~ Chapter 18 ~
In the Caves of 204
"I know I say this a lot, but I learned something else on my travels—but that's the point of these memoirs, to teach you everything I've learned—it's that caves hold many secrets. In fact, I believe that about half of the secrets out there in this Pokémon World come from caves, and the fact that no one has ever explored every corner of one. The first cave I ever entered I encountered two Pokémon that were supposed to be dead for millions of years, and then learned that herds of their species still exist. In this cave, I not only found a Skull Fossil belonging to an extinct Cranidos, I discovered that Pokémon that look harmless can actually be quite dangerous."
Sam, Alyssandra, Niya and Jeremy looked at the huge cliff face and the cave that sat in the centre. The grassy, flat area at the top of the cliff was where the cave led, and the path above would take the group to Floaroma Town.
"So, this is the Ravaged Path?" asked Alyssandra, also eyeing the scenery.
Jeremy nodded. "Yeah," he said, "I wonder why they call it that."
"Well, if I remember correctly from when I was travelling," started Niya, "It's because the cave inside is ravaged. It's completely mangled, it looks like a heard of Tauros rampaged through the place, and then someone set off a group of Electrode."
"How did it end up that way?" wondered Sam, "Caves don't just ravage themselves. Even cave-ins don't do that much damage."
"There are two theories," explained Niya, "The first is that many Trainers have battles inside the path with wild Pokémon and with each other. The second theory says that there's a herd of wild Rhyhorn living in the tunnel."
"Well, I hope that it's the first one and not the second," said Jeremy as the group walked towards the cave, "Oh! Before I go into the cave, I want to transfer that Luxio I caught yesterday into my PC for the professor."
Jeremy pulled a Poké Ball from his bag and held it in his hand as he searched through his Pokétch for the PC application.
"I thought you were going to keep that Luxio?" asked Sam, "Didn't you say that you wanted it on your team?"
Jeremy nodded. "Yeah, but it seemed a little thin for a Luxio," he explained, "It just didn't seem healthy, so I want Professor Rowan to take a look at it for me. That way I know if it's healthy or not to take with me, and if not, I can get it healed."
Alyssandra looked at Jeremy impatiently, then groaned slightly. "All right, hurry though," said Alyssandra, "I want to get to Floaroma Town as soon as possible!"
Sam laughed. "Calm down, Lyss," he said, "Your contest doesn't start for another four days, and we'll be at Floaroma by nightfall. You have nothing to worry about."
"I know, but I want to get there for the Festival of Honey tomorrow!" she exclaimed, "I want to register before it closes, so I can participate."
"Why would you want to participate in that?" asked Sam.
"Well, it's a good opportunity to catch Pokémon," added Niya, "I've attended the festival before. They use honey to attract Bug Pokémon to specific trees, and you can catch them, as many as you like. It works similar to the Safari Zones in Kanto, Johto or Hoenn, or the Great Marsh in Pastoria City."
Sam thought it through for a moment, watching Jeremy as the Poké Ball started to glow red and turned into a red beam—similar to a Pokémon going into a Poké Ball—and disappeared into the black sensor of the Pokétch.
"All right, fine," he acquiesced, "We have the time between now and the contest, and I would like to start catching Pokémon. Especially some Bug Pokémon; never caught those before. Maybe I'll catch a Beedrill."
"But aren't you afraid of Beedrill?" asked Jeremy finishing his business, allowing the group to enter the cave.
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I can't catch one," he said, "In fact, it's a dream of mine."
Niya sighed. "You're an idiot, and you're weird," said Niya, "But you're brave—I'll give you that. Few people want to face their fears like that."
"Thanks, Niya," smiled Sam, "That means a lot."
"That being said, I still think you're weird for it," Niya added quickly.
Sam sighed, and the group continued down the cave passageways.
They had brought out their flashlights, and now used them to help themselves navigate the darkness of the caves. The trip was relatively quiet, minus the crunching of the gravel, stones, and dirt beneath the groups' feet, that was, until Sam tripped over a stone, falling flat on his face.
While the others laughed, Sam got up and brushed himself off, looking down on the ground at what had tripped him. Sam noticed the rock, and almost dropped his flashlight as he saw what was inside of it.
"Guys look!" exclaimed Sam as he knelt down and began to dust at the stone, "It's a fossil!"
The others bent down as well, helping him dislodge it from the ground, then examined it, trying to get a better look.
"What kind?" asked Jeremy.
"It's a Cranidos, I think," concluded Niya, "I'm not entirely sure, mind you, but from what I've seen before at the Oreburgh Museum, it looks like a Skull Fossil."
"That's cool," said Alyssandra, "It's funny though. We just finished seeing the real thing, now we found a fossil."
Sam laughed. "I know," he agreed, "But this one I'm keeping in my party—after I get it revived that is. I don't care what it takes, I'm sending this to the Museum for restoration."
Sam took another medium sized stone and started to chip away at the unnecessary parts of the unusually large fossil stone. After the stone was hewn down to an appropriate size, Sam took off his pack and slipped it inside.
"I'll transfer it over at the next Pokémon Centre," he said, "Now come on, let's keep going."
Alyssandra nodded. "Agreed," she said with a shiver, "Caves give me the creeps remember?"
The group let out a laugh and continued on down the pathway, hoping they would find the exit soon. The end seemed to near as they walked up a rising, spiralling area of the cave, which showed as proof that they were walking up the rise in the land.
After another twenty minutes of walking, the group finally reached what seemed to be the end of their trip in the cave—the exit to the cave just barely in sight—however, something unexpected happened as a Bronzong and Weavile appeared out of nowhere, stopping the group in their path.
"Weavile!" cried the Weavile, "Wea-Weavile!"
"Bronzoooong," said the Bronzong slowly.
"What do they want?" asked Alyssandra out of the side of her mouth.
Sam shrugged. "I don't know," he said, "I don't speak Pokémon. Jeremy any ideas?"
"Not a clue, but they don't seem friendly," said Jeremy warily, "Should we turn back? Or should we fight them?"
Alyssandra and Sam shrugged.
"That depends," said Sam slowly, "What do—"
Sam was stopped mid-speech as the Weavile charged in for an attack. Sam, Jeremy and Alyssandra shielded themselves with their arms, knowing the damage a Pokémon attack could do, but the attack never came. Before they knew it, Niya's Roserade had hopped in front of the group and sent Weavile back with a Magical Leaf.
"Didn't I say the first rule to be a Trainer is to keep a calm head?" said Niya with a smirk, "Now you guys had better help out here, I can't hold them off forever."
Sam and Jeremy nodded, and looked at each other.
"You take the Bronzong?" asked Sam, to which Jeremy responded with a nod,
"And you can take the Weavile," replied Jeremy.
Alyssandra rolled her eyes, "Of course, don't ask us if we want any Pokémon," she said, "Just assume."
"That's exactly what we're doing," joked Sam.
"Yeah, but since you're so bent on us asking you, we will," said Jeremy, "Niya, Alyssandra would you like to catch these Pokémon?"
"I'm not here to catch Pokémon," said Niya simply, "I'm here to help you guys achieve your goals and mentor you."
"Yeah, I'm fine, I don't want either of these Pokémon," sighed Alyssandra with an air of boredom.
Sam shot Alyssandra a sideways glance, making note of how difficult she was being, if only for the sake of messing with the boys. He admired her sense of humour, but quickly turned his mind back to the task at hand.
"Go, Luxio!" cried Sam as he tossed the Poké Ball through the air.
"Come on, Pikachu!" shouted Jeremy, "It's time we started using you again!"
Pikachu and Luxio appeared on the floor of the cave, eager and crouched, ready to fight their opponents.
"All right," started Sam, "Luxio, I want you to use Tackle on Weavile!"
"Pikachu use Electro Ball on Bronzong!" called Jeremy.
Luxio charged at Weavile, trying to get its full weight into the attack before it struck, but Weavile was too fast, and unleashed a Double Team, causing itself to multiply into several fake copies of itself and surrounded Luxio. The copies spun around, keeping the real Weavile hidden.
Luxio looked around at its many attackers, unable to discern which one to attack, but it didn't have time to find out as Weavile struck Luxio from behind, jumping out from amidst the clones, causing them to disappear.
Meanwhile, Pikachu had better luck as it blasted a ball of electricity at Bronzong, who took the hit, causing the metal in its body to be filled with the charge. Jeremy was smart for using Pikachu against a Steel type Pokémon, but his luck ran out as Bronzong outstretched its arms and placed one of them to the cave wall. Suddenly, the electric charge stopped, as Bronzong used its own body as a conductor for the electricity and grounded the attack.
Jeremy gritted his teeth and knew that so long as Bronzong kept its hand on that wall, or even nearby it, electric attacks wouldn't do as much damage as Jeremy wanted it to.
Sam and Jeremy redoubled their efforts, striking back at their attackers with new tactics. Weavile charged at Luxio, ready to unleash a Night Slash from its claw that glowed back with darkness.
Sam was ready for Weavile, not willing to give in, and commanded his Luxio instantly, "Luxio use Roar!" he cried.
Sam's attack worked, causing the Weavile to pause in the middle of its attack, frozen with fear.
"Now, use Bite, Luxio!" cried Sam, and his Luxio, its morale restored, lunged at Weavile with its teeth barred.
Weavile unfroze itself though, and dodged the Bite attack with near ease, only just barely avoiding the attack. Weavile quickly used another Double Team, but Sam was ready. There was no point in him trying to find and attack the real Weavile; that would take too long and was too impossible. Sam's plan was much better, fast, and safer.
"Luxio, use Spark and hit all of the Weavile!" commanded Sam diligently.
Luxio unleashed a charge of electricity upon its surroundings, causing a bright flash of light, and striking all of the Weavile at once, causing the fakes to disappear and the real one to hit the ground unconscious, giving off smoke from the electric attack.
Meanwhile, Jeremy and his Pikachu were battling Bronzong with just as much of a dilemma. Jeremy knew he had to get Bronzong to remove its hand from the wall, and not just from touching it, but from the vicinity of the wall as well. He also needed to keep the hand occupied long enough that the Bronzong wouldn't be able to put it back to the wall fast enough.
"Pikachu use Quick Attack!" cried Jeremy.
Pikachu charged towards Bronzong, dodging left and right, trying to avoid being predicted, and finally, slammed its body into Bronzong's and bounced off. The Bronzong barely felt the attack, and it was only after Pikachu had landed that Jeremy realized Bronzong had used Iron Defence.
Jeremy gritted his teeth and tried again. "Pikachu, use Slam this time! Full power!" called Jeremy.
Pikachu nodded, "Pi-KA-chu!" cried the Pokémon with determination, and then it charged towards Bronzong again, ready to strike once more.
Again, Pikachu bounced off of Bronzong's Iron Defence, and it seemed like Jeremy was never going to break through the Pokémon's defences, until finally, Jeremy dragged up the courage to try again.
"Pikachu, Slam, one last time! Put everything you have into it this time!" yelled Jeremy. His Pikachu went for the charge, running at high speeds towards its target; then it jumped and threw its weight towards Bronzong. Finally, Bronzong did what Jeremy was waiting for and removed its hand from the wall, prepping for a Confusion attack.
As it prepped the Psychic attack between its two hands, Pikachu—as if reading Jeremy's mind—did a mid-air summersault, and broke itself from flying into Bronzong, instead causing it to fly over it.
Jeremy was quick to act. "Pikachu use Thunder Bolt!" cried Jeremy, and he watched as Pikachu released a bolt of electricity that struck Bronzong, causing it to hit the ground, while also frying the nearby rock—shattering a few stalagmites as well—before finally stopping itself.
Everyone cheered for Jeremy and Pikachu's victory, and Jeremy threw an empty Poké Ball at the Bronzong.
Sam had already caught his Pokémon and recalled Luxio to its Poké Ball. Jeremy smiled eagerly, waiting for the Poké Ball to stop shaking, and for the light in the centre to flash, showing that the Pokémon had been caught.
Then finally, the answer to Jeremy's prayers came, and the Pokémon yielded, accepting Jeremy as its Trainer, and the Poké Ball signified that. Jeremy cheered, and Sam ran up to him, giving him a hard high five.
Jeremy looked down at his Pikachu, who instantly climbed up its Trainer's leg and perched on his shoulder.
"You did amazing, Pikachu!" exclaimed Jeremy happily, "We did it, we caught Bronzong together! Good job! Are you ready to go back into your Poké Ball now?"
Pikachu shivered, and released some electricity form the red patches on its cheeks, which Jeremy took as a no.
"Some Pokémon just like to be free, Jeremy," explained Sam; "I think it's best you leave Pikachu out of its Poké Ball, if that's what it wants. Besides, if you want to be a Ranger one day you'll need to get used to it. Your partner Pokémon should never be in a Poké Ball—you never know when you'll need it right?"
Jeremy smiled, and scratched Pikachu between the ears, to which the Pokémon smiled, and squeaked happily.
"Yeah, you're right," he said, "Well, I guess you'll be a major member of the group now, Pikachu."
"Pi-KA!" cheered Pikachu.
Everyone laughed, impressed at how human Pikachu was—as Pikachu was a reminder of the intelligence of all Pokémon.
"Come on, now!" said Alyssandra as she dashed towards the exit, "We want to get to Floaroma to register for the festival, right? We got to get there before sundown!"
Sam sighed and doubled over. "Just when I think it's all over," he sighed, "All right then, come on, let's go."
Jeremy and Niya nodded, and together, the group ran from the cave and out on to the rest of Route 202, running towards their goal: Floaroma Town.