Desert resort
Contrary to the group path that was expected, Cheren took out a pokeball from which Unfezant came out and then flew away.
"Traitorrrr!!" Touya and Bel said as they raised their arms in anger.
"I'm sorry but we have to get there as quickly as possible" Cheren said with nervous sweat and then disappeared into the clouds.
"Well at least Bel will always be by my side" Touya said looking at Bel with confidence.
Bel just looked away with a nervous smile as she sweated a little and whistled.
"Bel, you won't leave me alone will you?" Touya said with a questioning look.
Bel got more nervous to then throw a pokeball from which another Unfezant (this time female) came out and then flew away.
"Traitorrrrr!!" Touya said feeling betrayed as he dramatically knelt down.
"Sorry Touya! You should catch more pokemon!" Bel said sadly as she walked away with Unfezant.
Touya just stood there, with a gloomy aura around him for a few minutes and then suddenly came out of that state.
"Who am I kidding? I would have done the same" Touya said laughing a little at this strange scene.
"But how am I supposed to get there quickly?" Touya told himself with a hand on his chin.
After thinking for a moment, Touya seemed to remember something and started searching in his bag.
From this he took out a small artifact which he pressed to turn it into a bicycle.
"Who would say that it would be useful now" Touya said to then go to Route 4 by bike quickly.
The road was a bit long, but when he got to route 4 something interesting happened, Tynamo began to evolve.
'I wonder how his new form will be like' Touya thought excitedly as he watched Tynamo change shape with his desert clothes.
When he finished evolving, Touya could notice that Tynamo was 4 times bigger, in addition to having the shape of a large leech with sharp teeth.
"Where is that adorable fish?" Touya said seeing how Tynamo's new form was even a bit creepy.
According to the Pokedex, Tynamo is now an Eelektrik and for his next evolution he needs a thunder stone.
"Eelektrik" Eelektrik said searching in Touya's pocket quickly.
"Wow, stop there friend, you should first practice a bit with your new form and then evolve again" Touya said as he held Eelektrik in a warning tone.
"Eele Eelektrik" Eelektrik said throwing a little tantrum.
"I guess the spoiled didn't disappear, it's good to know that you're still you" Touya said with a slight laugh and then taught him volt switch, save Eelektrik in his pokeball and continue his way through the desert.
Touya wandered all over Route 4 until he reached the place Mirto pointed out on the map, the Desert resort.
The bad thing is that the Desert resort was a huge place, with a sandstorm that clouded the view a bit making it difficult to see very far.
Still, the place was full of trainers looking for pokemon which annoyed Touya a bit, since just one Ultraball was enough to capture them even if they didn't want to.
"This only makes me have more doubts" Touya said trying not to get lost in his thoughts again.
Touya pulled Krokorok out of his pokeball and said.
"Hey friend, this was your home, do you know of a strange place around here?" Touya asked calmly to Krokorok who seemed to be enjoying the sandstorm.
Krokorok seemed to think carefully about somewhere like this until he apparently thought in something.
"Kroko" Krokorok said as he nodded his head and told Touya to follow him.
Touya just shrugged and followed him without asking anything.
After almost 30 minutes of walking, Touya found some stairs that seemed to lead to some ruins surrounded by strange statues and debris.
"Thank you very much friend" Touya said with a smile.
"Kroko" Krokorok said nodding as he smiled too, then went back to his pokeball.
Before entering Touya looked at the statues in front of the entrance with curiosity, noting their strange appearance.
"There is something very weird about these statues" Touya said as he crouched in front of one of them and looked at it suspiciously.
This statue was gray or a kind of metallic blue in addition to being in a meditative pose, however, it had a certain resemblance to Darmanitan apart from this and having its eyes in blank.
"Come out Darmanitan" Touya said as he threw Darmanitan's pokeball.
Darmanitan seemed to recognize the place quickly and seemed very happy to return home again.
After admiring the area a bit, Darmanitan looked around for Touya and found him in front of that statue.
"Darma Darmanitan?" Darmanitan said with confusion and curiosity as he looked at the statue.
"You see it too, right? Do you have any idea why they have this shape?" Touya said as he searched for answers from Darmanitan.
Darmanitan seemed to think a bit and then put himself in the same pose as the statue and relax his mind making his arms change to the same color as the statue.
Touya's eyes widened in shock when he saw Darmanitan's change, but it lasted only a few seconds and then returned to his normal color.
"I didn't know you could do that" Touya said surprised looking at Darmanitan.
"Darmanitan" said Darmanitan shaking his head also surprised that it worked.
"From what I see you need to concentrate, but with the noise and the sandstorm it is not a good place to train, we will try it later" Touya said to Darmanitan with a thoughtful tone.
"Darma" said Darmanitan nodding his head quite excited by the discovery and then going back to his pokeball.
Touya walked in front of the entrance only to be interrupted by the Videomisor.
*Ring Ring*
'I hope it's not a mom' Touya thought a bit worried by his mother's reaction to the current situation.
Upon answering, Touya could see Cheren and Bel on the other side of the screen.
"Have any of you found the Relic Castle?" Cheren asked a bit overwhelmed by the sandstorm.
"Nothing at all" said Bel which seemed to be sinking into the sand.
"My my, but look at nothing else, the gentlemen and lady 'I have a flying pokemon and I'm going first' have not found the castle" Touya said with an arrogant smile as he showed the entrance to the castle.
"How did you get there so fast and how did you find it first?" Cheren asked in shock.
"A magician never reveals his secrets, by the way Bel there is a Scraggy behind you" Touya said with a smile and then pointed to a Scraggy behind Bel seeing the call.
"Ohh, how adorable you are" Bel said hugging Scraggy who didn't seem too upset about that.
"Whatever, send the coordinates, let's go there" Cheren said in a disappointed tone of himself.
"See you" Touya said ending the call and then passed the coordinates through the Xtransceiver to both of them.
Touya walked in front of the entrance to the ruins and after a second of reluctance, he shook his head and entered with determination.
And thus began the journey and the predictable future troubles in the Relic Castle.