Fishermans Cache

The two insisted he sat on the bed with him, so he complied.

As they barraged him with questions, Noah couldn't help but smile a little, he had seen the look of fear on the two when he had just entered the room, but the two children seemed to gain immense courage upon seeing a familiar face.

Perhaps they felt that if Noah, a boy was almost two years their junior had the courage to come here alone, then what did they have to fear?

With patience unbefitting his body's age, Noah answered the barrage of questions calmly,

"What happened to you, did they beat you up?"

"Ah that, No, they didn't, and it's kind of a long story"

Another asked, "You know the rumors about Team Rocket don't you?"

Noah nodded in agreement, "Yes I know, but I think they are exaggerated."

Perhaps trying to convince himself, Mark nodded with conviction he seemingly just found, and spoke louder than needed, "I know! if they aren't forcing us, then it can't be so bad right?"

Ashley was next, " Why did you come? I remember you were so excited to join the army, I remember when you were little, you'd run around yelling that you would become a general."

Noah thought for a moment and then realized the previous Noah would often brag about joining the army and making a name for himself in battle.

Noah could only smile inwardly as he thought about how he had been in this world for not even a day, yet he was already reminiscing about the past, a past that didn't even belong to him. Not realizing the words that he then begins to speak are a bit too out of character for an eight-year-old, or the previous Noah, he said "I suppose things change, as life often does" his eyes begin to wander as if he were searching for something, "One minute you think you have your whole life planned out, but the next you realize that your future is already decided. Years passed before realizing that I had grown unable to continue running along the palm of whatever existence that decided things for me, and that's when I leapt off the hand into the void, along with my regret… or at least to end my suffering, but truthfully, maybe I was just coward, maybe the right decision was to keep struggling all the way until the end, but now I'll never know."

Looking up, Noah found the two gawking at him, and that's when he realized his mistake. He may have an adult mind, but he was currently a child and now had the emotional stability of one, whether he liked it or not.

Wishing to slap his head, Noah instead did some backtracking.

A smile similar to how the previous Noah had appeared, and he laughed as if he played a joke, "Don't be too surprised, I read those words in a book, neat isn't it?"

"You read too much!" Mark laughed along with him.

After chatting for a while longer, the three decided it would be best to use the beds and sleep. If they stayed up all night worrying, it wouldn't change anything.

.

The unbolting of the door woke Noah up, "mm, work already?"

Realizing the sound was not his alarm, and the bed was unfamiliar, he seemed to finally realize that this was all real, and not a dream.

Banging the door with the face of his hand, the short bearded man complained, "Let's go brats, don't keep me waiting."

Finally awake, the three are led down deeper into the building, and deeper still, and now they found themselves in the city sewers.

It stank as all sewers should, but it was drier than expected, this sewer was meant to be walked in, so there was a dry pathway available that runs parallel to the small stream of raw sewage.

Holding a cloth napkin over his nose, and a flashlight with the other, the short man urged the three to walk in front. The spearow on his shoulder looked around in the darkness, seemingly able to make out the dark surroundings.

Noah took mental notes and he wondered if it was due to the keen eye ability, or if spearows could naturally see in low light conditions.

Seeing his sister shivering, Mark grabs her arm to reassure her, then slows down to look back at the bearded man, "Where are you taking us?"

"I told ya not to talk down here brat, you wanna get a slap to remember?"

The man fakes a punch to Mark's face, so Mark flinched back.

"Damn brat, I'll only say this one more time, I'm takin ya to the boss, and I won't say more, now shut it before I slap you for real."

Perhaps in response to the sounds, a gurgling could be heard in the blackness, and it was faintly getting closer from somewhere behind them.

"FCK"

Wild grimer form a symbiotic relationship with humans. The grimer would feast on the sewage, and help by keeping pipes unclogged, as they could freely travel through the metal tube, which was not unsimilar to an octopus.

Grimer were not aggressive to humans, so the three were curious about what else could possibly cause the bearded man to curse.

Moving past the kids, he urged them as he ran, " Keep up or I'm leaving ya all behind. "

The three kids looked at each other, then sped after him.

The girl panting some words to her brother, "Why are we running, isn't it just grimer?"

"Shut up, I told you to shut up, that's not a grimer"

"Then what is it?"

"A MUK, NOW BE QUIET AND RUN"

She looked wide-eyed, "We need to tell the police!"

The man then further lost his temper, " Stop making so much damn noise, do you want to die and bring me with you brat?"

Noah nodded inwardly at his assessment, all muk were advanced stage pokemon, and they were known to be ravenous, if all that bearded man had was a spearow, then they could certainly not face it.

Ashley then whispered to her brother as they continued to run, but Noah heard it, "Do muk run fast?"

Mark only shook his head, "How would I know, lets hope it's slow."

The sound didn't appear to be getting any closer, but it was continuous.

Thanks to the dryness of the walkway, there was no danger of slipping, but how long would their stamina last?

Huffing and puffing, the man began banging on a particular wall, and shouting, "Open the door now, It's me!"

"Terry? One minute"

"NO ONE MINUTE, OPEN THE DAMN DOOR, THERE'S A MUK OUT HERE."

The wall then opened a crack to reveal a young man of about sixteen, he stuttered, "A-A muk, are you sure?"

Terry pushed the wall in all the way, knocking the young man over, the three kids quickly ran behind, and as Terry quickly closed it shut, he shushed everyone to stay silent.

Even from behind the wall, the sound of gurgling was getting louder.

Without words, the four all collectively held their breath as the sound reached the door, and held it even after it passed. A terrible smell of sulfur was present after breathing again, causing some of them to cough

The bearded man collapsed against the wall, and he now took up much of the small room, he slammed his hand against the wall for emphasis, "A fucking Muk, Dan, can you believe it?"

The younger man shook his head, "No… do we… should we tell the boss?"

Terry looked at the man as if he were an idiot, "Of course we tell the boss, you think you can capture it, you? Against an advanced pokemon, and an evolved one at that?"

"N-No... I was just saying."

The man waved his hand in dismissal, "Whatever, go take the recruits up, I'll call the boss."

Dan scratched the side of his face, " I'm not really supposed to leave my p-post…"

The spearow atop the bearded man's shoulder gave the young man a mean look, " ...ok… fine"

It could be seen that one side of the room held a wooden ladder that connected to somewhere above.

With Dan going first, the three kids were forced to follow.

Noah was last, and he was helped up by Mark at the peak of the ladder.

"Thanks."

Looking around the well lit room, he got a smile from the young man who then introduced himself, giving each of the three a handshake. Noah reasoned the man was either trying to save face after his earlier display, or he was trying to run from the middle-aged man's spearow, "Hi I'm Dan, we've been expecting you, please follow me."

Dan lead the kids to an elevator, it could be seen that this whole place was worn down, but still properly cleaned and maintained.

Standing before the elevator, Dan made a quick call, and soon some sounds could be heard whirring from above, Dan spoke to pass the time, "Did you three see it? The muk?"

The other two kids shook their heads, seeming to be uncomfortable in this unfamiliar environment, while Noah answered, "No, I didn't see it, I only heard it."

The man sighed, "Ah, How nice it would be to have a strong Muk…"

Taking this opportunity, Noah decided to get information, "Do you know where they are taking us, sir?"

Dan scratched the back of his head nervously, "Ah… yyeah, you'll be sent off for a few tests, but I can't say more, er, by the way, what happened to you? Did you trip and fall? "

Noahs eyes lit up at the words test, if there was a test, then knowing the rules beforehand might be advantageous!

Trying to fish in troubled waters Noah replied as innocently as he could muster, using his beaten up appearance and young age to full effect, "Is it because that man with the spearow told you not to?"

Dan's expression darkened, " He doesn't order me around, he's a grunt, same as me, nothing special."

"Yes, he was really mean, you are much nicer than he is."

Seeing the young man turn away momentarily embarrassed, Noah found he was weak to compliments, so he smiled inwardly, "Sir, we are very sorry for causing you trouble"

The young man turned back, "No, no, it's not your fault."

The elevator then finally opened, "Alright kids, watch your step when you enter."

As the young man was fiddling with a few buttons, Noah continued talking, "Sir, my friends and me are very scared, is the test very dangerous?"

"Well... sort of."

The elevator began to rise, as Noah thought of how to next form his question.

Knowing there would be danger wasn't much, but it was more information than he had before, "Will we be okay, sir, do you think we will pass the tests?"

Breathing out a heavy sigh, the young man seemed to cave, "This is common knowledge, so I'll say this much, you'll soon select a pokemon, but don't pick the caterpie, or the weedles, if it evolves during your stay there, then the tests will be harder, beedrill and butterfree are strong, but you won't have time to wait until then" "now go, "Walk through the two sets double doors, then follow the arrow, I have to go back down now."

Seeing how rushed the young man seemed to be, the window for information has about closed, but Noah still wanted to try one thing, "Is the final test very dangerous?"

"Yes, extremely dangerous, wait, how do you know about the final test, well whatever, now get out of the elevator now, please"

Seeing the man losing his patience, and pushing him out, Noah could tell that this was the limit to the information he would get out of Dan, so he allowed himself out.

Dan left some parting words on the way down, "Good luck, and try not to… die"

.

When the man left, the two children nodded appreciatively at Noah, if it weren't for him, they would be going in blind.

Noah was thinking differently, however, he reasoned the two may be focused on what pokemon they might get to pick, as he had seen their growing excitement at the mention of it, but he knew the crux of the matter lay in the last few words and the graveness of the young man's body language.

a slip of the tongue had told him something he wasn't meant to know, there was a final test, it would be extremely dangerous, and it might be their last, either for him or for them.