Pokemon Ether 04

As that though bounced around in his brain, an as yet unseen door quietly opened into the room, through which stepped someone he vaguely recognised.

"Who... what?" he croaked, not realising that his mouth was decidedly parched. The person quietly walked behind the headboard, out of Doug's field of vision. He soon heard a soft clink of a glass and the unmistakable sound of a glass being filled with liquid. The figure came back into view and sat down on the bed, facing him. She raised a glass and offered it to him. He gladly gulped some water before looking closer at the woman. She was tall, athletic and pretty, with shoulder length brunette hair and a large bust. An image suddenly sprang to the front of his mind of this woman naked, rising his rampant erection whilst caressing her own breasts.

"C...Clare?" he stammered. "What's going on?"

She laughed quietly. "How much do you remember about last night?"

Doug closed his eyes and searched his memories, drawing a blank. "I... I remember being in the bar, it's all a bit blurry. How much did I have to drink? Why am I tied to this bed?"

"All in good time Professor. Before I fill in the gaps in your memory, I wanted to ask you a question. What do you know of the Psydrake?"

"This again? I told you, it's a fairy tale."

"Be a good boy and indulge me one more time."

He sighed as he let his head fall back to the bed. He closed his eyes and began reciting the tale he told every time he was asked.

"I know just as much as every Paesan. When we were kids, my grandmother would tell tales of a terrifying dragon that enslaved the people of Paese in order to do his bidding, making them build great cities and ancient wonders. The Paesans struggled and died in their thousands under the dragon's brutal dominance, until one day, a man shrouded in darkness stood up against the dragon and his thralls and defeated the Psydrake in battle. Once beaten, he used ancient magics to remove the powerful dragon's essence, dividing and trapping it within 6 artefacts that were then spread throughout the land and buried, never to be seen again."

Clare smiled having heard the story almost word for word within the last 24 hours.

"And where would one go about finding these 6 artefacts?"

"No-one knows." Doug replied. "There is no evidence to suggest that the Psydrake ever existed other than tales used to scare children passed down from generation to generation. Now seriously, could you please untie me?"

Doug felt a hand being gently placed upon his covered penis. The gentle fingers gripped softly before releasing just as easily. "What's your hurry, Professor? Are you sure there's nothing else I could do to jog your memory?"

He groaned as his cock jumped to attention. "You're welcome to try, but I seriously don't know anything else."

The hand gripped his manhood tighter this time. Another image shot, unbidden, to his minds eye. He saw this Clare in front of him, naked. Holding his scrotum in one hand whilst licking his dick. Suddenly, her expression changed and he was overcome with excruciating pain. He jumped back to the here and now like he had just been shot with adrenaline.

"Holy shit!" He shouted as he tested the strength of his bonds. "I don't know what's going on here but I am out. Please untie me."

The grip got tighter.

"Please Clare, let me go. Clare... fuck!" his head dropped as realisation struck. "You're name isn't Clare is it?"

Meg of Team Ether grinned as her captive started to put the pieces together in his mind. He definitely knows more than he's letting on, she thought. "Just tell me where to find the artefacts?" she pressed sternly.

"Argh, I don't know! I swear!"

"I don't believe you."

"Fuck you. Let go of my dick, you bitch!"

"Aw, but I've begun to quite like the little guy!" She giggled evilly, slapping his angry purple helmet. "You know, it's pretty rare that I let my guard down on assignment, but you really had me on the ropes last night. I've never had a mark make me cum before I got what I wanted. You should take some pride in that." The woman let go of his aching manhood and stood up to leave.

Doug pulled pointlessly against his restraints as soon as the woman's head turned away. "You can't keep me here! Someone will come looking for me eventually!"

Meg laughed as she reached the concealed door to the room. "Eventually, maybe. But imagine all of the fun we can have until then! Later Professor!"

Meg went next door and spoke to a young woman with shocking blue hair. "What do you think, Operative? Think he knows more than he's letting on?"

"Absolutely Ma'am."

"Me too. I'm going to grab some tools from my office that should make this move along a little faster. Keep an eye on him for me, will you?"

"He's not going anywhere Ma'am"

"Good girl. See you shortly."

_____________________________

Route 5, The Windy Valley

The Windy Valley Mine had seen better days. The only way they were able to find it was from the steady stream of flyers stuck to trees along the path. As they arrived at the compound, they were surprised to find it empty. Surely there should be someone working?

Finn and Ember cautiously walked through the mine entrance while Poppy held back to 'watch the pokemon'. They were shocked to discover once they past the first few metres of the entrance, the shaft opened up into a large open space illuminated by what seemed like carnival lights.

"Welcome to the Windy Valley Mine Fossil Festival." A cheery voice called from their left. "I assume you're here to enter the fossil challenge?"

They turned to find the voice and found a small ticket booth-like window built into the wall of the mine, where a cute young lady sat, presumedly bored out of her mind, waiting to dole out tickets. "Yes, we're here to take part. What do we need to do?"

"Excellent. For 50 credits each, you get 6 hours time in the mine. You can use any tools you find lying about down there to dig oil your heart is content. After 6 hours, you will be recalled to the lobby. If you have found a genuine pokemon fossil, you will win the daily prize."

"What is the daily prize?" Ember asked excitedly.

"It's a mystery prize, I'm afraid. Only way to know is to win it. So, how many entries? Just two?"

"No, three please."

"Three it is." The cashier printed off some consent forms and other waivers to be signed and handed them out. Finn handed over enough cash for the three entries and called Poppy in to join them. Nuz trotted over to Finn to find out what was going on.

When they had filed out the waivers and consent forms. The cashier quickly stamped them and gave them a key for the mine shaft elevator. "Use this lift key to access the lift down to the mine, it is the easiest and quickest way in or out of the mine. There is a changing area over to your right. Make sure you wear your helmets at all times and that no ground type moves are used during battles. We don't want any cave ins."

"Hang on, people battle down there?" Ember asked, surprised. "Surely that's dangerous?"

"The mine has been well fortified so it will hold up to a few battles here and there. Battling is a great way to get away from the digging." She smiled.

"Are there lots of trainers down there?" Finn asked.

"At the moment, I think about twenty people are down there."

"Okay then, Nuz. Up for some battling?"

"Nuz, nuz. Nuzleaf!" he answered in the affirmative.

_________________________

Windy Valley Mine, 4 hours later

The first thing that struck Poppy about the lower levels of the Windy Valley Mine was how hot it was. And not just hot in temperature, the air was thick and humid, filled with the almost rhythmic echo of water drops, punctuated by the occasional bang of a pick axe being used in a distant tunnel.

Poppy held on to the her torch as if her life depended on it, her knuckles white around the handle. She did not do well in the dark generally, but dark spaces hundreds of feet underground? No chance! The group bumped in to other contestants, most of whom wished to battle, but some were helpful, giving them an idea of where they had already tried digging and which tunnels to avoid. Finn and Ember were seemingly in their element, exploring the creepy tunnels, battling strangers and chasing their rare prize. Poppy was relishing the thought of a cool breeze on her sweat covered back, or even the icy chill of a dip in the river.

The trio had been walking now for 3 hours according to her time keeper, exactly half of the time allotted in the mine. It felt like more than enough to have walked through every tunnel twice, but apparently they had barely breached the surface. One of the contestants, an alpine hiker by the looks of him, that they had encountered had told them that it would take over a full day to check every tunnel in the mine. The burly traveller suggested that they pick a tunnel as a destination and stick to it, and that if we find anyone there, battle them for the right to dig there. Otherwise, he predicted that the trios time would run out quicker than expected.

Having studied a map of the tunnel system, Ember and Finn agreed on a tunnel that seemed to go lower than most of the others, and planned their route. They had already encountered eight different trainers on the way down, most of whom were using ground and rock type pokemon, which Finn and Nuzleaf were able to make quick work of. Poppy marvelled at how well the pair of them worked together in a battle. Finn even got Sneasel involved in the last battle to give Nuz a quick break. The dark type pokemon proved to be fast and vicious against her opponents, using her Metal Claw to devastating effect in close quarters.

As they approached the end of the tunnel they had chosen, they heard the telltale sign that the tunnel was otherwise occupied. A slow consistent metallic bang, echoed down the tunnel, suggesting that someone was digging up ahead. As they approached the end, they could see that a rather large man was hammering away at the rocky wall, using his pick axe to try and uncover some long hidden treasure. When he heard the group's footsteps, he stopped what he was doing and put down his tool before turning to appraise his interruption.

"Sorry compadres", the chiselled man announced. "This tunnel is spoken for. Unless you want to battle me for it?"

Finn stepped forward to take up the challenge. "We've walked too far to turn back now. Battle it is."

"Great, it's been getting a little boring down here anyway." He used a discarded rag to wipe the sweat and dirt from his face and picked up a poke ball from his pack and tossed it forward. "Go Graveler!"

From the resulting burst of light, a large round ball of solid rock appeared, before standing and unfurling it's short limbs. "Grav el!" the pokemon snarled.

Finn responded in kind. "Ok, Sneasel, this one's on you!" Finn said as he chose his pokemon. As the burst of light subsided, Sneasel was left standing, scratching its long claws together as if sharpening them. Her eyes locked on the Graveler and she changed her posture as though ready to pounce.

"Graveler, use Rock Polish!" the man commanded. The rocky skin of his pokemon immediately softened and smoothed, as though being molded by a sculptor. Finn knew that this move meant that Graveler would now benefit from a boost in its speed and needed to make sure he accounted for it.

"Sneasel, use Icy Wind!" Using the same technique that they had worked on that morning, Sneasel drew back, focussing her power before pushing it outward with all her might. The tight confines of the tunnel meant that, despite Graveler's increased speed, it had nowhere to go to avoid it and got hammered by the icy blast.

"Grrr. Get up Graveler!" The man shouted. The Graveler, already weakened by the effective attack, struggled to roll back to it's feet. "Use Rollout! Now!"

The Graveler launched itself forward and spun it's body at great speed towards Sneasel.

Finn yelled "Sneasel, Icy Wind again!" Another freezing blast echoed down the tunnel, buffeting the the rampaging ball rolling towards it, but not stopping it. The ball span through the attack and knocked right into Sneasel, bouncing right off her sending Sneasel flying through the tunnel while the Graveler rolled back towards it's trainer. Sneasel got straight back up to her feet much to Finn's relief. The move did not do much damage but would only get worse if Finn and Sneasel couldn't come up with a way to stop it.

"Graveler, Rollout again!" The Graveler charged once more towards it's opponent, knowing that this time, a direct hit will cause more significant damage.

"Sneasel, dodge it and use Hone Claws!"

Sneasel waited for the furious ball of rock to get close before quickly side stepping just before it hit. As it waited for the rock pokemon to come back, Sneasel hastily brushed it's claws together to in creased their sharpness, but wasn't fast enough, as no sooner had she finished boosting her attack did Graveler's attack make strong contact with her side, sending the much lighter pokemon careening into the tunnel wall.

"Sneasel, are you ok?" Finn shouted in a panic.

As the dust settled, Sneasel very gingerly picked herself up from the floor and shook off the dust from her pelt, before re-entering a fighting stance.

"Ada girl, Sneasel! Time to take the fight to them. Are you ready?"

Sneasel nodded.

Graveler began charging once more towards Sneasel and she darted a glance to Finn, looking for instruction.

"Hold your position, Sneasel." he said calmly as it thundered closer.

"Hold!"

"Now, use Icy Wind but aim low!"

Sneasel did as she was told and fired off another powerful arctic blast at her opponent. The wind slowed the Graveler's momentum as before, but this time, seemed to lift it off the ground. Now airborne, Graveler continued on it's impact course, but had no way to stop itself.

"Sneasel, use Metal Claw!"

Sneasel's claws extended with a 'snick'. She drew back her right arm and flung it at the inbound boulder, connecting in a huge collision that sent the rock type pokemon flying backwards towards it's trainer, who fortunately managed to dive out of it's way before it impacted off the wall behind him with a bang, sending up a cloud of dust particles.

As the dust cleared, the trainers could see that Graveler was slumped over in a pile of rubble, clearly unable to battle further. Retrieving his poke ball, the trainer recalled his pokemon in a further burst of light and packed up his things in resigned silence. As he trundled past Finn, he mumbled, "Good battle" and disappeared into the darkness.

"Wow," said Ember as the group put down their bags. "I reckon that training this morning really paid off. I totally thought you were done for."

Finn looked at Sneasel and smirked. "We had it covered, didn't we?"

Sneasel quietly nodded and began cleaning the dust and dirt off her coat.

When their gear was stashed and the trio had all had a round of drinks, Finn and Ember picked up their picks and looked for a suitable place to start digging. ember went right to the end of the tunnel, but something drew Finn to the wall that Graveler had collided into. He could see no immediate reason why, other than a thin crack in the wall from the impact but he decided to go with his gut. He hefted the pick axe above his head and brought it crashing down on the crack, sending fragments of rock scattering in all directions.

He moved to retrieve the pick, but discovered that it was lodged in the crack, pretty tight. He lifted the haft to try and lever the pick out.

Crack!

The pick suddenly tumbled back into Finn's grasp, but in doing so, left a hole a few inches wide in the wall in front of him. "Hey guys, I think I've found something here."

The girls stopped what they were doing and came to investigate. "What is it?" Poppy asked.

"Peering through the gap in the wall, Finn held the lantern above his head to try and get some light through the hole. "I think there's a room in there, or another tunnel at least. Want to find out what's there?"

"Abso-fucking-lutely" said Ember at exactly the same time as Poppy said "Hell no!"

They others both looked at Poppy with questioning expressions.

"Look, if you guys want to break into the creepy room that was hidden at the bottom of the creepy mine, then be my guest, but I'm not getting my ass haunted for this, no way!"

Finn and Ember laughed as Poppy took her seat by their gear and leered at them. She watched as they agreed a pace and set about hammering away at the exposed hole, gradually making it larger and larger.

After an hour or so, they had made good enough progress that Ember may have been able to squeeze through the hole, but decided that no-one should go through until at least a pair of them could go through together. An hour after that, the hole was large enough for Finn to squeeze through, and so they passed the lantern through and had Ember go in after it.

"Woah" she said when she got her bearings. "Finn, get in here, you've got to see this!"

Finn squirmed through the hole and picked himself up before freezing in place as he looked around. The room itself was not large, maybe only four metres across and six metres deep and had innately carved frescos populating the walls all the way down to the end. The pair marvelled at the artistry on display as the moved up opposite walls towards what looked like an alter at the far end of the room.

"Ember, look!" Finn pointed when approaching the dais. Is that what I think it is?"

On the alter in front of them were a number of items spaced out. There were three items lined up on the alter, a small purple stone that seemed to glow faintly, a statue of some kind of vicious looking claw, and a lump of yellowish rock.

"Ember," he said, picking up the rock and dusting it off to show a translucent orange ball in his hand. "This is an Old Amber, it's a pokemon fossil!"

"You're kidding?!" she exclaimed as she examined it more closely. "It's not what I expected a fossil to look like."

"This type of fossil is pretty unique." Finn explained, "it could contain the DNA of a long extinct pokemon."

"Cool, does this count for the competition?"

"I'd say so."

Ember put the Amber away in her satchel. "What about that thing?" she said, pointing at the claw like statue left on the alter.

Finn stared at it closely. The statue looked and felt like it were almost real, but that was impossible given the sheer size of it. The talons on the claw looked to be three of four inches long on their own. Finn couldn't imagine any creature or pokemon with a claw like this. He reached out to pick it up when another large crack echoed through the room.

"Finn, I think we should get out of here. I don't like the sound of that." Ember said, worried.

"I agree, lets get out of here, we can let the mine know about this place when we get to the surface."

They both turned to leave but Finn suddenly heard a sharp buzzing in his ear as he turned away from the alter. As soon as he stopped to look back it stopped. Weirded out slightly, he turned again, only for the buzzing to get louder still. Something in his head was telling him it was the claw. He stared at it and the world went silent again. Peaceful.

He made a snap decision and pocketed the claw and the stone and turned to follow Ember, stuffing it into his bag as he went. He turned to follow Ember and noticed that the buzzing didn't return. As Finn approached the hole, another large crack exploded through the silence. Finn saw a large fissure in the wall above the hole they had dug through into the room start to shake as Nuz and Poppy helped drag Ember darted through the hole. Debris started to fall from the ceiling.

"Guys! Move!" he shouted as he rushed at the hole and dived through head first as Ember nimbly steered herself out of the way.