A Pokémon Journey

A Journey into the Forest

The ghost falls to his knees, in agony knowing that he lost his one opportunity of freedom from the dead. He shouts, "YOU CHEATED! NO USE OF OUTSIDE ITEMS!" Sam replies, "You never specified." The ghost tries to yell back, but it would just do nothing. He lost on a formality and accepted his defeat. As Sam looks over at the moping ghost, he asks, "Hey, you going to hold your end of the deal?" The ghost signs. The ghost steps aside as Sam goes back to the entrance of the cave to get reinforcements. A couple of minutes later, Sam returns with numerous other strong trainers, including Ben. As many of the trainers are told to take the coffins and put them upside on the surface. Ben pulls Sam to the side and questions, "What the Jigglyfluff happen down here?!" He says as he looks around to see the half-destroyed cave with fragments of ice and rock everywhere. Sam just says, "Let's just say I bouted with the otherworldly to get what I need." He says this as he points to the ghost Richard sulking in a corner. Ben is stunned to see the ghost but is more surprised to see it come closer to them. As the ghost slowly floats toward the two with its head pointed down in despair, he depressingly hands over the Z-Ring with Steelium Z whilst sadly saying, "I believe this is yours." Sam grasps the Z-Ring in his hand for a moment, shows it to his partner Durant beside him, and puts on the Z-Ring. All while Ben stares in awe. Ben has so many questions but just decides to leave them for another time for another day. Ben decides to take one last look at the wonder of what was once an epic battle as Sam is pulled aside by the ghost, it warns him, "Be wary of the Z-Ring, it has more power inside of it than you can comprehend at this point." Sam answers eagerly, "I'll be fine, I have my partner Durant with me all the way." The ghost, for the first time in several minutes, smiles. Ben and Sam take one last look at the cave, before walking back to the entrance of the cave.

When they arrive topside, Sam is immediately pulled aside by the authorities and the interviewers to be updated and asked about the scenario he was just pulled through. Before Ben wants to put himself in with Sam, he just decides to let him be, knowing they will meet again the next morning. Ben decides to call it a night, as he and his Pokemon all head back to the Pokemon Center for one last night. As Ben falls asleep next to his beloved Pokemon, he thinks about Sam's new power. "A potential rival perhaps," he thinks before he drifts off to sleep that night. The next morning, Ben and Sam meet up at the same location as the previous morning, to see that Sam barely got any sleep. Sam says that the news anchors would not leave him be until late at night to juice him of all his information and the police force would not let him leave after that so he could give a full diagnostic of the coffins. He says he only got a couple of sleep. He follows this by mentioning, "To summarize, my new lack of sleep has now led me to release how much those coffins would be worth to the museums." Ben screams, "HOW MUCH?!" "I don't know that just let," Sam replies in a calm tone, "As a further investigation is required to find a true value, but I can go see on display when it arrives in Goldenrod City. Which I believe is also in the direction you are travelling, so I would like to join you on your quest." Ben's eyes light up, all Ben can think about at that exact moment is, "YES YES YES YES!!! You can absolutely come with me." Sam was delighted and happily took Ben up on his offer. With both Ben and Sam having one badge each, they both decided to take part in the Jhoto League together. With their newly acquired travel buddy, Ben and Sam headed off toward Ecruteak City to the North-East. They decide to travel by the forest path that connected the two towns. They both resigned out of their hotel rooms and headed off.

As they began their trek to Ecruteak City, Ben became a little curious. Ben asked Sam, "Hey Sam, I was a little rude and I never thought to ask where exactly your backstory? I thought I already told you my." Sam sighed in laughter, cracked his neck and sighed in expense, "Well Ben, my journey begins in the far-off region of Galar. I was born in Motostoke City and grew up in a more civilized style of life. I always had a fascination for the ground below me and how the history of Pokemon helped lead our modern-day society to where it is today. So, whenever I had the opportunity, I would journey to the local wild area in search of answers to my many inbound questions. I would constantly go into the fields to encounter and investigate certain Pokemon and how they behaved in their habitats. Whenever I would try to run an experiment, I would try to keep my distance so I could not interfere with the observation. I especially had the joy for Pokemon who lived or depended on living and being underground. My problem was that I did not have the necessary equipment to record Pokemon that went underground. This problem would never be solved, so over my childhood years, I investigated other areas of the Pokemon World to try to get a better understanding of how it connects back to my love of Pokemon dependent on being underground. I focused all my spare time on observing, researching, and documenting my findings. I constructed all my findings into a singular computer document that spread itself across several hundred pages of notes. But eventually, my life would change for the better when the offer arrived. When I reached age 13, the professor released a region-wide competition asking for any information for Pokemon of their nearby area in exchange for a career opportunity. I, as an eager teen, decide to send my findings. I decide only to release my best know-how (mainly my underground based research) to the professor.