EPISODE 66: The King and Queen of the Mountain!

Welcome to route seventeen! A route filled with jagged rocks and high mountains. It has long cave systems running up to fifteen kilometers deep. The Route is also abundant with rock and ground type Pokemons. There are a lot of babbling brooks and small rivers. There are trees, but they are old and barren. This route experiences drought throughout the year just like in Silvent Desert.

Glade now has a new member in his Pokemon team! Rufflet or the eaglet Pokemon decided to join Glade after helping him learn how to fly. Now that we are on route seventeen, what lies ahead is still unknown. Are there turfs just like the Mightyena turf? This time, we'll be careful for sure!

We decided to rest near a cliff before continuing our hike through the mountain. This was the perfect opportunity for Camellia to use her PSD or the Pokemon Seismic Detector to scan different kinds of seismic activities below the mountain.

"Is it really necessary to scan Seismic waves?" I queried in boredom. I was just staring at the device since I was done eating.

"Of course! It is important for professors to gather Seismic waves! So... as a future professor, I will scan Seismic waves and gather data about them!" Camellia answered while setting up the PSD.

"How does that machinery work?" I queried while watching Camellia set up the PSD.

"Simple, all I have to do is to place this device on the ground, then the screen will show the seismic waves and the intensity of the waves," Camellia answered.

"Why not scan it next time... This is not the only mountain on Earth after all." Zhery teased while watching Camellia set up the PSD as well.

"Yeah, I agree. You can scan seismic waves anywhere right?" Glade uttered and agreed.

"It's better to collect Seismic waves on the mountain rather than fields and forests. So I say, this is the perfect time to scan Seismic Waves!" Camellia beamed with excitement and determination.

Using the remote, Camellia turned on the PSD. Small zigzags started to appear on the screen of the Pokemon Seismic Device.

"What are those Zigzags?" I queried in confusion.

"Those Zigzags are the seismic waves, the bigger or taller the Seismic waves the more chance of triggering an Earthquake. The smaller or shorter the Seismic waves, the less chance of triggering an earthquake." Camellia explained.

"So... It looks like there's no earthquake then. So, can we go now?" Zhery pleaded.

"Wait... I still have to gather data about the seismic waves here." Camellia excused.

While Camellia was jotting down notes, I started to notice something. The zigzags were getting taller and bigger.

"Um, Camellia... Why are the zigzags growing taller?" I queried. Camellia looked at the device and was shocked as well.

"Oh no... It seems to me that there is an approaching Earthquake with a magnitude of 5.2!?" Camellia warned as the ground began to shake.

"Cling unto a rock!" Camellia instructed. The four of us were able to hold on a sturdy rock. The earthquake caused the dust to scatter around again, while large boulders fell down. Thankfully we were able to survive the Earthquake, while Camellia on the other hand, looked for data about the recent Earthquake on the PSD.

"Huh!? There's no epicenter!" Camellia uttered in shock.

"Epicenter!? What's that?" Glade queried.

"The place where the earthquake first occurred... There's no data about any fault line nor epicenter. So what could have caused the Earthquake!?" Camellia wondered in confusion.

"It must've been the work of Team Chaos!" Zhery hunched.

"Impossible, the earthquake is coming from the ground but the device is showing no signs of fault lines nor epicenters," Camellia explained while observing the PSD.

"Maybe a Pokemon caused it." I hunched.

"A Pokemon? If it was a Pokemon then it must be a ground or rock type, although there are Pokemons that can use the move Earthquake and Magnitude, it shouldn't reach Magnitude of 5.2! Or, If a Pokemon used the move Magnitude, then it would only affect the foe and not us!" Camellia explained.

"So... You're saying that there's a possibility that a Pokemon did it?"Glade reassured.

"Kalem is correct... There might be Pokemons underneath us, but those Pokemons are strong for sure since they could trigger an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.2!" Camellia uttered slowly.

"Then! Why don't we enter a cave system and find out which Pokemon caused the earthquake?" Zhery suggested.

"That would be a great idea! All we have to do is to find a cave..." Camellia agreed.

We found a cave on the west side of the mountain. It was dark and eerie, but we had flashlights. Riolu however was still scared of the dark. He shivered in fear while clinging on my shoulder.

"Seriously Riolu? You're scared of the dark again?" I queried sarcastically.

"Of course I am! I hate dark caves, dark forests, and dark places!" Riolu explained while shivering with his eyes closed.

"Don't worry, I'm here to protect you." I comforted while tickling Riolu's neck. Riolu still shivered in fear. He didn't dare open his eyes. Mischievous Zorua on the other hand, pounced on Riolu to surprise him.

"BOO!!! hee hee..." Zorua smiled and teased. Riolu tightened his grip on my shoulder.

"What was that for Zorua!?" Riolu uttered with a shaking voice while his eyes were closed.

"Riolu's scared! Riolu's scared! Riolu is a scary Meowth!" Zorua teased and laughed sarcastically.

"Stop it! You're making me even more scared!" Riolu uttered with a shaking voice while shivering.

Camellia on the other hand, was holding the PSD to scan the source of the recent Earthquake. It serves as a map for professors and seismologists alike, when looking for the starting point or the source of an earthquake. The PSD would make a beeping sound, the faster the sound travels, the nearer we are, while the slower the sound travels, the farther we are.

"Hmm... It seems like we're getting closer to the source." Camellia uttered as the beeping sound coming from the device travels faster.

"But I thought you said that there was no epicenter," I recalled.

"Yes, but all earthquakes have a source. May it be Pokemons or humans." Camellia explained as the beeping sound traveled faster.

Riolu's shivers are tickling me again just like when we were at the forest to rescue Corviknight.

Camellia's PSD all had a radar which scans all the heat signatures nearby, when there's a heat signature... That's means something or someone has been here before, something or someone is here, or something or someone is hiding somewhere or lurking around the area with the targeted heat signature.

The PSD's beeping sound traveled faster than any before, the device also buzzed meaning that the source has been found!

"It seems to me, that this is the spot where the earthquake occurred, there are also heat signatures below this area," Camellia reported.

"Heat signatures? How many?" Glade queried.

"Dozens! Maybe even thousands! They're below us..." Camellia uttered.

"So, Pokemons were the reason behind all of this." I concurred.

"Yes, but... the question is... how are they below us?" Camellia wondered while observing the ground.

Camellia slowly stepped closer to the source, but as she stepped... the ground began to crack.

"Camellia, the ground is cracking..." I warned. Camellia looked on the ground and saw the cracks she made while walking closer. This made Camellia shiver and frozen in fear.

"Don't make another move... The whole floor might crack into pieces!" Zhery warned and extended her hand to grab Camellia.

"Grab Zhery's hand Camellia!" I instructed. Slowly by slowly Camellia extended her arm, her hand was about to touch Camellia's hand when all of a sudden, the floor started to crack and crumble. Below the cracking floor was a deep pit.

"Ahhhhh!" Camellia screamed as her hand missed Zhery's hand. I tried to grab Camellia but I couldn't.

"Gardevoir! Use Psychic and bring Camellia down safely!" I quickly sent out Gardevoir to use her new attack called Psychic. Psychic is an attack that allows the Pokemon to control or move the body or object. Gardevoir's eyes turned purple as she lowered Camellia down to the pit safely. With Gardevoir's help, we were also able to make it down safe and sound.

"Camellia are you alright?" I queried once I reached the bottom of the pit together with Glade and Zhery thanks to Gardevoir.

"Yeah... Thanks Gardevoir!" Camellia smiled and tickled Gardevoir's neck. We looked around and figured that the pit wasn't just any ordinary pit, it was a large cavern.

It had ancient writings, that I nor Zhery and Glade couldn't understand. Camellia said that she could read the ancient writings since her mother thought her how.

"Praise ye be upon king?" Camellia uttered slowly as she translated the ancient text.

"Wait? A king!? You mean King Fredhart the first?" I reassured.

"No... King Fredhart may be the first King of this region 50 years ago but these scriptures look 100 years old to me. Is it possible, that there could be a kingdom laying somewhere around here?" Camellia hunched.

King Fredhart was the first king of this region, but that's a chapter for another time.

"I've heard theories about Pokemon Kingdoms in this route," Zhery recalled the theories her mother used to tell her.

"Me too, I thought they were all myths!" Camellia uttered with shock as she continued to read the ancient writings.

"Praise ye be upon the king and queen of Niatnuom." Camellia continued to translated.

"Niatnuom? Is that their kingdom's name?" Glade wondered.

"No... Niatnuom means mountain in English... Meaning Praise ye be upon the king and queen of the mountain. Back then, there was no word as 'the'. Meaning if we arrange the sentence it would be: Praise be upon the king and queen of the mountains." Camellia uttered.

"Maybe that's the reason why an earthquake occurred. Could a king and queen be living here?" Zhery queried.

Camellia took pictures of the ancient writings using her room phone. In the writings, we saw men somewhat kneeling to two pokemons.

"During the old era, people used to serve Pokemon. But what Pokemon were they serving?" Camellia uttered and wondered as she observed the drawings.

They were praising two Pokemons, wherein one of them had a thorn on its head and had a long tail. The other one had a horn as well but shorter than the other one.

"People used to worship the king and queen of the mountains, but an earthquake happened one hundred years ago which sent their kingdom underneath the mountain. Only the king and queen survived the fall. That was according to my mother's theory." Zhery explained.

"You might be right, after all... there are human skulls everywhere." Camellia agreed. Riolu closed his eyes again and shivered with fear.

"Riolu! That was just a joke. There are no human skulls." I comforted even though Camellia was correct.

"I don't believe you Kalem, you're always teasing me," Riolu answered with a shaky voice as he covered his eyes with his hands.

While we looked around the cavern, we saw an old and eroded stone door. I asked Riolu to use force palm on the door but he was too scared to attack.

"Don't worry Kalem! I'll handle this!" Gardevoir volunteered and broke the door with her shadow ball attack.

The door led to a large corridor filled with numerous tall cylinders holding the corridor up. There was nothing much inside except for those cylinders.

The corridor was an altar for their so-called king and queen of the mountains.

"This is incredible! No one has ever been here for!" Camellia smiled and leaped with excitement as she pictured the corridor with her room phone.

"Woah, who could have thought that a kingdom would be resting here..." Glade uttered.

"So mother's theory is correct, the kingdom sank down because of an Earthquake," Zhery uttered.

Riolu was still scared and didn't dare to open his eyes. I on the other hand was in awe with the tall structures.

"I have to tell professor Bellice about this!" Camellia beamed with joy.

We went closer to the throne, it was made out of pure gold and pure rubies. This must be the place where the people of the old era served their king and queen, but the question is... Could the king and queen still be alive?

The floor was filled with sand, and the ceilings were made out of sandstone. The four of us walked closer and closer, on the throne, was an illustration of the sun, with six Pokemons surrounding it.

"Xis Sthgink fo Eht Enorht" Camellia read the ancient writings.

"What does that mean Camellia?" Zhery was eager to know what was written and illustrated on the throne.

"Six... Knights... Of... The... Throne..." Camellia translated slowly as she tried to understand what that meant. Camellia was about to touch the throne until we heard a Pokemon roaring in anger.

From the ceiling, two Pokemons jumped down looking angry and fierce.

"You dare touch my throne!?" The Pokemon with a violet skin and a longhorn shouted.

"Wait... He can speak the language of humanity?" Zhery whispered slowly as the four of us were unable to move because of fear. Riolu's shivers were already irritating me. Riolu shivered harder than before.

"There's even a talking Meowth in the Kanto region... so I guess it's possible." Camellia hunched.

"We... accidentally fell down here, from the cavern." I explained with respect. It turns out that their king and queen was no other than Nidoking and Nidoqueen.

[Nidoking! The drill Pokemon! A Poison and ground type! NIDOKING's thick tail packs enormously destructive power. With one swing, it can topple a metal transmission tower. Once this POKéMON goes on a rampage, there is no stopping it.]

[Nidoqueen! The drill Pokemon! A poison and ground type. NIDOQUEEN's body is encased in extremely hard scales. It is adept at sending foes flying with harsh tackles. This POKéMON is at its strongest when it is defending its young.]

"Nidoking... Nidoqueen,, we accidentally came here. We're not here to conquer your kingdom anything. We won't steal anything as well. we promise." Camellia shivered and uttered with respect.

"My Kingdom? This isn't my kingdom. This Kingdom belongs to the six knights of the throne. Haha! You really believed that I was a king!?" Nidoking laughed hard.

"Impossible... but the scripture says that you were the king and Nidoqueen was the queen! It literally says on the cavern!" Camellia explained with confusion.

"It says Praise ye be upon king and queen of Niatnuom. It didn't say... Praise ye be upon Nidoking and Nidoqueen of Niatnuom." Nidoqueen debunked.

"B... But? There was an illustration of you and your husband!? Your names end with the word king and queen!" Camellia uttered with frustration and confusion.

"We are the guardians of the throne! Next time, read and translate the text carefully and don't simply assume." Nidoqueen quoted.

"But... You literally scolded us for touching your throne!" Camellia tried to prove her theories and research.

"Haha! That was just a joke! The four of you are kids! You can't conquer a kingdom! The truth is, the reason why an earthquake occurred was because me and Nidoqueen were bored. So we did a headbutt challenge! It turns out, I'm stronger than Nidoqueen." Nidoking explained.

"All this time, I thought I had the skills of a professor..." Camellia uttered and knelt down with disappointment.

"If you're not the king... then who is?" Zhery queried.

"That... I must not tell, I'm sorry, but! Since all of you are here, why don't you stay and play with us for a bit." Nidoqeen uttered.

"The king? Why can't we know?" Glade queried.

"Oh... You'll know someday, you'll know... For once the morning flower decays then that will be the time the king shall rise!" Nidoking warned.

For the rest of the day, we accompanied the friendly Nidoking and Nidoqueen. We played around the corridor together.

Nidoking and Nidoqueen showed us a short cut to the Silvent Desert. We waved goodbye at the friendly couple. But what does Nidoking and Nidoqueen mean about "When the morning flower decays, then that's the time the king shall rise!"

Who is the real king and queen of the mountains? The chapter for another time!

As the journey continues