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They pushed on, opening the door in front of them only to be confronted by yet more stairs leading down into the earth. No one looked happy when they saw that they had to travel deeper into the bowels of this infernal place. They all heard the sounds of pickaxes striking a hard surface, most likely rock. It was obvious someone was down there, but who it was, no one could know until they went down there.

Janus looked back at everyone. "I guess we're going down there, right? I mean what's the worst that could happen? Not like we could get horribly mangled." He said that last part quietly. That mutilated human made him think twice before proceeding down what looked to be a deep dark stairway straight into hell.

Robin knew that mutilated man must've shaken everyone up a little, so he took this moment to ask everyone a very important question. "Does anyone here want to turn back? It's not too late head back home."

"To what home?" Hilda replied before then looking down to the stairway. She had no home, and no choice but to take every high risk, high reward opportunity she could take. By now, she knew the risks. She knew that if she fell here, then a fate much worse than death awaited her. However, the thought of never having to go through anything like this again pushed her, and motivated her to keep on going.

Thea took a deep breath before stepping forwards, entering the stairway with her torch in hand. "There could be more poor souls down there that need our help." She told them all, thinking this must all be some sort of test of faith. If that was the case, she had to keep going. "And my temple will not repair itself."

Janus shrugged, guessing that if they were all going down there, then so was he. Out of all of them, he had the least to lose by backing out of this expedition. He had a pretty comfortable life as a hunter, he only joined because he liked the sound of swimming in a pile of gold. "Let's go!" He said as he put on a brave face, and closely followed Thea.

Robin smiled as he watched Hilda following the Blaziken. He was glad that they were all ready to stand together and fight. The gallade guarded the rear of the group as they all walked down the cold hard stone stairs. As they walked, a question remained in his head, unanswered. "What caused that gust of wind?" He thought aloud.

"That mutilated guy?" Janus guessed.

Thea had an entirely different guess. "There may be another way in or out of this place, maybe what we felt was wind blowing down that other passage."

Hilda shook her head, disagreeing with that theory completely. "We're deep underground, it would have to be a massive opening and a massive gust of wind to reach us all the way down here." She told them as she pushed on.

Whilst they proceeded to walk down the cold hard stone stairs, everyone began to notice a strange sound. It sounded like running water, like a river. Janus was the first to point it out. "Does anyone else hear that?" He asked everyone.

Hilda looked happy to hear the sound of running water. "Must be an active stream or river down here. If we are lucky, the miners guild might have mined directly into a sea cave. Might also explain the strong gust of wind if the cave is big enough." If there was indeed a sea cave at the bottom of this stairway, then that meant there was another way out of this place, if one could swim against the waves or make some kind of raft.

Janus smirked as he once again tried to get under her skin. "I guess hiding in a cave all your life does teach you something."

"I wasn't fucking hiding, anus. I was born in the caves. What shit pile rejected you?" Hilda angrily spat back as she just stared forwards with an angry expression on her face. She wished that he would just shut up for once.

Thea remained quiet as she looked forwards, seeing the bottom of the stairway. A dark red sinister glow illuminated the other end of the stairway, making her think twice about pressing on. As they all walked towards the bottom of the stairs, they all went dead silent, and prepared themselves for the next monstrosity they were about to face. All they could hear now was the sound of water, and their own footsteps. The sound of a pickaxe striking the cold hard stone had stopped. Perhaps whoever was mining had found what they were looking for, or maybe they knew that they were not alone. Whatever the reason, it didn't matter now as Thea reached the end of the stairs, and looked around the massive seemingly naturally formed cave. It was absolutely huge, the floor looked as if it was made from the natural rock of the cave, although it was clearly chiseled to make it easier to walk on without slipping. About twenty foot in front of her, there was a large red river, but the river only looked red because of the hundreds of thousands of glow worms clinging to the walls and ceilings. The glow worms emanated bright red light, giving the entire room a very diabolic look. In that river was a bunch of small boats, all held in place by ropes tied to nearby stalagmites. They each looked big enough to hold up to six people.

Janus looked stunned as he gazed up at the ceiling, watching the many glow worms moving around. It was almost like the ceiling was made of lava. "Is anyone else creeped out by the glowing red light?" He asked.

Hilda rolled her eyes. "A little red light bothers you? I was more creeped out by the big fucking scolipede."

Robin walked towards the boats, and looked down the river, seeing that more glow worms seemed to light the dark passage up. He had to admit, the red light was unsettling him. It was like they were crawling around in the very bowels of hell. After what he saw, it wouldn't be much of a stretch to call this place exactly that. "They must've dug into a natural underground river cave and made it part of the basement... I wonder when this place was built."

Hilda looked around, maybe there was something of use to be found here. She walked over to the wall, her foot accidentally brushing against something on the floor, making a scraping sound. She quickly looked down to find a two handed pickaxe. As she looked down to it, she remembered that she heard the sound of someone mining not too long ago. If they were using this pickaxe, then where did they go? Perhaps they took a boat. Either way, she didn't think it was too important to tell everyone her thoughts on a lone pickaxe. "Better find something good at the end of all this..."

Thea was unsettled by this entire place, especially by this room. She tried calming herself by taking deep breaths, and hoping to Arceus that everyone makes it out of this journey alive. She then gazed over at the dwarf, who had given her a fair fright. She knew that the dwarf had a fiery temper, but Thea believed in forgiveness. Maybe there was a reason for her to be angry. Maybe if Hilda told her about her past, then maybe she would understand. She decided to walk on over, and speak to her. "How are you feeling?" She asked.

Hilda looked back into Thea eyes, wondering why she was even speaking to her again. But still, she decided to answer her question. "If my heart beats any faster, it will destroy itself... In every fucking corner of this place, I don't know what to expect. I am down here with a bunch of people I don't even really know or trust, all for the promise of gold that might not exist! I feel like I have made a stupid fucking mistake, but I have came this far... I don't want to turn back just in case there is gold somewhere in this fucking demonic cunt of a cave."

Thea was surprised to hear that Hilda's heart was thumping away too. She was beginning to think that it was just her that felt this way. "I feel like I have made a mistake too. But then I think about the man that we saw, the mutilated one you gave a quick death to... That kind of suffering is unimaginable. So I have two reasons to carry on. For the gold to repair the church, and to end the suffering of any other unfortunate souls."

"Are you really going to spend your share in a church?" Hilda questioned her. She knew that it wasn't any of her business as to what Thea spends her share on, but it did bother her to think that she was going to spend it on a church. In her mind, that was as good as throwing gold away.

"Yes, I am." Thea said with a smile on her face. "I have spent every coin I earn on the church since the day I joined, and I won't stop now."

"What a waste..." Hilda bluntly replied.

Thea frowned a little at her reply. "It isn't a waste, my share goes to something that means a lot to me." She strongly believed that her share was going to a good cause. She hoped that if she could get the gold to repair the church, perhaps more people would come and find faith in a world that seemed to be lacking in it these days.

Hilda guessed maybe she shouldn't be too hard on the monk. She hadn't seen the world in quite the same way she has. She still had hope in making the world a better place. Hilda however had a different view of the world. She thought it was full of bitterness, blood, and hate. She rarely saw anything but that. As much as she thought that the monk might be a good person, her soft attitude annoyed her. Her religion annoyed her. Nearly everything about her, annoyed her. "Why are you so damn determined to get gold for your church? Does your god need a church? If so, why the fuck doesn't he build one himself? That gold is better off spent on food, and homes for the poor idiots that believe in some god that doesn't exist."

"Gold doesn't buy hope. Gold won't bring enlightenment for those looking for answers. Arceus may not need a church, but people like me need it just as much as food and water." Thea told her, hoping that the dwarf would understand. "The church brings hope to those who have none. It gives some a chance to start over. Maybe you would like to-"

"To what?!" Hilda angrily spat back. "To pretend that I haven't done disgusting things just to stay alive!? To forget about all the shit I have been through?! I can't just start over, not after everything I have seen and done. Don't try and convert me, because I spit on any god that made this hateful bitch of a world. Your god sure as fucking shit didn't give a single fuck about anyone I cared about. Why the fuck should I pray to a god that does fucking nothing?"

Thea was expecting a reaction like this. It was almost like the dwarf was trying to find a reason to argue. Maybe it made her feel better about herself. Or maybe she just had a thing against religion. Thea had no way to know for sure, but she was going to try patch things up between them. "You have a lot of hate in you, but I am not your enemy, Hilda." She reminded her. "We can't turn on each other in a place like this."

Hilda knew she was right, it was best not to turn on her. Who knows, perhaps one day, the monk might save her life. Or Hilda might save her's. "I know you're not my enemy, but you just annoy me..." She told her. She had her reasons for being angry, but she didn't feel like telling her those reasons. She preferred to keep those reasons buried away deep inside herself.

Thea actually felt hurt that Hilda said that. "Is this about the ring?" She asked her, just wanting to get everything out in the open.

"Yes, it is about the ring. It is about the way you look at me. It is about how you think you're so fucking better than me because I choose to kill, to survive. Well fuck you if you don't like the way I live. You annoy me more than Janus... I know that cunt intentionally does it, but you don't. That just makes it even more annoying." Hilda firmly said to her, wanting the monk to know exactly what was getting underneath her skin and pissing her off.

Thea shook her head, she couldn't believe what she was hearing. "I cannot help it if I disapprove, that is just the way I feel. But I do not think I am better than you. I am far from perfect, believe me. My past is part if the reason I turned to the church." The alakazam then turned her gaze down to the ground, before then forcing herself to look straight into the dwarf's eyes. "Sorry, I know you won't want to hear my story anyway."

Hilda looked right back into her eyes as she let out a sigh. There was a little bit of curiosity in her that had to be satisfied. She wanted to know what would drive someone to become a monk. But at the same time, she was just so irritated right now, she didn't really feel like talking. There was a long pause before she started talking again. "Maybe some other time..."

Thea didn't understand, she wasn't like this before coming to this place. Maybe the heat of the battles had gotten to her. Maybe it was the stress of delving into a place with such a seemingly horrific history. Or maybe it was a mix of both. Either way, she knew her attempt to calm her had backfired. "I will leave you alone..." Thea said as she walked back over to the others.

"Good." Was all Hilda had to say as she watched her walk away. She was not in the best of moods right now.

Janus gazed down at the small boat as he sighed. "So, are we getting in this thing?" He asked, hoping that the answer was no.

Robin nodded. This was the only way forward, so they had no other choice. Not if they wanted to find the gold the mutilated man spoke of. "If this is the only way to proceed forwards, then it looks like this is our only option. Who wants to row it?" He asked.

Seeing as he guessed he had the most experience rowing one, Janus decided to get in, and grab the handles of the wooden paddles. "Come on, all aboard before I leave you all behind!"

Robin decided to get in right at the front of the boat, while Thea decided to get in right at the back. Meanwhile, Hilda pulled the ropes off the stalagmites before quickly hopping into the boat.

"Whoa, you know this boat can only take so much weight." Janus said to Hilda with a smirk.

Hilda was not in the mood for anyone's shit right now, so she replied harshly. "Shut your cunt mouth, and row the damn boat." She replied as she sat down just behind Robin. Maybe this place really was stressing her out a little too much, but the monk judging her actions, and the blaziken pushing her buttons just wasn't helping. She knew that Thea was trying to do the right thing, and maybe she was a little to harsh on her. But it was too late to take back what she said.

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Author's note: Hitching a ride on a boat that may, or may not be older than a hundred years old. What could go wrong?! Heh, just wanted to say again thank you to all the readers out there for even viewing my story. :) And thank you to my editor BigBossSonic once again, as well as Zarfy!