Rescue Team Adventures: Chasing the Sky
Chapter VIII: Back on Track

Tal had to give their new Rattata guide one thing— he really did know his way around. Within minutes, they were in a section that she and Kaji had somehow missed entirely… and even she could already tell they were moving downwards.

For one, they no longer came across any sections where light drifted in from above through cracks in the stone. It didn't seem to bother Rattata, but neither she nor Kaji could see that well in the dark. The Pikachu's solution was to attempt to use electricity from his cheek sacs to light the place up. It might have worked, too— admittedly, there was a soft glow.

There were also arcs of electrical energy that kept leaping from him to the ground, or occasionally, the other two Pokémon. A particularly strong bolt lanced backwards, causing Tal to shriek and leap away.

"Ah! Watch where you're aiming, would you?!"

"I'm not doing it on purpose," Kaji insisted. He looked remorseful enough, but Tal— the air around her now smelling of ozone and her fur standing on end with the static— was not readily forgiving.

Several yards ahead, Rattata shot them a disgusted look. He would have liked nothing better than to run off and leave these two, but if their encounter earlier was any indicator, they'd just chase after him— it looked like the quickest way of ditching them was to just take them where they wanted to go.

Now, he knew of a place where a lot of electric Pokémon liked to go, deep within the cave… He'd never been there himself— it was plain creepy down there.

Rattata didn't see the need to share this view; rather, he was afraid that if he did, then the Pikachu and the Eevee might decide to turn around and leave the cave, and then insist that he take them back up.

The Eevee was muttering something, walking a good couple yards behind the electric-mouse Pokémon. Rattata just rolled his eyes and returned his attention to in front of him… There was an Elekid that lived around this part, and he was doing his best to avoid it. But, that also meant they were getting close…

All of a sudden, the Rattata realized he couldn't hear two sets of footsteps behind him anymore. Turning, he was met with a strange sight.

Both of them had stopped; the Eevee, Tal, looked concerned, and was at Kaji's side, apparently forgetting about the close call she had earlier. Kaji, meanwhile, looked out of it— the glow from his cheeks was starting to dim, and he was swaying back and forth, eyes a little glazed.

"Uh… Kaji? A-are you okay?" Tal gave him a gentle nudge, eyes wide.

"Wha?" Kaji looked up, as though startled. "Oh… s-sorry…" he stammered. "It's just… It feels weird all of a sudden… Can't you guys feel that?" The Pikachu glanced between his two companions, who were both shaking their heads.

Tal seemed freaked out by his sudden odd behavior; Kaji guessed he couldn't really blame her… He felt odd. All of a sudden Kaji gave a great shiver, and Tal unconsciously flinched backwards. The light from his cheeks faltered a bit, before it resolved itself into a steady glow… noticeably absent were the sparks of electricity every few seconds. No one said anything for a few moments.

Then; "Are we still going?"

The Eevee turned to look at Rattata, frowning. Kaji cut her off, though; "Yeah, I'm… I'm fine." He took a step forward, his electric-sacs glowing even brighter, and nodded to Tal. "Let's find the Magnemite."

The three walked on in silence for the next few minutes. Kaji could see Tal shooting him nervous looks every once in a while. At last, Rattata crawled up onto a cave formation in one cavern, and beckoned for them to follow. Once up there, he pointed towards a crack between the lump of rock and the wall. Kaji walked on up to investigate… Tal edged up to it, eventually peeking in.

"Oh… wow," Kaji murmured. "Okay, that definitely feels weird…"

"It's worse here?" Tal was looking worried again. It made her feel guilty, but at least part of her worry stemmed from the fact that if they ran into trouble, Kaji might not be able to fight. Wow, what a great teammate I am, Kaji's sick and I'm worried because he might not be able to keep me out of trouble. The Eevee shook her head, trying to dislodge the feeling, but it stubbornly refused to go away.

Kaji didn't notice, to her luck, but took a moment to consider the question. "Not worse… It's not like something bad… But it is stronger here… Sorry," he threw in at the end, trying to smile apologetically. "It's a little hard to explain."

Making a soft noise, Tal peered into the crevasse again. "Well, this seems pretty conspicuous. I'd say it's a good bet for finding the Magnemite."

Kaji nodded, rubbing at his head. Once again, Tal found herself watching him with more concern than she would have figured on. Then, her gaze shifted to behind him. Then all around the cavern.

"Hey… where'd he go?"

"Mm?" Kaji turned to see that their Rattata guide had taken advantage of their distraction and disappeared, probably back the way they came. "Well," he started, uncertain. "He brought us this far. Maybe he figured we could find the rest of the way ourselves."

Tal was growing a bit antsy, suddenly unsure. "How do we know he led us to the right place?"

Despite feeling as though he were about to tip over, Kaji put a reassuring paw on Tal's shoulder. "Like you said, this is too conspicuous to not be the place. Don't worry!"

"Don't worry, he says," Tal muttered, but she tried to force a smile anyways.

The Pikachu just laughed, and moved to head down into the aperture first.

A/N: So much for off hiatus.

I'm trying guys, I promise… I know it's shorter than usual (way shorter) but might as well give ya' what I've got. School's just heaping up on top of me. Every time it seems I get one major project done, a test comes up, then a presentation, then another project. Ah. You don't want excuses.

In a little over a month I'll be done with finals, then I've at least got part of May to turn out a few more. So… I guess we'll see how that goes? '' Mm, depending on how horridly my summer schedule ends up being, that may be the last major break I get. So we'll see.

Don't worry, campers, I'll try to turf out chapters as I get the time. Wish me luck on my philosophy test tomorrow!