The deeper they went down the ruins’ corridors, the darker the darkness became. Soon it was pitch black and they had to rely on Charmander’s tail flame and Steven’s flashlight. Landon was now walking besides Charmander, running his hand along the wall as he read the archaic symbols. “Uh-oh,” May breathed. The group came to a stop at a three way split in the path. Steven started to sweat as his eyes darted from the three tunnel ways. “Which way do we go?” May asked him. “Not sure; I can’t seem to remember which corridor I went down.” “Oh, great!” BANG!! May and Zeru fell to the ground anime style. “Don’t blame me; I came running through here to help you guys!” Steven exclaimed. Landon, assisted by Charmander’s light, started touching the wall between each tunnel. The markings were definitely Poke’tilan symbols—the only system of writing that could only be read by a select few. “Hmmmm…”He hummed. “Mudkip, mud-mudkip?” Toya spoke, tapping his head. “No, I’m trying to find which one doesn’t lead to a maze.” Landon pointed to a bunch of lines and squiggles. It was amazing how well he could read the foreign language now; kind of as if it had come to him overnight. “Now which way do we go?” A faint blue light glimmered from below at his thoughts. “Ohaaa….” The Crystal Bell hovered out in front of him, tugging at its string. It aimed for the left tunnel way threateningly. “What’s up with your weird bell, Himura?” Steven asked. “I’ve seen it glow a couple of times, but never act like that.” Zeru commented. “I think it’s trying to pull me in the right direction.” Without warning, Landon scooped up Charmander and dashed down the hall. “Not so fast!” Zeru, May, and Steven raced after him. Landon didn’t know if where he was going was going was correct, but it was his best chance. Before he left, he noticed a couple of trap warnings over the other pathways. The tunnel twisted and turned wildly. A dim light shone at the end. “Landon, don’t go so fast!” May called. She was trailing so far behind that Steven  sent Noctowl to fly around her. They mad a turn around a sharp corner and headed towards a threshold. Now, the walls of the corridor were decorated with lit torches—something strange for such old ruins.

         “…whoa, HOLD IT!” SCCRREEECHH! Landon suddenly skidded to a halt. His feet screeched as he prevented himself from passing the threshold. “Watch out!” Zeru was the first to crash, followed by Steven, May, and Noctowl. “Char?” “Mud?” Charmander and Toya glanced back. When they saw the dogpile,  they let out a sigh and sweat anime style. “That was uncool, Himura!” Steven rubbed his head. “Why’d you stop like that?” Zeru growled. Landon pointed to the wall. There was a combination of Poke’mon pictures, shapes, and squiggly lines. “You see, this is a warning right here” He said, “These ruins contain traps beyond certain points. This threshold just happens to be one of them. If we’re not careful, we could end up as permanent residents here.” Landon set Charmander by its trainer and put Toya in May’s arms. He then drew the Sakaba-tou and dashed through the threshold into the light of the new corridor. “Don’t follow me!” He shouted. The ground shifted underneath his weight and he stopped abruptly. Holes in the ruin walls slid open, launching a battalion of needle-tipped arrows. Landon closed his eyes to relax his body. “….Shaaa!” There were a few swishes, snaps, and the sparkle of the light reflecting off the sword as the arrows fell to pieces on the ground. “Heh, too easy for me—” Suddenly, the ground started to rumble and quake all over. “W-w-what’s t-that?” May’s voice shook. Landon stood up and blinked; from around the corner, a giant boulder rolled across the brick floor—it was big enough to cover the entire tunnel. “Hmph!” Landon held out his sword again. “You’re not going to be the only hero around here, you show-off!” From out of nowhere, Zeru jumped over Landon’s shoulder with his fist drawn back. The boulder roared loudly at each time it smacked the wall. “Are you crazy?!” Landon rushed forward to match speeds with his friend. Zeru thrust his fist forward and he heaved his sword through the air; the two attacks issued sharp beats before causing the once rolling stone to burst into a fine dust. The two landed on the ground. Zeru frowned to Landon, “Man, I said I had it.” “You’re not invincible.” Landon replied simply. “Ah….” Steven sweated anime style, blinking in disbelief. “You’ll get use to it.” May said simply. “I’m not sure, but it may be safe.” Landon stated. “You’re not sure?” May ran up to him, growling. “Just trust me.” Landon smiled.
 

          The group continued to walk down the torch-lit hall with Landon still reading the interesting stories on the wall. May was fascinated by the ruins so much that she began taking recordings with her camera. Landon felt a tapping on his shoulder and waved it away mindlessly. It was probably just Toya messing with him. Tweep-tweep! The tapping became sterner. “Cut it out, Toya.” He waved again. Tweep-Tweep-Tweep! “Knock it off, Toya!” He hissed louder. “What’re you talking about? She’s back here with me.” May said. “….” Landon’s face went a little worried and he started sweating. “…Then who is—” He turned around and jumped a bit. “Zeru,” He voiced weakly, “I am just seeing things, right?” Zeru turned around as well. Once he did, it wasn’t long before he was sporting the same look as his friend. “If you are, then we are too.” He gulped. A crackling red flame ball floated in between them. It made a faint whistling sound as it soared slightly. “Okay, maybe if we just walk away, it’ll disappear.” Landon turned, but stopped abruptly. Another fireball hovered in front of his very eyes. “They’re popping up everywhere!” Zeru growled. About a dozen flaming spheres were now circling them threateningly. “What’re we going to do?!” May shrieked. “We’re gonna’ fight.” Steven said, “Something tells me these aren’t what they appear to be. Noctowl, use Forsight!” Noctowl fluttered off of its trainer’s shoulder and flew up into the air, letting out a “Cu-whoo”. It stared at the fireballs. Its red eyes shone with a blue light that hit them; the flames slowly faded into a black spherical Poke’mon with slanted eyes and a big mouth. Its entire body was enshrouded by a purple ghostly gas. “I thought so.” Steven snapped his fingers. Click-ick! “Gastly, the Gas Poke’mon. These Poke’mon like to become invisible in order to sneak up on their prey. They are made up entirely of gas, which can be poisonous if it feels threatened.” Landon’s poke’dex spoke out. “Ga-Gastly!” The Gastly all stuck their tongues out at them. “If they’re Poke’mon, then they won’t mind if we battle.” Landon grabbed the poke’ball with a leaf sticker on it. “Let’s go, Chikorita!” He threw it and it burst open in a flash of light, revealing Chikorita. “Chika-Chika!” BANG!! She thrust her shoulder into her trainer, trying to bite through his shirt. “Chikorita!” Landon staggered a bit, “Don’t ram me; ram them!” He scolded. Chikorita scampered off into a fly tackle towards the Gastly. “Landon, ghost-types aren’t affected by physical attacks.” Zeru told him. “Unless the Forsight attack is used. It’s obvious Himura knows what he’s doing.” Steven spoke up. Chikorita crashed into one ghastly and sent it spiraling into the wall. “Chikorita, wrap this up with a spinning Vine Whip!” Landon ordered. “Chika,” From her bud necklace, two green vines sprouted like a couple of whips; Chikorita pivoted on one leg while spinning around in a circle, allowing her vine whips to deliver a harsh trial of smacks to each Gastly. “Ga-gastly!” “Gastly—” They turned-tail and floated down the tunnel in the opposite direction. “Chicken!” “Chika!” Landon and Chikorita stuck out their tongues. “C’mon, let’s go.” May said. “Right, G’mon Chikorita.” “Chikori!” Chikorita clambered up to Landon’s shoulder as he walked up. When he passed May, Toya leapt onto his head out of jealousy.

 

         The torch-lit tunnel finally came to an end and yielded a bright room. The very walls of the circular room were made up of different colored stones. In the middle was a rocky, spiraling stair case pillar. There was a hole at the top of the room that allowed the sun to shine through; the light reflected off of the stones in the wall, lighting the room with many colors. “Whoaaa…” The kids said breathlessly. “It’s so beautiful!” May complimented. They walked in and all split up to examine different areas. May knelt by a deep puddle that contained some clear blue stones with white bubble patterns inside. Zeru and Steven were admiring yellow stones with lightning bolts in the inside on the wall. The high wall was made up of orange sun-shaped rocks—the only ones that didn’t reflect a color by the sun. Landon gazed at the side of the pillar, which was kindly decorated with light fuchsia stones that had yellow crescents inside. He barely realized his curiosity moving his feet up the narrow stairway. Higher he scaled, just itching to find out what resided at the top. “I’ve never seen so many evolution stones in my life.” Steven said. “I’ve never seen an evolution stone ever.” Zeru pulled the earthy-looking stone from the wall and examined it, “This is a leaf stone, isn’t it?” “Precisely,” Steven said. Landon continued to climb up the spiraling pillar. The stones on the sides started to slowly change from the light fuchsia rocks, to flaming red ones. When he reached the top, it was bare except a glowing object standing upright. It was blue and star-shaped and sat there lonely. “Wonder what that is.” Landon thought to himself. His first instinct was to reach and grab it, even though he knew better than to. It was different than any other stone in the room. Maybe it was used for a specific Poke’mon to evolve. Landon grasped the object with both hands mindlessly, holding it up. He half-expected the room to start shaking or fall to pieces. After all, traps did seam to be the theme of the cave ruins.

         Suddenly, the star became very hot in his hands like an iron. It became so hot, he couldn’t hold it any longer. “Ack!” He hissed in a wince, but for some reason, he couldn’t drop it; his hands just remained clamped on. The star suddenly shattered into a thousand tiny sparks and zoomed right into the corner of his hand. “Ha!” Landon smarted, pulling his glove off. He exclaimed his hand closely, rubbing it with his other. In the top-left corner of his palm was a black marking in the shape of a snowflake. It stung for a little bit like a simmering burn. “Mudkip, Mudkip?” “Chikori?” Toya and Chikorita made an attempt to sooth his palm. “Thanks a lot,” Landon smiled to them.

 

         “Ready….aim….fire!” POOSHH! The kids’ ears twitched at a loud pop coming from the entrance. Landon looked up just in time to see a silver ring shoot his way; with a clang, it wrapped around his arms with a force that nearly made him lose his balance. “Hey!” He shouted. There were some more pops and more binding rings fired into the room, bouncing off walls, and aiming for his friends. “Ugh!” “Hey!” “What is this?” They growled. “Mudkip!” Toya pointed towards the entrance. Grinning, Yoshimari and Tsubimi stood in the threshold. Yoshimari had a large bazooka slung over his shoulder. “So, sis, what’d ya’ think? My new grab-rings are a complete success.” He said. “Yeah,” Tsubimi giggled in agreement. “Should’ve known (Background turns into a vast night jungle scene) “A stealth like dark, we’re shadows of the night.” “Blanketing over those who do things right.” –Yoshimari and Tsubimi performed a series of back flips—“Where treasure glitters, we’re there to claim.” “To higher riches, we’ll surely aim.” (Background turns to the picture of a triceratops in its Jurassic environment) Yoshimari and Tsubimi came to a stop, back to back, with their arms folded. “Tsubimi!” “Yoshimari!” “We’re Team Darkhorn, the pirate thieves.” “Don’t mess with us; you’re out of your league!” Team Darkhorn recited.

         “What’re you doing here?” May asked shortly. “If you must know, little girl, we plan to take all of these evolution stones.” Tsubimi stated, “Then, we’ll sell them on the black market and get filthy rich. Not to mention all of the super Poke’mon Miru can get.” “You can’t take all of these stones!” Steven exclaimed, “If you take too many, the structure of this room will fall apart!” “Like we care; we’re not going to let a bunch of kids stand in our way.”  Yoshimari said. “Go, Toya!” Landon order and Toya raced down the steps of the pillar. “Go, Loudred!” “Go, Tailow!” Team Darkhorn tossed their poke’balls and they burst open to reveal their Poke’mon. “Tailow-tailow!!” Tailow clucked. “Loudred!” Loudred flexed its muscles. “Loudred, use Mega Punch!” Yoshimari thrust his fist forward. Loudred waited for Toya to come to the bottom of the steps before charging at her. “Loudred—Loudred!” It drew its fist back to gather power for its attack. “Quick, Toya, use Double Team attack!” Landon shouted. His arms were still bound, but he ran down the steps regardless. “Mudkip!” Toya created multiple images of herself to evade Loudred’s assault. Instead, its fist crashed into the pillar, smashing up some of the stones. “No, we have to keep them destroying the room!” Steven stated. “Tailow, use Drill Peck!” “Tailow!” Tailow flapped up high with a screech; it flapped towards the army of Mudkip in a spiral, drilling manner. “Quick, Noctowl, use your Hypnosis!” Steven cried. Noctowl flapped up in front of the two Darkhorn Poke’mon. “Cuckooo-hoooooooooo…..” Its eyes glowed a light red color in reaction to its low growl. Noctowl’s gaze practically paralyzed Tailow and Loudred, giving their faces a sleepy look. “Now, use Gust!” Steven said and Noctowl flapped its wings heavily. “Oh-no!” Team Darkhorn gasped as they were rammed by their own flying Poke’mon. “Finish them with your Water Gun attack!” Landon shouted when he finally reached the base. “Mudkip!” Toya sprayed a jet stream of water from her mouth and sent Team Darkhorn soaring out into the hall. “This is all too soon!” They echoed.

 

         “Ah, fresh air at last.” Landon stretched as he, Toya, Zeru, May, and Steven found their way out of the cave. The sun greeted them harshly in the eyes, but they were thankful to be back outside. Landon took a look out and smiled; they were standing on a hill that oversaw just a little bit of forest between them and Dewford Town. “If you stick to the forest trail, you should get to Dewford Town.” Steven told them. “I can’t thank you enough for helping me, Himura.” “Don’t worry; I’ve got it covered.” Landon smiled, concealing one of the yellow thunderstones behind his back. He felt a little bad about taking it, but what was one rock between new friends? The three turned and waved goodbye as they walked towards the forest. “We’ll meet again someday—count on it!” Steven called. (As our heroes walk away, they’ve made new friends and gained new experiences. But what’s Lan going to do with that thunderstone? See ya’ in the next episode of “Poke’mon X”!)

 

Fast Fact answer: Landon’s greatest rival is none other than Syorin Hibiki. Stay tuned for more Fast facts.

 

                                      “Shine the Sky” (Ending Theme)

 

Shine the sky!

Crystal power hit the high—

Flying current to my victory

Try and Try!

Never give the fight away

I’ll take every challenge that I can get in my hands

Des—tiny!

Prophecy I can’t ignore

Know what surprises that it has in store

Shine the sky!

A knew adventure I will face

Another chance at victory with Poke’mon!

 



This is the end of Episode 14. See ya' later Feraligater!