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.
Firebrand
bursts forth from his Poké Ball in the nick of time and takes the
hit for me, shrugging it off without a problem. “Thanks, buddy.”
Firebrand chirps happily in response, and then beats the mysterious
creature back with a blast of flame.
As
more of the strange symbols start to swoop down towards us, I hear a
cry from above: “Get him outta there! Get him outta there!” A
rope drops down through the hole in the ceiling, and I see the
researcher's face appear in the gap. “Grab on and we'll pull you
up!” he calls out.
Looking
around at the swarm of symbols, I realize something. “Do you know
what these things are?” I call up to the researcher.
“No!”
says the researcher. “I had no idea that they were alive! But
they're clearly hostile, and we need to get you out of there now!”
Another
of the symbols swoops down towards Firebrand, firing a strange pulse
of light at him. “They're Pokémon!” I call up. “They're a type
of Pokémon nobody's ever seen before! I'm going to try and catch one
for you! Then you can pull me up!”
“Hey!
Don't do anything stupid!” says the researcher. “Hey!”
But
I've made up my mind about this. Whatever these creatures are, we
could learn a hell of a lot from studying them. I order Firebrand to
attack the creature that just fired at him, but before he can, it
fires another pulse of light. This one strikes Firebrand square in
the head and sends him tumbling backwards, collapsing on the cold
stone floor. For a second, I fear the worst, but it seems as though
he's still alive, albeit unconscious. Perhaps this wasn't such a good
idea after all.
“You're
gonna get yourself and your Pokémon killed!” the researcher calls
out. “Hurry up and get outta there!” Reluctantly, I recall the
unconscious Firebrand, but instead of grabbing the rope, I grab
Dusk's Poké Ball from my belt.
I'm not going to let these creatures get away with nearly killing my
friend.
Before
I can send him out, however, there's a cry from above: “Go,
Nidoking!” A Poké Ball falls through the hole in the ceiling, and
out of it bursts Nidoking. It rears up and lets out a powerful Roar,
and the strange symbols all suddenly turn around and flee the
vicinity, heading back into the walls. Soon, the chamber is still
once more.
“I'm
sorry,” the researcher calls down. “But I had to do something. I
couldn't just stand there and watch you get killed by those things.”
“It's
okay.” I realize now that I'd made a mistake in trying to fight
those creatures, especially in my current condition. “Thank you.”
“Come
on, let's get you otta there before they show up again,” said the
researcher. “We'll take you to the hospital, and we'll take your
Cyndaquil – Firebrand, was it? - to the Pokémon Centre. You'll
both be just fine.”
“Thank
you.” I grab tightly onto the rope, and with the help of a female
passer-by, the researcher manages to pull me out of the chamber and
back into the room containing the tablet.
The
researcher seems just as shaken by what has just happened as I am.
“You said those things were… Pokémon?” he asks me.
“It
sure seemed like it,” I say. “I don't know what else they could
be.”
The
researcher nodded. “We'll definitely have to mount an expedition
into that chamber,” he said. “You may not have been able to catch
one, but we'll certainly give it our best effort.” He glances over
at the reassembled tablet. “I suppose I should thank you for
unlocking the chamber in the first place,” he said. “Who would
have thought that that tablet was the key to unlocking the ruins'
secret...”
“Shouldn't
we get him to a hospital?” asks the passer-by, who looks pretty
worried. “He looks pretty hurt.”
“Oh,
of course,” says the researcher. “Don't worry, I'll take care of
everything. It's the least I can do.”
“-and
now, here's Lisa with the travel updates.”
“Thank
you. If you're planning on heading between Violet City and Ecruteak
City, I'm afraid you'll have to
take the long way round: there are numerous reports of a strange tree
blocking Route 36, preventing direct travel between the two cities…”
It's
been two days since I was admitted to hospital in Violet City.
Luckily, my ankle injury
doesn't seem to have been that serious, but it's still put the kibosh
on my plans to fight the Azalea Gym, at least for the time being.
Firebrand and the rest of my Pokémon were healed at the Pokémon
Centre and are now
by my side again, all perfectly fine. I
just have to wait for my own injuries to heal now, and I can be on my
way once more.
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