[attr="class","blbqimg"]

[attr="class","bisc"]Biscotti is terrible with faces—especially when they make him nervous. At the reminder, his memories click into place. “Y-yeah! I remember! You had a Swampert.” Notably, he didn’t correct her when she tossed his little sister’s name at him. If she wanted to call him Cookie, the brunette would let her. It was way better than the other options.

“Gotta say the Beautifly fits better.” Or, at least, it seemed to. It was graceful and dainty with an air of fey mystique. Before turning to the rest of the conversation, he tossed a glare at Jangle.

She grinned back. It looked like his name follies weren’t what made the witch cackle. “Some wingman you are,” Biscotti muttered irritably under his breath. In response, Jangle just shrugged. Last she checked, she didn’t have wings or time to get him laid. Even nine lives couldn’t fix the hopeless.

A scarred hand waved to the butterfly. It totally looked like a prince. Unlike his alligator wrestling princess over there.

“Yeah?” Biscotti answered the question that wasn’t asked. It seemed kind of natural. “Us too.” The list of names he’d been given was way longer than he’d thought. It kind of made him regret coming out here. Whatever was making these people disappear didn’t seem easily put off. He doubted all this talk of visibility vests and walkie-talkies would do much. But the idea of running away was worse.

It’d make him look like a chicken shit. And in front of a pretty girl no less. There was no way he was going to do that. He didn’t care if it got his kidneys sold to the highest bidder!

At the talk of next steps, he pulled out the little paper they’d been given. Jangle acted as a buffer, keeping the dolt from running into a wall. “It says these guys were cataloging rocks ahead—” He shrugged. “Might have left some pitchforks behind?” That was what those things were called? The pointy things the Seven Dwarves used?

nabi park

☉

[attr="class","blbqimg"]

[attr="class","bisc"]Birds of a feather flock together. This is what the brunette thinks. It’s what he wishes would come out. But, instead, he just goes, “Yeah?” There’s a brief pause. “That’s cool.” Even the awkward conversationalist realizes he’s dead-ending it. Quick! Say something. “Me too.” There’s a pause as his eyes slide to his Incineroar. That didn’t exactly look pretty, did it? “About pretty girls—beautiful girls and Pokemon, I mean.” A comment that, honestly, failed to make things better. It didn’t even make sense.

When his error is parroted back, Biscotti notices it. Suddenly, it’s as clear as day. But to mention it now would be correcting somebody else. And it’s not like it actually matters. Both of them knew what he meant. “Yeah. Mining equipment and stuff.” He mimes a helmet and draws a rough shape in the air in front of him. It looked more like a cross than anything functional. “I don’t think kidnappers would bother grabbing it.”

There’s a pause as Biscotti lifts the paper to his nose in the dim light. Letting his feet guide him forward, he slowly drifted toward his Incineroar. He used the light of her belt to make the list clearer. He didn’t notice that she was holding up three fingers. The baker also fails to notice as blue-yellow eyes roll toward the ceiling. “It looks like one, two—five?” His murmuring pauses as he jumps back to the top. He flushes. “No, wait, three.” Jangle snorts and shifts him around a stalagmite in the middle of the road.

“They all have the same last name too.” They enter a cavern lit by an abandoned flashlight. “What are the chances of—oh.” He blinks. The place is a mess. In the corner, statues of a dog, a bird, and a monkey leer on.

nabi park

☉

[attr="class","blbqimg"]

[attr="class","bisc"]The brunette’s cheeks redden. His grin is lopsided and awkward, reminiscent of a Yamper with a toy in its mouth.

“Yeeaah.” His voice is sheepish. Biscotti thinks back to the day Josh Devlin cleaned Jangle’s clock. How the gym leader pushed obedience over teamwork. How he was meant to control a fire cat when he couldn’t manage his own tongue beyond him. “I get that a lot.”

The cat looked at Scotti for a moment. A large paw traced her own jawline as if assessing similarities. Then, she wrinkled her nose. She seemed to find the idea of being related to Cookiehead distasteful. But there was a joking twinkle in her eyes. “I guess it’s true.” His shoulders lifted in a shrug. “Though I like to think everybody treats their Pokemon that way.” A thick paw descended to his mess of hair as if to ruffle it. But the cat's wrinkled snout ruined any joviality in the action.

Then, Jangle snickered.“Like moms and dads?” Biscotti parroted back at her. Then, he winced. “Yeah, that—that makes way more sense. Geeze. ” Again, that comfort grin surged back to the forefront.
At her question, his lips pursed. “Well, they were here. Where else could they—?” Turned in the opposite direction, he didn’t notice the crumbling wood. A noise of surprise erupts as he’s tugged away. The area around them filled with dust. With a CRACK the blood-dappled statues vanished.

And so did their exit.

“Thanks for the save.” A hand reached to brush blood away from his eye. “You okay?”

Instead of Nabi’s voice, something in the clearing debris growled.[break][break]

His hand reached for a spear that no longer existed.

nabi park

☉

[attr="class","blbqimg"]

[attr="class","bisc"]“Never better!” Biscotti shouted back. Totally false, but it sounded good. And it wasn’t like stuff could hurt. Maim and kill? For sure.

At Nabi’s admission, the young man gasped. “What?” He chewed on his bottom lip. “Hang on!” In the dark, he didn’t see any blood or anything. But it was obvious she favored that left foot. With no hesitation, Scotti rushed toward her. He knelt in a growing puddle of his own ichor. After a moment of awkwardness—trying to figure out where to place his hand—he settled an arm around her waist. “Just lean on me, okay?”

He shook his head. “It’s all right.” Any thought of missing people went out the window. “I don’t think they were here anyway. Not anymore.” Just a few creepy statues and an empty room. Another growl. Correction: an almost empty room.

Hoping she’d accept his help, Biscotti began to back away from the hole. From it, an Onix’s head emerged. It obviously wasn’t happy.

nabi park

☉

[attr="class","blbqimg"]

[attr="class","bisc"]Biscotti blushed as he felt her weight on his shoulder. He wasn’t exactly strong, and she smelled nice. But he doesn’t immediately faceplant. He wrapped his arm tenuously around her waist as he tugged them backward.

The Onix stares at them with narrowed, beady eyes. The crushed remnants of the statue are turned to powder beneath its coils. “R-right.” He swallows as he stumbles toward the exit. He offers a nod of thanks to Bruno as the sounds of falling rocks grow louder.

“Uh, not really, no.” Scotti wasn’t really a guy who picked fights with people. He preferred tossing in the towel. You thought his hair was stupid? He’d laugh at it with you. But this Onix wasn’t exactly arguing with him. It was just mad. “This is the first time I’ve even seen one.” The baker’s throat felt tight as he tried to swallow down his nerves.

A scarred hand lifted in a nervous wave. “Hey bud.” His next breath is meant to calm him. “You—uh—we don’t want any trouble.” Jangle moves to stand between them. Her lips pull back in a feline snarl. The air above her stripes begins to shimmer in the heat. Her defensiveness really wasnt helping.

“So, can you just—yanno—go back in there?” Those beady eyes narrowed to lavender slits. Something purple and bulbous—like a pop ring—hangs from its neck. It roars and thrashes in its tunnel. “I’m going to take that as a no.” It lunges for the humans as Scotti tries to run toward the falling cave-in.

Jangle lunges forward to. unleash a Drain Punch on the Onix’s nose.

nabi park

☉

[attr="class","blbqimg"]

[attr="class","bisc"]The Incineroar’s fist hits the rock snake square in the jaw. But Jangle’s face isn’t happy about it. It’s the kind of expression you’d expect from someone headbutting a brick wall. Which, now that he thinks about it, isn’t that far off. But that pain doesn’t get much of a return. He’s pretty sure it doesn’t even crack the stone.

But—if defusing was the goal—that move was a total failure. Bloodshot eyes narrowed. A craggy jaw opens in a deafening roar. It sprays spit across the retreating brunette’s back. Jangle is quick to toss herself between the crippled girl and the angry Pokemon. The stones at the end of its tail thrash angrily behind it. It smashes its head against the tunnel as if trying to dislodge ringing in its ears.

As Nabi summons the Beautifly, Scotti’s eyes widen. He tosses a glance back to the much larger, much tougher Pokemon behind them. “Uh...” There’s a slight hesitation. “-I know size isn’t everything, but I’m pretty sure that guy can squish your buddy.” The air hisses behind them as the anomalous toxic chain drops to the ground.

The surprised look on the Onix’s face is temporarily mirrored in the baker’s one. What the heck is that thing? It looks like something from Alien. It’s gross. It’s obviously dangerous. Some part of him wants to touch it. The rock wall’s collapse is punctuated by an order from Nabi.

“Right!” There’s a hint of guilt to his voice as the brunette drags Nabi toward the exit. “Get a move on, JJ!” With a final glare, the Incineroar ducks out through the stony gap. As she sidles past, a well-placed kick plunges the Onix back into isolation, An anxious sapphire glance confirms the gap's closed.

Ignorant of the red trail he left behind, Scotti and Nabi would make their way to the surface. A useless endeavor that did nothing but almost add two more to the count of the missing.

nabi park

☉