I feel my whole body shudder as I inhale heavily, suppressing the panic that shakes my whole body. The shadows of the cave are beginning to recede, allowing me to see in the dull light. Something swoops by overhead and I instinctively lob a Pokeball at it. Even though it's not weakened, it clicks immediately.

I bend down and pick it up with an enormous grin. "Alright! There we go."

I pull out my Pokedex and begin loading the data on our new teammate. The Pokedex dings as it finishes loading. I frown at the blue mark dashed at the very top, hidden away into the corner.

"What does it say?" asks Sunny. "What'd we get?"

"He... he's a guy." I state, disappointed.

"A male... what?" asks D'spinas. "Out with it."

"Zubat." I tell them with a sigh.

"You're disappointed that it's a male but not that it's a Zubat? That's kind of sexist." Reginae says.

"S-sorry. For a second, I just thought it was... someone else." I tuck the inactive Pokeball away in my coat instead of my pocket. It will be safer there, if nothing else.

"You're thinking about Sky, aren't you?" Ten inquires.

I blush fiercely, hoping that it's invisible in the darkness of the cave. "Maybe."

"She'd be proud of you, Ashley." he cooes.

"Who's Sky?" asks Sunny.

"An old teammate." I look away anxiously into the dark of the cave.

Rattata and Sandshrew skitter about, upset by the presence of foreign Pokemon. I regret not catching a Sandshrew, but I already have a ground type and I never catch more than one Pokemon a route. Still, the thought of Dusty upsets me. Something aches within me just watching the timid Sandshrew cluster about.

Even if they were here...

wouldn't they be happier without me?

"So are we going to grind or not?" asks D'spinas impatiently.
"Right, right." I turn back. "Partner up?"

I feel as if cold eyes are peering at me from the darkness, and fragments of stone cover the ground. It's probably just some Geodudes, but I remember a giant Onix from blurry memories and nightmares and I feel uneasy. I try to use Celebi's power to pry into the future and although it might just be my own mind, I can almost imagine the crunch of flesh beneath jaws made of rock.

"On second thought? Maybe Chiaroscuro should stay close to me." I laugh nervously, and the Rattata skitters close to my leg, grasping it with his tiny claws.

The mourning roar of an Onix sounds in the distant.

"Actually? All of you need to stay as close as possible." I hiss under my breath, but all of them must have heard me because they come slightly closer, save for D'spinas.

"It's just an Onix," Reginae sneers as we walk through the cave. "Those things are pitiful against grass and rock types. Sunny could probably knock it out with her eyes closed."

"I don't know..." murmured Sunny, who is hardly bouncing off the ground. Her leaves are tucked down so that she seems almost forlorn. I want to scoop her up and never let her go, but I hold myself back. If we do run into trouble she's going to be one of the more helpful Pokemon.

D'spinas snipes Pokemon from a distance, and Sunny finishes them off with PoisonPowder. The blank expression on the Beedrill is unnerving, even more so than how sharp her stingers are. As I watch, she begins drilling them against a rock, lining it up with the side so that it only serves to sharpen them.

I stare back at the team and find myself falling forwards, only to be caught inches before the ground by a Magmar. I swear silently as I stare up at a firebreather, most likely the Magmar's owner.

"Well, well, well. Have we got a trainer here?" he laughs.

"Boss, really?" asks the Magmar, frustrated.

I brush myself off. "I'm so sorry. I'm terribly klutzy today and-"

"No need to talk. Magmar, incinerate 'em!"

The Magmar groans. I crack a smile in spite of myself.

"If it's a fight you want, you're going to get one! Go-" I realize suddenly that I don't have anything that would be effective against a fire type.

Reginae steps forwards. "I'll hold him off for a few turns. I can poison him and my defenses are better than Sunny's."

I close my eyes with the realization that I'm about to make a decision I will later regret.

"Reginae, you're on it!"
Reginae dashes forward, determination in his stance. He holds himself like a warrior, his tiny feet grinding the earth.

The Magmar blasts him with a fireball, which he hardly dodges. His leaf singes for seconds before he turns and plunges it into the earth. His eyes are wide with fear for a second and I yell, "Don't turn your back to your opponent!"

Another blazing sphere barely misses him as he skids out of the way.

"PoisonPowder!" I yell, and he kicks up dirt as he slides towards the Magmar. The buds around his neck open for a second, releasing a purple powder, but the Magmar makes a swiping motion with its tail and it dissipates in the open air, which smokes slightly.

"I need to pin him down!" Reginae calls.

"Alright, but you're going to need to be fast." I say. "I have an idea."

Reginae nods. "Well?"
We're giving it away by saying it in front of them! Why can't we just flash? This would all be sooo much easier.

"Razor Leaf! Aim for the limbs!" I call.

Reginae swings his head and launches a storm of leaves towards the Magmar, pinning it against the cave wall. Before it can retaliate, he draws close enough to release PoisonPowder. The Magmar's leg comes undone, the leaf holding it burning up, and it kicks Reginae backwards at full force.

He lands against the other wall with a terrified cry. "Reginae!" I yell, running to him.
Reginae stumbles back up coughs up a sickly green sap, which trickles down his long head like blood. The Pokedex makes the high pitched beeping that indicates critical health. "Reginae, out now!" I withdraw him immediately. I look at my assembled party. "Alright, go C-"
Clay's not here. Right.

"Come on, send out your next Pokemon, then!" cackles the firebreather.

My eyebrows furrow. "Go, Ten!"

Ten jumps forwards just as the last leaf burns away. The Magmar swears angrily, bleeding from the cuts where the leaves held it to the wall just seconds ago. It sucks in an enormous breath and lets it all out, spitting a long stream of fire.

Ten takes it head on, paralyzed by fear. As it washes over him, I watch as his health trickles down to yellow.

"Bloody hell, Ashley!" he calls, genuine terror in his voice.

My own eyes are wide with fear of the hellish inferno.

"There's no way you can take more hits. Fall back!" I call. I look through the rest of my Pokemon, but none of them are strong enough to take more hits. There's no way I can switch out now. Another fireball hisses by, missing him completely by luck.

"How are we going to defeat him if I can't touch him?" asks Ten, fluttering up and over another.

My mouth curves into a wicked smile. "I have an idea. Just keep dodging!"

Purple begins to spread across the Magmar's face as Ten dodges another, then jumps up on a cliff ledge to stay above the continued barrage of hits.
"Not... feelin... so hot..." The Magmar vomits a stream of lava before crumbling to its knees, then finally falling over defeated. The poison has finally taken its full effect.

The firebreather swears before handing over some cash and withdrawing his Pokemon. "There you go. I admit I haven't seen a trainer who can speak with their Pokemon for a while 'round here. That's quite the talent."

"Yeah," I breathed before taking the cash. "I'll... I'll go now."

As soon as I'm out of the way, I withdraw Reginae and begin applying Potion to his wounds. The rest of the team stands guard valiantly around us.

"Reginae, you knew how risky that was." I chastise him. "Your defenses aren't anywhere as powerful as you think they are and if you died... well... I'd..."

"If it had hit me, I would have died." Sunny retorts. "He saved me."

"Yeah, yeah." Reginae grimaces in pain. "Besides that, I need the experience if I'm going to evolve."

"Right. You know you're still three levels away from that right? Let's not do anything too stupid."

Reginae takes in a deep breath. "It'll happen."

"Really? Do you know what level you're going to evolve at?" Sunny asked.

"Sixteen." we say in unison.

He looks up at me, stares back down, and finally mutters, "Thank you."

I put the remains of the Potion away for later. "No problem."

There's a shrill screech in the distance, making every hair on my body stand on end.
No no no no no!

I turn around to stare up into the stone body of a massive Onix, curled around a single, small shape desperately struggling against its grasp.

The monster of Union Cave.

D'spinas pulls a pincer out and blasts it right in the eye. The Onix thrashes in pain, squeezing tighter around her.

Reginae and Sunny jump at once, both of them turned and ready to fight.

"Sunny, Mega Drain!" Sunny's leaves glow green as they sap the energy from the Onix's body. It slackens for just a second and D'spinas leaps out, buzzing furiously. Her broken wing attempts to move pathetically, bits of it hanging off the side and deep scars run up and down the side of her body.

Ten picks out the Potion and begins attempting to use it with his awkward owl beak.

"Reginae, Razor Leaf!"
The leaves fly past us both, a multitude of them rapidly generating from the one leaf over his head. The Onix roars before crumpling up and falling over several cliffs, blocking the way back.

Breathing heavily, I count my Pokemon and smile. "Oh thank Arceus."

"Everyone's okay?" asks Sunny.

"Everyone's getting out of here. Right now." Chiaroscuro says. "There's the exit."

"THANK ARCEUS," I repeat, and then yell, "Race you!"

"You're on!" calls Ten, and the whole team slides outside and into the rain in one muddy heap of human and Pokemon. We're all emotionally tense and relieved beyond belief to be out. My body shudders with emotion.

Reginae fixes me with a quizzical look. "Ashley, is there a problem?"

"No, of course not! I'm fine." I laugh it off. "We're all... fine."

"You don't look fine." he mutters.

"More than fine. We're alive!" I yell. "SCREW UNION CAVE! YOU HEAR THAT, UNIVERSE? ASHLEY HART JUST KICKED YOUR ASS!"
"YEAH!" Ten calls, and the rest of the team laughs good naturedly.

D'spinas gives an amused hmph, her pincer still over one of her healing wounds.

"You're lucky you have so many grass types." Sunny says as we walk into the pouring rain outside. The sky is a vortex of swirling grays, with little indicator of what time it is. "Did you have any... last time?" She says the last two words as if they're dangerous, too venomous for her to touch.

"No," I admit, "No, I didn't."

The rain falls down on my skin like tears from the heavens and I want to cry in unison with it. I sob with relief, crouched down in the dirt with half a smile plastered to my face as I do so.

The downpour seems to be a universal constant.