Pain pulsed through every muscle as consciousness slowly returned. My vision swam, blurry at first, before sharpening just enough to make out the dim glow filtering from above.
Fell... Rocket... Pikachu...
The memories trickled back. The explosion. The ground giving way. The sickening plunge into darkness.
I groaned, pushing myself up on shaky arms. Around me, jagged rocks jutted from the cavern floor like the teeth of some massive Pokémon. The air smelled of damp earth and something faintly metallic.
This wasn't just any cave. The walls curved unnaturally, the stone too smooth in places, as if something massive had carved its way through here long ago.
A chill ran down my spine.
Ghosts? Maybe. Something worse? Probably.
But right now, the more pressing issue was—
"Oooohhh my head..."
Team Rocket stirred nearby, groaning as they regained their senses. Meowth was the first to piece things together, his ears drooping.
"Let me guess—we blew up the canyon, the ceiling collapsed, and now we're buried alive. Fantastic."
Jessie and James paled. Then, predictably, they rounded on me, fingers jabbing the air.
"You!" Jessie shrieked. "This is your fault!"
"Yeah!" James added, trembling. "If you hadn't interfered—!"
I gaped. "My fault? You're the ones who planted dynamite!"
Pikachu sparked at my side, fur bristling. The Rockets flinched but doubled down—until Meowth's shout cut through the bickering.
"ENOUGH! Look up, geniuses!"
We did.
The hole we'd fallen through was gone. Sealed by rubble.
A beat of silence.
Then, from the shadows, a sound—
Click. Click. Click.
Something was moving in the dark.
At Meowth's command, we all looked up. The ceiling was sealed—only thin slivers of light piercing through the cracks. No climbing out. No easy escape.
A cold sweat prickled across my skin.
Breathe. Don't panic.
Brock and Misty were still up there. They'd find help. They had to.
Then—
"Heh."
James let out a weird, dreamy chuckle. Jessie whirled toward him, eyes sparkling.
"Ooooh! Our James has a plan!"
James turned to her, dead serious.
"Let's just... give up."
Silence.
Jessie's fist connected with his face before I could blink.
Good hit.
Giving up wasn't an option. Not for me. I'd sworn to become a Pokémon Master—and that meant fighting until the very end. My nails dug into my palms as I steadied myself.
We're getting out of here.
"Pika... pika!"
Pikachu's urgent cry snapped me back. His ears were flat, his body rigid as he pointed into the shadows.
My blood ran cold.
"What is it—?"
Then I heard it too.
A slow, scraping sound.
Something was moving in the dark.
I followed Pikachu's gaze into the abyss—and froze.
Dozens of glowing red eyes stared back from the darkness. A low, whistling howl echoed through the cavern, making the air itself tremble. Fear clamped around my chest like a vice. Even Team Rocket stopped bickering, clinging to each other in a tangled mess of limbs.
Then, the creatures emerged.
The first was a nightmare of chitin and shell—a blue, segmented body with ten writhing legs, its spiral-patterned armor glistening under the faint light.
The second was worse.
A crescent-moon face, blank and pitiless. Twin scythes curved from its arms, edges sharp enough to split stone. One wrong move, and we'd be carved like Meloetta festival fruit.
My hand flew to my Pokédex.
[UNKNOWN]
I smacked the device. "Work, you piece of—!"
Nothing.
If the Pokédex didn't recognize them… were these even Pokémon?
For now, they just watched. Silent. Still.
Team Rocket, ever the idiots, took that as an invitation.
"Hah! Scared over nothing!" James crowed, fishing out a Poké Ball. "Let's catch 'em, Jess!"
"Finally, something worth stealing!"
They hurled their balls in unison—
TING!
The capsules bounced off the creatures' shells like pebbles.
A beat of silence.
Then the scythes clicked together.
The guardians moved faster than thought—their scythe-like arms slicing through the air, swatting away the Poké Balls like botherful insects. The capsules clattered uselessly across the stone floor, their metallic echoes only deepening the creatures' fury.
In an instant, their calm demeanor shattered.
Team Rocket barely had time to yelp before the two beings were upon them—a blur of chitin and blade. I braced for impact, squeezing my eyes shut—
"GYAAAAAH!"
The screams weren't mine.
I cracked one eye open. Team Rocket lay in a groaning heap, limbs splayed at unnatural angles.
"W-We didn't even get to send out a Pokémon...!" James wheezed.
"Cheaters!" Jessie sobbed.
"So... mean..." Meowth added weakly.
The guardians loomed over them, clicking their scythes together—but made no move toward Pikachu or me. My legs trembled with leftover adrenaline.
Then—
"They struck first."
A woman's voice. Cold. Clear.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
There was no one here. Just rock, shadows, and those... things.
"We were content to watch."
The voice came again, closer now.
Pikachu's fur stood on end.
Somewhere in the dark, something human-shaped took a step forward.
The darkness shattered as light bloomed from above—a chandelier-shaped Pokémon hovered in the air, its eerie flames casting flickering shadows. Beside it stood a woman, her white hair glowing like moonlight against the cavern walls.
For a heart-stopping moment, I thought she was a ghost—some spectral guardian woken from ancient sleep. The chandelier's flames pulsed hypnotically, adding to the otherworldly aura.
I fumbled for my Pokédex, half-expecting another [UNKNOWN] error.
"Chandelure, the Luring Pokémon. It absorbs spirits and burns them as fuel. Its flickering flames induce drowsiness."
So that was a Pokémon. Which meant...
Why didn't it recognize those other creatures?
The white-haired woman—Platinum—flinched at my accidental "ghost" comment. I backpedaled fast.
"S-sorry! I didn't mean—"
She sighed, waving it off. "It's fine." Her voice was calm, almost amused. Definitely human.
Relief flooded through me. If she wasn't here to haunt us, maybe she knew a way out.
"I'm Ash, from Pallet Town! This is Pikachu."
"Pika!"
Platinum's lips quirked. "You two are... very close."
"Huh?"
"Never mind." She tilted her head. "Now, why are you here, of all places?"
As I explained—Team Rocket, the explosion, the fall—her smile sharpened.
"Interesting."
Behind her, the two unknown creatures stirred, scythes glinting.
"I see," Platinum mused, her tone light. "So that's why you called me a ghost."
"I—I really didn't mean—!"
"Pika... pika..." Pikachu added weakly, ears drooping.
She waved a hand, unfazed. "It's fine."
Oddly, she paid no attention to Team Rocket's groaning heap. Did she already know they were troublemakers?
The Poké Ball in her palm clicked open.
"The ones who 'greeted' you earlier were Omastar and Kabutops."
Meowth's jaw hit the floor. "BWAH?! Those've been extinct for centuries!"
Platinum didn't even glance his way. "Seeing is believing." With a flick, she recalled both Pokémon, leaving Meowth sputtering.
"Memory wipe them," she murmured to Chandelure, which bobbed cheerfully.
"Y-Yes, ma'am!" Jessie squeaked from the ground.
"Now," Platinum turned back to me, smiling. "Want to leave?"
"Yes! Please!"
"Ever ridden an ancient Pokémon?"
Before I could process that, a screech tore through the cavern—followed by the thunderous beat of wings.
A Aerodactyl descended, its jagged wings stirring up dust.
"Meet Aerodactyl," Platinum said, patting its snout. "Literally the fossil Pokémon."
My voice cracked. "I—I mean, it's amazing! But maybe we should leave first—"
"Obviously." She wrinkled her nose. "This place is dreadful."
As we mounted, I hesitated. "One question—what were you doing here?"
Platinum's smile didn't waver. "That depends." She leaned in. "Do you really want an answer?"
Aerodactyl's wings snapped open.
Platinum owned ancient Pokémon—ones so rare they weren't even in the Pokédex. That explained why Omastar and Kabutops had registered as unknown. But why were they here? Unless...
Had she unsealed some long-buried legend?
My thoughts must've shown on my face, because Platinum smirked.
"That's a secret."
So much for answers.
"Wait—my friends are still up there!" I gestured to the collapsed ceiling.
"Chandelure will fetch them," she said, as if ordering takeout.
"You're... sure?"
Before I could question further, Jessie's shriek cut through the cave:
"WHAT ABOUT US?!"
Platinum didn't even glance back. "I'll open the ceiling. Crawl out yourselves."
"WHY DOES HE GET SPECIAL TREATMENT?!" James wailed.
"You attacked my partners first." Her voice turned glacial. "I don't aid instigators."
Jessie deflated like a popped Wheezing.
"Enough chatter." Platinum hauled me onto Aerodactyl's back. "We can't linger."
With a thunderous crack, we shot upward—Aerodactyl's wings shattered the rubble, sunlight exploding into the cavern.
Gasps erupted from the crowd above. I caught a glimpse of Brock and Misty's stunned faces before Platinum urged Aerodactyl into a spiraling ascent, weaving through the canyon to avoid prying eyes.
Too late.
One blurry photo—snapped by a lucky trainer—would trend worldwide by dusk:
< LIVE FOSSIL POKÉMON SPOTTED IN KANTO'S GRAND CANYON!>
The legend had begun.
[Image: Blurry but unmistakable shot of Aerodactyl mid-flight]
"Snapped this when it burst from the canyon—100% real. Hundreds witnessed it. Move too fast? Yeah, no kidding—it nearly took my head off."
🏆 Post of the Year nominee
"Nice Photoshop. Where'd you get the model?"
"Galar native here. We've got weird birds, but NOTHING like that."
"Zoom in—there's PEOPLE riding it?!"
🔎 EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS:
"Police evacuated us after an explosion. Then—BAM!—this thing erupts from the ground like a nightmare from the Cretaceous period."
"Same OP? Fake news speedrun?"
"Fossils = boring. LIVING fossils = $$$."
📢 OFFICIAL POKÉMON ASSOCIATION STATEMENT:
"The creature matches historical records of Aerodactyl, an apex predator extinct for millennia. The Granite Canyon site is now closed pending investigation."
"Skeptics in shambles."
"I'll believe it when I see it in a Pokédex."
"…Someone check on the guy who called 'Photoshop.'"
The internet had spoken: the past wasn't as dead as they'd thought.
"Does this mean I can meet an Aerodactyl too??"
"If there's one, there could be more extinct Pokémon out there!"
"My lifelong dream was to see a prehistoric Pokémon—this changes EVERYTHING."
"Don't get too excited. Big hype = bigger letdown."
"^^^ Facts. Keep expectations low."