Chapter 17

The duo spent 30 minutes tending to their wounds using the various potions and bandages Jax brought along in his schoolbag. Feeling safe and secure in their temporary hideout, the two sat and munched down on some emergency rations while talking about Vioarr's evolution.

Jax was proud of his little brother finally starting to grow up. They reminiscence about when Jax first met a wound Kangaskhan and was entrusted with an egg. Then about how shy Nidorino used to be back at the academy. Vioarr didn't like being the only one embarrassed about his past self so he threw jabs at Jax about how he didn't have the balls to ask little Ally out.

"Hey, we won't die in here will we? How did your mom and dad escape? I don't see any way out besides that hole in the ceiling."

"Are you stupid, Stupid? Don't you remember my dad's starter? It was a fricken Charizard. Why don't you grow wings and fly us out of here?"

"Call me stupid one more time and I might just eat you first when I get hungry enough! Hmph! Plus, you're the dumb one. Why would I grow wings when I can just use Dig and make a way out!"

???

Stumped at Vioarr's sudden ingenious idea, Jax had nothing to refute him with. After finishing their meals, the duo looked around the cave. It was much more impressive than they first assumed. Instead of being just a single cave, it looked as it multiple paths connected to form a giant crater. Where those paths led to, the duo had no idea, but with no way to go back the way they came, the duo could only forge ahead unless they wanted to go with Vioarr's idea. Who knew how long digging a path out would take? It was quite a far free fall for the two. Picking a path, the duo decided to set off on their new journey.

After an unknown amount of time passed, the two came up to another cavern not unlike the one they just came from. The only difference was that this cavern had no other connecting tunnels besides theirs, but it did have a small pool of water. Neither too deep nor too shallow, the two looked at each other, then towards the pool, back at each other, before they each both rushed off and jumped into their new bath.

"You know, you really shouldn't jump into unknown bodies of water. What if it wasn't safe water but clear acid? You would have become a pile of bones that disintegrated to the bottom of this pool."

"I'm a pokemon, we know these things. The wild taught us how to differentiate between safe and unsafe waters." Vioarr had a smug look on his face as he submerged himself into the cool liquid thoroughly enjoying his much-needed bath.

"Pfft! What the heck is up with the wild teaching you? You literally hatched from an egg and have been with me ever since."

"Don't sweat the small things. It's all in the DNA. If I say that's so, its so."

"Mhm, is that so."

"Yep."

Once they both finished cleaning themselves, Jax wore new clothes he packed in his schoolbag while Vioarr…well, there isn't much to say since he never wore clothes in the first place! The two walked back through the tunnel the came from, made an X indent next to its entrance and picked a new tunnel.

Along the way, the duo fought some Digletts that they occasionally came across. Since this was the Great Beyond, the pokemon here were naturally superior in levels but a wild pokemon is just a wild pokemon. Using the same tactic as earlier, Vioarr made quick work of anything that popped up. Nothing so far was too difficult to deal with after a series of Leers followed up with a Thrash or two.

It did get tricky at one point when the duo ran into a horde of them led by a Dugtrio. Jax thought about catching this pokemon but finding that it only had Iron grade potential, decided against the idea. Although pokemon could increase their grades by consuming certain items or stronger pokemon of the same time, this Dugtrio was already too old and not worth the effort. What Jax wanted was one of those Beldums from earlier. Seeing the parent Metagross who was at least level 82, that meant that it was at least of the Platinum grade so its offspring was probably at least at that grade too.

Exiting the tunnel, the two cave to a cave much like the previous two. With tall rock walls, a hard, moist floor, and a sleeping Steelix, the duo didn't find much else. Wait! What!? A Steelix? Jax was immediately interested in this pokemon. With its dual steel/ground typing, it was a natural tank. Plus, having an additional strong pokemon tank the Metagross would be super helpful. The only issue was that this Steelix looked powerful which means having a high level.

On Kalpotron, pokemon who were too high level had a certain arrogance to them. Pokemon don't serve humans, it was a mutually beneficial relationship. Kind of like the bacteria living in your stomach. A pokemon listened to a trainer because the trainer could help them become stronger. But if a pokemon was already strong, why would it need a trainer, someone much weaker than it, at that? The answer, it doesn't!

For that reason, Jax didn't know if Steelix would listen to him during battles. Instead of being a helpful tank, it could just end up as a liability or even worse, join hands with the Metagross and make the situation even more deadly. Sure, having a Steelix would be nice but once Vioarr evolved into Nidoking and eventually learn Earthquake, the type advantage Steelix had would be useless. Thinking about all the pros and cons, Jax decided it would be smarter to ignore this giant who was sleeping so peacefully, but as Jax was about to tell Vioarr that they should head back, he caught a glimpse of a round, circular object resting in the middle of the curled up giant.

'No way! How lucky can I get!? Two megastones in one day!?' But upon closer look, Jax noticed that the round object was too big to be a megastone. Besides the fact that it was too big, it was also a light grey color which was different from the usual blue, grey with a matching swirl inside of it that a Steelixite would have; the conclusion, it was an egg!