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The transition from the jungle to Sector 5 wasn't gradual, as the trees stopped suddenly, replaced by a jagged, landscape of limestone crags and tumbled boulders.
Alex stood at the mouth of the cavern, It was a gaping maw in the cliffside, swallowing the light.
"Okay," Alex whispered to himself. "Logic check."
He leaned against a rock, checking his watch map and the area was blank.
"In the Kanto games, caves mean Zubats, Geodudes, and Clefairies and the Clefairies mean Moon Stones and well Moon Stones mean Nidoking."
It was a solid chain of reasoning , right ? , but as he stared into the pitch-black void, doubt crept in, this wasn't Mt. Moon, this was just a random, uncharted island in the middle of nowhere and for all he knew, the cave was just a hole in the ground filled with guano and death.
"If I'm wrong, we waste a day," Alex muttered. "If I'm right, we win the game, it's like trading, we gamble and I am a good gambler. "
He adjusted his things and put on his MP3 player, tightened the straps of his cargo pants.
" It's Ares time," he said softly as he stood up straighter, the uncertainty in his eyes was hidden behind the determination of a fighter.
"Nidoran," Ares commanded. "Point."
Nidoran stepped forward and its ears swiveled like radar dishes, it could hear frequencies Alex couldn't, the ultrasonic pings of Zubats, the grinding of rock on rock.
They stepped inside and it felt like darkness was absolute just like complete lightsdowm in a town.
Ten meters in, the sunlight died and Alex didn't have a flashlight, batteries were rare and expensive at the Exchange. He had prepared a primitive torch a stick wrapped in cloth soaked in tree sap, but he didn't light it yet as fire consumed oxygen, and smoke in a confined space was a rookie mistake.
Instead, he relied on Nidoran and his watch light , his Pokémon had a faint, glow, not much, just the purple aura of its poison glands reacting to the adrenaline. It cast a ghostly, violet light that illuminated the floor for about three feet.
Drip Drip
The sound of water echoing was totally madenning like those sound effects from a horror movie as It sounded like footsteps.
Alex kept one hand on the cave wall, feeling the cold, slime covered stone to orient himself.
"Screeee..."
The sound came from above.
Alex froze as Nidoran crouched, growling low.
Flap flap flap
It wasn't one, It was a swarm flying .
"Zubats," Alex analyzed internally.
"Blind, they track sound and movement and If we run, they swarm us completely." He pulled a small stone from his pocket and tossed the stone deep into the darkness to his left.
Clack
The sound echoed sharply.
"SCREEEE!"
The ceiling came alive and a dozen blue shapes detached from the stalactites, diving toward the sound of the stone.
They were frenzied, biting at the empty air where the noise had been.
" Lets Move buddy ," Ares whispered.
They slipped past the swarm while the bats were distracted.
They went deeper and deeper , the air grew stale and the smell of crap, the bat droppings was totally overpowering.
After twenty minutes of careful slow maneuvering, the tunnel opened up into a larger cavern and there was a faint light here, luminescent moss growing on the ceiling, casting a sickly green pallor over the room.
And there were craters.
Alex's heart skipped a beat at what he saw ...Craters
In game lore, the Moon Stones arrived on meteors and Craters meant impact sites.
He rushed forward, forgetting his stealth for a second, he scrambled up a pile of loose scree to reach the nearest impact crater in the cavern floor, he fell to his knees, digging through the dust with gloved hands.
"Come on motherfuckers," Alex pleaded internally. "Give me the grey stone, Give me the evolution."
He dug until his fingernails scraped bedrock.
Nothing.
He moved to the next crater.
Nothing.
He checked a third, It was filled with old, calcified bones of some small Pokémon, but no stone. Alex sat back on his heels, panting, the disappointment was a physical weight in his stomach.
"Of course," he laughed bitterly.
"Real life isn't a wikpedia or lore, Just because there's a crater doesn't mean the meteor is still there, It probably hit a thousand years ago and eroded away."
The Nidoran watched him, confused as It didn't know what he was looking for, only that the human was upset.
"I'm an idiot," Alex muttered. "I risked our lives on a guess." He looked around the cavern, It wasn't a treasure room, It was just a damp, empty hole.
"Let's go," Alex said, standing up. "We're wasting ti..."
Grind
The sound came from the wall next to him.
Alex froze as the wall... moved.
A section of the grey rock detached itself, two muscular, rocky arms unfolded.
A face appeared, rough, craggy, with eyes that glowed with a dull, angry earth-light.
[ Pokémon: Geodude ]
[ Level: 11 ]
[ Aptitude: Green (Solid) ]
[ Status: Hibernating (Disturbed) ]
It wasn't alone as to the left, another rock shifted.
[ Pokémon: Geodude ]
[ Level: 10 ]
[ Aptitude: Black (Common) ]
Alex backed away slowly. "We woke the angry neighbors up."
The Level 11 Geodude growled, grinding its knuckles together, It didn't like soft, fleshy things invading its sleep.
"Nidoran," Ares said, his voice cold. "Fighting stance." Nidoran stepped forward, It was Level 11 too, an even match for it .
"Double Kick the big one," Ares slowly commanded."Ignore the small one."
Nidoran launched as the Hustle engaged but in the uneven terrain of the cave, accuracy was a freaking nightmare.
As Nidoran lunged forward,its foot slipped on loose gravel and the kick went wide.
Geodude capitalized instantly and swung a massive rocky fist. Rock Throw...but at close range, it was just a haymaker.
BAM
The fist connected with the Nidoran's side.
"Nido!"
The rabbit was thrown sideways, slamming into a rock, It cried out, sliding down the rock.
"Damn it," Alex cursed. "Hustle in rough terrain is suicide."The second Geodude was rolling forward, gathering speed rotating , Rollout...fuck the one move he hated when playing games against whitney, If that hit, it was game over.
Alex looked around,he needed a weapon ,he needed an advantage against them, his eyes landed on a puddle of dark, viscous liquid pooling beneath a cluster of rocks near the back wall, It wasn't water and It was purple, toxic run off maybe so he didn't give it a thought , just grabbed a handful of sand.
" Go.....sand!"
He threw the sand at the rolling Geodude like how a baseball ⚾ player would throw the ball , It didn't stop it, but the sudden cloud made the simple minded rock Pokémon flinch and it veered slightly off course, smashing into the wall instead of the Nidoran.
CRASH
"Nidoran! Get up!" Alex yelled. "Use the environment! Use the walls"
Nidoran shook its head, clearing the cobwebs, It saw the big Geodude winding up for another punch, Nidoran didn't charge , it simply jumbed up and kicked off the wall, using its strong hind legs to propel itself over the Geodude's head.
"Double Kick! From above!"
Gravity plus Force will give momentum to fuck up someone.
CRACK
The Nidoran landed on the Geodude's head, driving its heels into the rocky cranium. Super Effective....Geodude crumbled, knocked unconscious instantly. Nidoran landed, panting, ribs heaving as It glared at the smaller Geodude, which was pulling itself out of the wall rubble.
The small one looked at its fallen leader, It looked at the purple demon rabbit, it looked between them multiple times and then dug and burrowed into the ground and vanished.
[ Enemy Defeated]
[ XP Gained ]
Alex ran to the Nidoran, "Check status."
[ HP: 65% ]
[ Status: Bruised ]
"You'll live buddy," Alex exhaled as he applied a dab of the Oran Salve from his pocket to the Nidoran's flank.
He looked around the cavern again, the fight was over, but he was still empty handed, No Moon Stone and Just a migraine and a bruised Pokémon.
"What was that purple puddle?" Alex wondered, walking over to the back wall where he had seen the liquid.
He shone his primitive torch which he finally lit, desperate for light on it. It was a small pool of blackish purple sludge oozing from a crack in the rock, It smelled pungent, like tar used for road and old rotten grapes .
[ Item Identified: Black Sludge (Natural Deposit) ]
[ Rarity: High ]
[ Properties: Dangerous to handle.
If held by Poison-type Pokémon, grants gradual regeneration. If held by others, causes damage ]
Alex's eyes widened, Black Sludge.
It wasn't a Moon Stone and it wouldn't evolve his Pokémon, but for a Nidoran?
"It's a passive heal," Alex realized. "It's like Leftovers, but specifically for Poison types."
This cave wasn't a Clefairy nest, It was a Grimer or Koffing nesting ground deeper down, and this sludge was seeping up through the cracks.
"This is better than a stone right now," Alex whispered. "Evolution makes you stronger, but regeneration makes you unkillable and saves us lot of trouble."
He carefully pulled out an empty jar which he had saved one for the samples and used his knife to scrape the thick, tar-like sludge into the jar and managed to collect about a fist-sized glob.
He sealed the jar tight.
"Inventory."
"Let's get out of here," Ares said. "We have what we came for.... mostly."
They backtracked through the tunnels and as they emerged into the opening of Sector 5, Alex felt the tension drain from his shoulders.
He hadn't found the easy win but he had found a tool that would let the Nidoran fight longer, train harder, and survive the various impossible odds of the Evaluation.
"Black Sludge huh ," Alex mused, walking back toward the jungle. "I can probably refine that too and make a wearable coating for him."
STATUS WINDOW
Trainer: Ares (Alex Hales)
Inventory:
* Knife, Potion (x1)
* Black Sludge (Jar)
* Gloom Extract
[ POKÉMON TEAM ]
1. Nidoran
* Level: 11
* Aptitude: Red (Dark)
* Condition: Bruised (Healing)
* New Gear: Black Sludge (To be equipped)
2. Feebas
* Level: 6
* Status: Stasis
He went to sleep not before putting on his MP3 and listening.
Op, op, op, op
Oppan Gangnam style
Gangnam style
:- psy
Authors Note:-
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