Blasting Off Again

[Laina]

It was damp and dark in Puce Mountain. If there was one thing Aelwyn was scared of it was being trapped in these dark tunnels. However, she was never going to let Xavier see that. So she walked on. She hoped that in the dim light he couldn't see her jump at every noise. How embarrassing.

Munchie, who was also scared of these tunnels, had long ago taken shelter in her Pokeball. The Munchlax was so lucky. Aelwyn wished she could be hiding in a Pokeball right now.

In order to maintain a low profile they had had to go along the less traveled areas of the cave.
Aelwyn wished she had known that before she'd entered the cave in cut-off shorts and a tank top. Luckily she had a sweatshirt tied around her waist and hiking shoes (with short socks, of course).
Her hair was twisted up with a clip holding it back. SHe couldn't have it getting in her way, after all.

"This mountain is huge!" She cried softly, in dismay. "It'll be years before we get out of here!"

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[Dari]

Xavier was much better dressed for the mountain interior than Aelwyn. Not only did her wear a sweatshirt over a tee-shirt, but he wore jeans as well. He had in fact noticed Aelwyn jump several time, but not every time and chalked it up to mere coincidence. Plus he didn’t really feel like listening to her defend her fearlessness. He’d already had enough of arguing with her and they’d only made it to Puce Mountain so far.

“Not years. A day, maybe two if we get lost.” Xavier said. Up ahead there was a fork in the tunnel, one curving up and to the left and the other down and to the right.

“I think we’re suppose to go right.” Xavier said, pointing to the right path, “Right?” He added. Mostly, Xavier was going to avoid setting off Aelwyn’s temper during their adventure. It seemed liked a good idea to him.

“But I s’pose that it’s up to you, you’ve probably traveled through here more recently than me.” Xavier said, falling back a couple steps and letting her take the lead. Besides, he though, if we get lost then it wasn’t my fault.

[Laina]

A day or two? Aelwyn thought unhappily. They really needed to put a route in around the mountain. She would much rather sleep on a boat than on the cold hard ground in this dark gloomy tunnel.

She came back to the world at the sound of Xavier's voice asking her a question. "Actually I think we go left here and then right at the next fork." She replied. Walking on down the left path anyway. Or was it right at the first path and then left? She couldn't remember, she had a horrible time with directions. But it was too late to admit it now, she'd already decided on a path and she was sticking to it.

"When I was little my parents used to keep me from wandering off by telling me there was a Pokemon in this mountain that ate people who wandered the tunnels." She remarked. Just then a zubat cried out and flew away overhead. Aelwyn jumped with a squeak and turned to flee back towards comfort. And then she realized that she was with Xavier, not her Mom or Dad and stopped. Definitely no comfort gonna come from there. She'd have to troop on.

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[Dari]

Xavier followed Aelwyn silently, though he glanced down the tunnel at his right, sure that it was the right way to go, but he’d already let her choose the path. He just had to hope that she was right. “Alright, lead on.” He said, giving a mild shrug. He wished there was at least something to do during these long walks through the mountain.

“I think we should definitely get a river path set up. This is way too inconvenient.” Xavier mused aloud, looking around, “It’s a lot of wasted time and uncomfortable. What do you think?”

Xavier bit down on his lip to keep from laughing as Aelwyn jumped. When she came running back towards him he automatically stopped and stared at her, unsure of what to do. “Um…are you alright?” He asked, feeling rather awkward.

[Laina]

"Yes, please do make a river path." Aelwyn agreed, "I see why they didn't before when they were worried about someone coming in and destroying headquarters, but I don't think we need to worry too much about that anymore."

When Xavier stopped to stare at her Aelwyn blushed furiously. "I'm fine, let's just get out of this place." She snapped. Turning she walked on, glancing in all directions nervously as she went. "Stupid mountains... Stupid tunnels... Stupid dark..." She grumbled. Then stopped, "I just had a great idea." Checking her belt, she took out a Poke Ball and tossed it, "Come on out, Mareep." She said.

Mareep came out of his Poke Ball and shook himself off, stretching. His wool generated static electricity as he moved causing him to light up slightly.

"Now Mareep, use flash." Aelwyn ordered and smiled as the Mareep happily responded by lighting up the cavern. That was, until Aelwyn spotted the Gliscor hovering right in front of them. Without even thinking she let out a small shriek and ran behind Xavier. Comfort be damned he was leading now. Mareep ran back behind Aelwyn and then the Gliscor, frightened by all the noise, took off.

[Dari]

“Yeah, unless these rebels are actually something we need to be concerned about…” He said, then paused, “Well, I suppose that if enough people are around to guard the river route then it won’t matter whether or not the rebels are actually a threat. Plus HQ’s got great security anyway.” He gave a mild shrug and smiled.

Xavier held back another laugh, as she blushed and muttered to her self, then set about getting her Mareep out. Shocked silence followed as Aelwyn shrieked and ran behind him.then he couldn’t contain it and burst into laughter. “You know,” He said, as soon as he finished laughing at her, “You could’ve just said you were scared of the dark. I could’ve led.” With this he set out, walking down the tunnel with long strides.

“So, are you sure this was the right way?” He asked as he stopped, “Cause…” With the illumination from the Mareep they could now see that the path ahead of them declined down steeply as far as they could ahead of them. “I don’t really remember this being part of the right path.”

[Laina]

"I'm not scared of the dark!" Aelwyn said defensively, "That thing just startled me, I mean did you see it? It looked like it was going to tear me to pieces with those teeth!" She glared at him, "Quit laughing at me! That was not funny at all!"

"I'm pretty sure this is the right way." Aelwyn nodded, which in her head meant she wasn't sure at all. "We'll go right at the next fork and it'll lead up up and out and we'll be good." She said confidentally.

"Wait, where'd Mareep go?" She asked, noticing the light had dimmed a little. She turned to see him down the tunnel back aways, sniffing at a rock, "Mareep! Get back here!" She called. The Pokemon looked up and called back happily, trotting quickly towards them.

Unfortunately as he neared Mareep ended up tripping and took off rolling down the decline in the tunnel.
"Mareep!" Aelwyn cried worriedly and then sighed happily as Mareep called back, apparently fine.

Aelwyn almost went ahead to Mareep and then glanced at Xavier, remembering the scary Gliscor from earlier. "You go ahead." She said quickly, putting her hands on his back and giving him a small nudge towards the hill.

[Dari]

“Whatever you say.” Xavier said, smiling and then watched in horror as Mareep dropped off the edge of the incline. He leaned over to peer down into the darkness just as Aelwyn nudged him, sending him stumbling forward to stop precariously at the very edge of the incline. He turned and glared at Aelwyn.

“Just what the hell—“ He snapped and then there were several loud cracks and Xavier glanced around the tunnel. Suddenly the floor gave way underneath both and them, sending both tumbling down the incline with a ton of rocks. Xavier hit the bottom on his back, knocking the wind from him and he, in vain, tried to gasp it back in. He lay there for a moment, surrounded by stones for a minute.

“What.” He wheezed, “The fuck?” With this, he sat up, looking around. It appeared the two were in a very large cavern. Most of the cavern was taken up by a lake, its dark waters still.

“At least Mareep’s alright.” Xavier muttered, finally catching his breath and pushing himself to his feet.

[Laina]

Aelwyn froze, heart catching when the ground started to give way beneath them. She couldn't remember what she thought as she fell but whatever it was the pain clouded it over as she hit the bottom on her side. The first thing she did was take inventory of her body parts. It seemed like everything was in working condition. Maybe a scraped arm and a bruised hip.

"Mareep, return." She groaned, putting the sheep Pokemon back in his Poke Ball. "I definitely do not recognize this part of the trail." She said decidedly. "In fact, I think this looks to be a dead end."

She stood up slowly, wincing, and turned to look back up the direction they came. A lot of rocks. "This could be a problem." She murmured. And then sat down with a sigh, "Well it was nice knowing you. I wish I could die in better company, but you know... Beggers can't be choosers."

"Wait, where are you? Are you okay?" Aelwyn asked, standing up once more in the now nearly complete darkness and searching for Xavier. Her hands found a part of him that might have been a shoulder, but the sudden contact startled her and she ended up pushing him.

Next thing she heard was a splash and she stepped back slightly, blushing, "Oops..."

[Dari]

"We're not going to die in here." Xavier said, rolling his eyes. Well, at least he wasn't going to die down here. He had more important things to do. "We just have to find another way through the mountain." Which was when she started asking questions.

"Yeah, I'm fine, a little cut and bruised, but nothin-" Which was when she grabbed him, freaked, and pushed him into the lake.

The lake was freezing. Water closed in over his head and Xavier almost gasped for breath before he realized that wouldn't be a good idea. Numbly, he kicked, propelling himself to the surface with arms and legs he couldn't feel and pulled himself, shaking back onto land.

"What..." He asked, teeth chattering and his voice shaking from the cold that had just tripled itself, "The hell was that?" He wanted to grab her and shake her. Or throw her into the lake, but that was probably a bad idea, considering he already felt like death. One of them needed to be strong enough to get out of this hell-hole.

"Maw?" A bright red flash appeared and at his side Xavier felt a familiar weight. Sitting on the ground as he was, he hugged Lucie, savoring her warmth.

[Laina]

At first Aelwyn wondered if she had accidentally killed their leader. That would be very unfortunate. Her parents and the rest of the Team would kill her. Though she might be worshipped as a Goddess by the rebels and that wouldn't be too bad. All her questions were answered though when he came sputtering back onto land.

She was silent when he first came up, but when he spoke she couldn't hold it in anymore, she burst out laughing. "I bet you look like a drowned rattata right now." She chuckled, "I can't wait to tell all the grunts that their famed leader cried when he fell into the lake." She knew he probably wasn't crying. But the grunts couldn't know that, now could they?

Soon she was all business though. She couldn't let him die, because then she would be killed and she didn't want that. Untying her sweatshirt she tossed it to him. "In case your shy." She explained, "Because those wet clothes of yours are gonna have to come off before you get hypothermia." She tossed two Poke Balls, "Mareep, Val." She called and smiled at the two Pokemon. "Mareep, flash."

As the room lit up she looked around and frowned, "Looks like there aren't any other ways out from what I can see." She observed. She slid her backpack from her back and opened it up, rummaging through it. "Val, use overheat, but don't overdo the temperature."
"Vul vulpix!" Val nodded and soon the air around her shimmered with heat. She wandered over to Xavier and sat down near him. She made sure to be on the opposite side of the Mawile though as the steel type Pokemon was naturally weak to fire type moves.

"Ha, found it." Aelwyn smiled and brought out the throw blanket she had at the bottom of her pack. "Let me know when you're ready and I'll toss you the blanket." She said. "Vulpix's overheat should help you dry off quicker and keep you pretty toasty."

[Dari]

Instead of replying to her comment, Xavier merely glared in her direction, still shaking from the cold. The sweatshirt hit him, landing on his head and he held back a grumble, taking it off his head and setting it on the cave floor in front of him. Then the room lit up and Xavier could see again. “You know,” He said, “This wouldn’t have been a problem if you hadn’t of pushed me into the lake.” He stuttered a little throughout the sentence, a result of the cold chilling him.

He pulled off his sweatshirt and tee shirt first, breaking into even more shivers from the cold air touching his bare skin, then stood and slipped out of his pants and boxers before sitting again. He gave a small smile to the Vulpix who had come to his side. “Thanks.” He said quietly, and then looked up to Aelwyn. “I’m ready for that blanket now.” Overheat was warming his up and his voice no longer shook when he spoke, but his body was still covered in goose bumps. Lucie snuggled closer to her trainer and Xavier patted her on the head.

“Thank you as well, Luc.” He said, smiling. Then he glanced around the room. “There really are no other exits.” He sighed, running a hand absently through his hair. “Well, we’ll figure out something, there’s no way I’m going to be stuck in here forever.”