Pokemon: The Unknown Continuum
Chapter 9: Legend Hunting
Upon going to sleep that night, I expected a rude awakening as you would expect from being part of this guild, but my wake-up was actually gently induced by Serge, who told me rather gently that it was time to get up.
"Wigglytuff said that you, Chimeco and Corphish could sleep for longer to help catch up, but the briefing's going to be in fifteen minutes, you'd better get your breakfast." He said, nudging me slightly. I groaned, yet I felt compelled to wake up for what might happen today. I probably only had ten hours of sleep, and, even though I'd probably sleep for six more easily, searching for Uxie, supposed embodiment and being of knowledge, was not something to sleep over. I got up without saying anything to Serge whatsoever and immediately started on my helping of some kind of soup. God only knows what sort of soup it was, but it tasted decent enough.
"Golly, I can't believe we're about to enter uncharted territory like this! This is the sort of adventure I've been dreaming of for years!" Bidoof said to me, clearly enthusiastic for the expedition for way different reasons that I was, which I fully expected. That glutton – eating his soup like it was some kind of sprint race. In contrast, I was eating it slowly, my mind fixed upon Uxie. I knew the rough descriptions of what he supposedly looked like – I wasn't completely ignorant of the Arceus faith after all, and everything I saw around me went through a strange Uxie filter, as my imagination painted all manner of Uxie pictures on my retinas. Chatot was marching up and down slowly and orderly, looking at everyone with inspecting eyes, clearly wanting to get the briefing over and done with already. Team Skull just sat among themselves, talking fairly quietly to one another, and as for Wigglytuff, he just stood there like a spare part. Eventually, he gave Chatot the signal to start the briefing, easily Chatot's distinct agitation.
"Explorers, give me your undivided attention now." He said fairly loudly, without shouting, and brought everyone's attention to him. "Ok, just behind me, is uncharted territory. It has been labelled the Foggy Forest, appropriately, for the perpetual fog that surrounds it, and there has not been a recorded incident or witness that has suggested that this forest was at one stage not surrounded by fog. Our aim is to find out why this is, to chart this territory, discover fogbound lake, should it exist, and, of course, find treasure!" He said, smiling upon saying the word 'treasure.' He coughed and walked somewhat to the side, preparing for what he was going to say next. He reminded me of my dad, somehow – he gave the daily briefings in a very similar fashion that my dad ran the Dialgan church services.
"We will all be split into three groups to cover more ground while still remaining safe. Croagunk – you seemed to get on fine with Team Skull, would you mind joining them?" Chatot asked as Croagunk shrugged, not seeming too fussed.
"Meh heh, sure." He said.
"I'll give a brief leader briefing to you as we start to head out Skuntank, so don't hurry off, if you please." Skuntank, nodded without saying anything.
"With me – Loudred, Sunflora, Diglett and Dugtrio." He said, looking at each one as he said their names in a slow and clear manner. "Corphish, Bidoof, Serge, Floyd and Chimeco, you're with Wigglytuff." He said in a considerably faster manner, since it was pretty obvious of what was happening. "Gather your stuff, you have two minutes – go!" He said, and everyone on his command did exactly as they were told, getting their own exploration gear from the tents. Chatot then started on briefing Skuntank on what his group should do, while I stuck my large nose in the tent. I didn't want to travel to light, but Corphish took almost everything he could with him – surely overkill. Chimeco was already with the guildmaster, and I soon joined them. Chatot looked like he was about to say something else, but Wigglytuff butted in.
"OK guild, let the expedition begin! Yoom-tah!" He yelled and started outright running into to the fog-ridden forest. I didn't find it hard to keep up, but I couldn't say the same for the others, especially Corphish and Bidoof, who were not only fairly slow movers, but they also took the most stuff with them. Wigglytuff eventually got the message and waited up for everyone.
"Ooh, this is exciting!" He said, rubbing his hands with glee, leading us further into the forest. The forest seemed so still yet so alive, the thick fog induced feelings of paranoia in those not named Wigglytuff, and we found ourselves constantly looking over our shoulders – it was like the whole forest was watching us. Wigglytuff, in spite of looking like he was just in this for some kind of joy ride, showed a good deal of professionalism, and was taking notes as he went along, writing things on a notepad with an untidy scrawl. The whole forest looked pale and hazy, as if the fog was choking it. The air around us felt ever so slightly damp, as it the forest itself was sweating in fear.
"Really does give a sense of exploring the unknown – this fog is almost symbolic." Serge said, looking like he was in distaste of the damp conditions. This dampness struck me as odd – it didn't seem like the condensation from the fog could do this alone. "I'd image that this is just as mysterious to everyone else here, right?" He said to the others. Chimeco looked the most focused, being right behind Wigglytuff, as if she was trying to be impressive, but it made no difference to her attempts to be thoroughly efficient. Bidoof, oddly enough, didn't look on edge at all – he looked so excited, his cheeks looking slightly rosy.
Corphish, however, looked quite scared, and his head always twitched in the direction of the slightest noise. I wasn't much better, admittedly, and I was pretty sure I had looked in all directions at least ten times so far. Serge took it all in his stride, and much like Chimeco, looked efficient in the way he was looking. He was at the back, so he let a lot of the forward-looking explorers continue looking forward while he made sure that nothing was stalking us.
"Hold on, I'm just getting a perfect apple out of my bag." Wigglytuff said as he produced an almost iconic looking plump apple. If it looked as tasty as it actually tasted, then I could understand Wigglytuff having an obsession for them. He then – I can't believe I'm saying this – hugged the apple. How much more eccentric can our leader get?! Truly, we were doomed. This musing was cut short by a pokemon that jumped from the trees that tried to hit Wigglytuff with an attack that I couldn't quite make out. Wigglytuff dodged by leaning to the side with some great reactions, but the apple was knocked out of his grasp.
Turns out it was a linoone, and it was hard to tell whether it wanted us out, or it was after the apple. Either way, it would invoke a gang attack on it, since there were six of us, or, if it was the apple it wanted, I could imagine Wigglytuff going on a complete rampage to deliver a violent beat down on the apple thief. Bidoof was oddly aggressive today, as he rather viciously dived at it and struck it viciously on the head, before grabbing it and head-butting it again. The linoone saw that it was hopeless trying to fight back and immediately fled, looking rather dazed as it retreated back into the fog.
"By golly...using your head really does work when it comes to exploring!" Bidoof said, and we all chuckled at his joke. Maybe he was from Glasgow, and gave the standard 'Glasgow kiss' to hit adversaries. I chuckled to myself at the amusing thought, but Wigglytuff looked oddly distressed.
"No no no! My perfect apple!" He said, pointing to it as it was rolling down the hill. "Come back!" He said, chasing it down the hill like a clown. What excellent leadership we have here at the Wigglytuff Guild – a clown who cares mainly for his perfect apples, a bird who acts like a corrupt Sargent Major, and a criminal. Wonderful.
"Uh...what do we do now...? Do we just wait for him or..." I said, seeing our leader disappear into the fog. I was sure he could look after himself if all the rumours of him actually being incredibly deadly in combat being true, but I was more worried about myself.
"The time it takes for Wigglytuff to return will depend on how quickly he gets his damn apple, but that's the guildmaster for you, hey hey, and I wouldn't have him any other way." Chimeco said. I did internally question their blind devotion to their guildmaster. I had been on the receiving end of that though, since my friends asked me now and then about why I was so devoted to Dialga. Well, that was because Dialga knows best about making moral decisions – duh! Perhaps they would use the same logic on me.
"Think he'll be coming back soon?" Chimeco asked, before Serge walked up from the back to the front, clearly he had something to say.
"I see this as an opportunity to impress the guildmaster and the guild! How about we just go without him and explore this place and find the lake!" Bidoof looked like he approved wholeheartedly. I was kind of happy for him – he was vastly more confident than when I first joined the guild, but I thought the two of them were getting ahead of themselves.
"I dunno...I'm sure he'd want us to stay here." I said, but Serge had something else to say.
"He never told us to stay here. I say we go on without him, since he'll probably end up making some discovery while chasing his perfect apple by himself anyway. We'd be more useful this way." I was reluctantly won over, and soon, we all decided to just go on without him. Now it may have just been me, but I swore I could hear a strange constant rumbling somewhere, and it seemed to come from in front of us. What it was or how far it was away, I had no idea, but considering our travel direction, I think we'd find out soon. The forest all looked the same – every tree looked the same, and the fog was unrelenting, acting as an ominous haze. I was too busy looking to the right, making sure that no pokemon would ambush us from that direction when I felt a heavy piercing grip on my left arm.
"OW! Corphish?! What the hell was that for?!" I said loudly, holding my arm in pain. Corphish was pointing to the left of the group and looked worried. This gathered everyone else's attention, but before any of us could get an idea of what he was even pointing at, he already looked away.
"Don't look, don't look!" He said, and started running ahead of us. I let loose my vines and held back my panicking team mate, sighing in frustration.
"Ok, just what the fuck is it that you're so scared of?! Tell us! If it's a dangerous pokemon, I'd rather deal with it head on instead of letting it attack from behind." I said, not beating about the bush – there was a time and a place for doing that, but being direct to the point was vital at these times.
"...A lopunny." He said. As serious as he looked, I had to try not to laugh – we took on a walrien with less guild members before – this just made no sense. "Bidoof, look away, I'm telling you! You know what they do? They captivate you in a seductive gaze, and before you know it, they start leading you away and you're never seen again! I think we should just move quickly away from it, and it might give up, come on guys, let's go!" He said, frantically gesturing us to move, but none of us really agreed.
"If we ignore it, Corphish, it might attack from behind, we can't risk that. Someone needs to keep an eye on it if we're not going to chase it off." I looked at it out of the corner of my eye. Corphish was right to an extent – it did seem to be attempting to do as Corphish said and to lead people astray, but I felt unmoved. If I was, I would be repulsed at myself for finding a pokemon attractive! The amount of cold showers I'd need to get over that would be astronomical!
"Ok, Chimeco, you'd better deal with it – the rest of us are male, so we wouldn't stand a chance" He said, still looking highly stressed and extremely serious; a trait I did not share. Chimeco looked a bit unsure about this.
"That lopunny will probably be a very fast mover...I might not be able to take it down without some kind of support." She said, and I was getting quite angry at all this pointless discussion.
"Y'know what, I'll do it!" I said, grinding my teeth as I stomped towards the lopunny, who seemed to be trying to focus all its seductive on me. Pah, I have more self-respect than this! I stood right up in front of it for about five seconds, shook my head and delivered a sort of back-flip uppercut attack using my heavier tail leaf, leaving a vicious, and very long cut all the way up it's body. Just to be sure it wouldn't strike back, I attacked again, jumping once again in the air, and sliced the lopunny across it's face without any form of mercy. It screamed in pain and surprise and ran off deep inside the forest. I nodded and turned around and walked back to the others. They all looked a little surprised, but Corphish especially looked amazed, and also curious at the same time.
"Ok, what was so hard about that?! Let's just keep going..." I said bitterly at them, this time taking the lead. Corphish scuttled up to me as I led them deeper into the forest, and tapped my shoulder to get my attention.
"This may seem strange to ask but...are you gay? You didn't even looked phased by her attempts to seduce you." He asked quietly. I was shocked to think that he would assume that at all!
"No! Why would you think that? Oh, no, you see, in my culture, where I come from, It's extremely taboo to have relationships with others that aren't of your own species. I could never find a lopunny attractive!" Truth be told, I never found anything to be sexy, so much so I considered myself asexual, and I always thought relationships were a waste of time, but if I said that to Corphish, he probably wouldn't believe it and continue pestering me with the issue, just as the humans did back in my world. What I said was also completely true, and yet it revealed nothing about my true origins, which was more than handy.
The rumbling was getting slightly louder, and we encountered no aggressive pokemon for quite some time. The trees were starting to become a bit more sparse, but the ground wetter in contrast, with some parts were borderline marshy, and Serge didn't look happy about it at all. The rumbling got louder still, and it was covering almost all of the background noise, and it was about then I saw something out of place. It was no tree in the distance, or at least as far as you could see in this fog. I went over to it rather quickly, and my jaw dropped slightly in wonder. It was a statue of some kind, which prompted me to move closer to inspect it, but it seemed so incredibly out of place here! It was a statue of the entity of legend, Groudon, which is said in the occasional piece of religious scripture to have created the land mass on planet Earth and to help people with floods in ancient times.
The Arceists claim that Regigigas was responsible for organizing the landmass, but Dialga tells me that it was Groudon. I also wondered who could have built this statue as I could see crumbled pillars and intact pillars surrounding the statue. I was quite curious of how the pokemon in this world knew about otherworldly legends, considering that Groudon surely lived in the human world back home. Perhaps there was also a groudon here in this world too. The internal questioning was soon interrupted by the other guys, all crowding around the statue. Serge was writing something down in his notebook swiftly – obviously this was noteworthy. Corphish and Bidoof were looking at it from all sides with excitement, with Chimeco doing the same in a far more composed manner.
"By golly, it says something here!" Bidoof said loudly.
"Hey hey! He's right! Come and see this guys!" Corphish said even louder, and I took a look with the others. I looked at the engraved text, but it was in some language I couldn't read, and by the looks of things, no one here understood what it said at all.
"...Well that's useful..." I said, looking at the 'text' closely, stroking my hand against the statue, but was still unable to determine anything from it. The text carved just beneath the statue was both strangely recognizable yet foreign at the same time, with some of the symbols resembling the English alphabet, with others being symbols that I recognized that weren't part of any alphabet I knew, and others being completely unrecognisable.
That was when it happened again – that ringing in my ears, the sudden dizziness – another vision was about to happen for sure. I suddenly found myself looking at the statue, hovering about three or four meters in the air, except that no one was there this time. A few seconds later, I saw something that I hadn't seen in over a month – humans. There were thee of them, all male, and they looked like they were exploring themselves. They were chattering too each other, also about finding Uxie. A potential lead perhaps?! I listened in closely.
"Look, people, I'm telling you that Uxie is out best bet. I got us this far, didn't I?" The tallest one said.
"Harvey, can't you see that you're probably following blind rumours? We've been wandering around in this fog for two hours, and I'm getting concerned. We only have these wooden planks for protecting us, and the pokemon here are most uncivilized. If they attack us..." The other man said in a thick French accent, but the smallest, and by far the most out of place man suddenly spoke.
"I see...a statue." He said in a strange accent, and it was evident that his English wasn't very good. "But...I want to see Giratina. He will help us if we can find him." The most striking feature about him was that in his left hand, he held a stone that was all to familiar – the very same one I picked up outside of the campsite!
"Acalan, would you please not mention that abomination! Anyway, Benoit, this is odd – what is a statue of Groudon doing all the way out here? We never taught the pokemon here how to build statues like this, and even if we did, how could such a statue find its way here? We spent two years with them, and oversaw their ascent to civilization." He said as they walked over to it. Harvey was English and Benoit was French – it seemed obvious due to their thick accents, but as for Acalan...well, he looked like he belonged to some primitive tribe judging by the way he dressed.
"There's something written here, some ancient language I'm guessing Harvey...if this is truly a language." Benoit said, looking at the same text that we failed to understand. Harvey inspected the strange text before suddenly looking enlightened, his eyes widening slightly.
"You can read this?" Benoit said, looking at him. He nodded and inhaled, as if he was trying to think of how it would translate in English.
"Re-ignite...the life...that burned within...Groudon...then the sky...shall blaze...with the sun's heat...and the you shall...find what you seek..." Harvey said, looking like he was concentrating very hard. the other two pondered this for a moment. "Ancient Greek. Clearly, we weren't the first humans to arrive here.
"Say, Harvey, do you think that 'reigniting the life that burned within Groudon' will cause the fog to go? We might be able to find Uxie with far less difficulty?" Benoit said, and Harvey nodded slightly.
"But how on Arceus's green Earth do we do that?! I mean, that's an extremely strange riddle if I ever saw one!" He said fairly loudly. Benoit, however, wasn't listening much and focused on inspecting the stature.
"Found something odd. Its chest – that wasn't chipped away, it's far too smooth for that." He said, pointing at it's chest. I was too far away to make it out clearly, but I guessed it was some kind of hole. "I bet it's this that will make the fog go away."
"Statues making fog go aw..." Harvey started to retort, but Benoit held up his hand.
"No point in putting a lead to waste, even if it does seem strange, a statue altering the weather..." Harvey said, rubbing the hole with his fingers. "I'm actually starting to be glad that this tribesman somehow got pulled into this world with us – he's not dead weight at all, and has helped us here by fighting off those pokemon earlier! I'll sit on this rock to try and think about this stature, I suggest you and Acalan do the same." It became apparent that he was the self-appointed leader of this trio, and all three of them sat down separately for a think. Harvey was almost motionless, Benoit was staring at his spear and his stone, but Benoit took some jewels out of his bag to stare at.
"If...no, when I get out of here...I'll be a wealthy, wealthy man..." I heard him mutter to himself, but the other two didn't hear him. And yet, perhaps it didn't matter, because Harvey saw this and he strode over to him.
"Still staring at your gemstones?" He said, shaking his head before looking at the one Acalan had, looking puzzled at the fascination he had with it. "Mind passing it over for a moment? Don't worry, you found it, we'll let you keep this one."
"This one's still very warm, and you picked that up two hours ago – how strange..." Harvey said after he passed it over, walking around with it in his hand before handing it back to him. "It's no ordinary gem..." He said as Acalan suddenly smiled.
"Maybe, it's for...no ordinary...purpose!" He said, taking the gem back and ran ran over to the statue and tried putting the gem in the hole.
"Perfect fit..." Benoit said, stepping back a bit to gaze at the Groudon statue. The statue did nothing for about ten seconds, and then I swore the statue's eyes glowed red. It was fairly subtle, but not nearly as subtle as what happened next. A massive column of light that could almost blind you either shot up from the statue or went down on the statue – it was impossible to tell, but the fog seemed to scatter like insects running from fire, and before long, 'Foggy Forest' was not so foggy after all. "Acalan, you genius!"
"Incredible!" Harvey said, looking around. "Although, there's just one thing that's puzzling me. Those instructions were in ancient Greek, so could this mean that the Greeks from ancient times visited here at one point? They must have either tried to civilize the pokemon here or have tried to set up their own town or something like that. Either way, they didn't succeed for long. If I wasn't planning on trying to leave here now, I'd happily look into this more.
"There it is...Fogbound Lake! Uxie awaits us! I should have had more faith in you Harvey!" Benoit said, pointing to the sky above them. The other two looked and also gasped.
"What a beautiful sight..." Acalan said, in a more sophisticated voice than usual, but by this time, the vision was ending, and everything blurred to black. This time, I felt myself being shaken rather roughly this time instead of waking up peacefully.
"Floyd, please get up!" It sounded like Bidoof, and I felt myself being shaken awake by him and Corphish. I groaned, and I was helped up.
"Calm down, please...I'm ok." Well, I was ok, until Serge opened his leaky trap.
"Floyd, did you see anything that will help us here? Any vision, or..." He said, and I cast him a deathly glare, but it was too late – overwhelming interest had sparked from the other three.
"What...did you say Serge?" "A vision?" "He saw the future?" "The past?" "Why didn't you tell us?" Things like that were said many times to me in the space of fifteen seconds before I just lost it.
"Shut. The fuck. up!" I yelled at them, which seemed to quieten them down a bit. I didn't care to hear their questions at all, and crudely took the warm red gemstone out of my bag, and looked at it closely. Guess I'd just have to do the same thing that Acalan did, and I just decided to jam it into the empty slot.
"Back away, people!" I ordered as me moved away from the statue as it's eyes started to glow red. "And don't look or you may be blinded." I said and looked away as the statue worked it's magic and in mere seconds, the fog was lifted. I turned and looked at the statue once more – the stone was very firmly in place.
"I think I will name the gem 'Groudon's heart' for it it red, is lodged in at the position of it's heart on the statue, and seems to activate Groudon's legendary abilities to alter the weather." I said, smiling slightly, and slowly looked up. What I saw made me almost faint in shock and wonder – it was no wonder Fogbound Lake was hidden for this long, since I knew I was staring at it right now. It looked like a gigantic, utterly colossal natural fountain, shaped like those found in some gardens. It must have been at least two hundred meters tall! The waterfalls that created that low rumbling sound from earlier – that was the water spilling over the edge of the lake, supported magnificently from its narrow rocky foundations, which opened up into a wide bowl in the sky. It was sheer beauty, and my eyes were gorging themselves on this sight. Nothing like this in my world even existed! I tried to imagine and speculate how it was formed – volcanic activity gone crazy perhaps, but I decided to just let the wonder of what I was seeing override my constant searches for explanations for every little thing.
Even magic had its place in a head ruled by logic and emotion. The sight was such a marvel, that it made me completely forget about the humans I saw in my vision – I'd have time to think of that later. I heard gasps from the others as well, looking almost as in awe as I remained captivated by the view of it. I was also glad the lake distracted them from the fact I can see into the future...or maybe that was the past this time...anyway, I didn't end up thinking about it until Corphish finally spoke.
"Hey hey! That makes us the one's who discovered fogbound lake!" He said, clicking his claws in delight. "But that does leave a problem – how do we get up there? Hey, even if we don't, we still sort of discovered it, right?"
"...Well...perhaps if we go to the base of this gigantic fountain, we might be able to see something." Serge said, but Chimeco looked like she had other ideas.
"I think we should report back to the others right away and get further instructions from the guildmaster...wherever he went to." She said, but for me, this was my big chance – the lake was revealed! I now knew for sure where Uxie was! This was the time to truly act.
"Serge...I don't think you're thinking ahead far enough. We are going to the top and see the lake for ourselves! All five of us!" I said boldly. To be honest, anything to keep them distracted from asking me about my visions, but the cat was kind of out of the bag now...surely no one else would believe them. Yes, I think I will be safe from mass questioning and scrutiny for now. I convinced them fairly easily to come with me as we plodded through the marshes to the base of the lake.
Mudkips and woopers had clearly made a home here, the conditions being ideal for them, and thankfully, they were very passive, with just a couple looking at us as we went onwards. As the jaw-dropping awe of the sight of the gigantic natural fountain started to subside slightly, my thoughts turned to the statue we encountered. Perhaps this giant fountain had perplexing volcanic activity to allow it to form the way it did, but the statue – I had nothing on it. I couldn't even begin to speculate on it at all. What correlation did some out of place statue have with a stone I found that had the power to affect the weather a few miles in radius? I couldn't even to begin to imagine how or why it could possibly happen. Some crazy dream by the gods, dumped and abandoned here? Could the ancient Greeks known something that even the brightest scientists and geologists couldn't figure out? That statue might as well have been full blown magic by this point.
The sun had became surprisingly intense, as I could almost see the water in the marshes evaporate slowly around us. Serge oddly enough didn't look uncomfortable, and was somewhat quieter than usual, but as I looked behind me to see where the others were, I saw that the other three were walking right up to me.
"...Yes?" I said curiously, but it was what I didn't want to hear at all.
"Ok, Floyd – you just saw into a different time period when you passed out which somehow got you to figure out that you had to put that weird gem in the statue to make the fog lift. I mean, that's incredible!" Chimeco said, looking a bit perkier than usual. "I mean, how and when can you do this?" I just shrugged at her, but Bidoof used it as a cue to chime in himself.
"By golly, do tell us more!" Bidoof asked.
"How long have you been able to do this? Were you born with this ability?" Corphish chimed in, and I didn't like this at all. Politely, I wish they'd drop and forget about it, and speak no more of it, but I didn't think it was going to happen at all. I inhaled and sighed.
"...Speak to Serge about it. It's probably all extreme coincidence anyway." I said flatly and walked ahead, being more interested in the massive natural fountain in front of me. I heard gossips and gasps around me, as they learned about me from Serge. I failed to come up with a good lie to throw them off, and even now, I still couldn't. I heard Serge tell them not to bother me about it, and while I was thankful for his support, I felt bad for shifting the heat off me onto him. At least if they shut up about me having visions, it wouldn't be as discomforting, since if they didn't, they would likely go up to me constantly, always asking for their fortunes to be told and other shit like that. If this were to leak, then blending in until a chance for escape in this ungodly world would be almost impossible.
I also began to think about what I saw in the vision – was it the future or the past I saw? Upon thinking, it just had to be the past. They talked of bringing pokemon up to civilized levels...were they the humans that Chatot referred to a couple of weeks ago?! The ones who brought civilization to the pokemon of this world?! They must have been, since their clothes looked like they were from the Victorian era at a guess. I wonder if they had the chance to return to their own world. Seems like they were trying to from what I could tell. They also seemed to be thinking on the exact same wavelength as I was – seeing if Uxie had the answers. I was almost at the base of Fogbound Lake, and I began to inspect it, as the others soon caught up and joined me. The rock structure was like nothing I had seen in my world, and I was bewildered. There was even bored out holes right at the ground of it – some big enough for us to go into.
"Think that's the way up there guys?" Serge said, and I couldn't help but chuckle.
"Pay attention to the structure, Serge, why would it be even feasible?!" I said to him, almost hitting my head with my palm, but my opinion's changed when Corphish spoke his part.
"Remember, Floyd, about the tunnel through the mountain, but you didn't believe me...I say it's worth a shot – we could get even more recognition now!" Corphish said. "Hey hey, I 'ain't passing this up!" I was won over. I guess nothing particularly bad would happen if we just poked inside, and besides, rock formations were very different in this world, as if they had a completely different set of rules that they went by. For all I knew, Serge might be onto something, so I just went with it.
"Ok, ok, let's go check it out." I said and followed the others in. None of us had to duck, which was fortunate, and it began to get a bit wider as we continued to go through the narrow passageway. It started opening up into a sort of cave, with strange passageways that must have lead to the top, or at least I hope it did. Who knows, it might even be possible to get to the lake from here!
"Think these are natural, or they've been dug by someone?" I thought out loud as I marvelled at the interior of this natural fountain. I walked to what seemed the centre point in the fountain and looked up, and then down to see what I could see. The hole here must have been formed by some sort of gigantic geyser, that must have originated from the volcanic activity. As much as I wanted to get to the top, I also couldn't help thinking about how this natural marvel came to be. Of course, Uxie would surely have the answers to this as well, so I quickly joined my friends on the ascent. This place was quite steamy, and it made the place feel incredibly humid.
"Just taking a drink, and I think I'll be needing a few of them at this rate." I said and started drinking some water. It was sure needed, as I walked over the damp, rather hot rocks. The others didn't seem to mind, and Serge seemed to like it, but I was assuming it was to do with us all being a different species.
"Hmm...think anything lives here?" Chimeco said, looking around as she hovered just behind Serge.
"Hey hey!" Corphish said. "You'll..." He said and slowly looked to the left and gulped.
"Jinx it..." The native pokemon who saw us did not look happy, and there were a fair amount of them – numels, magbys, slugmas, and a magmar. There was actually plant life within the cave, somehow, which must have formed an ecosystem for those who have survival advantages in hot places such as this. By now, I was getting a little fed up of the constant aggression from these uncivilized bastards.
"There's ten of them...looks like we'll be in for a bit of a fight, because I want to be the one who discovers Fogbound lake! And the rest of you! We can do this!" Serge said, rallying confidence and support, and I was with him. Finding the way to return home was worth a little risk and violence, but I was already sweating badly, and I know I'd find it hard to fight.
They seemed to run at us in a rather staggered and disorganized way, minus the slugmas, who only slithered forward fairly slowly. Corphish wasted no time, primed both his claws and shot jets of water for them like a dual wielding cowboy. His accuracy wasn't too good, but it was doing the job, the native pokemon screaming in pain as they were stunned in pain as they got struck by the pressure-shot water gun attacks. Bidoof then proved that he was starting to learn well by charging head first at the stunned magmar, leaping at it and rather viciously head-butting it in the face, knocking it to the ground in a daze. However, he was almost immediately burned straight after by a torrent of flames from one of the smaller pokemon, but Serge was quick to assist, using his superior physical strength to hit two of the magbys hard with signature living fire-wreathed tackle. Corphish, inspired by Serge and Bidoof, charged right into close quarters.
"YAAAARRRGGHHH!" Corphish yelled, letting out a furious battle cry, as he continued to shoot the aggressors with torrents of water. Eventually, Chimeco and I followed in, but I was getting exhausted far quicker than the others due to the heat. My attacks felt limp and laboured, and their skin was too hot to touch for absorb attack, but try I did, even crippling a numel by striking its legs, before getting tacked from behind by one of it's friends, sending me sprawling to the floor. I quickly pushed myself up in time to avoid it's second attack, and for some reason, it charged right into the cave wall and knocked itself out. Double dumbass on that numel! I looked around and saw Chimeco chuckling, indicating that she had something to do with it.
"Thanks..." I said, readying myself to keep fighting. It was like I was suffering from heat exhaustion up here, and yet, the others only seemed to think it was slightly hot. My cursed cold-blooded body...it was far too sensitive to heat changes for my liking. That being said, it still looked like my friends were handling things just fine, with no one so far suffering any particular injuries. I even managed to help out again by using my vines as a lasso to trip up a charging numel, but that soon changed. The magmar suddenly got to its feet, and I knew this wouldn't be good.
"The magmar's up, watch out!" I yelled, but it wasted no time whatsoever, and it's hand seemed to light up in flames and punched Corphish so hard that he was sent several meters back and crashed into the cave wall with an audible whack.
"AAARGH!" Corphish screamed in pain, coughing up a bit of blood. "Get...them..." He sounded very weak. The rest of us looked frantically at the remaining assailants – there were only four left now, the others must have ran away in fear.
"Bidoof, protect Corphish. Serge, deal with magmar, and Chimeco, I think you can handle those slugma, right?" I said as a self-appointed leader, assessing the situation. Good field leadership was something I felt the beings of this world lacked, and while I wasn't really qualified, someone had to do it. I just hope that no one cared about my lack of getting stuck in with combat attitude, but I had an excuse this time. Serge was utterly pulverizing the magmar with attacks that blurred slightly, constantly hitting the magmar at every weak location with both his head and limbs. He almost seemed like a living fireball, mercilessly hunting down its target.
Bidoof was staring down a magby, who seemed intent to continue trying to beat up and burn Corphish, but Bidoof was having none of it. He heroically jumped the flames that the magby spewed and struck magby's arm viciously with huge buckteeth, and quickly threw this opponent against the wall. I wanted to clap and applaud Bidoof for this – I could see that he had come far in recent times. Back when I first joined, he was kind of useless, but now...I don't think I'd want to mess him him.
I found it hard to tell what Chimeco was doing, but she was causing the two slugma great pain – in fact, it seemed like she was using her psychic powers to try and pull their molten bodies apart. I didn't think it'd be lethal, since slugma lava had an uncanny ability to rejoin together if it should be separated from the main body, but it looked agonizing regardless. Eventually, this forced them into retreat, but this victory was rather short lived – seemingly out of nowhere, something lunged and attacked Bidoof with some sort of slashing attack, leaving quite a gash on it's poor body. I looked carefully, and it was a very pissed off looking charmeleon, clearly hearing us fighting and rushed in to protect his friends.
I inhaled, knowing that I had to do something here. I might need my friends to help me get home, after all, and before it could attack Bidoof again, I grabbed it with my vines, and focusing every ounce of strength in me, and all the mental ability I had to ignore the heat, pulled the charmeleon right at me with one focused tug before leaping at it, and striking it hard with both my head and tail leaf. It gave a bestial scream, and looked like it was about to try and incinerate me. It yelled even louder in pain before running away, and the nearby surroundings were covered in steam. I could see an injured Bidoof, and an even more injured Corphish, holding one claw up, pointing it at where the charmeleon was. I looked around the rest of this 'room' in this cave network – they had all retreated, and we had won, and I was starting to wonder how lucky I was to have done this for a month without getting seriously injured.
"Did you save my ass with all that water there?" I asked Corphish, who just nodded weakly. I decided to drink some more water, constantly trying to stave off the dehydration.
"Oh no no no! I don't think he'll be able to go further! We should go back!" She said, looking at Corphish, even though she didn't look hurt at all. Bidoof grunted in pain as he slowly got to his feet. He could walk, but looked in no condition to fight, but Serge looked perfectly healthy. I thought for a bit, thinking selfish thoughts – Uxie was within reaching distance, I was surely on the home stretch from finding the answers!
"Say, I have an idea...how about you help Corphish and Bidoof outside of the cave and get the rest of the guild to come here, while myself and Serge go onwards? I promise, if we do make some grand discovery, you three will be credited accordingly." She didn't look like she thought much of the idea, and neither did the others, though their opinions didn't come off as strong. "Well, either way, I'm going further up anyway. You don't need me to escort you back outside at the base of this strange cave fountain lake thingy anyway." I said and started walking up. Perhaps it would have been safer to go back with them, but feeling how close I was to Uxie, I could not think of anything else. Even my personal safety took a back seat to the goal.
"Ugh, fine. Don't worry Corphish, I'll make sure you'll be ok you ready Bidoof?" Chimeco said, sounding slightly annoyed. Bidoof nodded and Serge shrugged.
"...I'll be going with Floyd." Serge said and turned to walk with me, waving to the others as they went out of sight.
"So what made you come with me, eh?" I asked Serge in a friendly, happy manner. I was glad he was with me, as he was the only one I knew in this world that I could trust fairly deeply in.
"Didn't want to see you go off alone, and besides, Chimeco can take care of them by herself just fine, and I'll be honest – the lure of the glory of being the ones who truly discover the fabled fogbound lake would be simply legendary. Think you'll find what you're looking for?" Serge happily said to me.
"It's all I've got right now really. I just hope Uxie will actually be there. To think though – the entity that granted mankind the capacity to know and remember so much! I should thank him first before asking anything, and so should you. Without him, you'd just be another savage, as would I." We never spoke much as we continued to climb up the weird chasms, and it began to get cooler. The cave got slightly damper and cooler as we got further up, which suited me nicely.
"Say, Floyd..." Serge said, sounding a little uncomfortable, and I looked round at him. "If Uxie does tell you what happened and how you'll get home...you going to leave right away and try and forget this place?" He said, and it struck a rather dissonant chord with me. I chewed my bottom lip for a few seconds.
"Yes, Serge I will be heading home and I will never be coming back, but I couldn't forget this world at all. Some of the most dangerous and heart-pounding experiences in my whole life has happened in this world." I said, but Serge wasn't quite finished.
"It's just that...well, it's becoming really hard to tell when you're doing something selfishly or not anymore." He said, making me feel uncomfortable, but I feel that it was time to bluntly remind him. I respected Serge, and lying to him in this case would be a sign of disrespect, as told to me by my lord and god, Dialga.
"Serge...something about me that you must understand – ever since I landed up in your world, everything I have done was pretty much for selfish reasons. Well, kind of. What I am about to tell you will not be pretty, so just be ready for it. I feel as though you are a good friend of mine, and I won't forget about you, and wish you future success, happiness and well-being, but let's face it – we've kind of been using each other for our own ends. You're strong and knowledgable about this world – I could use you as a form of protection and information in order to help me find the way home, and I am, and still doing, just that."
"Try to understand that returning home means everything to me. Everything. And everything was enough to completely take advantage of your kindness." I said and inhaled. I needed to tell him that, I felt a mounting pressure to tell him all this time, and I felt it was something that he should know – the truth. "I decided to tell you this, because I respect you enough to not hide information from you – would you not agree that it would be disrespectful to keep it a secret? ...I'm sorry Serge, it really wasn't fair on you. If you view me as a selfish prick, I won't blame you." I said as Serge was looking like he was trying to decide what to say.
"Hrm...well, in an odd way...I kind have been doing the same. I mean, I found you when you were, to say, a fish just out of the water and asked for your help and to form an exploration team to help fulfil my own dreams. Wouldn't you say that was also a little selfish in hindsight? After all, you had no intention or desire to become an explorer, and I talked you into it, seeing that you could inspire confidence in me. So haven't we both been playing the same 'in it for our own ends' game? Still, I won't lie – I will miss you, and through all we've been through, I consider you a close friend. I'll miss you Floyd." He said, returning encouraging words
"And that's not just because Team Conviction will be reduced to just you after I leave? Look, I know replacing one of the founding members will be very hard, but...actually, you have enough experience now to go solo. Seriously, out of the group of five there, you were the best fighter by far!" I asked him, and chuckled slightly. I sure hope that he'll take my advice on going solo – sure I don't have much investment in Team Conviction becoming a great exploration team or anything, but it couldn't just have some scallywag replacing me like that! "The cave started to get a little lighter – we must be getting close to the end of the tunnel by now."
"Well, I think you've been a very good person overall. If Team Conviction disbands after you find they way home, well, we'll have discovering the legendary Fogbound Lake under our belts! And if you need help trying to follow Uxie's directions, I'll help you." Serge said, which I was truly grateful for.
"I don't think I'll ever forget you, and I'll always consider you a close friend." I said and smiled at him. If I was even the slightest bit huggy, I'd have probably hugged him right there. The cave opened up into a plateau. We must be at the top, and the bright sky was now above our heads. The ground seemed to slope downwards slightly – perhaps the rain would land here and flow down and form the actual lake. We were on the outer rim of the fountain for sure now.
"Well, this plateau only leads in one direction Serge." I said and walked fairly briskly towards where I think the lake would be. There was a small rumble, which I felt at my feet. Must have been the geyser shooting up, but I found out that it wasn't when I turned round to look.
"Odd..." I thought out loud to myself, but the rumbling continued, in short bursts, that seemed to come every two seconds in short bursts.
"What the...this never happened in the cave!" I said to Serge before looking in the direction that he was looking at. Something was moving for sure, but I could only see it in a strange heat haze. It was moving closer, that was for sure, and as it got even closer, I could see that it was big. Very, very big, and it seemed to be red and grey, but it was hard to tell because it was so blurred. The tremors got more vicious as it continued moving towards us – no doubt it was causing them, which meant that it must be not just big, but utterly huge. My own heart rate quickened as it became close enough to tell roughly what it was. I saw Serge take a few steps back as I breathed through my teeth rapidly, now realising a possible reason why there was a stature of Groudon in the forest.
I looked at the colossal behemoth in front of me – it was as every bit as massive and terrifying as I would have imagined it to be! I wasn't sure whether it intended to kill us or not, but it certainly didn't look like it wanted to have a friendly discussion about the weather either. I teetered on my heels and toes and breathed deeply, trying to maintain my calm and not do anything out of panic. Groudon suddenly roared with extreme volume which sent me scuttling behind a rock with fear – it was bit enough to just step on me and kill me just like that! And yet, I could still sense courage inside me. Or it could just be the extreme will to find Uxie, or sheer and utter stupidity and recklessness, probably one of the two, but I knew that if I just turned back, I would be throwing away my only lead to return home.
Shaking, I got out from behind the rock and stared at him. This wasn't inspiring courage at all! Its huge claws on its hands and feet, each the size of my entire body and the accusing stare that it gave me was completely draining any emotion from me other than fear, and it looked like it was indeed worthy of the legends of being the pokemon that created the land. All things considered, this all made sense somehow – perhaps the reason I came here was a trial of some sort, to prove myself worthy of my human form, and this was the final test. Aside from Arceus, I had no idea who could have done this, but even Arceus seemed very unlikely – he was the lazy god who done nothing after the universe was made. The more I thought about it, the more it made my head spin. This was raw suicide, trying to oppose the one who pretty much created the land itself, not to mention I'd be extremely ungrateful to do so. Without Groudon, mankind would probably have never existed, and he likely does maintenance work to the land unlike Arceus.
"Floyd! We should go back and wait for the guild. We might stand a chance then, lets run!" Serge had the right idea, as we turned around and sprinted madly towards the cave, but a large boulder came flying right over our heads that Groudon threw, or perhaps even conjured and oh-so inconveniently blocked our escape.
"We'll never move that in time!" Serge said, showing signs of true fear in the first time in ages. I was even more terrified, and yet, I could not come to terms with death being a real possibility even upon looking at Groudon advancing upon us. Uxie was surely right behind him! No one was going to stop me from becoming human again! Nothing! Not even the creator of the land! Sure I was grateful for it's existence and work, but it had no reason whatsoever to try and stop me from being human again!
"Serge...there's pretty much one option here." I said, smiling. It was a rather fake smile, but it did represent the latent emotions of hope, courage and glory. "No one said discovering Fogbound Lake would be easy, and perhaps this is my last trial that has been set for me to return to a human form. I am going to accept that challenge! No one will stop me from returning home! Not Chatot, not this world, not even Groudon himself! Things don't always go well initially, but in my life, they always work themselves out not too badly! This is no different! I, Floyd Munro...in the end, I always get what I desire! Earth calls, and I shall answer!" If I could look at myself, I would kick myself for the sheer stupidity and arrogance I was showing, and yet, this felt appropriate at the time. Serge tapped me on the shoulder.
"I'm with you all the way." He said as we both stared right into Groudon's eyes. There was nothing more to do now but to engage in quite possibly the most one-sided fight of both our lives.
And that's just what we did.
