Episode 15: The Relic Castle

The path to Nimbasa City runs through route 4, which looked more like a city than an actual route. It would take roughly a couple of days to get through to Nimbasa City, and that was being generous, according to Niko's observations.

It was generous because route 4 was built on a desert. It was unusually hot, dry, and sandy. Niko, who had always enjoyed the beach growing up due to its rarity in Kanto, quickly found the sand annoying. Charlotte and Warren, on the other hand, disliked it from the start, but didn't complain much about it until they took a rest a couple of hours in to their journey. During the late afternoon they sat under a highway that provided them with plenty of shade for them, bathing them in cooled air.

"Niko…this'll be rough." Warren eventually said, finishing his water canteen. They had all expected dry weather when they were preparing to leave Castelia City, but didn't seem to bring enough supplies. "We'll need some more water for this, I think."

"We should look for a river nearby. Maybe one exists." Niko suggested with a shrug. "Plus, you're the only one with a water type. Poliwag can keep us cooled down, right?"

Warren's head snapped up to Niko's level, as if a lightbulb turned on in his head. "That's right! Why didn't I think of that?" He asked himself, picking up Poliwag's pokéball and summoning the Tadpole Pokémon. "Hey, Poliwag, can you use water gun on me?"

Poliwag tilted his head in confusion, as if not quite understanding Warren's question. Nevertheless, he obeyed, and sprayed his trainer with a jet of water.

"Oh! Poliwag, stop!" Warren said in a gurgling tone. Poliwag ended the attack and looked upon his trainer's now drenched hair and face. "Okay…maybe not the best idea…" He turned to Niko and Charlotte, who were both laughing from the situation. "Oh, stop. It's hot outside."

"Yeah, it is. What you did doesn't sound like a half bad idea. Your response to it was what made us laugh." Niko explained. Warren then turned to Poliwag and nodded. The Tadpole Pokémon then nodded, turned to Niko, and sprayed him with water. When the water gun finished, Niko rubbed his eyes and wiped excess water off his face before looking at his friends. "That didn't feel bad. Kind of cold, but it's better that way. Thanks, Poliwag."

"Poli!" Poliwag said with a cheery expression.

The trio then got back on their feet and continued walking north. While they did so, they noticed construction companies building up new apartment buildings with the help of Pokémon. At one point, Niko noticed a species that he didn't recognize, and pulled out his pokédex to view the creature, which was a short, humanoid Pokémon with a massive I-beam girder in its arms:

"Gurdurr, the muscular Pokémon. Fighting type. With strengthened bodies, they skillfully wield steel beams to take down buildings."

"They look kind of like Machoke…" Niko observed. "But without the steel beam in its hands."

"True. Machoke aren't very common around Unova. I wonder how closely they're related…" Charlotte added, likely thinking back to a class she took in school. "I think we learned something about them, but I can't quite remember."

"No worries. I just thought I'd check it out to see what kind of Pokémon it was." Niko said, pocketing his pokédex. "Let's keep going."

By the end of the day, they had made it through the city under construction and into the larger desert beyond. And as such, finding a place to spend the night was difficult. Eventually, the trio found a small rocky overhang to sit under, after several hours of searching. Once more, Poliwag sprayed Niko and Warren with water. Charlotte managed to stay cool with her own reserve of water, which she didn't waste, compared with her two companions.

Niko looked out from their overhang to the desert beyond. He never really had a good time in the desert. His first time he got separated from his friends and brother back in Hoenn, or had to traverse the desert on Battle Island, after which he met up with Hunter…

He shook his head, turning his blank expression into more of a frown. He looked down at his bag, which contained his three pokéballs. He chose to keep his Pokémon in their pokéballs during this trip, since it was so hot and dry outside. He then turned to see Warren falling asleep next to Poliwag, and Charlotte reading something under the light of Smeargle's ember attack. To kill time, Niko pulled out his pokédex to examine a small green cactus-like Pokémon nearby:

"Maractus, the Cactus Pokémon. Grass type. When it moves rhythmically, it makes a sound similar to maracas, making the surprised Pokémon flee."

"I've never seen a Maractus up close." Charlotte said. "But I've heard their sounds in a music class once. They're more pleasant than you'd imagine."

"I see." Niko said plainly, putting his pokédex away. "What're you reading?"

"A book on Unova geography. I bought it at a book store in Castelia City. I figured it might be useful on our adventure." She held the cover of the book up, which was just a picture of the Unova region. "See?"

Niko squinted a little to get a better look at the book, and nodded. "Looks good. Have you found anything interesting about this place?" He asked with an amused expression, motioning out towards the desert and expecting his friend to say nothing.

"Actually…" She said, flipping through the pages. "There is the Relic Castle. Ever heard of it?"

"Nope. What is it?" Niko asked, slightly curious. Usually he didn't encounter anything of significance in the desert.

"According to this book, the Relic Castle is a large castle, buried in sand, and the ruins of a city that is said to be over 2,500 years old. There are several floors and labyrinthine hallways deep down in the Relic Castle. Somewhere, hidden deep within it lies an extraordinarily powerful Pokémon." She looked up. "Sounds interesting, don't you think?"

"Yeah, but don't tell Warren. He might want to visit it."

"Oh, and you don't?" Charlotte said with an amused face.

"I—I mean, I don't not want to visit it. I'm sure it'd be great, but I'd rather not have to spend another night out in the desert. Do you want to go see it?"

"Kind of…" Charlotte said. "At least, just what we can. I don't think we need to go inside it, in case we get lost you know?"

"Yeah, I getcha." Niko said. "Fine, we'll go check it out in the morning. Does it show where in the desert the Relic Castle is?"

"I don't know…" Charlotte flipped through the pages some more before clearly finding what she was looking for." I don't know exactly where we are in relation to it, but it looks like it's somewhere to the northwestern part of the desert, so…" She looked up and pointed. "That direction."

Niko turned to see where her finger was pointing, and nodded. "Got it, we'll go in that direction in the morning, and then check out the Relic Castle." He then laid down. "Good night, Charlotte."

"Night, Niko." Charlotte said, continuing to read when Niko went to bed.

"So…this is it?" Warren asked as they stared at the small circular structure sitting in front of them. It looked akin to a well made of sandstone, with a half-sphere roof and a longer pole sticking out of the roof. "This is the Relic Castle?"

"Yes, looks like it." Charlotte said, looking at her book. "This is apparently the very top of the castle…it's all buried in the sand below us…"

Niko and Warren looked down at their feet, wondering how far down the castle went. Then Warren took a step forward and was about to enter the structure when not only Charlotte yelled out for him to stop, but the trio heard voices below.

"What the…?" Warren said, peering down into the top of the Relic Castle. He turned to Niko and Charlotte and silently motioned for them to come over as well. "Check this out…" He said, pointing downwards. Niko looked over to see a deep drop—he didn't know how far down—into the Castle. On the floor was a group of young men and women in dark gray long-sleeves and leggings with black sleeveless vests. Niko couldn't confirm, but they seemed to be wearing covering over their mouths. Lastly, they were all wearing black caps with a silver "x" on them.

"Who're they…?" Niko asked. Charlotte was the only one who seemed to have an answer. She pulled Niko away from the edge of the structure and back onto the sand. "That's Team Plasma."

"Who's Team Plasma?" Niko asked in a whisper.

"They're a famous gang here in Unova. Several years ago, they tried to "liberate" all Pokémon from their trainers, either by convincing the trainer to release their Pokémon, or by simple theft. I knew people growing up who had their Pokémon taken from them. It really hurt them."

"What happened to them? You seem surprised that they're around."

"Their leader was arrested years ago after summoning the legendary Pokémon Reshiram. As for what happened to them, I don't really know. I thought they had disbanded, but I've read rumors online about them coming back." She said. Meanwhile, Warren was picking up on what they were saying.

"What's going on Warren?" Niko whispered, walking back over to the structure and looking over the edge. "Oh…oh man." He said, watching what was happening below. The members of Team Plasma looked like they were about to fight one another. "Are they battling?"

"Looks like it…no, no they're not." Warren said as the members all turned to see a massive moth-like Pokémon hovering close to them. "What Pokémon is that?" He said, pulling out his pokédex:

"Volcarona, the Sun Pokémon. Bug and fire type. Thought to be an embodiment of the sun, it appeared during a bitterly cold winter and saved Pokémon from freezing."

"That thing is enormous…" Charlotte whispered. Suddenly she let out a gasp when the Volcarona unleashed a wave of fire in every direction, blowing the Team Plasma members and their Pokémon away. The Pokémon—Niko didn't recognize any of them—briefly lit on fire to indicate that they were burned.

"Looks like Volcarona is trying to fend them off. Should we help?" Warren said, pulling out a pokéball.

"No. The drop is too far and the only Pokémon of ours that could scale that is Rufflet, and I'd rather not risk having only one of our Pokémon fight those guys. We don't know how strong they are, and it's clear Volcarona is not to be messed with. Let's just go and let them get beaten by this thing." Niko said, finally standing up. Charlotte and Warren stood up as well, not willing to challenge their friend's resolve.

Niko wasn't about to deal with another Pokémon Gang. Throughout his years travelling, he's dealt with too many people with evil intentions. The last thing he wanted was to find himself embroiled in another world-ending situation.

"So, I did pick up a bit of what they were saying…" Warren admitted, eliciting Charlotte and Niko's curious glares. "Yeah, they were talking about finding this—geez, what was it—this…this book, I think. They said the only place they could find the book was in the Relic Castle. Apparently, they're trying to get their hands on this object, and the book will help them find it. None of it made any sense."

"That's just fine. Maybe we can alert the Police when we get to Nimbasa City?" Charlotte suggested as they trudged through the desert.

"Sounds good to me." Niko added, looking down at the sand with his hands in his pockets. He didn't want to get involved with Team Plasma, but he had been through enough to know that Team Plasma was up to something serious. Niko wanted to learn more, but he had to push away his curiosity for the moment. He had a gym battle coming up.

"So, we should get to Nimbasa City by the end of the day, I think." Charlotte said after a long, prolonged silence. Niko nodded, clearly still in thought. "Niko…?"

"Hmm?" Niko asked, looking at Charlotte.

"You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just fine. Just curious about Team Plasma."

"Worried that they'll do something bad?" She asked.

"No, absolutely not worried. I've just had an interest in these evil organizations. Team Rocket is big in Kanto, and they just don't seem to go away, for whatever reason."

"Oh yeah I've heard of them. They're just crazy. Apparently like three or four years ago Mewtwo was unleashed in Viridian City. Do you know anything about that?"

Niko, eyes suddenly widening a little bit, quickly shook his head. "I heard some things, but it wasn't widely talked about where I'm from."

"Oh, alright. I heard some trainers beat Team Rocket. Must've been pretty brave to do that."

"I suppose." Niko said. "Anyway, I'll try not to worry about Team Plasma." He said with a nervous smile. Charlotte seemed to be satisfied with that response, and the trio went silent for much of the journey to Nimbasa City.

By nightfall, they managed to make it to the outskirts of the city. Just as they did so, Niko doubled over from exhaustion—they had been walking for most of the day. He had never remembered being so exhausted, but he made sure him and his friends made it to the Pokémon Center as quickly as possible so that he could immediately crash onto his bed in the dormitory room. He then immediately fell asleep.