Chapter Thirty-Six: Cyan, I, and Happiness



Gladion's POV



Gary would probably be picking sharp bits of flint out of his innards if Ilima, in Mew form, hadn't rushed forward at the last second, pushing them both out of the way with a swift charge. They land on the beach, on soaking wet sand, which is nonetheless more pleasant than being impaled.



There is now an enormous hole in the mountain that was previously blocking our path. And standing in that hole in an enormous Tyranitar.



A Tyranitar in goggles.



As we all stand there dumbly wondering what the frek a Tyranitar is doing in goggles, we hear a voice. A young female voice. "Oh, I'm sorry! Excuse us!"



At first part of me thinks the Tyranitar was talking. (In fairness, encountering the Meowth threw me off a bit.) But then the Tyranitar turns, and I see that there's a young person of about fourteen clinging to the spikes, wearing a miner's helmet and gear.



It's a girl. A girl in mining gear. Riding a Tyranitar.



Holy Mew.



She takes off her helmet and goggles. She's got pale skin, short dark hair with a cyan streak around the bangs, and cute blue eyes.



I blink. Did I just think of her as... cute?



She climbs off her Tyranitar's back, and I notice her arms for the first time. She looks... buff. Toned. Not grotesquely so, but well-balanced, like a battle girl. Which I guess makes sense for someone who climbs around in caves on the back of a Tyranitar.



She's incredible.



I think I'm in love.



She turns towards Gary and Ilima, still flat on the sand. "Oh, my goodness! Are you okay?"



Gary picks himself up and brushes wet sand off his clothes. "Yeah, we're fine, no thanks to your pet Pokemon over there." He gives the Tyranitar a glare, which seems to cow it, strangely enough. "You should give a little warning before breaking down a mountain!"



"I'm sorry!" she says. "Miller was supposed to warn me if there was anything on the other side of the rock."



"Miller?"



The girl turns back toward the hole in the mountain, and a rather depressed-looking Gardevoir comes out. "Voir," it says blandly, and then walks up to the new girl, hanging its head in shame. There's a Dawn Stone hanging on a pendant around his neck, and there's likely an odd story behind that. Might explain why the Gardevoir looks so depressed.



"It's all right, Miller," the girl says. "No harm done. Just be more careful next time."



"Ya named yer Gardevoir after a beer?" Wes asks, dumbfounded.



"Hey," Terra shoots back, "you named your Pokemon after Mexican foods, you're not one to talk."



"Mexican?" Wes asks, confused. "Wha's Mexican?"



"Well, in my world they're Mexican." She turns to the new girl. "So who are you?"



"My name's Cyan. Cyan Blackthorn," the girl says. "Me and my Pokemon are mining for rare ores in Terra Caverns. My pickaxes kept breaking, so I decided to just use Eyes to break the rocks." She points to her Tyranitar.



"Ya named yer Gardevoir Miller an' yer Tyranitar 'Eyes'?" Wes asks. "What, didja jus' pick random words outta a hat?"



"Leave her alone!" I snap, a little too loudly.



There's a moment of silence as everyone realizes what that just sounded like.



Gary pulls himself up off the ground. "Doth my eyes deceive me?" he asks tauntingly. "Gladion's got a cruuuuush!"



Oh shit, he can see it? Is it written on my face? "I do not!" I snap back.



"Suuuuure you don--" is as far as Gary gets before Ilima whacks him with his tail.



Wes gives me a glare. "'Asexual,' my ass."



"Asexual doesn't mean aromantic," I growl through gritted teeth. "And shut up."



Terra just shakes her head. "Can we lower the testosterone levels here and tell Cyan what we need her for?"



Cyan blinks. "What?"



So Terra and Shu (who was nice enough to be quiet while every other guy in the party was trying to humiliate me, but not nice enough to stick up for me) explain that Celebi said we'd need her help to get through Terra Caverns.



"First we've gotta rescue our folks and our Pokemon from Team Rocket," Shu says. "Then we've gotta save the world from Dark Matter."



"And between the two, we need to stabilize a time paradox to keep some of us from vanishing into thin air," I add.



Cyan seems to take this all in stride. "Well, Celebi chose the right trainer for the job," she says. "I know these caverns like the back of my hand. If anyone can lead you out to Celadon City, it's me!"



She blinks. "Wait... what kind of Pokemon is that, anyway?"



Ilima's stayed quiet the entire time, putting up a pretty good facade of 'dumb beast'. He pokes his head up and looks at Cyan, sniffing her.



"He's a Ditto," I say. "His name's... Cap."



"I thought Ditto were agender," Cyan says, regarding Ilima curiously.



"Don't tell him that."



Ilima gives me the Cat Dirty Look. If he weren't so blasted polite he'd probably blow a raspberry at me. I can tell.



"Anyway, I was headed to Celadon myself, to sell the ores I've collected to the department store," Cyan says. "If you want to tag along, that's fine! Just try to stand back when I'm smashing rocks. The chips fall where they may, you know. You want some Safety Goggles?"



She reaches into her bag and pulls out a handful of goggles. "These should help protect your eyes. Sorry I don't have helmets for you too, those take up more bag space."



"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Wes says suspiciously. "Yer jus' helipn' us, jus' like that? What's th' catch?"



"Well, if you weren't nice people, Miller would certainly know. And having a larger group means it's less likely that cave Pokemon will jump out at us. Not that it's usually a problem, us being so tough, but I've had to cut a few mining expeditions short because the local wildlife took issue with the mining business."



"Well," Shu says, "look at it from their perspective. If some Pokemon wandered into your house and started tearing down the walls looking for gems, you'd be miffed too, wouldn't you?"



Cyan nods. "We try to mine responsibly. That's another thing Miller's for -- detecting local Pokemon so we don't disturb them. But the Pokemon are used to some degree of upset. Wild Onix and Diglett do a lot of digging as well."



"Yeah, nature has a tendency to throw the rug out from under you," I say. "Now, are we going or not?"





Terra's POV



These caves are gorgeous.



It seems like all sorts of crystals can be found here. Some of them are glowing. There's some weird bioluminescent plants and moss here as well, and the overall ambiance is magical.



I love this place. The Pokemon world is fantastic, when it's not trying to eat you alive.



We pass a few wild Pokemon along the way. Some Onix, a few Diglett, the obligatory Zubat swarm. None of them seem interested in attacking us, except the Zubat, because they're Zubat and apparently that really is just what they do. At any rate, Cyan's Tyranitar can handle Zubat easily, so it's not that much of a problem.



Ilima, still in Mew form, is the only Pokemon we have other than Cyan's crew. Currently she's got an Ampharos out providing light, which she calls Pharos. I'm kind of intrigued on what her naming process is for her Pokemon, but between the five of us asking her questions, I don't want to bother her too much.



"The Terra Caverns are typically closed to the public due to being an important mining strain for evolution stones and Z-crystals," Cyan says, "but recently there's been a push against the mining by the Elite Four, who wish to protect the native Pokemon population from risk of harm."



"Yeah, well, one of the Elite Four tried to murder me and Gary here with a mind-controlled Giratina," Gladion says. "They may care about Pokemon coming to harm, but they certainly aren't our allies."



Cyan turns a little red and averts her eyes. "I'm afraid that with groups like Team Rocket on the rise, the Elite Four are growing paranoid as to the continued coexistence of humans and Pokemon. They've been abusing their power to shut down human development in many different areas of Kanto, which has harmed the Kantoan economy. Up until a few weeks ago, Silph Co. was worried about being forced out of business due to ever-stricter regulations on what it wasn't allowed to do."



"Which now it isn't, because it's trapped underneath a giant dome Team Rocket put up and is effectively prevented from doing anything at all," Gary says darkly. "Bad guys don't care about regulations. They just want what's best for them and no one else."



"I know the Elite Four better than you realize," Cyan says. "They've seen too many Pokemon thrown under the bus for the wants of humanity. I can't say they're good, but they're at least well-intentioned."



"Yeah, well, Lance busted up my gramps' custom-built dune buggy to steal a magical orb that he plans to use to claim Rayquaza from Team Rocket," Gary says. "Which sounds good in theory, except Lance is also controlling Giratina, who used to be friendly before Lance moved in and dominated its mind. I can't even imagine what Lance is going to be like with multiple legendary dragons."



Cyan sighs. "I know. The Elite Four is determined to end the suffering of Pokemon by any means necessary. They don't seem to care what happens to humans in the meantime."



"Lance will likely use Giratina's Shadow Force to get past the dome over Saffron City," Shu says. "Do you think he'll be able to claim Rayquaza?"



"He's got an army of Dragon-types on his side," Cyan says. "He thinks he can do anything with them."



"But Team Rocket's created their own super-powerful Pokemon," Gladion says. "Something like Mew, only larger and more vicious. And then there's whatever they're doing with the people of Pallet Town and Project Burst."



Cyan nods. "And you're quite sure you want to head into Saffron?"



"Celebi suggested it, although she did warn us we might not find what we expect to find," Gladion says. "But Gary's family is there, and he's buttheaded enough to think he can make a difference. Sometimes that's all the reason one needs."



"Well, then," Cyan says, "we should go on to Celadon and meet with Erika. If anyone knows how to handle Team Rocket, it's the gym leader. Follow my league, and watch your step. Zubat will poop on anything."