"Be good now. You can go play with sis Lapras after you finish your milk." Mark held a baby bottle, speaking gently as he coaxed the little one in his arms.
Togepi stopped its ineffective struggling and reluctantly bit down on the bottle, drinking in big gulps.
After drinking, Mark placed Togepi on the ground and let it toddle clumsily to the poolside to find Lapras.
Seeing Togepi running over, Lapras reluctantly ended its relaxing break, gently nudging it up onto its head, then bowing slightly to let it slide down from the back of its neck.
Togepi was overjoyed, going again and again as if it never got tired of it.
Contrary to expectations, Togepi was far more lively and energetic than imagined. Every day it clung to Lapras and Arbok, begging them to play.
Arbok had long since fled in fear. Only the gentle and patient Lapras managed to endure, helping Mark shoulder a good part of the burden of raising a baby.
"Mark, are you ready? We're heading out," Joseph's voice called from outside the door.
"Coming, coming!" Mark responded as he slipped on his coat and went to open the door.
The moment Joseph walked into the room, he caught Togepi's attention. Without hesitation, Togepi abandoned Lapras, who had played with it all morning, and ran happily toward Joseph.
Behind it, Lapras secretly let out a long sigh of relief and flopped lazily back down.
Raising a baby wasn't easy... you had to keep an eye on Togepi constantly, always afraid it might bump into something or get hurt.
"Togepi, did you miss me?" Joseph asked as he picked it up.
Togepi nuzzled affectionately against Joseph. Aside from Mark, its favorite person was Joseph. Well, maybe also sis Lapras.
After all, Togepi's life had been saved by Mark and Joseph working together. It was naturally close to the two of them.
"We're heading out soon. The others asked me to come check on you," Joseph said after playing with Togepi for a moment and turning to Mark.
"I'm good to go. Togepi just ate and drank its fill. I'll let it nap in its Poké Ball for now."
As Mark spoke, he returned both Lapras and Togepi to their Poké Balls. At that moment, Arbok suddenly slithered out from who-knows-where and silently followed at Mark's side.
"Are we still taking that same fork today? Think we'll find anything?" Joseph asked as they walked.
"I don't know. I don't feel anything special," Mark said. His so-called intuition was more like a spur-of-the-moment impulse. Once he felt it -whether good or bad- something was bound to happen.
But sometimes that feeling could be easily affected by Mark's own desires. After all, he was the impulsive type who liked to stir things up.
Once the four regrouped, they resumed their exploration of the Seafloor Cavern. Since the previous paths had already been explored, they mounted their Pokémon and quickly moved forward.
As before, Skarmory carried Joseph and Mark, Steven rode atop Metagross, and Sato atop Sharpedo.
Until the Murkrow Sato had left behind was retrieved, Sharpedo would be acting as his flying Pokémon for quite a while.
When they reached the same underground lake fork as before, the group switched to walking and continued deeper down the other path.
This time, they didn't walk far. Seafloor Cavern suddenly opened up into a vast underground space.
Inside the space, there was a sapphire-blue lake and lush green forest.
Above the dome, a gentle, warm light shone through a massive V-shaped crack.
By the lakeshore, swarms of Anorith lay lazily, undisturbed and peaceful. Occasionally, a Lileep or Cradily would emerge from the shore, also showing no signs of hostility.
In the "sky" above, flocks of beautiful Altaria cried out as they flew into the distance. On the other side, several Flygon appeared, frolicking and chasing each other as if no one else was around.
Zigzagoon, Poochyena, Wurmple... these Pokémon could be seen everywhere. Even rarer Pokémon like Spoink, Kecleon, and Tropius weren't uncommon here.
This was supposed to be the Seafloor Cavern!
If they hadn't just spent over thirty hours underwater, the group might have thought they had slipped through time and space.
No one knew why this enormous dome allowed light to pass through, and the density of Pokémon here was incredibly high. Even natural enemies were living together in harmony.
"Did you notice? They don't seem to care that we're here," Sato was the first to break the silence, frowning as he spoke.
"Yeah! And another thing. The cave we came through was full of battles... so why is it so unusually peaceful here?" Steven had noticed it too, his expression serious.
"Is this an illusion? I just saw a Seviper working with three Zangoose to pick berries!" Mark pointed toward a berry grove in disbelief.
"Be careful," Joseph whispered a warning, quietly gripping a Poké Ball in his hand.
The four exchanged glances, then slowly approached the lake. There were several Lotad busy doing something near the shore, so they decided to test the reaction.
As they got closer, they saw the Lotad were transporting water to the berry trees.
Even when the four were within half a meter, the Lotad didn't react at all.
"Are they just too dumb?" Mark curiously stepped forward and grabbed the lilypad on one Lotad's head, lifting the whole thing up.
Mark and the Lotad stared wide-eyed at each other.
Lotad blinked its small eyes. Its six little legs twitched instinctively, then it suddenly realized.
It wasn't on the ground anymore.
Suddenly, Lotad let out a thunderous roar, scaring Mark so badly that he flung it away on reflex. Unfortunately, it landed head-first, legs flailing in the air, unable to get up.
Snapping back to his senses, Mark instinctively moved to flip the Lotad back over.
But the next moment, he suddenly felt a hand grab his shoulder and yank him backward through the air.
Before Mark could say a word, he looked up... only to see a barrage of moves flying straight at him!
Through the green shield of Protect, Mark experienced firsthand what it felt like to be at the center of an explosion. The flames bursting outward were blindingly vivid.
When the light of the explosion faded, Mark had been pulled back to the entrance.
Sato and Steven were now standing in front of him, with Metagross and Zoroark at the front of the group.
Mark also saw that Sato had a Poké Ball in each hand, ready to throw. Steven, too, had two Poké Balls prepared.
Looking past the two, Mark saw the Pokémon within the space charging toward them. The look in their eyes...
Was anything but friendly!