Long Way to Fall

By: Rylek196

Chapter 19: A Night in Ruins

The sights and sounds of Nimbasa were as worthless as dirt to Hilbert as he exited the Pokemon Center, his team newly healed up and the Antidote he bought in Castelia sold. There wasn't a massive risk of running into Poison-types in the desert anyway, he figured, so getting rid of it was harmless. As he made his way back to the Nimbasa Gate, he checked his Pokedex to gauge the levels of his Pokemon. Maru was now level 24, still not having learned any new moves.

Hilbert groaned. Come on, buddy, he thought. You've gotta learn something new soon!

Meanwhile, his Sawk was now level 21, and trying to learn the Fighting-type Counter, a move that always went second, and dealt double the damage of any physical attack done to the user. Guessing that it was going to be unreliable at best, Hilbert turned it down.

The tired boy trudged back to the Nimbasa Gate, opening the double doors and savouring the air-conditioned interior while he could. It made the desert heat hit all the harder once he stepped back out into it. He stood there for a few seconds, before saying, "Well… here we go," and setting off.

He walked south for about twenty minutes until he found the sign indicating the Relic Castle's location. He then took a sharp turn west, and began marching through the sand, even as the wind started to pick up.

Nicer than your average desert, Hilbert thought, thoroughly irritated. NICER THAN YOUR AVERAGE DESERT. Go fuck yourself, Juniper! My fuckin' ass it is! He didn't dare to vocalize these thoughts though, lest he get a mouthful of sand if he opened his mouth.

The Desert Resort was a hellhole. That was the conclusion he had come to within minutes of entering it. Not only was the sand constantly getting in his shoes driving him nuts, for some reason, the wind blew harder in this specific section of the vast Unovan desert, kicking up said sand and sending it flying in all directions. 'All directions' however, turned out to more often than not be exactly where he was standing. His jacket's hood was up, his mouth and nose were buried in the crook of his elbow to serve as extra protection, and the constant squint he had to do was giving him a headache due to the way it pulled the skin of his forehead down.

It was for all these reasons, then, that this real unforgiving desert played a fictional unforgiving desert, as a few scenes from the movie The Hero of Time were shot on-location here. The Desert Resort served as a perfect stand-in for a place called the 'Haunted Wasteland' the Hero had to traverse to get to his next destination on his quest. This destination was a structure called the 'Desert Colossus'- in reality a ruined tower to the northwest that was transformed with the aid of giant green screens and computer VFX into something far more impressive than it actually was.

There was a great variety of Pokemon in this place, but none that really interested him. He was here for a fossil and a fossil only. Sandile and Darumaka burrowed into the sand, Scraggy and Dwebble ran wild and sometimes fought each other, creating mini-dust clouds in their squabbles, Grass-types that resembled cacti called Maractus shuffled along on the dunes, shaking their arms as they went, making noises that sounded like maracas, and most mysterious of all, indescribable winged creatures called Sigilyph flew in strange patterns, guardians of a now long-gone kingdom.

And I thought the road was bad… it's nothing compared to this shit, he thought. I swear, Juniper is a dead woman walking. When I see her next, I'm gonna... He left the mental threat hanging when he saw something green out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head towards it, just being able to make out a moving green shape somewhere in the distance to the north. He couldn't make out any details due to the sandstorm, but then turned away.

...It's probably just an Arceus-damned Maractus. Fuckin' things are everywhere around here. Much as he tried to tell himself that, there was something about the way the green shape had moved. It flapped like a flag, looking almost like… hair. No! No, no, no, no! It is NOT that son of a bitch! It's just a Maractus, and nothing more!

Much as he tried to comfort himself with that thought, he couldn't shake the feeling that what he saw was something- or someone- far more dangerous than a Maractus. Trying to shake off the ominous feeling, he continued on, going in the direction his gut instinct told him was west. In reality he had no idea. Everything looked alike, all sand, dunes, and the occasional rock formation. Sure wish I had a map, or at least a compass… They'd make navigating a hell of a lot easier…

After about a half an hour of walking through sand, fighting the odd wild Pokemon here and there, he saw several blue lumps jutting up out of the ground, all arranged in a rough circle around a blocky structure. Well hold the phone… he mentally muttered. That might be it. He picked up his pace slightly, laser-focused on the ruin and the blue shapes surrounding it. Inside of seven minutes, he was within touching distance of it.

The blue lumps turned out to be statues of a Pokemon of some description, with carved hands on the sides of their bodies, and stubby legs in positions akin to a meditating guru. They stared forward at nothing with grimacing mouths and creepy, blank eyes.

What are these things? Hilbert thought. Shaking his head, he went around to the front of the structure. It was little more than a large limestone doorway, with stairs inside leading down into the earth in a way that reminded him of the hallway to Victini's room on Liberty Garden. There was a small plaque screwed into the side of the entrance. 'RELIC CASTLE RUINS', it read. 'ALL THAT REMAINS OF THE MAIN PALACE AND FORTRESS OF THE TWIN HEROES OF ANCIENT UNOVA.'

Sighing tiredly, Hilbert shrugged his bag back into position, and descended the stairs, praying he would find a fossil somewhere inside.

At the bottom of the stairway was a large chamber, blocky in shape, with sand blanketing the floor. Right ahead was a flight of stairs going down to another floor. There were a few hieroglyphics scrawled onto the right wall, but they looked crudely done. A few tourists gazed at the carvings, snapping pictures of them with their phones, but Hilbert paid them little mind.

Now, if I were a Pokemon fossil, where would I be? he thought to himself. Probably buried, but I doubt I can start digging here without some sort of permit… Gah! This is so stupid! Juniper set me up to fail! She knew I wouldn't be able to find a fossil! That bitch! That fucking BITCH!

Hilbert's breathing quickly increased as anger overtook him, and a strong urge to punch a wall- or someone's face (preferably Juniper's) welled up from within. Suddenly, he heard groaning from somewhere nearby, and rounding a corner, he saw a woman slumped against the wall, a large backpack next to her. She wore khaki jeans and a sleeveless red vest over a tan shirt with three-quarter sleeves. Past her was another flight of stairs that went even deeper underground.

"Hey, you okay?" Hilbert asked her, walking up.

"Oh? Yeah… yeah, I'm fine," the woman panted. "Don't… don't worry about me… Just taking a bit of a break… That bag is really heavy due to the fossils in it…"

Hilbert felt as if he had been struck by a bolt of lightning. His eyes widened immediately in a mixture of relief and shock at how lucky this was. "Really!?" he exclaimed, unable to hide his excitement. "Y-you found Pokemon fossils?"

If the woman found his reaction strange, she didn't show it. "Yeah, I found some…" she said. "Two of them, to be precise. Usually I'd hate to do this, but I'm actually glad you're here in this case. Would… would you be willing to take one of them off my hands? I thought I could carry them both, but they're just so heavy… I can't take another step with them both…"

Inwardly, Hilbert was hopping up and down with joy, but he merely said, "Uh, uh… absolutely! I'll definitely take one for you!" His heart was pounding like a drum as the woman took two fossils from her bag and placed them into the sand.

"Okay, then here they are. One's a Cover Fossil, and one's a Plume Fossil. Have your pick of one."

Hilbert stared at the fossils with wonder. Both were a bluish-gray in color, with one having what appeared to be a fragment of bony shell embedded into it, while the other displayed a dagger-like feather. He rubbed his fingers together, at a loss on how to decide which one to pick. Having no idea what Pokemon each fossil would be revived into, he soon shrugged and thought, Fuck it, pointing at one of the fossils.

"Eeny, meeny, miney, moe," he said, his index finger darting to each fossil in turn. "Catch-a-Growlithe-by-the-toe. If he hollers, let him go. Enny, meeny, miney… moe!" In the end, his finger settled on the Plume Fossil. He opened his shoulder bag. "Guess I'm going with this one."

He bent down to pick up the cantaloupe-sized chunk of rock, only to be shocked when that wasn't as easy as he thought it would be. "Geez, what does this thing weigh, like twenty fuckin' pounds!?" he exclaimed.

"Well, duh," the woman said, finally getting to her feet, her breath at last caught. "What did you think Pokemon fossils were, rocks? They're actually highly condensed chunks of energy the Pokemon are made of that turned rock-hard over the years. That's why they're so heavy, it's 'cause they're really dense for what they are."

"Yeah, that's all well and good, but could you help me!?" Hilbert snapped. "Hold my bag open so I can put this in there!"

"Okay, okay, no need to be rude…" the woman replied. She did as she was asked, holding Hilbert's shoulder bag open while he plopped the fossil inside.

He grunted as this happened, the weight making the bag's strap dig into his shoulder uncomfortably and making him list to the side like he was drunk. "...You sure you're gonna be okay?" she asked in concern.

"Yeah… I'll be fine…" Hilbert said through gritted teeth, already turning to leave. "Don't worry… about me…"

With sluggish, heavy footsteps, he slowly made his way up the stairs out of the Relic Castle and back into the Desert Resort. To his relief, the wind had mostly died down. "That's good…" he panted. "Maybe things… are finally… going my way…"

He began to walk back to the road, retracing his steps east, but had barely gone thirty feet when an enormous gust of wind came from the opposite direction, nearly blowing his hat clean off his head. Worse yet, said wind didn't abate. In fact, it only got stronger. Then, he heard it. A mighty roar, like the cry of some ungodly powerful Pokemon, coming from behind him. He turned around, gasping in sheer horror. A massive wall of sand, taller than a five-story building, was quickly moving in from the west, sixty feet away and closing fast.

"Uh, oh…" was all he could say. He spent a few precious seconds frozen in fear, then a few more desperately looking around for shelter, before realizing that the only shelter around was the underground chamber he had just left behind. He rocked back on his heels, adrenaline fuelling him as he tried to run against the wind, the sandstorm getting ever closer. He held his cap on his head as the swirling grains buffeted him, practically diving into the Relic Castle's entryway. He ran down the stairs, and seconds later the sandstorm engulfed the ruins, as well as everything else in the Desert Resort, in its gritty embrace.

Inside the chamber, Hilbert found the tourist couple, as well as the woman with the large backpack, looking around in fear. "What was that?" the man asked, his accent having a distinct eastern flavour to it. "What just happened? What was that big noise just now?"

"Big… big sandstorm…" Hilbert panted, resting his hands on his knees. "You… you don't wanna go out there…"

"Wait, so we're trapped!?" the woman next to the man (presumably his wife) shrieked. "I don't wanna die in here! H-how long do these sandstorms last!?"

"Not long," the backpacker woman said. "At least, not usually. The longest one on record I think lasted for two weeks-"

The woman shrieked again. "Two weeks!? We can't be in here for that long! We'll starve!" She grabbed her husband's arm for comfort. "Please tell me we're not gonna die, honey… please…"

The other woman rolled her eyes. "As I was saying, the longest one on record was two weeks, but I doubt that'll happen ever again. More than likely, this one will just last a day or two. Yeah, we'll be hungry, but that's not long enough for us to starve to death. Speaking of which, does anyone have any food on them? Because I'm fresh out."

A cold chill went up Hilbert's spine as he remembered he had forgotten to get any food at the Nimbasa Pokemon Center. "No, I don't," he said, voice gradually getting angrier, "Dammit, I thought this would be a quick trip to get a fossil and leave! I'm such an idiot! Fuck!" He kicked the sand in a rage, sending a shower of it at a wall.

The man just twirled his finger near his temple in a 'he's crazy' gesture at his wife. Thankfully, Hilbert didn't notice this, else he would have torn him to shreds. The woman giggled to herself, but then said, "No, we don't either. Some water, yes, but no food."

"Dammit…" Hilbert repeated, suddenly feeling very, very tired, the weight of his fatigue hitting him like an anvil. "Then we all better try to make ourselves comfortable. We're probably gonna be here for hours. And I'm tired as hell." He walked over to the center of the room, took off his bag and sat down.

"Agreed," the backpacker woman said. "It's also gonna get pretty cold in here at night. I have a small battery-powered space heater, but I doubt that it'll be good enough. Anyone have any Fire-types?"

"I do," Hilbert said tiredly. He took the Great Ball he had caught Makue in off his belt and let her free.

"Is that a Darumaka?" the man said, coming over. "We saw several of those things on our way here. Man, Pokemon in Unova look so exotic compared to the ones we have in Kanto!"

Hilbert turned his head to look at him. "Wait, you're from Kanto?" It does explain the accent.

"Yep!" the man smiled with pride, sitting down next to Hilbert. "Saffron City born and raised! Name's Alek and that's my wife Emi. We came here for a bit of a change of scenery for a few weeks, but it looks like we got more than we bargained for with this tour…"

Hilbert snorted, but there was no humour behind it. "You're tellin' me. I'm not much for history, but if that sandstorm lasts any longer than a few days, we might all become it here…"

"It won't. Don't be such a pessimist. We're gonna be fine," the backpacker woman said, walking over with Emi. "And since we're all doing the whole introductions thing here, I'm Ashley. I'm a tour guide for this place."

The boy looked up at her with haggard eyes. "Hilbert," he replied simply, yawning.

"Y'know, you can go to sleep right now," Ashley said, looking at him with concern. "You seem really tired."

"Didn't get any sleep last night. You don't wanna know why. And I could, but that would screw up my sleep schedule. Last thing I want to do is wake up in the middle of the night in this place."

"Fair enough, I guess," Ashley shrugged. She sat down, Emi doing the same, then took the space heater from her pack, but left it off for the time being.

"Well, then why don't we swap stories around, get to each other, then?" Emi said. "It's not like we have anything better to do, and the last thing we need to be right now is bored."

"Count me out," Hilbert said.

"Why?" Alek asked. "You're a Trainer, right? I'm sure you've got some interesting stories to tell."

"Yeah, but they're nothing I want to relive, if you don't mind," Hilbert said, his tone making it clear he was not going to elaborate any further.

Alek just held his hands up beside his face. "Okay. I'm sorry."

"Hmm… There was that one time we fought Red! Tell them about that, honey!" Emi said.

"What? You fought Red?" Hilbert said in awe, his eyes widening.

"Oh, yes we have!" Alek said, grinning. "Granted, this was waaay back in the day, before he became world-famous. We were about your age, Hilbert, what was called a 'Young Couple', if I remember correctly. We were just walking along a place called Silence Bridge on Route 12 for a date, when we saw him."

"And you thought we could beat him, right?" Emi said teasingly.

"Oh, yeah, I did," Alek rubbed the back of his neck in sheepish shame as he dredged up the memory.

"And? What happened?" Hilbert said, suddenly interested.

"He wiped the freakin' floor with us!" Alek laughed. "He was ruthlessly strong, even before he became Indigo League Champion! He only used his Charmeleon and Jolteon, but those were more than enough to bring us down almost before we could get in any attacks! Let me tell ya, kid, the stories you've heard about him are all true. I can't imagine how powerful he is now- he's probably invincible! Just a shame he hasn't been seen for the past half-decade. I wonder where he is now and what he's doing…"

Ashley just about slapped herself as she recalled something just then. "Wait, speaking of stories, I never told you guys about the story behind this place, did I? I was just so exhausted from carrying around those fossils, it slipped my mind!" She gave a nervous chuckle. "Oops."

"Oh no, it's fine," Emi said. "Go ahead. I'm interested in why this place is a big desert."

Hilbert, on the other hand, rolled his eyes, giving a tiny, almost inaudible groan.

"Well, we don't know much, quite honestly," Ashley began, "And most of what we do know comes from the hieroglyphics drawn on the walls both in here and deeper in the castle. Took scholars decades to translate them, because they're nothing like the simple Unown characters the Ruins of Alph in Johto use.

"Anyway, at the top of the hierarchical food chain were the twin kings of Unova, the heroes, who built this place thousands of years ago with the help of a divine Dragon-type Pokemon. Under them were at least five noble houses of equal standing, though we don't know the names of four of them, as they were all wiped out in the Scorch War. The only one we do know anything about is House Lyndar, and that's because the mayor of Opelucid City, Drayden, is its final known descendant."

"Wait… what?" Hilbert, who had only been paying mild attention until then, suddenly piped up. "The mayor of Opelucid is royalty?"

"Well, once, but I doubt that's true anymore," Ashley said. "I honestly don't like him, because anytime he's been asked about his family's past by historians, he's been kinda cagey and dodges around the questions. I can only wonder how much more insight we'd gain into life in Ancient Unova if he'd just open his damn yap. I personally think he's hiding something, but I don't know what."

"Must be pretty important," Hilbert mused.

"Probably. Now, where was I? Oh yeah, so the heroes ruled well for a time and everyone was happy. But, nothing lasts forever, and the beginning of the end of Ancient Unova was a simple argument that they had. According to legend, the older brother wanted to keep things the way they were, and accept the world as-is, but the younger brother thought they should keep striving to improve things and work towards complete perfection. Truth, and Ideals. You can already see where this is going. Two different, opposing ideologies that can never coexist, yet are two sides of the same coin, on a collision course. War was inevitable at that point, and when it hit, it was devastating.

"The war crumbled the kingdom the heroes had built in a matter of a few years, and the final battle caused a massive explosion of energy that turned the land into a giant desert. It's a wound on the landscape that will probably never heal. One last thing I want to mention is that carving there," Ashley pointed to crude images on the right wall. They depicted a four-winged Pokemon of some sort with a crescent-shaped body, wavy lines radiating from it. Off to the sides, humanoid figures ran from it, while others were depicted bowing or praying before it.

"Yeah… I've been wondering about that," Alek said. "Why do those look so hastily done? The images you showed down on the lower floor were gorgeous, but that one… not so much."

"As best we can tell, that was done in the final days of the Scorch War, so that's why they look so crude," Ashley said. "They literally didn't have time for anything fancy; just scratch a record onto the wall and that'll have to do. As for what it's depicting, it's a Pokemon called Volcarona, a Bug/Fire-type. They're not unheard of, but they're incredibly rare to find, and they're powerful. In fact, only a single Volcarona was said to have powered all the forges that made armour and weapons for the Scorch War. There's a poem that's become associated with that carving for hundreds of years, though it's likely not what it actually says. It goes: 'In this place, we left our fire behind. Deep beneath the castle, in a chamber it resides. Waiting, waiting for the seal to come undone. Its name is Volcarona, and it was our light. Our sun'."

"Interesting," Hilbert said, yawning. "Anyone ever been down to the lower levels of this place to check if it's there?"

"Weirdly enough, no," Ashley replied. "I guess nobody wants to risk disturbing it if it is there. By the way, what time is it?"

Hilbert checked his watch. "Around three in the afternoon," he said. "We've still got a few more hours before we probably need to turn on that space heater. I'll have Makue here use Fire Punch to keep us warm, as well."

"Okay," Ashley said. "We should be a bit careful as it gets later, though. Ghost-types called Yamask like to roam around in here at night, but they won't bother us if we don't bother them."

Ashley, Emi, and Alek continued to swap stories for a few more hours, but Hilbert just tuned them out and remained quiet, not wishing to share anything he had been through.

However, that night, he turned on his Cross-Transceiver, and selected his mother's number. It had been far too long since he had contacted her. Even though he had little hope this was going to work, he tried to call her anyway. Exactly as he expected, the screen came up with nothing but static. There was simply too much interference from both being underground and the sandstorm for the signal to get through.

Dammit… he thought, but then sighed. Even though it was crazy, he decided to say what he wanted to say regardless.

"Hi… Mom," he said, his voice weary. "I really wish I could say things were going great, but they haven't been. Currently trapped inside an ancient ruin by a sandstorm with a few other people… and none of us have any food. It's supposed to abate by tomorrow, but if it doesn't… I don't know what we're gonna do. The water we have should keep us alive, but without food we're not going to last. So just in case this is the last time I get to say it… I love you. Goodnight."

He turned off the device and sighed. He looked around, only to find Ashley staring right at him with a confused expression, illuminated by the glow of Makue's Fire Punch as well as the space heater. She was using her large backpack as a pillow. "Dude, you know you're talking to a screen full of static, right?" she whispered. "And don't be so melodramatic. We're gonna get out of this just fine, and we'll be laughing about it later. Now go to sleep."

"Shut up," Hilbert hissed, not having any witty comeback besides that. Taking the Plume Fossil out of his bag and setting it to the side, he lay down on the sand, his head on his bag, and closed his eyes.

It was the sound of shovels that woke Hilbert from a rather uncomfortable sleep. His eyes fluttered open, feeling the thin sheen of sweat that covered his body. He sat up and looked around. He saw that Makue couldn't keep up the Fire Punch all night, and was now asleep. However, the space heater had done its job and then some, if the sweat he felt was any indication.

The scraping noise continued, with Ashley, Alek, and Emi being awoken by it too. Alek realized what was going on first, and sprang up, running towards the stairs. "Hey!" he yelled at the sand-covered exit. "Are you rescue workers? We're down here!"

There came a muffled cry of surprise, then someone yelled, "Hey, you two! Get over here now! There's people in the Relic Castle!"

A few seconds later, the digging sounds increased threefold, with someone yelling, "Just hang in there! We'll get ya out!"

"Oh, trust me, we've got nothing but time here!" Alek called back jokingly.

After a few minutes, the search-and-rescue crew finally managed to clear the sand around the Relic Castle's entrance, and sunlight streamed down into the underground chamber.

"Come on, guys!" Alek said, motioning with his arm. "We're home free!"

Hilbert quickly recalled Makue and stuffed the Plume Fossil back into his bag, following Alek and Emi up to the surface, Ashley bringing up the rear. What they found there was a group of search-and-rescue workers, like they expected, but the landscape had also changed entirely. Sand was now piled much higher all around the Relic Castle, with the Pokemon statues now utterly buried. However, there was also a news crew there, with an anchor reporting on what happened as well a cameraman filming everything.

"As you can see, the Relic Castle has been almost completely buried," the newswoman said into her microphone. "We're still unsure as the actual number killed in the Desert Resort, but we do have survivors. Let's see if we can get a word with one of them."

Hilbert froze in fear as the news crew made their way over to him. Dammit, after all I've been through with Team Plasma, the last thing I need is my face plastered all over national TV! he thought.

However, to his eternal relief, Alek practically jumped in front of the news crew, actually eager to get some spotlight. "Uh, yes, I'll answer any questions you have," he said, seeming a little too gung-ho and probably about to embellish the story.

Hilbert just rolled his eyes and turned to leave, needing to get to Nimbasa to buy food, but was stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He whirled around violently, only to find it was just Emi. Breathing heavily, he said, "You scared me there."

"Didn't mean to. Sorry," Emi said sheepishly. "But anyway, I wanted to give you these." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a pair of sunglasses that were entirely black, from the frame to the lenses, and handed them to him.

"A Pokemon hold item?" Hilbert said. "What are these called?"

"There are the Blackglasses, though you can wear them as regular sunglasses," Emi said. "Thought you might appreciate them. They up the power of Dark-type moves when held by a Pokemon."

Hilbert gave a small smile. "...Thanks," he said simply. "I guess they'll serve as a token of this… unique experience we all went through.

"Yeah. Maybe we'll see each other again someday?"

"Maybe. I'll see ya around."

Without another word, Hilbert headed east, out of the Desert Resort and back to the main road, leaving everyone behind. The going was even tougher than before, with the dunes piled high, forcing him to practically climb them, with the added weight of the Plume Fossil not helping in the slightest. At least the wind was nonexistent, and he had put on the Blackglasses to shield his eyes from the sun.

He was about a kilometer away from the Relic Castle when he tripped on something, sending him face-first into the sand with an, "Oomph!" Shaking his head, he looked back, and let out a horrified gasp. He hadn't tripped on something- rather, he had tripped over a human body, half-buried in the sand. Worse, he saw right away that this one was missing a hand. Looking around, he was shocked to discover several more lumps in the sand, undoubtedly corpses, gathered in a rough line ahead of him.

"No way…" he breathed. "This is the gang that attacked me on Route 4…" He felt sick to stomach, and would have likely puked if there was anything in his gut to upchuck. "They must have been searching for me, or were just out here and got caught in the sandstorm..."

He got up, brushing himself off, a wave of conflicting emotions churning inside him. In the end, anger won out, and he kicked the body of the leader a few times. "Serves you damn right!" he yelled. Giving the corpse one last harsh stomp, he then continued on, leaving the rest of the bodies in their sandy, shallow graves, not sure if this was a sight he would ever forget.

A/N: This chapter was originally supposed to go on for a little bit longer, but I decided last-minute that it's better for the pacing if I cut it here and saved the return trip to Nimbasa for next time. On a completely different note… I need to take a freaking break from this for a short while. I've been going hard and fast for months, and I'm feeling the burnout coming on. So, I'm gonna relax, recharge, and come back with the next chapter in a few months. ...Which is one I have been dreading for a while. Lord help me.