Episode 7: Into the Unown!
Later that afternoon, after receiving the zephyr badge from Falkner, the group began trekking southwards towards Azalea Town. There, Niko and Fay would compete for their second Johto gym badge, against a bug type trainer named Bugsy. The journey would take them through route 32, 33, and Union Cave. However, first they decided to stop at one of the tourist spots in Johto, according to JJ. This was called The Ruins of Alph.
The Ruins of Alph are a series of caves that are all interconnected in some way. They are also said to be the home of a mysterious pokémon called unown. As they approached the ruins, they noticed groups of people far older than they examining the ruins.
JJ walked up to one of them, tapping him on the shoulder. The older man jumped, turning around and looking rather terrified. "Excuse me, sir, we're here to tour the ruins. Could you give us some advice on where to start?"
The man looked at them quizzically. "Leave. That's my advice."
"Wait…but why?" said JJ, following up.
"There are, err…some problems with the ruins right now. It is strongly advised that no one enter the ruins," he said nervously, shooing the group away before turning around and getting back to his work examining the walls.
"Why is he allowed to be here but we can't?" JJ wondered, looking a little distraught.
"He probably has some sort of security clearance. Maybe he's like a detective or something?" Fay replied, throwing any possible options on the table.
"Well, screw it. Let's go check it out!" JJ said, looking around before speed-walking into one of the cave entrances west of the older man, the other three following closely behind.
Inside, they saw a large small room with a series of tablets that seemed to be misplaced. "What d'ya think this is?" Niko wondered, walking up to the tablets and running his hand over them, producing a small puff of dust, which caused the trainer to cough a little.
"Well, maybe it's supposed to be some other picture, sort of like a puzzle?" Fay wondered, removing one of the tablets. Noticing that there weren't any triggers, he kept removing them and placing them on the floor below him. He then started rearranging the tablets one the ground, trying to see if they all fit together. "Looks like this is a wing, and that's an eye, are those claws? Is that a beak?" He said as he shuffled them around, eventually finding a reasonable-looking picture.
"What the hell is this?" JJ asked, not quite sure what to make of it.
"Dunno, looks like a pokémon?" Fay said, standing back up. "Could you help me place them back on the wall?"
Niko, JJ, and Brittany agreed to do so, eventually placing each piece in the order that Fay had rearranged them into. But nothing happened.
"Huh? I thought maybe it would trigger something…" asked Fay curiously. He then stepped back a few paces to look at the picture in its totality.
"Maybe you misplaced two of them?" Brittany suggested, also stepping back to view it. Fay nodded, and then walked back to switch two of the bottom tablets.
It must have worked, since the wall began to glow and the chamber began to shake, resulting in a hole appearing underneath the group. They fell through the hole and landed on their rears in another chamber, albeit a much darker one.
"Where are we now?" JJ asked, seeming a little panicked.
"Again dude, I have no idea. Wait…what's that?" He said as he saw something moving through the dim light of the room. Then more small black things began flying around the room, circling around the group. Fay pulled out his pokédex:
"Unown, the symbol pokémon. Their shapes look like hieroglyphs on ancient tablets. It is said that the two are somehow related."
"Unown, hmm…JJ, isn't that the pokémon you were mentioning earlier?" JJ nodded, "Well, we found them. Do we need to fight them?"
"No idea," Niko responded, despite holding out a pokéball in defense. "But we might as well be prepared, right?"
Turns out, they didn't have to be. The chamber lit up, revealing a larger wall in front of them. The swarm of unown then proceeded to stick to the wall, forming a series of what seemed to be words. The group walked up to it.
"These look like letters of the alphabet…" Brittany said, examining the first one. "This is 'w', the next one…is that 'e'?"
"It's a code for something, but what?" Niko said, continuing to decipher the unown's message. After a couple minutes, they managed to figure it out.
"So, it says 'We humans need to walk with them. We leave here for the sake of them.' What does that mean?" Fay asked after reading the coded message. As he finished his question, the unown jumped off of the walls and swarmed the group, circling them at high speeds, making it difficult to see what was happening outside.
They then suddenly felt a loss of hearing as they disappeared from the ruins to somewhere radically different.
It was now snowing.
"Wh-what i-is th-th-this?" JJ asked, shivering. He looked around him, noticing that they were in a small canyon-like area. Down the way was a small entrance to lord knows where. To their right was a little log cabin. The group took the latter route, knocking on the door when they made it.
A burly, middle-aged man opened the door, and gave the four trainers a look that mixed confusion and concern. "Who the hell are you kids?"
"Uh…" JJ began, trying to speak, "My na-name is JJ. This is Niko, Brittany, and Fay, sir. We have no idea why we're here."
"Yeah…" Fay continued, trying to brave the cold, "We were at The Ruins of Alph and—"
"Wait just a minute! Who let you kids in the ruins?" He said, raising his voice. "Bah, get in here before ya freeze," he said, motioning them inside. The cabin seemed homely enough: there was a bed, a fireplace, a couch with a small table and rug. The group crowded onto the couch in front of the fireplace, holding out their hands to warm up.
"We accidentally stumbled on the ruins, sir," Niko said. This was only half-true, but he went with it, "we solved on of the puzzles and then the unown sent us here. Actually, where is here?"
The man crossed his arms, looking less concerned. "This is the Sinjoh Ruins. You were, for whatever reason, teleported here by the unown."
"Where are the Sinjoh Ruins?" asked Fay.
"Not in Johto, nor Sinnoh. To be honest, I have no idea where it is on the map, but it's definitely far to the north of both regions."
"What's 'Sinnoh'?" Niko asked.
"Why, it's a region, of course!" the man answered. "Like Kanto, or Johto, or Hoenn. The Sinnoh region is known for its legends regarding space and time travel. Legend has it that the pokémon in control of space and time once resided here, along with their creator, the god of all pokémon, Arceus."
"Wow…" Fay responded, fascinated. From what Niko has observed, Fay had never been particularly interested in history or legends, but now he was clearly interested. Maybe going on a journey around the world forced him to be more invested?
"It's incredible, isn't it?" the man said, sitting down. He stroked his long beard for a while before continuing. "Now, I have no idea how to get you kids back to Johto. That's why I'm here—I'm stuck."
"Sir…" Brittany began, catching the man's interest, "we were told not to go into the ruins by some researcher there. Is there any particular reason why?"
"Some say that the ruins are unstable right now, at least it was when I left the ruins. There is speculation of a connection between the unown and Arceus, but since no one has ever seen it, there is no way to really know for sure. However, scientists monitoring the ruins have noticed frequent fluctuations in the energy levels within the ruins, again, back when I was in Johto. I've occasionally noticed activity around here, but it isn't very often. I don't know if anything has changed, as I've been gone for quite some time.
"Anyways, since the ruins have been unstable it is not recommended that tourists visit. That's how you end up here. At least, that's how it seems for you four."
"Well, we've got to figure out how to get back out of here," Fay said, standing back up. He seemed adequately warm now.
"But Fay, we don't know how to do that," Niko said, also standing up.
"Well, maybe we go check out the ruins?" he answered, turning to the man, "Have you tried that before?"
The man shook his head, "No, no I have not."
"Well then," Fay said, walking to the door. As he opened it, a flurry of cold air slammed into his body, causing him to momentarily shiver. "Err…that's pretty cold…"
"Here, take these…" the man said, grabbing a few of his extra coats. "Maybe you'll find these useful."
Each trainer put a coat on before adventuring out to the ruins. Luckily, they weren't very far, only a few minutes of walking and they reached the entrance, which was very much open.
There was only a single room within the ruins. In front of them were six pokémon statues, three on each side leading up a large stage in the shape of a triangle. Niko and Fay walked up to it, the other three not seeming as courageous. Even the old man, who clearly had never been in here before, didn't bother with the stage.
As Niko and Fay stood on the stage, they examined their surroundings before being nearly knocked off of their feet. An earthquake erupted under them and, right in front of them a portal appeared. Out of it came a large, light purple creature. Niko and Fay both pulled out their pokédex, but it wasn't responding. This creature clearly wasn't from the Johto or Kanto regions.
"Guys!" the man shouted out. "Get away! That's the legendary pokémon palkia! It'll kill you!"
Hearing this, Niko and Fay attempted to run away, only to both stumble down the stairs as a result of the earth still shaking. However, as they attempted to get back up, they noticed the portal had gotten much larger, revealing what seemed to be The Ruins of Alph. Niko and Fay looked at each and, nodding, jumped into the portal.
"Niko! Fay!" Brittany cried out, running over and leaping into the portal after them. JJ followed suit and, soon enough, so did the man.
Niko and Fay landed back where they had started, only to frighten the unsuspecting scientist that they had previously met. He looked over at the two trainers, not seeming too happy.
"I told you not to go in those ruins!" he yelled out. Suddenly, upon seeing the old man appear with them, his expression changed entirely. "MARK?!"
"Heh, yep, that's me…" Mark said, dusting off his pants, "it's great to see ya again, Al."
"But…but but but…" Al stammered, trying to find the right words.
"Listen, let's go to your house and explain the whole story. These kids, stupid as they were, actually helped us out a bit in our research."
"We—we also have to contact the authorities! They mettled where they needn't have mettled!" Al said, glaring suspiciously at the group.
The six walked into Al's house, which was just south of the ruins, and discussed the whole story. "So…you saw palkia…" he said, scratching his chin. "Well, we need to inform Cynthia, that's for sure. And probably Lance."
"Who's Cynthia?" Niko asked.
"She's the champion of the Sinnoh region. She has also made it a hobby of hers to learn as much as possible about the legends in her region. As such, she has found herself here on multiple occasions, usually with Lance."
"Ah, I see…but if she only does it as a hobby, then why do you need to tell her? Why not other people in your field?" asked Fay.
"Well, we will," Mark explained, "but as champion she is also responsible for any dangers relating to her region. We fear that if palkia was showing up, then something might be happening to cause it to enter our world. But, that's just a hunch. Either way, we need to report it."
"Alright, let us know if we can help in any way," offered Niko, brushing dirt out of his untidy brown hair.
"Well, you've certainly done your part already. You helped me get back here, that's for sure. So I thank you for that," Mark said, offering out his hand to shake the group. They each returned the handshake in turn, and got up to leave until Al interrupted them.
"No! You kids aren't going anywhere! I'm phoning Officer Jenny right now. You kids are in trouble…" Al said, reaching for his flip phone.
"Al," said Mark, reaching for his colleague's arm, "Let them go. They've seen enough today. And they also helped me escape the Sinjoh Ruins, so I think they've made up plenty for their mistake in my mind."
Al slowly put away his phone, scowling a little at the group. He then shooed them away in the same manner as before.
As the sun was setting, the group looked southwards towards the next leg of their journey, excited and confused by the prospect of seeing the spatial pokémon.
"What a day…" Niko said, stretching his arms.
"Yeah, you got that right…" Fay said as he began walking south, the group jogging to catch up to him.
"I wonder if we'll see that thing—palkia, I mean—again," Brittany wondered.
"I'm sure we will," Niko said, patting his friend on the back. "I just hope it isn't when the world is on the brink of ending."
The rest of the group nodded, continuing their journey to Azalea Town.
Author's note: Yeah, i'll admit this wasn't the best episode of the season so far. There was a lot that I could do with The Ruins of Alph and, since i'm a big fan of the Sinnoh region, I felt that this would work out the best. If I get to do a season on Sinnoh, I expect that this episode will vaguely tie into it. Anyways, I hope you're enjoying it so far!