Sparradile

Flea had seen what was coming, and grabbed hold of the key. Her initial intention had been simply to shelter under it, but then Ash chucked it, and that was even better (outside of getting knocked around some as it skittered across the floor). She wasn’t too worried about Ash. The Meowth could take a hit, and besides, that fat flying Raichu had been on top of her and ought to take the brunt of the hurt from the statue monster things. Speaking of, Flea glanced back towards them from her hiding place beneath the key. Since delivering that final blow, even the tallest one had collapsed, falling forward in a pile of worn stone, the bright orange lines and cracks that had marked its surface cooling to gray. Good. That was good. But even sprawled on the ground, the hulking body of the thing still blocked her view of Ash. “Ah, good.” Flea jolted as she felt the key suddenly shifted above her, claws closing around it. She jumped to grab back onto it as the key was lifted upwards. The

More splatters of the searing hot goop dimly illuminated the new channel. Ash could feel the heat radiating off the spots even as she dodged around them. Up ahead, the hulking forms of the Raichu blocked out the upper spaces of the tunnel, one flying lower than the other to make room for the Wartortle riding with her and spitting water at whatever lay ahead. The unencumbered Raichu traded blows with Jay. Nuri, stomping straight through the molten puddles on the ground, brought up the rear. “It’s too small a space to fight them here!” She shouted. “Everyone needs to attack from one side, and we can turn them back towards the cavern!” She glanced backwards and stopped short, her eyes falling on the lone figure of Ash barrelling towards the chaos. “What? Just an Iceberg?!” “HA!” Jay laughed. “Guess your crew doesn’t care to listen to your blathering-” Trough cut him off with a crackling punch at the base of the neck, sending Jay reeling. Ash leapt, muscles surging, and collided with

Ash kneaded the pine needles as she considered what to do. On the one hand, she now had some important information to pass on to her guild: namely, that they were about to be ambushed by a beefy bunch of enemy Pokemon. On the other hand, there was little chance she could sneak past said beefy Pokemon to pass the warning onto Jay and Tiva. And who knew what the tunnel would look like on the inside? Natural caves were a maze. Ash couldn’t see the purpose in manufacturing one unless the plan was to make it direct, but who could say? “Aaaaash,” Flea whined. “Aaaaaaaaaash, those were Jawbreakers! We can’t just sit here!” “I’m planning,” Ash snapped. She had no idea where anyone might have gone in there, but with that many Pokemon moving through, they would have had to leave traces. So that should be covered. It would be dark, which would help with sneaking past the Raichu, although they were definitely capable of making light of their own. Or just sensing her without seeing. Psychic

The sight of their destination brought Ash’s discomfort back to the forefront. She had been trailing at the end of the group, and stopped in her tracks when she saw what her fellow Pokemon were entering. “That’s not a cave.” Flea popped her head out of Ash’s fur to take a good look for herself. “What’re you talking about? It’s a big old hole in the side of a mountain! Sounds like the definition of “cave” to me.” “It’s not natural,” Ash explained. “Look at the rocks all around the mouth of it. They’re all square and placed there. And there’s all those- those…” she waved her paws as she searched for the words, “Those things from the Vanished People. The weird things they made.” She didn’t know what they were. Her family had rarely run into them; they only turned up when her group traveled near places like Neve, which wasn’t often. She was familiar with other remnants, mostly buildings. Sometimes after a thaw, they would run into worn, strange fabrics in odd places, or colorful bits

Ash waited outside a vast, wooden building, ears swiveling this way and that. Jay, Tiva, and various others had gone inside. She would not. Fortunately, most of the guild had hung around outside, so she wasn’t an odd one out. The shifting crowds of Pokemon made her uneasy, but at least outdoors she had plenty of space at the fringes. The stark cold kept her alert. It was a relief to be in the mountains again. Light footsteps, like sticks punching in and out of the snow, caught her attention and Ash glanced to the side to see the Leavanny again, making a beeline for the door of the building. She shrank into the cover of the milling guild members, all waiting around outside the Neve guild hall while the Iceberg and Cinders leaders had some sort of meeting inside. The Leavanny stopped short as Jay emerged just as he was about to open the door; Ash heard him apologize and excuse himself before slipping indoors. “Tell me honestly,” she murmured into the thick fur of her chest, “Why’d