Chapter-5

The next day during beak time at school Heart walks up to me and says-"Hey, can I come with you to the forest today and play?"

"..."- I stare blankly at her when she suddenly dropped that bomb on me.

"What? You did say that I could play with you any time and that you'd be my friend, are you going back on your word now?"- She questions through narrowed eyes.

"No no its just that... well... did you ask your Grandpa, is he okay with you going off to the forest to play."- I enquire.

"Of course, either way I'm not going to be in any danger in there with you around. Well I did plead with him saying that I feel lonely and that I feel a little neglected because he and my parents were always busy with their own things, he seemed to relent quite easily after that."- She said in a very innocent manner and then sticks her tongue out at me before running off leaving me stunned in place. I can't help but think that she is way too diabolical for her age, anything she wants she works with unrelenting fervour to get.

Maybe its because of her Innate Unique Skill [Passion], among all the Innate Skills I have seen thus far it seems to be one of the strangest, its effects on the person include:

-Improved all-round strength and reflexes.

- High stamina.

- Desire Reality: again a really broken ability that seems to let the person be able to master new skill sets quickly if they deeply desired to do so.

Its effects in a Pokémon battle are:

-Pokémon fight with extreme Passion, 5% boost to all stats.

-15% decreased chance of stat reducing move taking effect and effect of stat reduction on your Pokémon.

I guess her being able to convince her Grandpa could sort of be because of her Skill's passive ability which could work in a similar manner to Desire Reality which helps her fulfil her desires. Well that's just me guessing but anyway Heart accompanies me to Ilex Forest after school, she even has her own lunch and snacks prepared for the occasion *sigh*, and so I head to meet up with Dad at our usual meeting place followed by Heart who is humming a tune and skipping along merrily.

On the way she asks me various questions about all the Pokémon I know, how I met them, how I know so much about them, what other secrets I might be keeping and so on, she seems to be curious about everything so I tell her everything I can well obviously not fact about my reincarnation or anything really personal like my Innate skill but I try my best to share my knowledge with her as well. Once I was done explaining about how I acquired so much knowledge related to Pokémon from the library she seemed really astounded and begged me to teach her some of what I'd learnt to which I could only relent. When we finally reached the clearing where my Dad was waiting for us, I saw that he wasn't really surprised to see Heart accompany me, it seems as though Kurt had had a word with Dad prior to this.

Well I now had another playmate my own age. Heart seemed very interested in all our activities as well as learning about and befriending various Pokémon with me. Needless to say she was most drawn to the Pokémon battle which had become a regular between Dad and me; she requested to borrow a Pokémon from her Dad as soon as she reached home the same day. Her dad responded quickly (maybe she guilt tripped him too; truly diabolical), her dad transferred his Slowpoke to her the very next day. She was very eager to have a go at battling, unfortunately she wasn't very good at it (hey it was her first attempt at it), needless to say she threw a massive tantrum after losing and both Dad and I paid the price-

"Poki, use Water Gun."-Heart called out, when her Slowpoke-Poki- came round she had him use Water Gun on Dad and me, we were soaked to the skin.

She eventually calmed down after much soothing and promising to help her get better, and she definitely did get better what with that Innate Unique Skill of hers. She was really passionate in learning everything we could teach her, I felt that I had to step up my game or I would soon be left in the dust by her. She wasn't very interested in the more theoretical and research related subjects but more in care of Pokémon, battling and personal fitness/playing games and fooling around in general. It wasn't only a one way deal where only Heart benefitted, once she learnt that I was also interested in a few research topics she took it upon herself to get her Grandpa to take me in as an apprentice, the old man had no resistance to her and grudgingly took me in, to his surprise I turned out to be of great help to him and I also got to learn Poke ball manufacturing from him so it was a win-win for the both of us. Well the days were more interesting after that thanks to the always hyper and enthusiastic Heart.

Today was going to be a very interesting day at school as it was now three months from when I started and it was time for the annual school field trip, it wasn't just the fact that this was my first field trip in this world that got me excited but the fact that Bugsy the gym leader of the Azalea town gym would be accompanying us as we explore the Slowpoke well cave system just outside town. The other kids and I were really excited, this was definitely better than the field trips they used to take us on back at Pinkerton were their usual chosen destinations were some boring farms or the local factories. So there we were all twenty two children with a couple of school teachers taking the role of escorts assembled at the playground before dawn, soon Bugsy arrived under the worshipping gazes of the kids and gave us a few basic guidelines and instruction to follow while in the cave system then he was happy to interact with the kids, answering their questions and even give them a few pointers as we waited for sunrise before we set out.

We set out at the crack of dawn and proceeded towards Slowpoke well in two neat lines with Bugsy leading the way, two teachers Ms Jenna and Ms Kelly at our flank and Mr Charles watching the rear. It was a slow journey but thankfully no one was complaining due to their excitement. I found it a little odd that they would let 5-7 year olds enter a place as dangerous as the Slowpoke well cave system for a field trip, the fact that an important and busy personage such as a Gym Leader was accompanying us was even more bizarre. As we were walking I paid attention to the conversation between the teachers at our flank and learnt the answers to my questions. It turns out that a team of researchers and archaeologists had found some passages in the Ruins of Alph and some seemed to lead in this general direction but the passage on that side had collapsed over time and the whole structure was not stable enough for further excavation to be done, so they had requested the local Gym Leader to start the investigate on this side in the time it took them to send a team here. The timing for all this just so happened to coincide with our school's field trip and our Principal who had also taught Bugsy before requested to let the students accompany him and he agreed.

It was an hour's journey from the school to the entrance to Slowpoke well but it took us nearly two hours thanks to some of the less active kids eventually whining to get some rest- it was a good thing we set off early or else I don't when we wouldn't have much time to explore later on. The surrounding forest path soon gave way, showing signs of turning into a mountainous one, the air got noticeably drier even though it was still the early hours of morning, and soon we were hiking along a mountain path to our destination. It was about 15 minutes after we got on the mountain that we spotted our destination not far away, an ancient stone well sat on a wide flat ledge of the mountain with a large 10m opening behind it leading into the mountain itself. We all take a brief rest on the ledge around the well as our teachers draw some water from the well, upon having a taste of the cool fresh water I'm amazed the as it so good, I had never tasted water like this in my previous life, this world really wasn't plagued by pollution like my old one.

We all refilled our bottles and then the teachers asked us to pair up and gave a flashlight to each pair to prevent us from wandering off by ourselves in the caves. Heart soon rushed to my side to be my partner, soon everyone had a partner and before another stern reminder of the safety instructions we set off led by Bugsy. As we were walking through, the teachers began explaining about the various rock formations, native Pokémon and their habits and general guidelines to keep in mind when exploring any cave system. They even asked us to observe and take note of any wild Pokémon we may spot along the way. We made our way through the passages as quietly as we could, I saw that the wild Pokémon were keeping a certain distance from us- it maybe because we were such a large group but mostly due to the fact that Bugsy had emptied an entire can of Max Repel on us before entering the cave, Repels seem to work based on time rather than number of steps like in the game as he told us that the effects of the Max Repel would last a full 3 hours. Zubat and Rattata constituted the majority of the Pokémon we came across with the occasional Slowpoke or Geodude making an appearance, well it was still the outer reaches of the cave, the stronger Pokémon tend to dwell deeper in.

"Hmm the Pokémon here are different than the ones we usually see in the Ilex Forest."- Heart whisper's by my ear.

"Well there are many different types of Pokémon and they all inhabit regions that are most suitable for them in the wild, the environment of a forest is vastly different from that of a cave so naturally you would not find Pokémon native to forest habitats in caves or the other way around normally."- I explain to her.

"But there are Rattata here and I've seen them in the forest and near the town as well, so how come there are no Weedles here or Zubat in the forest?"-She questions again.

"Rattata can survive in various environments with only a few extreme environments being unsuitable for them to inhabit, as for Weedles not being here they simply aren't capable of surviving here for long without trees and plants but you got one thing wrong, there are Zubat in Ilex Forest its just that they are not active during the hours where we explore, they are nocturnal so are only active at night or in the dark like in this cave."-I patiently explain to her.

"Hmm.."-She ponders over everything I said before asking more questions, she seems really eager to learn new things and its not just her, I notice the other kids around us getting closer and listening in on our conversation with rapt attention. Pretty soon even they were asking me some of their own questions and I did my best to answer them all to the best of my abilities, it soon became apparent to everyone present that I was extremely knowledgeable for my age which got me special attention from the teachers and Bugsy not to mention some of the kids who got really jealous gave me the 'Nerd' tag *sigh* it couldn't be helped I guess as I had to reveal some of my capabilities at some point.

We cautiously made our way deeper into the caves past numerous turns and forks in the path, I could tell from their expressions that even the teachers were finding it hard to keep track of our journey, thankfully Bugsy led the way occasionally consulting a detailed map before proceeding and as for the students they simply didn't pay any attention to the route as they were distracted by their new surroundings. Stronger Pokémon started appearing there were now even Raticates, Golbats, Graveler and even the occasional Onyx or Golem in the distance that our party had to quietly circle around when encountered. The Slowpokes and Slowbros were mostly found close to the water bodies and they were very relaxed and not the least bit aggressive to our party, we even took a break by one of their ponds while Bugsy took some time to decide the best path forward that would bring us to our goal which was the connecting corridor to the Ruins of Alph, while we waited the teachers decided to give us a surprise quiz about all the various things we encountered today and then give us a brief lesson on different Pokémon habitats going into more detail regarding cave and forest habitats seeing as they were closest to our town. All the kids paid extra attention to this lesson in a bid to outdo me, I didn't know if I should feel glad that they were inspired by me or fearful that they would shun and hate me due to competition.

After a 45 minute break as Bugsy finally decided on the path forward we got up and continued our trek deeper into the caverns. Deeper in the caves we came across even more amazing things, some of the kids were very excited having found the occasional small low quality crystals which they immediately pocketed as a souvenir, we would even find some dropped items if we looked really hard and got lucky. Gradually the teachers who were beginning to lose control of the class decided to propose a treasure hunt of sorts in order to bring some order to the madness that was bound to unfold, at least with a treasure hunt game they could ensure that the kids would stick to the rules in order to stay in the game. While the other kids were drawn to the various trinkets my attention was drawn to the various kinds of Mushrooms and Moss growing deep in the caves, some of these possessed marvellous medicinal properties. It needs to be understood that just as forests had a few sources for nourishment of Pokémon so did the caves thus I got busy with harvesting some of the plants I had read about in a herbology book, as I was unearthing a particularly deep rooted Purple Mushroom with antidote like effects I found a finger sized scarlet crystal tangled in the roots. From the looks of it the purity seemed quite high, just as I was taking a closer look at it I spotted Heart out of the corner of my eye looking at me with sad puppy dog eyes from not far away. She had terrible luck in the treasure hunting game though she was giving it her all, eventually I couldn't take that sad face any longer and just gave her the crystal I found which earned me a hug and a bright smile from her as well as the hatful glare of every male in my class *sigh*. I paid little attention to the looks others were giving me and just continued gathering herbs.

We were quite deep in the cave system now and just when the teachers were discussing if it would be better to turn back and have us kids just explore the outer regions as Bugsy had separated a few minutes ago to scout the route ahead, we heard the loud rumble of rolling boulders. We got closer to have a better look; a group of Graveler led by a Golem had surrounded a small young Zubat and were relentlessly attacking the poor thing, I really wanted to charge forward to help even though there was not much I could do but Mr Charles the teacher nearest to me held me back firmly. The Zubat was hurt quite badly and was struggling to stay in the air where it had a chance to escape but unfortunately Golem used Rock Throw on it and one of the rocks fell on its wing and pinned it to the ground. I couldn't take it any longer and struggled violently to escape my teachers grasp, apparently Zubat couldn't bear it any longer either as it let out loud wail-it was using Supersonic as a final gambit. The Golem and gang couldn't stand it and fled and Mr Charles's grip on me loosened thanks to the din, so I took the opportunity to break free and proceed to the fallen Zubat. If you think it was easy to advance while Zubat was using Supersonic then think again, it was worse than a hundred people using their nails to claw a chalk board, I could swear that it felt that my ears would start bleeding any second now but I still advanced towards Zubat slowly speaking in soft tones trying to calm it down. It really started to put up a struggle when I got next to it so I quickly pushed the rock pinning its wing away lest it hurt itself more. With the rock no longer pinning it down it tried to fly away but it was no use as the wing was broken and all it could bring itself to do to defend itself was to bite my fingers, I winced because of the pain but still gently caressed Zubat to coax it to let go, at least it was no longer using Supersonic now that it had its teeth in my fingers. I used my free hand to pull out some medicine and some of the herbs I'd gathered and applied them on Zubat as gently as I could but it still winced and shivered with pain and was nearing collapse. I bandaged it up as best I could and gently picked it up, after seeing that I meant no harm it released my fingers and I could see blood slowly dripping from my fingers but I wasn't very concerned over it right now. I pulled out a Citrus berry from my bag and crushed it in my hands as best I could before slowly feeding it to Zubat so that it could recover its energy, after eating its fill and seeing that it was no longer in danger it fell asleep in my arms.

My classmates and teachers were still in a daze over the events and only seemed to recover when I approached them, the kids all surrounded me to check on the Zubat but the teachers pulled them back saying that the injured Pokémon needed rest, they looked at me as though they were deciding if it would be better to scold me for rushing into danger or praise me for my impressive first aid skill but for now they said nothing and just told me to be more careful and look after the Zubat. Heart pulled out a handkerchief and stepped forward to cover up the wound on my fingers while pouting and saying-"Be careful idiot." To which I could only reply with a simple smile, was it just me or was her face really red right now.

Noticing me staring at her she quickly decides to change the topic by saying-"Are you going to take that Zubat back home with you?" Even the teachers were paying attention to my answer as they were curious to know what my plan was.

"No, I'll take it to Nurse Joy as soon as we get back to town; it won't be safe to just release it back into the wild as its wing is broken. Once its fully healed I'll bring it back here."- I reply, hearing my reply the teachers become firm on their decision to call it a day and head back. Bugsy had given the teachers a map with directions to the exit clearly marked before separating from our group while saying that it would be more dangerous further inside the cave and that we could leave with the kids at any point if they so choose to. Although some of the kids were a bit upset at having the field trip cut short they soon agreed to the decision when they heard that it was to get the injured Zubat to the Pokémon Centre as soon as possible; they were very sincere as they stopped playing the treasure hunt game and didn't even complain about the fast pace we kept up on our journey out of the cave, just these little actions showed that although they acted like brats at times but their hearts were truly kind and pure.

Although we had a map and were hurrying back it took nearly an hour before we entered the outer zones of the caves after a few wrong turns along the way. Zubat had regained its conscious by now and though it was still weak and any movement of its broken wing caused it to cry out in great pain, it was no longer hostile towards me. Whenever the other kids or the teacher tried to approach it or touch it, it would curl up in my hands while shivering, I would then glare at them telling them to leave it alone to rest. Just as we were approaching the particularly large cavern with the pond of Slowpoke that separated the inner and outer zones of the cave we heard a familiar loud rumbling from behind approaching our party at great speed which caused Zubat who was resting in my hands to go crazy and thrash about wildly. When we all turned around to see what was causing the sound we were momentarily frozen in shock and fear as the Golem and Graveler gang from earlier was hot on our heels. It was now that the teachers showed us how amazing they were as they each released their respective Pokémon- Ms Jenna called her Clafairy, Mr Charles his Rattata and Ms Kelly her Meowth- although these normal types couldn't really do much damage to and scare away our pursuers but due to their experience and familiarity with each other they could still assist in ensuring our escape to safety. The teachers coordinated in using an amazing combination move to ensure our safety- Mr Charles Ordered Rattata to take the vanguard position and use Protect while the Meowth and Clafairy were ordered to use Flash and Sing respectively. The effect was amazing as all our pursuers were briefly stunned by the blinding light which in turn made them easier victims to the effects of Sing causing many of them to roll off course and crash into the cave walls and causing the cave to shake slightly, the few that managed to roll in our direction were stopped by the protective barrier setup by Rattata. No wonder the school management picked these teachers to escort us; even without Bugsy's help they were still capable of ensuring our safety. Just when we thought that we were safe the Golem blearily rose to its feet with a strange look in its eyes and then jumped, as a last ditch attempt it used Earthquake causing the entire passage to shake violently and rocks to start falling from the ceiling.

The teachers quickly recalled their Pokémon and yelled at us to rush to the large Slowpoke Cavern, the other kids and I ran like mad towards the Cavern entrance. Struggling to calm the panicking Zubat in my hands caused me to lag behind the other kids slightly even though I was more fit and athletic than them. When we were nearly clear of the passage and into the cavern a particularly large rock fell from the ceiling straight above Heart, as I was behind the rest I could clearly tell that if I didn't do something it would be bad and no one had noticed or were able to help in time so I rushed forward and tackled her from behind pushing her to safety as well as using the recoil to pull back and evade the falling rock myself. I turned around to prevent landing on Zubat and was thus able to see the passage collapse and seal itself in front of me, I was now separated from everyone else.

Golem was still very unsteady on its feet and barely awake, it then used Rollout as a last attempt at striking at us. I looked around in desperation for a path to escape and fortunately spotted a crack that had opened up on the side of the passage after the Earthquake, it was just big enough for me to squeeze through but not the Golem or Graveler. So I made a run for it with the still struggling Zubat, the crack was just a few feet away and the Golem had bad aim, it crashed into the passage wall beside the crack just moments after I was through the crack.

I noticed that as soon as I was through the crack I found myself in a new passage that was very different from the one I was in previously. The Golem was growling in rage on the other side, it soon quietened down as Sing might have finally taken full affect on it. I was just considering whether it would be wise to return to the earlier passage before it finally hit me as to how different this passage was from the previous one, where the previous one had rough surfaces and an uneven path like any natural cave this one had smooth walls and a cobbled floor. I calmed the Zubat in my arms by giving it an Oran berry to munch on and moved closer to inspect the walls of the passage. In the dim lights I could somewhat make out some carvings engraved on them in a strange font, after moving my fingers over the carvings I finally found out what they were- it was the engravings of Unknown that were all over the place in the Ruins of Alph- apparently I had stumbled upon the passage from the Ruins of Alph Bugsy had been requested to find. I was momentarily stunned as my desire to explore and need to regroup with my class warred with one another, eventually the adventurer in me won out and I decided to slowly explore the passage. As I'd ended up in the middle of a corridor I was not sure which direction I should proceed in and as I was squinting really hard at the engravings on the wall to see if I could gleam some sort of information about which way to go something amazing happened. My eyes started becoming warm and I suddenly experienced an intense headache, the strange feeling was gone almost as soon as it came and I was very shocked to see the now changed surroundings. Well it wasn't the surroundings themselves that had changed but my own eyes, it was now as though I was seeing through a set of night vision goggles as my surroundings were clearly visible but with a greenish tint to it, what was stranger still were the carvings that seemed to glow with an eerie golden light now. It seemed as though it had something to do with my Innate skill effect 'Prying eye', something in this place must have triggered a previously unknown use for it. Either way thanks to this new ability I noticed that the carvings to my right seemed to glow brighter further in and there seemed to be a faint glowing white fog in the distance, my desire to explore was kindled and so I went to explore.

As I made my way towards the region with thick white fog I also paid attention to the carvings along the wall, most of them I couldn't make out at all but a few bits and pieces I could read-'Path to new Realms', 'Temple of the Ancient Guardians', 'Unity of Mind, Body and Spirit'- which constantly provoked my curiosity and caused me to think of many wild theories. It wasn't very long before I was shrouded in the thick white fog, Zubat became oddly quiet and relaxed here, when I took closer look I found that strands of the fog were circling around it and some of its bruises were visibly fading. I was amazed to see that the fog had restorative properties on Pokémon; I sped up my pace to see what surprises were further in store for me. Soon the fog became so thick that I could no longer see the passage walls at all, everything beyond a couple of feet was white fog. I slowed down and became more cautious, just then there was a distortion in the fog in front of me and suddenly I felt my entire body heating up, the temperature was so high that it felt as though a fire was burning in my veins, I immediately fell to my knees and curled in on myself due to the pain. As I started to scream the Zubat in my arms noticed my condition and let out eager calls as if trying to sooth me, seemingly because of this a strand of fog around Zubat extended out to encircle me and I suddenly found the pain vanishing as if put out by the fog.

When I came to and opened my eyes I was surprised to see that I was no longer in the passage but in a large grand hall. The floor was stilled cobbled stone and the walls still had carvings on them but there were also large pillars along the sides of the hall like those in Roman temples in my old world and there was an altar at the other end of the hall from where I stood. I was stunned by this grand scene as I slowly made my way towards the altar on the other side of the hall. Up close the altar although appearing bland in design gave off a feeling as though it had withstood countless eons of time and had seen all under heaven, atop the altar there was a single transparent crystal with dense carvings on it. I slowly reached out to take the crystal hoping that there weren't any booby traps that would be triggered that would kill me instantly like in some of the movies I'd seen, I'd already inspected around the altar and found nothing amiss so I had reached for the crystal. I suddenly yanked out the crystal and dashed backward just in case but still nothing happened, only then did I turn to focus more on the crystal in my hand. It was of the highest quality I had seen thus far and was probably even the best quality, I focused on the carvings but they were so dense and small that I had no hope of understanding what was written. As I brushed my fingers over crystal to remove the dust on it some of my blood from the bite wound from Zubat was smeared onto it.

The crystal absorbed the blood like a sponge and suddenly started trembling and buzzing in my hands, it soon shattered into tiny fragments that showed signs of further breaking apart, at the same time a golden glowing mist emerged from the fragments and entered into my body through my arm. I suddenly felt as though a massive amount of information was filling my head, it was so fast and there was so much information that my head felt like it was going to explode any time now. The only words that I was able to process in the instant before I passed out were-'Aura Realm Cultivation'.