Pokemon Alternate Universe Adventures

The final thing that stood out was that similar to the previous set of steps, this area also had a set of steps that did not exist in the games. It led to the final part of this platform, which was actually at the highest (height) level of the main chamber. The only way to reach this area in the games was to climb up a ladder that could be reached by entering a chamber/room that one could enter from an entrance at the lowest part/floor of the main chamber.

The entrance to that chamber still existed in reality, as did the ladder and the corresponding hole at the uppermost platform, but their location was a bit different since setting up a 50 to 60-meter tall ladder that did not have any kind of support other than at the start and the end was not the best idea. Instead, the ladder was set up along the chamber/room's wall, which was why the hole on the platform was beside the wall and not close to the center.

Some would say that the ladder was unnecessary if one could simply walk up the steps instead, but it served as a shortcut from the lower chamber to the main chamber and the upper chamber/room entrance as well as the other way around. Still, setting up ladders like that meant that they had to be periodically checked upon and maintained. On one hand, despite them being made from a very durable material, wild Pokemon still occasionally attacked them even with the steps taken to keep them away, so checkups were necessary.

On the other hand, the solutions applied to the ladders which was what caused most wild Pokemon to avoid them had a time limit, so that had to be reapplied as well. The solution was rather important since it was the biggest contributor to the safety of those climbing up and down the ladder, though if one was unlucky enough one could still get attacked by an irritated wild Pokemon. The likelihood of that was just much much lower than it would have been without the solution.

Anyway, aside from that ladder, the uppermost platform also had the third crater of the main chamber. While I ignored the ladder since I still had to finish exploring the main space first, I did check out the crater to see if I would end up finding anything interesting this time around as well; A Solrock maybe. Sadly, that little joke ended up being all the mirth I ended up feeling connected to the crater. The only thing there was a trio of Graveler surrounded by a bunch of Geodude.

That was literally it; Other than those, not even a Diglett or Sandshrew could be found. Not surprising since the Graveler tried to shoo us away as well, though they became really quiet when Nyx flexed her might. Still, their behavior made it quite apparent that the Graveler had claimed the crater and had most likely driven everyone else away, which while nice for them was a bit boring for me.

At least they did not go full-on Freezer on everyone, so there were still other Pokemon on the platform outside the crater, though none stood out from those I had seen before until I spotted a bunch of Paras at the edge of the platform close to the entrance to the upper chamber. That had me wonder if the Paras had spread to this side from there, or if they had simply ambled up until they came here.

I would get a better idea once I had finished my exploration of the main space and began checking out the lower and upper chambers/rooms. Depending on where I spotted some more Paras, I would know from where they had probably entered the cave system. Still, aside from those Paras, it was just more members of the Diglett, Sandshrew, and Zubat lines.

Well, now that we were done with this platform, we had officially explored half of the main space, excluding the stream/waterfall parts, so there was that. Actually, I just remembered that there were still two little areas I had not visited yet since those could only be reached by crossing the water or jumping down a few meters since there were no available steps leading there.

One of them I could see from here since it was right on the other side of the stream. Since I did not want to leave any gaps in my exploration, I grabbed Nyx/Umbreon, who let out a startled "What gives", and told Thor/Raichu to follow me as I jumped down to the platform below, before jogging towards the stream and then right across it using some aura manipulation. Thor was right beside me, though he was surfing across the water instead of running.

It took us only a few seconds to make it to the little platform on the other side, and we actually saw some Marill who waved at/greeted us happily. I directly assumed that they belonged to the group living in the Marill Chamber since the hidden space was on this level as well and connected to the stream through that underwater channel. There was also the possibility that they were simply being friendly, but when they came over and asked for snacks I knew that they knew me.

I did not mind handing out some snacks, so I gave the five Marill the snacks they wanted after I let Nyx down since she had begun to (lightly) nibble on my arm to tell me to let her down already. Once I had let Nyx down and given the Marill their snacks, I let my gaze drift across the platform to see if I would be able to spot anything interesting, and I actually saw something that caught my attention.

There, at the edge of the little platform closest to the highest waterfall, were two Tyrogue sitting in a mediative pose staring intently at the waterfall. One of the Marill noticed my gaze and helpfully supplied that there were occasionally Tyrogue, Machop, and some others who tried to use the waterfall for training and that those who failed to endure the force any longer, or at all, ended up getting washed up here.

Marill also added that sometimes some unlucky ones ended up missing their little platform and got washed down the wide waterfall beside us. I would have believed that it felt bad for them if Marill had not snickered when it shared that bit. I saw the shoulders of the left Tyrogue twitch when Marill snickered, but other than that neither Tyrogue stopped staring at the waterfall.

Seeing them focused like that, I did not go up to them but sneakily extended some of my psionic energy towards them and lightly brushed them with it so that I could check their potential. Unfortunately, their potential was rather mediocre, with one having deep orange and the other having yellow potential, so I let them continue their staring contest with the waterfall and let my gaze wander around the area again.

The only other Pokemon around were a few Zubat that hung off the wall and ceiling, so I swiftly lost interest. One detail I noticed was that I actually could go to the second unchecked area from this place by jumping down a few meters, which would save me the detour, so I said my goodbyes to the Marill, called for Thor and Nyx's attention before jumping down the left edge to the even smaller platform below. It was just about 4 meters, so I did not even bother slowing my fall.

Nyx and Thor landed right after me, and together we took up more than half of the small platform, so I was a bit surprised when I suddenly got attacked from behind. I still noticed it due to my advanced senses and easily dodged the Mud-Slap, but neither of my Pokemon appreciated the attack to the back. Their aggressive stance deflated quite a bit when we turned around and saw the Diglett glare at me, and they began laughing when Diglett yelled at me, telling me off for nearly squashing it during my landing.

One had to respect the little guy for daring to yell at me given my company, but I honestly did not want to deal with that, so I just said sorry before jumping down the edge again. This time around I landed at the area I was heading to in the first place, and a few moments later a laughing Nyx and Thor landed beside me. They shared that Diglett had begun cussing after I jumped, calling me a coward and shouting for me to come fight it one one-on-one if I dared. I honestly felt the urge to jump back up again when I heard that, but I stifled that and took a deep breath before breathing out slowly.

After I chose to be the bigger man, I ignored the laughing duo, my chuckling shadow as well as my snickering hat, and began to check out the alcove we had landed on, though there was not much to see since the only Pokemon I saw, at least one that was still alive, was a Nosepass. It was resting in the right corner, and I actually saw a dead-as-doornail Aron beside it. I could tell that the deceased Aron's body was noticeably bigger than usual even though it was incomplete, and I had the suspicion that the culprit of that was the only living Pokemon around.

Granted, I was sure the reason that Aron was around Nosepass in the first place was because it thought Nosepass would make a tasty snack. Still, given the current location, it being cut off from all conventional dry paths and close to water, I could not help but wonder why they were here in the first place. The easiest way to find out was to ask, so I did just that. I naturally blanketed it with my aura before I approached it, and Nosepass was happy to share the story with us.

Apparently, they had been on the entrance area's second platform, but Nosepass and Aron ended up falling over the edge during their battle due to the interference of a bunch of Paras. When it said that, I could not help but think of the two Paras I saw there, but Nosepass said that happened two weeks ago, so I was not sure if it was the same Paras or not.

Anyway, Aron's falling speed was faster than that of Nosepass, which meant that it was heavier. I attributed that to its larger-than-usual size and the possibility of it having Heavy Metal as its ability. Either way, it landed before Nosepass, who ended up landing on Aron. That turned out lucky for Nosepass since it caused a crack in Aron's skull, which allowed it to take Aron down before it could continue to attack it.

It has been here since then and kept attracting pieces of Aron over whenever it felt hungry. I knew that Nosepass usually did not move much if they did not have to, but to not bother leaving this place after two weeks seemed a bit much so I thought that maybe it had difficulties leaving. When I offered to help it up, Nosepass actually refused.

Apparently, it liked the fact that nearly no one aside from the occasional Marill bothered it here so it planned to stick around until it was done consuming the Aron body. I was honestly surprised to hear that Nosepass was probably good for another month or so, but Nosepass explained that Aron's iron/steel was quite a bit more filling than regular minerals, which made sense.

Not finding anything else of interest, I bid Nosepass farewell before telling Nyx and Thor that we were leaving. Just as I was about to jump up to the entrance platform, I remembered that I had not bothered checking Nosepass' status sheet, so I quickly did that. I saw that it had deep yellow potential, which could go up to green if left to Utopia, so I briefly considered capturing it, but I decided against it after remembering his rather lazy tone/attitude.

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