RE: Jay's Johto Journey - Training Spearow
BUMP. Right, moving the plot on now. Introducing a cult of crazy people who believe in a Pokémon that probably doesn't exist. I wonder what they're up to...
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11
In the shadows of the mountain, Jay shivered. The sun had barely crept up above the towering peaks, but he had a feeling that it wasn’t going to get much warmer as the day passed. Dressing while still curled up in his sleeping bag in his tiny tent, Jay zipped up his hoody as far as he could, and joking wished he’d picked an item on headgear that had earflaps. But that would have been silly.
Gently awakening Cyndaquil, who was dozing in a corner, he unzipped the tent flaps and stepped outside, yawning and stretching. He called to Cyndaquil to come out so he could stow the tent, but the little fire mouse just curled up tighter. Jay recalled it instead, because he was too cold to argue. After a hurried breakfast, he set off at a brisk pace to warm up and before long he’d arrived at the impassable bulk of a large mountain. Impassable, that was, except for a large tunnel that had been carved through it. A large signpost was nailed next to it, upon which was written “Cherrygrove City” with an arrow pointing into the tunnel. Even Jay’s wobbly sense of direction would have trouble misinterpreting the way.
The tunnel was twice as high and thrice as wide as Jay, with dim yellowish lamps strung infrequently as far as the eye could see, before it bent around a corner. “Well, this will certainly make a change of scenery. Onwards!” Extracting his torch, he flicked it on and strode forth into the musky depths of the cave, Cyndaquil scampering at his heels.
As his eyes became more accustomed to the gloom, Jay saw that the tunnel wasn’t just a plain and empty passage. In some places, there were large caves deep in murky shadows that stretched back further than he could make out, and in other places the ceiling disappeared, and far above he could hear the high pitched shrieks of Zubat and other cave-inhabiting creatures. For a long time, he didn’t see any other Pokémon, but suddenly the ground a few steps before him cracked open and a shape dug up from below. Jay leapt back in terror, shining his torch wildly and trying to discern what this intruder was. It was a Diglett, which looked curiously at him and then popped back underground. From Jay’s feet came a squeak of laughter, and he sighed, embarrassed. “It looked bigger when I couldn’t see it” he mumbled, by way of explanation.
Carrying on for several more hours, Jay saw nothing more terrifying than a few more Diglett and Dugtrio, Zubat and Geodude. He came to a large hollow in the tunnel, which widened to such a large space as to accommodate a Pokémon battlefield. There were rough wooden benches along both sides of the field, and Jay took a seat on one of them, fishing in his rucksack for lunch. He ate in silence, almost dumbstruck by the forces of nature that had somehow carved out such a phenomenal space so long ago, undisturbed for so long. He wondered who had found it, who had been tunnelling and stumbled across this hidden space. What had prompted them to put a battlefield in the centre, and what spectacular battles had occurred here? Jay could only imagine, seeing scenes in his minds eye of spectacular battles raging, flying around the darkened roves above, element attacks smashing and scorching the surrounding rock.
Finding his voice, he spoke in hushed tones to Cyndaquil, who was gazing around with interested eyes. “Pretty impressive, huh? You don’t see this kind of thing everyday, that’s for sure.” The little mouse squeaked in reply, and then reared up in alarm as its squeak echoed back, eek-eeek-eee. Jay laughed and said reassuringly “No need to worry, it’s just your echo. Listen.” He whistled a loud, high-pitched whistle. It echoed back to him, but just as it should have died down, more screeching could be heard, getting louder. Jay looked about, puzzled. Why could he hear the flap of leathery wings? He looked up and saw several hundred confused and angry Zubat flapping straight towards him. “Oh, damn…”
Roughly grabbing his rucksack and Cyndaquil, to indignant protestations from the latter, he ducked down next to the bench, head in his hands and curled up in a ball to hide and defend himself. He flicked off his torch just before the Zubat swept down all around him, some even flying so low that they cuffed him with their wings. One knocked his hat off his head and sent it tumbling under the bench. Luckily, they didn’t seem to notice him, or didn’t care enough to attack him. Then there was silence once more as the Zubat flapped away into the darkness.
Uncurling, Jay flicked the torch back on and laughed out loud. The beam had fallen on the side of the bench, and someone had carved a crude drawing on it. It looked like a Diglett, but it had fangs and bat-like wings. There was a crude arrow underneath the drawing, pointing towards the cave wall a few meters behind the bench. Curious, Jay walked slowly in the direction the arrow pointed, sweeping the floor beneath him with the bright white beam of the torch. Cyndaquil followed with slightly more apprehension than its trainer. Having reached the wall and found no untoward markings on the floor, Jay set to work on the wall, shining his torch methodically up and down as if he were painting a fence.
Before long, he gave an excited cry. “Look at this! It’s the same… erm… thing.” Reaching out to touch it, he stumbled on a loose rock underfoot and pitched forward into the wall. To his shock, he hit the wall and kept on moving, the wall sliding back in front of him. With nothing but thin air to break his fall, Jay sprawled forward and onto the floor. From somewhere behind him, Cyndaquil squeaked a chuckle. “Quiet you. That was entirely intentional. Except, you know, the whole falling over bit.” Rallying, he said in triumph, “hey now, I’ve found some kind of secret passage. That’s not something you see everyday, huh? Shall we go take a look?”
Cyndaquil reared up onto its hind legs and shook its head. “Oh come on, you coward. It’ll be an adventure! Who knows what lies down this tunnel. We could be the first to set foot in it for hundreds of years!” Still, Cyndaquil remained unmoving. “Fine. You’ll miss out on the fun. But you’ll have to come with me, I’m not going to abandon you in some dark cave. Return.”
And so Jay carried on alone, torch held high, for the tunnel was narrow and unlit. He stopped suddenly, feeling his head. “Oh blast, I’ve forgotten my hat! Eh, can’t go back now, on with the adventure! I’ll pick it up later”, he reminded himself. After a minute or two of slow, careful walking, Jay came to another door. This was small and wooden. Above it, in letters that looked disturbingly like Unown, was written:
“Ye that accept the truth of Most Mighty Digbat be welcomed here. All others, begone!”
Most normal people would turn back at this point, hurrying away with apprehensive backward glances other their shoulders. Jay was not most normal people. He was adventurous, but also blessed (or cursed) with an obliviousness to danger that rivalled that of a lemming. Convinced in his mind that everything was perfectly normal, he pushed at the door. Nothing happened. Bending in closer to look at the door, he saw that in smaller letters on the door itself, the word “Push” was written. Jay sighed, and pulled the door towards him. It opened, and he stepped forward, torch raised.
The first thing Jay saw was a circle of kneeling figures clad in brown looking curiosly at him. They were in a rough circle, arrayed around a small fire in the centre of the small cave. The second thing Jay saw was the massive statue behind them on the far wall. Twice as tall as a man and immaculately carved, it was Diglett shaped, but with wings, fangs and fierce expression. The third thing Jay saw were the two Sudowudo, one of on each side of him. They were as tall as him and looked fierce, a far cry from the occasional wild ones he’d see back at home in Redwood Town.
There was an awkward silence as the eleven robed figures stared at him, and Jay stared back. “Um… hello?” He ventured.
One of the monks threw back his hood. He was bald, but this was compensated for by a spectacularly large walrus moustache, waxed into curls at the ends. His eyebrows, grey like his moustache, were narrowed. “Who are you, and what are you doing trespassing on the holy ground of The Most Sacred and Holy Cult of the Most Mighty Digbat, All Hear Its Name and Tremble!” On cue, the other ten members went “Oooooh!” in spooky voices.
Jay tried very hard not to laugh, but it was hard. He’d run into some crazy cultists who appeared to be worshiping the impossible offspring of two of the most mundane Pokémon in the world. He adjusted the smirk that was forming into an understanding and gentle smile. Humouring the assembled madmen seemed to be best, until he could back slowly away and then run for saner climates.
“So, that’s Digbat is it?” He asked innocently, indicating the large statue.
“Indeed it is!” spoke the moustached one, in tones of great importance. “Yea! It is the mightiest of all Pokémon on this planet, boundless in power and capable of anything! It is a legend beyond all legends, and one day it will return! And then we will rise to power and the world will be ours!” He coughed, aware that he might have said too much. He rallied, puffing out his stomach and glaring more fiercely than ever. “But who are ye, unbidden intruder, what is your purpose here? Speak!”
Ignoring the question, because he didn’t want the crazy guy knowing his name, Jay said “I’ve never heard of this Digbat before, I didn’t know it was a Legendary. Let’s have a look at what my Pokédex says, hmm?” Reaching into his pocket and flipping the dex open, he noticed, too late, that many of the kneelers had risen up slightly. Much too cheerfully for the situation, the dex beeped. “Diglett, the Mole Pokémon. It digs underground and chews on tree roots, sticking its head out only when the sun isn't bright.”
All eleven cultists leapt to their feet with screams of rage. “Oops. I’m sure it’s mistaken…?” Jay was fairly sure he’d just put his foot in it. He started edging backwards towards the door, but he bumped into the solid form of a Sudowudo behind him. He took a few steps forward again, so he was still in his own bubble of space. He felt that things had taken a definite turn for the worse.
Walrus Moustache, purple in the face with rage, snarled at Jay, spraying him with spittle from several yards away. “Digbat is NOT a mere Diglett! It is so much more! You come in here to our sacred retreat and you mock us! You need to be taught a lesson! Seize him!” The other 10 cultists and both Sudowudo headed for Jay, who cursed under his breath, switched off his torch, and dodged to the left. Simultaneously, he reached to his belt and drew a Pokéball, throwing it at his feet.
“Cyndaquil, Smokescreen now!” Bewildered, the little fire mouse obeyed, covering the already dark area with thick black smoke. Hiding close to a corner, Jay heard the humming noise of a computer, and looked down. Indeed, there was a computer and technical sensory typed gizmos attached to it. “That’s odd”, he thought to himself, and was then interrupted by a cursing figure who leapt at him, robes billowing around him. Jay dodged around him and then recalled Cyndaquil, who was being menaced by the Sudowudo, although the sounds coming from the thick smoke indicated a spectacular melee involving at least eight people and four Pokémon. Spotting a safe route towards the door, Jay sprinted for it, shoulder charging the door so hard that it hit the rock behind it with a crash and fell off its hinges with a crackle off splintered wood.
Bolting down the tunnel in the dark, Jay heard persuing footsteps behind them, and saw the flicker of fire on the walls out of the corner of his eyes. Suddenly, he heard a shout from behind him, growing quieter as he grew further away. “Let him go! We’ll track him down later, put the word out and find out what the sneak knows!”
Still running, he burst out of the tunnel, pausing only to roll back the fake wall. Then he grabbed his hat from under the bench and sprinted out of the cavern, pulling out his torch and shining it wildly over his shoulder in search of pursuers. His mind was racing, but despite everything he wasn’t too scared. Trying to reassure himself, he thought “Good luck trying to find me. I was wearing dark clothes in a dark room, they can’t even have seen me very well. And I wasn’t wearing my hat. I normally wear my hat.” But there was a darker side to the situation, he knew. Why did they think he knew something? What did they think he knew? What was that computer doing in cave full of crazy cultists? And what was the leader talking about when he was raving about world domination? Surely not real world domination? He thought of the Most Mighty Digbat, the Pokémon that he didn’t think existed. Well, he hoped it didn’t. He really didn’t know.
Confused, and if he was honest, a bit scared, Jay jogged on through the cave, wishing he was in Cherrygrove City already.
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Comment, lest I set the Most Mighty Digbat upon ye!
BUMP. Right, moving the plot on now. Introducing a cult of crazy people who believe in a Pokémon that probably doesn't exist. I wonder what they're up to...
__________
11
In the shadows of the mountain, Jay shivered. The sun had barely crept up above the towering peaks, but he had a feeling that it wasn’t going to get much warmer as the day passed. Dressing while still curled up in his sleeping bag in his tiny tent, Jay zipped up his hoody as far as he could, and joking wished he’d picked an item on headgear that had earflaps. But that would have been silly.
Gently awakening Cyndaquil, who was dozing in a corner, he unzipped the tent flaps and stepped outside, yawning and stretching. He called to Cyndaquil to come out so he could stow the tent, but the little fire mouse just curled up tighter. Jay recalled it instead, because he was too cold to argue. After a hurried breakfast, he set off at a brisk pace to warm up and before long he’d arrived at the impassable bulk of a large mountain. Impassable, that was, except for a large tunnel that had been carved through it. A large signpost was nailed next to it, upon which was written “Cherrygrove City” with an arrow pointing into the tunnel. Even Jay’s wobbly sense of direction would have trouble misinterpreting the way.
The tunnel was twice as high and thrice as wide as Jay, with dim yellowish lamps strung infrequently as far as the eye could see, before it bent around a corner. “Well, this will certainly make a change of scenery. Onwards!” Extracting his torch, he flicked it on and strode forth into the musky depths of the cave, Cyndaquil scampering at his heels.
As his eyes became more accustomed to the gloom, Jay saw that the tunnel wasn’t just a plain and empty passage. In some places, there were large caves deep in murky shadows that stretched back further than he could make out, and in other places the ceiling disappeared, and far above he could hear the high pitched shrieks of Zubat and other cave-inhabiting creatures. For a long time, he didn’t see any other Pokémon, but suddenly the ground a few steps before him cracked open and a shape dug up from below. Jay leapt back in terror, shining his torch wildly and trying to discern what this intruder was. It was a Diglett, which looked curiously at him and then popped back underground. From Jay’s feet came a squeak of laughter, and he sighed, embarrassed. “It looked bigger when I couldn’t see it” he mumbled, by way of explanation.
Carrying on for several more hours, Jay saw nothing more terrifying than a few more Diglett and Dugtrio, Zubat and Geodude. He came to a large hollow in the tunnel, which widened to such a large space as to accommodate a Pokémon battlefield. There were rough wooden benches along both sides of the field, and Jay took a seat on one of them, fishing in his rucksack for lunch. He ate in silence, almost dumbstruck by the forces of nature that had somehow carved out such a phenomenal space so long ago, undisturbed for so long. He wondered who had found it, who had been tunnelling and stumbled across this hidden space. What had prompted them to put a battlefield in the centre, and what spectacular battles had occurred here? Jay could only imagine, seeing scenes in his minds eye of spectacular battles raging, flying around the darkened roves above, element attacks smashing and scorching the surrounding rock.
Finding his voice, he spoke in hushed tones to Cyndaquil, who was gazing around with interested eyes. “Pretty impressive, huh? You don’t see this kind of thing everyday, that’s for sure.” The little mouse squeaked in reply, and then reared up in alarm as its squeak echoed back, eek-eeek-eee. Jay laughed and said reassuringly “No need to worry, it’s just your echo. Listen.” He whistled a loud, high-pitched whistle. It echoed back to him, but just as it should have died down, more screeching could be heard, getting louder. Jay looked about, puzzled. Why could he hear the flap of leathery wings? He looked up and saw several hundred confused and angry Zubat flapping straight towards him. “Oh, damn…”
Roughly grabbing his rucksack and Cyndaquil, to indignant protestations from the latter, he ducked down next to the bench, head in his hands and curled up in a ball to hide and defend himself. He flicked off his torch just before the Zubat swept down all around him, some even flying so low that they cuffed him with their wings. One knocked his hat off his head and sent it tumbling under the bench. Luckily, they didn’t seem to notice him, or didn’t care enough to attack him. Then there was silence once more as the Zubat flapped away into the darkness.
Uncurling, Jay flicked the torch back on and laughed out loud. The beam had fallen on the side of the bench, and someone had carved a crude drawing on it. It looked like a Diglett, but it had fangs and bat-like wings. There was a crude arrow underneath the drawing, pointing towards the cave wall a few meters behind the bench. Curious, Jay walked slowly in the direction the arrow pointed, sweeping the floor beneath him with the bright white beam of the torch. Cyndaquil followed with slightly more apprehension than its trainer. Having reached the wall and found no untoward markings on the floor, Jay set to work on the wall, shining his torch methodically up and down as if he were painting a fence.
Before long, he gave an excited cry. “Look at this! It’s the same… erm… thing.” Reaching out to touch it, he stumbled on a loose rock underfoot and pitched forward into the wall. To his shock, he hit the wall and kept on moving, the wall sliding back in front of him. With nothing but thin air to break his fall, Jay sprawled forward and onto the floor. From somewhere behind him, Cyndaquil squeaked a chuckle. “Quiet you. That was entirely intentional. Except, you know, the whole falling over bit.” Rallying, he said in triumph, “hey now, I’ve found some kind of secret passage. That’s not something you see everyday, huh? Shall we go take a look?”
Cyndaquil reared up onto its hind legs and shook its head. “Oh come on, you coward. It’ll be an adventure! Who knows what lies down this tunnel. We could be the first to set foot in it for hundreds of years!” Still, Cyndaquil remained unmoving. “Fine. You’ll miss out on the fun. But you’ll have to come with me, I’m not going to abandon you in some dark cave. Return.”
And so Jay carried on alone, torch held high, for the tunnel was narrow and unlit. He stopped suddenly, feeling his head. “Oh blast, I’ve forgotten my hat! Eh, can’t go back now, on with the adventure! I’ll pick it up later”, he reminded himself. After a minute or two of slow, careful walking, Jay came to another door. This was small and wooden. Above it, in letters that looked disturbingly like Unown, was written:
“Ye that accept the truth of Most Mighty Digbat be welcomed here. All others, begone!”
Most normal people would turn back at this point, hurrying away with apprehensive backward glances other their shoulders. Jay was not most normal people. He was adventurous, but also blessed (or cursed) with an obliviousness to danger that rivalled that of a lemming. Convinced in his mind that everything was perfectly normal, he pushed at the door. Nothing happened. Bending in closer to look at the door, he saw that in smaller letters on the door itself, the word “Push” was written. Jay sighed, and pulled the door towards him. It opened, and he stepped forward, torch raised.
The first thing Jay saw was a circle of kneeling figures clad in brown looking curiosly at him. They were in a rough circle, arrayed around a small fire in the centre of the small cave. The second thing Jay saw was the massive statue behind them on the far wall. Twice as tall as a man and immaculately carved, it was Diglett shaped, but with wings, fangs and fierce expression. The third thing Jay saw were the two Sudowudo, one of on each side of him. They were as tall as him and looked fierce, a far cry from the occasional wild ones he’d see back at home in Redwood Town.
There was an awkward silence as the eleven robed figures stared at him, and Jay stared back. “Um… hello?” He ventured.
One of the monks threw back his hood. He was bald, but this was compensated for by a spectacularly large walrus moustache, waxed into curls at the ends. His eyebrows, grey like his moustache, were narrowed. “Who are you, and what are you doing trespassing on the holy ground of The Most Sacred and Holy Cult of the Most Mighty Digbat, All Hear Its Name and Tremble!” On cue, the other ten members went “Oooooh!” in spooky voices.
Jay tried very hard not to laugh, but it was hard. He’d run into some crazy cultists who appeared to be worshiping the impossible offspring of two of the most mundane Pokémon in the world. He adjusted the smirk that was forming into an understanding and gentle smile. Humouring the assembled madmen seemed to be best, until he could back slowly away and then run for saner climates.
“So, that’s Digbat is it?” He asked innocently, indicating the large statue.
“Indeed it is!” spoke the moustached one, in tones of great importance. “Yea! It is the mightiest of all Pokémon on this planet, boundless in power and capable of anything! It is a legend beyond all legends, and one day it will return! And then we will rise to power and the world will be ours!” He coughed, aware that he might have said too much. He rallied, puffing out his stomach and glaring more fiercely than ever. “But who are ye, unbidden intruder, what is your purpose here? Speak!”
Ignoring the question, because he didn’t want the crazy guy knowing his name, Jay said “I’ve never heard of this Digbat before, I didn’t know it was a Legendary. Let’s have a look at what my Pokédex says, hmm?” Reaching into his pocket and flipping the dex open, he noticed, too late, that many of the kneelers had risen up slightly. Much too cheerfully for the situation, the dex beeped. “Diglett, the Mole Pokémon. It digs underground and chews on tree roots, sticking its head out only when the sun isn't bright.”
All eleven cultists leapt to their feet with screams of rage. “Oops. I’m sure it’s mistaken…?” Jay was fairly sure he’d just put his foot in it. He started edging backwards towards the door, but he bumped into the solid form of a Sudowudo behind him. He took a few steps forward again, so he was still in his own bubble of space. He felt that things had taken a definite turn for the worse.
Walrus Moustache, purple in the face with rage, snarled at Jay, spraying him with spittle from several yards away. “Digbat is NOT a mere Diglett! It is so much more! You come in here to our sacred retreat and you mock us! You need to be taught a lesson! Seize him!” The other 10 cultists and both Sudowudo headed for Jay, who cursed under his breath, switched off his torch, and dodged to the left. Simultaneously, he reached to his belt and drew a Pokéball, throwing it at his feet.
“Cyndaquil, Smokescreen now!” Bewildered, the little fire mouse obeyed, covering the already dark area with thick black smoke. Hiding close to a corner, Jay heard the humming noise of a computer, and looked down. Indeed, there was a computer and technical sensory typed gizmos attached to it. “That’s odd”, he thought to himself, and was then interrupted by a cursing figure who leapt at him, robes billowing around him. Jay dodged around him and then recalled Cyndaquil, who was being menaced by the Sudowudo, although the sounds coming from the thick smoke indicated a spectacular melee involving at least eight people and four Pokémon. Spotting a safe route towards the door, Jay sprinted for it, shoulder charging the door so hard that it hit the rock behind it with a crash and fell off its hinges with a crackle off splintered wood.
Bolting down the tunnel in the dark, Jay heard persuing footsteps behind them, and saw the flicker of fire on the walls out of the corner of his eyes. Suddenly, he heard a shout from behind him, growing quieter as he grew further away. “Let him go! We’ll track him down later, put the word out and find out what the sneak knows!”
Still running, he burst out of the tunnel, pausing only to roll back the fake wall. Then he grabbed his hat from under the bench and sprinted out of the cavern, pulling out his torch and shining it wildly over his shoulder in search of pursuers. His mind was racing, but despite everything he wasn’t too scared. Trying to reassure himself, he thought “Good luck trying to find me. I was wearing dark clothes in a dark room, they can’t even have seen me very well. And I wasn’t wearing my hat. I normally wear my hat.” But there was a darker side to the situation, he knew. Why did they think he knew something? What did they think he knew? What was that computer doing in cave full of crazy cultists? And what was the leader talking about when he was raving about world domination? Surely not real world domination? He thought of the Most Mighty Digbat, the Pokémon that he didn’t think existed. Well, he hoped it didn’t. He really didn’t know.
Confused, and if he was honest, a bit scared, Jay jogged on through the cave, wishing he was in Cherrygrove City already.
__________
Comment, lest I set the Most Mighty Digbat upon ye!
Anyway, next bit. This is another emotion-y and self-realisation-y bit, but not so angsty as the one I did a while ago. Basically, something to connect one set-piece to the next.