[WatchMeBeQuieter]

Title- Spelunking
Pokemon to be captured- Spheal
Setting- Shoal Cave, northern Hoenn
Length requirement- 10,000 characters
Actual Length- 16,109 characters
With no spaces- 13,264 characters
Words- 2,903


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Silly bet, Phil thought, as he entered the deep, cold cave, illuminated only be the reflection of bright ice off of a few, illuminant Pokémon. There were several Chinchou patrolling the sea floor, but Phil had no interest in those—he was merely glad for the light they had provided.

In truth, he didn’t want to be there, but he had foolishly accepted a bet offered by his friend, James, to go deep into Shoal Cave and capture a Pokémon. “I would do it myself,” James said, “but since you’re a Pokémon trainer now, you have protection, so you should do it.” Though the words were spoken several hours ago, Phil could remember them perfectly. The reasoning was fine then, but Phil began to resent it as he went deeper into the cave. He loved battling, but not so much exploring.

He surveyed his surroundings in more detail. The cave seemed to be tide based, as there was a water line. The water itself was low at the time, which Phil was glad for, as he didn’t have any Water Pokémon with which to plunge the depths. The ceiling was high—higher than Phil had originally expected. There were several rocky hills, with a Zubat or two flying around. However, what caught his attention most was a small entrance in a corner far away, which Phil immediately started walking towards. The air around him stank of seaweed, and it was thin, making the cave very unpleasant to be in. It was also very cold, and he knew that it would only grow colder the further he explored.

After trudging through the shallow water for a few minutes, he felt a slight electric zap at his side. He yelped as the pain went through his body, but quickly recovered. The attack wasn’t powerful enough to any real damage to him. He looked down to see a Chinchou attacking him. It was a strange creature—it had large, yellow eyes with cross shaped eyeballs, and a small, elliptical blue body with long tentacles, ending in electric sacks, which were what the creature was attacking him with. “Shoo!” He wasn’t in the mood to battle, and with the Volt Absorb ability, he didn’t think Turret, his Magnemite, could do much, and nor could Lord Dominic, his Zubat, as the opposing Chinchou as Electric type. All the more reason not to fight it, he thought.

But the aggressive Pokémon kept persisting, and so Phil finally decided to fight it. Though his leg stung from the numerous prods of the Chinchou, he was able to send out a Pokémon and direct its fighting. “Go, Lord Dominic!” Phil drew a Poké ball from his pocket and it enlarged in his hand. He lobbed it into the thin air of the cave and it opened up, letting his new Pokémon, a Zubat, escaped from the device in a blast of white light. The Poké ball returned to Phil’s hand like a boomerang, and Lord Dominic was flapping in place, ready to fight, almost as if he was hovering. “See that Chinchou?” Phil pointed at his feet. Though Lord Dominic didn’t have eyes, he was able to sense where Phil was pointing via echolocation. “Use Confuse Ray at it!”

Lord Dominic hissed in approval, then sent the attack down upon his foe. It was a small, holographic orb, and it bounced its way towards the enemy until it smashed against its forehead, making its brain go berserk. However, the wild Chinchou had a move of its own, and fired the same attack right back at Lord Dominic. “Hang in there, Dominic! Rely on your Inner Focus to avoid confusion!” Phil called out.

Despite his command, Lord Dominic still got confused, as did the Chinchou. What? I thought Inner Focus prevents confusion! Phil took out his Pokédex and searched Inner Focus in the Abilities Section.

“One result found. Inner Focus is an ability that prevents Pokémon from flinching. Pokémon with this ability include Zubat, Golbat, Crobat, and Dragonite…” the list went on to name other Pokémon that could have either Inner Focus or some other ability in its mechanical, low quality voice, but Phil had all of the information he needed. He shut the red, cell phone like device and stowed it back inside his right pocket—the one where he didn’t store his Poké balls. So Inner Focus prevents flinching, not confusion… Dominic grimaced, and began thinking about an alternate battle plan.

Meanwhile, Lord Dominic was flapping around aimlessly, desperately looking for the Chinchou. The Chinchou was doing likewise: it was flopping around just as aimlessly, looking for Lord Dominic, for it had gotten confused as well.

“Lord Dominic, return!” Phil took the Poké ball out of his pocket and called the Zubat back into reserve. The process was almost the opposite of when he had sent the Pokémon out: he threw the ball into the air, and it hovered for a moment before detecting Lord Dominic’s presence and calling the confused Zubat back to Phil’s belt. “Go, Turret!” The process of sending Turret out was identical to when he had sent out Lord Dominic earlier, only a Magnemite appeared instead of a Zubat. The ball returned to his hand, which he put in his pocket for the time being.

“Zzzzzz!” Turret cried out in anticipation. If there was one thing Phil didn’t like about his starter Pokémon, it was the tendency it had to give him an earache every time he sent it out.

Phil thought about his options before instructing Turret to attack. He was glad for the time he had while Chinchou was confused. “Use Metal Sound!” he instructed, not without clogging his ears with his fingers so as to avoid the noise.

“Scree!” The noise didn’t last long, but it bothered both the Chinchou and Phil. The Chinchou, who wasn’t clogging its ears, fell over backwards as its eyes went wide.

“Its special defense should be down now! Use Mirror Shot!” Phil instructed.

Obediently, Turret shot a grayish green beam from the center of its one eye, which headed right towards the confused Chinchou, knocking it out cold, despite the fact that the attack should have barely hurt it, with Chinchou being resistant to Steel with both of its types. “Must have been a low level,” Phil commented. Turret blinked in agreement. “Alright, you did well in that battle, so I’m going to let you stay out of your Poké ball if you want to.”

“Zzzzz!” Turret replied, excited.

“Alright, but it would be great if you could refrain from doing that… you know that I can’t hear myself think when you talk. Just communicate through gestures, alright?” he patted the hovering Pokémon on its small, metallic head, and it nodded, agreeing to Phil’s compromise.

When they reached the entrance to a deeper part of the cave that Phil was eying earlier, Phil noticed that it was more of a tunnel than a cave, and wouldn’t be easily navigable without a light. Turret didn’t know Flash, but he was able to use the next best thing. “Turret, use Spark, and keep the static electricity around your body,” Phil instructed. He hoped that the static electricity right behind him would give him light, because it looked like he was going to have to crawl his way through. It was filled with dirt, and was only about three feet in diameter.

As he crawled through it, he felt his body get covered by so much dirt, he started having a coughing fit in the middle of the crawl. He had to stop for a moment, and Turret did the same, careful not to shock his master with all of the static electricity around him.

When Phil was done coughing, he continued through the tunnel. Luckily, it ended quickly, and it was horizontal enough for Phil to be able to go back through it when he was going back towards the exit.

The room in front of him was darker than the previous, and the water was deeper, but he could still wade through it if he needed to. As he was looking around, a thought entered his head. This is so stupid. There’s no way I would do this is I hadn’t bet fifty bucks on it. When I win, James had better give me that money, or I’ll sick Lord Dominic on him with Poison Fang. He continued on, not without enmity.

The room didn’t have nearly as many Chinchou lying around, so it was darker, and he was glad to have an electric Pokémon of his own to help him light the area. There were a few large mounds of soot in the room, but other than that, the only remarkable feature was its high ceiling. There was about a foot of water on the ground, and it was ice cold, but he waded through it nonetheless, trying to get to the other side of the cave so he could find a Pokémon to catch other than Chinchou, which he was really beginning to get annoyed with. At least none of them are challenging me, he thought, that last one was foolish—it wasn’t a high level at all. I don’t want to have to leave a pile of unconscious Chinchou on the cave floor.

Turret gave him a look. Being an electric type, he could sense his masters’ thoughts. He sent an electric image towards Phil, showing a Chinchou beating both Turret and Lord Dominic with ease.

“Good point,” Phil said, aloud, “If a Chinchou is stronger than us, we could be in big trouble.” He proceeded with caution.

After he passed the second mound of dirt, he saw a herd of Spheals playing in the water. “Spheal!” One of them pointed towards Phil, fear sparkling in his eyes. All of them fled into a nearby burrow built into the wall, except for one, which remained. It looked poised to fight, as if it were defending its herd. “Turret! This Pokémon might be useful! I think we should catch it!” Turret nodded, approving of Phil’s choice. “Use Discharge!” Phil commanded.

However, the Spheal was faster than Turret, and it managed to strike first, attacking with a Water Gun. The small yet powerful blast of water hit Turret, but he was undaunted, and went for the Discharge again.

The Spheal dodged before the powerful electrical attack could hit him. Using his knowledge of the layout of that part of the cave, he got up to a ledge and unleashed a Sheer Cold.

Phil instantly got far colder than he already was. He hugged himself with his arms and shivered. “If only I hadn’t worn shorts,” he muttered to himself under his breath.

Turret managed to dodge the Sheer Cold, and, before Phil could give him instructions, he used Discharge again, predicting what Phil was about to say correctly. As a result, Phil didn’t end up saying anything.

“Ayeh!” The Spheal yipped in pain, but continued to stand its ground, using Aurora Beam. However, the attack wasn’t directed at Turret, but rather, at the ceiling, where several massive icicles hung down, as if eager to fall. The holographic, icy beam hit them with enough force for them to drop, where they stood, rooted into the ground, creating a wall between Turret and the Spheal.

“What’s it doing?” Phil wondered aloud. Turret seemed equally perplexed. Then, the defending Pokémon fell asleep. “Oh… it’s using Rest to recover the damage from Discharge. Darn. That was a good tactic. In the meantime, try to break through these icicles with Gyro Ball, Turret.”

Turret obeyed. The wall got hit over and over by small metal orbs that he was launching at it, and they seemed to be cracking.

A few minutes later, the Spheal woke up, and the wall was still standing. Turret was growing tired, and he ran out of power points for Gyro Ball, so he had to resort to a different attack: Discharge. With a single blow, the weakened walls fell apart, but Turret was too tired to continue. He fell down on the ground, fainted.

Undaunted, Phil returned Turret to its Poké ball and sent out Lord Dominic. “Your enemy is that Spheal, Dominic! Use Confuse Ray on it!”

“Scree!” The sound of Zubat’s voice was deafening, and the Spheal squinted and clogged its ears, allowing Lord Dominic to shoot a Confuse Ray with precision. As soon as it hit, the Spheal began wandering around in circles.

“Okay, now go for the Poison Fang!” Phil commanded.

Lord Dominic didn’t make any noise, but rather, went right in for the hit, sinking its teeth into the back, and injected poison into the enemy’s bloodstream, giving it the poisoned status. It was weakened, confused, and poisoned, and Phil could sense that it was on the verge of giving up. “One more Poison Fang, Dominic! That should finish it off!”

Lord Dominic went after the Spheal again and was successful for a second time. However, the Spheal continued on, desperately clinging onto its consciousness.

“Okay, Air Cutter!” Phil called.

Lord Dominic went in and slashed the Spheal in the side with his wings, causing it to fall down, reconciled to the fact that it lost. Alright, here comes fifty bucks from James! Phil thought excitedly. He took out his spare Poké ball and lobbed it at the Spheal. It covered the defeated Pokémon in a white glow, and the device absorbed it until it could be seen no longer.

For a while, the Poké ball was still, but it wouldn’t register that the capture was a success. It must be struggling to escape, but failing, Phil thought hopefully, but it had better not keep me in here for too long.

After what seemed like an eternity, the tell-tale jerk indicated that the Spheal was on its last attempt to break free from capture. It jerked once, twice, and…

It escaped! “What?!” Phil exclaimed out of utter disbelief. “This little guy is strong!”

Of all things for a Pokémon with Inner Focus to do, Lord Dominic flinched. The Spheal hadn’t only escaped, it was asleep.

“It must be using Rest again! That’s why it took so long inside of the Poké ball!” Phil exclaimed. “And now it’s going to be just fine again, and Turret’s out cold.” He thought for a moment. This obviously isn’t working… this Spheal is very smart, using the safety of a Poké ball to heal its wounds. “Dominic, use Haze!”

Lord Dominic obeyed, and flapped rapidly, releasing a chemical from poisonous pores all over its body, which reacted to the nitrogen in the air around it, causing a thick mist to blanket the arena. Barely anything could be seen except for the mist itself, which was a pale blue. “Alright, now use your echolocation to sense where that Spheal is! We’ve got an advantage now! Let’s try Air Slash!”

The Zubat flapped his wings rapidly again, but this time, he was dragging the air from around him to create a “ball” of wind. When he was finished, he shot it right where the Spheal was, who couldn’t see six inches in front of himself. The attack hit; the intense wind tunnel stabbed the opposing Pokémon hard in the side, causing it to flip over. While it was trying to right itself, Lord Dominic went in close for another Poison Fang, causing it to yelp.

“Good job!” Phil called out. He couldn’t see what happened, but he could tell that Lord Dominic had attacked on his own, and the results were good.

The Spheal, knowing that Lord Dominic was still nearby, shot a wild Aurora Beam, which hit the Zubat on the tail. “Hissssss!” The pain was tough to bear, but Lord Dominic wanted to work hard for Phil. He retreated, not wanting to get hit again.

The haze was beginning to clear up. “Dominic, use Haze again!” Phil ordered. He could barely see the Spheal’s eyes go wide with fear: it had clearly associated the word “haze” with dense fog.

Lord Dominic flapped hard and released the chemical from his pores, which caused the same chemical reaction as before to occur again. “Alright, now use Bite!” Dominic went close to the Spheal again and bit it as hard as he could on its tail, moving his head back and forth to cause additional pain. The Spheal was tiring out, and all three of them knew it.

It’s going to use Rest again… Phil thought. “Dominic, Supersonic, quickly!”

Lord Dominic fired the Supersonic at Spheal, and the effect was immediate: It wouldn’t be using Rest again any time soon. “Okay, Dominic, come back to me!”

Lord Dominic flapped back to his master, which let Phil talk to him without Spheal hearing. “I can’t see this Poké ball because of the Haze, but you know what to do with it. When you’re above the Spheal, drop it so it’ll capture.”

Lord Dominic nodded, and Phil gave him the Poké ball, which he took in his mouth. Then, he flew over to the confused, damaged Spheal and dropped the Poké ball. Lord Dominic could see it, and he knew how catching Pokémon worked. If the ball jerked back and forth three times, then subtly changed color for a moment, the enemy was captured. There was no delay like this time; it immediately began jerking. Once, Lord Dominic counted, twice, and…

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Yeah, there's my story. It's my first one.