Megan raised her fist to her mouth, trying to cover up the impending yawn. It was no surprise to her that drowsiness was setting in since the darkness of the alcove seemed like the perfect place to catch up on three days sleep deprivation, but she could wait a little longer. She glanced at her wristwatch and snorted when she saw the display read four twenty two in the morning. Those freaks over at Mt. Pyre would be the only ones awake now, since most sane people were asleep.

"Hurry up, Drilbur," she said to the mass of rock in front of her. "The boss said they want these fossils before noon."

A loud squeal answered her and she rolled her baby blue eyes.

"If it looks like a fossil, bring it here!" she called out, her voice ringing on the alcove walls.

Glancing around, she sighed as the pitch black darkness stretched out in all directions, hiding just how big this place was. All the stones she could see were that muddy brown color you'd see on a riverbank or under the ocean while an blue-tinged glow surrounded her. Sweeping her gaze around, she eyed the floating oil lantern drifting aimlessly to her left and raised an eyebrow as two yellow eyes opened on its glass bulb. Normally, this would be a terrifying moment for people, but Megan simply blew in its direction, causing the lamp to spin slowly while the eyes remained locked onto her.

"You'd be a lot more scary if you learned how to shoot a stream of fire than just those pitiful embers, Lampent," she said. A soft ringing noise came from it and she turned back to the wall. "Drilbur! You better have another fossil or I swear to Arceus I will keep you in the pokeball for the next week!"

As if on cue, the wall of solid stone before Megan began to crumble and twist as a set of silver claws thrashed their way out. Once the tips were free, they spun in circles, steadily getting wider until Drilbur's head popped out, grinning at her. Megan, however, tapped her foot on the wet stone below as she folded her arms.

"Well?" she asked as Lampent lowered itself closer to her shoulder. She swiped at it, causing the pokemon to drift away.

Drilbur pushed itself back into the hole it had just made for a brief second before a pile of rocks came tumbling out. Megan watched about ten of them fall before Drilbur came back, squealing happily.

"These better be real fossils or gold nuggets," she mumbled as she bent down.

She could already tell Drilbur wasn't really paying attention to her since the first rock was nothing special, just a piece of limestone with the impressions of several kinds of seashells. While it could be valuable to some rock nut, her boss wasn't paying her for mold of fossils. Absentmindedly, she chucked the rock behind her and focused on the next one as it clattered into the darkness. This one was a dud too, since it crumbled in her gloved hand. She rubbed her exposed fingers together, feeling the sandy texture melt in her grasp.

Thankfully, the next one proved to be a fine fossil. The outline of a feather was clearly visible on the face of it and she smirked to herself. Maybe the mole wasn't so useless after all. Bringing her bag around, she unzipped the largest compartment and glanced in, noting the folding tent and rations. She quickly stuffed it into the folding tent and went back to examining the rest of the rocks. Amazingly, the next one held two viable fossils, one of a plant root and one of some pokemon's claw, and her smirk became more of a smile. As she looked over the others, she noted one was a full on spiral shell while one was flat with two eye indents on the top.

"Alright!" she said to herself. "Now we're getting somewhere."

After placing those four into her bag, she glanced over the next one, but threw it into the darkness like the limestone piece. Glaring at Drilbur, who was wheezing out a stifled laugh, she rolled her eyes and picked up another.

"Very funny," she mumbled. "However, fossilized pokemon dung doesn't buy you food. Now get back to looking."

She spun the next rock in her hand for five seconds before looking up at Drilbur, who was still watching her.

"Now!" she shouted. "Today! Chop chop!"

Without any hesitation, Drilbur shoved himself back into the hole and Megan sighed as she looked over the rock, wondering how she ended up with such a dumb pokemon. It wasn't like he was any use outside of digging, much less battles, and it sure as heck wouldn't win any kind of contest. Still, she smiled again as she saw a rather short but toothy jawbone embedded in this one. She traced a finger around one of the remaining teeth, feeling how sharp they were. The serrated edges made her finger stick to the sides, but the tip felt like a honed needle point that even a Bisharp would pride himself on. Even after the millions of years this thing had been dead, it still hadn't lost its fighting power. She cringed as she imagined whatever had this tooth bit down on its unsuspecting prey before adding it to her bag.

The last rock Drilbur had delivered made Megan tilt her head in confusion. It seemed to be part of a skull, assuming that smooth hole at the bottom was an eye socket. Above that, though, was a mostly broken sail that shimmered in the blue light Lampent was giving off. It seemed to retain some kind of rainbow coloring and Megan scratched her chin at that, wondering if this had anything to do with the jawbone.

Before she could think any farther, the dull roar of something breaking rang out in the room. She spun around, her long blonde hair whipping about as she scanned the darkness while her shaking hand reached for a pokeball. Fumbling with it, she spun and hissed, "Lampent, return!"

The blue light faded and Megan ran off int the darkness as a newer, much more intense light washed through the alcove. Ahead of her, she saw a row of stalagmites and dove behind them before she remembered the stone floor was soaking wet. Cringing as she looked down, she saw her perfectly good outfit was ruined. The sleek black bodysuit underneath would still be wearable, but her short red biker jacket and blue jean shorts would have to be replaced along with her white running shoes. Spinning around, she crawled up to the biggest one and pressed her back to it as voices filled the room.

"Fan out! This place is huge, so she could be anywhere!" someone shouted in a deep, commanding voice overlaid with a pirate's accent.

Megan felt a shiver run up her spine as thoughts of Pokemon Rangers running though the alcove filled her mind. Illegal fossil mining wasn't really an offence for sending out a whole troop to find her, but she had run afoul of the Rangers before; enough that she was probably near the top ten on their Most Wanted list. Thoughts of the Rare Candy sting operation she had broken up and the poaching of baby Larvitars she was accused of sent more chills through her body. She glanced around at the wall in front of her, knowing that if she was found, there was little she could do to escape.

"Send out the dogs!" the voice roared.

Megan let out a small gasp as she clutched two pokeballs tightly, trying to slow her breathing and pounding heart. The sound of Mightyena's barking and snarling suddenly echoed all around the room and she squeezed her eyes shut. Why now? Why did they have to find her in this stupid underwater cave?

"Aye, cut them loose!" a younger voice shouted.

The howling was replaced by claws scraping against the stone and Megan risked a peek at her captors. Her panic slowly died down as she saw they were not dressed as Rangers, but had on black-and-white striped shirts and blue pants that matched the bandanas they wore. Thankfully, most of their backs were turned to her, allowing her to lean over a little more without being seen.

"Captain, do you think she's really here?" one of them said.

"Arr, there be no doubt about that, Scully," the booming voice answered. "We followed the map perfectly and the Red Orb went crazy as we approached. She's here, alright."

Megan narrowed her eyes as they all shifted their position, moving closer to one of the newly lit tunnels.

"Red Orb?" she mumbled. Was that some new kind of tracking device? Looking to her right, she scanned her bag and glanced over her clothing quickly, wondering what the Red Orb could be tracing.

"Captain! We got something!" a voice echoed down one of the tunnels.

A loud cheer erupted from all of the pirates as Megan spun and pressed herself against the stalagmite again, her heart pounding once more. Perhaps they were here for her after all.

"We got her now! Kyogre, the Creator of the Seas, be this way, mateys!" the commander shouted before she heard them run off, the bright light following them.

The alcove plunged into the pitch-black darkness again and Megan stood up, her eyes fixed on the last spot she saw them. The name the one said, Kyogre, rang a bell in her mind. She had heard it somewhere, but the logical side of her mind screamed at her to ignore it for now. She needed to get out of here and fast, preferably before they came back. Unfortunately, the only way she knew of to get out of the alcove was through a small pool that led to a tunnel out into the ocean, the way she, and most likely the pirates, got in. Taking a deep breath, she tossed out the pokeball in her right hand and a familiar blue light illuminated part of the room.

"Come on, Lampent," she mumbled. "We're leaving."

Walking by the hole Drilbur had bored earlier, she stuck an empty pokeball in the socket and growled, "Drilbur, return."

The pokeball flared red and she pulled it back out, noting that Drilbur was back inside. It angrily scratched at the inside of the ball, but she clipped it to her belt and took off, careful to avoid any puddles while Lampent swayed as it followed her. Despite how disappointing her paycheck would be, she figured six fossils would fetch about fifty thousand or so, enough to get her out of Hoenn and away from the Rangers and pirates.

Upon reaching the pool, Megan froze as she saw a big metallic Wailmer bobbing about on the surface. Keeping herself perfectly still, she waited for it to move before her eyes caught the blowhole propped open. Blinking away all the strange questions popping up, she grabbed another pokeball from her waist and threw it at the water, not wanting to know why it was there. The ball splashed and popped open, letting out a blue fish with two yellow orbs dangling above its head. Before, when she wasn't in a hurry, Megan would have placed her clothes in the bag to not get them wet, but desperate times called for desperate measures. She jumped in, swinging behind to get Lampent back into his ball.

"Dive!" she hissed to the Lanturn she was clinging to as she clipped Lampent back to her belt.

Immediately, Lanturn pulled her under the water and the orbs began to glow, illuminating the eerie tunnel snaking its way back to the ocean. Megan held on to both her breath and Lanturn as it rocketed off through the water, whipping around tight corners and misshapen outcroppings. Megan squeezed her eyes shut and held on, hoping this would be over soon and she would be on the surface. It wasn't a very deep cavern she had entered, but the way in was clearly meant to keep guests out.

Two minutes passed before Megan's lungs began to burn. Squeezing Lanturn's fin harder, she felt the pokemon quicken and soon, the welcome heat of the sun warmed her as they broke the surface. Gasping for as much air as she could, Megan let go of Lanturn and splashed about, blinking away the water from her eyes. Once they were clear, she scanned the ocean, trying to find some rock or island to get her Skarmory out and fly on to Rustaboro Town where the Devon Corp was waiting for the fossils she had gathered. Unfortunately, it was still around four thirty in the morning, making any kind of land mass hard to see. Groaning, she turned to see Lanturn swim up next to her, smiling brightly.

"Guess you've got to get me back to shore by yourself, kid," she mumbled.

As she grabbed onto Lanturn's fin again, an earsplitting roar shook the air around them. Megan's pupils shrunk to pinpricks as Lanturn flailed around, trying to find the source of the noise.

"What was that?" Megan asked no one.

As if to answer, the roar echoed again and the water around them shook. Megan spun around wildly to try and find the source, but she froze when an eerie yellow glow began to show up underneath the water. As she stared, the light got brighter.... and bigger.

"Lanturn, go!" she shouted.

Before Lanturn could even react, the roar rang out once again and the yellow light shot to the surface before breaking it with a mighty crash. Water washed over Megan like a tsunami and she clung to Lanturn with all her strength. They tumbled through the water before breaking the surface again, Megan gasping for air and Lanturn trying to steady itself. Wiping the water away with her free hand, Megan coughed and tried to look up at the towering figure. Above her was a a titanic beast as blue as the ocean itself. Angry glowing lines weaved around its body while the eyes gleamed red. It opened its maw and let out another roar, causing Megan's left ear to pop and a warm fluid to start flowing through it.

She screamed as well, squeezing her eyes shut out of terror for the hulking creature. In her good ear, Megan could hear the wind begin to howl and felt a torrential amount of rain start to fall. Opening her eyes once again, she risked looking at the beast, only to see the angry red eye staring back, pulsing with the glowing lines.

"Lanturn!" Megan screamed at the top of her lungs.

Immediately, her pokemon took off, desperate to get away from the monster, but her fingers slipped and Megan splashed after the terrified Lanturn, but it kept going without her and disappeared in the mass of waves.

"Lanturn!" she screamed again before one wave pushed her under the water.

Megan clawed at the blue around her, trying desperately to come back to the surface when a massive pulse hit her from underneath, pulling her lower. She screamed into the water, air bubbles floating away as she reached for them, but she froze when the glowing lines reappeared in the inky depths. At the same time, her eyes flicked lower and she saw her bag, along with a single loose fossil, sink towards the seafloor. Panicking, she dove and swam after them. She stuck her left arm through the shoulder strap as she reached for the fossil, ignoring the glowing beast.

Just as her fingertips grasped it, another roar shook the water and Megan felt the lack of air begin to affect her. The darkness was getting larger as she tried to move her arms and legs, but they steadily got weaker. Looking up, she could see the surface and reached up, using all the strength she had left to swim. It became apparent, though, that all she was doing was slowing her sinking and her limbs gave in. She looked around and saw the maw of the monster glowing. As the pulse of light hit her, the world went dark. Next Chapter: Stranger in a strange place Estimated time remaining: 14 Minutes