24 Stuck in the Present

It starts out with some barely noticeable tremors.

Then the rocks start shaking in place.

And just as I'm starting to follow Lucario's suggestion to start legging it, the shaking becomes a fully fledged earthquake that rips through my knees and causes everyone to stumble.

Suddenly, a wide rift splits up in the ground. The earth torn asunder and... and-- Holy shit! And what the fuck is that!?

Something massive, rotating like a spinning top and absolutely gigantic shoots out of the rift.

Despite the momentum it must carry, the garage-sized... thing stops spinning in midair and stretches out its 4 limbs as it falls back down.

I recognize it now.

Boooooooooom!

It crashes to the ground, creating a small crater and a wave of wind that blasts against my face, widening the rift it came out of and causing nearby rocks to break and fall to dust.

"What?" Shouts Dawn as she stares at her pokedex in shock. "In what world is that thing just 170 centimeters!"

Right. It's a Regirock! But this 4 meter giant... might just be THE Regirock.

Holy fucking shit.

"Buneary, hop on." I whisper and get back up to run away.

But she doesn't listen or is still processing the situation. Either way, I grab her and pick her up.

Re-e-e-egirock un un un un ░╝▒«»Ð¶╗╣ un un un un

The eye-like dots on his face are blinking in some kind of indecipherable pattern.

Then some kind of energy starts collecting in the center of his face.

Fuck this! I'm outta here!

I start running with Buneary on my arm, Salandit on my shoulders, the girls right beside me and-- 

"Hey! Let me go! I will fight him!"

And I'm dragging Lucario along by her paw-- No, she lets herself be dragged along. There is no way she couldn't just break out easily.

Boooooooooom!

Fuuuck this, so much! A big, massive, fucking explosion happened where we all have just been a moment ago!

"That was Hyper Beam!" Informs Akari.

"That was a warning shot." Says Lucario.

Are you kidding me?! There is a literal gaping hole where we had just been! "What is it warning us against? We didn't do anything wrong!"

And what the hell does a kill-shot look like?

░╝▒«»Ð¶╗╣

"... It... uhhh... doesn't want to tell us the reason, let's just run into that tunnel over there! It won't be able to follow us and it leads us closer to the tree."

''Over there'' she said. "Where?"

Lucario points out the direction and we sprint along her directions.

Up and down a small hill, past a bunch of large boulders and then down into a crevice.

With each step Regirock takes to chase us, comes a thundering shake of the ground.

Good thing it's so slow! We would be burned pancakes if Regirock was any faster!

A few times the rocks and hills between us and Regirock were obliterated by more Hyper Beams but it has to slow down for the crevice since its shoulders are scraping along the walls of the rift.

After one last bend we rush into a small cave entrance inside the face of a cliff, the sound of Regirock's destructive pursuit still echoing in our ears.

We stumbled into the dimly lit tunnel, hopefully Regirock either loses us or won't be able to follow into the tunnel. Even though it might just be able to simply tear apart the ground to get to us.

The atmosphere inside the tunnel provides a drastic shift from outside.

There are still the light blue glowing crystals around but the cave is humid and wet. Stalactites and vines are reaching down and ivy and moss grows over the ground and wall.

And there are also some strange, yellow glowing plants too.

As the outside light vanes some vines and stalactites are starting to reach down into the path.

"Watch your head. Duck!" Akari warns as we get closer to an insidiously stealthy stalactite. 

Akari and Dawn duck under it.

"Goose." I respond as I duck under it too but run face first into Dawn's ass. "Hey, why did you stop?"

"Huff. Huff. 'Goose'? Seriously? Is now the right time to make the shittiest pun ever? And move your ass Akari!" She answers. Out of breath from the sprint.

... It wasn't my shittiest pun.

"Could you not make jokes right now? We just narrowly escaped a Hyper Beam, for Arceus's sake." She is just exhausted from the run and my joke must have been too much for her right now.

"I did not get it." I could hear Akari say and Dawn starts explaining it. "... That is actually very witty. You know, puns are a sign of good education."

"Maybe to the people of the Darkrai Ages... Now, could you move your fat ass?"

We can still see the tunnel entrance from here and with another small earthquake, a shadow lands over the tunnel.

"Hey! I am not fat. I am very fit. And--"

"Shh! Hide yourselves." I hiss out and press myself against the cave wall. 

Lucario is hiding right next to me.

I try to look past her to see what's going on and I see Regirock's face blocking the entrance.

The massive golem leans down and supports itself with one arm to peer into the cave. Only the dimly glowing spots which might be his eyes remain visible as his body blocks out all the outside light.

All of a sudden, they light up brightly and flood the tunnel like search-lights.

I instantly press myself back into the wall and my breath catches in my throat.

Re-e-e-egirock un un un un

The floodlights turn off.

Did it see us?

...

Sunlight filters back into the cave.

But I don't dare to move a muscle.

...

"It went away." Lucario interrupts the silence. "You can let go of my hand now."

I look down and see her paw still in my hand.

"Sorry." Not sorry. "Alright, let's follow the others."

"Yes. Let's goose under the stalactite and follow them." Lucario... jokes.

Urgh. Never mind. That really was the shittiest joke ever.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that? Your joke was witty and funny, so I'm stealing it."

"Good grief."

---

Behind the insidiously placed stalactite, the tunnel widens into a massive cavern.

We are standing at the top of a subterranean canyon or something.

At the bottom runs a slim river and our tunnel continues on the other side of it.

The whole thing is softly illuminated by these weird crystals and these even weirder yellow glowing fruits.

They look like mangoes, except the bottom has these weird, flower-petal-like growths on them.

Are they edible?

"I don't think so, Swole." Dawn reads my mind and answers my unasked question. "You're mumbling again. And I wouldn't trust glowing fruits. They are probably poisonous."

Pah. Shows what she knows about evolutionary biology. "Hey!"

I gotta stop mumbling.

"Wait! I got distracted, Dawn! You almost got us killed with your phat ass! Did you really have to stand in the way while we were being chased by THE Regirock?! Over a shitty joke?"

"Sorry..."

"Actually," Akari says. "That was partially my fault. Behind the stalactite was this ravine and I did not trust the ground to hold my weight... I had blocked Dawn from going forward. I am sorry."

"Tsk. Damn honesty..." Lucario mutters. "Ahem. While we are at the topic of who is and isn't at fault... The whole thing is my fault. Regirock came because I had destroyed too many of these crystals. Don't touch them, by the way. They are somewhat alive."

I take a step back from the nearest crystal. Damn magic.

Anyway, back to my distraction. 

Shows what Dawn knows about evolutionary biology. 

Living, plant-stuff that glows in caves can only be trying to attract other things. 

And unless that fruit is secretly a predator, then it must be attracting pokemon or animals to eat the fruit and spread the seeds around.

So, I reach towards the closest fruit. 

I'm not really afraid of poison. Even some of the deadliest plants or mushrooms need to be ingested in generous quantities before they become dangerous.

In the case of poisonous plants, almost all the time, they taste very bitter and a single taste is not enough to be dangerous.

As my hand gets close enough to grab the fruit, suddenly, the fruit grabs me! 

"Ieeee!" Dawn's girly scream echoes through the cavern.

The weird petal-like appendages are sticky and snapped around my wrist, the fruit itself breaks off the vine immediately.

I carefully peel the thing off again and it looks like the plant only had energy to grab something once, then relying on the stickiness to be carried away.

It doesn't look like it's forming a rash on my skin, so the petals might not be poisonous.

I lick the fruit of the plant and... It tastes a little waxy. The skin is probably not edible. "Why are you trying to eat it? We have so much food in our backpacks."

Akari... asks a good question.

"Adventure?" Is my best answer. "I mean, we're stuck in an adventure, whether we like it or not. We don't really know where we are, outside is a Regirock on crack... We might as well have some fun? Dawn, didn't you just yesterday complain about being bored out of your mind?"

"But now I'm scared out of my mind."

"Well... let's just try to be optimistic. Everything is going to turn out fine. We will get to Canalave City, I will get my badge, you will get your ribbon, the people on the ship will be saved, Lucas is going to come back somehow and... And the fruit will be tasty."

I take a small bite from the fruit.

It is extremely juicy. The inside feels a little fatty, like avocado but it tastes very sweet, a little sour and a bit tart. The taste reminds me of citrus, mango, and maybe even a little bit of pineapple.

I have never tasted anything like it. It's really delicious.

It doesn't taste poisonous, but just in case, I spit out what I bit off and only swallow a little bit of the juices.

"Tastes incredible."

Now I just need to wait like 8 hours to check if anything bad happens... Although it did taste really good... I might do the irresponsible thing and finish it off later.

"What now?" Dawn asks as I collect the fruits up here. Salandit is helping me out by simply climbing up the walls and letting the fruits jump on her.

"We need to climb down and then up on the other side. Right, Lucario? By the way, how do you know this tunnel leads us closer to the tree? Have you been here before?"

"No. I have used aura to sense ahead."

Aura... What the hell is that stuff even?

I know from history classes that Lucario and Sir Aaron are considered 'true guardians of aura' but it was just a knight's title.

I think my weird history book had a chapter on it?

Or I could just ask Lucario... Never mind. She looks like she is about to snap again.

Instead of asking questions with no immediate answers, I just pull out a long rope. A bit more than twice the height of the ravine.

I look for the sturdiest looking stalagmite and wrap the rope over it, so that I can toss both ends down the cliff.

That way, once everyone climbs down, I can just pull on one side and get the rope back.

Just as I'm about to climb down first, Lucario speaks up.

"Let me go down first. If one of you falls, I can catch you."

... 'Lucario speaks up'? "Hey Lucario... Is it just my imagination or can you talk... Like a human?"

I think back to all the times that I heard her talk. It sounded just like a pokemon's speech. But... How did I manage to understand her every time?

I didn't have to ask for clarifications a single time.

And she never gave simple yes or no answers.

Dawn and Akari are looking up in surprise, probably thinking the same thing right now and Buneary and Salandit look intrigued.

"Another application of aura. It is similar to telepathy. Only more natural."

'Natural' she says. I've gotta check out the chapter on aura guardians later.

Anyway, I explained to Dawn how to rappel while Lucario jumped down first as security. Then we went down one after another.

Me first, then Dawn, carefully and doing everything exactly as explained and last Akari. Akari's foot actually broke out of an indentation in the rock-wall but she managed to hold herself up and didn't need catching.

Down at the bottom of the ravine, soft splashing water sounds out as the shallow stream flows along slowly. 

Not a single pokemon is in sight. I wonder why?

This seems like a tiny paradise. I would think at least 1 family of pokemon would have formed their nest in here.

There is a surprising amount of plants down here, growing in the measly light of the crystals.

Some lily pads in the water, a lot of vines along the floor, walls and even the ceiling-- That vine just moved on its own.

"Watch your step." Warns Lucario. "There are a lot of pokemon hiding in plain sight."

The vine moves to grab one of the fruits from the ceiling and then brings it down, woah! How did I not see that!?

There is a Tangela over there. Hiding and minding his own business.

"We should refill our water supply here, while we have the chance." I suggest.

"Just stay away from the Lotad. They seem agitated." Lucario says and a closer look at the lily pads lets me see the tiny blue feet under them. 

"Can't we take a break here?" Asks Dawn. "My feet are hurting from all the running."

"Not here. It's too dangerous. Let's get a bit further into the tunnel and then we can make camp for today." Lucario says and I agree with her assessment.

With that many stealthy pokemon around, some might try to ambush us while we sleep.

The water is shallow enough that we can just travel over it and then refill our water supply.

Lucario leads us in a snaking path, past the many hidden pokemon on the way, towards the other cliff leading up to the tunnel we want to take.

Then Buneary and Salandit help with the rope so we can all scale up the wall safely and back into the safety of the tunnel.

Up here, I send Salandit out once more to collect some more fruit and then we continue our way.

For like 2 hours we continued our hike. The vegetation becomes more and more scarce as we make our way forward but the crystals are starting to become more and more abundant.

Until...

---

Narrator-POV:

The Tree of Beginning!

A wondrous location in the world of pokemon. Usually found just a little bit north of the Cameran Palace of the town of Rota. Which is located somewhere north of Mount Moon in Kanto.

It is said to be the home of a mythical pokemon, Mew. The town's rumors are that every year, around the celebration of their very own hero Sir Aaron, this Mew visits the town and steals toys to play with.

Unlike the name suggests, the Tree of Beginning is not actually a tree.

It is a rock formation that appears to be a gigantic tree.

A mountain which is shaped like a tree, it has a circulatory system, an immune system and generally shares many features with any regular trees.

In essence, it is a living rock.

The Tree of Beginning is the birthplace of all life on the Kanto-Johto continent and it also happens to be the place that saw the most death and destruction over its course of history.

Many wars have been fought over the area. The fertile soil and friendly wildlife were the main factors that drove humans to kill each other en masse for the region.

However, the last and final conflict that this tree has been witness to, turned out to be too much.

30 years of near constant war was fought here.

The growing Kanto region kept sending their destitute population into the then-Kingdom of Rota in exchange for cheap food deliveries.

The growing Johto region also had vast quantities of unused population and fueled their war-efforts to conquer Kanto and the Tree of Beginning in the process.

Decades of salted fields, murdered livestock and burning homes have left scars on the once fertile and budding region.

Now, the origin of all life on that continent is just barely more fertile than a desert.

The warring regions have since then ignored the place.

The Kingdom of Rota, collapsed and turned into the town of Rota.

The population, sent away to new lands.

Sir Aaron's true legacy, long forgotten.

However, all that is a thing of the past. Or perhaps it is nothing more than fiction now?

The fractured universe is showing its cracks. The Tree of Beginning is now in Sinnoh.

This year, a young Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town was about to start a second adventure through Kanto. In order to take on the Battle Frontier!

... No... Hold on, this is wrong.

This year, a young Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town has started his journey through the Sinnoh Region. In order to take on the Platinum League. And he has almost reached Oreburgh City. Where he plans to receive his first gym badge.

... But on the way to the Battle Frontier in Kanto, he traveled into the town of Rota.

... There he won the yearly tournament in honor of Sir Aaron but... He did not receive Sir Aaron's staff because it was lost to time?

What is going on?

... His Pikachu was abducted by Mew because of Kidd Summers.

... They are currently on their way to the tree but have lost all contact to the outside world after an earthquake.

How did I get here?--

---

Narrator-POV:

The heroes and their pokemon!

With an adventurous feeling filling their hearts they left the lush and overgrown cavern behind.

The heroes were so excited, they did not even notice the Geodude, Carnivine or even the prehistoric Lileep hiding among the plants and rocks, waiting for the unaware prey to come close.

But Lucario easily managed to evade the predators.

Then they re-entered the tunnel which they are currently still traveling through, the ancient 'phloem vessels' of the Tree of Beginning. These blood vessel-like structures were once used by the Tree of Beginning to spread nutrients across the land.

Now, they are still and dead.

Only some crystals are left from the once overflowing canals. And only a few pockets of nature feed on the remains of the dying tree.

But there is still some activity yet. The tree is still alive.

Deep inside the crust, it is still releasing life-giving energy.

Inside a deep chasm ripping through the ground, this can even be seen.

Spanning from the north-east to the south of the tree is a rift inside the earth. Incredibly deep but only a mere 10 meters wide.

The bottom is still filling up with salty ocean water and the sides are littered with tunnels. Former phloem vessels.

From one of these tunnels, emerges our group of heroes.

"Holy crap." Is all they can say as they witness one of the greatest sights the world has to offer.

The chasm stretches on as far as the eye can see. The bottom can just barely be made out and the top is too far away to peer at.

The slight smell of the sea tickles their noses and the noise of rushing water assaults their ears.

All across the chasm are thousands of crystalline roots. They are the remaining feeder roots of the Tree of Beginning.

"How are we supposed to get over there? There is no way I will balance on one of these things." Complains Dawn.

She is in pain.

Her leg is still injured. 

Miracle healing might take care of the worst of a broken bone but running away from an Alpha Regirock is the type of strain a freshly healed leg should not be put under.

Still, she pulls her own weight and perseveres through the pain.

"I can go over first and secure a rope?" Swole suggests but Lucario simply demonstrates her physical superiority by grabbing Dawn in a princess carry and jumps across the chasm into another tunnel.

Dawn's screams of fright echo through the chasm.

"Please wait for me to carry you. If you step on the crystals, then the guardian will know where we are." Lucario informs the group before planting her staff into the rock, so it can not fall off.

The guardians, Alpha Regirock and the regular versions of Regirock, Registeel and Regice are all intricately connected to the tree.

They were created with the task to protect the tree from all threats to its existence.

This includes, but is not limited to, vandals like Lucario.

The vandal in question managed to safely transport the humans across the gaping rift, one by one while being careful not to touch any crystals accidentally.

Buneary made the jump on her own but Salandit, as well as the other pokemon, were simply recalled to their pokeballs for easier transportation.

With the evening fast approaching and the hunger quickly coming, the group decided to take a break for dinner.

With direct access to the open air, the heroes were not afraid of cooking their food on their gas-burner and made a quick and easy dinner of Red Lentil Dahl.

One of the many new staple recipes of the Galar region. Similar to curry and masala, these dishes were imported due to the excessive migration policy of the region and quickly replaced the Galarian traditional foods, such as fish n' chips.

The Red Lentil Dahl is a simple dish that uses red lentils (duh), some root vegetables, a lot of spices, some broth and a bit of cream. It is served with a side of rice.

The pokemon and trainers enjoyed the food and quickly ate all of it to replenish their lost energy.

When Swole set out, he bought 3 additional plates for the portable kitchen, in case each of the trainers caught a new pokemon on their travels.

But due to their recent escapades, all of the additional plates have been lost and Buneary and Quilava are forced to share the plates of their trainers.

A fact that Buneary is all too happy about because now she gets to rub her closeness to Swole into Salandit's face, who can do nothing but seethe in lustful jealousy.

One might say she is 'down bad'. However, this could not actually be further from the truth.

Salandit's first mating season is still quite some time away and it is simply her biological instinct that urges her to collect and control male Salandits to serve her as slaves.

With no male Salandit around, this instinct is instead hyper focused on the only other viable male around.

Piplup, who is both too young and in the wrong egg-group, has nothing to fear.

Swole on the other hand... Will eventually be faced with hardships. 

Handling a pokemon like Salandit, might be harder than expected.

Dealing with her will require firm resolutions and upright morality at some point in the future.

A soft stance will get Swole nowhere.

It will be the type of challenge that separates men from boys.

Anyway, they continue their travel along the tunnel. The air is slowly getting hotter again. Tropical almost. The crystals are becoming larger and are now even able to brightly illuminate the tunnel on their own.

But as they reach the end of the tunnel, nothing they have ever seen before was able to prepare them for the view that graces their eyes now.

---

The heroes are stunned into submission as they gape in awe at the sight of an absolutely massive cavern.

As they step out of the tunnel, bright light washes over them and illuminates everything for as far as the eye can see.

Below the Tree of Beginning is an enormous cave, extending below the entirety of the trunk, reaching all the way down to sea level and stretching a third of the way up into the trunk.

So large, in fact, that multiple biomes have formed within the cavern.

Right next to the group cascades a waterfall from somewhere far above them. The abundance of water and mist near it has caused the formation of a tropical environment.

The temperatures inside the cavern are higher than outside, which promotes the healthy growth of an entire jungle, filled with vines, ferns and even some massive and ancient trees.

The perfect environment for Morelull, Paras, Fomantis and Exeggcute to flourish under the watchful gaze of an Alpha Serperior - the superior of all the pokemon living in this jungle.

The water falls into a shallow river that snakes through the jungle, through a deciduous forest and finally into a deep lake at the center of the cave.

Inside the river live the pokemon that do not dare to step inside the deep waters. Pokemon like Dewpider, Poliwag, Feebas, Surskit and the ever present Magikarp prefer to make their home in here.

During the moments when our group is still stunned by the view, one of the Magikarp has dared to jump out of the water, trying to jump up the waterfall; Upstream to find a mate and leave some offspring behind.

However, the weak Magikarp was preyed upon by Braviary. The children of this aerial ruler have been hungry and Magikarp are an ever reliable source of food.

Braviary simply swoops in from a shadow, picks Magikarp up at the top of his jump and flies off to her nest somewhere.

Continuing with the river; The mineral-rich water ends in a crystal clear lake, illuminated by the massive structure of crystals above. 

In the shallow parts of the lake, near the shore where corals and anemone flourish, Mareanie and Corsola are in an ever-ongoing battle for survival. Corsola, who wants nothing more but to live in peace, is often the victim of Mareanie who just loves to eat Corsola's arms.

Every once in a while, a Mareanie is a little too overeager in eating the pink coral pokemon... Healthy Corsola can regrow their arms. But sometimes, they die. And sometimes, they revive.

The Galarian Corsola can be found anywhere where their natural predators are found as well, and this cavern is not an exception.

If one was to peer deeper into the crystal lake, it would appear as if staring into an abyss. The very center, where once the tap root of the Tree of Beginning went down, is now filled with water and it goes even deeper than some of the deepest trenches of the world.

But even down there, life can be found.

Chinchou the angler fish pokemon, Clamperl the clam pokemon, Inkay the revolving squid-like pokemon and even Kabuto the ancient fossil pokemon; They all like to live all the way on the bottom of the lake.

Life is still plentiful near the pitiful, dying Tree of Beginning.

"Woah! Are those Altaria and Swablu?" Swole is the first to be able to regain his faculties after being witness to such an amazing place.

His exclamation causes a colony of Zubat to stir awake a little early for the upcoming night and they swarm the group on their way out.

None of the Zubat bother with the creatures in their path, they just want to fly out, through the tunnel, up the deep rift inside the earth and hunt insects until their stomachs are full.

After the colony rushes past them, calm silence reigns once again.

Only soft pokemon voices ring out on occasion throughout the cave.

And amidst the silence.

Stay for a little while.

Mesprit calls out to Swole.

"You guys wanna stay here for a day or two? It's really nice here. Maybe some pokemon will want to join us too." Swole in turn, calls out to the group.

Dawn wholeheartedly agrees with the sentiment. Her leg is in pain and she needs some more rest before they continue to Canalave City.

Akari has no drive to be anywhere. She is only along for the ride. For her friends. 

She does not believe her opinion matters and simply defers to the group's decision.

Lucario... She wants to continue. She wants to learn about what happened to Sir Aaron.

But she also wants to stay for some time.

After all, if she delays their adventure, then she does not need to find out the truth about Sir Aaron.

And thus the group decides, more or less unanimously, to stay for a day or two.

Mesprit's subtle manipulations were not even necessary.