Pokemon Regression

Chapter 24: Rocky Tomb

Since Bronze had completely flipped out, Shasta offered to let me walk around and explore the cavern under her supervision, an offer I graciously accepted.

After examining the cavern I'd come up with the beginnings of a plan, although whether it would work or not was actually a pretty huge gamble. But regardless, it would all begin with investigating the mining area in more detail.

Under the supervision of Shasta, I wandered cheerfully and clumsily over to the miners swinging their pickaxes into the cave wall, examining the shattered rock debris that was at the feet of everyone present. I made a point of acting like I was still dizzy from being hurt by Bronze, which served the dual purpose of making Shasta sympathise me...

And also to make her not suspect anything afoul when I 'tripped' and fell flat on my face. I groaned loudly, discreetly palming a sharp piece of discarded rock and tucking it into my shirt sleeve for later. I stood up as Shasta rushed over to check on me.

"Are you okay...?" She asked, eyes wide. I just laughed and smiled at her.

"I'm fine, it's just a scratch." I brushed her off, reassuring her I was fine. "I think I'm still a little more lightheaded than I realised."

"...Alright." She stood back up, regaining her more stoic composure. She crossed her arms and pretended to be annoyed, but I already felt like I understood her well enough to know it was just an act.

"What are they all doing anyway?" I asked, genuinely curious. "Why are they digging?"

"Boss's orders. We're not really sure what we're after, but apparently there's valuable fossils in the walls here somewhere." Shasta shrugged. "You'd have to ask Petrel why."

"Can I?" I asked, and Shasta paused, biting her lip.

"...I don't think that's a good idea."

I watched the miners dig into the walls for a minute, but I had no clue why Team Rocket of all people would be digging for fossils. I decided to ignore the issue for now, choosing instead to focus on my plan.

Step two would be to figure out where our Pokemon were being kept, but I didn't really have a way to ask that without being suspicious. So instead, I slowly snaked my way through the entire camp from one side to the other, making note of any time Shasta panicked or tried to keep me from going a certain direction.

Fortunately, just as I'd hoped, the majority of Team Rocket were adults, and seeing as I was just a regular kid they were willing to ignore me as long as Shasta was supervising me-My freedom had opened up a lot.

But even then there were limits, which I managed to hit upon as I tried to peak inside of a large purple tent. As I began to brush open the tent, I felt Shasta's hand grapple around my wrist, pulling me away.

"Sssh..." She put a finger to her lips. "Not in there. That's Petrel's tent."

Petrel... Judging by what people had said, he was the boss of the current operation, as well as the man who'd taken our Pokemon. If this was his tent, the odds were good that Yeller was currently in there.

Hang in there buddy. I'll come save you. I thought.

I didn't have definitive proof that Yeller and Bulb were in there, but the cavern didn't have many places to hide things and I had explored most of the cavern without any attempts at stopping me. Now was the time to gamble, while I was still allowed to walk.

My eyes drifted from the tent to the Pokeball attached to Shasta's waist. I'd seen her use the Pokemon before-A Zubat- and it would appear it was the only one she possessed. A part of me wanted to try grabbing the ball and making a break for it, but the chance that would work out for me was rather low. For one thing, the Zubat probably wouldn't listen to my commands if she was still nearby. Second, I'd probably get caught by the woman herself before I could make enough distance.