Alex looked out at the bright, lustrous forest ahead of him. The leaves practically glowed under the afternoon sun, stretching deep into the island.
He sat down on the sand and checked his pockets to see what supplies he had left.
Except for his console and two packets of Victini's special food, the only other thing he had was the reward from the Joy Family Regional Quiz: a Premier Ball, which hung around his neck like a chain.
Alex muttered at his terrible luck, then looked up at Victini and asked if it had seen what attacked their plane.
Victini shook its head helplessly. Its tiny ears drooped, looking sad that it couldn't save any of the other passengers from the falling aircraft.
Alex gently patted its head and comforted it. He told Victini that they were at least alive, and that it had saved him.
He knew that if Victini hadn't used its psychic power and Teleport to catch him, he would have been lost in the sea a long time ago.
Alex also realized that the attack on the plane had come far too suddenly. It happened so fast that the Pokémon guarding the aircraft didn't even have time to react or put up a barrier.
Knowing there was nothing they could do about it now, both Alex and Victini put the matter aside. They needed to check the place where they had landed.
Alex checked his console, but there was no signal at all. He felt grateful that the battery inside was durable and would last for months without needing a charge.
Together, they started walking toward the tropical region.
After traveling for about an hour, the scenery before them changed drastically.
Alex stopped in shock.
Ahead of them was an enormous crater, looking just like the site of a giant meteor fall. Right in the middle stood a volcano, with lava spilling down its sides, surrounded by sprawling ancient ruins.
High mountains and the thick, lush forest circled the entire area, covering the ruins and keeping them hidden from the outside.
Alex wanted a better look, so he handed his console to Victini and asked it to take pictures from a bird's-eye view.
Victini flew straight up, snapped a few shots, and flew back down with the device.
Looking at the screen, Alex saw that the entire area was shaped like a giant round stadium. The volcano sat right in the center with the ruins around it, all resting inside the massive crater. The dense forest and outer beach completely masked the place from view.
Alex decided not to explore the ruins right away.
Both he and Victini were parched from the heat. Looking around, Alex found a coconut tree nearby.
Victini flew up and gathered a few coconuts, bringing them down to the ground. Alex picked one up, smashed it hard against a flat rock until it cracked open, and the two of them eagerly drank the sweet coconut water to quench their thirst.
The sun began to sink below the horizon, painting the sky in deep shades of orange and purple as Alex and Victini started looking for shelter.
Their luck turned out to be quite good. They didn't run into any wild Pokémon along the shoreline. Near the edge of the forest, Alex found a sturdy berry tree. Using large palm leaves and thick fronds from the underbrush, they built a simple makeshift shelter right beside it. With their small bodies tucked beneath the broad leaves, they were completely concealed and safe for the night.
The next morning, the warm sunlight filtered through the canopy. Alex and Victini gathered several edible berries from the tree to fill their stomachs before setting out toward the massive crater.
Standing at the rim, Alex used his psychic power to gently wrap an invisible aura around their bodies. Instead of climbing down the steep, jagged slope, they slid smoothly down the side of the crater without a scratch.
The stone ruins were still a short distance ahead. As they walked, Alex spotted a few round, rocky shapes moving among the boulders—several Geodude.
They were the very first wild Pokémon he had discovered on the island.
Alex pulled out his console from a safe distance, recording video clips and logging data to document his travels. Skillfully using the rocky terrain as cover, he slipped past the Geodude unnoticed.
As they traveled deeper into the basin, Alex came across several other Pokémon. Massive Onix carved through the dry dirt, a giant Steelix coiled quietly near a ridge of metallic ore, and a small group of Roggenrola tumbled playfully over the gravel. Nearly all of the Pokémon wandering the outer ring were Rock or Ground types.
When Alex finally reached the perimeter of the ancient ruins, an intense wave of heat washed over him. Rivers of bright orange lava flowed through the cracked stone streets, cutting through the city like glowing roads.
The ambient temperature was scorching. With the help of Victini's Protect barrier shielding them from the radiant heat, Alex scrambled up the weathered stone walls and onto the rooftops.
From this vantage point, Alex used his console to record the magnificent architecture—cracked arches, towering pillars, and carved stone motifs half-swallowed by centuries of ash. Along the lower alleyways and molten channels, he spotted several Fire-type Pokémon, mostly Slugma creeping through the glowing sludge and Magcargo resting atop warm volcanic rocks.
Alex continued documenting everything he saw. He even slipped inside a few structures that were still structurally intact, hoping to find traces of who once lived there. Unfortunately, the rooms had long been picked clean by time, offering nothing useful except a single, heavily rusted iron spear leaning against a broken altar.
Leaving the hollow halls behind, Alex made his way directly toward the volcano in the center of the ruins.
Up close, the landscape was slightly surprising. The air smelled strongly of sulfur and was thick with swirling ash, but the visibility remained clear enough to see the surroundings. The volcano was actually more of a modest, jagged hill than a towering mountain, with only two steady streams of lava continuously spilling down its blackened slopes.
As he looked closer at the molten flow, his eyes widened slightly. Glimmering minerals and strange, glowing gems were slowly floating along the surface of the lava.
Curiosity piqued, Alex took a step forward to get a closer look.
Just as he was about to approach the base of the volcano, the sky above suddenly flared with blinding light. The temperature spiked violently, and an enormous, dark shadow swept over the entire crater.
Before Alex could look up, a piercing, deafening bird screech ripped through the heavens, sharp enough to echo off the mountains and rattle the ancient stones beneath his feet.