Arbok's Cave

I only had one left, only one badge. It was the Earth Badge from Viridian City. It was really difficult to obtain due to the Leader’s powerful ground moves. But at last, I managed to beat him and get the final badge. With all eight badges in my power, I knew that my destiny was the Pokémon League, but first I had to go through Victory Road, a place not for the weak. Some people told me that I had to train even more to survive that challenge, even though I had all Kanto Gym Badges. I didn’t listen to them, that was a bad decision.

I knew where I had to go, east of Viridian City. That was where Victory Road was. But first I had to go through one more route. As always, there were the usual low level wild Pokémon. That route was as easy as any. I went to where the guards were. They asked me to show them my badges, which I did, and then let me pass.

The road started to get harder with each step, wild Pokémon became stronger the deeper I went, some were even stronger than my team which was pretty strange, I didn’t thought that wild Pokémon this strong could exist. I tried to catch one, a Golem, knowing how powerful it was. It was really difficult to catch, but in the end I was able to add it to my team.

I continued walking, the road getting harder and harder with each step. There were a lot of trainers that challenged me, I was low on potions and I didn’t know what to do anymore. I thought about taking a shortcut. I looked around, trying to find one when I saw a hole that I thought would take me to the Pokémon League sooner. Little did I know that would be my worst mistake.

As I entered, everything started to get darker. The small amount of sunlight that entered the cave couldn’t reach that hidden cranny. Even though it was too far away, I decided to continue. My Pokémon were too tired and wouldn’t support more battles, and I didn’t want to return all the way back to the entrance and the Pokémon Center, it would take an entire day to continue if I did so.

I kept on walking, I even brought out some of my Pokémon at times due to there being some wild Golbat in the way. I had to protect from them since I didn’t know where I was and it was hard to see because the only light I had was a small flashlight. I continued walking until my foot splashed into what seemed to be a puddle. Great, there seemed to be an underground lake in here. I didn’t know how deep it was or if I would need to Surf on one of my Pokémon to cross it.

I flashed it up to see how deep it was and to my horror I realized that this wasn’t water, it was something thicker, reddish, blood. I was standing in a puddle of blood that seemed to be at least five centimeters in deep. I was so scared I started to walk backwards and hit what seemed to be a wall behind me. Upon further inspection, I saw that it was actually the remains of a Nidoking. Its plates and bones were piled up in that place. I was sickened, and to make matters worse an a terrible stench began to come out of the end of the tunnel, or at least what I thought was the end, but this time it lead me to a worse place than before. It was just as dark, with only a small amount of light entering in between the rocks of the cave, only that I would have preferred if there was no light at all. I got even more terrified by looking at the ground and walls. There were remains of what seemed to be both humans and Pokémon mutilated and everything was covered in blood.

I didn’t know what happened in here, but I also didn’t want to stay and found out, so I started running. Suddenly, I heard a noise at the end of the tunnel, it was as if something was dragging along the ground, with great strength and weight. I fearfully took out Golem, it was a bit weakened after battling, but I knew I could rely on him to protect me.

Then the noise started coming from another direction too, then another, and other… that horrible sound was everywhere. It was impossible to identify where it came from. I looked around frenetically, but it wasn’t just one, there were many, and they were approaching us fast. That sound was torturing me, until something attacked Golem behind me.

It was a group of Arbok, they attacked my Golem together and surrounded him. They used an Acid spray attack. One of them poisoned him with its fangs. Golem couldn’t do anything, even with its powerful ground-type moves, it was too weakened to battle. They wrapped around him until it couldn’t move and started eating it.

There was something wrong, it was impossible for the Arbok to penetrate Golem’s thick skin with their fangs, yet they engulfed it anyway. Its blood splashed everywhere and they disposed of its remains in similar fashion to the Nidoking’s ones I found earlier. I didn’t know what to do, the only thing that came to mind was to escape so I wouldn’t be next.

I tried to sneak out, but due to the level of blood on the ground, my steps splashed in the blood. I decided to run as fast as I could, I knew that if they got me it would be the end of me. None of my Pokémon could stand a chance against them, they were too many. Even so, my loyal Alakazam tried to protect me. Its powerful Psychic attacks were very effective against the Arbok and managed to push some of them back, but I didn’t count the Crunch attacks they had.

My Alakazam went down after one of them bit its leg and they pounced on him. I wanted to help it, but fear took over and I could only run. ''‘I’m sorry pal! I didn’t want to leave you behind! But I’m just not that strong…’'' I thought. I couldn’t. I was really sorry, but I couldn’t go back. It was painful to see my friend being eaten alive by those Arbok, and I couldn’t do anything about it.

But I knew my life was still on the line, so I kept on running, the Arbok behind me in hot pursuit. I thought I wouldn’t make it, I was too tired and couldn’t keep running. The only Pokémon I had left was my Arcanine, so I rode it to run away as fast as it could. Thanks to Arcanine’s speed we were getting close to the exit of the cave.

We managed to get out of the hole from where I had entered before, but the Arbok followed us and got my Arcanine. They wrapped around its legs and we fell to the ground. Another friend engulfed by those damn Arbok. I was all by myself now, there was no escape, I was going to die.

The Arbok attacked any trainer that was around and any Pokémon that dared to come out. They engulfed all the trainers, including me. I thought I was dead, but that wasn’t the case. I was inside one of them. I knew it because it spitted me out after a while. And there, I saw the most horrible thing I would ever see: it was a big pit, with a lot of recently hatched baby Ekans inside, and they were hungry.

Looking around, I saw that the Arbok were spitting out more trainers, but only them, not their Pokémon. Now I would have preferred to die engulfed by them. One by one, they threw us into the pit, where we were tortured all the while those little snakes ate us alive, using their recently grown fangs to bite us and injecting us with their deadly poison. Everything so slowly that you made you crave for death.

I felt dying, just like all of the other trainers. That was our end. From that day on, Victory Road wasn’t like it used to. Since that day, only the region’s and  world’s strongest trainers can cross it. If not, they will be engulfed by those Arbok and baby Ekans.

You may be wondering, how can I be telling you all of this?

Well, all of us stayed here, wandering around, never finding peace until the Arbok’s carnage is stopped. We cannot leave, until their hungriness is satisfied.