Robin clasped the straps of her hiking backpack together over her chest, locking her equipment in place. With her hard hat and gloves already on, she was totally read to explore the area. "Are you ready?" She asked her partner. She had just met Mimi the other day at the hot springs, and now they were paired together again as Rangers. It was serendipitous.

"We don't have any strict requirements for this spelunking trip," she explained, "but we shouldn't leave until we see something cool." Reporting back could be really boring, but it was always redeemed when there was something awesome to share with the other Rangers.

"Round two!" Robin shouted with pride, jamming a thumb into her chest. "We did so good that they promoted us to muscle!" She flexed for a moment before jumping off the large boulder she had been standing on. "Onwards and upwards," she added as she marched confidently into area zero.

Sinistea followed with a pleasant clinking sound. "They said paradox activity has peaked down here," she added as an afterthought. What they were going to fight was less important than the fact they were deemed strong enough together to protect the line. If they could keep the paradox pokemon back, they could prevent so many from escaping into nearby towns.

"Sinistea, cover our exit!" She scrambled to follow Sasky and Andrew, who thankfully still had his hard hat for protection as they ran around falling rocks. Sinistea used shadow ball at the ceiling as she followed Robin closely, causing large rocks to fall from the ceiling and upper walls, closing the lake off with a new rock wall.



"It'll be harder to return to the lake, but at least we'll make it in one piece." She laughed as adrenaline coursed through her while the trio dodged stalactites and avoided tripping on rocks in their hasty escape. "The exit's ahead." Light trickled through ahead, promising safety. As they cleared the cave and entered the clearing outside of it, Robin took stock of their situation.



She pulled a medical kit from her bag. "Let's look at that scrape on your cheek," she said to Andrew as she grabbed a cleansing wipe and cleaned the area. "You hurt, Sasky?" Sinistea hovered beside her with worry.

Robin hums thoughtfully at her partner's suggestion. Perhaps there was underground lake or something in here. It wasn't unheard of. She hadn't seen a lot of wildlife, though, and she felt that pokemon tended to congregate at...

Oh.

There's Andrew. "We got this," she said confidently to Sasky. "I just learned this trick." Indeed, annalise henderson had driven home what she should have learned months ago: pokemon moves weren't constrained to other pokemon in a battle. Rockets fought dirty. And, pokemon moves on a person could be more than just an assault. "Sinistea, take his place!" The ghost chimed happily and used ally switch, taking the place of Andrew while he was teleported beside the Rangers. The teacup floated above the sea-beast, not looking scared despite the lake-pokemon's motions growing angrier and more, like, cave-rumbly. Stalactites began to fall as it roared.

"Better late than never," Robin chimed in as Mimi apologized. There was no need because she didn't sweat the small stuff. Still, she was very happy to have another set of hands. She shoveled more sludge into the toxic waste bin, happy that it was almost filled.

She paused to gesture around. "The earlier crew prioritized cleaning the water in the springs, so we just have to worry about what has clumped up on the ground. I think a small puddle of it dried down the slope behind us from when they blasted water out of the springs to clear it of sludge." But there was plenty of sludge to go around.

"I hope this isn't your first mission. It's not very fun. Oh! I'm Robin Coello, at your service." She had recently upgraded from her rookie armband and was now a cadet.

Robin trusts Sasky's assessment despite her misgivings, but things change fast in these caverns. She yelps in surprise as Sasky stumbles, but thankfully, her pokemon is fast enough to break the fall. Robin is stock-still in shock, waiting to hear about any injuries. She exhales with relief at her request and offers her the one from her bag. "As long as it goes to a good home," she said with a smile, offering it to her quickly.

A cry echoed out from deeper in the cavern, and it took a moment for Robin to parse that it was human. "Sin, go see if that's Andrew." The echo distorted the message, but perhaps he had been crying for help. She waited for Sasky to get back to her feet before moving forward around the bend in the cave. Andrew couldn't be much further.

Sasky is eager. The chasm intimidates many, but she shows no fear. It instills confidence in Robin, even as she feels a twinge of worry at how the other Ranger isn't wearing as much protective gear as Robin is. "Uh- are you sure you don't want a hard hat, too?"

She rushes after the other. "Whoa, you move like a natural down here." Robin likes creepy and dark, but caves aren't a normal haunt for her. She's largely only been in icy caves to hunt for ice stones. This is a little out of her depth (hah?), but she loves a new experience. "Be mindful of the tera crystals! They might be reactive."

Robin clicked the helmet strap together underneath her chin. It was a traditional spelunking hard hat with the flashlight in the front. "Now, I am all set." She grinned at her partner. "I have a spare in my backpack. It is unclear if Andrew lost some equipment, but we got his staticky SOS just an hour ago." The two of them were the only free bodies nearby that could gear up and head in there. The other Ranger squads were deeper in the chasm where no SOS or message would reach.

She looked to Sinistea, who was in good spirits and ready for a rescue mission. "I also have some trail mix if he's hungry. I feel like I would be really hungry if I was stuck." She had to resist munching on some herself just because it was so delicious. "Are you ready to head in?"

Robin ran her arm across her forehead to wipe off sweat. The hot springs were normally pleasant, but the toxic sludge around the area was getting aired out in the steam. Much of the sludge had eroded from the hot water of the area and from earlier attempts to clean it, but there was still a bit of toxicity in the air from the remaining bits. Earlier workers had to walk away to avoid being fully poisoned, so now shift two was at work to clean it up.

"Sinistea, can you use aromatic mist to cover the smell of garbage?" She did as requested with a pleasant chime. Robin sighed with some relief as she shoveled a chunk of toxic sludge into a barrel. If they worked quick, it wouldn't take too long to finish clearing the springs.