Finding Red

16

Dust entered Crystal's lungs yet again making her cough. Sand whipped against her legs, like a thousand small needles pushing against bare skin. A thought flashed across her mind of how she needed to invest in a mouth scarf or something, for situations like this and that of the Gastly. She began to wonder what in the world would possess people to come visit a place so far away from the city with some much dust, sand, and heat. It was as if she had entered an oasis of desert in the middle of Johto.

"You ok there? Caught a cold?" Red asked with a chuckle, pretending to cough.

Crystal hugged Nuria closer to her chest. "Shut up. You're lucky I can't push you into the stupid dirt right now."

"We should be almost there now," Red stated.

She rolled her eyes. "I don't know what would possess anyone to come all the way out here. It's just dust and sand, and it's not like there's any interesting desert Pokémon, so what's the point?"

"Well, you are, so maybe you should answer that question yourself," he retorted.

Crystal huffed in frustration. "This is different. It's just so I can get a free Pokémon, okay? Nothing could ever make me come here of my own accord."

"You'll eat those words, just so you know," said Red.

"Whatever," she replied.

Red, of course, was right. The first thing Crystal saw was the field archeology office set up. A massive building on its own, it seemed miniscule in comparison to the four large community halls that seemed to dwarf the rest of the compound. Crystal couldn't believe the ruins. They seemed almost impossible to build with modern technology, let alone with whatever the ancients had. She gasped in awe as she made her way forward.

"This is just...wow," she said to Red.

He shrugged. "They suspect the ruins are 3000 years old. For a while it was thought that they were the burial place of an old Johtoese emperor, but there were some discoveries that may suggest otherwise. Including the Unknown."

"The Unknown?" Crystal asked.

The battle legend smiled. "They're Pokémon that spell out the alphabet of the ancients. Not much is known about them except their moveset. It's all quite mysterious, really."

"I never knew this existed," said Crystal.

Red snorted. "Well, you don't know much about your region, do you?"

"And what about you, huh? Did you know much about your region before you journeyed?" She asked.

"No," Red responded, "I didn't. At least I didn't pretend to be a know-it-all little snot like you though."

"Hey!" said Crystal. "Take that back."

He laughed. "Nah, I'm good."

The pair continued to walk to the field research facility, which was surprisingly quiet. On the inside it seemed as though the majority of the scientists were out. Crystal looked around, at the massive archeology libraries which lined the walls. There were people reading, searching, for clues of some sort. She looked around. Nobody in the hall looked as though they were one of Elm or Oak's research staff.

"Crystal?" said a man in a suit and tie, as she continued to stand and look around.

She walked over. "Yes, that would be me. And you are?"

"William Alberts," he said, "the head researcher here at the ruins. I run this nonsense. But you won't normally see me all dressed up like this. We had a funding meeting today."