One Good Move
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They hadn’t run far when Fox flew up and landed on Darren’s shoulders, where he reverted to Eevee form — drawing a gasp of surprise from the girl — and settled down to rest, draped with his forelegs on one side of Darren’s neck and his tail on the other. So far, no sound but their footsteps carried down the corridor, and Darren almost dared hope that they’d managed to shake his pursuer.
That would have been too much luck to hope for. Voices bounced off the stone-and-dirt walls of what seemed to be a natural passage, or possibly one left behind by a large Pokémon a long time ago. On his own, Darren was fairly sure he could have given them the slip. But he wasn’t on his own, and it would have been incredibly ungrateful of him to leave the girl to fend for herself even if he’d been otherwise inclined to.
The tunnel looked sturdy, and there was little in the way of loose rubble that he might have been able to use to slow pursuers down. But if there was no loose rubble…
“Run on ahead,” he told the girl, stopping and lifting Fox off his shoulders, setting the Eevee down on the ground. “I’ll catch up.”
“What are you—?”
“Just go.” He studied the walls, found something that looked like a crack or a seam in the stone. “I’m going to cause a cave-in. I’ll be fine, but I don’t want to risk any of you getting hit by a falling rock.”
“A cave-in? Are you crazy?!”
“Go!” As soon as the girl had turned and started off, Darren tapped one of the Pokéballs on his belt. “Starlit? Could you please give me a hand here, girl?”
No response. It was about the result he’d expected, but he’d still hoped for her cooperation. He’d have to trust in a move less suited to the task, then.
A spot between his antennae glowed for a few seconds, then the sparse light seemed to reflect off of a sheet of air curling around him into a substance-less sphere. Even the reflections were barely visible, but it didn’t matter; Darren knew there was a Safeguard barrier protecting him now. He didn’t know if it would be enough to keep him from getting buried by falling rocks, but then he wasn’t certain his Blissey’s Light Screen would have been any more useful.
The voices had come closer, and he forced himself to focus on that line in the wall, whatever it was. He could feel power building, itching under his skin, and clenched his left hand into a fist as best he could manage. He picked a spot along the crack which looked especially weak, and punched.
There was a loud crack, and he jumped back, absently marveling at how his hand didn’t hurt at all after punching a rock wall. The stone groaned, for a moment seeming like it would hold up despite the abuse.
A rock, maybe twice the size of his fist, clattered to the floor. It must have been functioning as a keystone, because with it gone, larger rocks tumbled after it. One of them bounced in his direction, and he didn’t notice it in time to move. The barrier he’d erected glowed briefly as the rock passed through it with only a slight change of direction.
That change was enough to allow him to keep standing, even if it hurt when the hunk of stone clipped his hip.
So that was how safe he was? The tunnel was already mostly blocked up and the mountain above still seemed to be shifting, but Darren didn’t stay to see how much better it’d get. Instead, he turned and ran, limping slightly, intending to catch up with at least Fox but in all likelihood also the girl.
At least Team Rocket had given him one thing of value. Knowing Rock Smash had certainly come in handy, no matter that their intent had been as far from altruistic as one could possibly get.
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