Lost and Found

Dirty even to a Human Mole

Third Person's POV

Every journey begins with one step.

If you continue taking one step after another, you'll reach your destination. Regarding all of life's other distractions of course...

Ash and Hilda are taking that to heart right now. It's been hours, maybe even a day of stone faced walking.

Just endless steps.

Neither of them bother looking at the history embedded in Relic Passage. Because a new part of the past now marks the walls. Not as artistically though.

It's quite impossible to know what they're thinking right now. But even when they get to the end of the tunnel, if they do, the tunnel will not be left behind. Ash and Hilda aren't forgetting this.

No matter how hard they try.

While Ash mimics a soldier made of stone while walking, Hilda is a little more active. You could mistake her for someone who just came out of a tanning saloon.

She's desperately tried to brush some of the rubble of her skin and clothes but it's no use.

Like the explosion in the wall, in their minds...

It is there to stay.

You think they would get hungry or thirsty or something but the two haven't broken pace since they started. They just want to get out.

Out into where though.

Their biggest challenge isn't getting above ground. Their region is being completely taken over and flipped in every direction possible.

As far as they know it could've already started. Out of time.

Right now taking a simple breath is a moral win. A sign that they've survived so far, even if it's just getting started...

So seeing an end to the tunnel means a lot.

If there's one thing Ash and Hilda have learned about ancient civilization. It's that they liked to keep things straight as possible. There wasn't one turn in Relic Passage...

Seeing the blank wall at end is like seeing Disneyworld for the first time. Maybe not that far but it feels pretty damn good to them.

Ash and Hilda reach the end and notice a slanted pallet of wood. The dark wooden boards blend in with the more common brown clay. Opposed to the sandstone that they can't wait to leave behind.

Ash walks up the first few steps and pushes as hard as he up into the door. It's kind of awkward to be going up a slant and pushing a door hundreds of years old upwards. Knowing that the boards are tightly wedged into the clay.

"Let's just break through," Hilda brings out Excadrill, no emotion left to fill her voice.

Ash doesn't move.

He just stands there struggling against the pallet. His muscles shaking and tears starting to rub down his face. Then his foot loses its grip and he falls over, sprawled across the steps.

Hilda watches and holds off her Pokémon. Everything she tried to forget about is coming back...

Ash sits up and pushes his hat over his eyes. Hiding the source of the tears but not the tears themselves.

Hilda walks over and sits beside him, their sides touching, giving them the smallest sense of comfort. Her hands tremble while they clutch her short jeans. Her eyes starting to follow the actions of Ash's.

Then she stops herself and graBs the beak of his cap. She pulls it off his head and throws it down the tunnel. "Hil-!" He starts to protest and get up.