After visiting the pokemon center and having a quick chat with Joyce and Jessie, Cynthia decided it was time to talk about Wayward Cave. They were currently by the pond, watching the water pokemon live their lives. The new Sirskit was gliding across the surface, using the ripples of the water from its feet to tease the Feebas and Magikarp below.
Neither of them wanted to start the conversation, knowing it wasn’t going to be overly pleasant. Before they began, Cynthia tossed out a pokeball. The ball banked right off of Krabby’s rock, making the mean crab snip and snap at the projectile entering his domain. From within, a long serpent-like shape coalesced beneath the water. The dark shape slithered off to the distant portions of the pond, the Feebas quickly following along.
“Milotic?” Ethan asked as he sat down near the water’s edge, reaching for Lotad who gurgled in happiness at his sight.
“Yes. She’ll like to show off to the Feebas.” Cynthia replied, sitting down beside him. She leaned back onto her hands and watched the grand and peaceful sight before her.
“If she’s willing to give them a few scales, that’d be nice. A few Milotic living at the ranch would be amazing.” By the look of Cynthia’s face from the corner of his eye, he must have said something that wasn’t well known again. Before she could even ask, he elaborated. “Feebas evolve by feeling beautiful or when traded with a Prism Scale, which are the scales of Milotic. I don’t think trading is necessary in the real world?”
“Huh…” Cynthia looked intrigued, filing away the information. After a second, she realized he’d asked a question as well. “Oh, no. To my knowledge, no pokemon needs to be traded to evolve. Do you have examples of trade evolutions?”
Ethan raised a hand and ticked off his fingers as he randomly named a few. “Golem, Alakazam, Machamp, Gengar, Scizor, Kingdra… Steelix—Many more as well.”
“Then no,” Cynthia nodded to herself, full of confidence in her answer. “Trading is not required.”
“Before we begin,” She continued. “Let me ask, what do you want in return for your help at the bridge? Most trainers ask for monetary compensation.”
“I wouldn’t say no to money. I need a lot of things for my ranch. I was hoping that maybe you’d find some help with setting up the breeding rooms in my barn? For all that I say I’m a breeder, I don’t really breed anything. I’m working with some people from the GTS to find a few pokemon pairs that would like to have children and would like to live here, but that’s slow going.”
“That’s do-able. It would take some time to get sorted, but do-able.” Cynthia took a deep breath. “Are you ready to talk about the cave?”
Ethan sighed as he poked Lotad’s tummy, causing the little lily pad to blow out a gurgled bubble which instantly popped against the water's surface.. “For the hundredth time? I suppose.”
“Well, let me begin with what we found.” Cynthia didn’t look at him. Her eyes were focused on the water. “The good news is that there wasn’t any foul play caused by Team Galactic, Rocket, or any other organization. The cause of the avalanche itself was natural, but devastating nonetheless. But… the commotion in Wayward Cave wasn’t due only to the avalanche either.”
Ethan turned to give her his full attention, letting Lotad swim out into the water to chase the fishies. “Deep—At the very bottom of Wayward Cave, we found a new connecting branch to the Grand Underground. Do you know what that is?” She asked.
The Grand Underground? Ethan tried to remember anything he could about the name. The name itself didn’t ring any bells, but he was aware of the endgame underground from the Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl games. To be honest, he wasn’t very knowledgeable about it. It’d been many many years since he even played the Sinnoh games, and he never played Brilliant or Shining, only normal Diamond and Pearl. “Maybe? But what I do know would probably not be accurate at all. So, let’s just say no.”
Cynthia nodded, not disappointed by his answer. “The Grand Underground is a massive, sprawling cave system that encompasses the entirety of Sinnoh. It was discovered a decade ago, and it is older than the cities and routes, possibly even humans—It’s a labyrinth of caverns, waterways, crystal chambers, volcanic pockets, verdant underforests, and ancient fault lines carved over thousands of years. The few entrances we know of are kept sealed and secured, due to the dangerous and unique pokemon who call it home. There have been scientific expeditions within, but due to the size of the underground, maybe ten percent has been mapped or scouted.”
“The Grand Underground is not just a cave system. It’s an ecological, historical, and monetary treasure trove for Sinnoh.” Cynthia paused, “It’s also dangerous.”
“I’ve personally led a research party within, before I was Champion. When you enter, it’s like walking into a different world all together. Something you should know well.” She flashed him a smirk, but continued. “The air changes depending on where you are. Some chambers in the underground are warm and humid enough to fog glasses or lenses of cameras and equipment, while others are so cold you can see your breath and your hair begins to freeze solid.. There’s entire wetlands fed by underground rivers and enormous hollow spaces where sound carries for what feels like miles and luminous crystals shed light. I can be strangely peaceful at times… but dangerous at others.”
“The pokemon of the Grand Underground have no knowledge of anything outside of it, and it has been this way for thousands, maybe tens of thousands of years. Some of the species are some we have today—Gible, Magnemite, Rhyhorns, Zubat… but some are natural evolutionary offshoots of pokemon we have today. They’re similar to the unique pokemon from the Galar region.”
At this point, Ethan was connecting some dots. While he had never personally played Pokemon Legends: Arceus, he was aware of it and where it took place. Hisui was ancient Sinnoh and there were Hisuian forms of pokemon he’d heard about. Kleavor was one he was vaguely familiar with, if only due to it being cool. Perhaps those pokemon live within the Grand Underground?
“Due to Wayward Cave’s entrance being collapsed and the break into the Grand Underground, unfamiliar pokemon entered Wayward’s ecosystem from pokemon who’ve been cut off from the world at large for thousands of years. This was the cause of the stress and agitation. The Steelix who you battled was a casualty of this and fled higher into Wayward’s caverns to escape.”
Hearing her tone, knowing that she was finished for now, Ethan shared something of his own. “I believe I’ve seen one of these pokemon. A Hisuian Growlithe, owned by a photographer who I met in Floaroma Town.”
Cynthia’s eye… twitched. Slowly, she turned to him and stared at him blankly. “Oh?”
“It was much fluffier than the average Growlithe. Its bangs practically covered its eyes. It was friendly and I didn’t think much about it at the time.” He explained. “Their trainer knew it was from Hisui as well, because I asked.”
“Ethan, what do you know about Hisui?” She asked calmly… too calmly. It was then that he remembered that Cynthia was a historian and true lover of the past.
“Sadly, pretty much nothing. Sorry.” He thought for a moment, then remembered the ancestors he heard about online. “In the game based on Hisui, there were characters who were descendants of their common day equivalents. I do believe you had two of them? The resemblance was uncanny, at the very least.”
“Other than informing you of that, getting your compensation covered, telling you about the will of Emily, and seeing if you had any knowledge of the Grand Underground that could help… I think we’re done with the serious bits of the conversation.” Cynthia let out a breath, relaxing again.
Ethan also relaxed. As soon as he leaned back, the giant rainbow and glistening tail of Milotic breached the pond’s surface and slammed down hard. A wave of water rushed outwards from the force of the slap, but not enough to get any of them wet. “Sorry I couldn’t be of more help.”
“It’s okay. You’ve done more than enough for Sinnoh as a whole already.” Cynthia waved away his apology, content to just… sit and rest.
“I’m not into history like you, but if you have any Unown script you need to read. I’ll be your guy.” Ethan laughed, picking a topic he thought was safe and interesting for Cynthia.
She laughed as well, shaking her head. “That’d be nice. That’d solve so many questions if you could.”
For an awkward five seconds, Ethan ignored the sincerity of her words. Then, he risked a glance over… just as she slowly turned towards him with suspicious eyes. Ethan quickly looked away and plucked at some of the grass beneath his hands.
“Ethan…” The pure accusation in her tone caused him to pluck a little harder.
“... It might be different here?” Ethan offered, slightly guilty.
—-----------------------------------------
Cynthia had flown into an academic storm, dragging him back to his home and instantly teleporting away after telling him to ‘wait’. When she returned minutes later with a Pokemon League Alakazam as a ferry, she plonked several folders and notebooks down in front of him.
Ethan gingerly opened the first folder, finding pages upon pages of research notes and polaroid pictures of ancient ruins. All of the research was dense and way above his paygrade, but the pictures he could handle. One of the pictures was of an ancient muriel depicting the lake guardians and Arceus itself. Several were stone tablets, cracked and in awful states of disrepair and nearly lost to time.
And he could indeed read the script on the tablets. It was the Unown script, which was used for some puzzles in the games. It wasn’t very hard to read, as it was just using the English Alphabet and swapping the letters for the Unown pokemon shapes. It was baffling that nobody had figured it out. Did everyone overthink it? Thinking that maybe it had to be some very advanced or unknown language?
Ethan looked at a picture of a tablet that was in good condition.
Then, he read aloud.
“Beware the breaking of the waters.
For when Wisdom is drowned, men become beasts.
When Courage is stolen, kingdoms kneel to shadows.
When Compassion is forgotten, even the heavens grow cold.”
…
….
…..
“Alright, you’re coming with me on my next research expedition.” Cynthia stated.
Ethan simply closed his eyes and accepted his fate.