"Empo... Empoleon..."
Inside the Castelia Underground Waterway, Empoleon carried Liam and little N, swimming swiftly through the flooded tunnels.
Just as Liam had been told before entering, he noticed directional arrows painted along the ceiling of the passage. So he instructed Empoleon to simply follow the signs.
Most of the underground waterway had long since been submerged by seawater, making the entire tunnel eerily quiet. Aside from the occasional Zubat fluttering overhead, there wasn't another sound to be heard.
Empoleon was a born swimmer. Even with two passengers on its back, it maintained incredible speed. After a little over ten minutes, it brought Liam and little N to a three-way intersection.
Liam: "...Which way was it again?"
Little N: "...Should we go back and ask?"
Liam sighed.
"That'd be so embarrassing. Besides, that police officer is probably busy enough already. We can't keep bothering him."
Little N looked at him helplessly.
"...Then what are we supposed to do now?"
Liam cleared his throat.
"Ahem! Personally, I think we should take the middle tunnel."
Little N blinked.
"?? Why?"
"The officer told us to follow the signs, right? Look, this sign is pointing straight down the middle, so it has to be this one."
Little N stared at him.
"That's way too random! There's absolutely no logic behind that!!"
"It's fine, it's fine~ Worst case, we'll just come back. Empoleon! Full speed ahead!"
"Empoleon..."
Thus, after their "careful deliberation," Empoleon swam into the middle passage.
.....
Once inside, the directional signs disappeared completely. Even the lights mounted along the tunnel walls became fewer and fewer until, eventually, there were none left.
Liam took out a flashlight he had prepared beforehand and illuminated the darkness ahead.
So the three continued onward through what seemed like an endless tunnel.
Eventually...
"Hm? Is this the end?"
Shining the flashlight ahead, Liam saw that the passage was completely blocked by an enormous pile of rocks. He frowned in confusion.
Little N, who had long since become bored and was lying lazily against Liam while absentmindedly playing with his Pidove, perked up when he saw the dead end.
"Huh? There's no way through? Aww... that was boring. Are we going back now?"
Little N was still just a child. At first he'd treated the trip like an exciting adventure, but after spending so much time drifting through identical tunnels, he'd completely lost interest.
"..."
Instead of answering, Liam reopened his navigation map.
Actually, he had activated it as soon as they entered the tunnels. But the Castelia Underground Waterway was simply too vast. After using it for a while without finding anything useful, he'd turned it off.
Now that he activated it again...
"Hm? What's this?"
The map showed that they were now far away from Castelia City. Because of that, the three-dimensional display was no longer just a maze of tunnels.
Instead, a massive underground structure had appeared beneath their current location.
Floating above it was a large label.
Ancient Castle? Right underneath this tunnel?
Judging from the map's 3D display, Liam was standing directly above the roof of an enormous underground castle.
The "pile of rocks" blocking their path...
...was actually part of one of the castle's walls!
Liam suddenly grinned.
"Hehe... Little N, you see, this was actually part of my plan all along. Don't you think it would've been far too boring if we'd simply found the exit? To avoid something so dull, I deliberately chose this route! And now..."
He dramatically spread his arms.
"...I'll show you my true objective! Come out, Excadrill!"
"Drill!!"
Now that he knew there was an Ancient Castle beneath them, there was no way Liam was going to ignore it.
After shamelessly trying to save face with his explanation, Liam released Excadrill while little N watched him with a thoroughly puzzled expression.
"Excadrill! Use your drills to bore straight down through the rock beneath us!"
"Drill!!"
Without hesitation, Excadrill curled into its spinning drill form and burrowed into the stone at incredible speed.
Liam and little N sat quietly on Empoleon's back and waited.
About a minute later—
"Drill!!"
Excadrill climbed back out of the hole and proudly announced that the job was finished.
"Excellent work, Excadrill! Little N, we did it. Let's head over."
"Okay!"
The promise of a new adventure instantly restored little N's energy.
He jumped off Empoleon's back onto the giant boulder and leaned over to peer into the deep shaft Excadrill had dug.
"Big Meanie! There's light down there! What's underneath?"
Liam walked over and looked inside as well.
"Oh? There really is light. I'm not completely sure, but if I'm right, it should be an Ancient Castle down there. Let's go take a look. We might even find some ancient treasures."
He then recalled Empoleon into its PokeBall.
"Excadrill, head down first and scout the area. Wait below and help us once we're down."
"Drill!"
Liam crouched beside the tunnel entrance and considered it for a moment before deciding to let Excadrill take point.
After all, they knew nothing about the castle yet, and Excadrill was more than capable of acting as their vanguard.
Excadrill nodded before jumping into the shaft.
Liam followed immediately afterward, with little N coming last as all three slid rapidly down the tunnel.
Since Excadrill had dug the passage large enough for its own body, it was fairly spacious. If Liam could fit through comfortably, little N certainly had no trouble.
Thump!
With a muffled sound, Liam landed steadily on a floor covered in fine yellow sand.
Excadrill was already standing nearby, vigilantly guarding the area.
Liam immediately stepped aside and reached upward just in time to catch little N as she slid down after him.
"Wow! It really is a castle! It kind of looks like where I used to live... except this one's so old and broken."
Still in Liam's arms, little N looked around excitedly.
The place where they had arrived appeared to be one of the castle's corridors.
At regular intervals along the walls were glowing yellow crystals, explaining where the light they'd seen from above had come from.
"This Ancient Castle was built at least two thousand years ago. After being buried underground for so long, it'd be stranger if it wasn't worn down."
Smiling, Liam gently set little N back on the ground before looking around the ancient corridor.
"But even after all this time, it's still been preserved this well. That's impressive. There are probably plenty of ancient artifacts here that have survived intact."
He turned toward little N with an eager smile.
"Let's not just stand around staring. Come on—we're going exploring!"
"Yay! Let's see who finds the most ancient treasures! Pidove, let's go adventuring!"
The moment Liam finished speaking, little N hugged the Pidove perched on his head and dashed off excitedly, his big eyes sparkling with anticipation.
"Slow down, little N! Be careful! Excadrill, hurry and follow him!"
Seeing little N race away, Liam quickly called to Excadrill before hurrying after them.
And just like that...
...their adventure through the Ancient Castle officially began!