Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Shiro says you should be careful with mushrooms because a lot of mushrooms are poisonous and it's hard to tell the difference between the poisonous ones and the ones that aren't poisonous," Andarien said in a tone sounded very much like Shiro when he was passing on his knowledge. "So if we see some in here we probably shouldn't touch them."

It was probably a bit cold for mushrooms to be growing anyways.

As they meandered deeper into the cave, they started to see some different things: crystals grew out of the floor, walls and ceiling, small at first but larger as they went deeper and deeper into the cave.

"It's very ... quiet in here," Andarien observed quietly. "It's weird."

"What kind of animals would live in caves like this?" Andarien asked curiously.

Aranxia stopped to examine a particularly large crystal, about as big around as she was, that was growing out of the floor like a stalagmite just off the center of the path. In its natural form it had a slightly fuzzy outer layer, and though she could see light through it, she couldn't see any colours or shapes. It was still pretty, though she couldn't help but wonder what it would look like if it was finished like other stones were.

"It also depends on what lives on the island in the first place," Aranxia noted. "That's something I hadn't asked about ... what animals do live here?"

Andarien shrugged. "I dunno."

Ponydash kept trotting forward, and since he was the source of light Andarien didn't quite get the chance he wanted to examine the crystals. Suddenly to the right there appeared a dark area that his flames could not light up.

"A side cave?" Aranxia mused, trying to peer into the new tunnel.

"Maybe we'll find out," Andarien grinned at Miyuki.

Ponydash continued down the main tunnel, but Eon stood at the mouth of the side tunnel, ears and tail erect, peering into the darkness. The blue rings on his body pulsated gently in the darkness, but they did not light up the smaller tunnel enough to see into it.

Aranxia gave the new tunnel one last look before rejoining the others.

"You didn't explore with your father the last time you were here?" she asked Miyuki curiously. "When he did his mapping, I mean?"

"Ah, I see," Aranxia smiled. "So aside from knowing the layout of the island, you really don't know anything about it."

As they progressed deeper, there seemed to be even more crystals growing out of the walls, floor and ceiling, but the path itself was growing wider so there was still plenty of room to go around. There was beginning to be a somewhat sulfuric smell, though, and Andarien pulled his shirt up over his nose to try to block it out a bit.

"Eon," he called, realizing suddenly that the pokemon wasn't quite with them. "Eon, where did you go?"

Eon appeared out of the darkness behind them, running up and taking his place at Andarien's side. Andarien sighed with relief.

"Don't do that, okay?" he chided his guardian gently. "I don't want to lose you."

Eon looked up at Andarien, then looked back over his shoulder as if he was still thinking about whatever he had been doing back there.

"Hm?" Andarien was distracted from Eon by Miyuki's question. "Oh ... uh ..."

He lowered his shirt and looked around, sniffing carefully to see if he could trace the smell. It took a few minutes, but eventually he was able to trace the scent to its source.

"This stuff," he murmured, running his finger along one of the crystals. The fuzzy coating came off on his finger, and he put it to his nose and sniffed it gingerly. "Ugh ... yeah. The crystals."

As he wiped his finger on his pants, Aranxia looked around and murmured, "I suppose it must not have smelled closer to the entrance of the cave because it gets fresh air there."

"Eggs gone bad," Aranxia suggested, wrinkling her nose distastefully. "By a month."

Something crunched beneath Andarien's foot, and he stepped back and knelt down to see what it was.

"Bones," he frowned. "Little ones ... and they looked burned ..."