~ Chapter 33 ~
Cycling Road Adventures
"Cycling Road was only the beginning of the weirdness that was to come in our adventures, but regardless it was fun. It was the first time we came face to face with a Dragon type Pokémon; I still remember meeting them…and to this day the Pokémon I caught in that cave has been a trusted companion of mine, and a major part of my Sinnoh Team. I can't imagine battling using my Sinnoh Team without it, it's become so integral to my battle strategy, and it's saved my life many times in the years that we've been partners. Although it hasn't always been easy raising it—though easier than most people would find raising a Dragon Pokémon—in fact at first it was pretty tough. I don't know why but to this day it remains the only Dragon Pokémon I own that didn't find itself enamored with me at first sight—maybe second sight ha-ha."
Sam threw back his head as he drank water from his canteen. He couldn't remember being so thirsty before in his life.
The entire group had been biking for the past three hours while the hot sun beat down on them and it was time for a break. Downhill wasn't so bad, but the constant uphill didn't help anything.
Cycling Road had been built on top of a naturally hilly land that sat at the base of the Mt. Coronet mountain chain, meaning it caught every up and down and winding turn in the hills, as if one was biking over the hills proper.
Sam leaned his bike against the rails of the raised road and sat down on top of one of the sets of steps that led down to the valley below.
Alyssandra, Jeremy and Niya joined him shortly after taking their water breaks as well. Sweat covered every inch of each of their bodies, and Jeremy and Sam had sweat through their jackets and their hair looked as if they had just come out of the shower. The girls' make up was starting to run as well.
It wasn't easy biking in the hot sun of June with pounds upon pounds of baggage on your back.
Provisions for the day as well as the tents and cooking supplies were strapped to the backs of the group and to the sides of the bikes. And on top of the shoulder bags Sam and Alyssandra insisted on carrying, it wasn't any easier.
Despite all that though, Sam never felt the heat beating down on him, if anything, it was the exhaustion that he felt.
Sam had always been well attuned to extreme heat and cold for some odd reason; but the others weren't like him, and every minute they prolonged their exposure to the sun was another minute they risked the chance of someone falling off their bikes.
Sam knew they needed a break, so he stopped his bike and pulled off to the side of the road, where a long staircase descended down into the valley. "All right," sighed Sam catching his breath, "Lunch time. Someone break out the water and some of the sandwiches—nothing too heavy, we're going to be sick otherwise."
Alyssandra groaned and threw herself onto the steps, drenching her throat with water to the point where it dribbled down her chin. "We picked the worst day to bike," she complained; sweat running down her temple as she sat up a bit.
"Are you kidding?" asked Niya, a wide smile on her face as she wiped the sweat from her brow, "This is amazing! We should have done this sooner."
Jeremy glared at Niya. "You're nuts, you know that?" he said, "I mean, I enjoy a nice bike ride as much as the next guy; but in this heat—you know how Sinnoh is in the early summer."
"It's beautiful, I think," smiled Niya as she sat down on the step next to Sam, who had thrown off his jacket and wiped his forehead with it.
"What's for lunch Lyss?" asked Sam, "Quick before these two go at it. It's best to feed them before they start to fight."
"We are not going to fight," argued Jeremy defensively, "Disagree, maybe, but not fight."
Sam rolled his eyes and turned back to Alyssandra as she rummaged through her backpack. "We have some apples…a piece of bread…and some extra water," Alyssandra said as she pulled them from the bag one by one, "We don't have much else, we were going to stock back up once we reached the next checkpoint remember?"
Sam sighed. "That's right. All right, divide up the bread and the apples. Keep the water. We'll use it to refill our canteens when we run out."
Alyssandra nodded and continued to pull two knives from the backpack and did as Sam said.
Meanwhile, Niya turned back to Jeremy. "I'm surprised someone as fit as you is having a hard time biking," said Niya with a shrug towards Jeremy, "In fact the same could be said for all of you. I used to do this for fun when I was bored or had to travel this way for contests."
Jeremy glared at Niya. "Well that's great for you, but you're nuts," he said rolling his eyes and collapsing on the metal roads that made up the pathway, he groaned and rolled over onto his side, "Why didn't we take the shuttle train that runs underneath the road. It would have been faster and air conditioned."
"Yeah but that's boring," argued Alyssandra, "Besides, painful as this all is in the heat, it's a lot more scenic and fun, don't you think?"
Jeremy glared at Alyssandra and sipped some more water. "No, I don't think," he grumbled, "That's what I'm trying to say."
Sam, tired of the fighting, finally spoke. "Hey! Why don't we go exploring those caves that Professor Rowan mentioned before?" he asked, "We'll go after lunch!"
Finally, everyone was agreed on something for the first time since they set out this morning. The heat had been getting to them since they started cycling, and it was getting worse and worse as the day went on.
If anything, Sam wanted to go into the caves, so he and his friends could get out of this maddening sun and stay cool for a few hours; maybe even catch some Pokémon.
Sam had heard that Gible lived in the caves below Cycling Road, and he had always wanted a Dragon Pokémon. They were his favorite type of Pokémon—although Electric, Flying, Water and Fire ranked up there as well—so it only seemed natural for him to have one.
Besides, Sam remembered all the stories about his grandfather's Pokémon, how he had an entire team of Dragon Pokémon, and that every single one of his teams had at least one Dragon Pokémon—there were even stories that he had owned one of every specie of Dragon Pokémon in existence.
Sam had never seen any of these Pokémon though; well, not all of them.
In fact, Sam didn't remember seeing any of his grandfather's Pokémon after he died. His grandfather had hundreds of Pokémon, and he had several teams set up for different battling situations, and yet, after his death, they all went somewhere.
None of the ranches had them, and he was sure that the Pokémon weren't released. Sam shrugged that thought off, however, but reminded himself to ask his grandmother about it next time he had a chance.
Sam's thoughts were cut short as Alyssandra passed him a few slices of apple and some bread. "Thanks," muttered Sam, his mind returning to his grandfather's Pokémon.
Again, his thoughts were disturbed as Jeremy tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, where'd you get that necklace?" he asked.
Sam looked down to the black crystal necklace that hung around his neck.
Niya looked over at Sam, just now noticing the dark crystal herself.
Sam smiled a bit. "Professor Rowan gave it to me this morning," explained Sam, "It belonged to my grandfather. He used to wear it all the time. My grandmother felt it was time for the necklace to be passed on to me."
"It's a nice look on you," said Niya, "It's pretty."
Sam hung his head with a sigh. "Glad to know I look pretty," he joked, "I'll make sure my grandmother knows how pretty I look." Sam finished his bit of apple and tore a bite out of the bread, and before he knew it, he was completely finished with that too.
Sam took another sip of water and waited around until everyone was finished with their food, then stood up and walked back towards his bike.
Bending over, Sam drew a bike lock from a pouch saddled to the back of the bike and locked the bike against the rail. Alyssandra, Jeremy and Niya soon followed suit, and together, the four of them looked down at the steps that led to the cool, damp forest below.
"So that's the real Route 206, huh?" asked Jeremy, "Looks inviting. Is that the cave over there?" Jeremy pointed to a small hole in the wall towards the right of the group as they descended the stairs.
Niya nodded as she shouldered her bag. "Yeah, I've been down this route before," she explained, "I've never had the chance to go inside of the caves, but I guess better now than never."
The remainder of the walk down the stairs went silently, until finally they reached the bottom, as they did Alyssandra was the first to speak.
"Jeremy, what happened to Pikachu?" she wondered as the group started towards the dark gaping hole that was the cave.
Jeremy chuckled. "As I've said before, Pikachu is young, and also very fickle," explained Jeremy, "But it just recently decided it doesn't like being out of its Poké Ball again. I don't know what's so great in there that Pikachu doesn't want to leave but…I respect my Pokémon's wishes."
"Yeah that's true," said Sam curiously, "I've always wondered the same thing about Poké Balls. What's inside, and why is it so great that Pokémon don't mind being in there?"
"Maybe it's one of those bigger on the inside than the outside things?" suggested Alyssandra.
"Well it would have to be," said Niya simply, "Otherwise the Pokémon wouldn't fit."
Sam laughed. "And how are we supposed to confirm this? Hop inside one?"
Everyone else let out a chuckle, and their attention turned back towards the cave that stood in front of them. "Well, this is it then," said Sam staring down into the darkness of the cave, "Let's go—no groups this time. It might be too dangerous, with all the volatile Pokémon here."
"Sam's right," nodded Niya as she switched on her flash light, "There are Gible, Gabite and Garchomp in this cave. They don't take kindly to people walking around in their territory, so it's best if we stick together."
"Gible huh?" asked Sam as the group progressed into the cave, "They're Dragon type, aren't they?"
Niya nodded. "That's right," she said, "They're Dragon type Pokémon, and I'm sure you know Dragon type Pokémon are fairly strong."
"Perfect!" said Sam, "Then I'm catching one. I've always loved Dragon Pokémon. My grandfather had a lot of them; they say he was a Dragon Pokémon Master. Only fitting really."
"Yeah, that's true, I've heard the stories," said Niya.
Everyone looked at her, a pause of silence passing over the group.
"What?" asked Niya defensively, "Oh, that—well I subscribe to Trainer's Weekly, how do you think I know so much about Pokémon? Anyway—they did a whole article about a year back about Dragon Pokémon Trainers and Training—really good read. Anyway, your grandfather was featured in the article, posthumously of course. You didn't know?"
Sam shrugged and kept walking. "I don't subscribe to that magazine, I was aware that he was famous for his skills as a Trainer, so I'm not exactly surprised." Sam smiled faintly as the group kept walking, that was just like his grandfather, great even after his death.
"Well, you, as a Trainer, and Alyssandra, as a Coordinator, should really consider subscribing," suggested Niya, "It will really help you in the long run. Besides, if you want to get on the cover one day, you're going to want to get familiar with the magazine."
Sam rolled his eyes, while Jeremy protested about not being included in Niya's list. Sam broke the arguing again.
"All right, let's keep going," said Sam turning back to his friends, "But let's do it quietly, we don't want to anger the Gible. Besides, if I'm going to catch one, I'd rather have the element of surprise."
Everyone else nodded in agreement, and the rest of the trip continued silently. The only sounds available were the careful sounds of their shoes in the dirt, and occasional drip of water from the roof of the caves. They took lefts and rights, travelled up and down inclines, going deeper and deeper into the caves that stuck into the side of Mt. Coronet like a thorn.
Not a single Pokémon crossed their path unlike the other caves the group had been into in the past. Not a single Zubat, or Geodude, or Golbat, or anything of the like was here. It was obvious that the Gible, Gabite and Garchomp had made this place their home and had probably made it explicit that this was their territory only, and any other Pokémon who intruded in their territory was most likely not leaving.
After what seemed like hours of wandering around aimlessly, the group was frozen in their tracks by the sound of a loud roar and the suddenly rumbling ground.
The group wheeled around, shining their flashlights at every corner of the cavern, but nothing appeared.
"What was that?" asked Alyssandra, her voice wavering, "Do you think that was an avalanche?"
"Not likely," said Niya, "That was, no doubt, a Garchomp. It sounded angry…but, they are typically loud Pokémon, I don't think it's close enough that we're in danger. Still though, we should be—"
Niya was interrupted by a sudden cheer from behind her, and she wheeled around to see Sam lifting a Poké Ball above his head in celebration. "What did you just do?" she asked surprised.
"I caught a Gible," said Sam.
"How?!" asked Niya, "You didn't even battle it, I would've heard if you had, I was standing right here."
"I was looking around while you were talking, and I saw the Gible passed out over here—I figured it was better than leaving it, and not to mention I get my Gible."
Niya sighed. "That's not like you at all," she said, "Normally you would've fought for your Pokémon but…well, at least you're doing it a service by helping it out, I'll give you that. But did you have to do it while I was talking?"
Sam chuckled as he strapped the Poké Ball to his Ball Belt. "Sorry," he said smiling, "I was just—"
"Don't worry Niya, I'm sure he was paying attention," reassured Jeremy, "Besides, Lyss and I were. Though, since you seem to be the expert here, I'd like to ask, why this Gible was here alone, and unconscious?"
"Well, Gible, Gabite and Garchomp are very territorial you see, even at such a young age," explained Niya, "In fact, as you've seen, they don't even allow other Pokémon to live where they do. They're also known for fighting amongst one another for the rights to food, mates, living ground, even something as trivial as where one of them gets to sleep. Very similarly to how Sam's Staravia and Jeremy's fight whenever they're near each other. It's possible this Gible was part of a fight for something and it lost—they're not particularly merciful these Pokémon."
"I guess it's glad I caught it then," smiled Sam, "It'll get a chance to rest, grow stronger, and probably have a better life than being beat up all the time."
"Well, when he puts it that way," said Alyssandra, "Still, don't you think a Gible that young has a family, or like, a big mommy Garchomp that's going to come after it if it doesn't come home right away?"
Before anyone could respond, the roar sounded again, and the ground shook once more. But this time they were closer, and louder, and more frequent. They sounded again, and again and again, and got closer and closer and closer until in front of the group stood a large Garchomp, its fangs bared angrily and its eyes glowing with rage.
"What was that you just said, Lyss?" asked Jeremy as the Garchomp looked over the group, sniffing the air for any scent of what they thought was a Gible.
The Garchomp's head turned side to side as it sniffed and sniffed. It didn't seem to see the group; it simply passed by them sniffing the air until it stopped. Wheeling around slowly, Garchomp continued to sniff the air, walking towards Sam, and paused, it's eyes growing as he sniffed the air near Sam's Ball Belt.
Sam gulped, he knew what was about to happen, and before the Garchomp could snap its teeth shut on the spot where Sam had been, the group had started running down the cave.
"This is the last time we go into caves without Repels!" shouted Sam as he led the group back towards the exit, albeit blindly.
"No, this is the last time you go catching random Pokémon you find! You're battling them from now on!" shouted Niya, keeping a close tail behind Sam, with Alyssandra behind her, "By the way, do you know where we're going?! I don't remember taking this turn before!"
"Not at all!" shouted Sam, wheeling another corner and throwing himself behind a rock as a large explosion shook the cave behind him.
Garchomp had unleashed a Hyper Beam that Sam was sure had nearly caused the place to collapse on them.
"We can't outrun this thing," said Alyssandra, "It runs fast, and its attacks are long range. There isn't always going to be a corner to duck around—we could die!"
"Yeah but we can't figure our way out of this place without the proper time to stop and think and read the compass," justified Sam, trying to provide reason for his madness.
"We don't have time you idiot!" cried Niya, "That thing wants to eat us, now!"
"I know, I know, but relax we—"
Alyssandra shook Sam violently and stopped him mid-sentence. "Jeremy!" she shouted, pointing towards the hallway they had just left.
There lay Jeremy on the ground, he had tripped, and his leg had been trapped under a pile of rubble. The Garchomp had caught up with him, and stood there, growling menacingly as its teeth were ready to bite right through him.
"Dammit!" hissed Sam as he saw his friend in trouble.
"What are we going to do?" asked Alyssandra, "We don't have any Pokémon that can take down a Dragon type, and none of ours are strong enough to fight that thing."
Sam gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and did the first thing that came to his mind. Without thinking, he had run out from behind the rock towards Jeremy.
"Sam!" shouted Alyssandra and Niya as they realized what he was going to do, and even Jeremy shouted his protests. But Sam had started running, and his mind was made up; there was no stopping him.
Sam kept running, and before he knew it, he had put himself between the Garchomp and Jeremy, ultimately putting his life on the line for his friend. The Garchomp reared, and, its mouth wide open, prepare to bite through whatever was in its way, either Jeremy or Sam, it didn't care.
Alyssandra and Niya ran towards Jeremy and Sam, hoping to do…something, they weren't sure, but they knew they couldn't let their friends die. Niya's Roserade, let out a few moments ago, and Alyssandra's Piplup, let out at the same time, dashed alongside their Trainers, ready to attack the Garchomp on command.
But before anyone could move another step, they froze in their tracks, as they saw the strangest thing. The Garchomp had not only stopped attacking but had begun to nuzzle Sam's chest gently with its head.
"W-what are you doing?" Sam asked the Garchomp, worried that it was a tactic to throw him off guard.
"Garchomp!" called the Garchomp happily, a smile replacing the angry grimace from before.
Sam took a few steps back, but gently, carefully, and warily patted the Garchomp on the snout. "So, why the sudden change of heart?" asked Sam.
"Garchomp! Chomp!" called back the Pokémon.
Sadly, Sam had no idea what this meant, and only sighed. "Right."
"W-what just happened?" asked Niya in disbelief, "One minute that Garchomp was ready to tear through Sam and Jeremy both, and now it's acting like an overgrown teddy bear."
Alyssandra shrugged, and together the two of them and their Pokémon ran over to Jeremy, tossing the rocks off of his leg and pulling him back towards a nearby wall.
"Are you okay?" asked Alyssandra, "Does your leg hurt?"
Jeremy nodded. "A bit, I'm not sure if its sprained or broken, but I'm not going to risk walking on it just yet," he said.
Niya nodded examining the leg. "That's a wise choice," she said, "It's not broken—you would see the misshapen look of the bone as it protruded from your skin, not to mention you'd be in too much pain to talk clearly let alone think logically. It's possible that your ankle is just sprained from the fall you had, and the rocks on top of it caused bruising. Still, I'd stay off that leg for the next few days."
"You know all that from a simple look?" asked Alyssandra, surprised at Niya's vast knowledge of medicine, and not just Pokémon.
"There was—"
"—an article in Trainer's Weekly on First Aid, wasn't there?" asked Alyssandra, the surprise leaving her voice.
Niya smiled, then rummaged through her bag for the first aid kit. "I came prepared luckily," she explained, "I'm going to give you basic first aid, and then wrap your leg in a splint."
"Why? It's not broken!" protested Jeremy, "Just wrap it up or something."
"I can't do that," explained Niya as she laid out the gauze and two wooden sticks, "I can't be sure that I missed the possibility of a hairline fracture—that kind of breakage isn't possible to see with the naked eye. If it were that, I'm not going to be the one that caused you to never walk again because of a misdiagnosis, what kind of a friend would I be? No, I'm going to put your leg in a splint anyway, just in case. We'll have you checked up at the next Pokémon Centre, and then Nurse Joy can decide whether or not it's necessary."
Jeremy sighed. "Just do what you need to do, but you're helping me walk after!"
Niya laughed. "All right, all right, if that's what it takes."
Sam appeared suddenly, kneeling down next to Jeremy. "I heard," he said before Alyssandra could explain, "Jeremy can I have a Poké Ball please?"
Jeremy looked at Sam with confusion, wondering why he would want one when he had tons of his own, but without arguing, Jeremy did as Sam asked.
Sam took the Poké Ball happily and turned back towards the Garchomp. "All right, Garchomp, it's just like we discussed," smiled Sam, "That's still okay with your right?"
Garchomp cried happily. "Chomp! Chomp, Garchomp!"
Sam nodded. "All right then," he said and tossed the Poké Ball at Garchomp. Within a minute, the Pokémon was caught and light at the Centre of the Poké Ball flashed red and it stopped moving.
"What did you do?" asked Jeremy, struggling to stand up but Niya and Alyssandra forced him back down.
"You're not healed yet! Sit down and let me finish!" cried Niya sternly.
Jeremy waved his hand and looked at Sam. "Why did you do that for?" asked Jeremy again, "You could've just used your own Poké Ball to catch that Garchomp, besides, you already have a Gible."
"I know," said Sam shrugging, "That's why this is yours."
Sam placed the Poké Ball in Jeremy's hand, and Jeremy stared at it in disbelief,
"How? Why?" he asked, barely able to make his sentence comprehendible.
"I caught the Gible, and that made the Garchomp chase us," explained Sam, "It's because of that you're hurt, and this is my way of apologizing. Besides, I know you would've caught it anyway—Alyssandra wouldn't have wanted it and Niya's not catching Pokémon."
"I still could've caught it myself though, you really didn't have to," said Jeremy thankfully.
"You're hurt, you wouldn't have been able to battle properly," said Sam, "Besides, Alyssandra was right, we weren't strong enough to take on the Garchomp. So, I figured now that it was randomly being cooperative and friendly, I'd ask it if it would do us the favor by joining us and being one of your Pokémon. Surprisingly it agreed, so now it's yours."
Jeremy looked at Sam with a wide smile. "Thanks," he said simply, "I'll make it up to you."
Sam shook his head, then looked at Niya. "All finished?" he asked.
Niya nodded. "Yup, let's get him on his feet."
Niya and Sam each grabbed one of Jeremy's arms and pulled him up, then they placed that arm around their shoulders and helped support him. "Let me take it from here," said Niya, "Besides, you're on the side that works. He can walk on that, I'll support him on this side; I already promised I would."
Sam nodded and let go of Jeremy. "Well, let's find our way out then," said Sam.
"How?" asked Alyssandra.
Sam pulled out a compass and scanned it. "We're going to keep heading west," he said, "The cave goes eastward into the mountain, so if we head the opposite way, we'll get back in no time."
Alyssandra groaned. "It was that kind of logic that got us lost in the first place…but it's better than nothing, I suppose. Lead the way."
"How is Jeremy going to get up the steps and bike after this?" asked Niya, "I'm not carrying him and his bike."
Sam laughed at the thought, but not too much that it would prompt anger from Niya. "We'll call the Pokémon Ranger on duty and get him to drive us and Jeremy to the nearest checkpoint station with a Pokémon Centre, from there we'll get Jeremy looked at and probably spend the night."
Alyssandra and Niya agreed with that plan, and together, the four of them began their long trek back to the cave entrance. Though the whole time, all Alyssandra could think about was what had happened with Sam and that Garchomp.
Something about that wasn't right, and Alyssandra knew it. Something was going on here, either with Sam or the Garchomp.
Alyssandra didn't know, but she knew it was something she wanted to find out.
