Pokemon: Way Of Life Chapter 31

Hi all,

I hope you all are having a great holiday. Here is the first of two chapters that I promised for today. Enjoy.

Mr Weasley paused before they had taken more than a dozen steps.

"Before we go any further," Mr Weasley said. "Because Pokeballs depend on a satellite link, they may not work depending on how far we go beneath the surface. Since we may not get the chance to summon our Pokemon to us later, it's best to pick the Pokemon you want to bring with you now. Since space is limited, we must choose our Pokemon carefully."

The Pokeballs reliance on satellite was a serious weakness, as it depended on a physical location with a receiver up on the surface to pick up signals from the satellite. In more remote areas and under the ground, the Pokeballs may not work at all. It is why so many people always keep their Pokemon by their sides.

Mr Weasley continued. "Marowak is my smallest and most reliable Pokemon, so I will stick with him. Lucas, since your Pokemon don't take up much space, they can stay together."

Charlie summoned a Shelgon, which would be an excellent Pokemon for defence, although it may run into trouble if the tunnel in front of them narrowed.

Fred let out a Geodude, who looked around with interest, a particularly mischievous look in his eyes. He slapped Ron on the shoulder, sending the boy into the wall and causing the teenager to swear.

Ron let out his Eevee, who jumped into her partner's arms and looked at Lucas cautiously.

Lucas held his hands in peace. "Hey, don't look at me like that. It's not like I'm using your blood for nefarious means. If I'm successful, then the Eevee species will become as common as Pokemon like Pidgey’s. Wouldn't that be amazing?"

Eevee turned her head away in dismissal. Ron chuckled and rubbed her head. "She's taking the piss. It didn't even hurt to have her blood taken, or else I would have gotten an earful."

Eevee reached out a nipped the teenager's arm in reproach, causing the boy to yelp.

Tyler chose a Pidgey. When the others looked at him, he shrugged. "I get bad asthma attacks. If the air quality is poor, I will run into problems. Having Pidgey along to keep the air clean is important."

Mr Weasley nodded. "That's a good idea. We don't have the space in our backpacks to bring oxygen, so this is a good alternative."

Joshua summoned a Squirtle, and the team composition was finally complete.

"Now, we are not going to be mining any ores today," Mr Weasley said. "Our task is to explore the cave system and mark locations that look good to mine. If you find any valuable ores like Star Shards and Gold Nuggets, then feel free to mine them immediately. However, we may have to hire heavy equipment for the iron or copper ore deposits if there is enough of it to be worth our time."

Lucas followed closely behind Mr Weasley as he led them west through the cave system. The Marowak was on high alert, occasionally stopping to listen to odd noises that it considered out of place.

Aside from their heavy breathing and footsteps scuffing the ground, the rest of the tunnel was eerily silent. The headlamps bounced off the walls as they looked around, creating shadows in the pitch-black darkness. Lucas felt a cold drop of water fall on his neck, coming down from the limestone stalactites hanging from the ceiling above them.

The air was getting heavier as they progressed, and they occasionally stopped to allow the Pidgey to clear the air with a flap of its wings. It felt like they were gradually descending, going deeper into the depths of the earth.

Lucas was beginning to feel uncomfortable being underground. He didn't notice it at first, but he was starting to feel claustrophobic, surrounded by tonnes of earth above his head. Images of his childhood trauma started plaguing his mind, and while his Mental Resistance dulled some of it, Lucas could still feel his breathing becoming heavy. He almost tripped on a protruding rock; he was so disorientated.

Ron grabbed his arm to prevent him from falling. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Lucas replied, shaking his head to overcome the sudden urge to faint. He dug his nails into his palms painfully until the dizziness disappeared. His Pokemon looked at him in concern, but he reassured them with a smile.

Five minutes later, Mr Weasley stopped, and the group waited as he inspected the map. "It looks like we have reached the boundary where Bill stopped exploring. We need a volunteer to draw the map. Except for Lucas. I want his attention focused on the passage in front of us to warn us if we run into trouble."

"I'm pretty good at drawing," Joshua stepped forward.

"Great, then I leave it in your hands," Mr Weasley handed over the map.

They continued, albeit slower, so they could carefully check the walls for any ores or evolution stones, but they didn't stop if they found anything but placed a flag next to it so they come back later and mine it. Lucas was the most helpful in this regard, as his Map pointed out areas of interest as they emerged.

Soon they were forced to walk single file as the passage got narrower.

"Be careful," Arthur called. "The terrain is worsening; watch your step on the uneven ground."

Lucas continued using Aura Sense to scan the environment for any potential danger, but it proved unnecessary so far, with the path being linear, so unless the Pokemon came breaking through solid rock, he didn't have to worry about Pokemon coming from multiple directions. Occasionally, he would utilise the Transparent Vision skill to see if any hollow spaces lurking beyond, but so far, he had come up empty-handed.

Forty minutes later, Mr Weasley called everyone to stop, and Lucas soon found out the reason when he stepped up next to the older man. Ahead of them, a vast crevice bisected the tunnel they were travelling in, and Lucas peered down into the intimidating depths, the light from his headlamp being swallowed by darkness.

Mr Weasley retrieved a flare from his backpack and struck the ignition, and a bright plume of red smoke emerged. He threw it down into the crevice, and they watched as it was swallowed by darkness, with the bottom of the crevice nowhere in sight.

"Well, it seems like we need to send a Pokemon over with a rope, so we have a way to cross," Mr Weasley scratched his balding head.

Lucas eyed the gap. It was about six metres across, not an easy jump to make for an average person; however, he wasn't ordinary. "I've got this. Give me the rope."

'Is that wise?' Dante asked worriedly.

'Don't worry; this is a trivial matter.'

"Are you sure?" Charlie asked doubtfully, looking down into the darkness with a nervous expression.

"If Lucas says he can do it," Ron slapped his shoulder. "Then ist virtually a guarantee. He is not one to boast idly."

"I say, my handsome little friend," Fred whispered in his ear. "If something happened to you, what's the appropriate length of time your girlfriend is allowed to mourn before I ask her out?"

Lucas shoved the menace away, and Fred retreated, stepping onto Tyler's foot, who cursed the redhead.

"I am not going to be dying anytime soon," Lucas sniffed haughtily. "Everyone knows that an extremely handsome protagonist like me has plot armour to fall back onto whenever he is in a life-threatening situation."

Ron snorted. "Conceited much. What are we, just a bunch of mindless NPCs?"

Lucas gave him the thumbs up. "The first part of acceptance is being honest with yourself."

"Alright, enough chatter,' Mr Weasley chuckled. "If Lucas says he can do it, let's believe in him. Charlie, grab the heavy hammer and drive a stake into the ground."

Mr Weasley retrieved the rope from his bag as the sturdy redhead made short work of hammering a stake into the ground. Once the rope had been attached, Lucas was handed the rope with another stake tied to the end, and Charlie gave him the hammer.

"Whenever you're ready," Mr Weasley said, and the group backed into the sides to give Lucas a path for a run-up. Lucas took off his backpack and handed it to Maximus.

With his Jumping Jack ability, this would be a piece of cake. Lucas sprinted forward with the rope trailing behind him and leapt over the hole, landing on the other side lightly without losing his balance, with his hands still holding the stake and hammer.

"I give the execution a nine," Fred cheered.

Lucas hammered the stake quickly into the ground and gave it a few yanks to ensure it was secure before giving the thumbs up to the group, who began shimmying over one by one.

Everything seemed to be going fine until Mr Weasley was the only one left to cross the gap. A tremendous roar sounded nearby when he was halfway across, and the ground beneath their feet shook with a tremor. Mr Weasley was caught off guard, lost his grip on the rope and screamed as he began to fall into the crevice.

"Dad." his sons cried out in horror.

Reacting quickly, Lucas thrust his arm forward and caught the man with Telekinesis. The others watched, astounded, as Lucas lifted the panicking man out of the crevice and set him on the ground in front of them.

"Are you okay, dad?" Charlie kneeled and touched Mr Weasley's shoulder.

Mr Weasley took a few calming breaths before nodding. "I will be, son."

"That was a nice save, man," Ron hugged Lucas in gratitude. "I knew it was a good idea to bring you along."

"Yes, I'm very fortunate that you were here," Mr Weasley said, standing up and shaking his hand.

Lucas shrugged uncomfortably. "Don't worry about it. What concerns me more is that roar that sounded a moment ago. What Pokemon do you think that belongs to?"

"I don't know," Fred pointed in the passage on the other side of the gap. "But we can longer go back. The tunnel has collapsed."

"This is troublesome," Mr Weasley frowned. "We could try and get our Pokemon to clear the passage, but we risk bringing more earth down on our heads."

"I could try and remove it remotely," Lucas said. "However, with that amount of dirt, it may take me half the day to remove it with my limited Aura. We have no choice but to go forward. Hopefully, we will discover another way out of here. Do our cell phones work down here?"

Ron tested the reception on his phone. "No luck. It wasn't much of a chance anyway."

It was getting harder to breathe as the passage was suddenly filled with dust, and they had to cover their mouth with their shirts to avoid inhaling it into their lungs. Pidgey came to the rescue again and cleared the dust, although the Pokemon had to be more circumspect and dial down the wind's power in case she triggered another cave-in.

Mr Weasley tried summoning his Marowak, who was dangling from the rope against the side of the crevice. The stake on the other side had been knocked loose in the commotion. "As I feared, now our Pokeballs don't work."

"Shit," Charlie cursed.

Marowak climbed the rope and up into the passage. It hugged Mr Weasley with a soft cry.

"I'm fine," Mr Weasley patted his partner's head. "Let's continue. Lucas, your ability is more important than ever. It is a backup in case our Pokemon fail to notice any danger."

They continued forward, with Lucas and his Pokemon Pokemon following behind Marowak in the front, and they made their way through the increasingly restrictive space. With every step they took, the surroundings became more alien, and the ground became more slippery.

Lucas could feel the claustrophobia creeping back in, and he worked hard on taking slow breaths to remain calm.

His Pokemon noticed his predicament and started chattering in his head to provide a distraction, and it seemed to work as he felt better after a few minutes.

A half-hour later, they had made some progress, but their nerves were frayed by another three tremors, causing them to cling to the walls as debris fell from the ceilings. They were afraid that the entire tunnel would collapse in on them.

Lucas found it odd that besides the roar that had sounded before, they had not encountered any Pokemon. These places are usually flooded with Pokemon like Zubats, Digletts, and Dugtrio. The latter two were particularly troublesome because they could tunnel underneath the ground without and ambush someone with relative ease.

For a long time, the shape of their bottom half had been a mystery until one enterprising trainer captured one over two decades ago. They had a body and claws similar to a mole, except they had super elongated heads, giving them a bizarre appearance. Thus, they weren't very popular, and they liked to spend ninety-five per cent of their time in the ground, so it was probably for the best.

They came across a new obstacle where the ceiling had lowered right to the ground, leaving a narrow space for them to crawl through.

"I don't like this," Charlie lay down and shined his light down the crawlspace. "I can't see the other side. There might be a bend in the tunnel, or it's a dead end."

"Is it wise to crawl under there when tremors may bring down the entire thing on us?" Ron asked shakily.

"That can happen anywhere," Fred pointed out. "We have to keep going to find another exit."

"It feels like we are going further down," Ron retorted. "It's less likely that we will find a way out of here."

"Enough," Mr Weasley commanded. "We are not in a dire situation yet, so there's no need to panic. There are enough supplies to last forty-eight hours if we are careful. So, let's continue, and if it looks like we won't be able to find another exit, then we will find a safe place to wait it out until somebody can rescue us."

Marowak went ahead first to scout the area, and

they waited for the Pokemon to make it to the other side and give the go-ahead.

"He said that the space opens up on the other side," Mr Weasley said with a relieved smile. "And he cannot sense any danger. So, I will go through it next, followed by Lucas. Charlie, you bring up the rear."

"Shelgon will need to make room for himself," Charlie frowned. "He will go last and use Rock Smash to open the space up. It's not ideal, but I don't want to leave him behind."

"It will be safer if Geodude helps him," Fred said, patting the rocky Pokemon. "He can dig into the ground, which should be safer than trying to widen the ceiling above his head."

"Alright, we have a game plan," Mr Weasley took a breath. "Let's get this over with."

They watched his feet disappear into the confined space and waited as he slowly used his elbows and legs to push himself to the other side. They relaxed when Mr Weasley called back, saying he had made it.

Lucas followed, sliding through on his stomach, his arms pressing against the walls, constricting him tightly. The sensation brought up traumatic memories, the night his Grandmother tried to kill him, her last words echoing in his mind, and he felt like his body was seizing up with fear.

The boy needs to stay buried.

Mental resistance has risen to 31.

Dante, behind him, patted him on the leg when he stopped moving. 'It's okay. You're nearly there.'

The rest of the team added their support over the bond. Lucas took a breath and continued until the end, where Mr Weasley had to pull him through the end as he got slightly stuck on a piece of overhanging rock.

Lucas rolled onto his back and lay there until his Pokemon jumped on him, offering him comfort.

"Are you okay, Lucas?" Mr Weasley asked.

"I'm fine," Lucas sat up with a groan. "I hate being confined to a small space. I hope we don't have any more of those ahead of us."

Lucas looked around as the rest of the group slowly came through the tunnel. Around him was a large open area about half the size of a football field. The only thing that appeared of note was an open passage that led off to the north, but when he focused on a corner, he spotted something that made his heart skip a beat.

As Lucas walked over, he stared at the skeleton's remains resting against the wall, its hands folded in its lap as if it had sat down to rest and passed away. The clothes were in tatters, with only a few scraps of cloth remaining, as if it had been down here for a very long time.

Lucas searched the area, looking for clues to the person's identity or any items they may have left behind. He found no backpack or tools nearby, which one would expect to see when exploring a cave system. Had the person lost them somehow?

As he was about to give up, he spotted the glint of silver around the skeleton's neck, peeking through the shirt collar. He reached out and carefully lifted the chain off the skull, shuddering in disgust as he did so.

"What did you find — the hell?" Ron stumbled back when he spotted the remains.

Lucas ignored him and examined the necklace in front of him. Although he felt slightly guilty about removing it from the remains, he reasoned that there might be a way to identify the person who had died.

The chain ended with a small round medallion bearing the initials 'B and L'. It wasn't much to go on, but someone may recognise it if they see the chain. Could someone have been waiting for news, wondering what had happened to the person? Although he judged that a significant amount of time had passed since the person died, someone who knew them may still be alive.

Once the group had made it through the passage, they came over to look at the skeleton curiously.

"It looks like Ron wasn't the first to find this place," Mr Weasley observed.

Everyone looked slightly unnerved by the discovery. The group were already in a concerning situation, but discovering the remains of a person heightened the tension among them.

"Here, I thought we were going to find plenty of riches, but it seems that Ron has led us to our grave," Fred said dramatically, turning to his younger brother and grabbing him in a headlock. "Is this your revenge? Did I pull one too many pranks on you growing up? Have you finally snapped?"

"Get off me," Ron struggled out of his brother's grasp, giving Fred a heated glare. "If I wanted to eliminate anyone in the family, you and George would be the only targets."

Fred placed a hand on his chest and staggered. "Such harsh words, little brother. I think this calls for another pranking session."

"Bite me," Ron retorted.

"Quiet," Mr Weasley ordered. "What are you going to do with the necklace, Lucas?"

"Post it on the internet," Lucas shrugged. "There's a chance that someone knows who this belongs to, and someone may get some peace of mind knowing what happened to their loved one."

"That's a good idea," Mr Weasley approved before looking around. "This place looks like a good area to stop and take a break. We will rest for ten minutes before continuing."

Unlike the others, Lucas was too antsy to sit down, and he moved around, looking for anything he might have missed.

It was easier to believe that humans had a hand in creating this particular location. The walls were too smooth, the ground a little too even. The only way rock could be shaped in such a manner was if it was underwater at some point and slowly eroded the stone over time. It was not impossible as they were close to the sea. There may have been a point in the distant past when the entire area had been part of the ocean.

When he activated Transparent Vision on a whim, he discovered a hollow space behind a section of the wall.

'What's the matter?' Dante had followed him and witnessed the surprised look on Lucas's face.

'There's something beyond this wall.' Lucas tapped on the wall in question. He ran his hands over the rough surface as if searching for a hidden mechanism that opened a secret door. Trying to figure out what it might be, Lucas utilised Transparent Vision again to get a glimpse of the other side.

'Maybe we should let the others know?' Dante said nervously.

'Just a moment.' Lucas discovered a lever on the side wall inside the hollow area. Letting his curiosity get the best of him, Lucas used Telekinesis to press down on the lever. He was surprised when it worked, and a rumble sounded when the section of the wall lowered, revealing the space inside.

"Guys, you won't believe what I — eh?"

There was another violent tremor that rocked the ground. The ceiling began collapsing in the space between him and the group resting on the ground. He got a glimpse of them scrambling for the passageway before he was completely cut off from the rest of the group.

"What the hell?" Lucas stepped up to the debris blocking his path and pounded on it furtively. 'Guys, can you hear me?'

{Imara} 'We can hear you. Are you okay?'

'I'm fine. Did everyone make it out alright?'

'{Imara} 'Yes, but now we are completely blocked off, and we cannot dig you out as the entire area is unstable.'

'Don't worry about me. Dante and I are fine for now. Stick with the group and see if you can find a way out. Keep an eye out for Faith as well.'

{Imara} 'Okay.'

{Maximus} Stay safe.

{Duke} 'You still need to cook me a dish fit for a king.'

Luke poked tentatively at the pile of rubble in front of him, but it was an exercise in futility. There was no way of getting past without causing some significant damage.

'Why do these things keep happening to you?' Dante sighed, placing his little hand on his head like a disappointed parent.

Lucas rolled his eyes before turning back to the newly opened doorway. "At least we have somewhere else to explore."

'We could always go back through the crawlspace. There's more room since Geodude dug some ground up.'

"Hell no," Lucas shuddered.

'We may as while get going' Dante marched through the doorway after getting the last word in.

Lucas followed him into the hollowed-out space, which featured a single corridor leading off somewhere.

"Be on your guard."

Lucas and Dante walked down the corridor, their headlights occasionally finding indents in the wall, which housed an unlit lantern. They walked for five minutes before they reached an intersection that branched off in three different directions.

"Let's go left." Lucas used an old rule he followed when exploring locations when playing video games.

About a hundred metres down the left-hand corridor, they came across a wooden door set into the stone wall. Lucas reached out a hand and turned the doorknob, and the door opened with a creak.

Lucas peered into the room, which turned out to be a storage room with shelving full of mining equipment, cooking utensils, old clothing, lanterns, and oil. Some crates and sacks were lying haphazardly on the ground, with some rotten food spilling out, looking like spoiled grain.

"Judging from this room alone, is this area a miners' quarters?"

'But why did they hide it behind a concealed door?'

"Maybe they were paranoid about something?" Lucas guessed. "They could have found a rich vein of valuable ore and wanted to hide it from someone?"

Lucas searched through the room, but there wasn't anything valuable to find, although he did take a lantern and some oil in case his headlamps ran out of juice.

They retraced their steps and took the right path, which led to another door. Inside, there were living quarters with four small rooms. Lucas scoured the rooms thoroughly and discovered an old worn journal lying on the floor of one of the bedrooms.

Sitting on the old musty bed, Lucas cracked open the journal and read the inscription on the front page.

This diary belongs to Jebidiah Timms.

Lucas turned to the first page.

18XX - July 7th

My name is Jebidiah. I am a common foot soldier in the Mapping and Expedition Division of the Kanto Army. My responsibility is to explore and document new areas for possible resources and strategic locations.

My team consists of three others. Henry, Luke and Daniel. For days now, we have been trekking west through harsh terrain, making slow progress as we tried to avoid Wild Pokemon. In the face of such creatures, our armaments seem pitiful, but that is the life of a conscripted soldier. The fear is ever present, a constant companion that sits on my shoulders, whispering wicked ideas on how my life shall end, each more descriptive and painful than the last. Imagination is both a blessing and a curse.

We will rest in the small sheltered clearing tonight and continue in the morning. My only hope is that we discover something of import soon, so we can turn around and report it to our superiors, and I can lay my head down on the pillow beside my wife.

18XX - July 9th

We have discovered something incredible! A few kilometres from the sea, we have found a mine rich in resources. We have already come across a rich vein of iron ore deposits from the small section we have explored. We cannot go any further, as we need to dig a tunnel to continue. At this point, we should have left the mine, returned with haste to Army headquarters, and reported our findings.

I cannot recall who was the first to suggest it, but someone had the idea to keep the discovery to ourselves. At first, it seemed outrageous, but as we continued the discussion, we brought up many grievances against the Army that made the suggestion more palatable as time passed. Finally, we decided to abandon the Army and keep the resources for ourselves. I comforted myself with the thought that once I was established somewhere else with a huge mansion, I would send for my wife and give her the life she deserves.

Lucas read on for a few pages, but it only detailed the months they spent opening up more of the mine. The only thing of note is that they decided to call it Deserters Mine in reference to abandoning the Army. They couldn't shake the guilt over their desertion, so they named the mine to constantly remind themselves of their disgrace.

=====

Congratulations!

You have discovered the forgotten depths of Deserters Mine.

300 experience earned.

=====.

Lucas closed the journal and placed it in his backpack. He decided to read the rest later, but he will continue exploring for now.

"Let's check out the last corridor," Lucas said.

Returning to the intersection, they followed the corridor that was straight ahead and walked for more than minutes before they turned a bend and came across a magnificent sight.

The passage had opened into a cast cavern littered with strange fragments about the size of his head. Lucas stepped closer and gasped when he realised what he was seeing. He observed one of the fragments to confirm his suspicion.

=====

Helix Fossil | Fossil | Special | Grade: -- |

Description: It contains the fossilised remains of an Omanyte, the cephalopod mollusk Pokemon. Long since dead, this Pokemon may see a revival if it is brought to scientists who can extract its DNA and recreate it with advanced technology.

=====

There must have been dozens of them in his estimate. Ron was going to freak out when he found out about this place. Was this the fortune the miners were afraid others would find? No, it didn't make any sense. At the time, there were no Pokemon bonds, let alone the technology to revive the Pokemon, so their value was questionable.

'Lucas, you need to see this.' Dante called.

He walked over to where Dante was standing and looked down into a vertical shaft shining brightly with a purple glow. It radiated from a giant crystal half buried in the ground at the bottom of the shaft.

"Is this what the secrecy was all about?" Lucas muttered. "What is that thing?"

After attempting to examine it, he realised he was running out of Aura, so he sat down and meditated. Twenty minutes later, he tried again but gave up after nearly bottoming out again.

Lucas retrieved the rope from his backpack and tied it to the wooden post reinforcing the shaft.

"I'm going down," Lucas said. "Wait up here and keep an eye out for anything."

'You're going to get in trouble again,' Dante accused.

"Maybe, but I want to know what that crystal is," Lucas tied the other end of the rope around his waist and took a breath before he started his descent. While the narrow confines made him slightly nervous, he persevered until he reached the bottom, a depth of about twelve metres.

The shining purple crystal took up most of the space at the bottom of the shaft, and Lucas placed his feet carefully to avoid stepping on it. Before he could do anything else, an urgent notification appeared before him.

=====

New Quest received!

Remnants of Arceus’ Power

Description: The player has discovered a Transcendent Crystal that stores a portion of The God Pokemon’s power. Arceus would like it returned, but before he can do so, the player must pass two trials to test his worthiness.

Current Objective: Touch the Crystal to commence the trials.

Time Remaining: One hour.

=====

Lucas hesitated, looking up at Dante for a moment before strengthening his resolve. He didn’t know what the trial would be, but he wasn’t going to back down from a challenge. Reaching out, he touched the crystal.

The world around him faded, and he opened his eyes a moment later just as a pile of dirt landed on his face.

Above him, the woman from his nightmares was peering down at him with cruelty—his Grandma.

So, what do you think? The next chapter will be up in an hour or two.

Thanks for reading.