Chapter 163: Mirage Tower
At the Fallarbor Town Pokémon Contest, Ruby won the championship with flying colors, earning his second Ribbon. Ryan had originally planned to head directly to Fortree City. After all, Fortree's Gym Leader Winona already had a complex relationship with Wallace and was also close to Flannery, so a visit would be worthwhile.
However, the next Pokémon Contest was held in Verdanturf Town, and time was tight. So, they had to go to Verdanturf Town first. If the Rusturf Tunnel was open, they could return to Petalburg City to have Sapphire challenge Norman, and then fly directly to Fortree City.
Having decided on their destination, Ryan and his companions rested for the night in Fallarbor Town. The next day, they took the cable car back to Mauville City. However, they didn't want to retrace their steps, so they decided to take a different route through the desert.
Crossing the desert, Ryan and his companions were well prepared. Since it was a desert, there were many Ground-type Pokémon. Not long into their journey, they encountered a large group of Sandshrew and Trapinch.
Sandshrew are okay, relatively peaceful, but Trapinch are far more ferocious, occasionally attacking passing Pokémon or humans. Individuals are manageable, but if you encounter a swarm of Trapinch in the desert, it's best to avoid them. Without Flying-type Pokémon, they'll teach you the terror of quicksand.
But for Ryan right now, that's no problem. A single Dark Void from Darkrai essentially incapacitates a swarm of Trapinch. Furthermore, Trapinch's final evolution is Flygon, a formidable Pokémon for any trainer.
So Ryan simply caught a whole bunch of them. After all, a Pokémon with Dragon-type can't be too weak.
Even Lillie was quite interested in Trapinch and wanted one to train.
After catching quite a few of them, Ryan discovered a unique characteristic: their overdeveloped jaws make their heads heavy. If they were flipped over, Trapinch would be as unable to turn back over as a turtle.
Seeing Ryan had captured the Trapinch, Sapphire said, "I heard from my dad that there's a small settlement on the other side of this desert, and there's a desert ruin with a Legendary Pokémon inside. Do you want to go check it out?"
"Legendary Pokémon? Let's go check it out," Ruby said. "Maybe we can catch it."
Ryan remembered that in the games, Regirock could be caught here, but he wondered if it was true in this world.
Following Sapphire's lead, Ryan and his group arrived at the ruins, which were almost buried by wind and sand. Ryan led the way, pulling a flashlight from his backpack to illuminate the buried ruins.
Lillie and the others soon followed suit, only to find that the ruins were also covered in sand, obscuring most of the original structures. Ryan led the way inside, until he reached a large upright stone slab with dots on it, much like Braille in the games.
Ryan subconsciously glanced down at the ground, where stones were evenly distributed. Including the stone beneath Ryan's feet, there were 25 stones in five rows and five columns.
In the games, you'd have to stand in specific positions and use Strength to open the passage below. I wonder if that's possible here?
"Ruby, Sapphire, you stand on the two stones to my left. Lillie, you follow me," Ryan said, stepping back one square.
The three of them were puzzled. Lillie asked doubtfully, "Ryan, can you understand the writing on the stone?"
"I can't, so I'll just try something," Ryan said.
Ruby nodded and pulled Sapphire over to the stones on the left. Lillie also stood on the stone behind Ryan. Seeing them stand still, Ryan sent out Charizard, Metagross, and Blaziken, positioning them one square in front of Ryan and two squares to his left, respectively.
The three Pokémon stood still, and there was a dull click, and then silence. Ryan looked at the stone slab and said, "Charizard, push that slab for me. See if you can move it?"
Charizard nodded and pressed its claws against it. The slab, along with the rocks beneath it, was pushed back, revealing a dark opening.
Everyone was excited, and Ryan shone his flashlight inside. He saw an enclosed space. Though covered in dust, the prints of large footprints and a series of boot prints were clearly visible.
All these clues pointed to someone having been here before, deciphering the secrets of the slab and catching the Pokémon within.
Ryan rubbed his chin. "It seems I'm a little late."
He had been prepared for this. After all, in the anime, Brandon possessed the three legendary golems, and it was obvious where he had obtained them. He just hadn't expected him to have obtained them so early.
Ruby shook his head and said, "Since there's nothing left, let's get out of here too."
They left the ruins, but just as they emerged, they discovered a fierce sandstorm. Ryan quickly handed out the goggles he had bought to everyone, and they put them on to protect themselves from the wind and sand while preparing to retreat back into the ruins to wait out the storm.
"Wait, why is there a tower over there?" Lillie called out.
Following her words, Ryan and the others looked back in the direction they had come from. Not far away, they could faintly see a tall tower rising from the desert.
Ryan shuddered. They hadn't seen that tower when they came here! And it was clearly over ten meters tall; it was impossible to say it hadn't been visible!
Suddenly, Ryan thought of the Mirage Tower from the games and couldn't help but ask, "Sapphire, have you heard of the Mirage Tower?"
"The Mirage Tower? I haven't heard of it," Sapphire said.
"I think I've read about it in a travel journal," Lillie suddenly said. "It was written by an ordinary traveler describing his journey through Hoenn. I read it when I was in Kanto."
Seeing everyone looking at her, Lillie continued, "The journal mentioned this desert. It said that during a sandstorm, a tall tower was vaguely visible. After the tower appeared, the sandstorm suddenly stopped."
As Lillie spoke, the sandstorm outside also suddenly and strangely stopped. Ruby swallowed and said, "Why does it feel like I'm listening to a ghost story? What happened next?"
"I don't know. The journal mentioned that the traveler was about to go to that tower, but the tower strangely disappeared before his eyes," Lillie said.
"So, should we go take a look?" Ryan said.
"I don't think so," Sapphire said, hugging Lillie with a look of fear on her face.
Ruby thought for a moment and said, "I think we should go take a look. I've always felt that this tower isn't scary."
Ryan nodded and said, "Let's go take a look. Maybe it'll disappear as soon as we get there."
The two girls agreed. They arrived in front of the tower, but it didn't disappear as described in the journal. It still stood there, peaceful and quiet, without a trace of strangeness.
"How about we leave?" Lillie said, pulling on Ryan's clothes.
"I keep feeling like this place seems familiar," Ryan said, rubbing his chin. "It's best to go in and take a look."
With that, Ryan stepped into the tower. But the next second, Ryan rushed out, shouting, "Get out of here! We can't stay here any longer!"
He immediately grabbed Lillie and Sapphire, who hadn't reacted yet, and pulled them away. Ruby, also realizing something was wrong, quickly left the tower with a grim expression.
(End of Chapter)
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