You and Grim sit on Koraidon's back as the Pokémon strides deeper into the cave. Moonstone sits on Koraidon's head, ready to use Reflect at a moment's notice as you go deeper into the cave.

From the faint light from the Umbreon's rings, the gems around you glitter. It's a pretty sight, though slightly creepy.

Grim shrinks back towards you, looking nervous. "Human... are you sure about this?"

You nod with a strained smile. "Yep."

Grim sighs a bit. "Myah... let's get this over with."

Your small groups go deeper into the mine, until you hear the mutterings of the monster. Everyone (except your ears, as they can't really do that) ears perk up. Even Ko's antennas perk up.

You sit up on Koraidon, Grim climbing up onto your shoulders, and Moonstone hops up and stands, readying herself. You take a breath, readying yourself for this as well.

"H- hey, monster! I'm- uh- I- I'm over here!" Grim calls out, waving his paws in the air.

The monster whips towards the voice, ink pouring from the cracks in it's vial-esc head. "Grrraaaawwrrr! BEGOOOOOONE!"

You narrow your eyes and wave a hand. "Right over here, monster! I'm here to steal your gems!" Your voice is sing-song and loud, and you're fairly certain Deuce and Ace can hear it at the moment.

"Grrrurgh? Thieeef thiiisss waaayy toooooo?" Neeevvaaa giiiveee stooooneeesss! NEEEEEVVAAAAAA!" The monster roars as it rushes at you and your group.

Moonstone immediately uses Reflect to deflect the monster's blow as Koraidon spins around and starts running.

You lean forward a bit and remind Koraidon. "Remember, not too quickly. We need to keep the monster chasing after us..."

Koraidon makes a quick nod slows just slightly, allowing the creature to get slightly closer.

"MYAH! HUMAN, IT'S GETTING CLOSER!" Grim yowls a bit as he shrinks back to you.

"That's the plan!" You yell back with a grin.

"Begooooonnee! BEEEGGOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNEEEEEE!"

You bursts out of the cave, the monster a mere few paces behind you. It stays close as Koraidon gets further and futher from the cave, as it seems fixated on getting you and Grim and not realizing it's now out of the cave.

"We got 'em a good distance from the mine!" Grim cheerfully yells out.

You nod and raise a hand. "You three, now's our chance!"

"You bet!" Ace hops out from behind the tree, twirling his pen with a grin. "I got this! One extra-large gust of wind, comin' up!"

With a wave of his wand, a large gust of wind rushes at the monster and spins around it, trapping the being in a harsh vortex of wind. Grim smirks as he hops off your shoulder and darts to the monster.

"With a side of Grim's blazin'-hot fire! MYAAAAH!" He shot a large blue fireball at the tornado. It hit the wall of wind and got dragged in, spreading from the sudden influx of oxygen to form a fire tornado. From inside the firey wind, the monster let out a panicked shriek.

Ace lets out a mocking laugh. "How's that taste?! With my winds fanning them, even Grim's feeble flames can become an inferno!"

Grim gives Ace an indignant look. "Whaddya mean "feeble"!? Ya really don't know how to shut yer mouth, do ya?"

You shake your head. "Not right now, boys! Deuce, Chien-Pao, you're up!"

Deuce nods quickly and takes a deep breath. "Just stay calm, aim carefully, and pull out the biggest, heaviest thing I can think of... Get 'em, cauldron!" With a wave of Deuce's wand, a massive cauldron appears above the monster. Everyone looks up in time to watch as it falls and pins the monster to the floor wirh a heavy thud.

"Gwaaah..." The monster looks dizzy without a face, impressive...

Chien-Pao wastes no time darting forward and begining to furiously stab the monster over and over again. Everyone stares blankly at Chien-Pao just flat out stabbing the thing a few times in a single second, before you shake your head.

"We- we did it!" You grin and scoop up Moonstone, excitedly spinning her around. "We did it, we did it, we did it, we did it! Hehehe! Woooo!"

You giggle gleefully, feeling genuine thrill as you set down Moonstone gently and wave at the boys.

"C'mon! While it's down, let's get that Magestone!"

You grin and practically skip towards the cave entrance, amazed that your plan worked better than expected. Grim clambers up onto your shoulders and grins at you. "Nailed it! Look, human, the plan's workin'! That monster got squashed flat by the cauldron, just like Ace did!"

Ace grimaces at the memory as he follows behind you. "Could've done without the memory, thanks. This has been one drag after another."

"Guh!? Waaaiiit! Noooooo!" The monster roars out as it tries to grab at you, angrily squirming under the pot and from Chien-Pao's relentless attacks.

You don't hesitate to excitedly enter the cave, not worried about the ghosts now that the monster within has been quelled.

You don't pay any mind to the slightly flustered stares Deuce and Ace are giving you, both boys slightly confused by how cute you're being at the moment.

You go to where you saw the glittery thing, feeling slight amazement when you see the gem. It glitters in dozens of colors, mostly teal though, and emits light itself. It reminds you of the crystals in Area Zero or Terapagos, to be honest.

You gingerly pry it out and hold it in your hands, half-expecting it to poof into Terapagos like it did when Kieran pried the Pokémon from the rocks back at home. You turn around and hold out the stone to the boys with a large grin.

Ace lets out a low and impressed whistle, and Deuce grins. "That's it! That's a Magestone!"

"Doooon't tooouuch thaaaat!" You all walk out of the mine and look over to see the squirming monster, somehow unfazed it's been stabbed a few hundred times without stopping, having managed to get it's torso free from the cauldron.

Chien-Pao is still stabbing it by the way, and you half-debate telling them to stop, but you're to impressed too call them off at the moment. Anyways, they're having fun, what's the harm?

"Uh-oh!" Ace says with a frown as he nervously looks at the monster. "Looks like it almost wriggled free!"

"Hey, Deuce, ya gotta add more weight!" Grim leans over towards Deuce a bit, and Moonstone watches this from right in front of you casually, the Pokémon having followed you here and back. Koraidon stands off the the side, a dopey little grin on their face as they have no thoughts at the moment.

Deuce tilts his head. "Y- you mean add something heavier? Uh... I summon thee, cauldron!"

Another cauldron appears on top of the monsters torso, crushing it again.

"Nnnngaaah!" It roars out in pain.

"And also- uh- um- another cauldron!"

"Guuuuhhh!"

"And a cauldron on top of that! All the cauldrons!"

A miniature hill of cauldrons crush the monster. Ace shakes his head with a scoff. "Is that the only thing you know how to summon?"

Deuce shoots a glare at Ace. "Pipe down already! I'm worked up enough as is!"

You give Deuce a confused. "I personally would just like to know where you got all the cauldrons from?"

Deuce pauses as he stares down at the ground. "I... don't know."

The two of you shared horrified looks, realizing Deuce may have just stolen an entire supply of cauldrons, leaving some poor soul with no cauldrons at all.

Grim cheerfully throws his paws in the air in celebration, completely changing the tone. "We got the Magestone! Now let's get outta here!"

Ace nods. "Roger that."

"MY STOOOOONEEE!" The monster yells out as Chien-Pao does a final stab on the monster's head, and the vial shatters. The creature melts down into a pile of black goop as it seems to just die.

Oh great, add another to the body count of yours...

Grim hops off your shoulders and cautiously approaches the inky puddle, sniffing the air. "I think we... won? I think we did it!"

Deuce pumps a fist in the air. "Alright!"

Ace grins and cheers. "Woohoo!"

"Gimme a victory high-five! You two, dog-looking thing!" You smile and bend down to gently high-five Grim's extened paw as the cat runs back over to you, and Moonstone does so as well.

You smirk over at the boys as you stand back up. "Ah yes, shared adversity seems to brought us together well, hm?" The boys immediately stop cheering, and Deuce shakes his head at your statement.

"Uh... I don't think that had anything to do with it." Deuce says with a sheepish grin.

"Yeah." Ace waves a hand dismissively at your statement. "Spare us the clichés, Y/N."

Grim proudly puffs out his chest. "There's no "together" here! We won 'cause of me! This is all from me being a magical genius!"

You smile in amusement and gently ruffle the fur on top of Grim's head, gently scooping up him and Moonstone as you stroll back up to the boys.

Ace sheepishly rubs the back of his neck. "You know, I hate to admif it..." Ace gives you a sheepish sincere smile. "We mostly won because of your plan Y/N."

Duece nods in agreement and places a hand on your shoulder. "Yeah... if you hadn't managed to be all observant and tell us all what to do, we never would've gotten this Magestone! Now, I won't get expelled. And wow, is that a relief!"

You grin a bit. "Well, the plan wouldn't have worked if you guys didn't bother helping me execute it!"

"Yeah, yeah, lessons were learned, et cetera." Ace dismissed casually. "Can we just go home already? I'm wiped."

You nod and the group walks past the puddle to get on Koraidon and go home.

"Usuin' all this magic made me hungry!" Grim meows out, pausing as he notices something in the black puddle and moves over to it. "Huh, what's this?"

Grim picked up a small black gem, similar to ones in the mine, and held it in his paws. Deuce and you lean over to examine it.

"Is that a part of the monster we just beat? It looks like... a Magestone?" Deuce tilts his head inquisitively. "But it's black as coal! I've never seen one like that before."

Grim brings the dark gem to his nose and sniffs it a few times. "What is this? It smells amazing!"

Ace recoils in disgust, looking horrified. "Are you insane?"

"Must be some kinda monster candy that it was hidin' from us! If this tastes half as good as it smells..." Grim is literally drooling.

"Grim, no. Is there any reasonable way that the monster could have candy on it- GRIM NO!" You panic as Grim shoves the rock into his mouth. "SPIT THAT OUT! NOW!"

You pick up Grim and pry open his mouth, finding that he already swallowed the rock. You die internally as Grim yowls. Not because of you, but because he ate the gem.

"MYAAAAH!" Grim looks a bit dizzy as he shakes his head a bit.

"Are you okay?" Deuce asks in concern, peering at Grim in worry as he takes a step back.

"That's what you got for eating trash!" Ace shakes his head and looks annoyed.

"Ooooooogh... Urgggghhh... that..." Grim grimaces a bit before his eyes brighten. "That was amazing!"

"What?" You three ask in amazement, and even the composed Moonstone looks startled.

Grim closes his eyes, reminiscing about the flavor. "Rich in flavor and full-bodied... Like sweet, fragrant flowers burstin' into bloom on my tongue! A whole field of 'em! Right in my mouth!" You raise an eyebrow in concern at Grim casually and cheerfully describing the taste of a rock...

"Gross." Ace gags. "Monsters must have really weird tastes..."

Deuce places a hand on his chin. "You might be onto something there. Most humans don't take random stuff they find on the ground and just pop it into their mouths."

"You okay, pequeño gato de fuego?" You raise an eyebrow, crouching down in concern for the cat. You observe him, trying to find anything bad that may have happened. Grim only nods with a grin.

"Myahahaha! Man, that was great! Don't worry about me, I don't got a weak stomach like you humans do!"

You make a quiet sigh and Ace crosses his arms. "Hmph. We'll see if you're so smug when you're sick later tonight."

Deuce helps you stand up as you pick up Grim and hold him in your arms. "Okay, let's pull ourselves together!" The blue-haired boy says in a muffled sort of excitement. "We need to get the Magestone to the Headmage!"

You nod and look over to return Chien-Pao to their Pokéball, then pause when you realize they're still stabbing the inky puddle.

Oh... uh... you should stop them now, yeah.