On the Wings of Death

Explosions = Knockouts

The steady dripping of water was the first defining feature of Connecting Cave. At least, it was the first feature a wanderer would notice. The real defining feature, of course, were the Zubat.

Somewhere in the ceilings of the cave hundreds (maybe thousands) of Zubat rustled, the occasional sound of flapping loud in Harry's ears. The cave was alight with a faint pink glow – Ralts' Dazzling Gleam. Ralts was no happier in the Zubat Roost than Harry was, trudging slowly along the damp ground.

Despite its size on a map, Connecting Cave was far larger than it looked. The only redeeming feature was that the path was relatively straight. One single main path, with smaller paths branching out into the depths of the cave. Harry had no intention of meandering down them.

Ralts and Nincada were the two Pokémon he had out right now, as defence against the Zubat – Ralts more so than Nincada, who he still couldn't understand. Fletchling was resting after a particularly nasty horde of Zubat managed to poison her. The two days in the Berry Fields had been well worth it considering his reward was another basket of Pecha Berries – she would need a bit of rest, but otherwise she would be fine. Honedge was resting as well. Steel or no, fighting well over two dozen mad Zubat would drive anyone into exhaustion.

At first, there was enough light in the cave to see – but as they went deeper, it became darker and darker until Harry was nearly blind. Ralts' Dazzling Gleam lit the cave a soft shade of pink, just enough to see by without – hopefully – alerting any Zubat.

If it came to battle, he would just have to hope Ralts' Confusion could hold them off. He doubted Nincada could do much against Zubat, and it was far too dark for Fletchling or Honedge to see. Considering most of their attacks needed them to see, it wasn't an ideal situation.

Nincada scuttled forwards, transparent wings pink in the glow of Dazzling Gleam. It was possible for Harry to direct him in battle – he'd discovered it during a Zubat attack – but it was downright impossible for Harry to understand him otherwise. Food and shelter seemed to be a recurring theme in his mutterings, but then there was also winter and birds and strings so it really didn't make any sense.

According to his Holo Caster, he'd been in the Connecting Cave for well over six hours by now, and barely any closer to the opposite exit. Harry wondered if Connecting Cave was designed to snare travellers – surely there was no other explanation for how it seemed so small but was actually so large, Zubat or no Zubat.

He was definitely glad he had entered the cave in the morning. Spending a night surrounded by wild Zubat... well, there was bad, and there was bad bad. A night in Connecting Cave wasbad bad – unless it was a Zubat fanatic, in which case, well, Harry would be running as far away in the opposite direction as he could. He really did try to understand people, but Zubat protectors were just like his Nincada – completely unintelligible.

Another Zubat screeched, Air Cutter splitting the air. Ralts slammed it into the ground with Confusion, and Nincada spat String Shots to tie it up. Harry grimaced. He really hoped it hadn't disturbed the Zubat above.

No such luck, apparently. Seven Air Cutters flew in their direction. Harry scooped up Ralts, recalled Nincada and bolted.

Ralts flung a flurry of Magical Leafs at the Zubat as Harry ran, Supersonics echoing all around them. The Zubat slowed to cut the leaves with Air Cutter, by which point Harry was far away enough to avoid that particular flock's (did Zubat hordes count as flocks?) attention. He slowed to a walk, releasing Nincada as Ralts hopped back down.

Nincada wove an intricate String Shot pattern that would (hopefully) tangle up any Zubat following them. Harry checked his Holo Caster again. Supposedly, they were near the exit. Then again, that was what the Holo Caster had said nearly two hours ago, and they still weren't near the exit. At least, he couldn't see any exit in front of them.