Hard Enough - Chapter 409 - Setting traps and spelunking! (Patreon)

I rested on the grass, enjoying the cool wind as sweat trickled down my back. 

Upon a rock, Don sat like a particularly gruesome gargoyle with his wings raised high. 

All over his body, various rocky spikes littered his much larger frame. Stephen and Bianca who’d been invited to observe, had their pokedexes out and were busy jabbering away. I’d made sure to couch it as merely a meeting of strong trainers to spar.

I’d still need to host most of the Guardians though.

I smiled, pleased with the personal progress while also how it had translated into a small personal victory.

Across from us on the torn apart field, Agatha returned her Gengar, notably not Gengy, but still one of her ever-present shadows.

“So you worked out how to megaevolve your Aerodactyl. Make sure you rub that in Lance’s face won’t you?”

“Hmmm, I won’t need to for him to be smarting. I recently had a very… tense discussion with him about certain liberties he was taking with Megarock. I took back a Charizardite megastone for his actions so he’s probably still smarting at that,” I replied.

“Hmph! That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t keep applying pressure to him,” she scoffed.

“There’s such a thing as not applying too much pressure to a person, you know? It’s all well and good to tease him sometimes, but if I do it all the time, he’s hardly going to want to hang out.”

“Feh! Do you want to spend time with that dragon-loving fool?” she demanded.

“He’s a good guy when he’s not being too proud about something,” I stated calmly. “Also… he invited me for tea?” 

Agatha blinked, then tilted her head. “Shit, he’s learning.”

“Eh? I mean it’s just tea?”

My comment received a look full of scorn. “You still have much to learn it would seem,” she declared.

"Riiiiiight,” I drawled doubtfully before rolling my shoulders. “So, were you able to set up the monitor on who accessed the information on those pokeballs?”

“Hmmm, yes, I did. It took a bit for Koga and I to sort it out but physical or digital access to those files will trigger unique pings that we can follow up on. We also have several Guardian staffers in the research institute that is reviewing the software so if anyone is faking their credentials, we will know.”

I stared at her.

“What?” she growled.

“Nothing, I’m going to assume you got Janine to review your work on this and she told you what you needed to deal with, cause the Agahta I know would have no idea about digital credentials and geocaching,” I stated.

She made a face, but I knew she couldn’t dispute me cause I was right.

Janine appeared next to me in an attempt to spook me but I caught her by the face and smirked only for her to dodge my hand. “Actually it’s called an access log that is used to determine location, time, and who accesses a file, so you’re wrong as well, Brock.”

That got a small cough out of me while Agatha grinned as she’d just been named Champion of Indigo.

“Ho? What’s this? Not so clever now, are we?” she taunted. Urgh! It was moments like this when the resemblance to Karen was undeniable.

I lowered my head and sighed. “Alright, so I don’t have as much idea about digital systems as Janine! Sorry to be so smug,” I said.

Agatha continued to smirk but I just rolled my eyes before turning to Janine. “So there’s been no unusual access?” I asked.

“None, what were you hoping to gain from this?”

“The alpha pokemon… it was a unique situation that I haven’t ever encountered before. The fact that a ranger ball, ultra ball, and Heavy ball weren’t able to catch an unconscious pokemon is going to be highly interesting to a number of parties.:”

Janine hummed thoughtfully, and I continued explaining my train of thought.

“My theory is that the Team Rocket offshoot that we weren’t able to catch have been investing a lot into this type of research, so unique data like this is going to be important for them.”

Janine nodded slowly. “What makes you think that is their focus?” she asked.

“The dark orbs that we found with the Crusher tribe,” I replied. “It had to have been given out by them as the only people we know to have had access to such pokeballs so far have been Mewtwo. Now, Mewtwo didn’t develop it himself but rather built on the theories he had access to when he was part of Team Rocket as their enforcer. A pokemon as smart as him? He would have only needed to be in the room with a few smart but unguided minds to learn what they knew.”

“And the reemergence of the dark orb so far north indicates that they are still in production,” mused Janine. “That does make sense. So you’re hoping to catch out the Team Rocket informants and follow the trail back to one of their bases, I take it?”

In truth, the main reason I was setting this little trap was that I expected it to be important later on. It seemed like an innocuous piece of information but if I was paying attention to the way things were shaping up… well my instincts were telling me it was important, so I set this up.

“Yeah, find their bases or eliminate an informant they might have,” I said, only for a rumble to sweep through the field.

I raised my arm to block the dust that swept over me a moment later. Janine crouched behind me while Agatha let the wind blow through her.

“Do fine particles get stuck in you when you reform?” I asked as she shifted back into a fully solid state and dusted her apron lightly.

Agatha snorted. “Not unless you attempt to do it with something properly solid like a wall,” she scoffed.

“Huh, but dust contains fine grains of sand and dirt along with other—”

“It lacks permanence. With aura, you can expel small particles like dust and blades of grass, for instance, from where your body forms before you reform. It’s something most ghost experts understand with any of their pokemon who slip through states of permanence. It happens exceptionally quickly, with the space you are going to occupy being cleansed of debris. If you are attempting to do it in a solid object like a wall however…” Agatha shook her head. “Well, you’re going to become much closer with your ghost pokemon than ever before.” 

“Huh,” I replied, staring at Agatha. “I think this is the most I’ve heard you talk about your ghost aura ever.” 

“Have you ever asked?” she cut back.

I pursed my lips. “Kind of assumed you wouldn’t speak of it,” I answered.

“Hmph,” she snorted, not denying it. “Have I not taught you the foundations of aura training and sensing?” she declared. 

I bowed my head, accepting the point, even if it was a diversion. “... apart from evading psychic senses and slipping into unprotected walls, what else can you do with ghost energy?”

“I can kill people,” Agatha stated calmly. 

Janine and I both leaned away from her.

“Oh… yeah, you know, not sure why I didn’t think of that,” I murmured. I shifted uncomfortably and licked my lips. “That’s with a touch, right?”

Agatha smirked at me and floated away.

“With a touch, right?!” I called after her, only for her not to look back at me.

“... that’s terrifying,” I said to Janine.

“Indeed, and I say that while having poison training,” she replied, only for another explosion to go off.

Glancing over, I saw that Erika and Visquez were attempting to team up against Sabrina who was holding them off. Her pokemon team assembled layers of Barriers and Reflects around them while others shot psybeams out.

In response, the ground became lush with grass while other areas were scorched as one built up and discharged with six pokemon striking out at Sabrina.

Only to be intercepted by Medicham tossing Slowking into the lightning strike right as Protect activated.

A thunderclap momentarily deafened me while the flash of light was blocked with a trickle of dark energy to my eyes.

“Impressive foresight there,” I murmured as Slowking landed and blinked uncertainly, only to smirk as a pair of pokemon appeared behind Erika and began laying into her team with Firepunch and a Hurricane in their midst.

“Oh, Sabrina used the temporary blindness from the lightning to get Medicham and Xatu into position,” Janine noted.

“Yup, and she’s got her Espeon slipping low through the grass towards Visquez,” I said, nodding towards where the grass was moving oddly. When Visquez didn’t notice it I shook my head as a moment later Espeon unleashed a trick room that expanded out… just far enough to include Slowking and no other pokemon of Sabrina’s team beyond Espeon who’d set the field up.

Slowking straightened and let loose with a potent Psychic that ripped through Visquez’s team, knocking Visquez herself off her feet.

“Tricky bitch!” shouted Visquez before she hit the ground and rolled.

When she rose to her knees she found Kirlia T posing on her head.

“And that’s match,” declared Sabrina as the last of Erika’s team fell.

“Fuck!” Visquez barked as she punched the ground. “Urgh, I’m not liking it when we have to fight the raid boss! Can we go back to fighting Koga please? Him I just need to blast the field clear to avoid getting punched by! Sabrina’s just fucking broken! I set up Dark Pulses and she still gets away with the W!” 

Agatha floated over. “So? Grow from it you big baby! Sabrina led you by the nose and made you draw out of your protected area. She endured your combined assault and when she saw the chance to counterattack, she did! Sabrina learned her lessons just like you!”

Sabrina approached Visquez and offered the larger woman her hand. “What Agatha means to say is, you have a lot of potential, and we’re excited to see you reach it.”

Agatha scoffed and began muttering about meaning what she said and not needing a blasted translator.

“Such a tsundere,” teased Visquez only to yelp a moment later when her shadow reached up and pinched her calf. “Fucking ghosts! I see why pops hated them!”

That had Agatha grinning and the rest of us laughing at poor Visquez. 

“Don’t worry, she gets us all a lot,” I offered, which caused Visquez to snort in annoyance. 

“I’m gonna learn to zap you,” she promised as she glared at Agatha who just sniffed dismissively before straightening up.

“Well, it’s good that so many of the young ones have been able to make it. Brock and Sabrina’s recent encounter with a powerful pokemon has raised concerns within the League about the possibility of more large pokemon. As Guardians and Gym Leaders you will all be called upon if such a pokemon is found. If any of you can capture one such pokemon you will be allowed to keep the pokemon but expect several researchers to arrive on your doorstep.”

“I’m gonna do it!” announced Visquez, only to earn herself another pinch from her shadow. “Fucking stop that!” 

Agatha ignored her and instead waved a hand and one of the channellers that were almost always around approached with a stack of boxes that reminded me of a tiered bento box.

She laid it in front of Agatha and opened the box revealing several highly polished wooden pokeballs. They had odd insignias along the sides and instead of being perfectly rounded, they had groves and nubs along the top.

“Are those Apricorn-crafted Poké Balls by Master Roshi?” asked Erika, leaning forward with interest and lightly touching the crest that appeared on the front of each pokeball.

“Yes, they were crafted by Roshi, a master of the arts with no peer these days. He has dedicated his entire life to the creation of such pokeballs. These are some of the best pokeballs you will likely get your hands on as the man has poured his life into them.” Agatha sighed. “It’s a shame that once he passes, there will be no one to replace him.”

“Eh? He didn’t take an apprentice?” I asked, surprised by this turn of events.

Agatha shook her head. “He did, but his children were all slain during the war and he has not found someone suitable since then. He is extremely selective in who he even sells such pokeballs to.”

“How did you get them then?” Visquez asked before kicking back behind her and blowing apart the shadowy arm that threatened her once more. “Ha!” she crowed victoriously while her own shadow shot her a rude gesture.

“If you must know I…” Agatha made a face. “I asked Pryce for a favour and in return I told him about why Snowrunt keep popping up near Mahogany town.”

“Huh,” I grunted in surprise. And here I thought she’d have kept that information over his head for years.

A suspicion formed in my mind. “He was about to find out anyway, wasn’t he?”

“He had a rough idea,” Agatha conceded, earning a snort of amusement from me.

She gestured again. “Take a tray each. Within there are two Leaden balls, two Feather balls, a Lure ball, and finally…—” Agatha made a face before gesturing to the final ball which had a pink colouration with a loveheart on it. “—a Love ball.”

“What is a Leaden and Feather Ball?” asked Visquez as she inspected her own tray.

“Leaden is a better version of a Heavy ball. It is something Master Roshi worked out himself and the Feather Ball is a ball that has stronger chances of catching flying type pokemon while also being capable of being thrown from further away. If you try throwing—”

Visquez cocked back her arm and launched one of her feather balls. We all watched it soar away. Isquez whistled. “Damn! I yeeted that sucker!” she said cheerfully.

Agatha stared at Visquez, only to float over and personally thwack her on the head. “Go get that! No asking others to get it for you! You threw it! So go fetch!” she shouted, raining blows down upon Visquez with her stick. 

Visquez scampered off with a chuckle.

I shared a look with Sabrina while Erika just shook her head. Janine shifted. “She… probably won’t find that… I’ll help her look,” she said before vanishing in a blur of speed.

Turning back to the pokeballs I offered Agatha a bow. “Thanks for this, these are really impressive. I hadn’t heard these were possible.”

“That’s because they’re very much a secret that most people don’t share around.”

“Ah, an open secret for a community?” I asked, making Erika nod.

I twirled the Leaden ball and nodded, appreciating the feel to it. There was a weight, both physically and spiritually to this ball. I could tell it would do well if I encountered another Alpha Pokémon.

“Well, these are just in time,” I stated.

This afternoon, Sabrina and I were going to go spelunking so there was every chance that we’d need these.

__________________

“Glow sticks?” I asked.

“Check,” replied Sabrina before she pre-empted me and levitated the glow markers as well. Those would be important if we needed to move down a passageway and leave signs for ourselves, or, arceus forbid, a rescue team to follow in our footsteps.

The rest of the check, and then double check for every item we were taking in a ready pack was done and we rose.

The Rangers who’d been watching us from their hut shared looks. 

“Kinda surprised to see you two run through that,” one said. 

“Yeah, boss, what gives?” asked another man only to twitch. “I mean, Gym Leader Sabrina!”

Sabrina graced the man with a smile. “It’s alright Toby, you were a student for a while, so I understand slipping into old habits. But where we’re going, it might be more dicey. Having items ready will make things easier for us. You can’t always be reliant on your psychic gifts, sadly enough.”

Toby nodded slowly and shared an uncomfortable look. “Is this about what you found down there the other day? John and Hannah wouldn’t talk about it and—”

Sabrina shook her head. “If you’re not clear to know, it’s fine. Just stay in your routes and follow your established protocol.”

“That isn’t as relieving as I’d hoped it might be,” He muttered.

We ignored him and instead settled our gear into our bags in positions that we could grab them easily before setting off. At my side Shin and Selene moved gracefully while Kirlia and Alakazam walked next to Sabrina.

When we reached the restricted area we stepped through some tape only to have a trio of pokemon appear before us as Rangers stepped out of their waiting areas.

“Identification check!” they barked.

I showed them mine as Sabrina did the same and they quickly stepped back. A scanner went over both of us and our pokedexes that served as I.D and we waited until a small green light flashed out.

“Gym Leaders! Sorry for the hassle!” Said one of the Rangers as they offered a polite nod. 

I merely nodded, knowing this was their job and that if they hadn’t done that I would have had to report them for negligence. 

“How deep will you be going today?” one asked.

Looking them in the eye, I merely said, “Deep.”

That got them all stepping back, and we continued on our way until we reached the branching tunnels. 

There, we began leaving markers indicating which way we’d gone. 

It didn’t matter that we’d reported our goal to the Rangers previously that we were going to be looking into the sinkhole. Once we were off the public routes, we needed to make it clear which route we’d gone along with if we’d doubled back and for whatever reason.

There were set symbols that we drew  which acted as shorthand telling all sorts of things with a few quick swipes. 

When we didn’t have to double back and made it to the sinkhole room on the first go I was rather pleased, thinking we’d made good time only to sigh when I saw that the sinkhole itself had caved in slightly. 

“... levitate it out?” I asked. 

Sabrina flicked a finger around at the walls, reminding me of the dark gems in the walls.

Urgh. I sent Shin forward to wash away the debris, knowing that it wasn’t going to be a complete save for the passageway and there would be some slight erosion that might cause issues further down.

Possibly even with the Onix… corpse.

If it was there.

Arceus, please don’t let there be a giant Onix corpse at the bottom of this sinkhole…or worse, only part of one.

“Hope Onix was the predator down here,” Sabrina remarked and I twitched.

“Did you have to say it outloud?” I grumbled only for her to smirk. Raising an eyebrow at her huffed. She read my mind, knew I was worried about it and still brought it up?

“Yes, yes, I did, and don’t worry, Onix is one of the biggest pokemon in the world. If there is going to be something eating it, it’s going to be a swarm of some sort.”

“Okay, now you’re doing it on purpose,” I muttered. 

Sabrina smirked. “Brcok, we’re going to be alright. I know this cause you’re here with me.”

That drew a blush from me. “And you’re here with me,” I replied, knowing that while mushy our track record of beating people when we were together was pretty impressive. 

Well, except for that time on New isl—”

“Mewtwo doesn’t count. Empress went rouge on you,” Sabrina cut in. “And I salvaged that situation by the way.”

That got a chuckle from me. The lighter emotion rippling out through me, after the supportive words earlier I paused and felt at my own body. Why did it feel… I snapped my head around and surveyed the cavern. “Shit, I was resonating with the dark gems in the cavern,” I muttered.

That drew a hum from Sabrina. “Ah, that… would make sense.” She took my hand and squeezed it. “I did think you were being oddly anxious.”

“This would be a good place to source dark gems for, but damn it’s subtle.”

“Best we move on then,” Sabrina announced right as Shin finished his work and the rocks collapsed into the sinkhole.

“Set up ropes and then levitate down?” I suggested.

“We’ll stay close enough to abseil on the walls if we need to.”

We set up some ropes as securely as we could, even going so far as to have Bertha stomp some anchors into the ground.

Then we slowly descended into the depths.

With our lights on I got a good look at the shaft’s walls, noting how it shifted in segments into different colours that signified different types of rock. I could imagine that a geologist would look at it and gain a good insight into how the world was at set time periods.

Just for the video I had recording I began narrating our estimated speed only for Sabrina to lay out a tape measure to confirm it a moment later.

When we reached the bottom Sabrina and I sniffed the air while waving a few items to check that there was nothing subtly toxic.

“Readings are good,” I remarked, attaching the tool to the front strap of my pack so it would continue to monitor the air quality. A steady chirp sounding out let me know things were going well.

Looking around I noted that there was a lack of Onix, its corpse, or any sign of it having been picked clean. The tunnel itself fed into a network straight away that shot off in multiple directions.

“Tch, it would be like that wouldn’t it?” I muttered, glancing around. “Hmm, the walls don’t appear to be made of dark gems which is good. I’m not getting a bad feeling either.”

“No, I can sense a fairly wide area around us. But there doesn’t appear to be anything here…” 

“Hmmm no pokemon like Onix. Geodude, or Graveler?” I asked.

Sabrina shook her head. 

I tapped my foot on the ground. “It would appear that the Alpha pokemon might have depleted the minerals and local population such that other pokemon are either forced out or… well, they’ve been devoured.”

“Shall we stick to the left most tunnel for now?” Sabrina asked.

“It’s the best plan,” I replied, knowing that starting on the tunnels on the outer track would allow us to keep better objective awareness of our position, relative to the exit shaft.

I began making some markings on the shaft, the tunnel, and even going so far as to hammer a GPS marker into the ground.

It wouldn’t work for long, but while we were in direct lines with it, we’d be able to track things like distances of tunnels and elevation.

For the first hour we moved back and forth, probing into the tunnels only to back off once the GPS marker was no longer able to detect us.

By then we had several tunnels mapped out for roughly a kilometre. Oddly enough, a lot of the tunnels circled the shaft or came back around to it. When it was time for a break, Sabrina and I parked ourselves in front of the shaft and glanced at the various glowing marks.

“It’s kind of weird that it pretty much went straight up with its tunnel instead of going for a more gradual slope.”

“I thought Onix were normally able to tunnel straight up?” Sabrina asked.

“They are, it’s just that the energy involved, especially for a larger pokemon… It’s not inconsiderable.” I twisted my hand around in a circling gesture only to awkwardly pull it around. “Onix need to grip on the walls and press themselves outwards while eating at the roof of the shaft they’re making. They can go up pretty easily but holding at the top becomes a bit more of an issue as they have to take large bites of the roof and hang there while swallowing.”

“Hmmm, I don’t believe I’ve ever witnessed that before,” Sabrina said. 

“Eh, I see it in the reserve enough. I should probably record it one time and send it in to Oak, it’s a bit quirky but nothing too out there.” 

“Should we continue exploring further? We could set up a relay marker every so far and properly map out the tunnel system.”

I sat back and worked my jaw. I’d honestly been expecting something to happen a bit quicker than this. This slow, methodical exploration was interesting but being this deep I had expected to stumble upon something unique.

Perhaps this was yet again the issue of a giant Onix being down here. It had devoured everything it could. There wasn’t any gold, metals, fossils, gems or interesting rocks that I could see down here.

“The nest,” I murmured. “We still haven’t found where it has been sleeping at night. Most Onix like to set up a softer, sandier area to rest and recover after slithering around all day.” 

“How far can an Onix travel in one day?”

I raised a finger at that before sighing. “Pretty far actually… it could be as far as ten kilometres in… well any of these tunnels’ directions.”

“So we will need to be methodical about this if we are to continue?” she asked.

I sighed, disappointed that nothing impressive had happened as yet. “Yeah, it seems that way.” I put my chin in on hand and considered the tunnels. “We’ll start taking samples to hand off to a geologist who can tell us more about these tunnels, as well as the shaft and the cavern we entered through. I’d also like to set up some monitors that will pick up any seismic activity or motion. We need to find out if Onix is still active around here or if our defeat has driven it off.”

I seriously hoped it hadn’t gotten cold feet and run off. 

I so wanted to add a giant pokemon like that to my roster!

“You realise coating such an Onix in metals would be extremely expensive? To the point that you might not be able to?”

“I have savings,” I pointed out.

“You also need to revamp the infrastructure of the forge,” Sabrina replied.

That pulled me up as I realised that she was right. “Urgh, yeah that was something I hadn’t considered.”

“It would still be a very impressive pokemon,” Sabrina pointed out.

I sighed and nodded, imagining riding a giant Onix with Sabrina holding onto me from behind. “Yeah, it would be pretty awesome.”

Further surveying sped up as we were able to Teleport to previous tunnels and explore deeper. This allowed us to reach roughly two kilometers into some of the longer tunnels while others had multiple branching tunnels that slowed things down. 

After two more hours we had dozens of markers laid out which fed back into a mapping tool, allowing us a very crude idea of the tunnel systems around the vertical shaft. 

Looking at it all laid out I had to admit, it was a sizable area. Was actually a sizable area. “Hmm, it almost looks like the roots of a tree,” I murmured, tracing the line.

“So it would seem,” Sabrina replied as she finished packing away the last of the equipment. 

With the equipment set up we once more ascended the shaft, only pausing to take samples every few metres up, until we reached the dark cavern.

Once there we laid some more monitoring equipment and trekked out.

The rangers that had met us at the first checkpoint straightened up when we reached them.

“Oh, good, you’re back. Was worried that we’d have to go down after you,” said the first.

The second shifted. “So… was it dead?”

“No sign of it actually. We mapped a fair distance around the shaft but found no signs of it, or its nest.”

“Awwww shit,” replied the second Ranger.

“Yeah I know I was hoping to encounter it,” I said.

The rangers stared at me before shaking their heads. “Of course you would say that Gym Leader Brock.”

I chuckled, feeling slightly more upbeat at their reactions as I handed over access to the monitors so they could also track if anything was moving near the tunnels leading upwards.

“So, when are you coming back?” Sabrina asked, observing me.

“... probably not for a while sadly. I’m going to start getting challengers properly anyday now so I’ll have to be diligent with that, unless Onix decides to poke its head out I think I’ll have to wait.”

“Good,” Sabrina replied with a smile, pleased that I was being pragmatic. 

I nodded, reaching towards her and letting her Teleport me home.

It was a different sort of adventure, not a great one with amazing discoveries, but still good.

Some instinct within me wanted to go back quicker. I just had this underlying feeling that no matter what, there was more to those tunnels than a giant pokemon.

At least, that’s what I hoped for.

Only time would tell if I was right.

___________________

A.N. Thanks go to my patreons for your continued support!

More spelunking adventures will return! Any thoughts on what might be down there? Beyond the giant Onix?

Thanks also go to Twmmy for proofreading this chapter!