Shalin either had a death wish or a complete lack of safety concern. Of course, she wasn’t well known for her survival instincts– but come on. Necessary water type? Have to be fast? It was definitely just the circumstances of the predicament, but that made her desire to book it all the stronger.

“Well, I have, y’know, nothing,” she told Shalin with a roll of her eyes. “But I do now have a concern that this is even the ruins of an ancient city. If we won’t last more than five minutes, how did anyone else build an entire city here?”

It smelled as rotten as the air, but she was powerless to find the truth, deny Shalin her rock fragments, or navigate her way out of there safely. If she lost her barely-held-together rocker without someone else there to help her…

June suddenly took a deep breath, even if it ignited her lungs with thousands of pinpricks of pain. “So… we’ll just have to be fast. I guess. Arceus, just had to leave Vaporeon in my PC…”

More full, horrid breaths followed her down the hallway, down to where the heat sweltered– no, that didn’t do it justice. Unfortunately, the increase in temperature immediately slow-cooked her brain to not come up with it. It was hot. Very, very, very fucking hot. Sweat poured down her brow and stained her shirt-vest combo as she looked around hurriedly.

“Wh-where do we go? Wasn’t it just straight ahead and to the left?” She started to wander in that direction, her body almost pressed to the wall. However, she could feel the heat that emanated from the rock and knew it’d scorch her just as bad as the lava itself if she touched it. “You think it’ll get cooler the next floor down?”

At least she couldn’t think as well about how much earth really hovered above them.

---

Shalin Nariya

Shalin took another peek into the boiling chamber below them, her head thumping after just seconds of exposure. She felt like her skin could blister and pop open if she stayed within its space for longer than she needed to. "Alright, June, when you get down there, there's going to be a nook on your left," she reported, having June's best interest in mind. "Climb through it, and it should take you to the main cavern again, where it's not as hot."

Not to ignore June, Shalin gave her take on the ruins as she recovered from the heat using her precious ice Pokémon - and their dwindling energy. "So my guess is this was a cave or part of a plateau near the top of the mountain before a sinkhole formed beneath it. It does seem hard to believe, though," she sighed.

At last catching her breath, she sat in her Greninja's saddle and ordered the frog to make a mad dash downstairs. Were June to follow, she would find the air beneath to glow and flicker with flaring embers, small magma pools scattered throughout! Bravely bounding over one of the magma pools to an islet of solid rock, the frog encased the two Mega Stone fragments she had seen before in a BUBBLE. Leaping into it and sending it flying to the corner nearest the escape path she had directed june sleigh toward, it popped, sending hot but not scalding water flying everywhere and creating steam. Shalin slid down from the saddle, scooping up the two HOUNDOOMINITE FRAGMENTS before escaping the inferno herself.

You got a HOUNDOOMINITE FRAGMENT! This is your 4th one!

Withdrawing a short-of-breath Keimi, Shalin was again on foot as she stepped into a large alcove to the north. While it was far from cool, it was about as cool as the chamber where they had found the MAP of the place. "Finally, a breather..." she sighed, fiddling with the fragments. "Some of these fit together. Somehow. I would guess we've got about... half the Mega Stone. I dunno about you, but I'm thinking we might have to... use Treble to make our own way out of here. At this point, I don't even care that much about the Mega Stone. If we find the rest of it, great. But we're getting out of here the first chance we get. I'll come back for it if I have to."

June fumbled to turn around but was ever grateful for the reminder of the hidden area. As soon as she clambered inside its still hot but not as hot cave, she sank to the rocky floor and pulled desperately at her collar. Sweat poured from every pore and soaked her to the bone.

And it didn’t help in the slightest. Her sweat took in the heat as well until it created a stifling ‘blanket’ of oppressive heat. Almost unbearably so– but every little bit helped. She panted as Shalin retrieved two more stones, fearful of the violent sizzle of water. But soon enough, the ranger returned.

“No way in hell they have an alternate way out…” she trailed off. As nice and convenient as it sounded, the sinkhole idea wasn’t a terrible one. Would explain a lot of things. Like how they didn’t die in their sleep from the sulfuric fumes all around. “We’d have to go all the way back up for sure.”

“And I don’t want to dig out,” she said. “That’s how we die for sure.”

“We just… have to keep going or turn around.” Her mind didn’t struggle to form all the possible ways they’d die, but there was an exit still. High above their heads, but its existence kept her grounded. If that disappeared, then so would all rationality.

“What is it, another way down in here? Or to the left, I think,” she motioned that way and rose back to her feet. “Either go around the long way the next floor down, or make up most of the distance on this floor. Whatever you wanna do, lead the way.”

Not like she could get out of here safely on her own.

---

Shalin Nariya

june sleigh 's resolve was clearly wavering, and just wanted out of the volcanic cave. Shalin didn't blame her. This was a ruin that simply was not meant for humans to occupy any longer. Only fire Pokémon, and stout ones at that, could withstand the harsh, sulfuric environment. "You'd be surprised," Shalin reassured June. "There's something extraordinary about places like these. This isn't my first ancient ruin I've been to, and it's amazing how much of their technology still works." By her count, this was her... twelfth?

"I'm going to check that north spiral," she advised, Keimi spitting water all over Shalin to keep her cool before she got on the frog's back. "Would surprise me if there was an exit back there." With confidence, she zoomed into the superheated cavern again. It did not take long for the water to evaporate as the Greninja swiftly rounded each corner. As they got close to the center of the spiral, the smell of burning flesh made her cough; the ground itself had partially melted, overloading even the amphibian's resistance to fire. Keimi painfully hopped back around the spiral, collapsing at its entrance and leaving Shalin to return to June on foot.

At least she had two more HOOUNDOOMINITE FRAGMENTS to her name.

You got a HOUNDOOMINITE FRAGMENT! This is your 6th one!

"That spiral... was a bust..." Shalin huffed, parts of her skin red from the burning environment she had left moments ago. A blister had began forming on her cheek, as well. "I think our best bet is to just get to the bottom. If it's anything like the other places I've been to... there will be another way out down there. We'll need to go south, through the heated cavern, and to here," she pointed on the map. "That will take us to the lowest open level. Then from there, we'll need to figure out a way to the bottom."

Provided june sleigh was feeling well enough to dash through the heated cavern for a few seconds, the two would arrive at the fourth level, now able to clearly see a rocky dais jutting out of the crater's center. Carved into it was a profile of a fire-type legendary Pokémon Shalin did not recognize.

The idea of there being five floors was not as overbearing when they were on the first floor. Before they had to delve through them, it seemed like an easy trip. In and out, simple paths that all connected in simple ways that her hydrated brain could comprehend. Despite the overwhelming anxiety, anyway.

But now? She blindly followed Shalin further in. Through the super hot cavern and further down below. The beef jerky that currently occupied her skull could not think beyond the desire to leave. She knew that to follow the Ranger would inevitably lead to release. Thus, she did so without a second thought.

Because there wasn’t a second thought. There wasn’t much of a first thought as was.

Which is why she only spared a single brain cell on the mural. It looked important. But she sure did not care. “Looks like a dog, maybe. Or a really fucked up bird? I failed art class. I don’t know what it is.”

“Anyway, I thought the map said we would end up in the bottom this way, but it hasn’t, so…” she trailed off. Sweat poured down her brow, the only sign that she wasn’t about to die from heat stroke. “I think there was a trail to the left. Right. Fuck. We try that way first.”

No shot there was a way out this far down. Hell would freeze over before that happened. But she pushed onward, half out of determination and half out of blind muscle memory. The second they got all the stupid rock fragments, she was climbing onto the ranger’s back and letting her get them the hell out.

And sure enough, there were stairs. Or a trail. Or something. “Is this the way to go, or was there a way to the center thingy? I don’t remember.”

---

Shalin Nariya

Moving left on the grid, asking Shaylin if this is the right way to go or if they need to go further left and then up to the pathway