Pokemon Platinum

Chapter 10: Solaceon Spirits

Sitting up in my bed, I stretch my arms out, and yawn. Monferno, Luka, and Staravia look at me expectantly. I scratch the back of my head, and head over to the mirror. My pink jumpsuit-like pajamas are wrinkly, but I don't have an iron to smooth them out with anyway, so I'll just stuff them back into my bag. I freeze, with my eyes wide and my mouth in mid yawn.

Am I losing my elegance? Am I becoming a plain citizen? I sit down and start combing my hair before cramming the white hat onto my head. I look at Luka.

"Do you think I'm changing?" I ask. Luka crosses her arms and shrugs. I sigh.

"I feel like I am in some ways..." I write in my diary of my most recent travels. There's a knock at the door, and I look up.

"Yes?"

"Are you ready?" Lucas asks. "We're going to Solaceon town now." I jump to my feet.

"Uhh, yeah, just a moment!" I call, and run around the room, tidying up and pulling on my clothes.

"Monferno, Luka, and Staravia, return," I say, before pocketing their pokeballs, and opening the door.

"Barry is already downstairs," Lucas says. "I can't believe you made me share a room with him." I look at the bags underneath Lucas' eyes.

"He snored all night," Lucas says, and rubs his temple. "Let's just get going." I nod, and follow him down the stairs. Barry is standing outside the pokemon center, tapping his foot impatiently.

"I'M FINING YOU FOR BEING ABOUT 0.5 SECONDS LATE!" Barry says, pointing at Lucas, which results in a loud sigh.

"Yeah, yeah," Lucas says. "But what was it you wanted to tell us." Barry crosses his arms. "I have to uh...stay here for a while so I can meet someone...so..." he trails off, then glares at Lucas. "You have to be Dawn's bodyguard until I can meet up with you guys again." Lucas nods wearily.

"Alright," he says. "I will, but are you meeting-"

"AHHHH!" Barry shouts suddenly. "I'M LATE! SEE YA!" He speeds away, and knocks over several people in the process. I raise an eyebrow.

"Interesting," I say.

"Interesting?!" Lucas says. "That's an understatement." I turn to him.

"Okay, so which way do we go?"

…

We're walking down a route when I see a steep incline. I frown.

"How will we get up this?" I ask. "It's too steep and muddy to climb." Lucas groans.

"Solaceon is right over the top of this, and I can't believe I don't have a bike!" I extend my bike and set it down.

"Will this work?" I ask. Lucas looks at me in surprise.

"Yeah!" I get on, and Lucas sits on the back. I peddle quickly up the mud after changing the gears to 4th, and we reach the tip of incline before falling to the side in the grass.

"AGH!" we yelp, and hit the ground. I pant heavily, and push the bike back up.

"We made it!" Lucas says. "Since when did you get enough muscle to move a bike? You get tired just walking!" I bite my lip.

"I don't know..." I put the bike away, and we head on down towards the town.

"What's that?" I ask, as we pass a small, white tower.

"Oh, that's the Lost Tower," Lucas explains. "A lot of ghost type pokemon live there." I nod.

"Would you like to check it out?" he asks. I shrug.

"Okay." We head down the steps, and into the dark entrance.

"I've got a flashlight," Lucas says, and we step into the darkness. I squint, trying to see what's in front of me as Lucas shines the light on the ground so we don't trip on something, or fall into any pits that might appear randomly. We pass by several ghost type pokemon who try their best to scare us, but it doesn't work thankfully.

"This is part of the Solaceon Ruins, you know?" Lucas says.

"Really?" I ask. "What's so important about these ruins?"

"Well, they are said to hold pokemon called the Unknown."

"The what?"

"Unknown. They are shaped like letters of the alphabet." I nod.

"Sounds interesting-" I lose my footing and trip over something. My breath leaves me as air flies by and I find myself falling downward.

"DAWN!" I hear from above, and it's the last thing I hear before I hit the ground and go unconscious.

…

A pounding in my head wakes me, and I open my eyes to see...a soft light.

The sound of quiet chanting comes from all around me, and I look up to see a large eye.

"KYAAAAA!" I scream, and scoot backwards, just to hit a wall. Cringing, I glance back up to see the eye float towards me. I blink several times, unsure of what to do. Instead, I pull out my pokedex and check it.

"Unknown," I murmur, and look at its shape. "You look like an A." Standing up, I walk towards the Unknown, which hums happily and floats around my head. I giggle.

"Can you show me how to get out of here?" I ask. It bobs up and down, before floating off in a different direction. Following it, I reach a large cavern. Inside, I see murals covering the walls that reach up to the ceiling. My eyes widen, and I touch one of them. It shows a trio of pokemon floating together in a circle, before three large dragon looking ones. The largest mural is of a pokemon I can't describe. It just has an aura of immense power.

"Urr!" I hear, and look over at the Unknown. Behind it, is a bunch of other unknown, floating in circles, and creating images. I blink. There's an image of a small girl, as well as an Entei. As soon as the pictures appear, they disappear as the pokemon stop moving and look at me. I straighten automatically.

"Umm," I start. "Can you help me out so I can meet up with Lucas?"

"WAHHH!" I hear, and there's a loud thud. I jump, and see Lucas crawl to his feet.

"That...hurt..." he moans. I stare at him.

"You jumped down after me?" I inquire. He nods painfully.

"Yeah, I was worried you got hurt, so I followed you once I could find where you'd fallen." I nod, and turn back to the Unknown.

"Can you help us both get out now-"

"Amazing!" Lucas exclaims, and I turn.

"These murals depict such legends!" he states. "I would love to just stay here and study them!" I sigh.

"Does this mean you'll be staying behind?" I ask. He turns to me sheepishly.

"Uhh, I guess so," he says, rubbing the back of his neck. "Will you be alright?" I nod.

"Yes, as long as both of us know how to get out of this cavern, then everything should be fine." The A Unknown taps me. I look at it. It floats away, and sends an image into my mind. I blink.

"So...head towards that tiny opening on the other side of the cavern, take the third path, and we'll arrive outside..." I murmur, then turn to Lucas.

"The way out is that way," I state, and point. Lucas nods, but is still staring at the murals. I clear my throat.

"I'll be going now, see you later," I tell him.

"Bye Dawn, I'll catch up soon," he says, and turns back to the wall. I follow Unknown A out of the cave and into the sunlight. Stretching, I enter Solaceon town. I turn to Unknown A.

"Thank you so much," I say. It bobs around happily, and floats back in the cave after giving me a wink.

"Take care of Lucas for me!" I call after it. I head towards Solaceon, and look around at the southern scenery. I wander around, feeling weird since there is no one to really talk to, but buy some MooMoo milk from the ranchers outside of Solcaceon town.

"Go Luka!" I call. She stands before me, and bows. I smile. "I guess it's just you and me, like old times," I say. We head down the next route, and Luka leads the way, sensing with her aura to find the next city. After a couple hours, she stops.

"Arr rrr.." she says, and points with her paw at some buildings. Pulling out my map, I look at the city name.

"Veilstone," I say. "Should be interesting."

…

"Luka, where is the gym?" I ask. She looks around, and shrugs. I sigh. "Let' go to the pokemon center and get something to eat." The sliding doors open, and we head towards the cafeteria. I frown. I wish Lucas or Barry were here...then at least I'd know what to order...and that they would pay.

"Are you just going to dawdle there all day?" a voice asks impatiently. Turning around, I see an annoyed looking boy with purple hair and crossed arms.

"If you aren't going to get anything, move out of the way," he says, and shoves me to the side. "What a troublesome girl." I fall on my rear end because of imbalance.

"Ow!" I yelp. A few people look over, and comment on how rude he was. The plum haired boy orders his food, and I think fast.

"Will that be all?" the cashier asks.

"Two plates of spaghetti," I say quickly, "and they'll be on his tab." I point my thumb at the boy.

"What!?" he exclaims, but the lady slides his card and gives it back.

"Your order is number 15," she says. "Please wait over there." The boy fumes, takes his card, then turns to me. Grabbing my upper arm, he pulls me over out of the line.

"Are you crazy?" he asks. "Why did you make me pay for that!?" I stare at him.

"Because I was told the boy always pays." He facepalms.

"NO! What lunatic told you that?!"

"Lucas," I say.

"LUCAS?! WHO THE HELL IS LUCAS!?" I shrug.

"A friend, who likes to study murals." The boy shakes his head with wide eyes.

"I can't believe I had such bad luck as to run into you..." he states. I frown.

"That's not very kind."

He stares at me. "I'm not trying to be kind!" he snaps. I shrug.

"My name is Dawn, what's yours?" He snorts.

"I'm not telling you," he says.

"Paul!" a voice calls, and I look to see an older man who looks a lot like the purple haired boy.

"Reggie!" 'Paul' exclaims. "Don't use my name in public!" 'Reggie' stops.

"Why Paul? You've never had a problem with it before..." Paul groans and facepalms.

"Here's the pokemon I was taking care of for you," Reggie says, and hands his brother a pokeball.

"Torterra is in great shape!" Paul snatches the ball and stalks away.

"You're welcome!" Reggie calls after him, then looks at me. "AH! I didn't know Paul had finally got himself a girlfriend!" He hums, and walks away.

I feel puzzled. Girlfriend? Now where have I heard that before...

Heading over after hearing number 15, I take the food to where I see Paul sulking.

"Here!" I say, and set it before him. "Want me to go and grab some cookies?" He ignores me, and starts eating.

I sit down across from him and eat my food.

…

"Would you stop following me!?" he snaps after a while. We're outside, and I have a feeling he knows where the gym is, and if I follow him long enough, I'm sure he'll lead me to it, since asking is out of the question because I doubt he'd tell me the location.

"I'm not following you," I state. "We are simply heading in the same direction." Paul huffs, and turns a corner.

"The gym!" I exclaim, and run forward. Paul stops as I pass.

"So you are heading to battle Maylene!? I was here first!" I shake my head.

"Whoever asks first gets to battle," I state. Paul bristles. I head to the door, but it suddenly opens and a gigantic man exits.

"The ring is my rolling sea. The towering waves shaped me!" he sings then stares at me.

"HELLO THERE!" he says. "I'M CRASHER WAKE! DON'T MY MUSCLES LOOK AWESOME?" I stare. He is shirtless, and has a weird mask on his head.

"Uhh...sure?" I say.

"YOU HERE TO BATTLE MAYLENE?" he asks. I nod.

"WELL, ONCE YOU'RE DONE, COME BATTLE ME!" I blink.

"Very well," I reply. He smiles, and walks away. I turn back to the gym, and had through the doors.

"Maylene, I challenge you!" I call.

Yeah! Another chapter done! :) PAUL APPEARED! YAYZ!

~Misty