The tunnel they were following, a winding, claustrophobic intestine of narrow path was vibrating. It wasn't an earthquake but more like the aftershock of the some pokemon battle echoing.
"Watch your step," Alex murmured.
He was riding Nidorino, keeping to the center of the path where the stone looked thickest.
"This place is like if there is no end," Jax complained, kicking a loose pebble into the hole on their left. "How deep does this go?"
"Deep enough to bury us," Alex replied dryly.
He checked his map, the signal from the surface was gone and the screen displayed a [NO SIGNAL] in blinking red text, well they were now effectively lost.
"Hold up," Alex pulled on Nidorino's mane.
The path ahead narrowed and a fissure, about three meters wide, cut across the tunnel floor.
"Jump it?" Kruger suggested, looking at his Mankey.
"It's not stable," Alex noted and dismounted. "Nidorino is too heavy, the landing impact might collapse the ledge."
He walked to the edge of the fissure and shone his flashlight down, the beam died before it hit the bottom, it was just endless, suffocating black.
"We need a get around here," Alex calculated. "Or a rope swing."
Creaaaak.....
The sound didn't come from the fissure but came from under his boots.
Alex froze.
He looked down, a spiderweb fracture was spreading rapidly through the ground he was standing on.
"Move back slowly," Alex said calmly.
Jax and Kruger scrambled backward.
Alex tried to step back, but Nidorino shifted his weight nervously and the movement was the final straw.
CRACK.....
The floor didn't just break, it disintegrated.
A ten-foot section of the tunnel floor simply ceased to exist, giving way to the darkness below.
Alex didn't scream not because he was trying to be cool or anything but because he didn't have time.
He fell....
"Ares!" Jax's voice echoed, shrinking rapidly into the distance.
The sensation of weightlessness lasted for three seconds and in those three seconds, Alex's mind went completely blank, replaced by pure instinct he grabbed Nidorino's collar. Nidorino, in a panic, tucked his limbs in, turning his armored back toward the ground.
CRASH....
They didn't hit rock thankfully as they hit water.
Cold, feezing, stagnant, water.
It felt like hitting concrete from that height and the impact knocked the wind out of Alex. He plunged deep into the blackness, the water forcing its way into his nose and ears.
He thrashed, his heavy boots dragging him down as he couldn't see anything.
Kick.....Kick....
He broke the surface, gasping for air with his lungs burned.
"Nidorino!" he choked out.
A few meters away, a purple shape surfaced, snorting water and paddling frantically. Nidorino hated water as it was a Ground/Poison type, well, pure Poison for now, but he had the soul of a Ground type🤔.
"Over there," Alex spotted a shoreline. "Swim!"
They dragged themselves onto a bank and Alex collapsed, coughing up water which most certainly had brain eating ameoba if they were a thing here. He rolled onto his back, staring up into the darkness but couldn't see the hole he fell through.
"Time for body check," Alex wheezed.
He wiggled his toes, good nothing broken. He checked his belt, the Pokéballs were waterproof and the items in his sealed pockets were dry, thankfully the Moon Stone was in the inventory.
"We're alive buddy," Alex whispered.
He sat up and activated his flashlight.
The beam cut through the darkness and he figured they were in a massive underground grotto.
"Jax? Kruger?" Alex shouted.
His voice echoed. Jax... Kruger... uger... er...
No answer...
"Of course," Alex muttered, shaking the water out of his hair. "I'm alone.... again."
He stood up. Nidorino shook himself like a wet dog, sending a spray of cold water everywhere, he looked miserable as his spikes were drooping.
"Sorry, buddy," Alex patted him.
"Bath time is over."
He looked around, there was no way up.
"The only way is forward," Alex deduced. "Water flows somewhere, well we have to follow the shoreline."
The pace of the trek changed. Without the noisy thugs behind him, Alex moved fast with complete silence.
He recalled Nidorino to conserve the Pokémon's energy and had Duskull cover him alone.
Chill...
The ghost materialized from his shadows, floating silently, the darkness didn't bother it. In fact, it seemed to glow faintly, its red eye acting as a beacon.
"Find a path," Alex whispered.
They walked for an hour and the silence was absolute. No wind, no pokemon, just the sound of his footsteps.
"Duskull," Alex broke the silence, just to hear a voice. "Do you think we're under the sea level yet?"
Duskull bobbed, it didn't know what that was but just knew there were dead things here.
It stopped and pointed a spectral hand toward a narrow cleft in the rock wall.
Alex approached and squeezed through the gap.
On the other side, the cave opened into a small, dry chamber, it wasn't natural as the floor was flat.
And in the center, sitting against the wall, was a skeleton.
It wasn't a Pokemon, It was human.
The bones were old, yellowed and brittle and were dressed in the tattered remains of a red vest and a strange, wide-brimmed hat.
"A Ranger?" Alex guessed, stepping closer. "Or an explorer?"
He knelt beside the corpse, there was no smell maybe because the cave had mummified the remains.
"Sorry, friend," Alex whispered.
"I need your loot more than you do."
He checked the corpse's belt.
There were six Pokéball slots but all were empty.
"He released them," Alex realized. "Before he died, he didn't want them to starve in the balls."
A noble death, Stupid, but quite noble.
Alex checked the backpack.
* A rusted canteen
* A bundle of climbing rope (rotted)
* A notebook (illegible, water-damaged)
And a small, heavy metal case.
Alex picked up the case which was sealed with a wax coating to make it waterproof.
He pried it open with his knife.
Inside, resting were two items.
The first was a technical disc, it wasn't the flimsy plastic of modern TMs but was a metal disc, old-school tech.
[ Item: TM80 (Vintage) ]
[ Move: Rock Slide ]
[ Type: Rock (Physical) ]
"Rock Slide," Alex nodded. "Spread damage and flinch chance, now that's a game-changer for Nidorino as it will give him coverage against Flying and Fire types."
He pocketed it immediately but the second item was stranger.
It was a brown rock, smooth on one side and rough on the other, it felt dense but didn't radiate energy like the Moon Stone but It radiated....weight.
[ Item: Hard Stone (High Quality) ]
[ Effect: Boosts Rock-type moves by 20% ]
"A set," Alex smiled grimly. "Rock Slide and the item to boost it."
He looked at the skeleton, this man had been a Rock-type specialist who may have came here looking for fossils and maybe he got trapped by a rockslide....ironic.
"Rest in peace buddy, Jesus will be with you," Alex said, standing up. "Your legacy goes to Team Rocket now."
He turned to leave, but Duskull didn't move.
The ghost was staring at the wall behind the skeleton.
"What is it?" Alex asked.
He shone his light on the wall and was completely dumbstruck, embedded in the rock face, almost invisible unless you looked for the texture change, was a fossil.
It wasn't a Helix or Dome as seen in the games.
It was a claw, a massive, serrated claw that belonged to something predatory.
[ Anomaly Detected ]
[ Fossilized Biomass: Aerodactyl (Fragment) ]
Alex touched the stone claw.
"Holy mother of Jesus, now that's what you call a rare find, but.... I can't extract this now," Alex realized. "I need a mining laser or a heavy pickaxe as my hand pick knife won't scratch this bedrock and even pickaxe would damage it."
He asked duskull to mark it with his spiritual energy.
He couldn't take the fossil now but the discovery was worth more than anything else he had found so far. If he reported this to Viper... who am I fucking kidding, I am keeping it for myelf.
"We're done here," Alex said.
He felt a small airflow passing through his skin.
"Duskull, track the airflow."
The ghost floated upward, toward a high chimney in the cavern roof.
Alex looked up, it was a vertical climb but luckily he had the Escape Rope he had bought.
He took out the rope and tied a loop.
Two Hours Later
Alex pulled himself over a ledge, his muscles were screaming but found himself onto the floor of a familiar tunnel.
"We're back on the main path," Alex noted, checking the path and released Nidorino.
He stood up, dusting off his knees, he was soaked, bruised, and exhausted but he was happy as his pocket was heavy with a new TM and a rare item.
"Jax! Kruger!" Alex shouted, his voice raspy.
A distant echo replied. "Ares?! You're alive?!"
Footsteps thundered down the tunnel as the two thugs came running around the corner, looking genuinely relieved, mostly because they were terrified of being alone in the dark.
"You fell!" Jax panted. "We thought you were dead! We were about to.... uh... leave to get help."
"Leave to loot my body, you mean," Alex corrected calmly.
He didn't look angry but looked bored.
"I found a shortcut," Alex lied. "And I scouted the lower level but It's a dead end, Just water."
He walked past them, leading the way deeper into the mountain.
"Did you find anything?" Kruger asked.
Alex patted his pocket.
"Nothing worth dying for," Alex said. "Come on, we still have to go back."
Authors Note:
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Aerodactyl....😁.
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