“This is ridiculous.” I grumbled, adjusting the neon yellow hard hat.

  “Safety first!” Lucas chirped.

  “I get that, but come on, we survived for weeks in the Grand Underground.”

  “Listen, this was the condition for going into the mines. We gotta be safe and smart about these things!”

  I grumbled, but kept the helmet on. It was old, crusty, and had a little lamp on the front of it. The light was a bit brighter than the flashlights we had, but not nearly so bright as the move Flash was supposed to be. Thankfully, we didn't need to use them much.

  We had been stopped outside of the mines by an old man, asking us what we were doing. For a brief moment I had hoped that our group would be turned around and we wouldn’t have to go into caves again, but then he simply pulled out a bunch of hard hats for us and turned on the lights.

  Then he waved us on and said he was happy to see that children were wanting to get back into the mines again.

  So we descended into the dark, cramped tunnels of the mine, loaded with more equipment than we would ever probably need.

  After we’d agreed to go check out the mysterious cavern yesterday, I’d stopped at the lone Poké Mart - which had been repurposed to serve as a one-stop-shop for anything a person would need on the island - and picked up a shovel, a pickaxe, several hundred feet of rope, and a bunch of dried ration bags, all to make sure that if something was to happen, we’d be able to make our way back out again.

  My bag was starting to get pretty full, but I figured that was a problem for another day.

  I looked around as we continued down the tunnels. “I thought you had to dig a big pit in the ground to mine iron.”

  “That’s one way to do it.” Ted explained, running a hand down the rock walls. “But it went out of fashion a long time ago, once the ecological effects became apparent. Mining through tunnels takes longer, and misses more ore, but it’s better for the world, and once the mine is empty it can be used to help house some species of Pokémon. In fact, Zubat colonies love these kinds of places.”

  A shiver went down my back as I remembered all of the games I used to play, and running into a Zubat every two steps.

  “Plus iron wasn’t the only thing they dug up.” Lucas added. “Didn’t you read the travel brochures?”

  “I never got around to it, what else did they mine?”

  “Flint and steel! Although, I guess they just processed the iron they mined into the steel aboveground, the flint was used for ceramics all across the Four Islands.”

  “Huh, you learn something new every day.”

  Kōjin pranced happily down the tunnel, Kyūdō sitting peacefully on his back, and Silver poked around at the walls.

  We were using the opportunity to help bond with our new Pokémon, hoping that being in the caves would help them feel a little more at home, or in Kojin’s case, being surrounded by rocks.

  It seemed to be working, and all of our Pokémon at least looked like they were enjoying themselves.

  Occasionally Silver would poke at an exposed bit of reddish stone, only to find that it was some rusty iron ore, and dart back uncomfortably.

  Cleffa were surprisingly sensitive to iron of any kind, and I privately thought that it wouldn’t be too much longer until Ted recalled his Pokémon to keep him away from the metal.

  Still… the tunnel wasn’t as bad as I was expecting.

  Even though they had been naturally formed, the Tamahagane Mining Company had done a good job in expanding the passageways and reinforcing them. Wooden beams every few feet kept the ceiling up, and a set of minecart tracks ran down the middle of the corridor.

  Lucas was currently balancing on one of them as he walked, arms held out to either side.

  There were even some old electrical lights that had flickered to life when we had entered the mines. The old-timer who had given us the hard hats had actually been surprised that they worked when he threw the massive lever to turn them on.

  With the knowledge that this was only a quick day trip, and the fact that there was unlikely to be any cave-ins, I was almost, almost, having fun.

  Eventually, with the help of the map, we managed to make it down the right tunnel that the prospector had told Lucas about.

  “Even if this was a scam.” I murmured to the rest of the group. “It’s not a bad way to spend the day I guess.”

  “Hah!” Lucas shouted in jubilation, and the noise echoed up and down the tunnel.

  “Shush!” Ted and I both chided Lucas, who shrank down on himself.

  “What?” He said, much more quietly. “I was right, we’re having fun! Why is this a bad thing?”

  There was a steadily growing sound from off in the distance, almost like leather beating against itself, and I sighed, recalling Kōjin. Kyūdō squawked as his perch disappeared, and flew over to Lucas’ shoulder.

  “Because it’s not like the other caves we’ve been in.” I said, getting down on the ground. “Didn’t you hear what Ted said earlier?”

  I’d also made sure to read up on various spelunking manuals after the fiasco in Oreburgh and the Grand Underground, and knew what to do next.

  Ted had also recalled Silver, and had already laid down with his hands over his ears.

  “I’d cover up if I were you!” He said loudly, and I followed suit.

  Lucas looked increasingly concerned as his glance swapped between the two of us, then his face went pale as a tinny screech echoed down the tunnel.

  Kyūdō was quickly withdrawn and Lucas almost made it to the ground before a veritable wall of wings slammed into him.

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  Hundreds of Zubats emerged from the darkness, woken up by Lucas’ shout. They called and screamed and flew towards the entrance of the tunnel, buffeting the young man with their bodies.

  According to the spelunking guide I’d read, A Zubat’s natural instinct to loud noises, especially when they were asleep, was to try and escape. Loud noises, after all, usually meant another Zubat was sounding the alarm. In the tight confines of the tunnel, escape usually lay in only one direction - up and out.

  Even though I was lying on the ground I still managed to get clipped a couple of times when one of the low-flying Zubats ran into my backpack, but after a few seconds of chaos, the colony was gone, headed for the surface or another tunnel to hide in.

  “Well.” Ted said, scratching his head. “That was unpleasant.”

  “Yeah, tell me about it.” Lucas moaned from where he was slumped against a wall.

  He looked like he had just been run through a drying machine. His clothes were rumpled, his hair was a mess, and tiny cuts and bruises were scattered across his face and arms from where Zubat claws had run into him.

  Ted and I shared another look, and burst out laughing.

  /^\

  After a short break that was mostly used to put bandages on the worst of Lucas’ cuts, as well as to get a small travel snack in, we set off again. There was a minor possibility of Lucas catching an illness from one of the cuts, but a trip to the Pokémon Center after we left the tunnels would make sure that nothing serious happened.

  After making sure Lucas was willing to continue, we set off again.

  As we traveled deeper and deeper into the mines, I had to wonder at how far we had actually walked. It had only been a couple hours since we’d set out, but the tunnels weren’t actually all that steep. They had to be relatively shallow, enough for a mining cart to travel freely, after all.

  The deeper we went, the rougher the mines became. Near the surface the walls had been carved smooth, and there was plenty of room to walk in. The beams had all been carefully arranged to provide the best support, and the electric lights had been well kept.

  Down here, things were different.

  The walls had been roughly hewn to make room, the beams were more haphazardly placed, and there weren’t any mounted lights. We’d had to use the headlamps on our helmets, and even then it was darker than I would have liked.

  “I swear Lucas, if this place collapses on us and kills me, I’m coming back as a ghost to haunt you.” I muttered.

  Then I blinked. “Wait, are Ghost-types actually ghosts?”

  “What?”

  “You know, like the stories. Are Ghost-types actually people who’ve died?”

  “Where’d you get that idea? No, that’s just a superstition.”

  “Ehh, it’s somewhat right.” Ted said as we squeezed past a rusted minecart. “But it’s complicated.”

  “Explain please?” I asked.

  “Okay, so all creatures, Pokémon and Humans, have some psychic abilities, right? It’s just that most of the time, it’s not strong enough to actually notice. But when something that has a particularly strong psychic impression dies, that impression can… be left on the world, so to speak. This can also happen if a lot of creatures with weaker psychic skills die all at once in the same place.”

  Something clicked into place in my brain. “Wait a minute, I know this.”

  I couldn’t actually see Ted nodding, but the light from his headlamp bobbed up and down.

  “The Dusclops we fought a while ago.”

  “A Gallade died…” I said, trying to remember everything from what seemed like a lifetime ago. “And all of the local Ghost-types flocked to it to try and get the psychic energy.”

  “Right. Most of the time that’s what happens, the local Pokémon will feed off of the psychic residue. But sometimes if it’s left alone for long enough it will actually turn into a Ghost-type.”

  I shuddered. “Do… do they remember their past lives?”

  “From everything that we can currently tell? No. Thankfully it’s just Psychic-energy, not actual memories or feelings. Any folktales about people dying and turning into Ghost-types are just stories about this natural process, and people back then didn’t understand what we do today.”

  “Still…” I trailed off and thought about the Dusclops we’d fought.

  Had that one been born naturally, to two Ghost-type parents? Or had it been formed out of somebody’s psychic energy after they died?

  “Lucas, I’m surprised you didn’t know this. I would have thought that Rowan would’ve taught it to you.” I could hear the frown in Ted’s voice.

  “I can tell you the step-by-step effects of an evolution stone on a Pokémon.” He said. “And I can list all the endemic species of Sinnoh. But Ghosts are hard to find in the best of times, and the Professor doesn’t exactly focus on them, more on how they evolve.”

  “Hm.” Ted didn’t sound too impressed, but it made sense to me.

  You couldn’t know everything, after all.

  We continued in silence for another good while, the conversation being put on hold as we focused more on navigating the increasingly difficult mine shaft. More and more rocks were left on the ground, and in the near-darkness the footing was becoming treacherous.

  “Lucas.” I growled.

  “It’s close!” He said, pulling out the map and looking at it in the light of his headlamp. “Look, see, I think we’re right about here, so that means that the cavern should just be around the corner!”

  I shined my headlamp down the tunnel. As far as I could tell, it was a straight shot.

  “Uhh, it’s coming up in a little bit?”

  “If we don’t come across it in, let’s say twenty minutes, let’s turn back.” Ted offered.

  “Alright.”

  “Sounds good to me!”

  We trudged on a little longer, and the whole thing was feeling a little too familiar to be comfortable.

  Fortunately we weren’t that lost, and fifteen minutes later we finally found the bend in the tunnel that Lucas had mentioned. A few hundred meters beyond the turn, the mine shaft abruptly ended.

  “There’s the cavern.”

  There was a large, almost massive, hole in the wall, covered up by a bunch of wooden planks nailed together.

  “That’s not ominous at all.” Ted said.

  “No kidding.”

  “Oh come on guys, it’s just some wood! What are you all worried about?”

  Lucas grabbed one side of the blockade and heaved.

  Nothing happened.

  He heaved again.

  The wood moved slightly.

  “Are you all just going to stand there?”

  Ted and I sighed, but stepped forwards and grabbed a hold of the wood.

  “One, two, three!”

  We all worked together, and the wood groaned as heavy stakes were pulled out of the rock holding it in pace.

  “Just. A. Little. Bit. More!” Lucas grunted, pulling with every word.

  We all redoubled our efforts, and with a sharp crack, the planks finally pulled away from the wall, causing us to stumble backwards.

  And sure enough, there was a cave.

  “Huh.” I said, panting from the effort. “Maybe I need to go to the gym more often.”

  Ted and Lucas ignored me, moving forwards to check out the cave.

  “What are these?” Lucas asked, poking at something.

  “I don’t know. Rock, maybe? Coral?”

  “No wonder he was so vague, I don’t even know what I’m looking at.”

  They were blocking the entrance to the cavern, and I had to push past them to see what they were looking at.

  Sure enough, a large number of pale shapes were scattered around the cave, some of them as big as my leg.

  “They’re not rock.” Ted said, poking at one of them.

  My headlamp’s light landed on one of the shapes, large and vaguely triangular, with gaping holes in the sides.

  The bottom of it had several jagged edges.

  My stomach dropped as I noticed that they weren’t broken bits of rock, but teeth.

  “It’s not a cave.” I said, staring around me in horror. “It’s a tomb.”