aiko's otter den

for a squall and an outside starry sky - Cerulean Cave supposedly has a monster in it, a powerful pokemon said to level buildings. That is not what Khun finds there, or is it? LGP/LGE AU

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1. Sometimes It Storms Indoors

Coming to Kanto to complete a pokedex hadn’t been Khun’s worst idea. It had been better than staying in Alola anyway with his older sister and her endless studying of pokemon breeding away from Elm and his… whatever her problem with him was. Fighting Team Rocket on the coattails of a weird swordsman with a honedge and a chip on his shoulder might have been, but he’d gotten a Hall of Fame win out of it by the skin of his teeth.

Going to the mysterious, dangerous Cerulean Cave on a dare? Not one of his brightest ideas for sure.

“Veeon.”

“Well, I’m glad you think so,” Khun mutters to his eevee. She snorts at him, as much of a diva as Kiseia could be. He squeezes out the ends of his hair, making a face at himself.

He really should know better than to let Hatz rile him up into anything. But, his face was just so bony and punchable. Maybe a broken nose would make him be a little less honorable and a little less obnoxious.

And, to be fair, he can be in the cave. Isu was the one of them not allowed in the cave by himself, but he thought they were both absolutely ridiculous to want to be in there to begin with.

He did not know how he got to be friends with these two. But deep down, he wasn’t complaining. It was better than most everyone else he’d met.

Khun examined his fame checker one more time, and let out a sigh. No other actual information to delay the exploration. Might as well start.

Hatz’s dare was simple: Khun spent the night in the cave, and not at the edge. He made it all the way to the back, sent a picture of the mysterious pokemon if it existed and then camped outside of its territory all night. If he survived, Hatz would do him three favors that he could keep in reserve.

Considering this was a potentially life-threatening situation, Khun feels Hatz owes him at least five favors. Isu had slipped him an escape rope at least, which had been nice of him.

Now out of the heat of the moment, Khun feels slightly less wary of things. There probably wasn’t anything here. They kept this cave under lock and key for safety reasons because of its structural integrity and the pokemon that lived in it. Pokemon that he had counters to, but still.

“Vee on vee, bre vee on.”

Khun sighs and scoops her up. “Yes, yes, your dad’s an idiot, I know, are you going to stay here and starve or come with me?”

Altair gives him a disbelieving look, clear as day saying “like I’m going to leave your dumb ass here by yourself, who knows what you’ll get into alone?”

“What, are your siblings chopped pidgey guts?”

Altair snorts laughter and coos. He pats her again and sets her on his backpack. She prefers his head, something he’d had to adjust to when the absentminded professor had dropped the strange eevee in his lap, but it’s tolerable now. For this however, it was better to have his head free. She scoffs and burrows into his bag where his tent is.

Checking his shoelaces, Khun moves at a pace. It’s midafternoon, the explorable parts of the cave aren’t that big, he can probably get down there by nightfall.

“Bre ve on?”

“The bike might scare a few pokemon,” he replied. “I’ll use it in the morning.”

“Breeee on.”

“You sound like you’re in pokemon puberty. You tell me.”

Altair smacked her thick, fluffy tail against the back of his pack, which he ignored.

Outside, the clouds start to drizzle.

Wonderful. It better not be raining tomorrow.

---

At first, pokemon had attacked him and his team every fifty steps, but the further he’d gotten in, the more they’d retreated to the shadows and shallows of the cave. The repels only seemed to be an affirmation but…

There was at least something here, Khun surmised, unclipping his charizard’s ball. Corona gives him a concerned look upon release, but a few strokes to his scaly neck help him subside. These weren’t exactly young pokemon, babies with a few good attacks to their name? These were old ones, ones who almost never saw humans, ones who were used to not only the cave, but the cave supported them. Thank god for Cerise’s sharp leaves, or he’d be absolutely screwed over.

His pokegear buzzed. Reception was good, even down here, it figured. He flipped it open to see Isu’s picture shaking on screen. He clicked it on.

“Are you down there yet?”

“Up,” he replies, leaning on Corona’s bulk. His pokemon ran his claws gently through Khun’s hair, untangling the now dry mess it had become. “Go up to go down in this cave. No weird monster pokemon though.”

Isu let out a sigh, but he didn’t sound relieved. “I’m sitting on Hatz right now. It’s not too late to come back.”

“You’re sending me a picture of that for science,” Khun orders. “And I’m fine. There’s nothing down here but some good pokemon to train against. If there is something, Altair’s probably plotting to plant pitfall traps for me until I trip. She won’t let me die. I’m her only source of poffins.”

“Khun, my love please,” Isu begs. “The storm outside is getting worse. If the cave collapses, we won’t be able to help.”

“The cave is perfectly stable,” Khun says, setting off again, Corona lumbers after him, tail swishing. “Just stay indoors. There’s a League official aware of my whereabouts. I have the escape rope, I have dig and I’m pretty sure Storm will defy reality and learn teleport for us if need be. I am just fine.”

Isu sighs again. “You’d better come back to me, my love. I’d cry if you died.”

“Well, we can’t have that,” Khun says. ‘Then what would Hatz do?’ He hangs up as he adds. “I’ll send you a picture.” He hangs up, very proud he didn’t pick up Maria’s obsession with the word selfie. He wasn’t going to pose or something, Arceus.

Sliding the pokegear back into its pocket, Khun sets off again. He picks up a few items along the way. Maybe the trainers who had them got eaten.

Khun dismisses the thought out of hand and slides the medicine into its pouch, along with five Ultra Balls. He’d brought plenty but… well you never knew with these things.

Corona grumbles a bit next to him. “We’re almost there,” he reassures him. “We’ll make camp soon and then I’ll feed you, you glutton. Worse than a snorlax…”

Corona licks him, just to be contrary and returns to his ball.

The cave is immediately colder with just him and the snoozing Altair. He reluctantly takes her out of his bag to change into warmer clothes. She tugs on his mother’s woolen hat. Khun hesitates at the snowflake pattern, but it’s not like there are any other humans here, and his mother hadn’t been kidding about it being warm. So he jams it onto his head.

He packs up again, Altair goes back to sleep in his bag and he keeps walking. Eyes fill the maze of the cave paths. Golbat mostly. Maybe a few poliwags or poliwhirl. He sighs at them. They scatter.

One cave slopes down. It’s a stumbling walk, especially in the dark.

“Vee on.” Something hard smacks into his neck.

“I’m not scaring some wild pokemon in a cave only you and maybe Diana can fit in,” Khun grumbles. “Bear with the uneven ground for a while.”

He says this and promptly trips. Khun catches himself at Altair’s squeak, his hands dragging painfully over jagged rock.

Khun gives up and takes the flashlight after that.

The cave is quiet and still. Khun ends up crouching down as he makes it to what feels like the bottom. He shivers. Even with warmer clothing, the splashing of water and chilly stone makes his skin crawl. The hair on the back of his neck is standing up.

Maybe something is here after all.

…Well no need to wait around.

---

A golduck quacks at him as he settles onto Storm’s shell a few meters further. The blastoise rumbles approvingly at his weight and then sets off. His eyes are straight ahead. He’s a fairly decent swimmer but also slow. Khun takes the time to polish and maintain his cannons while they swim.

Another golduck quacks as they pass.

Khun waves. “Thanks for the tip.”

Thankfully, they don’t splash him. He’s sure they could.

Altair leaves the safety and warmth of his bag and sits on his lap. “Bre ve on.”

“Yeah,” he agrees. “I sense it too.”

On Alola, there was always a tingle down your spine. The gods were always there, even if they weren’t present. They knew every breath of life the same as any pokemon, but they also knew the song that made them.

The sound of nature, the beats of its melody, were sharper here. Low and deep and agonized. Whatever was down here was hurting. Maybe it was angry. Khun definitely wouldn’t stick around to find out that much.

“You ready to get out whenever?”

Altair yips in confirmation. Storm grunts a second later. His pokeballs shake on his belt.

“Rest easy, guys,” Khun says with a cocky smile. “At least it’s probably not Jahad again.”

Storm grunts again, but this time it’s to warn them. He climbs up and out of the water. Khun pats him in thanks and returns him. Altair walks beside him, ears up and eyes alert.

Thankfully, they come across another small body of water. Before he can release Storm again, he hears someone laugh.

Someone else… is in here? A person? Pokemon didn’t laugh like that.

“Vee,” Altair yips. Khun picks her up again and releases Storm as quietly as he dares. Upon releasing him, Khun puts a finger to his lips.

Thankfully, Storm understands and swims with as few ripples as possible.

The laughter comes again, closer as they move. Khun remains in a crouch.

It sure would be disappointing if their monster pokemon was just some camping trainer, wouldn’t it?

Then again, it could be a ditto or a zorua, entertaining themselves with their pranks and teasing any humans that were dumb enough (like him, he’s unfortunately accepted) to come chase a monster.

But then they would be throughout the cave surely, popping through openings and teasing other pokemon. They wouldn’t just be down here. And he’d have heard this person by now?

As Storm approaches the last little island, the stranger shrieks in surprise. Storm pauses, and then Khun hears… words.

“That tickles Mi-mi!”

Pokemon did not easily mimic human speech, especially not that clearly. Storm approaches the edge and Khun raises his head.

There’s a human boy, dressed in nothing but a ragged sheet and a golden necklace, staring up at the brightest beam of light in the whole cave. And following his gaze, Khun sees…

A Mew.

Mew don’t just appear. They don’t just exist. Not anymore. Humans had made sure of that.

Khun covers his mouth to keep the panicked noise from escaping his throat. Unfortunately, Altair has no such impulse control and shoots off of Storm and on shore, squeaking and yipping and growling, fur fluffed up and ferocious.

The boy turns and first sees Altair, eyes wide and soft as everyone got at the sight of a fluffy eevee growling at them in the most high-pitched squeak ever.

Then his eyes catch sight of Khun as he gingerly hops off of Storm. Brilliant gold meets shining blue.

“Who are you?” the stranger asks.

Mew vanishes with a pop and a flash of purple light.

Khun straightens up and whistles. “I kinda feel like I should ask you that.”

“But I live here,” the stranger says. “I’ve always lived here. Why would someone else come here? R-she said it was too scary for most people, except the strongest of strong trainers.”

Khun scoops up Altair as she scampers back to him. He returns Storm back to his ball before answering. “Well, I am a strong trainer, at least by this region’s standards. So it’s fine for me to be here. There were reports of a strong, dangerous pokemon down here, so I came down to investigate.” A little white lie surely wouldn’t hurt anyone, right?

The stranger turns on bare feet. They look thin and almost worn to the bone. “A strong pokemon?” they repeat. “Well… there was one. They left not too long ago.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know,” they answer without looking away. A good liar, maybe.

“Why are you here then?”

“I’m supposed to stay here,” they say. “It’s safer for everyone if I am.”

Khun blinks. That’s interesting. “Would you have to stay if a strong trainer led you out?”

They fidget, hands flexing. “I don’t know. S-They didn’t say I couldn’t do that.”

“Then how about this?” Khun offers his hand. “My name is Khun Aguero Agnis, and I’m the champion of this region. I can guarantee your safety from here on…?”

Slowly the stranger approaches. They really do look a mess of pain and scars and a strange mark on their collarbone. “Um… my name is Twenty-Fifth Bam. It’s nice to meet you, Khun-ssi. Is…” They hesitate. “Is it really okay for me to leave?”

“There’s really no reason for you to stay,” Khun points out. “So you may as well leave.”

“That’s true.” Cautiously, the dry hand clasps his. “I… I’ll be in your care, Khun-ssi.”

Khun smirks. “Likewise.” He pulls the escape rope from his bag. “Hold on, now, okay? We’re technically not supposed to use these with two people.”

“What do you— aaah!” Bam lets out a yelp as the room spins and twists beneath their feet until it safely deposits them all outside.

Unfortunately, it’s still raining. Just his luck.

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