"This Pokémon World of ours never ceases to amaze me. It always keeps you guessing as to what it has in store for you next.
That constant amazement and wonder that it provides is part of the reason I explored as much of the world as I did. As I write this, they say that there are 649 known species of Pokémon—I don't believe it.
I think—in fact I know—that this world of ours is large enough that there are thousands still to be discovered. I remember the time when we travelled through Oreburgh Gate, and came across two ancient Pokémon, whom people believed were extinct for thousands of years."
Sam, Niya, Alyssandra and Jeremy stood at the entrance of the cave, staring into the darkness of the two separate tunnels, flashlights in each of their hands. They had just entered the cave not too long ago, and they had already reached a fork in the road.
"You know, it's not too late to turn back," suggested Alyssandra. "I'm sure there's another way around the mountain."
Jeremy flashed the light between the two branches. ""Only if you want to climb it or take a boat across the southern shores of Sinnoh, and then walk north to Oreburgh, but of course there's some foothills there."
"You know, I'm starting to get the feeling like you don't like caves," joked Sam.
"How could you tell?" asked Alyssandra sarcastically. "It's just—I'm a tad bit claustrophobic; caves irk me because of that."
"Well, unfortunately you heard Jeremy," said Niya. "The only other ways around are impractical or too slow."
Alyssandra groaned. Her stomach rumbled. She didn't want to want to keep going, but she knew that no matter how much she complained, she would need to.
"This fork must be new," added Jeremy. "It's not in any of the maps."
"Onix shift the tunnels all the time. Anyone who claims to have a map of this place is scamming you," explained Niya.
"So how are we going to navigate this? Backtracking will take too long if one is a dead end," said Sam. "But splitting up could be dangerous if there's a cave in or something."
"The way I see it, we take the lesser of two evils," suggested Jeremy. "If we split up, we can cover more ground. Even if something's goes wrong, there will always be another group ready to go to the rescue of the other."
Sam nodded. "Fair enough, who's going with who?"
"I'll go with Jeremy this time," said Niya instantly. "No offence, Sam, but I had my bonding time with you. Time to bond with Jerry over here."
"It's Jeremy," said Jeremy blankly. "You've known me since we were children, how do you not know my name?"
Niya shrugged. "I like Jerry better. That's what I'm calling you until we're out of here."
Sam shook his head. Niya was as unapologetic and blunt as ever, but that was one of the qualities he admired about her. That's also what made her a good teacher to him and Alyssandra. She was harsh and brutal, when she needs be, while also being supportive and kind when needed.
"In that case I guess I'm going with Sam," said Alyssandra. "And since I'm stuck with him, I'm picking first. I choose the left tunnel."
"What do you mean 'since I'm stuck with him'?" asked Sam. "Am I not good enough for you?"
"Aww," said Niya sarcastically. "Of course, you aren't, whatever gave you that idea?"
Everyone laughed.
"What did I say about leaving you in a forest?" Sam teased.
Niya stuck her tongue out quickly before disappearing behind the rock wall that separated the two tunnels. The only sounds that echoed through the dark caverns of Oreburgh Gate was the occasional drip of water from the ceiling, and the footsteps of Sam and Alyssandra as they walked through the rock-strewn floor.
Every so often a Zubat or Golbat would fly past, causing Alyssandra to jump. This, of course, only enticed more Golbat and Zubat to flutter around, startled by the sudden noise, which in turn caused Alyssandra to jump again. It was a horribly loud and long cycle that only made Sam wish he were with Niya. But at the same time, he cherished the time he spent with Alyssandra.
Suddenly the tunnel began to shake. There was a loud crash and a clang, and the wall to Sam's left began to crack and crumble.
"What is that?" asked Alyssandra, afraid. "Do you think it's an angry Onix, or maybe a Steelix?"
Sam shook his head. "No, Steel don't live this far south down the Coronet Mountain Chain. They prefer the Battle Zone Island—the mountains there are richer in iron ore and metals. And Onix don't clang."
"So, then you tell me what it is," demanded Alyssandra. She quickly stepped behind Sam, a safe distance from the deeper area of the tunnel. The sound came again, a crash, a clang, and the rumble of a cave in.
"Maybe we walked in on a mine?" asked Sam. "Oreburgh does have a lot of them. This could be a shortcut from the Gate to the mine."
"Wouldn't there be human voices and the sound of a lot more machinery?" asked Alyssandra. "Besides, I don't they'd be mining so close to civilians."
The pair inched deeper down the tunnel; careful not to entice anything that was lurking in the darkness.
"Well, I don't know what it is then," admitted Sam.
"Why didn't you tell me that in the first place?" panicked Alyssandra.
"Because then you'd panic like you are now," replied Sam in barely a whisper.
Sam shushed Alyssandra and motioned for her to hide behind a nearby rock. When she was safe, he continued down the tunnel some ways. The sound had stopped, which seemed odd to Sam. But no sooner had it stopped, when all of a sudden, the wall to Sam's left exploded and collapsed.
Sam was knocked back against the opposite wall, earning himself a few scratches from the sharp rock walls and the debris.
Sam stumbled to his feet when he heard Alyssandra scream out his name.
"I'm fine!" he shouted back. "Don't come over here!"
Sam looked around, trying to see what had collapsed the wall, and was struck dumb when he realized what had been the cause. It was something Sam never thought he'd see. It was a battle between two wild Pokémon, but it wasn't the Pokémon battle that surprised him, it was one of the Pokémon that was battling that made him rub his eyes in disbelief.
It was a wild Shieldon fighting a Bronzong.
"How?!" asked Sam. "How is this even possible?"
"What is it?" called Alyssandra from the darkness.
"It's…it's a Shieldon!" replied Sam. "It's wild, and it's fighting a Bronzong."
"A Shieldon?" asked Alyssandra. "Are you sure you're seeing it right? Those Pokémon went extinct thousands of years ago. The only way to get one now is by reviving a fossil—which takes money, and of course a fossil to revive."
"Positive!" he cried over the din of battle. "It's a Shieldon—" another clang, boom, rumble, crash "—and it is most definitely wild. I just don't know how or why."
Sam ducked as the Bronzong was thrown against the wall. Bronzong flew over Sam's head and slammed right into the wall. It rang like a bell and cried out. But the Pokémon wasn't down for the count. It flew back towards the fray, readying a Psycho Ball attack.
Sam pulled two empty Poké Balls from one of his pockets. "I'm going to try and catch them."
"Catch them?
"Yeah, the Bronzong and the Shieldon."
"Are you mad? Those things could kill you! Do you know what you're doing?"
"No! Then again I never do! But this Shieldon is a rare sighting, and I want answers. I need to show it to Professor Rowan, or someone who knows about these Pokémon."
Alyssandra paused before responding. "All right, I understand the Shieldon, but why the Bronzong?"
Sam shrugged. "It's strong, I'm a trainer, do I need to say more?"
There was no response from Alyssandra, and Sam took this as the go ahead to start the battle.
Sam sent out his Prinplup. The Water type Pokémon, while alone, would have a significant type advantage against Shieldon, and was hard enough to withstand Bronzong.
"You'll be battling alone, Prinplup. I'm sorry! But Luxio and Staravia aren't fit for cave battles."
If Prinplup had any complaints, it never voiced then. It merely waited for its trainers commands so it could fight its hardest.
Sam loved that about his Prinplup. The Pokémon was determined, and willing to do and go through anything to win—a lot like Sam.
"All right let's start off by using Bubble Beam against Shieldon. Then charge at Bronzong with a Metal Claw! Try to weaken it, even if it's not super effective!"
Prinplup nodded and fired several bubbles towards Shieldon—who was still fighting Bronzong viciously. As Shieldon tried blocking the attack with its face, Prinplup dashed towards the Bronzong with the tips of its fins glowing white.
Shieldon was too tired to fully shield itself from the damage and took the hit. It flew back against the far wall.
Bronzong simply turned itself towards Prinplup, before the Pokémon could land Metal Claw, and fired a Psycho Ball at it.
"Block it!" cried Sam.
Prinplup stopped charging and raised its hands against its body, keeping them close, and allowed the Psycho Ball to hit its glowing fins. Prinplup tried to hold its ground as the force of the attack was stopped like a car against a brick wall. Its flippers dug into the dirt, and the Pokémon skidded backwards, staggering slightly.
Prinplup had absorbed the attack but had taken damage in doing so. It wasn't sturdy enough yet to pull off the kind of manoeuvre that Sam had hoped it could.
Sam grit his teeth. He knew that unless he could distract Bronzong with something, he was only going to be able to catch one of the Pokémon.
Shieldon took Sam's moment of vulnerability to strike and charged headfirst towards Prinplup.
Sam reacted quickly. "Prinplup try a Bubble Beam on Bronzong. But jump up and avoid Shieldon while you do." Sam's manoeuvre worked, and Bronzong took the hit, while Shieldon's attack missed.
Shieldon skidded to a halt beneath the jumping Prinplup, and Sam wanted to take advantage of this moment.
"Prinplup, use Peck on Shieldon! Come down in a swan dive and spin!"
Sam placed his trust on the same manoeuvre that saved Sam and Prinplup back during the battle against Alyssandra and Jeremy.
Prinplup's attack struck head on, causing major damage to Shieldon. The short space between the ceiling and the floor allowed Prinplup to drop fast, and the speed at which it dropped just added to the power, especially since it was heavier as a Prinplup than when it was a Piplup.
Shieldon fell to the ground, but Bronzong began to charge at Prinplup as he landed, causing him to go flying back against the back wall.
"Prinplup, are you okay?"
Prinplup struggled, but managed to get back up, ready to fight back.
"Use Bubble Beam, Prinplup! Then follow it up with barrage of Metal Claw!"
Prinplup nodded and shot a torrent of bubbles towards Bronzong. The penguin Pokémon hit Bronzong head on, stunning the creature. Bronzong shielded itself with its arms, and while it did, Prinplup quickly dashed after the bubbles, its fins glowing white.
It slammed its fins into Bronzong.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
But the Pokémon didn't stop. He kept using Metal Claw on his opponent, until Bronzong finally collapsed on the ground beside Shieldon, unconscious.
"Good job, Prinplup," called Sam. "Now let's catch them!"
Sam threw two Poké Balls, each one hitting one of the two Pokémon. The two Poké Balls shook violently, with Shieldon's shaking more so than Bronzong's. Shieldon fought hard and longer than Bronzong had, continuing the fight long after its original opponent had given in to the Poké Ball.
Sam was afraid the Pokémon would break free, and he would have to battle it again. He knew full well that if it came down to that, the battle would only end in a loss for Prinplup. The Pokémon was too tired to pull off a victory at this point.
But finally, Shieldon stopped resisting, and the Poké Ball's silence revealed that the Pokémon had been caught.
"What's going on?" called Alyssandra. "Is it over?"
"Yeah, it's safe. You can come out now."
Alyssandra peeked out from behind the rock. When she was content that nothing was going to jump out at her, she ran over to Sam.
"Congrats. I heard the battle from behind the rock. You really favour the jump-dodge and diving corkscrew Peck move, huh?"
"It's saved Prinplup before during the battle against you and Jeremy," explained Sam. "I'll probably be using it until I become Champion."
The two continued walking after Sam had placed the Poké Balls back into his pockets.
Alyssandra smirked. "That's if you can beat my sister. Which I would love to see someone do for once."
"Well, there's a first time for everything right? I'm sure I'll beat her the first time I challenge her."
Alyssandra felt inspired by Sam's fearless confidence.
The rest of the walk continued silently, and mostly uninterrupted. Ever since Sam caught the Bronzong and Shieldon the Zubat and Golbat sightings had become so infrequent that they were surprised every time they saw one.
Suddenly, light flooded into the tunnel, and Sam and Alyssandra found themselves in a large cavern, at the other end was the exit.
Jeremy and Niya sat waiting on a rock near the mouth of the cave, waiting for him.
"When did you get here?" asked Sam.
"About twenty minutes ago," Jeremy replied. "Turns out my way was shorter."
"Well, in all fairness I was held up by two Pokémon battling it out. I caught a Shieldon and a Bronzong."
Jeremy looked over at Niya, and then back to Sam. "That's funny, because we ran into a battling Rampardos and a Bastiodon. I caught them as well. I wonder though, maybe my Bastiodon and your Shieldon are related. It could be they got separated when the Rampardos attacked—it looked as if the Bastiodon was distressed about something"
"And then Bronzong attacked Shieldon once it was separated from its parent," suggested Alyssandra as she continued Jeremy's train of thought.
Sam nodded. "That's definitely a possibility."
"What's really shocking me though is what they're doing in here alive," said Sam. "These Pokémon are supposed to have died out millions of years ago, and the only way you can get one today is from fossils."
"I know," said Jeremy. "We can ask Professor Rowan or the Oreburgh Museum for some answers. In fact, if Professor Alexios is still there after you battle Roark, we could even ask him if he has time."
Sam cracked his knuckles. "I intend to do all three. Now come on, let's go! Oreburgh City is right through this entrance here."
The second Sam exited the cave he could feel the sunlight wash over him like a warm bath. Somewhere in his gut, he could feel the pressure and the excitement start to build. In less than twenty-four hours, he would be battling against all odds for his first Pokémon League Badge ever, and he knew that it would not be a battle he would soon forget.
