Chapter 62

Unlike typical Gravelers who spent most of their time rolling down mountain sides, Doria's Graveler preferred staying underground and making a complex maze of tunnels down there. Since she spent so much time underground, Graveler became a pro at telling who was approaching from the different vibrations on the surface when someone walked by.

Feeling the familiar vibration of her trainer's favorite little boy, Graveler was both ecstatic and incredibly heart broken. She was happy to see the little boy she used to play with often but wished that it were not under these circumstances! Making her way over, Graveler popped out of the ground greeted by a sight that broke her heart. The little boy who once only and a wide smile on his face with laughter that could put angels to shame now had a frown so deep, she didn't know if it would ever turn upright again, and eyes so puffy, his beautiful white irises were nowhere to be seen!

"W-what happened? W-where did everyone go? W-what about my mommy!?"

Hearing the boy's questions, Graveler thought about how best to answer him. If she was too blunt, she didn't know how the boy would take it but if she avoided the questions, she didn't know what the boy would do to find out the answers. Sighing, Graveler decided that honesty was the best policy. "Some men in black uniform came and stormed the house. Doria was able to reach us and we fought them off as best we could but…they brought a monster. It was something I had never seen before. I think I heard some of the men call it, Mewtwo. Knowing she couldn't win, Doria ordered me to stay behind knowing you would be returning soon. Then, she took Arcanine, Butterfree and Fearow and disappeared towards the west. I've been waiting her ever since. This all happened two days ago."

Hearing Graveler's words, Jax fell down into a deep abyss of self-loathing. While his mother was busy fighting for her life, he was busy playing games with his teacher! 'Hateful! Hateful! Hateful! Why am I becoming stronger!? What's the point of being the world's strongest trainer!? All of it was to protect my family!"

Blaming his idiocy, Jax beat himself up physically and mentally. The pokemons around him tried to stop but he just ended up hurting himself on their rough exteriors. Finally, Metsys came over and placed a finger on Jax's forehead causing him to stiffen then fall down onto the ground. "Don't worry, I've only put him to sleep. Jax would have really hurt himself if he kept going."

Although the system, Metsys, seemed cool and aloof on the outside, she had spent every waking moment by Jax's side even as a baby. Although Jax was too young to notice her presence, she had always been there watching the outside world through his eyes. Although not her biological mother, Doria had accepted her, fed her, clothed her, and even joked with her from time to time. Without a daughter, Doria treated Metsys like her own flesh and blood. Now that that wonderful woman was gone and her current state unknown, Metsys was extremely mad! "Ding! Protocol 01 activated! System, Metsys, requires Host's permission. Initializing…Initializing…System, Metsys, has deemed host unconscious. System, Metsys, overriding host's permission requirement. Override complete…Protocol 01 activated. Unlocking Host's hidden functions: Quest Function, Store Function, Map function."

Using up too much energy to override Jax's permission, Metsys began to fall down and turned into a silver ring with orange décor around the whole thing. Shocked that the girl who was just standing there as second ago was now a ring, the three pokemon looked at each other before Graveler picked up both the ring and Jax and brought them underground. Walking through the maze-like tunnels, Graveler reached the place where she stayed most of the time. While Vioarr and Teritus laid by either side of Jax, Graveler was busy digging her way towards the academy.

After a whole day had passed, Jax woke up and saw that the ground was above him? Sitting up, he looked around and noticed that there was dirt all around him. Figuring how that he was underground, Jax began to recount the last thing he remembered to try and see why he was currently there. As the memories came back, Jax started tearing up again. Hearing their trainer's quiet sobs, Vioarr and Teritus woke up and tried to comfort him to no avail.

Finally calming down, Jax looked around for Metsys since he hadn't seen her for a while. Even if his situation was bad, Jax didn't forget to care for those around him. Feeding Vioarr and Teritus, Jax walked through some tunnels to see if the little girl had gone off exploring. Finding no trace of her, Jax decided to ask if his pokemon had seen her anywhere.

"Hey, have you guys seen Metsys? I bet she's probably hungry by now. I don't know how long I was sleeping for but if my stomach is gurgling, hers is probably even worse."

Looking at each other, they both looked towards a rock structure that looked very much like a table. Following their gaze, Jax didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Walking closer to the table, only then did he notice that a silver ring with orange flame like patterns across its surface was sitting on it. Picking it up and turning it over, Jax couldn't figure out where the ring had come from. Trying to see if it had any hidden mechanisms, he then started to shake the thing to see if anything clicked into place.

"Ahhh! Stop! You're making me dizzy!"

Startled, Jax dropped the ring and it started bouncing away. "Stupid! Why did you drop me!? Come pick me up!"

Not believing his ears, Jax caustiously proceeded towards the ring and picked it back up. Although he was startled at first, the voice was all too familiar for him. "Metsys? Is that you? What happened? Why do you look like this?"

Telling Jax about what she had done, Metsys confirmed that she had used up too much energy and would be stuck in this form for some time. If she tried really hard, she could probably turn into her human form once a day for up to two hours. Hearing that she had forcibly unlocked some hidden functions he knew nothing about, Jax took a look at his status.

Exactly as Metsys had said, his status window now showed a Quest Function, Store Function and even a minimap that he could toggle on and off with different settings. Finding the function the most useful right now, Jax toggled it on and changed it to show only the maze structure he was in right now. With nothing else to do, Jax messed around with the Map function some more.