In this chapter, Ned is going to visit the Ruins Of Alph. However, someone else is going to be there as well. And in case you're wondering, it's not going to be Chris. It's going to be someone else.

Alto, this chapter is going to feature the Unown. Since this fanfic takes place in Johto, I figured it would be a good idea to include them somehow. This seemed like a good way to do it.

Chapter 9: Spelling The Alphabet

On the way to the Ruins Of Alph, Ned noticed that there was a tree up ahead. It was rather strange. It didn't look like any trees that had seen...not at Kanto at least.

Unfortunately, it was in the middle of the road. It appeared that he wasn't going to get past it. He was just going to have to go elsewhere for now. He wondered what was on the other side.

Perhaps this was why there didn't seem to be many people coming to the Ruins Of Alph.

He sure hoped that it would be cleared up soon. Trainers had places to go.

Immediately, he ventured into the ruins.

"I wonder why there are ruins so close to Violet City..." questioned Ned. Did some sort of ancient civilization exist here? Perhaps they were catching Pokemon even back then, though maybe not with Pokeballs.

Nearby was a laboratory. Apparently, there were scientists studying the Ruins Of Alph.

He wondered if they were studying something in particular.

He decided to go inside the laboratory. Maybe he could help them.

Currently, they were all engrossed in their research.

Strangely, they seemed to be reading books containing strange letters. What did those letters represent?

At that very moment, the head scientist noticed him.

"How may I help you?" asked the man.

"I'm visiting the Ruins Of Alph..." answered Ned. So far he was exploring outside the ruins, though there didn't seem to be too much to see.

"In that case, you might want to visit the ruins themselves. There's still information about them that we haven't discovered." stated the head scientist.

"Hmm..." thought the boy. HE could learn something from visiting the ruins. Well, he had the time so he might as well.

As it turned out, though there was a tree in the middle of the road, there were still several tourists visiting the ruins.

Curious, he wondered why somebody hadn't simply chopped down the tree so that people could get to Ecruteak City and Goldenrod City. It seemed like a rather simple solution.

He decided to ask one of the tourists if the lumberjacks had tried that.

"Have they tried chopping down the tree?" asked Ned.

"They've tried that...but for some strange reason whenever they use an axe it simply bounces off..." explained a tourist.

"That's rather unusual.." noted the boy. What kind of tree was it if an axe couldn't chop it down?

Now that he thought of it, he could have sworn the tree moved one of its branches for its second...even though there wasn't any wind.

It certainly was a rather unusual tree.

Well, it looked like he would have to ignore the tree for now and focus on battling the gym leader. Maybe he would be able to continue his Pokemon journey regardless of the tree in the road.

After touring the ruins, he decided to look elsewhere to see if there were any scientists that needed help.

As it turned out, one of the scientists was trying to figure out a puzzle.

"Do you need help?" asked Ned.

"I'm trying to figure out this jigsaw puzzle...but unfortunately I can't seem to figure out what the picture is supposed to be..." stated the scientist.

Curious, Ned decided to take a look.

Apparently, the jigsaw puzzle was that of a Pokemon.

Likewise, his Eevee jumped out of his Pokeball and began to investigate his surroundings.

"Interesting..." stated Ned.

At that very moment, Sarah walked in.

"Huh?" inquired the boy.

"What are you doing?" asked Sarah.

"I'm trying to figure out a jigsaw puzzle..." explained Ned.

"Oh! Can I try?" inquired the Team Shadow Grunt.

"Sure...mind you, not even the scientist over here can figure it out..." stated the boy.

Immediately, Sarah began to work the puzzle.

"Let's see now..." stated the girl.

Quickly, she began to work out the puzzle, trying to use it to form an image.

In just a few minutes, she was done.

"Alright! I got it!" exclaimed Sarah.

"I'm impressed! Not even I could figure it out!" bellowed the scientist. Maybe he needed to do some more jigsaw puzzles.

Ned was surprised at how smart Sarah was. Apparently, although she was rather goofy, she was rather smart too.

Suddenly, the floor began to collapse.

"Whoa!" bellowed Sarah.

"What's going on?!" exclaimed Ned. The floor had seemed so stable a few moments ago.

"Eevee!" shouted Ned's Eevee. Good thing he always landed on his feet.

"Totodile!" bellowed Sarah's Totodile.

The scientist gasped in shock.

Fortunately, it was not a long fall, so Sarah, Ned, and her Totodile were alright. Of course, Totodile would not need to worry about a long fall as he was rather resilient.

"That was scary..." remarked Sarah as she helped to her feet.

"Tell me about it." stated Ned.

As it turned out, they were inside the Ruins Of Alph.

"Wait...where did everyone go?" questioned the boy.

"It seems like it's just us..." acknowledged Sarah.

Ned wondered why everyone had left in such a hurry.

Suddenly, he noticed that the letters carved on the walls seemed to be glowing.

"How peculiar..." thought Ned. Last time he checked, the letters at the Ruins Of Alph weren't glowing at all. However, it was possible that they glowed in the dark.

"What's going on?" questioned the Team Shadow Grunt.

"Totodile..." remarked Sarah's Totodile. This was getting creepy.

Shortly afterwards, the Unown began to slide off the walls. Apparently they had been sleeping until Sarah woke them up by completing the puzzle.

"Whoa!" bellowed Sarah. Apparently, the letters in the Ruins of Alph were Pokemon the whole time...and rather mysterious Pokemon at that.

Sarah decided to scan the Unown to see if there was anything that she should know about them.

"Unown, the Symbol Pokemon. Little is known about these Pokemon...what is known is that they come in many different shapes." stated the Pokedex.

Sure enough, the Unown did in fact come in many different shapes. In fact, there was one for every letter of the alphabet.

Ned got the feeling that there were other puzzles in the ruins that he could solve. He should probably try it sometime.

"I wonder how we're going to get out of here..." questioned Ned. He doubted that they could simply go back through the hole that they had fallen from unless there was some sort of ladder.

Fortunately, the Unown were nice and helped Ned and Sarah out of the ruins.

"Thank you!" exclaimed Sarah.

As they did so, they left behind two maps.

"Interesting..." stated the Team Shadow Grunt. Now she could find her away throughout Johto...assuming that she didn't keep bumping into things.

Likewise, Ned was glad to have a map as well. However, the Unown didn't give him a map of the ruins. Perhaps he was going to need to find another entrance if he wanted to continue further.

He also heard that there were some Pokemon living outside the ruins. He wondered if he should try catching them.

For now, he was going to try battling Falkner. Maybe he could get the Zephyr Badge so that he could walk home free.

Sure enough, Chris was getting ready to fight him.

"There you are! I've been wondering where you were..." questioned Chris.

"Sorry, i got sidetracked..." explained Ned.

"Well, I'm going to fight the Gym Leader first..." stated the girl.

Sure enough, there was Falkner, the flying type master himself.

"So...you wish to fight me? My father used to be a gym leader once...but he's retired since then..." explained Falkner.

"I wonder where he is...I haven't seen him anywhere in Johto..." questioned Ned.

"Yeah...a lot of people never seem to find him..." remarked the flying gym leader.

Ned noticed that Falkner had a large collection of bird Pokemon.

"Anyways...go, Pidgey!" exclaimed Falkner.

"Pidgey!" shouted Falkner's Pidgey.

"I've taken down bigger birds than this...go, Poliwag!" shouted Chris.

"Poliwag!" exclaimed the water Pokemon.

Immediately, Falkner ordered Pidgey to peck Poliwag.

Pidgey was eager to obey his master.

However, when he approached him, Poliwag simply squirted him away with his Water Gun.

"Pidgey!" exclaimed Falkner's Pidgey. It looked like he couldn't get too close without getting splashed.

"Try using Mud-Slap!" ordered Falkner.

Pidgey nodded, and used Mud-Slap to strike Poliwag.

However, Poliwag simply washed away the mud.

"I guess this is why he wanted a strong trainer..." remarked Chris. He certainly was a tough Poliwag. She wondered how strong he would be once he become a Poliwhirl and when she used a Water Stone to become a Poliwrath.

"You remind me of Lucy's Pidgey before she evolved into a Pidgeotto and a Pidgeot..." stated Chris. Speaking of which, she got the feeling that she would challenge Falkner herself sooner or later. There was a man outside asking trainers to get their Zephyr Badges before continuing on.

"My father has a Pidgeot..." remarked Falkner. Unfortunately, it was as if he was the only person who had ever seen him.

Pidgey at this point was feeling rather tired.

"Use Whirlwind!" ordered Falkner.

Pidgey nodded, and used Whirlwind to try to blow Poliwag away.

However, Poliwag stood his ground.

He then finished Pidgey off with a Body Slam.

"Pidgey..." murmured the fainted bird Pokemon. He wasn't expecting a Pokemon trainer without a single Johto gym badge to have a Pokemon that strong.

Apparently Chris was rather tough. Of course, now that he thought of it...Chris had apparently battled Gym Leaders in Kanto previously.

"Good job...I'm going to send my Pidgeotto now...you ready?" questioned Falkner.

"Well, I managed to take down your Pidgey no problem so I would imagine I am ready..." nodded Chris.

Poliwag was feeling a bit tired after his scuffle with Pidgey but other than that he was ready to battle as well.

"Alright then! Go, Pidgeotto!" exclaimed Falkner.

"Pidgeotto!" bellowed Falkner's Pidgeotto as he materialized from his Pokeball.

Since Pidgeotto was Pidgey's evolved form, he would likely prove to be a stronger opponent than Pidgey was.

Nonetheless, Chris got the feeling that she could take him.

"Use Bubble!" ordered Chris.

Chris's Poliwag nodded, and used a Bubble to trap Pidgeotto.

However, it burst shortly afterwards.

"Pidgeotto, use Wing Attack!" instructed Falkner.

Falkner's Pidgeotto nodded, and used his wings to attack Poliwag.

"Pidgeotto!" shouted the large bird Pokemon as he struck.

Unfortunately for Poliwag, Pidgeotto had rather large wings so it hurt.

"Poliwag..." murmured Chris's Poliwag. It would probably be a good idea to go rest at the Pokemon Center after this battle. Besides, Nurse Joy was a rather friendly girl.

Poliwag countered by using Hypnosis.

Pidgeotto began to feel rather sleepy.

"Pidgeotto..." murmured the bird Pokemon. How could he fight if he was feeling so tired?

He began to doze off.

"Pidgeotto!" exclaimed Falkner.

Poliwag seized his opportunity and Body Slammed Pidgeotto. Now if only he had arms so that he could punch his opponents.

Pidgeotto fainted.

Poliwag panted with exhaustion. It had been hard work, but he did.

"I guess I still have a lot of work to do before following my father's footsteps, don't I? Well, I suppose since you managed to beat me you deserve a gym badge..." noted Falkner.

Falkner immediately handed Chris a Zephyr Badge.

"Alright! I got it!" exclaimed Chris.

"Congratulations! Now then, I suppose I'll be handing out more Zephyr Badges shortly..." remarked Falkner. His dad would likely be proud of him now that he got to be the Violet City Gym Leader.

Ned decided to challenge Falkner next.

Meanwhile...

"Shouldn't we go fight the Gym Leader?" questioned Jake.

"I know we probably should...but I get the feeling that there are Pokemon that we can catch here..." stated Lucy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. She wondered which Pokemon they could find here. Probably ones that they hadn't encountered in Kanto.

At that very moment, they did encounter a Pokemon.

It was a Mareep.

"Mareep!" exclaimed the sheep Pokemon. Currently, the wild Pokemon was grazing on some grass, on account on being a herbivore.

Jake decided to scan the Mareep with his Pokedex.

"Mareep, the Wool Pokemon. Its wool gathers static electricity. Touching it will shock you." warned Jake's Pokedex. In addition, this Mareep was female.

Sure enough, Lucy was trying to pet the Mareep.

"Um, Lucy, that's not a good i-"

"Ouch!" exclaimed Lucy. As it turned out, she did get shocked when she tried petting the Mareep. Luckily, it was a rather mild shock.

"You alright?" asked Jake.

"I think so. Darn it, I met a cute Pokemon and I can't pet her!" pouted Lucy.

"Well, there doesn't seem to be wool on her face..." pointed out Jake.

"What? Oh..." stated the girl.

Immediately, she tried petting Mareep's face.

Fortunately, she didn't get zapped that time.

"Mareep!" exclaimed the fluffy Pokemon.

"I think she wants to be my Pokemon!" cheered Lucy.

"Are you sure? She seems rather docile..." remarked Jake. She probably wouldn't be too interested in battling other Pokemon.

Mareep did admit that she wasn't the type of Pokemon to pick a fight (as she could simply use her wool to keep herself safe from any Pokemon that could bother her aside from ground types...which generally weren't in her area), but she was willing to do so for her Pokemon trainer.

"Mareep!" exclaimed the sheep Pokemon.

"What? Never mind then..." stated the savvy boy.

"Pokeball, go!" exclaimed Lucy.

Lucy caught Mareep with her Pokeball.

For some strange reason, she got the feeling that she should try using her new Pokemon against the Gym Leader...it was just a hunch.

"You ready to fight the Gym Leader?" questioned Jake.

"Now seems like a good time..." nodded Lucy.

Together, they went to combat Falkner.

That was an interesting episode wasn't it? And Lucy and Jake are going to challenge Falkner...and yes, it took ten chapters for the first gym battle to begin...you're probably wanting me to pick up the pace.

I also decided to make the Unown give Ned and Sarah since I'm not the type of person to add filler to my fanfics. I don't want the fanfics to be longer than they need to be.

Of course, in the first fanfic it took me nine chapters to reach the first gym battle...so maybe it's not going much slower.