The air in the chamber stilled, heavy with the echoes of fading power. Dust floated in lazy spirals, drifting down from cracks in the ceiling like frozen snowflakes.
And in the center of it all, Bidoof stood before the pedestal.
The earth Plate shimmered with light, its earthy hue glowing brighter as Bidoof closed his eyes and inhaled deeply.
Then it happened.
A sudden flare of golden-brown energy enveloped the Plate and Bidoof. The Plate lifted slightly, pulsing with power as its etchings glowed brighter, brighter
Then, with a quiet hum, the energy surged into Bidoof's round body.
"Uh…" Shion took a cautious step back. "That's not going to explode or anything, right?"
Bidoof didn't answer.
The Plate dissolved into radiant motes of light, pulled inward like sand in a whirlpool, spiraling into the chubby Pokémon as his form lifted off the ground slowly, gracefully.
Shion could only stare.
"…I'm watching a fat Bidoof float."
Glorious. Majestic. Unprecedented. And deeply weird.
Bidoof spun slowly mid-air like a fuzzy balloon. His eyes remained closed, his tiny limbs limp as if suspended in the middle of a dream.
The energy flared one last time around him then dimmed.
He dropped.
Thump.
"Ow."
Shion winced. "Are you okay?"
A long pause.
Then Bidoof rolled to his side and twitched. "…Better."
Shion knelt beside him as Kiba looked on from the edge of the cavern, ears perked.
"That was… something," Shion said. "How do you feel?"
Bidoof pushed himself upright, shaking out his fur. "Surprisingly… refreshed."
"That's it?"
"Well, I've regained a little bit of my divine energy. Not enough to rewrite reality or destroy a mountain, mind you but I've got my stamina back. Think of it like… spiritual cardio."
"…So, nothing that can help us escape a cave?"
"Nope."
Shion stared at him blankly.
"…This is going to be a long journey, isn't it?"
"Very."
Bidoof stretched with a yawn and waddled toward the fallen Golurk, which still lay motionless, its ancient body cracked from battle.
Shion followed, his hand trailing against the pedestal. It no longer hummed.
"This Golurk…" Shion muttered. "It wasn't corrupted, was it?"
"No," Bidoof replied, voice softer now. "Not like the red-eyed ones. This one was different. It was… tied to the Plate. A relic guardian."
"But it attacked us."
"It wasn't berserk. Just doing what it was created to do. When I got too close when my power returned it recognized something. Defenses kicked in."
"So we're going to see more like this?"
"Most likely. The Plates weren't just hidden. They were protected."
Shion exhaled slowly.
He looked around the chamber again saw the way the walls curved like the inside of a dome, the ancient carvings, the worn pedestal.
"This was built for it," he said. "For the Plate."
"Maybe by humans. Maybe by Pokémon. Or maybe the world itself made it, in a time when it still remembered."
Shion ran a hand through his hair.
"…I need to start reading more."
After a long silence, Shion looked up at the open shaft in the ceiling, far above.
Jagged stone, glowing veins, and shifting shadows. No ladders. No ropes.
Just a long, impassable drop.
He turned to Bidoof and pointed up. "So… now what?"
Bidoof blinked. "Well, we could climb."
"You have legs the size of pebbles."
"…That's rude."
Shion sat down hard against the pedestal, resting his head in his hands.
"Kiba can't jump that high. I can't climb a wall like a Machamp. And you"
"I'm currently one-sixteenth of a god. Can't do miracle yet ."
Shion groaned.
They sat in silence.
Far above, faint dust filtered down from the collapsed tunnel. The sounds of the surface were gone just the subtle shift of earth and the echo of their breathing.
"Well," Shion finally said, looking upward. "Let's just… rest. Maybe someone's looking for us already."
Bidoof sighed and flopped onto his side.
"I still want honey-glazed berries."
---
Dust still hung thick in the tunnel's air.
Jareth's chest rose and fell sharply, his back pressed against a wall of crumbled stone. His eyes darted to the jagged edge where the floor had collapsed. Stone still crumbled occasionally, tiny bits falling into the black maw below.
"…Shion!"
His voice echoed downward no response.
The second Golurk stood only a few feet away, its massive form looming, arms raised as if preparing another devastating strike. Rhydon stood in front of Jareth protectively, scuffed and bloodied, but unyielding.
The Golurk moved.
But something had changed.
Its bright blue eyes dimmed, flickering… then pulsed faintly once… twice… and then it dropped its arms. Slowly, with a low rumble, the behemoth knelt, planting one stone hand on the ground as if succumbing to exhaustion.
"…What the hell?" Jareth whispered.
Rhydon grunted in confusion.
The air in the tunnel shifted.
It wasn't rage or hostility anymore. It was… silence. A sudden absence of threat.
Jareth, unsure of what just happened, turned back to the hole and dropped to one knee, peering in.
"Shion! Can you hear me!?"
Still nothing.
"Damn it…"
He cursed and stood up, brushing dust from his pants, eyes scanning the mine tunnel.
Then
BOOM.
An explosion echoed from the far end of the tunnel.
Jareth spun around, sword half-drawn, as dust shook loose from the ceiling again.
"What now?!"
A small shape emerged from the dim corridor beyond a Golett. Its glowing eyes flickered not with rage, but with eerie purpose.
It walked slowly, steadily.
Toward the hole.
"…Hey, wait," Jareth said, narrowing his eyes. "What are you?"
The Golett didn't respond. It kept walking. And then
It jumped.
Straight down into the pit.
"Wha Hey!"
Jareth rushed forward, reaching the edge just in time to see the last flickers of the Golett's blue glow vanish into the depths.
He stared, stunned. "…What is happening?"
He clenched a fist, looked back at his Lairon and Boldore, then turned and sprinted back toward the surface, footsteps thudding across the stone.
"Hang on, Shion. I'm bringing help."
---
Meanwhile, far below in the lost chamber, Shion sat on the pedestal's edge, elbows resting on his knees.
Kiba was curled beside him, finally catching his breath. Bidoof lay sprawled near one of the softly glowing walls, his stubby limbs rising and falling with each light snore.
Shion tapped the heel of his boot against the stone absently.
He had no idea how much time had passed. Maybe an hour. Maybe longer. But still no sounds from above. No signs of rescue. No flickering torchlight.
His eyes drifted upward to the hole above.
"Please," he murmured, "someone notice we're down here…"
He sighed and leaned back, his gaze flicking toward the fallen Golurk—still unmoving. Its chest glyph had stopped glowing completely now, as if its last command had run dry.
Then
BOOM.
A sudden crash echoed through the cavern from the far wall. Dust plumed outward in a gust.
Shion sat upright, startled. "What the"
He turned toward the source
And saw a Golett standing in the debris.
It was smaller, its movements gentler. Its eyes glowed, not with rage… but purpose.
It walked forward, past the collapsed rock, past the fallen Golurk, straight toward Shion.
"…You again," he murmured.
It was the same Golett from the cave entrance.
The one who always stared at the tunnel.
Now it was here.