Pokemon Max: Universal Delete

Part 8 Delete

Part 8 Delete

The cave felt vastly different from the outside. The stone walls kept the atmosphere cold and damp, contrasting with the rather hot, open feeling of the outside. The walls were lit with small torches every few yards, which served as enough light to get us through.

There was surprisingly little resistance within the cave. A few stray fighters came towards us every once in a while, but they were easily handled.

After a few minutes of walking, we came to a split in the path. There were torches down both directions, but no clear indicators as to anything either way. I turned around to the small group I had assembled, consisting of Jacob Simmons, Carter, Red, and the Vaporeon and Buneary I was still pretty unfamiliar with.

"Alright, anyone got an idea?"

Jacob shrugged. "I've got a quarter, we could always flip it."

Carter shook his head. "And then what? We don't know how large the cave is, we could start looking for who knows how long. Time is too important."

Vaporeon guy nodded. "True. Given the amount of people I can smell to the right, the cave may be pretty big." 

I looked down at him. "...You can smell people?"

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Senses of a Pokemon or whatever. Anyway, there's a lot of people down that way."

I looked down the path and rubbed my chin. "Hmm. And the other one?"

He sighed and did a few sniffs. "Well...there's not much..." He opened his eyes. "Although...there's someone's scent a good distance back, and something...weird. I don't recognize it, but it's not like anything else I've been smelling."

I nodded. "Then that's where we're going."

Jacob raised an eyebrow. "Is it now?"

"If there's something suspicious down there, you can bet Dark wants to be the first one to check it out. He wouldn't risk anyone messing this up. And if he plans to find something, we'd better make sure it doesn't happen."

Carter shrugged. "I'm down."

Jacob smiled. "Ought to be pretty easy. If he's that untrusting, he won't have any of those soldiers as backup."

As we quickly moved down the designated path, I heard a small muttering at my feet. I glanced down at the Vaporeon. "Were you saying something?"

He looked up at me, and shook his head. "Just wondering why someone always has to say stuff like that. It always jinxes it."

I sighed. "That's pretty ridiculous."

"Are you saying you've never had something terrible happen after someone made an overconfident statement?"

"Well...I guess I have. But still, don't you think you're worrying a little too much?"

I was almost clothes lined by Jacob holding his arms in my path. After barely stabilizing myself, I glanced ahead, and found the answer to my question. Though I hadn't seen them in a long time, a very familiar anxiety struck my heart as I looked at the large group of robots. They were more intimidating of a security force than normal people, and that hadn't changed.

"Never mind...guess you're right." I sighed.

 After a tense moment, however, Carter grunted, "They're not on."

Jacob nodded as he lowered his arm. "You're right. I don't hear any mechanisms running." He walked forward, and the rest of us joined him. He approached one and laid a hand on it with his eyes closed. "There's an aura that someone left on them, though. Not a friendly one, either."