Chapter Text
Kelpie had heard the story about the cave, but never understood it. She lived in a small village full of mainly psychic type pokemon, and things were peaceful. Born and raised here, she had heard time and time again never to go to the cave near the ocean. All she really knew from what all of the adults and elders said was "it must never come out" or "it can't break free".
But this young ponyta was too curious for her own good. At least that's what her mother always said about her. And Kelpie couldn't really argue against it. She has gotten into trouble many times and even hurt herself now and then doing something she shouldn't have.
She asked the adults and elders enough about the cave to get them to be very annoyed with her, so she stopped. Kelpie never WANTED to get on their bad side, she just wanted answers. And no one gave them to her! What was in the cave? Was it a pokemon? An artifact? It could've been anything based on the fact no one gave her a straight answer.
Finally she had enough one night, she couldn't sleep. It was like the cave was softly calling out to her (it wasn't, but she imagined it happening). She quietly left her home and headed outside the village, sneaking past one of the adults guarding the area at night.
Kelpie walked down the path until she had to go on the less traveled one; the others rarely went to where the cave is. But she walked this path before when she first got curious about the cave, so she knew where to go.
The ponyta reached the beach, the soft waves coming in only mildly soothing her. She could see the cave from here, the small opening cast in shadow from the cliff side over it.
She hesitated.
She could hear the voices of her mother and the other adults yelling at her for daring to even go near the cave. And she'd admit it, she was scared.
But I just...need to know.
Finally putting one hoof in front of the other, she walked towards the darkness. She focused for a moment, her horn started to give a soft glow. Using the light, she carefully navigated over the rocks; there was no clear path to the cave at all. She had to jump around and find her way up.
Reaching the mouth of the cave, she carefully looked inside. Nothing looked out of the ordinary, but...there was a weird feeling coming from deep inside. Or maybe it was her stomach doing anxious flips.
Hesitating one more time, she slowly took a few steps into the cave. Again, nothing looked out of place. It was lined all over with rocks, some bits of sand here and there. She noticed the cave sloped downwards, and once she reached the bottom, she gasped.
In front of her was a pool of seawater, but it was...floating? Like a large bubble of water was suspended in the air, and...there was something inside it!
Kelpie took a couple steps forward before her horn suddenly twinged in pain and she winced. She realized now there was an invisible psychic barrier in front of her, and it was around the whole bubble as well. This wasn't just some normal barrier either, it was powerful.
The sound of something moving in water snapped her out of it and she focused to make her horn glow a bit brighter to get a better look at the bubble.
Inside was a pokemon, but she didn't recognize it. The body in general was large, but it was long and thin all over, the way the fins and tail swayed back and forth reminded her of seaweed in the water. They were staring at her, clearly surprised by her appearance.
Kelpie gulped and her voice faltered for a moment when she began speaking. "Um, hello there. Who are you? Why are you here? And like this?"
The pokemon tilted their head at her and something in their eyes changed. They were curious.
"Can you...not talk?" The ponyta asked.
They continued to stare at her and then shifted their head around, looking all around them and back at her.
She gasped. "Oh, is it the barrier? You can hear me but it prevents you from speaking?" She heard of several different types of psychic barriers before when she was studying.
The pokemon nodded.
Kelpie frowned. "Well, that's...annoying. I mean, I'm sure it is for you, but also for me! I came down here for answers, and now I have more questions! And you can't even answer them for me."
They stared at her for what felt like too long, and then they looked amused.
She decided to keep talking, what other choice did she have besides leaving? "I heard stories about this cave, but nothing solid, you know what I mean? 'Don't go there' is all I have really heard ever since I was born." She snorted in annoyance. "And now I'm here and you can't provide me the answers I want? Feel like I came all this way for nothing."
The pokemon continued to stare and she wondered if they were really paying attention to her words. It still felt nice to voice her frustration though.
Kelpie sighed. "I'm sorry, I can't stay here for much longer. Um...would it be ok with you if I came back?"
They suddenly lit up and nodded a few times.
"I-I guess that makes sense, no one else has come in here for who knows how long," she let out a small laugh. "I'll have to be careful though, they can't know I'm visiting you. But maybe I can figure out a way to communicate next time!"
The pokemon looked amused and nodded once.
"Ok, I'll be back another time, I swear!" Kelpie took a few steps back and headed out of the cave.
As she left, the light from her horn slowly faded away until the cave was in darkness once again. And it was dead quiet as well.
The pokemon sighed and stretched out their limbs for a moment before relaxing again. They smiled to themselves. Well, this just might be interesting.