The way down was dark, oppressive and silent. This far out at sea, there wasn’t really anything interesting to see. Not much Pokemon either with a Dragonite as a deterrent.

  It would have been an extremely boring dive if not for Espy’s Psychic network connecting their minds together. Nina was surprised by how much there was to chat about. She had only been gone for less than four months and yet it had felt so much longer.

  But as they delved deeper and deeper into the abyss, Nina could feel it — the invigorating pull of a leyline.

  “Careful now,” Daisy warned. “There's a very violent current coming up ahead. Have your Dragonite take point and push through. Otherwise we're gonna find ourselves swept all the way to Galar.”

  Nina signalled her affirmation and told Nitey to do as Daisy said, the Dragonite conjuring a vortex of his own to shield his companions.

  “Is it the leyline?” Nina asked.

  “Sort of? The current’s a manifestation of the leyline — the planet's pulse, just like the blood in our veins. Where the Type Energy circulates, there's bound to be some form of movement to reflect it. Earthquakes, anomalous weather, sea currents…”

  And just like Daisy said, Nina could feel a pull in the water, dragging her ever close. Then, when she eventually came close, she could see it; a texture in the ocean — a swirling river surrounded by still waters. Almost like the titanic form of an ethereal Gyarados swimming through the ocean.

  “Incredible…” Nina gasped, bubbles spewing from her mouthpiece.

  “You ain’t seen nothing yet… Hold on tight to that phat fuck. It's about to get rough.”

  “Drago! NITE!” The phat fuck cried indignantly.

  “Nitey's tubby, but he's not fat!” Nina rebuked. But internally, she was giggling.

  “Nite!” The Dragonite huffed. But still reached out to hug Dewgong and Brinny tight, and allowed the two humans to grab hold of his wings. And just like walking straight through a tumultuous waterfall, they dove headfirst into the spiral flow.

  It was like being transported to a whole new world. Where the surrounding oceans were dim and lifeless, the inside of the current was brimming with a myriad of colorful fishes and Pokemon, their scales refracting the light of Chinchous and Lanturns through the darkness, illuminating the stream like stars in the sky.

  Nina could see Mantine and their contingent of Remoraids, schools of Carvanhas and Magikarps, a Sharpedo zooming through the waters, and more impressively, a majestic Wailord gliding through the currents, its moans resonating deep within the ocean.

  The sea current was a bustling highway where myriad marine life came rushing past, nearly sweeping Nina off Nitey’s back were it not for a timely save from Daisy. Meanwhile, the Dragonite flared his Aura, parting the incessant stream of fins and scales right down the middle like a bright orange traffic cone.

  The girl reached for the Pokedex strapped to her belt and began furiously snapping pictures. She was just about to ask Nitey to swim up to the Wailord until Daisy held her back with a firm grip on the girl’s shoulder.

  “I get it, but we can’t afford to hang around. You might not feel it, but we’re being pulled along the flow of the current even as we speak. We need to get through to the other side as soon as possible.” The woman explained, eliciting a reluctant nod from the girl as she urged her Dragonite to charge ahead.

  Another splash, another breakthrough, and what awaited Nina on the other side was an ancient sunken city, buried in sand and sediment.

  “Welcome to Pokelantis.”

  ***

  “Or at least that’s what we like to call it.” Daisy corrected. “A riff on the real Pokelantis myth of a sunken city.”

  “What makes you so sure this isn’t it then?” Nina asked.

  “Simple, just look around and see.”

  Nina did just that as she wandered off with her equally curious Dragonite and Brionne to explore. “I wish Celebi was here… But can she even swim? And where the heck has that rascal run off to anyway?” The mythical pixie had been absent for a while now, probably afraid that Nina and Espy would make her do homework again.

  “Don’t bother.” Daisy chimed when she saw Nina rubbing at one of the stone structures with a gloved hand. “You’re not gonna find any inscriptions or whatever.”

  “Why not?” The girl frowned as she squinted through the murky waters. The structure she approached was some sort of thin spiral statue, its tip broken. And judging by the uneven protrusions dotting its lanky exterior, it seemed that there were once branching appendages extending from the trunk.

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  “Is this… a perch for Flying Type Pokemon perhaps?” Nina mused, having seen a more modern equivalent back in Falkner’s Gym.

  “Yup. And what else?” Daisy responded with a mental wave of amusement.

  “Those hovels…” Nina pointed at the many hobbit holes scattered throughout the city. “They’re too small to fit a human.” Unless of course, one did not mind crawling into their abode.

  There were larger structures as well, with openings that could fit a full sized Blastoise, even normal, human sized entryways, though shorter than the average. “It is said that humans get taller every generation, so that’s not too irregular…”

  What was irregular though was the shape of the structures. They weren’t particularly geometric or architectural, looking more like natural formations than anything else.

  Nina turned her attention back to her guardian. “So? I still don’t get it. Why won’t I find any inscriptions in the city? And what’s to say this wasn’t part of the real Pokelantis.”

  Daisy huffed, expelling bubbles from her mouthpiece. “Because, Nins… This wasn’t a human civilization. It was the remnants of an ancient civilization of Pokemon — one of its only kind to have existed in the world.”

  Nina widened her eyes in surprise, having never heard of such a thing before.

  “Remember when you used to be little and had all those stupid questions about why Pokemon weren’t our overlords?” Daisy continued.

  “That’s a perfectly valid question!” The girl exclaimed, given how powerful Pokemon were compared to humans.

  “Heh. Well here’s the answer. This used to be a city ruled by an Alakazam.” Daisy beckoned for Nina to follow as they swam all the way to what looked to be a primitive ziggurat at the edge of the city, a broken statue adorning its peak. “Pokelantis was a human civilization, ruled by humans. This, as far as the boffins could tell, was the crude handiwork of Pokemon — shaped using moves as opposed to carved using tools.”

  “That’s still not definitive proof though? Humans using Pokemon for craft was fairly common. And this Alakazam could’ve been the ruler's starter for all we know.” Nothing quite like good old brainwashing to secure one’s monarchy.

  Daisy scoffed. “‘Course. ‘Cept the boffins also scoured the whole city and were stubborn on all these houses being built specifically for Pokemon only. No signs of human habitation in sight.”

  “Still… if these ancient Pokemon were vain enough to erect statues of themselves, why not leave behind drawings or carvings? And why wasn’t such a significant site made public?”

  Throughout all the years that Nina had lived in this world, never had she come across any material on these ruins. Heck, from what Daisy’s been saying, she was pretty sure that they didn’t even bother to name the city either. And with how mercantile the Mizuhana women were usually, the absence of any guided tours or scammy tourist schemes seem entirely out of character.

  “There are drawings. Most of them decorative, and also further proof that this was a city of Pokemon.” Daisy swam down closer to the ziggurat and brushed away the sediment to reveal some primitive Pokemon hieroglyphics. “Heh. As for the second question, our ancestors wanted to monopolize the power spot here. And this was hundreds of years ago, mind you — no Pokenet and cameras and all that. So it was easy enough.”

  Daisy continued swimming and led them over a sheer cliff face on the backside of the ziggurat, beyond which lay a bottomless abyss. “There was also the paranoia that some Pokemon might learn of this civilization and decide that they wanna build one of their own. Again, hundreds of years ago. Back then, people treated Pokemon more… pragmatically.”

  Nina scoffed. That was one way to describe slavery. “So, what ruined this civilization then?” She asked, half expecting the answer to be humans. But Daisy’s response ended up surprising her.

  “The same reason why we haven’t seen any other Pokemon cities since; because Pokemon are creatures predisposed to conflict. Not all of them of course, but a good majority of them. Pokemon battling isn’t just some random sport that humans came up with, you know? The Pokemon had a hand in it too — they enjoy it as much as us humans enjoy playing games.”

  Nina fell silent in contemplation. How she wished she could spend all day exploring the place and learn its history. But unfortunately, that was not their purpose today as Daisy soon reminded.

  “Alright, that’s enough. I didn’t bring you down here today for a boring history lesson. C’mon, we’re almost there.” The woman said as she boldly dived into the darkness.

  Their destination was a crack in the cliff wall, just large enough for Nitey to squeeze through with some effort, aided by the buoyancy of the seawater. That was, until the water just stopped.

  “This is… a barrier!”

  “Yup.” Daisy affirmed as she just leisurely phased right through the Psychic membrane, prompting Nina to share an uncertain look with her two Pokemon before following suit. And to her surprise, when they got to the other side, Nina found a dimly lit cave, droplets dribbling incessantly from the ceiling, a river of sea water streaming past the floor, and two Slowbros just sitting there, chilling.

  “You can take off your wetsuit now.” Daisy said. “Not much use in wearing it from this point on.”

  Nina laid down her oxygen tank and nodded, but only shed the top half of her neoprene suit. The undersea cavern was chilly, so strutting around with just her swimsuit wasn’t the most pleasant. “The barrier, is it the Slowbros’ doing?” The girl continued to ask.

  “Yup. We got a whole village of them down here. Eric’s in charge of rotating them in and out the Gym.” Daisy replied. She then gave Nina a knowing smirk and wiggled her eyebrows in a suggestive manner. “The place also doubles as a den for them to fuck around in, literally.”

  Nina groaned. “Urgh. I’m still underaged, Daisy…”

  “What? Don’t tell me your parents didn’t have the Ditto talk with you before they let you wander off on your own?” Giving a whole society of hormonal teenagers the complete autonomy to travel unsupervised was bound to result in certain ‘accidents’. “‘Cause we sure as heck made damn certain to drill it into Bev’s thick skull before she left.”

  “So basically, you’re saying this is where we’re sourcing all of our Slowpokes from?” Nina asked in lieu of a response, not wanting to engage in that particular topic any further. “And here I thought we were importing them from Azalea’s Slowpoke Well or something.”

  Daisy chuckled and shrugged as she continued to walk, her legs a little wobbly from all that time spent in the water. “Nah, are you kidding? We were at war with Johto, remember? And ‘sides, it’s just more convenient this way.” She gestured towards the dopey pink blobs littered all over the cavern floor. “They get their own space and we get guards to look after the place. Not to mention, they’re the only ones who can live here without adverse effects.”

  As they ventured deeper into the cave, the air gradually became brighter while the Brionne in Nina’s embrace became more and more restless, practically vibrating against her like a coked up Growlithe.

  “What’s wrong Brinny? You wanna walk on your own?”

  “Bri! Brionne! Bribribribri, brionne!!!” The petite little seal Pokemon fervently shook his head, pom-poms smacking against Nina’s face, and excitedly gestured ahead with his floppy flippers.

  Brinny’s erratic movement caused Nina to lose her grip on his slippery hide, dropping the Brionne who immediately slid ahead of them in the flowing stream, much to Nina’s consternation.

  “Brinny~ Wait up!” The girl clumsily trudged after her Pokemon with her Dragonite in tow. Until the space eventually opened up, to reveal a blinding light clashing against her senses.

  Nina winced, after much time spent in the dark, her vision was too slow to adapt to the sudden light. But when she eventually did, hazel eyes steadily blinking open from a tight squint, she saw one of the most beautiful sights of her two lives; a cavern engulfed by a shimmering ethereal mist, and beyond which, a lake of eerie stillness — a blue body of pristine seawater accentuated by a glowing cerulean crystal jutting from the center.

  “Is that a…”

  “Yup.” Daisy affirmed, as she stepped up to her apprentice’s side. “A Water Stone, the largest in the world… Welcome to our clan’s power spot, Nins.”

  “Bi! Bibibibi!”

  Before Nina could respond, a certain flying onion flew past in a green blur and crashed into the lake like a canon ball.