Chapter 22

Violet City

Amazing the types of services you can find at Pokémon Centers these days.

With no 'wireless clubs', 'union rooms', or 'global trade whatevers' to clog the upper floors like in the games, I guess something had to come in and fill the vacuum.

I hand over Graveler's Pokéball -as well as the healthy amount of financial paperwork and legal documents that go along with it- and the receptionist accepts the stack with a smile. "Thank you sir." She offers a little bow. "The next League auction is scheduled for two Fridays from now, on the 17th. Please remember that if you wish to cancel your sale for any reason, we do require at least a 48 hour notice in advance or a 12 hour notice that comes with an auction withdrawal fee. Is there anything else I can assist you with today?"

"No thank you ma'am. That's everything." Turning back around to the escalator that leads down to the trainer-filled main lobby, I take a glance at my watch to see it's barely past 9:20, getting me to appreciatively hum at how fast we knocked that errand out. 'Damn, and here I was expecting this to take me all morning.'

Efficient bureaucracy. Will wonders never cease?

As the facilitators of these regional-wide auctions and all the Items/Eggs/Rare Pokémon that show up for sale within, the League does get a little slice of the pie whenever money changes hands this way. A not-great but not-terrible seven percent. Plus a trivial little base cost to actually register something up for public bid. Roughly the same amount it takes to buy a Burn Heal. It's not a worrisome dent to potential profits but neither is it wholly negligible. All in all, I just consider it the cost of doing business.

The Government has to pay its bills somehow. Do you want to take away the cost-free healing every Nurse Joy offers to whoever walks in the door?

Of course, one can choose to circumvent this whole process by seeking out a private buyer directly. I've definitely heard stories of people maximising their Poké dollars that way. But I mean…who even has time for that, am I right? I'd rather just hand it off and let the professionals handle it.

It's not like they're gonna aim for a bad price for the shiny. The higher they drive it, the more that seven percent is when they skim off the top.

Exiting the sliding doors and back into the sunlight of Violet City, I take in a big breath and smile at the unique fragrance the city always seems to have about it. A not unpleasant mixture of wildflowers and the fact that so many Pokémon around here have access to Sweet Scent.

It is…nostalgic.

Casting my eyes north, I can see the formidable 'Sprout Tower' hanging over the rest of the city's buildings in the distance.

Did you know it's so old that they've lost the records of when exactly it was built?

True story. I actually find it kind of funny.

If you venture in for a little tourist trip, the monks inside will tell you that 'According to Myth…' its central pillar actually comes from the stalk of an ancient humongous Bellsprout. One whose head would rise above even the tallest of trees. And while that's almost certainly, definitely, absolutely not true…ehh, who knows right?

In a world of Alpha Tentacruel large enough to knock over buildings, the Dynamaxing phenomena on the other side of the planet, and whatever the hell it was that was going on in that one episode of the anime I vaguely remember involving a giant Alakazam, Gengar, and Jigglypuff…why couldn't those monks have a kernel of truth in their words? Wouldn't be the most insane thing in this world, I'll attest to that.

On the opposite end of town lives Violet's other major call to tourism. Johto's #1 ranked Pokémon Academy. Now now, I know what you're thinking, but it's actually a rather useful place to sign up for some independent courses. It's not just 'type matchups' and 'Basics 101' for the kids. While I was staying here last year, I actually sat for a pretty nifty class talking about Pokémon nutrition and the long-term health effects of over-abusing Potion items. You can learn some cool stuff.

My smile dips a little at the memories the wave of nostalgia brings.

Eric's father was the one who taught that course.

For a moment…an errant thought tells me I should poke my head in. Just…to say 'hello', see how he's doing, that kind of thing.

Probably best to not though.

My thumb idly rolls over the surface of the Net Ball at my waist.

I doubt he wants to see me anymore.

Ruins of Alph, Public Area

I place the small rock back on the counter of the 'Gift Shop' -really more just of a vendor at a little stall- and sigh.

This place is somehow even more boring the second time around.

In the original release of 'Generation II', the Ruins of Alph received a fair bit of criticism for being so…empty. A lot of open space with very little game content to actually do. The 'Gold' and 'Silver' versions that came before 'Crystal' didn't even have the hidden chambers and their bonus items. Not that solving a puzzle to get a second copy of 'Mystic Water' actually awards you much.

When the remakes came out a little over a decade later, the developers somewhat addressed that. The bonus items were revamped, some sort of special event was added if you had an Arceus in your party -not that I ever did-, and most importantly the player gained the ability to farm 'breakable rocks' by constantly leaving and coming back.

You even had a 3% chance to find 'Old Amber'. The fossilized remains of an Aerodactyl. If that's not good added content, then I'm not sure what is.

Here in this world…none of that carries over.

Though in the interest of complete disclosure, I suppose I can't actually rule out the Arceus thing.

Everything that may have once been interesting about this place has been bagged, tagged, numbered and catalogued. The puzzle rooms? All solved. Any items within? All taken by scientists and research teams.

There's no patches of tall grass. There's no real fishing spots. Just one little building where the researchers work out of and a small previously mentioned 'Gift Shop' that sells tourist trap baubles.

The only thing that changes around here is a large scoreboard tracker for the last time someone actually encountered an Unown.

54 Days.

'I'm glad the secondary area is a lot more cut off here than it is in the handheld series. With the mountains cutting straight through, you'd never even know the other section exists unless you were told about it.'

Route 32

I tickle a finger under the wild Wooper's chin before shooing it off to go play with its siblings. Something it does with a little chirp and a bright mega-huge smile. "Yeah, I'm heading there now." My shoulder presses the phone closer to my ear. "Cause I've got some errands to run, that's why." I pause to listen to her retort and loose a single chuckle. "Oooo, harsh Lori. So mean. Can a man not have at least a little mystery about him?"

My eyes glance down to the side of the road where a TinyMushroom is growing and I snap my fingers twice, pointing it out to Vlad. With nary a comment he snips the thing off at its stalk and moves to place it in a bag.

Those things can sell for a good spot of pocket change you know.

"What?!" I speak confusedly into the cell. "Who told you that? No, I'm not hunting for an Onix. And if I were, there's better places to find one than Union Cave. I'm going for another reason."

Grass underneath my feet transitions into the creaky wooden steps of a fishing pier and with a loud roar Johto's Magnet Train zooms past on its monorail. "Well, I already said, I'm not telling you the reason." I tease. "If you're so curious, why don't you come down here and join me? You've got Psychics on your team, they could probably Teleport the distance. You could look into that 'Lapras in the basement' rumor again."

A fisherman with a Kingler at his side makes eye contact with me as I pass and…ohhh, I know that look.

He's bored out of his skull and is looking to liven the afternoon up with a battle. Hmmm…I suppose I can carve a little time out for that. It's never a bad feeling to win some money off a stranger.

I signal 'one moment' with a finger and begin to wrap up the call. "It is not a ridiculous rumor, Lori. The base floor connects to the ocean and you didn't even go on a Friday. I told you the rumor says you have to go on Friday." I pause again and then bark out a laugh at her next words. "Of course that part's important! Don't get mad at me just because you can't follow directions."

The fisherman raises an eyebrow at me and I hurry it along. "Okay. Okay. Listen…listen, I'm being challenged for a battle, I gotta go." I shuck off my backpack and start getting myself loose. "Okay. Alright. Talk to you later. Bye."

I click the phone shut and take in my opponent. The crab Pokémon at his side looks healthy, but its somewhat low level reveals it to be one of those unusual cases of a 'mon evolving exceptionally early. I wouldn't expect a typical Krabby to make the change without a good deal more experience under its belt.

"So, how do you wanna do this?" I ask. "Standard 3 vs. 3 or did you have something special in mind?"

Union Cave

As the main highway of travel between the traditional 'first' and 'second' Badges of Johto, Union Cave has an odd sort of paradox about it.

It is simultaneously the most traversed but also the least explored of Indigo's caves by the people who typically journey through it.

The top floor is an incredibly quick trip connecting Route 32 to Azalea Town. An uncharacteristically straight shot for when it comes to passing through a mountain, hence its name of 'Union'. Speaking very technically, Route 33 is also in that mix but it's so short these days that it really only exists as a formality to the cartographers. It has less square mileage to its name than the National Park up north in Goldenrod where they do the Bug-Catching Contest.

It had been larger in times long past of course but…then people went and built Azalea on top of it didn't they?

The urban sprawl of the humble town-not-quite-city isn't all that great in comparison to others but it's still encroaching eastward bit by bit every few years, shrinking the Route to be smaller and smaller.

'At some point they're just gonna have to 'call it' and say the rest of that land is part of Azalea as well. Hmm. I wonder if that means they'll have to rename all the Routes in thirty or forty years? Either that or we'll just start skipping the number '33' altogether on future maps.'

Sorry. I'm getting off topic. We were talking about Union Cave.

Due to the constant stream of young trainers always entering -fresh off their victories against Falkner- the entrance floor is actually remarkably well lit. Lamps and electrical wire zigzag all along the ceiling and there's always a few guides present to help keep the ten and eleven-year olds from straying off alone. For many of the children it's the first time they've ever been underground. You can get some nervous/scared kids if they aren't ready for it. Especially if today turns out to be the day they learn they get a little claustrophobic.

I flash my six badges to the simple guard the League keeps posted by the path downward and he gives me a simple nod. Really he cares more about my age rather than any accomplishments in battle I might have. He's really only here as extra insurance to make sure the first badge youngins don't wander somewhere they can't handle.

Not that they actually could get very far without a proper team to help them traverse. In the games you'll hit dead-ends pretty quickly unless you've already made it to Cianwood and picked up the HM for 'Surf'.

'You'd be surprised at just how many trainers never take the opportunity to circle back around here. Or how few realize there even are 'lower floors' to explore in the first place.'

Whether it was playing video games back on earth, running through a list of errands out in town, or going on a region-wide Pokémon journey…the average person just doesn't like 'backtracking.'

Their loss I suppose.

Ruins of Alph, Isolated Section

So...has Smeargle having different colored 'brushes' at the end of their tails always been a thing? Granted, as I've said so many times already, my knowledge of the cartoon series is pretty sketchy, so maybe it's from there but…I really could have sworn that wasn't a thing.

~Green brush, Blue brush,~
~Red brush, White brush~

Try saying that five times fast. Reminds me of a Dr. Seuss poem.

All four art doggos lie in a -'Don't say dogpile. Don't say dogpile'- lie in a heap. Each of the canines being thoroughly trounced by members of my team. 'Red tail' seems to be the leader of this little pack. He's level 22 whereas his fellow artistic peers are all at 20. In a fortuitous happenstance I stumbled upon the quartet painting the sides of a tree shortly after exiting Union Cave.

They then promptly scared the fuck out of me by all four using Future Sight simultaneously.

Thank llama-god above that their base stats are lower than a Hoothoot's. Otherwise that could've ended up really bad. No doubt these four have been interacting a little too much with the local Natu flock.

Inspecting the 'brushes' a little more closely…huh. It's not even paint. It looks more like some type of natural oil. A secretion of some kind. Actually, eww. That makes it sound gross. I wish I hadn't thought that.

'Well if nothing else, at least that helps explain while it's water-soluble. One of the only things that 'is' common knowledge about Smeargle in this world is that a good rainstorm will scrub all their graffiti clean.'

"Okay. Four specimens." I bring out some cheap Pokéballs and begin capturing the group one by one. "That should be plenty enough for the breeder in Hoenn. Baltoy and Trapinch, here we come..." 'Although….we 'did' just get here. No harm in looking around some more.'

Maybe if our good fortune holds we can find some with orange or purple or even some other colored tail? It'd be a pretty tall order to catch up in numbers to something like Vivillon –or god forbid Spinda- when it comes to variety in phenotypes but with a little luck we might reach a full artist's palette like Minior.

The far-less-public section of the Ruins of Alph is a sharp departure from the main area on the other side of the ridgeline. For one thing, the walls and glyphs here are significantly more ruin-like. As in broken down, less preserved, crumbling at the seams and covered in plant growth. I'm sure you get the idea.

Plus it's only about a quarter the size.

My hand traces over the deteriorated face of one of the walls and I try to make out its lettering.

'AZL GED SELA DESTA RIN'

Nope. This shit's straight gibberish, same as always. 'I wonder if they teach a course on it somewhere. Could be something to look into once we're in the off season after the Conference.'

As is my habit, a pulse of Ground energy exits my feet to map out the earth below us and as expected returns results of nothing but solid bedrock. Well, there is a small warren probably dug out by a Sandshrew long ago, but that's nothing new.

Vlad is floating nearby doing a little 'archeology' of his own. Cutting away some of the foliage blocking off a mural to look at the letters himself. He obviously can't read any of it either, but I can feel a sense of wonderment from him just by being here in front of it all.

I smile. I wonder if this is how parents feel when their child first goes to a museum or peers through a telesc- A sharp chime next to my ear gives me a jumpscare!

A single Unown shaped like a 'J' floats crookedly in the air, staring at me curiously.

Unown: Lv. 5
Nature: Brave
Potential: E+

"Oh…well hey there little dude." I put on a grin after recovering. "What's up? I didn't startle you with my aura use did I? "

A second chime comes from behind me in place of the 'J' answering. Turning around, there's now a second one joining the first. A letter 'S'.

Unown: Lv. 5
Nature: Hasty
Potential: E

I open my mouth to say something -couldn't even tell you what- but then two more suddenly show up. 'D' and 'L'.

Unown: Lv. 5
Nature: Serious
Potential: E-

Unown: Lv. 5
Nature: Naive
Potential D

'Okay. Let it not be said I ignore red flags when they appear. Time to bounce!' "Vlad! We should probably-" My announcement that we're leaving is cut off.

Because in one breath to the next there were suddenly hundreds.

A maelstrom of living letters surround me all glowing with Psychic power! An impenetrable tornado of black script. The walls, the tiles, everything everywhere is starting to shine with an outline of blue particle effects!

Including me.

"Gliscor! Gli!" Vlad's voice is panicked as he rushes forward to get me-

And that's when it felt like my entire body was being sucked through a straw.

Location Unknown, Deep Underground

…

…

…okay.

First rule when finding oneself teleported into a pitch black..uh..somewhere…is to remain calm and not freak out. Just...take stock of what we know.

…

…

Well, the air is breathable. That's something. It's stale and stuffy and kinda gross but it is breathable. We'll have to count that as a win. You don't always get so lucky when it comes to confined spaces.

…

…

Reaching down towards my belt, I unclip a small flashlight from its holster and flick it on to see…stone. Lots and lots of smoothed stone.

Walls. Ceiling. Floor. I'm in a structure of some kind. More Unown writing is framed in some type of mural behind me but like always, I haven't the foggiest of what it says.

…

…delightful.

I can confirm there is at least an exit to this room though. A long dark corridor that my flashlight can't fully pierce. An ominous pathway that leads to…well somewhere. Your guess is honestly as good as mine.

"Simon." At his call, the diminutive Ghost pops out of his Dusk Ball and tilts his head curiously around at our surroundings. "Gol?" With a small mental prodding from me he raises his fist up like a torch, summoning the flames of Fire Punch to dance over his palm.

A second source of light in an otherwise very dark dark world.

'!'

A ping on my psyche gets my neck to snap up. That was a faint - a very very faint- attempt by Vlad to try and locate me through our bond. Neither of us being Psychic-types though, the best we can manage for something like that is maybe half a mile. Perhaps a little less. The connection just gets too thin once we're past that.

Which means he's nearby. 'And also means we're still somewhere in the 'Ruins of Alph'. That's…good. That's really really good.'

Worst-case scenario avoided. We've confirmed that we're still in the Johto region. I didn't want to voice it, but there was a part of me that was terrified I had been halfway teleported to Sinnoh or something.

I do my best to signal back…just as simple a 'ping' I can do to say I'm safe…and thankfully after a moment he pings back slightly stronger. Signaling that he's at least moving in our direction.

That's potentially a lot of earth he'll have to dig through though…

A heavy breath leaves my throat as Simon and I begin our slow venture forward. Little baby steps into the darkness. 'This shit is so beyond my pay grade.' Isn't involuntary dungeon diving or temple raiding more the type of crap that Ash and his protagonist buddies are supposed to get up to? I may poke at the world or abuse my meta-knowledge for every nickel but that doesn't mean I actually want to get caught up in nonsense like this.

Then again, maybe this is just the universe's comeuppance against me for choosing to think like that. Or perhaps a warning for me to stop fucking with things I only halfway understand.

Peering into the various alcoves of the corridor I see that this place is…actually remarkably simple in design. None of these extra rooms actually go anywhere. Similarly to the place I first found myself in, they're all quite small and contain nothing but framed rectangles full of mysterious letters.

Some of them have some broken pottery scattered about in the corner. I guess that's different.

Ma Ma has been released as extra security -you never know when something might jump out at you- but throughout the entire walk I didn't so much as hear a sound beyond our own footsteps.

No fluttering Zubats. No mischievous Ghost-types. No scavenging rodents of any kind.

This place is deader than the proverbial door nail.

A fucking mausoleum.

My flashlight catches a raised step as we reach the end of the pathway and I see…stairs. A long stone pathed set of stairs that go up and up and up. Once again, my light isn't able to see the top.

It seems we're in the basement of…wherever this is.

"Alright gang," I whisper lowly to the golem and grizzly. "Let's see if we can find a way out of here."

It's a long trek upwards one step at a time. I can feel Ma Ma's consternation at the situation and it does bring a little levity to my mood. If she wasn't the one growling in irritation, then I would be.

My connection to Vlad above ground is slowly strengthening as we move so at least that's encouraging. He's moved towards us from the east but…that means we're somewhere west of where I caught the Smeargle and that doesn't make any sense.

There shouldn't be anything west of that location but thick tightly packed forest. The above ground section of the 'Ruins' don't extend that far. Which I suppose helps explain how this place isn't on any maps but I'm still going to complain about it.

The top of the stairs comes into view and suddenly...we are in a massive cavern.

A small number of long but ultra-thin cracks can be seen cutting across the rocky canopy above, letting a miniscule amount of sunlight to enter and help visibility. Two rows of eight pillars a piece -several of them broken- guide a pathway to a statue of a central figure.

A statue of…someone.

Okay. This time it's not my fault for being uneducated I swear. Everything above the knees for the royal figure is gone. Just…not there.

There's not even a pile of broken or destroyed rock next to the thing. Nothing I can use to piece together who this person was or what they may have looked like. All I can say for certain about the trunkless legs of stone is that the figure was probably male.

Ozymandias fans eat your heart out I guess.

At the base of the feet is a communion dish. A shallow but wide-brimmed plate not unlike what I would see in churches back home.

It's got at least half a hundred Relic Coins in it. All caked in an eon of dust. Silver, Copper, a couple Gold ones mixed in there too.

Well…

I mean…

Don't mind if I do.

Finders keepers am I right?

Another ping to my aura from Vlad has me look up and a large grey claw pierces through one of those thin cracks of sunlight! "Gliscor! Gli!" My best boy calls from above, suddenly peering down at us all from on high.

With a smile I pocket away my flashlight as true real sun illuminates this place for what has to be the first time in centuries and Simon starts jumping up and down in little cheers. "Gol! Gol!"

A grunt and tap on the shoulders from Ma Ma grabs my attention as she points out a rough worn path leading upward along the cave's right face wall-

And that's when I freeze ramrod still.

Half-buried next to the path to freedom, practically fused with the surrounding earth from untold -who even knows how many- decades or centuries, is the large roundish body of a Pokémon.

A quick fun fact for those at home regarding the way my cheat ability operates.

It doesn't work on dead things.

The moment a Furret bites down hard to snap a Ratatta's neck for its evening meal or a Pidgeotto pecks the guts out of a Caterpie, my power to see what level or nature they were/had simply blinks out.

It just vanishes from one microsecond to the next.

A corpse is simply a corpse. There's nothing extra that I can glean from it.

So while the Pokémon I'm looking at right now is…off, for lack of a better term. Inert. Lifeless. In hibernation. Whatever nomenclature you'd prefer to use.

It's definitely not dead.

Registeel: Lv. 60
Nature: Lonely
Potential: A

A lifetime of horror films have trained me that this is the moment where the killer robot will come to life. Seven red eyes will suddenly glow with an ominous light as it senses the intruders and the juggernaut will rouse itself from its long slumber to deal with the trespassers of its sanctum.

…

…

Only none of that happens.

…

…

Even as we approach, it just…lies there.

"Urs?" Ma Ma, never one to be properly cautious about anything, walks right up to the Sub-Legendary and begins gently tapping on its faceplate, trying to elicit some sort of reaction…only for the Steel-type to remain blissfully inactive.

Even the normally glowing three little red triangles on its hand are all dull and 'powered down'. "Ursaring?" she turns to me, a massive shrug on her shoulders.

"Gliscor! Gli!" Vlad swoops down from the forest floor above to get in on the inspection. "Gliscor!" he waddles closer on his small feet and begins miming a digging motion.

He's suggesting we dig it out? I mean…I guess we could but…since it's a Pokémon there's actually a quicker way to extricate it than bothering with all that.

...

...

I gently tap the red sphere against its head and watch the 'mon dissolve away into light.

One wiggle.

Two wiggle.

Three wiggle.

No resistance at all. Even Pokémon who've been KO'd in battle offer more.

...

...

As a final test I release the Regi once more into the open and for a moment it stands tall. A proud bulwark of impenetrability….before some natural imbalance kicks in and it faceplants right there on the stone floor. Wiry arms flopping lifelessly at its side.

…

…

Huh.