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- #21
Re: Galactic: Eternal Hate Prt 1 (Contains swearing and violence)
"Good evening. Our top story tonight: PokeDexes have been connected to a number of unfortunate happenings over the past few years. But now they are here in Sinnoh. What does this mean for the future of our country? Clarisse Miller reports.”
The footage changed from the newsreader to a montage of footage, taken from Cerulean Cave, Silph Co, Sevii Islands, Mahogany Town, Goldenrod Radio Tower, Meteor Falls and Sootopolis City.
“The PokeDexes are well known devices: invented by Professor Samuel Oak in the mid nineties, they were intended to record details on any Pokemon that a trainer caught. Later sent to Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh, they became the must-have of all trainers.
However, things began to go wrong about three years ago.
Team Rocket, a villainous organization that was centred in Kanto and Johto, had a series of plans to utilize the legendaries of the area. However, their terrorist plans were put to a halt several times: several times in Kanto by champion Red, partner Leaf, and the recently deceased Blue. Than in Johto, were six trainers called Charles, Lyla, Duncan, Mina, Kris and Alexis, assisted the champion, Lance, in defeating the team over a two week period. Only last year in Hoenn, two unknown trainers managed to defeat Teams Magma and Aqua in their plans to bring forth Kyorge and Groudon.
And what do all these trainers have in common? That’s right: they have been blessed with the curse of PokeDexes.
The footage changed from the montage to a forest area. There was smoking rubble lying everywhere, and Vanessa and Matthew were clearly visible.
This footage, taken yesterday afternoon, shows the two new trainers, who began their journeys at New Year, scanning their new Pokemon. Matthew Pearl, aged 14, and son of Adrian Pearl, Head of the Sinnoh Pokemon Contest Board, and Vanessa, her last name unknown, and aged 14 also, who won the SBC Showdown two weeks ago, are soon in this scene. This was taken a few minutes after the headquarters of the Eterna Forest Restructuring Project was blown up, in which the two trainers had been involved.
Investigations by our reporters have uncovered two more PokeDex trainer: Xavier Diamond, 14, son of ‘Tower Tycoon’ Palmer Diamond, and Sahara Plattina, 15, daughter of well known geologists Deidre and Frasier Plattina. These four trainers are known to have been involved in several incidents with Team Galactic, taking place in Sandgem Town, Jubilife City, the Oreburgh Mines and Valley Windworks, leading to the destruction of the latter two.
Who knows what Team Galactic are planning. The group is only known for pitiful terrorist attacks, but that’s all Teams Rocket, Magma and Aqua were known for as well, before they met the ‘Dex Holders.’ This reporter would like to issue a word of caution: don’t get involved, it could lead to your death. Stay away from Team Galactic and the holders, and alert the police of your suspicions. We can only wait and see what the next disaster will be. Clarisse Miller, SBC News.
“THAT BITCH!” Vanessa roared. She and Matthew were looking at the report from Looker’s phone. Matthew looked shocked, but Looker had a similar expression on his face.
“She has unwillingly endangered all four of your lives.” He sighed. “I tried to have the story pulled, but Mr Adiem wouldn’t listen.”
“I’ve heard of him, he’s head of the SB-” Matthew began, but Vanessa growled.
“We all know who he is!” She snapped, and she and Matthew stared angrily at each other. Looker sighed and took a step forwards.
“Anyway, people now know who you are. And pictures were also released the next day, and the public knows roughly what you all look like.” The spy explained. “And, unfortunately, I need to involve you two again.”
“What, so we get more press?” Matthew snapped. “Last time we helped you was when the first footage was taken!”
“I swear that this won’t be like that!” Looker insisted. “Team Galactic rarely uses their base here unless they are planning something big. Both Professors Rowan and Oak are in the city, and I am afraid for their safety.”
“Can’t you put them in hiding?” Matthew pleaded.
“They would find out somehow.” Looker grunted. He beckoned them forward, and walked to the end of the street the gym was on. He pointed towards a small forest of trees at the front of the city, covering the majority of a tower, though a yellow circle could be seen to be rotating at the top.
“That is their base. On the top floor, Jupiter, Saturn and Charon are plotting something. I spied them flying in by helicopter this morning.” Looker explained. “I need Silcoon and Cascoon to help subdue the people on the lower levels, and require Piplup to help with some wiring issues.”
“What if I say no, what if I walk away?” Matthew huffed. Looker turned around and grabbed him by the collar.
“What if they are planning to blow up the entire city?” He snarled. “What if they are planning to go to your house and personally shoot your parents?” Matthew gulped, but Vanessa was beginning to laugh. Looker let Matthew go, and he was beginning to shiver.
“Are you going to co-operate now?” Looker asked.
“Y-y-yes sir.” Matthew stuttered, cowering under his glare. Looker smiled, and turned towards Vanessa.
“Of course I’m in.” She said before Looker even asked. She wrapped her arms around Looker’s and Matthew’s and began to skip, dragging them with her towards the tower.
Galactic HQ (Eterna)
Team Galactic, as Roshonda had said, rarely used their Eterna City base. It was more of a safe keeping, used only when major operations occurred west of Mt Coronet. There was spare grunt sleeping quarters there, a small fleet of Jeeps, and a special lab that Charon used on occasions, as well as storage and admin.
Today, the aging scientist was working away on the top floor, which was dark and gloomy as always. It was a long, wide room, with six rows of desk, covered with papers, laptops, computers, test tubes, and other science equipment. These were near the walls, as a large glass dome stood in the middle of th blue carpeted floor. It was three metres high, and nearly touched the ceiling. Two cabinets and a table were all that was inside, but Charon regularly did experiments in there. Near the staircase, there was a set of silver elevator doors, along with a cabinet, which was fill of spare equipment, chemicals and PokeBalls. Also, the room had very interesting lighting: instead of normal electric lights, the lighting was done by projection. A purple light was reflected off the wall, with foreign letters, Zodiac symbols, and star constellations scattering the wall with golden light. A huge floor-to-ceiling window provided more light as well, though it was still a dark room. A yellow ‘G’ was rotating between the second and third floors, making creaking sounds as it turned.
The elevator suddenly pinged, and the twelve grunts all stood up, and they bowed as the doors parted. Saturn and Jupiter strutted out, arm in arm, and followed by Skuntank and Toxicroak. Charon briefly looked up, but went back to working on his laptop. The two admins walked up to him, ignoring the bowing grunts.
“The helicopter ride was long and uncomfortable.” Jupiter said bitterly. “You’d better have a good reason for bringing us here!” Charon smirked, and pressed a button on his laptop.
“It is.” And he pointed towards the ceiling. The purple and gold had been replaced with a picture: the statue of Dialga. It was eight metres tall, five metres long, and made of black and grey stone. A blue orb shone at the bottom of its neck even in the still picture, and Saturn and Jupiter’s eyes twinkled.
“The adamant orb?” Saturn asked.
“Precisely.” Charon replied, though he didn’t have the same interest as the admins. “I have developed a way to obtain it, but I need your Pokemon.”
“Care to elaborate?” Jupiter sighed, and Charon glared at her.
“Don’t interrupt me!” He snapped. “But yes, I shall.” And he tapped a button, and an animation played to incorporate his speech. “Skuntank will use multiple SmokeScreen to cover the area. Toxicroak will then pry the orb out, and Magnezone will use his magnetic capabilities to carry it off. The grunts will guard the area, and we shall be there in case things get out of hand.” Jupiter nodded, but Saturn seemed to suddenly realise something.
“The brats, are they anywhere around?” He asked. Charon frowned at this, and tapped at his laptop. Live video footage appeared, showing the Pokemon Centre interior, and then the outside of the Eterna Gym, the PokeMart, and a famous hotel. Stupidly, Charon hadn’t put footage up near the Dialga statue, otherwise he would have seen Sahara, the Professors and Mason setting up.
“There is no sign of them in the usual places.” Charon mumbled. “But that doesn’t mean they won’t show up somehow. All we can do is have our machine guns ready!” As he spoke, Skuntank saw something out of the window. They had a brilliant view of Eterna City, and the large skunk could see almost every inch of it. But there was only a certain section she was interested in.
“Skuntank, what is it?” Jupiter asked, and stepped forwards.
“Skun Skun!” Skuntank called, and pointed with her tail. Jupiter looked out the window, staring in the direction of Skuntank’s tail.
There, getting closer to the headquarters, was Looker, Vanessa and Matthew.
“Their coming!” Jupiter roared, and angrily kicked the window. The grunts began to twitter amongst themselves, and Saturn turned angrily towards Charon.
“Why didn’t you know about this?” He snarled.
“How would I, I don’t have magic seeing abilities! I wear glasses, you moron!” Charon shouted back, and turned towards the grunts. “Grab your guns, grab the PokeBalls, and get your ar-”
“WAIT!” Jupiter boomed, and everyone fell silent. Her eyes were fixed on Vanessa, and as she looked into her long, wavy hair, memories come flying back to her: the smell of burning wood, the sound of explosions, the cry of a small child, and one horrible, vicious piece of music. Skuntank was feeling the anger and bitterness radiating from Jupiter, and took a step backwards.
“I don’t want any of them to kill her.” She hissed, and her voice carried inside the silent room. “I want her to come up here, thinking she is going to win. And then I am going to take away her life, and watched as her eyes turn grey.” And then she screamed, and punched the glass. Everyone was exchanging looks, and Toxicroak was raising his hands, ready to protect Saturn if need be. Jupiter wheeled around, and drew a gun from her strange outfit.
“Get into position, but only fire when I say so.” She ordered. “I want to catch up with my cousin before I kill her.” The grunts were surprised, but everyone began to move into position, and Jupiter stood where she was, staring at the elevator and waiting for Vanessa.
The Underground
Arthur finished explaining about the news report, and how it had highlighted him as a Dex Holder. Though, as expected, Xavier had barely responded.
“So you believe I could be killed over a news report?” Xavier asked, after two minutes of silence.
“Why of course, my boy!” Arthur boomed, and Grotle looked startled. “Not many of the Dex Holders have been killed, but hundreds of people have wanted to!”
“I haven’t met hundreds of people.” Xavier replied. Arthur growled and stormed forwards, grabbing Xavier by the collar.
“Listen here: Team Galactic is planning something big, and I don’t want to see someone getting killed!” He growled. “So shut up, keep your head down, and listen to what I have to say!” Arthur was breathing deeply, and felt his chest beginning to hurt, but he looked into Xavier’s cold, emotionless eyes, and he backed away, wheezing. “I’m sorry, I don’t know where that came from.”
“It is perfectly fine.” Xavier replied, and began scratching Grotle, who was bearing his teeth. Arthur managed to calm down, and silence fell back inside their tunnel. Xavier stood up suddenly, and he walked towards the walls.
“Grotle, come here.” He commanded, and tapped the rock. It didn’t change, though there still seemed to be glitter under there. Grotle waddled over, and stared at the rock.
“Use Razor Leaf, I want to see what’s underneath.” Xavier asked.
“Grot Grot.” Grotle agreed, and his bushes glowed. Leaves nearly rose out, but suddenly Swampert leapt forwards. A blue orb was in his mouth, and they all knew it was Ice Beam.
“I’d prefer if you didn’t dig that way.” Arthur said, chuckling slightly. He walked towards the opposite wall, and tapped it three times. There was a slight rumble, and the wall suddenly parted. Grotle wanted to look inside, but the threat of being hit with ice kept him at bay. Arthur reached around the corner, and pulled out two pickaxes. They were about half a metre long, and looked like deadly weapons.
“I have owned both of these since I began working on the tunnel, and
I am always happy to show them off.” Arthur explained.
“Swum!” Swampert growled, and shoved Xavier and Grotle aside, leaving a shiny section of wall exposed. Arthur raised his arm and shut one eye, eyeing up the golden twinkle. He swung his arm twice, and then threw the pickaxe. It stuck itself in the wall, directly on the golden spot. There was a crackle, and rock disappeared from around the glitter. It got brighter, but nothing was fully exposed yet. But they could see the edges of a strange brown stone, a blue jewel, and a green jagged piece of glass.
“Mild haul.” Arthur mumbled, and he lined up his next pickaxe. Grotle and Swampert watched with anticipation, and their eyes followed the blur of metal and wood as Arthur threw it. It embedded itself in the middle of the wall, and it shook, causing the three objects to become dislodged. They fell to the ground, and Swampert scuttled forwards to collect them.
“Interesting.” Xavier mumbled, and tapped another glittering patch on the wall. Arthur smiled, and pocketed the objects.
“Glad I impressed you.” He chuckled, and walked towards the hole in the wall. He grabbed a small metal toolbox and opened it up, and passed over a small hammer.
“You can start with that.” Arthur said, and grabbed his pickaxes. Xavier nodded, and struck the wall with the hammer, causing cracks to appear. Arthur laughed at the force, and began working on another section nearby.
For the next ten minutes, the two worked along the wall, hammering and smashing the surface. Dust hung in the air, covering the oil lamps, and Grotle and Swampert jumped over piles of dirt and rock, grabbing fallen treasures as they moved. When all the treasures were gone, they all stopped. Everyone was sweaty, dirty, and had dust in their eyes, but there was a collection of objects nearby: different coloured shards, a large pile of jewels, and several strange fossils.
“This is a much better haul!” Arthur boomed. “Do you want any of it?”
“No.” Xavier replied bluntly. Arthur shrugged, and picked up some of the objects. He and Swampert entered the hole, leaving Xavier and Grotle alone. Xavier slid down the wall, wiping sweat off his face.
“Why do they keep going in there?” Xavier asked, but Grotle just shrugged. Xavier looked around the tunnel, wondering what was happening. Dust was falling from the rocky roof, the scuttle of feet could be heard in the distance, and shouts of joy echoed down to them from other treasure hunters. Xavier looked at the ground, examining some of the rocks, when he noticed something strange: there were two sets of footprints, and the lamps showed them coming from around the corner. There was always a pattern that looked like someone had swept the ground.
“Grotle, did you-” Xavier began, but a shout cut him off.
“Grot!” Grotle cried, and ran forwards. But Arthur was suddenly blasted out of the hole, with purple energy forcing him out. His head hit the back wall, and he slumped to the ground, unconscious. Xavier and Grotle looked at him, but something crunched, and they turned.
A figure was standing by the hole, holding a long machete. Xavier could tell it was a man from the muscles underneath the tight, black cloak, and by the way he was standing. He was covered entirely with the black fabric, and only deep blue eyes could be seen through his headwear.
“Stay out of this, boy, or you’ll be next.” He hissed, and stepped forwards to finish off Arthur.
"Good evening. Our top story tonight: PokeDexes have been connected to a number of unfortunate happenings over the past few years. But now they are here in Sinnoh. What does this mean for the future of our country? Clarisse Miller reports.”
The footage changed from the newsreader to a montage of footage, taken from Cerulean Cave, Silph Co, Sevii Islands, Mahogany Town, Goldenrod Radio Tower, Meteor Falls and Sootopolis City.
“The PokeDexes are well known devices: invented by Professor Samuel Oak in the mid nineties, they were intended to record details on any Pokemon that a trainer caught. Later sent to Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh, they became the must-have of all trainers.
However, things began to go wrong about three years ago.
Team Rocket, a villainous organization that was centred in Kanto and Johto, had a series of plans to utilize the legendaries of the area. However, their terrorist plans were put to a halt several times: several times in Kanto by champion Red, partner Leaf, and the recently deceased Blue. Than in Johto, were six trainers called Charles, Lyla, Duncan, Mina, Kris and Alexis, assisted the champion, Lance, in defeating the team over a two week period. Only last year in Hoenn, two unknown trainers managed to defeat Teams Magma and Aqua in their plans to bring forth Kyorge and Groudon.
And what do all these trainers have in common? That’s right: they have been blessed with the curse of PokeDexes.
The footage changed from the montage to a forest area. There was smoking rubble lying everywhere, and Vanessa and Matthew were clearly visible.
This footage, taken yesterday afternoon, shows the two new trainers, who began their journeys at New Year, scanning their new Pokemon. Matthew Pearl, aged 14, and son of Adrian Pearl, Head of the Sinnoh Pokemon Contest Board, and Vanessa, her last name unknown, and aged 14 also, who won the SBC Showdown two weeks ago, are soon in this scene. This was taken a few minutes after the headquarters of the Eterna Forest Restructuring Project was blown up, in which the two trainers had been involved.
Investigations by our reporters have uncovered two more PokeDex trainer: Xavier Diamond, 14, son of ‘Tower Tycoon’ Palmer Diamond, and Sahara Plattina, 15, daughter of well known geologists Deidre and Frasier Plattina. These four trainers are known to have been involved in several incidents with Team Galactic, taking place in Sandgem Town, Jubilife City, the Oreburgh Mines and Valley Windworks, leading to the destruction of the latter two.
Who knows what Team Galactic are planning. The group is only known for pitiful terrorist attacks, but that’s all Teams Rocket, Magma and Aqua were known for as well, before they met the ‘Dex Holders.’ This reporter would like to issue a word of caution: don’t get involved, it could lead to your death. Stay away from Team Galactic and the holders, and alert the police of your suspicions. We can only wait and see what the next disaster will be. Clarisse Miller, SBC News.
“THAT BITCH!” Vanessa roared. She and Matthew were looking at the report from Looker’s phone. Matthew looked shocked, but Looker had a similar expression on his face.
“She has unwillingly endangered all four of your lives.” He sighed. “I tried to have the story pulled, but Mr Adiem wouldn’t listen.”
“I’ve heard of him, he’s head of the SB-” Matthew began, but Vanessa growled.
“We all know who he is!” She snapped, and she and Matthew stared angrily at each other. Looker sighed and took a step forwards.
“Anyway, people now know who you are. And pictures were also released the next day, and the public knows roughly what you all look like.” The spy explained. “And, unfortunately, I need to involve you two again.”
“What, so we get more press?” Matthew snapped. “Last time we helped you was when the first footage was taken!”
“I swear that this won’t be like that!” Looker insisted. “Team Galactic rarely uses their base here unless they are planning something big. Both Professors Rowan and Oak are in the city, and I am afraid for their safety.”
“Can’t you put them in hiding?” Matthew pleaded.
“They would find out somehow.” Looker grunted. He beckoned them forward, and walked to the end of the street the gym was on. He pointed towards a small forest of trees at the front of the city, covering the majority of a tower, though a yellow circle could be seen to be rotating at the top.
“That is their base. On the top floor, Jupiter, Saturn and Charon are plotting something. I spied them flying in by helicopter this morning.” Looker explained. “I need Silcoon and Cascoon to help subdue the people on the lower levels, and require Piplup to help with some wiring issues.”
“What if I say no, what if I walk away?” Matthew huffed. Looker turned around and grabbed him by the collar.
“What if they are planning to blow up the entire city?” He snarled. “What if they are planning to go to your house and personally shoot your parents?” Matthew gulped, but Vanessa was beginning to laugh. Looker let Matthew go, and he was beginning to shiver.
“Are you going to co-operate now?” Looker asked.
“Y-y-yes sir.” Matthew stuttered, cowering under his glare. Looker smiled, and turned towards Vanessa.
“Of course I’m in.” She said before Looker even asked. She wrapped her arms around Looker’s and Matthew’s and began to skip, dragging them with her towards the tower.
Galactic HQ (Eterna)
Team Galactic, as Roshonda had said, rarely used their Eterna City base. It was more of a safe keeping, used only when major operations occurred west of Mt Coronet. There was spare grunt sleeping quarters there, a small fleet of Jeeps, and a special lab that Charon used on occasions, as well as storage and admin.
Today, the aging scientist was working away on the top floor, which was dark and gloomy as always. It was a long, wide room, with six rows of desk, covered with papers, laptops, computers, test tubes, and other science equipment. These were near the walls, as a large glass dome stood in the middle of th blue carpeted floor. It was three metres high, and nearly touched the ceiling. Two cabinets and a table were all that was inside, but Charon regularly did experiments in there. Near the staircase, there was a set of silver elevator doors, along with a cabinet, which was fill of spare equipment, chemicals and PokeBalls. Also, the room had very interesting lighting: instead of normal electric lights, the lighting was done by projection. A purple light was reflected off the wall, with foreign letters, Zodiac symbols, and star constellations scattering the wall with golden light. A huge floor-to-ceiling window provided more light as well, though it was still a dark room. A yellow ‘G’ was rotating between the second and third floors, making creaking sounds as it turned.
The elevator suddenly pinged, and the twelve grunts all stood up, and they bowed as the doors parted. Saturn and Jupiter strutted out, arm in arm, and followed by Skuntank and Toxicroak. Charon briefly looked up, but went back to working on his laptop. The two admins walked up to him, ignoring the bowing grunts.
“The helicopter ride was long and uncomfortable.” Jupiter said bitterly. “You’d better have a good reason for bringing us here!” Charon smirked, and pressed a button on his laptop.
“It is.” And he pointed towards the ceiling. The purple and gold had been replaced with a picture: the statue of Dialga. It was eight metres tall, five metres long, and made of black and grey stone. A blue orb shone at the bottom of its neck even in the still picture, and Saturn and Jupiter’s eyes twinkled.
“The adamant orb?” Saturn asked.
“Precisely.” Charon replied, though he didn’t have the same interest as the admins. “I have developed a way to obtain it, but I need your Pokemon.”
“Care to elaborate?” Jupiter sighed, and Charon glared at her.
“Don’t interrupt me!” He snapped. “But yes, I shall.” And he tapped a button, and an animation played to incorporate his speech. “Skuntank will use multiple SmokeScreen to cover the area. Toxicroak will then pry the orb out, and Magnezone will use his magnetic capabilities to carry it off. The grunts will guard the area, and we shall be there in case things get out of hand.” Jupiter nodded, but Saturn seemed to suddenly realise something.
“The brats, are they anywhere around?” He asked. Charon frowned at this, and tapped at his laptop. Live video footage appeared, showing the Pokemon Centre interior, and then the outside of the Eterna Gym, the PokeMart, and a famous hotel. Stupidly, Charon hadn’t put footage up near the Dialga statue, otherwise he would have seen Sahara, the Professors and Mason setting up.
“There is no sign of them in the usual places.” Charon mumbled. “But that doesn’t mean they won’t show up somehow. All we can do is have our machine guns ready!” As he spoke, Skuntank saw something out of the window. They had a brilliant view of Eterna City, and the large skunk could see almost every inch of it. But there was only a certain section she was interested in.
“Skuntank, what is it?” Jupiter asked, and stepped forwards.
“Skun Skun!” Skuntank called, and pointed with her tail. Jupiter looked out the window, staring in the direction of Skuntank’s tail.
There, getting closer to the headquarters, was Looker, Vanessa and Matthew.
“Their coming!” Jupiter roared, and angrily kicked the window. The grunts began to twitter amongst themselves, and Saturn turned angrily towards Charon.
“Why didn’t you know about this?” He snarled.
“How would I, I don’t have magic seeing abilities! I wear glasses, you moron!” Charon shouted back, and turned towards the grunts. “Grab your guns, grab the PokeBalls, and get your ar-”
“WAIT!” Jupiter boomed, and everyone fell silent. Her eyes were fixed on Vanessa, and as she looked into her long, wavy hair, memories come flying back to her: the smell of burning wood, the sound of explosions, the cry of a small child, and one horrible, vicious piece of music. Skuntank was feeling the anger and bitterness radiating from Jupiter, and took a step backwards.
“I don’t want any of them to kill her.” She hissed, and her voice carried inside the silent room. “I want her to come up here, thinking she is going to win. And then I am going to take away her life, and watched as her eyes turn grey.” And then she screamed, and punched the glass. Everyone was exchanging looks, and Toxicroak was raising his hands, ready to protect Saturn if need be. Jupiter wheeled around, and drew a gun from her strange outfit.
“Get into position, but only fire when I say so.” She ordered. “I want to catch up with my cousin before I kill her.” The grunts were surprised, but everyone began to move into position, and Jupiter stood where she was, staring at the elevator and waiting for Vanessa.
The Underground
Arthur finished explaining about the news report, and how it had highlighted him as a Dex Holder. Though, as expected, Xavier had barely responded.
“So you believe I could be killed over a news report?” Xavier asked, after two minutes of silence.
“Why of course, my boy!” Arthur boomed, and Grotle looked startled. “Not many of the Dex Holders have been killed, but hundreds of people have wanted to!”
“I haven’t met hundreds of people.” Xavier replied. Arthur growled and stormed forwards, grabbing Xavier by the collar.
“Listen here: Team Galactic is planning something big, and I don’t want to see someone getting killed!” He growled. “So shut up, keep your head down, and listen to what I have to say!” Arthur was breathing deeply, and felt his chest beginning to hurt, but he looked into Xavier’s cold, emotionless eyes, and he backed away, wheezing. “I’m sorry, I don’t know where that came from.”
“It is perfectly fine.” Xavier replied, and began scratching Grotle, who was bearing his teeth. Arthur managed to calm down, and silence fell back inside their tunnel. Xavier stood up suddenly, and he walked towards the walls.
“Grotle, come here.” He commanded, and tapped the rock. It didn’t change, though there still seemed to be glitter under there. Grotle waddled over, and stared at the rock.
“Use Razor Leaf, I want to see what’s underneath.” Xavier asked.
“Grot Grot.” Grotle agreed, and his bushes glowed. Leaves nearly rose out, but suddenly Swampert leapt forwards. A blue orb was in his mouth, and they all knew it was Ice Beam.
“I’d prefer if you didn’t dig that way.” Arthur said, chuckling slightly. He walked towards the opposite wall, and tapped it three times. There was a slight rumble, and the wall suddenly parted. Grotle wanted to look inside, but the threat of being hit with ice kept him at bay. Arthur reached around the corner, and pulled out two pickaxes. They were about half a metre long, and looked like deadly weapons.
“I have owned both of these since I began working on the tunnel, and
I am always happy to show them off.” Arthur explained.
“Swum!” Swampert growled, and shoved Xavier and Grotle aside, leaving a shiny section of wall exposed. Arthur raised his arm and shut one eye, eyeing up the golden twinkle. He swung his arm twice, and then threw the pickaxe. It stuck itself in the wall, directly on the golden spot. There was a crackle, and rock disappeared from around the glitter. It got brighter, but nothing was fully exposed yet. But they could see the edges of a strange brown stone, a blue jewel, and a green jagged piece of glass.
“Mild haul.” Arthur mumbled, and he lined up his next pickaxe. Grotle and Swampert watched with anticipation, and their eyes followed the blur of metal and wood as Arthur threw it. It embedded itself in the middle of the wall, and it shook, causing the three objects to become dislodged. They fell to the ground, and Swampert scuttled forwards to collect them.
“Interesting.” Xavier mumbled, and tapped another glittering patch on the wall. Arthur smiled, and pocketed the objects.
“Glad I impressed you.” He chuckled, and walked towards the hole in the wall. He grabbed a small metal toolbox and opened it up, and passed over a small hammer.
“You can start with that.” Arthur said, and grabbed his pickaxes. Xavier nodded, and struck the wall with the hammer, causing cracks to appear. Arthur laughed at the force, and began working on another section nearby.
For the next ten minutes, the two worked along the wall, hammering and smashing the surface. Dust hung in the air, covering the oil lamps, and Grotle and Swampert jumped over piles of dirt and rock, grabbing fallen treasures as they moved. When all the treasures were gone, they all stopped. Everyone was sweaty, dirty, and had dust in their eyes, but there was a collection of objects nearby: different coloured shards, a large pile of jewels, and several strange fossils.
“This is a much better haul!” Arthur boomed. “Do you want any of it?”
“No.” Xavier replied bluntly. Arthur shrugged, and picked up some of the objects. He and Swampert entered the hole, leaving Xavier and Grotle alone. Xavier slid down the wall, wiping sweat off his face.
“Why do they keep going in there?” Xavier asked, but Grotle just shrugged. Xavier looked around the tunnel, wondering what was happening. Dust was falling from the rocky roof, the scuttle of feet could be heard in the distance, and shouts of joy echoed down to them from other treasure hunters. Xavier looked at the ground, examining some of the rocks, when he noticed something strange: there were two sets of footprints, and the lamps showed them coming from around the corner. There was always a pattern that looked like someone had swept the ground.
“Grotle, did you-” Xavier began, but a shout cut him off.
“Grot!” Grotle cried, and ran forwards. But Arthur was suddenly blasted out of the hole, with purple energy forcing him out. His head hit the back wall, and he slumped to the ground, unconscious. Xavier and Grotle looked at him, but something crunched, and they turned.
A figure was standing by the hole, holding a long machete. Xavier could tell it was a man from the muscles underneath the tight, black cloak, and by the way he was standing. He was covered entirely with the black fabric, and only deep blue eyes could be seen through his headwear.
“Stay out of this, boy, or you’ll be next.” He hissed, and stepped forwards to finish off Arthur.