The door to the chamber slid shut as the three trainers entered the long
hallway. The Shroomish lit up again, illuminating the hallway. More
hieroglyphics lined the walls, but these were different.. they weren't
Unown, but were more primitive, pictures of ancient Pokemon, and not just
like Kabuto or Omanyte. Pictures Eric recognized as the Legendary Birds of
stories long told lined the wall, the birds birth being told. The pictures
told a story without words. What did this all mean?
"Well.. There's not much we can do except walk, now," Edd muttered, looking up at the hieroglyphics of the legendary birds. "So, c'mon, let's go."
The Shroomish zipped off ahead of them, as they began to walk. It would go ahead a ways, then return, having realized it had gone ahead too far. The trainers were too busy looking at the hieroglyphics to notice the Shroomish had run off in the first place.
Painted pictures of the legendary birds continued to line the wall, still, telling their story. The Legendary Birds finally met to clash violently over the world. Finally, a larger, white bird appeared along with the other pictures.. and what looked like a human. The Legendary Birds were calmed, and each retreated to what looked like a picture of Johto. The white bird was no where else to be seen.
"Eric," Mistral called to him, tugging at his shirt. "Look behind us."
The closed door had followed them, or, so it seemed. It looked more like a large, hallway sized chunk of rock. Rocky spikes covered the part coming straight at them, and it seemed to be moving slowly. "It's getting faster.. what should we do? We won't be able to outrun it for long," Mistral cried, taking a few deep breaths to keep herself from crying again.
"Edd, you mentioned about having a Lairon? Do you have it on you?" Eric asked, moving a bit faster.
"Ya. Of course. He's my favorite.. Oh. I see your plan. We ride on Lairon. He's pretty fast, so we should be able to outrun it," Edd commented. "Unless someone here has an Arcanine?"
Mistral looked over at Edd, and took another deep breath. "I have one. But it's still in the Pokemon Storage System.. My father gave it to me, but it wouldn't obey me."
"Well, that settles it. The sooner you can summon the Lairon, the better," Eric concluded, looking back behind them. The wall was slowly catching up, getting faster. "C'mon."
Edd shuffled through his pockets, producing a Pokeball. He threw it, the ball hitting the stony floors, opening up to reveal, in the tell-tale red light, the large form of the Lairon. It let out its cry, and lowered itself close to the ground. "Come on, then. Let's hop on."
The three trainers climbed onto the Lairon's back, vowing for space. The Lairon stood, and immediately took off at high speed. "Lairon, use Harden!" Edd commanded, as the Lairon began to gather speed. The wall, as they looked behind them, moved into the darkness. The Lairon glowed a bright red, and it seemed alot tougher. Good thing too..
"Duck your head! Wall!"
The three trainers pressed themselves against the back of the Lairon, who plowed straight through the stone wall that was at the end of the hall. To their surprise, however, they were soon hovering over a dark pit. For a split second, time seemed to stop, before the Lairon fell like a ton of bricks towards the darkness. The light above soon began to fade away, until it darkened with the arrival of the large stone, spiked wall, which began to drop down towards them. Spikes lined the walls.. Mistral quickly took out one of her Pokeballs, and leapt off the Lairon, releasing the Pokemon inside. A Bellsprout appeared, looking confused about why they were falling in the first place.
"Bellsprout! Use Vine Whip! Latch onto the spikes on the walls!" Mistral commanded. The Bellsprout obeyed, and sent out its long vines, which grappled tightly to the spikes along the walls. Mistral hit the wall with her legs out, as not to get impaled by the spikes, and looked down. The wall passed her, nearly causing her to lose her grip on the Bellsprout.. but Eric and Edd were nowhere to be found. The cries of the Lairon finally disappeared into the deep abyss below her. "No.."
The Bellsprout struggled to keep itself up, holding Mistral's weight. It let out a cry of weakness, but continued to hold her up. "No.. no.. don't fail on me, Bellsprout," she gasped, trying to think, trying not to break into hysterics. She gripped the spikes tightly with both hands, releasing the Bellsprout. She recalled it, and, slowly, began to climb up the spikes, towards the light. The spikes were big enough to support her weight, but there were so many she had to climb before she could reach the light above her.
"Fancy meeting you here," a familiar voice called out to her. She jerked her head to the left to see what was behind her.
"Huh? Eugene?"
Sure enough, there was Eugene, slowly descending towards her, carried by the Machoke that grappled the spikes to lower itself down. "I didn't have any time to grab my Fearow, so, I just decided to climb down here. Dangerous place. Are you alright? Where's Eric?"
The Machoke reached out a hand, gripped Mistral tightly, and hoisted her onto its shoulder. "Dead."
Eugene's already emotionless face suddenly became rock-hard. "No. He's not dead." The Machoke began to climb the spikes quickly and effortlessly. "He can't be dead. How'd you guys get here, anyways?"
"How do you know he's not dead?!" Mistral screamed, forcing herself not to beat on the Machoke for fear of her life. "I saw him die with my own eyes! He fell into the hole with a junior trainer that had been following us! If he's not dead, he's probably crushed beneath that spiked wall.."
Just the thought of it caused her to break into tears. The Machoke finally reached daylight, climbing out of the pit with the two in tow. Mistral jumped off the Machoke, falling to the soft grass between the trees. "It was a trap. No wonder they said no trainer had ever survived.. they all fell to their deaths.."
"Who're 'they'?" Eugene inquired, sitting next to her.
"The Unown.."
"Unown? The psychic Pokemon? But.. how'd they set up something like that?" Eugene asked, folding his arms across his chest. He wasn't convinced about what she was saying.
"I don't know, okay, I don't know," Mistral gasped, trying to hold back tears. "All I know is that we were on Edd's Lairon, and we busted through the wall, and were falling.. I used my Bellsprout to stop myself from falling, and tried to climb, but there were so many.. and I watched them disappear into the darkness.."
Eugene went silent, glancing over his shoulder. His Machoke obediently sat beneath a nearby tree, watching the two in amusement. "So.. you're pretty sure he's dead, huh?"
Mistral didn't answer. Her eyes wandered towards the square-shaped hole that marked the only exit point of the trap they had fallen into. She could only wonder what kind of trainers had fallen into that same trap. She finally looked away, moving to a stand. "Now where am I supposed to go..?"
"Nowhere, of course. You're supposed to be following me, remember?" another familiar voice chimed out. Mistral turned around quickly, just in time to notice a Pidgeotto fly out of the trap, dropping its precious cargo onto the soft grasses beside the Machoke. Following closely, was what looked like a large pelican, carrying Edd, the younger trainer, inside the pouch in its mouth.
What followed was a mix of emotions all expressed in a physical manner. She let out a squeak, tackled Eric to the ground, and kissed his cheek multiple times, before letting out a growl, punching him square in the side of the head several times. "What'd you do that for?! I was worried sick! I thought you were dead!" *POW!* "Don't you ever do that again!"
She stood up, and moved over to an unoccupied tree, where she broke down into sobs. Edd was still struggling to get free of the Pelliper's mouth. "Do you mind telling me what happened back there, please?" Eugene asked, watching Eric stand.
------
"So, anyways, when we lost sight of Mistral, we both summoned our flying Pokemon and hoped for the best. Pidgeotto caught me first, and Edd couldn't manage getting onto his Pelliper, so he climbed into the mouth pouch," Eric explained, shrugging.
"It was disgusting, but it worked.. atleast i'm alive. I can't say so much for the trainers that hit the bottom, though," Edd finished for Eric, recalling his Pelliper. "There were tons of bones down there."
Eugene gave a nod, as did Mistral, who had finally stopped crying for once. Eugene made his way to a stand, and brushed the grass off his pants. "Well, now that i've played hero, I think it's time I return to my training.. I can't go saving you guys everytime you get into trouble."
"You're not gonna stick around, huh?" Eric asked, watching his rival beckon to his Machoke, and walk off into the brush. "Well, good luck, then.."
Without any sign of recognition, Eugene moved off into the trees, disappearing once again. The trainers didn't say much for a while, but when they had recovered, stood once more. "Alright.. well, I say we head straight for Azalea, and no more detours," Eric muttered, straightening his backpack on his back. He headed off into the brush, looking down at his Pokegear. "We're only a mile from Union Cave. I suppose we made good time.."
BAM! A fist slammed into Eric's back, nearly sending him flying off into a tree. "YOU CALL THAT MAKING GOOD TIME?! YOU NEARLY DIE AND ALL YOU CAN THINK ABOUT IS A BADGE?!" Mistral screamed, causing a few Pidgey to fly out of the nearby trees in alarm. Edd covered his ears with his hands. "YOU COULD'VE GOTTEN US KILLED BACK THERE! WHY DON'T YOU GIVE A GIRL SOME TIME TO RECOVER, HUH?! HUH!?"
-----
"Aye. This is Union Cave," the hiker confirmed, rubbing the back of his scruffy head. "You'll be needin' a light. You'ken probably get it from that Sprout Tower place back in Violet-"
"Don't worry, I have that covered," Edd smiled, pulling out the Pokeball that contained his ever-handy Shroomish. He released it, causing the Hiker some shock.
"Hoy! Hoy! What kinda Pokemon izat?! It's some kinda freaky Bulbasaur look- a-like!" the hiker exclaimed, looking quite surprised at the fact that there was a rare Pokemon infront of him.
Edd leaned towards Eric and Mistral, and shrugged. "See? Ya, they're all scared because they never see these kinda Pokemon around."
"I see," Eric grinned, moving past the hiker, who watched them walk into the caves. The Shroomish lit up without command, illuminating the rocky walls of Union Cave. Several Zubat swooped down from the ceiling, disturbed by the sudden amount of light. They screeched, and dove out of the cave.. but they soon returned, when they realized it was alot brighter outside than it was with the Shroomish using Flash.
Mistral leapt ahead of the group, as the ground began to rumble gently. "What's that? Whatever it is, I wanna catch it.."
"Okay.. you've got dibs on it, then," Eric shrugged, taking a step back. He wasn't about to argue with the only person that would cause him serious injury without even the slightest twinge of guilt. Out of the ground came a brown, furry head. Then a second.. then a third. "Three Digletts?"
Eric dug out his Pokedex, and pointed it towards the group of Digletts.
~"Dugtrio, a Mole Pokemon. This Pokemon can dig extremely deep into the earth, and have been known to cause earthquakes when they dig too far down."~
"A Dugtrio? In Union Caves?" Edd blinked, rubbing the back of his head. "Well, it's rare for these parts. May as well catch it, ya?"
"May as well. I need a good ground Pokemon.. now.. let's see.. ah!" Mistral decided, diving her hand into a pouch on her waist. She produced a Pokeball, and flipped it into the air. The ball hit the ground, and out popped a Wooper. It danced a little jig, and trained its beady little eyes on the Dugtrio. "Wooper, use Water Gun!"
The Wooper let out a cry of delight, and immediately began to shoot streams of water at the Dugtrio. The Dugtrio dug into the ground, dodging the blasts of water, before breaking the ground again. With a spiky paw, the leader of the trio slashed at the Wooper, but the attack merely glanced off.. its dual ground type gave it a resistance to the physical attack. "Water Gun again, Wooper!"
With another cry, the Wooper dove onto the heads of the Dugtrio, confusing them, as it spit water down onto the Pokemon. The Dugtrio finally let out a groan of exhaustion, after trying to slash the Wooper off, that they prepared to dig down to escape. "Mistral, now's a good time.."
But Mistral was way ahead of Eric's advice. An empty Pokeball out, she flung it towards the Dugtrio, catching it just as it began to dive under the earth. The Wooper, without a target, glanced around in confusion. The Dugtrio disappeared into the Pokeball, which fell to the dirt below their feet, shaking gently. After a few seconds, the tell-tale 'ding' rung out over the cave, disturbing a few more Zubat into moving away from the trainers.
"Excellent! Good job, Mistral!" Eric praised. Edd simply clapped, smiling, to show his approval. The Pokeball turned a bright white, and disappeared in a flash. "Wha.. what happened to the.. it.. disappeared.."
"The Pokemon Storage System. If you have six Pokemon out of the storage, it automatically transports newly caught Pokemon into the boxes. If you use the PC's in Pokemon Centers, you can get them out at will," Mistral explained, rolling her eyes. "But you didn't pass your tests, otherwise you'd know that.."
"Eheh.. Yeah. I suppose I learned about that," Eric grinned, rubbing the back of his head in embarassment. "Well, now that you have a good Pokemon, let's get headed to Azalea Town! C'mon!"
------
End Chapter 8
"Well.. There's not much we can do except walk, now," Edd muttered, looking up at the hieroglyphics of the legendary birds. "So, c'mon, let's go."
The Shroomish zipped off ahead of them, as they began to walk. It would go ahead a ways, then return, having realized it had gone ahead too far. The trainers were too busy looking at the hieroglyphics to notice the Shroomish had run off in the first place.
Painted pictures of the legendary birds continued to line the wall, still, telling their story. The Legendary Birds finally met to clash violently over the world. Finally, a larger, white bird appeared along with the other pictures.. and what looked like a human. The Legendary Birds were calmed, and each retreated to what looked like a picture of Johto. The white bird was no where else to be seen.
"Eric," Mistral called to him, tugging at his shirt. "Look behind us."
The closed door had followed them, or, so it seemed. It looked more like a large, hallway sized chunk of rock. Rocky spikes covered the part coming straight at them, and it seemed to be moving slowly. "It's getting faster.. what should we do? We won't be able to outrun it for long," Mistral cried, taking a few deep breaths to keep herself from crying again.
"Edd, you mentioned about having a Lairon? Do you have it on you?" Eric asked, moving a bit faster.
"Ya. Of course. He's my favorite.. Oh. I see your plan. We ride on Lairon. He's pretty fast, so we should be able to outrun it," Edd commented. "Unless someone here has an Arcanine?"
Mistral looked over at Edd, and took another deep breath. "I have one. But it's still in the Pokemon Storage System.. My father gave it to me, but it wouldn't obey me."
"Well, that settles it. The sooner you can summon the Lairon, the better," Eric concluded, looking back behind them. The wall was slowly catching up, getting faster. "C'mon."
Edd shuffled through his pockets, producing a Pokeball. He threw it, the ball hitting the stony floors, opening up to reveal, in the tell-tale red light, the large form of the Lairon. It let out its cry, and lowered itself close to the ground. "Come on, then. Let's hop on."
The three trainers climbed onto the Lairon's back, vowing for space. The Lairon stood, and immediately took off at high speed. "Lairon, use Harden!" Edd commanded, as the Lairon began to gather speed. The wall, as they looked behind them, moved into the darkness. The Lairon glowed a bright red, and it seemed alot tougher. Good thing too..
"Duck your head! Wall!"
The three trainers pressed themselves against the back of the Lairon, who plowed straight through the stone wall that was at the end of the hall. To their surprise, however, they were soon hovering over a dark pit. For a split second, time seemed to stop, before the Lairon fell like a ton of bricks towards the darkness. The light above soon began to fade away, until it darkened with the arrival of the large stone, spiked wall, which began to drop down towards them. Spikes lined the walls.. Mistral quickly took out one of her Pokeballs, and leapt off the Lairon, releasing the Pokemon inside. A Bellsprout appeared, looking confused about why they were falling in the first place.
"Bellsprout! Use Vine Whip! Latch onto the spikes on the walls!" Mistral commanded. The Bellsprout obeyed, and sent out its long vines, which grappled tightly to the spikes along the walls. Mistral hit the wall with her legs out, as not to get impaled by the spikes, and looked down. The wall passed her, nearly causing her to lose her grip on the Bellsprout.. but Eric and Edd were nowhere to be found. The cries of the Lairon finally disappeared into the deep abyss below her. "No.."
The Bellsprout struggled to keep itself up, holding Mistral's weight. It let out a cry of weakness, but continued to hold her up. "No.. no.. don't fail on me, Bellsprout," she gasped, trying to think, trying not to break into hysterics. She gripped the spikes tightly with both hands, releasing the Bellsprout. She recalled it, and, slowly, began to climb up the spikes, towards the light. The spikes were big enough to support her weight, but there were so many she had to climb before she could reach the light above her.
"Fancy meeting you here," a familiar voice called out to her. She jerked her head to the left to see what was behind her.
"Huh? Eugene?"
Sure enough, there was Eugene, slowly descending towards her, carried by the Machoke that grappled the spikes to lower itself down. "I didn't have any time to grab my Fearow, so, I just decided to climb down here. Dangerous place. Are you alright? Where's Eric?"
The Machoke reached out a hand, gripped Mistral tightly, and hoisted her onto its shoulder. "Dead."
Eugene's already emotionless face suddenly became rock-hard. "No. He's not dead." The Machoke began to climb the spikes quickly and effortlessly. "He can't be dead. How'd you guys get here, anyways?"
"How do you know he's not dead?!" Mistral screamed, forcing herself not to beat on the Machoke for fear of her life. "I saw him die with my own eyes! He fell into the hole with a junior trainer that had been following us! If he's not dead, he's probably crushed beneath that spiked wall.."
Just the thought of it caused her to break into tears. The Machoke finally reached daylight, climbing out of the pit with the two in tow. Mistral jumped off the Machoke, falling to the soft grass between the trees. "It was a trap. No wonder they said no trainer had ever survived.. they all fell to their deaths.."
"Who're 'they'?" Eugene inquired, sitting next to her.
"The Unown.."
"Unown? The psychic Pokemon? But.. how'd they set up something like that?" Eugene asked, folding his arms across his chest. He wasn't convinced about what she was saying.
"I don't know, okay, I don't know," Mistral gasped, trying to hold back tears. "All I know is that we were on Edd's Lairon, and we busted through the wall, and were falling.. I used my Bellsprout to stop myself from falling, and tried to climb, but there were so many.. and I watched them disappear into the darkness.."
Eugene went silent, glancing over his shoulder. His Machoke obediently sat beneath a nearby tree, watching the two in amusement. "So.. you're pretty sure he's dead, huh?"
Mistral didn't answer. Her eyes wandered towards the square-shaped hole that marked the only exit point of the trap they had fallen into. She could only wonder what kind of trainers had fallen into that same trap. She finally looked away, moving to a stand. "Now where am I supposed to go..?"
"Nowhere, of course. You're supposed to be following me, remember?" another familiar voice chimed out. Mistral turned around quickly, just in time to notice a Pidgeotto fly out of the trap, dropping its precious cargo onto the soft grasses beside the Machoke. Following closely, was what looked like a large pelican, carrying Edd, the younger trainer, inside the pouch in its mouth.
What followed was a mix of emotions all expressed in a physical manner. She let out a squeak, tackled Eric to the ground, and kissed his cheek multiple times, before letting out a growl, punching him square in the side of the head several times. "What'd you do that for?! I was worried sick! I thought you were dead!" *POW!* "Don't you ever do that again!"
She stood up, and moved over to an unoccupied tree, where she broke down into sobs. Edd was still struggling to get free of the Pelliper's mouth. "Do you mind telling me what happened back there, please?" Eugene asked, watching Eric stand.
------
"So, anyways, when we lost sight of Mistral, we both summoned our flying Pokemon and hoped for the best. Pidgeotto caught me first, and Edd couldn't manage getting onto his Pelliper, so he climbed into the mouth pouch," Eric explained, shrugging.
"It was disgusting, but it worked.. atleast i'm alive. I can't say so much for the trainers that hit the bottom, though," Edd finished for Eric, recalling his Pelliper. "There were tons of bones down there."
Eugene gave a nod, as did Mistral, who had finally stopped crying for once. Eugene made his way to a stand, and brushed the grass off his pants. "Well, now that i've played hero, I think it's time I return to my training.. I can't go saving you guys everytime you get into trouble."
"You're not gonna stick around, huh?" Eric asked, watching his rival beckon to his Machoke, and walk off into the brush. "Well, good luck, then.."
Without any sign of recognition, Eugene moved off into the trees, disappearing once again. The trainers didn't say much for a while, but when they had recovered, stood once more. "Alright.. well, I say we head straight for Azalea, and no more detours," Eric muttered, straightening his backpack on his back. He headed off into the brush, looking down at his Pokegear. "We're only a mile from Union Cave. I suppose we made good time.."
BAM! A fist slammed into Eric's back, nearly sending him flying off into a tree. "YOU CALL THAT MAKING GOOD TIME?! YOU NEARLY DIE AND ALL YOU CAN THINK ABOUT IS A BADGE?!" Mistral screamed, causing a few Pidgey to fly out of the nearby trees in alarm. Edd covered his ears with his hands. "YOU COULD'VE GOTTEN US KILLED BACK THERE! WHY DON'T YOU GIVE A GIRL SOME TIME TO RECOVER, HUH?! HUH!?"
-----
"Aye. This is Union Cave," the hiker confirmed, rubbing the back of his scruffy head. "You'll be needin' a light. You'ken probably get it from that Sprout Tower place back in Violet-"
"Don't worry, I have that covered," Edd smiled, pulling out the Pokeball that contained his ever-handy Shroomish. He released it, causing the Hiker some shock.
"Hoy! Hoy! What kinda Pokemon izat?! It's some kinda freaky Bulbasaur look- a-like!" the hiker exclaimed, looking quite surprised at the fact that there was a rare Pokemon infront of him.
Edd leaned towards Eric and Mistral, and shrugged. "See? Ya, they're all scared because they never see these kinda Pokemon around."
"I see," Eric grinned, moving past the hiker, who watched them walk into the caves. The Shroomish lit up without command, illuminating the rocky walls of Union Cave. Several Zubat swooped down from the ceiling, disturbed by the sudden amount of light. They screeched, and dove out of the cave.. but they soon returned, when they realized it was alot brighter outside than it was with the Shroomish using Flash.
Mistral leapt ahead of the group, as the ground began to rumble gently. "What's that? Whatever it is, I wanna catch it.."
"Okay.. you've got dibs on it, then," Eric shrugged, taking a step back. He wasn't about to argue with the only person that would cause him serious injury without even the slightest twinge of guilt. Out of the ground came a brown, furry head. Then a second.. then a third. "Three Digletts?"
Eric dug out his Pokedex, and pointed it towards the group of Digletts.
~"Dugtrio, a Mole Pokemon. This Pokemon can dig extremely deep into the earth, and have been known to cause earthquakes when they dig too far down."~
"A Dugtrio? In Union Caves?" Edd blinked, rubbing the back of his head. "Well, it's rare for these parts. May as well catch it, ya?"
"May as well. I need a good ground Pokemon.. now.. let's see.. ah!" Mistral decided, diving her hand into a pouch on her waist. She produced a Pokeball, and flipped it into the air. The ball hit the ground, and out popped a Wooper. It danced a little jig, and trained its beady little eyes on the Dugtrio. "Wooper, use Water Gun!"
The Wooper let out a cry of delight, and immediately began to shoot streams of water at the Dugtrio. The Dugtrio dug into the ground, dodging the blasts of water, before breaking the ground again. With a spiky paw, the leader of the trio slashed at the Wooper, but the attack merely glanced off.. its dual ground type gave it a resistance to the physical attack. "Water Gun again, Wooper!"
With another cry, the Wooper dove onto the heads of the Dugtrio, confusing them, as it spit water down onto the Pokemon. The Dugtrio finally let out a groan of exhaustion, after trying to slash the Wooper off, that they prepared to dig down to escape. "Mistral, now's a good time.."
But Mistral was way ahead of Eric's advice. An empty Pokeball out, she flung it towards the Dugtrio, catching it just as it began to dive under the earth. The Wooper, without a target, glanced around in confusion. The Dugtrio disappeared into the Pokeball, which fell to the dirt below their feet, shaking gently. After a few seconds, the tell-tale 'ding' rung out over the cave, disturbing a few more Zubat into moving away from the trainers.
"Excellent! Good job, Mistral!" Eric praised. Edd simply clapped, smiling, to show his approval. The Pokeball turned a bright white, and disappeared in a flash. "Wha.. what happened to the.. it.. disappeared.."
"The Pokemon Storage System. If you have six Pokemon out of the storage, it automatically transports newly caught Pokemon into the boxes. If you use the PC's in Pokemon Centers, you can get them out at will," Mistral explained, rolling her eyes. "But you didn't pass your tests, otherwise you'd know that.."
"Eheh.. Yeah. I suppose I learned about that," Eric grinned, rubbing the back of his head in embarassment. "Well, now that you have a good Pokemon, let's get headed to Azalea Town! C'mon!"
------
End Chapter 8