Desolate [Pokémon Arven x Protagonist]

Into the Crater

I hopped onto his back and held out a hand. "We're not walking all the way over there." Penny seemed shocked, but she complied and let me help her on. I pulled in really close to Koraidon's head, making sure he heard me. "This is very important, Koraidon. Don't you dare pull off what you did last time. No jumping, no climbing, no flying, got it?" The reptilian beast agreed, disappointed.

"Flying? Did you say flyi—iiieeeeyyeee!" Koraidon dashed off, pounding down the stairs and kicking dirt up in the air behind him. Penny held onto my backpack for dear life, screaming.

"Hold onto his waist with your legs," I advised. I felt my backpack move as she shifted into a more comfortable position behind me and stopped freaking out. I followed the landscape as it faded from the south province, Cortondo, the west province, Asado desert and the town of Cascarrafa, to the border of the north province around the town of Medali.

"Wow! That thing's fast!" Penny and I looked back and saw Nemona catching up on a cyclizar.

I pulled on Koraidon's whiskers and slowed down to talk to my friend better. "Since when did you have that?" I gestured to her ride.

"Director Clavell let us borrow some for the commute." Us? She must be talking about—
Arven appeared in the distance, his cyclizar racing to catch up to us two. "Ah, I thought I lost you!"

Arven waved. "Wait up!" We steadied our pace until all four of us were together, trotting in a line on the path to the gate. I smiled at my boyfriend, but he gave me a stern look, eyeing the other two girls. Right. I can't let them know. I turned my attention to the road ahead. We got closer to the mountains of the crater, following the base until it flattened out into a shallow, grassy slope. "Follow me," Arven commanded. "I know how to get there." He took the lead and started the climb upwards to the ledge I saw by the top. The mountains flattened out to a small plateau before sharply rising towards the sky, but there was a small, man-made tunnel with an underwhelming, flimsy, locked gate. We all stopped at the entrance.

Arven was the first to dismount, then Nemona, then Penny and I. Nemona gave her cyclizar a rub on its snout before it gave a short roar and bounded off, Arven's cyclizar following it. "Hm, I guess this is it," Nemona huffed. "I wonder how we're gonna get inside though."

"I have a key, obviously," Arven growled, holding the accessory out for her to see. He jingled the key in the lock and pushed the gate open with a grating noise. We funneled in, slowly walking through the tunnel towards the blinding light on the other side. It was breezy, a vented chill washing over us from the enormous crater. We were all wearing some sort of warm sweater, but I shivered with what could be waiting for us on the other side.

The tunnel opened up to a single, small ledge, and I had to blink rapidly to adjust to the light. It was a huge drop. It was certain death if anyone were to slip off. I looked off in the distance on the other side of the hole and saw the sharp outline of the very top of Naranja Academy's towers. There was a rusty laboratory in front of us that Arven was already heading towards. Nemona had a massive grin on her face, skipping around, observing everything in the place we'd all been prohibited from exploring. Penny was more reserved in her fascination, her hands in her sweater pockets, staring out at the view. Arven punched in something at the metal laboratory door and it opened to a dark, futuristic room, computers lining the walls, flashing small, green lights. I walked with him to the center of the floor, the other two going directly to the machines to poke at them.

"Kinda dark in here..." Arven mumbled, crossing his arms.

"Does your mom usually leave them on?" I asked him. He seemed very uncomfortable, a scowl on his face, fighting to feel empty. I wanted to hold him. I wanted him to know I would be there for him no matter what we were going to face in the crater, physically. I was frustrated at our restriction. I guess he understood that mentally, anyway.