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[attr="class","wildtitle"]A WILD TRAPINCH APPEARED!

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The thick, solid cold of the caves was familiar, but still took Michi's breath away. Ruins were all like this-- even on the hottest days, there was a part of the earth that the light and heat never touched. She usually preferred summer for ruin-exploring with her husband for this reason, but the tour group had come knowing what to expect. Up ahead of her she could see people adjusting their earmuffs, well-padded silhouettes shivering in the glare of headlamps.

"Ooh, look!" Someone had stopped a few places up in line and was leaning forward, their lamp veering towards the wall. A familiar, terra-cotta head was poking out of a small hole in the stone. Now that Michi-- along with others, judging from the direction of the beams-- was looking, she could see there were many, many holes in the rock. The cave was almost like a lattice, the soft stone chewed and worn away by digging Pokemon. Speaking of digging--

"Be careful of Trapinch," Michiko said carefully, gently tapping on the person's shoulder. She really wanted to say shoo! but contained the urge. As far as First Impressions went, hers wasn't positive. "It has strong bite, so maybe keep hands close!" The other person pulled their hands in quickly and the two laughed quietly together before there was a light tug down the line and the tour guide called them on. "Come on, ladies! We're coming up on one of our first attractions!'

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[attr="class","wildtitle"]A WILD BERGMITE APPEARED!

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"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Ice Cave!" the tour guide said, and the group clustered behind him with gasps and cries of delight. The guide stood on a shallow ledge that jutted only a few feet into the cavern, giving them an expansive view of the huge chamber beyond. The rocks arched up to form a huge, dome-like ceiling high above them. More notably, the rocks were studded with tiny patches of shining icicles, places where the natural dripping meltwater had frozen underground and filled the many small holes Michi had noticed before.

It made for a spectacular effect, thousands of gleaming facets like stars in a planetarium. Michiko even saw a spiky little Bergmite clinging to part of the ceiling, blending in with the frozen crystals. The ice actually seemed to have taken on a luminescent green tinge, either in the light of their headlamps or due to the nature of whatever minerals fed this cavern. Indeed, there was a dark, greenish cast to the stone as well.

"You'll see the walls are actually formed of green basalt, a common igneous rock! The color is due to natural deposits of olivine, commonly found in this region." The tour guide said, gesturing around them. "We are currently standing in what's known as a lava tube, or 'pyroduct'! A variety of these little volcanic vents run underground throughout the region, most of them connecting to Mt. Chimney or other, now-dormant volcanoes. We're lucky to have quite an extensive one of our own here at the Safari Zone!"

The tourists oohed and ahhed, many eager to ask questions. Michi clasped her hands together, eyes shining. Wasn't geology interesting?

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[attr="class","wildtitle"]A WILD SHINY ARCTOZOLT APPEARED!

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The group descended the ledges one by one, securing the climbing equipment they'd been given to the appropriate rock fixtures and laughing a little nervously as each one shimmied down the rope. Like the rest of them, Michiko had watched Sammy the Snom's easy five-step instructional video before she'd been allowed into the caves, but their descent was still punctuated by giggling and little screams from people who rappeled too fast or lost their footing. There would be some sore muscles in the morning!

"Aaaand HALT!"

Halfway across the ice chamber, many of them craning their heads to admire the spectacular view up above, they stopped and clustered around their guide as the man pointed ahead of them. A silvery, fishy-smelling Pokemon who waddled on two flippers had emerged from behind a greenish boulder. "Dead ahead you can see a rare beauty, folks-- a shiny Arctozolt! But which half is shiny, the front or the back? Ahaha!" 

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[attr="class","wildtitle"]YOU CAUGHT THE SHINY ARCTOZOLT!

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[attr="class","wildtitle"]A WILD SNOM APPEARED!

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"Bravo!" The tour group clapped enthusiastically, the guide congratulating Michi as the silvery Arctozolt disappeared inside the capsule. "Arctozolt and its shiny form, along with many other Safari Zone Pokemon, can be exchanged at the Head Warden's office for--" Michi spun around. "Wait!" She cried, and everyone fell silent. The tour guide actually stopped mid-sentence in surprise.

Michi clasped her hands together anxiously, everyone's eyes on her. "One in four trainers suffer from Premature Catch Syndrome!" she said tearfully, "Please wait! I do not want you to be getting hurt!"

Whether touched by her concern or heeding her warning, the tour guide held back, and the group huddled together with bated breath. Hand over her heart, Michi made sure to wait until the ball shook three times and was completely still, remembering what Zac had told her. She counted for ten seconds, and then breathed out. "O-kay~!" she said, and the Ice Cave hummed and echoed with relieved cheering. 

Back in their chugga-chugga train formation, the tour group reached the far end of the cavern, where another Safari Zone employee was waiting with a big basket of Snoms. "Congratulations, folks! You've already made it to the halfway point of our Spelunking Tour, and what an exciting journey it's been already!" Michi hid her face as several people turned to her, clapping appreciatively. "Please help yourself to the customary Snom before we begin the next leg of our adventure! Remember, supplies are limited, so just one per family group, please!"

As the group passed into the next tunnel, the staff member handed them their door prizes. "Here's your Snom... Here's your Snom..!" Michi came up next in line and the employee fished around in the basket for a moment before pulling out another adorable bug. It wiggled as they handed it over. "Here's your Snom! Happy Snom-Spelunking!"

"Snom!" Michi cried happily, hugging it to her chest. 

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[attr="class","wildtitle"]YOU CAUGHT SNOM!

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[attr="class","wildtitle"]A WILD WOOPER APPEARED!

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"1, 2, 3, 4, I declare a SNOM war!" 

Footsteps marched in time with the beat as the tour guide blew his whistle, walking stick raised high. Lifting their Snoms up and down to form a wave behind him, the people in the tour group tried to sing along. It would be optimistic to say the song wasn't broken up by a lot of fumbling and mismatched beats, but it was fun and it passed the time. 

"5, 6, 7, 8, try to keep your SNOMS straight!"

Those with female Snoms like Michi quickly rushed to match their Pokemon up with a male partner and vice versa. The older woman ended up with a teenage girl who was carrying her dashing boy Snom on her head. "Ooh, he is so handsome!" Michi exclaimed. "Thanks, your little baby is cute too!" the girl said. "Oh, look! Wooper!"

Slap, slap, slap, slap! Along the sides of the tunnel, where water had collected in deep rivulets, round little heads popped up and rocked side to side in time to the singing. Their flat tails slapped the water rhythmically. <Woop, woop, woop, woop!>

"They are amazing!" Michi cried. She put her Snom on her head, like the girl, and began to clap along. She couldn't wait for what came next!

"9, 10, 11, 12, how far can you dungeon delve?"

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[attr="class","wildtitle"]A WILD GALARIAN DARUMAKA APPEARED!

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The tunnel went down, down, footsteps punctuated by bursts of song, chanting, or the occasional targeted advertisement ("So you folks know, we sell special Snom Chow in family-size value packs up at the Warden's Office-- we don't get much snow down here in Hoenn, so they need a special diet to keep their ice shells spiky and shiny!").

Despite the ice Pokemon's cool presence on her head where it had snuggled into her hair, Michi felt more and more like she could feel the earth growing warmer. Her breath had come out in clouds of steam up in the Ice Caves, but now the mist was everywhere, bringing with it the sour smell of brimstone.

"Aaaand HALT! We're here!" 

The tour group stopped their singing and stopped, waiting in their formation. Their headlamps illuminated the mist, creating warm, golden-yellow auras that bled together into a sea of light.

"Lamps off, spelunkers! We're at the main event!"

Michi reached up to turn off her headlamp, the others around her doing the same, and gasped. As the last bulb finally winked out, they saw it: just down the ledges ahead was a warm, shimmering pool of water. Steam rose from its surface in gossamer sheets, rising towards the ceiling and beading on the stone there. I wasn't imagining things, Michi realized, dazed, It is a hot spring!

Small lights had been placed inside the hot spring to illuminate it from below, casting it in a milky, emerald light. "These pyroducts we're walking through may be empty, but that doesn't mean volcanic activity is completely null!" the guide exclaimed over their oohs and ahhs, "This area's fed by a natural hot spring, ladies and gentlemen, making it a natural oasis for the Safari Zone Pokemon during the winter months." Michi could see shapes in the pool and realized some Pokemon were actually sitting in the warm water.

"Oh, here comes a Darumaka! It's a little-known fact, folks, but ice types don't mind having a dip as long as they don't stay in too long and incur any burn effects. They have a reputation for being brittle, but you'd be surprised how resilient they are!" Awed, Michi watched the round white Pokemon wade into the shallows and settle down with a sigh, closing its eyes contentedly.

"So, how about it? You all want a dip?"

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[attr="class","wildtitle"]A WILD ARCTOZOLT APPEARED!

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