Jordinio Version - Chapter 33.1

When the light reverted I stared in awe.

It was like a scene straight out of an epic. A towering orange scaled dragon of pure power standing triumphantly over a fallen foe, that of a pterodactyl with a body of the hardest and sturdiest of granite.

Charizard…was mine now.

Elation, excitement and more rushed through my veins, liquid joy sparked through my heart, the sparks of my brain danced a drunken happy jig. I was so happy, my very limbs shook.

…That was ten minutes ago. Yet, even as I traversed through the undergrounds of Grandpa Canyon after getting myself under control, every few seconds I found my head looking over my shoulder instinctually just to make sure it was real.

Charizard, terrifying and massive, well above the average height the pokedex claimed a Charizard was, gave me a goofy grin every time my eyes met his own.

I replied in kind, flashing my newly evolved dragon god a thumbs up as I did, before turning back around and focusing on my surroundings.

…I was still hundreds of feet below ground after all. Though, much of the trepidation had disappeared now.

After all, what did I have to fear? I have a Charizard now.

Plus, you know…I currently have the ancient fossil pokemon stuck in pokeballs attached to my belt.

Well, two of them at least. the male Kabutops and Aerodactyl, the rest I'd sent back to the Pokemon Centre already.

Honestly, I would have probably called it quits after catching them, if not for the fact that after evolving, Charizard seemed to have gained a second wind of stamina.

Or had the evolution just increased his overall abilities by that much that the sheer amount of work he'd put in today prior to evolving, wasn't close to using up all the fuel in his shiny newly evolved tank?

Either way, Charizard was still ready and raring to go and capable of providing me light to search the underground area. I'd returned Bellossom, Victreebel and Dragonite though. The first two, simple for more space….but Dragonite had taken a real beating fighting Aerodactyl and needed a good rest.

As we walked, we came to a cross in the tunnel and I paused, and blinked, "Huh." I noted, a bit surprised.

There was a small…pond I want to say? The crossroad led into a narrow tunnel with a plunging area of water and what appeared to be a nest of some kind of the bank right before it.

It wouldn't really have caught me interest, if not for one particular thing.

…Or rather, many.

Bones.

A lot of them. Piled up more or less in the corner, out of the way.

At first glance, they'd look like the bones of killed and devoured prey. But, with a closer look.

I could see the hollowed out shells of Omastar and Omanyte, the degraded blades of Kabutops, the upturned bodies of what used to be Kabuto.

'Are these all…fossils?' I blinked.

There had to be multiple dozens of them.

For a moment I just stared and debated internally, while Charizard waited silently.

…It made sense. No pokemon beyond the true blue legendaries could live for this long. The fossil pokemon I captured, weren't actually fossil pokemon. But in actuality, the descendants of a long line of pokemon that had managed to survive since those ancient days by birthing each new generation.

What I don't understand though….is how they're all part rock type still according to my pokedex. Many fossils only gained the rock typing because of them being revived from fossilized remains that had become one with the earth.

'I suppose the Kabuto and Omanyte lines could have always been rock types, that at least makes a bit of sense considering what they're based on.' I mused internally.

It did not explain Aerodactyl though.

…Unless, living underground for so long had made this Aerodactyl line in particular adapt to the area they lived in as the generations went on and gained the rock typing, almost like a regional variant?

Well, either way, it didn't matter, that was a question for the likes of Professor Oak or the like to ponder.

The question that remained to me though was-

"To take or not to take." I hummed, crossing my arms and eyeing the remains of the dead pokemon.

Morbid as it might be, fossils were probably worth quite a bit here going by how many criminals always wanted to steal them. And these particular fossils would most likely in the future, of I took them…be revived and brought back to life.

I mean, I'd cleared out a small islands population not long ago and then just earlier today did the same to a small forest.

But grave robbing now?

"Fuck it." I shrugged and cracked my neck. Not like I'm the only one that would do it. Roark and his dad had a full on family business of mining and digging up fossils.

If he can do it, so can I.

Decision made, I shrugged my backpack off and reached into it to retrieve some containers to keep them in.

Before getting to work, "Hi-hoh, hi-hoh, it's off to work I go," I cheerily hummed to myself, "With a bucket and spade and a hand grenade, hi-hoh, hi-hoh, hi-hoh, hi-hoh."

__________

I wasn't sure exactly how many complete fossils there were, but by my estimation, I ended up scooping up what amounted to around sixty of them, maybe a little more.

I had Milotic search within the pond, but she didn't really find anything of note in there either.

So, my best guess was that the fossils I found, were the only ones still left in tact that hadn't literally become part of the cave itself.

There were probably thousands of fossils within the area in total spread about and within the earth itself.

But I simply wasn't going to waste time with that, I'd gotten enough booty on this route, so back out out of the tunnel I went alongside Charizard and we continued on down the other path, my newly evolved behemoth of orange scales lighting the way.

As we traversed through it, I noticed it quickly opening up wider and wider and before long, I found myself entering into a large cavernous area filled with stalagmites jutting from both the ground and ceiling high above.

They were so tightly packed together and wide, that I could barely fit through the gaps between them and made it all but impossible for Charizard to.

Luckily, he could now fly.

At my order, Charizard flapped his wings and took into the air above the stalagmites, albeit a little shakily.

Honestly, I couldn't help but stare after him as I did. It was amazing how quickly he adapted to such a new form and ability. It was almost mystical really how quickly he did adapt to having what amounted to new limbs.

Anyway, with his sheer size, and it was very abundant and the blazing massive flame atop his tail, he lit up much of the cavernous area easily as he flew up.

And as he did, I caught sight of something. A huge pillar of rock jutting up above the rest of the stalagmites, easily twice as long and looking like over twenty of them stuck together in width.

Atop the pillar, I could see what looked like a wall of jagged boulders placed in a circular fashion around it, as if to block anything or anyone from peering into the centre of it.

Pretty suspicious.

If I were a betting man, I'd bet that was Aerodactyl's nest, roost….house?

I quickly squeezed my way through the stalagmites and made my way closer towards the pillar and reached it after a few moments. "Can you give me a lift up buddy?" I looked up and asked.

Charizard nodded and swooped down, grabbing me beneath the arms and with a mighty flap of his wings, each double the size of me, he ascended into the air, lifting me up with him and promptly set me down atop the pillar of rock a moment later.

It was…pretty barren to be honest. There was nothing in it that could even be remotely likened to bedding.

Just dusty rocky fragments.

Oh, and an egg.

A familiar egg. It was large, about ten inches in size with a pure white shell dotted with blue and red triangle shapes.

"What….?" I just stared.

Why?

How….how did Togepi's egg get down here? I thought some trainer had dropped it, but no…Aerodactyl had it all along? But, the anime never showed it being carried by the fossil pokemon.

Putting that aside, how did it even survive down here? How long has it been here?

I'd say it couldn't have been long, but Aerodactyl has never been to the surface I'm sure, if it had, it would surely have found somewhere better to live. Which means, Togepi's egg had to have been down here for a very, very long time.

Which was impossible…it should have hatched a long time ago or simply died.

Yet…hadn't Ash's Riolu literally refused to let itself hatch for years? Could Togepi have been doing the same?

'Fuck it, doesn't matter.' I decided and repressed all those questions. I was curious, but not curious enough to get myself worked up into a tizzy pondering all the what if's and how's.

What mattered was…I had a free Togepi egg sitting right in front of me. Sorry Misty, but it was never really yours to begin with and it wasn't like you ever trained Togepi to be anything of note, you just babied it then let it leave when it evolved.

"Mine now." I declared with a grin, reaching down and picking up the egg. As I did though, I once again found myself pausing and blinking in surprise, "Huh…that I wasn't expecting."

Because right behind the egg, being hidden by its shiny white and decorated bulk was a small glimmering purple sphere with what almost looked like a cross between a helix symbol and a flame of darker shades of purple and grey.

An Aerodacatylite.

Egg in hand I just stared.

I pursed my lips and sucked at them for a few moments, before releasing with a sigh, "I suppose if I'd find one anywhere, it would be here." I mused.

I'd half jokingly expected it actually.

Honestly, I'm hyped, but at the same time, I've accrued so much today alone already, that I'm pretty much tapped out for excitement.

So I didn't feel anything like my heart leaping into my throat from spastic joy. Though, I'm still happy I guess.

It's pretty much the rarest of three ingredients I need for a Mega Aerodactyl after all. The second rarest I already know where to get, roughly. And the easiest would be taming the wild beast that beat the shit out of my Dragonite all the while trolling the ever lobing crap out of him and make it love me.

Well, one thing's for sure, I don't have any immediate plans for punching it out like Dragonite. I literally broke my hands on Dragonite's scales, I'm not punching a giant pterodactyl made out of rock.

And I don't think trying to choke it out when its neck is made of rock as well will go so well.

Maybe if I learned how to use aura?

I shook my head, putting the sheer silliness of my thoughts out of mind  for the moment and shimmied the egg into the crook of one arm, before bending down and grabbing the mega stone sitting on the ground and slipped it into my pocket.

With that taken care of, I set my bag down, before pulling out a cover to carefully wrap Togepi's egg in, before storing it safely in my backpack as well.

'I'll need to see about getting one of those glass container things Ash always got when he and his pals carried eggs around.' I mused, holstering my bag over my shoulder.

And with that taken care of, I called for Charizard to come pick me up and set me back down again so we could leave.

Our business is done here and it was about time to go face the music.

And by that I mean getting yelled at by Nurse Joy.

And then Hilda.

Or the other way around, it didn't matter really. I was going to get yelled at by both of them for sure.