[X] My Assistant

[Rasu]

Andrew rushed back to the rest stop with Icicle on his arms the the rest of the crew following him, including the Absol from earlier adventures. After some tiring moments of running the rest stop could be seen from afar. Andrew sighed with a smile on his face before starting his way back once more.


"I am so late... Oh whatever, I better get moving and fast!" these were the thoughts that crossed the young boy's mind while his legs would carry him as fast as they could, making him reach the tables some moments later. However, Andrew slipped on the wet grass and fell right with his face on the ground. His Pokémon watched in embarrassment as he got up and whipped the dirt from his face, bursting into laughter moments after the spectacular fall.


"I haven't had a fall like this for some time now!" he laughed as he shook off the remaining dirt on his jacket. Looking around he found no-one except a lone Oddish enjoying the sunlight. As he looked around some more he saw a familiar face.


"..."


"..."


"You're still following me?" Andrew said to the Absol behind him who was looking directly at him and his Pokemon. "Either way, I'm looking for someone. Tag along if you want to, help me if you're feeling generous! Just try not to steal something for me this time.." Andrew took out his map to check on their destiny.


"What did Pan call that place again? Lumber Field? Boulder Hill?" the teen wondered for a second before noticing the name "UNDER HILL" on his map. He looked at it stupidly for not remembering such a simple name before he returned Icicle and Flick to their respective Pokeballs.


"Well, I can't return you since I don't really own you so you'll just have to follow me, OK?" the Absol nodded and followed the boy. It wasn't long until they reached a big metallic gate with a sign next to it indicating the town that Andrew was looking for. The boy tried to call it up but with no success.


"Looks like it's being used... Guess we'll have to wait then."

[Moonlight Zelda]

Diana glanced over at Kimball, feeling her riolu companion nudging her arm as the others moved off. “What is it?” she queried, quirking a brow. He promptly jumped off the table, before pointing in the opposite direction. It looked like someone else was either late or lost. The young woman shrugged after a moment, before squatting briefly. Lagging had let Pan and Justin already leave, so it was clear she had to pick up the pace.

A smile played about her lips. The pace of her home region, more or less. “All right, guys - Time to go. Do you want to rest for now?”

Kimball cocked his head after a moment, before offering another bow and nodding. His paws were once again touched together in a meditative position. The riolu pup’s crimson eyes were already closed, apparently focusing on attaining the state of mind. He didn’t even twitch when Lin hugged him.

The pichu instead was the one to twitch an ear, clearly not having gotten to understand meditation yet. While he had done it every day since she’d been adopted into the family, it was a little strange to her still, since she preferred to explore. Lin glanced up at her, rubbing a small yellow paw against her forehead. Diana chuckled in response, before picking the little electric mouse up as she grabbed Kimball’s Friend and Innes’s Moon Ball.

Diana’s smile widened upon seeing that her venomous gerbil had fallen asleep next to the park bench, clearly having worn himself out frolicking earlier. Lin seemed to be the only one completely aware of her surroundings. “Okay, up we go, Lin,” the young woman said, holding out her arm. The little pichu immediately bounded up it, before sitting down on her shoulder as she returned both of her resting males back to their storage spheres.

“Pi pi pichu?”

The young woman promptly clapped her palm to her forehead upon noticing what Lin was holding, having been rummaging through the top of her backpack. Her jar of peanut butter. “Not now. Later, yes,” Diana sighed, shaking her head as she started after them. Lin settled back onto her shoulder as she moved into a jog after putting the jar back, happily observing her surroundings.



It wasn’t long before they came across the same person they’d seen earlier, a russet tressed young man. Maybe the Andrew that Pan had mentioned? It looked like he was waiting on the lift that cut into the ground, at least. Diana’s gaze trailed a little further down when she saw a flash of sleek white fur, framing a black face. Deep scarlet eyes briefly passed over her and Lin, before returning to the man.

An absol. Diana slipped her hands into the pockets of her jeans as she finished closing the distance between them, before nodding in greeting. “Hello,” she murmured, tone offhanded as she observed the Dark type. A mix of feline and canine, the Disaster Pokemon was pure elegance. Once again reminding her of why Dark and Psychics were one of her favorites. She smiled, before extending a hand towards it. Not close enough to touch, but close enough to let it get her scent easier. Diana lowered it after a moment, before stepping closer to the elevator shaft.

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

Justin walked with his arms crossed, enjoying the scenery of the whole situation. He had sort of gotten used to the smog that blanketed Petropolis and had trained himself to never take deep breaths, even to yawn, and never breathe through his nose because it always smelled horrible. He didn't even notice it, but he was breathing deeply through his nose the whole walk over, not even thinking about the silence between him and Pan. She might as well have not been there.

“Sure is nice outside,” she said, snapping him back into reality. He chuckled at the fact that his mind had actually wandered off.

"Definitely," he said, moving his right hand to his chin where he rubbed his slight shadow. He noted in his mind that he needed to shave later that day. He also sort of smiled that of all things to talk about, the weather was actually a good subject, because of how nice it was, even though usually that subject was meant to break tension and force conversation. It didn't feel forced though.

On the walk over, they continued chatting. Justin tried not to talk about Tina so much, but it was difficult when the only two things in his life really were her and work. As with all women, he let her dominate the conversation.

This came to an abrupt halt, however, when they got to a cage type thing at the base of a hill.

“This must be an elevator,” Pan noted. Justin just nodded. It was definitely an elevator. "Here goes nothing," she added one everyone was inside the cage. In the distance, Justin could see the girl from earlier, Diana, had followed them, but the elevator already started moving.

"Was that-" but he was cut off as the elevator went into what might as well have been freefall. Justin's right hand's grip tightened around the bar of the cage and his left hand shot towards Pan's shoulder to help her (and admittedly, him) keep balance and not, you know, die. As they moved, though, Justin started to get actually angry. Why would they put such a ridiculous elevator here? Do these people have any idea how dangerous that is? What if they were an old couple or something and they didn't know about the rapid speed increase? This thing was a lawsuit waiting to happen, but he would probably forget about that anger the moment he stepped outside.

[Toogee]

As the elevator continued its descent, Pan looked towards Justin as he grabbed her shoulder. He seemed angry about something. She tapped the hand on her shoulder to get Justin’s attention.

“Hey!” Pan shouted over the turbulence. “Lighten up! It’s not everyday you get in one of these things!”

Pan was having the time of her life. She was determined to share that feeling with all her companions. She yelled out “WOO-HOO” and encouraged the young man to do the same. “Try it! Great stress reliever!”

Eventually, the elevator slowed to a stop at their destination. Pan led the way out, observing her surroundings. It appeared they were in a large cavern, though people populated this particular cave. Men and women were leaving and entering smaller caves carved into the walls. Some of these caves had addresses on them; others had signs indicating places of business. Each of the two walls was dedicated to either residential or business properties, so neither mixed with the other. The caves extended up to three stories, accessed via ramps carved into the cavern. The arrangement reminded Pan of an apartment building.

As Pan walked into the center of the town, Pan took note of the only standing structure around: a tin water tower. On the tower was the town’s name:

Under Hill
Mushroom/Hairy Feet Capital of the World

Pan giggled upon reading the remark on hairy feet. As her eyes gazed upon the various businesses, she saw their first stop on the first floor. Though enclosed inside the wall, the local pokecenter had the familiar symbol on top of their doorway.

“I think we should wait in there for the others,” Pan said to Justin as she walked towards the entrance.

The innards of the pokecenter weren’t too much different from any other around Furoh. The only real difference was in the amount of stalactites hanging from the ceiling. Tables were made of large slabs of agate, perhaps from very large spheres found in the tunnels. Other than that, there was blue carpet, comfy chairs, a computer room, and a staff of nurses to tend to pokemon.

“Here you are,” Pan said to a nurse behind the counter. She handed over her pokemon for a quick healing, putting the pachirisu in her pokeball for a moment. As she waited, she turned to Justin.

“This place, it feels…kinda crowded,” she commented. “I like a backyard as much as the next girl, but…it is also cozy. And it’s ice how everyone in town is practically your neighbor.”

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

“Hey!” Pan shouted as she tapped Justin's hand, which was unconsciously gripping her shoulder. “Lighten up! It’s not everyday you get in one of these things!”

"Thank God," he said, softly enough so that no one could hear it over the falling elevator. It was also covered up by Pan's audible "woo ho" which caused him to chuckle just a little bit. It was cute how she wasn't worried for her life when one mess up in this elevator would surely kill everyone here except Justin's pokemon who were safely tucked away in their pokeballs. “Try it! Great stress reliever!”

"I don't have any stress to relieve," Justin claimed through gritted teeth as his grip around the cage tightened again. He began to brace himself for the inevitable crash landing, but was pleasantly surprised to feel the elevator actually slowing down at a fairly respectable pace. "This I can handle," he sighed once it stopped and the doors opened up.

The group walked out and they didn't really say anything to each other. It looked like a primitive group of cavemen lived here or something, but there was too much contemporary mixed in with the primitive. Justin didn't even notice the writing on the water tower (which was one of the things that kept reminding him that the caged elevator was not, in fact, The DeLorean, though he was fairly confident that 88 miles per hour was reached.)

“I think we should wait in there for the others,” Pan said, making her way towards a Pokemon Center. He agreed and was kind of excited to be indoors again. Moreover, he was not a regular to Pokemon Centers and, even in this situation, wouldn't be using it for its healing services. His pokemon were fine and rested. That said, he went ahead and sat down at one of the comfortable chairs near the computer center and picked up the best looking magazine..."Here we go," he smiled grabbing one about cars. He made an audible "Pfft," sound when he realized it was four months old.

“This place, it feels kinda crowded,” Pan said from the counter. “I like a backyard as much as the next girl, but it is also cozy. And it’s nice how everyone in town is practically your neighbor.”

"No one in this town is my neighbor," he laughed without looking back up at her. "Then again, I don't even like my neighbors, so," he shrugged while a smile on his face as he looked back up at her. His neighbors weren't that bad, but they were kids about his age and were always so noisy. They played loud music and one of the guys played guitar and practiced his terrible singing every night when Justin was trying to get to sleep since he, you know, had a job. "But I see what you mean," he added, making sure she knew he was just joking around.

[Toogee]

After a quick trip into the healing machine (the Vonmoto label on the side was far more visible after Pan’s latest adventure), the nurse handed over Pan’s team. As she released Chi-Chi, the pachirisu did a back flip on the counter before scurrying back into Pan’s vest.

Pan joined Justin on a comfy couch adjacent to his. The young man still seemed rather mysterious to her. Her curiosity egged her into learning more about Justin, but not before returning the favor. Luckily, her conversation starter was on the adjacent table.

She grabbed a recent issue of a science magazine with a familiar cover photo. It showcased the enormous tree nicknamed “The Wooden Skyscraper.” It was filled with pictures that brought back memories of Pan’s first Furoh adventure. It seemed like only yesterday that she was floating towards the bibarel dam, walking under the giant tree branches, and climbing through the inner sanctum towards the vespiqueen-beedril colony. She smiled as she turned to the picture of Chi-Chi’s excited smile.

Pan passed the magazine to Justin to get his interest.

“See this?” she started. “Those are my pictures. I was the first to find out where this tree was located. Now they have scientists studying the habitat to learn more.” She may have been bragging just a little, but it was hard not to show a little pride in one’s work.

“Best of all, I enjoy going around the country doing these things. Is there anything you enjoy, Justin?” It wasn’t the best of segways into a conversation, but it managed to get the job done.

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

Justin tossed his magazine aside when Pan mentioned that she took the pictures in the one she showed him. "Wow," was all he could say after a few seconds of looking at the pictures. To him, it wasn't about the quality of the pictures. He had no conception of good from bad when it came to art. It was impressive because of the fact that it was published. She was accomplished, and he was excited for her so much so that it didn't even occur to him that he was jealous. "That's really cool."

She continued. “Best of all, I enjoy going around the country doing these things. Is there anything you enjoy, Justin?”

He kind of chuckled at her not so subtle way of keeping silence at bay. "I used to be really into sports," Justin nodded. "When I was in high school. But now I kinda just work. I'm either working, or at the gym or at home with Tina usually. Tina's my girlfriend, by the way. Not sure if I mentioned that. Anyway, I'm actually a pretty boring guy. I work 'cause I gotta and I chill when I can."

It was then that he thought about his hopes for his future. He didn't segway into it, but just blurted it out. "I really wanna be an architect. It's not really realistic, but that's what I want." He wondered when the enigmatic Andrew would show up. He also was fairly certain Diana was going to walk through that door very shortly, seeing as how he was pretty sure she followed Justin and Pan.

[Toogee]

“See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” Pan said, smiling. “Architect, huh? I don’t see why you couldn’t be one; you’re not exactly an old man. Plenty of time to go back to school.” Pan was pretty optimistic of Justin’s chances of going to college, so long as he really wanted it.

As Pan was talking to Justin, her poketch started to beep. She looked down to see an email alert and read the message. The message was from an automated service telling her she had a video call waiting for her. “Hold on. I’ve got to take this,” Pan said as she excused herself and headed straight for the computer room.

Pan quickly combed her hair with her fingers. Going through the freefall elevator did a number on her hairstyle; her old friend she was about to meet would certainly notice. She took a good look at herself through the reflection off the videophone, making sure there were no smudges on her face. Somewhat confident in her looks, Pan turned on the computer screen to reveal the caller.

((Joint post by Living Arrow and myself.))

On the screen appeared Darryn Kellor, more dressed up than usual. In the background, Pan could see his friends Jaima, Meiko, and Tuesday eating at a table and talking amongst themselves. Lady sat with the three, keeping an eye on Darryn from a distance. Pan felt that Darryn’s vulpix was watching her as well, which wouldn’t have surprised her. At their meeting at Mr. Vonmoto’s castle, Pan had a feeling Lady didn’t like her much. She cast that thought aside and focused on her friend.

"PAAAAN!" Darryn exclaimed as Pan appeared on his screen. He stopped himself from further conversation, a frown stretching across his face. "Er- I got you that Figy Berry conditioner for a reason."

“Well, you know how it goes. You’re out in the middle of nowhere, no water to wash up with, and Turnip was hungry. If it helps, he seemed to like it a lot,” Pan said, flashing a smile as she went through a quick summary of recent events. Darryn shook his head in sarcastic disapproval; it would appear he would have to maintain Pan himself to see any improvement in her image. Rather than send over more beauty products that would end up as snacks for the ivysaur, Darryn changed the subject.

"Where are you now? That doesn't look like any pokemon center I’ve ever seen..."

Pan wondered how Darryn knew she was in a pokecenter, much less that she had access to computers to speak to him. She then remembered the various telepathic pokemon traveling with him and his friends. They seemed capable of just about everything, so she didn’t dwell on the question for too long.

“I’m in the Underground in this small town called Under Hill. The entire town is completely underground! All the homes and stores are in little caves! It’s amazing!”

"That sounds... fun..." Darryn’s voice was thick with distaste. Apparently, a town surrounded by dirt and rock did not appeal to him. His demeanor changed when he was suddenly reminded of his own adventure underground.

"Oh! I caught my Rampardos underground - I was going to send him to Pallet Town to stay with Professor Oak but you could borrow him as a guide in the dark, if you like? Just don't let him battle..."

“That would be great!” Pan said, happy to have the help. The rampardos would be great for helping her get through the maze of the underground, not to mention strong enough to carry whatever treasures she happens to find. On the other hand, she knew what Zulu was capable of. The rampardos had trouble controlling its rage in battle, causing it to attack wildly. She wasn’t sure she could handle the fossil pokemon in battle, so she took Darryn’s advice to heart.

“Surely you didn’t get all dressed up today for my benefit. What’s going on with you?”

Darryn laughed as he prepared Zulu for transport. The thought of him trying to impress Pan seemed utterly ridiculous, even more so upon looking back at their very first meeting in Celadon. Darryn composed himself as he explained the situation.

"These eyes are on the prize of the Petropolis Contest Hall! My team is more ready than ever to take on another Contest and November is bound to get us into the Battle Round. I still haven't decided on who will take part in that part yet but it should be ok... Tuesday's taking part too, but I haven't seen her training all that much..." Darryn seemed both confident and unsure about his next challenge. Luckily, Pan was there to reassure him…sort of.

“Hey, not every contestant has their own magazine cover after their first contest match. You’ll do just fine,” Pan remarked. Darryn, however, had a new worry he did not anticipate. Did he set the bar too high? Could the opponent that defeats him turn out to be himself? He still had three hours to prepare, so maybe he could change something around. Such was the life of the coordinator…

“Guess I better let you get ready,” Pan said as she snatched up the pokeball sent from Petropolis. “I promise he won’t get too dirty,” she said, referring to the rampardos in her hand.

“Wait, what?” Darryn asked, slightly worried of what condition Zulu would be in.

“Tell everyone I said hi. Bye!” she said quickly before hanging up. Darryn could only wonder what Pandora Gibbs had in store for his rampardos…

Pan returned to the chair next to Justin, holding a new pokeball in her hand. Seeing that the rest of their party had yet to arrive, she stood back up and beckoned Justin to follow.

“Let’s go outside. I want to check out my friend’s pokemon,” she said to Justin, shaking the pokeball in her hand.

When they headed out of the pokecenter, Pan pressed the button on the pokeball, releasing a large rampardos in the town square. Zulu looked all around as if amazed by the subterranean village he was in. He gave a long, low “paaarrrdos” as turned his body all around, ignoring Pan and Justin entirely.

“Zulu? Zuuuuulu?” Pan said, trying to catch the fossil pokemon’s attention..

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

“Architect, huh? I don’t see why you couldn’t be one; you’re not exactly an old man. Plenty of time to go back to school.” Pan laughed optimistically. Justin cracked half a smile, but the idea was certainly more appealing in theory than in practice. He didn't really want to argue the logistics of it with her, which was fortunate, because she got a phone call and left the room on that cheery, hopeful note.

Of course, her upbeat attitude towards the future did nothing but bring him down further. It was nice that she believed in him so much without really knowing him, but the fact of the matter was that going back to school was damn near impossible for him. It would take him at least four years of school to get his Bachelor's, not to mention he didn't even have a high school diploma. So, he'd need to take whatever test Furoh required for the high school diploma substitute, get into a university, pay for four years of schooling, get decent enough grades to pass and, most importantly, spend a bunch of time doing it. He just didn't have that time given that he had to work to pay for food, rent and, if he decided to go through with it, tuition. School and work would conflict with each other too much, but if he wanted to go to school, he would have to keep working in order to pay the enormous amount of money tuition costs. It just wasn't doable.

On the note of things he wanted but things he'd never have, he picked up his car magazine and looked through it, imagining how cool it would be to drive around Petropolis in a black convertible, and thinking about all the modifications he'd do to make it his own. You know, if he had the money.

His imagination was interrupted when Pan came back, a pokeball in her hand. “Let’s go outside," she said, waving it. "I want to check out my friend’s pokemon,”

Justin nodded and stood up, dropping the magazine on the table where he found it. "Your friend sent you a pokemon on the comp-" he was cut off when she summoned it into the open area of the town. It was a giant pokemon, completely unfamiliar to Justin. Not to his surprise, it began moving around somewhat recklessly, causing the man to tense up and put his right hand on one of his pokeballs, but he knew that if it came down to it, none of his pokemon could take down that monster.

Pan called out to it, calling it Zulu. Justin wasn't sure if that was the species or just the name of the pokemon, but he wasn't going to bother himself with the details when he was worried about being trampled to death by a confused dinosaur pokemon. He began looking around the area at the people looking at it. They weren't quite as confused as Justin, but they were certainly concerned that Pan didn't have control over it. "Maybe you should get to know it out of town," Justin gulped, watching its tail to make sure he didn't accidentally get hit.

This post has been edited by Yzarc Drowsnam: Mar 18 2010, 01:24 PM

[Toogee]

“Oh, don’t worry; we’ve met before,” Pan assured Justin, reminded of her previous adventure in Castle Vonmoto. The rampardos finally laid eyes on the human pair, recognizing Pan as one of Darryn’s friends.

“Hi, Zulu,” Pan started, “Darryn said you could help us go through the tunnels. What do you say?”

The rampardos showed his agreement by embracing Pan, lifting her up in a big dino hug. Her feet dangled in the air as Zulu squeezed Pan tightly, though not enough to suffocate her. Not yet anyways.

“OK, you can put me down now,” Pan said, giving a slight laugh at Zulu’s sudden affection. The rampardos responded by putting the young woman back on her feet. Pan then started to scratch under Zulu’s chin, causing the dinosaur pokemon to purr in relaxation.

“I’m going to put you back in your pokeball so I can get supplies, but I’ll call you back out when we’re ready, alright?”

The rampardos was too busy purring to pay much attention to Pan’s question. She assumed he was listening and quickly absorbed Zulu back into his pokeball. She then turned to Justin.

“I need to rent a sleeping bag, perhaps pick up a few other things. After that, we’ll head out,” Pan said to Justin. “Hopefully, the others will have arrived by then,” she finished, heading for the camping store conveniently located next to the pokemon center.

The inside of the store wasn’t too different from other stores. In place of tile and stucco walls, however, were dirt floors and solid rock on all four sides. Stalactites were used to hang merchandise from the ceiling, though most of the items for sale were placed on shelves for easy access. Pan grabbed a purple sleeping bag, a box of granola bars, and a jar of peanut butter, though she was tempted to get a Digger Drill. Pan’s eyes sparkled at the shiny red finish and the large (and sharp) drill bit. It would have been awesome to feel the power vibrating through her, something that couldn’t be done with simple hand tools. However, looking for fossils and the like would require a more delicate touch, so she resisted the impulse buy and headed for the register. A swipe of her card ensured her purchases.

“I have enough digging tools for the both of us, so you don’t have to get your own,” Pan said to Justin, hoping to lighten his load of purchasing items.

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

Justin simply followed Pan to the store, thankful that she put the beast back in its pokeball. It almost seemed negligent to allow pokemon like that outside in the middle of town. He based his shopping list on hers - Food and a sleeping bag, basically, except he already brought a whole bunch of snacks so he really just needed to get a sleeping bag, which was convenient, because he was running low on money.

He wasn't planning on doing all that much digging. In fact, he was more looking forward to having a battle with some cave dwelling pokemon, one that he could take preferably, but if something stronger came along, he was pretty confident in this "Zulu" pokemon, assuming Pan could control it.

“I have enough digging tools for the both of us, so you don’t have to get your own,” she said as she moved from the counter so Justin could buy his sleeping bag.

"I appreciate that," he smiled. "I don't really know what I'd be digging for anyway. I'm kinda just here to-" Why was he here? "Explore, maybe?"

"How are you paying?" the cashier asked with a detached sigh.

"Oh, uh, sorry," he replied pulling out his credit card. "There should be enough on there," he added as she swiped it. A few seconds of nervous praying seemed to help as the machine began printing a receipt. "Yess," he said under his breath as he took the card and the sleeping bag, which was going to get annoying carrying around, since it wouldn't fit in his backpack.

When they got out of the store, he pulled out one of his pokeballs with his left hand, as his right was carrying the bag, and summoned Tyrogue, who immediately began jumping up and down with excitement. "Hey bud," Justin leaned over to the fighting type. "You wanna hold this for me?" Tyrogue had a look of duty on his face as he reached up and was handed the sleeping bag.

"So," he continued to Pan, "Do we wait for your friend or should we just go? I'm not sure he's coming."

[Rasu]

The mechanism of the elevator started working, pulling the giant metal cage back up to the surface. Andrew just stood there and stretched his arms wondering why the Absol kept following him and most of all if it intended to become a new companion and team member. All these thoughts rushed through Andrew's mind before he got interrupted by a faint "Hello" from behind.


A young woman, about the same age as Pan, greeted Andrew but had her eyes focused on the Absol. She extended her hand close enough for the Absol to identify her by the scent before returning its attention back to the metal cage that was now open.


"Hey there" Andrew greeted the young woman "I'm Andrew, nice to meet you. I'm heading down to Under Hill, are you coming too?" Andrew said as he and the Absol walked inside the elevator, each step creating an echo down the pit.

[Toogee]

Pan was hoping the others would have caught up; she wanted to get started before the day was over. On the other hand, if they were coming, surely Pan and Justin wouldn’t be too far into the tunnels. Surely Andrew and Diana could find them.

“I say we get started,” Pan confirmed her decision to Justin. “If they’re right behind us, we shouldn’t get too far before they catch up,”

Pan led the way out of the town, passing an elder woman sweeping in front of the jewelry store. Her old brown eyes caught sight of the young adults starting their adventure, just like so many before them. She wiped her hand on the white apron covering her blue dress and waved back at the pair.

“You two be careful out there,” she said. “Don’t be afraid to turn around if you get lost.”

Pan turned to see the woman, her wavy blond hair graying with age. It was nice to get some friendly advice from the natives. She decided to take advantage of the woman’s kindness and continue the conversation.

“Anything we should know about?” Pan asked.

“Ah, you should be mindful of your surroundings,” the woman answered. “Cave-ins aren’t uncommon, some places are so deep it’s hard to breath, and I don’t have to tell you that this place is a maze with no clear end. Even the most experienced hikers have trouble with this place. Of course, everyone in Under Hill knows the tunnels like the back of our hands.”

As she held her hand up for emphasis, the old woman looked at the back of her hand, her eyes wide at the sight of new brown spots under her knuckles. She hid her hands in her pockets and continued.

“Just in case, take these,” she said as she handed Pan and Justin what appeared to be key chain souvenirs. The items depicted the scenic view of the town, with the words “Under Hill” printed on the bottom right corner.

“They’re tracking devices, in case search n’ rescue has to find you,” the woman remarked. “The mayor reckoned these would be more useful than postcards.”

“Thank you, Mrs…” Pan was appreciative of the woman’s generosity, though she wasn’t surewhy she was doing this when they didn’t even know each others’ names.

“Oh, just call me Jewel,” the woman replied. “Ironic, considering I’m the local jeweler.” Jewel chuckled at the coincidence.

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

“I say we get started,” Pan confirmed her decision to Justin. “If they’re right behind us, we shouldn’t get too far before they catch up,”

"Sounds good," Justin nodded, looking towards the ridiculous excuse for an elevator, then down at Tyrogue, still obediently holding his sleeping bag. It suddenly hit him. "We're gonna be, like," he began, "Sleeping. Out there in the caves. Right?"

Before Pan could answer, an old lady, apparently a jeweler by the name of Jewel. She went on about how dangerous it was out in the underground, and graciously gave them some tracking devices, which Justin rolled his eyes at. He may not have been an expert on pokemon, but directions never gave him problems.

"Thank you, Jewel," Smart stood forward, nodding his head. "My name's Justin Smart and this is Pan, uh. Well, I just call her Pan. Ironic, considering she's-" he paused, looking to his right at Pan, trying to figure out some sort of pun to make with her name. "I got nothin'," he made an odd look with his face. "Oh! I'm not smart, though. So maybe that's ironic. I don't know. I never really knew what irony was."

[Toogee]

Pan playfully shoved Justin with her arm at his poor attempt at making a joke. She then addressed Jewel again as they set out.

“Don’t worry about us,” Pan said. “We have a guide,” she patted the pokeball containing the rampardos, “and I’m pretty good at finding my way around.”

“Not to mention the strapping young man beside you,” Jewel added. The old woman gave an audible “hee hee hee,” indicating a mischievous intent towards Justin. No one wanted to know what was going through Jewel’s mind.

Before things became weirder, Pan motioned for Justin to follow her out of the town. She waved back to Jewel, smiling as they passed under an arch reading “Welcome to Under Hill.” The pair disappeared into the darkness, not knowing what adventure awaited them.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At first, the tunnel appeared…well, Pan couldn’t tell what any of the Underground looked like. Everything was pitch black. With seeing near impossible, the sounds around the two seemed louder. From the scurrying of some unknown creature around their feet to the fluttering of wings above their heads, it was clear that there was some life within the Underground. Then, Pan had a bright idea. Literally.

“Chi-Chi, I need you to use Flash.”

The pachirisu quickly crawled out of Pan’s vest and onto her head. With a loud “Chi Chi!” the pokemon emitted a flash of light, revealing the surrounding environment around them. Several paras cried out their names, frightened by the sudden dispelling of the darkness. As they scurried off, a group of zubat flew overhead, going deeper into the tunnel system.

Pan and Justin were surrounded by solid rock. Both stalagmites and stalactites were prominent landscape features, while the sound of dripping water provided an ambient soundtrack. Up ahead, the tunnel split into two, both equally shrouded in darkness. Seeing that they needed to make a decision on which way to go, Pan quickly unleashed Zulu. She also brought Turnip out, in case they ran into something (or, heaven forbid, Zulu got out of hand).

“Alright Zulu,” Pan said to the rampardos, “We’re trying to find treasures hidden in the rock. Do you think you can help us?”

The rampardos roared in excitement, its voice echoing through the tunnels. The ivysaur winced; there was no telling what sort of pokemon his noise may have awakened. In contrast, Zulu hadn’t a care in the world, quickly marching towards the right path, singing happily.

While she was following, Pan pulled out her Explorer’s Kit from her backpack. As she attached it to her belt, she opened it up, revealing an assortment of digging tools as well as some sort of electronic device. She grabbed the device and showed it to Justin.

“This is a dowsing machine,” Pan said. “It can detect whether a wall is hollow in a certain place. Usually, that means there’s something hidden behind the rock.”

As she turned it on, the machine remained silent; there was nothing around their location. The group would have to continue deeper into the caverns…

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

Justin was grateful that Pan's pachirisu lit the cave up. It was a lot more effective than the flashlight Justin was attempting to use and, he assumed, wouldn't run out of batteries. He tensed up, however, when she used a different pokemon, Zulu. Not only did this beast intimidate the hell out of Justin, but its loud noises and reckless behavior were sure to attract one of those dangerous things Jewel hinted at.

It began to move towards the right path in the fork, which of course made Edgar want to take the left in order to ditch the hard headed pokemon and take the left path, but Pan insisted on following it to find treasure or something, and so Justin did as well. "I'm curious," he said as she turned on her dowsing machine. "How would Zulu know if this path has treasures buried in the walls. It just doesn't, like," he continued. "Well, like, you know what I mean? Like, does he smell it?"

As they continued walking, Justin ran his right fingers across the rock wall to his right, feeling the rocky texture as he went. He'd been in caves before, sure, but usually with groups of people rather than one other person and a virtual army of pokemon, the C.O. of which happened to be a deranged dinosaur.

[Toogee]

“I’m not sure how he knows,” Pan replied to Justin’s question. “My friend said Zulu came from underground tunnels just like these. Perhaps he’s doing this by memory-”

Suddenly, the rampardos randomly head butted the rock wall, as if the rocks looked at him funny. Pan jumped a bit at the randomness of the action, the crash of bone and rock echoing through the air. Zulu shouted in glee at the nice round impression embedded deep in the rock formation. The dinosaur pokemon continued on his way as if nothing was unusual. Turnip put his vines away, no longer seeing any danger from Zulu. The ivysaur did make a point to walk in front of the humans, keeping them (and Pan in particular) a safe distance away just in case.

As the group went deeper into the underground, Zulu continued to head butt the right side of the tunnel (for some reason, he had a preference for right). Eventually, Pan and Turnip became used to the suddenness of the action, not nearly as worried as they were earlier.

“Maybe he’s leaving a trail,” Pan said in an attempt to reassure Justin that Zulu wasn’t entirely out of control.

The rampardos then stopped moving forward, sniffing the air around him. As Zulu sat on the ground to rest, Pan’s dowsing machine suddenly started to beep. She looked at the screen to see many bright dots all around them.

“Jackpot,” Pan smiled as she grabbed a miniature pickax from her kit. She set the rest of her things on the ground and set out for a particular soft spot within the left wall. Pan carefully hit her tool upon the surface; it was very easy to lose the treasure during such digs. Her eyes shined as a green sheen revealed itself from the dull rock. After a few more strikes, Pan was able to pull out the object: a bright green sphere about 3 inches in diameter.

“Check it out,” she said to Justin, showing off her first find. “It’s not much, but at least we’re in the right place.”

Her back was towards the wall she was working on, so she did not notice the pair of eyes looking at her. To anyone who looked hard enough, one could see the outline of a geodude around the eyes. Looking even closer, one could see that it wasn’t the only one within the wall…

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

Justin's eyes naturally stayed on Zulu the entire walk (not that there was much else to look at in front of him) so when it stopped and threw itself into the wall, he anticipated the crash and the potential collapse of the cave based on the size of the pokemon. Just before the crash was heard, he instinctually threw his left hand towards Pan to keep her from moving forward. "Sorry," he said, weakly, once he noticed that he had touched her arm. "So," he continued. "Why's he, uhh,"

“Maybe he’s leaving a trail,” Pan noted, to which Justin nodded.

"I mean, I'd totally be willing to leave a trail of bread crumbs," he shrugged. "They have the advantage of not bringing the entire cave down on us." It was clear that he was scared of the situation. First of all, he wasn't comfortable around pokemon like Pan was. That said, he didn't trust Zulu for a second and he didn't know anything about the sturdiness of the cave where they traveled, and could say nothing towards its capacity to stand.

He thought about Tina for a few seconds.

"Doing okay, bud?" he interrupted himself by looking down at Tyrogue, still holding his sleeping bag. It nodded and gave the creepiest and cutest little smile you've ever seen.

“Jackpot!" Pan exclaimed as her machine started to beep. As if he wasn't already out of his sphere of understanding, this tiny girl pulled out a pickaxe and began hacking away at the wall (though admittedly with more grace). She revealed a small green sphere, which looked like it might fetch a good price to the right person, but he couldn't imagine who would pay for something like that.

“Check it out,” she said to Justin, showing off her first find. “It’s not much, but at least we’re in the right place.”

"I guess so?" he shrugged. He then noticed that Tyrogue had dropped the sleeping bag and was pushing Justin away from the wall Pan's back was up against. He had a lot of power for its size, but he couldn't actually move Justin. "What's going on?" he asked.

He was giving off a weird growl, like he was trying to be threatening to the wall. This caused Justin to laugh, at least until he noticed the multiple pairs of eyes on the wall. "Geodudes," he said. "Shit, there's a lot." Justin had a little bit of experience with geodudes. He knew about most of the common pokemon, enough at least to know that, unless startled, they would probably not attack. Of course, that being said, Zulu's continuous attack on the wall, composed partly of geodude, made Justin wonder just how agitated they were.

He also knew that, should they attack, Justin's pokemon were not strong enough to take them on. All of their attacks were weak, normal attacks which would have a difficult time breaking through the rocky exterior. He figured Pan's ivysaur could take them on should they start something. Moreover, a fight of this level would probably attract other pokemon in the area. Hopefully they wouldn't be rock types and Justin would be able to make himself useful. If he had to fight the geodudes, he figured Tyrogue could toss them around a little bit.

[Toogee]

Pan quickly stepped away from the wall when Justin noticed the geodudes around them. She stood at his side and counted the colony.

“There must at least a dozen here,” Pan said. She grabbed her camera and took a picture of the wall, making sure the flash was off. The last thing they needed was a big battle.

“I’m guessing the dowsing machine wasn’t detecting treasure but rather all of these geodude,” she remarked, looking around the tunnel to make sure there weren’t anymore. However, the attention given by the humans had piqued the interest of the bored rampardos. Pan didn’t need any warning from Justin to move back as Zulu examined the wall. She watched as Zulu sniffed around, searching for whatever the humans were examining. She also noticed Justin staring intently at the beast, waiting to make a run for it should Zulu turn on them. Pan nudged Justin’s arm to gain his attention.

“Hey,” she whispered, “have you ever seen the skull of a rampardos? It’s over a foot thick. It doesn’t leave much room for anything else. He might not notice anything at all.”

After a tense few seconds, the rampardos turned towards the humans, giving a funny-looking smile, as if he thought the humans were crazy.

“See? Nothing to worry about,” Pan smiled, reassuring Zulu, Justin, and herself that there was no reason to panic. The cave remained silent, save for the slight mumble of “dude?”

WHAM!

Zulu slammed his entire skull right into the wall, making a direct hit into one of the geodude. The rock pokemon fell out of his crevice, effectively knocked out from the attack. Just then, the rest of the geodude revealed themselves, each yelling “dude!” With their rock-hard arms, the geodude pushed against the wall, launching themselves onto the rampardos. Zulu became extremely agitated as the colony started grasping onto him, releasing a defiant roar. He started swinging his body around, launching a couple of the geodudes off of him. Unfortunately, the pokemon were heading right for Pan and Justin!

“Duck!” Pan cried, using her arm to push Justin downward, front first. She had no qualms about touching Justin for the sake of safety. Besides, that girlfriend of his would likely be more upset if he came back with a fractured skull. She noticed that the lighting had dimmed; Chi-Chi was hiding inside Pan’s vest for cover.

The cave echoed with the cracks of whips as both geodude landed harmlessly away from the humans. Turnip had his vines ready, acting as a goalie to deflect anymore geodude coming his way. It would be a little more difficult without proper lighting, however.

“Chi-Chi, we need you out here,” Pan asked, moving her arm off Justin in case they needed to roll out of the way. The pachirisu peeked her head out, but that was all that was needed to reveal her glowing cheeks.

“Turnip, you need to get those geodude off of Zulu before he gets angrier. Whatever you do, don’t hit him!”

She then turned to Justin in an attempt to calm him. No doubt he was regretting traveling with her, Pan thought.

“Just another day of work,” she said, giving off a meek smile in spite of the situation.

[Rasu]

Andrew pressed the button and the elevator started to move back into the depths of the earth. It started slowly and it began to gain speed, even reaching the same speed as a falling body. The teen was now grabbing the bar next to him with all him might while he let out some pretty bad words against the designers of that elevator. The Absol, however, stood perfectly still, eyes closed and calm as if it knew what was about to happen and remained that way until the elevator slowly stopped.


"Darn it! I am never EVER going inside that thing again in my life!" Andrew cursed as he got out of the elevator while he tried to put some parts of his hair back down. Only after that he noticed the wonder surrounding him. An entire town completely buried in the ground. There were barely any houses that stood outside in the open apart from some important buildings and a water tower with the name of the remotely located town. However he could recognize a pretty common building that every rookie trainer must know, the Pokecenter.


"Come on, lets go to the Pokecenter to get some info about the Underground and the town itself." the teen informed the Absol as they walked towards the Pokecenter. After entering Andrew took out his Pokeballs and placed them on the counter as the nurse approached and took them to the healing machine. He then directed to a nearby table with a sign reading "Maps of Under Hill and the Underground" and took a card for his PokeNav. After a beeping sound indicated that the transfer was complete he put back the card and collected his Pokeballs from the counter before leaving the building.


After his stop at the Pokecenter Andrew entered the next store to buy some supplies. There he got a rope, a small pickax and a flashlight to illuminate the darkness of the tunnels. When he reached the counter he took out the exact amount of money and headed for the tunnels but an old woman stopped him on his tracks.


"Hey, before you leave, those tunnels are a maze. Try not getting lost in there, kid. I hope you have a guide like those two who went past here a couple of minutes ago." the woman warned him before he dashed into the unknown.


"Thanks for the information but I'm pretty sure I can handle myself down there. Besides, I got some of the best guides with me!" Andrew smiled while he let out Kan who started sniffing the air around them. "She's got a pretty strong nose so I believe that she can find the way back up if we end up lost."


WHAM!


A loud noise came from the tunnels below that startled the Zigzagoon and the boy, the Absol remaining silent and calm as always. Andrew quickly thanked the old lady and rushed to the entrance of the mighty Underground.