Chapter Eighty-Eight: The Hidden Grotto

"What was I touching, then?" Zhao Fang thought of another question and gave it another squeeze. It was soft, but there was no warmth to it, which eased him considerably. It did not seem to be a person, nor a Pokemon.

He called Dragonair back, then cautiously poked his head inside. At once he saw what he had just felt: a bag, he did not know what was inside it, but it was blocking the way ahead. Zhao Fang had Dragonair tear the bag open, and a pile of clothes spilled out.

"Clothes?" Zhao Fang froze. He had truly not expected the bag to contain clothing. Then why had the sack been wedged here?

Thinking of that, Zhao Fang pulled the clothes out one by one. They were all men's garments, without any odor. As the clothes dwindled, he removed the sack completely, and on closer inspection realized it was a mountaineering bag.

He peered inside again. Now it was passable. The passage was very narrow, just wide enough for a person to crawl through on hands and knees. Zhao Fang did not rush in. Instead, he sent Dragonair ahead to look. Only after Dragonair confirmed there was no danger did Zhao Fang crawl in himself.

The little passage was not long. Soon Zhao Fang emerged into a spacious area. After lighting his lantern, he saw that he was in a rather modest cave, also marked all over with signs of excavation. Zhao Fang curled his lip. He had originally thought there might be some unexpected treasure here, but in the end it was only this.

Still, Cubone was not here either. Zhao Fang understood that this place must have been discovered by some mountaineer, and the sack blocking the entrance was proof enough. Thinking that, Zhao Fang simply crawled back out and used the sack to seal the spot again. He planned to leave through the crack.

But just as he took a step, Zhao Fang saw Dragonair floating ahead, circling repeatedly, while at the same time miming the motion of digging at the ground. Zhao Fang was puzzled, but still walked over. He pressed his hand against the spot where Dragonair hovered, and felt only hard stone. There was nothing there.

"Dragonair, are you saying something is buried here?" Zhao Fang asked.

"Be... believe..." Dragonair's voice echoed in Zhao Fang's mind, but as before, it was only a single word.

Zhao Fang took out his shovel and struck down with it. The rock was extremely hard. Even with all his strength, he could only leave a white mark.

"Believe what?" Zhao Fang was confused. Even if something were hidden beneath this, it would be impossible for him to dig it out by force. Yet Dragonair showed no intention of helping.

"Ho... believe... hole!" Dragonair's voice continued to reverberate, spinning anxiously in circles.

Zhao Fang stared blankly. Believe hole? Believe what hole? Could it mean believing there was a hole here?

He did not know whether to laugh or cry, but the next instant his expression changed. The moment he thought there was a hole here, he fell straight through it. The sudden sensation of weightlessness made his breathing stop for a beat, and then he landed hard on stone, the pain making him draw in a sharp breath.

Dragonair drifted down as well, happily circling around him. Zhao Fang rubbed his aching backside, then lifted the lantern to look around. This was another passage. In the distance, lit by the lamp, he saw Cubone sitting there, but as soon as it noticed Zhao Fang, it hurriedly fled.

"This place is a little strange..." Zhao Fang looked up. The rocky ceiling was only an arm's length above him. He tentatively reached out, but felt nothing at all.

So to enter this place, one had to believe there was a hole beneath one's feet, or at least think of it, and only then would one fall through. That must have been why Dragonair had kept saying to believe.

Zhao Fang took out a Pokeball and moved onward with the lantern in hand. He was on a small slope, and when he reached the lower level, he noticed some strange markings on the stone wall beside him.

"Are these murals?" Zhao Fang murmured in confusion. The lines looked very orderly, but there was nothing else on the wall.

He went on, and after a while his eyes widened. He had found a mural on the rock face, drawn in a peculiar style, depicting a sun and a cloud. Zhao Fang did not quite understand what it meant, but he still took out his Pokedex and photographed it. These were precious relics.

He walked on for a bit longer, and the murals beside him gradually became clearer. Zhao Fang could see that they truly were clouds and a sun, with some small dark shapes nearby, though he could not make out what they were.

But little by little, Zhao Fang began to understand what the murals depicted, because as they became clearer, he saw something rather strange: between the sun and the cloud, a green stone suddenly appeared, covered with golden patterns.

The sun, the dark cloud, the green stone. There was nothing else in the scene, yet however he looked at it, Zhao Fang could not help feeling it resembled Groudon and Kyogre in battle, with Rayquaza descending from the ozone layer to suppress those two ancient beast gods.

With the discovery of the green stone, Zhao Fang also recalled some details he had overlooked: the sun and cloud seemed to have strange markings above them as well. Seen this way, it appeared that the Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre had been subdued by Mega Rayquaza, while the shadowy figures below looked like people.

As he recorded the information, Zhao Fang kept walking forward. He had reached the end. Ahead was a strangely shaped altar, on which lay a very plain stone that did not seem unusual in the least. Behind the altar, however, was a gigantic mural.

A Mega Rayquaza hovered above the altar, looking down upon the worshippers below, while at the top of the altar sat a stone radiating yellow light.

Zhao Fang drew a sharp breath. His eyes opened wide. If the information in the mural was true, then did that mean this had once been a place of worship for Rayquaza, and the stone placed upon the altar was the stone used to pay homage to it?

Trembling, Zhao Fang stepped forward. This was Rayquaza. If, after crossing over, he found himself in the Hoenn region, then the Pokemon he most wanted to catch or even see was none other than Rayquaza.

Just as Zhao Fang was about to step onto the altar, a bone club flew over and struck him hard. It hurt terribly.

He turned and looked. It was a Cubone, hiding behind a Marowak. After the bone club hit Zhao Fang, it flew back into Marowak's hand.

"Gyarados!" Zhao Fang did not hesitate and threw out his Pokeball.