Day 242

[from Pokémon: Shattered Crystal]

According to my Pokégear's map, the next town along is Azalea Town, and there's another Pokémon Gym there. Still on a high after beating Falkner's Gym, I decide to head over there as fast as I can and challenge this second Gym. Surely it can't be much more difficult than the first.

As I head out of the Gym, however, I receive a call on my Pokégear. I'm a little irritated at being distracted from my quest, until I realize that the call is from Professor Elm. I hurriedly answer the call. “Hello? Professor Elm?”

“Hi, Ryan,” says Professor Elm. I can tell from his voice that he sounds excited. “You know Mr. Pokémon and I were researching that egg? Well, we think we've unlocked a vital discovery surrounding it!”

This catches my attention. “Really?” I ask. “What is it?”

“I'm sorry,” says Professor Elm, “I can't talk much right now. I'm still busy with my research. But I've sent my assistant up to Violet City with the details. He'll be waiting for you in the Pokémon Centre, and he'll explain everything to you.”

I guess the Violet Gym can wait for now, while I go and find out what the professor's discovery is. Besides, now that I think about it, I should probably go to the Pokémon Centre anyway to heal Dizzy and Firebrand before I head on my way. “Alright,” I say. “I'll be right there.”

“Okay, thanks, Ryan,” says the professor. “Alright, I gotta go, but I'll call you back. See you.” Before I can get a chance to say goodbye, the professor hangs up. Putting my Pokégear away, I head off towards the Violet Pokémon Centre.

When I get there, Professor Elm's assistant is waiting for me over at the desk. He's cradling the mysterious egg in one arm, and with the other arm he waves me over to him. “Hey, Ryan!” he says. “Over here!”

I make my way over towards him. “Hey. So, what was Professor Elm's big discovery?”

“Well,” says the researcher, “we discovered that in order for a Pokémon Egg to hatch, it has to be kept with other active Pokémon while it grows. Therefore, the professor has another favour to ask of you. Could you please take care of the Egg until it hatches?”

The researcher holds the Egg out to me. It's strange to think that inside it is a baby Pokémon, slowly growing and forming, and that I'll be the first parent it ever has. It's a big responsibility, but then again, so is having a Pokémon, and a Pokédex. I'm sure I can handle it. “Sure,” I say, taking hold of it. “I'll take care of it for you.”

“Thanks a lot, Ryan,” says the researcher, smiling as he hands over the egg. “You're the only person we can rely on for this. Oh, and could you please phone Professor Elm once that Egg hatches? He'll want to hear about it, and I'm sure he'll want to see what kind of Pokémon hatches from it.”

“Sure thing,” I say. “Uhh… hang on a moment.” I take off my rucksack and slip the Egg inside. It should be nice and cozy in there, not to mention safe from wild Pokémon. The last thing I need is this Egg getting smashed.

“Well, now that that's taken care of, I'd better head back to the lab,” says the assistant. “Thanks again, Ryan. I'll see you later.”

“See you,” I say, waving to the assistant. The man waves back, and then leaves.

With our business taken care of, I heal my Pokémon at the front desk, and then head south through the city towards the entrance to Route 32, which will take me towards Azalea Town. Not long after entering Route 32, however, my attention is captured by a signpost pointing to my right. It reads, “RUINS OF ALPH, EAST ENTRANCE”. “'Ruins of Alph'?” I read aloud. “Never heard of them. I wonder if there's any rare Pokémon there…” If there are, they might be of great use to me in that second Gym. “It's worth a look,” I decide, and I follow the signpost west towards the ruins.

When I arrive at the ruins, I find several stone buildings in a state of significant ruin. Some of them seem to be open to the public, containing various exhibits about the ruins; others are closed off, presumably for safety reasons. I wander around for a little while, then enter the closest open building. Inside, I find a large open chamber, filled with stone statues of ancient Pokémon. There are numerous strange symbols etched onto the walls. The symbols feel both familiar and strangely eerie, although try as I might, I cannot work out why. Feeling a sense of unease, I decide to move on.

The next chamber I enter contains an interactive exhibit depicting a stone tablet that has been broken into numerous pieces. The exhibit description makes for interesting reading: “THIS FRAGMENTED TABLET WAS FOUND IN THE RUINS SEVERAL MONTHS AGO. RESEARCHERS HAVE TRIED TO PIECE IT TOGETHER, BUT TO NO AVAIL. THIS EXHIBIT WAS CREATED TO LET MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC ATTEMPT TO TRY PIECING IT TOGETHER.” It's an interesting approach.

At the back of the room is a researcher, staring intently at the wall. There are more of those strange symbols etched upon it. Curious, I approach the man. “What's up with these weird symbols?” I ask him. “They were on the walls of the other chamber as well.”

“I don't know,” said the researcher. “Undoubtedly, they hold the key to unlocking the mysteries of the ruins, but we just can't figure them out. And here's where it gets weird: recently, we've noticed that the symbols are changing.”

I find this rather hard to believe. “That's impossible,” I remark.

“That's what we thought,” said the researcher, “but it's true. Strange, cryptic patterns are appearing on walls all over the complex, and we can't explain why. Take a look for yourself.”

I take a look at the section of wall the researcher is staring at, and suddenly my jaw drops open. I realize now why the symbols had felt so familiar: they resemble letters, and the letters on this particular section of wall undeniably spell out the word “ESCAPE”. “That is… that is actually pretty freaky,” I say.

“You're telling me,” says the researcher. “I've been conducting research on these ruins for ten years now, and I've never seen anything like this. It's almost like… like the ruins themselves are trying to tell us something.”

“Like what?” I ask. “You mean there's something trying to escape from these ruins?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” says the researcher. “But if something's really been hiding here for 1500 years, why is it only now trying to escape…?”

I shake my head. It's a bizarre mystery, and one that's probably not mine to solve. I turn to go, but for some reason the shattered tablet puzzle catches my eye. I decide to have a go at piecing it together, and step up to the exhibit. As my eyes rove the pieces, I notice a series of lines that seem to match up, and the pattern begins to form in my head. Perhaps I really can piece it together...

Slowly, one by one, I take the stone pieces and arrange them on the exhibit board. With each piece I add, the picture slowly begins to take shape, and I start to realize that the tablet depicts some kind of ancient Pokémon. I feel my heart rate start to increase as the thrill of solving such an ancient mystery kicks in. With a strange sense of anticipation and excitement, I insert the last piece of the puzzle.

Suddenly, the chamber starts to rumble and shake, as though an earthquake has suddenly struck. I'm almost thrown off-balance, but I somehow manage to stay upright. Looking down at my feet, I notice to my alarm that the ground beneath them is staring to crack. The researcher, equally alarmed, tears his gaze away from the strange wall patterns and turns to face me. “What's going on?” he asks.

“I don't know!” I exclaim. “I pieced together that strange tablet, and then-”

Before I can say anything else, the ground beneath my feet gives way entirely, and I find myself plummeting through the stone floor with a loud cry. A second or two later, I land on a hard stone floor only a couple of meters below, but the impact is still hard enough to twist my ankle. I cry out, clutching the wounded joint. Looking around me, I seem to be in a large open chamber similar to the one I had visited earlier, but there's an altogether different atmosphere here now. It feels like I can hear quiet voices all around me. Maybe the pain is just messing with my head.

The researcher's face appears in the hole over my head. “Are you okay?” he calls out.

“Not really,” I call back. “I twisted my ankle. Oh, right, the egg-” Realizing the egg could have been damaged in the fall, I hurriedly remove my backpack and open the main compartment. To my relief, the egg seems to be perfectly intact. “Man, that's a relief...”

I suddenly hear a gasp of horror from above me. “Mother of Arceus!” the researcher exclaims. “Those symbols… they're alive!”

Looking up, I'm met with a sight so bizarre that for a moment I'm convinced the pain is simply messing with me head. But if the researcher is seeing this too, then it might be real. All around me, the strange letter-like symbols are emerging from the walls and floating into the air, gradually drifting towards me. Gripped by a sudden terror, I try to scurry to my feet but my twisted ankle sends me falling back onto my rear again. I scramble backwards as fast as I can, but it's not enough to outrun the strange creatures, and they're coming at me from all directions, everywhere I look. Then, one of them suddenly swoops forward and attacks.