Chapter Text
A bright light flashed across the night sky, lighting up the treetops that were swaying violently in the wind. The light was soon followed by a loud bang, causing whatever was brave enough to be outside right now to scatter to safety.
The flooding from the storm could easily uproot a tree and carry it away, but they stood their ground. However, there would still be those who were unlucky enough to still be swept away. The ground rumbled and lightning struck again, this time closer to the Great Crater, sending a few rocks flying into the maw of the great pit.
Deep below there was a strange humming sound, followed by a lot of rumbling. It seemed like an earthquake could happen at any moment now.
A strange metallic creature walked out into the open and looked up from the Great Crater. It gave off an erie pink glow and watched soullessly as rain droplets collided with its visor. This is not the same world to where it came from, and it had a strange feeling that it wasn’t the only one.
Whatever the case, it has a new goal now. Gather information about this new world; and escape the pit.
— — —
The storm had stopped a few hours ago and the sun already began to rise from the East and spread its warmth across the fields of the West Province of Paldea.
It was a beautiful morning, fletchling were flying around, some mankey were eating berries off a tree, and the weather was just perfect.
But then everything was interrupted by a loud rumbling snore.
There was a small group of pokémon in a nearby cave who were asleep, or rather, were asleep. A sprigatito, named Reed, lifted his head angrily and turned towards the noise maker. A charcadet named Apollo.
He was slumped over a rockruff, who was named Ridge, who was sleeping soundly. How could she sleep through all of that noise? Reed thought. He got up and walked over to the two and swiped at Apollo.
He didn’t hit him hard, but it was enough to make him wake up.
“Ah! Wha- Reed?” Apollo said while stumbling, causing Ridge to wake up as well. Reed couldn’t help but smirk a bit, but his expression quickly reverted back to annoyance. “Stop snoring so loudly! You woke me up!” Reed said. “I can’t control my snoring! You could’ve just moved somewhere else to sleep!” Reed was about to say something back, but suddenly Ridge quickly sat up, headbutting both Reed and Apollo’s chins with her incredibly durable skull. “Good morning to you guys too.” She said smugly.
Both Reed and Apollo drew back to rub their chins while Ridge sat there looking proud of her work. Ridge turned towards Cyrus, another charcadet, and nudged him. “Good morning Cyrus!” She said. Cyrus leaned forward and blinked the tiredness out of his eyes, soon noticing Reed and Apollo.
“Did I miss another Reed and Apollo argument?” He asked. “Almost, I stopped them before they really began to argue.” Ridge said. They both chuckled to themselves and then joined Apollo and Reed again.
“Alright!” Ridge started, “I say that we go out and play in the puddles! That storm could have made a whole new river!” Already everyone wasn’t too fond of the idea. “Er, Ridge I don’t think-” But before Apollo could finish, Ridge ran out of the cave and into the field while calling out, “Last one there is a rotten oran berry!”
Apollo turned to Cyrus, looking for another opinion, but Cyrus ran out after Ridge before he could say anything. “C’mon guys! Let’s at least have a little fun!” He called from behind.
It was just Apollo and Reed standing there now; the last ones to be decided who is a rotten oran berry.
They looked at each other, competition flaring in their eyes. Apollo quickly shoved Reed behind him and ran off after the others. “Hey!” Reed yelled as he got up and began to run after Apollo. “Ha!” Laughed Apollo, turning his head to face Reed. But then he tripped over a rock because he wasn’t paying attention and then landed on his face. “Ha!” Reed retorted as he passed Apollo.
Reed dashed through the field to catch up with Ridge and Cyrus. His fur was already soaking wet from all of the dew on the grass.
He could just see Cyrus, but… wait where’s Ridge? Suddenly a figure jumped out in front of Reed and pounced on him. “AH!” Reed screamed. “Hi Reed!” Ridge said while holding him down, her tail wagging aggressively. Reed simply lied there, frozen in fear.
The sound of wheezing walked up to them, Ridge looked up and saw Apollo slowly walking to them, his face covered in grass. “Sorry Apollo, but you’re a rotten oran berry!” Cheered Ridge. “Bummer…” Apollo said unenthused.
Cyrus walked up the group and chuckled at the sight of Apollo and Reed. “Lighten up you two.” He said. “It’s just the beginning of the day.” “Yeah!” Ridge piped in, getting off of Reed. “We have an entire day ahead of us! I’m sure that we’ll have an amazing adventure!”
Just as Ridge finished talking, a loud bang sounded from somewhere and the ground shook aggressively, causing everyone to fall over. “Sweet Arceus, what did I say?!” Ridge cried. Cyrus tried to get up to look around, but it was difficult from the ground shaking. However, he was able to lock his eyes on the Great Crater; it looked like there was smoke coming out of it. Suddenly, two shining objects shot out of the crater and seemed to stay in the air for a good moment.
What is-? Cyrus thought while trying to get a good look at the shiny object that shot out of the crater. He still couldn’t tell what it was, but one of the shiny objects seemed to be getting bigger… a lot bigger! “Look out!” Cyrus yelled while trying to push his friends out of the way.
Everyone tried their best to move out of the way, the shaky ground was throwing them off balance. At last, the strange object crashed into the ground next to the group, causing a large cloud of dirt and mud to be thrown into the air. “Is everyone ok?!” Apollo said while coughing and shooing away the dust. Everyone seemed to be fine, but they were all mainly concerned with what the heck crashed into the ground.
The group of friends huddled together and slowly approached the small crater that was created from the impact of the object. The smoke let up and revealed a small, yet shiny and beautiful gem. “What in the?” said Reed as he walked in front of the group to inspect the gem. “Reed wait-” Apollo tried to warn. Reed reached a paw out and gently touched the gem, but then quickly pulled away and hissed in pain. “Reed!” Ridge cried. “I’m fine! It’s just really hot!” Reed quickly reassured as he went to lick his burnt paw.
Cyrus and Apollo immediately knew their task and walked over to the gem. They both grabbed the gem, not even flinching to the heat, and pulled it out of the ground. It was slightly bigger now, about a few more inches than the rocks in Ridge’s mane. Apollo and Cyrus set it back down on the ground, showing off its full length.
“What is it?” Reed said. “It's a gem, obviously.” Apollo replied. “I know it’s a gem you idiot, I just wanna know what it’s used for!” “What use does a gem have?!” “Maybe it’s a terastallize gem? It kinda looks like one.” Cyrus quickly said. Everyone fell silent, looking over at the gem again. “If it is, then why did it suddenly shoot out of the crater?” Said Ridge. “I’ve never heard of that happening before.”
“I don’t know, but I saw another one shoot out of the crater. It might’ve landed somewhere else.” Cyrus added. “So then what do we do with it?” Ridge said while slowly reaching over to touch it. She didn’t flinch back; the gem was warm but no longer burning hot. “Well we obviously keep it.” Reed said as he picked up the gem and shoved it into Ridge's mane at the back of her neck. “You hold onto it since you can fit anything in that mane of yours.” Ridge looked like she was about to say something, but then gave up on it. “Fair.” she simply said.
“Ok, but what are we even going to do with a terastallize gem?” Apollo asked. “Isn’t it like really hard for us to terastallize without a human?” Reed shot a look at Apollo, becoming very defensive. “Are you suggesting we become the pokémon to some human?!” He snapped. “I wasn’t suggesting that! I was just saying.” Reed glared at Apollo for a moment longer before looking away. Out of everyone in the group, he hated humans the most; and refuses to explain why. The others wouldn’t really say that they hate humans, they just like their lives the way they are right now.
“Hang on,” Cyrus started. “Shouldn’t we be worried about where this came from and why it shot out of the crater in the first place?” Ridge nodded in agreement. “This could be important guys, it’s not everyday that an earthquake causes things to fall from the sky.” “Then what do you suggest we do?” Reed said. “We just walk up to the most dangerous place in Paldea and jump right in?” “Exactly!” Ridge said. “No! That’s a stupid idea! There are pokémon that live around the crater that are way stronger than us! And I doubt that we would find a safe way into the crater! That’s just asking to get killed!” “Well then we’ll just get stronger!” Apollo and Cyrus glanced at each other; usually it’s Apollo and Reed arguing, not Reed and Ridge.
“Er, Reed?” Cyrus started. “Maybe we should at least investigate a bit. This might be important. And not only that, we don’t have to go into the crater.” “And getting stronger wouldn’t hurt.” Apollo added. Reed looked around, it seems he’s outnumbered on the choice. “Ugh, fine. We’ll investigate.” He sighed.
“But can we at least agree to not go to the top of the crater until at least two of us evolve?” He quickly added. Everyone nodded in agreement. “That’s fair enough.” Apollo said. “Alright!” Ridge announced. “Since we’re now going to be investigating, let’s first ask around to see if any other pokémon know anything!” She turned to Apollo, her tail starting to wag. “This is going to be a big adventure! A journey most likely around Paldea! And we need someone who’ll know where to go!”
Apollo blinked at Ridge in surprise. “Are you saying… you need me to read a map?” “Oh, great…” Reed grumbled. “Yep! Lead the way Apollo!” Ridge said excitedly.
Apollo was the only one in the group who could read a map and is very proud of himself for being able to do so. He had tried to teach the others, but they weren’t able to figure it out.
Apollo’s eyes lit up in excitement. “Yes!” He cheered. “Reed, you're coming with me to steal a map!” He said while grabbing Reed by the scruff and dragging him with him. “Wait what?! Hang on, I didn't agree to come with you!” Reed yelled while being dragged away. “Cyrus and I will gather food for the trip!” Ridge called out to them.
The two teams waved goodbye to each other and went their separate ways for now.
— — —
Apollo was leading the way across the bridge while Reed followed behind with a bored expression. “So, where’s the map you need to get?” Reed asked. “From the Pokémon Center across the bridge.” Apollo replied. “They usually have a bunch of maps there.” Reed stopped and glared at Apollo. Apollo stopped and turned around as soon as he realized Reed wasn’t following anymore.
“What? You thought that we wouldn’t end up running into humans while getting something they use?” He said. “Is that why you dragged me along? So I can interact with a human?” Reed said angrily while walking again and passing Apollo.
“Well I couldn’t take Ridge because the humans would question why she has a terastallize gem in her fur, and besides, Cyrus and Ridge work better together.” Apollo explained while catching up and walking at Reeds side.
Reed rolled his eyes. “Besides,” Apollo continued. “You don’t have to interact with the humans. We just walk up to the Pokémon Center, snag the map, and leave.” “If it’s as simple as that then why did you drag me along?” Reed asked. “Because I didn’t want to be alone the whole time.” Apollo replied while flashing Reed a smile.
Reed gave Apollo a look and grumbled. They finally crossed the bridge and the Pokémon Center was in sight; as well as the rack of maps. “Right, I’ll wait here and you can grab the map.” Reed said while sitting down. “Ugh, you’re so boring.” Apollo said while walking ahead, not letting Reed reply.
Apollo quietly walked up the Pokémon Center, getting close enough to hear what the two humans that were usually there were saying. “That massive earthquake earlier sounded like it came from the crater.” The pink one said. “Do you think the storm might have caused some caveins?” Apollo walked up and flattened himself against the side of the Pokémon Center, beginning to listen in on the conversation.
“ I dunno,” The blue one started. “But a news report just came out saying that there might be more earthquakes.” “It seems like the crater has been a lot more active recently, I wonder what’s going on inside of it.” The pink one said.
Apollo reached his hand out towards the rack with the maps, flailing it around while trying to grab one.
“Well, there's a research lab in the crater right?” Said the blue one. “Maybe they’re doing some weird experiments? Or maybe caused by some creature in the crater. I’ve heard rumors that there are strange and dangerous creatures that inhabit the Great Crater.”
Apollo looked up at the two humans, his interest locked onto what they just said. He tried leaning forward more to look at the humans, wondering if they would talk more about the crater.
However, he forgot he was still reaching for the map and ended up losing his balance. Apollo fell over and knocked over the rack.
The two humans quickly looked over at Apollo. “What in the- is that a charcadet?” The blue one said. “Uh oh.” Apollo said as he got up. He quickly grabbed a map and ran off. Surprisingly enough, the humans didn’t give chase.
Apollo ran up to Reed, who got up from laying down as soon as he approached. “I got… a map!” Apollo said between breaths. “And I got some info from the humans! They said something about there being some strange creatures as well as a human lab!” “Strange creatures?” Reed echoed. He stood there in thought for a moment. “Well, then that means that those strange creatures caused the terastallize gem to shoot out of the crater. Case closed! We don’t need to figure it out now and we can go back to our normal lives.” Apollo looked at Reed in disappointment.
“Oh c’mon Reed. We shouldn’t just stop just like that!” Said Apollo. “Yes we should! We know what could’ve caused the earthquakes, we don’t need to continue this investigation any further and get ourselves hurt.” Said Reed.
“But shouldn’t we figure out what these strange creatures are? C’mon, this is our moment for a grand adventure!” “A grand adventure towards death!” Reed yelled. “Why can’t we just continue the way our lives are now? Do you not like playing with our friends all the time and fighting mankey for food?” “No! I love the way things are right now! But that’s just for right now! You seriously don’t expect us to do the same thing every single day?”
Reed scoffed and turned away, lost in thought. Apollo slowly took a step forward. “C’mon Reed… I know you’re just doing this to protect everyone, but I know even you wouldn’t want to do the same thing forever.” He said. Reed didn’t say anything. “Reed, if we run into anything that we absolutely can’t get past, then I promise that we’ll stop everything and come back home.”
Reed still didn’t say anything and Apollo was getting worried that he wasn’t convincing enough. Finally, Reed turned his head back around and looked at Apollo. “Ugh, fine!” he sighed. Apollo looked at him with grateful eyes. “But only because you won’t shut up about it if I say no.” Reed said while fully turning around. “Awe, you know me so well.” Apollo jokingly said while nudging Reed with his shoulder.
Reed rolled his eyes and began to walk. Apollo caught up to him and walked at his side, holding the map in his left hand. He looked down at Reed, an idea coming to him.
“Hey, I’ll tell you what. How about we start a contest?” He said. “What kind of contest?” Reed asked while looking up at Apollo, suspicion in his eyes. “Whoever ends up being taller than the other when we fully evolve, gets bragging rights for an entire month!” Reed stared at Apollo with a blank expression for a moment, but soon his expression changed into a determined smile and he laughed.
“Alright, you’re on!”