The sun was shining brightly. A soft wind blows over the desert. Sandhill over Sandhill and emptiness over emptiness, as two Pokémon walked around to find the Ruins of an ancient Pokémon Civilization.
"What exactly did they worship?" asked Jennifer.
"A Lapras" replied Sean "and my partner always said that he might be his ancestor"
"Ancestor?"
"Yeah. Apparently the Lapras secretly had a child with a Feraligator decades ago and that's why he is- was here"
"Interesting" said Jennifer, as she grabbed a bottle of water and drank it. "How can you handle the heat?"
Sean then looked at Jennifer with an "Are you serious" face, facepalmed and sighed.
"Oh yeah. You're a fire Pokémon"
After an hour of walking, they found a small town.
"Finally" said a tired Jennifer, while she was carried on Sean's back.
As they went into the town, a Sandile greeted them.
"Welcome to Sabia Town" it said with a smile. "You look tired travelers"
"We really could use a refreshment. Especially my fluffy partner" said Sean.
Sandile nodded and guided them to the next bar.
Arrived there, all three ordered a nice iced Cocktail and something to eat.
As they waited for the food and got their drinks, Sandile introduced himself.
"My name is Snapper. I was born and raised in this town. I am also a tour guide for new tourists and adventurers. By the looks of it, you both are adventurers"
Sean nodded. "Yeah. Do you know something about this artifact?" he said, as he showed Snapper a drawn picture of the Lapras statue.
Snapper nodded "Many adventurers tried to find it but they either gave up or never came back. You first have to find the entrance to reach the ruins, which I heard were full of traps. Those who gave up couldn't find the entrance and those who never came back…well either the desert or the traps got them."
Sean smiled. "Sounds perfect for my last treasure hunt"
Jennifer on the other hand looked worried. "We should eat and sleep first before we head out"
"Agreed Jenny"
After all three ate their food, Snapper showed Sean and Jennifer a small Hotel where they can stay for the night.
"I wish you both a nice evening" Snapper said, as he walked away.
Jennifer sat on her bed and yawned, while watching Sean write in his Journal.
"Why do you want to give up on treasure hunting?"
"Its not giving up. I am retiring" said Sean "Rescuing Pokémon is more profitable than treasure hunting"
"I don't believe you"
Sean looked at Jennifer, shook his head and continued to write.
"You won't understand"
"I'ts because of Toti…?"
All of the sudden Sean stopped writing.
"You blame it on yourself…"
"Jenny…"
"You're afraid it will happen again"
Sean didn't say a word.
"You opened the Rescue Team because you don't want what happened to him happen to others. Am I right?"
No response.
"The reason you wanted to go solo is because you don't want to cause another death…you told me that…"
Sean then got up, walked up to Jennifer and hugged her as he started to cry.
"The Absol…the blood…his words…his body…"
Jennifer petted Sean's back and soothed him.
"I…I should've been dead…not him…"
Jennifer kept soothing him, as all of the sudden Sean pushed her away.
"I-I need to show you something"
Sean went to the bathroom and Jennifer followed him.
He then turned on the water tap on the sink and washed his face.
Blue and besch color came off. Sean then whipped his face with a towel, but didn't removed it from his face.
"I am kinda…disfigured…"
He then removed the towel from his face, which revealed three big scratch wounds across his face.
"For nearly a month, I was remembered about the attack. Nearly every night I dream about the attack. My face is permanently burned with a memory I want to forget Jennifer."
Jennifer wanted to say something, but not even a sound escaped from her mouth.
"I blame myself for his death every day. I should've protected him. I should've died Jennifer. I…i..-"
Sean began to cry again while he stroked his wound with his hand.
Jennifer hugged Sean again and tolled him to let it all out. After a while, they both went out of the bathroom and went to bed.
"Sean. I just want want to say before I sleep…if you died and he goes through what you go through, would you want him to give up or to keep going?"
Sean didn't respond.
"I..want you to think about it."
As Jennifer went to sleep, Sean still was awake, thinking about what Jennifer said until he also fell asleep.
The first morning sunrays touched Jennifer's fur, as she woke up and yawned. She then looked next to her and…
Sean wasn't there.
She then got up very quickly, ran down from the Hotel and found Snapper
"WHERE IS SEAN?"
Snapper just pointed at the Bar, where Jennifer then ran.
As she entered the Bar she found Sean sitting on a table, enjoining a small breakfast.
"Morning Jennifer"
"You little- why didn't you wake me up"
"I didn't want to wake you up. You also look adorable when you sleep"
Jennifer sighed and saw that there was also a plate with food and cold chocolate for her. She then sat down and both ate breakfast. They then went out of the town and started to search the cave.
After an hour of searching they found a huge Mountain. Sean and Jennifer then grabbed a shovel and started to dig near the Mountain until they uncovered a huge ground made out of stone. Sean and Jennifer then put the shovels into the end of the ground and pulled the huge stone out.
As they uncovered the entrance, they all of the sudden got pushed down and landed onto the ground full force.
"Ouch. What the fuck" said Sean "Who was that"
As both looked up, a Trapinch, a Geodude, a Maractus and a Sandshrew jumped down.
"We are the treasure hunter team Dusters" said the Sandshrew "and we thank you for finding the ruins."
"You followed us, didn't you?"
"Yes we did. And since we don't need you anymore, were going to defeat you, leave you to die here and take the treasure and the girl."
Sean looked a bit shocked and Jennifer growled.
"Bring it on"
Sean pulled Jennifer close to him and used Smokescreen, covering the sight from the Dusters.
As all of them started to look around, Sean walked up to Maractus and Jennifer behind Trapinch.
As the Smoke wore off, both of them turned around, Maracuts got hit by a Flamethrower and got knocked out, while Trapnich got hit by a Iron ail from Jennifer, followed by a Thunder Punch from Sean. After both are defeated, they look at Sandshew and Geodude.
"Oh youre dead" screamed the Sandshew and attacked Jennifer with a Mud Shot, then a Rollout. The Geodude uses Rock Blast at Sean and slammed him against the wall with Stone Edge before he ran into the Ruins, leaving Sandshew alone against Jennifer, who then got knocked out by her with an Iron Tail and a Swift.
She then ran up to Sean, as he rubbed his head growling.
"That's fucking it" he said, as he grabbed Jennifer's arm and ran with her into the Ruins.