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It was a long day.
A very long day.
Between Gym challengers, business calls, and general day-to-day nonsense, it was a miracle that Clay's sanity remained intact. Once the last of his papers had been filed and his tools were put away, he was ready to head out for the evening when he heard it.
Before boarding the elevator to exit the mines of his gym, Clay swears he heard children laughing in the tunnels. Nobody but him should be down here; it was past closing time and all his employees were supposed to be home. They sure as hell weren't allowed to bring their kids to work, let alone let them play down in the mines!
Clay rumbles a deep sigh and pinches the bridge of his nose.
He was tired and ready to just go home! His Pokémon were tired and likely ready for their dinner by now. They earned it!
Clay adjusts his hat and starts back into the darkness.
"We're not supposed to be down here, Em. Please be quiet or we'll be caught..." Ingo hisses as he scopes out the dark tunnel.
"I'm Emmet! We are trespassing! If we get caught we will be punished! There are good Pokémon in the mines under the Gym! Yup! We will find some and catch them! Then we will go home before Uncle Drayden comes for us." Emmet happily scrapes away at a crumbly wall nearby. He picks a rock out of the wall and inspects it. Upon seeing that the rock was, in fact, a rock he promptly drops it on the floor.
"We're not alone down here, Em. I heard the elevator close. We should leave." Ingo ducks back into the tunnel when he hears heavy footsteps coming their way.
The twin boys quietly run into the darkness and duck behind a derailed and disused mine cart. The foot steps fade down the main tunnel and they both breathe a relieved sigh. If the mine cart had a fourth wheel they could ride it on the tracks, but it only had three so they had to abandon it as they ventured down the tunnel.
"Yes we should. We just got here. We haven't caught anything yet. The Pokémon are deeper in the mine. Remember when we saw the Drilbur with Uncle Drayden? Maybe we'll find some Roggenrola! Or a Dwebble!" Emmet happily stamps his foot and is quickly hushed by Ingo.
"Hey!" A loud voice booms from behind from the main tunnel. The heavy footsteps from before come back and they're approaching fast! Both boys break out in a sprint on the sides of the tracks. The man chasing them is catching up and a light shines on them, illuminating the tunnel and revealing their identities. Their Uncle Drayden was good friends with Gym Leader Clay and he was sure to tell on them! Now they're going to be grounded and Drayden won't let them ride the Subway anymore!
Their fears are realized when the end of the tunnel is blocked off by a boarded up barricade. Danger signs are plastered all over the planks, but there is a gap near the bottom the twins can squeeze through. Emmet dives under the boards first and is quickly followed by Ingo.
"Hey! HEY! Come back here! That tunnel ain't safe! Come back!!" Clay hollers into the cave. Seeing the boys disappear into the darkness despite the danger makes a chill run up and down Clay's back. Panic sets in his stomach as he puts his flashlight in his mouth to hold with his teeth as be breaks down the barricade. A million scenarios race through his head and they all end in tragedy. He had to hurry.
"I think we lost him. For now. That wood won't hold him back forever." Emmet pants and dusts the dirt from his bare knees. He's lightly scraped but nothing a few colorful bandages and rubbing alcohol can't fix.
"We're in so much trouble right now. He sounded really mad. What if he calls the police? Will we be arrested? This was stupid, Em." Ingo wipes the dust from his shirt and kicks the dirt off his heels
Emmet does not answer. Something has his full and undivided attention. When Ingo catches up and sees what Emmet sees, he is also entranced.
The walls are seemingly made of fossils. Boring seashell fossils that everyone finds, but fossils nonetheless. Why would Clay block this area off with all those signs?
"Maybe there's a real fossil down here somewhere, Ingo. Maybe a Tyrantrum tooth! Or an Aerodactyl claw! Even if we don't find anything here I'm sure there's a Pokémon down here we can catch! Like that Drilbur!" Emmet suddenly points in the cave to a wild Drilbur lounging on the tracks. It opens one eye at the sound of Emmet's outburst only to recoil as something hard connects with it's forehead. A standard Pokéball snaps shut around it and clicks shut without any resistance.
"Ingo! I saw it first!" Emmet wails as Ingo walks over to collect the ball.
"We have a Pokémon. Now we have to get out of here. We got what we came for." Ingo stuffs the ball in his pocket and tries to take Emmet's hand, but is slapped away.
"No! You got a Pokémon! I didn't! All I have is Joltik! You have Litwick and now a Drilbur! That isn't fair Ingo!" Emmet complains with wide eyed aggravation.
"Fine. We'll find you a Pokémon, but we have to do it quick. Clay could catch up any second."
Clay stays clear of the walls of the abandoned tunnel. It was prone to cave-ins and while still full of valuables, was very dangerous. To Clay, no treasure in the ground was worth burying someone over. Dark thoughts wormed their way into the back of Clay's mind despite his efforts to banish them. He didn't want to imagine pulling two small bodies out of freshly fallen dirt. He didn't want to think of making the call to Drayden that no parent ever wants to hear. Sure Drayden wasn't Ingo or Emmet's father, but after the tragedy with their real parents, he took on that role. Drayden loved those kids more than anything so Clay would be damned before he let anything happen to them.
Emmet was delighted to see how flimsy and crumbly the dirt was in the tunnel. He dug through it like it were sand and watching the walls crack was entertaining. Surely nothing bad would happen. The walls were reinforced with scaffolding! Clay's hurried footsteps and yelling pulled Emmet from his picking and he joined his older sibling in sprinting further down the tunnel. They kept to the tracks to avoid getting lost in the growing darkness. They ran until they came upon another barricaded tunnel. Clay arrived just in time to watch the twins scramble through the gaps in the planks once again before he could grab them.
"Dagnabbit kids! C'mere! Ah ain't gonna hurt 'cha! Come back!" Clay shouts after them. He grits his teeth and pulls the planks out of the wall once again. This was the end of the tunnel and the boys were headed towards a dead end. That tunnel was abandoned for a reason and any disturbance in the integrity of the walls will bring it down. His lungs burned and his knees ached, but adrenalin dulled the pain. He had to push through because two young lives were at stake.
"Dead end! The tracks end here! I don't have a Pokémon and now we've been caught." Emmet plops down and hugs his knees to his chest. His smile betrays his underlying stress. Ingo sits next to him and slowly offers him the Pokéball that contained the Drilbur he'd sniped from his younger brother, but Emmet pushes it back to Ingo.
"We can share the Drilbur, Em. We can take turns playing with it."
"It doesn't matter. Uncle Drayden is going to take it away from us anyway. We're in trouble."
"At least the walls are pretty. You didn't get a Pokémon, but maybe we can get you a cool rock instead. When we get a Dwebble it can move in and have a nice home." Ingo stands and brushes dirt from the back of his pants. Emmet follows suit and approaches the dead end. He grumbles and spots a particular spot in the wall where it bulged slightly. He'd heard stories of people in Sinnoh digging into the walls of their massive Underground system and unearthing treasures.
The wall crumbles easily under his fingers and he doesn't stop digging until he hits something solid just under the surface. The stone underneath is smooth, large and likely heavy. Emmet digs his other hand into the fragile dirt and grips the rock tightly. A sudden shout from Clay fuels panic in Emmet and he quickly draws back to pull the smooth stone from the wall. Emmet hurriedly stuffs it in his backpack and his delight is dashed away by pure terror when the walls and ceiling heave and begin to collapse on top of him and Ingo.
Ingo yanks Emmet's arm back to run, but is frozen with fear. His legs lock and he can only scream along with Emmet as they are swallowed up by the spilling earth.
Rough, large hands grab the twins by their shirt collars and they are pulled back off their feet and into the air, then back down to the ground. They are quickly dragged back as dust fills their lungs and large arms shield them from flying rocks.
Once the ground settles and the cave stops rumbling, Clay slowly sits up and looks to either side of himself. One twin on his left and the other is on his right. Both have all of their limbs and appeared unhurt despite their coughing. Relieved, he flops back down and gulps down air and pulls the brothers close. Clay needed a minute for his soul to catch up with his body and for his heart to come up from out of his stomach. He saw the kids playing with the wall one minute, and the next they were being buried alive. He pulled them back hard enough to knock himself off balance and flat on his back.
"Hoo...hah...I ain't never runnin' again. You boys alright? Nobody's hurt?" Clay finally says once the shock began to wear off.
"I-I'm fine. Emmet? Are you okay?" Ingo wipes the dust from his face and bites back a sob.
"I'm...I'm Emmet and I am alive." Emmet says through sniffling. He wipes the tears from his eyes, but more keep coming so he gives up.
"That's mighty good t' hear boys." Clay breathes another relieved sigh, then clamps his hands on the twins' shoulders. "I want to see you two in my office. Now..."
The silent trudge back to Clay's office was tense. Ingo held his hands together and squeezed while keeping his eyes straight ahead while Emmet kept his head down and wrung his hands. They knew Clay was going to call their Uncle and he was going to be mad. Possible punishments buzzed in their heads even after reaching Clay's office and being sat in chairs in front of Clay's desk. Clay's strong grip only released them when they were safely out of the tunnels and in his office where they couldn't run off again. Clay pushed his wheeled office chair out from behind his desk to sit directly Infront of the boys.
"Now. Care t' tell me why you two were down in th' mines?" Clay began. His stern face softens when he sees the twins' faces scrunch up and tears brim in their eyes. He sighs and relaxes his stance.
"Look. I ain't mad and ya ain't in trouble. I juss wanna know why you two were playin' 'round in th' tunnels. It ain't safe!"
"W-We wanted to find some ground-type Pokémon, sir." Ingo began. His normally loud voice was barely a quiet whimper.
"Ah see. Did you find any? Was it worth what happened down there?" Clay leans back in his chair and watches as Ingo produces a Pokéball from his pocket. The ball flashes and a stunned Drilbur appears next to Ingo. It rubs it's face and sniffs the air. It recoils when Clay releases a booming laugh.
"A Drilbur! Excellent choice!" Clay responds by releasing his own Excadrill. It sniffs Ingo's cowering Drilbur and paws at it.
"This one here's my partner! He helps me in th' mine and he's a tough battler! Had him ever since he was about as big as yers. Treat that Drilbur right and you got yerself a lifelong partner. Looks like he could use a little lesson in confidence, though." Clay returns his Pokémon and turns his gaze to Emmet.
"And you, boy? Did you get yerself somethin' worth risking yer life over?"
Emmet shakes his head, but Clay's gaze sees through him. Ingo nudges him and without looking up at Clay, Emmet reaches into his backpack and hands over his smooth stone. To his horror, he sees that it had snapped into two uneven halves. It must have broke when he landed on it after being pulled back by Clay.
Clay notices Emmet's already miserable face fall even more. He takes he broken stone and turns it over in his hands. The shape and color look suspicious.
It was smooth and a solid black. It shone in the light and was admittedly pretty. He can see how it would be alluring to a young child. Clay separates the two halves and a smile spreads across his face.
"Well, would ya look at that! Ya sure did find somethin' valuable!" Clay's words catch Emmet's attention.
Clay turns the halves towards him to reveal the imprint of a feather.
"Feathers are hard to come by in fossils. They're so soft that they aren't often preserved. If'n I had ta take a guess, this one's from an Archen! That one's referred to as the link between reptiles and birds. Scientists say that before Pokémon began to fly, they would use flaps of skin to glide from tree to tree. Archen could flap it's arms t' get airborne and glide, so it couldn't truly fly. We all gotta start somewhere, right? Plus, the feathers helped keep the Pokémon warm, seeing as how feathers developed before fur and hair did."
"Wow. You know a lot about fossils..." Emmet wipes his eyes. He didn't have much interest in fossils before, but listening to Clay talk about the cool one he found piqued his interest.
"Nah. That's juss what the suits at the Nacrene Museum told me. Say...you should take this down there and see if they'll wake up that there Archen for ya. Their fossil restoration tech has come a long way and they're always happy to revive fossil Pokémon. It helps their research and you get a new partner! That's a mighty fine deal right there if I would say so." Clay hands the stone halves back to Emmet who happily stuffs it back into his bag.
"Plus, there's a girl I see there all the time. Maybe you should talk t' her and she can tell ya more. Sometimes I see her working behind the counters or workin' with the exhibits. She's a bit young and maybe a lil older than y'all. She's real smart and knows way more about fossils than I do."
"Sure! We will do that! I got a Pokémon after all!" Emmet chirps and hugs his pack.
Ingo and Emmet stand up to get ready to leave but are nudged back down in their seats by Clay.
"Not so fast, kids. I ain't done with ya yet. I got somethin' ta tell ya. Now...I already told ya that yain't in trouble and I ain't mad. I won't call your Uncle Drayden and I will let 'cha go after I'm done." Clay began. Ingo and Emmet swallow the lumps in their throats and Ingo quietly recalls his still trembling Drilbur back into the ball.
"Now. Ya know how much yer Uncle Drayden loves ya...right? When us Gym Leaders get together for our meetin's, he's always yammerin' 'bout 'cha. About how much you've grown, how he's proud of ya, and that he's happy ta be takin' care of ya. Yer both the most important thing in his life. What if I didn't get to you in time? You could have died down there and he would have to live with that. He's already done lost his sister, he don't need to lose you too. D'you understan'?" Clay's tone takes on a more serious tone. Not an angry or stern one, but one that was more somber.
Clay turns to Emmet "Ingo how would you-"
"I am Emmet!" Emmet pipes up.
"Um. I'm Ingo, Mr. Clay." Ingo raises his hand slowly.
"Uh...right. I knew that." Clay lies. He wonders how Drayden can keep them straight. They look exactly the same!
"Emmet. How would you feel if it was just you that made it out of that mine? How about you, Ingo? Ya can't be doin' dangerous things like that! I ain't keeping people out of those tunnels because I'm some grumpy old man, ya know. I just want 'cha to be safe and I don't want 'cha to get hurt. Please promise me in the future that you two will keep each other safe, arright? An' I want you two ta stay out of trouble, y'hear?"
Ingo and Emmet nod. Admittedly, they didn't think their plan through. The excitement of catching cool Pokémon in the mine by themselves clouded their judgement. The thought of either of them losing their twin or leaving their Uncle Drayden all on his own made their stomachs churn. Ingo's hand subconsciously reaches over to hold Emmet's hand for comfort.
Knowing that he'd made his point, Clay backed off.
"Arright. I'll let 'cha go now. If ya head out now ya should be able to catch the train home. Save the Museum fer tomorra cuz it's gettin' late. I want 'cha two t' head straight home, y'hear?" Clay leads the twins out of his office and outside his Gym.
"I won't tell Drayden what happened as long as you boys promise t' never go back down in th' mines again. Not without me or a guide, at least. Y'understan'?"
"Yes sir! We understand!" Emmet and Ingo chirp in unison.
"Good ta hear! Now git!" Clay booms and points in the general direction of their ride home. He smiles when he sees the twins jump in surprise, turn on their heels, and run away laughing. He watches them run down the street before walking back inside his Gym before leaning against the wall. He breathes a loud sigh and shakes his head.
"I ain't never having kids..."