Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Burning Spirit! ❯ Road of Trials ( Chapter 3 )

On the peak of Mt. Coronet, a teenager named Riley Brennen faced a veritable army of snover and an abomasnow; ice pokemon who summoned hailstorms with their very presence. With a collective swing of their arms, a massive blast of icy wind erupted across the peak, engulfing Riley and sending him into the air along with his pig-monkey partner, mankey.

 

Riley felt the eerie sensation of his feet leaving the ground; then felt the frightening awareness of falling. He hit the ground hard; he had landed right at the icy edge of the mountain. Mankey slammed into the ground right beside him soon afterward.

 

Riley fought to get on his feet but his abdomen was again struck with pain from his earlier hit, thanks to abomasnow. Mankey glanced at its pain-stricken trainer, then at the army of snow monsters that loomed ahead. It wanted to pummel them something fierce, except Riley would be left in serious danger. But at the same time, it didn't want to show that it cared. After one more look at Riley, it made up its mind; against its natural instinct, it began sniffing the air, hoping to find something that might save them.

 

As a specie, mankey had a stronger sense of smell than the average human and even the average pokemon; it smelled something musty, dank and wet. A cavern? As the gang of snow monsters began to advance forward on the fallen pair, it whipped its head around, sniffing for the cavern's location. It peeked over the mountain's edge and found it; it was an opening along the side of the mountain, inviting, with a small snow-covered ledge at its entrance.

 

Riley looked at it angrily. “Mankey, what are you doing? Aren't you gonna attack them yet?!”

 

Mankey looked at Riley silently, then stepped right off the mountain's edge. Riley gave a sudden cry of surprise, diving at it and watching it fall to the cavern's ledge, landing softly in the pillow of snow and then screaming up at Riley to follow. “Holy shit,” he gasped, heart pounding. “Scared me… you… uh…”

 

He heard a loud moaning behind him and glanced over his shoulder to find the snover and abomasnow standing over him, arms raised. Without thinking Riley crawled forward, launching himself off the edge and yelling all the way down. He hit the snow pile with a lot of momentum, almost sliding right over the edge if not for mankey rushing to his rescue, yanking him safely onto flat ground. It stood over him and snarled for making it look dumb.

 

Riley retrieved mankey into its pokeball without a word, then got to his feet and shuffled quickly into the cavern, clutching his abdomen.

 

* * *

 

It quickly grew very, very dark inside the cavern. But it wasn't quite as cold, and Riley finally felt safe enough to sit for a bit and rest. He did have a flashlight packed with him, which he promptly got out and switched on, waving it around curiously, inspecting the gray, rocky cave walls around him. Unfortunately, he didn't have any more healing items; his mankey and vigoroth would have to contend with their wounds for now. He couldn't help but turn his thoughts back to Trish again; she was still probably back at home, with her beautiful body and face and pretty hair. And ahead of Riley was still Byron, the steel-type gym leader. Riley knew Trish had a small infatuation with Byron, but he was determined to make it to Canalave City, far to the west, and finally face Byron in a pokemon battle. He knew he could win!

 

He was beginning to feel heavy-eyed, but he didn't want to fall asleep inside the mountain, where wild pokemon could get him. He got to his feet and walked forward, using his flashlight to try and see what lay ahead. The pain in his abdomen, thankfully, was subsiding.

 

The ground was cold and rough, the air chilly and hollow. A rumbling could be heard from deep inside the mountain.

 

Riley had been focusing too much on what was ahead and not at his feet; with a gasp he walked right into something on the ground, tumbling forward and hitting the cool cave floor hard.

 

“Grav…” it croaked.

 

Riley rolled away quickly. A series of four-letter words ran through his mind in quick succession. He felt his heart beating through his chest as he switched off his flashlight.

 

With rocky sounds the pokemon graveler rolled around cautiously. It was round and made of rock, two stubby arms and legs coming out the sides of its large, rough body. It was searching for what had tripped on its foot while it slept.

 

It bumped into Riley's face.

 

Riley clutched mankey's pokeball and held his breath. Now was not a good time to fight.

 

“Graveler!” it bellowed, swinging an arm at Riley, who jumped out of the way quickly. He threw mankey's pokeball into the fray hardly without thought as he leaped back, switching his flashlight back on and keeping his sight on graveler. Mankey's rough snorts could be heard as graveler cautiously took a step back, shielding its eyes from the light. Riley breathed in, breathed out, clenched his fists, stared ahead with determination.

 

“MANKEY! Hit it with low kick!”

 

Graveler let out a harsh yell, and was soon met with a sweeping kick to its footing; it tumbled and fell back off its tiny feet, shaking the cavern with its weight. It moaned in pain.

 

“Now, mankey! Karate chop!”

 

Mankey screeched and dashed forward after its opponent, but graveler curled into a tight ball and rolled away quickly, initializing its `rollout' attack. It escaped the flashlight's gaze, its deafening crashes against the cave walls echoing around endlessly. Riley covered his ears before he suddenly felt graveler pass by him with a rush of air. Mankey quickly lost track of both graveler and Riley in the cacophony around them, its annoyed screeches swallowed up.

 

Graveler finally came to a stop, and with another bellow stomped its foot and shook the cavern again. Riley pointed his flashlight at it but quickly dropped it as he fell to his knees amid the quakes. The shaking didn't stop. Small rocks began dropping down from the ceiling. And with a sudden, enormous roar the ground below them collapsed under graveler's `magnitude' attack, and Riley found himself lost in a falling mass of rocks and boulders.

 

* * *

 

Riley awoke with a groan, lying face-down on the cool cave floor. He blinked and raised himself up as the cave came into view. It was noticeably warmer; Riley felt that he was much deeper in the cavern now. His parka was starting to feel a bit stuffy, but it had at least managed to cushion his fall. Riley reached for his flashlight, which had fallen nearby; luckily, it still worked. Riley got to his feet and shined the light around; fallen rocks and boulders were strewn around him haphazardly. Mankey lay motionless, close by.

 

The fallen rocks seems to make a solid wall around them. With a sinking feeling, Riley realized that he and mankey were, in fact, trapped by the rock fall somewhere in the mountain's tunnel system. The wild-haired trainer cursed as he smashed a fist against one of the fallen rocks, uselessly. Both vigoroth and mankey were out cold; he had no way to get out.

 

Suddenly a deafening, metallic screeching noise erupted from nearby. Riley stumbled back, utterly taken by surprise, as a loud drilling noise echoed around them. “What is that?!” he yelled, over the metallic roar.

 

He took another step back and suddenly felt his shoe sink into something soft and moist. He bent down and sniffed it. It was some kind of fecal matter.

 

He tried to think but the metallic drilling was making it difficult. He covered his ears and closed his eyes, straining to keep his head. And then it came to him, much to his dismay. He and mankey had gotten themselves trapped in some wild pokemon's territory, and it was going to attack as soon as it got to them through the fallen rocks!

 

Riley sat with his back against a boulder while he stripped off his parka, placing it in a heap at his side. He watched the opposite wall intently and listened to the loud metallic noises coming from behind it. Minutes crawled by like hours. The drilling only got louder and louder; Riley pictured some hulking brute of a pokemon bursting through the rock, then grabbing his legs in one hand and his head in the other, ripping the teen apart in a catastrophic, bloody mess.

 

As Riley closed his eyes and buried his head in his legs, he again pictured Trish, with her pretty eyes and sexy body. As Riley began to lose hope, he realized he might never see her again.

 

Mankey stirred. It pushed itself onto its knees, its breathing harsh and slow.

 

“Mankey!” Riley exclaimed, quickly turning to face it. “Mankey, you've got to help get us out of here. Break the rocks!”

 

Mankey shivered, then fell back to the ground. Something was wrong. There was a pause, then Riley crept toward it, placing a hand on its back.

 

It was cold as ice; Riley quickly recoiled his hand. He realized mankey was still affected by the snovers' and abomasnows' ice attacks at the summit. It must have been fighting with that condition against graveler, and Riley hadn't even noticed.

 

“I've been so stupid…” Riley muttered, accidentally voicing his thoughts. “Shit, you're in awful condition and I never bothered to check. And to think we might die here…”

 

There was a pause.

 

“We've been together for years now, but I never even tried to talk to you. And you've been looking out for me this whole time… even when you saved our skin when those snover were about to get us earlier. I don't want it to end like this!”

 

Mankey shuddered on the ground, is breathing becoming rapid. Riley shuffled closer, heaving it up off the ground and clutching it to his chest. He hoped that his body warmth might help it.

 

“I'm so sorry,” he said, his grip on the pig-monkey tightening. “I've been an awful trainer.”

 

He could have sworn he felt tears coming on, but he quickly pushed those away. Riley Brennen was not the kind of man to cry. He grit his teeth. “There has to be a way out,” he declared, “I'm not going to die here!”

 

He began to consider his options, still holding mankey. He couldn't think of any. As the drilling got louder his focus became less and less clear. “Come on!” he muttered, “Think!”

 

Suddenly mankey, still in his arms, began to glow; a blinding white light shot out in all directions, illuminating the pig-monkey in Riley's arms. Riley let out a shallow gasp.

 

It flashed brilliantly, then faded, revealing something a little different. It was bigger; its limbs were more muscular, its glare even fiercer, and its cute little tail gone. This was primate, mankey's evolved form. Riley's draw dropped and eyes widened. This thing looked even fiercer than its pre-evolution!

 

It shoved its way out of Riley's arms with an annoyed snort. It seemed to have gained some vitality with the evolution, and had enough energy now to stand on its own feet. The loud, metallic drilling still echoed through the caverns.

 

“Hurry!” Riley cried, “Use `rock smash!' Break through this rockfall!”

 

Primeape didn't waste a moment. Its fist began glowing, and then it punched its way through boulder after boulder, each one shattering into tiny bits upon impact while Riley observed using his light. The metallic drilling continued, maddening, slowly getting louder and louder.

 

Cool air began to rush into the room as the gap ahead opened up more and more. “Yes!” Riley cried, “We're going to make it!”

 

The caverns shook with more drilling, the loudest it had been yet. With an explosion of sound, rocks and boulders went flying from behind Riley and primeape. A huge, steel beast stepped from the wreckage, shining in the rays from Riley's flashlight; its sharp blue eyes and three horns as intimidating as its massive, armored tail. This was aggron, the pokemon so powerful it could claim an entire mountain its territory.

 

It eyed Riley and primeape, then let loose another massive roar that shook the caverns around them.

 

Riley remembered that primeape wasn't very fit to fight, and he couldn't afford to put it at risk again. After taking an instant to retrieve primeape into his pokeball, Riley turned around and ran, leaping through the smallish opening left by primeape's rock smashing.

 

He heard the remaining rocks blast apart as aggron stomped though behind him, but he didn't turn back to see, even when he dropped his flashlight. He just kept on running, staring straight ahead. He wasn't going to let himself get caught here, not after he'd come so far!

 

A faint glimmer of light could be seen ahead; a beacon of hope through what seemed like an endless tunnel of darkness. Riley poured all the energy he had left into running for the light, breaking out into a crazed, animalistic yell.

 

Boom! The caverns began shaking horribly beneath Riley's feet. He stumbled and fell onto his knees. He glanced back and saw aggron had struck the ground with his iron tail. Riley recognized the rumbling and realized aggron was going to cause another rock fall, trapping Riley inside with it!

 

Riley fought to get to his feet, but another strike by aggron meant more stumbling as the ground shook beneath him. Loud cracks could be heard above; a massive rock crashed to the ground just behind Riley.

 

He groaned, stumbling forward, wobbling all over the place and bumping into the walls with each tremor. He wasn't going to give up yet! He couldn't! The cave's exit was unbearably close; but with one last quake rocks began crashing down all around Riley, spelling doom for the trainer.

 

Riley abandoned all hesitation he had in him, diving forward through the air. A falling rock missed him by a paper's width. Riley passed through the cave's exit, crossing the threshold into the midday sun and then hitting the ground as rocks crashed behind him, quickly filling up the tunnel from which he leapt. The earth was warm and grassy beneath him.

 

He was alive, and he made it.