Flamethrower TM for Cinder, please!

Cinder's POV

"I'm not going," I told Shonta as she crouched in front of me.

She looked at me with mock sadness. "Come on. It's just one little trip to the Crystal Caves."

Yeah, only one little trip. I'll probably end up being chased or beaten up or scared to death. All three of them happened to me the last time we went there. I looked over at Beaky. At least I wasn't the only one. Small fries make such big targets for abuse.

"We're only three now, and it wouldn't hurt to have a bigger team," Shonta said as pleasant as she could.

I rubbed my face in frustration. "Come on, Shonta! All three of us had hard times there! Why do we need to go back?"

Kawaii, who was standing next to Shonta, looked at me with tears in her eyes. You couldn't say no to that Girafarig's face. Trust me. If it wasn't for that face, I would've left her with the Sableye when I first met her in the Crystal Caves. I bet she's the only reason Beaky's still around. After all, she's the one who helped capture him. No wonder she's got a boyfriend already. "Cinder, I think...there's something wrong over there. I have a bad feeling."

I froze. When a Psychic-type Pokemon has a bad feeling, it's a good idea to take it into consideration. "You're...not going for more Pokemon?"

She shook her head. "The place might be in trouble. Think of our families!"

She knows guilt trips won't work on me. "What do I get if I go?" I asked her.''

"How about a new TM?" Shonta asked me with a sly smile.

She has to be pulling my leg. I'll tighten the deal "Depends. Got it with you right now?"

She rummaged through her backpack and brought out a simple box with a picture of a Charmander doing...

"Flamethrower! You got me Flamethrower! Thank you so much!" I yanked the box away from Shonta and dumped the contents over my head. I instantly felt a burning in my stomach, a burning that was starting to travel up my throat. Being a half-idiot at the time, I thought it was a good idea to keep my mouth closed.

"Are you feeling alright?" Kawaii asked me.

I couldn't keep it in anymore. I turned around and opened my mouth, letting out a column of flames. Unfortunately, it was right in Beaky's face. "Sorry!" I said quickly.

Beaky, his face as black as coal, stood quiet for a minute. Finally he shook off all restraints and screeched at the top of his lungs. "I'm gonna kill ya, ya little rat!" he screamed.

Oh boy. Beaky the Hun's loose. "Now Beaky, dont' do anything you're going to regret." I slowly backed up towards Kawaii, hoping the "big sis" would stop him.

"Oh, I'm not going to regret tearing you apart!" He shot up in the air and went into a dive straight for me. Without thinking, I dashed under Kawaii and lay as low to the floor as possible. I saw him dive toward me, but he stopped in midair. No, Kawaii stopped him.

"Let's not go through this again," Kawaii said calmly. "Last time you let your temper get the best of you, you were in danger of being thrashed by at least three Psychic-types, including myself."

Yeah, one being little Tiana the Espeon. Her trainer was called Amy, I think. Beaky lost his first battle against her and attacked her as soon as he got back to the Eevee House. If I can recall, it was Kawaii that saved his back. I don't think either Beaky or Tiana got over that fully. "Thanks a lot, big sis," I told Kawaii as I came out from under her.

"Are you coming with us?" she asked me, still restraining Beaky.

I nodded. "I have nothing to do around here. Too many Pokemon taking care of their babies."

She set Beaky down. "Good! Then we're going to the Crystal Caves Desert!" she said happily. "That was where I was in my dream."

"I'm staying inside my pokeball. I didn't plan to go anywhere today and suddenly you're dragging us to the Desert," Beaky grumbled.

"You better act right or I will personally and literally drag you through the Desert."

I shrugged. The Desert wasn't a big deal to a Fire-type like me. We would be in and out within an hour.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

We were stopped at the Pokemon Center that we used to transport ourselves to the Crystal Caves. "I'm sorry, but the Caves are closed to trainers until further notice," the Nurse Joy told us.

Shonta glanced at Kawaii for a second. "What's the problem?" she asked the Nurse Joy.

"It's all very strange. The workers say that whatever lights up the Caves has disappeared or something like that. They have called a meeting in the Town Square."

A chill ran up my spine. Kawaii's prediction was right. The girl could take Miss Cleo's place. But that wasn't the only reason. My parents told me when I was little that the light source was like a real sun. To have it just disappear meant Armaggedon!

"Now don't panic," Shonta told me.

I stopped my frantic circling. "'Don't panic!?! The world's going to end!"

"You're blowing this way out of proportion. But we should find out what has happened."

"I'm not going in there! Demons have stolen their light and now they're going to steal their souls!" I said that whole thing in one breath. I panted while I shifted from foot to foot. "Do you wanna be a soulless shell?"

"Now that is blowing it out of proportion," Kawaii said, looking at Shonta with an annoyed face. "I don't know about Cinder, but I'm going. Those people and Pokemon depend on that light."

"I'm going as well," Shonta said, unmoved by my pleading.

Oh man, I'm outnumbered. They don't know what they're walking into! "In that case, I guess I'll have to go along with you. Someone has to protect to two of you."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

We arrived at the Town Square to find a few of the workers and some fellow trainers. And missing, sure enough, was the light. I crouched in front of Shonta and lit up as we listened to some guy named Frank. "Everyone...the sun has not risen, as you may have noticed."

"No need to point that out, Einstein!" I shouted.

Shonta playfully thumped me, and I drifted into my thoughts. My trainer's a weird one, getting Pokemon that nobody else seems to have. When I first went to the Eevee House, there was only one other Cyndaquil that I knew about. I haven't seen any other Girafarig. Girafarig aren't very strong psychics compared to Kadabra and Alakazam.

Anyway, I was just sitting in the South Caverns when Shonta came along. It was one of those rare moments when nobody was attacking me. She just asked if I wanted to come along, and I said yes. I guess cave life was getting too hazardous for me. Turned out my life is still hazardous.

Shonta thumped me again, snapping me out of my reverie. "They're moving out," she told me. We followed the crowd through the dark tunnels, my fiery back one of the helpful lights in the group. In the dark were many Pokemon, half of which were staring at us with cold eyes. I found myself inching closer to Kawaii.

"We're going to need an eye in the sky," Kawaii whispered.

Shonta nodded and tossed Beaky's pokeball. The Spearow flew to Shonta's shoulder and looked around curiously. "Did I sleep too long?" he asked us.

"Actually, the light source for the Caves has vanished and we're going to see why," Shonta explained.

He smirked. "Cool. So why am I out here?"

"Think you can fly up and give us the scoop on what's ahead?"

He nodded and took to the sky, hovering a few stories in the air for a few seconds. He landed back on Shonta's shoulder. "You're coming up to a cliff that has ropes hanging from it," he reported. "And there seems to be someone snooping around there."

I froze in fear again. "I knew it! It's the demons waiting to suck our souls!"

He looked at me weirdly. "What's his problem?" he asked the girls.

"He's blowing this out of proportion," Kawaii said dully.

"I am not blowing this out of proportion!" I shouted. "All I know is that you better not come crying to me when they make zombies out of you!"

Beaky sweatdropped. "The guy's nuts."

I stuck my tongue out at him and stayed silent for a while. A few wild Spearow glared at me. A couple of familiar Smoochum growled at me. My back went out and I scrambled up to Shonta's shoulder. "Don't let them hurt me," I whimpered.

"Coward," Beaky murmured from the other shoulder.

We finally came across the roped cliff that Beaky described. Crystals embedded in the rock gave a cool blue glow. Shonta returned Kawaii and stared at the ropes as the others climbed, a look of uneasiness on her face. "You don't do rock climbing, do you?" I asked her.

"Well, it would be easier if they had tied knots in the ropes," she said.

"Look, I'll show you how easy it is." I grabbed onto one of the ropes and went up a few feet, then spun around and went back down head first. "See? It's easy."

She cocked an eyebrow. "You're a mouse. Of course it's easy." Nevertheless she grabbed the same rope and started to climb. She was struggling of course, and complaining before we got halfway. She would have more to complain about.

A muscular guy peered from the top of the cliff, scowling. "Snooping around, eh? We can do something about that." He stepped back, leaving me and Shonta in suspense.

"Man, these bad guys need better lines," Shonta mused.

"Go Squirtle!" the guy's voice rang out. A Squirtle slid down the rope and glared at me.

"Uh-oh," my trainer and I said together.

"Guess I have to battle then, I said to Shonta. She nodded. "Any chance that you and your trainer would let us by?" I asked Squirtle.

"Sorry, but I have to do my job," he replied in a gruff voice.

L9 Male Cyndaquil (Cinder) vs. L10 Squirtle

Shonta, sensing that she was on the same rope as me and Squirtle, reached out and changed to the rope next to her. "Let's get this over with. My arms are getting tired. Start with a Tackle attack."

I scrambled up the rope at top speed. Squirtle held his position until he decided to let go and drop head first towards me. I was about to fire a Flamethrower when Shonta stopped me. "Just switch ropes!" she shouted.

I jumped to the next rope just as Squirtle was about to hit me with a Skull Bash. I looked down and saw him stick out a hand, grabbing the rope. He slid down a few inches before skidding to a halt. He blew on his hand and looked up at me. "Pretty fast, buddy!" he yelled.

"Flamethrower him now!" Shonta said quickly.

There was no one between me and Squirtle on that rope right now, so I didn't worry about burning anyone as I released my Flamethrower downwards and blackened his face. He winced and climbed up to my level, taking deep breaths as he ascended. He got up to me, turned around with his cheeks puffed out, and blew bubbles right in my face. I let go of the rope out of surprise but quickly grabbed back on. "That was payback for the Flamethrower in the face," Squirtle told me.

Shonta was on the rope behind Squirtle and swinging above us. I had to make sure she made it to the top. "Shonta! Stay on that rope and start climbing!" I shouted.

"Yeesh! Who's the trainer here?" She went to climbing up the rope.

Squirtle watched her for a few seconds and turned back to me, smiling. "Now neither of us has a trainer to breathe down our neck," he said.

I chuckled. "You're so right." I let out another Flamethrower in his face, but that wasn't all I burned. The rope burned above him and snapped. Squirtle gasped and reached up for the remainder of the rope, but it was out of reach.

I breathed heavily as his bright eyes were illuminated by the glow of the crystal and he hovered there as if time itself stopped. I finally reached out a paw and caught his hand. He used his free hand to grab my rope. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, but you should stop the fire. Okay?" He looked up at me with big eyes.

I turned around from him. Oh man. He looks like Kawaii with those eyes. "Oh, alright. You stop it with the Bubble, okay?" I looked down and saw him staring at me. "Would you close your eyes or something?"

"Let's get back to the fight." He was panting more heavily than necessary, and his body was burnt. For a minute he closed his eyes and let his grip slip.

"Yo! Wake up!" I yelled at him.

He snapped awake and sighed. "Sorry. I must be in worse shape than I thought."

That last Flamethrower took more out of him than I thought. "Where is your trainer? If you get KO'ed, there won't be anyone to recall you to your pokeball."

"I never lose," he panted. "I can't lose. And I don't need his help."

Sounds like Beaky. "Excuse me? You're about to get beaten by a Fire type! That's sad in itself!"

He growled and shot forward, his hard head connecting with mine. Nothing could stop me from crying out in pain. Instincts took over and I turned around to smack him back, but stopped. He looked like he was barely hanging in there. His eyes closed again and his grip on the rope loosened. "Hey!"

He wasn't going to get back out of it. "Sorry pal. I lost." He looked at me with those eyes and closed them.

I won!


I gulped. I was going to say something nice, but there was something I had to know. "Are you a boy or a girl?" I asked Squirtle. I gave him a deep sniff. "You're a...girl!" I sniffed again. "Yep, you're a girl. Man, my nose is getting old already! Must have been that Bubble to the face."

Her grip hadn't slackened, but she was slowly fading out of consciousness. "Where's my trainer?" she asked softly.

I frantically looked around. No sign of Shonta or Squirtle's trainer, which meant one choice. "Beaky! Get down here, Beaky!"

A flutter of wings, and the Spearow was hovering in front of me. "What's with the yelling?" he asked.

"Where's this girl's trainer?"

"He's in a rut with the other trainers and workers. Too tied up to deal with you two." He wrapped his talons around a rope and stopped flapping.

"Listen. I want you to go and get Squirtle's pokeball so she can get off these ropes."

He looked at me with a stare that reminded me of Beaky the Hun. I leered back as best as I could, not wanting to back down to him. Finally he gave a sort of shrug and flew up to the top. I kept an eye on Squirtle while waiting. "Do you have any idea who's behind this?" I asked her.

She half-opened her eyes. "Beats me. I'm new," she answered.

"Do...you have an e-mail address?"

"Going too far there, mouse."

Beaky returned with her pokeball in his talons. "Return, Squirtle," he groaned. A narrow red beam shot out and engulfed her, drawing her inside the red and white sphere. "You owe me one."

"Yeah, whatever. Let's go back to our 'boss'."