We chase after Absol as it leaps through Ambrette Town. Heads turn as we race by. When we reach the other side of town, Absol continues on into Route 9. We attempt to follow, but have to stop. The ground ahead of us is covered in giant spikes made out of rock.
Absol jumps up some boulders on the side of the mountain, looks at us, lets out a cry, and then continues on.
"What are we supposed to do? We can't get through here!" says Serena.
"I'm not sure..." I say, trying to think of a possible solution.
"Hey there!" says an older gentlemen as he walks up to us. Following behind him is a Rhyhorn. "You youngsters looking for a ride through Spikes Passage?"
"Yeah! We're trying to get to whatever is on the other side of these rocks," I say.
"Only thing past Spikes Passage is the Glittering Cave. My Rhyhorn can take you there if you like. Although, he can only carry two of you at a time," says the gentlemen.
Looking at the Rhyhorn, it does seem impossible for all three of us to ride it.
"That'll work," says Shauna.
"But Shauna," says Serena.
"It's fine," replies Shauna. "If this is actually an emergency, it would be way better for the two of you to go."
Serena sighs and nods her head. "Alright Calem, let's do this!" she says.
I hop aboard the Rhyhorn, and Serena hops on behind me. I've rode Rhyhorn since I was young, so this is like riding a bike for me, but this guy doesn't know that. The gentlemen instructs me on how to maneuver the Rhyhorn in case of an emergency, but notes that this Rhyhorn should be able to get us there and back on its own.
"You're going to want to hold here," he says, placing my hands on one of the rocky spines coming off the Rhyhorn's back. "And you, are going to want to hold on like this," he says to Serena, wrapping her arms around me.
I freeze up at the feeling of her arms around me. Serena and I's faces grow bright red.
"Well isn't this a sight to see," says Shauna with a chuckle.
"Shut up!" yells Serena, squeezing me a little. I feel a softness press against my back and arch my back a little in reaction. So soft!!!
With a jolt, Rhyhorn starts to move. Serena and I sway back and forth as it moves. It climbs onto the rock spikes easily and starts on its way down the path.
"I'll be in town guys! Be careful!" says Shauna.
"We will!" I yell back, giving her a thumbs up.
It's not the smoothest ride I've had, but that's mostly because of the terrain we're crossing. Serena loosely holds on to me as Rhyhorn brings us closer to Glittering Cave.
"This reminds me of when my mom was first teaching me how to ride a Rhyhorn," I say.
I feel Serena rest her forehead on my back. "Why's that?" she asks.
"She would sit me on her lap similar to this, then ride around the track with me. They're some of my favorite memories," I say.
"That's really cute," says Serena, moving her head onto my shoulder.
I look at her, her cute face so close to mine."I probably won't forget about this either."
Serena's face grows red once again. She pulls her head back behind me and says, "Me either... "
We arrive at the entrance of Glittering Cave. Rhyhorn sits down and we disembark.
"You think this is where Absol wanted us to go?" asks Serena.
"I mean... this is the only place we could have gone," I reply as we enter the cave.
Upon entering the small cave, we're shocked to see that glowing crystals and illuminating moss dimly light the cave. The cave is narrow, forcing Serena to walk behind me.
"Woah," is all I can manage to say.
"Full steam ahead," says Serena, giving me a tiny shove.
We come across a few forks in the cave, but decide that we should only try those if we hit a dead end. We could get really lost in here pretty easily. After some time, the cave widens out into a much bigger area. I spot a minecart and some railing leading into another shaft of the cave.
"This looks promising," I say.
"I wonder if this place is still used," says Serena.
Then, I hear footsteps from deeper in the cave. "We're about to find out," I say.
From one of the shafts steps out a man in an all orange tux. He even has matching orange sunglasses and hair. What's with this guy?
"What's this?" says the man, taking notice of us. The man walks over to us with a smirk on his face. "Well, well, well. What do we have here? Some nosy little trainers have come poking around."
"I don't know who you think you are, but as far as I'm aware this place doesn't belong to you," says Serena.
The man's smirk disappears. "Listen up! We're the fashionable team whose very name makes people tremble in fear: Team Flare!"
"Never heard of 'em," I reply.
"Tsk. Allow me to enlighten you. Team Flare's goal is to make it so we're the only ones that are happy! We don't care one bit about what happens to other Trainers or Pokémon. So get out of here, kids, if you know what's best for you."
"Ha! Buddy, the only thing I'm trembling about is your horrible fashion sense. We're not going anywhere," I say.
He definitely didn't like that. "Don't you know not to play with fire?" says the Team Flare member. "Getting my fancy suit dirty isn't the stylish way to do things, but if you insist..." He pulls out a Pokéball, makes a weird pose, and then throws it. "I'll obliterate you! Get them, Houndour!"
The black dog like Pokémon materializes and runs towards us.
"Braixen!"
"Frogadier!" we yell, summoning out our partners.
Houndour jumps onto Braixen, biting her arm. She screams out in pain.
"Water Pulse!" yells Serena. A beam of water crashes into Houndour knocking it off Braixen.
"Braixen, Fire Spin!" I yell. Braixen creates a vortex of fire around Houndour. I quickly return Braixen to her Pokéball and pull out another one.
"Ha! That means nothing to my Houndour," says the man, as his Pokémon bursts out of the vortex. Houndour itself is also a Fire Type, meaning it resists damage from fire.
Thankfully, Serena took advantage of the vortex and the man's stupidity to position Frogadier behind Houndour. I call out my Squirtle. The Houndour blindly runs towards it.
"Houndour wait!" yells the man, coming to his senses, but it was too late.
"Water Pulse!" yells Serena.
"Bubblebeam!" I yell.
Two beams of water crash into either side of Houndour, knocking it senseless instantly.
"Yeah!" I yell out in victory. Serena and I give each other a loud high five that echoes through the cave.
The orange man drops to his knees. "You guys are actually pretty tough trainers, for kids. But watch yourselves! I'm not the only member of Team Flare," he says. He returns his Pokémon, before running deeper into the cave.
We both sigh in relief. "That was crazy!" says Serena.
"I don't think it's over just yet,' I say. "They definitely know we're here now, but why are they here in the first place? What should we do?"
"I don't know. If these guys are the cause of the disaster that Absol was worried about, then we can't just let them do as they please. But we can't go all the way back to Ambrette Town, it would take too long," says Serena.
"Then it looks like we're going to have to do it ourselves then," I reply.
Two more goons in orange run into the room, and our adventure into the depths of Glittering Cave begin. We continue to face goons back to back, slowly gaining information and getting deeper into the cave. We manage to figure out that they're looking for fossils. Apparently they are pretty commonly found in this cave. They're also supposedly looking for a scientist who is supposed to be searching for fossils in this cave as well. It doesn't seem like they have been very successful thus far though.
After running around the cave, beating grunt after grunt, our Pokémon are exhausted. There can't be many more left, can there?
Then, as we pass by a shaft, I notice someone crouched over some rocks.
"Wait," I say, grabbing Serena's arm to stop her.
Serena stops and looks at the man. "Is that him?" she asks.
"I'm pretty sure. There's a significant lack of orange," I say.
Serena laughs. It's been pretty tense running around in here, so it makes me happy to see her loosen up again.
The scientist turns around at the sound of her laughter. "Why, hello! Here to look for fossils as well?" he asks.
"Not exactly," I reply.
"Are you okay? Did Team Flare come here?" asks Serena.
"Teemphlair?" mumbles the confused scientist. "What's that? A Pokémon?"
"Don't worry about it," says Serena. She turns to me and whispers, "It looks like he was completely absorbed in looking for fossils..."
"You two are very lucky!" says the scientist. "I just found two fossils! But they're both ones I already have, so I'll give one to each of you!"
"How kind of you!" says Serena turning back to him.
The scientist holds out the two fossils.
"Alright, Serena, you pick first," I say.
"A gentlemen as always... I'll take this one!" says Serena, taking the fossil from his right hand.
"Ah, that would be the Sail Fossil, and that means the Jaw Fossil now belongs to you," says the man, handing me the other fossil.
"What exactly do we do with fossils though?" I ask.
"Well, I can restore those fossils back into Pokémon if you bring them back to the Fossil Lab in Ambrette Town," says the scientist.
"Wow! That's kind of crazy," I reply.
"Indeed. I must be going now though. I hope to see you both there," says the scientist, before walking off.
Once he's out of earshot, I say, "I can't believe he had no idea... "
"Team Flare... " says Serena, pondering about the weird group we've just encountered. "I don't understand how they can think that threatening others to benefit themselves is okay."
"That definitely wasn't all of them either. We might see them again," I say.
"We better make sure to do some training then, because nobody is safe when it comes to them," says Serena.
"All we can do for now is continue to challenge gyms and grow stronger," I reply. "Come on, let's get out of here."
Serena and I retrace our steps to find our way out of the cave. It's nightfall when we exit, but luckily Rhyhorn stuck around to wait for us.
As we start towards the Rhyhorn, Absol, once again, jumps down in front of us from out of nowhere. Instinctively, I step in front of Serena, but notice it's Absol and relax. This time, Absol sits.
"Hello again," says Serena nervously.
Absol lets out a cry. Serena slowly steps up to it and kneels down. "You did a really good job bringing us here," says Serena as she begins to pet it. "You're a very good Pokémon."
Absol seems to be enjoying the petting very much. I can imagine Absols don't get a whole lot of attention, since they don't appear in front of humans very often. The Absol then moves, placing its head against Serena's.
"I think it likes you," I say.
"You think?" replies Serena. "How about it Absol? Do you want to come with me?"
The Absol lets lets out a cheerful cry and Serena and I laugh. Serena then takes an empty Pokéball and seals the deal. We're not sure if we've prevented a disaster tonight, or if there is still more to come, but with Absol with us, we might be able to figure that out.
We make our way back to Ambrette Town and immediately head to the Pokémon Center. Our Pokémon were hurt, we were starving, and at this hour, hopefully Shauna is chilling in one of the rooms.
"Oh yes, Shauna already booked a room for both you and herself," says Nurse Joy.
"That's great! Thank you," says Serena.
I get myself a room, and we both leave our Pokémon with Nurse Joy.
"I'm a go change and grab Shauna. Meet me in the dining hall in ten," says Serena.
"You got it," I reply with a smile. She giggles and we both head to our rooms.
Ten minutes later, Serena, Shauna, and I sit in the dining hall in our pajamas. Serena and I attempt to explain the story to Shauna while shoveling food into our mouths. Shauna can hardly believe anything we're telling her.
"But I still don't understand why they were in all orange," says Shauna.
"Neither do we," says Serena and I together. Serena and I then look at each other for a second, and the three of just bust up laughing. We relax and talk for a long time.
YOU ARE READING
Mega Love
FanfictionA Calem and Serena fanfic. Calem and friends start their adventure to solve the mysteries of mega evolution!
