Searching... Part 6

     “Kekeh! Late riser!” Gengar greeted Sanura when she finally awoke the next morning. “We go to the Murky Cave today. You haven’t changed your mind about helping me, have you?”

     “Of course not!” Sanura chimed.

     “Keke! Then, we’ll go! To the Murky Cave!” His expression turned more serious. “Gardevoir’s physical form… That’s where it is. For my sake, Gardevoir…” He shook his head and regained his mean smile. “…Nah, that’s not important. I just feel like going! Keke!”

     Oh, Gengar… Sanura thought with a sigh. I know you’re worried about Gardevoir… If only you didn’t have such a hard time admitting it…

     “So, have you found out anything about this place?”

     “Alakazam told me that it was filled with trap tiles and strong Poison- and Ghost-Types. Which reminds me, I should go get my Pecha Scarf. Should I get one for you, too?”

     “Keke! I don’t need one! Being part Poison-Type myself, I’m immune to poison.”

     “Oh, yeah. Well, then, let me just go get some stuff, and we’ll be off.”

     “Hurry it up, alright?”

     “Right.” She ran off to get the supplies.

***

     Murky Cave was a dark, unwelcoming dungeon, with a musky odor suggesting the presence of dirty, contaminated pools of water and gunk covering the walls.

     “What a depressing place…” Sanura commented.

     “No kidding,” Gengar agreed. He walked ahead. “Come on. Let’s get this over with.”

     The opponent Pokémon they came across weren’t too much to worry about. The biggest thing they had to watch out for were the ghost Pokémon that could sneak up on them through the walls…

     SPLAT! “Gah!” As well as the hidden trap tiles. “Ew! What is this stuff?” Sanura had stepped on a trap that splattered a sticky, gooey substance all over her and her supply kit.

     “Keh, you should be more careful, Sanura,” Gengar snickered as he continued walking.

     Sanura struggled to keep up with him. “It’s not like I could see these things before it’s too late.”

     “You could if you ate more gummies.”

     Sanura groaned.

***

     By the time they reached the fourteenth floor, the Pokémon had gotten considerably stronger. “Let’s hope the trap tiles didn’t become more common, too, huh, Sanura? …Sanura?”  Gengar turned around to see why Sanura wouldn't respond and saw a hole in the floor where she should have been standing. “Ugeh!” He looked down the hole to find Sanura planted face down on the floor below. “You’re such a klutz!” he yelled down to her.

***

     “Well, that’s one way to get to the next floor, huh?” Sanura laughed, embarrassedly.

     “It’s a wonder you’re not unconscious after that… I thought cats were supposed to always land on their feet.”

     “I have stubby legs, okay?”

     “Kekeh, just watch where you step, Sanura.” The next step he took set off another trap tile. “…Oops…”

     “Watch where you step, Gengar,” Sanura teased.

     “Ugeh! Now what?” He anticipated the effects of the trap.

     Sanura sniffed the air. “How bad could it be? This one just gave off a sweet scent.”

     “Oh, no…” A Crobat, Swalot, and Misdreavus went charging toward them.

     “Figures…” Sanura sighed. The Swalot threw himself at her with a Body Slam. She nimbly dodged and countered with a Tackle, following up with a Faint Attack. The Swalot fell, defeated.

     Gengar threw a Shadow Ball at the Misdreavus, and it super effectively defeated her. “Keke! Gotcha!”

     “Gengar! Watch out!” Sanura jumped between him and the Crobat that came at him with a Bite attack. The Crobat clamped his teeth onto Sanura’s torso and bit down hard. Sanura yelled out in pain.

     “Sanura!” Gengar used Shadow Claw on the Crobat, causing him to release her.

     “Thanks,” Sanura said, cringing. Then, she used her Double Slap to defeat the Crobat. “Ow…” She rubbed her wound tenderly. “That was a strong Bite…”

     “Idiot…” Gengar breathed. “Why did you take the blow? I could’ve handled it!”

     “If you took the Bite, it would have been super effective,” she reasoned. “And judging by how painful that was…it would have caused you to faint.”

     “Even if I did, you could have used a Reviver Seed on me!”

     “Well…” She thought about it. “…I thought we could maybe save it in case we needed it later? We don’t really know how long this dungeon is, anyway.”

     “Ugeh…” Gengar didn’t know what else to say to that. She took the blow in my place… he thought. …Just like Gardevoir… He took a deep breath. “Let’s just go on already!”

     “Right.” Her stomach rumbled. “Uhh… Could we eat something first, though?”

     He sighed. “Fine. I’m kind of hungry myself, anyway.”

     Sanura opened up her supply kit, took out an apple, and handed it to him. “Here ya go.” Then, she looked for another apple… “Gah!” She pulled it out. It was covered with the sticky goo. “That nasty, sticky stuff got all over it! And it was the last apple, too…”

     “Why not just wipe the stuff off and eat it anyway?”

     “But…” She examined it. “It’s spoiled now… I can’t eat it. I’d get sick.”

     “That’s too bad.” Gengar almost took a bite into his apple when Sanura’s stomach rumbled again. He looked at her hungry face, and then he looked at the bite mark on her torso. “Keh…” He took the apple in both hands, broke it into two halves, and handed one half to her. “Here.”

     Sanura was surprised. “Oh, you didn’t have to--”

     “Just eat it…before I…change my mind…”

     Sanura smiled. “Thank you!” She gratefully accepted the apple half and heartily ate it. He really is trying, isn’t he? He’s trying to be nice to me… Then, another thought came to her mind. “Hey, Gengar. I have a question.”

     “If it has anything to do with me saving the world--”

     “No, it’s not that. I was just wondering… I doubt your name was ‘Gengar’ when you were a human.”

     “Go figure.”

     “So? What was your name?”

     “Why do you want to know? It’s not important anymore.”

     “I’m just curious.”

     “Well, I don’t need to tell you. For all I know, you might slip up and say it with others nearby. If anyone else ever found out that I was the human from the legend…” Gengar flinched at the thought.

     “I understand what you mean; the others would probably…not take it very well at all… But I would never tell anyone. I promise!”

     “I’d rather not take my chances…”

     Sanura looked at his cautious face and decided to give up. “Okay… You don’t have to tell.” She got up. “Well, let’s keep going now if you’re done.”

     Gengar got up, as well. “Finally. Let’s go break that stupid curse!”

     They made their way through the last few floors of the dungeon and into its very depths…