Hey guys, back again! Thanks for the reviews, so here's the next chapter! I don't own Pokemon except my characters and ideas! Enjoy!
Chapter 12: Taken For Granite
The S.S. Peeko sailed smoothly on the mild ocean waves. The sun of a new day beamed down, allowing the water of Mr. Briney's ferry boat. Peeko fluttered around with Sogen while he cleaned up around the ship. As for the four heroes; they were enjoying a relaxing cruise across Zinrai Sea.
On the deck; Jeremy and Drew were laying on a couple of stretch chairs, wearing their bathing suits and soaking up some sun rays. Christina was sitting in a fold-out chair and coloring in a book; also keeping an eye on Smoochum, Treecko, and Roselia, whom were chilling at the foot of the beach chairs.
Angelina and Chocolate; however, were sitting along the railing on the side of the boat, watching the water splash by.
"Pika!" Chocolate clambered up to her trainer's shoulder and belly-flopped onto her. A gentle breeze blew up from the sea and smacked her in the face.
"Angel, you should be careful not to fall off." Jeremy glanced over, lifting his sunglasses for a second.
"Whatever; I'm not a little kid." Angelina's hair swayed slightly in the wind. She glanced down and peered into the water again. A school of Mudkip swam by followed by a couple of other Pokemon—their parents. They looked like a larger, buffer version of Mudkip with a large, black tailfin, two black fins on their heads, and yellow gills. Its skin was darker in blue and it had yellow spots on its arms.
"Check it out, Chocolate." Angelina pointed and pulled out her Pokedex.
"Swampert, the Mud Fish Pokemon. Swampert predicts storms by sensing subtle differences in the sounds of waves and tidal winds with its fins. If a storm is approaching, it piles up boulders to protect itself." Dexette spoke.
"Wow, they're so cute! Wouldn't it be fun to have a Mudkip on our team, Chocolate?" Angelina asked her Poke-partner.
"Pika-pi-pikachu!!" Chocolate scowled, she slapped Angelina lightly on the cheek.
"You know, you're right; I should be lucky with what Pokemon I already have." Angelina smiled and Chocolate smiled back.
"Maybe you two should concentrate more on your next gym match. Brawly isn't going to be easy to fight." Sogen said. He wrapped up a long rope and walked over to Angelina. "Brawly uses fighting-type Pokemon. If you're not careful, he could crush your little Pikachu."
"You underestimate my Pikachu's power; she's a lot stronger than she looks." Angelina said.
"Pika," Chocolate blushed.
Today, our heroes find themselves sailing across the sea. What adventures await them once they get to Dewford Island?
FWOOOOMM!!! The ferry whistle bellowed through the air and caused a flock of Wingull that were resting on it to flutter away. Slowly, a sandy island with a thick forest came into view in the distance. If Angelina and Sogen looked closely, they could see a town at the far edge.
"This is your captain speaking," Mr. Briney's voice came from the loud-speaker, "We have arrived at Dewford Island. Please, for your own sakes, do not attempt to jump from the boat until we've come to a complete stop. Thanks for riding."
"Geeez, the way he's talking, you'd think we were on a plane or something." Sogen sweated anime style, and Angelina chuckled a little as Christina joined them. Jeremy and Drew left immediately into the cabin to go change back into their field clothes.
The S.S. Peeko pulled into the wharf on the beach of the island and let down its staircase on the side.
Angelina stood atop the rail as if it were flat ground and glanced down at the deck. "Where are those two, anyway? No one said this was going to be a long trip; they didn't have to change." she folded her arms. She started pacing across the rail with Christina while they waited for their friends.
"Angelina, I guess I should tell you now that getting to Dewford Town won't be easy." Sogen said, "You'll have to go through the beach forest in order to actually get to the town."
"Another forest?" Angelina sighed.
"Don't worry about it. If you stick to the dirt path, you'll be in Dewford Town in no time."
"Just stick to the dirt path, eh?" Angelina leapt down onto the floor.
There were two clicks and Jeremy and Drew emerged from their shared cabin back in their normal clothes. Their Pokemon were recalled to their Pokeballs.
"Well, I'm certainly glad you two took your time." Angelina complained.
"Oh, come on, Angel; it's not going to kill you." Jeremy said.
"No, what's killing me is the fact that you two, nor Christina didn't bark at each other this whole boat ride." Angelina folded her arms again and walked down the ship steps. Jeremy and Drew followed right behind the girls, mumbling and growling. They stepped onto the soft sand of the beach and off the boat.
"Murakami!" Mr. Briney called from atop his ship. The kids turned to gaze at the boat's wheel. "Once you get to Dewford Town, go to the Pokemon Center. I've arranged a boat for you to take to Slateport City. Nurse Joy will have your tickets; just make sure you're not late for it."
"Don't worry; we won't." Drew agreed.
"Goodbye!" Sogen waved. "And Murakami, don't get over-confident. Once we get to the Hoenn League, I'll eat you."
"I'm sorry to say, Sogen, but I'll be the winner of that match." Angelina grinned.
With the four waving goodbye, the S.S. Peeko sailed away, bellowing its horn along the waves.
"Jeremy, Christina, Drew; it's time to go." Angelina flashed a thumbs-up to them.
"Awwwww…. can't we stay and enjoy the beach? It's so beautiful." Christina asked, sifting some sand through her fingers.
"Oh, we can enjoy the beach any ol' day. If we stop now, we'll never get to Dewford Town." Angelina said and started walking towards the forest. She didn't get far when Drew stepped right in front of her, growling.
"You rushed us to Rustburo City," Drew said through clenched teeth, "Don't rush us away from here as well."
"Don't sweat it, Drew. According to the Poke Gear, Dewford Town has one of the best beaches in the entire Hoenn Region." Jeremy stated as he, Christina, and Angelina started into the beach forest.
Drew folded his arms and frowned, "Fine, have it your way." he stomped in front of them with Christina right behind. The way he saw it, it was their turn to be rushed. Not ones to complain about speed, the older teens followed silently.
The light breeze had carried the ocean smell all the way through the forest. This made it impossible for Drew to forget about the beach. He gave a sigh while trying to keep his pace. CHWASH!! Suddenly, Drew felt the ground collapse from underneath his feet and he looked down. A dark hole had replaced the dirt floor he was once standing on. "Uh…. uh-oh!" A rush of wind smacked against his body as he dropped down into the pit. "Umph!" THUD!! He landed onto the cold hard ground harshly.
"Drew? Hey, Drew, are you okay?" Angelina shouted down into the hole.
"Yeah, I'm just fine." Drew said, getting to his feet.
Angelina placed Chocolate on top of her head, following her first instinct to go and get her fallen friend. And since there was no argument, she took it that Jeremy and Christina were thinking the same way. "Hang on; we're coming down to help."
"No, wait—" the three friends jumped down into the dirt pit.
Fortunate for them, their landing was a lot more pleasant than Drew's.
"Now how're we supposed to get back up with you down here?" Drew asked simply.
Angelina, however, wasn't paying attention and was too busy gazing down the long dark tunnel that was a part of the pit.
"Angel, are you listening to us?" Drew, Jeremy, and Christina asked.
"There's a tunnel down here." Angelina pointed; it was as if their words didn't even make its way to her ears. Without another word, Angelina started to walk down the tunnel curiously. Jeremy, Drew, and Christina sweated anime style; they sometimes couldn't stand that mind of Angelina's.
The deeper the two went into the tunnel, the darker it got. Their footsteps were the only noises echoing in the cave. Soon, it was so dark that they couldn't see a thing.
"Hey, Tina, how about some light in here?" Angelina asked.
"Light?... oh—right," Christina pulled out a Pokeball from her belt and pressed the button in the middle twice. "Go Charmander!" the ball flashed open and Charmander appeared, scratching itself with its foot.
"Charmander," It shook it fiery tail. With Charmander in the lead, the four continued down the tunnel. Its tail crackled in their silence.
Angelina got a good look at the walls, now in the light, and noticed that there were some sort of weird symbols and Unown. "Hmm…." she edged closer to the wall and placed a hand on it. It felt rough and ancient—she could've worn it out if she touched too long.
"So, can you read it?" Drew suddenly asked her.
"Yeah, I can read it a little."
"Really?" Drew came to a stop.
"I was just joking, you know—"
"But if you can really read it, read it to us?" Jeremy asked.
Angelina nodded and moved over to the wall again. She had read it once before, so it didn't seem so hard to do now. "Hmmm…. this tunnel used to be used as a direct route to Dewford Town…. I think. Whoever created it made it with many paths to confuse an enemy or something like that. These tunnels may also—" In a shock, Angelina swiftly drew back her hand. She could've sworn that one of the Unown symbols started moving.
"What's wrong?" Christina asked.
"Erm…. it's nothing; my eyes must be playing tricks on me." Angelina rubbed her eyes, careful not to knock her contact lenses out.
SCWEEEEEE!! EWEEEECH!!! An echo of shrill shrieks and flapping bounced around the tunnel behind them.
"What's that?!" "Pika—" "Char!" the five took a glance back.
The Pokemon fluttered at them through the darkness and came into Charmander's tail-light. They were blue bat-like Pokemon with purple wings and big ears. They were sightless, having no eyes, and had razor-sharp fangs.
"Oh-no! Zubat!!" the group turned tail and ran for their lives down the dark tunnel.
"I didn't know those things were down here!" Christina shouted.
"This tunnel is cave-like; it's no surprise the Zubat made their home here. We just have to keep away from them!" Jeremy answered her.
They panted heavily as the floor they were running on went from dirt to stone.
"Hmmm…." Angelina looked to the side at the wall. 'This tunnel is supposed to have many corridors. Maybe…. there!' "Go this way!" She skidded a bit and flashed down the left corridor with Chocolate clinging to her shoulder.
"Hey, wait for us!" Jeremy, Drew, and Christina scrambled off into the corridor.
"Char-char!" Charmander waved its little arms frantically. It had lagged terribly behind and called out to his trainer quite loudly.
"Charmander, get back here!" Christina reached out and snatched her Pokemon up.
The Zubat swarm shook pass the corridor in a blind fury. As long as the gang kept quiet, the Zubat would zoom right by.
"Ah…. oh-no," Jeremy held his hand to his face.
"Ssshh! Keep your voice down." Angelina hissed.
"But Ang—" Jeremy started to rock a little as he held his nose.
"Be quiet!" Christina snapped.
"Ah…. Ah-ACHOO!" Jeremy let out a lout sneeze.
The tail-end of the Zubat swarm twitched an ear before turning their way. "Zubbaaaaat!!" They screeched.
"I'll take care of this." Angelina grabbed a Pokeball from her belt.
"Noctowl, I choose you!"
From out of nowhere, a Pokeball came flying overhead and landed in front of them. It burst open with a bright light and a bird Pokemon came out. The owl Pokemon's feathers were dark brown except for its tan underside. Its belly was patterned with brown triangles. Noctowl's eyes were a penetrating red and it had a v-shaped crest of feathers on its forehead.
Running up to the group, a man in a black outfit ordered his Pokemon, "Noctowl, use Gust attack!"
"Hoooo-hooooo!" Noctowl flapped its wings mightily and sent a strong whirlwind spiraling against the walls.
A few Zubat were blown away in a wicked screech, causing their comrade's to make a hasty retreat for fear of another attack. Angelina, Jeremy, Drew, and Christina let out a sigh of relief.
"Good job, Noctowl." The young man held up his arm and Noctowl landed on it. He had short sea-blue hair and blue eyes. His shirt, which had purple streaks running up the front, was completed with a white dress shirt underneath and a read tie. Around his arms and middle finger were three silver rings. "What're you four doing down here? Don't you know it's dangerous to be roaming the ruins of Granite Cave?"
"Sorry, we kinda got lost," Jeremy said.
"Well…. These corridors are very confusing so I guess your story checks out. Hi, I'm Steven Stone, the treasure hunter."
"And I'm Angelina Murakami. This is my little sister, Christina, my two friends, Jeremy and Drew, and my Poke-pal, Chocolate." Angelina pointed to Pikachu and she let out a happy squeak.
"Can I ask what you're doing down here, Steven?" Drew asked curiously.
"Treasure hunting, of course," Steven turned and started walking down the corridor he had appeared from, motioning for the group to follow.
Charmander trotted up to the front to shine its light. In order to help out even further, Steven clicked on a flashlight and aimed it into the darkness.
"These ruins have been down here for centuries," Steven continued, "Hardly anyone travels them because they're afraid of getting lost. So, they just stick to the normal cave path. I've been reading the ancient symbols on the wall and they tell of a secret room of evolution stones. It's my pride as treasure hunter to find such a room. The only problem is that there is a certain corridor split where I can't read the ancient writings."
At this, Angelina reached into her bag and rummaged through the contents. "Did it look anything like this?" she flipped open an old-looking book with yellow pages and a strong leather binding; then held it up to Steven.
"It's that book again," Jeremy mumbled.
"Where'd you get this treasure from?" Steven asked, also stopping to take a good look.
"It's…. em…. a family thing." Angelina sweated anime style, wondering why she had even found the old book in her step-relatives' attic. "Anyway, is this what you saw?"
"Yeah, it is."
Angelina grinned and slammed the dusty book shut. "Then consider me your interrupter. I can read it with no problem." she raised a fist.
"Excellent, then follow me; I'll lead you to the corridor split with the writing on it." Steven started down the tunnel again with the others following him.
The deeper they went down the ruins' corridors, the darker the darkness became. Soon it was pitch black and they had to rely on Charmander's tail flame and Steven's flashlight.
Angelina was now walking beside Charmander, running her hand along the wall as she read the archaic symbols.
"Uh-oh," Christina breathed.
The group came to a stop at a three way split in the path. Steven started to sweat as his eyes darted from the three tunnel ways.
"Which way do we go?" Drew asked him.
"Not sure; I can't seem to remember which corridor I went down."
"Oh, great!" BANG!! Drew, Jeremy, and Christina fell to the ground anime style.
"Don't blame me; I came running through here to help you guys!" Steven exclaimed.
Angelina, assisted by Charmander's light, started touching the wall between each tunnel. The markings were definitely Poketilan symbols—the only system of writing that could only be read by a select few. "Hmmmm…." she hummed.
"Pika-chu, pika-Pikachu?" Chocolate spoke, tapping Angelina's shoulder.
"No, I'm trying to find which one doesn't lead to a maze." Angelina pointed to a bunch of lines and squiggles. It was amazing how well she could read the foreign language now; kind of as if it had come to her overnight. "Now which way do we go?" A faint blue light glimmered from below at her thoughts. "Ohaaa…." The Crystal Bell hovered out in front of her, tugging at its chain. It aimed for the left tunnel way threateningly.
"What's up with your weird bell, Murakami?" Steven asked.
"I've seen it glow a couple of times, but never act like that," Jeremy commented.
"I think it's trying to pull me in the right direction." Without warning, Angelina scooped up Charmander and dashed down the hall. She stared down the left tunnel. "I think we should go in that right direction."
"Not so fast!" Jeremy, Drew, Christina, and Steven raced after her.
Angelina didn't know if where she was going was going was correct, but it was her best chance. Before she left, she noticed a couple of trap warnings over the other pathways. The tunnel twisted and turned wildly. A dim light shone at the end.
"Angel, don't go so fast!" Christina called. She was trailing so far behind that Steven sent Noctowl to fly around her.
They made a turn around a sharp corner and headed towards a threshold. Now, the walls of the corridor were decorated with lit torches—something strange for such old ruins.
"….whoa, HOLD IT!" SCCRREEECHH! Angelina suddenly skidded to a halt. Her feet screeched as she prevented herself from passing the threshold.
"Watch out!" Jeremy was the first to crash, followed by Drew, Steven, Christina, and Noctowl.
"Char? Pika?" Charmander and Chocolate glanced back. When they saw the dog-pile, they let out a sigh and sweat anime style.
"That was un-cool, Murakami!" Steven rubbed his head.
"Why'd you stop like that?" Jeremy growled.
Angelina pointed to the wall. There was a combination of Pokemon pictures, shapes, and squiggly lines. "You see, this is a warning right here" she said, "These ruins contain traps beyond certain points. This threshold just happens to be one of them. If we're not careful, we could end up as permanent residents here." Angelina sets Charmander by its trainer and puts Chocolate in Drew's arms. She then drew her black rose-shaped staff and dashed through the threshold into the light of the new corridor. "Don't follow me!" she shouted. The ground shifted underneath her weight and she stopped abruptly. Holes in the ruin walls slid open, launching a battalion of needle-tipped arrows. Angelina closed her eyes to relax her body. "….Shaaa!" There were a few swishes, zaps, and the sparkle of the light reflecting off the staff as the arrows fell to pieces on the ground. "Heh, too easy for me—" Suddenly, the ground started to rumble and quake all over.
"W-w-what's t-that?" Christina's voice shook.
Angelina stood up and blinked; from around the corner, a giant boulder rolled across the brick floor—it was big enough to cover the entire tunnel.
"Hmph!" Angelina held out her staff again.
"You're not going to be the only hero around here, you show-off!" From out of nowhere, Jeremy jumped over Angelina's shoulder with his fist drawn back.
The boulder roared loudly at each time it smacked the wall.
"Are you crazy?!" Angelina rushed forward to match the speeds with her friend.
Jeremy thrust his fist forward and he heaved a sword through the air; a powerful blast caused the once rolling stone to burst into a fine dust. The two landed on the ground.
Jeremy frowned to Angelina, "I said I had it."
"You're not invincible." Angelina replied simply.
"Ah…." Steven sweated anime style, blinking in disbelief.
"You'll get use to it." Drew said simply.
"I'm not sure, but it may be safe." Angelina stated.
"You're notsure?" Christina ran up to her, growling.
"Just trust me." Angelina smiled.
The group continued to walk down the torch-lit hall with Angelina still reading the interesting stories on the wall. Jeremy was fascinated by the ruins so much that he began taking recordings with his camera.
Angelina felt a tapping on her shoulder and waved it away mindlessly. It was probably just Chocolate messing with her.
Tweep-tweep! The tapping became sterner.
"Cut it out, Chocolate." Angelina waved again.
Tweep-Tweep-Tweep!
"Knock it off, Chocolate!" Angelina hissed louder.
"What're you talking about? She's back here with me?" Drew said.
"…." Angelina's face went a little worried and she started sweating. "Then who is—" she turned around and jumped a bit. "Jeremy," she voiced weakly, "I am just seeing things, right?"
Jeremy turned around as well. Once he did, it wasn't long before he was sporting the same look as his friend. "If you are, then we are too." He gulped.
A crackling red flame ball floated in between them. It made a faint whistling sound as it soared slightly.
"Okay, maybe if we just walk away, it'll disappear," Angelina turned, but stopped abruptly. Another fireball hovered in front of her very eyes.
"They're popping up everywhere!" Jeremy growled. About a dozen flaming spheres were now circling them threateningly.
"What're we going to do?!" Christina shrieked.
"We're gonna fight!" Steven said. "Something tells me these aren't what they appear to be. Noctowl, use Foresight!"
Noctowl fluttered off of its trainer's shoulder and flew up into the air, letting out a "Cu-whoo". It stared at the fireballs, its red eyes shone with a blue light that hit them; the flames slowly faded into a black spherical Pokemon with slanted eyes and a big mouth. Its entire body was enshrouded by a purple ghostly gas.
"I thought so," Steven snapped his fingers.
"Gastly, the Gas Pokemon. These Pokemon like to become invisible in order to sneak up on their prey. They are made up entirely of gas, which can be poisonous if it feels threatened." Angelina's Pokedex spoke out.
"Ga-Gastly!" The Gastly all stuck their tongues out at them.
"If they're Pokemon, then they won't mind if we battle." Angelina grabbed a Pokeball from her belt. "Let's go, Basil!" she threw it and it burst open in a flash of light, revealing her Chikorita.
"Chika-Chika!" BANG! Basil thrusted her shoulder into her trainer, trying to bite through her shirt.
"Basil!" Angelina staggered a bit, "Don't ram me; ram them!" he scolded.
Basil scampered off into a fly tackle towards the Gastly.
"Angel, ghost-types aren't affected by physical attacks." Jeremy told her.
"Unless the Forsight Attack is used. It's obvious Angelina knows what she's doing." Steven spoke up.
Basil crashed into one Gastly and sent it spiraling into the wall.
"Basil, wrap this up with a spinning Vine Whip!" Angelina ordered.
"Chika," From her bud necklace, two green vines sprouted like a couple of whips; Basil pivoted on one leg while spinning around in a circle, allowing her vine whips to deliver a harsh trial of smacks to each Gastly.
"Ga-gastly!" "Gastly—" They turned-tail and floated down the tunnel in the opposite direction.
"Chicken!" "Chika!" Angelina and Basil stuck out their tongues.
"C'mon, let's go." Drew said.
"Right, C'mon Basil."
"Chikori!" Basil clambered up to Angelina's shoulder as she walked up. When she passed Drew, Chocolate leapt onto her other shoulder out of jealousy.
The torch-lit tunnel finally came to an end and yielded a bright room. The very walls of the circular room were made up of different colored stones. In the middle was a rocky, spiraling stair case pillar. There was a hole at the top of the room that allowed the sun to shine through; the light reflected off of the stones in the wall, lighting the room with many colors.
"Whoaaa…." The kids said breathlessly.
"It's so beautiful!" Christina complimented.
They walked in and all split up to examine different areas. Christina and Jeremy knelt by a deep puddle that contained some clear blue stones with white bubble patterns inside.
Drew and Steven were admiring yellow stones with lightning bolts in the inside on the wall. The high wall was made up of orange sun-shaped rocks—the only ones that didn't reflect a color by the sun.
Angelina gazed at the side of the pillar, which was kindly decorated with light fuchsia stones that had yellow crescents inside. She barely realized her curiosity moving her feet up the narrow stairway. Higher she scaled, just itching to find out what resided at the top.
"I've never seen so many evolution stones in my life." Steven said.
"I've never seen an evolution stone ever." Drew pulled the earthy-looking stone from the wall and examined it, "This is a Leaf Stone, isn't it?"
"Precisely," Steven said.
Angelina continued to climb up the spiraling pillar. The stones on the sides started to slowly change from the light fuchsia rocks, to flaming red ones. When she reached the top, it was bare except a glowing object standing upright. It was blue and star-shaped and sat there lonely. 'Wonder what that is.' Angelina thought to herself. Her first instinct was to reach and grab it, even though she knew better than to. It was different than any other stone in the room. Maybe it was used for a specific Pokemon to evolve. Angelina grasped the object with both hands mindlessly, holding it up. She half-expected the room to start shaking or fall to pieces. After all, traps did seam to be the theme of the cave ruins.
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"Ah, fresh air at last." Angelina stretched as she, Chocolate, Jeremy, Drew, Christina and Steven found their way out of the cave.
The sun greeted them harshly in the eyes, but they were thankful to be back outside.
Angelina took a look out and smiled; they were standing on a hill that oversaw just a little bit of forest between them and Dewford Town.
"If you stick to the forest trail, you should get to Dewford Town." Steven told them. "I can't thank you enough for helping me, Murakami."
"Don't worry; I've got it covered." Angelina smiled, concealing one of the yellow Thunderstones' behind her back. She felt a little bad about taking it, but what was one rock between new friends?
The four turned and waved goodbye as they walked towards the forest.
"We'll meet again someday—count on it!" Steven called.
As our heroes walk away, they've made new friends and gained new experiences. But what's Angelina going to do with that Thunderstone? See ya next time!
§To Be Continued§
In this chapter, Angelina and friends arrive on Dewford Island and run into Steven at Granite Cave. The only difference is that there's no letter-delivering and I'm not entirely sure what I'll have Angelina use the Thunderstone for. So I should have the next chapter up soon! Thanks for reading!
