Alex stood before the rusted metal plate, the beam of his flashlight flickering slightly as his thumb brushed the Low Battery warning.
"ok, logic check," Alex muttered, tracing the jagged weld marks on the door.
"The map says this sector is uncharted and the fence says 'Do Not Enter'. So why is there a Team Rocket door stuck to a thousand-year-old temple?"
He tapped the metal with the hilt of his knife. Clang...dull thud.
"It's old buddy," Alex deduced. "Look at the rust. That's at least five, maybe ten years of oxidation and the welds.... they're sloppy, panically made welds."
He stepped back, piecing together the ghost story.
"This was a forward expedition, squads sent out to map the island before the base was fully established. They found this place, they found something inside, and they realized they couldn't handle it."
He looked at the "BIOLOGICAL HAZARD" warning again.
"They didn't seal it to keep people out," Alex whispered, a chill running down his spine that had nothing to do with the damp air. "They sealed it to keep something in."
He looked at his team.
Nidorino was pacing, the spines on his back bristling and Duskull was bobbing up and down enthusiastically, clearly hoping for something akin of a massacre. Skorupi was trying to eat a piece of moss growing on the doorframe.
"We're idiots," Alex concluded. "We are absolutely going to open this."
"Nidorino, the hinges.....melt them."
Nidorino looked at the door, It looked at Alex. It let out a long, suffering sigh, the kind a dog gives when you fake-throw a ball and stepped forward.
"Poison Jab," Alex ordered. "But slow, let the acid work."
Nidorino lowered its head. Its horn began to glow with a thick, bubbling purple sludge. It didn't strike hard; it pressed the tip of the horn against the rusted upper hinge.
The corrosive poison ate through the weakened metal in seconds.
Snap...
The upper hinge gave way, heavy steel plate groaned, tilting precariously on the bottom hinge.
"One more," Alex directed, covering his nose with his sleeve.
Nidorino repeated the process on the bottom.
CRASH....
The heavy plate fell inward, slamming onto the stone floor with a deafening clang that echoed into the darkness below.
Alex coughed, waving his hand. "Duskull, go in. If you don't die, we follow."
The Ghost Pokémon floated into the breach. It spun around in a circle, its red eye glowing brightly in the gloom, It waved a spectral hand. Come on in, the water's fine.
"I hate ghosts," Alex muttered. "They have no sense of self-preservation."
He stepped over the fallen door, the room beyond wasn't a temple.
It was a massacre site or rather, the aftermath of one.
It was a small antechamber, maybe a preparation room for the main temple. But the stone floor was littered with debris that didn't belong to the ancients.
Rotted wooden crates, shattered plastic cases and a rusted tripod that looked like it once held a surveyor's laser.
And in the corner, a pile of grey fabric that looked suspiciously like uniforms.
Alex approached the pile cautiously, poking it with his knife.
There were no bodies....ants, fungi microorganisms had eaten the body remains years ago. Only the synthetic fibers of the Rocket uniforms remained, along with the metal buckles and boot soles.
"Three of them," Alex counted the boots. "Squad 4.....huh....the lost patrol."
He crouched down, he was looking for why.
He found a plastic clipboard, cracked down the middle and the paper inside had rotted to mush, but a laminated map tucked behind it was still intact.
He pulled it out, wiping the dirt away.
It was a hand-drawn map of the ruins. The central chamber was circled in red marker, with a single word scribbled next to it in frantic, jagged handwriting:
HIVE...
"Hive," Alex read. "Not a legendary, not a ghost..... A freaking Hive."
He looked at the "Biohazard" sign in his mind.
"Bugs," Alex realized. "Or.... Beedrills? No, Beedrills don't live in stone temples."
He looked at Skorupi, the little bug was sniffing the air with intense interest.
"Whatever was here," Alex deduced, "Rocket tried to capture it but It woke up and killed them and the survivors welded the door and ran, probably dying before they made it back to the beach."
Which meant the base commander wrote off the sector as "Uncharted" to cover up the failure.
"Standard corporate maneuver," Alex scoffed. "If you can't conquer it, pretend it doesn't exist."
He stood up. "Okay... the Hive is likely dormant or dead. Insects don't live ten years without food unless they hibernate."
He scanned the room for loot, the dead men wouldn't need it.
He found a Flashlight, heavy duty, rusted but maybe salvageable but shook it.... trash, but still gonna take it.
He found a Combat Knife, better quality than his kitchen knife so he swapped them instantly.
And then, he saw the case.
It was a silver briefcase, dented and lying half-under a pile of rubble, It was locked.
"Nidorino," Alex pointed. "Can you...."
Crunch.......
Nidorino bit the handle off and the lock snapped, Alex pried it open.
Inside, cushioned by rotting foam, were three slots. Two were empty and the third held a glass vial containing a swirling, silver liquid.
[ Item: X-Accuracy ]
[ Grade: Military ]
[ Effect: Temporarily heightens Pokémon focus and precision ]
"Combat drugs," Alex muttered.
"Rocket staples."
It wasn't a treasure or anything, but it was useful, especially for his Pokemon with Hustle or Sniper.
He pocketed the vial.
"Is that it?" Alex looked around, disappointed. "Three dead guys and a bottle of paracetamol copy?"
He looked deeper into the room, a dark archway led to the Hive chamber.
Skorupi was chittering at the archway. It wasn't scared, It was.....respectful?
"Let's look," Alex said.
"Just a tiny eeny-peek."
They walked to the archway. Alex shone his light into the main hall.
It was massive, the ceiling was lost in shadow and the walls.....the walls were alive.
Not literally but they were covered in something that glinted in the flashlight beam.
Hundreds of hexagonal cells were plastered to the walls, made of hardened, golden amber. They looked like honeycomb, but made of stone and resin, most were broken and empty.
But in the center of the room, hanging from the ceiling by thick, fossilized cables of silk, was a massive, crystallized cocoon.
It was dead silent....
[ Object: Ancient Cocoon ]
[ Status: Fossilized / Dormant ]
[ Species: Volcarona (Ancient Variant?)]
Alex felt a drop of sweat roll down his neck inside the mask.
"It's a fucking tomb," Alex realized. "The Hive died out and the Queen... fossilized herself to survive."
Rocket had woken up the guardians, likely the soldiers ten years ago and they died. The guardians eventually starved and the Queen slept on.
"We leave it," Alex whispered instantly. "We absolutely do not wake up that thing."
He wasn't stupid, that thing was a Raid Boss, may even higher than level 70 and all he had was pokemon of less than Level 20.
"But..."
He looked at the floor beneath the cocoon.
There was a glitter....not gold nor amber.
A shard of shell, dropped from the cocoon ages ago.
Alex crept forward, keeping his light trained on the sleeping monolith above, he snatched the shard from the dust. It was heavy, warm, and pulsed with a faint, rhythmic heat.
[ Item: Volcarona shard(Ancient) ]
[ Quality: Legendary ]
[ Note: Scales from a Volcarona, heavily boosts Bug-type moves ]
"Jackpot," Alex mouthed and backed away slowly.
"Okay," he whispered to his team. "We came and looted, now we get the fuck out of here before the zombie apocalypse starts."
They retreated through the antechamber, stepping over the remains of Squad 4, he silently prayed to Jesus for their souls, even though he didn't know whether Jesus would hear here.
As they stepped back out into the jungle sunlight, Alex took a deep breath for stabilizing his heart rate.
"Well," Alex said, leaning against the Nidorino's flank. "That was terrifying. I rate it 2 out of 5 stars, would not recommend to friends....fuck "
He looked at the shard in his hand, It shimmered in the sunlight.
"Skorupi," Alex called.
The bug trotted over, looking disappointed they didn't fight the giant rock-cocoon.
"This is for you," Alex said. "We grind it down and coat your claws or we mix it with your food."
"You're going to hit like a truck."
"Let's go find a place to camp that isn't a haunted bug cemetery."
Alex put on his MP3 player and relaxed.....
I ain't got no motherfuckin' friends (sucka-ass)
That's why I fucked yo' bitch, you fat motherfucker
West side, Bad Boy killers (take money, take money)
You know who the realest is, niggas, we bring it to you (take money)
That's aight
:- Tupac
Authors Note:-
Well... How was the chap... Tomb raiding.
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Let's go for a training montage next chapter....
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