Chapter 4 - Tybalt, Explorer of Ruins

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After the battle with N, Markus and Cynthia quickly left Accumula town ready for the next stage of their adventure. The battle and the speech before had given them a lot to think about, Markus was quick to put it in the back of his mind, but Cynthia's thoughts on the matter stayed particularly prominent as they tangled themselves up in her head. Each time she thought to hard on the matter she shook her head and though about their next destination, their next goal. Striaton city, home to the first gym they were going to face, was only a few days away and so in preparation for their gym battles Cynthia and Markus were already hard at work.

"Do your best Ralts!" Markus encouraged as he and his little psychic type faced down a Lillipup that had crossed their path. This was Markus' first time encountering the pokémon and was captivated by its attack style, it was straight forward and simple but very effective. The Lillipup began to charge at Ralts moving in for a tackle.

"Ralts dodge!" Markus yelled. Ralts did so jumping out of the way surprisingly well. The Lillipup turned and jumped preparing to use bite. "Dodge again Ralts." Ralts did so, this continued for quite some time causing Cynthia to frown.

"Hey, Markus, you know if you want to win you're going to have to attack?" Cynthia said watching from the side.

"Urm well…" Markus said scratching his head while giving her a goofy grin. Cynthia sighed she could tell something was up. "Ralts doesn't actually know any attacks." He said with a laugh.

"Wait what?" With a thud the Lillipup collided with Ralts sending him back to Markus who caught him in his arms.

"Sorry buddy, I shouldn't have goy distracted, maybe we should call it there." Ralts nodded before relaxing in his trainer's arms. The Lillipup left with a frustrated huff and Markus looked up to Cynthia who had her hand to her forehead.

"Jeez, I knew you were an idiot but come on, what kind of trainer catches a pokémon that knows no attacks. You know what, I'm not even surprised that you would do something like that."

"Hey we'll get there eventually, even the smallest of seeds has the potential to grow into the largest of trees." Markus said matter of factly.

"Oh fantastic so now you're a philosopher as well, what have I gotten myself into?" Cynthia sighed. Markus shrugged. "Anyway, if you're going to even stand a chance in the next gym your Ralts is going to have to step up its game."

"Absolutely but first, Lunch!" Markus called ignoring her, Ralts cheered and pulled an enormous wok out of Markus' bag.

"Ugh, Markus this is serious I'm not having you hold me back this whole journey." Cynthia complained before a comforting aroma filled her nostrils, her stomach grumbled stubbornly. Cynthia sighed and sat herself next to the campfire that had somehow been magically produced. Cynthia looked around to see Tepig sitting next to Markus, Snivy and Ralts with a cheeky grin on his face.

Cynthia scowled grumpily. Tepig just chuckled and cast some more embers under the fire pit as Cynthia sighed in defeat. It only took Cynthia a bit of time before she realised that Markus was actually doing something useful.

"Wait a minute you can cook?" Cynthia asked shocked pointing at her companion accusingly.

"What do you mean? Of course I can cook, you can't go on a pokémon journey without being able to cook your own meals." Markus said.

Cynthia looked away guiltily scratching her chin. "Sure I guess that makes sense,"

"Speaking of which, me and Snivy are going out to find some berries. Take care of the food for a bit," Markus said before running off.

"No, wait, What? Maekus I can't..." Cynthia sighed it was too late Marks was long gone. She looked in the pan, whatever he was making smelled delicious, Cynthia was afraid her secret was about to be revealed, she couldn't let that happen. In a panic she took up the ladle Markus was using and began to stir the food vigorously. Tepig and Ralts watched the trainer closely having no idea what she was planning. Cynthia looked at the broth, it didn't quite seem hot enough maybe she needed to add more heat.

"Hey Tepig, I don't suppose you could add a few more embers." Tepig nodded using ember on the bottom of the stove. "A bit more?" Cynthia said unsurely, Tepig obliged, "a bit more? ... Urm… Oh no."

(…)

Snivy and Markus returned with their arms filled with all kinds of berries they had found in the woods, Markus was incredibly pleased with the haul, the soup was now sure to taste amazing. The moment Markus and Snivy entered their makeshift camp and saw what had happened, they dropped all of the berries in their arms simultaneously. The camp was trashed, smoke was billowing out of the pan, Ralts had been knocked out by toxic fumes and Cynthia was chasing Tepig around with a ladle. Markus fell to his knees in shock.

"I left you for five minutes." The boy cried, his Snivy comforted him as she perched on his shoulder. The moment Cynthia noticed him she hid the ladle behind her back and smiled nervously.

Moments later Markus had somehow managed to clear up the mess that had been made and they were all now sitting in a circle munching on the berries Markus had found.

"So you're telling me, you went round the whole of the Sinnoh region without cooking a single successful meal." Markus said appalled.

"Well, yes, but it's not my fault I simply cannot cook, people have tried to teach me but I just can't do it. Every single time it ends horribly, I can't think of a single meal I have cooked that worked." Cynthia admitted guiltily, Gabite who was resting against a tree laughed a little, she had been subjected to Cynthia's cooking before.

"Ah well, it's a good thing you brought me along then, I can't let you starve,"

"Are you sure that's okay, I don't want to bother you."

"Nah it works perfectly actually, it means I don't have to do any of the washing up." Markus grinned. Cynthia was about to protest when they heard a yell come from the woods. Markus immediately turned towards the direction of the sound.

"Snivy, Ralts let's go." Markus said scooping the two pokémon up and running in the direction of the yell. Cynthia was quick to follow shocked at how quickly Markus could change gear.

Markus ran through the woods carrying Ralts in his arms and quickly came across a clearing. A young boy with a short green bowl-cut and round glasses stood with his back against a tree clutching his defeated pokémon. He was surrounded by a group of small purple bug pokémon that were looking at the boy with menacing expressions.

"Snivy, use vine whip." From Markus' shoulder Snivy flung his vines at the bug types to scare them away this plus the added effect of Markus jumping over the bugs and standing between the boy and the bugs managed to intimidate them enough to flee. "And stay away!" Markus called after them. Cynthia soon ran into the clearing too her pokémon back in her pokéballs. Markus turned to the young boy.

"Hey are you hurt?" He asked.

The boy shook his head. "I'm fine but my Timburr is in bad shape." The boy said.

"Markus we have some Oran berries left back where we had lunch they could help." Cynthia suggested.

"That sounds like a good idea. Come on, my name's Markus this is Cynthia. We're here to help." Markus said happily.

(Back at the camp.)

The boy gladly accepted the Oran berries Cynthia gave him, feeding them to his Timburr who was soon revived.

"Thank you for saving me back there, if you and your girlfriend hadn't arrived me and Timburr would have been done for, my name's Tybalt, Explorer of Ruins! by the way."

"We are not dating!" Cynthia said angrily. Tybalt looked panicked until Markus sighed.

"Don't mention it Tybalt as I said we're here to help," Markus said with a smile "Anyway, this is a really cool pokémon, I've never seen one before," Markus continued pulling out his pokédex.

"Timburr, the muscular pokémon, always carrying squared logs, they are often found helping out in construction sites. As they grow they carry bigger logs to help train their muscles."

"Yup my Timburr's awesome." The boy said, "But against an entire swarm of Venipede there wasn't much we could do. We'll just have to get stronger for next time then." Timburr nodded in agreement as a mutual goal passed between them.

Cynthia frowned looking at the boy. "Why did the Venipede attack you in the first place?"

"I don't know. As the name suggests I am Tybalt, Explorer of Ruins so I was just out here looking for some ancient ruins when the Venipede just attacked me, me and Timburr tried to hold them off but they managed to beat Timburr and steal all my maps."

Cynthia's eyes flashed as she heard this. but she was interrupted before she could ask about them, "Wait, did you say ancient ruins?" Markus asked excited, "Where?" he jumped up scanning the landscape.

"Well we're not going to be able to find them now are we idiot." Cynthia said flicking Markus in the back of the head causing him to dramatically fall to the ground in pain. "I'm guessing you want your maps back don't you?" Cynthia asked sternly. The boy and his Timburr nodded. "C'mon then let's go find those Venipede." She said standing, Markus looked at her surprised, why was she helping him? Markus shook his head and pulled himself up. Following them into the forest.

Back in the clearing where they had just met Tybalt. Cynthia released Gabite. Tybalt and Timburr's eyes lit up at the sight of it. "No way, is that a dragon type? Awesome!"

Cynthia and Gabite were caught quite unawares by the boy who was marvelling at the powerful land shark.

"Urm, yes this is my friend Gabite, Gabite this is Tybalt and Timburr." Gabite nodded at the other two causing them to overflow with joy. "Gabite we are trying to track some pokémon that were recently here, I don't think we've ever seen them before but I think, they are most likely to be bug types." Gabite nodded and began sniffing the ground he soon caught their scent and pointed into the forest,

"Looks he's found them." Markus said happily as he followed the Cynthia and Gabite.

"That's so cool." The boy whispered excitedly "Hey, Timburr, do you think he knows any strong moves?" He said to his pokemon as the pair of them brimmed with excitement.

(…)

"Hey Tybalt, what are you even doing out here all alone?" Markus asked the boy as they followed Gabite through the woods.

"Well, me and Timburr are from Nacrene city, we came here because we heard there were some interesting ruins here so came to check them out. I guess you could call this our pokémon journey." Tybalt answered, Timburr nodded in agreement.

"Right so you're interested in ancient ruins huh?"

"Of course they're awesome, the secrets they hold, the pokemon that make it their home, the puzzle of trying to find them, the joy of finding the treasure within, who wouldn't want such an adventure."

"It sounds pretty awesome when you think of it that way, hey do you think if we find your maps we could help you find this ruin?" Markus asked, Cynthia's ears twitched happily.

"Of course I owe you for helping me out and the more the merrier,"

Cynthia and Gabite stopped, ending the pair's conversation. Everyone looked ahead to see an enormous mound of dirt covered in burrows.

"This must be the nest," Markus realised, "well then, best thing to do is just ask I guess." Markus raised his voice, "Hello? Anyone home? I think you may have something that belongs to Tybalt and Timburr, I am sure it's just a big mistake so if you don't mind returning his maps we'll be gone before you know it."

Only silence replied.

"Well that worked," Cynthia said sarcastically.

"Oh, come on Cynth it was worth a try. Yow!" Cynthia viciously stepped on Markus' foot.

"What did I tell you about calling me Cynth, for goodness sake?" Markus fell to the floor in pain.

"Wait, what's that up there!" Tybalt said pointing up at the top of the mound, stood there at the top of the mound was a round purple pokémon. It looked surprisingly like a tire.

Cynthia pulled out her pokédex to check.

"Whirlipede, the curlipede pokémon and the evolved form of Venipede. Protected by a hard shell, it spins its body like a wheel and crashes furiously into its enemies, it's rough carapace is used to give it traction on any surface."

"Guys, look in its shell," Markus pointed, sure enough in its shell was a collection of papers.

"My maps!" Tybalt said happily,

"Maybe it wants to cooperate?" Markus questioned. As if in answer the Whirlipede began spinning quickly and rolled down the hill directly towards them.

"Guess not." Markus said quietly

"Get out of the way!" Cynthia yelled taking control of the situation. She grabbed Markus by the scruff of his collar and pulled him out of the way. The Whirlipede zoomed past and smashed through a tree behind them knocking it to the floor.

"That's some power." Markus gasped as the tree fell to the ground. Cynthia looked back at the nest, and noticed that Venipede were now running down the hill there were at least half a dozen of them. By the time they had all recovered Whirlipede was once again on the attack.

"Gabite catch him!" Cynthia ordered, Gabite bellowed and jumped in the path of Whirlipede catching him, Gabite was pushed back quite far before the Whirlipede finally stopped.

"Now use bite!" She ordered, the Gabite bared his fangs and bit down on the Whirlipede its poisonous spikes not effecting the Gabite due to its tough scales.

Tybalt and Markus found themselves cornered by the other Venipede.

"Come on then, Snivy let's go." Markus yelled throwing his pokéball, "use vine whip on the Venipede," Snivy jumped and loosed her vines whipping the closest Venipede which retreated back a bit.

"Timburr use low kick." With a bellow Timburr placed his log on the ground and span round on top of it striking three Venipede with his legs.

"Snivy, use tackle quick." Snivy slid through the grass and smashed into one of the Venipede knocking it back. "Now follow up with vine whip," Snivy jumped and attacked with his vines but was struck by what Markus assumed was the Venipede's poison sting. Snivy fell to the ground and was hit by an enemy take down. Timburr wasn't faring any better, there were a lot of them and they were all really quite strong.

"Come on Snivy we can keep going let's use tackle." Snivy fell to his knee in pain and Markus realised his pokémon was poisoned, even so the grass snake went forward and attacked managing to defeat one of the Venipede who scuttled back to his nest. That was when Snivy fainted from exhaustion. The situation was getting desperate at Timburr took a bug bite attack and also fell to the floor.

"I guess I don't have a choice, let's go Ralts." Markus said switching to his new pokémon. "Don't worry Tybalt me and Ralts have this, ready Ralts," Ralts shouted preparing his signature move, Venipede loosed a poison sting attack.

"Ready Ralts now dodge!" Ralts did so gracefully. "And dodge again!" This time Ralts accurately jumped out of the way of a take down. "Behind you Ralts be prepared!" Ralts ducked under a bug bite.

"Urm, is there a reason you're just dodging," Tybalt asked cradling his Timburr.

"It's our secret tactic, it's called the dodge till you tire them out tactic."

Tybalt sweat-dropped, "Somehow I don't think that's going to work."

"Have a little faith, me and Ralts will get us out of this! Now Ralts dodge again." Ralts avoided one Venipede then another then another. The Venipede now seemed incredibly out of breath and were beginning to sluggishly bump into each other.

"No way it's actually working!" Tybalt gasped astonished.

"I told you not to worry about it. Now Ralts dodge one more time then."

Ralts seemed to fly over another Venipede's attack and landed right in front of Markus

"Now Ralts shout it out with your burning spirit, let's unleash your hidden power. GO!" Ralts and Markus fell into perfect synergy and Ralts shouted raising its hands. Instantly a pink glow surrounded all the Venipede and they began to float just above the ground, all of them panicking madly.

"That's it Ralt's use confusion!" Ralts let out a blast of telekinetic energy and threw the small bug types right back to their nest dealing a tonne of super effective damage. In fright the little bugs retreated back into their nests. "Nice one Ralts you learned confusion, I knew we could do it!" Markus cheered before looking up to where Cynthia and Gabite were battling. It seemed Whirlipede was giving them a rather hard time.

"Gabite use dig!" Gabite burrowed underground tunnelling quickly, Markus could see the fin on his back sticking out of the earth and realised why they called this evolutionary line of pokémon the land sharks. Gabite struck the Whirlipede knocking it off balance before finishing with a dragon claw. The Whirlipede collapsed in defeat and Gabite took the page out of Whirlipede's shell returning it to Cynthia.

"Well that went well, good job Gabite you did well." Cynthia said petting her friend. She noticed Markus looking at her smirking. She instantly flushed realising she was being uncharacteristically nice.

"Hey Cynth there is no need to be embarrassed you just learning from the …"

"Gabite use dragon claw." Gabite ran at Markus who panicked and shot up a tree before Gabite could get to him. "Well here you go Tybalt here's your map back."

Tybalt looked up at Cynthia with tears in her eyes, "Thank you... Thank you so much" he yelled his gratitude casuing him to throw his arms around Cynthia who just stood there having no idea what to do much to Markus' amusement.

"You and Gabite were awesome! That dragon claw was incredible and so strong, I totally have to write about this in my journal!" He complimented her happily, Timburr was very fast to agree.

"Urm thanks... I guess." Cynthia said awkwardly, "Well, that's enough physical contact to last me a life time. Come on you promised us an ancient ruin. You work on that while we revive the pokémon." Cynthia said pulling a potion out from her pack.

Tybalt let go and saluted, "yes ma'am," Timburr weakly walked over to Cynthia who gently healed the pokémon. Markus did the same with his Snivy comforting the pokémon.

(...)

"It's this way." Tybalt yelled pointing ahead of the small party. Timburr now once again revived cheered and ran ahead with Tybalt. Cynthia had now returned Gabite and Markus had returned Snivy and Ralts. They were now walking on to hopefully what would be an interesting set of ruins.

The excited shine in Cynthia's normally stone grey eyes did not go unnoticed by Markus, it was time for some answers. "What's going on Cynthia? You've been acting weird all day, I didn't think you would care about some boys map or some ruins."

"Well, I guess that just proves you don't know everything about me doesn't it." Cynthia said sweetly with a hint of venom as she walked off leaving Markus stumped.

"I have no idea what's going on with her anymore." He sighed before following the trail.

(...)

That evening the trio approached a large flight of ancient stairs ascending up a stone pyramid. Around them were the ruins of an old village as promised by Tybalt. He had told them that the main attraction lay at the top of the stairs. So that was their first destination. Sure enough all three of them gasped at the mural that sat at the top. It was large and well painted with odd cryptic pictures. On the left of the wall was a black swirl that seemed to crackle with electricity on the right was a white swirl with flames flowing out of it, the rest of the wall was decorated with all kinds of embellishments which spiralled into the centre of the wall where two orbs lay, one black and one white. In front of the wall lay a pedestal with a semi-spherical hole carved into the top.

"What do you think all this means?" Markus asked gazing unimpressed at the wall.

"That's the great mystery, that's what makes it fun!" Tybalt said running around with a camera. Cynthia admired the mural, her eyes sparkling as she examined every illustration, Markus took a closer look at the pedestal, the hole in the centre somehow reminded him of a key hole. Maybe it was meant to hold some kind of jewel once. Markus reached out and traced his finger over the top of the pedestal, slowly he moved it into the centre where the hole lay.

"YOW!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, holding his fingers tightly, a burning sensation ran through his fingers.

"What's wrong Markus?" Cynthia asked hoping it wasn't him being stupid.

"The centre of the pillar, it's boiling hot."

"What on earth are you talking about Markus?" Cynthia groaned. "It's perfectly fine look." Cynthia placed her fingers inside the hole not sensing a single thing. "It's made of rock, stop being such a wuss," Cynthia said, "Hey Tybalt thanks for showing us this, I'm going to set up camp for the night, I'll see you in a bit." Cynthia walked back down the stairs. Markus let go of his fingers and looked at them. Sure enough blisters had formed on the tips of his fingers, something had definitely happened. Tybalt and Timburr looked at Markus, Markus could tell the cogs in their minds were spinning. That was before both of them shrugged as if it was nothing.

"Cynthia's right, stop kidding yourself." He said following Cynthia down the stairs. Markus could feel an uncertain doubt in Tybalt's voice. With a sigh he took one last look at the mural before heading downstairs himself. Still he couldn't shake the feeling that something weird was at play here.

(The next day)

The next morning Markus and Cynthia packed away their things and prepared to head out. Striaton city was only a two day walk from here so the pair were eager to get there and face the first gym leader. They noticed that Tybalt wasn't preparing to leave with them.

"Are you going to be okay here on your own?" Markus questioned.

"Of course, I'll be fine besides I'm not alone, I've got Timburr here to help me."

"I'm sure you'll be fine." Cynthia said smiling, "but we're probably headed over to Nacrene city soon so if you want to tag along your welcome." She offered.

"Nah don't worry about it, I want to spend more time here to study the ruins. Even so by the time you're in Nacrene city I should be back so don't forget to say hi,"

"We won't," Markus grinned, "have fun with your work." Markus said happily.

"Good luck with your gym battle, I'm sure you two will be fine, but I should warn you the gym leader in Striaton is not to be taken lightly he's pretty strong."

"Good that's exactly what I want." Markus said excited.

"See you soon!" Cynthia and Markus called

"You too," Tybalt and timburr returned.

And with that Cynthia and Markus walked away from the ruins on to their next adventure.