Chapter Two: A New Friend
I made my way over there quickly to check on him, where he was growling lowly at another pokémon I was somewhat unfamiliar with. Rather than the Diglett and Trapinch we were accustomed to seeing on the way up, it was a small rock type with bright orange eyes and cubic features, and whatever it was, it wasn't reacting whatsoever to my Sandile growling at it. I inched in closer to soothe my friend, and I attempted to reach out to the unknown pokémon, and just as before, it didn't flinch or budge at all from my touch, just looking up at me with a blank stare.
"Hey little guy… who are you supposed to be? Calmer than most people I know, that's for sure." I cooed at the pokémon, reassuring it I meant no harm.
It blinked at me slowly, letting out a low rumble similar to stepping on a gravel path. From my ranger training and experience with pokémon I could tell the little one hadn't had human contact in a long time, if ever, and it had no reason to fear me or have a negative opinion of me. All of a sudden, I had a fun idea.
I slipped a miniaturized pokéball from my bag, expanded it, and gently tapped the pokémon on the head. Without even an attempt to escape, the pokémon was captured, and that was that. Huh. I guess I've got a new pokémon. That's probably the easiest capture I've ever seen.
Checking the Pokédex - which I realized after the fact I could easily have done at the beginning of this encounter before the catch - I was informed this was a Nacli, a pokémon native to the Paldea region and rarely seen outside of its natural habitat. I couldn't begin to guess why it was here of all places, but it was a lucky turn for me. I scratched Toothpick's snout the way he liked as a job well done and scooped him up back onto my shoulder.
I released my new teammate from the ball and gave it a once-over, thinking momentarily about what to call it. Checking the Pokédex again I saw he was a male, so it didn't take long.
"I think I'll call you Saul. Saul T. Perfect."
If he could roll his eyes, I'm sure he would have. I scooped up Saul, stumbling a little at the realization of how heavy a Nacli actually is, before starting to make my way back to the central pedestal of the room I had missed checking out earlier.
As I stepped up the small set of stairs to observe the center of the room, I realized with excitement what was here enshrined: pokémon fossils. But as I thought to myself, knowing how fragile this place is, taking the central piece to this whole monument would most likely have pretty disastrous consequences for the history, and more importantly the structural integrity, of this place. Someone else can destroy this invaluable historical monument, that's not my job.
I caught a new pokémon and I found a historical mystery for myself to research - all in all, I'm content with this expedition.
Electing to leave the fossils right where they were, I returned Saul to his ball and slowly and carefully made my way back down to ground level, thankfully not through the hard way known as gravity. I took a quick glance at the path leading down underground and decided I've had enough adventuring for today.
Toothpick and I stepped out into the setting sun, and, noticing the sandstorm had abated momentarily, took this opportunity to make our way out of the desert and start trekking back to Mauville City. Thankfully there was enough light to see far enough into the sands to see our way out: we hadn't been lost at all, the path to solid ground was literally a few hundred feet away. Sandstorms can be insufferable.
Even though I saw trainers along the path, I made certain to avoid their line of sight, and when I couldn't, I lied and said my pokémon were too exhausted and unable to battle. It's not as if I have a problem with battling, I've done it plenty of times, tonight I'm just tired after running for my life. Mind you, I've still got a grand total of zero badges, but hopefully here in Mauville I can manage to finally swing that number in my favor. The electric gym would be a fantastic match against my admittedly small team of ground and rock types.
It took a few hours, and the night had completely fallen, but we inevitably made it back to the city. Mauville is a massive place: it's one of the three biggest cities in Hoenn, next to Rustboro and Lilycove, and as of the last census there were about two and a half million people living here. Even in the dead of night, the lights were still glowing and the people were still bustling around and going about their business. I made a beeline to the Pokémon Center, deliberately avoiding any side trips that would distract me enough to forget what I was doing. That Game Corner is addictive, what can I say?
Making it to the Center in good time, I made sure to brush off any excess remaining sand from the desert, especially remembering to empty my boots this time. They weren't happy when I left sand all over my room last time I visited. When I decided I was clean enough, I picked up Toothpick to carry him in my arms and stepped inside.
The Pokémon Center here was a technological marvel. Thanks to Wattson and his gym, most of the city had a high level of scientific advancement, and this building was one of the prime examples. A wall of video phones lined up across the room, a computer cafe in one of the far rooms that could be rented for personal use, and vending machines for everything from lemonade to potions to poke balls to TMs. There were about half a dozen other people and trainers milling about the main room, having conversations with each other or sipping a coffee waiting on their Pokémon to finish healing. I made my way across the room to speak with the Nurse.
"Helloooooo, Nurse! ~ I'm here to have my friends here healed up and rent a room for the evening, and I'd also like to rent one of those computers for an hour or two while I wait on them."
She smiled and rolled her eyes good-naturedly - I'm sure she hears that all the time, and she's definitely heard it from me a couple of times this week - and asks for my trainer card to pull my information up in the system. I pass it to her, and begrudgingly recall Toothpick into his ball and pass those two to her as well.
"Sure thing Sammy, no problem. Did you catch a new pokémon? These last couple of times you only had your Sandile." She said with curiosity, placing the pair onto a rack to send them back to the healing rooms. "I thought you were still undecided about what you wanted on your team."
"Oh, I am! But this little guy was a surprise encounter in the desert, Toothpick stumbled upon him in this ancient tower-looking thing we found while we were avoiding being eaten. I don't think I've ever seen a Nacli in Hoenn before, and he's a gentle soul, so better me than someone else."
She raised an eyebrow at that, her interest piqued.
"You found Mirage Tower? That's supposed to be getting harder and harder to find these days, it's actually been a few months since I've heard someone came across it," She inquired with curiosity. "Please tell me you ignored those fossils - every time someone finds that place, they come back with one and the whole thing falls apart and crumbles to dust. Nobody knows how it reforms, but it seems to take even longer each time."
I was a little taken aback to know this was a relatively frequent topic of conversation. So much for my big discovery.
"Oh no, I left the fossils there. Actually exactly for that reason, I had no desire to destroy the whole thing. I was more interested in the mural covering the walls than the fossils. That giant ancient painting about the sun and the war, I found it fascinating."
She looked at me with a confused look, almost as if she hadn't heard this before.
"What mural? Nobody's ever mentioned that. I mean I haven't been there myself, but as busy as this Center is I hear all sorts of stories about it, and I don't think I remember anything about a wall painting."
Aha! So it was a discovery! I knew I should trust my instincts on these things. An excited grin on my face, I reached into my bag (accidentally spilling sand onto the floor, which earned me a glare from the custodian across the room) and pulled out my sketchbook.
"Mind you, I'm a terrible artist and it's not like I bring oil pastels with me on a desert expedition, but it looked something like this." I explained, flipping to the page I'd sketched it on, handing it to her to take a look at.
She furrowed her brow and stared at it for a second, no comprehension in her eyes at all, before reaching under the counter at her workstation and handing me a business card.
"Here. This is the contact info for a man who lives in town, he's a local archeologist and educator. Everyone calls him the Rock Smash Guy, but he tells me he prefers to be called the Rock Smash Dude, so if you get in touch with him that might help win you some brownie points. If anyone in town knows anything about this, it's Wattson or him, and as busy as Wattson has been these last few weeks he probably couldn't care less about some ancient painting. But I personally think this is fascinating, so let me know if you figure something out, okay?"
I gave her a wide grin, incredibly grateful for her help. This saves me hours of hunting for connections, and I can get in touch with him as soon as tomorrow.
"Thank you so much. This is a massive help, seriously. I'll let you know as soon as I find anything out. And if you give me your number, I'll be able to let you know even sooner~"
She gave me a deadpan look, unamused, before chuckling to herself and writing it on a sticky note and handing it to me.
"As many people ask me for my number here, the first one I give it to is a dunce covered in sand. Don't make me regret this, Samiel."
I flashed another bright smile and pocketed it to input into my PokéNav as soon as it was charged. My team returned from healing right on time, so let Toothpick out of his ball, suffering a bite on the head for my insolence. He hates it in there, but I have to follow the law, even if I've got a history of not doing that exact thing. I paid for my room for the night, pried my Sandile from my head, and went upstairs to take a shower and sleep in late in the morning.