the walls were sharp and rough. and jagged. the tip of her fingers held on, bracing through the pain that surged through her fingertips. one more step, and she was in the clear; off the side of path that could have killed her. it should have. she hadn't realized it, but she had been incredibly lucky. her training came into play, but if she had just made one wrong move, she would have been sent falling down into the unknown.

allowing her body to relax, she breathed quickly, panting as she rested against the side of the wall. she pointed the flashlight back to the path she had just ventured; it felt much narrower than it looked. her flashlight started to flicker, and she cursed under her breath as she lightly tapped it against her palm. "not now," she muttered, and thankfully, it listened to her. the flickering stopped, which made her breath a sigh of relief. it was her only source of light; she wasn't sure how she'd escape without it. once she had regained her breath, and calmed her heart, she continued on.

the tales told of strong, powerful pokemon that laid dormant in the deepest areas of the mountain. too invested in her selfish goals, she didn't hesitate even when the risks presented itself. stronger. that was all her mind had been focused on. maybe too much.

ava took a step forward, but stopped when she felt the ground shake. her eyes widened, flashlight frantically pointing left, right, forward, trying to find the source. her hand instinctively reached up to lugh's pokeball to call him out. in a flash of white, out materialized her cacnea. "lugh, focus. we're not alone." already acquainted with the dark, lugh stepped in front of her and readied himself.

then, she heard a loud crunch! her flashlight went up in response; just in time to see a large boulder being flung right at her. instincts took over as she leaped to the side, rolling on the ground to lessen her impact. by the time she shone her flashlight up again, lugh had already noticed his opponent. he moved forward for a NEEDLE ARM, swinging at machoke's leg in an attempt to sweep it off its feet. but it was strong, and remained on its feet. it pulled its leg back before driving it forward for a LOW KICK. the powerful kick connected against the entirety of lugh, sending him soaring into a nearby wall. with a loud thud, he fell to the floor.

clenching her jaw, ava grew frustrated at her inability to combat the machoke. "lugh, get up!" her frustrations leaked through her voice. it caught lugh off guard, and he was left feeling guilty as he scrambled onto his feet. though in pain, he powered through and charged for another NEEDLE ARM. his attack connected, but the machoke seemed to tank through it yet again, KARATE CHOPping lugh away. he cried in pain as his body slid against the rough ground.

"again! get up!"

motivated by all the wrong factors, lugh rose to his feet, and so too did the sand. particles lifted off the ground, soon circling around him. it picked up in speed, soon becoming a ferocious SANDSTORM. she had never seen it this intense before; it distracted her enough. when she looked back, the machoke had closed the distance, not with cacnea, but with her. its fist was reeled back for a KARATE CHOP aimed straight at her. with only a second to react, she sidestepped and used its momentum against it. she grabbed its wrist as it whizzed past her, barely missing her, and pushed it away. it seemed to have stagger it enough to allow her to deliver a swift kick to its gut, followed by another to the side of its neck.

but she was only human.

her attacks, while staggering, were in the end, ineffective. the machoke recovered as quickly as it did before and swung both his arms across for a DUAL CHOP. she had brought her arms up in time, protecting her chest as the impact took all the wind out of her and sent her flying back. "—!" there was no wall, instead, the cold, rough ground as she landed weirdly. she skidded, but came to a stop when her back hit a wall. her entire body felt like it was crumbling. she had fought before, but this was a different; this was a beast with the sole intent of hurting. she slumped off the ground, struggling to get back on her feet. the machoke closed in.

ava lifted her head only to see a fist flying straight at her. she closed her eyes. thud! her eyes immediately opened, fearing the worst. in front of her was a shield made out of...spikes. she looked to her left, where lugh was, and he wasn't there anymore. a SPIKY SHIELD had protected her, and as the sandstorm started to pummel against her bare skin, she knew she had to move. she took off to the side, sprinting for cover as the machoke chased.

then, a bright glow illuminated the darkened room. she looked over her shoulder and saw her cacnea, her little, sweet cacnea, charging straight at the machoke. as lugh brought his arm back, his entire body glowed white. the transformation was swift, almost instant. out from the glow formed a cacturne, who swung his arm for a powerful NEEDLE ARM. his spikes dug into the machoke, drawing blood as it pierced through his thick skin. the machoke was sent straight into the wall, and with a loud crash, slumped lifelessly onto the ground.

notes cacturne lv 48

only the silhouette of the machoke was visible; the dust didn't settle, instead, it grew in intensity. sand and dirt whirled around fiercely, piercing anything that dared attempt to combat it. in the eye of it was cacturne, who stood towering over the fallen fighting-type. there was something different about him, and even though she couldn't see him, she felt it in the air. he resonated an aura that was unlike of him; no longer was he the sweet, gentle cacnea he once was, no, that part of him was no longer present. he had changed.

and she feared it was because of her.

she struggled to her feet, only then realizing had badly she was was hurt. her eyes squinted, trying their best to peer through the thickness of the sandstorm. "lugh!" she called out, but he didn't respond. his silhouette remained still, but then, another silhouette appeared, rapidly approaching from the side. "lugh! look out!" but he didn't hear her, or at least, didn't acknowledge her. he stood as still as a scarecrow, even as the other silhouette neared him. its fist glowed a cold hue of blue, freezing temporarily for a swift ICE PUNCH.

crash!

the intensity of the impact caused a pulse to surge through the cavern, rippling through and causing the sandstorm to cease for a second. in that second, she saw what she needed to see: a SPIKY SHIELD that stretched outwards, towered high, blocking the punch that came from the hitmonchan, and lugh, now bigger, stronger, stood behind the shield. there was an eerie yellow glow to his eyes she had never seen before. and then, just when the sandstorm picked back up, he burst forward.

his movements were so quick that she had almost missed it. within a second he had moved around the shield and appeared next to the fighting-type, landing a strong NEEDLE ARM. the impact sent the hitmonchan into a wall, but it recovered, though not nearly fast enough. lugh had already closed the distance by then, jabbing his spikes repeatedly, delivering multiple NEEDLE ARM attacks. swift, ferocious, it was a side of him she had never seen before. and he didn't stop.

in a feat of desperation, hitmonchan retaliated and threw an ICE PUNCH-COMET PUNCH combo, but its attacks only seemed to bounce off lugh's skin. she couldn't see through the sandstorm anymore, but if she could, she would have seen the sickening grin on his face as he delivered the final NEEDLE ARM to knock the hitmonchan out. it, too, sunk to the floor.

notes cacturne lv 58

finally, the sandstorm started to subside. she hadn't realized it, but she had endured through a variety of cuts and bruises, courtesy of the storm. along with the sandstorm, her levels of adrenaline sunk, too, which allowed realization to set in. she was in pain. her flashlight had long stopped working; she remembered it flickering during the fight. with little to no vision, she could only breathe as she tried to calm herself. she was in quite the predicament, and she wasn't sure how she'd get out of it.

she crawled along the floor until her back finally hit a wall. she leaned against it, letting her legs extend out as she assessed her injuries. a sharp pain emanated from her arms, but the pain was incomparable to the pain she felt in her chest. even though she had managed to bring her arms up to block the machoke, the majority of the damage still leaked through. she found it a struggle to breathe, but she knew she had to get moving. the sun was soon setting.

picking one pokeball off her waist, she pointed it at lugh, ready to recall him back. but before she could push the button, her eyes caught a glimpse of light. it slowly started to illuminate the cavern, and for seconds she stared, almost in a trance, until the sight of a running medicham snapped her out of it.

"lugh!"

cacturne remained still, too still, until it looked like it was too late to react. that was what she thought. but, when the medicham swung its fist, engulfed in flames, lugh reacted. his body shifted, almost phasing away as he delivered an incredibly swift SUCKER PUNCH. his fist connected, jamming right into the fighting-type's gut. it slumped, stance crumbling from the impact, but a quick REVERSAL attempted to create some distance.

taking the brunt of the impact, lugh remained on his feet, almost lifelessly. the impact didn't even seem to affect him, or if it did, he didn't show it. the fire burned out, dissipated as a final NEEDLE ARM knocked the medicham out.

this wasn't lugh. this was something else entirely, and she created it.

struggling to her feet, she used the wall behind her to help her up. she hesitated for a moment as she pointed the pokeball at him. sighing, a red stream of light engulfed the cacturne, fading him back into his pokeball. she stood still and processed what had just happened. she relived the scenes in her head, and at the end of it, she realized that he evolved because of her. she was in danger, and he needed to save her. he became strong, powerful, because of her.

and she liked it.

notes cacturne lv 60