‘ Does it look like I’m alright?! ’ George shook his head. “I’m tired.”

Blitzer tilted his head. “Oh, how come?”

George’s head rolled in one direction, then back in the other. ‘ Like he needs me to answer that for him. ’ “I breathed too much water.”

“Too much?” A flicker from Blitzer’s tail could be felt throughout the room. “What do you mean, too much? You should be able to breathe water to your hearts content, that’s in you!”

George shook his head. “Apparently that’s not the case… I went and spat as much water as I could,” he said, pointing at the puddles scattered over the tunnel. “And I must’ve gone too far with it, because it really began to hurt after a while. If we hadn’t chased ‘em off right then, I don’t think I would’ve lasted for much longer.”

Blitzer licked his lips while looking away at the ceiling again. “Huh. That’s odd… I haven’t felt like that in a long time. I’m not kidding, I could probably breathe fire for an hour before feeling that exhausted.”

“Are you sure?” George asked. ‘I’d like to not be defenseless against anything that can take a little water.’

“Why not?” said Blitzer with a nod. “Maybe you just need some more time with it. You’ve only just started breathing, after all… hold on a second.”

“Well I-”

Before George was able to finish, Blitzer shot a glob of fire from his mouth, which crashed into the ceiling not far from where George was sitting. A Paras then fell from that spot with a weak screech. George watched hit fall, then jumped as he felt a tap on his head. A mushroom rolled on the ground beside him. With a frown, George rose back to his feet.

“Sorry about that, heh.”

“...like I was saying, hope it happens soon.” George pressed his lips shut. ‘ Great. Sure hope the end of this place isn’t far off. .’

* * *

Venturing deeper into the cave, the two found themselves at odds with a few more wild Pokemon. Nothing on the scale of the swarm from earlier, fortunately - the two encountered the occasional set of bats or Geodudes, some Roggenrola and a lost Drilbur as well. The encounters were short lived, as George and Blitzer were anticipating foes around every corner; the echoes of rocks being smashed in a distant part of the cave had put them on edge. In addition, George was fortunately healing from the struggle earlier; the receding pain made him unafraid to use his energy on the wild Pokemon they now encountered.

“Boy, am I glad to have you here with me, George,” Blitzer said with a smile.

“Tell me about it. Whole bunch of rocks and grounds in this cave,” George replied, keeping his eyes peeled for threads in the distance.

“Earthlings scare me,” Blitzer said, his arms crossed over his chest. “Rocks, ground, mud, it’s everywhere and they use it to attack. If I’m not careful, one could just sneak up on me, just like that!” He snapped his fingers and pointed at his frightened face. George had but a shrug to give him.

“It can’t be that bad, can it?”

Blitzer shook his head back and forth, squeezing his eyes shut and letting breath sizzle in between his teeth. “Oh yes it is. You’re water, you wouldn’t know, but I’ve had moments before. There’s some Drilburs that live near Greenfield, and they hurt me pretty bad a few times.”

George turned his head to ask a question. “Well, why did they attack you? Were you on your own, and did they see you as an easy target? Do wild Pokeon tend to be out for blood? …were they even wild?“

Blitzer began twiddling his fingers around each other. “Well, ehrm,” he blurted out through his puffed cheeks, “Feral Pokemon are definitely dangerous, depends on the Pokemon of course, but they’re dangerous. Six year old me did not believe my parents when they told me that, and well, I thought it would be fun to stomp on Drilbur hills, haha…” his voice fizzled out. If not for his scales, his orange face would’ve been redder than a cherry. The tone of his voice revealed enough. George rolled his eyes as the corners of his mouth pulled upwards.

‘ Yeah, that’s something you would do alright, Blitzer. Then again, I can’t say I blame him. Some dangerous and harmless fun, that’s what all kids want to experience at some point, right? I’m glad his parents allowed him to do that much. ’

“Aah, that wasn’t one of my proudest moments,” said Blitzer, eyes drawn back to the slope in front of him. “But it’s one to remember. Although, it’s not entirely a fun memory. I’ve had an, uh, an aversion to Drilbur since then, I think.”

“Aversion? How so?” asked George, one hand over his scalchop. Blitzer audibly swallowed a glob of saliva before responding. George could sense the fear in the air and reflexively frowned. ‘ This isn’t going to be good news, is it? ’

“Well, have you ever had nightmares in which you were attacked?” Blitzer asked. George nodded back. “Okay. Now imagine being in the middle of a dark place, when suddenly a bunch of things jump out of the ground and walls to attack you.”

George pictured the scene in front of him: Total darkness on all sides, as if the room had been smothered in tar. Suddenly, the air shrieked as the earth split open from all sides. A sharp claw flew at his face; a chill shot up through his back. George smacked himself in the face. “Okay, I’ve heard enough.”

“Yeah…” Blitzer hung his head. “It’s not fun. Not at all. You’re shivering right now, but it’s worse when you’re dreaming.”

With a deep breath, George sped up his strides. “Let’s keep going. We should be pretty deep by now.”

“Do you think the treasure is nearby?” asked Blitzer. George shrugged back at him, his tail pitching itself flat up against his back.

“I’m not sure, but I haven’t seen any other paths through here. Have you?”

Blitzer shrugged. “I might have, but it was too dark to see anything.”

“Too dark? What do you mean, too dark? There’s plenty of torchlight everywhere, right?” George said, looking behind him as the path took a turn.

“Yeah,” Blitzer replied with a nod. His tail bounced around the back of his head, getting close enough to the head to make George cringe. “But didn’t you notice the gaps in the torches? I could’ve sworn those are other branches of this cave. Of this dungeon, I mean. What Mystery Dungeon just goes straight?”

George raised his shoulders. “This one? I don’t know.”.

“That makes no sense,” said Blitzer as he seized his tail in one hand and pulled it out in front of him. “No dungeon does that. There’s always more to it. What I’m going to say might be a bunch of nonsense, but… don’t you get the idea that we’re being led somewhere?”

“...What do you mean?” George replied. As much as he wished it wasn’t the case, something about the concept did not sit right with him. He took his scalchop off his chest, fidgeting it around between his fingers. The cave walls next to him rumbled.

“Isn’t it strange that there’s torches conveniently placed along the walls, and that they never burn out? It’s like they have the energy to keep the fire for as long as possible, like I do. Only Pokemon have that energy.”

George licked his lips. “But couldn’t it be something from the Mystery Dungeon? They shift around and change constantly, isn’t there some kind of energy flowing through here as well?” he asked, hoping for some reassurance. The walls next to them both rumbled once again, this time a little louder than before. Blitzer briefly shifted his attention to the wall, before sighing.

“Maybe there is. But it’s too strange for me.” The Charmander breathed in, then out. “What’s happening with the walls?”

Another rumble sped past them both just as Blitzer finished speaking. Startled, Blitzer ran over to George’s side, anxiously staring at the walls for a minute. Aside from the sound of their feet shifting around, the caves were silent. Not an echo or pebble to be heard. George’s eyes dashed over the area, looking for threats that were nowhere to be seen. His fur heated up from the nerves and the uncomfortable flaring from Blitzer’s tail, forcing his breaths out of his body rapidly. This was not imaginations running wild.

“What is that…?”

“I wish I knew, George…”

Blitzer’s teeth chattered. The two crept their way deeper into the cave, unable to keep their eyes off the cave walls for long. Something had to have been close. Something out of a nightmare. The two kept a hand on each other’s back, out of fear that they’d lose track of each other in an explosion of chaos. Not a word had to be spoken for them to understand the other; instinct thrived where primal fear ruled.

Slowly, they slid away from the rumbling in the walls. It seemed to have stopped, although neither believed it. George was at least willing to take his hand off Blitzer’s back, but the same did not happen in reverse. Blitzer’s pupils were dilated out to the edges of his irises, and the hand on George’s back shook. It kept George in discomfort, looking for a way to relieve the tension. And perhaps there might have been a way up ahead.

“Blitzer, look! Right there! I think that’s it!”