Pokémon: Leah's Journey {Rewrite}

Chapter 9: Cliffsides' Omen

If there's one thing the group was glad about, it's to be out of the Connecting Cave. There were so many Zubats that if Zayn hadn't stopped her, Leah probably would've strangled all of them right then and there instead of having Mrs. Cuddletails fight them. The only good that came from this experience was Zayn's new addition to his team, Mankey. The area they found themselves in was a cliffside, it gave them a view of where to go next. Plants and greenery managed to grow in such an environment. It was beautiful in its own right, but gazing can only bring them so far. Leah heard the shrill sound of a howl and something crashing down. Her head turned towards the sound and grabbed a Pokéball, "Primadonna use Echoed Voice!"

The dark-furred Furfrou appeared and instantly barked as loud as it possibly could. Rocks were reduced to nothing, but dust and gravel. The dust eventually settled, revealing the struggling form of an Absol. It seemed to have been caught in the rockslide. Leah cautiously approached the Absol, she wasn't a Nurse Joy, but she had plenty of full restores and Mildred was majoring in nursing. Upon closer inspection, Leah realized that Absol's hind leg was seemingly trapped between two rocks so she called Zayn over for help. Mankey could potentially break the rocks with a Fighting type move and Primadonna could move said rocks with Iron Tail. So Leah tried to reassure Absol while Zayn dealt with the rocks.

Normally, most wild Pokemon would run off the moment their freedom returned to them, but Absol barely even tried to move. It moved its leg once and snapped at it in pain. This was Mildred's cue to come in since Leah was too busy trying to calm Absol and Zayn was mentally preparing for the possibility of a battle. There was still only so much Mildred could do without having access to the Pokemon Center's technology so she sprayed the injury with one of Leah's full restores.

When Absol stood up, albeit a bit shakily, it didn't make any efforts to run off into the mountains or to battle them, it just stood there, debating. Absol were rather notoriously skittish, preferring to avoid humans and other Pokemon even often engaging in battle to discourage people from approaching, so it was rather odd that this one didn't try to flee once it had regained its freedom. After a moment, it calmly walked up to Leah, its gaze was hard to decipher. Leah pulled out a Pokeball from her bag and showed it to Absol in a silent question. It cooed and booped its nose on the Pokeball. The ball in her hand vibrated once... twice... and then it clicked, indicating that Absol was caught. Leah sent out the Absol to properly greet it, "Hey there, Omen, welcome to the team!"

Mrs. Cuddletails and Primadonna barked in greeting, Omen simply nodded his greeting. Leah would've preferred to have her Pokémon in their Pokéballs to maneuver around Muraille Coast's many twists and turns. Most of which require a more nimble body to traverse through, but Leah knew that Omen would be able to maneuver through nature's obstacle course. The Absol gracefully moved around the area, leading Leah and her friends through the easiest path of the route to get to Ambrette Town.

After jumping ledges and playing cliffside hopscotch, Zayn could see glimpses of civilization. They were close to town; the final obstacle was only a flight of stairs. Leah withdrew Omen and Primadonna and immediately beelined for the Pokemon Center. Her Pokemon were fine, but there was nothing wrong with a checkup. The moment the group walked in the Pokemon Center and handed Nurse Joy their Pokemon, a Growlithe tumbled in with a scientist close behind it. One thing Leah noted about this particular Growlithe is that it had much longer white fur that resembled a cloud, but its shorter fur was a pale orange with thinner black stripes.

Growlithe approached her, its cloudy little tail wagging wildly. Leah had mixed feelings about the little Growlithe that she found herself petting. On one hand, it was adorable and so very fluffy, on the other hand, it was genetically engineered and it could become like Mewtwo. The scientist, a woman, approached Leah and took notes related to Growlithe. Nurse Joy eventually called the group over to collect their Pokemon, so Leah stopped playing with Growlithe for a bit to fetch her Pokemon. The scientist finally stopped observing Growlithe and spoke to Leah once she let Mrs. Cuddletails down to play with the puppy Pokemon, "Growlithe seems to have taken a liking to you."

"Many Growlithes do, I grew up with them." Leah deadpanned.

"Yes, but you see this one has the genes of a Growlithe that once lived in ancient Sinnoh."

"So I've heard." Leah sighed, "Look, I can't say I like what you've been doing, genetically engineering a Growlithe to have a variant of times of old can be very ethically and morally reprehensible, but I promised Professor Sycamore that I'd take it in and care for it like it was a member of my team. And so I ought to keep this promise."

The scientist nodded, "Officer Jenny also informed us that you were to take in Growlithe, but before you do, one of our scientists went to dig up fossils in the Glittering Cave and he has yet to return."

"You want us to find him don't you?" Leah asked before quickly adding, "I trust that he'd be able to return on his own, but if you have reason to believe that he's in danger, then I suppose we can go look for him."

It would make sense for this scientist to ask to go check on her coworker, most lab work is done as a team, no one is left without a job to do and if one doesn't show or just disappears it can delay work. It is a reasonable request and if the scientist in the Glittering Cave was truly in danger, it would be best to get him out of there, so with a plan in mind, Leah gathered her friends and the trio made their way to Route 9 otherwise known as Spikes Passage. Spikes Passage was exactly what it says on the tin, the area is covered entirely in spiky rocks that makes passage on foot nearly impossible. They had to mount Rhyhorn to traverse which made the trip longer than necessary because there was only one Rhyhorn and three trainers.

Leah went first, she directed Rhyhorn towards the cave's location, breaking a few rocks in the process and eventually arrived at the entrance. Rhyhorn returned for Zayn and then Mildred at an agonizingly slow pace. Once Mildred finally arrived at the cave's entrance, she found Leah and Zayn trying to get Omen to calm down. Absol, as a species, have the innate ability to predict disasters and whatever is going to happen in the Glittering Cave can not be good, which was more of a reason for them to go in that cave and get that scientist out of there. Leah gave Omen a pat, "Omen, we have to get in that cave. Would it reassure you if you went inside with us?"

Omen gave Leah a nod and opted to stay close to her like a bodyguard. The group walked in the Glittering Cave with only one goal in mind: Find that scientist.