How we meet

Chapter 14

    You hated sitting in the office waiting. Some big fancy meeting room. Empty the walls are barren except for the map on the wall and the items on the table in a box. You didn't dare touch anything. For all you knew you were about to be fired. You stared at that map for a while. You soon traced your fingers over the marks where the strings covered your fingers trailed off of the threads. Soon you realized what it was.
    A map of caves. New ones freshly discovered. They weren't marked on the map yet they perfectly ran across one of the caves filled with the most lush plants you've ever read about. You always wanted to visit but it was closed off to the public and would cost a small fortune that you didn't have.
    "Sorry about the wait." Burgh walked into the room.
    "Is this a map of the Verinnian Caves discovered 3 years ago?"
    "Oh," Burgh was caught off guard, you didn't mean too you just got a little excited. "They are, how do you know about them?"
    You froze, "Uh," you completely fucked up, "I heard about them a while ago a rumor mostly but I spent nights tracing over the maps in the library," you explained, "I always wished that they were real." It wasn't a complete lie, you just left out the part of everything else.
    You left the meeting with hushed voices. The way your father demanded you leave. The way you were in your father's personal library and flipping through his maps. The way you saw the patterns. The way you wouldn't let yourself remember the pattern.
    "Anyways, he handed you the packet.
    It was full of scans and maps, photos of a cave-in, and photos, lots of photos of moss and lichens growing in carvings and murals. You stared in awe at the underground fauna that had been discovered even if there was very little you could truly see. You looked at the pictures with a jewelers eye for perfection.
    "Do you have any samples from the plants?" you asked hesitantly.
    "Yes very few but we do," Burgh explained opening the box. "Before that, I need to finish explaining."
You took a seat mentally wishing that you could just observe and sketch the leaves. Burgh sorted and dug through the box and read from a page of the paper.
    "You've been selected to participate in a research team, it will be led by Professor Juniper and his daughter Professor Juniper. We're looking for knowledge on the plants, pokemon, and history of the caves." Burgh paraphrased it, you could tell he was more bored than you. "There are a few members of the team that I've met and talked two but I'm not sure who is all involved." he yawned, "One of the former champions is on the team. I think a few gym leaders too."
You nodded along and you really wanted to get inside those caves.
    "It's a paid thing too. So don't worry about that you'll get more from it than your usual work anyways." he handed you the obtained plant samples.
You took them and observed them. These looked rounder than in the photos. Another looked much too small.
You agreed to go obviously. Pass up the chance to see all of the plants you've dreamed about ever since you heard about it? Such a choice would have been a choice akin to death. To see them would be the most amazing thing you could imagine.
Plants from little known origin. Maybe you could discover a whole new family of plants! Okay, you shouldn't get your hopes that high. Yet you still wanted to see the glow more than anything. The bioluminescent fungi you had heard whispers about. You would take the risk of a cave-in anyday to see them.
You skipped your way home. Your heart, beating in a perfect toon of joy. What a wonderful thing that has happened. You spun around with Venipede in your arms as you entered the woods. You hummed and sang a song to yourself.
    The vines danced with you. They twirled around your feet. The grass bent as you moved like a wave. With the unpredictability of a candle's flame, you swung across the earth. As the dirt stained the souls of your feet, and flowers and leaves tangled in your hair and clothes, you still felt so happy.
No nightmares plagued your mind that night. The smell of wild flowers and fresh fruits hung in your mind. You danced even in your dreams. A romantic waltz as you held the hands of a flower caressed prince. You laughed at his words you couldn't hear. The palm of your hand cupping his face cheek. Unlike his hands his cheeks were smooth and warm.
    You awoke in the morning with a hazy fragment of the dream. A single question in your head. Who was I dancing with?