Alone

Darkness surrounds me, faint rays of sunshine break through the ceiling, but they can't compete
against this dark realm.
After a while my eyes get used to the darkness. I'm in an empty room, there's nothing there except the walls made of beige coloured stones and sand is covering the floor.
Suddenly I hear faint crying... My heart aches.
Somehow I feel different, twisted feelings emerge inside of me making my heart ache even more.
The faint crying gets louder, who was crying there?
I wince in pain at the saddening sound. I try to move but I can't, only my eyes are able to move.
With my eyes I scan the room looking for the source of the crying, but like before there is nothing there. I move my eyes to the place I haven't looked at yet, the tiny spot directly in front of me.
The skull of a crocodile like creature lies there, the rest of its skeleton is covered with sand, only a few rips and a part of the spine are visible. Upon seeing the skeleton a loud sob echoes in the dark and I find myself crying... I was crying all the time... Because I am...
Alone...


Twelve years ago a team of archaeologists explored the ruins of the Relic Castle but they never
returned from their research. Various investigations took place, but none of them managed to
find out what had happened to those unfortunate archaeologists.
However, I, myself a well-known archaeologist decided to investigate the case with a new team
of talented archaelogists once more and finally solve this mystery.

Twelve people stood at the entrance of the Relic Castle an ominous feeling was in the air,
but none of them seemed to notice. They were too focused on listening to the speech of a young man standing in front of the entrance.
„My fellow archaelogists! Many have tried to find out what had happened here twelve years ago.
No one was able to find an answer, but with the help of modern science and the help of our beloved  Pokémon we will certainly solve this case!"
Loud clapping and cheering was heard, then the group entered the ruins.

„I had a few doubts about this place, but with those few words you managed to raise my spirits,
Professor." I smiled at the young woman standing in front of me.
I wanted to reply to her nice comment but a nudging at my leg stopped me from doing so.
Noel my Krokorok was nudging at my leg with a worried expression, she was probably nervous because of the Ghost Pokémon which haunted those ruins. I got down on my knees and comforted her. „Don't be afraid Noel, I know you're nervous because of the Ghost Pokémon here, but you're strong. You don't have to worry about anything because I will be always by your side."
Noel smiled happily at me and hugged me tightly. Noel was my trusted partner and we relied on
eachother.
„Professor! The Herdier have found something! Please come quickly!", a male voice echoed through the room. I stood up and went to my colleague, Noel followed me.
In front of a three boulders stood the man who had called for me. He was a few years older then me and wearing glasses with round lenses, when I reached the location he pointed at the boulder on the left. "It appears something is hidden underneath those boulders. The Herdier tried to dig it up, but the sand keeps getting in the way." The Herdier barked loudly at the boulder and the sand.
"Don't worry, my Krokorok can smash that boulder." I turned towards Noel "Noel, use Rock
Smash on the left boulder!" She obeyed my comment and smashed the rock to pieces.

A small piece of paper, just as big as my hand lied among the rocks. I put on my gloves and picked it up carefully. The paper had a yellowish colour, it seemed to be quite old and there was some writing on it. Curious I started to read what it said.


July 25th 19...

A few days ago I was hired to explore the Relic Castle.
I managed  to find a team of trusthworthy archaelogists
who also seek to discover the mysteries of this forgotten place.

We are currently exploring the ground floor of the castle.
The Pokémon are a big help to us, but they seem to be a
afraid by something. Some of them even tried to run away
and some are unwilling to obey our commands.
We think they're scared of the Ghost Pokémon here,
but this won't stop us from exploring this place...

This was all that was written on the paper, I admit I was a bit frustraded at first,
but then I realised a smilarity, Noel had been scared, too...
I asked the man if his Herdier behaved strangely, he nodded and told me
that the Pokémon were barking at nothing but he managed to calm them down.

I called for the other archaelogists, I knew the cause of our frightened Pokémon
were probably some Yamasks, a Ghost Pokémon found at the Relic Castle, but I wanted to be sure.
My team put their tools and instruments down and walked up to me.
„What's wrong, Professor?", the woman from before asked with a worried expression on her face.
I cleared my troath „Well, did your Pokémon behave strangely? Like they were frightened by something?" Everyone nodded. „I had to force Woobat inside the ruins!", one exclaimed.
„It's just the Yamask or the Sigilyphs who scare them, nothing to worry about.", another archaelogist explained, the other agreed with him.
I cleared my troath once more to regain their attention.
„Well it's probably because of those Pokémon... However, has anyone of you seen
even one of them?"
The crew grew silent. Then one of them said they hadn't seen even one wild Pokémon.
Although they hadn't used a Repel. The other archaelogists said the same.
„Underneath this smashed boulder we have found an old journal entry. It isn't completely certain yet, but I speculate this entry was written by the leader of the archaelogists who explored this castle, Professor Cougar Figs. He wrote that the Pokémon behaved strangely. They tried to runaway and disobeyed their trainers." The archaelogists exchanged worried expressions, their Pokémon looked around nervously and some clutched the legs of their owners tightly. Noel was holding my hand with a worried expression.
„We don't know what scares the Pokémon, but we can't give up now just because
our Pokémon are scared. Let's just be careful." The archaelogists agreed with me.
„We will split our group into three teams, the first team will explore the first to the third floor,
the second team will explore the fourth to the sixth floor and the last team will explore the remaining floors. Since we don't know how many floors this castle has, I will join the last
group to make sure nothing will happen."  
Soon the teams were decided and we continued our investigation.


While we were going deeper into the castle the Pokémon were starting to freak out,
Noel tried to stop me from going down by crying loudly and blocking our way.
I had to put her inside her Pokéball. But a part of me, probably the reasonable one,
agreed with Noel and kept telling me to get out of here as soon as possible.
But my inquiring mind encouraged me to go further...

„Professor! I found another journal entry!" One of my colleagues came running towards me
and handed me a piece of paper, it had the same handwriting.
I started to read the journal entry.

July 26th 19...

We have decided to split our group in four smaller groups.

I decided to explore the last part of the ruins with my group.
While we were going down our Pokémon started to freak out,
they were desperately trying to get us out of the castle, we had
no choice but to put our Pokémon back inside their Pokéballs,
then we could move on.

The Pokémon were probably scared by the Sigilyphs and
Yamask who guarded this place, but none of us had even
seen one of this Pokémon yet, the group grew anxious.
I decided to be more careful now, in case the Pokémon would attack us.
Nontheless we continued our exploration.

After two or three hours we have reached the last part of the ruins,
there are some interesting ancient murals. I leave my group behind to let
them study the paintings, as for myself I examine the floor further.

The next part wasn't readable anymore, I could only read one sentence.

Have found an entry in the (not readable) I decided to explore (not readable) alone,
my colleagues protested.

I gulped. I had done the same. Nervously I looked around and grabbed Noel's Pokéball tighter.
„Is something wrong, Professor? You look pale.", a group member asked me,
with a worried expression on his face.
I shook my head „No, it's all right. Let's move on." The worried expression remained on his
face, then he turned around and we walked deeper into the old Castle.
As we went deeper into the ruins it got darker and darker, the air was stuffy and it was
very hard to breath. However the worst was this creepy feeling I had since we entered the ruins.
Somehow I felt like being watched. I kept saying to myself, that the Ghost Pokemon were
probably watching us secretly and thus created the feeling of being watched.
Nevertheless I released Noel from her Pokéball, maybe I would feel better if she was near me.
At first she looked a bit confused then she started looking around, I was afraid she might start freaking out again but she didn't. Instead she smiled at me and gave an approving cry.
Even though she acted happy, I knew she was still scared.

When we reached the next floor we could hardly see anything. Gladly our Pokémon knew
Flash and we were able to illuminate a part of the floor.
On the walls were old murals, showing people and Pokémon of ancient times.
I told my colleagues to study those paintings – maybe there were secret rooms
in this castle and the murals would show us how to find them.
„Study those murals carefully, Professor Figs and his team probably did, too and found
a secret room or something like that." The archeologists started to analyze the wall paintings
and I decided to explore this floor further.

When my colleagues were out of my sight I started hearing strange noises, it was
like whispering and I didn't feel quite well. It was like the feeling you have when you
enter an empty dark room, you know there's nothing there, but you still feel something there,
something not natural and your mind screams at you to get out of here.
I tried to calm myself
„The noises are the voices of your colleagues and their Pokémon.
Nothing to worry about. Or it's just some Yamask, you know they cry sometimes,
when they look at the mask they hold. Nothing to worry about."
As I continued walking the noises got louder.
I nearly cringed in fear when I heard the noises, a scared cry emerged from Noel and she hid behind my leg. Suddenly the noises stopped and I used the silent moment to calm down.
„Cancel the first theory, the noises don't come from your colleagues. So it's the Yamask.
Case solved and now we can move on, right Noel?" Carefully the Krokorok stepped forward,
looked around and sniffed the air. Then she shook her head, grabbed my hand and tried to lead
me back to my colleagues.
Sighing I looked at Noel „You're worried, right?" Noel nodded. „I'm worried, too, but
when we stay together there is nothing to worry about, nothing can harm us as long as we stay together and even if we get seperated-" Noel started hugging me tightly, I stroked her head gently
„I still be with you and you'll be with me. So don't be afraid, Noel."

We continued to walk around, the noise was still there, but it didn't bother us like before.
Suddenly I felt the ground give in. Quicksand. Panic-stricken I tried to hold onto the solid ground,
but the sand kept slipping between my fingers. Noel tried the same, but without effort.
My hands and my face were sweaty, the salty water and the sand burned in my eyes.
It didn't take long and half of my body was swallowed by the sand, Noel had it worse then me,
her body was completely engulfed, only her head was visible.
I took deep breaths and stopped moving, I thought about a way to get out of this quicksand
before it would engulfed us and we would suffocate.
If we didn't move and called for help, the others would rescue us.
I opened my mouth, however, before I got the chance to call for them a horde of Yamask came flying towards us, I screamed and shielded my face with my arms.
When the Pokémon didn't attack us I slowly put down my arms and saw them flying over us in the direction of my colleagues. A cold aura was emitting from them and their normally sad eyes looked rather furious. I started to worry about the others until a cry from Noel reminded me of our situation. Our colleagues couldn't help us now, so I had to think about another way to escape the quicksand. Slowly an idea was forming in my mind, it was dangerous, but it was our only chance to escape the quicksand. There probably was a room below us, if Noel used Dig we could escape the quicksand and look for a way to climb up to this floor here again. But if it was just a small cavity, the quicksand would kill us. In the distance I heard the cries of humans and Pokémon, my heart started beating faster. „Noel, I have an idea how to get out of here. Can you still move?"
Noel nodded and freed her arms. „Noel, use Dig!"
I grabbed onto her as she used the move, I took a deep breath and let the sand swallow me.

Darkness surrounds me. „Noel?", I whisper, only faint rays of light illuminated the place,
suddenly I hear a familiar cry. „Noel!" The Krokorok is sitting next to me and rubbing her eyes.
The sand had gotten in her eyes and she was trying to clean them.
I rummaged in my bag and took out a flashlight. I turned the light on and looked around with it.
We were stuck on a floor that wasn't known yet, I stood up and started studying the floor.
„Maybe the archeologists discovered a passage to this floor or they fe-"
A loud sorrowful cry errupted, a Sigilyph came flying towards me, ready to attack.
I screamed and wanted to run away, but Noel leaped in front of me and attacked the Pokémon.
Beaten the Sigilyph flew away, I took a deep breath „Thank you, Noel."
Then we started looking for a way to climb back up, like a stair or something similar.
Instead we found another piece of paper, I picked it up and examined it carefully,
it was dated three days later than the last entry we found.
The writing was very hard to read, but nonetheless I tried to decipher the text.

July 29th 19...

I have been walking around this floor for three days now,
there is no way to get out of here, for hours I tried searching for
a secret passage... I found nothing but a little room.

There could be a secret passage but there is something dangerous in there...
It also seems like the sorrowful crying comes directly from that dark room.
The Yamask and Sigilyphs avoid that room at all costs and even my
beloved Beheeyem refuses to enter this room.

However, the room is the only place where I haven't looked for a staircase
or a passage yet. My mind is telling me not to enter the room, but I have
no other choice...

Prof. Cougar Figs

I sat down in shock, there was no way to get back up and considering
the entry there was no way for my group members to get down here.
I tried to think about a way to get out of here, but no idea formed in my mind.
I cursed loudly and buried my face in my hands, then I read through the entry once more.

„Of course! The room!" The light of hope was shining again. „The Professor said
there could be a secret passage or even a staircase." Noel gave a dissapproving cry
„Are you worried about the dangerous thing inside that room? That's probably just a
Pokémon, the Professor was nearly at the end of his tether, maybe he feared the
Pokémon was too strong. But I bet we can defeat it and get out of here, right Noel?"
The Krokorok didn't answer, but followed me when I started looking for the room.

It didn't take long until I found it, I stood in front of a small gate, the inside of the room
was dark I enlit the room with the flashlight, what I saw shocked me and I nearly dropped
the torch. The ground was covered with skeletons of various Pokémon, Noel cried loudly
and clinged to my leg. From the backside of the room I could hear soft crying.

My mind kept telling me, that there was something very wrong here and I should run away as
fast as possible, but a part of me felt sorry for the poor creature that was crying there.
„Wait here for me Noel, I'll be right back and if I'm in trouble I will call for you.", I said to my Krokorok and carefully stepped inside the room.
Bones cracked under my feet and sent a queasy feeling down my spine, I looked
around I didn't see anyone crying, but at the backside of the room stood a beautiful sacrophagus.
„Unbelievable...", I whispered and walked up to it.
It was made out of gold and in an excellent state. Carefully I touched the surface,
the metal felt cold under my hands. Suddenly I heard faint chuckling, I looked up
into glaring red eyes. I screamed and tried to get away from the monster, but it opened it's
front and dark hands grabbed me and pulled me inside.
The last thing I saw was Noel trying to grab me, fear and despair was written over her face
and then the doors closed...
Loud noises and laughter but my dreaming to an end, I don't want to dream that
strange dream anymore, it makes me feel so lonely...
Who is this man in my dreams? It couldn't be me, could it? And the Krokorok...
Had the skeleton next to me been that Pokémon? Did I feel so lonely because
it had died? Still I didn't remember having such a Pokémon as a friend...
Maybe it was just the loneliness which made me lose my mind.

The laughter gets louder... Please come here, I don't want to be alone anymore.
Someone, please come to me, it tears my heart apart. Every single day I'm stuck
in this dark room... Have mercy on me and free me from my loneliness...
I don't want to alone anymore!

A young boy with a little Tepig walks into my room, I hold my breath, finally someone
had come. Anxiously I wait for him to reach me, when he touches my surface I sigh faintly
and open my eyes. The boy stares at them in shock, he screams, but I ignore it.
I open my front and grab him with my hands, pulling the struggeling boy inside.
He cries for his Tepig, I can't hear his screams, all I can think about his the fact,
that I wouldn't be alone anymore... I'm not alone anymore...

The little Tepig stares panic-stricken at its trainer being swallowed by the sacrophagus,
it shoots flames at the Monster, but without effort. Tears formed in its eyes as it has to
watch the horrible scene and feeling the dreams its Trainer and it shared shatter to pieces.
Finally the doors close. The Tepig is still in shock but then it remembers its trainer told
it he would be right back, he surely would find a way to escape from that monster.

Reassured by the naive hope it sits down next to the Cofagrigus and waits for its trainer to return...