the things that you might like don't grow inside of me

After visiting Johto Ryusuke had to admit he'd acquired something of a newfound appreciation for Meteor Falls.

During his first tour of Hoenn the place hadn't really been anything all that special. A cave with a lot of flowing water, but that was really about it. Beyond that? Plenty of loose nooks and crannies to get lost in an a number of dead ends that had required Rangers to keep someone nearby just in case an inept trainer got lost, but that was about it. Blackthorn, however, had given him a very different perspective on the place. He'd been allowed to enter Dragon's Den during his visit there as the grandson of one of the elders, and the place had been... different. Ryusuke wasn't the kind of person who tended to get sentimental all that often, but that cavern was a unique place. Alive in a way that he hadn't been able to quite describe, and even though he'd technically wasted the opportunity as none of the resident Dragons had seen him worthy of their presence.... the experience had changed him in a way that Ryusuke didn't entirely understand himself.

And while it was a subtle thing, Meteor Falls had the same quality that the Den did. Nothing that your average trainer was going to notice, but it did explain why so many of Hoenn's resident Dragon Tamers held the place in such high regard.

Clothed in his usual red duster, black tank top and matching boots/pants, the blond took a moment to simply stand inside of the cave's entrance and take it in, the bright sunlight warming his back as Grovyle continued straight past him into the brightly lit cavern. Ryusuke hadn't planned their visit there, but now that they'd arrived...

"Keep your eyes open, would you? I know I'm not the only one that remembers Golbat seem to love this place." Ryusuke said after a moment, glancing down at Grovyle's back as the Wood Gecko simply mumbled something that sounded like agreement, although the casual waving of the Pokemon's arm indicated that he was only listening in the vaguest sense. Checking the Pokeballs at his belt, Ryusuke would soon continue after the Grass type, his boots crunching where they hit the cave's stone floor along with the occasional wet splash.

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the things that you might like don't grow inside of me

That was odd. Traversing deeper into the brightly lit space Ryusuke was more than a little surprised at the lack of greeting from the usual pests, even after a few minutes in. Normally by that point he and Grovyle would've been getting swarmed by Zubat and Golbat or accidentally stepped on a Geodude, at least unless he'd chosen to use a Repel before setting foot in the space. So far, though, nothing.

Not that Ryusuke was really complaining. More than anything else the cave was bringing a few old memories back up, ones that Ryusuke didn't find even remotely distasteful. While his relationship with his mother was... well, complicated, she was still family and this had been one of the last locations they'd visited before Ryusuke had left for Hoenn. Grovyle had still been a Treecko back then and Charizard his only other Pokemon, albeit far more of a mentor and guardian rather than a Pokemon willing to fight on his behalf in ordinary trainer battles.

Predictably, also the site of one of his many losses against the woman as it had also been the last location they'd had a sparring match. He hadn't a prayer of winning, but it had taught him a number of useful tricks and tactics that he and Grovyle had used to great effect since. It had gotten them used to fighting opponents who were always stronger than them, to take every inch they were offered in a fight and exploit every opening they could find in an opponent's guard. Obviously it wouldn't guarantee wins in the future against similarly strong or well prepared opponents, but it had turned a number of otherwise certain defeats into far more even fights.

Coming up to one of the many lakes that had formed beneath the underground waterfalls, Ryusuke paused for a moment as the path branched off into two distinct choices. The first one was fairly obvious, a sturdy wooden bridge that led across the point where the lake thinned into one of many smaller waterfalls that allowed the lake to drain rather than overflow and flood the entire cave. That path was a familiar one, and the option he had taken during his last visit. The second one, however... Ryusuke didn't remember it existing. It wasn't much of one, more a distinct trail where the crumbled rock and gravel had been smoothed and flattened by a number of boots over a period of time and it led to one of the less steep cliff faces, but it seemed to continue beyond that and deeper into the cave.

Given the new experiences Ryusuke had acquired since leaving Hoenn, the choice was obvious.

"Hey, Grovyle? We're heading this way this time." Ryusuke said after a moment, having paused to think as he looked at the low cliff. Grovyle, having already started to step onto the bridge, would himself pause for a moment as he tilted his head to allow one eye to look back at the human over his shoulder. The other was clearly just as focused on the bridge, the Wood Gecko thinking on whether or not to press the matter as he then glanced to the path Ryusuke was talking about. After a moment, though, the Pokemon would shrug and turn about, moving towards the path and this time keeping pace with the blond as they moved ahead.

At least, that was until they arrived at the steep slope. While there were more than enough hand holds to grab onto, fact was that biology had been far more generous to the Wood Gecko where the act of climbing was involved. Even as Ryusuke found his starting point and began to pull himself up Grovyle had already found his own path and began darting upwards, practically running up the nearly vertical slope to pop up over the upper edge well before the blond had reached the halfway point.

Curiously enough, to see that they weren't alone. Blinking but relatively unsurprised as the path had been well traveled, the Wood Gecko would glance over the other human and- a Metagross? Interesting. While the Wood Gecko's mind hadn't been following the same line of thought and memory as Ryusuke's had before, it was now. Stepping backwards a moment to place himself at the very edge of the cliff as Grovyle was well aware that his human partner wasn't in sight, the Wood Gecko would tilt his head to glance downwards towards Ryusuke to keep track of his partner's progress - about two thirds of the way up by that point.

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