~ Chapter 38 ~

The Hiker Brothers

"Thank goodness for the kind people of the world. If it wasn't for the Hiker Brothers, we would've been lost in Mt. Coronet forever. Some people are just meant for the wilderness, and these three brothers were more than prepared. They were born out in it, but despite their years of experience that far outnumbered anyone I've ever met since, they were more than willing to help others who weren't as prepared. They found each of us and brought us back together, then led us out of the winding, dark tunnels. They were even so kind as to help escort us all the way to Hearthome City after. The Hiker Brothers were so kind to us, and every time we met them on our travels we were more than happy to share our supplies, sleeping area, food, or water, and even travel with them for a few days. They truly became lifelong friends—we still stop by and visit them at their main cabin in the Survival Area every chance we get."

Alyssandra and Sam sat on rocks in the middle of the cavern. Having just packed up their tent, they were now looking for something they could eat.

They may have slept for a while—or maybe not, they couldn't tell the time while in the caverns—and while it wasn't exactly comfortable, but it was better than nothing.

Their Pokémon were resting in their Poké Balls by now, wishing to return there shortly before Sam and Alyssandra packed up the tent.

Alyssandra and Sam had a lengthy guessing game about what was so special about the inside of a Poké Ball, to the point where they decided to find out one day.

Sam and Alyssandra had taken to eating anything that could be eaten raw, and there wasn't much. A little under a half of loaf of bread was really all there was.

Jeremy carried the food, as he always did, and whatever Alyssandra and Sam had was only enough to feed them one meal, even if rationed.

The only thing they had in abundance was Pokémon food, and Sam wasn't eating that any time soon.

"We should get going, huh?" asked Alyssandra as she shouldered her bag, biting deep into her sliver of bread.

Sam nodded. "Jeremy and Niya aren't going to find themselves," he said, "Besides, the longer we stay here the longer it'll take to get out."

With that, Sam and Alyssandra gathered their things, and began to leave their makeshift camp.

But it wasn't long before they stopped, frozen in their tracks as they heard a shuffling around in the darkness ahead of them. Their flashlights couldn't shine far enough for them to see what it was.

Alyssandra stood brave, but Sam could see she was worried. Even Sam was afraid of what it might be.

Was it a Pokémon?

Was it the curse?

Was it another adventurer?

Whatever it was, Sam was prepared to take it on, regardless of how he currently felt. He was willing to do whatever it took to protect his friends.

"Who's there?" called Sam, yelling into the darkness.

There was no response, but the shuffling grew louder and closer, as whatever it was came closer and closer to where Sam and Alyssandra stood.

"Answer me!" cried Sam, "I'm not afraid to fight."

Suddenly, a large figure appeared out of the darkness. The dark caves still partially shadowed it, but it seemed to be human, though it was much larger than an average human.

Sam raised his fists but lowered them as he heard a heartened laugh echo from the figure.

It walked forward, and the figure was revealed to be a man.

He was bearded, tall and rather round in the belly. His eyes were kind though, and he wore the gear of a hiker, with a walking stick, hiking boots, a jacket with a thick layer for warmth and several pockets for all sorts of things. He wore brown hiking pants, and on his head, was a fedora-like hat with a feather stuck in it.

On his back was a backpack and bed mat, as most hikers carried.

He was the perfect embodiment of what one would think the typical hiker would look like with a big bushy beard and everything.

"Easy there, no need to get feisty. I'm not going to hurt you," laughed the man, "I'm actually here to help, kind of."

Alyssandra and Sam looked at each other, not sure what to make of this man. "What do you mean?" asked Alyssandra bravely, keeping an eye on the man as he inched closer.

They weren't sure whom to trust anymore, and this place didn't make it any easier to trust random travelers. It was better to be safe than sorry.

"You are Alyssandra and Sam, correct?" asked the hiker.

His voice was deep, yet smooth and soothing, it had friendly warmth about it that made him seem trustable, and he sounded like he was kind enough. He scratched his beard as he waited for a response.

"Why do you ask?" asked Sam, "And how do you know us?"

The hiker laughed and cheered, spinning around like he had struck gold, confusing Sam and Alyssandra.

As he settled down he turned to the two teenagers and smiled at them widely. "I was sent here by your friends, Jeremy and Niya," said the hiker, "My brothers and I found them in the tunnels last night. So, we brought them back to our camp and looked after them, but they wanted us to go look for you. They sent me this morning."

"Who are you, and how did you find my friends?" asked Sam.

The hiker laughed again. "I am Anthony. My brothers Alan and Alexander are hikers like me, and we hike mountains all over the world. That's why we call ourselves the Hiker Brothers. We were coming back to explore the caves of Mt. Coronet again, looking for the Spear Pillar and I was just walking around in the tunnels and found your friend Niya walking around lost," he explained, "She explained what happened and how you got separated. Not too long after, my brother returned with Jeremy, just as I was heading back to camp with Niya. This morning they said they wanted us to find you, since you hadn't made it out of the cave yet, and here you are. I found you."

Sam and Alyssandra looked at each other, the man seemed trustworthy—a little crazy for wanting to find the Spear Pillar—but trustworthy nonetheless. The two lowered their guard and walked towards the hiker.

"How are Niya and Jeremy?" asked Sam as he approached him.

The hiker gave a smile. "They're perfectly fine!" he said happily, "A little shook up, a few scratches, but perfectly fine other than that. They're still at our camp, waiting for you guys."

Alyssandra and Sam felt a weight leave their shoulders as they found out their friends were okay.

Sam was afraid one of them had gone and broken something in the cave-in, which in all fairness was Sam's fault, and that only would've made him feel worse about it.

Shortly after meeting up and introducing themselves to Anthony, Sam and Alyssandra began to follow him towards the exit and their hikers' camp.

"So, you were the one who caused that cave-in yesterday, huh?" chuckled Anthony, "You made a right ruckus. My brothers and I had just entered the cave and we heard what you caused. Boy that was a doozy. Don't you know not to battle in a cave?"

Sam looked away in embarrassment; he wasn't going to be allowed to live this down by Jeremy or Niya either. They would make sure he remembered it forever.

"In all fairness, that guy I was fighting was a jerk," said Sam, "He deserved to be trapped in there too."

Alyssandra's face suddenly lit up as she remembered Richard. "Did you find a kid named Richard in that cave?" she asked, wondering what had become of him after she left him.

"Richard Lestrange?" asked Anthony, as he seemed less than happy at the sound of the name, "Loud and strange little boy. But I guess his name should've told me that. Lestrange, ha-ha, appropriate I must say. Came stumbling out of that cave late last night. His face was red, little bruised actually, like he'd been hit hard, and he was loud and complaining and grumbling I don't know what. He didn't stay long, but I'm okay with that. He decided to go stumbling down the mountain in the dark—I think he may have fallen a few times. He's quite the loud kid."

Anthony chuckled as he thought of Richard falling down the mountain. Alyssandra and Sam couldn't help but laughing either.

Alyssandra also smiled as she heard mention of Richard's face, and she was glad he had his lesson still written on his cheek. Maybe next time he'd remember not to hit on her.

"What exactly did you do to him?" asked Sam in wonder.

Alyssandra smiled. "I told you, I used that move you showed me," she beamed.

Sam couldn't believe it. "I didn't think you were being serious. To be honest I thought you were just joking," exclaimed Sam.

"And why would I joke about that?" asked Alyssandra affronted, "He was bugging me, and you taught me that move, so I used it. Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I can't kick butt and defend myself."

Anthony laughed heartily. "You've got yourself in a hole there my boy," he joked, "It would seem Alyssandra's got a point here."

"I still can't believe you hit him," said Sam with a shrug, "You just seem so…harmless."

Alyssandra shot a look at Sam, and Sam couldn't help but laugh. "Don't get me wrong. It's just not an easy thing to imagine, you're always the one who says don't hit people. Now you go and hit people. Forgive me if I'm a little thrown off."

Alyssandra sighed and rolled her eyes, she gave up on the argument and the two of them followed Anthony silently for the rest of the trip. It wasn't much longer before they reached the exit.

Seconds after exiting the creepy mountain Jeremy and Niya burst from the visible camp, only a few meters from the cave, and threw their arms around Sam and Alyssandra in a massive, slightly unexpected, group hug.

"Thank goodness you're okay," cried Jeremy, "We were beginning to worry about you."

"We're surprised it took you guys this long to get out of there, were you lost?" continued Niya.

Sam and Alyssandra shook their heads and began to explain what happened as they settled down around the cooking fire for breakfast with the hikers.

Apparently, it was just before dawn, and Sam and Alyssandra had been asleep since early evening yesterday.

As Alyssandra explained her ordeal with Richard, Niya couldn't help but laugh, cheer, and congratulate her. While Jeremy looked worriedly at Sam for what that meant for the two of them. Alyssandra was their fierce and caring mother figure who now knew how to hit people and make it hurt—more than before anyway.

"I guess I should've seen that coming," sighed Niya, "Sam would only take the most logical route and rest while thinking of a method of escape rather than moving deeper and deeper into the darkness. But what would you have done afterwards, when you had no choice but to move forward?"

Sam sighed. "I honestly have no answer. Probably crawl around blindly in the darkness."

The conversation was interrupted as the three hiking brothers, Anthony, Alan, and Alexander, began passing out trays with oatmeal, eggs, and bacon.

"You guys aren't going to eat?" asked Jeremy as he saw the three brothers sit down without trays.

Alan shook his head. "We cooked for you guys first, our food will come next," he explained.

Alan looked just like his brother, only younger, and no beard. He was definitely the youngest of the three brothers, and upon close examination, Anthony was definitely the oldest.

"We always feed the guest first," commented Anthony, "And don't go worrying about eating all our food now, we always bring extra! Extra clothes! Extra food! Extra utensils! Extra medicine! Extra everything!"

"How do you carry it all here?" asked Sam as he bit into his eggs, which were actually quite delicious.

"Well, we have cabins all over the world!" laughed Alexander, "We built them ourselves. So, whenever we're in the area we'll stock the place up with everything we need, and bit by bit bring them to our camps on the mountains."

"And then we spend as much time as we can exploring, looking for secret areas, just hiking and having tons and tons of fun," laughed Anthony, "Hiking is our passion! Ever since our granddad, rest his soul, taught us how we've been doing it for fun. And we help out geologists and scientists and Pokémon Researchers once and a while when we discover new things. Right now, we're looking for a way up to the Spear Pillar."

"Why would anyone want to go up to that cursed place?" asked Niya, "And speaking of curse, aren't you afraid of it?"

The brothers looked at each other and then at Niya and broke down laughing. "We've been hiking around these mountains for years, and many times before we've gone looking for the Spear Pillar—mind you we've not found it yet—but nothing that can't be explained has happened to us," explained Anthony.

"I tell you, that curse doesn't exist," continued Alan, "It was just something made up years ago after all these bad things happened, and everyone's too afraid to argue with what they've heard to go against it."

"So, you don't believe the stories?" asked Sam.

Alexander replied next, and as he spoke, Sam noticed that he was dressed exactly like the others, with less of a beard than Anthony, but more than Alan.

He looked to be the middle brother.

"Oh, we believe them all right," he said happily, "People definitely lived on these mountains, and I'm sure they were cast out by the Legendary Pokémon for their fighting. There is a ton of evidence for that. But we don't believe there was a curse. We believe people were so scared by the angered Legendary Pokémon that they fled and made up the curse thing out of fear. We don't know that for sure though, that's why we're trying to find the Spear Pillar."

"We're hoping it'll give us the proof we need to prove this theory," explained Alan, "But we still have to find it first."

Sam looked over at his friends, and they looked back. They had nothing to say to these passionate men. The Hiker Brothers, as they took to calling themselves. They seemed to be educated and passionate, yet so rough and ready to get dirty. It was like a mix between Professor Rowan and a mountain man.

"You guys really seem to know what you're talking about," stated Alyssandra, "Have you studied Pokémonthropology and Archaeology?"

The three of them nodded. "Yup!" Alan exclaimed happily, "Our grandfather forced it on us at first, but we soon came to like it. Now we all have degrees, but we decided to study hands on in the field rather than behind a desk at the university. We'd trade a stuffy library for hands on experience any time. We just like it better out here in the fresh mountain air."

Something about watching the Hiker Brothers' passion for their subject of preference made Sam think of how he felt towards Pokémon Breeding and Training, or Alyssandra and her dreams of being a Top Coordinator, or Niya's passion for teaching people and her dream of doing that for a living, or even Jeremy's passion for being a Pokémon Ranger.

It was inspiring, and it gave Sam a twinge of determination.

"So, where are you kids headed to from here?" asked Anthony as he ladled some oatmeal into a bowl for him and his brothers.

"Hearthome City is our next destination," explained Alyssandra, "We need to get there by tomorrow, so I can register for the Pokémon Contest in two days."

The Hiker Brothers looked at each other, and Anthony gave a smile. "It's a day's walk from here. But if you get going after breakfast, you'll make it there by early evening," said Anthony as he pointed eastward, "But you know what, I do have to head into town to get some more batteries for our walkie-talkies and radios. It would seem this time I forgot to get extra. Why don't I escort you there? I know a shortcut too, so it'll be even faster."

The group beamed as the man offered to help, they couldn't be more thrilled or happy towards what they were hearing.

"We'd love that, thank you so much!" cried the group in unison.

"It's nothing," waved Anthony, "It's the least I can do for you kids. Besides, our mother taught us to never leave a guest in need. We fed you, and now we're going to get you to Hearthome City on time—earlier even! Let me just finish my breakfast and get some stuff together and we'll go, all right? Shouldn't take me more than fifteen minutes at the most."

Anthony began to shovel food into his mouth, disregarding its temperature and then rushed to gather his things for the trip.

The sun had just risen over the horizon by the time the group was ready to go, and shortly after saying goodbye to the remaining Hiker Brothers, they set off towards Hearthome City.

As they marched down towards the valley below all Sam could think about was his next Gym Battle with Fantina—whom he decided to challenge next while he was in Hearthome City, as it would save him the time of coming back later.

While Alyssandra dreamed of winning her next Pokémon Contest.

Niya thought of seeing her mentor and aunt once more.

While Jeremy couldn't help but wait to see Amity Square.

Everyone was excited for something in Hearthome City, but no more so than to be together again.

The curse was gone, and the adventure continued, everything was back to normal once more.