Broken Souls

Really Bad Architecture

There's only a few seconds of darkness before Lilly lights up the room, eyes narrowed with concentration as she struggles to light up the whole tunnel. Still, she must be able to see enough, because she looks around, and immediately makes me blush by murmuring, "Fourteen."

Many people and Pokemon both claim that their perfect match finishes their sentences, but few have ever found a significant other who does their headcounts before they can.

There's no time for gushing now.

"I can't believe it." Ferro mutters, shaking his head.

"What, that Grim ditched us?" Lilly says, glaring my way. "Me neither."

"No." Ferro says, looking at the ceiling with a deep sadness in his eyes. "I thought Rick the Gastly was never going to give us up."

"Ghost types," Chompers groans. "Well, are we going to be able to get out of here?"

Gaia lifts a stone. "I'm not sure. We must be far, far underground. Those were rocks, not dirt."

"Goldenrod must be slanted," Toxis adds, "Ecruteak is a higher elevation. Near the Illex, Goldenrod is close to sea level, and then it goes up from there, but the whole tunnel system was built at the same level. No wonder the project was cancelled, this is incredibly poor construction."
"Oh, so now you're an architect too. We'll add that to 'paying our taxes' as one of the many things we can push off on you if we ever have to do boring adult work to get by." Lilly laughs.

"No taxes. Never again." Toxis says, putting a massive hand up to his face. "You're giving me a migraine just by mentioning them. Anyone have coffee?"

No, Shell says, Obviously. I sense multiple Pokemon in distress. Can we try to settle them?

"Is the egg okay?" cries Shika, bolting to her feet. "Sky?"

Though Sky is out of the vicinity of the lights, I hear a fluttering of wings as she staggers over, bruised and exhausted. "My egg! I... please tell me she's okay."

Khrys, who's taken a similar amount of damage, soars over to her and holds her tight. "It's going to be okay. We have it. I managed to telekinetically move it out of the way."

Shika, looking guilty, dips her head. "I'm so sorry."

"You couldn't have expected it." Khrys responds. "Thank you for carrying us around."

Shell nudges Sky the egg, which is spotless. She immediately begins sobbing, resting all four wings against it. "Oh, thank Arceus. Thank every legendary there is."

I try to look confident, but though I'm glad the story had a happy ending, Sky and Khrys's wounds worry me. Was it Rage? Was it the tunnel? If this is how much damage an accident can do, how will they fare in a fight? Ashley had to switch them out and send them against less agile foes in hopes their opponents wouldn't even land a hit. I don't have Pokeballs, a plan, or any way to protect my best friends, and it feels like I've been hit myself. Still, I ask, "Everyone else alright?"

Toxis picks up a certain Vaporeon, who looks unharmed, but is still staring at us with a glassy terror in his eyes. His fins shake and his tail is curled up tight, and Toxis sets him down before us.

"Dill...?" he asks.

"We're screwed." Dill says softly.

"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll find some way-" Dusty begins, but Dill cuts him off.

He turns to Toxis, looking resolute. "If we're going to die, I have something to tell you."

"Dill." Toxis lays a hand on his shoulder.