Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

"Alright bring it," Mallie came forward first with her still stone faced but Evelyn and the miner could tell she was ready to take the offer with full effort.

The miner laughed in amusement from such confidence coming from her. Of course not in a way that he was looking down on her.

"Haha don't think I'll go easy on ya kid!" the man warned as another raspy laugh echoed.

"Wasn't expecting you to," Mallie added with a shrug and closed eyes.

Even with those simple words it gave flare through the miner's eyes. It made him curious about what the other girl might have in store so he approached Evelyn and asked,

"What about you?" He more or less made this question as a way to test just how passionate she might be in battling. It didn't have to be the same as Mallie's, each person's separate answer could paint their personality. Which intrigues him very much to do it.

"I'll grind for exp after she's done, for now I'll be watching from the sidelines," Evelyn answered in a laid-back manner.

As expected from the people who didn't get her gamer slang, they were befuddled yet they didn't mind. That was surely a different answer far from how he would expect it to be.

"But how are you two gonna battle with all these holes? "

Evelyn was only given a wide grin from the man as he pointed to a huge opening way beside them. The inside can easily be seen as being untouched from whatever caused the mysterious excavation.

Preparations for the battlefield have been set, all that needs to be done is to decide on the Pokemons to fight.

"Now I don't have that many Pokemon who are combat trained so this'll only be a single battle," the miner said as he was rummaging through his leather belly bag of shrunken Pokeballs, "No tap outs once they faint okay?"

"Understood," Mallie finalized.

"Mal are you sure you're okay with using Fomantis?" Evelyn asked and paused which gave her the time to zip her bag close after handing Mallie the Pokeball Fomantis was sealed inside. "You two aren't exactly...buddy-buddy to begin with,"

Mallie knew this but remained adamant with her decision."I know but I can't let it be a stranger to me forever...might as well fail trying," she then turned to the man who had finally chosen a Pokeball.

"Okay Mr Miner let's do this."

"Heh call me Oleg kid."

Everyone took their places. Mallie stood just behind the entrance, Evelyn was sitting on one of the stacked up crates at the far left of Mallie, and just several feet away from the two Oleg stood. Mallie put Fomantis's Pokeball close to her face and whispered,

"Work with me here please." Her arm then swung up and launched the Pokeball into the air. "Let's begin the hunt, Fomantis go!"

Fomantis appeared back faced from Mallie and once it did come to look at her Fomantis still had that look of disapproval but that would be an understatement.

"Sweet line Mal!" Evelyn exclaimed before the moment could get unnecessarily tense. Before Mallie could reply Oleg threw his Pokeball into the field.

"Rock them hard until they drop Roggenrola!"

Before them stood a new Pokemon, its body was nothing complex as it was only a small rugged rock as a body. Clown shoe shaped feet beneath it and some sort of antenna also made of stone crowning its head. It had one big eye of orange in the center of its body. In a flash Rotom had sprung into action from Evelyn's pocket to give info about the Pokemon.

"Zzt that's my time to shine!

Roggenrola the Mantle Pokemon, a Rock Type.

It's as hard as steel, but apparently a long soak in water will cause it to soften a bit. When it detects a noise, it starts to move. The energy core inside it makes this Pokemon slightly warm to the touch. "

With the given information finished Mallie took the first move and commanded Fomantis.

"Let's go first, use Razor Leaf!"

To Mallie's surprise it followed and some strange green glow surrounded it. Along with it was gusts of wind that began to grow stronger and stronger as the Fomantis screamed in rage. Fomantis arms were stretched while in the middle was a crescent moon shaped grass rotating like a windmill in a hurricane. The aura it gave off was overbearing. Will there be a chance for Oleg to stand up against a Pokemon with such abilities?

"What power!" Oleg exclaimed half scared of how his Roggenrola would survive this.

"It's over one thousand!" Evelyn yelled with the same exhilaration as everybody in the room.

Fomantis at full unknown power threw its leg high up and pitched the single yet powerful Razor Leaf to Roggenrola's direction. Oleg was still stuck in his stupor he couldn't even get the helpless Roggenrola to dodge. The attack kept going full speed ahead to finish off the opponent.
.
.
.
If the landing had the same force as the throw maybe it would've been knocked out...

Instead the Razor Leaf hardly landed not even a few inches close to Roggenrola. It just flopped over like a frisbee thrown by a toddler.

Everyone's expectations quickly died down as it was all just some silly fluke. Mallie understandably didn't take this well and screamed at the Fomantis,

"What the heck was that!?" Fomantis slowly and creepily turned around to Mallie and shrugged with its arms up and head tilted whilst giving a fake look of a clueless child. "Why you little."

"Our turn!" Oleg said, finally breaking away from his stance to take the opportunity to strike back. "Roggenrola Headbutt and do it fast while they're still stuck in a rut!"

Roggenrola even though it was rock charged towards Fomantis head first at such speed you wouldn't expect.

"DODGE TO THE LEFT QUICK!!!" Mallie tried to warn the Pokemon but it stood idly as it swayed peacefully without a care, completely ignoring Mallie even if it was about to get run over by Roggenrola.

With an opening paved for Roggenrola it struck Fomantis roughly at its torso until it stumbled away and crashed onto the cave's walls. Because of such great strength the wall dented and cracked from Fomantis's impact.

"Rock Throw full throttle!"

" Roooggenrolaaaa !"

Mallie held up her anger and used it to hammer some common sense into Fomantis.

"Listen for once you're going to get mauled for Arceus' sake! Evade Roggenrola's Rock Throw with Razor Leaf!"

Fomantis shook its head which angered Mallie even more than she already is.

This went on for the rest of the battle, Mallie gives out instructions, Fomantis would disobey in the pettiest way possible. It was embarrassing to keep this act up especially when it literally had the huge advantage against a Rock Type. It was all worth it if it meant Mallie's loss would be its win.

Roggenrola was unscathed thanks to the gap between the Trainer and Pokemon. In the end Fomantis was the one to 'faint'.

"Roggenrola that's enough we rattled them hard enough."

Oleg withdrew his Pokemon and heard cheering and whistling of three people coming from the girls' direction.

"Woo yeah you go boss!"

"That's our Oleg right there!"

"Great work!"

Oleg's dear friends and coworkers had been watching the battle, though not taken seriously by Fomantis, they were impressed and very much entertained.

"Aww gee fellas...Get back to work it ain't break time so chop chop!"

The small crowd scrambled away and went to work as Oleg had commanded them to. Amidst them was a still angry Mallie who roughly handed Fomantis's Pokeball to Evelyn. Oleg sighed and decided to consult the troubled girl.

"Hey there kiddo everything alright there?"

"NO!" Mallie blurted out loudly.

"Hey Mal come on he's only worried cut him some slack," Evelyn corrected her friend.

Mallie softened her expression but she couldn't hide her frustration. Still she ate her words and apologized for her rudeness towards the generous miner.

"Sorry sir...I really shouldn't have yelled at you like that..."

"I appreciate your remorse kid, though I wonder, is that Fomantis of yours new?"

"Oh yes it was caught just yesterday."

Oleg stopped for a while and readjusted his hard hat before continuing on.

"No wonder. Sure there'll always be disagreements and a little drama here and there but it's all part of the process of getting to know each other. With time I'm sure you'll get along like two peas in a pod." Oleg then rippled a wide genuine grin.

Mallie grimaced as her hands gripped on her backpack's straps. How would he take it once she tells him the reason why Fomantis despised her so?

"Mr Oleg sir it's not that easy, you see- "

Mallie was instantly cut off once the place shook violently. The whole cave was being breached by an unseen earthquake. Stalactites from the ceilings chipped away and crashed on the ground to diminish into scattered dust. Stability to stand straight turned into a rock climb up a steep mountain they shouldn't have climbed.

Oleg was the first to have his instincts kicked in.

"KIDS GET OUT OF HERE!!!" he yelled and their own instincts surged for them to efficiently move away and rush to the exit.

But the attempt fell as the ground serving as their platform fissured a ravine that swallowed Mallie into it with her screaming and tumbling down. Evelyn quickly went to her senses and called out,

"MALLIE!" She knelt down at the steep edges with her body still being forcibly wriggled. Had it not been for Mallie's reflex of holding onto a ledge at the last moment Evelyn could've gone through a train ride of extreme guilt and trauma.

Oleg picked up his pace and grabbed a rope and hoisted it into the pit while Evelyn desperately tried to reach a hand out for Mallie to hold but when the tool was acknowledged she held onto it instead and levered it down.

"Hang on Mal we'll get you out!"

"It's literally the only thing I could do..." Mallie said sarcastically to hide her fear of falling whilst knowing her arms were slowly growing sore.

Oleg came to and did the same for hauling the rope. Instead of reaching Mallie another stroke of bad luck ensued as a great force stronger than earlier knocked them into the air for a moment which loosened their grip on the rope that now fell into the bottom of the pitch black ravine. To double how it couldn't get any worse, the force pushed Evelyn to the same ravine Mallie fell in.

"Nghh...I got you," Mallie said, grunting with a tight hand on Evelyn's kept her from falling into the pit. She could hardly stay silent anymore now that she felt both hers and Evelyn's weight pulling on the fiber of her muscles.

"It stopped." Just as Evelyn had said the earthquake went abrupt yet Oleg hasn't tried to assure their safety yet. "O-Oleg are you alright there?"

Only silence answered her call. It was eerie how this was supposed to be filled with workers.

"Sir! We need a rope right now!" Evelyn tried again only to be given the same treatment. Some heavy weight not from the edged feeling of falling into the dark pit below dreaded her already panic stricken mind. She wanted to stressfully pull on her hair with her one arm but both were paralyzed and clutching onto Mallie's hand for safety.

"No no no this can't-"

"Lyn, it's happening again." Mallie informed her. Indeed the ground shook again and Mallie had to hold on tighter but she felt rippling dust flowing from above and onto her fingers stinging profusely on the slubbed ledge.

"I can't hold on any longer you're gonna have to grab onto the ledge yourself, I'll swing you high enough and YOU GRAB!" The words were strained and rushed as both girls hands slowly slipped from how sweaty and strained both of them were.

Evelyn wasn't given a heads up as she felt her lanky arms being flung harshly it was going to leave a red mark. Once high enough as Mallie needed it to be, Evelyn's right arm stretched on its own and grappled for the ledge like it was the last chance to continue her life. Despite the fear she felt she was in a safer position, for now.

Crunch

Crunch

"Mal do you hear that...?"

Mallie did not seem to listen to her, she was focused on something else. Her olive eyes stuck to the ledge. Curious and fearing for the worse, Evelyn too gazed upon to see it slanting lower by the second. If only it had been some optical illusion they wouldn't have felt both of their hearts popping out of their chests.

Then just like that it gave out as it crumbled off. The girls disappeared into the dark, cold bottom, the fall came so fast they didn't have time to scream that would've at least got some survivor's attention. If there were any.

"Boss!" Damian, the miner who guided the girls, ran to the scene. It appeared the entrance he came through was blocked by rubble thanks to the earthquake. How he was able to break through the barrier did not matter. The horrifying scene in front of him was to be more taken care of.

Damian has been through thick and thin with Oleg but never has he seen him that heavily injured.

The poor man had his left leg crushed by a huge chunk of the cave's ceiling. Just looking at felt like he himself was put in that position. It wasn't partial no, it was the whole body part all probably grinded to mush along with fractured bones probably sticking out. It probably had to be amputated. This crude imagination got the better of him and the acid inside his stomach rose up and wanted to be set free from captivity.

Damian did not dare to stare any longer and forced every sense of his body to approach Oleg to see if he is still concious.

With his eyes already clouding with fresh salty tears he knelt and checked his pulse as well as any other injuries he could've attained. Oleg indeed has attained another injury, his head, the most important part of the human being was punctured in the forehead.

"Somebody please! Oleg needs help!" Damian, still shaken yelled at the people who soon found the entrance he made and came to his aid. But one of them didn't.

He ran the opposite direction in quiet a hurry until he shielded himself inside a tent that caught a shovel of dust after the earthquake. This strange miner then swiftly zipped open a gym bag that laid on the earthy floor. A walkie-talkie was now in his possession.

"Astolfe do you read me over?" The man told the person who was listening on the other side of the transmission line.

"For the last time it's BOSS! Say it you maggot!"

Even with the deeper and threatening voice demanding him, the miner just continued on,

"There's no time for this, the Pokemons still haven't been found, a miner took suspicion and called the police, and now the said Pokemons are wrecking havoc at the mines you assigned me to."

He couldn't see the other man's expression but he knew he was angered, no enraged to hear the bad news. This Astolfe person seemed to be above him in ranks but he wasn't scared to even leave a scratch on his little ego. He was more than irritated to follow this man.

"Now don't go pointing that slimy finger of yours like it's all my fault!" Astolfe yelled angrily from the other side along with what sounds to be a clenched cinder block of a fist on a metal table.

"But it was your fault." The man thought looking at the entrance of the tent, Oleg was carried in a makeshift stretcher where one man and a Machoke carried him out.

"Look I'll see what I can do but if she finds out that's how far I'll go."

Hell yeah I'm cursing here now. Some serious shit is finally happening and the Evil Team I thought of is finally making its "appearance".

Also what the H guys 2,100+ views (on Quotev )👀
This is happening all so fast I should do something special! 😭

Thanks so much for all the support!