Play blinked open the sleep in his eyes. He felt like he'd been asleep for weeks, even months. He groggily sat up and rubbed his head, the broad sunlight stinging his eyes like he was a vampire. Play looked all around him, and saw Jake and Tess asleep in some very grubby looking sleeping bags. He felt his own back was arched with sweat, and he jumped up in disgust as he realised he had also been sleeping in one of those grimy sleeping bags. His head spinning, Play slowly got up and stretched, deciding weather to or not wake up his passed out friends. Slowly but surely, he recounted the memories of last night. He remembered stumbling here and practically sleeping here out of desperation. More disturbingly, he also had a fuzzy memory of encountering some sort of shadowy Pokemon. But he was pretty sure that it fled after he set eyes on it. He rose to his feet, and blinked away the last of his sleep, before bringing out his Prinplup.
"Buddy, would you mind waking them up for me?" Play asked, stifling a smile. Prinplup puffed out it's chest and spun around to see the sleeping pair. It then shot two bubble beams, whacking each of them in the face, and causing them to swing up, spluttering.
"We need to keep moving." I told them, returning Prinplup to it's ball. "If we want any chance of sleeping in a proper bed tonight that is." It was hard to disagree with Play's reasoning, so soon, all three were awake and ready, and back on the road.
"So, from what I've heard." Tess announced. "We need to pass through, the Craganos mines..dear god...I hate caves. Then we head up to Craganos cliffs, and make our way to the sky ship, that'll apparently take us straight to Anthian City! Perfect!" Play actually had no idea Tess was afraid of caves, but that was a problem she'd have to face its they ever wanted to get to Anthian, and looking at the bigger picture, save his parents, which panged his heart painfully whenever he thought about it. They soon came to the mouth of Craganos mines. Play heard Tess visibly gulp.
"If we run into any Zubats, or Woobats, or any other oo-bats, I don't know what I'll do." She whispered, her voice quivering. Slowly but surely, the three crept into the cave. And soon, the smell of damp rock and dust invaded their nostrils. Play could also hear a strange rumbling noise coming in distant from the cave. Jake was looking cautious, and frequently checking his surroundings. At this point, no-one could see anything, so Play sent out Flaafy.
"Give us some light, Flaafy!" Play commanded. The cotton Pokemon's tail soon glowed a bright amber, illuminating the way, and calming down Tess's quivering bottom lip somewhat. And this was the way that they continued all the way, the sound of their own footsteps beating the rock, and once again, the occasional deep rumble much further in the cave, that naturally, the further they got, slowly got louder and louder.
"What is that?" Play whispered. He didn't have to wait long, before he felt like his stomach performed a gymnatsic routine, and a simply huge, titanic Steelix burst out of the ground. Instantly, the trio took a few steps back and gawped up at the beast grinning down at them. Play immediately ushered Flaafy back, worried about it getting stomped into the ground by a ground type.
"Prinplup, help me out here!" Play through a spinning Pokeball that burst to Reveal Prinplup. Through his gaze at the Ground-Steel type, he could hear Tess and Jake's voices calling to send out their Pokemon. And soon, Prinplup, Vaporeon and Gabite got ready to face the behemoth above them. Steelix gridded it's teeth together and used slam, the three Pokemon jumped out the way as a huge crack performed in the earth.
"Be careful Prinplup!" Play cried. "One hit and it's all over." Automatically, Vaporeon shot a water pulse that buried into the side of Steelix's head, who gave a bellow of pain. Prinplup fired off a bubble beam, but the Iron snake simply swatted it away with another slam. Gabite lunged forward with a slash across Steelix's face, which barely caused a scratch. A few seconds after all the Pokemon had used their first attack, Steelix used a rock throw and hurled it towards Vaporeon. The Water evolution of Eevee dashed out of the way as the huge rock shattered onto the ground but one of the exploding fragments of the rock struck Vaporeon in the back of the head and it squealed in pain as it's body collapsed to the floor.
"Vaporeon!" Jake yelled with a grief stricken tone. "Get back up and fight! This battle isn't over!" Play spotted Tess shoot a nervous and confused glance at Jake. Meanwhile, Gabite used a steady bulldoze and burrowed under the earth. Steelix turned it's attention to Prinplup. But as the arrogant Pokemon it was, the water type was not scared one bit and jumped forward for a metal claw. Steelix met this with a crunch and grabbed hold of Prinplup's arm in it's teeth, the water type's eyes stretched wide with shock as it was flung against the ground, however it just managed to right itself and skidded against a wall. Gabite was not as lucky, it burst from the ground and uppercut Steelix, the ground type then used a powerful headbutt that flung Gabite against a wall and when it fell down, it didn't move. Prinplup, currently unaware of the danger that it was in, fired off a bubble beam to a distracted, grinning Steelix that hit home and caused damage. Eventually however, Steelix shrugged off the damage and barrelled forwards towards Prinplup.
"Watch out Prinplup!" Play called. Prinplup was able to jump upwards just in time and land on Steelix's head. Next, Prinplup jabbed down with a powerful metal claw to the back of Steelix's head that seemed to strike a weak point and heavily damaged it. The Steel type roared in pain and reared up to it's full height as bubbles seemed to form at Prinplup's mouth. Play was confused for a moment, before Prinplup shot out a mass of surging water that formed as a whirpool that span towards Steelix and knocked it against a wall.
Prinplup: Whirlpool learned
After this attack, it seemed like too much. The Steelix let out one final roar of anguish before collapsing to the floor, shaking the whole cave.
After the tremors stopped, Play greeted Prinplup who promptly returned to it's Poke ball.
"Are you okay Gabite?"
"Jesus, I'm so sorry Vaporeon." Jake and Tess rushed forward to find their collapsed, injured Pokemon before eventually returning them to their balls. Tess turned to Play with sheer gratitude on her face.
"Thank you for saving us Play." Tess whispered, before jumping forward and hugging Play tightly. Play's face blushed red as his heart skipped a beat. What didn't help was glacing over to Jake who's face was even more red than Play knew possible, and his eyes stared at him with an even more intense hatred.
"It's no big deal." Play said, as Tess withdrew her hug. "I'm just glad we're all okay." He shot Steelix a sideways glance.
After this, the group composed themselves before venturing further into Craganos caves. Aside from the odd small Pokemon jumping out at them, they were able to climb higher, and through the darkness of the rocky cave, until they had to cross a tight rope bridge. Midway through, Play looked down, and shivered slightly seeing how high up they were. Nethertheless, the group continued until a small window of light in the distance of the cave got bigger, and bigger until eventually, they were out of the caves, and into the fresh air.
"Ahhhhh." Tess sighed in relief. "I'm so glad to be out of that dark cave." Play looked around, and then to his right. They appeared to be on some kind of cliffs, with dangerously steep cliffs right beside them that led down to route ten. Behind them, surprisingly was a Pokemon Center.
"Ah man." Jake said. "At last, we can re-."
"Not yet." Play said. "We don't wanna miss the sky ship. Let's hurry."
"Good idea Play." Tess said with a smile. Ashamed that Play stole his thunder again. Jake fell quiet. Walking along the cliffs was nice. The late morning breeze felt great on all of their faces and it was pleasant to witness the grass swaying gently, and hikers walking alongside their Pokemon up and down the cliffs. Just in the distance, Play spotted something that appeared to be a ship. Upon the others seeing it, all three of them broke into a slight jog. And there they were! Just in time.
The sky ship was magnificent, first, they had to walk through a thin glass tube that carried them through the air. Looking down made Play's heart jump, knowing that they'd fall if a coin or something shattered the glass. Eventually of course, Play's foot made contact with solid wood just as the sails began to rise on the ship. Tired, he leaned against the wooden railing.
"Finally." Play sighed. "All the stress gone." Jake still didn't say a word to Play, and faced away from him for the ride. Play had a smile on his face the whole time as the ship carried them upwards, and towards the sky on their next adventure.
YOU ARE READING
Pokemon Brick Bronze: A novel
AdventurePlay has lived in the Roria region all his life, and has never ventured out of Mitis town, but on his tenth birthday, like every other kid his age, they claim their starter Pokémon form Professor Cypress, who may have something more going on beneath...
