The Secrets of the Ruins of Alph
Chapter 1
The boy grinned as he walked through Violet City with a Poké Ball in his hand. The day before, he'd gone to New Bark Town to deliver a package to Professor Elm for Falkner, the Violet City gym leader. When he arrived, Elm was surprised to learn the brown-haired boy with yellow eyes, Topaz, had no Pokémon of his own. "I'm very glad to receive this package," he had said, "But there are very many wild Pokémon between here and Violet City." Holding out a Poké Ball to him, the professor continued, "Take this Pokémon as a thank you gift." Topaz knew that he had rare Pokémon for starters, so he tried to decline the offer.
"I can just take a Pidgey or Rattata instead," he had argued. "That isn't necessary." Elm set the ball on the table with a thoughtful look on his face. Finally he smiled and held out the ball again.
"Ah, but I need you to run an errand," he replied with a sneaky gleam in his eyes. "An old friend of mine, Professor Pine, has been doing some research at the Ruins of Alph. I want to know what he's learned, but I don't have time to visit, and he doesn't have time to write letters to me. Since you have no Pokémon, take this one as a reward 'in advance'." And so the usually shy professor finally convinced Topaz to take his last rare Pokémon. That night he reached Cherrygrove City after it was dark, and spent the night at the Pokémon Center with his new partner, Totodile.
Now it was noon, so Topaz planned to go the Ruins of Alph the next day to have time to take care of last minute details. His schedule was already planned in his mind. First go see Falkner to tell him he did the errand, and possibly about Totodile. Next buy supplies at the Pokémart, which was usually pretty decent in price, considering his friend's family owned the place, or at least the one in Violet City. Then train at either Sprout Tower or the nearby routes, depending on where Totodile had an easier time. He didn't attend the Trainer School for nothing. He knew Grass types had an advantage over Water types, such as Bellsprout versus Totodile. And Sprout Tower was dedicated to Bellsprouts. Anyways, finally he'd go home and sleep. But right now he needed to head over to the Gym to see Falkner.
"Hey, Topaz!" someone called when Topaz was passing the Pokémon Center. The boy turned in shock to see Falkner standing several yards away cradling an unconscious Pidgeotto in his arms, embarrassed. "Can you help me out? The Poké Ball broke when an Elekid came over and lost control of its power." Pausing, he added, "Oh, and tell everyone the Gym's closed for some… minor repairs." The two laughed nervously, and Topaz ran over to the Pokémon Center to hold open the door for Falkner. "Thanks. By the way, did Professor Elm like the gift?"
"Yeah," he replied honestly, and told Falkner about the Totodile. "I'm doing an errand for him at the Ruins of Alph tomorrow. Anything I should take?" Falkner was thoughtful as they walked to the counter to give the Nurse his injured Pidgeotto. Ever since he began training, he'd pass the entrance every day, yet he had never gone inside. The place gave off this mysterious mood, making him curious and scared at the same time. From what he'd heard, there were cave-like buildings with weird patterns on the walls inside. Finally he shrugged.
"Just go there with a lot of potions and medicine," he suggested. "And maybe a few Poké Balls, in case you see a Pokémon you want." What am I saying? he asked himself. I've never been there, so how should I know if there are any wild Pokémon or not!? But rather than change his wording as they walked to a small waiting area, the next words out of his mouth were, "Can I see your Totodile?" Topaz smiled as he took out the red and white ball from the pocket of his bag, and pressed the white button in the center of the black band separating the two colors. A beam of red light shot out to form a blue reptile with a row of red spike-like spines down its back and a tan chest. It opened its long mouth to yawn, revealing rows of sharp teeth in the powerful jaws. It then tilted its head at the two-legged creature with blue fur on his head that almost covered one eye. "Wow, Topaz, your Totodile sure looks cool."
"Thanks, Falkner," Topaz said proudly. Totodile turned to his partner, "Topaz", with a curious look. He missed the shy human who wore the long white coat and glass on his eyes and short brown head-fur. This boy was very different, the night before he seemed nervous. It didn't make sense why he was stuck with him. He didn't nibble on furniture even though he really wanted to, he did everything he was told, he even didn't overreact when the shy human accidentally hit him that one time. "Well, we better get going. See ya, Falkner!"
"Later!" Falkner smiled as the rookie left with his new Pokémon. It was just like when he got his first Pidgey, who was now a Pidgeot, not to mention this Pidgeotto's mate. He remembered when they first met, when the Trainer School visited the gym on a field trip. From the start, something seemed special about that one boy who hung back while his classmates looked at the many birds there, staring at the challenger preparing to battle Falkner. It wasn't like the boy seemed like he'd be the next champion, or even an amazing trainer. Whatever felt different was as mysterious as the Ruins of Alph, so Falkner decided to find out by becoming friends with him. Now he had his own Pokémon to take to the Ruins of Alph, the place he'd first compared Topaz to.
Meanwhile, a girl with violet hair stared at the dark walls intently. Beside her, a small creature with charred-black fur on its back and a pale golden-beige underbody sat patiently. Its eyes were closed while the red holes on its back gave off heat. "Okay, Tinpo, you read?" the girl asked, not taking her eyes off the wall. The Cyndaquil nodded as it began to burn a fire on its back, filling the chamber with dim light. Tinpo watched his master silently as she began looked closely at the many symbols on the walls, doing his best to keep the small inferno on his back burning. Finally she turned her head to look at him with a smile, her dark violet-blue eyes gleaming as the fire reflected in them. "Thanks, I got what I needed." The small creature stopped providing energy and let the flames die as he followed his master out of the chamber and into the light. Now it was dark outside, and stars dotted the night sky. A small rowboat was in the sand by a short channel of water, waiting for them to return.
"Cynda," Tinpo whimpered, afraid of the water as his master climbed into the boat. The girl turned to him and held out her hands for him to climb on, smiling. She looked so beautiful in the boat, with the moon outlining the shape of her head. Even if the water was scary, she'd protect him from danger like she always did, so he hopped onto her outstretched hands.
"We better get going, before dad gets worried," the girl sighed as she pushed the boat away from the shore. Seeing the curious look on Tinpo's face, she began to imitate her father. "Amethyst, you need to stop being out so late! Really, it's just dangerous for a girl of your age to be outside in some old ruins! I don't care if you have a Pokémon, I should just set a curfew for you!" By now they had almost finished crossing the channel, and were approaching a house resting on an island just ahead of them. In reality, the "island" was actually several logs that had fallen into the water arranged on top of an area of shallow water. A smile curled on her lips as she saw that the lights were on. This meant her father was inside working, which also meant he didn't notice how long she was gone. She was safe from the usual lectures tonight.
Topaz woke up the next morning as the sun shone through the window at his eyes. Like always, he sat up, but almost screamed in shock to see Totodile sleeping in his bed. Then he remembered yesterday and smiled in relief. Today they were going to the Ruins of Alph to find this Pine person and—suddenly he giggled, making Totodile open one eye. He'd never noticed before, but almost every Pokémon professor was named after a tree. Totodile suddenly sprayed a small bit of water on him for waking him up, so the trainer got up and began to prepare for his trip.
Later Topaz and Totodile stood in front of the entrance to the Ruins of Alph. It was a large gate building made of brick with wooden sliding doors. Four windows were by the door, revealing several scientists inside, and a sign saying "NO POKÉMON ALLOWED OUTSIDE THEIR POKÉ BALLS". "What happened to your Poké Ball?" Topaz muttered, and Totodile smiled to himself. At least he hadn't eaten it like he wanted to. "Hopefully they'll make an exception this time." With that, the pair walked inside the door and into a large area. Several researchers hardly looked up as they read books or used laptops. Only two or three said hi, but then they returned to their work. Behind a counter sat a man in a green guard uniform, who looked at them curiously.
"Don't you have a Poké Ball for your Totodile?" he asked, and Topaz shook his head. "Well, I'll let it slide this time. Some Pokémon don't like Poké Balls. Besides, that rule only applies to this building, so just go through and you'll be fine." The guard's calmness surprised him, but he went through the doors feeling thankful it wasn't worse. Upon stepping out the door, what he saw was different from what he expected. He'd expected several crumbling stone pillars surrounding the remnants of a few stone buildings with scorch marks on them. The scorch marks were probably from seeing the Violet City gym that morning, which still needed some repairs from that incident with the Elekid. But instead, there were several cave-like structures with holes-like doors. The only way he could tell that the "caves" were actually manmade was because there were cracks in some areas, while the holes were too square to be natural.
"Watch out!" Suddenly a bright flash of light shot past them, making Topaz lose his balance and fall while a girl ran by him. "Come back here Tinpo!" The Cyndaquil ignored her, making her angry. But Totodile didn't like seeing Topaz on the ground with a dizzy look on his face, and chased after Tinpo. Before anyone could react, he shot water from his mouth at the fire type Pokémon, making him halt to a stop in pain. The girl clucked her tongue as she ran over. "Tinpo, you need to stop getting into trouble, or else this might happen again." She turned to Topaz with an apologetic look on her face. "I'm so sorry. We were by the river when a Magikarp splashed water onto him, and he really, really hates water. By the way, my name is Amethyst."
"I'm Topaz," the boy replied as he tried to get up, but he was still dizzy and fell again. Amethyst giggled at this as she helped him stand up. "I'm here on an errand for Professor Elm. He wants me to find someone." Totodile glared at Tinpo as the two talked, but the Cyndaquil began to make motions. He pointed to the river and shuddered, began to run in place, pointed at Topaz and Amethyst, pretended to fall, acted like he had when he was hit by water, and finally frowned sadly while looking at his feet. Totodile looked sad now too, patting Tinpo's back in a comforting way. "…So, your dad's researching the Ruins of Alph too?"
"Yep," Amethyst replied proudly. "He wanted to do some research on the Ruins, but when he does research he really gets into it, so we moved here. Tinpo and I help out all the time. Dad almost never looks at his messages because he works so hard. I'll usually stay out late at night, but Tinpo really hates water, and we're staying in a house on the lake." She motioned to the big channel of sparkling water she'd come from with a rowboat in it. "Dad loves having peace and quiet in the house, so I usually take Tinpo to the ruins so he doesn't whine all night."
"Tota!" Totodile snickered, making the Cyndaquil angry. Suddenly Totodile was covered in scorch marks as he was shrouded in flames. Amethyst and Topaz turned around to see their two partners staring at them. One had an innocent look on his face; the other had annoyance.
"Good thing Totodile is a water type," Amethyst finally said, "Or he'd be toast."