52 Ch.52

AN: Before any of you horny monkeys can go asking me the annoying question of if this is going to be the love interest… Yes, she is the love interest. So go ahead and either celebrate or complain about it. 

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Walking inside the cave, it is eerily dark and quiet. However, that quickly changes with the sounds of a battle further inside. We then make our way toward the sounds and see a Garchomp fighting a wild Rhyperior there. Along with the most beautiful woman I've seen in either of my lives, making me pause for a second taken back by her beauty. 

The woman is my age and has long curly platinum platinum-blonde hair that reaches behind her knees. Bangs fall over her left eye and two large side curls fall in front of her shoulders, curling inward, covering her ears and the back of her neck. She has thin eyebrows and her eyes are thin, but round, and point outward ending with thick eyelashes. Her eye color is silver which drags me deep into her eyes. 

"Look out!" the woman says seeing another Rhyperior appear and charge toward me. 

However, Mamoswine runs over taking the charge head-on and easily pushing back the Rhyperior. Leo then runs over helping quickly subdue the second Rhyperior which appeared. The woman at the same time finally finishes off her Rhyperior with her Garchomp which celebrates its victory by letting out a victory cry. 

Her Garchomp may just have hit King/Queen Rank due to the power it is releasing, though not as dense as any of my Pokémon. The woman then stabilizes her Rhyperior, as I do the same and the two Pokémon wake up just after giving us nervous looks before quickly leaving. 

"So… Who are you?" the woman says as she looks at me with a suspicious gaze, along with her Garchomp looking ready to battle. 

"I'm Trainer Lucas Brinton," I say offering my hand, which she looks at for a second and then shakes in greeting. 

"I'm Cynthia Clark," Cynthia says now making me remember that she was the champion of the region back in my past life's games and anime. 

"Nice to meet you," I say nodding my head as she relaxes a bit seeing I mean no harm. 

"What brings you here?" Cynthia asks me as she walks over to her bag she appeared to drop earlier picking it up and wearing it. 

"Exploring the region. I have a feeling there are some mysteries in this region not yet been found. So I want to bring them to light," I say to her as Leo is eyeing up Garchomp who is eyeing up my team too. 

"Really?! I'm doing the same," Cynthia says giving me a surprised look. 

"Come across anything not yet known?" I ask her just out of curiosity. 

"Maybe… why?" Cynthia says becoming guarded since it appears to be something she has been working on for most of her life.

"Sorry… here look. I'm someone who works for the Pokémon League's Exploration Unit. So I promise anything you assist me in will be given credit to you," I say showing her my ID badge that shows I'm also a Champion Ranked trainer. 

"Wait… You are that young trainer from the Indigo League. Right?" Cynthia says as I nod my head. 

"Awesome. I missed the recent tournament here in our region since I was exploring the place. But I've always wanted to be a champion rank trainer too, though guess my hobby of exploring has taken control of me for a while now," Cynthia says handing me back my ID. 

"There is always the next tournament," I say shrugging, since now I have no interest in fighting in a tournament considering my position. 

"True… Hey, would you want to explore with me? I know the region very well, but with your connections, we could uncover the mysteries faster," Cynthia says to me giving me an interested look. 

"Uhm… Yeah, that'd be great," I say nodding my head as she smiles at me making my heart skip a beat at her beauty once again. 

'Shit gotta get my feelings under control,' I think not wanting to be distracted again like I was a second ago. 

"So here is what I know…" Cynthia says and begins explaining to me what she knows. Along with showing me her research notes. While we are talking her team is getting to know mine. 

"So anyway, this cave might lead deeper to an ancient city. If my guess is correct, though it may be surrounded by powerful Pokémon," Cynthia says explaining why she was in the cave, which I didn't think went deeper than a few dozen feet. 

"How far in?" I ask her now having gotten control of my flustered feelings for her beauty. 

"The caves around here can go for a few hundred feet… But if my calculations are correct, then about a thousand feet down, near the base of the mountain should be the lost ancient city," Cynthia says as I'm trying to see how we even go about reaching that. 

"I assume you have a plan to reach it?" I say looking at her for her possible plan. 

"Yes, now with you helping we should be able to reach it in another day or so," Cynthia says nodding her head and explaining to me the route we will take through the cave. 

"Once here we can use my Garchomp and your Mamoswine to dig further down though they will have to switch it up to conserve their energy," Cynthia says showing me the area we need to reach which is already several hundred feet below the cave entrance. 

'Thank God I'm not claustrophobic,' I think seeing how we will be underground for the next few days if not longer. 

"So do you have enough supplies are do you need to make a quick trip?" Cynthia asks me as she packs her things up. Unlike the anime or games here she is wearing comfortable and warm clothing for the environment we are in. 

"I should be good for a few months, as I originally planned to explore the mountains for that long," I say and grab my pack. 

"Great, then let's go," Cynthia says walking down the tunnel further into the cave with her Garchomp ahead of us. 

Mamoswine will be taking up the rear, with the rest of my team in their Poké balls since this is a cramped space. Though like usual Annihilape is in my shadow. Cynthia and I talk about our lives and getting to know one another better. 

I learned she is an archeologist who investigates myths involving Pokémon and is described as mysterious, referring to herself as 'the researcher of myths'. With her interest in mythology and history, she spends her time researching and exploring various sites associated with Legendary Pokémon of the Sinnoh region. 

Because of this, she has a wide knowledge of Pokémon and their relationships with people, creating many theories of her own. She also loves relaxation and traveling around the region wanting to see more of the world too. Cynthia goes on and on about her theories, her interests, and the things she has seen. Like that, a few hours of travel passed until she realized she had been talking the whole time. 

"I'm sorry! Sometimes I get carried away and can talk for hours. Next time you can tell me to shut up," Cynthia says apologizing to me as I chuckle. 

"It's fine, I know someone who likes to talk a lot too. Plus it let me learn more about you," I say dismissing her apology, she blushes in embarrassment but smiles at me. 

"So, tell me about you then," Cynthia says as we begin setting up the underground camp for the night. 

For the next couple hours, I tell her about myself and my journeys, along with the interesting people I've met. Then she starts telling me about her journey as a trainer and how she first worked under Professor Rowan, then graduated school becoming an archeologist, but has a passion to be a famous trainer too. Then we went to sleep taking turns to watch with our team. 

The next morning we had breakfast, I learned she was not a morning person as she was quiet and going about her morning. Though an hour after we woke up and she had coffee in her system she became like her normal talkative self. Then we finally reached the area where Garchomp and Mamoswine had to start digging down at a twenty-degree angle for the next few hundred feet. 

During this time Cynthia was telling me about what she expects to find down there or more really hopes to find down here. While Garchomp and Mamoswine would switch digging through the mountain every couple of hours. It was slow due to the toughness of the mountain rock and the fact we had to dig several hundred feet down. However, after about seven hours we finally reached the place that should bring us to an underground ancient lost city. 

Garchomp broke through another foot or so of rock and it opened up a chamber. Garchomp and Mamoswine walked through, with the inside being a huge cavern maybe several thousand feet in all directions. Inside this cavern was a huge ancient city made of mud and stone buildings. Many of them were nothing but crumbled heaps, though there were still at least half that were held together just barely.

"I was right!!" Cynthia says jumping up and down in excitement. She then gives me a hug out of the excitement quickly breaking it in embarrassment. 

"Sorry," Cynthia says while having a blushed face in embarrassment. 

"It's fine, glad you were right… We should explore this place and then I'll make some calls," I say to her as she nods her head and quickly walks into the city with Garchomp right behind her. 

'Lucas… I can sense some ancient energy coming from the center of this place,' Annihilape says to me through our connection. 

'Ok, keep an eye out and we'll make our way there,' I say as Mamoswine is following me from behind keeping our rear guarded. 

"Cynthia, let's check the center of the city. Annihilape seems to have sensed something there," I say since I talked to her about my team already. 

"Oh, ok!" Cynthia says quickly making our way to the center which takes us a little over an hour since the city is very large and we are not familiar with the layout. 

Once we arrive we see an ancient-looking temple that resembles what a Mayan pyramid looked like in my past life. The structure was several dozen feet tall, making it the largest building in the city by far. Plus it appeared to be the best intact, as it had two entrances in the west and east directions. Along with two sets of stairs leading onto the top of it from the south and north directions. 

"Mamoswine stay here and keep a lookout," I say since he was too large to fit inside the building or climb it without possibly breaking the old structure. 

"You too Garchomp," Cynthia says as both our Pokémon wait outside and we first walk inside the pyramid-shaped building. 

Inside the building, we see many ancient drawings on the walls, along with a statue in the center that was above a large slab of stone that could be used for all sorts of things. The statue is a large golem-like Pokémon, with large bands on its shoulders and wrists and a sloping section on its chest that appears to be its head. This section contains seven circular 'eyes' arranged in a specific pattern. It has six spots that are apart from its eyes, which appear to be different types of gemstones. Underneath the statue littering the slab of stone is an ancient scribe which I'm not familiar with at all. 

'This looks a lot like… Regigigas,' I think while looking at it with Cynthia looking around the room taking down notes of the place.