I'm Human

Growing Dangers

Back in the cave

Rowan and the others had managed to make it pretty far into the cave without noticing the absence of either Jo, Kaid, or Marcy. They were all too distracted by the gradual change of the cave from dry and rocky to humid and vegetated with fungi. Xana was also keeping a close eye on Elen as more tochukaso mushrooms appeared along the walls.

"Hey, Elen, how are you feeling?" The Bulbasuar asked.

"Huh?" Elen seemed to snap out of a deep thought. "Uh, yeah. I feel fine. Why do you ask?"

"Just checking."

Sora and Flynn peered over their friends' heads before looking down at Seb and Uri. "How deep does this cave go? Are we looking for something in particular?"

"Mmm, not really. We usually just look around for new caves, forests, or etc. to explore. Uri and I found this one while looking for Kaid." Seb explained.

"Of course we didn't get very far before Aridan called for us." Uri added.

"He called for you? How?" Rowan asked.

"He roared. Duh." Seb snickered.

"Aridan can be loud when he wants or needs to be." Dex explained from the back of the group. "He can be very loud."

Xana peeked over at Elen again. Her eyes were glazing over again. "She's starting to fall back into her daze." "Getting sleepy, Paras? Want to head back home?"

Elen's eyes darted over to Xana. "It's Elen, and no. I want to keep exploring with you guys."

"Guys?" Seb questioned aloud. "Don't you mean 'mon'? Humans use the term 'guys', right?" He gave Elen a teasing grin. "Trying to sound like a human?"

If only he knew.

Rowan cast a firm, but knowing glance back at Dex. Dex's only response was a silent sigh and a slight shake of his head. They couldn't tell the others just yet. The Pikachu glanced back up at Rowan to see that the Charmander boy had stopped. His eyes were wide as he scanned the faces of their friends.

"Rowan? Why'd you stop?" The Twins asked in unison.

"They're gone." Rowan choked.

The young ones looked at each other only to see that three of them were missing. The twins looked down at Rowan. "They could be at the mouth of the cave. Just relax."

"Yeah." Uri added. "I'm sure Jo and Marcy are sticking together. Kaid on the other hand..."

Xana gave her a hush look before giving Rowan and his friends a reassuring nod. "If it'll help, we can turn back and explore the rest of this cave some other day. Alright?"

"Please." Rowan mumbled as he pushed past his friends. He needed to get to the mouth of the cave. He wanted to know if Marcy was okay. Rowan grimaced as he mentally slapped himself for not paying more attention to where his little sister was. "Why did I agree to take the lead? Marc, I hope you're with Jo and Kaid."

Rowan ran with the others following close behind him. He stumbled a couple times before falling onto his hands, but he didn't let that stop him. It felt both weird and oddly natural to run on his hands and feet. Plus, he was moving much faster.

He raced through the tunnel with his tail flame illuminating some of the darkness in front of him. Behind the fast moving Poke-human Rowan could hear some of his friends slowing down to a jogging pace.