It didn't take long before the installed lights faded into a gentle glow behind them, not strong enough to penetrate this deeply into the cave. The darkness settled around them comfortably, with a certain weight all its own. Sigrún would have been all-too happy to wander through the darkness just like that, skittering in diagonal motions before she stopped to sniff a crevice here or a rock formation there. Cap, on the other hand, was a little more concerned about things like falling from random drop offs.

"Sigrún," he said, stepping carefully and following the sound of her nails on the stone. "Give us some light." He heard her sigh somewhere in front of him, but she complied and belched out a brilliant Flamethrower. It just so happened that the burst of fire caught an unwitting Mawile in its path. The wild Pokemon squealed and collapsed to the ground, completely unconscious. Cap grimaced. "Whoops." Maybe the flashlight on his cellphone was a better option.

skip

Cap flicked on the light on his phone, illuminating the nearby reaches of the cave. Beyond their little sphere of light, darkness filled the furthest corners of the cavern. Cap strolled leisurely off the path, watching Sigrún as she silently clamored along the walls. Each formation of rock materialized out of the darkness as if it were bleeding into existence. He stopped to marvel at them in turn; a column here, a stalagmite there. One particular stalactite caught his attention. Even half-bathed in shadow it was clearly different from the others. As he approached, the formation of rock revealed itself to be, instead, a Hitmontop hanging upside down from the ceiling. Cap yelped as the Pokemon detached from its resting place and plummeted to the floor. The sound startled Sigrún, who instinctively released a Dragon Pulse in the direction of the noise. Although it caught up Cap in the blast radius, the majority of the force connected directly with the Hitmontop, who collapsed unmoving in a pile. Cap stumbled back against the wall, and took a steadying breath.

skip

Shaken and suddenly very convinced that this cave sucked, Cap scrambled to detach himself from the wall and reorient his phone's light. Sigrún, though startled, looked exceedingly proud of herself. In the light of Cap's phone, the little lizard puffed out her chest and eyed Cap with a level look. He blew out a breath. "You know," he said, sweeping his phone around the cavernous room for a moment. "I think I could go for a burger. Or a coffee. Or literally anything that will get us out of this fucking cave." Sigrún nodded and shrugged, following Cap as he headed back in the direction from which they came. To his surprise, even beyond the safe bubble of his light, he didn't see the round glow that signaled the entrance to the lit tunnel the tour guide was in. He frowned. This was definitely the right direction. As he drew closer he realized the reason they couldn't see the tunnel: a massive Hariyama stood in the way, arms crossed, its wide body blocking all view to the exit. Cap froze as the light landed on it. Sigrún, however, wasn't having it. She scrambled through Cap's legs, took a stance in front of him, and blasted a violent Flamethrower right at the Hariyama's face. The attack sent Hariyama careening, and it hit the ground with a thud. Cap hesitated, but it didn't move. "Nice one," he said to Sigrún as he grabbed a spare Pokeball and tossed it at the unconscious Pokemon. As soon as the red light faded, Pokeball in hand, he headed for the cleared lit tunnel and sweet, sweet freedom.

capture attempt