Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ When It All Falls Down ❯ Ruins of Horror ( Chapter 7 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

The group continued to move towards Violet City, mostly silent. Alaina truly preferred this way. It was much better than hearing Damien and Kasey argue the whole way there… but she kept a look out for the occasional glares they gave each other.

They came to a fork in the road, one jagged path leading to the mountains, another a smooth path that seemed to head towards more overshadowing trees and tall grass, the last leading to a barely visible cave at the end.

The obvious choice was the smooth path, but Kasey had to ask, “Where does this take you?”, pointing towards the jagged path. Alaina pulled out the map and began to observe the fork.

“It indicates that this is the path to the Ruins of Alph. The ruins aren’t located within the mountains, but they are in different areas surrounding them.”

“The Ruins of Alph…”, Damien mumbled. “I’ve heard so many stories about those chambers. They’re said to contain ancient Pokemon.”

Damien thought for a minute, then made up his mind, saying, “I’ll meet you guys back in Violet City in a few hours. I wanna check out the Ruins for a bit.”

Alaina shrugged. “Fine with me. But you live near the Ruins. You never been there?”

“Dad always warned me to stay away from there, else he’d have my neck. Well, he’s not here now, so I could go explore the Ruins all I want.”

While Alaina was thinking that a joyful man like Mr. Pokemon could say, ‘I’ll have your neck’, Kasey laughed.

“Seems we’ve got a rebel in the group. Going against a parent’s orders is very bad, shame on you!”, she said lamely.

“Tch, you’d never survive wandering around in the Ruins. You’d be too scared.”, he stated with a smile.

He had Kasey’s attention now. “Me, scared? I could so explore a few simple Ruins. It’s you I’m worried about, since you’d probably piss yourself.”

“Then prove it!”, he shot back. “Come with me to the Ruins, and we’ll see who clings to who!”, he finished.

“Huh, you wish!”, she snapped, turning to Alaina. “I wish I could see your Gym battle, I really do! But you understand that I have to do this, right?”

Alaina rolled her eyes and nodded. “I know you too well; you accept any challenge no matter what.” “I do not!”, Kasey snapped.

Alaina stared at her for a minute. “…Alright! So I do, but still! I’ll cheer you on for your next Gym battle, I promise!” Alaina sighed. “You’re so confident that I’ll win?” “Yup.”

Alaina shook her head. “I don’t mind if you go with him, but please don’t embarrass yourself in public if Damien pushes your buttons again.” “Aye aye, captain!”, she replied, giving Alaina the finger.

She ran down the path to catch up Damien, and Alaina stared after them until they were out of sight. She looked towards the waist-high grass, clutching Jacoby’s poke ball.

She and Kasey had returned them to their poke balls a while ago since they were tired of walking, and the girls didn’t have the strength to carry them.

The brunette took a deep breath, and began to walk through the grass.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“These are the Ruins of Alph?”, Kasey asked. “Guess so. Well, c’mon jellybean. Didn’t come here stand outside and just stare at it, did we?”

Kasey punched his arm and stomped inside. Damien gave a quiet laugh and followed after her.

The two had to climb a ladder to get to their destination. Once they were inside, they were dumbstruck. All around them were cracking dirt-brown walls, all with some kind of hieroglyphs. Their old age was visible not only by the cracks, but the damp green moss that stained the walls. The lamp lights that were set in each corner of the rooms were the only thing that kept the hieroglyphs visible. In fact, they were the only lights at all.

“Jesus…”, Damien whispered. Kasey had approached a creaky wall, and traced one of the hieroglyph with her finger. “Y’know… this kinda looks like a letter. The letter ‘C’, if it weren’t for that large circle in the middle. What is that, an eye?”

Damien chuckled. “Since when do letters have eyes?” “It was a question, not a statement,” she snapped, “so don’t get cocky.”

Kasey began to squirm a little. Damien eyed her, “I don’t think this is the kinda place where you’re supposed to dance…” “No, I need to go to the bathroom!”, she squealed, not caring if anyone else heard her or not.

Damien’s face shaded a light pink. “Well, then what are you waiting for? GO!” Kasey practically slid down the ladder, and sprinted out.

Damien regained his composure and went further down the hallway, studying the each hieroglyph he saw. He placed his hand on one of them and mumbled, “She’s right. They do look like letters. What the hell is up with that?”

Outside the Ruins…

Kasey stepped out from the bathroom and looked around. The Research Lab was simple and faded yellow-white, had two large windows, and a large porch with five computers perched on the sides. Something in the window caught Kasey’s eye.

Large jewel-like stones, all shapes and sizes, were lined up against the window sill. Their beautiful colors shined brilliantly in the sun.

Kasey was captivated by them for a moment, but then began to track back towards the Ruins. She was about to go inside, but then she caught sight another cave. It was directly behind the main Ruins, but it still intrigued her.

“Damien will be fine. I’ll just look around in this one for a while…”, she smiled knowingly, “let’s see if he’ll come looking for me…”. Without a second thought, she entered the smaller cavern.

It appeared just as old as the other Ruin, but there was more light. It was a single room, the strange hieroglyphs still lining the walls. It was empty and silent, not another person in sight.

Kasey laughed nervously at the silence, and focused her attention on the large monument before her. It wasn’t exactly a monument… more like a stand. It had a tablet on it with a description, and what appeared to be a puzzle mat. Kasey walked over to read the tablet. She read it out loud:

“This Pokemon hid on the sea floor, waiting for unsuspecting prey to devour. Not only did it have eyes within its shell, the eyes on it’s back scanned the area for other predators.”

“….. Creepy.”, the orange-head whispered. She looked over the puzzle pieces, wondering, “Nobody was able to figure this out? Hm. It doesn’t even look that difficult.”

She picked up one of the pieces and examined it. “This looks like a corner piece… so this would go there.” She placed it to the corner down-right, and quickly picked up another one. “And… this would go here. Where the hell does this one go?”

Back inside the Ruins of Alph…

Damien had brought a camera, and without anyone seeing him (he doubted anyone was in there except himself, but still didn’t want to take the risk) he pulled it out of his bag and began to photograph the hieroglyphs.

“Alaina can’t be here, so I’ll show her these. Wait till she sees them!”, he whispered to himself.

He had already taken about six pictures, but once he took the seventh and examined it on the digital camera screen, his smile disappeared and was replaced with a confused expression.

In the picture was a large black smear in the corner. No, the picture wasn’t damaged… it was just there. A big fog looking thing…

Damien lowered his camera and looked straight at the area he had taken the picture.

Something moved. A low scuffling noise was in the corner of the room. Damien’s breath hitched in his chest, and he stood frozen. Was it just his imagination, or were the lights dimming?

He couldn’t see what was in the corner… but it was getting bigger.

Behind the Ruins…

“There! Almost finished! Just a few more…”, Kasey smiled happily. She didn’t know exactly why she was happy… maybe it was because she would be written down in history? The only person who was able to complete this puzzle!

“Well… probably not the only person. I don’t even know if this is a tourist attraction, and everyone does this.”, she thought out loud as she placed the last puzzle piece.

She grinned and studied the picture. “Huh, are those claws? This thing has pretty damn big- WHAAAAAAII!”, she screamed as the floor underneath her feet fell apart.

She clung to the edge, trying her best to pull herself up. It was no use. “HELP! SOMEBODY HELP ME!”, she screamed so loud that her throat began to throb painfully.

No answer.

“GOD DAMMIT! ONE OF YOU FUCKING SCIENTISTS BETTER- WHAAAAAAAAAA!!!”, she was cutoff, her grip on the crumbling stone finally let loose as she fell into complete darkness.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Jacoby, finish this off with Water Gun!”, Alaina called out happily.

A water torrent shot out from Jacoby’s mouth and made a direct hit on the Caterpie. The Caterpie was now soaked and lying on the floor, clearly worn out.

“Alright now I can catch it!”, Alaina said excitedly. She reached for one of the poke balls in her bag and threw it at the Caterpie… only to have it blocked.

A large Butterfree flew in and stopped the poke ball mid-way, knocking it down into the grass.

“Filthy human!!! How dare you attack my young!”, she screeched, her words only heard by Jacoby. Jacoby sweat-dropped and backed up slowly.

From the loud cries the Butterfree was emitting, Alaina figured she was most likely angry. “Uh… oh no…”, she whispered.

“Ma’am, my human had no knowledge of this… she cannot understand you, but she’s probably sorry! We’ll be on our way now…”, the blue reptile finished nervously.

“Sorry? YOU’RE SORRY?! I’ll give you something to be sorry for!”

With that said, the mother Butterfree began to wildly flap her wings, a sparkling purple dust billowing from them and spreading everywhere.

Jacoby had no time to think. In his panic he tackled Alaina to the grass, “Don’t inhale it! Cover your mouth, cover your mouth!”

Of course Alaina didn’t understand, but knew by Jacoby’s behavior that the situation they were in wasn’t a good one. She tuned over on her stomach and put her arms over her head, her face in the ground. She could practically taste the dirt…

Jacoby was unfortunately one step too slow, and inhaled the purple dust. The small reptile began to cough violently, and fell to the floor.

The Butterfree ‘harrumphed’, picked up the weak Caterpie and flew off.

After a minute or two, Alaina finally lifted her head and looked around. The psycho Butterfree and what would’ve been the first Pokemon she actually caught were gone.

She jumped back on her feet. “Jacoby? Where-”, and her heart stopped. Jacoby was sprawled on the ground, motionless.

She sprinted over to him, turning him over on his back.

She desperately wished she hadn’t.

The small reptile’s breathing was labored, his rubbery body now slick with sweat. His eyes were half closed, the top of his snout an alarming black shade. What’s more, he was shaking. Alaina felt herself go numb, but reached out and felt his forehead.

Blazing hot. But his body… it was like ice.

It finally hit her that this must be the Poison Powder effects. Tears stung her eyes as she thought, ‘The stupid handbook said this attack wasn’t that serious! Liars!’

She retreated her hand and took off her black jacket, wrapping it around the Pokemon. She quickly swung her bag over her shoulder, picked up Jacoby, and began to run as fast as her legs would take her.

“Violet City is only a few minutes away, I’m sure of it! You’ll be okay, Jacoby-”. He coughed and spat up blood, leaving a formidable stain on the front of Alaina’s shirt.

The girl cried out and tried her best to pick up her pace.

After about 15 minutes but seemed like hours to Alaina, she caught sight of petite houses and a cracked cobblestone street. A faded sign crafted of old, darkened wood read, “Welcome to Violet City: The city of nostalgic scents.”

Alaina zoomed past the sign and a few houses until she saw a medium sized white and red building with a giant ‘P’ on the front.

She immediately recognized the Pokemon Center and crashed the doors open with her shoulder. A woman with light pink hair squeaked at the startling sound as she saw the teenager stagger towards the counter. She was out of breath, flushed, and sweaty.

“H-he… needs help…”, she wheezed as she set Jacoby on the counter. The Nurse Joy just stared. Alaina felt like throwing herself at this idiot. “DID YOU HEAR ME? I SAID HE NEEDS HELP!”

Nurse Joy finally snapped out of it. “Oh, yes! Right away!”. She blew a small whistle, and a large Blissey came out.

“Oh, you poor, poor thing!”, The Blissey crooned. “Lily, take the Totodile to the Emergency Room and check him to see what we need to treat him.” With that, the Blissey scooped up Jacoby and ran off into the back rooms.

Alaina sighed, relief washing over her. She stumbled over to the waiting room couches and dropped her entire body down and treating it as if it were a bed. The horrid pale-green leather was now wet and shiny with her sweat.

Nurse Joy shifted over and cringed at the sight of the trainer. He dark brown hair was windblown and damp, her cinnamon colored skin a blotchy white. Her chest heaved, trying to keep control of her breathing. A splatter of blood was displayed on the front of her shirt.

“Miss, is there anything I can do for you? Do you need treatment as well? If so, I-”, “Thank you, but I’m fine. It was just my companion whom was in trouble.”

Nurse Joy nodded. “I apologize for not reacting sooner… but I’m a fairly new Nurse, fresh out of training classes. My older cousin is usually the one who runs this Pokemon Center, and I’ve only been here for a week. I hadn’t seen a Poison effect like that… I froze up. Please forgive me.”

Alaina sighed, and being the merciful person she was (complete opposite of Kasey) she nodded in understanding. “It’s alright, I’m not angry. I just made an outburst because I was worried for my friend.”

The frazzled girl slowly forced herself to sit up. “He’ll be okay, right? How long will it take before he’s fully recovered?” “Let me go check”, Nurse Joy replied.

Alaina took this time to think of the events that happened not too long ago. He protected her… again. First from the Bulbasaur that came close to attacking her, now from the psycho Butterfree.

She felt pathetic.

She was supposed to be looking after him! He battled for her, yes, but to get critically hurt like that? She couldn’t stand the thought…

Her eyes opened wide at a thought. ‘What if… what if this isn’t going to be the last time he’ll do this? Will he put me before himself all the time in those kinds if situations? Oh God…’

Alaina was brought back to reality as Nurse Joy entered the waiting room, a joyful (ironic, huh?) smile on her face. “Your Totodile will be fine, and should be fully healed within a few hours.”

Alaina smiled. “Thank you.”

Alaina seated herself again, and Nurse Joy stared at her. Alaina grew somewhat uncomfortable, asking, “What?”

“You know… Violet City is a beautiful and exquisite town. While your Pokemon is healing, you can look around. It would be pretty boring to just sit here for two hours.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

‘Ow… my fucking head…’

A hand was placed tenderly on a wounded head. ‘Owwww…’

Kasey sat up. Her would-be blurry sight was greeted by sheer black, not a light in sight.

“…Hello?”, she whispered.

Silence.

Then she had an idea. She felt around in the dark for her bag, but found nothing. “Shit, I must’ve left it in the Puzzle Room of Doom.”

Her hand went to her waist, thankful to feel the sphere attached to her belt. “Sonny, come out!”, and in a flash of brief light, Sonny stood there, his tail aglow. Her breath came out in a whoosh at the relief of having at least a small light.

The light danced on a stone wall next to her, the same wall she had seen earlier with the letter-like hieroglyphs. “What the…? I’m back in the Ruins? How the-”. There was slight shuffle. Kasey flinched and Sonny growled, his small aglow tip-fire tail growing slightly bigger.

Another shuffle, this time with a groan. Kasey’s eyes widened. “Sonny!”, she hissed, “Sonny, come here! You’ll get hurt, you freak! Stop being bold…” she trailed off at the sound of another groan.

That did it.

“CHAR!”, Sonny yelped as Kasey grabbed his tail and dragged him backwards so he was in her arms. She was preparing herself to run, because when Kasey was scared shitless, she could outrun anything.

Not even with the Charmander’s tip-fire tail could she see what was making those noises, but knew they were coming from her far right.

“Are you crazy? Don’t EVER pull my tail like that again you stupid human!”, Sonny hissed. His words reached deaf ears, and Kasey shushed him.

“Okay,”, she squeaked fearfully, “1... 2...-” Another shuffle, this time only sounding a few feet away. “3!!!”, she screamed, bolting into more darkness that was faintly lit by Sonny.

She was like lightning, running as fast she could from whatever was making those noises. As she ran towards the left, what she suspected was true. The ‘thing’ at her far right, now visible to her to what she thought looked like some kind of black cloud.

“What is THAT?!” “Charmander, charman!”

Kasey picked up her pace, only to smash straight into another wall. “OWW! Can’t a girl get a break?!” She looked behind her, and took notice she had ran a pretty good distance, the noises were put to a halt and the black cloud was out of sight.

Kasey didn’t want to attract attention to herself from anymore of those… things, so thought best not to call out Damien’s name. That is… if he was still in there.

“I’m gonna kill Damien… I’m gonna kill Damien… I’m gonna-”, ‘It wasn’t even his fault, I bet…’, the Charmander thought to himself. Other than that, he was still contemplating what in the Pokemon world had scared the crap out of him and Kasey.

He had smelt it, and it reeked of… human. It wasn’t a human itself, but… it still smelled like one. The thought sent shivers down the small Pokemon’s back.

Humans don’t look like that, obviously. But why…?

It barely registered in Sonny’s mind that his usually loud-mouth trainer was silent. He looked up at her to see her often bright hazel eyes clouded with fear, focused on something towards their right.

The Charmander looked at the direction which held her attention, and his stomach dropped.

Blood. Thick, dark red, and freshly-spilled looking blood, shining in the glow of Sonny’s tail. Near the middle of the small puddle were the devices that both human men who had taken of him for a short while wore. ‘What were they called again…?’

“Glasses.”, Kasey whispered. She set Sonny down and paced herself slowly over to the puddle. Reluctantly, she reached out and picked up the glasses, her fingertips now dotted in blood. She was careful to only grab it by the very tip of the rims, not exactly sure why but still did so.

One of the lenses was cracked, the other broken all together, a cheap silver rim surrounded what would have held the lenses.

She cleaned it with her shirt, and decided to show this to (perhaps) authority once she got outside of this place. Someone, (she kept telling herself it wasn’t likely), but someone could’ve gotten seriously hurt down here… maybe even killed.

She quickly wiped the thought from her mind. “You’re being retarded,”, she told herself, “you’re getting ahead of yourself, so just go outside and sort this out… no use of making yourself even more frightened.”

Kasey slipped the broken glasses into her pocket, and turned to Sonny. The poor Charmander was trembling, never having seen blood before, human blood anyways.

Kasey felt sorry for him, and picked him up to continue to trudge in the darkness to find a way out. Before she left the ‘crime’ scene, she took note that this blood puddle wasn’t just in a random spot on the ruin floor… I seemed to be leaking. Leaking from underneath the wall, coming through the cracks of the ruin wall.

It made no sense whatsoever.

With a heavy heart, she continued forward. Sonny looked as if he were in a trance, not making a sound as Kasey quietly walked. Kasey stroked his head, opening her mouth to say words of comfort to him, but- ‘What’s that sound?’

Footsteps. They were quick, but clumsy sounding, as if a drunk person were staggering.

Sonny was now fully aware of what was happening, and scanned the area. He was sick of being scared, so whatever was after them, he promised himself that he would fight it off, no matter what it was.

Sonny scrambled out of Kasey’s arms, standing proudly in front of her as the staggering came closer. ‘I’m not scared, I’m not scared, I’m not scared…’, he repeated in his head over and over.

A figure was becoming visible, a human shape. The human was coming closer into Sonny’s faint aglow tail, and the Charmander recognized the scent of their male companion.

“…..D-Damien?”, Kasey whispered. Damien was finally visible in the fire light… but Kasey wished she hadn’t seen him at all.

His skin a sickly white, blue eyes nearly colorless, hair frazzled, clothes torn here and there. He was an absolute mess, almost as if the very life force was drained out of him.

“Kasey…”, he croaked. He was about to collapse on the floor, but Kasey rushed to his side and had to use her whole strength to hold up his upper body.

As she laid him out on the floor, he was now unconscious. She checked his pulse… still beating, but faint. “You’re gonna be okay,”, she whispered, “You’ll be okay…”.

Tears pricked her eyes. She couldn’t stand the sight of him, in this horrid state.

Sonny stared in amazement. ‘Who… or what… would do this?’, he thought, mortified. He sniffed the air, but found no scent of humans or Pokemon at all… but he smelled something else. Something familiar…

“Water?”, he said. “Mander?”

Kasey had miraculously been able to stand with Damien in her arms. As long as they all got out alive, she would stay calm. “Sonny, what is it?”, she asked. She feared that whatever attacked Damien (she thought it was possibly the ‘thing’ they saw a while back) may come back to attack her and the Charmander.

Sonny gestured his tiny clawed hands to follow him, and she wasted no time in doing so. Dragging Damien with her, the light haired girl trekked her way through the dark once more after her Pokemon.

There was a faint light… sunlight! The ladder that went down to the mouth of the cave!

“Oh my God! We’re gonna be okay, Damien! We’re gonna get help!”, she squeaked, on the verge of tears. She had never been so happy to see the sunlight in her entire life. Just a few more feet…

Just like that, her hope of escaping with her companions was diminished. The black cloud was hovering near the ladder, and as it made its way closer, Kasey knew that there was no way they could get out now.

But boy, was she wrong. “CHARMANDER!!!”, Sonny gave no hint to his trainer when a Fire Spin erupted from his mouth, getting a critical hit on the ominous ‘thing’.

It gave an inhuman cry, yet sounded nothing like a Pokemon as well. Kasey took this opportunity to run, and didn’t even bother to climb down the ladder. Instead, she threw herself and Damien down the ladder chute, landing with a painful ‘thud’ on the ground.

She could see the blinding orange light from her Charmander’s Fire Spin up the ladder chute, and still heard the ‘things’ cry of pain. After a few more seconds, Sonny came tumbling down the chute, landing on his rear.

Kasey wobbled to her feet, trying with what little strength she had left to drag Damien by his arms outside, where she was positive their tormentor would not come out. Sonny grabbed his other arm, also trying with all his might to help his trainer pull the unconscious boy out.

After what seemed like forever, they were finally outside. Kasey vision was blurry, but she could clearly make out about 5 cars and people in blue uniforms.

She heard someone gasp… then yelling.

Touching her… they were trying to lift her up. She hated being touched. But she could no longer move, everything seemed be getting darker…

She was already sure that she and Damien would be okay… but Sonny? Where was Sonny?

“Sonny?”, she whispered. “Sonny…?” She could no longer repeat his name as she passed out.