The Greatest Pokemon Trainer

by Victor Soul

Join Charles Roberts, his Pikachu and his travelling companions as he attempts to become the ultimate Pokemon Trainer. On his travels he will meet new friends, rivals and many Pokemon to capture. Follow him on his journey to be the best, like no one ever was.

49. Valley Of The Ancients

Here's the next chapter.

pokemonking0924 - She sure does, doesn't she. Still, just like people, there always kindness in people; it's just hard to find it sometimes. Luckily, Flo knows how to come up with the remedy to help Mele through music. Thanks so much for reading as well as the recommendations. I can definitely picture Flo with a shuckle who helps her make medicine. I'll make sure to add it to the list. Thanks again and I hope you'll enjoy this chapter just as much.

Djinn - Ah, yeah. I remember that episode. The team have a lot of talents and other aspects that haven't been addressed yet, but they will be revealed eventually as the story progresses. Thanks for reading.

SmugSlimeFTW - Oh…okay. That's a shame considering all my stories are OC stories.

Guest - Yep, that's my translation. As a side note, the character Belle and my cat were both female, so I have no idea why 'him' and 'his' were used. I might need to find a better translator app.

kadenisrealcool - Thanks so much!

SkullGreymonX - Yes, hopefully Flo would get through to her like Charles did with Titania, but it may take some time. It's also a shame about Alice and her sweets, but I'm sure she'll get them back…some time. Thanks for reading.

Guest2 - You're quite right. Also that thing about the money was inspired by a scene from Nichijou: My Ordinary Life. It made me laugh so hard that I just to put it in. Thanks for reading.

Kunoichi69 - Nurse Joy's are definitely known for their caring, but tough personalities so it's only right that she is the best for the job. After the incident, Flo did make Mele apologise to her team and they forgave her, but they are still very much weary. As for what Ruth and Dorothy are doing back at the Coral, well, Ruth helps out on the chores alongside Cleo and has lunch with Aunt Dragonite every midday. Dorothy had already gotten lost several times and has been stuck up trees, in bushes, on the roof of the Corral and so on. She likes Hurricane, Sneak and Echo and often joins them on their misadventures. Thanks for reading.

PokemonFan247 - I'm glad to hear that you're looking forward to it. Unfortunately, Jigglypuff won't be in this chapter…because I totally forgot…but I hope you'll enjoy it anyway. Whether Charles catches an aerodactyl…well, you have to wait and see. Thanks for reading.

Thank you for reviewing :)

---

Chapter 44: Valley Of The Ancients

Grandpa Canyon

Grandpa Canyon was possibly as old as time itself.

With its sandy and rough terrain; the bright sun beating down on you; and the looming mountain peaks bordering the entire area, it was treacherous trying to get into it let alone going through it. However; it was worth it for the scenery. A vast valley of dark yellow rocks and dry and crusted land stretched out far in front of them. Rock formations poked out from the ground like giant jagged fingers and dust swirled around as it was taken by the wind gusts. There was little to no vegetation except for the a few tumbleweeds and sometimes a cactus.

The team had descended into the canyon earlier this morning and were making their way through the rocky landscape. They had two reasons to travel through Grandpa Canyon; the first is that it, after they had ventured through it, there was a direct road all the way to Centre City where they will meet up with Ash, Misty and Brock before setting sail to Cinnabar Island. The second, and more importantly, was that Grandpa Canyon was the home to hundreds of ancient Pokemon fossils. Archaeological excavations have been going on in this part of Kanto for years now and they are still finding new artefacts to this day and all of them are keen to see them.

With his hat pulled down over his face to shield from the light, Charles wiped the sweat from his forehead as he gazed out over the canyon.

"It's pretty, isn't it?" he said out loud as he admired the scenery with a cheerful smile, "It's a lot different from the forests and the countryside roads we usually take."

Before they had entered, he had packed away his coat into his rucksack and now wore a short sleeved white cotton shirt so he didn't overheat. He also made sure to put on the right amount of sun screen on before they set out; something that his mother engrained into his brain at a very early age.

The top of his rucksack opened up and Benny's head popped out. He gave the area a weary look before he decided to submerge himself back into the rucksack.

("I think I prefer the forests. More shade and much less dusty,") he called out from the bag.

Flo, who walked on Charles' right, gave the rucksack a small concerned look, "Benny, are you sure you're cool enough in there. It can't be too comfortable in there, can it?"

The pikachu replied by sticking his paw out from the top to show her one of the many ice packs he had stored inside before putting it back in again. Flo playfully rolled her eyes and decided that she was satisfied.

Flo had also changed her attire a little and she now wore pink baseball cap, with her hair pulled back into a long ponytail that stuck out from the hole in the back, and a short sleeved shirt with the logo of the Saffron City Psyducks baseball team on it. On her back, under her rucksack, was her new guitar that Charles had brought her. She was so happy about the gift and hugged him for about ten minutes. It was in good condition as well and the right size to carry along without it being heavy and cumbersome.

Over on Charles' left, Alice studied the map in front of her as she walked, being mindful of any rocks or holes as she did. Like her friends, she wore a blue charter hat on her head and wore sleeveless shirt with a golden star and the words 'Police Service' printed on the front. On her hip was a holder where she kept her water bottle and she wore black fingerless gloves to protect her hands. In her pocket was a packet of Sour Patch Elekids which Charles brought at the same time he brought the guitar for Flo; partially because he wanted to make up for the ones Mele ate and because she wouldn't stop pouting for buying a gift for Flo and not her. Apparently, food equalled musical instruments in Alice's book.

Alice looked up from her map and smiled happily, "Hey, I think we're getting close. We should be seeing it…right about…now."

She pointed forwards and saw in the distance, as they stepped over a hill crest, a patch of sectioned off land at the bottom of the canyon about a quarter of mile long and wide. Within the roped off borders were team of people and Pokemon digging the land around them. There were hundreds of them; excavating, cleaning potential features, recovering artefacts or resting under the gazebos and the trailers situated on the edge of the site. At the sight of them, Alice grinned excitedly and put her map away.

"They they are," Alice announced, "The largest archaeological dig site in Kanto. And, if what my aunt told me in Neon City, they are accepting volunteers."

"Cool," Charles said enthusiastically, "I've read about this a while back. Apparently, they've uncovered new areas recently and found some new fossils. Kabuto, kabutops, omanyte, omastar and, my favourite, Aerodactyl," he said as his eyes lit up in excitement and he began to jump up and down, "You think we would find ancient Pokemon from other regions!? Do you think we can keep some of the fossils!?"

Flo patted his shoulder to stop him from jumping and giggled, "Okay, calm down now. We haven't got there yet," she told him, "Still, have you ever wondered what it would be like to meet them. I mean, with your ability to talk to Pokemon, I bet it would be interesting to talk to them."

"I bet it would," Charles pondered, "It's a shame that we'll never know. I would love to meet them."

They stopped suddenly when they heard evil cackling and turned to their left to see three figures gathered under the shadow of a rock formation that was nearby. They recognised them instantly as Team Rocket and couldn't help but sweat dropped as they witnessed them conjure up a new devious plan for the day.

"Prepare for trouble," Jessie said as she posed dramatically.

"And make it double," James joined in.

"To protect the world from devastation."

"To unite all people within our nation."

"To denounce the evils of truth and love."

"To extend our reach to the stars…"

"Ahem!"

"Wah!" Team Rocket yelped suddenly before they turned to the three trainers not too far away.

"Hey Team Rocket," Charles called out with a small wave, "It's been a while. How are you guys doing?"

Jessie scowled in anger, "Oh, it's you three."

"You darn twerps interrupted our motto again!" Meowth yelled as he shook his paw at them, "When will this cruelty end!?"

Alice gave them a dry look, "Probably when you stop being cruel yourselves."

"That's…fair enough, I suppose."

James frowned angrily and pointed at them accusingly, "What are you smart twerps doing here anyway?"

"There's no reason we can't be here. The real question is why you weirdos are here."

Jessie smirked and crossed her arms, "And there's no reason why we can't be here either, isn't that right James."

"Oh, indeed," James agreed with a superior smirk of his own, "If we want to wait for our shipment of dynamite at this particular location then that's our business and not yours."

THWACK!

"Don't tell them that!" Jessie roared after punching James on the side of the head, "They didn't have to know that we were planning on blowing up the entire site in order to harvest all those Pokemon fossils for ourselves…"

…

…

…

"…oh…I said that out loud, didn't I," Jessie sheepishly.

"You sure did," Meowth and James sighed miserably.

'Good grief,' Flo, Alice and Charles thought at the same time.

Not deterred, however, Team Rocket proudly got into their battle stances and brought out their pokeballs while Meowth unsheathed his sharp claws from his paws.

"Who cares that you smart twerps know," Meowth declared, "A battle ought to shut you up."

"Oh yes, we can't have you three messing up our plans."

"Prepare to battle smart twerps."

Instead of taking out their pokeballs, however, Flo turned to them with small frown on her face, "One thing before we do that," she said in an almost disappointed voice, "Let me get this straight, Your plan was to destroy the entire excavation site."

"Yes," James snapped.

"By using dynamite to blow up the caverns underneath Grandpa Canyon," Charles added.

"Yes," Jessie sighed irritably.

"Well, wouldn't you also destroy the fossil as well in the process. The fossils that you are trying to get," Alice finished, raising a single eyebrow at them.

"Ye-"

Meowth stopped before he could finish as they all thought over what Alice told them.

…

…

…

Team Rocket suddenly dropped to their knees, hung their heads in shame and began to draw circles on the ground; a dark depressing thundercloud hung over their heads as they did.

"Oh…we didn't think of that."

"Back to drawing board, I guess."

"I'll call the courier and have our order cancelled."

"Morons," Charles, Alice and Flo murmured.

---

Dig Site

They left Team Rocket to their sulking and eventually arrived at the dig site just under an hour later. After admiring the excavation on the side lines for a short while and saw all the fossils and other finds being processed by the experts, they asked one of the archaeologists where they could volunteer and he kindly pointed out to them a temporary gazebo on the other side of the site; they thanked him and headed there right away.

"Look," Charles gasped as he pointed out a fossil that was carried by a passing archaeologist, "An omastar fossil. Oh! And a Kuboto! This is so cool," he said as his eyes sparkled happily.

'So cute,' Alice and Flo thought as he watched him gush over the finds, 'We should have done this sooner.'

Charles reached around and tapped his rucksack a few times, "Benny, you have to come out and see this. It's so cool."

("I'm fine. Thank you,") Benny called out from the rucksack, ("It's just as cool in here.")

"Killjoy."

("I heard that!")

As soon as the gazebo they were looking for came in sight, they stopped in their tracks in surprise. From the simple registration desk underneath the gazebo, there was a long queue of trainers with each carrying their own shovels, spades and trowels that they will be using to dig. They had to he must over fifty of them with the line extending out from the gazebo and wound its way in a zigzag formation. They gaped at how many people were there; some of them looked as if they had set up tents right next to the line as if they had slept the night over.

"No way!" Flo gasped at the length of the line, "Are all of these people volunteering as well?"

Alice hummed and rubbed the back of her head, "Guess it's more popular then we first thought. There's only a limited amount of space so maybe there's some sort of waiting list."

Charles sighed and slumped forwards slightly, "And here we are thinking we could have just walked in and signed up. What do you two want to do now?"

"Well, we've come all this way. It'll be a shame to waste the journey," Flo said.

"Yeah, but how long do we have to queue for?" Alice sighed, "It'll probably take six hours until we actually reach the front desk."

"It's more like four and half hours," a voice chuckled as Flo and Charles felt a hand on their shoulder. Surprised, they turned around to see a very familiar person that suddenly appeared behind them, "But luckily, you've got me so don't you three fret."

Charles and Flo gasped as they recognised the person while Benny, knowing the voice, popped his head out of the top of the rucksack and gave a squeak in surprise. Grinning down at them was a pretty eighteen year old woman with long light brown hair and bright green eyes that shone brightly. To shield her fair skin from the sun, she wore a wide brimmed straw hat and a green shirt under a khaki sleeveless jacket that had a number of small pockets filled with a number of useful objects; she wore khaki coloured knee-length shorts, brown boots and had a pair of sunglasses tucked into the collar of her shirt. As soon as they saw her, their eyes widened in delight and a wide smiles appeared on their faces.

"Daisy!" Charles and Flo exclaimed happily as the elder woman wrapped the both of them up in a hug.

"Hey, you two," Daisy giggled as she released them from the hug before scratching Benny between the ears, "And hello to you too, Benny," she warmly greeted earning a happy squeak from the shiny pikachu, "Took you guys long enough to get here. I was starting to think you got lost on the way."

"That will never happen," Charles chuckled, "Is this where you've been all this time. Last I heard from Professor Oak, you were in Sinnoh."

Daisy shrugged and gave them a grin, "I was for a few months. Sinnoh's beautiful by the way, you should go there next. But I came back not too long ago to research Grandpa Canyon and began working as one of the head archaeologist assistants. Which means, when he's not here, I'm in, charge," she said, pointing at herself with her thumb, "But never mind that. How have you guys been? Caught any cool Pokemon yet?" she looked over at Alice and gave her a bright smile, "Nice, you even made a new friend," she said as she stuck out her hand in greeting, "Nice to meet you. The name's Daisy Oak."

Alice happily shook her hand, "Alice Jenny. Nice to meet you too," she said before she noticed something about her name, "Wait. Daisy Oak? As in-"

"Yep, my grandad's Professor Oak," Daisy confirmed her suspicions, "I kinda get that a lot."

"Not only that, but she's Gary older sister," Flo added, much to Alice's surprise.

"No way!" she gasped, "But you seem like an actual decent person."

"Ah, you met him, huh?" Daisy sighed with a roll of his eyes, "Honestly, I don't know where that boy gets it from. He has the ego the size of snorlax."

"You got that right."

Charles stepped beside Alice and gestured towards Daisy with his hand, "Daisy is a Pokemon researcher. She used to come to the Centre all the time and help me look after the Pokemon before she started travelling. In fact, she was the one who introduced me to ancient Pokemon and fossils," he then leaned close and whispered, "Also, she's possibly the coolest person I know," he told her as Benny nodded in agreement. He then turned back to Daisy, "Alice is our navigator. We met her a while back and she's been helping us find our way all over the region."

"A navigator, huh. That's great. Must mean you've got a good sense of direction and a talent for map reading," Daisy brightly said, making Alice blush at the compliments before she nudged Charles with her elbow, "You sure know how to pick them. You always had a way of attracting girls, you know?" she said with a sly look.

"I…err…what?" Charles stammered in confusion.

Daisy laughed and patted his shoulder, "I guess you're still too young for those sort of things," she told him, making him frown more puzzlingly, "Anyway, are you guys thinking of volunteering?"

"We were," Flo said as she cast a weary look at the queue, "But I don't know if we have the time anymore."

Daisy rubbed her chin thoughtfully and nodded, "I see what you mean," she hummed before she clicked her fingers, "I know! You guys can always come with me."

"With you?"

"Yeah, I'm doing some work over at the caverns a few miles away and I'm more than happy to show you guys around. It'll be a lot more interesting than volunteering out here," she suggested, "What do you say? You want to come?"

The team shared a look before they all nodded in agreement.

"Sounds good," Alice said.

"I would love to," Charles agreed.

"It beats waiting around all day under the sun," Flo said before she raised an eyebrow, "But since it's so far away, do you mind if we have a little rest. We've been walking all morning."

Daisy grinned at her, "No need. We can just take the jeep."

"You have a jeep!?"

"Sure do. And I have some cold sodas and snacks in the back of it," she told them, "Oh, and since we're not on a public road, then we don't need to wear seatbelts. It's much more fun that way."

Alice leaned towards Charles and whispered, "You're right. She is cool."

"Told you," he replied with a chuckle.

---

Somewhere In The Canyon

"…so, your mom's gone back to Viridian City's Centre, huh?" Daisy said as she drove over the dusty land, "That's a shame. I would have love to have said goodbye to her. Maybe I can drop in if I have a few days off."

"I'm sure she'll- Oof! - love that- Ow! - she always liked hav- Ah! - ing you around," Charles replied as he, Alice and Flo were justled and bashed against the inside of the vehicle.

A few minutes earlier and they had left the main site in Daisy four-wheel drive jeep; rushing over the dry land as if if it was nothing. Flo had called shotgun and was in the front with Daisy while Alice, Benny and Charles were in the back with the bags. The views of the canyon were remarkable; the towering heaps of rock and sand loomed over them as they rushed past and the dust clouds made in their tracks billowed high into the air.

Of course, it wasn't the smoothest of driving and the team were being shook around as if they were dice in a person's hand. Charles had to grab a hold of Benny at least three times before he could have been flung out. Safe to say that the seatbelts were very much needed.

"Dai- ow! -sy, is it al- oof! -ways this bumpy?" Flo questioned as she clung on tightly.

"You get used to it," Daisy casually replied, "It evens out the closer we get to where we're going. Also, I wouldn't recommend opening those sodas until we stop moving for a few seconds. They can get pretty shook up in the ice cooler."

Alice was keeping herself occupied by looking around at the scenery when she spotted several figures not too far away near the edge of the canyon. She squinted her eyes to who they were when she suddenly recognised them.

"Hey, look over there!" she called out, "It's- ow! -Ash, Brock and- oof! -Misty."

They turned around to where she was pointing and saw that she was right. Their friends, who hadn't seen since they entered the Safari Zone, had also made it to Grandpa Canyon. They were talking…well, it was more like arguing with another group of people. Sadly, they also recognised the other group.

"Gary," the sighed miserably.

"Huh?" Daisy uttered as she glanced to the left over her sunglasses. At the sight of her younger brother and his flock of cheerleaders, she grinned and drove towards the group, "Well, look who it is. Hold on guys."

"Oka-waaah!" they all cried out as she veered to the right.

Meanwhile, unaware of the vehicle rushing towards them, Misty and Brock were trying to persuade Ash out a Pokemon battle with Gary in fear that they would won't get to where they were going on time. They didn't think that they would run into Gary and his cheerleaders at all and, obviously, Gary wasted no time in mocking Ash in any way he could.

"Come on, Ash! He's not worth it!" Brock begged as he held onto his shoulder.

"Please Ash, we've been travelling all day. Let's just go!" Misty pleaded as she held onto the back of his jacket.

Ash growled and stamped his foot, "But he's the one that started it! Why should I be the one to back down!?"

Pikachu gave a worried squeak as he balanced himself on his shoulder before casting a weary look at Gary, ("Why does this happen every time.")

Gary, meanwhile, gave a prideful laugh and smirked at Ash, "Yeah, Ashy boy, why don't you listen to your babysitters," he sneered, "Unlike you, I can do what I want and when I want. Isn't that right, girls?"

"Gary! Gary! Go take a hike! He can do whatever he likes!"

"Yeah, that's right," Gary smirked, "Now all you go take a hike no-"

He was immediately stopped when he heard the roar of a car engine. They looked over and saw a jeep racing towards them over the rough terrain before it skidded to a stop right beside them. All of them were startled by its sudden appearance and didn't register who the driver was until she called out to them in a singsong voice.

"Well, hello there, baby brother!" Daisy said as she jumped out of the jeep and pushed her sunglasses up with a grin, "Fancy seeing you here."

Gary turned pale and he backed away from the older woman with a gulp, "Oh no."

"Huh?" Ash uttered in surprised, "Daisy, no way!"

"No way!" Brock cried out as he grabbed Ash's shoulders, "You know that beautiful lady!?" he questioned with hearts in his eyes, "Ash, this is important knowledge! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?!"

"What? Why should I?"

"Brock, calm down," Misty sighed with a roll of her eyes before she noticed the other people coming out of the jeep, "Oh hey, guys. Long time, no see," she happily said.

"Hi Misty, it's nice to see you guys again," Charles said with a friendly wave as Alice, Benny and Flo smiled in greeting, "Glad we finally got to meet up. We'll catch up later. Right now, let's watch this. This is going to be good," he said as they turned to where Daisy was standing over a nervous Gary.

"W-what are you doing here?" Gary uttered, "I thought you were in Sinnoh."

"I was and now I'm here," Daisy said as she arched an eyebrow, "Is that a problem with you?"

Gary growled in annoyance and pointed an accusing finger at her, "Of course it is. You're disrupting my journey! Mom and dad made me promise that you wouldn't bother me when I'm travelling."

"I'm not bothering you. I'm only saying hello. Why can't I check in to see how you are doing with your..." she glanced up at the confused cheerleaders standing behind them, "...wait, who are they?"

Gary began to sweat nervously, "T-there are...my fans. Yeah, my fans."

"You have fans? But you haven't even competed in a Pokemon league match yet. How can you have a fanbase?"

"Yeah, that's right," Ash called out, "They've been following you around ever since you left Pallet Town in your car."

Daisy looked back at Ash, a stern expression on her face before she glared back at Gary, "...your...what?"

"Ash!" Gary cried out before he cowered under his older sister's dark look.

"Gary Oak, you haven't been using the money that mom and dad left you to hire a car and cheerleaders, have you?" she snapped at him, "That money was for buying camping equipment and food!"

"Ooh! That explains it," everybody else chorused in realisation.

Gary flinched at her accusation before he stamped his foot and growled, "Mom and dad gave me that money and I can spend it however I want- Ow! Ow! Ow!" he yelped as Daisy pulled his ear painfully.

"Don't use that tone with me!" she crossly scolded, "You're the one being irresponsible!"

"Shut up! I can do what I want! I don't need you to tell me what to do! Isn't that right, girls!"

"Gary! Gary! He's our vision! He doesn't need adult supervision!" the cheerleaders sang as they did a small routine...only to stop when Daisy sent them a piercing glare that made them shiver.

Alice leaned over to Flo, "He's our vision? What does that mean?" she whispered.

"I think they're running out of rhymes," she whispered back.

Ash grinned proudly as he watched his rival being scolded while Pikachu decided to leap away onto Charles' other shoulder. He slide over towards Gary whose ear was till in Daisy's fingers and chuckled mockingly.

"Ha! She really got you, Gary. Maybe next time you should be nicer otherwise I'll have to- Ow! Ow! Ow!" Ash cried as his ear was also pulled upwards by Daisy.

"Ash," she sighed tiredly, "You're not helping at all. Now stay back and behave yourself," she said as she pulled him away from Gary.

Pikachu turned to Charles with a curious look, ("Was she the one who taught you that?")

"Oh yeah," Charles said with a small laugh, "Good days. Anyway, I'm glad we bumped into you guys on the way here."

"Yeah, Daisy was about to take us somewhere in her jeep," Flo added, "Do you guys want to come?"

"Oh absolutely," Brock sighed dreamily as he stared lovingly at the elder woman, "What a beauty!"

Misty ignored him and stepped in front of him, "Where is it that she's taking you?"

"There are some caverns not too far away," Alice told her, "It's something she been researching on for a while."

"Sounds interesting. Okay, we would love to go."

"Great," Alice said as she called out to Daisy, "Would it be alright if our friends joined us, Daisy?"

The researcher released Gary from her hold and brightly smiled at them, "Yeah, no problem. The more, the merrier. You want to come with us, baby brother?"

Gary rubbed his aching ear and spat angrily, "As if. I'm going to volunteer at the dig site and away from you."

Daisy rolled her eyes and shrugged, "Alright, suit yourself," she told him before she glared at him again, "But I warn, if I catch you unnecessary spending the money our parents gave you then you're in big trouble, mister. You may be old enough to go out on your Pokemon journey, but your never too old for a grounding, okay?" she said, earning a mumbled, reluctant 'yes' from her brother, "Good," she said as she ruffled his spiky hair, "Hope we can catch up soon. I worry about you, you know," she told him before she turned away from him, "Alright gang, let's go. We still have a few miles to cover before we reach our destination."

"Oh Daisy!" Brock called out, suddenly appearing in the front seat next to the driver's seat, "Let me sit up here with you."

"Wow, I didn't even see him move."

"Hey! That was my seat!"

---

Cavern Mouth

Ten minutes later and Daisy finally parked the jeep outside the mouth of a large cavern in the side of the canyon. That jagged mouth was about twenty feet high and fifteen feet wide, large enough for a small van to drive through, and filled with tall stalagmites and hanging stalactites that dripped with icy water. It had a cold, misty air which flowed out like a breeze before hitting the heat of the outside. A wet smell hung in the air; the same thing you would find in a place that had long been abandoned. Looking inside, they only managed to see a few meters inside before it was swallowed by the darkness.

Daisy was the first to jump out and head to the boot of the jeep. She pulled out several helmets with head torches attached to them; six human sized and two Pokemon sized; and handed them out to each of them.

"Alright, safety first, guys," she told them as they put on their helmets, "Where we're going is quite dangerous and plenty of narrows spaces. So, make sure you always follow what I tell you."

Alice gave her a confused look, "Aren't you going to wear a helmet?"

She grinned and winked at them, "Ha! I know this place like the back of my hand. Besides it's you guys that I'm more worried about."

'So cool,' they all collectively thought.

Flo cleared her throat and stepped forwards, "You know, if the narrow tunnels are a problem then my diglet could help with that," she said with a semblance of pride in her voice, "Tommy can expand them in a jiffy."

However, Daisy smiled awkwardly at that and shook her head, "Sorry Flo. But that not might be a good idea."

"Huh? Why?" Flo asked, feeling slightly disappointed.

"These caverns are much deeper than you think," Daisy told her, "They were carved out hundreds of years ago by an ancient civilisation and they criss cross all over Grandpa Canyon and they pose a serious hazard. On a small scale, it's fine, but one wrong move could mean a cave in underneath the site. Our site manager had a heck of a time trying to get permission from the local authorities for digging here so let's not take any risks, okay?"

"Well, okay then," Flo sighed, "Shame, Tommy would have liked to help."

"Hey, Daisy. Can I have this soda?"

They all turned to see Ash, with Pikachu on his shoulder, around the back of the jeep with his head in the ice box. He climbed out of it and held up one of the soda cans that she kept in there.

"Err… yes," Daisy said, "But I would leave it for-"

"Great," Ash said as he pulled the tab, "I'm so thirsty that I can-"

SPLOSSHHH!

"AHH!"

"PIKA!"

Ash and Pikachu was taken aback as he was hit right in the face by a jet of fizzy soda from the can, completely soaking the both of them. Everybody sweat dropped in slight amusement as they watched them sputter and try to shake the liquid off while Daisy chuckled.

"This is what happens when you don't listen to me. Thank you Ash for demonstrating."

---

Caverns

After Ash and Pikachu cleaned themselves up, they entered the damp, dark caverns; every sound they made and each footstep they took echoed down the narrow caves until it disappeared into nothingness. It had been ages since they had last seen daylight and the sudden change from the sweltering climate to the cool air made them shiver in their light clothing. Charles and Ash hugged their pikachu to keep them and themselves warm while the others had to make do by blowing on their hands and rubbing their cold skin. The only one who didn't seem to be bothered by the cold and the damp was Daisy who strolled down the winding caverns as if she was anywhere else; her only guide to where she was the head torch over her head which illuminated the way for them.

"…so, here's a simple way of telling the difference between stalagmites and stalactites," she said as she gave them the subterranean tour, "Stalactites had a 'T' in it which stands for 'top' and Stalagmites has a 'G' in it which stands for ground. Interesting right?"

"Stalagmites? What like the Pokemon?"

"That's a magnemite, Ash."

"Those two things couldn't be anymore unalike."

"I don't know. I have seen a stalagmite that did look strangely like a magnemite once," Daisy remarked.

"Huh? In what way?"

Before she could answer, the long cavern ended and they entered a large dome-shaped cave large enough for all of them to stand inside. The light from their head torches shimmered and glittered over the wet cave walls prettily and the sound of the footsteps echoed loudly around them. On the other side of the cave was another tunnel that they assumed led further into the the canyon to a place unknown. As they were admiring the cave, Daisy hummed and looked around as if trying to find something before she stopped and pointed her head torch to the far wall.

"There we go. This is what I wanted to show you guys."

They got closer to where she was pointing and shone their torches on the walls of the cave. They were surprised to see drawings on the walls; they were simple and only used basic colours that were starting to fade away; but they were magnificent nonetheless. It depicted a forest with tall, green trees and human-shaped figures living amongst them. There were other figures as well which they recognised as Pokemon. There were ones that with large brown shells, ones that looked giant snails, ones that looked like a white round bird with with colourful triangles over its body and one that looked like some sort of pink flying cat. But the one that caught their eye was the dragon-like Pokemon with outstretched wings and large head with razor sharp teeth. Charles pointed at the painting in fasciation.

"That's an aerodactyl," he said happily, "And the others are all the ancient Pokemon that are found in the dig site."

"Exactly," Daisy said, "These cave paintings date back to around a hundred thousand years ago and I believe it shows what Grandpa Canyon used to look like then."

"There used to be a forest here?" Misty asked.

"There used to be an entire ecosystem here. A great river used to flow through the canyon and supported the life of hundreds acres of woodland which many Pokemon made their home. It seemed like humans appeared sometime later and settled down. Based on the fact that neither the Pokemon or the humans seem aggressive towards each other, it is possible that they both lived together in harmony," Daisy explained excitedly, "I came across these paintings a few weeks ago and I'm in the middle of doing a paper on it. This is the first one I found so far, but I'm hoping to find others in the rest of the caverns."

"Cool!" Alice said, "Can we come with you?"

"Nope!" Daisy chirped.

"Aww! What!?" they chorused in disappointment.

"Well, not yet anyway. This place is really unstable and could cave in if were not careful. This place is safe enough, but honestly, I really shouldn't have brought you guys down here since it hasn't been properly excavated yet, but…" she closed her eyes and grinned at them, "…I knew you would love to see this and I couldn't stand keeping it from you. Particularly you, Charles," she said, much to his surprise, "You always loved ancient Pokemon ever since I taught you about them. I couldn't leave you out of this. This is extra special since you are the one of the first people to ever see it other than me."

Charles felt touched by her actions…even if there was a fear of suddenly being crushed. He smiled happily and gave Daisy a small hug.

"Thanks Daisy," he gratefully said as he pulled away, "I love this."

"Glad to hear it," Daisy said before she turned to the tunnel that led deeper into the canyon, "Alrighty, I'm going to head on down and do some more exploring. You're more than welcome to stay here, but don't go any further than here."

"We won't," they replied as they watched her take her leave.

…

…

…

"So, you guys want to bring some sodas from the jeep down here and we can catch up on what we have been doing," Charles suggested.

"Sounds good."

---

Tunnel

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Alice asked as she carried one end of the ice box down the narrow tunnel, "I mean, I felt safer bring a few cans, but the entire ice box?"

"It'll be fine," Flo told her as she carried the other end, "Daisy said it was safe enough."

"'Safe enough' isn't a thing. You're either safe or not, there's no in between."

"It's just a few things," Misty reassured her as she carried some blankets that she found in the car from behind them, "It'll get chilly down there so we'll probably need these."

"And I can whip us up something to eat while we're done there," Brock said from in the front of them, holding a portable barbecue kit, "I've got some new recipes I've been meaning to try."

"Okay! Now I know for definite that making fire in a cave is a bad idea!" Alice yelled at him.

As Alice continued to berate Brock, Misty accidentally tripped on her shoelaces that have become untied. She caught herself, grumbled in annoyance before she put the blankets down and retied them. However, as she kneeled down, something glittered in the corner of her eye; she looked around and saw, to her surprise, a small alcove, no bigger than foot and half tall, in the tunnel wall as if something had dug it out years ago. However, she was even more surprised to see something wedge comfortably inside of it, gleaming slightly from her head torch.

It was a white egg.

A Pokemon egg.

She gave a gentle gasp and, without thinking, reached out and touched the cool shell. If shifted slightly from her touch and so she gently and carefully took it out of its alcove and held it in her hands. It felt warm and slightly heavy. She brushed her finger tips over the shell and noticed how soft, yet firm it felt. She then noticed that they were bright triangle patterns all over the white shell. She cooed softly as she held it in her hands and smiled happily.

"What's this doing here," she said as she slipped the egg safely into her bag, "I have to show this to Charles. He'll know what to do."

---

Cave

"Hey, Charles. Look at this."

The young trainer had been staring at the cave paintings ever since Daisy had left. He was utterly captivated by the small drawings. It was wonderful to see that somebody, so long ago, thought that this particular event was so important that they decided to depict it forever. It really goes to show the strong relationship people had with Pokemon and vice versa.

With Benny in his lap, he looked over his shoulder at Ash and snapped out of his thoughts as soon as he saw what he was doing. He saw his friend and his partner in the middle of the cave and scratching away at the floor curiously. He and Benny shared a bemused look before Charles called out to him.

"What are you doing?"

Ash looked up and pointed to the floor, "There were some cracks in the floor so I decided to pick at them."

"What? Why?"

Ash shrugged, "Bored."

Charles sighed as he stood up and stepped up beside Ash; he leaned down and inspected the floor. As Ash described, the floor of the cave was flaking away to reveal small cracks in surface which, because of Ash, were made bigger than what they were originally were. He frowned slightly before he reached down and touch the floor; it felt strange; there was not enough pressure forcing his fingers back like he expected a solid floor would have. Cautiously, he tapped his knuckle on the floor.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

That sounded too hollow to be a solid floor.

Charles gulped as he carefully sat straight up; his eyes widening slightly nervously.

"Ash…Pikachu…Benny," Charles slowly said, "I'm going to say this once, but we need to get out of this cave."

("Why?") Pikachu questioned in concern.

"This place isn't safe. We need to get out of here now and inform the others," he informed them, "Just move slowly and steady towards the exit."

All three of them paled at that. Ash slowly got to his feet and nodded in understanding as he picked up Pikachu and safely kept him in his arms.

"You're kidding me," he said, "Are we in danger?"

"Well…maybe. This floor has been around for years and Daisy has been in this place hundreds of times…which means that it must be worn down by now. I say…as long as nobody gently lobs a metal object with a volume of around 330 ml at the cracked part in front of us then I think we're in the clear."

"Hey guys," Flo suddenly said as she and the others came in with a can of soda in her hand, "We've got the-ah!" she suddenly cried as she tripped and accidentally tossed the can out of her hand.

The can flew across the cave before it landed dead in the centre of the room, right on where the cracks were.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Suddenly, jagged cracks began to form and burst out from under where the can had fallen and stretch out from under them.

Crack! Crack! CRACK!

They watched in sheer horror as the ground began to break and shatter around the feet; a spiderweb of fractures encompassing them in a split second.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

And then it stopped as suddenly as it had begun. Charles and Ash looked around themselves in amazement the the breaking had stopped when it looked as if they were going to fall through the floor. They waited just to be sure.

….

….

….

….

Charles shrugged, "Well, I guess, technically, that was more of a 'drop' than a 'gentle lob'," he pointed out.

BOOM!

Suddenly, the ground beneath them fell away with a mighty crash and sent all four of them plummeting into a deep, dark hole in the middle of the cave floor. They yelled out as they fell, falling deeper and deeper into the darkness with no way of stopping them. Flo cried out in alarm and ran to the side of the hole, being sure not to stand too close as more of the floor fell away. But she was too late…

…they were lost.

---

Lower Caves

…

…

…

…well not lost, per se.

"Ow, that hurt," Charles grumbled as he rubbed his aching arm and stood to his feet. He flicked his head torch on and looked around to see Benny, Ash and Pikachu also on the floor and trying to get up to their feet, "Are you guys alright?"

"Yeah, fine," Ash muttered as he picked up Pikachu and checked if he was alright, "Are you okay, Pikachu?"

Pikachu nodded at him, ("Good, thanks. I'm surprised we managed to survive that fall without any sort of injury.")

"You're right," Charles said as he looked around.

The seemed to have fallen into a cavern underneath the one they had been in. The air in the cavern was wet and it had a damp earthy smell that lingered all around them. The ceiling was high out of their reach while the grey jagged rock walls and the caves cut into them surrounded them abundantly. There was a steady drip, drip, dripping sound of water from somewhere in the caverns which echoed eerily in the darkness. Charles looked down and saw a layer of greenish moss covering the ground which had been the thing that cushioned their fall, causing him to hum in wonder. He looked up at the ceiling and saw the hole they fell through and saw some light a few meters above their heads. He decided to call out to them.

"Flo! Alice! Misty! Brock! Can you hear me!" he called out.

"Charles," the voice of Flo called back, "Oh, thank goodness. You're alright."

"Yeah, we're okay! Safe and sound!"

Click!

SPLOOSH!

"AH!" Ash cried out from behind him.

He looked around and saw the opened can of soda in his hand and his completely drenched face. He wiped the soda from his face and sputtered in surprise.

"Really? Again?" he muttered, making Charles roll his eyes.

"Ash, what did you think was going to happen."

"Oh my Arceus!" he heard a new voice now which he recognised as Daisy, "what happened!?"

"The floor collapsed under Charles and Ash," the voice of Alice urgently told her, "We need to get them out now!"

"Okay!" Daisy replied as she calmed herself, "Hey guys! Stay put and I'll get the rope from the jeep!"

"We will!" Charles promised before he noticed that both Ash and Pikachu were missing, "For goodness sake. Where are they now?"

Benny leapt on to his shoulder and patted his cheek, ("Don't worry. I kept an eye on them. They went that way.")

Following Benny's directions, they finally found the two in one of the caves staring up at a rocky wall intensely as if something had caught their interest. Puzzled, Charles stepped up beside Ash and tapped his shoulder, knocking him out of his stupor.

"Ash, don't go off on your own," Charles lightly scolded, "Daisy is retrieving a rope so we can climb up, so let's go back and wait."

"Oh okay," he said before he pointed up at the wall, "But look, I found more cave paintings."

Charles looked around and saw that he was…sort of right. They weren't paintings, but there were strange symbols etched into the stone about a meter above their heads. Neither he nor Benny had ever seen anything like them; some looked like straight lines, others were like zigzags, while others were more circular. The only similarities that each of the symbols shared were the round eye-like shapes where the lines sprouted from. He studied the symbols in curiosity and stepped back so he could see them properly.

"Carvings in the walls," he uttered in disbelief, "Ash, I think you've found something really unique here."

"No way? Really?" he questioned before a smug look appeared on his face, "Looks like I'm doing a better job than Gary, huh? Take that!"

Pikachu rolled his eyes playfully, ("Calm down. It's not always a competition with him.")

Charles sighed and looked up at the symbols once again, "They look pretty ancient. I can't believe they survived for so long. I wonder what it means?"

"I know. Maybe we can get Daisy to translate them or something."

Charles gave him a confused look, "I mean what the context of them means. It's pretty clear what it says."

It was Ash's time to look confused. Even the two pikachus gave him a bemused look from their perches.

"What? No it isn't" Ash said, "It looks like gibberish."

Charles laughed, "You're kidding, right? It's obvious what it says," he told them…before he was met with silence in reply. He blinked blankly at all of them before he raised a perplexed eyebrow, "You can read them, right?"

They all shook their heads.

"How could I read them. They just look like scribbles."

("He's right, Charles,") Benny said, ("It doesn't look like any words I know.")

("Yeah, that's right. Are you saying that you can actually read them?") Pikachu asked.

Charles was taken aback slightly. Something wasn't right. To him the cravings were clear as day and yet none of them could read them. At first, he thought they were playing some kind of weird prank, but as it slowly dawned on him, he soon realised that they were being serious. The question is, was there something strange going on with them or was he the strange one for being able to read them. It was made him rather uneasy thinking about it.

He hesitated slightly before he looked at the carvings once again, "Well…yeah. It looks clear to me," he told them as he pointed at the first character, "That one is a 'T' the next is a 'H'. Then it's an 'E' and then a 'Y'."

"Wow! That's cool," Ash exclaimed, "What does it all mean then?"

He cleared his throat, "Well…it says, 'They are safe. Praise Arceus for their mercy on these creatures and let them see another sunrise'. You see weird."

Crack!

They jumped at a loud sound rang out through the caverns. It was nearby; possibly four or five meters away from where they were.

Crack!

They shared a look with one another before deciding to investigate where it was coming from.

Crack!

The last sound helped them find where it was and soon they stood before…something strange. Really strange. It looked like a blob, nestled in a crook of the cavern away from the light, and it was far bigger than all of them. It had a smooth amber-like shell that covered over it that shone brightly under their head torches. But, they were surprised to see that cracks forming on the shell; spreading across the surface slowly.

"Is…is that an egg?" Ash whispered.

"I don't think so. I don't know what it is," Charles replied as large fragments began to fall away and shatter on the moss covered ground.

More and more pieces fell away like an egg being broken out of from the inside. From inside the shell, much to their surprise, they heard a dark, growl like a wild beast being awoken from its slumber

The strange amber-like shell fell away completely and they took a step back as a large creature emerged from it and towered over them; a low growl escaped its sharp toothed jaw. It reptilian dark green eyes darted around the dim cave and its pointed ears twitched on top of its head; its ridged snout, filled with two rows of razor sharp fangs, opened and closed as its tongue licked its strong lower jaw. Its body, covered in light bluish grey skin, shifted left and right as its two talon feed tried to stand up after years of inability. It stretched its violent membranous wings to the side and gave several slow flaps as if testing them before its claw hands, located on the end of each wing, rested on the ground and kept itself steady. With a swish of its strong tail, it looked down at them with a curious growl; its eyes shifted on both of them in intrigue.

They're jaws dropped at the creature before them. Surely, it can't be possible. There was no way that it could survive for all these years.

("Charles…is that…")

"Yes, Benny," Charles uttered in disbelief, "It's an aerodactyl."

Ash and Pikachu made a confused noise and looked at him in shock.

"But I thought they died out years ago."

"Apparently, there was one survivor…" Charles said as the aerodactyl glowered down at them, "…this is…this is…so cool!" he happily squealed, his eyes sparkling in his eyes.

"…what?" Ash questioned as he sweat dropped.

Charles laughed, "Don't you see? This is awesome. There's a real life ancient Pokemon in front of me. It's so beautiful. Oh! I love them already," he said before he stepped up to the Pokemon gleefully, "I'm going to have a conversation with them. I bet they have a lot of stories of what it was like so long ago."

"You're going to talk to them?"

Benny, in response, leapt of his shoulder and landed on Ash's unoccupied shoulder before sending him a concerned look, ("Charles are you sure about this?")

"Sure, I'm sure," he replied confidently before he gave the ancient Pokemon a welcoming smile, "Hello, aerodactyl. I know you must be confused about everything, but you have nothing to fear. We're your friends and we will do everything we can to help you. It's a pleasure to meet you."

The aerodactyl stared down at him curiously and narrowed its eyes as if being cautious of him. Eventually, the large Pokemon opened its massive jaws and, for the first time in centuries, spoke for the very first time.

("Humani, quis es?") he muttered tiredly, ("Ubi sum ego? Dice nunc. Scire debeo.")

….

….

….

….

Charles blinked in confusion. He began to sweat profusely and he started to tremble slightly.

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

("Non intelligis me? Dixi, ubi sum ego? Ubi siva? Ubi valle? Amicis mihi? Quaeso, humanum,") the aerodactyl rapidly said which only confused Charles more.

"R-right," he slowly said before he turned to Ash, "There's a small problem."

"Huh? What do you mean?" he asked in concern.

"I…don't understand a word he is saying."

"That's a massive problem!"

"Yeah…I really should have expected this."

Ash gulped nervously, "What do you mean? Have you lost your ability or something?"

"No, I can hear what he's saying, but his language is not the same as the one we're speaking," he explained.

"No way…that's a pretty limited skill. That's lame."

"Be quiet you!" Charles snapped at him, "It's still impressive even for normal human standards!"

("What language is he speaking?") Pikachu muttered as he looked up at the aerodactyl who was looking around in a desperate hope he would find some recognisable, ("It sounds really old. It's nothing I ever heard of.")

("You're right,") Benny said before he turned to Charles, ("This is bad. He looks pretty aggravated.")

He looked around and saw that he was right. The aerodactyl was beginning to become frustrated inside the cave. He began to slam his tail against the rock walls, causing the entire caverns to shake, and beat its mighty wings and scratched at the floor aggressively. Charles immediately put up his hands in attempt to calm his down.

"It's fine. You don't need to panic. We're going to get you out of here, but you have to be patient for a few more seconds."

("Demitte me!") the aerodactyl roared, ("Volo redire ad domum meam! Ubi est omnibus!")

Charles had to take a few steps back as his thrashing began to become more ferocious. Pieces of the caverns ceiling began to fall down and the ground beneath them began to shake. If he didn't stop then they was going to be a cave in.

("Charles!") Benny yelled over the roaring, ("We need to subdue him or all or we will be crushed! He's out of control!")

'Damn, he's right. I didn't want to do this, but it seems like we don't have a choice,' Charles thought reluctantly as a giant rock almost landed on his arm. He turned to Ash seriously, "Ash, have you got any Pokemon that are ready to battle."

Ash was surprised for a split second before a challenging grin spread across his face, "You bet!" he said as he instantly a pokeball from his belt and released the Pokemon inside, "Charmeleon, I choose you!"

"Hey, wait for me to choose mine! We're battling together!" Charles shouted at him, but it was too late.

As soon as his charmelon appeared in front of them, it growled and bared its fangs viciously, ("Oi! Weakling! I thought I told you not to bother m-") he stopped mid-yell when he noticed the towering aerodactyl in front of him and gave a feral smirk, ("Well, now this got interesting!") he snarled as he charged at the ancient Pokemon with its claws glowing brightly, ("Take this!")

"Charmeleon! Wait for my command!" Ash cried out desperately.

But there was no use. Charmelon swiped his claws against the aerodactyl's right leg, causing the ancient Pokemom to cry out in shock. The larger Pokemon snarled angrily and looked down at the Fire Type.

("Audes mihi percellere!") it bellowed before it swung his claw down at the Charmeleon, ("Ita, accipio provocationem!")

Charmeleon barely had time to think before the claw slammed into him. It knocked him off his feet and he flew across the caverns, making him slam into a nearby wall painfully.

"Charmeleon!" Ash cried out in shock as the aerodactyl roared triumphantly

("Nunc!") the aerodactyl squawked angrily as he charged past them, ("Abscede de via mea!")

They leapt to the sides before the Pokemon can crash into them and watched as he ran into the shadows in alarm. Ash picked up the injured Charmeleon in his arms and they both ran after him. It didn't take long to find the giant Pokemon and found him staring up at the hole where they had fallen through. He flapped his wings faster and faster and leapt up into the hole and disappeared in a split second.

"His climbing to the surface," Charles said before he realised something, "Ah! What would happen if he encounters everybody up there! We need to follow him!"

"But how? There's no way we can get up there," Ash said.

Suddenly, he gave a surprised cry when Charmeleon wiggled out of his arms and landed on his feet. The pokemon growled as he looked up at the hole the aerodactyl had escaped through and gave a challenging growl.

("You cheater,") he snarled, ("I'm going to get you for that!")

"C-Charmeleon?" Ask asked in concern before something happened that none of them were expecting.

He began to glow brightly.

Charmelon began to grow taller and larger before them. His neck extended and his face became much more narrow, his body became rounder and his tail grew longer. Eventually, he stopped glowing to reveal his new form. He stood about six feet and had more draconic features than originally. He was coated in orange scales with a cream-coloured scales on its underbelly; it had a long neck, small blue eyes and two horn-like protrusions coming from the top of its narrow head. Its fangs became more visible inside its jaws and two large bluish green wings sprout from its back. The tip of its thick tail blazed immensely a reddish orange flame which illuminated the damp caves around them.

Charles and Benny recognised its evolved form immediately; it was one of the most popular Pokemon in Kanto, after all.

"Charizard," Charles whispered while Ash gaped in shock, "It evolved because it wanted to defeat aerodactyl."

"A…a charizard," Ash gasped as he scanned it with his pokedex.

Charizard: It spits fire that is hot enough to melt boulders and, because of that, it is is known to cause forest fires unintentionally.

The charizard growled aggressively and flapped its wings faster and faster, ("Now I'm strong enough. You better watch it, old man!")

Suddenly, Charles got an idea.

"Ash, grab on to his back," he ordered, "We've just found our way out of here!"

---

Upper Cave

"…I don't know. I just can't see it. Are you sure that it's the stalagmite Daisy was talking about?" Alice questioned sceptically as she and the others pointed their torches at the rock formation not too far away.

"Really? You can't? It looks really clear to me," Misty said curiosly.

"Nope sorry."

"Try squinting your eyes. You'll see the shape of the magnemite become much clearer," Flo advised.

Alice did so, but shook her head.

"No, still can't see it."

Brock, with his head tilted slightly to the right side, stared at the magnemite-shaped stalagmite and hummed, "If you tilt your head to the right slightly. You can sort of see it."

All of them did what he said.

"Oh, okay. I see it now."

"GWAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

They froze as the sound of a loud shriek from behind them with sent shivers down the spines. They gulped nervously and looked back at the hole in the middle of the cave floor.

"What…was…that?"

"I don't know…hey, does anybody hear flappin-"

Suddenly, bursting out of the large hole, was a Pokemon that they had never seen before and much larger than any kind they had ever encountered. It shrieked once more and loudly flapped it's lethery wings; its teeth was bared and its eyes were filled with anger. They screamed and jumped behind the stalagmite they had been previously inspecting. The giant Pokemon roared as it tried to fly within the confined space, basing into the walls and the ceilings as it tried to break free. Suddenly, it saw a tunnel large enough for him and immidatly flew into it, leaving them all stunned.

"WHAT WAS THAT!?" Misty yelled in fear, "WHERE DID THAT COME FROM!?"

"It came from where Ash and Charles are," Brock said as he ran to the side of the hole, "Ash! Charles! Are you okay!?" he yelled.

They heard no answer from he hole, but did hear the sound of running footsteps from the other tunnel. Daisy ran into the cave with a long rope over her shoulder and looked around in alarm.

"What was that?!" she demanded, "Are you guys alright?! I heard a roar when I was walking back!"

Flo stepped over to her, "It was a Pokemon, Daisy. A giant one," she told her as she pointed at the hole, "It just flew out, crashed around the place before flying into the other tunnel."

"RRRRRROOOOOOOAAAAAARRRRR!"

"aaaaaaaAaAaAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

Suddenly, to their disbelief, a charizard flew out of the hole and crashed into the ceiling over them, making large crack on the surface. It fluttered in mid-air as it sniffed the air as if it was trying to track something before it turned its head towards the tunnel where the aerodactyl had flown down. What shocked them even more was the fact that had four passengers clinging to its back for dear life.

"Yay! We're out of there!" Ash cheered as Pikachu clinged to him for dear life.

"That's great and all," Charles replied. He and Benny also clinging onto the Pokemon's back, "But I don't think he's stopping!"

"What?" Ash cried before he saw Charizard fly swiftly towards the tunnel and disappear down it, "Charizard! No! Stop!"

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHhHhhhhhhhhh!" all four of them cried as they were also taken into the caverns at fast speeds.

…

…

…

…

"…yep…it kind of happened like that, really," Flo uttered to the stunned Daisy

---

Dig Site

Meanwhile, Gary smirked proudly as all his hard work had now paid off.

He arrived at the dig site not too long after his sister left in her jeep and used the fact that he was related to her to get himself first in on the volunteer waiting list. He, and his cheerleaders, had entered the dig site and got to work…well, he did. The cheerleaders just hung back and supported him from under a parasol they brought with them. After what had felt like hours, he finally found something hidden in the sand. A fossil; his first one. His pulled it out, dusted it off and waved to a nearby supervisor who happened to be walking by.

"Hey, I found one," he called out, gaining the elderly archaeologist's attention, "Ha! It's been barely an hour and I'm already made a discovery."

"Gary! Gary! He's the king! He can dig up anything!" the cheerleader chanted as their did their routine while one cheerleader kept the parasol steady.

The other archaeologists on the site gave them all weary looks before turning back to the features they were excavating. The supervisor ambled over and studied the fossil in Gary's hand with an interested look.

"Well, well, how intriguing," he said as he scratched his beard, "That is quite a find, young man."

Gary puffed out his chest proudly, "Of course it is. Let me guess, it's an omanyte. No, a kabutops. No an aerodactyl, right?"

"Well, it is rather hard to say by appearance," the supervisor said, "But I can say for certain that you have a coprolite, young man. A big one as well."

"A coprolite?" Gary repeated in slight confusion, "What sort of Pokemon is that?"

The supervisor laughed, "Oh no. It isn't a Pokemon. What you have there is fossils ancient Pokemon droppings."

Gary blinked in confusion before his face turned a sickly green as he tossed the coprolite over to the side.

"Ew!" he cried as he wiped his hand on his trousers, "That's so gross! Why didn't you tell me sooner!?"

"But it's still a good discovery. You see-"

"I don't care!" he yelled at him while the other around him archaeologists snicker in amusement. He turned to the cheerleaders, "Hey, pass me the hand sanitiser, would you?"

Instead of helping him, the cheerleaders came up with a new routine.

"Gary! Gary! He's a great hit! He just found some Pokemon-"

Suddenly, the ground beneath them shook violently. People cried out in shock, tools and equipment fell and the dry ground began to crack and shatter. Gary stood up and looked around in confusion; it had come so unexpectedly that it caught everyone unawares.

"What?" he uttered while the cheerleaders hugged each other in panic, "Is it an earthquake?"

A loud crack noise rang out across the site; Gary turned to his left and saw, to his disbelief, the ground beginning to shatter and break as if it was made of glass. It bulged upwards slightly before it burst outwards, sending dry earth and rocks flying into the air, and something large flew out of it and took off into the sky.

"What the!?" Gary yelled as the aerodactyl roared furiously and sailed over the site.

("Quid est haec terra?") he muttered in confusion.

He saw nothing, but rocks and dirt and desert. Nothing that he once knew remained. No more green forests or the flowing river or his Pokemon friends and his human companions that he had known ever since he hatched from his egg. There was nothing of the life left, but wasteland. His eyes darted to the humans and their Pokemon below and growled furiously.

("Humani, quid fecisti?") he bellowed down at them, ("Ubi est mundus mihi?")

The aerodactyl swooped down and swiped at the tents and the gazebos with his claws, destroying them into a heap of cloth and metal poles in a single second. He squawked and roared as he flew low over the fleeing people who tried to get away. Some of them tried to fight back with their own Pokemon, but he was too fast and far too strong. But mainly, everyone tried to get away as fast as they can like Gary's cheerleaders and the elderly supervisor. The entire site was such in a state of panic that didn't notice the other Pokemon flying out of the hole in the ground where the aerodactyl had made. Charizard hovered in the air for a few seconds before he spotted the accident Pokemon in his sights and zoomed towards aerodactyl noticed them on his tail and growled in annoyance before he flew faster. Charles focused on the ancient Pokemon and noticed that it was trying to avoid combat.

'He must be confused and frightened,' he thought, 'Can't blame him. I would be as well,' he turned to Ash and patted his shoulder, "Ash, tell Charizard to fly next to him. I'm going to try talking to him again."

"O-okay," Ash gulped before he looked nervously at the Pokemon they were flying on, "Charizard! Fly faster, but don't attack him."

Charizard snorted and flew faster after him, but, to their shock, he opened its maw and spewed out a jet of flames at the aerodactyl. The ancient Pokemon shriek in surprise, but it had little effect on him…

…and now it was angry.

"Hey, Charizard!" Ash yelled, "I told you to not attack!"

("Oh shut up! I'm going to take this guy down!") Charizard roared back as he saw the aerodactyl circle around and head back in their direction, ("Come on! Give me your worst, Grandpa!")

Charles and Benny was shocked by his rude remarks and turned to Ash in astonishment.

"Ash, why is he talking to you like that?"

"Err…well…"

Before he could reply, however, the aerodactyl gave a shrill cry and conjured several rocks all around them from thin air which began to glow brightly. The aerodactyl commanded the rocks to shoot towards them at blinding speeds. They cried out in fear while Charizard's eyes widened in shock. In a split second, he swooped down and spun around to avoid the attack; he managed to dodge them, but it was close. As soon as Charizard was the right way up, Charles, Benny, Ash and Pikachu still clung on by were still very shook up about the idea of almost falling out of the sky.

"That was Ancient Power," Charles muttered before he turned back to Ash, "Okay, seriously, what's gone?"

Ash hesitated slightly as he gulped nervously and so Pikachu decided to speak for him.

("He's been like this for a while,") the Pokemon told him, ("Ever since he evolved into a charmeleon, he's been ignoring all of Ash's commands and been spewing his flames at him.")

"Well, that's just great," Charles muttered bitterly before he gave Ash a concerned look, "Ash, why didn't you tell me you were having trouble with your Pokemon. I could have helped."

"I never got around to it! Can we focus on what's going on, please!" Ash begged.

"Fine," he said before he turned to the Pokemon they were riding on, "Charizard, if he could do Ancient Power then he's likely to be a part Rock type, so your Fire moves won't effect-"

Instead of listening to him, Charizard opened its mouth and spat several balls of flame towards the aerodactyl. The Ember attack barely made a scratch on the Pokemon's hide and only made him growl in anger.

"Hey! Don't ignore me as well!" Charles shouted at him.

---

Meanwhile, zooming over the dusty ground down below as fast as the jeep can, Daisy, Flo, Alice, Misty and Brock saw the dig site in the distance. Daisy was almost certain that she had done a quite a bit of damage to the car by how fast she was going, but, at that moment in time, she didn't really care. Her friends were in trouble and that was all that mattered.

They heard yells and screams up ahead. They turned their sights up to the sky and saw what had caused all the panic.

"Oh Arceus!" Daisy cried, "Are they trying to battle it in the air!?"

"This is so bad!" Misty cried.

"They're going to get hurt!" Alice shouted in fear.

"They going to get themselves killed more likely!" Flo added in concern.

"Wow! How cool!" Brock said as his eyes sparkled excitedly, "I never seen an aerial battle before! That's so awesome…"

…

…

…

Brock cleared his throat and looked away from the glares the girls were sending him , "…I…I mean…awesomely dangerous. Yeah. We should…go and help them."

---

In The Air

"Charizard! I told you that Fire Type moves won't work against him," Charles yelled at the Pokemon, earning a loud growl from him.

("Don't tell me what to do! I've got this!") he shouted back before wincing slightly at the damage he had suffered so far.

They knew that Charizard wouldn't win. Not only was there a type disadvantage, but the aerodactyl was by far the fastest and most experienced flyer; he was able to encircle them in a split second and unleash every single attack that he remembered, much to the charizard's anger. They all tried to get through to him; Charles, Ash, Benny and even Pikachu had done everything they can to give him advice, but he was too stubborn. And stubbornness was often the downfall to a Pokemon battle. If they aren't careful, they could drop out of the sky.

"You don't got this!" Charles yelled at him, "You're not experienced enough!"

Charizard whipped his head around and snarled at him, ("I've got plenty of experience, you moron! Now all of you get off my back or I'll-")

Before he could finish his sentence, Charles gave him a firm karate chop at the top of his head, causing him to yelp in pain. Ash and Pikachu yelled out in surprise, but, with a shake of his furry head, Benny told them to stop. Charizard winced at the pain and glared at Charles only to see him sending him a dark glare back. In all honesty, it intimidated him a little.

"Listen," Charles said in a calm but severe tone, "If you have any chance of winning this battle then you will need my help. Don't you dare use that tone with me. You can speak to Ash like that all you like-"

"Hey!"

"-but I'm not putting up with it. Do you understand?" he inquired sharply, making Charizard flinch.

("Y-yes. Sorry.")

Dominance had been established.

"Good," Charles said with a kind smile as he patted his head. He looked up at the sky and saw the aerodactyl was turning towards them again, "Here he comes. He looks like he's going to finish us off with a Wing Attack. Wait for my order," he instructed.

Charizard grumbled bitterly, but reluctantly complied. The aerodactyl's wings began to glow as he zoomed through the air, getting closer and closer to their position. Every second seemed to go so slowly to Charles as watched the aerodactyl's movement vigilantly. He had to time this right.

("Charles,") Benny urged from his shoulder.

"Not yet," he said back, his eyes never leaving his opponent for a second.

The aerodactyl was only a few meters away and still coming. There was no way he could stop now or turn a different direction at the speed or position…

..,and that is exactly what Charles was waiting for.

"Use Smokescreen!" Charles yelled suddenly.

Charizard growled before he opened his mouth and spewed a cloud of thick black smoke the covered the entire area around them. The aerodactyl, taken by surprise, squawked in shock and dropped his attack in order to slow down properly. He eventually stopped after much effort, but he found himself lost in the Smokescreen. He looked left, then right, then up, then down. There was no sign of anything that could help identify where he was or, more importantly, where they were.

He growled in confusion and roared in to the black smokey clouds that surrounded them.

("Quid est?") he grumbled to himself, ("Non possum videre quidvis!")

"Now! Benny!"

The aerodactyl whipped around at the shout from somewhere in the smoke, but he found nothing.

"Use Iron Tail!"

("Quid!?") the aerodactyl cried out before something very hard slammed into the back of his head.

He cried out in shock as his head was bashed forwards suddenly as if he was hit on the back of the head by a hard metal object. It was effective. He lost his concentration on his flying and stopped flapping his wings, causing him to fall out of the smoke cloud. He was dazed by the attack and couldn't focus on maintaining balance as he spun around in the air, twisting and turning around and around and faster and faster.

Charizard flew out of the smoke cloud and watched at the aerodactyl spun out of control before slamming into the ground painfully; he skidded along the ground before he slowly stopped on the hard, dusty ground.

"He's down!" Ash cried out.

("You did it!") Pikachu said.

"It's not over yet," Charles said as he saw the trainers and archaeologist below began to flock around the fallen Pokemon, "Let's get down there now."

---

As soon as Ash's charizard landed on the hard floor, Charles and Benny leapt of his back and sprinted towards where the aerodactyl had crashed. But, to their horror, they saw several groups of archaeologists and trainers had already surrounded the ancient Pokemon with their pokeballs raised and ready to battle.

"It's down!" one person cried.

"I can't believe it! It's an actual aerodactyl!" another yelled.

"You think we can catch it?"

"You really want to have that Pokemon on your team! It was out of control!"

"Let's knock it out quickly before it could do more damage!"

"I got it!" Gary yelled as got to the front of the group with his pokeball in his hand, "This is how a pro deals with a wild Pokemon!" he declared earning cheers from his cheerleaders at the back of the crowd.

The aerodactyl winced in pain as it struggled to get back up; he released a low growl as he glared at the crowd of humans around him but the pain was too much and he slumped back onto the ground helplessly. He watched as the humans cheered and cried until it became almost deafening. He closed his eyes and, with a tired groan, accepted his fate.

("O asper mundus,") he muttered tiredly, ("Spero altera vita me pacem.")

The crowd roared as Gary raised his pokeball up, ready to release his combatting Pokemon, when Charles suddenly burst through the crowd and got between the Pokemon and Gary, holding up his hands in defence of the uninjured aerodactyl.

"Gary stop!" Charles demanded seriously, "That's enough! All of you!"

"Huh!?" Gary cried out in shock before he frowned angrily, "What are you doing!? You do know that Pokemon destroyed the entire site, right!"

"Yes, I know. I was there Gary," Charles sharply told him, "But please you have to listen to me," he persuaded as he saw his friends emerge to the front of the crowds and watch on in concern, "This place here, the place that we are now, this was his home thousands of years ago. In fact, it was the home of hundreds of ancient Pokemon once upon a time. I mean look at how many fossils and remains you have found; this used to be a thriving colony that both Pokemon and humans lived together. But now that's gone and there's nothing left but sand and dust. It had been gone centuries before any of us were even born, but to him…this is still his home. And now he doesn't recognise it at all," he glanced back at the injured Pokemon and sighed sadly, "When he saw what had happened to his home, he did the first thing everyone does when they feel threatened and acted out. I don't blame him. I would be upset as well. And so would all of you," he said, making the crowd murmur and hum, "Like any other Pokemon today, ancient Pokemon have emotions, thoughts and fears. They are no longer a thing of the past and aerodactyl proves that. All of you are trainers or have Pokemon partners, would you want them to be ganged up on and attacked when they're scared…or would you want to help them," he questioned, making the crowd murmur once again. Charles ignored them and turned around to the aerodactyl and took a deep breath, "To prove this…I will befriend him."

"Wait, Charles!" Daisy yelled, fearing for his safety, but Flo and Alice stopped her before she could after him.

"Don't. Let him do this," Flo told her seriously.

"But-"

"It's okay," Alice said with a confident smile, "This is Charles we're talking about."

Charles slowly approached the ancient Pokemon with his hands raised to show that he was no threat to him. He did this carefully, taking one cautious step at a time, and kept his eyes on the aerodactyl's face in case he moved. He heard a scampering sound behind him and glanced back to see Benny coming towards him, but he shook his head to say no; the less people involved the better. Benny gave him a small frown in concern, but decided that he was right and backed down.

The young trainer only took one more step before the aerodactyl's eyes snapped open, making him freeze. The mighty Pokemon grunted, rose its giant head, and lumbered onto its feet and hands; it gave a threatening growl and opened it wide mouth to reveal its sharp teeth. The crowd gasped and reached for their pokeballs once again, but Charles waved at them to stop. He took a deep breath as the ancient Pokemon loomed over him and stared straight into his eyes sternly.

"I know you don't know what I'm saying and I don't know what you're saying, but that doesn't mean we can't understand each other, okay?" Charles softly said.

("Nihil amplius accede, humanum. Non satis passus sum?") he growled warningly.

Charles didn't let himself flinch at his tone. Instead, he listened to what he said and thought over his words.

"Humanum?" he muttered, "Is that your word for humans?" he pointed at himself and then at the crowd, "Humans. Humanum. Correct?"

The aerodactyl gave a growl before he nodded, ("Vero. Tu es homo. Et monstrum sum,") he replied as he shifted his wings as if gesturing to himself.

"Monstrum," Charles murmured thoughtfully, "Monstrum. Monstrum. Mon…Oh! As in Pokemon!" he realised before he pointed towards Benny behind him, "Monstrum. Pokemon."

("Poke…monstrum?") he repeated, ("Quid mirum verbum.")

'Okay. This is good. He seems to have calm down now. But what now?' he thought before he remembered something that he saw in the caverns, "Those paintings on the wall of the cave," he said as he imitated himself painting something before pointing down at the ground, ("You know? Painting? Do you know paintings?")

The aerodactyl frowned, ("Pain…tings?")

"Yes, like pictures on the wall."

("Pictures…ah, sicut picturae factum est ab homanum aetas mia,") the aerodactyl hummed with a nod, ("Quid eorum?")

"It see you know what I mean. Well, in the…pictuae was it? Yes, pictuae there are humanum…" he pointed to himself, "…and monstrum…" he pointed towards the ancient Pokemon, "…living together in peace," he said as he closed his hands together.

("Pax…") the might Pokemon murmured, ("Ita…pax.")

"And now, in our time, humanum and monstrum live together in peace as well" he told him as he gestured towards he crowd with their Pokemon, "You have nothing to fear. You are safe," he said, pointing towards him and then hugging himself.

The aerodactyl looked over at the crowd and understood what he meant. Although, the humans he once knew dressed and acted different from the ones surrounding him, he still recognised them for who they were. Not only that, but the way they treated their Pokemon and vice versa showed how much they cared for each other. He gave a quizzical look at the humans and their partners as if judging them, but after a little while of contemplation, he accepted how close the relationship between humans and Pokemon with a weary grunt.

("Scio,") he muttered, ("Forsitan, hic mundus non crudelis tam.")

"Do you see what I mean," Charles said as he took a step closer, "You have nothing to worry about. This may not be your time period anymore, but you can still live on without fear," he reached out his hand and held the palm of his hand towards him, "Please aerodactyl."

The ancient Pokemon's eyes flicked down to his outstretched hand before glancing at his earnest face. The aerodactyl may be old, but he still knew how to judge a person's character and, to him, Charles practically shone in honesty and trustworthiness. If there was anybody he could rely on in this new world he had woken up to, he knew that it would be him. With a growling sigh, the aerodactyl scratched his head forwards, closed his eyes and touched his nose against the palm of his hand; a clear sign that a bond between them has been made.

The crowd sighed and chattered in relief as they watched. Benny nodded with a confident smirk on his fuzzy face while Ash, Brock and Daisy released the breath they were subconsciously holding. Misty smiled and turned to Flo and Alice with a happy giggle; all of them were happy that it was all over. Gary, however, frowned and sent a glare at Charles as he petted the aerodactyl's nose and muttered bitterly under his breath as he slunk away.

Charles merely gave a small laugh and continued to pet the ancient Pokemon's nose, "Welcome back," he told him gently, "Your new life has begun again."

---

The evening came quicker than they were expecting. The team of archaeologists had finished cleaning up the broken stuff, had packed up their tools and their equipment and were set to retire for the arduous day. After the incident, the trainers and the archaeologist took an interest in the aerodactyl and the ancient Pokemon seemed rather interested in them. He allowed them to touch his leathery wings, his scaly legs and his hard snout in exchange for pastries, sweets and other food that he had never had before. He was particularly interest in the the cameras and rather enjoyed seeing his features displayed on a photograph. Charles and the rest of the team were relieved by this, however it the good moment didn't last for long.

Of course, Daisy was obliged to call the police and report the incident. Other some debate with the local Officer Jenny, they were given the bad news that the site would have to be temporarily closed down. It was unfortunate, but with the amount of digging and the number of deep caverns under the grounds, the entire area was a safety hazard waiting to happen. Not only that, but who knows what could be down under the ground. It is possible that there are other ancient Pokemon down there and they may not be as understanding as the aerodactyl was.

Right now the team, as well as Ash, Misty, Brock and Pikachu, watched sadly as Daisy oversaw the packing of the site. Disappointment was obvious in her actions and the long call to her superiors had exhausted her.

"Poor Daisy," Misty muttered, "She loved working here."

"It will only be temporary until they secure the site. But yeah, this is going to be tough on her," Alice hummed.

Charles frowned slightly as he looked around the area, "Hey, has anybody seen where Gary went? He kind of disappeared after the incident with aerodactyl here," he asked as he patted the large Pokémon next to him on the leg.

Brock scratched his head and gave a small hum, "I think he left not too long after. I don't know why. I thought he would at least stay around for Daisy's sake."

"Guess he wanted to get ahead of us," Ash grumbled, "Typical Gary."

Daisy walked over to them with a deep sigh; rubbing the back of her neck tiredly as she did. Despite her exhaustion, she offered them a warm smile and gave them a thumbs up.

"Phew! Long day, huh?" she chuckled halfheartedly, "You guys doing alright?"

"We're fine, Daisy," Flo told her with a small frown, "What about you? You doing alright?"

"You're kidding, right?" Daisy said with a chuckle, "Yeah…this kinda sucks and everything, but this isn't the only place in the world. They are hundreds of sites around the world. Don't worry about me, okay?" she said with a wink before she walked up to the aerodactyl and rubbed his nose, "More importantly, what are we going to do with you? Perhaps you want to join somebody's Pokemon team."

Ash immediately raised his hand, "Ah! Can he join mine!? He looks super powerful! I bet he could win any battle hands down!"

Suddenly, unexpectedly, Ash's pokeball opened up on his belt and his newly evolved charizard emerged in a beam of red light. He growled menacingly at the ancient Pokemon, swing his fiery tail left and right to intimidate him.

("Hey, you!") he snarled as flames burst from his mouth, ("Our fight isn't over grandpa! I'm still going to kick your butt all over the region!")

"Hey Charizard!" Ash yelled at him, "Don't come out of your pokeball like that!"

The aerodactyl gave him a weary look and gave a sigh, ("Pax, amicus. Noli volo pugna, Dracoaves Igna S.") he told him calmly.

("Huh!? What was that!?") Charizard roared as he began to charge at him…

THWACK!

…only for Charles to give him a sharp karate chop on his nose, making him back away. The Pokemon growled as he rubbed his aching nose before noticing the stern look in Charles' eyes.

"No! Don't pick fights!" he demanded, "Now behave yourself!"

At his serious tone, Charizard gave a small whimper and took a step with his fiery tail between his legs, much to Ash's utter disbelief. He gave his Pokemon partner a surprised look before he returned him to his pokeball.

"You might want to do something about that," Charles said in a much more calmer voice, "They can get pretty prideful when they evolve and get harder to train if you're not careful. I give you some tips later, okay?"

"R-right."

"If that's the case then maybe it's not a good idea to have him go with you, Ash," Brock gently told him, "Charles, what about you?"

"Well…if he likes to join my team then I'll be more than happy to accept him," he said as he stepped up to the ancient Pokemon. He pointed at him before pointing at one of his spare pokeballs on his belt, "Would you like to…come with me," he clasped his hands together, "…you know, together. Like a team."

The aerodactyl studied his actions carefully, ("To…gether?") he repeated, ("Tu velle me esse fraternitas in haec vita?") after some thought he gave a deep nod, ("Ita. Fiam fratras.")

"I'll take that a yes," Charles happily said while Benny sweat dropped.

("The language barrier is going to be a bit of a problem,") he said with sigh as he climbed onto his shoulder.

"We can always teach each other," Charles told him before looking up at the aerodactyl, "Right, now that you are part of my team, you will need a name. Do you what I mean?"

("Name… id est nomen, fortasse?") he mumbled, ("Ita. Tu vocare me Uruk, Frater Charles.")

Charles and Benny blinked blankly in suprise at the response.

"Uruk?"

("That's a strange name?")

("Homines veteris vitae mihi hoc nomen dederunt. Id amo, ita.")

"Alright then," Charles said as he took out a spare pokeball from his bag and tapped the side of it on his leg, "Welcome to the team, Uruk."

("Me gratia, Frater Charles,") Uruk said before he the pokeball captured him in a beam of red light.

The pokeball shook once…twice…and then ding to signify a successful capture. Charles grinned happily as he watched the pokeball suddenly disappear from the palm of his hand and teleport back to the Corral. He had to inform Professor Oak about his capture as soon as possible or else he was in for a surprise.

"Well, glad that's sorted," Daisy said, "Anyway, I still got…a lot of paperwork to do…so I'll have to say goodbye," she told them as she slowly backed away, "Good luck on your journey. I'm proud of all of you for making this far."

"Thanks Daisy."

"You've been awesome."

"Can I get your number before-"

SLAP!

"Knock it off, Brock!"

Daisy chuckled before she gave them a casual wave, "Charles, Ash; I hope the next time I see you guys is when your battling in the league finals. Keep up the good work," she said, making the both of them smile happily, "Oh…and if you see Gary again, tell them to call me more often. He may be a brat, but he's still my brother."

"We promise," Flo told her.

"Thanks," Daisy said as she turned around and headed away, "See you guys later."

They watched her leave in silence. They were glad that she was taking the whole incident in her stride and not letting get her down. She was always the type of person who could find opportunities in the bleakest of times and her determination never wavered for a single second. She was truly an inspiration. As she disappeared out of sight, Flo took a deep breath and turned to their friends.

"So, what's the plan now?" she asked.

"Well," Brock said as he took his map out of his bag and inspected it, "The nearest poke centre is on the other side of the canyon. We could reach there before nightfall and rest for the night."

"Sounds good to me," Ash said as they all began to walk away from the site and through the canyon, "Hey, so far are we until we get to the next gym?"

"We still have a while yet," Alice answered him, "There are plenty of more places to see and visit."

"Aww, come on!"

"Don't be so impatient!"

Misty gasped suddenly as if she just remembered something and reached for her bag, "Oh right, I almost forgot," she said before she loosened the drawstrings and brought out the egg she found earlier, "Charles, I found this egg in the caverns," she told as she showed him the egg, "I was wondering if you know-"

Before she could finish her sentence, Charles squealed in delight rushed over, much to Misty's shock.

"Oh my Arceus! What a cute egg!" he yelled, his eyes shimmering happily as he admired the egg nestled in her arms, "You're so lucky, Misty! You're going to be a mother!"

"Huh?" Misty uttered in confusion.

"What!?" Brock and Pikachu yelled.

"Here we go again," Flo, Alice, Benny and Ash sighed.

"Aww!" Charles cooed as he stroked the shell carefully, "Don't worry. As a mother myself, I can teach you all about how to look after them, advice on how to keep their shells clean and how to look after your new baby. I hope it hatches soon. I have to be there until it does."

Misty sweat dropped, "Well…okay then. Good to hear," she said before she looked hopefully at him, "So, does this mean you know what Pokemon will hatch from it."

Charles laughed, gave her a thumbs up, winked at her and said…

…

…

…

"I have no idea!"

Everybody face faulted at that, but Charles caught the egg before Misty could fall over.

"Okay, lesson one," he slightly scolded, "Don't face fault when your holding an egg."

---

Canyon

In the dead of night, when Grandpa Canyon was silent and peaceful, three figures crept across the rocky terrain towards the archaeology site. They giggled manically to themselves and they slithered towards a large boulder and hid behind it.

"Alright, are we ready?" Jessie asked her colleagues with a vicious smirk.

"You bet," Meowth said as he lifted up an odd contraption which looked like something between a drill and a vacuum cleaner up, "I spent all day working on the Fossil-Extractor 9000. It will not only get us through the ground in no time flat, but it will collect and safely store every fossil we find."

"Fast and efficient," James said excitedly, "Good thing those smart twerps came by. We could have destroyed all those precious artefacts for the boss…maybe we shouldn't let dynamite be our first option when we do our plans."

"Good point. But enough talk, let's get digging!" Jessie cheered before all three of them jumped out from behind the boulder…

…only to see the entire site swarmed with police officers and construction workers that were going to close down the mines.

"Alright everyone!" an Officer Jenny announced over a megaphone, "We've got all night to seal every single cavern under the ground before the entire canyon collapses beneath our feet. We will need everybody to be vigilant and make sure to follow all safety precautions."

Team Rocket froze as they saw that they weren't the first one there; they're eyes widening in shock and disbelief.

…

…

…

The trio sweat dropped and quietly crept away backwards.

"We could use the extractor for something else, right?" Jessie whispered to Meowth.

"Err…yeah, sure," Meowth gulped.

"We'll keep it for another time," James agreed.

They nodded at each other before they all whispered at the same time, "Team Rocket is slowly retreating before we get caught again."

---

That's all folks!

Two chapters in a row. Phew! I must be spoiling you guys…right? Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and everything.

Charles finally caught an aerodactyl! Woohoo! I decided on the name Uruk (pronounced OO-rook) for the ancient Pokemon after the (possibly, but debatable) oldest city in the world which dates back to 5000 BC. As I was planning the chapter, I had to think really hard on Uruk's character and how he acts and speaks. I thought he would be quite wise and intelligent and had a sense of gravitas, but I couldn't figure out how he would speak. I knew that he had to speak a different language to Charles, but what would it be. Ancient Egyptian? Sumerian? Akkaidian? But it can't be obscure because it won't allow Charles to learn Uruk's language. That's when I thought…

'Hold on…wouldn't it be funny if he just spoke Latin. You know, a dinosaur speaking Latin. Isn't that funny?'

And so I did just that.

Of course, I didn't just choose Latin because it made me laugh (and it did), but because English is partially derived from Latin like pronunciations and word structures and, therefore, it would be easier for Charles to understand and vice versa.

So, that's my thought process.

If you would like to know what Uruk is saying…well, feel free to find out for yourselves. English to Latin isn't easy to get exact so if I write the translation then it might not be right when somebody else translates it. However, if you don't want to do that then I might put all the translations at the end of the chapter if you guys prefer that.

However, I can give you a few key words:

Ita - 'Yes' or 'Very Well'

Dissentio - 'I disagree'

Frater - 'Brother'

Soror - 'Sister'

Note: He would call the people he is friends with either Frater or Soror. For example: Frater Charles and Soror Florence

He will also call other Pokemon by their scientific name based on The World Of . An very interesting site and very useful. For example: earlier Uruk called Charizard - 'Dracoaves Igna S.' (or Superior)

Anyway, thanks for reading and I'll see you next time.

Bye :)

---

Potential Pokemon List:

Charles

Gastley

Drowzee

Goldeen

Onix

Grimer

Hoothoot (Johto)

Octillery (Orange Islands)

Pinsir

Salamance (Hoenn)

Metagross (Hoenn)

Dewgong

Elekid (Johto)

Poochyena (Hoenn)

Chikorita (Johto)

Bisharp (Unova)

Flo

Psyduck

Cubone

Jolteon

Shellder

Weedle

Qwilfish (Orange Islands)

Exeggcute (Orange Islands)

Snubbull (Johto)

Sunkern (Johto)

Miltank (Johto)

Shuckle (Johto)

Beautifly (Hoenn)

Slugma (Hoenn)

Mandibuzz (Unova)

Alice

Rattata

Poliwag

Spearow

Lickitung

Spinarak (Johto)

Umbreon (Johto)

Rhyhorn (Johto)

Wobbuffet (Johto)

Smeargle (Johto)

Corsola (Johto)

Nosepass (Hoenn)

Swinub (Sinnoh)

Vanillite (Unova)