CH93 (707), Cave Raider; No, Cave Explorer (2)

Still, discounting the little display of a prey-predator relationship, the Spinarak and Zubat had brought the number of different species we had come across so far inside this underground cave system to 7. Contrary to what Phantump had said about there being numerous ghosts here, we had yet to come across any. I turned away from the net and looked at Phantump. 

"Are you sure there are a lot of ghosts in this place? How come we haven't seen any?" I inquired and Thor/Raichu threw his two cents in before Phantump could say anything. "{Maybe they moved on}," he said, surprisingly speaking up for Phantump instead of taking the chance to tease him. "{Phantump did say that it's been some time since he came here}," he followed up and I was honestly a little proud of him for looking out for the newbie.

Phantump showed some of the maturity he kept buried beneath his childishness and gave Thor a grateful look before giving his own answer, showing that he had noticed Thor's attempt at defending him. "{No, I can guarantee that they are still here. This whole place has a lot of free-flowing spectral energy everywhere making it an ideal home for any ghost. No normal ghost would voluntarily leave this area}," Phantump seriously clarified, once more showing his mature side.

"{Little bro is right}," Hades/Gengar spoke up to support Phantump, though he did not forget to tease Phantump while doing so, earning a pout from Phantump, whose earlier maturity was gone with the wind. "{There's a lot of spectral energy in the air, though it's not as nice as our place. Still, I don't think any ghosts would leave this place once they settled down}," Hades followed up confirming Phantump's earlier words.

"{Maybe, it's because of him}," Phantump suggested pointing at Hades, who retorted with "{How could it be my fault?}", obviously irked at the earlier little brother bit. "{They might have decided to keep a distance if they noticed a big scary ghost like Gengar}," Phantump continued ignoring Hades' complaint, and Hades actually stopped complaining since Phantump's argument made sense. 

While a Gengar did not necessarily have to be super strong, the ones in the wild along with those traveling with trainers were generally around the gold stage or above, so Hades' presence if noticed would likely at least deter the weaker ghosts, though as usual that was only a general speculation.

"{Well, maybe it is Thor they are spooked by}," Hades passed the blame at Thor, who was confused hey he got suddenly dragged into this. Meanwhile, I had to chuckle at the spooked bit, which had Hades' grin and he followed up with a "{Pun intended}". "{Why me? Maybe they saw Mothra plucking the mushrooms off the Parasect and Paras}," Thor decided to drag Mothra/Butterfree into the blame game as well.

"{Then they would have seen you hack those bugs to death, so it would still be you they would fear and not me, you idiot}," Mothra mercilessly shot back before laughing at her own joke and I had to chuckle as well. It seemed Hades was not the only one in the mood for (mid) puns. "{Parasect, Paras, bugs, me, get it?}," she explained as if the others were too dumb when none of them laughed, and my chuckle turned to a proper laugh at the manner she said it.

"Alright, alright, there's no need to fight," I finally decided to intervene. "It doesn't matter whose fault it is if it is anyone's fault in the first place. I trust Phantump and Hades when they say that the air here is rich in ghost-type energy. I'm sure we'll come across some ghost types eventually, especially once we go a bit further," I declared officially putting a stop to their argument.

The others "begrudgingly" stopped their blame-shifting, and we continued walking down the cave tunnel. I noticed a slight downward angle as we followed the tunnel, but simply filed that away since it just meant that the cave system expanded further below the ground. We saw a few more Geodude, Diglett, and Sandshrew, with two instances where one or two Zubat passed above our heads. 

Around 6 or 7 minutes later the tunnel opened up to a rather big cavern/chamber. The place had to be 60 to 70 meters in width and length with a height of at least 10 meters. We moved further into the chamber and I observed the pace as we walked. There were quite a few stalactites hanging from the ceiling and a few stalagmites growing from the ground. I noticed that there were a lot of Zubat hanging off the ceiling as well, with one or two Golbat mixed in. 

That explained where the Zubat that passed above our heads earlier came from. Aside from Zubat, I noticed Geodude lounging around as well, with the occasional Diglett poking out their heads from beneath the ground, though I failed to spot any Sandshrew for now, which might have been because of the many Zubat above us. Interestingly enough I also saw a few Nincada, though that was a bug that I did not mind encountering.

Still, I could not help but wonder if they dug their way down here on their own and chose to stick around or if they were the descendants of some Shedinja that got attracted by the spectral energy-rich environment. Their evolution was another matter since I seriously doubted that Ninjask as partial flying types unlike Nincada, who were partial ground types, and Shedinja, who were partial ghost types, would enjoy living in a cave system.

Did the Nincada choose to not evolve, or did they evolve, following which the Ninjask searched for one of the exits of the cave system leading to the outside/upper world? There was a pretty good chance that each evolution in an environment like this resulted in a Shedinja being born along with the Ninjask, so the population probably remained the same even if that was the case. 

Heck, considering the environment I wouldn't exclude the possibility that the evolution of Nincada that were born here and lived here for their whole life caused the Nincada-Shedinja evolution to become the main evolution instead of being a byproduct. We knew that environmental factors could play a significant role in a Pokemon's life/evolution after all.

At least that was what thought until I saw a shadow flit past my eyes that was definitely not a Zubat and too small to be a Golbat. I blamed the greenish light from the Luminous Moss for my inability to properly identify the flyer. Still, even if it was a little slap after my earlier musings, I had to admit that the shadow looked like Ninjask, but while Ninjask were pretty fast, I did not think that they were that elusive. 

I asked the others if they had been able to see what kind of Pokemon just flew past us, and aside from Phantump the other three said they saw the Pokemon. All three said that it looked like a Ninjask, but also different from a normal Ninjask. Not only did it apparently look different, but according to their observations, the Ninjask flew straight through one of the stalagmites, which a normal Ninjask naturally could not do. 

Frankly, that sounded more like something a ghost type would do, so even though I believed them, I still asked if they were sure that it was not a Shedinja that they saw just to be sure, but they assured me that the Pokemon looked more like the Ninjask we had seen rather than a Shedinja. I had them describe the "Ninjask" they saw to me. Going by their description I understood why they called the shadow a Ninjask, even if their portrayal alluded to a Pokemon that looked more like a fusion between a Ninjask and a Shedinja.

The picture I got from their description had the base form of a Ninjask, but instead of yellow and black its coloring was that of a Shedinja, namely light brown and grey. Not only that, but its wings had changed color as well. The white had become the same grey as the abdomen and the red triangles had taken on the same light brown color of its body. Additionally, it seems that each one of the four wings had a light yellow exoskeleton at the top, kind of how the wing feathers of a bird were connected to its wing bones.

That was not the only visual change since it appeared that this Ninjask had inherited the white half-halo Shedinja usually had. Honestly, it appeared that only Ninjask's red eyes, along with its grey arms and "face mask" seemed to have retained its original coloring/design. Still, I could admit that this Ninjask variant sounded pretty cool looking. Yes, at least for now, I was assuming that this was a Ninjask variant, specifically a ghost-type one rather than an entirely new evolution, though it might have been in fact a third/alternate evolution.

Regardless of whether it was a new evolution or a variant, I was determined to check it out with my own eyes. I had not heard anything about it until now, so it was an undiscovered evolution/variant and I could not help but want to catch it. Still, I had to wonder if there were more of these "Ninjask" or if this was just a lucky case. Had this environment managed to induce a widespread deviation or was it pure luck?

If it was widespread and the species had remained undiscovered, then this meant that this underground cave system had not been discovered as well, and I honestly was not sure if I should share it with the alliance since I was pretty certain that they would establish control over it if I report my discovery. 

I mean, if this place managed to affect the Nincada line like this, then could it do the same for other lines as well? Could a Cubone raised/living here evolve into a Ghost/Alolan Marowak instead of a regular one? Are there maybe other undiscovered variants or even entirely new Pokemon that have never been seen before?

My decision could profoundly impact the lives of all inhabitants of this place and with a lot of them being ghost types this could have a rather big negative impact on me, or rather the prospects of my next "adventure". We were talking about tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands or more Pokemon depending on how vast this cave system truly was, so I would have to really think things through before I decided on whether to report anything or not. 

Still, that was for later. For now, I told Mothra and Thor to be on the lookout for that Ninjask or others like it, while sending Phantump and Hades after it. In the meantime, I continued to walk around this cavern, looking around to see what else I could find. I managed to spot some webs in the corners with an Ariados and a few Spinarak on them. I also spotted two boulders that were in truth Graveler. 

There was also a moment where a Dugtrio briefly peeked its head out of the ground when one of the Geodude slammed its fist into the ground out of fright due to a Gastly that suddenly phased through the ground in front of it. It was funny to watch if it happened to others, so I and the other others joined Gastly's laughter which seemed to make it happy since it gave us an eye smile before hiding away from the irritated Geodude, who was prepared to throw a rock at it.

Seeing the target of its ire vanish like that, Geodude turned to us, obviously having heard us laugh. It gave us a dirty look before throwing the rock in its hands away. Geodude then moved towards one of the stalagmites and curled into a small boulder to sleep. That was when Hades as well as Phantump came back, and from their triumphant looks, it was clear that they had succeeded.

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