This is my Fan-fic for Max Shade 4's contest. I hope everyone enjoys it, atleast as much as I have writing it.
Okay, I know it may not be very exciting the first few chapters. So far the best chapters are the prologue and the 6th. So even if you don't like it at first keep reading, and by chapter 6 you'll be captivated. This is going to be a pretty long tory though (atleast 20 chapters of longish length).
Prologue: A Barren Land
THUNK!
The mysterious man's staff hit the hard rocky ground. He looked up to see the ravaged land before him. If one could describe it in one word it would be ugly, but that single word did not even begin to describe it in the tiniest sense. The land before him was once lively and joyfull, not too long ago; he could still remember standing happily in the town that once stood here, unaware of the events to come. Now it was dead.
He walked several steps forward until he reached a pile of rubble that used to be the beautiful town statue. He was about to sit upon it to think about the events of the last few weeks when he heard a growl coming from somewhere near. Before he could move a muscle a Houndoom leaped into the air above him. With his quick reflexes, he took out a pokeball from his belt and threw it into the air as he dodged quickly to the left. He had learned from previous experiences. A second later the Houndoom landed exactly where he had stood a second before. With a flash a Lucario appeared from the pokeball.
"Lucario, Force Palm!" Even while the words began forming in his mouth Lucario shot forward bashing its hand into the Houndoom with powerfull force, knocking it into the rock. Before the Houndoom could get up he called out again, "Quick Attack!" Again Lucario shot into the Houndoom at incredible speed. It was down. "Good job Lucario, you better stay out just in case."
It was an unnesasary precaution, they weren't attacked on the slow walk to the place where he was headed. "Good job, Lucario. Return!" With a flash Lucario dissapeared into its pokeball. A few feet infront of him was a small tunnel entrance. He pulled out a flashlight and turned it on. He walked in. It was not cold and damp as he had expected, being in caves plenty of times before, but hot and dry. As he walked he looked head on. The ground sloped steadily downward, until he reached a final, huge cavern.
He stopped. He had finally reached his destination. With a firm voice he spoke out loud,"I have come for you. I would like it if you showed yourself."
It was a few seconds before he received an answer. The ground rummbled, slightly at first, but grew harder and harder until...it stopped. There was a small gust of wind as the shadows infront if him grew longer. A massive shape was just about to show itself. Even though he looked confident, inside he was raging with fear.
Part 1: Events of a Time before the Days of Destruction
Chapter 1: The Good Ol' Times
Carter was walking along the edge of the road when his friend Jack ran over to him. "What do you want, Jack?"
"I heard that you were moving to the Sinnoh Region in a few days, so I wanted to come over to your house, but you weren't there. So what do you want to do?"
"I don't know, I guess we could go down to the theater and watch that new movie, Pokemon of the Apocalypse, or whatever."
"Sounds good, lets go!" The two twelve year olds ran off towards Slateport Theater. They walked up to the front counter and bought two tickets, they were lucky enough to get the last tickets to the first showing of Pokemon of the Apocalypse. getting good seats, though was a different matter. After getting popcorn and all of the other goodies such as candy, pop, and more candy.
The only remaining seats were two seats at the way front, where nobody, except a few wackos, likes to sit. Just then the previews ended. Carter watched the movie in awe. When it was over they came out of the movie theater talking about nothing except the movie.Jack was speaking first. "Do you remember the part when Chuck battled Carry, and won with his Feebas? It was amzing, a Feebas beating a Cacturne!"
"Yeah, I know. My favorite part, though was when Chuck fought off the dark pokemon and arrived at the Temple of Eternal Darkness, and crushed Darkrai and its head minions."
"Same here, that battle was AWESOME! The way he beat the Aerodactyl and the Houndoom was amazing!" They continued to talk about it all the way to Carter's house. Inside a group of Machokes and Machamps were packing and carrying everthing out to the moving truck.
"Hi kids," said Carter's mom as they walked in.
"Hi mom." Carter lead Jack up to his room. Covering the walls were his pokemon posters, his floor was a mess of books on various subjects, such as A Guide to Sinnoh, A Hearthome Mystery, History of the Docks of Canalave, and The Great Pastorian Marsh. The only other thing in there was a bed, everything else was already packed.
"Jeeze, you've been doing a lot of research lately haven't you?" asked Jack.
"No, not really, I haven't gotten around to those books yet, but I am reading this." Carter picked up a book next to his bed. Its title was Sinnoh: Myths, Legends, and Lore part 1. On the floor next to it were parts 2 and 3. "I'm alomst done with this one. So far my favorite has been the Mystery of Dark Side of the Great Marsh. It said that if any of the stories in the book were true this would most likely be one of them."
"What is it, though?" asked Jack.
"It's a long story,well not really, but in a short summary I'd have to say, heck why don't you read it? Here, it's on page 112." He handed Jack the book, who flipped the pages until he reached page 112.
Mystery of the Dark Side of the Great Marsh
If any of the stories in this book were true, this would probably be one of them and as you can probably tell one of our more recent ones.
A man named Cranis was walking through the Pastoria Great Marsh when he heard a squelch, and another, and anothe, and another. He was a Marsh ranger, meaning that he made sure that nothng wrong happened in the marsh. He turned to the sound. It was dark, so he turned on his flashlight and pointed it in the direction he heard the sound.
He didn't see anything. He called out to alert the other Rangers that something was wrong. A moment later he was gone. shortly after another ranger arrived to see a pair of foot prints that abruptly stopped several feet from the marsh itself. He yelled, and he to was gone. The only way we know that this went on is that from not far away another ranger witnessed a big shape emerging quickly from the marsh and then submerging back into it again quickly. When it was gone so was a Ranger.
After the second disapearance, he ran to the Ranger House, and reprted what he saw. he described it as a big black shape, although color didn't help much because of the darkness, about the size of a small shack, had several appendages, almost like vines, that would move around, and large horns. Before there was no sightings of any such creature ever being spotted in the whole marsh or surrounding area. further research showed that no pokemon of that description has ever been seen. Some think that it is a sign of the apocalypse (obviously most scientists have already trashed that idea), some think that it is a new pokemon never seen before it was too late (scientists like this idea, but cannot find much proof of this pokemon's existance), and some think that the man who spotted it was just seeing things (researchers have thought ths through and think that this is the most likely case, but it doesn't help prove how the two men disapeared).
With all these different possibilities researchers searched the marsh, particularly the area that the accident occured. After only a few minutes of searching they found some glasses that belonged to one of the Rangers, but no bodies. The glasses, though, were not found in that area of the marsh, but up in a tree of a section of the marsh far from the area of the accident. No sightings of this creature have been found since then. A few days after the searching was over, reseachers discovered that the man, we will not tell you his name for the sake of his privacy, who witnessed the accident has had a record of drunkeness and taking drug overdose. After this was discovered little more has been researched on this mystery.
Jack read it and gave it back to Carter. "It's okay, not great, but okay."
"It's not the the story that I like about it, well it is kind of, but I was also thinking about this part. He pointed a note below it.
A reward has been posted for anybody who can solve this mystery completely. The reward is as of yet unknown.
Chapter 2: Moving Day
It was three days after the two boys went to the theater. "Carter, get in the truck!" called out his mom. Carter picked up one of the books and walked out to the truck. As soon as he stepped outside he felt a chill surge through his bodylike electricity. It was mid-summer in Slateport, yet even a chill that lasted a second was unheard of in the hot Slateport summer.
Oh well, it's not that big of a deal, he thought. He opened the door on the right side of the truck and hopped in. he put on his seat belt and closed the door behind him as his mom locked the door as she left the house. Man, I can't believe we're leaving, it's like a great but horrible dream.
A moment later the truck was driving off toward the docks where a ship would take them to Canalave and from there they would drive to Sandgem town. The ship didn't arrive in Canalave until the next day, almost 24 hours. After they arrived, before they started going onward to the new house in Sandgem they stopped for a bite to eat in Canalave. The restaurant was nice one looking off over the ocean. It was called Jewel of Canalave. They were seated at a table right next to the window. Carter looked over the menu and as soon as his eyes hit pizza he ordered. His mom decided to obviously have a healthier choice such as caeser salad.
"And what would you like to drink?"
"Dream Soda, I wonder what it's like," said Carter.
"A banana smoothie looks good, I'll have that," said Carter's mom.
The drinks arrived a minute later shortly followed by their food. Carter stuffed down the pizza, and gulped down the soda, which just like it was called was a dream soda. Later when the bill arrived Carter mom's eyes scanned the expensive prices. Then she got to dream soda. "What a soda worth that much!?" Even though she didn't like the prices she had to pay. Afterwords they left the restaurant and hopped back into the truck. They arrived in Sandgem late at night.
Carter looked at their new house. It was beautiful as far as he could tell. The movers had already brought in most of their stuff. Most of it was just packed and piled in boxes, but some of the furniture was already in place. His mom moved around some of the furniture, just the light ones, while Carter explored the rest of the house. it was two stories high and the bedrooms were upstairs along with a bathroom. Downstairs was the kitchen, living room, another bathroom, and the entrance room. All that was in his room were some of his books that he brought in and a mattres with a pillow and a blanket.
Carter slept good that night. he woke up fully refreshed at 10:00 the following day. He immediatley ran downstairs to see his mom making pancakes. He sat down at the table and read part two of the Sinnoh: Myths, Legends, and Lore series. he was just about to finsh the fifth story when his mom flopped two pancakes onto his plate. He drowned them with butter and syrup, before plowing his fork into one. After he was done eating his mom told him to check the mail. Hmm, that's strange mom never asks me to check the mail, oh well. he walked outside and over to the mailbox. Inside was a fat package that almost filled the whole mailbox. He pulled it out. He looked at who it was for and was somewhat surprised when he noticed that it was for him. While was walking inside h started to tear it open. Apparently his mom ordered something for him.
A minute later he tore to the heart of the package. There was a letter.
Dear Carter,
I hope you like the new house, I picked it out myself. Anyway, attached are two things that I think you'll really like. One is a poketch and the other is a pokeball, with a pokemon a caught myself. See what it is for yourself. Why don't you visit me sometime, I'm currently in Snowpoint, but in a few days the rest of the team and I are going to Canalave. Oh and ask your mom if you can go on, let's say a journey?
Good luck,
Dad
After reading it he quickly grabbed for the pokeball and threw it into the air. "Go, pokemon!" With a flash a small pokemon appeared on the dining room table. It was a Riolu, one of Carter's favorite pokemon. He was overjoyed. He grabbed the Riolu and gave it a big hug.
"Oh, congradulations honey." His mom was smiling. "Don't squish it," she added.
"Umm, mom."
"Yes?"
"I was, err, wondering if I could go on a journey?" he asked unsure.
"Oh, of course. Your father and I already talked about it and said you were good to go. When are you going to leave?" she asked, a tear already forming in her eye.
"I was err, thinking of leaving tod..." he saw his mom's tear, "I mean tomorrow."
"Wonderful, now why don't you go upstairs and get your things ready to go." She nudged him towards the stairs.
Without a hesitation, he ran up the stairs and immediately started packing some books, clothes, and money. After he was done he ran downstairs and called out,"Bye Mom!"
"I thought you weren't leaving till tomorrow?"
"I am, I'm just going outside to explore Sandgem and maybe train Riolu some." With that he closed the door behind him. Once outside he put on his new running shoes that he got just a few days before they moved. First he set out towards the beach.
Chapter 3:The Beach
There weren't a lot of people at the beach that day, only about three people excluding himself. That's good, he thought. After he took off his shoes he walked forward until his feet could touch the damp sand crunching under his feet. "Go, Riolu!" As the Pokemon landed a kid looked over. A moment later a kid about his age was next to him.
"I see you have a Riolu, want to battle?" he asked.
"Sure, but first my name is Carter, what's yours?" said Carter.
"I'll tell you, if you can beat me." The kid smiled smugly.
"Okay then, your'e on!" Carter replied loudly.
"Go, Charmander!" he yelled as a pokeball went spinning through the air. Riolu began running forward, it ran faster, and faster, until it hit air. Charmander landed behind it and used Ember. The flames scorched across Riolu's back. Riolu turned around. "Riolu err, Quick Atatck again!" Once again Riolu shot forward, but this time just as Charmander jumped, Riolu Jumped up and hit it hard into the water.
"Charmander!" The other kid ran over to the water and pulled out his Charmander. "Your Riolu's mean!" After those few words he ran away.
"Well, good job anyway, Riolu. Return." With a flash Riolu was back in its pokeball. Carter walked to some grass to brush the sand off of his feet before putting his shoes back on. Man, that kid is a jerk. Carter walked away back towards the town. He decided it was best to stock up and get ready at the local pokemart. Since he was new to Sandgem he had to ask several people where it was, so almost half an hour later he arrived at the small pokemart. He was about to open a door when a man stepped out and almost knocked him down to the ground.
"Oh, I'm sorry," spoke the old man gruffly.
"That's okay," replied Carter. "I feel like I've seen you before, though."
"Yes, you probably have, I am Prof. Rowan," answered the old man. "You look like your old enough to have a pokemon, do you have one?"
"Yeah, I just got a Riolu this morning!"
"A Riolu, huh, a rare pokemon. Once it evolves, it will be a very loyal and valuable companion. Say, why don't you come round my lab later."
"Sure, that sounds great, but where is it?"
"It's just two blocks that way, turn left- wait a second" he pulled a map out of his pocket,"-it's right here. You can keep this map if you'd like." Rowan handed nim the map and started to walk off toward his lab.
"Thank you, Prof. Rowan!" After saying good bye, he walked into the store. Luckily, it wasn't very crowded today, and he was able to get some potions, and other items in only a few minutes. He crammed all of his stuff into his backpack and took out the town map. According to the map the lab was only three blocks away. He would have gotten to the lab sooner if he ran, but he was too tired, so instead it took him about eight minutes. As he walked in one of the proffesor's assistants greeted him.
"The prof. is just through this door," said the assistant cheerily.
Well, he's in a good mood. I wonder why. Carter while thinking almost bumped into the door. He stopped himself just an inch away. Without a sound the door opened, revealing a large room. At his desk, at the other end of the room, Prof. Rowan was reading a letter.
"It's okay, boy, come here," called the prof. Carter walked quickly over to Rowan's desk. "I just received a letter from my friend in Oreburgh saying that he has discovered something amazing, and that he wants me to go and take a look. If you would be as kind to go and see it for me. As much as I would like to I have a lot to do here at the lab. So, what do you say?"
"Uh, sure!"
"Great, now his name is Barry, he spends a lot of his time in the mine. Also while you're there why don't you battle the gym leader. Thank you, now, it's almost time for lunch so you better head off home."
The next day Carter got up at seven, shot out of bed, got dressed, gathered his stuff, and ate breakfast all in ten minutes. "See ya Mom. Don't worry I'll be back soon, I'm doing something for Prof. Rowan!"
"Okay, see you, honey!" she cried as he closed the front door behind him.
He breathed a deep breath. I can't believe it's finally starting! With that he was off.
Chapter 4: Jubilife Troubles
It was two days later when Carter arrived in Jubilife. On his way he had caught two pokemon. One was Shinx and the other was a Starly. It was almost night. As soon as he stepped into Jubilife a man walked up to him. "I see that you have a poketch already. I'll sell you an application for only 100 poke. What do you think?"
"Can I see what it is first?"
"Sorry, but it's policy. First you pay, then you recieve."
"Fine, here's the money." Carter handed the man 100 poke.
"Thank you young boy. Now as I promised an application." He pulled a small chip from his pocket and insterted it into Carter's poketch. There was a whirring sound and a click. "Now look at your marvelous new app. Have a nice day!" A second later the man was gone.
He clicked the next app button, but instead of something happening the screen went blank. He clicked it again. Nothing happened. When he clicked it a third time a message came up saying "NO DATA TO BE FOUND." What?! he thought. That guy must have either wiped it's memory or stolen it somehow. He walked over to the nearest person. "Hey did you see that guy in the green andyellow suit run by a second ago?"
The tall lady answered, "Yes, why?"
"He deleted all of my poketch's memory! Which way did he go?"
"That sounds serious, I think he went that way." She pointed toward the town pokecenter. Immediately Carter ran toward the pokecenter. Meanwhile the lady snickered. What a stupid little boy.
Carter burst through the pokemon center door. Everyone's head turned toward him, none of which were the thief's. Carter sighed. Darn maybe the lady was wrong...or she lied. A moment later he left the pokemon center and looked over by where the lady was, but she was gone, just like her apparent comrade.
Carter was about to cry when a strong voice came from behind him. "I think I can help you. Someone stole your poketch data, right? I overheard you tallking with that one lady a minute ago. I don't think I can help you get it back, but I can help you get some new data, though."
"Really, how?"
"Follow me."
"How can I trust you?"
"You don't have to, all I have is my word...as a Ranger."
"A Ranger?"
"What? You haven't heard of rangers?"
"Nope, I just moved here a few days ago from Slateport."
"So I guess you haven't heard of Team Galaxy either. That man who stole your data was a disguised Team Galaxy member. Same with that lady. Now Rangers, well it's dificult. I'll tell you later." He trudged off toward a tall building. Carter had no choice but to follow him. As he got closer to the building he looked higher and higher up into the sky to see the top. Eventually they arrived at the building's front doors. With a quiet whirring sound the doors opened and the Ranger lead him to the front desk.
"Hello Carter,how are you doing?" said the receptionist.
"How do you know-"
"Fine, Elen, except this kid-"
"Wait, so your name is Carter, too?" asked Carter.
"Yes. Anyway, this kid 's poketch data was stolen by Team Galaxy, and I was wondering if you could restore it."
"Absolutely Carters." She snickered. "Let me see the poketch." Carter handed her the poketch. "Okay, it'll be just a minute." She turned around and put a sticky note on the poketch saying "Restore data" and put it in a case that when she placed it in a tube it rushed up to the floor above. A minute later it came rushing back down. "Okay, good as new." She handed him the poketch back.
The first thing he did was check to if it was workin right. It was. "Thank you."
Ranger Carter said,"Okay now, it's time to leave." He walked out the door. Carter, not knowing why, followed. "Great, so where are you headed, Carter?"
"Well, I need to go to Oreburgh, but I guess, I'll stay here for a while."
"Sounds good to me. Where should we stay?"
Carter looked up at him beaming. He had a travelling companion, Ranger Carter.
Chapter 5: Mount Coronet
The next day the two Carters left Jubilife and headed west. Only two hours efter leaving they arrived at Mount Coronet. When Carter tried to see the top he couldn't because the clouds hid it from view. The cave was dark, damp, and murky. Ranger took a pokeball from his belt.
"Go, Elekid!" The pokeball released the small pokemon into the cave. "Elekid, Flash!" Elekid charged up electricity in its arms, and with a blinding flash lit up the cave. "Strange, usually this cave is brighter, because of the torches throughout the cave, but somebody must have done something to them."
It wasn't long before they saw a bright area of the cavern up ahead. "If I'm right then that must be whoever did this," said Carter. The two Carters slowly snuck toward the cavern after telling Elekid to stop emmiting light. Sure enough, inside the cavern were two people sitting down with about a hundred torches sitting inbetween them, like a campfire.
Ranger jumped forward,"Thieves! Go, Scyther!" His Scyther leaped into the roomy area. One of the two quickly stood up. "Go, Steelix! ha, you're way out of your league, ranger. Iron Tail!" The large pokemon swept its tail at Scyther.
"Scyther, dodge, and use double team!" Scyther dodged the attack succesfully. A moment later about twenty Scythers filled the cave. "Now Scyther, Quick Attack!"
"Grrrr, Steelix Metal Sound!" As the twenty Scythers leapt forward at incredible speed, Steelix sent out a crushing chorus of white noise, destroying all of the fake Scythers, leaving the real one crashing into Steelix. "Quickly, Bind!" Before the Scyther could jump back the large steel snake wrapped around it, slowly crushing it.
"Go, Riolu!" Carter threw his pokeball into the air. "Riolu, Quick Attack!" Before the fox-like pokemon could hit Steelix, a Wartortle appeared using bubblebeam. The attack, knocked Riolu, back into the cave wall. Right after, the Wartortle began charging forward with Skull Bash! "Riolu, wait... Now, Force Palm!" Just before the Wartortle hit Riolu, the Riolu shot its right hand forward. The two pokemon collided, but riolu was still the one knocked back into the wall.
"Wartortle," cried the other enemy, "use Skull Bash again!" Yet again, the Wartortle lowered its head and began running forward.
"Now, Counter!" As the Wartortle crahed into Riolu, Riolu grabbed it, span around, and bashed its glowing head into the ground. "Force Palm!"
At that moment Ranger Carter's Syther fell to the ground, as he called it back into its pokeball. "Okay then, go Marshtomp! Use Mud Shot!" The blue and oragne mudfish shot a stream of powerfull mud at Steelix.
"No, Steelix! The Steelix wobbled from the blow, but retaliated by burrowing into the ground.
"Oh no, Marshtomp. Get against the wall!" Marshtomp made it in time, but that was the bad part.
"Steelix, now!" Steelix shot out of the wall right into Marshtomp's back causing it to slide forward harshly against the rocky ground.
Wartortle, dazed, slowly got up, but not fast enough, because a second later Riolu's palm plowed into its head, defeating the turtle pokemon.
"Wartortle, return!" called its trainer. "Go, Totodile!"
"Totototo!" The Totodile was really energetic.
"Totodile, water gun!" A gush af water headed straight for Riolu. Riolu had no time to dodge it.
Before it collapsed to the ground Carter called it back. "Go, Shinx! Tackle!" Shinx ran forward into the Totodile.
The battles raged on for another few minutes, until all that was left was Ranger Carter's Elekid, Carter's opponent's Mudkip, and Ranger's opponent's second Onix. The enemies, which they discovered were the two creaps who stole Carter's data, had the upper hand.
"Elekid, Low Kick on Onix!" Elekid swung its leg forward at Onix's lower body. The move was super effective, finally defeating the man's Onix. "Darn, it's up to you Nina!"
"Mudkip, Mud Slap!"
"Elekid dodge!" but it was too late the move weakened his Elekid greatly. "Elekid Thundershock!" Mudkip dodged it easily as a result of Elekid's lowered accuracy.
"Mudkip, finish it!" Mudkip used Mud Slap.
"No, Elekid!' cried the Carters in unison.
"Elekid return! You did good, especially against your weakness," soothed Ranger.
Nina handed the man a revive, who used it on his Steelix. "Go, Steelix. Take care of these people!" As they tried to run the Steelix blocked the way out.
A few minutes later they found themselves being held by Steelix's crushing body grip. Although it didn't crush them to hard, it was holding them just hard enought to cause them slight pain. They watched as the pair of Galactic grunts took the torches, tied a rope at the end with no fire, and pushed them through holes in the wall. "Commander Mars will be very pleased," said the man who they learned was Bart. Nina pushed a final torch into the only hole in the wall that didn't have a rope sticking out.
"That's all of them," she said. "Now all we have to do is wa-" The ground began to shake. It steadily grew, until Steelix's grip loosened just long enough for Ranger and Carter to escape. Instead of leaving they hid in a corner, and watched as all of the ropes went tight and started to slither down their holes. Before the ends could go into the holes they stopped, because the ends were all tied together in a large knot in the center of the cavern. Just then the shaking stopped and Carter heard a hissing sound. When he looked at the holes again he saw fire snaking up them, but amazingly the ropes held.
It was almost a minute later when the lines of fire met at the knot in the center of the room at the exact same time. The four people watched as the sound of crackling fire met their ears. Nothing happened. Even after several minutes all eyes were still stuck staring at the knot in the middle of the cavern. Another minute passed, and another, and another, and even another, and still nothing happened.
Carter sighed, all that for nothing. Although I feel like something is going to ha-
The shaking began again, startling him. The most interesting thing that happened wasn't the ground beggining to shake again, but that Carter had a sudden sinking feeling. The ropes were begging to droop. We must be moving down, he thought. To see if he was right he looked at where they had entered the cavern. Sure enough, the place was blocked by smooth black rock. Wait a second, black rock? The rest of the rock here has been the normal brownish color.
"You noticed too, didn't you?"
Carter looked at Ranger. "What do you think is happening, Ranger?"
"To tell the truth I have no idea." Then with a quiet bang the cavern stopped its decent and the ropes finally burst, but they didn't go into the holes, they had stopped moving. that meant one thing, they were down bellow Coronet and had arrived at the Galactic Grunts destination. "This must be man-made."
Those words chilled into Carter's spine. They watched as the grunts walked into a new hole in the wall taking the only remaining torch. A moment later they were trapped in pure darkness.
Chapter 6: A New Partner
"Wait a second, I think I have a flashlight in my backpack," said Carter. There was a click and a stream of light poured from his flashlight. "Okay, come on." Ranger followed Carter towards the hole that Nina and Bart went through. "Man it's kind of creepy, and quiet."
"Yes, I know what you mean. It feels like something bad is about to happen." Ranger went in the hole first. He was shortly followed by Carter. They ad to crawl through the tunnel for several minutes before falling into a large expanse. Up ahead were the two galaxy grunts.
"Woh! Would you look at that!" exclaimed Bart. He raised the torch up above his head. It revealed a large pile of rubble that seemed to have fallen not long ago. When he took another step he fell down. He moved the torch around and realized that he was in a giant footprint.
Carter, after seeing that, noticed that they, too, were in a giant footprint. He flinched as a rock fell from up above and landed near his foot. It was followed by another few. Carter looked up...but saw nothing except darkness. He kept looking up until-boom! A large black shape shot into the ceiling high above. Carter stummbled back from surprise. What the heck is that? It looked powerfull. Huh, what's this torch doing here? On the ground next to him was a burnt out torch with a rope tied to the end of it.
"EEEEEEEEKK!" he heard Nina scream up ahead. He watched as a large rockslide from the ceiling collapsed in the cavern. The two Galaxy Grunts were gone.Carter tried to run back to the tunnel when Ranger grabbed him by the arm.
"There is no reason to go back that way. The only way that we can get out of here is up." he pointed up to where the pokemon had escaped. "But how to get up there. We don't have any flying pokemon that can carry us up there." He gulped. "We're gong to have to climb."
Carter looked him in the eye. He was right. "And to make matters worse our pokemon are in no condition to fight." Carter's head pounded with worry. They didn't even have the propper climbing equipment.
Luckily for him Ranger was a good climber, being a ranger and all. Ranger Carter took out a rope. "Okay, this is all I have." They walked over to the giant pile of rubble, and over to where it was highest up against the wall.They tied each end of the rope around the waists. Ranger was able to find a lot of footholds and handholds. slowly , very slowly, they inched up the wall. After ten minutes, Carter looked down. He was so surprised, he almost lost his footing. They were about twenty yards above where they started, but they still had about fifty more to go. At one point carter slipped, but Ranger caught him a split second after. Ranger continued up, while Carter followed slowly behind. It was almost an hour before they finally made it to the top. that was when the real problem arrived. The hole was too far away for them to reach from the wall!
"Oh great, now what?" cried Carter.
"Well, the only spot that the hole meets up with the wall is about ten yards to the left. All we have to do is go sideways. It's simple." Ranger began going along the top of the wall until they finally made it. Carter was on the verge of tears. A moment later he was pulled onto solid ground by one of Ranger's strong hands.
"Finally," breathed Carter who's leg's felt like jelly.
"Aha, I think I know exactly where we are!' said Ranger. "We aren't too far from the eastern exit. Come on!" Ranger began running, Carter's flashlight in hand, towards the cave exit. Just as Carter saw daylight up ahead it quickly vanished. He could see the vague shape of a large pokemon blocking the light, then quickly dissapear. The two tired companions collapsed out of joy and pure exhaustion just outside the cave. After ten seconds they got up.
"Man, I'm glad we're finally out of there."
They set camp for the night only a few miles west of Oreburgh. It was only eight when Carter closed his eyes for the night. He didn't wake up until 9 AM the next day. Although when he did Ranger and his stuff were gone. Carter found a note nearby stuck to a tree.
Sorry Carter,
Last night I saw that pokemon we saw in the cave, nearby and I went to investigate. I'm sorry I had to leave unexpectdly, but I did leave you some poke and a few other thingss in your backpack. I hope they help.
See you in Jubilife sometime.
Carter dashed to his backpack to see what the ranger had left behind. True to his word there was 500 poke, a pokeball, and a small case. he tried to open the case, but found that he couldn't. He tried for about a minute then gave up. Well I better continue on back to Oreburgh by myself. He said it was just about three or four miles east of where I am now.
He packed up all of his things and started walking excitedly towards Oreburgh.
Along the way he ran into a group of Buizel running around and chasing eachother. After that good night's sleep his pokemon were probably fine. "Go, Riolu! Force Palm!" Riolu charged forward its hand glowing with energy. He brought it down hard on one of the Buizels. The other three Buizels saw this and immediately used Water Gun. By the force of all three moves Riolu shot back into a tree. The tree, being a small one almost gave way, but instead it flopped Riolu to the ground. "Riolu, Quick Attack!" While Riolu was running forward three other streaks of Quick Attacks headed right for it. Riolu was yet again knocked into the tree, which this time gave way.
Riolu didn't get up. "Riolu, return." He held out its pokeball as it dissapeared into it. "Go, Shinx! Use Tackle!" Shinx tackled the front Buizel to the ground. at the same moment it was blasted by the others. "Shinx! Come on, get up...yeah! Tackle!" Shinx stummbled to its feet and smashed into the same Buizel it attacked earlier. The Buizel tried to get up, but collapsed to the ground. before the last two Buizel could attack it, Shinx tackled them at full force, plowing them to the ground.
"Buizel..." one cried weakly as it pulled itself up. "BuiZELLLLL!" Yet again, a jet of water bashed into Shinx. Whil;e Shinx was getting up it was hit by an orange streak.
"Shinx, return." He held out its pokeball as Shinx dissapeared into it. He looked at his last pokeball. "Go, Starly! Only one left, you can do it." As soon at it left its pokeball it was flying at top speed toward the Buizel. "Go get it Starly!" Buizel charged toward it also. There was five yards inbetween them...3 yards...1 yard..collision! both pokemon fell to the ground, but both climbed to their feet in only a second. Before the Buizel could move again a pokeball struck it in the head-fin. the pokeball wiggled once, then wobbled, and squirmed again, before...it stopped and a orange glow emmited from its center. "Alright! I caught a Buizel."
Okay, I know it may not be very exciting the first few chapters. So far the best chapters are the prologue and the 6th. So even if you don't like it at first keep reading, and by chapter 6 you'll be captivated. This is going to be a pretty long tory though (atleast 20 chapters of longish length).
Prologue: A Barren Land
THUNK!
The mysterious man's staff hit the hard rocky ground. He looked up to see the ravaged land before him. If one could describe it in one word it would be ugly, but that single word did not even begin to describe it in the tiniest sense. The land before him was once lively and joyfull, not too long ago; he could still remember standing happily in the town that once stood here, unaware of the events to come. Now it was dead.
He walked several steps forward until he reached a pile of rubble that used to be the beautiful town statue. He was about to sit upon it to think about the events of the last few weeks when he heard a growl coming from somewhere near. Before he could move a muscle a Houndoom leaped into the air above him. With his quick reflexes, he took out a pokeball from his belt and threw it into the air as he dodged quickly to the left. He had learned from previous experiences. A second later the Houndoom landed exactly where he had stood a second before. With a flash a Lucario appeared from the pokeball.
"Lucario, Force Palm!" Even while the words began forming in his mouth Lucario shot forward bashing its hand into the Houndoom with powerfull force, knocking it into the rock. Before the Houndoom could get up he called out again, "Quick Attack!" Again Lucario shot into the Houndoom at incredible speed. It was down. "Good job Lucario, you better stay out just in case."
It was an unnesasary precaution, they weren't attacked on the slow walk to the place where he was headed. "Good job, Lucario. Return!" With a flash Lucario dissapeared into its pokeball. A few feet infront of him was a small tunnel entrance. He pulled out a flashlight and turned it on. He walked in. It was not cold and damp as he had expected, being in caves plenty of times before, but hot and dry. As he walked he looked head on. The ground sloped steadily downward, until he reached a final, huge cavern.
He stopped. He had finally reached his destination. With a firm voice he spoke out loud,"I have come for you. I would like it if you showed yourself."
It was a few seconds before he received an answer. The ground rummbled, slightly at first, but grew harder and harder until...it stopped. There was a small gust of wind as the shadows infront if him grew longer. A massive shape was just about to show itself. Even though he looked confident, inside he was raging with fear.
Part 1: Events of a Time before the Days of Destruction
Chapter 1: The Good Ol' Times
Carter was walking along the edge of the road when his friend Jack ran over to him. "What do you want, Jack?"
"I heard that you were moving to the Sinnoh Region in a few days, so I wanted to come over to your house, but you weren't there. So what do you want to do?"
"I don't know, I guess we could go down to the theater and watch that new movie, Pokemon of the Apocalypse, or whatever."
"Sounds good, lets go!" The two twelve year olds ran off towards Slateport Theater. They walked up to the front counter and bought two tickets, they were lucky enough to get the last tickets to the first showing of Pokemon of the Apocalypse. getting good seats, though was a different matter. After getting popcorn and all of the other goodies such as candy, pop, and more candy.
The only remaining seats were two seats at the way front, where nobody, except a few wackos, likes to sit. Just then the previews ended. Carter watched the movie in awe. When it was over they came out of the movie theater talking about nothing except the movie.Jack was speaking first. "Do you remember the part when Chuck battled Carry, and won with his Feebas? It was amzing, a Feebas beating a Cacturne!"
"Yeah, I know. My favorite part, though was when Chuck fought off the dark pokemon and arrived at the Temple of Eternal Darkness, and crushed Darkrai and its head minions."
"Same here, that battle was AWESOME! The way he beat the Aerodactyl and the Houndoom was amazing!" They continued to talk about it all the way to Carter's house. Inside a group of Machokes and Machamps were packing and carrying everthing out to the moving truck.
"Hi kids," said Carter's mom as they walked in.
"Hi mom." Carter lead Jack up to his room. Covering the walls were his pokemon posters, his floor was a mess of books on various subjects, such as A Guide to Sinnoh, A Hearthome Mystery, History of the Docks of Canalave, and The Great Pastorian Marsh. The only other thing in there was a bed, everything else was already packed.
"Jeeze, you've been doing a lot of research lately haven't you?" asked Jack.
"No, not really, I haven't gotten around to those books yet, but I am reading this." Carter picked up a book next to his bed. Its title was Sinnoh: Myths, Legends, and Lore part 1. On the floor next to it were parts 2 and 3. "I'm alomst done with this one. So far my favorite has been the Mystery of Dark Side of the Great Marsh. It said that if any of the stories in the book were true this would most likely be one of them."
"What is it, though?" asked Jack.
"It's a long story,well not really, but in a short summary I'd have to say, heck why don't you read it? Here, it's on page 112." He handed Jack the book, who flipped the pages until he reached page 112.
Mystery of the Dark Side of the Great Marsh
If any of the stories in this book were true, this would probably be one of them and as you can probably tell one of our more recent ones.
A man named Cranis was walking through the Pastoria Great Marsh when he heard a squelch, and another, and anothe, and another. He was a Marsh ranger, meaning that he made sure that nothng wrong happened in the marsh. He turned to the sound. It was dark, so he turned on his flashlight and pointed it in the direction he heard the sound.
He didn't see anything. He called out to alert the other Rangers that something was wrong. A moment later he was gone. shortly after another ranger arrived to see a pair of foot prints that abruptly stopped several feet from the marsh itself. He yelled, and he to was gone. The only way we know that this went on is that from not far away another ranger witnessed a big shape emerging quickly from the marsh and then submerging back into it again quickly. When it was gone so was a Ranger.
After the second disapearance, he ran to the Ranger House, and reprted what he saw. he described it as a big black shape, although color didn't help much because of the darkness, about the size of a small shack, had several appendages, almost like vines, that would move around, and large horns. Before there was no sightings of any such creature ever being spotted in the whole marsh or surrounding area. further research showed that no pokemon of that description has ever been seen. Some think that it is a sign of the apocalypse (obviously most scientists have already trashed that idea), some think that it is a new pokemon never seen before it was too late (scientists like this idea, but cannot find much proof of this pokemon's existance), and some think that the man who spotted it was just seeing things (researchers have thought ths through and think that this is the most likely case, but it doesn't help prove how the two men disapeared).
With all these different possibilities researchers searched the marsh, particularly the area that the accident occured. After only a few minutes of searching they found some glasses that belonged to one of the Rangers, but no bodies. The glasses, though, were not found in that area of the marsh, but up in a tree of a section of the marsh far from the area of the accident. No sightings of this creature have been found since then. A few days after the searching was over, reseachers discovered that the man, we will not tell you his name for the sake of his privacy, who witnessed the accident has had a record of drunkeness and taking drug overdose. After this was discovered little more has been researched on this mystery.
Jack read it and gave it back to Carter. "It's okay, not great, but okay."
"It's not the the story that I like about it, well it is kind of, but I was also thinking about this part. He pointed a note below it.
A reward has been posted for anybody who can solve this mystery completely. The reward is as of yet unknown.
Chapter 2: Moving Day
It was three days after the two boys went to the theater. "Carter, get in the truck!" called out his mom. Carter picked up one of the books and walked out to the truck. As soon as he stepped outside he felt a chill surge through his bodylike electricity. It was mid-summer in Slateport, yet even a chill that lasted a second was unheard of in the hot Slateport summer.
Oh well, it's not that big of a deal, he thought. He opened the door on the right side of the truck and hopped in. he put on his seat belt and closed the door behind him as his mom locked the door as she left the house. Man, I can't believe we're leaving, it's like a great but horrible dream.
A moment later the truck was driving off toward the docks where a ship would take them to Canalave and from there they would drive to Sandgem town. The ship didn't arrive in Canalave until the next day, almost 24 hours. After they arrived, before they started going onward to the new house in Sandgem they stopped for a bite to eat in Canalave. The restaurant was nice one looking off over the ocean. It was called Jewel of Canalave. They were seated at a table right next to the window. Carter looked over the menu and as soon as his eyes hit pizza he ordered. His mom decided to obviously have a healthier choice such as caeser salad.
"And what would you like to drink?"
"Dream Soda, I wonder what it's like," said Carter.
"A banana smoothie looks good, I'll have that," said Carter's mom.
The drinks arrived a minute later shortly followed by their food. Carter stuffed down the pizza, and gulped down the soda, which just like it was called was a dream soda. Later when the bill arrived Carter mom's eyes scanned the expensive prices. Then she got to dream soda. "What a soda worth that much!?" Even though she didn't like the prices she had to pay. Afterwords they left the restaurant and hopped back into the truck. They arrived in Sandgem late at night.
Carter looked at their new house. It was beautiful as far as he could tell. The movers had already brought in most of their stuff. Most of it was just packed and piled in boxes, but some of the furniture was already in place. His mom moved around some of the furniture, just the light ones, while Carter explored the rest of the house. it was two stories high and the bedrooms were upstairs along with a bathroom. Downstairs was the kitchen, living room, another bathroom, and the entrance room. All that was in his room were some of his books that he brought in and a mattres with a pillow and a blanket.
Carter slept good that night. he woke up fully refreshed at 10:00 the following day. He immediatley ran downstairs to see his mom making pancakes. He sat down at the table and read part two of the Sinnoh: Myths, Legends, and Lore series. he was just about to finsh the fifth story when his mom flopped two pancakes onto his plate. He drowned them with butter and syrup, before plowing his fork into one. After he was done eating his mom told him to check the mail. Hmm, that's strange mom never asks me to check the mail, oh well. he walked outside and over to the mailbox. Inside was a fat package that almost filled the whole mailbox. He pulled it out. He looked at who it was for and was somewhat surprised when he noticed that it was for him. While was walking inside h started to tear it open. Apparently his mom ordered something for him.
A minute later he tore to the heart of the package. There was a letter.
Dear Carter,
I hope you like the new house, I picked it out myself. Anyway, attached are two things that I think you'll really like. One is a poketch and the other is a pokeball, with a pokemon a caught myself. See what it is for yourself. Why don't you visit me sometime, I'm currently in Snowpoint, but in a few days the rest of the team and I are going to Canalave. Oh and ask your mom if you can go on, let's say a journey?
Good luck,
Dad
After reading it he quickly grabbed for the pokeball and threw it into the air. "Go, pokemon!" With a flash a small pokemon appeared on the dining room table. It was a Riolu, one of Carter's favorite pokemon. He was overjoyed. He grabbed the Riolu and gave it a big hug.
"Oh, congradulations honey." His mom was smiling. "Don't squish it," she added.
"Umm, mom."
"Yes?"
"I was, err, wondering if I could go on a journey?" he asked unsure.
"Oh, of course. Your father and I already talked about it and said you were good to go. When are you going to leave?" she asked, a tear already forming in her eye.
"I was err, thinking of leaving tod..." he saw his mom's tear, "I mean tomorrow."
"Wonderful, now why don't you go upstairs and get your things ready to go." She nudged him towards the stairs.
Without a hesitation, he ran up the stairs and immediately started packing some books, clothes, and money. After he was done he ran downstairs and called out,"Bye Mom!"
"I thought you weren't leaving till tomorrow?"
"I am, I'm just going outside to explore Sandgem and maybe train Riolu some." With that he closed the door behind him. Once outside he put on his new running shoes that he got just a few days before they moved. First he set out towards the beach.
Chapter 3:The Beach
There weren't a lot of people at the beach that day, only about three people excluding himself. That's good, he thought. After he took off his shoes he walked forward until his feet could touch the damp sand crunching under his feet. "Go, Riolu!" As the Pokemon landed a kid looked over. A moment later a kid about his age was next to him.
"I see you have a Riolu, want to battle?" he asked.
"Sure, but first my name is Carter, what's yours?" said Carter.
"I'll tell you, if you can beat me." The kid smiled smugly.
"Okay then, your'e on!" Carter replied loudly.
"Go, Charmander!" he yelled as a pokeball went spinning through the air. Riolu began running forward, it ran faster, and faster, until it hit air. Charmander landed behind it and used Ember. The flames scorched across Riolu's back. Riolu turned around. "Riolu err, Quick Atatck again!" Once again Riolu shot forward, but this time just as Charmander jumped, Riolu Jumped up and hit it hard into the water.
"Charmander!" The other kid ran over to the water and pulled out his Charmander. "Your Riolu's mean!" After those few words he ran away.
"Well, good job anyway, Riolu. Return." With a flash Riolu was back in its pokeball. Carter walked to some grass to brush the sand off of his feet before putting his shoes back on. Man, that kid is a jerk. Carter walked away back towards the town. He decided it was best to stock up and get ready at the local pokemart. Since he was new to Sandgem he had to ask several people where it was, so almost half an hour later he arrived at the small pokemart. He was about to open a door when a man stepped out and almost knocked him down to the ground.
"Oh, I'm sorry," spoke the old man gruffly.
"That's okay," replied Carter. "I feel like I've seen you before, though."
"Yes, you probably have, I am Prof. Rowan," answered the old man. "You look like your old enough to have a pokemon, do you have one?"
"Yeah, I just got a Riolu this morning!"
"A Riolu, huh, a rare pokemon. Once it evolves, it will be a very loyal and valuable companion. Say, why don't you come round my lab later."
"Sure, that sounds great, but where is it?"
"It's just two blocks that way, turn left- wait a second" he pulled a map out of his pocket,"-it's right here. You can keep this map if you'd like." Rowan handed nim the map and started to walk off toward his lab.
"Thank you, Prof. Rowan!" After saying good bye, he walked into the store. Luckily, it wasn't very crowded today, and he was able to get some potions, and other items in only a few minutes. He crammed all of his stuff into his backpack and took out the town map. According to the map the lab was only three blocks away. He would have gotten to the lab sooner if he ran, but he was too tired, so instead it took him about eight minutes. As he walked in one of the proffesor's assistants greeted him.
"The prof. is just through this door," said the assistant cheerily.
Well, he's in a good mood. I wonder why. Carter while thinking almost bumped into the door. He stopped himself just an inch away. Without a sound the door opened, revealing a large room. At his desk, at the other end of the room, Prof. Rowan was reading a letter.
"It's okay, boy, come here," called the prof. Carter walked quickly over to Rowan's desk. "I just received a letter from my friend in Oreburgh saying that he has discovered something amazing, and that he wants me to go and take a look. If you would be as kind to go and see it for me. As much as I would like to I have a lot to do here at the lab. So, what do you say?"
"Uh, sure!"
"Great, now his name is Barry, he spends a lot of his time in the mine. Also while you're there why don't you battle the gym leader. Thank you, now, it's almost time for lunch so you better head off home."
The next day Carter got up at seven, shot out of bed, got dressed, gathered his stuff, and ate breakfast all in ten minutes. "See ya Mom. Don't worry I'll be back soon, I'm doing something for Prof. Rowan!"
"Okay, see you, honey!" she cried as he closed the front door behind him.
He breathed a deep breath. I can't believe it's finally starting! With that he was off.
Chapter 4: Jubilife Troubles
It was two days later when Carter arrived in Jubilife. On his way he had caught two pokemon. One was Shinx and the other was a Starly. It was almost night. As soon as he stepped into Jubilife a man walked up to him. "I see that you have a poketch already. I'll sell you an application for only 100 poke. What do you think?"
"Can I see what it is first?"
"Sorry, but it's policy. First you pay, then you recieve."
"Fine, here's the money." Carter handed the man 100 poke.
"Thank you young boy. Now as I promised an application." He pulled a small chip from his pocket and insterted it into Carter's poketch. There was a whirring sound and a click. "Now look at your marvelous new app. Have a nice day!" A second later the man was gone.
He clicked the next app button, but instead of something happening the screen went blank. He clicked it again. Nothing happened. When he clicked it a third time a message came up saying "NO DATA TO BE FOUND." What?! he thought. That guy must have either wiped it's memory or stolen it somehow. He walked over to the nearest person. "Hey did you see that guy in the green andyellow suit run by a second ago?"
The tall lady answered, "Yes, why?"
"He deleted all of my poketch's memory! Which way did he go?"
"That sounds serious, I think he went that way." She pointed toward the town pokecenter. Immediately Carter ran toward the pokecenter. Meanwhile the lady snickered. What a stupid little boy.
Carter burst through the pokemon center door. Everyone's head turned toward him, none of which were the thief's. Carter sighed. Darn maybe the lady was wrong...or she lied. A moment later he left the pokemon center and looked over by where the lady was, but she was gone, just like her apparent comrade.
Carter was about to cry when a strong voice came from behind him. "I think I can help you. Someone stole your poketch data, right? I overheard you tallking with that one lady a minute ago. I don't think I can help you get it back, but I can help you get some new data, though."
"Really, how?"
"Follow me."
"How can I trust you?"
"You don't have to, all I have is my word...as a Ranger."
"A Ranger?"
"What? You haven't heard of rangers?"
"Nope, I just moved here a few days ago from Slateport."
"So I guess you haven't heard of Team Galaxy either. That man who stole your data was a disguised Team Galaxy member. Same with that lady. Now Rangers, well it's dificult. I'll tell you later." He trudged off toward a tall building. Carter had no choice but to follow him. As he got closer to the building he looked higher and higher up into the sky to see the top. Eventually they arrived at the building's front doors. With a quiet whirring sound the doors opened and the Ranger lead him to the front desk.
"Hello Carter,how are you doing?" said the receptionist.
"How do you know-"
"Fine, Elen, except this kid-"
"Wait, so your name is Carter, too?" asked Carter.
"Yes. Anyway, this kid 's poketch data was stolen by Team Galaxy, and I was wondering if you could restore it."
"Absolutely Carters." She snickered. "Let me see the poketch." Carter handed her the poketch. "Okay, it'll be just a minute." She turned around and put a sticky note on the poketch saying "Restore data" and put it in a case that when she placed it in a tube it rushed up to the floor above. A minute later it came rushing back down. "Okay, good as new." She handed him the poketch back.
The first thing he did was check to if it was workin right. It was. "Thank you."
Ranger Carter said,"Okay now, it's time to leave." He walked out the door. Carter, not knowing why, followed. "Great, so where are you headed, Carter?"
"Well, I need to go to Oreburgh, but I guess, I'll stay here for a while."
"Sounds good to me. Where should we stay?"
Carter looked up at him beaming. He had a travelling companion, Ranger Carter.
Chapter 5: Mount Coronet
The next day the two Carters left Jubilife and headed west. Only two hours efter leaving they arrived at Mount Coronet. When Carter tried to see the top he couldn't because the clouds hid it from view. The cave was dark, damp, and murky. Ranger took a pokeball from his belt.
"Go, Elekid!" The pokeball released the small pokemon into the cave. "Elekid, Flash!" Elekid charged up electricity in its arms, and with a blinding flash lit up the cave. "Strange, usually this cave is brighter, because of the torches throughout the cave, but somebody must have done something to them."
It wasn't long before they saw a bright area of the cavern up ahead. "If I'm right then that must be whoever did this," said Carter. The two Carters slowly snuck toward the cavern after telling Elekid to stop emmiting light. Sure enough, inside the cavern were two people sitting down with about a hundred torches sitting inbetween them, like a campfire.
Ranger jumped forward,"Thieves! Go, Scyther!" His Scyther leaped into the roomy area. One of the two quickly stood up. "Go, Steelix! ha, you're way out of your league, ranger. Iron Tail!" The large pokemon swept its tail at Scyther.
"Scyther, dodge, and use double team!" Scyther dodged the attack succesfully. A moment later about twenty Scythers filled the cave. "Now Scyther, Quick Attack!"
"Grrrr, Steelix Metal Sound!" As the twenty Scythers leapt forward at incredible speed, Steelix sent out a crushing chorus of white noise, destroying all of the fake Scythers, leaving the real one crashing into Steelix. "Quickly, Bind!" Before the Scyther could jump back the large steel snake wrapped around it, slowly crushing it.
"Go, Riolu!" Carter threw his pokeball into the air. "Riolu, Quick Attack!" Before the fox-like pokemon could hit Steelix, a Wartortle appeared using bubblebeam. The attack, knocked Riolu, back into the cave wall. Right after, the Wartortle began charging forward with Skull Bash! "Riolu, wait... Now, Force Palm!" Just before the Wartortle hit Riolu, the Riolu shot its right hand forward. The two pokemon collided, but riolu was still the one knocked back into the wall.
"Wartortle," cried the other enemy, "use Skull Bash again!" Yet again, the Wartortle lowered its head and began running forward.
"Now, Counter!" As the Wartortle crahed into Riolu, Riolu grabbed it, span around, and bashed its glowing head into the ground. "Force Palm!"
At that moment Ranger Carter's Syther fell to the ground, as he called it back into its pokeball. "Okay then, go Marshtomp! Use Mud Shot!" The blue and oragne mudfish shot a stream of powerfull mud at Steelix.
"No, Steelix! The Steelix wobbled from the blow, but retaliated by burrowing into the ground.
"Oh no, Marshtomp. Get against the wall!" Marshtomp made it in time, but that was the bad part.
"Steelix, now!" Steelix shot out of the wall right into Marshtomp's back causing it to slide forward harshly against the rocky ground.
Wartortle, dazed, slowly got up, but not fast enough, because a second later Riolu's palm plowed into its head, defeating the turtle pokemon.
"Wartortle, return!" called its trainer. "Go, Totodile!"
"Totototo!" The Totodile was really energetic.
"Totodile, water gun!" A gush af water headed straight for Riolu. Riolu had no time to dodge it.
Before it collapsed to the ground Carter called it back. "Go, Shinx! Tackle!" Shinx ran forward into the Totodile.
The battles raged on for another few minutes, until all that was left was Ranger Carter's Elekid, Carter's opponent's Mudkip, and Ranger's opponent's second Onix. The enemies, which they discovered were the two creaps who stole Carter's data, had the upper hand.
"Elekid, Low Kick on Onix!" Elekid swung its leg forward at Onix's lower body. The move was super effective, finally defeating the man's Onix. "Darn, it's up to you Nina!"
"Mudkip, Mud Slap!"
"Elekid dodge!" but it was too late the move weakened his Elekid greatly. "Elekid Thundershock!" Mudkip dodged it easily as a result of Elekid's lowered accuracy.
"Mudkip, finish it!" Mudkip used Mud Slap.
"No, Elekid!' cried the Carters in unison.
"Elekid return! You did good, especially against your weakness," soothed Ranger.
Nina handed the man a revive, who used it on his Steelix. "Go, Steelix. Take care of these people!" As they tried to run the Steelix blocked the way out.
A few minutes later they found themselves being held by Steelix's crushing body grip. Although it didn't crush them to hard, it was holding them just hard enought to cause them slight pain. They watched as the pair of Galactic grunts took the torches, tied a rope at the end with no fire, and pushed them through holes in the wall. "Commander Mars will be very pleased," said the man who they learned was Bart. Nina pushed a final torch into the only hole in the wall that didn't have a rope sticking out.
"That's all of them," she said. "Now all we have to do is wa-" The ground began to shake. It steadily grew, until Steelix's grip loosened just long enough for Ranger and Carter to escape. Instead of leaving they hid in a corner, and watched as all of the ropes went tight and started to slither down their holes. Before the ends could go into the holes they stopped, because the ends were all tied together in a large knot in the center of the cavern. Just then the shaking stopped and Carter heard a hissing sound. When he looked at the holes again he saw fire snaking up them, but amazingly the ropes held.
It was almost a minute later when the lines of fire met at the knot in the center of the room at the exact same time. The four people watched as the sound of crackling fire met their ears. Nothing happened. Even after several minutes all eyes were still stuck staring at the knot in the middle of the cavern. Another minute passed, and another, and another, and even another, and still nothing happened.
Carter sighed, all that for nothing. Although I feel like something is going to ha-
The shaking began again, startling him. The most interesting thing that happened wasn't the ground beggining to shake again, but that Carter had a sudden sinking feeling. The ropes were begging to droop. We must be moving down, he thought. To see if he was right he looked at where they had entered the cavern. Sure enough, the place was blocked by smooth black rock. Wait a second, black rock? The rest of the rock here has been the normal brownish color.
"You noticed too, didn't you?"
Carter looked at Ranger. "What do you think is happening, Ranger?"
"To tell the truth I have no idea." Then with a quiet bang the cavern stopped its decent and the ropes finally burst, but they didn't go into the holes, they had stopped moving. that meant one thing, they were down bellow Coronet and had arrived at the Galactic Grunts destination. "This must be man-made."
Those words chilled into Carter's spine. They watched as the grunts walked into a new hole in the wall taking the only remaining torch. A moment later they were trapped in pure darkness.
Chapter 6: A New Partner
"Wait a second, I think I have a flashlight in my backpack," said Carter. There was a click and a stream of light poured from his flashlight. "Okay, come on." Ranger followed Carter towards the hole that Nina and Bart went through. "Man it's kind of creepy, and quiet."
"Yes, I know what you mean. It feels like something bad is about to happen." Ranger went in the hole first. He was shortly followed by Carter. They ad to crawl through the tunnel for several minutes before falling into a large expanse. Up ahead were the two galaxy grunts.
"Woh! Would you look at that!" exclaimed Bart. He raised the torch up above his head. It revealed a large pile of rubble that seemed to have fallen not long ago. When he took another step he fell down. He moved the torch around and realized that he was in a giant footprint.
Carter, after seeing that, noticed that they, too, were in a giant footprint. He flinched as a rock fell from up above and landed near his foot. It was followed by another few. Carter looked up...but saw nothing except darkness. He kept looking up until-boom! A large black shape shot into the ceiling high above. Carter stummbled back from surprise. What the heck is that? It looked powerfull. Huh, what's this torch doing here? On the ground next to him was a burnt out torch with a rope tied to the end of it.
"EEEEEEEEKK!" he heard Nina scream up ahead. He watched as a large rockslide from the ceiling collapsed in the cavern. The two Galaxy Grunts were gone.Carter tried to run back to the tunnel when Ranger grabbed him by the arm.
"There is no reason to go back that way. The only way that we can get out of here is up." he pointed up to where the pokemon had escaped. "But how to get up there. We don't have any flying pokemon that can carry us up there." He gulped. "We're gong to have to climb."
Carter looked him in the eye. He was right. "And to make matters worse our pokemon are in no condition to fight." Carter's head pounded with worry. They didn't even have the propper climbing equipment.
Luckily for him Ranger was a good climber, being a ranger and all. Ranger Carter took out a rope. "Okay, this is all I have." They walked over to the giant pile of rubble, and over to where it was highest up against the wall.They tied each end of the rope around the waists. Ranger was able to find a lot of footholds and handholds. slowly , very slowly, they inched up the wall. After ten minutes, Carter looked down. He was so surprised, he almost lost his footing. They were about twenty yards above where they started, but they still had about fifty more to go. At one point carter slipped, but Ranger caught him a split second after. Ranger continued up, while Carter followed slowly behind. It was almost an hour before they finally made it to the top. that was when the real problem arrived. The hole was too far away for them to reach from the wall!
"Oh great, now what?" cried Carter.
"Well, the only spot that the hole meets up with the wall is about ten yards to the left. All we have to do is go sideways. It's simple." Ranger began going along the top of the wall until they finally made it. Carter was on the verge of tears. A moment later he was pulled onto solid ground by one of Ranger's strong hands.
"Finally," breathed Carter who's leg's felt like jelly.
"Aha, I think I know exactly where we are!' said Ranger. "We aren't too far from the eastern exit. Come on!" Ranger began running, Carter's flashlight in hand, towards the cave exit. Just as Carter saw daylight up ahead it quickly vanished. He could see the vague shape of a large pokemon blocking the light, then quickly dissapear. The two tired companions collapsed out of joy and pure exhaustion just outside the cave. After ten seconds they got up.
"Man, I'm glad we're finally out of there."
They set camp for the night only a few miles west of Oreburgh. It was only eight when Carter closed his eyes for the night. He didn't wake up until 9 AM the next day. Although when he did Ranger and his stuff were gone. Carter found a note nearby stuck to a tree.
Sorry Carter,
Last night I saw that pokemon we saw in the cave, nearby and I went to investigate. I'm sorry I had to leave unexpectdly, but I did leave you some poke and a few other thingss in your backpack. I hope they help.
See you in Jubilife sometime.
Carter dashed to his backpack to see what the ranger had left behind. True to his word there was 500 poke, a pokeball, and a small case. he tried to open the case, but found that he couldn't. He tried for about a minute then gave up. Well I better continue on back to Oreburgh by myself. He said it was just about three or four miles east of where I am now.
He packed up all of his things and started walking excitedly towards Oreburgh.
Along the way he ran into a group of Buizel running around and chasing eachother. After that good night's sleep his pokemon were probably fine. "Go, Riolu! Force Palm!" Riolu charged forward its hand glowing with energy. He brought it down hard on one of the Buizels. The other three Buizels saw this and immediately used Water Gun. By the force of all three moves Riolu shot back into a tree. The tree, being a small one almost gave way, but instead it flopped Riolu to the ground. "Riolu, Quick Attack!" While Riolu was running forward three other streaks of Quick Attacks headed right for it. Riolu was yet again knocked into the tree, which this time gave way.
Riolu didn't get up. "Riolu, return." He held out its pokeball as it dissapeared into it. "Go, Shinx! Use Tackle!" Shinx tackled the front Buizel to the ground. at the same moment it was blasted by the others. "Shinx! Come on, get up...yeah! Tackle!" Shinx stummbled to its feet and smashed into the same Buizel it attacked earlier. The Buizel tried to get up, but collapsed to the ground. before the last two Buizel could attack it, Shinx tackled them at full force, plowing them to the ground.
"Buizel..." one cried weakly as it pulled itself up. "BuiZELLLLL!" Yet again, a jet of water bashed into Shinx. Whil;e Shinx was getting up it was hit by an orange streak.
"Shinx, return." He held out its pokeball as Shinx dissapeared into it. He looked at his last pokeball. "Go, Starly! Only one left, you can do it." As soon at it left its pokeball it was flying at top speed toward the Buizel. "Go get it Starly!" Buizel charged toward it also. There was five yards inbetween them...3 yards...1 yard..collision! both pokemon fell to the ground, but both climbed to their feet in only a second. Before the Buizel could move again a pokeball struck it in the head-fin. the pokeball wiggled once, then wobbled, and squirmed again, before...it stopped and a orange glow emmited from its center. "Alright! I caught a Buizel."
