"Shhh-shhh-shhh—"
"Oh. It's that one."
There was movement coming from the small tunnel; Vance took a look and knew who was coming.
He held his breath, drew his presence in, and hid himself along with Zoroark.
A moment later an earth-yellow shape appeared in the tunnel, going in and out, watching for a long while before it finally put its head out.
The newcomer was a Sandslash, working its two claws and digging the tunnel forward.
Small as it was, it dug at a fair pace — a little faster than Zoroark, in fact.
No more than you would expect of something that lived by it, and was down here all the time.
The Sandslash line — you only had to hear the name to know that their digging had to be strong.
"Ssh-ssh. Safe. I can come out."
The Sandslash sprang out of its tunnel and into the one Zoroark had dug. It could not smell any lingering scent here, which meant the Pokémon that had dug it was long gone.
It could make use of that and cover some ground the easy way, and save itself the hard digging.
Scraping out holes was tiring work, even if it did it all the time.
"Oh. It's a Sandslash."
Out of nowhere, that sudden voice made the Sandslash jump.
There was a voice down here!!
Its fur stood up in fright. It looked towards the sound, and saw Vance — and Zoroark, changed back into its own shape.
"Ssh-yah—"
The Sandslash started, and made to run that very instant; Zoroark moved, closing the distance in a flash with its nimble body, and kicked it flying.
"Smack—"
With the sound of something landing, the Sandslash was sprawled in front of Vance, and, flat on the ground, it lifted its head and looked up at Vance, who seemed a giant to it.
What had it done to deserve this. What was the matter with it today, running into this human twice over.
The first time it had at least been able to run; this time it had been kicked straight back here.
It remembered quite clearly that this one had a very ferocious Aerodactyl. Could it be that he was taking it back to feed to that terrifying creature?
"Ooo-ooo, I don't want to be eaten."
The Sandslash cried out miserably, getting its word in first, chattering away.
"My meat isn't nice, it's all tough and hard......"
"Not nice at all, it would never take to it......"
Vance had not yet said a word, and this Sandslash had already rattled out a whole speech, before Vance could even react, and never mind whether he could understand it or not.
Its noise was such that he could not get a word in.
"Be quiet. One more word and I really will feed you to Aerodactyl."
"Oooo—"
At that threat the Sandslash did shut its mouth, and looked at Vance.
"I can understand everything you say. And you can understand me, I take it."
"I can, I can."
The Sandslash nodded over and over, answering in haste.
"Right. I called you over only to ask you something. Is there a giant Onix around here — the sort that's bigger than an ordinary Onix?"
Vance described it.
For finding Pokémon, there is nothing better than asking the natives.
"Onix, I've seen a few. The giant one you're talking about, I've never seen."
"Really? You're not lying to me?"
Vance looked at it, and there was an indefinable pressure in his eyes.
"Never seen it, truly never. If I had, I don't suppose I'd still be here."
The Sandslash pulled a woeful face, putting on an expression like a human's — which really is asking a great deal of a Pokémon.
Places as dangerous as that, what would it be doing there? It could not get out of their way fast enough, let alone go up to them. Did it think its life was too long?
It, Sandslash, valued its life above all things.
"There's something in what you say, at that. With strength as feeble as yours, if you really did run into that Onix your chances of coming out alive would certainly be small."
"Yes, yes, my strength is feeble, that's why I haven't seen it."
The Sandslash did not even take issue with being called feeble. Let him say it — it did it no harm, so long as he did not kill it.
"All right. Feeble you may be, but your digging looks good enough. You can open the way for me, then."
"Eh?"
"Is there a problem?"
Vance asked.
"No."
"Good. And as for where we're going — we're going to the places that feel dangerous to you."
"Ssh. Those places, even."
"Yes. Only in places like that is there any real chance of it. Are you coming or not?"
"Coming."
The Sandslash said it at once. If it did not come, the dangerous place would be the one right in front of it now.
So it had to grit its teeth and go.
"Right, off we go. And a word of advice: don't think about running. Do the work honestly for me and I'll let you go afterwards. If you've other ideas, don't blame me for what follows."
Vance threatened it, to keep the Sandslash honestly at work for him.
"Ssh—"
The Sandslash answered with a sound and began to dig — and say what you like, it dug at a good pace, and had taken Vance's size into account as well, making the tunnel a good deal larger.
It, Sandslash, had had the worst luck imaginable today. Seized as a labourer now, and unable to resist, so work it must.
It only hoped this human was as good as his word.
"This Sandslash is rather entertaining. Not so vicious as all that."
Behind it, Vance said it with a quiet laugh, and then looked over at Zoroark.
"This saves troubling you, at least."
"Oo-oo—"
Zoroark narrowed its eyes. If it did not have to burrow through soil it would rather not; the feel of digging, that smell pressing in at your face, was not pleasant.
But things were better now: with the Sandslash here as the labourer, it could manage without.
Zoroark was thoroughly satisfied, and followed on behind, watching the Sandslash work and talking to it as it went.
"Oo-oo—"
"Ssh-ssh—"
Zoroark indicated that the tunnel should be wider — it was not big enough, the Trainer would be uncomfortable, so it should widen it.
The Sandslash had no choice but to put its back into it and dig larger, which was already several times the work it would have done.
On its own it could have gone zip-zip and been done; now it had to take this human into account, and, worse, there was a supervisor as well, pointing at it and telling it what to do.
This made it, Sandslash, very angry indeed!
And so, in a state of extreme fury, it was furious for a moment.
And then went on digging with all its might.
Its miserable life came first. It, Sandslash, meant to live.
That black, fierce-looking Pokémon — the Sandslash could only curse it a few times in its heart, and then carry on.
Behind them Vance smiled. This Sandslash really was entertaining — it actually knew how to swallow its pride, and there was a good deal going on in its head.