"I wonder what they're going to build..." Tony muttered.
"I'm wondering that too, not to mention the fact that this place is exactly how it was when I passed by some time ago." Delia replied.
"Huh? You passed this way before? And without any pokemon of your own? Are you nuts?" Tony exclaimed as he wondered how she could have survived considering the amount of pokemon they've come across.
"I never said I was alone. I was traveling with another trainer." Delia piped up in self-defense.
"Sorry." Tony sighed. "I'm not sure why I'm so jumpy. If this place is as it was back then, then I'm also curious as to why it hasn't gotten any further in its progress."
"It does seem a bit too quiet." Delia agreed.
"Now that my curiosity has been piqued, I have just got to find out." Tony said as he tossed up Charizard's pokeball. "Charizard, come on out. We have a mystery on our hands."
With a roar upon release, Charizard took to the air immediately.
"Look for anyone or anything that could tell us why this place is abandoned." Tony commanded of Charizard.
As soon as Charizard started off on its search, Chikorita released itself from its pokeball.
"Chikorita, what are you doing?" Tony asked in utter confusion.
"I think Chikorita wants to help too and is a bit jealous that you'd only ask Charizard for help." Delia said as she took note of the way Chikorita began its own way of searching.
"Is that true, Chikorita?" Tony asked as he knelt down next to the plant pokemon.
Chikorita stopped its search and looked up at Tony. At first, Chikorita appeared on the verge of tears, then it puffed out its narrow chest and turned away from Tony.
"Chi chikorita chiko!" it said with a huff.
"Oh, come on, Chikorita. Charizard is just simply able to do things that you can't, is all. But think of it this way, you can do things that Charizard can't, too." Tony said as he put a hand on Chikorita's back.
"Chi, chiko?" Chikorita questioned while barely turning its head to eye Tony.
"What do you mean, 'like what?' You can proudly proclaim that you were the first plant pokemon that came this close..." Tony said as he brought an index finger and a thumb less than a quarter inch apart. "...this close from beating my Charizard, a fire pokemon that had not only a type advantage but also more experience in fighting than you did."
"Chiko..." Chikorita snorted.
"I'm not just saying that to build upon your ego. Honest." Tony replied. "I'll tell you what. If you can try to not be jealous of the relationship between Charizard and myself, I'll try to ask for your help more often, okay?"
"Chiko chiko!" Chickorita agreed with a happy nod after contemplating what Tony had said.
"Great. Now let's get going." Tony exclaimed as he jumped up.
After a fruitless search by both land and air, Tony decided to call the search off.
"It's annoying, but what else can we do? It's not like we were sent here to check up on the construction site's progress." Tony sighed, disappointed that nothing could be found. "Another unsolved mystery to file away."
That night, after Tony curled up to sleep between Chikorita and Charizard and Delia was snug within her sleeping bag, a rumbling through the ground below them caused confusion between both pokemon and human alike. Seconds later, a mound of dirt, rock and assorted earthen items erupted to their left as a Steelix arose out of the freshly dug hole that it had made. After Steelix hauled itself out of the hole, its trainer followed suit and took in a deep breath of fresh air.
"Come on, Steelix. We have work to do." the trainer said as he turned the helmet mounted flashlight from narrow beam to wide.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Tony demanded after making sure that both Delia and himself were alright and standing.
"Huh? There are other people here?" the unidentified trainer wondered out loud as he turned to face Tony. The light from his helmet nearly blinded Tony. "Don't you know that you're trespassing on private property?"
"No, we didn't know. There were no signs and nobody around to tell us so until now." Tony glared in the general direction of the other trainer.
"I'll tell you what. If you can defeat me in battle, I won't report you to the authorities." the trainer challenged with a hint of cruelty in his voice.
The tone and unspoken statement from the unknown trainer told Tony that he was dealing with trouble.
"Tony, be careful." Delia quietly cautioned.
"What's with the 'if I win...' business? How about when I win, you not only don't report us, you also answer our questions!" Tony replied with all intentions of being the victor.
"Fine. Then when I win, I'll report you and claim your pokemon as my own!"
"Keep on dreaming! Charizard, let's heat things up! Surround that Steelix with Flamethrower!" Tony shouted.
"Steelix, dodge it by digging underground." the unknown trainer exclaimed.
With a growl, Steelix went head first into the ground moments before the fiery attack could connect.
"Charizard, fly up and prepare for Aerial Ace as soon as Steelix emerges." Tony commanded.
"And what happens if Steelix doesn't emerge?" taunted the trainer.
"Then this battle's over and I win by default. Chikorita, flood the tunnels with Poison Powder and flush Steelix out!" Tony called out.
Chikorita was more than happy to oblige. Seconds later, Steelix reappeared roaring in pain.
"What?" Steelix's trainer exclaimed in surprise.
"Now, Charizard." Tony shouted.
From it's high up position, Charizard dived and executed the attack flawlessly, knocking Steelix out.
"No way! You cheated by using two pokemon against my one!" the trainer bellowed.
"We never agreed to only using one pokemon each." Tony replied coolly. "So what? I work with what I have. I just happen to have two pokemon. You can't go blaming others for deviating their attack strategies. This was a battle that shouldn't have started. Now answer our questions. Who are you? What are you doing here?"
"My name's unimportant. I came here to delay if not prevent the construction crew from making this valley into another city."
"So it was you, Rodney." a female voice shot out from the darkness a moment before several flood lights were powered up to reveal that the place was surrounded by the construction foreman and a squad of police officers. "I'm ashamed to even be related to you."
"But Ronda..." Rodney weakly protested.
"No buts, cousin." Ronda said grimly. "Because of your exploits, my crew is severely behind schedule and well over budget. Officers, take him away."
Delia and Tony glanced at each other. There had to be another solution that would be better than what Ronda had in mind. Tony looked over at Steelix's inert form and an idea suddenly took shape.
"Hey, wait up." Tony exclaimed as he and Delia walked towards Ronda.
"Who are you?" Ronda asked.
"I'm Tony and this is Delia. We kind of stumbled across Rodney when he showed up." Tony explained to the female foreman.
"How do you do?" Delia said with a smile.
After returning the smile, Ronda's expression became serious. "I suppose you'll be wanting the reward we posted."
"Reward? No, that's not necessary. I just had a thought. What if you had Rodney work off the damage he caused?"
"Maybe..." Ronda said as she mulled over the suggestion. A wicked grin spread across her face. "Are you sure you don't want the reward? I'm willing to toss Rodney's Steelix into the mix to teach him a lesson."
"What? You can't go giving away my Steelix!" Rodney exclaimed.
Two police officers had to hold him back from lunging towards his cousin.
"Why not? You were about to take someone else's pokemon without another thought." Ronda replied. "At any rate, I'll consider your idea, Tony. Maybe Rodney can do something useful for once."
Tony tried not to yawn, but with all the excitement, his energy was almost completely spent.
"I wouldn't want to take his pokemon anyway. The only thing I could use at the moment is a good night's sleep." he replied. "We could discuss anything else in the morning."