Pokémon: Chronicles of Freedom

Cain had no knowledge of what was happening.

It was only after walking for half an hour inside the cave that he began to notice something strange.

Was this cave... endless?

Cain furrowed his brow unconsciously.

He extended a hand to touch the wall.

The texture was completely real. He could even feel the tiny dust particles accumulated on the surface and the damp chill typical of places that have never seen sunlight.

"Am I overreacting?" Cain thought, trying to calm himself.

Since he had walked for so long without finding any traces of wild Pokémon, it seemed to indicate that this cave truly contained none. He decided that if necessary, he would simply stay alert through the night, and there would be no problem.

With that thought in mind, Cain turned around and began heading back with his Pokémon, though a slight unease persisted within him.

However, as he retraced his steps, his expression darkened.

The way back was not the same as the one he had come through.

How could he be so sure?

Because on the way back, there was not a single trace of the footprints he and his Pokémon had left before.

Not a single trace. It was as if this was a completely new cave, freshly discovered.

This crushed any hope Cain might have had. It was evident that he had entered a very strange place.

A place that seemed to be an endless cave in an infinite loop.

Cain suppressed the growing irritation in his heart and forced himself to remain calm. In a situation that likely involved Pokémon, the best solution was to rely on his own Pokémon.

He called out Slowking.

"Slowking, try to sense if you can detect the psychic coordinates you left earlier," Cain said.

Before entering this place, Slowking had marked psychic coordinates near the main road to make the return easier the next day.

Slowking closed his eyes and began to concentrate.

However, moments later, he opened them with a bewildered expression.

Seeing Slowking's reaction made Cain's heart sink even further.

After a moment, Slowking reopened his eyes and communicated telepathically with Cain: he could faintly perceive the location of the coordinates, but the distance was too great to use Teleport.

This surprised Cain. If Slowking could still faintly sense the coordinates, it meant they were still within the Sinnoh region. But something had transported them to a faraway place, most likely a mysterious space.

Cain began considering several possibilities.

Perhaps he had accidentally entered some unknown ruins, and the force present in this place was interfering with Slowking's abilities.

Or maybe he had fallen into a trap created by a Pokémon, either deliberately or unintentionally, to keep him trapped.

Either option was possible.

"Slowking, use your psychic abilities to analyze this cave and see if you find anything special," Cain ordered.

"Yadon~!" Slowking nodded, and a pale blue wave of psychic energy began to emanate from his body, spreading like ripples as it explored every corner of the cave.

While Slowking continued his analysis, Cain kept walking, determined to discover which Pokémon could be behind this.

Although no one had attacked him directly, Cain suspected this was not something specifically planned for him; rather, he had simply stumbled into this place by accident.

"Just my luck," Cain muttered resignedly as he continued forward.

After walking for another half hour, Cain lost his patience.

"I just wanted a place to sleep, is that too much to ask?" he exclaimed in frustration.

"Slowking, stop your analysis. If this cave insists on making me keep walking, then I'll handle it my way. Use your psychic power to open a path. Let's see if that solves the problem," Cain ordered.

Slowking nodded and focused his psychic energy, forming a series of sharp blades that began slicing through the cave walls.

Fragments of rock were sent flying with each strike, accompanied by the sound of explosions.

The strangest thing was that the damaged sections of the wall began to repair themselves, and the fallen stones slowly disappeared.

Fortunately, Slowking's destructive power exceeded the cave's restoration speed.

Finally, after breaking through a large amount of rock, Cain could see what was on the other side.

It was a dark, nebulous space, so chaotic that it was impossible to make out clearly.

Suddenly, a shadow darted across the small opening.

Cain, who had been watching closely, froze.

Just as he was about to convince himself that it had been his imagination, the shadow passed by again.

Unown!

It was impossible to tell how many there were. Since the opening was small and the figures moved quickly, he couldn't determine if there were several or if the same one was repeating its movement. But it was clear that they were Unown.

Cain concluded that the Unown were responsible for the cave's ability to repair itself.

Now that he knew the cause, his frustration disappeared, replaced by intense curiosity.

Unown was a Pokémon shrouded in mystery.

It was said that there were 28 different forms of Unown—26 representing the letters of the alphabet, plus two additional forms: the question mark and the exclamation mark.

When two or more Unown gathered, they could use a special ability called Secret Power, allowing them to create small alternate spaces controlled exclusively by them.

The more Unown gathered, the larger and more complex the space they could create became.

Cain's curiosity about the Unown deepened.

He threw three more Pokéballs, summoning Honchkrow, Weavile, and Drapion to assist Slowking in widening the opening.

Although Unown were rare, they were documented in the Pokémon League records. Despite their psychic nature, Cain was confident that his Dark-type Pokémon could counter their mysterious power.

With his Pokémon working together, Cain was determined to uncover what lay beyond this strange space created by the Unown.

(End of Chapter)