“That’s encouraging.”

It was the first time Hideo had ever gone this far out of Slateport, and the first time he’d been in a desert. He’d made sure to prepare himself properly for it, dressing appropriately (even wearing a hat and sunglasses) and carrying his own set of provisions.

Still, he was rapidly finding that he did not enjoy the dry heat, and the sand kept getting everywhere. But he was here to learn, and learn he would.

At least Rocky - by his side - seemed to be handling it better; despite all his fur, he was pretty comfortable in this heat.

“Letting the blind kid guide you through a desert?” He did have confidence in his own abilities, but the situation did seem pretty ridiculous. Then again, that was probably why he was doing this; he’d have to be able to guide himself once he started traveling. “Alright then. Lemme just set this up then.”

He retrieved his PokeNav, opening it. It wasn’t often that he used this; his sister was still working on some modifications that could make it easier for him to use, but one of the features she did complete was one that could read out directions to him.

A few button presses, and the map was up - and the device would read the directions out loud. All it took after was to point it around until it indicated it was pointing the right way.

“Doesn’t hurt to be prepared,” he smugly stated, “Just gotta go in this direction and we’ll be there, right? Then let’s be on our way!” Towards the real meat-and-potatoes of this training exercise: the ruins.

John Sullivan

"Yup." He said immediately as he stretched, his spine audibly popping as he leaned back far. "This mentorship's gonna end one day- and y'all have to fend of for yerself."

He stretched his neck as he spread his legs far, his torso coming near the floor.

"Ideally, ya'll learn to move around without pokeNav's or nuthun'. The worst scenario's called the Worst for a reason." He said, "But baby steps and all."

Couldn't drop the kid who had never taken a step out of Slateport on his own in a desert and call it a day. That was just being overly optimistic about his chances.

"Lead the way, Hideo. I won't interject unless yer life's n'danger." He said, finally coming to stand besides the boy. "Today, yer in charge."

---

It was an unceremoniously simple trip. As Hideo had said, all they had to do was follow the directions. Rocky dealt with any sandpits and predators hiding in the sand, and in the end, they were soon standing over a high plateu, the sand under their feet slowly turning to mountainous rock.

Far below them, carved upon the stones of the mountain, were ancient ruins, well preserved by the Hoenn Historical Association. This was the first Excavation Stop for those just joining the project. Though many were those who came, there was still much work to be done.

"Well, that was smooth. Good job!" He said with a grin, ruffling the kid's hair. "Knew ya had it in ya."

---

TAG: Hideo Kino

The walk there was fairly uneventful. Rocky was more than capable of spotting any threats and either avoiding or disposing of them (nonlethally). And as Hideo could feel through his shoes, the ground they walked on was getting more and more solid as they progressed, until it was stone.

His hair ruffled underneath his hat. He didn’t feel like he did that much, but he’d take the praise where he got it. At least there wouldn’t be anyone around to see his messed-up hair (as if they could see underneath his hat).

And that was just the easy part: now they had to actually explore the place. And it seemed like he’d be the one taking the lead. “Not really sure I’ll be too great at guiding you through a ruin, ‘specially one I’m going in for the first time, but I’ll try my best. Might need some more hands to help though.”

To that end, he let out another Pokemon: his ever-reliable Aipom. “Pom, it’s gonna be up to you and Rocky to look out for anything suspicious. I’ve heard enough about ruins to know there’s gotta be some kinds of traps waiting for us here.”

Pom had a wide smile on her face, as always, offering a salute to the boy. Not that he’d see it.

Hideo assumed that no objections from her meant she was alright. “Ok Doug. We’ll follow behind them, let them find anything that’s waiting for us.” He had his cane ready to tap out the area around him.

Time for them to go inside and look for...whatever. He didn’t have much of a plan beyond “keep exploring until we find something worth investigating/taking”, so the best he could do for now was make sure they were safe during their exploration. "You ever go inside ruins like these, Doug?"

John Sullivan

"S' fine. Wasn't about to let'cha wander into one of these death traps without at least that much." He said, even as he squinted at the monkey.

"Hello again, Pom." He said, smiling primly as he reached into his bag... and pulled out a bottle of superglue. "Let's be careful today, shall we?"

If she pulled any stunts like she did at the faire, he swore.

Enough of that. Surely she understood how dangerous a place like this could be for Hideo. No stunts today, for sure.

For sure. As the two fell in line behind the two pokemon, Hideo's question echoed down the long, downward hallway that went deeper and deeper into the ground.

"Yup. My first visit was in one of these." He said, touching one of the ancient walls and grinning. "I met Bailey Cooper then. She saved my butt."

He laughed at the memory.

"I didn't even realize she was the champion at the time! I thought she was a model or something, since her face was so familiar!"

His laughter was lowered down to snickers as his digits moved over a relief upon the walls of a face- one of many, extremely similar looking ones, the youth pausing in his step.

"Oi Hideo, come over'ere and feel this out. Know what it is?" He said, waiting until the kid came and did his examination before speaking again...

"Yup! A face... and an arrow spitting trap."

Pause.

"Good thing so many teams have already been through here, huh?" He said with a laugh, "Most traps on the first few levels have already been taken care of."

He sobered up after that.

"If we wanna call this a succesful expedition, we'll need to go were no one's gone yet."

---

TAG: Hideo Kino

No surprise Doug was wary of Pom. Their last outing together got complicated thanks to her. “Don’t worry, Doug. We had a nice, long talk about that afterwards. Isn’t that right, Pom?”

She kept her eternal grin, patting Hideo with her hand-tail. “Pom, pom.”

“‘Sides, we don’t really have a lot of space to play around here. I’m sure Pom knows well enough not to do something that could get me hurt.” At least not intentionally.

Hideo walked along, gasping as Doug explained his first time here. “You really got to meet her?!” he near-shouted, echoing through the halls. “You’re so luckyyyyyyy! Meeting her, I mean. Everyone I went to school with would kill to meet her!” Metaphorically, of course.

Hideo stopped when he heard Doug’s footsteps cease (it was easy to hear them when they were the only ones making noise). With his mentor’s urging, the boy approached, reaching out towards the stone wall. It was easy for him to find the shape, and he was quickly able to make out the ears, nose, eyes, and mouth. “A face?”

Yes, as he was quickly informed...and it was more than just a piece of art.

Hideo pulled back pretty quickly after Doug told him it was a trap. Even if he didn’t, Pom and Rocky were on him instantly, pushing and pulling him away respectively.

Stopping only when they learned it was disarmed. “Geez, Doug. Tell us that before you say it’s gonna shoot me.” Last thing he needed was Rocky getting worked up.

“Alright guys: remember what these look like. Chances are we’ll be seeing more of them as we go along. Loaded ones.” A pair of affirmative grunts from his Pokemon.

“Probably not the only traps we’re gonna be dealing with, right?” It’d be pretty silly (and boring) if whoever built this place only had one type of trap.

And so, he’d resume following his Pokemon around, until Doug wanted to show off something else - or they encountered something that hadn’t already been dealt with.

“So what was she like, Doug?  The Champion, I mean. Everyone says she’s a great champion!”

John Sullivan

"I did almost kill myself to meet her, so that checks out." He said with a laugh, rubbing at his ear with his pinky as Hideo's excited words ran down the entire hall. "She was mighty friendly and kind- didn't even bat an eye when I asked for her help."

Just the kind of Champion they needed at the moment, he figured. He had since heard a few bad rumours about her... perchant for unfortunate destruction, but he shrugged them off as just that- rumours. The woman he had met was rather fun to be around- too likeable for him to take anything bad said about her seriously.

"Ah- we won't be seeing any active traps for a while." He said, correcting the youth's instructions. "We will be seeing the pokemon who've made this place their home though, so be on your guard."

They had been understandably jumpy since the location had been uncovered and trainers and scientists alike had began coming in swarms. He trusted Rocky to be able to handle whatever came, however.

"What's she like? Hn..." He cupped his chin, grinning. "Real cool! She protected some random, dumb kid who had ran into the desert just for fun of it. Real humble too, I think! I didn't even realize who she was until after we had parted ways, and she never bothered so much as bringing it up."

Naturally, he didn't bother to say she was strong as hell. Saying that about a pokemon champion was like saying the sky was blue.

At some point, they made to the area with yellow tape. Several warning signs had been laid around the area leading up to this passage, and for good reason. Past this point, it was territory still being explored.

"Here's where it gets dangerous." He said as he patted Hideo's back, nodding at Pom and Rocky. "We'll go in decently far enough, fetch something nice, and pull out. Just making it this far is enough for lesson 1. Shall we?"

---

TAG: Hideo Kino

As Doug said, they didn’t encounter any traps, but they did encounter a few ambushes - which fell apart when faced with the combined power of Rocky and Pom.

Which was good because Hideo was quite distracted by his conversation with Doug. “I’ve heard that she’s a really nice person, but you got to see her firsthand! Wonder what she was doing all the way out there, though.“ The desert wasn’t a place most people just wandered around unless they were looking for Pokemon to capture. And he doubted the champion needed more than she already had.

Hideo didn’t stop walking until he met with the caution tape. It was strong enough to hold against him, but he could tell he could just walk under it. Still, he knew what it was there for: a warning, one that Doug made very clear for him.

He could feel his heart beat harder. It was do or die - perhaps literally (as if Doug would actually put him in that kind of risk). No turning back now.

“We shall,” he said, stepping under the tape. “Be on the lookout, guys; this is where we’ll start seeing the active stuff.”

A pair of affirmative grunts. It brought a smile to the boy’s face, and bolstered his confidence.

It would only take a minute before Rocky stopped walking, blocking Hideo from moving any further. “What’s up? Find something?”

He could hear Rocky chattering with Pom. The little monkey had indeed spotted something suspicious, and picked up a nearby rock, tossing it forward.

While Hideo couldn’t see the pressure plate the rock landed on, he did hear the ground up ahead give way, the sound of bricks falling to the bottom of a pit echoing through the hall. He also couldn’t see the spikes that would’ve awaited him below, nor the several Skorupi that had made the pit their home.

“Good catch, Pom!” He offered a thumbs-up, which was reciprocated by happy giggling from the Aipom. “She can be pretty mischievous, but she’s also a really good spotter!” That disruptive streak had its upsides.

It wouldn’t be too difficult for him to get around the trap; Pom and Rocky made sure to push/pull him away from the edge, and he was able to feel it out with his cane.

John Sullivan

The floor collapsed as Pom threw a rock its way, and Doug released an appreciative whistle in response, peering into the hole and noticing the spikes and Kkorupi all the way down.

As well as a few bones.

"Gotta give credit where it's due. That'll do, Pom. That'll do." Said the youth as he fell in line with them, following behind Hideo and his troupe as they moved around the trap.

The rest of their advance was similar to that, with traps found here and there, most detected by either Pom or Rocky, and the few that weren't, well...

Rather close shaves, those ones.

Ultimately however, when an hour's time had passed, Doug's hand came to grasp Hideo's shoulder, his voice set in a low whisper to the youth.

"End of the road for this path, buddy." He said, staring ahead into the open chamber. His brows furrowed as he failed to spot any obvious traps.

Other than the altar at the center with a fancy, well expensive fabric-looking bag anyway.

"There's an altar in the center of the room." He said, crossing his arms over his chest and trusting Hideo's intelligence. "There's a bag atop it, but... well, you know."

---

TAG: Hideo Kino

A collective smile from the party; they were doing well at impressing Doug. But they couldn’t let their guard down just yet, as there could still be more traps waiting for them.

And right they were: quite a few times, Rocky and Pom would stop the group, disarming whatever trap they managed to spot, from pit traps to arrow traps to more ambushes. They also evaded the ones they couldn’t disarm or didn’t spot in time, with a few close calls.

By the time they reached the end, Hideo’s hat had a few new holes.

Hideo stopped when Doug put a hand on his shoulder. “A bag just sitting at the end of the hall?” He just had to repeat it to really get across how silly that sounded. “Gee, I wonder if it’s trapped or something.”

He could even guess what kind of trap it was too; a pressure plate under the sack, and if they took it off, the plate would release a trap. He’d heard of it in a radio drama he listened to when he was younger. And fortunately, he had something that could take its spot. Not that he prepared specifically for this, but it could work.

He put his backpack down, producing a small bag. “Maybe we could do a little switcheroo. These are just some meat buns Mom made for me if I got hungry. Sure whoever this altar’s for won’t mind a little trade: they’re good buns.” He reached his arm out. “Ok Pom, switch it around like you keep switching my books.”

A small giggle from the little monkey, who happily grabbed the pouch. She made her way to the altar, deftly weaving around tripwires and arrows.

She climbed up the altar, all the way to where the bag sat. Just as Hideo thought, there was a pressure plate waiting for her. Carefully, she positioned her tail near the bag, the meat bun pouch held within.

With a single motion, she slapped the bag off the plate, sliding the meat bun pouch over it. A tense moment passed as Hideo and his two Pokemon waited for some reaction, to see if his plan had failed.

There was no reaction.

Pom carefully made her way back to her trainer, taking the dismounted bag with her, dropping it right in Hideo’s waiting hand. “Great job, Pom!” he said, petting the monkey on the head after she hugged his leg.

Hideo opened the bag, feeling out the contents within; they were small, smooth, and were various shapes. “Thinking we just nabbed ourselves a bag of gems!” he said, giggling as he felt a gem along his fingers. “Maybe I can show these off to my next blind date~. I’m sure Andy would’ve been impressed by ‘em.”

He put the gem back, closing the bag before putting it in his backpack. “Now we just gotta head back, but that should be easy enough.”  Which should be pretty easy: not like the traps would reset themselves.

John Sullivan