Chapter Twenty-Five
Danger, Danger and a bit more Danger

Previously:
"WHAT!" Valarie yelled, and Tony flinched, "Sorry Johnny…"

Johnny sat in a large, luxurious armchair, which was perched in the back of his room on the S.S Anne. His notebook with all his adventuring notes was on his lap and he was drooling slightly, fast asleep. He suddenly jerked up when his door opened, and Valarie came in , standing in front of Johnny with her arms crossed over her chest.

"What? You don't know how to knock?" Joked Johnny, standing up and moving in for a hug. Valarie stepped back and Johnny's arms missed, he stumbled forwards.

"What's this about Cerulean cave? Hmm? You told me you'd stay away from that place!" Valarie accused, and Johnny shook his head, "No, I said I wouldn't go there, at the time! Now I'm done with all my work, and im going!" Johnny corrected, and Valarie pushed him back on the chair.

He stood up angrily and glared at Valarie, but then his face softened, "Listen, Val, We'll be fine, we have the strongest pokemon in the region." He said gently, and Valarie considered that.

"Well, I never see you anymore! This is the first time I've had more than a 5 second conversation with you in a good month."

"Aw, Val, we'll be back in no less than a week, we can talk now, if you want." Johnny said, and Valarie shook her head, pushing Johnny into the chair again, only gently, "We can talk when you get back, I don't wanna talk right now." Valarie said as she sat on Johnny's lap.

"Oh…"

Lloyd walked into the tent located out in Sevii Islands, perched on the crags next to the Temple with the Unowns in it. Kat was lying on her bed, reading a book.

"Guess what?" Lloyd asked, as he sat down on the end of Kat's Bed and Pulling a Krabby off his shoe, flicking it out of the tent. Kat looked at him over the top of her book.

"I got a job!"

Kat squealed and threw her book at him, before leaning in and capturing him in a hug, "How much does it pay? Never mind, we can discuss that later, Oohh, I have to pack now!"

"Ahem." Lloyd said slowly, "I got a job…alone…"

"What? Where?" Kat asked, one of her shirts in her hand, and looking angrily at Lloyd, "Why?"

"A…well, underwater ruin type thingy. It's a 1 man pod, so you wouldn't be able to come." Lloyd said, and Kat stared at him, "You're lying!"

"No I'm not!" Lloyd yelled indignantly, and Kat shook her head, "You lie enough that I know when your doing it Lloyd, You're Lying!"

"I am not!" It's an underwater ruins!" Lloyd growled, and Kat threw her hands up, "Fine"

Our three heroes met in Cerulean City, packed up and ready for what was ahead. They arrived at the cave quickly, showing the man who guarded the cave Johnny's note. Before they could enter a girls voice rang out from behind them, "Don't worry Guys, I made it!" Kat said as she turned the corner, eyeing Lloyd, "Underwater ruins, huh? Lucky I called Johnny and he told me what was really going down. Lloyd opened his mouth to respond, and Kat cut him off, "No, I'm not hearing any more lies, we're done." She growled.

"Are you still coming alone?" Johnny asked, and Kat nodded, "This is a job for me too, Thanks Johnny." Kat said sweetly, and they entered the dark cave, Lloyd following slowly behind them.

The cave was small, leading downwards, and they walked in silence, Johnny oo'ing and aa'ing.

"This is amazing, we're gonna be the first to get through this cave. I can feel it!" Johnny said in a hushed whisper, as the ducked under an extremely pointy Stalactite protruding from the ceiling.

They treaded down the path, and nothing came at them. Nothing looked dangerous except for the pointy stalactites looming down at them. "What's so dangerous about this cave in the first place?" Lloyd asked loudly, and everyone shushed him, "What?" he asked again, and suddenly a light came from ahead of him

Lloyd had a split seconds warning before a lightning bolt struck right where he was, as he jumped to the ground. A Magneton levitated towards them; it's three eyes spinning to eye them all. Magnetic power lifted Kat smoothly and flung her towards the rocky wall. Lloyd tried to jump and catch her, but Johnny, being closer, caught her first. She landed on the ground softly, as Tony's Persian defeated the Magneton.

Brushing herself off, she looked around and sighed, "Thanks Johnny." Tony decided for safety reasons to keep his Persian out, and she strolled alongside him. The dark tunnels pressed closer on them as they trotted down the path. Just as Johnny was about to step forwards, Tony's Persian suddenly leapt, biting the back of Johnny's shirt and pulling him back suddenly. The ground collapsed right where Johnny would have been, and Tony leaned over to look at the hole. Two Sandslash were staring hungrily up at him, disappointed at their loss of meal. They quickly burrowed away into the ground. Johnny quickly stood up, scratched Persian behind her ears, and set off around the hole.

The tunnel kept going deeper, the walls getting rougher, and they moved even more cautiously. Persian gave a piercing meow seconds before Tony plunged downwards into another hole. He quickly scrambled up and released his Blastoise, but was relieved to see this hole must've been abandoned. Persian was mewing on the edge of the hole, looking down at Tony.

"You ok?" Johnny called down the side of the hole, and Tony rolled his eyes, "Just Peachy." He glanced to his side, where there was a few tunnels leading elsewhere, courtesy of Sandslash before it, "Hey, there's more holes down here, Leave some rope for me, I'm gonna check them out." Tony called, as Blastoises water cannons were brought out with a metal clang.

"Tony! If you die, I'll make sure to tell Tiffany to start dating again right away!" Kat called as Johnny tied a length of rope to a rock and tugged it to see if it was stable, "Gee thanks Kat, I feel so much better now."

Tony shook his head and turned towards the tunnel leading left and moved towards it. The tunnel was big enough for barely fitting his Blastoise, who stomped in front of him. Tony walked for what he figured was a half an hour, just to come out to a dead end. Both Tony and Blastoise turned around just in time to see a Sandslash lunge for Tony's throat.

A Blast of water flew by Tony's ear, hitting the shrew dead on, before Blastoise roughly pushed Tony aside and squeezed by him. It didn't take long at all for Blastoise to beat the Sandslash. They walked back to the hole they had first fallen in and Tony sighed. Something didn't seem right. Tony spotted the rope he was supposed to climb lying on the floor, cut clean through by what was obviously not a pokemons work. Looking up he caught a flash of red, before a boulder was dropped at him, big enough to fill the hole completely, and everything went black.

Johnny, Lloyd, and Kat were on top of Snorlax, sailing down a extremely rough and rocky underground river they had encountered. Snorlax lazily shrugged off the large stalagmites, which were protruding from the wall and sticking out of the water, very sharp thanks to years of being honed due to the water. Lloyd leaned over to peer into the spiky river, when a pointy stalagmite rushed by, barely missing his face. Lloyd caught a glimpse of a few red hairs fluttering to the water, right before he leapt back.

They spotted a path leading into darkness, and Snorlax sluggishly paddled towards it, and they jumped off him. Johnny recalled Snorlax, releasing his Gengar for Defense. They walked for a few steps down the path, and spotted a rickety ladder, the bottom of which was swallowed by darkness.

"Well…let's go." Johnny said, and Lloyd jumped up, "It might be dangerous, let me go first.

Johnny shrugged but didn't argue, and Lloyd started down the ladder slowly. He was in a small tunnel, which kept going for only 5 feet, before he emerged into a large cavern, very high up form the floor. Looking up into the hole he came from, he couldn't see Johnny at all. He began to climb back up, and was halfway through the hole when the ladder shook violently. The nails that were holding the ladder in place snapped off and it fell sideways a bit, pinning Lloyd in the small tunnel and blocking his path.

"Lloyd?" Johnny called from somewhere above him. Lloyd had two options, stay where he was, hanging on for his dear life with the ladder, which was not allowing him to move ahead, and wait for help. Option two, was to climb downwards, which meant a very difficult climb that could cause the ladder to shift or break, further endangering him.

Regardless, before Lloyd could make a proper decision, the ladder shook again, and Lloyd lost his footing, leaving him holding onto the ladder, his feet dangling. No doubt if he tried to start climbing, he would fall.

A sudden snarl broke Lloyds thoughts, and he peered down, where a large Rhyhorn was growling, waiting for him to fall.

"Lloyd!" Johnny called again, and Lloyd felt the ladder shift, moving upwards with a loud scraping noise against the side of the hole. As it rose, Lloyds arm was caught on the side of the hole, dragging it roughly against the wall. Lloyd yelled as his arm was skinned against the wall, and emerged into the room where Johnny was, where Snorlax was eating the ladder rung by rung. Lloyds left arm was ripped up, bleeding heavily. Johnny quickly sprayed a potion on the wound, before wrapping it up in some bandages. Kat was nowhere in sight.

"Where's Kat?" Lloyd asked, standing up and wincing.

"She found another path and went by herself, but don't worry, her Onix is with her." Johnny explained. Lloyd nodded and suddenly he looked up. A pair of glowing yellow eyes where staring back at him. Johnny was looking up too, and with a sudden chirping, a cloud of creatures descended upon them.

DONE, YET STILL SHORT. JUST LET ME GET MY groove BACK!