100 THEMES: 2. LETTERS
As she slid the last panel into place, the stone picture became recognisable. An image of a Kabuto took place, but before Lyra could celebrate a strange sense of weightlessness came over her. She screamed as the floor suddenly gave out, causing both her and her Totodile to tumble into the darkness below.
Lyra landed with a thump, luckily she had landed on her bag which had broken the worst of her fall. Seconds later however, the Totodile plummeted straight onto her stomach, knocking the wind right out of her.
"Oouff!" was the sound of the wind being knocked out from Lyra. She curled upwards from the impact before falling onto her back with a groan.
The Totodile shook its head vigorously, "Toto, Totodile." Its mouth opening as it climbed to its blue feet, still standing on Lyra's stomach.
"Toto?" The Pokémon questioned his trainer, head cocked to one side.
"To-Totodile….can you… get off me please…" She groaned, the Pokémon leapt up kicking his short legs before hopping off his trainers stomach.
Lyra sat up, moaning as the aching stomach muscles clenched. She looked blearily over to the Totodile dancing around her.
"At least one of us is okay." she said, getting to her feet. "Oh boy…I wasn't expecting this."
Lyra was looking up to the patch of light, no bigger than a postage stamp now, that the two had fallen through. "Well Totodile, there's no way we can climb back up there, I'm out of Escape Ropes as well… We really should have just climbed back down Sprout Tower…"
Looking around her Lyra noticed that the underground cavern was not only lit from the hole that she and Totodile had somehow created, but there seemed to be some sort of an eerie, dim, natural light. Staring uneasily at the high, engraved walls, Lyra felt a shiver run down her spine. Something didn't feel right being this deep down in the ruins, her eyes were drawn to the carvings on the walls. The strange scorings almost looked real, similar to the pictures of the rare Pokémon that the Scientists had told her about.
Something to her right caught her eye as she swept a glance over the etchings, there was a light coming from the bottom-right hand side of the floor.
"Surely that must be another way out." Lyra mused. "Come on Totodile, we're getting out of here."
Her red running shoes padded across the stone floor as Lyra made her way to the light source, but something wasn't right. Where was the scuffling noise that Totodile usually made when it rushed around her feet while they walked?
"Totodile?" She called behind her. "Come on, this way."
Silence.
Lyra stopped and turned back. "Totodile?"
In the gloom of the chamber she could make out her Totodile's figure, the little water Pokémon was standing stock still, staring at something on the ground. Now Lyra was beginning to feel worried, since she had received the Totodile from Professor Elm she had never seen the Pokémon stay still for any longer than a minute; yet, it just stood staring at the stone flooring.
"Totodile?" She asked walking over to her partner. "Totodile, what's wrong?"
As Lyra approached the Pokémon it turned to face her "Toto!" It said to her looking back to the flooring again.
"What is it? Have you found something?" The blue Pokémon cocked its head, letting out another "Toto."
Lyra reached her Totodile and knelt beside it, reaching her hand out to sooth the tense Pokémon. The sudden contact of its trainer seemed to bring Totodile back around, the water-type's tail began to wag so hard its entire body wriggled under Lyra's hand. It thrust its snout into her hand then snuffled across the floor.
"What have you found then? ….Hmm?" Lyra ran her other hand over the cold, stony floor. She didn't expect the floor to be completely flat, but she never expected to find smooth etchings carved straight into the floor.
"Totodile…what have you found?" She exclaimed, running her hand as far as she could without falling forward. The farther she reached the more carvings she found. It was too difficult to make out the symbols in the murky gloom, thinking quickly Lyra released her newly caught Mareep from its ball. The little electric sheep bleated as it emerged, shaking its woolly head; the static electricity within its coat caused the Pokémon to glow dimly in the secret cavern.
The glow from Mareep's coat illuminated the symbols surrounding it, Lyra grinned, exactly what she been hoping for. She pulled Totodile onto her back to keep the energetic Big Jaw Pokémon out of the way for the moment.
"Excellent Mareep." She praised her newest team mate. The markings surrounding the woolly creature were amazingly detailed, almost readable. "…Just a minute." Lyra paused. The markings on the floor were different to the ones on the walls, these looked more the symbols in the books within the Ruins of Alph Research Lab; and one thing Lyra knew about symbols was that they were meant to be read.
"A…A N? An? An what? Mareep step back a bit….an…P L? plan. No, wait! C! CLAN! It's 'clan'!" Lyra straightened up rubbing her chin thoughtfully, "But why 'clan'? Totodile, what now?" Since Lyra had asked Mareep to step back Totodile had spotted something, there were more engravings on the floor behind them, he'd leapt down from Lyra's shoulder and was now tugging at the back of her long, white socks.
With his trainers attention, Totodile leapt up and down on his new discovery. "Toto, Toto, Totodile!"
Lyra guessed immediately what the water reptile had found, "You found more? Brilliant! Come over here Mareep."
The sheep Pokémon obediently stepped forward toward Lyra, its glowing coat again illuminating the new carvings.
"There's even more!" Lyra suddenly exclaimed. She looked at her two friends. "It'll take ages if we try to find all the symbols this way…Mareep." She focused on her creamy coloured companion. "If Totodile and I stand at the back of the chamber, could you use your Thundershock to light it up? That way we can see what these strange letters say."
"Maaa" The little sheep cried out in agreement. A few moments later, Lyra had Totodile stowed up on her shoulders again, out of the way of Mareep's Thundershock, the pair moved to the back wall of the chamber.
"Mareep, Thundershock!"
Bolts of lightening flew from the sheep Pokémon, within seconds the cavern was as bright as daylight, Totodile buried its head into Lyra's squishy hat; while Lyra herself brought a hand up to her eyes, in an attempt to shield against the glare.
"Our clan… engraved words in…this place." Lyra read aloud. "Okay Mareep, you can stop now!" she called loudly over the crackling of the electric bolts.
The Wool Pokémon bleated again, softly this time, panting as it approached Lyra. The trainer bent down to pet her tired Pokémon, praising it fondly. "You were fantastic Mareep, you deserve a nice long rest." She smiled returning Mareep to its Pokéball.
"Our clan engraved words in this place". Lyra repeated to no one in particular. "I wonder if the scientists know about this?" She mused looking up again at the space where she had fallen from, before turning back to the light source from the left hand corner. Lifted the Totodile from her shoulder the two headed toward what they hoped was an exit.
"If I can hang on this edge by my fingers, Totodile you can climb down me, get out of the way and then I can just drop down the last foot or so. Sound good to you?" Lyra quickly questioned her starter Pokémon.
Totodile nodded enthusiastically. "Toto!"
"Alright then, lets get going."
Moments later Lyra let herself drop the last couple of feet from the secret chamber, luckily for New Bark Town trainer she could see a ladder going straight up.
Halfway up the ladder Lyra paused, "Look Totodile, there's some more of those weird symbols. But those ones look like they've been filled with something…weird, huh?" She finished looking to the water type clinging to her shoulder.
"Toto!" The Pokémon nodded violently, almost loosing its grip as it began to wriggle again.
"HEY! Calm down or we'll both fall!" Lyra scolded, beginning to climb upwards again.
Unbeknownst to the trainer and her partner an odd shudder ran through the wall, a strange life seemed to have awoken within the strange markings. If Lyra had looked down one last time before reaching the top of the ladder she'd have seen a handful of the symbols detach themselves from the wall and watch her disappearing inquisitively.
A/N
Waaahh! I know this was really lame, I'm sorry. I blame lack of sleep!