ToT: Chapter 3 - Giving Out

                                                    

Dehydration, heat exhaustion, a few minor abrasions, and an empty stomach. The Froakie was in pretty decent shape for having taken a nap in the dirt under some bushes in a burning hot canyon. None the less, they still only woke up long enough to take a small drink before conking out again. Sophie was the first to offer the extra bed in her and Art's small room they'd been able to get at the inn, even if Artemis didn't seem too keen on the idea. But hey, they'd be out most the night anyway helping out with moving the Voice Stone and if the frog was awake by the time they got back, then it'd be a lot easier to send them on their way. So, things would probably work out just fine.

Setting up their guest in the spare bed and leaving a few things behind to keep them from being ruined, Art locked their room up and he and Sophie made their way out to the rendezvous point. Creating a little ball of light above her leaves, Sophie acted at their lantern as they trekked about a quarter of a mile out of town, moving towards a distant beacon that the scholar campfire was. The night air brought a chill so heavy that you could easily forget that it had been sweltering just hours earlier. The feeling was far more welcoming though, even after being used to the heat, the briskness was just refreshing.

Upon their arrival, Chandra was helping get the group that had gathered arranged properly. There was a pretty decent array of Pokemon lending a hand, no spots were really left too wanting, Lydia even had a small party of scouts built up. But an extra pair of hands wouldn't be turned away, since it lightened everyone's overall load. So, Artemis got himself a spot at the tail end of the Voice Stone carrying party, finding it a little awkward to hold when most the other arms supporting the stone's weight were half his size. Still, Artemis got himself situated and soon, after Sophie thoroughly voiced her worry about him not pushing himself too hard, everyone was set into motion.

Over little ridges, around ancient rock formations, and avoiding cacti, the large group marched on into the night with their heavy cargo. They'd stop every once and a while, standing up the large pillar to check the location, the ground's stability, and other such things before the giant rock would be tipped back once again to move on.  The carriers were semi talkative, keeping the small conversations alive to seemingly avoid thinking about the strain in their appendages. Sophie however was fairly quiet.

She'd doused her light at the beginning of the trip to avoid making long, distorted shadows and had huddled up between the high collar of Artemis' cloak and his neck. She would hum quietly to herself in a lulling fashion from time to time, but otherwise she didn't say a word. Artemis didn't mind much, he knew she was afraid of the dark after all.  Though she'd never told him outright, she didn't really need to, in the few month he'd come to know her he was pretty well aware of most of her problems. To Art, Sophie was like an open book with some stuck together pages, where only a good dose of his own stubbornness could get them to pry apart to reveal their secrets. It was a slow process, but he didn't want to call her out on things, he wanted her to find her own voice again after how much of it she'd lost with her bandit encounter. He'd rather her be frustrated with him than with herself.

 A pair of scouts hurried up to Chandra a ways ahead, their words lost in the distance, Art could make out the direction their arms were indicating under the illumination of the Lantern's light. He squinted, barely able to make out a small raised area against the night sky. Chandra's tail swished through the air, turning to follow the scout's directions as her light lead the carriers on. Artemis suddenly felt a heavy lurch in the pit of his stomach and a ringing that left him momentarily light headed after walking a ways in this new direction. The Sawk staggered in his pace, he'd had this feeling plenty of times before over the years-

"Art?" Sophie cooed meekly. "Is s-something wrong?"

His dad had explained it as something called tremor sense.

"The ground is-" Artemis began just as a deep, crunching groan echoed from the earth beneath everyone's feet.

The Sawk could feel his throat tighten as the carrying party stopped in their tracks, wary of the sound's origin. Some looked prepared for a potential ambush, others seemed to have noticed the ground had shuddered a little bit, some jut seemed confused. They needed to move.

"What the heck was that?" Someone had said, but there wasn't time to register who it was.

"Move." Art urged, giving the pillar a hard shove forward, putting his weight into his shoulder for a second push. "Go!"

"Art-?"

Art managed a shoving kick to the bottom of the Voice Stone, jamming it roughly forward before his balance was ripped away from him. He and the several other Pokemon at the base end of the pillar were then swallowed up by the earth itself as a sinkhole forced its way into existence. Sophie's worry plagued voice cried out with many others while the earth wrenched itself downwards with a loud roar of stone and dirt. The jagged ring of earth that circled the sky grew smaller till darkness struck without warning.



----

One... Two ... Three-

Artemis's eyes flickered open, rolling slightly as they attempted to regain focus. He looked about, taking note of the sheer blackness that encircled the purplish night sky far above, who's stars could barely be seen from behind a cloud of obscuring dust that hung in the air. Figures peered from the edge of the dark circle, shining lights and saying something; no, shouting something. But it was hard to hear, there was a buzzing noise and his ears felt like he had a pillow to them. Keep counting, focus more, why are you down here?

Four, five, six-

He'd fallen down, the earth had opened and he fell. He coughed, clearing the dirt and dust from his lungs. Right arm and legs partially buried beneath a layer of earth, Art began to pull himself free, feeling that nothing hurt terribly as he moved, aside from a throbbing on the side of his head where the skin felt damp. Sound was slowly coming back, the voices from above were calling out in concern, seeing if the ones below were alright. There were others with him, right? Checking his surroundings more, Art saw a Krokorok helping out two others; Darius, the others he didn't know. Something felt wrong.

Seven, eight-

His hand came to feel around his neck, searching for something that wasn't there.

Nine-

Sophie! Where was Sophie? Artemis felt his heart drop as things finally lined up again. He jolted up to his feet and began to frantically look about the bowl shaped insides of the sinkhole.

"Sophie?!" He called out, finding his voice.

There was no response. He waited several agonizing moments with only the sound of his own pounding heart between his ears. What little he could see from the light above there was no sign of the tiny Cherubi, so she had to be under the dirt. She couldn't have fallen too far from him, and thankfully not under him from where she had been sitting. He dropped down to his knees, swiping his hands around at the piles of loose dirt surrounding him under the faint illumination from above. Palm fulls of dirt were flung every which way in his fevered search, he voice cracking under stress as he fought against fate for her safety.

"Come on." He mumbled, whisking away another fist of dirt. "Don't be-"

A leaf sprang up from under the last bit of dirt he lifted, a little dirty but still looking like it was connected to a stem. Hands trembling, Artemis hastily dug his fingers into the earth around the fragile little plant, pushing them to curl under the clod as if to dig up roots. He carefully pulled his hands up, allowing the dirt to filter through his fingers to reveal the owner of the leaves. Sophie coughed, spitting out dirt and wiping at her eyes to get them clear after her time underground. Artemis let out a stifled, nervous laugh, allowing himself to fall back and sit down. They had gotten amazingly lucky.

"A-Art?" Sophie started, spitting out another bit of dirt before turning to look at her worn out partner. "T-that was terrifying! A-are y-you-...?"

"I'm fine, Sophie." Art responded hastily, a relieved grin on his face. "Are you?"

"Y-you're b-bleeding!" Sophie stammered in shock, her eyes going wide.

Art had completely lost track of the damp feeling that was tracing down the side of his head, though it had now begun to dry and crust over a bit. He looked towards the trail of blood, knowing he would never be able to see it, but instead doing it in a way to acknowledge Sophie's concern. He gave a look of mild surprise, acting as if he'd never noticed it before then, knowing Sophie would get upset if he'd ignored his own health, even if it had been to help her. She was overly selfless and, while it probably seemed endearing to some, it was worrying to Artemis in how self-destructive it felt. She was just about to use a Heal Pulse when the sudden beat of wings overhead drew everyone in the pit's attention, pulling Art away from his thoughts and seeming to remind Sophie of her fear of the dark. Lydia was there, looking panicked as she'd likely just prematurely returned from a scouting venture after hearing the commotion from far off.

"Hey, are you all okay down here??" She squeaked.

"For the most part, seems like." Darius responded as he coddled a spot on his muzzle. "We need to get out of here though, this pit might not be done growing on us. The stone okay?"

"Don't worry, the Voice Stone is fine!" The little bat confirmed. "But yeah, we do need to get you guys out of here. I can carry someone small out, but you and this guy here look too heavy for me." She indicated a wing towards Artemis.

"As long as I can get an anchor up top then getting out won't be hard." The Krokorok assured, giving the rope coiled around him a tug. "Dunno how much weight the rest up there can handle though, even with the help tonight, the stone still felt heavy. So, I can probably only take someone small with me while we get pulled up." He turned to Artemis. "Once I get up there though it'll be easier to get you up."

"It's fine." Art said as he pushed himself to his feet. He gave his cloths a quick brush with one hand before reaching back into the pouch about his waist and pulled out a vial. "I think I can get out of here on my own. We don't wanna take the chance of waiting that long anyway."

"Sounds good to me." Darius agreed with a toothy grin. "Alright, let's get moving."

Lydia had one of the smaller Pokemon take hold of her feet and the end of Darius' rope as she took off towards the opening of the sinkhole. The second small Pokemon had crawled up onto Daruis' back and wrapped their arms around his neck as the Krokorok waited with the slack of the rope in hand for the go-ahead from Lydia. All the while, Art examined the dark walls around him, seeing with some difficulty that most looked to be fairly unstable, save for a patch of solid looking stone. He looked down at Sophie, who's eyes were wrenched shut with one leaf curled tightly around her nutrient ball. Artemis' brow furrowed, knowing she wouldn't like the option he was about to give her, but it was the best to keep her from falling.

"Sophie, I need you to hide in my bag while I do this." He requested, bringing his small partner closer to his face.

"W-what!? N-n-no!" Her brown eyes popped open, looking terrified. "I- I d-don't wanna b-be in th-there! I d-don't-!"

"I know you don't." Art stated calmly, trying to use as soothing a tone as he could. "But it's the safest place for you while I climb the walls. I don't want you to lose your grip and fall back into this mess. And even if we waited for the rope, it'd still be safer in my bag because I'd need both my hands."

She looked like she was about to burst into tears out of fright. Artemis forced away a frown that had begun to creep along his mouth, knowing that they couldn't delay this much longer. He leaned his thumb in to tap Sophie's cheek gently, the action drawing up the little Cherubi's attention.

"It's pretty comfy in there. Kept this bottle from breaking after all." He guaranteed, even if that second bit wasn't true. "I promise it will be alright. You'll be safe and I'll have you back out the moment we get to the top."

Her eyes averted, looking to his thumb for a moment to seek some sort of comfort. Then, she looked back up to the Sawk's face, giving him a trembling nod of agreement. Artemis gave her a small, acknowledging smile, carefully moving his arm behind his back to his bag. Opening the bag with a flick of his fingers, he could feel Sophie uneasily leave his palm and settle into the pouch. He waited several moments, making sure all Sophie's leaves were inside first before fastening the bag's latch and quickly getting over to the patch of rockier wall. Giving it one last look, Artemis bit at the stopper of the small vial in his hand, pulling it out with a small pop and spitting it away. Without any thought to its taste, he threw back his head, drinking down the contents of the vial in a moment and slipping the empty bottle into a fold of his gi.

Having tried potions in the past, he knew to expect the heavy shuddering throughout his body as the magic took hold. Forcing temporary foreign magic into your system took a moment to get used to after all. Artemis tapped the tips of his fingers together, feeling the skin clinging and taking that as an indication that the potion was working enough for him to get started on his escape. He rushed ahead, sprinting the short distance between him and the wall before making as high a leap as he could and jamming his feet onto the rocky surface. They stuck, as did his hands as he brought them to the rock as well, fighting with his own body on how gravity should work at that moment. He wondered for a moment how bugs did this so naturally when shouts from behind drew his attention, Darius's rope having finally gotten the anchor he needed as he made his way up the retracting line. Picking up and placing his feet and hands several times to test how much force he'd need to move, Art started his climb up the wall, trying to be mindful of loose stones while moving along as quickly as possible. He had no idea how long the potion would allow him to cling to the wall before it stuck stuck him there, but now certainly wasn't the time to experiment; the unknown time limit was already ticking down.


----

It had been several minutes since Darius had been pulled up, the group had returned to peering into the darkness below for the remaining people left in the sinkhole. Some shined in lights, making it hard for those with night vision to see while Chandra and Lydia tried to police them all away from the unstable edge of the pit. Though Artemis had fallen out of sight soon after Darius had made it out, so really the attempts to see were in vain. Then came a thump from under the lip, then another, and one more before the earth and rock burst apart enough for Art to struggle out and pull himself up onto stable ground.

"Ah- haha... Could use a hand if ya could." He panted while extending a shaky hand.

"I gotcha." Darius affirmed as he trotted over. He quickly took hold of Art's hand and gave a strong tug, pulling the dirt covered Sawk out and onto his feet. The Krokorok suddenly grimaced as he let go of the fighting type, giving his claws a shake. "Blegh! Those potions effects-!"

"Heh, sorry about that." Artemis chuckled tiredly. "Least I know it's working though."

"Yeah, yeah." Darius responded, giving his claws a brush through the dirt and then against his thigh. "You just walk along side fer now, don't wanna have someone stuck to the Voice Stone."

Artemis nodded as the Krokorok returned to the pillar, Chandra rallying everyone together once more as Lydia and her scouts took off ahead. Reaching his left arm behind his back, Art undid the button to his pouch, holding the top open with his thumb.

"Make sure you don't touch my skin for a bit, alright?" He warned as Sophie attempted to hurriedly escape her confined space. He felt her pause, then more carefully make her way onto the palm of his hand.

Bringing his hand back out in front of him, Artemis followed along after the group, looking down to his terrorized little partner after he got his pace going.

"Hey." He said gently. "You alright?"

For the first time since he'd met her, Sophie acknowledged she indeed was not alright with a small and slow shake of her head.

"W-when will we be going b-back to Tabira?" She questioned, a small tremble in her voice.

"Soon I think." Art assured. "Couldn't be too much longer since we're running low on supplies. For the time being though, we'll be heading back to the town pretty soon."

Sophie fell silent after that, returning to her previous method of comforting herself by humming the same little song from time to time. Listening for a while, Art could not figure out what the song could possibly be, figuring it was likely something that could be specific to where she was from. His thoughts interrupted for a moment as his stomach lurched mildly and his balance teetered a bit, the rumble of earth sounding out from a ways behind him after a few moments. He felt a wave of relief wash over him, glad that they had gotten out of there when they had. He felt confident that the worst of the night was over and they would be back in the mild comfort of the town soon, even if he likely wouldn't be able to get a proper shower till they were back in Tabira. Still though, it would be welcome rest after the long day in the overly hot environment.

The spot the scouts had found was perfect. Not terribly far from town, not too full of hazards, and some of the stones around it even appeared similar in shape to the voice stone itself, providing it a sort of camouflage against possibility of being vandalized by the Don's goons. And best of all, the signal was clear, Corduroy's voice coming in after a while of waiting and sounding quite happy to hear their grumpy sounding friend on the other side. Chandra thanked all the groups who'd come to help and gratefully dismissed them for the night. Everyone hurried off, quickly following the majority of the path back to town, though giving the even deeper sinkhole a wider berth if not a detour entirely. What had taken half the night to trek to now took a bit less than ten minutes to get back from, Sophie perking up as Art had arrived back in the town, the dim lights around them providing her the comfort she needed. Soon they reached the inn, both giving a relieved sigh as Art unlocked the door to their room, though, both had entirely forgotten about their guest.