Chapter Three

Diamond Eyes

by Havoc

"Next to sound judgement, diamonds and pearls are the rarest things in the world."
-Jean de la Bruyere

------

The ship's whistle, blowing loud and shrill to sound the coming of morning, jolted Eric and Aurelia out of blissful sleep. Sunlight was shining in through the cabin porthole, and a sunbeam was cast over Aurelia, on the bed, and over Eric, on his bedroll on the floor. The hour was early, barely eight o'clock, and the pair of travelers were still a bit tired from the excitement of the previous day. As they both began to wake up a little more, they could sense that the ship had begun to slow down. Yawning, Eric got up and made his way over to the porthole to look out.

"Oh!" he said, suddenly wide awake and sounding enthusiastic. "We're coming in to port. We've made it to Dewford Town!" He looked at Aurelia, his eyes alive.

Aurelia blinked sleep from her eyes, and stretched her back, her tail stretching out straight behind her as she rose to her knees on the bed. "Have we?" she asked, a wide yawn making the second word almost undecipherable. "So what?"

"So what?" Eric repeated, sounding incredulous. "So, the ship is making a six-hour stopover here. There are tons of pokémon to be found in the area surrounding Dewford! We've got to get off the ship and have a look around."

"Not before I've had a chance to freshen up and eat," Aurelia insisted. She slid out of bed, displaying a coat of fur that was tangled and mussed up in patches. "I'm not going anywhere looking like this, and I'm hungry."

Eric was impatient, but Aurelia would not be swayed, and so he paced the cabin anxiously as Aurelia took her time in front of the mirror in the bathroom. She brushed out her fur until it shone smoothly in the morning light, and scrubbed her face clean. Once Aurelia was ready, Zangoose and human left the cabin and walked through the ship to one of the restaurants, where they found breakfast being served. Although Eric was raring to get off the ship, they still had not stopped, and Aurelia sensibly pointed out that there was no way to leave until the crew was ready for them to. Maneuvering into port was a tedious business for the S.S. Tidal due to its size, even though Dewford Port was almost entirely dedicated to servicing and berthing the large Pokémon Trainer ferry. They had plenty of time to eat a nice breakfast, with Eric dining on eggs and bacon and Aurelia enjoying a selection of freshly cut berries, before the ship finally completed its docking procedures.

With Eric chomping at the bit to get off, and Aurelia just as excited as he now that she'd prepared herself for the day, they retrieved their bags from their cabin and joined the throng of Pokémon Trainers and Coordinators that was streaming down several offloading ramps onto the port dock. After much jostling and pushing through the crowd at the port, which also contained no small amount of Dewford citizens who were just excited to see the ship come in, they were able to make it into the town without being separated.

"Wow," Aurelia said, feeling a little overwhelmed by the crowd. "It seems like the ship coming in is a big deal for Dewford Town."

"Yeah," Eric said, feeling a little overwhelmed himself. "I was getting a little claustrophobic back there." They took a moment to collect themselves, and then began to make plans, thinking about how much time they had and what they wanted to do. "Dewford Town doesn't have much in the way of shops, so I think we should spend as little time in town as possible."

Aurelia had no problem with this. "From what I've read about Dewford Town, there's more to see in the surrounding area than in the town itself," she agreed, blinking her eyes against the wind. There was a steady sea breeze blowing through Dewford, and the cool air felt nice on her face. She was glad to be off of the ship, because although she had started to enjoy the ride once she had gotten over her bout of seasickness, she had begun to feel a little bit stir-crazy in the confines of S.S. Tidal. "I bet there are a lot of pokémon that you won't find many other places nearby."

Eric slipped his bag off of his back and dug around inside for a map, which he unfolded and began to scan. Dewford Town was on the largest of Hoenn's southwestern islands, and the town took up about one third of the area, but the rest was largely wilderness. "It looks like the southern coast of the island is all forests. I bet that's where the trainers and coordinators are going to be heading, trying to catch some of the pokémon there." He showed Aurelia the map. "See, that's where all the paths lead to."

Eric was right, as Aurelia saw when she looked at the map. One paved road led into the southern forests, and various marked hiking paths were also listed in the map legend. Aurelia's green eyes turned up to the crowd of trainers who had disembarked from the ship, and as Eric had predicted, those who were not walking to the few shops and public buildings that Dewford Town had were making their way to the woodland trails. It only made sense, after all; wild pokémon, at least the less-than-common ones, could usually be found in wild areas. But Aurelia wondered if there wasn't somewhere else that she and Eric could go. It stood to reason that with so many humans wandering about, the pokémon in the forests would probably stay hunkered down and be harder to find. They might have better luck in a less-traveled location.

"What about going here, instead?" Aurelia asked, after looking over the map for a few minutes. She tapped a location in the northwest part of Dewford Island. "What's this called...'Granite Cave.'"

"Granite Cave?" Eric said, sounding skeptical. He thought about it for a moment. "Actually...That might not be a bad idea. Less people means less competition for pokémon. There has to be something living in there. I might be able to add a Rock-type or two to the team." He chuckled a little bit, and Aurelia smiled as well. As of yet, the "team" consisted of just her.

"Alright!" Aurelia said, tugging on the straps of her backpack to make sure it was secure. "Granite Cave it is." She started walking off in the right direction, while Eric folded up the map and replaced it in his bag, following after her.

------

To get to Granite Cave, Aurelia and Eric first had to walk through Dewford Town, since the port was in the southeast of the tiny township. Aurelia found that it was quite a quaint place, much smaller than Slateport, but still with the comforts of modern life. Of course it had a Pokémon Center, since trainers could be found in all corners of the world. Dewford Town, surprisingly enough for its size, also boasted one of the Hoenn League's official Pokémon Gyms. Eric and Aurelia paid it a cursory visit just to find out a little bit about it. The gym was headed by a man named Brawly, and the gym's specialty was Fighting-type pokémon. Aurelia was nowhere near experienced enough to be able to take on a type to which she was quite disadvantaged, and in any case they would not be allowed to compete there until Eric had first acquired the badge from the Rustboro City Gym, so they lingered only long enough to learn what they wanted and then departed.

The rest of the town was fairly mundane. Dewford appeared to have a rather small population, with just a few residences here and there. Indeed, it seemed more of a tourist attraction and a stop on a Pokémon Trainer's journey than a real major attraction. If Aurelia had been a human coordinator on her own journey, she might not have even considered it worthy of visiting. Then again, she was quite curious to see what kind of trouble she and Eric could get into in the caves, so perhaps not.

They made their way to the northern edge of the town, and then followed the coast in a westerly direction until the terrain became slightly more rough. The area was covered with rocky protrusions that were not quite mountains, but were still too large to be called hills. From their examination of the map earlier, Aurelia and Eric knew that they had a little bit of climbing to do before they reached Granite Cave. They set to it, scrabbling up the rocks, making good time as they did. Because of her long claws, Aurelia had a better time of it than Eric, who had to take longer to find handholds. Before long, she was up on the cliff where the cave entrance was, looking down at Eric.

"Tough climb, Eric?" Aurelia called down, wagging her tail teasingly and grinning. She was very tired from the climb, but of course she couldn't let him know that.

"Shut...up...you...pest...," Eric panted, sweat pouring down his face. He finally made it to the top, and hauled himself up onto flat rock. There he lay for a few seconds, catching his breath. "Phew...That's a long climb, Lia..."

Aurelia thumped him on the shoulder as he sat up. "Oh, don't be such a baby. It wasn't that bad."

"Lend me your claws, next time, then..."

After taking a few minutes to recoup their strength, they got back on their feet and made their way over to the cave entrance. Granite Cave turned out to be much larger than either of them expected, with the mouth of the cave at least thirty feet wide and half that in height. Stalactites hung from the cave ceiling just inside the entrance, giving the opening the appearance of a large mouth full of jagged, slightly crooked teeth. It made for a foreboding sight, but the size of the cave mouth was actually an advantage for Eric and Aurelia. Because it was such a bright day out, and because the entrance was so large, light streamed into the cave in great amounts. The pair would likely not have to worry about light for some time, so Aurelia would be able to conserve the battery power of the flashlight she was carrying in her pack. Not that it would have been much of a problem anyway; the batteries were supposed to last for ten hours continuously, and they would only be in the cave for two hours at the most. And in any case, Aurelia's Zangoose heritage have her better night sight than a human, even if her eyes were not fully Zangoose in appearance. Eric would be much worse off than her if they went very deep inside the cavern.

"Okay," Eric said. He had already pulled his own flashlight out. It was a military-style light that was in the rough shape of a periscope, and fit into a sleeve on the left strap of his backpack so that he could have light in front of him while keeping his hands free. "In we go, then. Let's see what we can find."

They ventured into the cave, and very quickly the sounds of outside seemed to be swallowed up as they were surrounded by dense rock. The chirping birds and faint sound of the ocean were replaced by a low, bass whisper. The sound of silence. Every couple of seconds the silence was broken by the barest hint of a drop of condensation falling from the roof of the cave somewhere, hitting the ground in whatever puddle had formed on the floor from years of a slow but steady drip. Aurelia sniffed the air, and found that it smelled rather musky and earthy, like when someone turned over the soil in a garden that had just been rained upon.

As they had expected, the light from outside reached far into the cave. As they progressed through the rocky passages, space became more and less expansive in turns. They had to walk single-file through several areas, and one passage was almost too small for Eric to get through, but he squeezed through by leaving his backpack on the other side of the opening and then pulling it through after him.

"This place is really...," Aurelia said, looking around at the cave walls, "...cool!" Her tail perked up, betraying her interest in the walls of the cave. Contrary to the name, Granite Cave was so much more. Aurelia could see veins of quartz running through the rock walls, and in several areas trickles of condensation had eroded the stone away enough to expose little pockets of natural crystal.

"Yeah, it real-whoop!" Eric exclaimed, his foot slipping on a patch of thick mica on the cave floor. He flipped on his flashlight, and shone it down on the floor. The light refracted into a rainbow of colors upon hitting the mica, and was reflected around on the walls. "Neat..." He slipped the flashlight into the sleeve on his backpack, now needing the light in order to see clearly where he was going.

Aurelia pulled her flashlight out, but did not turn it on. She didn't need the illumination quite yet. They continued deeper into the caves, and Aurelia continued to look around, her eyes rapidly adjusting to the decreasing light. She didn't know how far they were inside the cave, but they had been walking for nearly half an hour and hadn't found any pokémon. And yet, Aurelia was getting the creeping sensation that someone - or something - was watching them. Her ears perked up as a faint noise caught her attention, and she swiveled her head this way and that.

"What is it, Lia?" Eric asked.

"I'm not sure...," Aurelia said slowly, her eyes narrowing as she tried to sharpen her vision. "I can't see anything odd but...I could have sworn I heard something." Shaking her head, she continued walking, and Eric followed. Presently, they came to a point where several passages branched off. What lay beyond them was pitch black. Finally, Aurelia turned on her flashlight, and pointed it down the leftmost of them. It went on for about twenty yards and then turned sharply to the left. "Where should we go?"

Eric turned his flashlight down the other passages. "I can't tell where any of them lead. Each one seems just as good as the others." He seemed nervous. "I think we should turn back, though. I'm starting to get a little creeped out."

Aurelia scoffed at him. "It's just a cave. There's nothing to be scared of." She started down the leftmost path. "Don't be such a 'fraidy-Skitty."

Eric hesitated for a few seconds before following Aurelia, and it turned out to be a good thing that he did. Almost as soon as Aurelia feet touched the floor of the passage, there was a faint crackling noise. Before Eric could manage a shout of warning, the rock crumbled and Aurelia lost her footing. She slipped out of sight before Eric's horrified eyes, and her sharp yowl of fright as she fell down the hole created by the floor's collapse echoed around the inside of the cave.

"Lia!" Eric yelled. He ran to the edge of the newly-created hole, and got on his knees, peering inside. The collapsing rock had revealed a tunnel of some sort. He shone his light down it, and saw that the tunnel curved so that he couldn't see the bottom. It seemed rather smooth. "Lia! Can you hear me? Are you okay?"

------

Terrified, Aurelia found herself sliding down a smooth, hard slope, following a stream of loose gravel and dirt that had once been the cave floor she'd been walking on. Sound roared around her, and she scrabbled with her claws at the walls of the hole she'd fallen into, frantically trying to find a handhold. Her bag had been pulled off her back, and it bumped against her head as it slid down behind her. Her flashlight was gone; she had dropped it as soon as she'd fallen.

All of a sudden, the ride came to an abrupt stop as Aurelia shot out of an opening, falling for a few feet before hitting something solid. Trembling with fright, she lay there for a few seconds, unable even to tell if she was hurt or not.

A voice pulled her out of her shock. "Lia! Answer me! What happened?"

Eric! Aurelia picked herself up to a sitting position, looking around blindly. She couldn't see a thing, and there wasn't any light that could reach her eyes to make the darkness go away. She put a hand down to the ground to steady herself, and it came into contact with a cylindrical metal object. Her flashlight! Praying, she picked it up and found the button. It flickered for a few painful seconds, and then the light flared into perfect brilliance. The Zangoose sighed with relief, and directed the beam around, seeing where she was.

The space she had fallen into seemed to be just another part of the cavern, indistinguishable from the rest of it. She was in a rocky "room" that had two ways out, and both of them were forbidding-looking passages that curved around out of sight. Turning the light another way, she found her bag, which was lying against the wall underneath a roundish hole. She must have come out of there. Gingerly, she picked herself up, and felt her head. Her paw came away bloody, but she wasn't feeling much in the way of pain in her skull so she didn't think it was much more than a minor cut. In fact, other than aches and pains that she knew would be bruises all over her body, she didn't seem to be hurt at all.

"Lia!" Eric called, his voice sounding desperate. Aurelia could tell that his voice was coming from the hole she'd come out of, and she went over and stuck her head into it, directing the light up to try to see, which turned out to be fruitless.

"I'm okay, Eric!" Aurelia called back to him. "I fell into another part of the caverns!"

Even from down where she was, Aurelia could hear her friend's sigh of relief. "Thank God! Can you move?"

"I'm not hurt," Aurelia answered. "But I don't know where I am, either."

"Stay there!" Eric advised her. "I'll find a way down there and come to you. Just hang on." There were a few seconds of silence. "Wait a minute, take this."

Aurelia heard a dull clunk, and then the sound of something rolling down the rock slide. A moment later, she was nearly hit in the face by a tumbling poké ball, but she managed to catch it. "What's this for?"

"If you run into anything," Eric yelled down, "and have to fight it, you can use that to buy some time to escape if it's stronger than you. Just throw it, and it will do the rest, okay? I'll be there as fast as I can!"

"Hurry!" Aurelia urged him. She turned away from the hole and retrieved her bag, tucking the ball into a side pocket where she could easily access it if she needed to. Sitting down on the floor, she settled in to wait for Eric, hoping that he wouldn't take too long to get to her. She was digging around in her bag for something to wipe the cut on her forehead when the noise she thought she'd heard before came again. Aurelia picked her flashlight back up and looked around the cave.

Nothing much showed up in the beam's searching path. Occasionally the light would shine off of a spot of sparkling rock, like quartz or mica or something of that nature. There might have even been gemstones embedded in the walls, who knew? Still, Aurelia could not see anything that might have made the noise that she'd heard. It had sounded like something was scraping lightly or tapping against rock. Maybe a small stone had come loose from the wall and clattered to the floor, or maybe she was just taking a distant drop of water out of context. Her light flashed over two sparkly spots, and she looked away to the two passages leading out of the cavern before doing a double take.

Had she been imagining it? She thought she'd seen those two sparkly rocks over there blink...but now that she put her flashlight back on the spot they'd been on a moment before, they were gone.

What? Aurelia thought to herself. She stood up warily, disconcerted. Rocks don't move... She scanned the rocky room, and then jerked around as she sensed movement nearby. Okay, something is definitely moving in here! Completely freaked out now, she snatched up her bag and began quickly walking towards one of the passages, not really caring which one she took as long as it got her out of this creepy place. She went for the one closest to her, but she'd barely taken three steps down it when something dropped from the ceiling in front of her, making her shriek in terror.

Her light revealed a fearsome sight in front of her. A short, evil-looking pokémon had landed after dropping down from the ceiling, where it had apparently been waiting for her to do just what she had done. It had a purple body with spiky ears on its large, roughly football-shaped head, and its arms were long while its legs were rather stubby. The being gazed at her with its eyes of diamond, and she could see that other gemstones, rubies and emeralds, were growing from other parts of its body. It was a Sableye, a Ghost- and Dark-type pokémon common to caves and other dark places.

*U-Um...,* Aurelia said, using the pokémon language. She tried to calm the shakiness in her voice. *H-Hello...?*

The Sableye cocked its head to one side, as though it was curious about Aurelia. Then a slow, wide grin spread across its face, showing off rows of sharp-looking teeth. It began to advance towards Aurelia, holding up its short, pointy claws in front of it.

*I'm going to make you run,* he cackled. Aurelia could tell from the voice that it was a male, for whatever good that realization did her. *This is going to be fun! You're the first toy I've had in a while!* The pokémon made a motion towards Aurelia.

Thoroughly freaked out, Aurelia turned and ran, making for the other passage. She couldn't remember ever having run faster in her life, except for one time when she was being pursued near her home by a trainer who didn't know who she was. Aurelia's lungs burned as she ran down the passage, hoping against hope that it would take her somewhere she wanted to go. Behind her, the young Zangoose could hear the Sableye pursuing her, laughing with glee at the chase. Aurelia didn't know what the ghostly pokémon planned to do to her, but she didn't want to stick around to find out.

The beam of her flashlight danced around the walls of the cave passage, throwing sparks all over the place as the light landed on sparkly outcroppings of minerals. Her legs were aching as she ran, but she kept up the pace, frantic to get away from the pursuing Sableye. His footsteps were growing closer, and she knew that the smaller pokémon was catching up. She hurled herself faster, willing her legs to overcome their pain and allow her to put distance between the two of them.

As she rounded a bend in the passage and burst into another cave room, she felt a rush of despair. The path had led her to a dead end. There was nowhere left to run, and she spun around just in time to see the Sableye skid to a halt in the entrance to the passage she'd just come from.

*Nowhere left to run, now,* he said, grinning mischievously. *I think it's time we played a game.*

With no way to get out except through the Sableye, Aurelia knew it would have to be a fight. She quickly shucked her bag and stared down the opposing pokémon, resigned to what she had to do. Please, Eric, hurry up...

The Sableye made a rush for her, his claws outstretched, and Aurelia struck out with her own claws. They connected with each other at the same time, and Aurelia felt a stinging pain as a fresh cut was opened up on her shoulder. Her own strike sent the Sableye flying to the other side of the cavern, where he hit the floor. Still grinning, the smaller pokémon picked himself up, snickering. Aurelia's attack had apparently left him unharmed.

Deciding to get a little more serious, Aurelia made her own charge at the Sableye. She had learned the basics of fighting from watching countless matches on television at home, so she had the general idea of what she had to do. Her mother had always taught her to listen to her instincts if she ever found herself in a position where she needed to fight, and that her body would know what to do. Aurelia let her mind take over, surrendering to feral instincts that she usually kept suppressed in her everyday life.

*I didn't want to fight, but you didn't give me much choice!* she growled. She whipped her tail around at the Sableye, catching it in the face and knocking it to the side. The Sableye didn't miss a beat, and struck back with another vicious swipe of its claws, an attack which Aurelia barely avoided. She felt a slight nick to her hip, but it was easily ignored and she lashed out with a punishing whip of her tail again.

Cackling like mad, the Sableye taunted Aurelia. *Your attacks are like nothing to me. You're going to have to do better than that if you want to get away.*

Aurelia was at a loss. Nothing I'm doing is having any effect on him. Why isn't this working? She struck at the Sableye again, slashing her claws for his eyes. Aurelia felt her claws connect with his face, saw sparks get thrown up by her claws striking the diamond eyes, but there appeared to be no effect. It took Aurelia a few more seconds before she realized why.

He's a Ghost-type, she thought. Physical attacks won't hurt him, even if they knock him back a little. If I want to do any damage, it will have to be with a special attack. Aurelia was worried. She didn't know how to use very many special attacks. The only ones she knew were some elemental attacks, and the most powerful of the ones she knew, Blizzard and Fire Blast, would require time to charge. Time that she was sure the Sableye would not allow her. Then again, she did also know some that were more immediate, like Thunderbolt. She just hoped that they would be strong enough to damage the attacking Ghost- and Dark-type.

*Done already?* the Sableye teased malevolently. *That was fast, you must be weaker than I-*

*Shut up!* Aurelia retorted, getting angry. She dropped to all fours, baring her teeth and snarling at the Sableye. This seemed to intimidate him a little bit, and he backed off a step, looking unsure before he started to advance again. Aurelia concentrated on what she wanted to do, and felt the fur along her flanks and tail start to prickle. Crackling sounds echoed around the cavern as little flashes of electricity started to travel the length of her tail, and Aurelia waited for her opponent to get closer.

The Sableye leapt for her just as she was ready to unleash her attack, and she held nothing back. She caught a satisfying look of surprise on the Sableye's face as her tail whipped up, arching over her back. There was a sharp crack that seemed to split the air, and then a bright bolt of lightning shot from the tip of her tail. Her Thunderbolt attack hit the Sableye full-on, and dropped him from the sky like a hunter shooting ducks.

He hit the floor hard, and lay there quivering for a few seconds before looking up at Aurelia. *Hey, that...hurt!* he whined. *I was only playing with you...*

Aurelia didn't believe him for an instant. *Shut up!* she yelled again, caught in a fury now. She was blind with anger, and wasn't about to let up on her attacker. The Zangoose began to form another attack, and the Sableye was the one who was frightened this time. He shakily got to his feet and started stumbling away, obviously greatly weakened by Aurelia's first attack. She didn't give him the chance to retreat, however, and she let loose a powerful Flamethrower attack from her jaws. The flame seared her throat, since she wasn't a Fire-type, but she didn't care. She wanted to hurt him.

The flame hit the Sableye in the back, and he cried out in pain and terror as Aurelia held the flare on him. The fire washed around the ghostly cave pokémon, and when Aurelia felt that she could not keep up the attack any longer she let off. When the light and heat dissipated, she perceived the Sableye lying on the floor, moaning quietly and twitching.

Remembering the poké ball that Eric had given to her earlier, she rushed to her bag and retrieved it. She examined the ball for a moment or two, and then tapped the button in the middle. It expanded to the size of a softball in her hand. She went over to where the Sableye lay prone, and tossed the ball at him. It hit his head with a satisfying clunk, and then he was enveloped in light as the ball cracked open and took him in. The device snapped shut and landed on the cave floor, where it wiggled around for a few seconds, the button pulsing red as the ball registered its new occupant. Her attacker gave little resistance; the ball stopped moving after half a minute, and the button faded back to white. The Sableye was captured.

Suddenly exhausted, Aurelia flopped onto the cave floor, panting. The battle had taken a lot out of her. She didn't realize that fighting could be so tiring, and she hoped that with practice she would feel the fatigue less. She didn't want to be an embarrassment to Eric, after all. She picked up the poké ball, smiling to herself a little, and placed it in her bag carefully. Well, at least she had a nice surprise for Eric when he finally found her. The Zangoose sat back against her bag to catch her breath.

After a few minutes, she began to see a sparkle of light coming up through the passageway. Her heart leapt as she thought it must be Eric, but then she saw that the light was flickering. It didn't look like the light from a flashlight to her. The light had more of the quality of the kind of illumination one got off of a match, or from a candle that was sputtering in a breeze.

Oh, no...What now?

Aurelia was in no shape to fight another battle. She was hurt, and she was drained of energy from the elemental attacks she had used against the Sableye. If whatever was approaching her was hostile, she wouldn't stand a chance. But she couldn't just lie down and take it. Gritting her teeth, she stood up, ready to face whatever was coming.

Imagine her surprise a moment later, when a rather amusing sight came into view. A little Torchic, barely a foot tall, toddled into the cavern that Aurelia was in. It had conjured a flame over its head, and was using it to light its path. When it saw Aurelia, it turned its head to one side and cheeped curiously. Behind the Torchic walked a human, a short girl with red hair and clothes that seemed a little to girly for the environment they were in. She probably should have done better than a tank top and hip-hugger jeans if she was going to be in the caves, but that was just Aurelia's opinion.

"Oh...," the girl said, coming to a stop behind the Torchic that had to belong to her. "Lorena...Did you find what was...making all that noise...?" The Torchic, Lorena, made an affirmative peeping noise and pointed one of its stubby yellow wings at Aurelia. The girl trainer looked at Aurelia, blinking. "A...A Zangoose...? B-But they don't live in caves..."

Aurelia was quick to speak up. "I don't live here," she said. "I'm lost. I got separated from my...trainer, and I'm waiting for him to come find me."

"Oh!" the girl said. She walked into the cavern, and the Torchic followed her. "Um...B-By any chance...would your name be...Aurelia?"

"Wh-...Yes," Aurelia said, surprised that the girl knew her name. "I'm Aurelia."

The trainer clapped her hands together, pleased. "Then you must be Eric's pokémon!" she said. "I'm Mia...I don't know if he...told you about me...?"

Aurelia was relieved to have been found by someone who could help her. "Yes, he did. It's lucky you were in here, or I might have been lost forever." She picked her bag up. "You know, you don't seem that surprised that I'm talking to you."

Mia blushed. "W-Well...I've seen pokémon who can talk before," she explained. "M-My big brother's Altaria talks to him, you see..."

"Oh, okay," Aurelia said, shrugging it off. She shouldered her bag. "Well, you must know the way up. Can you show me how to get out of here? I'd like to meet back up with Eric, now."

"Sure...oh!" Mia exclaimed. Lorena had extinguished her flame, and hopped up into Aurelia's arms. The little Torchic cheeped, and Aurelia understood that she was tired, and wanted to be carried. "S-Sorry, Aurelia...Lorena is still very young...She doesn't have many manners, yet..."

"It's alright," Aurelia said, smiling. "And call me Lia. Everyone else does." She handed her flashlight to Mia, and held Lorena in her hands. Mia took the lead, showing Aurelia back through the passage she'd come through and into the cavern that the Zangoose had fallen through. They went to the passage that the Sableye had forced Aurelia to turn away from, and continued through it, starting to head up a rocky slope. After walking for about fifteen minutes, they heard footsteps slapping against the rocks, caused by someone running very fast through the caves.

Eric burst into view, holding his side and going as fast as he could. He skidded to a halt before colliding with Aurelia and Mia, his eyes wild. "Lia! You're okay!" He threw his arms around her, squeezing her tightly and nearly crushing Lorena in the process.

"Geez, chill out," Aurelia gasped, deeply embarrassed by the way Eric was acting. "And you're going to kill Lorena if you don't let me go."

"What?" Eric asked, releasing his Zangoose friend. He finally took notice of Mia and the little Torchic that Aurelia was carrying. "Oh, Mia! Fancy meeting you here. I see you've become acquainted with Aurelia."

"Ah...Yes...," Mia said, smiling shyly. "Lia is very nice...I found her deeper in the cave..."

Eric looked over Aurelia, taking in the cuts on her body. "Did you get all that from the fall?" He listened as Aurelia explained about being chases by the Sableye, and the fight that had ensued. He seemed surprised but pleased when she produced the poké ball that contained the captured pokémon.

"He's pretty beat up," Aurelia said sheepishly. "I think I overdid it a little. You should take him to a Pokémon Center to get him healed up."

"We'll use the one on the Tidal," Eric said. He looked at his watch, and pressed a button to illuminate the face so he could read the time. "Speaking of the ship, it's scheduled to leave in a little over an hour. We should all get going back to the surface if we don't want to be stranded in Dewford for a few days." He looked at everyone else. "Shall we?"

Aurelia nodded, and Mia said, "Y-Yes...That sounds like a good idea..." Lorena cheeped positively.

"Okay," Eric said. "But first let's do something about those cuts." He kneeled on the floor in front of Aurelia, and reached into his bag.

"They're nothing, Eric," Aurelia insisted. "Don't worry about it."

Eric wouldn't hear it, though, and he withdraw a small purple bottle from his bag. Aurelia recognized it as a potion, the same type of medicine that her father had used on her when she was young and had hurt herself in some way or another. Relenting, she held still for Eric as he sprayed her wounds with the topical medicine. It stung as it hit her skin, but the relief was almost immediate, and after Eric wiped away the blood with a cloth she could see that the cuts had scabbed over already. By the time they got to the surface, she would likely already be healed. It was amazing how the medicines that humans made could accelerate her own body's healing abilities.

"Alright, let's get moving," Eric said, hitching his bag on his back again. "We've got an hour to be back on the ship, so let's step it up. We need to hurry if we're going to make it."

They all fell into a line behind Eric, and headed up to the surface, ready to be out of the caves and back in fresh air.

------

By going as fast as they could out of Granite Cave, making the hike down the rocks, and trudging back into town without stopping, the companions made it back to the S.S. Tidal with mere minutes to spare. The crewers manning the on-loading ramps were just about to pull them up when Eric, Aurelia, and Mia ran up, yelling at them the stop. After receiving a scolding from the crew members for almost being late, they were allowed onboard and stood at the railing as the ramps were pulled up and the ship began to move out of port.

"W-Well...," Mia said, as the ship began to pull away from the island, "I'm going back to my cabin..." She looked at the Torchic that was now taking a nap in her arms. "Lorena needs a rest...a-and I could use one, too...I'm not used to so much physical activity..."

"Okay," Eric said. "Thanks for finding Lia back in the cave. It was good to run into you again, Mia."

"Y-Yes," Mia said, smiling again. Aurelia thought that she was becoming a little smitten with Eric, although she didn't think Eric felt the same way. She found herself silently hoping that they wouldn't run into Mia again. The Zangoose was getting a little weary of her shy little girl routine. "U-Um...It was nice to meet you, Lia..."

"Likewise," Aurelia said, forcing a friendly smile. She decided that she didn't like Mia very much, although she thought that Lorena was rather nice. Mia walked off, leaving Eric and Aurelia alone at the ship railing. The early afternoon sun was a welcome delight after the damp, cold dark of Granite Cave.

"Get a good look at Dewford Island now, Lia," Eric said. "It will be a little while before we come back here."

"Yep," Aurelia said, resting her head on her arms. The cuts she'd received from the Sableye in the cave were healed now, with the only remaining evidence of them little patches of missing fur that would soon grow back. She took a deep breath. Her seasickness was starting up again, and she'd need her medicine soon. "Let's go back to the cabin. I don't want to be all sick again."

"Good idea," Eric agreed. He turned around, resting his hand on his friend's shoulder as they made their way back to their room. "Just make sure to watch your step. We don't want you falling down any holes, after all."

"I oughta slug you for that one..."

------

"Success is falling nine times and getting up ten."
-Jon Bon Jovi