The next morning Alan groaned as he forced himself out of the comfortable Pokemon Center bed. He had slept like a rock and his brain was foggy as he got up and prepared himself for the day.
An hour later Alan stood outside the Pokemon Center waiting for his friends, he had eaten and prepared for the day quickly as he had already done his shopping the day before.
His friends often slept in late, so he released Trapinch and started bouncing ideas off it. Although, since Trapinch couldn’t talk it was a rather one-sided conversation.
Surprisingly, they didn’t have to wait long before his friends exited the Pokemon Center. They both looked bedraggled, probably from being forced to get up so early.
“You both look ready to delve into an ancient ruin full of possibly dangerous pokemon and traps,” Alan remarked.
“Yeah, yeah, we’re fine. We just need some fresh air to liven up,” Clement grumbled.
Alan just rolled his eyes and turned in the direction of the ruins.
“Let’s just go, I don’t want to be late.” He said.
They headed off towards Oldale Ruins. During the walk, they discussed what would be in the Ruins. Alan just listened for most of it, keeping his own plans to himself.
It wasn’t long before the group reach Oldale Ruins. It was the same as he had seen in pictures except there was a small crowd already gathered in front of the ruins. It seemed that the crowd was the group of pokemon trainers gathered for the expedition because they all carried large backpacks full of useful items. Alan had only brought a hip pack, so he didn’t have to lug his travel pack in the ruins. He wanted to be light on his feet if he had to run from something. Alan stood with the crowd waiting for the leader of the expedition. He didn’t have to wait long, as soon a man stepped out from the ruins entrance. He was dressed oddly, in a large black coat covering most of his body, the coat was covered in strange glyphs that looked like they were from some ancient civilization.
“Welcome, young trainers, to the scientific expedition of a lifetime. I am professor James.” At this, a cheer surged from the crowd. “We shall delve into the ruins soon, but first I need to debrief you. These ruins are potentially very dangerous so any of you can back out now, but I warn once you enter the ruins you cannot back out. You must also wear tracking and communication bracelets so we can stay in contact and we can find you if get trapped or lost. Finally, you can catch any pokemon in the ruins, but you must show the caught pokemon before you leave so we can properly examine them and see if they correspond to our data collected so far. Now, may the delving begin!”
Alan watched as people slowly filed into the ruins. The line was slow since everyone had to be fitted with a bracelet. Eventually, Alan reached the ruins and clipped on his bracelet, thanking the scientist giving them out. He stepped into the familiar outer chamber of the ruins. Strange pictures covered the walls, Alan was unsure what to make of them. I’ve never seen carvings like these before. I wonder what kind of civilization could have made these. In the middle of the room stood a door set into a block of stone. The door had long been opened and the cave it led to had been explored. Inside the cave, lay a large underground lake filled with relicanth. The relicanth while not openly hostile attacked anyone who tried to enter the water. But apparently, the researchers managed to get a Pokemon League Master Trainer to come and catch the relicanth so they could explore the lakebed and underwater caves. Though it wasn’t a permanent catch, the trainer would release the pokemon as soon as the expedition was complete so the relicanth could be returned to their home. They found a few things in the lakebed, but the crown discovery was a cave that led into entirely new underground ruins that had never been discovered, until now. Soon everyone had filed into the room and the expedition leader led the way down into the cave of the relicanth. Everyone formed a line and followed him down the stairs. It was incredible to see the cave where the ancient relicanth lived for centuries. In the middle of the lake was a tube that led to a cave where we would enter the underground ruins. Floating platforms made a path to the tube, where researchers were sliding scientific devices into the caves.
“Soon, we will enter the unexplored section of Oldale Ruins. But first I will assign each of you to a group of three,” James said.
He began to group the crowd into fifteen groups. Alan and his friends crowded together, hoping to get grouped up. They were successful as they were grouped together into Group 11. After a few minutes, Alan and his friends warily looked at the tube leading down to the cave.
“I guess I’ll go first,” said Alan.
He looked down the tube and took a centering breath, before jumping into the tube. Alan let out a whoop of elation as he rapidly slid down the tube. This is awesome! Alan thought. But the slide came to an end quickly as he slid from the tube into a well-lit room. Boxes of scientific tools littered the floor of the room and scientists scurried about, setting the devices up.
“Out of the way!” A voice echoed from behind him. Alan barely dodged to the side as Clemence shot out from the tube “You really should get out the way when you know people are going shoot down a slide straight to where you’re standing,” Clemence remarked.
“Yeah, yeah. I was distracted, I’ve never seen the machines they’re setting up before.” Alan replied.
Suddenly, Clemence was bowled over by a high-speed Oliver rocketing out from the tube. At this Alan cracked up and started laughing so hard he almost fell over.
“Ha, you should listen to your own advice,” Alan wheezed out, still laughing. An irate-looking scientist ran over.
“Move out of the way you bumbling fools, we don’t need a traffic jam at the mouth of the tunnel!” He yelled.
Clemence and Oliver obediently untangled themselves and got out of the way for the next person, thoroughly chastised. Alan just waited in a corner for everyone to come down, not wanting the attention of the edgy scientists.
Alan pulled out a book his grandparents had given him and started reading as he waited. Sadly, the book was terrible. It was about a kid and his Zigzagoon trying to find a lost toy. Alan was about to throw it into a trash can when he had a strange feeling that he would need it. So he tucked the book back into his pack, perplexed.
“Alright everyone, let’s get moving!” James yelled. He pointed towards a door-sized hole cover blocked by neon-colored tape. Scientists quickly ran over and cut the tape, letting it fall to the ground. Trainers practically stampeded the doorway. At the head of the crowd was James, excitedly giving directions.
“There are three tunnels, beyond that, we have not explored! Teams 1-5 go into the left tunnel, teams 6-10 take the middle, and teams 11-15 take the right tunnel.”
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Alan and his group followed the other teams. It was a surreal experience, the thought that no one had ever seen this place in hundreds of years. Alan pulled out a camera and started taking pictures of everything that caught his interest. Scenes of Kyogre and Groudon fighting covered the walls. As well as hundreds of humans attempting to placate the legendary pokemon. Alan was mystified by the pictures, he had only ever heard rumors and stories of Kyogre and Groudon. It was then he saw the end of the tunnel. It ended in a finely polished stone wall, set into the wall was a silver door that gleamed in the light of the flashlights.
The group sped up and soon the whole group faced the door.
“Uuhhh, who wants to open it?” said a voice in the crowd.
“How could you, there’s no handle?” said another.
“You push it, obviously,” the first person said.
“Enough bickering, I’ll get it open,” said Clemence. He released his Treecko and cautiously strode towards the door. He attempted to push it open but it wouldn’t budge.
“Alright, door, you want to go. Treecko use Pound!” Clemence’s Treecko rushed forward and at the last moment spun and slammed its tail into the door. Making dust rain from the ceiling. The door was unaffected, unmoved by the powerful hit.
“Oh, get out of the way,” a trainer shouted. He released a Loudred to try and open the door. He failed and other trainers tried in his place. Alan just watched as trainers failed to get the door open. He waited for his turn and inspected the door the best he could from a distance. When Alan stepped up to the door, he started to examine it. Soon he realized it, it was a sliding door. He burst out laughing, thinking of all the trainers who had totally believed that the best way to open the door was to push it just because one guy thought that was the answer.
“Trapinch could you bite away just a little of the stone on the side please?” Trapinch obliged and Alan got a good grip on the side of the door and heaved. Then he heaved some more until finally, the door shifted and slid to the side. At this mixed applause and grumbles arose from the assembled teams. Oliver and Clemence rushed over and peered into the blackness behind the door.
“Not bad, Alan, now let’s get ahead and find all the good stuff,” Clemence whispered, with that the pair took off and dragged Alan with them down the tunnel. They ran until they emerged into a large circular room. It had mostly bare, but there were eight passages that led from the room.
“Ooh, I wonder which one is the best?” Oliver muttered.
“Obviously, the second to last on the left side,” Clemence stated confidently. Alan and Oliver both turned to him confused expressions on their faces.
“Why?” Alan asked, thoroughly confounded.
“It’s the best,” Clemence said as if this was the obvious truth.
“Okay, I guess we’ll go that way,” Alan said.
They headed down the tunnel. The walls were now bare of any markings. They walked for several minutes, it was eerily quiet. The only noise was the sound of their footsteps.
“I think you picked a dud, Clemence,” Oliver said
“No, I’m sure it’s good we just have to keep going,” Clemence said confidently. Then they heard a sound from deeper in the tunnel. It sounded like water dripping. Normally the noise wouldn't be anything special. But in a dark scary tunnel, it was immensely creepy.
Alan felt goose bumps on his arms and rubbed them. It’s cold down here, was it really that cold near the entrance? I guess I just didn’t notice it before, Alan thought. As they continued down the tunnel it only got colder. Soon, they could see their breath come in puffs of white. White hoarfrost covered the walls and made the floor icy.
“It’s r-really c-cold in here,” Oliver said, his teeth chattering.
“Yeah, m-maybe we should turn back, Clemence said.
“We c-came so far, we should t-turn back yet. If-if don’t find anything in few minutes we should l-leave,” Alan said. They continued trudging down the tunnel. Soon, they saw a flash of fire down the tunnel.
“W-why is there fire down here?” Alan muttered. They crouched down and crept towards where they saw the fire.
“Faster, trainers could get here any minute!” Someone yelled, from down the tunnel. Once again, fire flared and this time they could see it came from two Houndour. From the light of the fire, they could see the man who had yelled. He was a tall, imposing man dressed in a dark red uniform. Two other men stood behind the Houndour, probably their trainers. They were also dressed in the same uniform. The Houndour continued their fiery assault on the thick ice that blocked the tunnel, the ice was thin enough to be see-through and Alan could to that beyond the ice was a room. But he couldn’t make out the details.
“Oh, get out of the way you fools!” the tall man yelled. The men scurried to get out of the way as the leader released a scarred Houndoom.
“Houndoom, use Flamethrower,” He commanded. But his Houndoom just sniffed the the air for a second before turning around to look directly at where Alan was hiding behind an ice stalagmite. It started barking and snarling at Alan as it advanced toward him. Houndooms trainer spun around “Houndoom what are you…” He trailed off as he saw Alan.
“Aw, crap,” Alan muttered. “Run!” They all started sprinting back the way they came.
“Don’t let them get away, Houndoom!” The leader yelled. Alan looked back to see Houndom quickly catching up to them. They kept desperately running until a stream of Dark Energy blasted in front of them. They skidded to a halt, turning around to see a viciously snarling Houndoom only a few feet away. The leader and his grunts quickly caught up and they all released grey bug pokemon, Nincada.
In unison they yelled, “Nincada use String Shot,” sticky string shot from their mouths and wrapped up Alan and his friends into a bundle of the webbing.
“You’re coming with us,” the leader said. The Nincada shot strings onto the bundle and used them to start dragging them back to the ice wall. They struggled but it was to no avail, the strings were too strong to break.
When they returned to the ice wall the “Alan Bundle” was stuck to a wall. The Houndoom proceeded to melt the ice until the wall collapsed, revealing the room inside.
Covering the walls scenes and images of the legendary pokemon Groudon in all it’s glory. But the room was covered with layers of ice, it covered every surface of the room. It was clear that this room was the source of the cold in the tunnel. In the middle of the room a pedestal with veins of cooled molten rock running through it. It seemed to have once held a sphere at the top but it was now empty. Behind the pedestal was a deep crater that was entirely covered in a small mountain of ice.
“Photograph the room and search for signs of the Red Orb,” The leader said. The grunts spread out across the room and the leader examined the pedestal and the iced-over crater behind it. Soon, the leader called over the grunts and they all used the pokemon to try and melt the ice.
While Alan observed the men, he was formulating a plan. I'll release Trapinch and when they’re not looking have him weaken our restraints the burrow away to find help. I just hope it works. Alan was sweating even in the cold as he waited for the right opportunity and he saw it when the men had their back to them, watching the pokemon melt the ice.
“Trapinch, come on out,” He whispered and quietly released Trapinch. “You got to bite through most of the webs then escape and try to find help. Got all that?” Trapinch confidently nodded and got to work on the webs. Trapinch's sharp mandibles easily cut through the webs and soon the task was complete. “Alright, now go and find help. I believe in you,” Alan whispered, full of pride and worry as Trapinch burrowed away. Just then, the ice mountain cracked. The ice groaned then broke apart and crashed to the ground in a puff of white snow. In the bottom crater lay a large figure made of ice. The men gasped in shock.
“Why is Regice here in the pit of Groudon?” One of the grunts asked.
“It must have been drawn by the residual legendary energies. We have to get out of here before it wakes up.” The leader said.
But as they started to back away the pokemon stirred and pushed itself up making a strange noise. The seven strange yellow dots that may have been eyes flashed and it floated into the air above the crater. Seeing the people who woke it, its eye’s glowed red and Alan flinched as a beam of freezing energy blasted out into the men freezing them in a block of ice. Then. it turned on Alan raising its arms and charging another ice beam. It cried out once again and its eyes flashed as it used Lock-On. Alan tucked his head and braced for the freezing blast.
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