Valerie waited anxiously for Larvitar to return as she chatted with the rangers when Arin squinted into the darkness in the distance with a confused expression.
“You guys see anything over there?” He asked nobody in particular as he concentrated on the darkness in the distance.
Valerie turned and looked over, but she couldn’t see a thing. “It's too dark…”
“Lights out, we might see more.” Maxie shut off the camp light and their headlamps, before waiting for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, the others followed suit.
Before long, they could see each other again, then the landmarks nearby, and finally their eyes adjusted enough to make out something large in the distance, ‘Huh? What is that? A storm? In the cave?’
Arcanine hopped up onto their rock, panting happily, having completed its search. Maxie pointed into the distance, “You see anything over there?”
The Pokemon abruptly stopped panting and looked into the distance. It turned and pushed itself into Valerie's back, “Arc!”
It picked up a small rock and deposited it into Maxie's hand. She only looked confused, “We’re not playing right now, Arc-”
“Arc!” It shook its head, nodding into the distance again and patting the rock in Maxie's hand, “Canine! Nine!”
“What?” Maxie looked entirely confused, but Valerie had an idea.
“You’re saying there is a Pokemon over there and it’s a Rock-Type?” She questioned, and Arcaninie jumped happily at her understanding, “Arf! Arf!” It once again put its paw on the rock before pushing its nose into her chest.
“Me? My Rock-Ty-” What Arcanine was trying to say finally dawned on her, and she rose quickly, “You mean something is happening over there with Larvitar?! Why's he in a sandstorm?!”
Arcanine nodded and began jumping in circles, happy to be finally understood, “Arc! Arcanine! Nine! Nine!”
Maxie turned her headlamp back on and stored their lantern in her backpack as she rose, “I've got about as much of a clue as you do, but I think we should get going and check it out. Arcanine, you lead us. Arin, Nick, you call Graveler and Lairon back. We might need them again.”
“Lairon, return!” Nicholas cried out into the dark cavern, and the Steel-Types heavy footsteps could be heard approaching in a gallop from the distance.
Arin nodded with a sneer, “Sure, it better not be those damned Magmar again.” He turned into the distance, cupping his mouth, “Graveler, back!” The Rock-Type could already be heard rolling back.
The rangers were all already moving. Valerie felt her shoulder sting as she tried to lower herself off the rock. Maxie approached her with Arcanine, “Chop-Chop! We gotta go! You can’t run right? Here!”
“Woah!” Valerie was hoisted onto Arcanine, “A-Am I really allowed to ride him?”
“If we kept walking as slowly as we’ve done up until now, we’d never make it over there! Just hold on tight!” Maxie hopped up onto Arcanine's back behind her, “Let’s go! The others will catch up!” They were off before Valerie could protest. Valerie felt her stomach drop at the speed with which the Fire-Type sped through the darkness.
…
Larry crawled towards his mother on all fours, panic having entirely overtaken his faculties. Around him, a sandstorm raged far more violently than ever before, fueled by emotions and the Type-Energies roiling off of his body. He bawled loudly as he looked towards what he could make out from his mother, his far more childish mental faculties taking over during his panic attack, “Mom! Mom!”
Her tail peeked out under the collapsed wall of the first layer, she'd been buried underneath the destruction of the mountain. A giant boulder pinned her down against the ground right on the peninsula in front of the Moltres cave, where she'd promised him that she'd win the fight.
‘Oh my god!’ He wanted to throw up, to rage and cry and deny the sight before him, but it was far too real for him to dispute, ‘She’s dead!’
Without even thinking about it, Larry pulled at his TE and tried to use Rock Slide on the gigantic boulder to free his mother, but the rock proved far too large for him. He rushed towards the rock and pushed the TE through his arms straight into the rock, he gritted his teeth as he tried to lift it, ‘HHRNG! MOVE!’
When the rock still didn't give way, he smashed a fist into it to no avail, ‘DAMN IT! MOVE!’
Larry finally slid back down onto all fours next to the boulder, still crying his heart out, he drawled out angry ramblings, “W-Why! Why did you have to fight that damn Moltres!”
The only family he had in his second life was dead, just when he'd made it his goal to become strong and realize his dreams. Larry finally found a reason for living only to have his family taken away.
In his panicked state, his mind went every which way. Things he could've done, how she would've survived, intricate plans he never could've planned out beforehand, yet it all came back to the same thought.
‘I could've saved her…’
He had his meta knowledge, he wasn't some dumb Pokemon, he was a former human! So why did his mom have to die this way? It must've been his fault.
In his weak mental state, he let TE run free and the Sandstorm intensified as Larry admonished himself mentally, ‘I’m so fucking stupid! Why’d I let her fight a legendary Pokemon?! This is all my damn fault!’
Through the dense, overwhelming noise of the sandstorm and the noises of his crying, Larry made out a faint voice in the distance, …Larvi…Are you in there…”
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
‘Oh god! Valerie!’ Larry's heart dropped again as his mind continued to whirl out of control, making the worst out of his situation in his panicked childish mind, ‘I-I can't let her see this! See me! She'll figure out that my mom died because of me and then she'll hate me!’
“Go away!” He cried out, even though she wouldn't be able to understand his words.
To Larry, it was all his fault, and he wanted nothing more than to go back to wallowing and admonishing himself.
And so the storm roiled on.
…
“C’mon, Larvitar, what is going on in there?!” Standing at the edge, Valerie cried into the sandstorm uselessly. It seemed whatever had happened was keeping Larvitar from responding. Shaking her head, she turned to Maxie, “We’ve got to help Larvitar! What can we do?”
“Can you recall him?” Maxie asked unsurely.
She pulled out her Pokeball and aimed the laser into the storm, but it didn’t react to anything. Maxie responded by shaking her head, “The storm’s too thick… We’ve gotta wait for Nick and Arin, their Pokemon can go through it.”
Valerie stuffed the Pokeball back into her pocket with a huff, “Damn it! I can’t let Larvitar stay in there alone!”
Placing her hand on the girl's good shoulder, Maxie assured her, “Calm down, Val. We don’t even know what’s happening in there, and considering we aren’t hearing or seeing any fighting, he’s bound to be alright.”
But Valerie simply ripped the ranger's arm off of her shoulder, as she pulled her face into the neck of her shirt to cover it from the sand and started walking into the storm, “No, I’m Larvitars' trainer! I’m going in there, you send Arin and Nick's Pokemon in when they get here, they’ll be able to find me, right?”
Maxie walked behind her with a huff, but she didn’t wanna follow her into the sandstorm, “Valerie! You can’t just run in there, are you stupid?!” Arcanine barked behind her as she admonished Valerie, who was venturing further in the storm, “Hey- Stop! This is so goddamn dangerous…” She crouched down onto the ground with a loud sigh as the girl disappeared into the storm, “Drew is gonna kill…me…Haah…”
Stepping up next to her, Arcanine licked at her face with a whine, “Remind me to never have kids, Arcanine…”
…
Valerie shielded her eyes with her good hand as she held the collar of her ranger outfit over he mouth, breathing into the shirt she wore underneath the ranger coveralls. She scanned across the storm frantically, searching for its middle in an attempt to find her partner Pokemon. She’d barely been in her more than a minute, but her eyes were already teary due to the sand's irritation. Her coveralls luckily covered most of her body, but her hands were slowly reddening from the violent storm of particles.
“Larvitar! Where are you?! Come out!” She cried into the storm, hoping that the Rock-Type would finally show himself, to no avail.
Almost at the point of crying in frustration, she felt something in the distance. It felt like a frail warmth deep inside her chest, almost like she’d swallowed a small flame. Valerie had never felt the flame deep inside her chest, but somehow she knew it must’ve been related to Larvitar. Changing course, just another minute or so, she finally began to hear the squeaky and young cries of her Larvitar.
She sped up, caring less and less about the storm once she’d heard the pained wails of her Pokemon. A sharp incline of around eighty-five degrees revealed itself in the storm, stopping her. Scanning the wall, her eyes traveled down to a large olive-green thing buried underneath a gigantic boulder, easily the size of a house, next to which her Pokemon sat.
“Arceus, Larvitar!” Unfazed by the sights before her and the violent storm around her, she knelt in front of Larvitar and embraced him in a hug. When she did, the flame in her chest flared up and she finally felt whole again.
As she finally embraced Larvitar, a jolt shot through her body like a bolt of lightning. She didn’t even have time to question the feeling before a rush of emotions drilled itself into her head. A bout of despair and grief overwhelmed her, forcing tears out of her before she even had time to register the emotions she was feeling.
Her mother was dead, buried underneath an entire mountain's worth of rocks! Just as the emotion barreled through her mind, she stopped, ‘Wait! No. My mom isn’t dead!’ She stopped short after a single sob, catching her emotions she wiped her eyes as she hugged Larvitar tightly.
‘What…Were those Larvitars' emotions?’ She turned down to her Pokemon, who was still sobbing uncontrollably into her overalls. More emotions impacted her mind, Anger and Frustration at herself wracked her body, she wanted to admonish herself for not staying by her father's side as he lay in his hospital bed. Helplessness at the situation in front of her unfurled in her head, the impossibility of lifting the large boulder, the loneliness of life after a family's passing.
It felt like she wasn’t herself, her Pokemon's emotions fought against her own, and she knew her Pokemon was hurting. Her mind finally grounded itself again, so she slowly began, “Larvitar! Calm down! Please, you’re hurting me!”
Larvitar squeaked back incoherently, more bouts of emotions impacted her, shooting from her chest, up her spine, and straight into her brain. Insecurity and Helplessness racked her mind, she had no idea how she was going to face her father, how she would tell him that she got hurt again, that the simple excursion had gone this badly.
‘No! This isn’t me! This is Larvitar!’ She gritted her teeth at the powerful bout of emotions and fought through them. Her partner Pokemon had just realized that its mother was dead, and she needed to console him in some way. She knew what her Pokemon was thinking, and she knew what she had to say.
Yelling over the violent storm raging around her, Valerie pleaded again, “Larvitar, you've got to calm down! Your mother might be dead, but think of the other people in your life who still care about you! Like Donphan, Phanpy and that Ursaring who came down here!”
The storm hitched, if not just for a second, so Valerie continued, “Think of me and my family! We are still here! You said you wanted to stay with me, didn't you?!”
Finally, the storm slowed, and another stream of emotion, this time far calmer, flowed into her mind. The emotions felt pained and vulnerable. Doubt and the same Insecurity from before came to the forefront as the Pokemon squeaked out a response, and Valerie was able to separate the emotions from herself this time.
The fact that she had hurt her shoulder during the fight, and the fate of his mother, both made the Pokemon think that it wasn’t good enough, that it couldn’t protect the things it cared about. It pulled itself deeper into her hug, the sandstorm around them slowing down a slight bit more.
“Larvitar…” Valerie paused to find the right words, “...you know the odds were stacked against us from the beginning, it was a five on three. These caves are some of the most dangerous in the entire region, it's a given someone was going to get hurt. What happened to your mom also wasn't normal, she fought a Moltres! That's a Pokemon humans call a Legendary Pokemon! Of course, she'd want you to flee! Your expectations of yourself are set far too high.”
It squeaked back far weaker this time, sniffling into her shirt, the storm now nothing more than a light breeze of dust around her. A feeling of inadequacy flowed into her head, and Valerie tightened her grip on her Pokemon as she caressed its back worriedly, “Oh, Larvitar…"
"I might not have been there, but I know you must've done everything you could for your mother, you always do. Even during the fight against the Magmar you fought until you fainted where you were standing. You're the best Pokemon a trainer could wish for.”
She looked down at Larvitar, which was wiping at its eyes weakly as it sniffled snot back up its nose. She pulled her Pokemon with her and sat down near the boulder, under which a Tyranitar tail peeked out. Larvitar sat itself down in between her legs and continued to hug her torso, “Let's wait for the others, ok? They'll be able to help lift this boulder.”
Her Pokemon squeaked back weakly in agreement as it nodded into her chest. She felt more emotions flow into her mind, thankfulness and a deep sadness at the situation and the Sandstorm stopped entirely with it.
Through the falling particles of sand, she could hear their friends already making their way towards her.
