Chapter Fourteen: Untold Mystery
(A/N: Thank you all very much for your views, favourites and reviews!)
Luckily for Charlotte, the weather was cool the day she took a trip to the Ruins of Alph. She had been there a few times before, since it was so close to Violet City, but she was never permitted to explore much due to her mother's protectiveness. So the mysteries held deep within the caverns remained unknown to her.
But even once she had become a trainer with formidable pokemon; her free will was still restricted and she was forced into mining for precious stones and fossils by her rival.
She groaned as she inspected the rock she had just split open, finding absolutely nothing once again. Slumping into the dirt, she watched Athena and Kit continue to split more rocks open. Charlotte wondered how Kit even had the strength to lift that pickaxe and crack those big boulders open. She was pretty impressed, if she was honest.
"Keep going," he commanded, panting. "I'm not leaving until I've found a fossil or two to sell." Charlotte didn't move a muscle – even the cool weather wasn't enough to stop her body getting hot and sweaty from manual labour. Instead, she stared at the clouds drifting across the sky, seeing various shapes.
Slowly, she closed her eyes, enjoying the rhythmic clacking of Athena's fists or Kit's pickaxe against rock. She wasn't sure how long she had been laying there, since she had drifted into a sort of state between consciousness and sleep, perturbed only by Kit shouting in victory.
"Carrot!" he yelled as he pulled the half-asleep girl onto her feet, shoving the fossil he had found under her nose. She was unsure what was so special about the rock he was showing her. After staring at it dumbly for a few moments, a smile slowly stretched her lips once she noticed the strange swirling pattern on the rock that resembled a snail's shell.
"Oh!" she gasped. "A fossil, great job!" she congratulated cheerily. Athena trotted up to her, looking disappointed. Charlotte petted the ridges on top of her grey head. "Don't worry, okay, you were lots of help." The machop didn't seem convinced by the girl's reassurance, kicking a rock to the side in frustration.
"Quick let's go sell this to those nerds in the cabin over there," Kit said excitedly as he ran off towards a hastily built shack crafted from logs of wood and blue iron sheeting. Returning Athena to her pokeball, Charlotte scurried off after him, hoping that he would finally agree to explore once he had sold the fossil off.
She caught up with Kit just as he entered the shack, throwing open the wooden door. He rushed to the counter, slamming the fossil down on the counter, which scared the living daylights out of the woman who had been calmly attending to her job. Charlotte giggled at his enthusiasm as she looked around the place.
Since the ruins were quite the tourist attraction, the tiny receptionist office was packed with shelves housing various souvenirs and knick-knacks such as snow globes and plush toys of resident pokemon in the area. Information pamphlets were also available, catching Charlotte's interest. She read about one of the ancient temples in the ruins as Kit finished his transaction.
"Eight thousand bucks," chuckled Kit as he appeared beside her, leering over her shoulder. She was so absorbed by what she was reading that she merely hummed in response. "For a stupid rock – what idiots," he laughed as he snatched the pamphlet out of her hands. He gave it one look before tossing it aside. She scowled at him for a few moments.
"Can we go explore now, please?" she pleaded, clasping her hands together. He rolled his eyes under his mask. He had no desire to wander around a bunch of ancient buildings with no current relevance to society. He groaned and turned away from her, shaking his head. "Oh, come on," she whined, grabbing hold of the collar of his kimono and dragging him towards the shack door.
He huffed in frustration. "Fine but I better get something out of this," he complained, trying to struggle out of her grip. Charlotte swiftly let go of his collar, not wanting to touch him for longer than what was necessary – that would be weird. They avoided eye contact as they headed towards the nearest ruin.
Standing outside the crumbling doorway to the ancient building, Charlotte's blue eyes sparkled. She admired the disintegrating, brown bricks that consisted of the building's walls. Winding between the cracks in the walls were numerous snake-like vines. Moss grew on most of the bricks like a thick blanket that crumbled away once Charlotte ran her hands over it.
"Hurry up!" called Kit from inside.
"Coming!" Charlotte chirped as she skipped inside after him.
Sending out one of their pokemon for protection, the pair cautiously descended the ladder precariously placed in a hole in the floor of the ruin. Sunnyside was tucked away safely in her jacket, peeking out through the top whilst Nyx was perched on Kit's shoulder, taking note of anything that moved.
The ruin was dark and damp, lit only by various lanterns left at regular intervals by both visitors and archaeologists. Kit picked on up so that they would have a more permanent light source. Slightly creeped out by the atmosphere, Charlotte removed her pokemon from her jacket so she could hug him as she walked onwards.
"What exactly are we here for?" asked Kit as he batted at a spider web that had latched onto his mask. "All I'm seeing is mould, dust and cobwebs."
"Mystery," answered Charlotte in a wavering tone. "All these symbols on the walls must mean something," she said, pointing out the intricate murals and writings adorning the decrepit halls of the ruin. Kit held the lantern up to illuminate a particular section that depicted a strange pokemon the two had never seen before. It was an eye imbedded in a question mark.
"I don't think they do. It looks like ancient people were tripping out," Charlotte ignored his lack of imagination as traced her fingers over the carvings, picking up dust as she did so. With a start, her fingers slipped into a crack in the wall she hadn't noticed. She yanked them back, finding that they were covered in odd black goo. She grimaced and wiped it off on her jacket.
Kit nudged her shoulder, luring her attention to where he was pointing. It took a while for Charlotte to see what he was seeing, due to the darkness beyond the halo of the lantern. Heart lurching in her chest, she noticed a single eye glaring at them. She covered her mouth as a scream threatened to tear from her throat.
"Be quiet," he hissed as the eye blinked a few times, before disappearing altogether. Simultaneously, both children felt a cold shudder trail down their spines.
"Was that…?" Charlotte uttered almost silently as she was afraid that the creature would hear her and return. Kit wordlessly pointed to one of the many eyeball-like pokemon carved all over the walls. Charlotte hugged her togepi closer, who still seemed completely unfazed by the event – did anything bother the little guy?
"Come on," Kit ushered as he lit the way towards the hall the eyeball had appeared in. Charlotte remained stock still, even as the lantern's light moved further and further away. She could feel her flesh crawl with goose bumps, the hair rising on the back of her neck – there was something in the air here and she didn't like it.
Gulping nervously, she hurriedly caught up to Kit, sticking uncomfortably close to him. Their footsteps echoed in the empty halls of the ruin. The two certainly got the sense that something was watching them, attributing the feeling to the eyes they were seeing in their peripheral vision. The wall had fallen in here and there, creating some difficulty in navigation.
Ultimately, they reached the very end of the hall way, or at least, the accessible end of the hallway. The ceiling had caved in, completely obstructing the hallway, save for a tiny gap in the debris that only a small child could crawl through. Beside the hole was a discarded lantern which had long burnt out.
Kit bent down to get a better look at the hole. "It's caved in way back," he said. "That's probably why they haven't excavated yet – it could bring down the whole place." Suddenly, he lurched backwards, nearly bumping into Charlotte. Startled, she asked him what happened.
"Another one of those eye things," he replied.
"I wonder what's behind there?" pondered Charlotte. "That hole looks big enough for Sunnyside to squeeze through but I don't want him going in there alone." Muttering something under his breath, Kit paced up and down the hallway for a bit before throwing his arms up in the air.
"See, I told you coming down here was pointless," he huffed. Nyx hooted in a disgruntled fashion in reply, ruffling her plumage. "It's creepy as hell," he added, throwing a glance over his shoulder. There was nothing there now, but he could have sworn those damn eyes were following him. "Let's just go."
"B-but!" started Charlotte as Kit stalked away once more. "I want to know what all these carvings mean!"
"Not even the scientists know what they mean, just let it go or stay here and let those things get you," he called. Shuddering, Charlotte took a few steps in his direction, refusing to stray too far from the warmth of the lantern. But she never reached the light.
It went out, along with Kit's body.
"Kit!" Charlotte exclaimed as she rushed to the place he had just been standing. Placing Sunnyside down, she knelt to the ground, trying to find any traces of her ninja friend. Perhaps he had just did that thing ninjas do? The disappearing act that teleported them from one place to the next. If so, she was angry with him for abandoning her in the dark like this.
Finding nothing, she scooped Sunnyside up and headed back down the hall at a sprint. There were more eyes in her peripheral vision than ever before – mocking her by disappearing whenever she tried to get a good look at them. She could see nothing but the eyes, in fact.
Where were those lanterns that lit the halls moments ago?
All of a sudden, the ground beneath her seemed to shift – shudder up and down like the back of a massive pokemon, before giving way completely. A harsh scream tearing from her throat, the girl was hit with a blast of air, fully expected her body to collide with the hard ground at any second.
To her utter confusion, once she pried her eyes open, she discovered that she was already sitting on the ground – as if she had never gotten up in the first place. The lanterns had returned, lining the hall at regular intervals. As she steadily rose to her feet, her confusion grew at the realisation that she wasn't in the same place as before.
There were no carvings on the walls – just blank, crumbling brown slabs of stone. It seemed more intact and untouched than the rest of the ruin – which didn't explain the presence of the lanterns. Another involuntary shudder ran down her spine.
"Should we…should we try to find Kit?" she asked her pokemon. It chirped in agreement, or at least Charlotte assumed it was agreement. She nodded as she shakily treaded onwards, pleased to see that the eyes had disappeared from her peripherals.
She soon found Kit standing at the end of the hallway, peering out into what appeared to be a massive, empty room. Nyx was perched right on his shoulder – feathers ruffled but fine nonetheless. Relieved to find him, she rushed over to his side.
"I thought I lost you," she panted. Kit shrugged.
"It wouldn't matter if you did," he snorted. "We must have fallen through the roof," he explained, pointing to the pair of holes in the ceiling. That still didn't provide an answer for why Charlotte hadn't even felt the impact – she should at least have some bruises or something.
Charlotte's mouth dropped open as she examined the room, unsure where to even start. Every surface of the room was covered in murals, depicting scenes of humans interacting with pokemon in all ways imaginable, telling some sort of story.
Covering the majority of the back wall was a delicate engraving of a gargantuan tree. Floating all about this tree were small, mouse like pokemon with long tails and numerous ditto. Ancient language was carved all around it, explaining whatever was taking place.
In the middle of the room was a swirling pattern, leading towards a small indent in the floor.
The whole room was swarmed with the unknown eye pokemon.
"What the hell," muttered Kit, awe colouring his tone. "What kind of weird things were ancient people up to? Who builds stuff like this?" Ignoring him, Charlotte's gaze fell upon a Spore Initiative scientist inspecting the tree mural, rapidly taking notes in a notepad. His echoing whisper easily hit her ears in the desolate room.
"…That's what we were missing," he said. He turned his head to look at the newcomers, snapping his notebook closed and scooping up his knapsack. The children watched as he came right towards them, tensing up in case he chose to challenge them to a fight.
He didn't, he just casually walked right past. "There is a hidden passage accessed by a button in the eye of one of the unown," he explained out of the blue as he walked to the end of the passage. Seemingly, it was a dead end. He pressed a specific part of the wall, causing a rumbling sound to erupt from the place where he stood.
A section of the wall pulled into the ground, a world of darkness behind it, into which the scientist disappeared. He hadn't even brought a light source with him. The hidden door rumbled closed behind him, leaving Kit and Charlotte in awe.
"I…I think we should go back now," Charlotte admitted as she moved out of the way of an eye pokemon as it moved past her, phasing right through the wall the scientist disappeared through.
"Yeah," agreed Kit. "This place sucks."
The passageway led to a dilapidated, crumbling wall that was likely the only remnants of an old building. The taste of fresh air relaxed Charlotte as she took a deep, steadying breath, letting it out in a deep sigh. With little else to do but train and hunt for money for the rest of the afternoon, Charlotte suggested that they take a dip in one of the small lakes around the ruins.
Dipping her toes in the chilly water, Charlotte smiled as she watched her pokemon paddle around and splash at one another. All except for Static, who preferred to sunbake beside her. Kit too, swum around, having discarded his shirt on the shore, much to Charlotte's embarrassment. He wondered what all the fuss was about – it wasn't like he was showing anything private.
Thoughtfully, Charlotte furrowed her brow as she stared at her rippling reflection in the water. Her mind went back to the ruins – of that massive tree and the eye pokemon that roamed the entire place. It was like she had peered into a pocket of time she wasn't meant to see.
Just what did that scientist see that she couldn't? What was the significance of that tree? These thoughts swirled in her mind, stressing her out until Kit's voice drew her from her introspection.
She giggled as she watched him wrangle with a poliwag who he had accidently stepped on, promising him that she would help out as she slipped into the cold water.