The Underground

I adjust my team. I am now carrying Sekhmet, Apsu, Khali, Ninhursag, Hanuman, and Articuno. I head north, then turn east onto a road I have not yet traversed. A boy and a girl who are camping or picnicking or some such thing challenge me. Sekhmet and Apsu team up with a biting frenzy that destroys their Pachirisu and Ponyta. One of the trainers tells me that I can dig up fossils in the underground and turn them into pokemon at the museum. With this strange world, I do not know whether to take such a claim seriously or not. It could be the case, I suppose. And I have not tried going underground yet. I make note of this, but for now, continue along the road.

A hefty hiker who looks just like all of the others challenges me and, unsurprisingly, leads with Geodude. Khali's psybeam is much too powerful for the rock pokemon to handle. My opponent then brings out Bronzor. This one takes a beating, but puts Khali to sleep with hypnosis. Somehow, it then confuses her while she is still asleep. Enough of this. I switch to Hanuman. Flame wheel ends the battle. But the road ends at a cave in Mt. Coronet. I have had enough of caves recently. I get my bicycle and journey back to Eterna City.

Of course, Route 211 also leads to Mt. Coronet, but there is a boulder outside the cave that I can break with Hanuman. It was blocking my path before. I cross the bridge and some bird freak challenges me with her owl pokemon. Sekhmet's spark makes quick work of the owl. Nothing else down here but a TM lying abandoned on the ground. So much for avoiding the mountain. Actually, I do just that, returning to the tunnel between Jubilife City and Oreburgh City. There were some formations I could not get through on foot, but that a bicycle could supposedly surmount. I intend to check them out.

These ramps seem made for my bike. Convenient. The Zubats and Geodudes attacking me all the time are a bit less convenient, but Sekhmet is beating them back with ease. All I find for my trouble, though, is a TM. Looks like I really will have to go through Mt. Coronet. Fine. But first, I will try the underground. I doubt it will give me a way to avoid the mountain, but it is one more thing to do. As soon as I try to use the explorer kit, a gaping black hole appears beneath me and I fall in. I land, completely unharmed, in what looks like a mine. Roark is here...

"Hey! Master! Is this maybe your first time here?"

Yes.

"Welcome to Sinnoh's Underground! Huh? Where is this, you ask?"

No, I didn't.

"Doesn't the Radar make it obvious?"

No.

"This is a giant underground netowrk of passages underneath Sinnoh. Huh, what am I doing down in this expanse of a place?"

I did not ask that.

"That's kind of hard to answer."

I really do not care. One of my weakest pokemon beat everything you had and I have gotten a whole lot stronger since then. You are small-time, Roark.

"I mean, you can do pretty much anything you want down here."

Except not suck at pokemon, apparently.

"For instance, you can dig up Treasure, Spheres, and make a Secret Base."

Is he still talking?

"You can play with your friends down here too."

I'm surprised you still have any friends, after they saw you get such a brutal beating at my hands.

"You should talk to the Underground Man in Eterna City."

How does he think I got down here?

"I have to get going now. I'll see you around!"

And with that, he spins around and flies up, disappearing from view. Whatever, I commence to digging for treasure. I also commence to clearing a lot of traps someone put in the ground. It was probably Roark. He is probably trying to catch me so that he can cannibalize me. I will probably have to kill him later.

Searching for treasure eventually becomes tiresome. Although I do find some potentially useful items, none of them are fossils. I sigh, return to the surface, and prepare to enter Mt. Coronet.