Hey, I'm back! After two years of complete writer's block (which I blame on moving and not being able to find a lot of my notes), I'm back with another chapter of Silver's Skater Girl! Sorry, about the wait, but I hope you enjoy it.
Thank you to everyone who reviewed my last chapter! I love all of the feedback.
Disclaimer: gothchic6 does not own Pokémon.
The team and I backtrack up to Route 36, where I talk to the guy in the middle of the route. I was going to pull out some cash, and offer it to him in exchange for the HM06 Rock Smash. To my surprise, when I pulled out my wallet, he spots my Zephyr Badge!
"I know that I can trust any trainer that can beat Faulkner with the HM06!" He chuckles. Dusk and I thank him before heading back down towards Route 32 and Union Cave. But before I go through the pass back to Violet City, Dusk makes a suggestion.
"Hey, why don't we go through the Ruins of Alph before we go through Union Cave? I don't know if you've been listening to any conversations from the tourists nearby, but apparently, there is a rare species of Pokémon that comes in different forms, and has psychic powers! We should totally check it out!"
"Hey, that doesn't sound like a bad idea. We can check out some of the caves for the rare Pokémon, and then we'll head down to Union Cave. Besides, if the rare Pokémon are psychic, then you'll have no problem taking down a bunch of them at once! Imagine the experience points!"
After checking the time, and having a quick bite to eat (Dusk scared a little kid by the suspicious tree on Route 36), we start heading south to the Ruins of Alph.
Dusk and I enter the Ruins of Alph, and we immediately head towards the northeastern chamber. As we enter the chamber, Dusk and I get an eerie feeling of multiple eyes being locked on us. The feeling is unsettling, but not threatening, so Dusk and I continue on farther into the chamber.
First we spot the slide puzzle, and we go to try that, but then Dusk spots an inscription on the wall behind the puzzle. I hear my footsteps click against the stone floor of the chamber, and that's when I realize that the entire chamber is silent except for the quiet noises that I am causing. As we take steps towards the inscription, I start to hear a dull ringing noise as we get closer to the back wall.
"ESCAPE", The inscription reads. The first thing that comes to my mind is an escape rope. Out of instinct, I start pulling one out of my bag. All of a sudden, the wall starts to collapse. I shriek in shock, especially since a few of the stones are falling towards me. I step back so my feet aren't crushed. I look over at Dusk, who looks over to me in a, "What the fuck just happened", way.
"I guess the wall knew what I was thinking. Or vice versa. Either way, it's kinda creepy." I mutter as Dusk and I slowly tread carefully into the adjacent chamber. To our astonishment, we find both a Heal Powder and an Energy Powder, along with an Oran Berry and a Pecha Berry. I'm feeling grateful for the healing items because I've been a broke ass bitch ever since I bought all that food in Violet City.
Dusk and I move to the main part of the chamber again, and we approach the slide puzzle. The ringing that I heard earlier becomes more pronounced near the slide puzzle. Despite how strange the entire situation is, I feel drawn to the slide puzzle, like I was meant to be here, and experience this situation.
My hands automatically reach for the stone titles, and I start shifting them around. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Dusk giving the left side of the chamber apprehensive glances, as if she's spotted something odd.
"What's going on over there", I murmur in Dusk's direction, though my eyes are still focused on the slide puzzle. As I move more tiles, I start to see a form start to appear. It's when I think I have one more pair of tiles to switch around that Dusk abruptly screeches in fright. I glance in her direction, only to see a small, black figure quickly disappear into the adjacent wall.
"What the fuck did I just see!", I bellow.
"Maybe it's the rare Pokémon!" Dusk squeals into my ear. I jump a little bit, not realizing that she was so close to me. A little shaken from what I just witnessed, I sigh, and exclaim,
"You know, if these things have the power to go through solid stone walls, maybe we shouldn't be messing with them too much."
Dusk shakes her head in an expression of exasperation. "Now you're just being a scaredy-Meowth! Come on, that thing is gone! Finish the slide puzzle so we can get out of here, and go explore the other caves!"
I raise my eyebrow slightly at her sassy tone, but none the less, I slide the last two tiles into place. The image of a Kabuto lights up the stone tiles. The ringing sound unexpectedly reappears very loudly, and without any warning, the floor underneath me collapses! I land painfully on the stone floor below. Dusk floats through the ceiling to where I've fallen.
"Calypso, are you okay? That was one Distortion World of a fall!"
It takes me a second or two, but I manage to stand up. Dusk's concern turns into relief after I give her the signal that I'm all right. As far as I can tell, I sustained no serious injuries. I have a few bleeding scratches on my legs that I take some time to bandage up before Dusk and I start wandering the underground hallway I fell into.
"These hallways are long as hell, Dusk. Do you think we're making any progress?"
We've been walking for about five minutes, and we've gone through several hallways. No sign of any exit, or of any Pokémon at all. Just the eerie noise of booming footsteps in what would otherwise be a silent hallway.
"There's got to be more to this place than just stone!" Dusk expresses exasperatedly again, feeling unsatisfied at our lack of progress. I go to reply, when the ringing resumes. Dusk and I look behind us to the source of the ringing, only to see another black figure staring back at us. I go to pull out my Pokédex, because I can tell that this thing is a Pokémon.
"Unown, the Symbol Pokémon. Their shapes look like hieroglyphics on ancient tablets. It is said that the two are somehow related."
Remembering the inscription of 'ESCAPE' on the chamber wall, I recognize the Pokémon as being the same shape as one of the letters of the inscription. It's shaped like an "A", but with an eyeball in the middle. I wasn't kidding when I said that it was staring at us.
The Unown's eye instantaneously narrows, and it envelops itself in a circle of white orbs. It then proceeds to hurl them at us in a light based attack. Dusk and I dodge it.
"Unown can use Hidden Power to powerful effect. It's type and power varies on the Pokémon."
"Dusk, use Astonish!"
Dusk screams while attacking the Unown, who faints in response to being hit with an super-effective Ghost type move.
"Well, I'd say we just dodged quite a few bullets", I sputter to Dusk in shock.
"Yeah, it's kinda terrifying that we don't ever know the type of attack it has before it attacks. But that's not as terrifying as me, thankfully."
I snicker at Dusk's response. We continue to walk further through the hallways. After minutes more minutes without running into another Pokémon, Dusk and I start to see light come into view in some nearby hallways. We start to head over there, when I hear the ringing again. Dusk and I look to our left, and see another Unown! Shaped like a "C"!
"It's C shaped, Dusk. You know we have to catch it."
Dusk peers at it for a second, and then gives me an approving nod.
"Dusk, use Psywave!"
Dusk unleashes a psychic energy wave of epic proportions, and though it's a powerful wave, the not effective matchup causes the Unown's HP to go down to half. I take my chance, and throw a Poké Ball at it. The ball shakes slowly, once… twice, and… caught!
I make eye contact with Dusk, and say in amazement, "We caught an Unown!"
"What are you going to name…it? I wonder if Unown have two genders?"
"Unown is a genderless Pokémon."
"Well, I guess that answers your question. I think I'll name it Cece. Because it's C shaped!"
Dusk rolls her eyes. "Oh, very original. Very original indeed."
It takes us fifteen more minutes until we finally find the exit of the underground tunnels. Once we get outside of the cave into the sunlight, I let Cece out of their Poké Ball, and I use a Potion to heal their wounds with. Cece floats next to Dusk, taking the time to talk to her despite their fight in the cave. I smirk a little at how energetic their conversation is.
All three of us go to see if we can access the other chambers, but we find that they are blocked by ledges and bodies of water. So we decide to go through the access point to Route 32 so we can head towards Union Cave. We enter the access point, and we see a few tourists hanging out. One of them, an attractive woman who could be called a "Beauty", approaches us.
"Is that an Unown?" She asks curiously.
I nod, and respond, "Yeah, I just caught it in the cave in the middle of the Ruins. I named it Cece because it's the shape of a C."
The Beauty's eyes look ready to bulge out in amazement.
"Would you be willing to trade your Unown for one of my Pokémon? I've been trying to catch a C shaped Unown all day, and I still haven't seen any! My name is Christine, by the way."
I am surprised by her request, but I'm not close minded either. I think about her proposal for a few seconds before looking at Cece.
"Do you want to go with Christine? She seems to like you a lot. It's up to you." I tell Cece.
Cece looks between me and Christine, and floats over towards Christine. I'm not surprised, but I'm happy that a trainer and a Pokémon could connect so instantly.
"What did you want to trade me in return?" I question in curiosity. Christine takes a Poké Ball from her hip, and opens it. An orange colored water seal Pokémon erupts from the ball, and looks up at me with interest.
"Buizel, the Sea Weasel Pokémon. It inflates its flotation sac, keeping its face above the water in order to watch for prey movement."
"I caught Zellie when I was vacationing in Sinnoh. I was a Trainer in the Cerulean Gym, so I've caught many Water Type Pokémon. However, I'm transferring Gyms into the Saffron Gym because I want to change my specialty, and try to train the Psychic type. I am near the Ruins of Alph, so why not try to catch an Unown? Besides, Zellie and I have very differing strategies when it comes to Pokémon battles. She's more aggressive in her approach, while I prefer to ease into my battles. I felt as if she needs a more assertive trainer to really bring out her true potential."
I glance at Zellie, her eyes filling with excitement as we make eye contact. I look back over to Christine, and nod, "Yeah, I get what you mean. You've got a deal."
Christine and I setup the necessities for trading. It took a few seconds, but in those few seconds, I gained a Buizel!
"Come here, Zellie!", I exclaim. Zellie jumps into my arms, and embraces me, while Cece and Christine bond.
"Well, thank you for trading! We'll see you around sometime!" I say to Christine. Christine and I make sure to exchange numbers before my team and I head out for Union Cave.
I let Zellie walk by my side while Dusk floats on my other side. The three of us make it through Route 32 while fighting numerous wild Pokémon.
"Dusk grew to Level 14. Dusk can learn the move Confuse Ray. Do you want to get rid of a move to replace with Confuse Ray?"
I glance over at Dusk, who has just finished off a wild Ekans with her Psywave attack. She looks startled, but replies,
"Yeah, I want to replace Growl with Confuse Ray."
"Dusk forgot Growl, and Dusk learned Confuse Ray!"
"Sweet, way to go, Dusk!", I say proudly. She looks back at me with glee.
Zellie spots a nearby Zubat, and shoots a SonicBoom at it. The Zubat dodges it by inches. It tries to drain Zellie's HP with its Leech Life, but Zellie distracts it with her Water Sport.
"Zellie, use SonicBoom again!", I yell out to her. It hits dead on this time, and the Zubat faints. Zellie cheers in response.
"Zellie grew to level 6. Zellie can learn the move Water Gun. Do you want to get rid of a move to replace with Water Gun?"
"Yeah, I'll do what Dusk did and forget Growl." Zellie squeals back to the Pokédex.
"Zellie forgot Growl, and Zellie learned Water Gun!"
Zellie proceeds to celebrate learning a new move by promptly shooting a Water Gun into a nearby Mareep's face.
"Well, you certainly know how to pick your battles, don't you?" I remark in amusement at Zellie's fighting spirit. Zellie smirks back at me before dodging the Mareep's incoming Thunder Wave.
The team and I finally make it to the entrance of Union Cave. I take the time to go in the Pokémon Center, and heal my team, before heading outside again. I notice the sun starting to set. I look over to Dusk and Zellie.
"How are you guys feeling? Are you up for going into the cave, or did you want to camp out for the night?"
"Well, I'm fine, but I can't really say the same for her." Dusk says as she glances over towards Zellie who can't seem to control her yawns.
"I'm fine, I'm fine, just give me a second to—", Zellie starts before slightly nodding off.
"Well, I'd say that means you're done for the night", I mutter to Zellie before I return her to her Poké Ball to rest.
"I still have a shit-ton of energy left", I murmur as I glimpse over at Dusk, "and I think it's because I drank one of those new energy drinks that came out recently. I think it was called, 'Electa-Buzz Me!'"
Dusk rolls her eyes. "I'm betting that you definitely had more than just one."
One of my eyebrows twitches in reply. "Maybe I did, and maybe I didn't. You can't prove anything."
"You know that stuff is basically liquid cocaine, and you're probably going to die sooner if you keep drinking it."
"Yep", I retort, not really caring about the long-term consequences. Dusk and I continue into Union Cave.
Dusk and I fight our way through Union Cave, besting quite a few trainers along the way. There was a Fire Breather named Ray who had an adorable Vulpix! Zellie was too tired to fight, so Dusk took out the Vulpix with a few Psywaves.
I let Forest out so he could wrap himself around a few Geodudes and an Onix belonging to a couple of Hikers.
Cyndi roasted the other "Fire Breather", who just had two Koffings, while Dusk spooked the Slowpoke of a Poké Maniac into unconsciousness.
Dusk and I finally see light at the end of the tunnel... Literally! We've spent around a million fucking hours trying to navigate through this cave, and now we've finally found the exit. Hallelujah!
However, when we finally walk out of Union Cave, we find that the sky is dark and gloomy, and rain is starting to fall down to earth in a torrential downpour. Knowing that Dusk isn't particularly fond of floating in rain, I recall her, only for Forest to pop out of his Poké Ball instead.
"You know how hard it's raining, right? Why would you want to be out here?" I ask him.
'Hey, I'm a Grass Pokémon, remember? I love water. I really love rain, especially since Azalea Town is known to be one of the warmer towns in Johto, and I LOVE warm water. It's like taking a bath.'
I shrug at this explanation, but I can't help but agree with him about the warm rain. It's kind of like a shower, but not as hot.
'I know what you're thinking. Just because I said it feels like taking a bath doesn't mean that you should strip down, and bathe yourself right here. There are other people on this route, and there are showers at the Pokémon Center.'
"Psssh," I say obnoxiously, "I'm not going to strip down in the middle of a public road, no matter how warm the rain is. Gosh, like, how could you ever think I would do something like that," I end with an exaggerated Valley Girl accent.
'Sure,' replies Forest sarcastically, but I can hear a hint of a snicker underneath the heavy layer of sarcasm.
So Forest and I, despite the rain, stroll through Route 33 casually, plucking the pink and black apricorns off of their respective trees. Sure, Forest and I get soaked to the core—I'm so glad I'm wearing a dark t-shirt—but we don't mind the rain. Just like he said—it's like a shower.
We walk until we are stopped by a Hiker, who also happens to be enjoying the warm rain. He calls out to Forest and I, so we have no choice but to approach him.
"Hey, chica. You sure seem to be enjoying the rain. Your Bellsprout looks like he's enjoying it too."
I quirk my brow up in surprise. "Nice observance. What point are you trying to make here?"
His brow also rise, and he grins at me. "Hey, I'm just saying that it looks like you and your Pokémon are having fun in the rain. You see, my two Pokémon also like the rain, but one of them is a Rock type, so he can't stay out in the rain for more than two minutes at a time."
"That's sad," I reply.
"Yeah", continues he, "My Geodude was really looking forward to a battle, too, but he can't in the rain. However, I heard that the rain stops once you get to Azalea Town. Are you heading over that way?"
"Yeah, I'm gonna need a room for the night. Why?"
He shrugs. "Well, I was just looking for a battle in Azalea Town."
I think about this for a second before replying, "Sure, Mister Mountain Man, if you want a battle, I'll give you a battle. But most of my Pokémon are exhausted, so I have to heal them first. Deal?"
"The name's Anthony, and sure little lady, I'll agree to those terms. Did you want to walk together to the Pokémon Center so we can heal?" Anthony asks me.
"Sure", I reply, and we start walking towards Azalea Town. The rain steadily starts to decline, and soon the bright sunshine of Azalea Town appears.
When we come upon Slowpoke Well, I see something that stops me in my tracks. My blood turns ice cold at the sight of a Team Rocket member guarding the entrance. The happiness granted by the sunshine suddenly evaporates. My face turns into stone.
Anthony glances at me, apprehension apparent in his expression.
"Are you all right, chica? What's the death glare for?"
I sigh and respond, "Let's just say that Team Rocket has done some horrible stuff to my family in the past."
"I'm sorry that happened to you and your family. But I can see the murder in your eyes. Don't do anything that you'd regret, chica."
I scoff at his pet names. "I've already done plenty of things that I regret."
"But it looks like he wants trouble, Anthony", I continue on, while making eye contact with the lone Grunt, "so I say we give it to him."
And that's the end of another chapter! Please read and review! I always appreciate it! -gothchic6