CHAPTER 2

When they arrived on the outskirts of the city, Milo's skill had greatly improved. Kida was amazed at how fast he was grasping the concepts, but, of course, attributed this ability to why he was an exceptional scholar. The linguist, though still very clumsy, could now almost keep up with his wife. The bridge had been rebuilt long ago after the second cataclysm, but this time, with stone. They crossed together.

On the other side, the couple saw Pohmehroyh, Milo's personal guard, and Heykohk, who usually accompanied Kida when she left the palace. With them were several former huntsmen.

"Queen Kidagakash! We worried about your well-being! Where were you?" asked Heykohk. Both hunters bowed with veneration to their king and queen.

"I was showing Milo a 'new' mode of travel," Kida responded, motioning with her spear and bowing back. Then, to Pohmehroyh, she quietly said, "Thank you for coming on such short notice. I felt he should be here."

Her husband was looking through a satchel he brought. It was full of note-taking supplies for listing the status of the resources available in the area. In addition, he planned to map the area if he had the time. He put back his supplies and tested his balance with the spear again.

"Let us go," commanded Kida. The group slid their masks down and started off.

The team made a short climb to a cave and entered. Milo paused briefly, lingering at the cave's shadowy, wide mouth. He looked back for a moment at the city that forever guided and changed his life. He knew that he would always be in awe of it, no matter how long he lived. The metropolis shimmered blue in the illumination of the Mother Crystal. Then, realizing he was being left behind, he turned to attempt to catch up with the others.

Milo bounded as carefully as he could around the pillars and from ledge to ledge, sometimes only just avoiding a painful, if not fatal, misstep. He did not yet have the agility of the others in the group. The cave was very dark, but the crystals which hung around their necks lit the way rather brightly as their beams shot through the holes in their masks. The formations glistened beautifully from the light. They traveled for about an hour before stopping to study their surroundings. The lean man was grateful for the rest, and commenced studying the types of rocks for the type of material they were looking for. Pohmehroyh, of course followed him. When he found some Atlantean runes carved into the wall, Milo began to read them.

After only reading a few lines of this stone text, Milo heard his name being called.

"Milo, you should come see this!" Kida voiced in a tone that was half whisper and half yell.

Milo looked for and quickly found Kida and Heykohk. They were looking over an overhang with amazed expressions on their faces. As Milo and Pohmehroyh also looked, they could clearly see why. Below them were people unlike those they had ever seen before with vehicles alien to them. The machines were rather streamlined, or, at least were fashioned in a smoother manner than the vehicles of 1914. The expedition had broken camp near an immense underground lake that seemed to be bottomless. Pillars, stalactites, and stalagmites surrounded and were within the camp like a natural fortification.

Milo caught the face of a white man in black garb. There, on the shoulder of his uniform, was an American flag and the words "Team 10."

"Americans?" Thoughts and questions flooded his mind like a tidal wave. "Is my former country looking for me? Why? Only a few people have traveled here over the years, and those people were my former crewmates or had some association with Whitmore Industries. Didn't we agree that Atlantis would remain a secret to the general public to protect its people? It should have been reported, officially, as 'nothing found.' Why would anyone send an expedition if it was declared that this was not the path to Atlantis?"

He noticed some familiar words printed on the side of a vehicle using a strange beam of red light to cut through a stone wall. It read "Supported by the Smithsonian." Milo stared incredulously at the words. "In the past the Smithsonian wouldn't sponsor an expedition to Atlantis. Why would they do so now?"

As they looked on, Milo saw a familiar silhouette. Upon seeing this, the scholar moved around Kida and Heykohk to climb down to a lower ledge.

"Milo! What are you doing?" Kida whispered forcefully to him with urgency.

"Stop climbing down!" called Pohmehroyh. He was preparing to go down after the lingist.

"It's Sweet!" Milo exclaimed, climbing back up to show her.

"What is?"

He pointed toward the large, dark-skinned man. "There! That's Doctor Sweet!"

"Milo, I do not believe-" but Milo was already heading down. Pohmehroyh and Kida quickly began pursuit and Heykohk, though momentarily hesitant, also gave chase. Milo, however, had the head start. He managed to get down, partially by a short, harmless fall, sooner than the rest of his party. Dropping his spear at the bottom of the ledge, he began to run over to the giant of a man.

"SWEET! KREE-loog-toat JOSH-wah SWEET-toap!" shouted Milo with enthusiasm, not realizing he speech was in Atlantean. The man made a quick movement to his waist. Kida and the two guards noticed this, and they ducked behind a boulder. They knew the movements of aggression. As the lingust grew closer, he saw the man turn, pointing a gun directly at Milo's head. Though the ebony man possessed the form of the physician, he possessed not his face.





Based off the Disney Picture "Atlantis: the Lost Empire." The names "Atlantis: Rediscovery," and chreen as well as the characters Pohmehroyh, Heykohk, Ana, and Daniel are my (Rebmakash's) property. Fan fiction storyline also my property. Milo Thatch, Kidagakash, and other characters, names, concepts, and non-gibberish Atlantean are property of the Walt Disney Company.