The Confidence Within.

The King of Hoenn

I took a deep breath and stepped into the head dark cave. As soon as I entered I felt the damp air of the cave and heard footsteps echoing off of the walls.

I was only able to make out the faint walls thanks to the light that was bleeding in from the door.

The hallway was narrow and the four of us had to walk in the single-file line. I could feel the rocks just inches from my shoulders and I had to deliberately take each breath to keep from hyperventilating.

"This place gives me the creeps..." May murmured, her voice bouncing off of the walls.

Emerald began to pick up his pace and I had to hurry to keep up with him. "What does he want from this cave?"

"I've done a lot of reading on the Cave of Origin in my life," Brendan said. "They say there's a huge pool of ancient energy at the bottom. The kind of energy that mega evolves Pokémon."

The cave opened up and began to slope downward. "Mega Evolution?" May reached into her bag and produced a stone. The stone was transparent and had some sort of symbol on it. "Steven Stone gave this to me telling me it was a Mega Stone."

Emerald took out a flashlight and shone it on the ground as we walked. "Interesting... what could he want with mega evolution?"

Nobody tried to answer his question and we stepped into the dark depths of the cave. I began to shiver as we went further and further down.

Eventually, we came to the end of the descent and took in the giant open cavern before us. The room was illuminated by a bright pool of glistening rainbow liquid in the back of the room.

Large rainbow crystals dotted the cave floor. "Key Stones," Brendan whispered.

My eyes wandered around the room and fell on a tall figure standing at the base of the pool. He was wearing a large blue cape and had a faded yellow crown sitting on his head.

The man had a large frame and was fairly tall. He turned and I was able to make out his features. He seemed to be in his mid-40s and had haggard grey eyes. His hair was short and a blend of grey and light green.

The man was fairly muscular and wore a nice dress shirt and torn black pants. At his hip was a sword resting in its sheath. In his hand was a vial containing some of the liquid.

Emerald took in a sharp breath. "That's him. We have to move now." Emerald sent out a large grey spherical Pokémon. The Pokémon seemed to be in some sort of shell.

"Hold on," May said. "We can't just run off and fight this guy. We need to figure out what he's trying to do."

Emerald drew his sword and shook his head. "I have no time to waste, this is something I've dedicated my life to doing." Emerald ran towards the man with his Pokémon hurrying along after him.

"I guess we're doing this now," Brendan said, biting his lip. "Here goes nothing." He sent out his Grovyle and rushed after Emerald to help.

May groaned. "Are you kidding me? Why is everyone such a reckless idiot?"

"I'm not really sure b-but we have to help them, r-right?" I sputtered. It was so cold. Kirlia popped out of his Pokeball and began stretching. Here we go! Battle time!

May sent out her Combusken with a sigh. "I guess we don't really have a choice." We ran after our friends and found Emerald staring down the man.

"Son, it's been so long. I hope you aren't here to cause more trouble." The man spoke, grinning solemnly.

I had to take a second to process what I'd heard. It made all too much sense that Emerald was this man's son.