[attr="class","minicharh"]

Laurence Anderson / gaslight

[attr="class","minicharentry"]

Laurence Anderson told Fox to lead, so he did, taking point as they walked deeper into the cave, the only sound was their footsteps and the noise of their lungs pushing air out the gasmask rebreather.
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It was quiet. Too quiet.
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This shallow, the smog was just barely noticeable in the air, faint wisps of purple that rose and clung to the cave ceiling-- though the further they walked, the more downward the slope, the more they plunged into the toxins below.
[break][break]
“Stay close. We don’t know what we’re walking into. And I’d rather not have you get envenomated again.”

---

[attr="class","minicharf"]

[attr="class","minicharh"]

Laurence Anderson / gaslight

[attr="class","minicharentry"]

Lars sounds somewhat wounded, anxious to write off the Nihilego escapade as a one-and-done thing. Fox was not so convinced of the Head Ranger’s capabilities to avoid other such happenings in the future.
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“For your sake, I hope you’re right.”
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The cave bends and drops, steepening.
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“Yes. Anti-venoms and charcoal and other natural filtrates,” Fox says, as he stoops to begin to climb down, testing the strength of the foothold beneath him before he full commits.
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A few feet down and his foot slips in something viscous and rank, though he’s got a good enough hold to avoid plummeting to his death.
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“Eugh. Careful of th’ goop.”

---

[attr="class","minicharf"]

[attr="class","minicharh"]

Laurence Anderson / gaslight

[attr="class","minicharentry"]

Lars keeps on talking and Fox lets him talk, getting the feeling that he’s just filling the quiet and using it as a tool to settle his nerves. Though when he summons his Poipole Fox is slightly taken aback, narrowing his eyes with unrestrained vitriol.
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“They should never breach this world and yet you’re walking around with one?” he asks, the snarl audible in his words though the bottom half of his face is hidden. "That's some rich hypocrisy, even from you, commander." He snorts with derision and continues the climb, one eye on Lars’ Poipole in case it decides to show its true colors and do Ultra Beast shit.
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He’s careful to avoid much of the clinging ooze as he possibly can, both because it makes the going slippery and also because he’s worried it might be corrosive. Sure enough, by the time he’s at the bottom of the chasm, there’s a soft sizzling sound emanating from the bottom of his foot.
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“Don’t touch it with your bare skin,” he warns, popping Olera out of her Pokeball to have her clean the gunk off his boot-- her poison typage made her immune to the caustic nature of the toxin.

---

[attr="class","minicharf"]

[attr="class","minicharh"]

Laurence Anderson / gaslight

[attr="class","minicharentry"]

“Keep justifying it to yourself,” Fox said, the reedy flatness of his voice clue enough to his disinterest in all of Lars’ excuses-- though he couldn’t help but weaponize one of his late mother’s favorite idioms against him: “If the League said it was okay to jump off a bridge, would you do that as well?”
[break][break]
He took off down the cavern, Olera at his side, the rustle of her skirts and the steady drip-drip-drip of something that was either more toxin or innocent, natural condensation the only accompaniment to the sound of their booted steps.
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“There is a path. A cavern--.”
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Olera squeaked a warning and bodied him out of the way as a tidal wave of purple gunk was spewed at him, hitting the ground where he’d just been standing and sizzling through the stone.
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A shadow crawled along the roof of the tunnel, black save for where it was shot through with streaks of hot pink. Opening her cavernous maw, the large Salazzle hissed at Fox, before belching more toxic in his direction.
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Pushing up on his heel, he pressed back against the cave wall, narrowly missing the splattered, corrosive goop. There was the smell of burning grass as Olera’s back bubbled and hissed, but the Bellossom scurried for cover behind a boulder, filling the cavern with pale light as she called down a moonlight to heal her wounds.

---

[attr="class","minicharf"]

[attr="class","minicharh"]

Laurence Anderson / gaslight

[attr="class","minicharentry"]
Fox’s rebreather cut down on the majority of the noxious fumes but a distinctly hot, sour scent still infiltrated and burned his nose. His body shook with the effort of essentially clinging to a flat surface, trapped as he was by the slowly expanding pool of toxic ooze.
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The Salazzle dodged Lars’ Poipole’s dragon pulse with a swift shift of her lithe body. Like a snake, it coiled and slithered, clinging to the top of the cave, advancing on Fox.
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With a grunt, he pushed off the wall and landed his left toe and hand on the rock Olera was hiding behind, right food stumbling to dip in the corrosive goo. His boots would protect him from the worst of it, but he was slow to heft himself up over the boulder and behind it, putting himself right in the path of the Salazzle’s gaping maw--
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--Lars’ metal sound stunned both the lizard and Fox, who succeeded, more or less, in falling behind the rock. Corrosive ooze tickled his shoulders and ate at his body armor as he squished himself next to Olera in the little bare space provided by the rock.
[break][break]
Calchíu’s Pokeball rolled in his palm as he hurled it down the length of the cavern, back the way they’d come.
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“Dig!”
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An explosion of light brought forth the Steelix, who grumbled as she easily burrowed through the cave floor, disappearing with a final puff of dirt.
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Having recovered, the Salazzle crawled forward and dropped down to the boulder Fox was hiding behind, leering over the edge of it with a predatory grin. Burning saliva dripped from her mouth and onto Fox’s shoulders, scalding the skin of his neck. Around and beneath him, the lake of corrosive poison began to creep in, closer.
[break][break]
It was a precarious balance, the predator waiting for the prey to move. All at once, Fox bent down and grabbed Olera, pitching forward into a roll; the Salazzle opened her mouth and spat a flamethrower in their wake. Fox felt the heat against the protection of his armor, felt it burning his hair; his boots slipped in the gunk and he barely managed to find his feet, protecting Olera from the brunt of the flames with his own body as he ran.

---

[attr="class","minicharf"]