Darkness.

Total darkness, pitch black.

Are they dead?

Neesha doesn’t feel dead, at least, she doesn’t think so. Not that she’d know what being dead feels like.

Well, may as well test that out the only way she knows how, by speaking words, using her mouth. “River?” Oh good, her mouth’s still working. Scratch ‘being dead’ off the list of possibilities. “River? Are you there?”

“Loud and clear, Neesha!” They’re both okay, good, very good. Thank gosh. “I dunno if I’m facing you or not, I can’t see a thing in here. You think we made it out?”

“H-How should I know? The last time I made it out of an anomaly, it was a lot more simple than jumping through a TV.”

“I dunno! Just kinda have a good vibe about it is all!” River chuckles softly, silence befalling them once again. “Kinda getting tired of not being able to see, though. Could you light a flame, Neesha?”

Neesha shrugs, but realizes there’s no point in doing so, since River can’t exactly see her doing it. “I didn’t exactly bring a match, River. Wasn’t expecting to be stuck in the dark today.”

River just laughs at that, much to Neesha’s confusion. “That’s really funny, Neesha! A fire type saying they need a match to light a fire!”

…Oh yeah, she’s a Fennekin, isn’t she? She needs to start remembering she can just do that stuff now. “O-Okay, just, uhh, give me a second.” Alright, how does she do this again? Just take a deep breath, channel something aaaaaannnnnnddd…

Fwoosh!

Theeeere we go. Now that’s a nice fire. Doesn’t provide much light, but they can see now. That’s a step in the right direction. Can’t exactly see around them, though. Just the little space the fire lights up on the ground. She can see River now, at least, smiling at her. “Much better! Ground seems like stone, maybe we are back in the cave!”

Neesha hums, eyes still trying to get adjusted to the darkness. Still can’t see much around-

Grrrrrrrrrrrr!

What?

“Uhhhhh…” Neesha’s ears droop against her head as her expression falters. If you hear ominous growling in a dark cave, that’s NEVER a good sign. “You heard that too, right, River?”

“I thought that was just your stomach growling.” River shrugs with a smile. “We haven’t eaten all day, have we? It’d make sense!”

Neesha’s ears droop again, her expression one of what can only be described as an extreme level of doubt. “Sure is an odd noise for a stomach to make though-“

“Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Exactly that!”

River blinks a few times, squinting as she scratches at her chin. “Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.. Now I’m not an expert on Fennekins, Neesha, but maybe you have a point. Stomachs don’t speak.”

“W-What?! No, that’s not a stomach! That’s me! I’m the one growling at you!“

SLAM!!!

A pair of razor sharp claws slams down into the open flame, causing Neesha and River to scream simultaneously and stumble back, the ashes from the flame launching to the walls, lighting up the torches that surround them. Enough light to see whose territory they’d just walked in on.

A Gabite. A big, mean looking one too. A lot more scarred and weathered than your typical Gabite, an energy that instantly conveys just how much battling he’s been through. His eyes squint as he stares at River and Neesha, still in his offensive stance. “Children, hrmm… Just because you’re children doesn’t mean I’ll go easy on you! I’ll treat you just like I do any other thieves that come to steal my treasure!”

That raises a brow from Neesha. “Thieves? B-But we’re not here to steal anything! W-We can explai-“

“Then what ARE you doing here in the first place?!” Gabite immediately snaps back, taking a step forward as the ground around them quakes slightly.

“We’re just here to pick up some red stones, is all!” River exclaims, putting her arms up in defense with an uneasy smile on her face. “Really, that’s all it is! If you can just show us where the red stones are, we’ll go away and we’ll aaaaallll forget this-“

“Those red stones are my treasure! Don’t try to act all coy and innocent with me! It won’t work!”

Neesha’s ears pin back, but she also sneers as she turns away. Sent in here to pick up red stones that just so happen to belong to a Gabite that was housing here. _{“Shiloh, you sneaky little…”}

“COME FORTH, MY DRILBUR COMPATRIOTS!” Gabite shouts as his voice echoes around the cave. And then… Nothing?

Was he just bluffing or- Oh, nope, there’s a Drilbur, just poking his head out of the ground, almost sheepishly, not even lifting his head out of the ground all the way. “Hey, uhh, sir? Sorry, we’re not exactly good at this whole fighting thing, so, I’m afraid we’re going to have to sit this one out. Apologies!” Doesn’t even waste a second digging back down again.

Another awkward silence befalls the cave, the Gabite simply staring blankly at the spot where the Drilbur was. Neesha and River slowly begin to take steps back, getting the feeling he isn’t gonna let them off so easily.

“Fine then.” He simply says, glaring at Neesha and River on the side. “If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself!”

SLAM!!!

Fissures erupting from the ground as he strikes it with his claws. Not good! Gotta move!

Neesha barely manages to jump out of the way.

She catches sight of River swiftly hopping back, unleashing a barrage of pin missiles with a swipe of her arm.

“Grah!”

Gabite spends too long trying to get his claws out of the ground, struck with the pin missiles.

Stumbles back.

Great.

Just great.

Stuck in a fight.

Stuck in a cave.

River might be able to fight, but not Neesha! She doesn’t know how to fight!

What can she even do?!

Uhhh flamethrower?

BWAAAGHH!

Barely affects him.

May as well have just brushed it off.

Great.

His claws are out of the ground. He swipes!

FWOOSH!

Just barely dodges that in time, ducking down out of the way of his claws.

If only she could just think, just think, just THINK!

THOOOMP!

Wh-

He’s suddenly and inexplicably pushed.

Did she do that?

Psychic?

Must be.

Okay, this helps. She can, uhhh, think her opponents to death?

Maybe not to death but-

Okay he’s getting back up, can’t linger on it too long.

Gabite swipes at the dirt, splashing it onto Neesha.

Oh GOSH DARNIT IT’S IN HER EYES-

Can’t see him, but she knows he’s coming for her.

She takes a blind leap of faith, trying to blink the dirt out of her eyes.

She lands on his head.

This is only marginally worse.

Most she can do is smack him on the head with a paw before rolling off.

She hears him let out a grunt. It’s something, at least.

The dirt clears, she can see again.

His head’s bruised, heh.

River’s still in the air.

Launches a gyro ball at the Gabite.

He deflects it right back at her.

She gets hit.

Shoot.

She lets out a grunt as she falls to the ground with a thud, skidding on her back. _“Owie.”

Just gets better and better, doesn’t it? She’s just gonna collapse when she gets home, this is too much.

Can strike while Gabite’s distracted.

No thinking, no hesitating, just ramming into him with full force.

There’s only one problem with this.

Fennekin, on average, are 21lbs.

Gabite, on average, are 123.5lbs.

So it should come as no surprise to Neesha when tackling him doesn’t even make him flinch.

He stares down at her, growling angrily at her.

_“Meep.”

“Hey, Neesha! Think fast!”

River?

Neesha turns quickly to face River, opening her mouth and about to say something, when something flies into her mouth.

And Neesha makes the inexplicable mistake of crunching down on it.

IT’S SO HOT IT’S SO UNBEARABLY HOT WHATEVER SHE CRUNCHED DOWN ON HER MOUTH FEELS LIKE IT’S ON FIRE-

PFFFFWWWWAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!!!

Her mouth erupts with a large burst of flame, eyes tearing up and her whole body in a haze as she spits out that flame.

It’s over in a moment, thank gosh, but that was some of the most excruciating pain she’s ever felt in her life. Certainly no spicy snack, that’s for sure-

THUMP!

Oh.

Oh that’s the sound of Gabite’s singed body hitting the floor.

He’s down.

Neesha backs away from him, panting heavily as her body still tries to recover from the heat. “R-River?! What the heck did you just-“

“Blast seed!~” River exclaims, smiling widely at Neesha as she picks herself back up. “Don’t leave home without ’em!”

The Gabite doesn’t move for a few good moments, just laying there and trying to catch his breath. It isn’t until a few more seconds pass until he pulls himself back up by digging his claws into the ground, pushing himself back onto his feet as he pants heavily, glaring at River and Neesha.

“Rrgghh… W-Won’t let… Some thieving kids take… My treasure!”

“L-Look!” River raises her hands up defensively as she takes a few steps back from Gabite. “You don’t have to give it over if you don’t want, we can just leave now and forget this all ever happened, okay? We never meant to steal anything!”

The Gabite’s expression turns from anger to confused, still mixed with a bit of anger and fury in his eyes. “But… My red stones! My treasures! Were they not what you came here for?!”

_{“Uh… Perhaps you should hear them out, Mr. Gabite, sir?”} A Drilbur pokes his head up and out of the ground like he did a few seconds ago, wiggling his way out of the ground until his body is fully out. “T-These kids are trespassers, that much is true, but they don’t seem malicious or anything…”

Gabite squints down at the Drilbur, his arms resting at his sides as he glances back over at River and Neesha, humming in thought. “Maybe so… But that still doesn’t explain why they came down here looking for my red stones in the first place.”

Neesha is the first to speak up, taking a small step closer towards Gabite. “One of our friends is getting bullied, and we made a deal with the bully that if we went in here and came back out with the red stones, he’d stop bullying our friend and leave him alone. Honest.”

“…I see.” Gabite turns his gaze away, huffing. “So it seems like you two had no idea what you were getting into when he told you to come here. Scandalous, that one is.” He shakes his head with annoyed look in his eyes, but there’s a hint of relief in there as well. “I apologize for attacking you like that, I was rash in my assumptions.”

River shrugs with an awkward smile. “Hey, it’s not your fault. We did kinda sneak into this place and all when we reeeeeeally shouldn’t have, but we couldn’t leave our friend hanging, you know?”

Gabite seems to study River and Neesha for a moment, his yellow eyes gazing down upon them. “If you truly came down here for your friend’s sake, then perhaps I can make an exception.” He swiftly turns around, glancing back at the duo. “Follow me.”

---

Crystals.

Crystals, crystals, crystals.

Stacks upon stacks of them, all neatly organized in this hollowed out section of the cave. River and Neesha can’t help but gaze in awe, their mouths agape at the sheer number of crystals, all of varying shades of colors, all of them so incredibly bright and vibrant.

“Whooooooaahhh… Neesha are you seeing this?! This is so cool!” River exclaims, running up to one of the ledges they were stored on. “Look at them all! I’ve never seen this much color in one place before! It’s amazing!”

Neesha has to admit, seeing all this, it does make that whole journey through the anomaly worth it. All the more relieving they made it out of there alive. Never would’ve gotten to see this otherwise. She slowly takes a few steps forward, her eyes sweeping over the gems, her reflection gazing back at her in all of them.

“Calling gem collecting a hobby of mine would be underselling it.” Gabite chuckles behind them as he steps up. “When I’d first found this cave, I’d collected every jewel I could find, and when I’d found everything immediately searchable, I’d filled up this whole room.” He glances down at the Drilbur, who was standing awkwardly, silently as he gazes back up at his boss. “Then one day, the Drilbur tunneled in by accident, We came to… Let’s say a mutual agreement that as long as they kept this place a secret and worked for me, no harm would come to them.”

The Drilbur slowly nods his head. “That’s why the tunnel was blocked off, yes. To prevent thieves from coming in and stealing. Though it seems we may need better security… We’re not cut out for fighting off thieves! We seize up, we wibble, wobble, generally can’t bring ourselves to do much of anything!”

“Man, now I kinda feel bad.” River says sheepishly as she glances back at the Drilbur. “Didn’t know we were putting you guys in such a tough spot.”

“Perhaps we may not need security soon enough.” Gabite sighs, eyes gazing out at the rows upon rows of jewels. “The more we dig, the less we find. At this point, I’m convinced we’ve nearly cleaned the entire mine out. The spoils are becoming too few and far between to sustain this.” He closes his eyes. “With nothing left to gain in return, the more I begin to question what the point of hoarding this all is, especially the concern with the possibilities of thieves keeping us on edge.”

The Gabite walks up to the crystals, reaching a claw out, scooping up a few of them. “I think it’s time for a change of direction.” He smiles, turning back to River and Neesha, holding a pair of bright, red stones in his claws. “Staring with you two.”

Neesha blinks. It almost feels wrong now, doing this, given what they’ve just gone through, how much trouble Gabite went to protect everything. Her ears droop back a bit. “You’re sure about this? We can find another way if it means you get to keep your stuff.”

“I insist.” He holds the gems out further. “They’re weighing us down more than we realize. Of course I’ll keep some of them, it’d be silly to clean out the entire stock, but these are yours. You need them more than I do.”

The two reach out and hold the crystals in their grasp. They feel warm, almost, like there’s a little fire crackling inside them, which wouldn’t be too surprising given the way they sparkle and shine. “Gosh… Thank you so much, Gabite!” River perks up with a big smile, turning to Drilbur. “And you guys too!” Aaaand then she turns back to Neesha with that tademark River stare. “And you too, Neesha! I never would’ve gotten to come here if it weren’t for you!”

Neesha exchanges an awkward smile with River. All things considered? Well, she can’t say it was a total bust, but… “You do know that we could’ve died during this whole trip, right?”

“Well what’s an adventure without a little bit of risk?” River chuckles softly, waving goodbye to Gabite and the Drilbur, rushing ahead, as per usual. “Come on! Let’s get back to the village! We gotta give these to Shiloh and Shelmet!”

Gabite smirks a bit as he watches River run off, glancing down at Neesha. “Handful?”

“Doesn’t even begin to describe the half of it.”

---

After a very, very lengthy run back out of the cave, Neesha is almost about ready to collapse from having to carry the red stone on her back the whole way. Would be nice if she had a proper bag. Ah well. It feels so, SO good to be back outside again, breathing in the fresh air instead the dampness of the cave. River was waiting right outside the entrance to the village, waiting for her as the Fennekin stumbles.

Still holding the stone, too.

Neesha pants heavily as she tries to steady herself, shaking her head. “Where’d they go?”

“I ‘unno. I thought they’d be waiting for us but I guess they must’ve gotten bored and wandered off.” River shrugs with an awkward smile. “Can always hold onto them and give it to them later! In the meantime, thooooooooouuuugghhhh.” She giggles with excitement, bouncing in place. “Don’t think I forgot our original plaaaaaaaaaaaan.~”

Neesha blinks a few times, hazy mind clouded with confusion briefly. The original plan? “Huh…? Oh! Right, yeah. The really cool place you wanted to show me, right?”

“UH-huh! Come on! It’s just over the hill!”

Please no more running. Neesha can only run so much.

But alas, more running.

But maybe running was the right option, because just as they’re about to cross over the bridge, they catch sight of, who else, Shiloh and Shelmet, walking down the path to the village. They’re talking with each other, but their conversation is interrupted when they spot the duo.

To say Shioh is shocked upon seeing them would be a massive understatement.

“You actually made it out of there?!” He shouts, his Shelmet companion just staring dumbly at the two as River runs up to them.

“Yup!” River hands over the crystal to Shiloh, practically shoving it into his arms as he stumbles back, staring down at it dumbly. “It was really cool too! You should’ve seen it! There was this biiiiig room full of all kinds of gems and crystals, and the Gabite who was guarding them might’a attacked us, but he gave them to us when he learned what we were trying to do for Goomy!”

Shiloh can barely get a word out, stammering as he tries to process everything River is saying, mouth agape the whole entire time.

Feels euphoric, and cathartic. Neesha sets the second crystal down in front of Shelmet, who is just as speechless as he stares at it. Neesha’s eyes, meanwhile, meet back up with Shiloh’s. “And there you go. Red stones, just like you asked. You better uphold your end of the- gghah!” She’s suddenly yanked by the tail, being dragged off by River.

“Anyway, was cool seeing you guys! Neesha and I still have things to do, so catch you later!”

Yeah, she’s not gonna run anymore. Being dragged is probably better.

It’s quite amusing seeing Shiloh and Shelmet’s dumbfounded faces getting smaller and smaller the further she’s pulled away, though.