Victory Road!

Saturday has us all arriving at Sevault Canyon, to one of the lesser visited gorges. A make-shift (very make-shift) camp has been set up to welcome everyone, and a canvas tent as been constructed over a very dark hole that burrows deep into the canyon wall. For those who have visited this area before -- the hole is definitely new, undoubtedly another one of those Orthworm tunnels. All sorts of equipment has been stacked in the tent: ropes and lamps and helmets; in short, anything one might need to explore a dark tunnel.

And of course, the three legendary seekers are there too. They are busily conversing with one another, though when they notice everybody has arrived, they break off their private conversation to address the crowd.


"Welcome everybody!" Grant's voice brims with excitement. "Welcome to the discovery of a lifetime! Several lifetimes. Perhaps even... a prehistoric amount of lifetimes. For you see, in the cave behind me, we've discovered the presence of unknown pokemon. Not... perhaps not legendary pokemon per se, but pokemon we believe haven't seen the light of the sun in millennia. And we, all of us here together, will be the first to see them.

Now, we've got all kinds of gear over here. So please grab what you need -- make sure to bring plenty of cameras-- and we can--"


"Hold it right there." A voice cuts through, pulling all attention to an older man at the back of the crowd, dressed all in white. In his hand, he holds a gaudy cane, topped with an Old Amber (yes, the whole thing) and several dark figures loom behind him. He glowers at the group. "I'm--"


"Hack Jammond?! Founder of MyFossil and our new sponsor, Hack Jammond?!!" The three seekers speak in unison, their shock very evident on their faces.


"Uh. Yes." Jammond seems displeased to have been interrupted but quickly pulls himself together. From the pocket of his suit, he withdraws a stack of paper, which he holds up for all to see. "The name is Hack Jammond, and all of you are on my property. This land, including the tunnel and its contents, belongs to me. While you were busy ooh-ing and aah-ing over those blurry pictures, I took the information you collected and purchased everything you see here. Oh, don't worry. You'll be able to see those mysterious pokemon down in the tunnel -- right when you cough up the 50,000P entree ticket to my soon to arise theme park 'Cretaceous World'."

Hack Jammond does not burst out into villainous laughter, but he definitely has the air of villainous laughter.

"Now. All of you -- get the hell off my property. I'll be the one who will first see what lays at the depth of these tunnels."

He saunters forward towards the entrance, paying the crowd little attention at all. Behind Hack, his goon squad is already cracking knuckles and necks, menacing and shoving people and seekers alike away from the cave entrance. The last anyone sees of Hack Jammond as he steps into the tunnel, followed by most of his goons, is a mocking little wave with his ridiculous cane and a cheery "Ta-ta~"


For a moment, there is silence after Hack and his goons have descended into the tunnel. Then, all at once, the three seeker brothers break out in devastated wails, each overlapping with one another. "--the pokemon--" "--all of our research--" "--I can't believe it?! The MyFossil guy was evil--"

Finally, it is Jackson who manages to pull himself mostly together, addressing the crowd. "This wasn't meant to happen. After our discovery, Jammond approached us and offered to sponsor our search, but we didn't know these were his plans. And-- And we can't let him get away with this! Those pokemon down there, everybody should be able to see them! They shouldn't just become part of a theme park and be exploited for money. Please! We beg of you! Please go down there and stop Hack!"