Chapter 16
Lost Secrets
"Alright, I need some privacy now" Belle requested, Ivan and Alex then left without a word.
After they left the tent, the light breeze and clear sky slightly calmed Alex, but only slightly. He was nervous to learn what had to be a difficult skill.
Ivan was staring out towards the ocean, quietly focusing. After a brief pause, he spoke without turning around and said "sit, quiet your mind"
Alex did as instructed, doing his best to put aside the thoughts of Blaze and even the chaos Nigel was causing.
"The practice of Tutaminis is thousands of years old, it is all but forgotten to a few, practiced by even fewer" Ivan said in a monotone voice, a quiet reverence in his tone.
Ivan finally turned around and focused on Alex, making his student even more nervous.
"In order to redirect the energy of others, your will and your focus must be unbending and precise" Ivan warned him.
"If it's not, what happens?" Alex asked timidly.
Ivan shook his head and said "the same thing that happens if you try to redirect super effective energy, the energy flowing through your body will overwhelm you, it would be like an attack hitting you from the inside out. The pain is unimaginable and if it's too powerful it can very likely kill you. Knowing all that, do you still wish to learn, I will not hold anything against you if you wish to back out"
Alex took a moment to consider his response, but he took risks every time he fought wild Pokémon in a mystery dungeon
"I want to learn," Alex affirmed.
"Very well, first fire a dragon breath at that target" Ivan requested as he pointed at a rock that he had set up with a red painted dot in the center.
Alex did as instructed, hitting the rock dead center and leaving a small scorch mark.
"Accurate, for sure...in order to use Tutaminis you must first have control of your own energy. To that end, when you do a dragon breath this next time, take it slow and focus on where that energy comes from when you use the attack" Ivan said before pointing at the rock again.
Alex nodded and closed his eyes, he focused on the dragon breath but only on where it came from, feeling the energy from within, he tried something new and focused the energy to his hand, feeling the flow like it was when he opened his mouth, he sent it up his arm, keeping his eyes closed to concentrate.
"Do you know dragon claw!" Ivan asked in an astonished voice.
"No, why…I haven't ever...ah" Alex nearly jumped as he opened his eyes to see a blue energy glowing around his hand like fire. His shock caused it to dissipate.
"How did you do that! The energy control to do what you just did takes most months or even years of practice" Ivan admitted.
Alex's mouth was agape before he said "really? I just focused on my inner energy and sent it up my arm"
"Incredible, perhaps your transformation gave you new instincts that you don't even know about" Ivan surmised.
"Wow!" Alex admitted, he wanted to tell Ivan about his encounter with Groudon and the strange power that manifested there, but something deep down told him not to, after all he didn't even know how he did that.
"I want you to practice channeling that energy to your hand, if you can show control over it in the next few hours, I might give you the next steps after lunch" Ivan told him.
"I'll do my best!" Alex exclaimed.
"I hate sand" Blaze groaned as he entered the temple, brushing the layers of dust off of him.
"Sorry, Tesla's sense of direction isn't the best" Lana apologized. They had known this temple was here but Tesla had wandered off the course they plotted on accident. Tesla was known as the Dashing wanderer for a reason, skilled, and smart but directionally hopeless even with a map.
"Following the beaten path is no fun! We're explorers after all!" Tesla said proudly, his comment getting a facepalm from Lana and Blaze simultaneously.
The trek through the Northern Desert had been brutal, luckily Lana and Tesla lived up to their master ranked reputation against the ground and rock types. They had finally made it to an ancient temple surrounded by quicksand pits.
"You know for a bronze ranked explorer you hold your own pretty good kid!" Tesla admitted.
"Thanks," Blaze said quietly, sure that Tesla was just saying that to cheer him up.
"No joke, I see why your partner had faith in you!" Tesla complimented.
"Yea! Impressive" Lana said as she pulled out a book of notes and symbols. She took a look at the hieroglyphics before motioning Blaze and Tesla over.
Lana ran her finger across the wall and said "these markings predate anything I've seen on this continent, that's a good sign since we know the time gears are as old as the time itself"
"Can you read it?" Blaze asked.
"Yes and no, like said nothing I've seen on this continent is nearly as old as these words, I can try to cross reference it with my notes but my references are almost 1,000 years younger" Lana conceded.
"So this temple is over 2,000 years old!" Blaze asked, stunned.
"More like 4,000" Lana clarified nonchalantly.
"Here it is!" Tesla exclaimed as he recklessly pushed on a slab of the wall, the slab sunk back into the wall with a click, causing a slight tremor before the floor opened up in the center of the room, revealing a circular hole of quicksand.
Lana's jaw dropped as she asked "how did you know!"
"Sensed electrical energy of living things below us, if there was nothing but rocks and quicksand then they shouldn't be anything below us" Tesla explained.
"The hieroglyphs said that the sands hide the truth, surely enough" Lana admitted.
"But what if that quicksand is just a decoy for the real hole and it sucks us under and suffocates us!" Blaze reminded them.
"Fair enough, I'll go first!" Tesla said as he jumped headfirst into the quicksand, sinking for a few moments before disappearing from sight.
For an entire, painstaking minute, Blaze and Lana were silent, fearing Tesla was trapped, before they could fear the worst a muffled yell came from under the sand.
"It's safe down here!" Tesla yelled.
"Take a deep breath" Lana advised before sucking a full mouth of air and diving into the pit as well.
Blaze took a deep breath and said "be brave, I can do this!"
He followed Lana's example and dived in, he was submerged for a little under a minute before falling into a dark cave below. Lana was waiting for him with a lamp orb in her hand.
"There's almost no Pokémon here, there was a Sandshrew but Tesla scared it off.
"Let's have a look around," Tesla suggested before the trio headed deeper into the cave.
After about five minutes they came to a brightly lit cavern, before them was a massive underground lake with small shafts of light coming down from above. A faint blue glow that Blaze instantly recognized was at the center of the lake.
As they came to the lake's edge, Blaze pointed to the lake's center and said "I saw that light at Fogbound Lake, the time gear is out there, we beat Nigel to the punch!"
"Great, but where's the guardian that Wallace warned about?" Lana reminded the others.
"Looking for me!" A female voice yelled before a Pokémon that looked strikingly similar to Uxie popped up out of the lake. It was another small, gray, floating Pokémon. It had the same two tails that each have a red jewel encrusted in them like Uxie. It's defining trait was its face was partly magenta with four long, drooping appendages and another red gem encrusted in its forehead.
"I'm Mesprit, the guardian of an underground lake! State your business!" She threatened.
Blaze was silent, carefully considering what to say only for Tesla to step forward and hold out his master ranked badge.
"Mesprit, I'm Tesla and this is Lana and Blaze. Uxie is in a coma after being attacked by a thief stealing the time gears. We were sent by the Wigglytuff guild to find the time gear and warn you!" Tesla explained slowly and calmly.
Mesprit relaxed ever so slightly and replied "Uxie messaged me psychically, she felt weak when she sent it, where is she?" Mesprit asked.
"She's comatose from the attack but is under constant care by our guild medic who is attempting to heal her psychic hemorrhaging" Blaze said as calmly as he could.
"If you are not the one stealing the time gears then who is, what does he look like?" Mesprit asked, convinced of their claims.
"That would be me" a voice said from behind them.
Tesla and Lana turned around only for a white seed to shatter right at their feet, a freezing mist that froze both of them in a solid block of ice, Mesprit was able to react in time and Blaze's fire typing prevented the ice seed from freezing him, he cloaked himself in fire to melt of the substantial frost on him.
"You!" Blaze yelled as he stepped forward and unleashed a torrent of fire, Nigel simply took the attack, the embers hitting him but doing nothing.
"How!" Blaze asked as his jaw dropped, he then noticed a silver bangle with a green gem on Nigel's wrist. The gem was glowing before a green light poured over Nigel's body.
"Drain bangle, an incredibly rare item that's handy if you don't like getting torched, thank for the heal" Nigel said before there was a rush of air, Blaze looked down to see a glowing green slash across his chest, the leaf blade caused him to double over in pain. Nigel has hit him so fast that he couldn't even see the attack.
Before Blaze could even try to get up, Nigel chopped him in the back of the head, rendering the Chimchar unconscious in the blink of an eye before taking his treasure bag and throwing it a few feet away to avoid him grabbing a healing item if he woke up fast.
Mesprit scowled at the thief, this exploration team had braved the desert to warn her only to get taken out in an unfair fight.
"I beat Uxie so you know how skilled I am, step aside, I don't want to hurt you if I can avoid it" Nigel offered in a genuine voice.
"You will not get my time gear! And you will PAY FOR HURTING MY SISTER!" Mesprit yelled before her eyes glowed pink, causing sand to swirl in a tornado around her, she hovered above her opponent, ready to defend her time gear as long as she could draw a breath.
Author's notes-Im back early! Thus begins my new writing schedule, every two weeks Im gonna post a complete chunk, 2-3 chapters, tell me if you like this way of release, if you don't I'll look at some other options, this is just the best way to work around summer school
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