Prologue - Ruins beneath Sinnoh
Ah, yes, this was definitely one of those moments where one would typically suspire: "Fuck."
Young, naive, adventurous, it's the ideal traits for a protagonist. While young he may be, he's neither of the latter - that's a fact. Which begs the question of how he managed to get encumbered with boulders within 5 mere minutes of entering Oreburgh Mine. The whole situation was a joke to his character really. While not afraid, he always approached with his surroundings in mind and pretended to think one step ahead (had he actually done so, perhaps he'd already be back at the Pokémon Center, and you would never be reading this. Go figure.)
Despite reading the manual included with the Miner's kit he had just purchased from the Pokémart, and drilling into his conscience not to hammer the weak spots on the wall, he'd decided to challenge the limits of stupidity. In his defense, however, the wall looked pretty sturdy from his point of view. Nevertheless, he hammered away, shattering the complex network of rocks and gems that kept the wall together within that corridor of the mine. As boulders and gravel descended upon him, the only course of action left to take is to take refuge in whatever way possible. The entrance was too far away to reach due to the speed the ceiling was also collapsing at, and he had no Pokémon that would be able to help him out. Perks of being a shut-in, top percentage procrastinator. Countless times had he the chance to obtain his first Pokémon – most notably when Professor Oak visited from the Kanto region on his research trip –, countless times had he ignored it.
As he approached a nearby large rock to lean on for cover, he noticed an oddly shaped, brownish plate resembling a shell falling along with the rocks. While he likely knew what it was, the situation at hand did not let him shift much focus toward it.
Suddenly, a muscular, short silhouette appeared from the left side of the furthest corridor connecting with his. It seemed to be running, but as it reached the cross which connected both corridors, it paused and turned to face him. It leaned forward and stood up on the tip of its left foot in an attempt to gain a better view of the corridor. It seemed to notice him, and approached hurriedly, with one arm over its forehead attempting to diminish the rubble hitting its face. He soon realized this figure was actually a Machoke.
"Choke! Maaaa-machoke!" it desperately called while pointing backwards with its index finger.
"Thank you, Machoke. Please, break of the boulders that fall in front of us!" he begged with his raspy voice.
"Choke!" it replied, as it nodded in agreement.
As he got up to follow Machoke out of the mine, he quickly reached for the plate-like rock he had noticed earlier, wrapped it around his chest with both arms, and ran. Turn left! Turn right! Dodge! Duck! So hurriedly they sprinted that only simple instructions occupied his mind. Machoke swung his hand in a rigid stance left and right, breaking boulders with his Karate Chop. This was no joke, not even for Machoke. If they didn't reach the entrance of the cave before the entire mine potentially collapsed on them, they could possibly be trapped between boulders for a little while. A little while being, if lucky, a few weeks. Which also begs the question as to how a lean 17-year-old who's never held a tool in his hand was allowed to go into a mine unsupervised, and how could anyone actually work down there if the entire network of tunnels could collapse with a wrong swing of a pickaxe.
Regardless, they were already climbing the leading stairs as the light began to reach his eyes from the entrance. As the rumbling stopped, and the ceiling stopped crumbling, they also stopped in response. As they both sighed and caught their breath, they exchanged eye contact, and after a short pause smiled and giggled.
"Thank you for your help Machoke. I think I can handle myself from here."
"Ma, ma-choke!" it replied as it turned away and walked out of the cave.
It's moments like these when one is grateful for having Pokémon like Machoke working nearby. While the mine was fairly quiet that night, some have to take care of the work done at that time of the day in order to maintain productivity. The town was surely awake by now, however. It's also moments like these when one wonders "What if…?" For all he knows he might have never made it past the first corridor. As he looked down and extended his arms to look at the rock he carried with him, he confirmed his suspicion that it was indeed a Pokémon Fossil.
A few police bikes pulled over, and as the agents got off with their accompanying Growlithe, he walked out to face the commotion he had just caused. The intense light of the work-lamps of the mine greeted him, along with the smaller ones of the flashlights of the police officers.
"Don't move! Stand still and wait for us to approach!"
As he relievedly waited for the police officers to give him clearance to move, he slowly realized they weren't protecting him. They approached carefully with their Growlithe, and as they surrounded him, he sighed. As the fossil was taken from him, and his hands cuffed behind his back, he let out a small grunt:
"Fuck."