Exuro
Foot of Mt. Silver's Southern Entrance
(Silver Town's Northern Outskirts)
03:02 PM
"Is it just me, or the whole competition is a bit disorganized?" The young trainer was doing his round of stretches before actually starting the second round of the Grand Conference. An official came over to him while looking up the large mountain in front of them. "It is disorganized, after realizing that "we" needed to do something else besides getting a worthy trainer to do it." Upon hearing the official, Ash turned around to identify the person to be the official he met during in the reception area. "What are you doing here? I thought an executive from team Galactic would better spend their days in office. You know, ordering people around."
"Bravo team and I are thinking of getting out of Team Galactic, as I said earlier." "Ah, yeah, that. So what are you planning to do now, Mr. Leader? Your team won't get any funding from the company anymore." "Leader… I like the sound of that." He took a cigarette from his pocket and lighted it up. "You might want to check your balance sheet when you get back to the mansion. You did inherit Raito's properties and the likes. Speaking of which, how do you feel about this round?" Ash shrugged and turned to see the mountain. "I'm not sure, frankly speaking. With only two Pokémon, I'm pretty sure I can get across Mt. Silver. However, what lies after is the thing I'm worried about. I've been there once, it was thick with fog, couldn't do much. What are we supposed to do once we get there?"
Leader took his cigarette and spun it around before taking a puff. "Eh, you'll see. It makes for a nice surprise." "What's that smell?" the younger one asked out of curiosity. "It's my cigar. Chocolate flavour." "Right… Well, have fun with that." Ash ended the conversation with a wave and proceeded to enter the mountain.
Right beside the entrance, he overheard a pair of trainers talking. "Dammit! I wish I'd have brought along my flying Pokémon for this round. I didn't know we were allowed to do anything we want!" Ash walked up to the fellow trainer and patted him on the shoulder, "You're lucky, lad. Not everyone can handle the lack of oxygen in high altitudes 'cept for experienced hikers and trainers who frequently go to the mountains to train. You'll be surprised when you get to the top checkpoint to see most of the people who attempted to fly over this mountain collapse and give up. "After saying so, Ash entered his yearly training spot – Mt. Silver.
"Let's go over here!"
"This rock looks sturdy enough!"
"I'll climb first then you go!"
Voices filled with excitement were exchanged in the first big hall of the first level of Mt. Silver, where most of the participants were just getting started to find their own routes in the natural maze. Ash, who took his time entering, was still in his relaxed stance. He knew his way around the mountain and would waste no time going to the exit. While walking to his usual route, he could feel that a few groups were following him.
"-Hey, that's the guy who won both preliminary matches with one kit KOs. Let's follow him around. I'm pretty sure we can get through this part just fine if we follow him."
"That's him, that's him! The one who were just allowed two Pokémon for this round! He must be very capable to get toned down by the board of directors of the competition. He must know his way around here."
Slightly annoyed, Ash kept walking. He knew that eventually, he would shake off the people that were following him. It was only a matter of time given the structure of the mountain that is very dark and difficult to maneuver.
And like Ash had predicted, soon enough, he had lost them.
However, Ash still had a very bad feeling that something was not right. The caves felt different than the last time he had visited the mountain. Ash noticed that at his present time, there were a noticeable difference of how much less the Pokémon numbers, and how every time he encountered one, they would cower away.
"This feels familiar." Ash thought. While managing his way through the natural rock formations he started to break out beads of sweat. Feeling overly warm, he took off his overcoat and hung it over his shoulders. Not long after, he found one of his many resting spots. It was a big opening, with a couple of flat rocks where he can sit on. Close to the flat rocks was a big pond with a narrow tunnel leading elsewhere. He sat on one of the rocks to take a breather.
"I remember this pond being filled with water Pokémon. I wonder what happened to them?" Ash pondered about it for a second or two and then decided to shake it off. He just simply did not have the time to lounge around. Ash got closer to the pond to take a nice, cold sip of water. "Ugh! This is water is warm!" He looked at the puddle of water on his hands that are clasped together, and drank again from the pond regardless of the warmness of the water. "I must be missing something here." He thought.
Ash continued his journey deeper into the caves of Mt. Silver. He noticed that he had taken an hour and a half to get to this point, like usual. Smiling to himself because of his punctuality, he tied his hair into his usual ponytail because the temperature was rising even more the deeper he went into the caves.
The young man hopped over some rocks and obstacles on his way to his second personal 'resting spot', occasionally looking back to confirm that nobody was following him. And indeed, there was no one. "It's hot! Very hot!" He said while wiping his sweat from his forehead. "It wasn't this hot last year and the year before… Can't say the same about the first time I was here though." Ash talked to himself while climbing a couple of elevated grounds. "That was the year I started training here, and the year I encountered that thing." He nodded to himself after he got to a level ground. Not long after, he chuckled to himself. "Encountered... right. More like I saw that thing and ran away. That thing was angry~."
After cleaning a bit of dirt from his pants, Ash encountered a wild Golbat. A first wild Pokémon in a while. While getting ready to flee from the bat Pokémon, the Golbat immediately charged for Ash. "Whoa, hey, wait! At least let me get ready!" Having no time for a proper dodge, all Ash could manage was to tilt his head backwards to avoid the Golbat smacking into his face. The Golbat flew away from him without a second thought. "Huh… That's weird. I was pretty sure that Golbat was heading for me." He resumed his walk shortly afterwards, getting closer to a fountain he used for resting while thinking how this was all too easy.
"Maybe this is the calm before the storm." He thought. Suddenly, he had a theory that might explain the strangely high temperature that was present in the caves, but immediately dismissed it. "No, no, that can't be true. It can't be that short of a period of time..."
Getting closer and closer to the fountain, Ash thought out loud, "How long does it take for a Moltres to lay an egg after the last one, anyways..?"
Caves were not a new scenery to the group of experienced Pokémon trainers. Especially for the leader of the Pewter City gym who spent most of his time training in caves. Leading the group to search for the exit, Brock made a remark of the warm temperature he had been feeling since they got deeper into the cave. "Man, this cave is almost as hot as Blaine's gym."
"Tell me about it." Replied a younger trainer wearing spectacles. "How much water do you have left, Dawn? I think I'm almost out."
The blue-haired girl walking beside him let out a big sigh. "I'm almost out of water too… Let's hope we run into a water source or something so we can fill our water thermoses." Said Dawn while shaking her thermos to indicate how much water is left in the container. "I wonder how May and Misty are doing?" "Where did they go anyway? I haven't seen them since we went deeper from that big hall in the beginning." Brock asked while avoiding low ceilings.
"May met Drew in the entrance. She asked if they could go together and he said yes. She dragged Misty along with her." Max answered. "But who cares! We've got the Sinnoh champion going with us, so everything's going to be okay!" he said while wearing a big grin. "On that note, thanks for coming with us." Dawn said while turning to Cynthia.
"It's no problem, we just happen to be going the same way." The champion replied with a smile. "Besides, it's not a bad idea to travel in a group… Unlike that idiot who likes to go alone." She muttered the last sentence under her breath. "What was that?" Dawn asked. "Oh, it's nothing."
Whether it was fate or a coincidence, they were heading to the same place Ash was.
After going through several jagged paths and climbing over small cliffs inside the cave, the group had arrived at the fountain. "It's hot! Too hot!" shouted Max while pulling his shirt to allow some air to circulate. The first thing he noticed was the water source in the middle of the big room in the cave. "Hey! There's water over there! Let's fill our bottles up!"
"Oh yeah, you're right. Good job Max!" Brock praised the younger trainer. "It's never a problem for the great Max of Littleroot Town!" Max said while assuming a victory pose. "Let's not get cocky now." Brock said with a smile. "Hey, give me all your bottles; I'll fill them up for you." Offered the Pewter City Gym leader.
After gathering all the containers, Brock proceeded to the water source to collect some water. "Wow, it's even hotter here." He kneeled and placed the bottles on the ground. He took some water with his hands to drink first before filling the bottles. "Ouch ouch ouch! It's boiling hot!" He shouted.
Sensing something happened with Brock, Dawn shouted from where she was sitting with Max And Cynthia, which was quite a way back. "What's up, Brock?" "This water is boiling! It's undrinkable!" "What?" Max said in surprise. The young trainer saw Brock trying to gather all to bottles before he headed back to the group. Disappointed, he laid down on his back. "Oh man… Now what are we supposed to d-" He stopped before finishing his sentence.
"What's wrong, Max?" Dawn asked.
"A… Above…"
"What?"
"Brock, look out! Above you!" Max shouted with all his might.
Hearing his warning, all of them now were looking up, looking at the majestic sight of the Legendary Fire Bird of Kanto, ready to strike down at Brock.
Nearing his destination, Ash had little obstacles to go through before he could finally reach the fountain he found during his trainings in Mt. Silver. He was whistling to make himself forget about the heat that was getting to him. He was playing with his two PokeBall while leisurely walking down the straight path that would take him to the water source.
"Man, I hate those people on the board of directors. Why'd they have to agree on something so irrational anyways?" whined the trainer. "Why am I participating in this competition again? With the old man dead, I shouldn't have any reasons to participate…" He pondered about it for a while before coming to a conclusion. "Oh yeah, that's right, there's still the Winner's ceremony to watch out for."
After a couple of minutes, Ash arrived at a dead end, blocked by boulders. "Now, the only thing left is to get rid of these rocks, and I'll be at the fountain." He said while preparing himself to push the boulders away. After taking a stance, he kicked the boulders forward. The boulders crumbled, causing dirt to surface, forcing Ash to cover his face with his sleeves. When he regained his vision, he saw Moltres descending on a person who was lying on the ground motionless. "What the hell!" Ash shouted.
Pushed by his nature, he immediately dashed forward to help the man while quickly observing the situation. "Damn! I can't make it in time to push the dude out of the way!" Ash thought while taking off his glove. "Well, if I can't save the guy…" He used his right arm to boost himself up in the air, in the direction of the Fire bird. "I just have to take this Moltres away from him!"
"Brock! Look out! Above you!" Max shouted to warn his friend of the seemingly enraged Moltres. The Moltres was descending fairly quickly, ready to blast Brock out of the way. "We have to do something!" the two persons beside him nodded in comparison, and were getting ready to grab a PokeBall to have a Pokémon help out. When they were about to send their Pokémon out, the series of boulders on one side of the room suddenly crumbled.
They saw a man dressed in an overcoat came out of the rubble that immediately dashed towards Brock and the Moltres. Recognizing the outfit, Max shouted, "Ah! It's Thanatos!"
Thanatos jumped inhumanely high and tackled the Moltres' neck, while holding on to it. With the Moltres stunned, he shouted to Brock, "What are you doing? Run!" "Huh? Oh, right!" Woken up by the warning, Brock snapped out of it and ran away, picking up the bottles along the way. Making it back to where the group was standing, he tried to catch his breath. "Are you okay, Brock?" Max asked. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little bit shocked, that's all…"
Their attention was pulled back to the Moltres' that was swinging its neck wildly, trying to get the person off it. Losing his grip, Thanatos was thrown far back, hitting his back on a wall, creating an opening on the wall that oversees the forest outside. He forced himself to stand up to find himself on a staring match with the legendary Pokémon.
"You people standing over there!" he shouted. "There's a natural climbing spot right behind this Moltres!"
"H-Huh? Is he talking to us?" Dawn asked.
"Yeah, who else is here in this room?" Thanatos answered. He was moving slowly to not agitate the Moltres. "The climbing spot takes you to the checkpoint up top! Just hug the wall!" He shouted.
"W-what?" Max asked in confusion.
"Just do as I say, dammit!"
"Let's do as he says and hug the wall, Max!" Brock shouted while running to the said spot while hugging the wall, followed by Dawn and a confused Max. "You too, Cynthia, come on!"
"O-oh, yeah…" replied the Sinnoh Champion while following the group.
Satisfied that all of them made it safely, Thanatos prepared himself to make a run for it. Noticing that the Moltres was trying to stand its ground as if trying to protect something, He picked up a rock and tossed it in the general direction of the Moltres. The legendary bird raised its right wing and smacked the rock away.
"That must be the egg he's trying to cover." Thanatos said out loud to himself. Believing that he had a decent plan to get away, he kneeled down to grab another rock.
Seeing that the human will do the same thing twice, the Moltres charged forward while unleashing a Fire Spin.
"Huh? Wait!" Immediately Thanatos strafed away from the fire move, and landed in a forward roll. Just as he was recovering from the roll, he looked up to find that the Moltres was again flying towards him with its wing shining, ready to strike him down. He knows this move all too well. "Not another Air Slash!" Knowing that evading backward would only make him an easier target for the Moltres; he once again jumped forward and rolled. The Moltres quickly turned around and shot its Flamethrower in the general direction of the trainer.
Having no momentum to dodge, all Thanatos could do was to assume a defensive position, that is, crossing his arms in an 'x' shape in front of his face. And surely enough, he was engulfed in fire. Fortunately for him, the Moltres kept going and tackled him out of the fire. However, with no control of his body in mid-air, he hit the back of his head on the cave walls, causing a bit of the ceiling to crumble. After a few seconds, he landed on his right arm and felt immense pain spreading through his right shoulder. Managing to sit up and leaning on the wall, he saw the fire bird looking down on him.
"You got me." He said to the Moltres. "You got me before I had the chance to use my right arm. Kudos to you, good sir." He commented with a weak smile. With faded vision, he noticed the egg glowing behind the Moltres, assuming a similar shape as the Pokémon standing in front of him. "Oh come on… Of all the times you can hatch, you can't do it sooner?"
Before losing consciousness, all Ash - otherwise known as Thanatos, could see was the majestic sight of two legendary fire Pokémon flying out of the cave through an opening, decorated in a dress of fire.
Next chapter soon.