Pokemon Brick Bronze: A novel

Battle against the Prince

"What the?" Play couldn't help it. The words simply tumbled out of his mouth. He was standing in a dig site of sorts, several men were hard at work, lifting dirt above their heads, shovelling gravel and other sorts of soil behind themselves. He'd barely gotten a few steps in before a sweaty looking man walked up to him and placed a heavy shovel in his hands.

"Want to help us get some work done?" The man asked.

"But I'm here for the-."

"Thank you." The man said beaming. "Your help is appreciated." Play looked down at the shovel in his hands. This wasn't going to be easy.

Starting from right beneath his feet, Play started digging. It was hard work. The dirt was difficult to penetrate with his shovel, not to mention the countless rocks and small pieces of rubble lying around. After around twenty minutes, Play had barely made any progress, and he was angry. He had come here for a gym challenge, not to help out with a digging project, royal or not.

"God damn it!" Play grunted, throwing the shovel down onto the ground, it landing with a dull thud in the dirt. Right now, his parents and Jake were probably suffering and he was stuck here with a shovel.

"Every second I spend wasted here is one more second I don't get with my parents and Jake." After a few seconds of heavy breathing, he bent down and picked up the shovel. He gripped it tightly in his hands, until his knuckles turned white, and then, he gritted his teeth, walking over to where he had previously started digging. And with every ounce of his strength going forward, Play dug, and dug, and dug. His arms were burning, but he still continued. Fuelled by his angst, the metal of the shovel easily cut through the dirt, spraying everywhere. Another worker stopped what he was doing to watch Play.

"Jeez kid." He said. "You in a rush or something?"

"Yeah." Play said. "You could say that." Play's movements had grown to the point where he was now rapidly disappearing under the surface, first his thighs, waist, chest, and then even his neck. After this point, Play stopped briefly, looking around at the light one more time before he bent his head down to continue digging. Strangely though, Play could feel his shovel hit something hard, just as his head disappeared from the surface. Before he could investigate however, his feet gave way beneath him. His hands flew up as the floor beneath his feet literally seemed to give way. His breath was torn away from his mouth as he fell through the darkness. The drop wasn't that large, but when Play landed, he was more than startled. In the darkness he couldn't see anything, he'd even lost his shovel. When all of a sudden, he tripped yet again. He fell backwards, his hands flailing to try and catch himself, but instead of falling onto solid land, he fell onto a chute of sorts. Slipping and sliding, Play fell down the makeshift slide for what felt like ages, but eventually, he came to a stop, his body crashing in a fumbled heap at the bottom of the slide. His head ached, his body ached. Not to mention the fact he was still in the dark, when all of a sudden, he heard a voice call him from across the plane.

"Hey, you found me! Glad to see you could make it to my gym after all." The voice beamed. Play instantly recognised it as that of royalty. The edge to the voice, the pride, the ever so slight pretention. Play instantly recognised it as that of the Prince. Stumbling to his feet, Play blinked in the light as a candle was suddenly lit. Standing no more than six feet across from him, Prince Ryan stood, proud, a smile on his face.

"It was an accident." Play muttered. "I'm sorry, your majesty." Ryan chuckled.

"The earth loosen your tongue?" Play didn't say anything. Noticing the air in the room, Ryan cleared his throat.

"Let me tell you what my life is like." He said solemnly. "When I'm not chasing bandits out of Old Aredia ruins, I spend my time here at the gym battling aspiring trainers. But you see, it's not all sunshine and rainbows." Play looked up at the Prince.