As soon as Priam shot forward through the door, Oscar tensed. He reached out to catch him, but the damn boy was too fast. "Fuck Priam, wait!" Too late, the trap was sprung. Oscar watched helplessly as Priam once again fell through the floor, causing a ripple effect that spread to the hall. Oscar rolled his eyes, "These assholes had one trick didn't they."

Oscar thought quickly, throwing out a pokeball to let loose Baron the flygon. The bug-eyed dragon had little time to react before the floor fell from under him and Oscar, forcing him into action. He quickly got his wings flapping, sliding under Oscar to catch him before his master could fall too far. The impact stole the air out of Oscar's lungs, but he was just glad to not be a smear on the ground.

Baron flew downward, dodging debris as he went deeper into the darkness. Oscar soon recovered, steering Baron toward Priam and his sigilyph. A the two went further into the dark, Oscar would respond to Priam's inquiry with restrained exhaustion, "Well, it's easier when you look before you run into a room."

Oscar's eyes shot open when he came to a startling realization. "Holy shit, Malum!" Oscar looked up, and thankfully found his cunning Malamar unharmed. He floated between falling rocks with great ease, plus carried Priam's Shiinotic in his main tentacles. The shiinotic was still smiling, so it was hard to tell his perspective on the events currently occurring.

They reached the bottom eventually, falling a great deal deeper that Oscar anticipated. As the rocks finished falling, Oscar looked up to see that the broken hall above provided very little light. Besides the faint glow of lost torches and the bioluminescence from Malum and Shiinotic, the new room they found themselves in was completely black. Or at least it seemed to be at first.

Once Oscar's eyes adjusted, he found realize that a faint light was shining in the distance. Oscar pointed to it, "Look, something is shining way over there. Judging by how far it is, this room must be fucking massive." Oscar got off Baron and began walking toward the light, "Best see what it is, we can fly back up af-" 

Oscar stopped. Something moved in the shadows. It was coming toward them.

As the Shiinotic's light grew, a clearer vision of the blastoise came forth. This titan was old. Probably the oldest pokemon Oscar had ever seen. Its blue skin had turned gray, cracked and chapped by the lack of moisture. Its shell was covered in cracks, and the numerous cannons it adorned had rusted. And its eyes, pearly white--was it blind?

Yet despite its age, this thing had lost none of its power. Drawn in by Priam's chatter, the mighty turtle turned to aim its cannons toward the Rocket duo. Oscar twitched, "I'm not convinced there's much we can do." All of its cannons fired, sending a cascade of pressurized destruction toward the two. Oscar reacted quickly, pulling out a Beast Ball.

When he opened it, a large mass of wires burst forth. The wires untangled themselves, revealing the ultra beast Xurkitree in all of its glory. Xurkitree grabbed Oscar and Priam by the waists, using its Magnet Rise to pull them out of range of the oncoming water blast. Barona and Malum did not have the luxury of a convenient exit, but the Shiinotic's barriers helped dampen the blast enough to buy them some time. Baron grabbed Malum and flew them behind cover, which is where they lay as the water surged overhead.

priam conrad

As Priam took action, Oscar looked to his hiding minions. He snapped his fingers toward them, indicating that the Xurkitree should fly over to their position. As the water titan's attack died down, Xurkitree would make a U-Turn (a literal one not the move) and curve his way toward where Baron and Malum were hunkering down. 

As they passed overhead, Oscar pulled out their balls and returned them. They wouldn't need their help any longer, not with Shiinotic putting it to sleep. The beast huffed as spores sprang into its nostrils, turning back and forth as it tried to find their source. The creature heaved, its heavy breaths causing vibrations around the cavern. It began to stumble, its steps causing tremors as it swayed back and forth.

Finally it fell, landing on its bottom in a reclining position. Its milky eyes blinked rapidly, before slowly closing. The next sound it would make was a heavy snore, the beast was sound asleep. Oscar chuckled, "Well that was easier than anticipated." Oscar tapped on Xurkitree's tendrils, indicating that it should put them down. It did so, and Oscar began to gingerly walk toward the slumbering turtle.

"This thing looks fuckin' ancient, how has it survived for so long?"

priam conrad

Oscar took a look at the blastoise as Priam gave his theory. Oscar was skeptical, but then again it made as much sense as a giant ancient blastoise living underground. When Priam expressed interest in catching it, Oscar shrugged. 

"Knock yourself out, damn thing looks like it's a week away from falling to pieces." Would having a living fossil be cool? Sure absolutely. Would taking care of it be a pain in the ass? Almost certainly. Oscar was rich but he was pretty sure there wasn't enough money in the world to keep this thing living outside of this temple.

Oscar walked forward, whistling for Xurkitree too follow. The spindly alien floated near its master, its head glowing with electricity. Oscar looked around the room, much more illuminated now thanks to the Xurkitree's help. He was pretty sure there wasn't a fountain of youth, but some running water nearby did make Oscar curious.

Oscar motioned toward the underground stream, "Priam come this way, I wanna look at this before we go." Oscar marched forward, hopeful to find something useful to take home with him.

priam conrad

As Priam caught up to Oscar, the young rocket would find him staring into the running water. It was deeper than it looked, just enough to act as a water fountain for that blastoise. The water seemed to be coming from a far wall, but that wasn't nearly as interesting as what lay within the water itself. Oscar turned to Priam, answering his inquiries with a flat tone. "Rocks."

Not just any rocks though, a shit ton of very pretty rocks. A dazzling amount of colors glowing faintly beneath the rippling water. Oscar sighed, "Not as fucking good as any of your ideas but whatever it'll do." He dropped his backpack, opening it quickly to pull out two black sacks with pull ties. He opened the sacks as wide as he could, before snapping his fingers at the Xurkitree. Oscar pointed to the river, but the Xurkitree already predicted what he was to do and had gotten started. 

With each tendril, the lanky alien would scoop up rocks and shovel them into the sacks. While it worked, Oscar got a closer look at the water. As he stared into it, he remembered something Priam said earlier about a fountain of youth. It couldn't possibly be the reason this blastoise had lived this long--but still the curiosity killed him. Oscar leaned forward, taking a deep sip from the water. As the water slid down his throat, it left behind a dreadful taste. Oscar gagged, holding his neck while coughing harshly. He made a noise of disgust before pulling a flask off his belt. He filled the flask with water and handed it to Priam, "Pretty sure all it did was expose me to fucking deadly microbes but hell just in case take a swig."

When the sacks were full, Oscar pulled the ties to seal them up. He handed one sack of rocks to Priam before throwing the other over his shoulder, "Hopefully we find buyers for these. If we're lucky one of these rocks should have some actual value." Oscar snapped his fingers, cueing the Xurkitree to wrap its tendrils around the two explorers. As the Xurkitree floated upward, Oscar gave Priam a small smile. 

"Next time let's try something easier. Like fossil hunting or some shit."

priam conrad