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Description
People will always tell you when you are lost to stay put. When fear has you in its claws, can you really stand to not do that? I guess, as I have told myself and have been told many times, I should have ignored that advice though. But in a dark more bleak than I had ever known, with smoke and fire clogging my senses and a wall of rock locking me inside a virtual furnace, I couldn't well do that. Not and survive that is.
~~~~
While Treecko isn't exactly the best pokemon to walk into a cave full of fire-breathing, spitting, or shooting animals with he was all I had. Devon was the first pokemon I had ever gotten, and still the only one I had. I didn't want to try and catch any more until I knew I could handle them. Now I was preparing to prove to myself just that. I had had Devon since I was six but had never bothered to train him very hard. But now that I had turned ten I wanted to start taking a future as a trainer seriously.
In Hoenn, Lavaridge was probably the quietest town. Other than the gym and the coming and going of seniors to the hot springs nothing really happened. I would be one of the first, and youngest, trainers from here to get all eight gym badges. But I guess I needed the first one as a start.
This was why I was entering the caves to train. I had played in here often before while my dad's kangashkan watched me. But now I was alone except for my faithful companion, ready to take on the world. The world was ready to take me on as well.
After a few hours of wandering at a safe distance from the entrance in the cave, which was internally lit from the faint glow that the steamy ground had, I was ready to go home. Devon and I were both exhausted and I was out of potions. Yawning and rubbing my light brown eyes I didn't pay the best attention to where I was walking.
Suddenly there was a soft squishing noise from under my foot and a small squeal. A cloud of angry steam floated up from under my foot and I felt the beginning of a small burn as something melted through the sole of my shoe. Since my Treecko was tucked safely in his pokeball, napping, and I didn't have time to grab him before a hissing, steaming slugma was advancing on me. I had knocked out like eight of these already but with nothing to protect me I could only run.
The bright red slug creature, irate at being stepped on and obviously of a hasty nature, kept on following me. It was moving at, well, a slugs pace. I thought I could outrun it easily. Too bad the darn thing knew lava plume. Soon I found the entire section of the cavern erupting into smoke and flame as it belched scorching melted rock at me. It was close enough that the bubbling liquid missed me but it was sending acrid smoke and ash into my face, my eyes. I shrieked in pain and fear. I knew I had to flee before it tried again and started to shut my eyes from the burning air. But I couldn't, not and be sure I wouldn't hit a wall or the bright red slug itself. The walls were rumbling and I stumbled, screaming, as the results of the slugma's outburst brought down a wall on it. It rained hot rocks and dust down on us both as the weakest part of the cave fell in on itself. I was coughing, feeling volcanic ash lay on my face like warm snow. I shook, my eyes still stinging awfully, but looked forward at the wall again. It was blurry and my eyes filled with tears in an attempt to flush the grime out of themselves. I whimpered in horror, knowing I would have to go all the way up the mountain to the cable car station to get home.
But I didn't want to think of heading off now. My dad always told me if I was lost or hurt I needed to stay put. So I did.
Deep here in the cave the smoke took several hours to float away. I tried to keep my eyes open so I didn't run into another pokemon. The slugma had long since fled but I was too scared, mind clogged with smoke, to blink for more than a second in case it returned for a second helping. As the hours passed I became hungry and sat down, tired. The ash was no better down here. With nowhere else to go and no breeze to shoo it off the ash and dust still drifted, dreamily, around and into my face. My eyes continued to water and I rubbed them. They stung loudly and left an itching feeling somewhere inside and I quickly stopped.
As things grew dark around me, my fear growing, I closed my eyes finally after a few minutes of sitting in frayed dark I believed to be oncoming sleep.
~~~~
The morning came and my temperamental little attacker did not return. I shook my head tiredly from the sleep, realizing I was covered in the ash that had finally sifted down and pooled into a blanket over the ground I was on. I smiled when I realized what I thought was the worst had ended.
"Go, Devon." I muttered sleepily, clicking the pokeball open. Soon I felt him nudging me gently and I sat up, rubbing my neck tiredly. My eyes still burned but I forced them open. Only darkness greeted me.
~~~~
The cable car operator, a red headed woman in her late forties, was tapping her manicured blue nails on the dash board in boredom. She wondered how the cleanup team was doing with that cave-in from three days ago. She hoped they would be finished soon and the caves would no longer be off-limits to anyone so traffic between Lavaridge and the mountaintop could resume. At least she would have something more interesting to do than run empty cars up the mountain.
She glanced up from her romance novel at the mouth of the cave and sat up straighter. A panting, exhausted Treecko was emerging. It was holding a small girl's hand. She couldn't have been any older than ten. The girl was wearing a filthy shirt that may have been pink once. The blue sunglasses on them were obscured by a black smear.
The girl's face, covered in soot, had tear streaks down it. She stumbled aimlessly, holding the concerned looking Pokémon's hand for guidance. Her brown hair hung limply over her face, most of it having escaped the loose ponytail that stuck off the top of her head in a dirty fountain.
But what struck the woman hardest as the eyes. They were bloodshot, seemingly stained grey, and glassy. Ash ringed them like the fur around a zigzagoon's eyes. The girl's eyes, like the rest of her, were dirty. This was the factor that made the woman break from her freeze and grab the phone to call for help.

Description
People will always tell you when you are lost to stay put. When fear has you in its claws, can you really stand to not do that? I guess, as I have told myself and have been told many times, I should have ignored that advice though. But in a dark more bleak than I had ever known, with smoke and fire clogging my senses and a wall of rock locking me inside a virtual furnace, I couldn't well do that. Not and survive that is.
~~~~
While Treecko isn't exactly the best pokemon to walk into a cave full of fire-breathing, spitting, or shooting animals with he was all I had. Devon was the first pokemon I had ever gotten, and still the only one I had. I didn't want to try and catch any more until I knew I could handle them. Now I was preparing to prove to myself just that. I had had Devon since I was six but had never bothered to train him very hard. But now that I had turned ten I wanted to start taking a future as a trainer seriously.
In Hoenn, Lavaridge was probably the quietest town. Other than the gym and the coming and going of seniors to the hot springs nothing really happened. I would be one of the first, and youngest, trainers from here to get all eight gym badges. But I guess I needed the first one as a start.
This was why I was entering the caves to train. I had played in here often before while my dad's kangashkan watched me. But now I was alone except for my faithful companion, ready to take on the world. The world was ready to take me on as well.
After a few hours of wandering at a safe distance from the entrance in the cave, which was internally lit from the faint glow that the steamy ground had, I was ready to go home. Devon and I were both exhausted and I was out of potions. Yawning and rubbing my light brown eyes I didn't pay the best attention to where I was walking.
Suddenly there was a soft squishing noise from under my foot and a small squeal. A cloud of angry steam floated up from under my foot and I felt the beginning of a small burn as something melted through the sole of my shoe. Since my Treecko was tucked safely in his pokeball, napping, and I didn't have time to grab him before a hissing, steaming slugma was advancing on me. I had knocked out like eight of these already but with nothing to protect me I could only run.
The bright red slug creature, irate at being stepped on and obviously of a hasty nature, kept on following me. It was moving at, well, a slugs pace. I thought I could outrun it easily. Too bad the darn thing knew lava plume. Soon I found the entire section of the cavern erupting into smoke and flame as it belched scorching melted rock at me. It was close enough that the bubbling liquid missed me but it was sending acrid smoke and ash into my face, my eyes. I shrieked in pain and fear. I knew I had to flee before it tried again and started to shut my eyes from the burning air. But I couldn't, not and be sure I wouldn't hit a wall or the bright red slug itself. The walls were rumbling and I stumbled, screaming, as the results of the slugma's outburst brought down a wall on it. It rained hot rocks and dust down on us both as the weakest part of the cave fell in on itself. I was coughing, feeling volcanic ash lay on my face like warm snow. I shook, my eyes still stinging awfully, but looked forward at the wall again. It was blurry and my eyes filled with tears in an attempt to flush the grime out of themselves. I whimpered in horror, knowing I would have to go all the way up the mountain to the cable car station to get home.
But I didn't want to think of heading off now. My dad always told me if I was lost or hurt I needed to stay put. So I did.
Deep here in the cave the smoke took several hours to float away. I tried to keep my eyes open so I didn't run into another pokemon. The slugma had long since fled but I was too scared, mind clogged with smoke, to blink for more than a second in case it returned for a second helping. As the hours passed I became hungry and sat down, tired. The ash was no better down here. With nowhere else to go and no breeze to shoo it off the ash and dust still drifted, dreamily, around and into my face. My eyes continued to water and I rubbed them. They stung loudly and left an itching feeling somewhere inside and I quickly stopped.
As things grew dark around me, my fear growing, I closed my eyes finally after a few minutes of sitting in frayed dark I believed to be oncoming sleep.
~~~~
The morning came and my temperamental little attacker did not return. I shook my head tiredly from the sleep, realizing I was covered in the ash that had finally sifted down and pooled into a blanket over the ground I was on. I smiled when I realized what I thought was the worst had ended.
"Go, Devon." I muttered sleepily, clicking the pokeball open. Soon I felt him nudging me gently and I sat up, rubbing my neck tiredly. My eyes still burned but I forced them open. Only darkness greeted me.
~~~~
The cable car operator, a red headed woman in her late forties, was tapping her manicured blue nails on the dash board in boredom. She wondered how the cleanup team was doing with that cave-in from three days ago. She hoped they would be finished soon and the caves would no longer be off-limits to anyone so traffic between Lavaridge and the mountaintop could resume. At least she would have something more interesting to do than run empty cars up the mountain.
She glanced up from her romance novel at the mouth of the cave and sat up straighter. A panting, exhausted Treecko was emerging. It was holding a small girl's hand. She couldn't have been any older than ten. The girl was wearing a filthy shirt that may have been pink once. The blue sunglasses on them were obscured by a black smear.
The girl's face, covered in soot, had tear streaks down it. She stumbled aimlessly, holding the concerned looking Pokémon's hand for guidance. Her brown hair hung limply over her face, most of it having escaped the loose ponytail that stuck off the top of her head in a dirty fountain.
But what struck the woman hardest as the eyes. They were bloodshot, seemingly stained grey, and glassy. Ash ringed them like the fur around a zigzagoon's eyes. The girl's eyes, like the rest of her, were dirty. This was the factor that made the woman break from her freeze and grab the phone to call for help.