>>5600575>>5600582>>5600598"Alright, you mind if I borrow Checkers?" You ask.
"Huh, why?" Holly asks as you exit the cave.
"Because, we're going to need wood to make this cave properly safe and useable and Checkers knows Cut. Which will be considerably faster than me trying to cut down saplings with a hatchet." You reply, indicating the tool in question for emphasis. "In the meantime, I'd like you to help Syurm make some camouflage netting for the entrance."
Holly brightens.
"Yeah, I can do that." She says.
"Awesome."
You exchange poke balls, before you both explain the plan to your respective charges, before you head out into the forest to gather the saplings you need.
Surprisingly, this doesn't take long.
About fifteen minutes to the south of the cave, you find a small stand of saplings in a clearing that are about the right size for building the platform across the cavern and suring up the bigger cave.
You look around to see if there're any tenants of this clearing, but it seems pretty deserted.
You quickly release everyone and Checkers resumes teaching Cut, using the saplings as an object lesson and to your immense delight, everyone picks it up quickly, with Kay O-o being a particular standout and learning Slash into the bargain, the general technique being about the same.
You clean up the saplings and get them lashed into a bundle, which Kay O-o takes charge of, hauling the prepped logs back to camp, where you find Syurm and Holly hard at work prepping the camouflage for the entrance.
"Okay, take a break Checkers, you did good." You say as you lay the saplings out.
It doesn't take Syurm long to lash six of the saplings together into a frame, two acting as reinforcement for the four composing the main board, while you cut up a seventh to finish the ends and to make support struts for the middle of the chasm.
Actually setting them in place though, is a chore. One you wind up needing to enlist Latias for, so she can act as a platform for Kay O-o to stand on so he can use Rock Smash to make holes into which you drive the supports, wedging them in tight and packing the cracks full of debris and dust, before Holly has Whiskers use Water Gun to wet the make-shift cement and weld the cracks shut.
This accomplished, you set the board across the chasm and have Kay O-o walk across it to ensure it's stable.
It doesn't budge, so this accomplished, you venture through to the bigger cavern and take the measure of the height of the ceiling and the width of the roof.
Mathed out, you come to the conclusion that at minimum, to properly brace the big cavern the way Syurm indicated she wants to, you'd need another dozen saplings.
(Part 1)
