Ch-3 No stone Unturned.
"Watch out!" I caught Alicia by the hand just as she was about to fall down the chasm. "Whew... that was close!" She appeared more nervous than scared for some reason. I pulled her back from the edge. "Pika pi!" Piku scolded her. "Sorry Piku! Won't happen again!" She smiled and patted Piku. "Guys, we need to be careful in here... we can't afford to walk around absent minded!" Chris chided as he walked up to us. "I'm sorry all of you! It's just... my mind was wandering... I promise it won't happen again!" Alicia looked at me expectantly. I understood what that expectant look from Alicia was... "All right then... let's get a move on! This place creeps me out..." I said, changing the subject. "Hmm.. Yes. I guess Zacks right... we should keep moving." Chris agreed and trudged forward. "Thanks!" Alicia whispered as soon as Chris was out of earshot. "You're welcome..." I smiled as she fell in to step beside me. "To be honest, this place does give me the creeps..." Alicia said out aloud after we'd walked quite a bit. "That's because it's dark right now... wait till you see the inner chambers!" Chris said from in front, hearing her. Alicia quickened her pace to catch up with Chris and started talking to him excitedly, leaving me alone with Piku. For some reason, that small gesture made me feel a bit angry towards Alicia... for the 1st time in the 9 years I've known her. I still hadn't gotten used to Chris travelling with us... maybe because we just met him yesterday... maybe because I have this feeling about him... I don't know. I went through what I'd heard about yesterday as I walked, Piku on my shoulder, Boulevard of broken dreams playing in my mind.
"Its not just big, it's confusing and dangerous..." Brock had said as he gave us directions to Cerulean city. I was sitting next to Alicia with Brock and Christopher opposite to us in the Pokemon Centres cafe. "It has chasms that you wouldn't see till it's too late, frequent landslides and so many tunnels that you would get lost very easily without someone who knows their way around the place..." he continued. Alicia seemed interested. If danger and adventure was involved... I wondered what was keeping her from running into right now. "I would help you out personally... but I have my Gym duties to fulfill... along with new orders from the league to not leave the city premises... I'm sorry.." He said, sounding disappointed in himself. "That's Okay..." I said. "We'll ask someone from the city to help us out..." I said, comforting Brock. He seemed to feel better at that. "Well... I've gotta get back to my gym.. wish you guys a good journey! Bye!" Brock said and got up. "And Zack?" "Yeah?" I asked "Don't forget what I told you!" He said and walked out of the cafe, winking at Nurse Joy as he went. "What did he mean?" Alicia asked. "I'll tell you later..." I promised. "Hmm.. fine. But we need to find someone who would take us through ... safely." Alicia said. We began to get up but then Christopher spoke. We'd almost forgotten he was there. "I'll take you" he said simply. "Excuse me?" Alicia asked, sitting back down. I did the Same. Christopher looked directly at me and said, "I've been there before... I can help you two..". "Hmm..." I thought about the offer, though there was no need to... 'but this guy gives me a bad feeling...' "That'd be great!" Alicia spoke up before I could say anything. "Awesome!" Christopher beamed. "Uno Momento, por favor..." I said, speaking a line I'd heard from some Tv show that meant, 'excuse me for a moment'. I dragged Alicia aside and asked her the question that had been swimming around in my mind ever since I met Christopher. "Are you sure we can trust him?" I asked. "Of course we can! He just saved our lives! And What's more he isn't any more trustworthy than anybody else in this city that would be willing to be our guides!" Alicia responded. All good points too. I decided I could trust Christopher since Alicia trusted him... but I still had a strange feeling about him. "All right then... I'm probably just a little too paranoid for some reason... I guess we can trust a guy who just saved our lives.." I agreed. Alicia beamed her approval and walked out of the cafe.
"Oh. My. God." Alicia stressed each word. My mind came back to the cave. And indeed, I would've said the Same thing too. The ceiling of dirt, mud and rock parted in the middle of the spacious cavern, or the 'inner chambers' as Chris called it, and a whole bunch of huge red crystals of varying sizes protruded from the middle. Since the ceiling was pretty high up, we couldn't really touch the crystals. The crystals shone so bright, they illuminated the whole cavern. For some reason, I could sense three feelings being projected from the crystals. Sadness, hate and regret. I actually experienced these three feelings when I looked at them. Having sadness, hate and regret all at once made me feel so queasy that I had to look away. "Behold. The blood crystals." Chris announced and spread his arms toward the crystals, highliting them. I still looked away from the crystals. "Zack, are you alright?" Chris asked. "I don't know man... I just don't feel Well..." I said and sat on a rock. "I guess we should rest here for a while..." Chris said and set down his bag next to me. Alicia flitted around the place taking photos of the giant crystal chandelier and selfies with Chris using her Pokedex. An unidentified feeling came into my mind as I saw those two laughing together and making silly faces for the selfie."I didn't know our Pokedex' could take pictures..." I said out aloud. "I just found this feature yesterday! Pretty cool isn't it?" Alicia talked excitedly as she sat down next to me and started editing her pictures on her Cross-transceiver+. "You're gonna have to teach me how to do that later..." I commented as I took out my water bottle, matte black with a green lightning bolt down the middle, and drank. The water felt good. It washed out those feelings completely. I made a mental note to find out more about the 'Blood Crystals' later. "Is that... no way! It is!" Chris said and got up and ran to one end of the cavern. "He must've spotted something... let's check it out!" Alicia said and ran after Chris. I sighed and then got up. "What did you find Chris?" I asked as I came upto where Alicia had stopped. We were almost in the middle of the cavern, right below the blood crystals. I felt like looking at the crystals, but I could already feel the hate they exuded... so I kept myself from looking up. "This is amazing... and to be out in the open like this!" He said excitedly as he dusted off something. I couldn't see what exactly because his back was turned towards us and he was bending over to dust... whatever it was he was dusting. "What did you find Chris?" Alicia repeated my words. "Behold..." he said again, moving away from whatever it was he was bending over, giving us a clear view of what had got Chris so excited. Two dusty rocks covered in mud were on the floor, side-by-side. They had white marks protruding out from them that formed the shape of two different Pokemon. "The Helix and Dome fossils!" He announced and gestured at the rocks.
Though Chris was pretty excited about them, me and Alicia weren't that enthusiastic. Lying in front of us were the bones of two dead Pokemon. How can anyone be enthusiastic about that? "These fossils can be found in , but only deep inside the tunnels here! This is the first time I've seen... no, even heard of fossils above ground!" Chris continued excitedly. **THUD** We heard a soft thud coming from behind us, like a stone falling on the floor from a height. I listened and heard footsteps walking up to us. I noticed that Alicia had also heard the sound and was straining to hear over Chris's excited chatter. "Pika pi!" Piku whispered urgently. "Yeah, Thanks for the heads-up buddy.." I told him. "Ready?" I whispered to Alicia, as I put my hand on a Pokeball on my belt. She nodded and did the Same. Alicia started mouthing numbers, counting down from five. Three... two.. she was about to mouth 'one' when the person behind us spoke. "That's because I dug them up..." the voice was very civilized and intellectual with an undercurrent of authority. I couldn't believe how fast Chris reacted. He turned around, unclipped a Pokeball and threw it in the time I would've take to turn around. Enter Ivysaur. "Pokemon trainers! Delightful!" He said happily. Me and Alicia turned around to see who our adversary was. His sight took Alicia's breath away.
The man was... fabulous by all standards, as Alicia would say. Tall with silver hair, he wore a black suit with matching pants. There was dust on his shoulders and his pants had dust on the knee area too. He had a white complexion and sparkling grey eyes. Without a doubt... this guy was indeed Steven Stone. Heir to the Devon Corporation, former Champion of Hoenn and Alicia's idol. Just as Ash is my idol, Steven is Alicia's. I've told her all I know about Ash and she's told me all about Steven. By now, we both knew Ash's and Stevens Pokemon team, Likes, dislikes and styles by-heart. "Who are you and what do you want?!" Chris asked gruffly. "Chris, stand down. That's Steven. He means us no harm..." Alicia told Chris. Chris withdrew Ivysaur reluctantly. Steven seemed, at the most, intrigued as Alicia said his name. "You recognize me?" He asked Alicia. "We do, sir..." I replied, adding a hint of respect to acknowledge his superiority. "Hmm... interesting..." Steven said and studied us. Alicia was too Star-struck to say anything, and Chris obviously didn't know about Steven... so, I decided it was up to me to prevent an awkward silence. "So, sir, what are you doing in Kanto?" I asked randomly. "Oh! Yes.. Well, I was just visiting my friend Bill and he told me about having rare gems and fossils... And that's why I'm here!" He replied looking at me. "So, you dug up the helix and dome fossils, huh?" Chris asked. "Umm Hmm..." He replied and nodded his head. "Hmm... since I met you trainers, I'd like to ask you... are any of you up for a battle against me?" Steven asked politely. Alicia was still in a daze and Chris was still worried about his fossils. Steven probably noticed that, and he turned and looked straight at me, our eyes locking. "Well, how about it young man?" Steven asked me. I was about to say 'Hell, Yes!' And jump in to battle, but Piku tugged at my ear. I turned so that I could see him and he looked at me. Piku shook his head, indicating that it would be a foolish idea to battle the Hoenn champion at my present stage. "You're right buddy... Thanks for that!" I said and patted Piku who squealed in happiness and then ran up and lay on my hat. "I'm sorry sir! I don't think I'm strong enough to give you a proper challenge... I'd just end up hurting my own Pokemon..." I said and shook my head sadly. Steven started slow clapping, much like a villain would do. "Well done... Well done..." he said, smiling. I looked up and started "Wha-" "I was merely testing you..." Steven explained. "I know you don't have nearly enough training or experience to battle me and win! I was merely seeing if you were a good trainer who put his Pokemons safety before his own!" He laughed lightly. "Well, a wise man once told me sir, 'It's one thing to believe in your Pokemon, but its another thing to be overconfident in their abilities'" I said, remembering Brock's words. "Wise words..." Steven said. "Well, I'd like you to have those two fossils. I've got a lot of them at home... consider it a reward. For being a good trainer... " He beamed at me. Alicia came back to reality and asked me, "is this real... or am I dreaming?" She asked. "You're dreaming sleepy head!" I said and smiled. "Well, I guess I should be getting back to Hoenn... Nice meeting you all!" He said and put his hands in his pockets. He turned to leave. Alicia looked at me, pleading with her eyes. I still havent figured out how, but I understood what she wanted me to do without her telling me a word... again. "Uh... Steven?" I called. "Hmm?" Steven turned around. "Could you-" My words were cut short by a gruff yell from the other side of the cavern, where we entered from. "They're over here! C'mon guys!" A Team Fusion grunt ran up to where we were. By the time he reached us, all of us were looking at him, including Steven. "Get out of the way, man! Team Fusions business is with those three! If you know What's good for you, get out of my way!" The grunt yelled at Steven who was blocking his way to us. All of us enlarged our Pokeballs. I saw Alicia looking at Chris expectantly, as if he had a plan. Steven probably heard the sound of the Pokeballs being enlarged because he said, "Now, Now. Everything can be solved by having a talk about it. Put down your Pokeballs and discuss your problems... " Steven said, as much to us as to the grunt. "You loony man? We're gonna haul these three back to headquarters for torture! They messed up our plans! Now get out of the way!" The grunt put his hand on Stevens suit and tried pushing him out of the way. Steven didn't budge. As soon as he touched Stevens suit, his face went dark. His whole body released darkness and power. "Didn't you hear me, man? Get. Out. Of. My. Way." The grunt reiterated as he staggered back. "Steven... we'll deal with him. You don't need to bother yourself..." Alicia spoke up at last. "Oh! No Bother! Allow me!" He said, his voice menacingly sharp. He flicked his hand forward quickly and with a mechanical sound, a Pokeball appeared in his outstretched palm. He tightened his arm muscles and the Pokeball shot forward. It slammed into the grunts stomach with enough force to knock him down. We shrinked our Pokeballs. "Metagross, we have a few numbskulls to deal with!" He said and the Pokeball opened up as it bounced back, releasing a flash of white light. The Pokeball flew back to Steven and disappeared under the sleeve of his other hand. "Metagross!" Stevens signature Pokemon dominated the foreground. "O.M.G" Alicia said for the second time that day. "We're gonna see Steven battle! Aah!" She whispered excitedly to me and then pinched my arm. "Hey! Stop it!" I said, smiling. "Metagross... " Steven said softly. "Meteor Mash!" The grunt had barely gotten up and as soon as he did, he was met with a flaming steel fist. **PAFF** The grunt flew to the other end of the room. "Aah! That felt good..." Steven turned towards us and commented. His body relaxed and he stopped exuding darkness. "Quiet annoying this Team Fusion, aren't the-" Steven stopped as we heard more heavy footsteps. Five more grunts ran in from the entrance, and, seeing their colleague lying in an unconscious heap on the floor, ran at us, Pokeballs raised. "Although I can battle them all alone, your help would make things go a little faster..." Steven said and turned back to his Metagross. "Well... shall we?" Chris asked, enlarging his Pokeball once again. "We shall Chris, We shall..." I said and did the Same. Alicia nodded enthusiastically and enlarged her Pokeball. I caught her looking at Chris again. The unidentified feeling that I had felt earlier was back."Ole!" I said, remembering a line from a Tauros fighting show I'd seen on TV trying to forget the feeling and focus on battling.
"Zack and Alicia... how long have you known each other?" Steven asked as we walked out of the cave. Sunlight hit our faces. I stood there for a minute, enjoying the warmth of the sun we didn't get inside the cave. "We've known each other since we learnt how to talk!" Alicia said happily, skipping along by Chris's side. She seemed to have gotten over her fright of talking to Steven. "Ahh... I see. You two battled like you were one, not two. Playing on each others strengths and defending each others weaknesses... I've never seen anyone double-battle the way you two have! You two were in perfect sync!" Steven praised. Alicia blushed. "And Christopher?" "Hmm?" Chris looked up as he heard his name being mentioned. "So far... I've never seen a Pokemon trainer with just one badge battle so skillfully... You have great potential!" Steven smiled. Chris seemed happy enough... but there was still something about that guy... I dismissed the thought mind almost as soon as it flitted across. He stood up for us in front of Team Fusion twice... I figured I should cut the guy some slack. Stevens Cross-Transceiver+ pinged once. He looked at it and a frown came across his face for a second, but then concealed it. Steven looked at Alicia and said,"As much as I've enjoyed your company, I'm afraid I must part ways with you now... Apparently, the league wants me to attend to something...". Alicia looked sad, but I guess she understood. "Thank you for your helping us out back in the cave, Steven sir..." Chris said and held out his hand to shake it. "I'm pretty sure you could've won even without me..." Steven shook Chris's hand. "May we register each other, sir?" Alicia asked hopefully. Steven then noticed we were all wearing Cross-Transcievers. "Why not..." Steven then bumped his Cross-Transciever+ with each of ours, officially registering us. "Hmm... Zack Lance and Alicia Bruno? Is it just me, or are your parents Elite 4 Members?" Steven asked looking at his screen. "Wait... You two are E4 kids?! Why didn't you tell me?!" Chris shouted more than asked. "Well, you didn't ask us!" Alicia answered Chris. "How did you find that out by just registering us? Our full names aren't used when registering Cross-Transcievers..." I asked, curious. "Hehe..." Steven smiled mischievously. "It's this new feature I've been working on for the Cross-Transciever+... Your trainer card is connected with your Cross-Transciever+. Even though it's not supposed to do that, the trainer card sends out these minor signals that your Cross-Transciever+ recognizes. It stores your trainer info in a hidden part of it's memory. The feature I created allows trainers to access this hidden part and exchange trainer cards and also use the Cross-Transciever+ as your trainer card!" Steven explained. "So... " I asked, still curious. Alicia and Chris were somewhere behind us talking about something pleasantly. The unidentified feeling returned. "With this feature, people can exchange trainer cards with a bump, they can just show their Cross-Transciever+ to the places you would need to use your trainer card! Once I'm Doe testing it completely, people wouldn't need trainer cards anymore! Hassle-free verification and Consequence-less card sharing!" He smiled. "I have an idea!" Steven said suddenly. "Let me upgrade your cross-transcievers! You can be my beta testers!" He looked excited. I grinned and said, "We would be honored to be your beta testers sir!"
"Well, I've gotta go now! Hope we meet again!" Steven put his hand up and a Pokeball appeared there from under his sleeve. I was curious, but I decided not to enquire further. As before, he tightened his muscles and the Pokeball shot into the air. "Skarmory, let's go!" The white flash of light released Stevens skarmory, a steel/flying type. "Skar!" It screeched. Steven jumped on top of it and smiled at us. "Well... Ciao then!" Steven flew off at a blinding speed. Me and Alicia waved at him till he was just a speck on the horizon. I looked at Chris and sighed. He was sleeping under a tree. 'Poor guy must've been tired from that walk through the cave...' I thought as I reached out to shake him awake, but just as I reached him, Alicia grabbed my hand. I looked at her questioningly. "What?" She gestured for me to move away from him. I did so and then she whispered to me, "Zack... there's something I've been wanting to tell you..." Those words made me a bit edgy though I don't know why. Her cheeks were red and her eyelashes kept fluttering. I could tell she was about to tell me something she'd been keeping in for a while. "Well, ever since Chris saved us... well, I've just had this feeling about him..." She refused to look me in the eyes and kept playing with her hair. "What do you mean?" I asked, swallowing a little. "Zack!" She dropped her hair and looked me in the eyes and I could see that spark of happiness she has in her eyes when she enjoys something. "I'm saying... " "Go on..." I prompted. "I think... I'm in love with him". That's when I identified that feeling Ive been having. Jealousy.