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roxannarambles · 2 months

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Title: Wings of a Butterfly, Eye of the Tiger (Part 3)

Ship: Nemona x Juliana (Julinemo/Terajules)

Summary: Nemona and Juliana just can’t resist returning to Area Zero once more. They find new places to explore, new pokemon to discover, and a new things to learn … about pokemon battling, but also about each other. (Sequel to Picnic in Paradise)

Chapters: Part 1 Part 2

Tags: Slowburn, Romance, Friendship, Crushes, Action/Adventure, Pokemon Battles, Fakemon

The cave you were in seemed a lot quieter than the rest of the cave system, probably because there weren’t pokemon everywhere you turned. You could hear the occasional drip of water and the distant cry of a pokemon from somewhere, but that was about it. It felt exciting and a little eerie. Hellcat set the pace, creeping forward into the dim cavern, and you both followed close behind.

For about five minutes, your walk was uneventful. You passed by tera crystals that were growing from the ceiling and dripping water like stalactites, and followed the cave in a gradual downward slope deeper into the earth. Then you began to encounter pokemon again; only some Glimmets and Glimmora at first, until the pathway you’d been following led to a larger chamber, and then some Paradox Pokemon began to show up once more. It was nowhere near their usual numbers, though. As you passed by a Great Tusk plodding through the cave, you commented,

“It’s interesting there’s fewer pokemon back here. I wonder why. I guess because we’re so far in?”

Nemona agreed,

“Yeah, probably. Life’s a lot scarcer the deeper you go into caves or the deeper you go into the oceans.”

“Yeah, that’s true. That’s because there’s less food available, right?”

She nodded.

“Basically. I mean, most food chains have plant life at the bottom, and when there’s no sunlight, well, there’s no plants. There’s pokemon with a mineral-based diet like Carbink or Sabeleye of course, so they can live really deep in caves. But most pokemon eat other plants or animals.”

You gazed around the cave you were traversing.

“Seems like there’s no plants at all though, how do any of these guys eat?”

Nemona hummed,

“Well, there’s a few ways. Some pokemon species don’t live in caves full-time, they just roost in them or raise young there. They leave the caves at some point to eat. I think a lot of the pokemon we’ve seen probably do that since we see ‘em on the surface. Annnd, sometimes resources get washed into caves. Like those waterfalls that dump directly into here? Probably a lot of plants and fish in there. Also poop! Bacteria break it down and bug types can eat the bacteria and bigger stuff eat the bugs . . .”

You looked at her as she trailed off. She added on sheepishly,

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to ramble.”

“No, I was just thinking you really know your stuff!”

She laughed.

“Well, I’ve done a lot of reading, and I’ve listened to Jacq’s lectures for longer than you have. Gotta work hard if you wanna understand pokemon! But I’m sure you’ll pick it all up too.”

You noticed a small pod of Scream Tails ahead of you, floating in the air like weird pink balloons. When they noticed you, they turned to glare with big yellow eyes and hissed. Hellcat hissed in return at them.

“Let’s leave ‘em alone, Hellcat,” Nemona said, trying to guide the tiger away. The fact that Paradox Pokemon seemed to all have such aggressive dispositions certainly didn’t make exploring any easier. The pod of Scream Tails broke apart, floating their separate ways, apparently unnerved by Hellcat. However, one of them remained, an especially large one.

Now that you were looking closer at it, though, it wasn’t just larger; it also seemed to have longer hair. Instead of a tuft of hair on top of the head leading into a single long ponytail, it had three of them, the tails obscuring most of its face and covering its eyes. Its ears were longer, too, more like a rabbit’s.

“Umm, Nemona–”

“Yeah, I see it, what is that?? Is that just a Scream Tail or . . .”

The pink pokemon drifted closer, causing Hellcat to bristle and growl.

The wild pokemon also growled– the sound much deeper than you’d expect from a pink puffball. When it did, it showed its long, sharp fangs, much bigger than a Scream Tail’s. You nervously said,

“I think the answer is definitely ‘or.’”

Nemona enthused,

“Oh man, we found something good already? We’re so lucky!”

A soft pink glow began to surround the wild pokemon, the ‘tails’ drifting upwards at the same time, revealing the huge yellow eyes beneath, pulsing with dangerous energy.

“N-nemona . . .”

“Oh right, sorry. Hellcat, Dire Claw!”

Hellcat leapt into the air, striking a vicious blow before the pokemon could use its Psychic. The pokemon took massive damage and seemed to slowly deflate like a balloon, giving a strangled cry. Nemona praised,

“Great shot, Hellcat!”

You had a pokeball handy, so you gave it a toss, seeing if the pokemon was weak enough to catch already. It clicked with no problems.

“Great shot for you too, Jules!”

“Thanks.”

You both decided to immediately send the pokemon back out so you could heal it up and inspect it more. Hellcat watched over it in case it tried to misbehave.

Leaning against the wall of the cave as she studied the floating creature, Nemona asked,

“So we agree it’s gotta be an evolved form of Scream Tail, yeah?”

You nodded.

“Probably. It’s funny this is the first we’ve seen of it though, considering Scream Tails are everywhere.”

“Well, Jigglypuff can’t evolve unless they have a Moon Stone.”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. So you think these are the same?”

“Seems like there’s a good chance. Oh, and maybe there are Moon Stones deep in these caves! And that’s why we’re seeing these guys here but not elsewhere.”

“Hmm. I guess we could always try to test it on one of our own Scream Tails sometime.”

“Good idea! We’ll definitely try that out sometime.”

You spent a couple minutes instructing the new pokemon, trying to check out its movepool and abilities. It showed you Psychic and Dazzling Gleam, nothing too unexpected.

Eventually Nemona said in an eager tone,

“You know, if it’s a new pokemon species, we’ll get to name it. Since we discovered it and all. That’s how it works, right?”

You smiled at the idea, but pointed out,

“IF it’s a new species. It’s possible Sada might have known about it already, especially if she thought to evolve a Scream Tail.”

“Aw, c’mon Jules, let a girl dream!”

You laughed.

“Okay, okay. What do you wanna call it, then?”

“Ummm . . . hmm. Well . . . I guess the name should be kinda similar since it’s an evolution . . .”

You watched the weird pink creature for a bit before suggesting,

“Maybe like, Screech Tail? Or Tails, I guess, it has three of ‘em.”

She shrugged,

“Works for me!”

You held up your pokeball and recalled the new pokemon. You answered,

“Great. At the very least, it should come in handy when we’re catching Roaring Moon.”

Nemona grinned.

“Good thinking. Okay, Hellcat, onward! To adventure!”

You both continued along the path with enthusiasm, despite the general gloomy atmosphere of the dim cavern. The trail led you deeper and deeper into the earth, growing steep and awkward to traverse before long. The ground was also slick with damp and slime; you fumbled your footing more than once, and Nemona had to catch you one of the times before you could fall on your face.

“You okay, Jules?”

She had an arm wrapped firmly around your side, her amber eyes full of concern as she gazed down into your own eyes.

You swallowed.

“Y-yeah! Fine. Thanks. It’s u-uh, it’s slippery.”

You were full of brilliant observations, as usual. Nemona let go and made sure you were steady before turning and agreeing,

“Yeah, it is getting kinda bad, plus it’s a bit dark . . . oh, I know.”

She pulled her Rotom phone out, hitting a few settings. The phone’s light switched on and it floated in the air, just above her head.

“There we go! Should be safer now.”

You looked at the phone, surprised.

“I didn’t know they could do that.”

“Yep! If there’s one thing I hear a lot about it’s all the dang features on these phones, I can show you all the other features sometime if you want,” she chuckled. You were too distracted noticing Nemona had apparently swapped her plain black phone case out to an orange one with little pictures of Pawmi and oranges. It was very cute.

She continued,

“Anyway, careful through this part, there’s sort of a step here.”

You made it past the steep bit just fine, but not too further along, you felt a bit off-balance again, wobbling, and started to wonder if your feet were intentionally betraying you. You swore this wasn’t on purpose–

Nemona asked,

“Whoa, is the ground moving?”

You paused, realizing it wasn’t just you; the ground really was trembling slightly. You answered,

“I think so . . .”

As soon as you’d finished speaking, it seemed to stop, though.

“Hm.”

You both continued on, curious and cautious. It had been a while since you’d run into another pokemon, but you spotted a Brute Bonnet trundling along up ahead. Hellcat bristled at it.

The ground began to tremble again, this time accompanied by a distant rumbling sound.

“Er . . .”

The Brute Bonnet moved faster, hobbling as quickly as it could on its stubby little legs, wanting to get the heck out of there. Water fell from the ceiling in big droplets. Hellcat shook its head, flicking the water off.

“Is it an earthquake?” you asked, trying to keep the anxiety from edging into your voice. This wasn’t the best place to be during an earthquake. Nemona answered,

“I dunno, maybe? But it hasn’t . . .”

The rumbling sound came again, this time much closer. In fact, it sounded as though it was echoing through the cave itself. You quickly realized the rythmic thumping wasn’t an earthquake at all.

They were footsteps. Approaching footsteps.

“Nemona–”

Nemona squared her shoulders, calling,

“Hellcat, get ready!”

You reached for your pokeballs, ready to back her up if need be, and the pair of you waited to face whatever was coming. The vibrations rattled some smaller stalactites loose from the ceiling, the crystals dropping and splintering, and the rumbling drew closer and closer. Further ahead in the gloom of the cave, you could see small bits of yellow flashing, lights flickering along the floor of the cave in little electric ripples.

And then you could make the creature out: just a dark figure at first, charging through the cave in your direction, although fortunately it wasn’t especially fast, just very noisy as it lumbered along. As it got closer you had the time to take note of some basic details. It was running on all fours, it was dark red with sooty black paws and legs, and it had zigzagging black stripes down its back. Its long black tail was held aloft and tipped in a jagged yellow spike in the shape of a lightning bolt; its ears were pointed and long, and it had a big spike protruding from its forehead, as well as a big ruff of spiky yellow fur around its neck. As it moved, its paws thumped heavily along the ground, leaving little ripples of electricity in its wake.

You exchanged a quick glance with Nemona.

“Is that a Raichu?” you asked, knowing it wasn’t one, but it bore a passing resemblance to one. A really big, spiky, angry one, anyway.

“Maybe an ancient Raichu? Hellcat, get ready to use Thorn Fang!”

The tiger crouched, baring its fangs, ready for the foe lumbering towards it. The ancient Raichu gave a cry, the sound more akin to rolling thunder than the high-pitched noise from a usual Raichu. You could see its beady black eyes now as it approached, and the sharp little fangs protruding from its mouth. The ruff around its neck seemed to be charging up with energy, a dangerous yellow-orange flickering of power between the pieces of spiky fur. Something about it struck you as sort of odd, but you didn’t put it together fast enough.

Nemona, however, did. Her eyes widening, she called,

“Hellcat, wait!”

Her hand quickly moved to her belt and she spent a half-second choosing a ball, then snatched it up, throwing it. Her Great Tusk materialized right in front of Hellcat, just in time for the ancient Raichu to charge into it with an earth-shuddering crash. Electricity and flames were thrown off from the impact, crackling in the air, but Great Tusk’s body shielded you, Nemona and Hellcat from any crossfire.

“Great Tusk, use Close Combat!”

The mammoth swung its trunk, smacking its foe across the face, then reared up, kicking at it with its hefty feet. The ancient Raichu gave a guttural cry, staggering backwards before standing up on two legs, its tail lashing back and forth, beady eyes glaring. Energy started to build around its ruff again, and you got a better look at why it seemed so strange. The yellow-orange ripples of energy flowed between the spines of fur in serpentine squiggles, and it was hard to tell if it was electricity or fire– or possibly both, as seemed to be the case.

“Great Tusk, Knock Off!”

You silently noted that Nemona was intentionally holding back with her attacks, probably with the aim of wanting to capture this pokemon. Great Tusk whacked its foe once again with its trunk. The ancient Raichu recovered from the hit and then rushed forward, butting hard into Great Tusk with the horn on its head, sending out another mighty sputter of flames and electricity.

“Knock Off, again!”

When Great Tusk brought its trunk down once more, it knocked its foe clean off its feet, dropping it back down to all fours. The ancient Raichu gave a rumbling cry, sounding tired.

“Now’s our chance!” Nemona yelled, reaching for an empty pokeball from her bag. She took aim and threw it.

However, the wild pokemon was not intent on cooperating. It dodged the pokeball, then turned tail and began to run. Nemona shouted,

“Wh-uh?! It’s running? Oh no you don’t, get back here!”

Nemona quickly recalled her Great Tusk and then took off after the pokemon. It was stomping away at a pretty good pace, but Nemona was fast.

“N-nemona, wait!”

You and Hellcat chased after her. Of course, Hellcat outpaced you very quickly and then you were alone, splashing through puddles and slipping over rocks in the dim cavern, trying to keep up. You turned a bend in the path and saw the fleeing pokemon was rushing towards a round hole in the cave wall, which was encrusted in tera crystal. When it reached the hole, it got up on two legs and then jumped through, vanishing from sight.

“Hey! You’re not escaping that easily!” Nemona yelled, charging after it and jumping into the hole without hesitation, like an absolute madwoman. You could hear a startled yelp from her before she vanished from sight. You cried,

“Nemona!”

Hellcat had stopped at the hole, hesitant, but you couldn’t afford to hesitate when Nemona could be in danger. You reached the hole in the wall, finding it was a tunnel coated entirely in smooth rainbow crystal, dripping in water. You hopped up and climbed in, calling,

“Nemona?”

You tried standing, but almost immediately you felt yourself slipping on the wet crystal. Your shoes gave way and you landed on your butt– and then, to your horror, felt yourself sliding through the tunnel. You yelped and tried to stick your arms out to brace yourself, but your slide was way too rapid, and you went shooting through the tunnel on your back like some kind of terrifying water slide. You gave a prolonged shriek as the slide swooped you down in a huge drop, then swooped up again and twisted around and around. The world was spinning in sparkling rainbows, completely disorienting you.

After one final drop and swoop upwards, you felt yourself flung free from the slide, which mercifully spat you out at a speed and distance that was relatively gentle.

You landed on your stomach, colliding with something soft.

“Ooof,” the something grunted, giving you a pretty good idea of what you’d probably landed on. You pushed your torso up with your elbows and met with Nemona’s wide, honey-amber eyes, your faces hardly more than a breath apart.

“Gkkk,” you said, the blood rushing to your face so fast you could hear it roaring in your ears. Nemona giggled. You could feel the giggle ripple through her chest and vibrate your own.

“Hi,” she chirped. You tried to remember how your vocal chords worked. Nemona’s brows quirked up higher in amusement while you struggled, which was frankly making it worse.

“Hhhhiiii,” you finally uttered, proud to get the syllables out. You were briefly lost in the details of Nemona’s eyes, realizing her streaks of golden amber had flecks of tangerine in them. Gosh you were close. Have you ever been this close to her before? You were pretty sure you hadn’t.

“You, um, you need a minute?”

You blinked at her question, confused. The bridge of her nose and cheeks pinkened a little, highlighting her freckles all the more. Her voice was light and playful when she continued,

“‘Cause I don’t exactly mind resting here with you, but we should proooobably get up before that pokemon gets away . . .”

Your brain finally caught up with what she was saying and you squeaked, scrambling to get off your poor friend. It was an entirely graceless affair, but you finally righted yourself and helped Nemona climb to her feet as well, stammering out an excuse to her.

“S-s-sorry, I-I– ummm– I was, uh, a bit dizzy from the slip-n-slide?”

It wasn’t exactly wrong. She laughed,

“Yeah, that was a pretty wild ride, wasn’t it? I was thinking of going again–”

An awful noise interrupted her, shrieky and shrill, coming from the crystal-lined tunnel. The both of you managed to get out of the way before a bright green tiger was expelled from the slide, splatting onto the ground. Its claws were all stuck out and its fur was all frizzed up, its eyes gone huge. Nemona’s Rotom phone went shooting through the slide next, smacking lightly into Hellcat and causing the tiger to jump. The tiger grumbled and shook itself off, looking incredibly disturbed and disgusted with its experience.

“Oh, Hellcat! Aaw, you came down here for me? Are you okay?”

You watched Nemona try to comfort the tiger, feeling grateful for the distraction. Maybe your face would stop burning in like an hour. Nggh. Hellcat still refused to let Nemona actually pet it, and it withdrew to lick itself and sulk, but at least it wasn’t growling at her or anything, so it was honestly progress. Nemona seemed to recognize this fact, telling the pokemon,

“Okay, you need your space, I’ll let you recover from the scary slide. I’m sooo proud of you though Hellcat.”

She moved back over to you, looking you over carefully and asking,

“And how ‘bout you? Still dizzy or anything?”

You glanced away bashfully under her scrutiny, murmuring,

“N-no, I’m good now, I think.”

She nodded and grabbed her backpack off the ground, answering brightly,

“Great! Let’s go find that pokemon before it gets away then!”

She took off before you could respond or even think about mentioning that running ahead and leaping blindly into tunnels was maybe a bad idea. Exasperated, you shouted after her,

“Nemona!!”

Once again you gave chase, following her down the rocky corridor. At least it wasn’t too dark in this part of the cave– if anything, it seemed even brighter, probably due to a larger number of glowing tera crystals. You were grateful when you caught up to Nemona not too far along the path ahead, having apparently cornered the weary Raichu lookalike. Honestly it was impressive how fast she’d tracked it down. She had her Great Tusk out again, but she was busy digging through her bag. When she noticed your approach, she called,

“Oh, Jules, I found them! Come quick!”

You hurried to join her, and she said,

“I’m so glad it didn’t slip away, that would have sucked. Ugh, do you know where your empty balls are, mine kinda rolled around in the chaos–”

“Got you covered,” you answered, grabbing a Dusk Ball from your bag and chucking it at the ancient Raichu. The pokemon resisted and popped out of the ball, but after a few more, the ball finally clicked shut. Nemona cheered and went to pick up the pokeball off the ground, while you tried to catch your breath and get your heartrate back under control. Chasing after Nemona was definitely an experience.

After grabbing the ball, Nemona rushed to you with an excited gleam in her eyes, asking,

“Do you know what this means, Juliana?”

You looked at her, trying to think. After a bit you said,

“Uhmmm, that I probably should have brought more Dusk Balls with me?”

She laughed.

“Well, that too, yeah, but also, Hellcat wasn’t the only new pokemon in Area Zero! There’s more to find down here, I bet a bunch more if we keep going!”

“You think so?”

“Yeah, we’ve already found three species, there’s bound to be more, right? And none of them were mentioned in the Scarlet Book at all, or any of Sada’s notes we happened to read.”

You nodded thoughtfully.

“That’s true . . .”

Nemona pressed the Dusk Ball into your hands, gushing,

“Which means we might be the first trainers in existence to have seen and captured these pokemon!!”

You weren’t entirely convinced you two were the first, since it was always possible Sada had records about them you simply hadn’t noticed. However, it was also equally possible you were the first, and Nemona’s excitement was terribly infectious. You broke into a grin, admitting,

“That is a pretty awesome thought.”

“I know, right?? It’s so cool, I–” She squeezed her hands into excited fists and gave a giddy little giggle, then impulsively grabbed you and hugged tight, your cheeks smooshed together as she exclaimed,

“I’m so glad we got to discover them together!!”

Your skin rippled pleasantly in icy-hot goosebumps, but she released you before your brain had the chance to shut down entirely, which was probably for the best. Then she looked a little self-conscious, saying,

“Sorry. Got a little excited there, heh.”

You hastened to reassure her.

“No, you– you have every reason to be! It is cool, I think I just have a habit of being afraid to hope for things I really want. But if we really are the first . . . that’s incredible. Like, it’s not just finding a new species, it’s finding an ancient, otherwise extinct species. Which is just nuts. And it’s honestly totally possible, since the Time Machine was transporting pokemon completely on autopilot until we finally shut it down.”

She nodded with enthusiasum.

“Yeah, exactly! Okay, I’m glad you get it, I woulda felt weird to be the only one this psyched.”

You smiled and looked down at the pokeball in your hands.

“It’s definitely not just you. Plus, not to get too hopeful but I um, I think maybe this ancient Raichu might be pretty special? Was it just me or did it look like this guy was using electricity and fire at the same time? I dunno if that’s even possible, can pokemon moves be, like, dual-type?”

Nemona nodded again.

“I did notice that. Well, I noticed something funny at any rate. I always thought it was impossible, at school they always told us moves can only be one type. But . . . who knows? We’re in uncharted territory here, so I feel like anything’s possible, you know?”

You thought about that for a bit, rolling the pokeball in your hands. It was incredibly tempting to let the pokemon out and study it to try and learn more right then and there, because it intrigued you so much. But you also wanted to keep exploring the cave, and you knew Nemona would want to, too.

You looked at her.

“Guess we’ll find out more when we battle each other later, huh?”

She grinned.

“I like the way you think.”

You heard a quiet little chirp and glanced up, noticing Hellcat had caught back up to the two of you. Funny, you hadn’t noticed the pokemon make that kind of noise before; it seemed to be some kind of greeting. The tiger’s ears were perked and it looked at you both attentively. Nemona greeted,

“Hi Hellcat! You all dried off and ready for more exploring?”

The tiger made another quiet chirp, as if responding.

“I think they’re starting to like you, Nemona.”

“Really?” She sounded hopeful.

“Yeah. They don’t even try to bite you any more!”

She chuckled.

“Well, I guess it’s something.”

You took the opportunity to finally look around at the cave you’d ended up in, since you hadn’t really had the chance to yet in all the rush. The space was relatively narrow and cramped compared to other parts of the cave, but it was packed full of tera crystals glowing from all sides. The ground was sloped downward, the cave ahead leading ever deeper into the earth.

“How far down do you think that tunnel brought us?”

Nemona was busy quickly re-sorting the empty pokeballs in her bag. She answered,

“No clue.”

You took a glance at your Rotom phone, but as expected, there was no service down here. Obviously. It was a good thing the caves you’d been following so far were generally one-way and not some confusing mazes, or else you’d be worried about getting lost. Getting back up that water slide tunnel would be a bit of a pain on the return trip, but you felt confident Scarlet could carry you guys up if need be.

Turning your focus back to the path ahead, you asked,

“How much deeper do you think it goes?”

Nemona zipped her bag up and slung it back over her shoulder. She smirked,

“No clue. Only one way to find out.”

You couldn’t argue with that logic. As you both began to walk again, you started to tell her,

“So, I was gonna mention, maybe next time when there’s a pokemon or a mysterious tunnel leading somewhere, you could–”

Nemona suddenly stopped, staring ahead intently.

“Wait, did you hear that?”

You frowned.

“Hear what?”

There was a very distant noise echoing in the cave, a low chattery kind of sound that could have been a pokemon cry.

“Geez. You know, your hearing’s scary good.”

“That’s a pokemon! C’mon, let’s go see!”

Nemona started to run, but you lurched forward and grabbed her wrist before she could get away.

“Wait, wait, this is exactly what I’m talking about, Nemona!”

She turned to you, blinking.

“What?”

“You can’t just . . .” You hesitated and sighed, starting again,

“Well, you can, but I’d prefer it if you didn’t just run ahead every time there’s something going on. I get that you’re excited, but you might be charging right into danger! I was really worried when you jumped into that tunnel blindly, that could have ended up pretty badly if it had spit us out from a bit higher up!”

Nemona looked at you a moment, then slumped a little, looking guilty.

“Sorry, Jules . . . I wasn’t trying to worry you. Or, uh, do anything risky. I guess I just was really focused on not letting the pokemon get away . . .”

You smiled gently and said,

“I understand. You don’t have to feel bad about it, I just want to make sure you’re safe, you know? And also, well . . . I’d rather face things together on this adventure. We’re a team, after all.” You suddenly felt a little unsure after saying it outloud and added, “Uhm, I mean, we are, right?”

Nemona studied you a moment, a soft smile forming on her face. Then she reached out and took your hand.

Her voice was clear and certain when she answered,

“You’re right. I’ll remember from now on.”

You returned her smile, relieved.

“O-okay! Then, um . . . let’s go see what that noise was.”

“Yeah!”

You both forged ahead, following a path that continued downward and grew more cramped the more you traveled. At several points it was necessary to squeeze past some large rocks blocking the way; it appeared as though there had been some partial cave-ins at some point in the past. It was an unnerving reminder that you were indeed beneath an enormous amount of earth and rock that could crush you like a bug if something cataclysmic occurred. Thankfully Nemona’s excitement for adventure was an easy distraction, keeping you from dwelling on such thoughts for long. Besides, your curiosity overrode the nervousness you felt. The path seemed to meander down into the earth forever, and for a long time, there was not much to see but rock, dirt and tera crystals. There was nary a wild pokemon in sight, but you kept going anyway.

Then, with very little fanfare, the tunnel you’d been following emerged into a massive space, the ceiling towering above you like an enormous vault of crystal, the path soon leading to a narrow catwalk. On either side of the catwalk was a sheer drop, the ground so far below that it was impossible to even see exactly where it ended. Huge columns of crystal jutted up from the pits, growing at random angles, like the world’s prettiest death trap. For a good thirty seconds you and Nemona just stared silently in awe, taking it all in, eyes wide.

“I don’t know how Area Zero manages to keep getting more and more impressive,” Nemona finally said, her voice hushed, almost as if she were worried that speaking too loud would disturb the peace here. You were gazing down into the pit.

“How does it just keep going down? I bet you’d fall into the Earth’s core if you fell down there.”

Nemona gave a nervous chuckle, taking your hand again.

“Let’s not test that theory. We’ll just take the path nice and slow, okay?”

“Yeah. That sounds good.”

Hellcat moved ahead of you both, not intimidated by the enormous drop. It quickly crossed over the catwalk, reaching a broader area beyond. You and Nemona took your time, mindful of your steps so that you wouldn’t go tripping into the blackness. The air that rose up from the pit was cool and pleasant-smelling, like musty, damp earth. When you reached the other side of the catwalk, you found Hellcat was slinking about, ears perked and nose sniffing the air. It lowered into a crouch and began to stalk forward. Nemona muttered to you,

“I think they found something.”

You both carefully followed after the tiger. Hellcat was approaching a large patch of crystals that were sprouting from the ground. The crystals grew in long and thin columns, almost resembling some kind of plant from the way they were growing, like an aloe vera or some other succulent. You couldn’t see why Hellcat found it so interesting, but as you drew closer you noticed a quiet little chattering noise emanating from the crystals. It sounded a bit like the noise Nemona had noticed earlier, in fact. Perhaps you’d finally caught up to it.

The cry sounded vaguely familiar to you, and you were busy trying to figure out what it reminded you of when you finally caught sight of some movement: a slithering black shape, coiled among the crystals. Hellcat’s eyes narrowed to slits and it looked as though it was preparing to spring. You glanced to Nemona; it seemed she saw no reason to interfere, since Hellcat was basically doing all the work in tracking down the pokemon. You both watched and waited.

Hellcat lunged, striking at the mysterious pokemon with its claws, but the tiger’s paws impacted hard with a crystal instead of a pokemon. There was a harsh cry, raspy and aggressive, and the serpentine black shape reared upwards, a vivid, glowing stripe of orange suddenly lighting up along the length of its body; there was a flash of teeth and glaring eyes as the body swayed, and you realized the pokemon was being reflected over and over in the array of tera crystals, making it extremely difficult to tell where it actually was.

“Uh-oh. Um, any guesses, Nemona?”

The wild pokemon hissed, and you could see a purple tongue flicking around curved, black teeth. From all the reflections, you honestly couldn’t tell how many heads the snake had, because at the moment it seemed like you were staring at a very angry hydra.

“Uuhm, I . . . there! I think. Hellcat, Dire Claw, there!”

Hellcat lashed out where Nemona pointed, but once again was foiled by the fakes, cracking a crystal instead of hitting a pokemon. Despite that fact, the snake didn’t take kindly to the attempted attack. It opened its mouth and spat a fireball. Hellcat tried to dodge but was partly singed by the attack, and it gave an angry shriek in response.

“Oh man. Another fire type? This just isn’t your day, Hellcat, I’m sorry,” Nemona said, looking guilty about the hit Hellcat had taken.

“Don’t worry, Nemona, I have an idea,” you said, quickly checking through your pokeballs for the right one.

“Got it, partner. Let’s back off for now, Hellcat, let Juliana handle this one.”

You grabbed up the ball you needed from your bag and tossed it. The purple form of your Gengar took shape. The ghost looked around at the situation, curious, and then turned his eyes to you.

“Gengar! There’s some sort of . . . uhh, something in that patch of crystals. I want you to use Dazzling Gleam!”

Gengar grinned and nodded, then turned to face his foe. Nine different heads hissed at Gengar, but the ghost was not easily intimidated. He floated forward, a small light starting to build as he charged his attack.

“Cover your eyes, Nemona!”

Gengar unleashed his move, a brilliant white light flashing, reflecting in the crystals dozens and dozens of times; you could see the incredible brightness even behind your closed eyes. The wild pokemon’s cry was loud and grating, and you got the feeling Gengar had hit it hard.

When you opened your eyes, you saw the snake spew a stream of fire in retaliation, engulfing Gengar in flames. The ghost grunted, looking charred and wounded, but stuck it out. You ordered,

“Again Gengar, Dazzling Gleam!”

Your pokemon unleashed another sparkling attack, his foe crying out in pain once more. The snake uncoiled from the tera crystal it was wrapped around and began to slither out of the patch of crystals, perhaps starting to think the better of its hiding place. As its head peeked out, you could see it much better: it had a long, toothy snout and a pair of narrow, purple eyes. The stripe of orange that ran along its body continued up back its neck and onto its head, splitting into a pattern with several prongs on the top of its head. The shape almost made it look as though it were a glowing, orange crown.

The orange crown began to glow brighter and brighter, a sphere of orange energy forming there. The pokemon flicked its head upwards, shooting the ball of energy up into the air over your heads. Your eyes widened. You’d seen this move enough times to recognize it by now.

“Draco Meteor?! Gengar, watch out!” The orange ball of energy exploded, creating a volley of meteors that began to rain down. Neither you or Nemona had expected such a move, so Gengar wasn’t the only one trying to dodge; Hellcat, you and Nemona all scrambled to get out of the path of the meteors as well. You slipped on the ground in your haste, managing to catch yourself before crashing down too painfully. You grunted and twisted around to quickly assess the others– thankfully, it seemed there weren’t any casualties. You yelled,

“Gengar, Dazzling Gleam, one more time!”

Gengar sprang ahead, the flashes of pure fairy energy overwhelming his opponent. Despite how exhausted the snake was by now, it still managed to spit a fireball in return. Gengar trembled and then fainted, and you called,

“That’s okay Gengar, you did great!”

You returned Gengar to his ball, quickly trying to assess if the wild pokemon was catchable by now– it probably was. You reached for your bag, only to realize it had slipped off while you’d been dodging meteors. Aw, nuts. You glanced up when you heard the snake hiss again. It was slithering towards you.

“Nemo–”

“Got you covered!” she responded immediately, throwing a pokeball. The ball hit its target and shook twice, then the snake popped out again, still hissing. She yelled,

“Don’t be stubborn, get in there!”

The second ball she tossed successfully captured, causing you to sigh in relief.

“Thanks, Nemona.”

“Yeah, of course! Great job handling that, by the way– Dazzling Gleam was such a great idea.”

She picked the pokeball up and tried to hand it to you, but you shook your head.

“Keep it, I took the last two.”

“You sure?”

“Yep.”

“Okay! Heheh, this is gonna be so fun to use. I’m guessing it’s Fire/Dragon? I’ve never seen anything use Draco Meteor other than dragon types before, so that’s my best guess.”

You nodded.

“Yeah, seems a good bet to me. It really surprised me, though.”

“I know, right? But then again, you never know with pokemon. Especially these Paradox Pokemon, they seem to have a lot of surprises.”

That certainly was the truth. You surveyed the damage caused by the Draco Meteor. A number of impact craters in the ground but nothing too serious– no catastrophic cave-ins or anything. You were glad none of you had been struck by the attack, though.

“Guess we should make sure to really be on our toes from now on, huh?”

She answered, “Yeah, for sure.” Then, with an excited gleam in her eyes, she turned to you and added,

“But what I tell ya, Jules? We’re already on our third new pokemon, I knew we’d keep finding more!”

You laughed,

“You were right. At this rate we’re gonna be able to write a sequel to the Scarlet Book.”

It was just a joke, but Nemona looked thrilled with the idea.

“Oooh, that’d be so cool! Well, La Primera would have to be okay with releasing information about Area Zero to the public first, I guess . . .”

“And that’s assuming she doesn’t kill us if we tell her that we keep coming down here.”

“Oh come on, she wouldn’t kill us! She wouldn’t be that mad . . . would she?” Nemona looked suddenly uncertain. You shrugged.

“I dunno, you know her better than I do.”

Nemona seemed to consider for a few moments, then said,

“Um, let’s keep exploring!” You didn’t have a problem with leaving thoughts of punishment for another time– you were already down here, and you were going to enjoy it to the fullest while you could. You and Nemona continued onward, mindful to check any patches of crystals from now on in case they contained any surprises. However, nothing else unexpected seemed to be lurking. There seemed to be very few pokemon in general at these depths, in fact. You passed by a few docile Carbink, then walked a path that wasn’t as narrow as earlier, but was close enough to the dizzying drop that you both continued to be careful and take your time.

Eventually you met with another tunnel, covered in smooth tera crystal and leading ever-deeper into the earth. This one was different, though, as it was blocked by a very large collection of crystals. The crystals that composed the roadblock seemed to be denser and more opaque than the usual tera crystals.

“Can you squeeze by?” Nemona asked, trying to see if she could wedge herself between the crystals and the tunnel. You attempted to do so on the other side, but the crystals had grown far too close, almost sealing off the tunnel entirely.

“Nah. We’ll have to use Scarlet.”

You both backed off and sent out Koraidon, then ordered a Rock Smash. Scarlet gave the crystal a good thwack with his tail, but the crystals remained solid.

“Try again, Scarlet!”

He hit it again, but to no effect. Several more attempts, each time with increasing intensity, also ended in failure. Scarlet backed off and licked at his bruised tail, giving a little whine.

“You okay, Scarlet? Hmmph. I don’t think this crystal is gonna budge. Don’t worry, boy, I won’t make you keep trying.”

You returned him to his ball. Nemona crossed her arms, complaining,

“Well this stinks! I wonder why this crystal is so much tougher than the other ones?”

You shrugged.

“It’s pretty big. Maybe it’s older and thicker? At any rate, this might be the end of the line for us.”

She sighed sadly.

“Yeah. It’s starting to look like it.”

Your hand was still resting against the large crystal when a familiar sound echoed within the cavern: a loud, feral roar. Your eyes widened, and you both quickly turned.

Floating high in the air above the pit was a pokemon with crescent-moon shaped wings tipped in a row of feathers. Its forearms had long, sharp talons and its armored head had spiky tufts of feathers and crocodilian jaws. A pair of yellow eyes peered down at you from above.

“Roaring Moon?” Nemona whispered. You nodded silently.

That wasn’t the strangest part, though. The Roaring Moon was Terastallized, which in itself was not unusual. But it wasn’t like any Terastallization you’d ever seen. The pokemon’s body was glittering in an entire rainbow of colors, and its Tera Jewel was . . . more of a Tera crown, studded with a whole slew of shimmering hexagonal gemstones.

Hellcat bristled and growled at the pokemon while you and Nemon exchanged a look, dumbfounded.

The dragon gave another roar.

#pokemon #pokemon s/v #pokemon scarlet/violet #2nd person Juliana POV #julinemo #terajules #juliana x nemona #nemona x juliana #julinemo fanfic

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