Gavin takes one look at the diving pool and turns away. He might've feared drowning less since becoming Lugia's avatar, but that didn't mean he'd be jumping into water every chance he got.

To the pit, they went.

Aerodactyl negates the need for rope, accepting Gavin onto her back without much fuss. Cradily is snared within her talons, the suction cups on the bottom of the fossil-plant's 'feet' anchoring it to the ground as soon as it's set down again. It doesn't seem to like flying, much, and Gavin can't blame it. Cradily weren't meant to be in the air.

As he points the provided flashlight around the dark pit to survey it, he addresses the Aerodactyl who now perched on the ground. "Can you feel anything with your SUPERSONIC?"

He covers his ears to avoid the shrill sound, then approaches the wall Aerodactyl indicates with a swipe of her tail.

C4D8VOKh
(fossil part #2)

[attr="class","pokesprite pokemon cradily"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon aerodactyl"]

Retrieving the fossil piece from her Linoone was like getting an old, drooly tennis ball back from a golden retriever with a foot-long tongue. Michi steeled herself and did so with perfect composure, giving no indication of her internal screaming.

"Very good!" she said instead. Baja's tongue lolled as he grinned at her. 

Michi spent a few minutes cleaning off the fossil with one of the cloth handkerchiefs she always carried. This one had Hello Skitty on it, and as she cleaned away the extra dirt and Linoone slobber, she uncovered a beautiful pattern in the stone. 

Putting the fossil in a Tupperware so it wouldn't get damaged in her bag, Michi began to recognize a pattern on the cave walls. It was difficult to tell in the beam of her headlamp, but the walls were actually banded with lines of sandstone. Her husband had pointed out rock striations like this during trips to Ponii Canyon in Alola-- he'd told her the sediment was deposited over different ages, and the history of a place could be seen based on the color of the rock. It was something had had to bear in mind while excavating human artifacts, and Michi remembered it now.

"Baja, please sharpen your claws on this," Michi said, putting the Hard Stone he'd found with his Pickup before down in front of the pink-eyed Pokemon. The whetstone grind of HONE CLAWS began, echoing and resonating unpleasantly off the cave walls. "Please check at this level for more fossils of this kind..." Perhaps if they went up or down they'd find more fossils total, but if Michi wanted a complete one, they'd need to search rock from the same era. 

Doree zipped around her head. Michi was grateful to see the little dragon Pokemon. "Doree, please watch for other Pokemon!" she said. If she was right about there being more fossils in the sandstone, she had a feeling they wouldn't be alone for long!

xpcbG_bN

^{OBTAINED FOSSIL PT. 3}

Chu-e gets a slow start. These challenges are not very friendly for someone who can not physically do a lot of them. In the end, it's only due to Grapefruit that he's able to really do much of the climbing wall. Seeing as he can't really pull himself up, even with the equipment, his Carbink being able to float and slap down pieces of rock are good. His Sylveon is able to use his weird flesh ribbons to hold onto a net, with Chu-e on the other side, so the fossils knocked down have a soft landing and don't break.

"Oh! This one looks okay!" Kind of. Gently putting the net down, he leans down to start to sift through the various rocks. To his surprise, he finds a nice piece of fossil, which he hands off to Polka Dots since he knows the Sylveon will have an easier time carrying it. One out of three pieces down.

---

PEifIfa1

O fossil part 1 (1-35)
X fossil part 2 (36-65)
X fossil part 3 (66-95)

Baja's newly-sharpened claws made quick work of the soft sandstone and the badger carved ribbons through the cave walls, snagging a second piece of patterned rock. To the Linoone's sensitive nose, the smell of the fossil was unmistakable-- the organic material preserved in ancient bone had an almost sulphur-like aroma.

But then a strange tremor occurred in the rock.

Michi's pitons began to tremble, upset by some ghostly forces inside the cave walls. A loose piece fell from above, bouncing off Michi's helmet with a sharp crack. She was so stunned she couldn't even make a sound. Only her experience spelunking stopped her from letting go of the rope in surprise. Any sharp movements might damage the Tupperware-enclosed fossil in her bag.

Instead, she just looked up.

The rocks above were fluttering, unstable, drawn by an ancient heartbeat.

"Doree! Catch the rocks!" she cried as a shower of loose pebbles broke free from above them. Her Dreepy zipped up towards the cloud of tiny stones, loosing her own secret weapon-- Infestation. A swarm of tiny Dreepy allies, no bigger than bumblebees, materialized around the little dragon and shot forwards to intercept the rockfall. They peppered the rocks, squeaking as they caught the miniscule pebbles and propelled them away from either side of Michi. She still had to cover her face to protect it from the dust and smaller particles, but she managed to keep her hold on the rope, doing her best to keep herself steady between two equally-spaced pitons.

Inside the burrow, Baja was just returning at the entrance with his newly-found fossil and ran straight into the other Dreepy. He had a brief, disorienting moment where he realized it wasn't his own ally and immediately planted his back feet, claws digging into the stone.

Lowering his head like a battering ram, wrapping his tongue around his fossil, he barreled towards the little ghost with seventy pounds of black-and-white muscle.

As he did, he used Switcheroo. 

The Hard Stone he'd left safely on the ledge outside disappeared in a flash as he snagged it with his long tongue and replaced it with the fossil, almost too quickly for the eye to see. Hard Stone now in his jaws, adding to his momentum, Baja used Fling to try and hurl the rock directly through his enemy, hopefully dissuading the other Dreepy from causing another disruption!

6Nyc6Sqt

Okm71hvI
----
Everyone moves and it's a bit disorienting, but the researcher is determined not to be left behind, if he was to compete then he was to give it his best. His mother had been a gym leader for too long for Miles to even dream of disrespecting the challenge regardless of how he felt about it. He's familiar with the gear, but he's not dressed to dive nor does he feel like changing and so he moves to the walls sure to grab a hard hat and the other appropriate gear. He makes his way to the ledges careful as to avoid michiko maeda in his own expedition. Eyes move to Mare, "We're following your lead." The Kabuto begins to scurry across the walls the fossil pokemon seeking out its own beady red eyes scanning manufactured bluff before settling in a spot.

It's a bit precarious one arm is used to hold onto the stone wall maintaining balance, while the second is with the pick ever so lightly tapping the stone slowly eventually prying out what is a piece of fossil. Archeology was a careful study and to rush was to fail. "Not bad at all Mare." He thanks the Kabuto all the while Obelos stands on the ledge overlooking making sure nothing attempts to interfere with the two and their first fossil retrieval



------

Fossil Piece 1 - confirmed
Fossil Piece 2
Fossil Piece 3

After successfully uncovering what looked to be the middle fragment of an incomplete fossil, Gavin elects to abandon the pit they'd climbed into. Working off the (incorrect) assumption that there would be a different piece to the puzzle in each 'zone', he hitches a ride on his Aerodactyl back to the top.

He could save the worst for last, but decides to suck it up and get the diving over with.

"All right, Cradily, let's put your STORM DRAIN to work."

It can't well suck up the entire pool with its ability, but the fossilized sea plant sinks to the bottom and causes water to swirl around its suction-cupped form. A whirlpool disturbs the layer of sediment at the bottom, potentially uncovering treasure within.

It bears the unfortunate side-effect of making Gavin wait until the murky water clears, but he's patient enough.

uXYq7EWu
(fossil part #1)
(acquired: #1, #2)

[attr="class","pokesprite pokemon cradily"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon aerodactyl"]