~ Chapter 47 ~
Solaceon Ruins, Mystery of the Past
"We were lucky to visit the Solaceon Ruins at a time when no archaeological digs or academic studies were going on. Otherwise the entire place would have been roped off and restricted to surveyors and academics only. You have to wonder whether or not archaeology destroys more history than it discovers; but that's a discussion for another time. I couldn't even begin to imagine our contribution to the world of history, archaeology, and Pokémon studies when we first visited the Solaceon Ruins. I also couldn't imagine that we had started one of the biggest, longest running mysteries of all our travels. What we discovered in the Solaceon Ruins haunted us until at least the Johto Region. More on that later…much, much later…"
Sam looked up at the Solaceon Ruins.
Three large, raised planes, flat on top, slanted sides. They were square in shape, with walls of smooth, brown sandstone. Windows dotted the side at regular intervals. Atop the raised plateaus were flat landscapes covered in clean-cut grass, stone pathways, and a large building, looking like a temple in the middle.
These three monuments were all that remained of the ancient Solaceon Town.
Few people knew exactly how many of these mounds existed at a single time in history, but it is known that the city itself was within the buried part of the mound. The windows marked hallways, rooms, and chambers within the ancient maze of rock and stone.
Atop, the temple and its grounds were no doubt temples used to worship the Legendary Pokémon that the ancient peoples of Sinnoh viewed as gods.
"Amazing isn't it?" asked Niya, her mouth curved into a smile.
She had been here before, back when she was travelling the Sinnoh Region for her Pokémon Contests. Back then though she was unable to visit the place up close, because of an archaeological dig that was happening.
Now this place had grown empty, for the time being anyway, and in a few weeks, at the height of summer, would be full of tourists from all across the regions, flocking to see what the Solaceon Ruins had to offer.
Eventually scientists and academics would return as well and rope off the ruins for an undisclosed period of time, until they'd found what they'd come looking for at least.
"Shall we go in?" asked Jeremy, curious to find out what the inside looked like.
"Pikaaaa," replied Pikachu, not so much answering as he was staring at these monuments in amazement. They were bigger than any of them could've expected or even imagined.
"Beautiful," said Alyssandra in amazement, looking up at these stone ruins in awe.
"Let's get going, before people start crowding the place," said Jeremy, walking towards one of the massive stone stairways that led up to one of the entrances, located in the side of the slanted wall of stone.
"The boy is very astute, Sam," stated Aurelio as he appeared behind in front of Sam and behind Niya as the group walked up the entrance to the ruins. Aurelio, as usual, had appeared from nowhere and without warning.
Sam had grown accustomed to it however, and no longer jumped when his grandfather made his presence known. Sam couldn't respond though, as his friends were around him. Of course, that didn't stop Aurelio from talking even more.
"The Solaceon Ruins," said Aurelio reminiscently, "I remember when Rowan and I first travelled here. The man nearly wet himself he was so terrified. Never did like ghosts or ghost stories that one…of course it didn't help that I kept jumping from random corners wearing one of my oni masks."
Aurelio let out a hearty chuckle and Sam concealed a smile.
He would need to bring that up with Professor Rowan the next time they spoke. Away from the hungry ears of any of his friends. There was no need to embarrass the man in front of everyone.
"Are we going to be splitting up to explore more of it at once?" asked Jeremy, pulling out a helmet with a camera strapped to it. Everyone had one in their hands and was in the midst of putting it on.
"I don't know about splitting up alone in a place like this," said Sam as the last of the daylight disappeared beyond the hearth.
They were now in the cold stone halls of old Solaceon, the only light pouring in from the evenly spaced windows located at long distances down all exterior hallways.
"You're right, it's too easy to get lost in this place," agreed Aurelio, "I recommend going in at least pairs. You all have first aid kits I imagine?"
"We should go in pairs," Sam parroted his grandfather, "We've got our first aid kits in case anything happens; flashlights too, and our cameras. Anything we find we can share with each other tonight using the footage."
Niya nodded as she turned her flashlight and her helmet camera on.
"We've got these walkie-talkies too," said Alyssandra holding hers up, testing it by pushing the button, causing static to echo from the speaker of hers followed by a beep as she released the button.
"It's too bad the Pokétch Communicator App isn't released yet, I heard it's going to be really cool, it would've been perfect," said Jeremy as he scratched Pikachu between the ears, "We could've saved some money on our equipment by not having to buy walkie-talkies."
"Don't complain too much, I paid for it," laughed Sam, "If anyone should be upset it's me. Besides, when the app comes out we'll have both just in case—that way we'll prevent another incident like the one in Mt. Coronet from happening again."
Everyone nodded in agreement, giving grunts of affirmation. That was not a pleasant experience, and everyone was positive that they never wanted to endure something like that again.
"From what I heard you guys had quite the adventure in that mountain," stated Aurelio, "Of course that mountain seems to be a curse for our family."
Sam also made a note to ask his grandfather about that later; it would prove for a good story this evening.
"So how are we dividing ourselves?" asked Niya.
Before anyone could answer, Pikachu jumped from Jeremy's shoulder to Sam's, with a "Pika-pi!" of proclamation, as if to claim Sam's shoulder as his new property.
"Well, we know whom Pikachu will be going with," laughed Niya, everyone else laughing along.
Pikachu was still finicky even though he was older now, but he was finicky in different ways. He knew for sure that he wanted to remain outside of the Poké Ball with his human friends, but it was always a mystery as to whose shoulders he would be standing on each day.
Pikachu was generous enough to take turns, even if the pattern was sporadic and non-existent. This was definitely not the same Pikachu they had met in Sandgem Town, who refused to leave his Poké Ball let alone Jeremy's side.
"Can I come with you Sam?" asked Alyssandra, "If you don't mind of course Pikachu."
"Pikaaaa!" squeaked Pikachu in delight.
No one was sure what Pikachu was fonder of, Oran Berries, Alyssandra or someone carrying Oran Berries.
"By all means, Lyss, you're always welcomed to come along," smiled Sam, all too happy to spend some time with Alyssandra.
"So that leaves me with Jeremy then," stated Niya.
"How come we're always stuck together?" asked Jeremy, feigning complaint.
"Bad luck," shrugged Niya before she walked off down the hallway.
Jeremy chuckled, then quickly ran to catch up with Niya.
"We'll meet you back here in three hours, keep an eye on your Pokétch!" cried Sam after his friends.
"Got it!" responded Niya, her voice echoing down the hallway as she got smaller and smaller.
"Don't forget to check in if you find anything, and every half hour just to be safe!" called Alyssandra this time.
It was Jeremy who responded next with an "All right!" before the two of them rounded a corner and disappeared, the last few sounds of Jeremy's voice carrying down the hallway.
"Shall we get going then?" asked Alyssandra as she looked at Sam.
Sam nodded and the two were off, walking down the hallway opposite the way Niya and Jeremy had gone. Not surprising to Sam, his grandfather had come along as well, no doubt to provide semi-comedic commentary to Sam's life that he never asked for.
The search through the ruins of Solaceon was mostly uneventful. The twosome kept walking, Pikachu sitting vigilant on Sam's shoulder, keeping an eye out for other people, Pokémon, or any possible threats to everyone as a whole. They searched rooms, found broken remains of pottery or some old stone furniture, a few curtains in rooms that were lucky enough to face the outside wall and be granted a window.
Then, out of nowhere, as the two teens walked down a flight of stairs into a new hallway Alyssandra spoke.
"Are you okay?" she asked, a tinge of worry coating her voice.
"Yeah, why do you ask?" wondered Sam, oblivious and unaware as to what Alyssandra meant. Though something in the far back of his mind was giving him a hint.
"I don't know, you just seem, a bit off lately," explained Alyssandra, careful not to trip over her words, "You disappear a lot randomly. You cry out in surprise—"
"—I haven't done that in a while, to be fair," said Sam defensively, knowing exactly where this was going.
"But still, that's not normal," returned Alyssandra, pressing the issue again like an army on the attack, "I've also noticed that at night now you go for walks more often after you're done with your writing for the day."
"I can't go for walks?" asked Sam with a light-hearted tone, hoping to avoid the topic of why he was talking to himself. Yet, Sam's life was anything but easy and his prayers were rarely answered, and of course, Alyssandra went there.
"I followed you the other day," said Alyssandra plainly, "You were talking to yourself in the park. I didn't hear what you were saying don't worry; I wasn't going to invade your privacy that much, but you were definitely standing there having a conversation with the air."
"You followed me?" asked Sam, not sure if he was offended or touched.
"I was worried about you!" said Alyssandra defensively, the two of them taking a left into a random chamber.
"I—" Sam stopped speaking as he froze, looking over at the walls.
They were covered in pictures and stylistic writing. The letters resembled something close to the modern alphabet, if one looked hard enough that is. Some forms Sam was able to make out just by looking at them, they were simple to translate into modern letters, but others were difficult or shaped in ways Sam didn't recognized.
Each of the letters was adorned with a circle containing a single, solitary dot in the centre. Something in Sam told him it was an eye, but of course he had no way of being sure.
"I've heard of this room," Aurelio said from the entrance, "It's the famed Room of Glyphs. Archaeologists say that the pictures here depict the history of the Solaceon Tribe, and that this room was sacred to them. But they don't know why it was sacred, or what the pictures are trying to depict"
Sam nodded and Alyssandra said much the same as Aurelio.
"This room has been fabled to hold secrets beyond compare," stated Sam in amazement.
"No one's ever found anything though, other than wall paintings and this odd writing," said Alyssandra kneeling down, scanning the wall with her eyes as she felt each and every chiselled groove with her fingers.
"What do you think Pikachu?"
"Piiiiiikaaaaaaa," said Pikachu in what Sam assumed was wonderment; even the Pokémon was taken aback at the beauty of this room.
Before now the teens had only ever seen pictures in history books at school, or in documentaries on TV, but now they were standing in the room, touching the walls with their hands. It was amazing; a living piece of history.
"I'm going to radio Niya and Jeremy," explained Sam, pulling out his walkie-talkie. He clicked the button and spoke into it.
"Niya, Jeremy, are you there? It's Sam. Over," called Sam into the microphone. There was a beep as he released the button and a pause as he waited for a response.
"We're here, what's up? Over," was Niya's response.
"We've found something, you're going to want to see this," Sam answered back, amazement clearly soaking into his words, "Are you near a map station? Over."
Another pause, a few minutes longer now, then a response,
"Yeah, we are now. Over," called Jeremy through the speaker of the walkie-talkie.
"Okay, now look for the Room of Glyphs on the map, meet us there when you can. Over," said Sam, hoping the directions shown on the map station would be straightforward. The sooner everyone got to see this room the better.
Sam didn't care that he hadn't discovered anything new at this point; he had found something special that, despite being public knowledge, was still a beauty to behold.
Niya confirmed that she and Jeremy were on their way, and Sam, Alyssandra and Pikachu continued to examine the room while they waited.
"Rowan and I came here once," said Aurelio, telling one of his stories again, "Brought a tear to my eye, I'm not going to deny it. It was beautiful; still is. Human ingenuity at its finest."
Sam nodded in his head, he couldn't agree more with his grandfather. Sure, to some it was just a bunch of carved pictures and letters from a dead language on a wall. But to Sam, and no doubt to his friends and even Pikachu, it was art. It was magnificent. There were no true words to describe the feeling they felt.
"May I give you some advice, Sam?" asked Aurelio.
Sam didn't respond, but he gave his grandfather a look that clearly meant no, yet, as Aurelio was wont to do, he spoke anyway.
'I swear if the advice is to 'kiss the girl' again I'm going to scream,' thought Sam to himself.
"No, it's not kiss the girl," smiled Aurelio with a wink, "Not this time anyway. Got to pick your moments my boy. Anyway! I suggest you tell her about me."
Sam couldn't understand his grandfather's motives, but…Sam's thoughts and feelings seemed to be going through to his grandfather. Sam paused a moment, then tried responding, using his mind. 'Why would I do that?' thought Sam, screwing up his face to direct them towards Aurelio.
"Because, if she doesn't think you're crazy, it'll give you something to bond over," explained Aurelio, "She's probably the only one that'll believe you anyway. Except maybe Jeremy but you don't want to be cuddling up to him next to a fire while you explain this do you?"
Sam held back a chuckle at the thought, and then thought over what his grandfather said. For a man whose first response was usually sarcastic or comical, he was making an awful lot of sense.
Niya would get Sam clinical help. Probably because forcing to do it himself would not have any affect, and the only way she'd get anything done would be to do it herself. Jeremy, while he would believe Sam, was not Sam's exact idea of a confidant to talk to about this in the middle of the night. Alyssandra, of course, was the only other option—discounting Sam's Pokémon or Pikachu, but again, not ideal for Sam's grand plan.
Sam sighed, gathered up his courage and turned towards Alyssandra, who was examining a stone altar at the other side of the room. "Lyss?" called Sam, trying to get her attention.
She looked up, waiting to see what Sam had to say, but he never got to finish, as Jeremy and Niya walked in through the doorway. Pikachu bounding off of his shoulder and over to Jeremy, upon whose shoulder he now preferred to perch.
"It really is as beautiful as described," said Niya in astonishment as she beheld the room for herself.
Jeremy was speechless at what he saw and had no words to say.
Meanwhile, Alyssandra was back to examining the stone altar. It was decorated magnificently; there was even a little decoration on the side of the altar, in a pattern of triangles with gemstones all connected to form the triangles.
That's when it hit Sam, like a tonne of bricks in the chest. "It hit you too didn't it?" said Alyssandra with a smile of pure excitement, as she realized Sam noticed too.
Niya and Jeremy looked at them, surprised and lacking the same understanding. They were confused, but to Sam and Alyssandra it made sense.
Pikachu was confused as well, and even Aurelio didn't understand what was going on.
"We've seen these before," explained Sam, "Beneath the Hallowed Tower before we battled the Spiritomb. It took me a minute to realize it but—"
"—Me too!" continued Alyssandra, "The pictures, the writing, it's all the same! These are from the ante-chamber outside of the Vault of Souls!"
"Exactly!" cried Sam, who was allowed to go back down with Alyssandra and was given a crash course on the wall art. The pictures were the same, and while the Shrine Maidens would not let on whether or not they were able to translate the odd language beneath all of the pictures, they did describe some of the scenes shown on the wall.
One, Sam pointed out as he walked over to it, showed the banishment of the tribes from Mt. Coronet by the Legendary Pokémon who created the world. A white marble sphere set inside of a pattern that seemed to resemble light rays represented said Pokémon.
Then another scene, this time Alyssandra describing it to everyone, as the creation of the Spiritomb, followed by a scene depicting the building of the Hallowed Tower, then one that showed the creation of the Vault of Souls and the sealing of the Spiritomb.
There were still hundreds more panels not known to Sam and Alyssandra, but the ones they recognized they were able to describe in perfect detail.
Alyssandra had never felt such a burning passion for history before, but the mysteries of the past had begun to intrigue her at the Hallowed Tower, and slowly she too grew a love for one of the greatest puzzles known to mankind.
Sam then walked over to the stone altar, and examined the sides of it, which held a pattern that was matched on the wall behind the altar. The triangle patterns made of connected gemstones.
Sam wasn't sure what it symbolized yet, the Shrine Maidens were rather quiet about it, but he knew it was something important; the same gems, in the same order. This was no coincidence.
"That I have seen before!" exclaimed Jeremy in realization, "At the ruins in Amity Square! Pikachu and I were there and in one of the buildings, the same one I lost his Poké Ball in. In the wall was the same pattern, with the same gems in the same configuration, only…"
Jeremy paused examining the pattern again. Everyone inquired as to what Jeremy was thinking, to which he responded. "There wasn't a white orb in the middle," explained Jeremy, to everyone's continued confusion, "It wasn't an orb it was…I think it was a metal figurine of some kind. I don't remember too well, I wasn't looking right at it, but I know it wasn't a sphere of marble."
"We need to go back there and look at it next time we're in Hearthome," said Sam affirmatively.
"What a wonderful mystery to solve," smiled Aurelio, stroking his beard pensively, "It's all coming together. Funny though isn't it? Hundreds of years of study and work, and the academic community can't find anything. Four teenagers barely experienced in the real world and they figure it out in minutes."
"The Vault of Souls…and the Shrine Maidens," said Sam, mostly to himself, but loud enough for everyone else to hear him, "They're the missing pieces to this puzzle; that or they hold the pieces. Either way, us having access to them means we were able to bring new information to this mystery that no one else could've."
"It also means we can't show anyone what we discover here. If we do discover anything," said Alyssandra firmly, "We swore an oath of secrecy remember? We promised not to reveal to anyone—present company excepted—what we learned at the Hallowed Tower."
Sam nodded, not willing to incur the wrath of the Shrine Maidens for the sake of fame, fortune, and glory. "So, what do we do with what we find?" asked Sam, "Keep it hidden? Leave it here? Take it with us?"
"We'll decide when and if that happens," said Niya simply, "Come on, let's keep looking for now."
The group kept exploring, looking around the room for more clues. Sam remained by the odd pattern of gems and carved lines and triangles to examine it further, when he read a small inscription nearby.
It was written in the mystery, unknown language. Academics called it U-Prime, Unknown Prime. The first and original unknown language to baffle the academic world. Since its discovery many more have appeared, and even more had been solved, but regardless this language had puzzled intelligentsia across the world no matter how many supposed breakthroughs had occurred.
Some believed it always would, that the language was not meant to be understood. Some of the letters were the same as the modern alphabet, sure, but that didn't mean pronunciation was the same, nor did it mean words were spelt the same. Words were spelt entirely differently. It was, after all, a whole other language.
This inscription though…it seemed to make something click in Sam. He felt a sharp pain in his temple as he read it and reread it and let out a gasp. His friends turned to look at him, but by the time they had reached him—in a matter of seconds—it was gone, and he was fine again.
Looking back at the inscription again Sam was surprised to find it made sense to him…nothing else in the room did of course, just this particular phrase. It was like looking at an inscription in his own language, even though he knew it was written in the U-Prime script.
The puzzle had been unscrambled, for this set of glyphs anyway, but the rest of the writing on the other walls remained blurry.
"Sam, what's wrong, what is it?" asked Alyssandra, worry returning to her voice.
There was a pause as Sam tried to make sense of what happened and then, out of curiosity, he read the phrase.
"Friendship…all lives touch other lives…to create something new and real," Sam read, his tone distant as his mind still tried to take in what had happened just now. As he read the words aloud something clicked in the distance, but Sam brushed it off as a random noise echoing through the hallways of the old ruins.
"What are you saying?" asked Niya, totally lost.
Sam pointed at the inscription at the wall. "That's what it says."
"How were you able to decipher that? No one, not even the greatest minds on the planet, have been able to crack more than a few basic letters," asked Jeremy in amazement.
Sam shrugged and shook his head. "I don't know, it just, sort of came to me. I think—"
Sam stopped, then his face grew puzzled as he stared hard at a stone panel in the wall just a few feet from the inscription. It stood out to him; literally. That must've been the click. Sam was sure of it.
The rest of the room had stones in line, perfectly placed in the wall so that no seams showed and there was a constant uniformity and flat surfaces as far as the eye could see, but this one stone was protruding just enough to make a difference to Sam.
Everyone followed Sam to the stone, even Pikachu and Aurelio who wanted to see where this would go. Pikachu stood at Sam's feet, while Aurelio's body phased through Jeremy's chest in order to get a better look.
"This stone is jutting out," said Sam thinking deeply about what he was going to do about it, and then he realized that the figures carved into the scene on the panel were sticking out enough to make a handle—four handles actually.
"I wonder," whispered Sam gently, "You guys, help me for a second. Grab one of the figures each and help me pull."
Everyone was too enthralled to see what would happen next to question what Sam was asking of them.
Aurelio just stared in amazement, hoping he would soon see something wonderful happen. Everyone did as asked, and grabbed one of the four figures in the scene, using them as a handle. Pikachu hopped onto Jeremy's shoulder, grabbed pawfuls of his shirt and yanked at that while everyone else yanked on the stone panel.
There was scraping sound as the stone panel scratched against the stones that surrounded it, and a lot of effort was put into every tug. Sweat beaded down everyone's foreheads, as the heavy stone panel refused to budge half the time.
Finally, after ten minutes of heaving, with one final pull, the panel popped loose. It was so heavy that it instantly hit the ground, everyone falling back onto the ground as they released the heavy rock.
Pikachu tumbled off Jeremy's shoulder and bounced against the ground a few feet away. The Pokémon dusted itself off, shook its fur of dirt and after brushing the top of its head, tail, and ears into a neat arrangement of short, static charged fur, returned to Jeremy's shoulder.
"Well I'll be," Aurelio exclaimed as he looked at where the stone panel had once been, "It's a chest!"
Aurelio was correct.
Behind the old stone panel was a small alcove, and in the alcove sat a small wooden chest. It was locked tight, but a key sat beside the chest, which no doubt opened the old iron lock.
"Quickly, let's grab it and get back to the inn," said Jeremy quickly, "That boom was liable to have alerted someone. I want to finish this puzzle without having to explain how we reached this conclusion."
"Or worse, be accused of destroying a historical monument," added Alyssandra.
Together, the group lifted with all of their might, employing the help of Sam's Gabite and Cranidos, and Niya's Drifloon to help make things go faster.
"This would be so much easier if one of us had a Machop or one of its evolutions," grunted Niya as everyone heaved the heavy stone slab back into place.
Sweating heavily by the time they were done, they tossed back their canteens of water as Alyssandra slipped the wooden box and the key that sat next to it into her shoulder bag.
The Pokémon were returned to their Poké Balls, Pikachu was given an Oran Berry for all of his "help" and everyone was given a minute to catch their breath.
Looking back at the stone panel, Sam noticed that it fit in with the rest of the room, and no longer stood out, as if it never existed.
He yanked again on the tablet, but it refused to budge, not even an inch; it was almost as if the alcove ceased to exist, like it had never been there in the first place.
Sam shook his head, pretending that everything was normal, but there was definitely something going on in this room.
"We're never going exploring in old ruins again without a Fighting Type Pokémon, agreed?" asked Jeremy facetiously, though it garnered a hearty agreement from his friends.
"Now, let's get going. We'll examine this thing in greater detail back in our room," said Niya, to which everyone agreed.
Everyone remained silent on their return to town, except for Sam's grandfather.
Aurelio rambled on about how the group had made the discovery of a lifetime, perhaps of several lifetimes. Though he understood why they couldn't tell anyone, he boomed on about how they could've had fame and fortune it if wasn't for scruples, and perhaps the almost certain death the Shrine Maidens could inflict upon them for breaking their vows.
Although no one else except for Sam heard or saw Aurelio as he rambled on during the return trip, for Sam, it seemed to make the trip even longer and more tiring.
Of course, Sam wasn't going to deny that it also made the trip more entertaining.
The group had only just entered the Sleepy Swellow Inn when the woman at the desk had notified them that someone had just called them from the Lost Tower but refused to give a name.
Sam knew who it was, and part of him was afraid that the Shrine Maidens had discovered that they used secret knowledge to discover the hidden box.
Sam calmed himself though, enough to force himself to realize that not only had they not broken their vows of secrecy with what they had just done, but also that the Great Mother had promised to return Sam and Alyssandra's Spiritomb by now.
With a calm breath, Sam centred himself and looked at his friends. "Go on ahead. I'll take the call. Get some food and stuff—I think we're all starved—and something for the Pokémon as well," said Sam, "I'll be up in a sec and we can finish up our…talk."
The group nodded and went down the hallway towards their room while Sam approached the videophone stations next to the front desk.
Sam dialled the number the woman at the front desk had been left by the Great Mother when she called last. The ringing came and went as fast as ever, as the Great Mother wasted no time in answering the phone.
"Hello there Sam," said the woman smiling happily, "How are you, are you keeping well?"
Sam nodded. "Well enough, yes," he laughed, "No poachers or angry spirits since we left the Lost Tower."
The Great Mother chuckled. "That is good news," she joked slightly, "As I'm sure you've guessed, I'm calling about your Spiritomb."
Sam nodded, figuring as much, though refusing to admit he had a small minute of panic before reaching that conclusion.
"I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you about it," apologized the Great Mother genuinely, "I promised to have them back to you by the time you arrived at Solaceon Town, which should've been a few days ago by my calculation."
"No, it's all right," said Sam simply, "We've been busy since we arrived anyway, so it's quite fine."
"Well, you see, that's part of the reason I'm calling actually," continued the Great Mother cautiously, "I was delayed for a reason. The other day we united and pacified another two Spiritomb, and I was thinking that, since you and Alyssandra were so skilled, your other friends might be just as skilled."
"I can assure you that they are," responded Sam, defending his friend's skills even though they did not need defending.
"Excellent!" smiled the Great Mother excitedly, "That works out even better. As I'm sure you've guessed by now, I was hoping your friends Jeremy and Niya could take these Spiritomb as well. You would all have one to care for."
Sam thought for a moment, wondering what his friends might say, and though it was wrong to answer for them, Sam felt he understood them well enough that he could.
"I don't see a problem with it," responded Sam confidently.
The Great Mother nodded happily. "Wonderful," she responded, "I cannot wait to see what these Spiritomb turn out to be in your capable hands. It's always nice to see them getting along with humanity again."
Sam nodded. Though in truth he had no idea what the experience would be like, or how fun it was to watch a Spiritomb "get along with humanity", let alone what that even meant.
"I'll send the Spiritomb over now, all right?" asked the Great Mother, making sure Sam was prepared to receive them.
Sam nodded, and they bid their goodbyes, and just as the screen went black, four white Poké Balls appeared in the transporting tube.
The character writing on them had been removed, as had the paper seals, and the balls were simply a pure white colour now from top to bottom.
Sam grabbed the Poké Balls carefully and gently and placed them into his shoulder bag before walking off down the hall to his room.
He would give his friends their Pokémon later, but first he wanted to know what was in the locked box. Just as Sam approached his room, his grandfather appeared, walking through the door, and stepping out into the hallway to great his grandson.
"Your friends have incredible patience you know," said Aurelio in disbelief, "They're actually waiting for you. Astonishing."
Sam sighed, but smiled softly. "Yes, grandfather, friends do that for each other."
Aurelio chuckled, pausing for a moment before he continued. "Yes, I suppose they do, don't they? So, what kept you up?"
"The woman who leads the Sinnoh Shrine Maidens called us before," Sam explained, "She was returning to us our Spiritomb that we had captured while we were at the Lost Tower."
"Yes, you mentioned that incident to me," noted Aurelio, "Not easy Pokémon to catch Spiritomb. Extremely rare too, for reasons we both now know. You should consider yourself lucky."
Sam shrugged, more interested in getting inside the room to find out what was in that wooden box. "I guess."
Aurelio eyed his grandson, and without delay decided to stall him, keeping his eager grandson from his precious box, but also teaching him a lesson in patience. "So," said Aurelio, dragging out this conversation for as long as he could, "Have you thought about my advice from before?"
Sam let out a slightly agitated sigh but kept his composure. His grandfather had a point still, but right now Sam's only priority was seeing inside of that box.
"I'll tell her, okay?" said Sam, calming himself down; he knew his grandfather was just trying to ruffle his feathers. He did it a lot when Sam was a kid, and Sam was ashamed to say it still worked.
Sam took another breath, then smiled, remembering his childhood, and feeling a sense of happy nostalgia wipe over him.
"That's what I wanted to hear," smiled Aurelio, "Now go look in that box. We're all curious to see what's in there."
Sam didn't waste a minute and opened the door to Niya and Alyssandra's room. "What happened?" asked Niya curiously, though her impatience was starting to show beneath the surface.
"We got our Spiritomb back," answered Sam, "She even gave us two more, one for you and Jeremy as well."
"Really? Why?" asked Jeremy, curious, but not complaining.
"Apparently, she trusts your skills as a Trainer," said Sam as he passed one of the white Poké Balls out to each of his friends. He slipped his own white Poké Ball back into his shoulder bag, specifically in the inside pocket where he kept his extra Pokémon, like Grey Flame and his Eevee.
"Enough stalling now," said Jeremy eagerly, "Can we please open the box, I want to see what's in there."
Sam nodded and pointed to the key sitting next to the box. "Go ahead then, let's open it."
Alyssandra nodded and grabbed the old iron key. It was old, uneven, and seemed to be made of a heavy, black iron.
The wooden box was painted in faded colours of blue and white and studded with small gems and mother of pearl inlay.
Alyssandra slipped the old key into the old lock and held her breath as she turned it. There was a click as the tumblers retracted into place and Jeremy was sitting on the edge of the bed like a kid at Christmas.
Pikachu was chewing the tips of its paws nervously, and Niya was munching on her bottom lip.
Sam and Aurelio were leaned in so close that Alyssandra had to tell Sam to back up. Of course, Aurelio remained unseen, and so he remained perched over her shoulder like some great vulture.
Alyssandra removed the key from the lock and placed it down beside her, and then gently, she lifted the lid of the box and was surprised by what she saw.
"What is it?" asked Jeremy excitedly, stepping over to the box to see.
Everyone crowded around her, and they too were surprised when they saw inside the box.
Sam reached in and picked one up and turned it over in his hands. It was a small ivory tile in the shape of a square. It fit right in the palm of Sam's hand with one of the stylistic letters of the U-Prime alphabet. There seemed to be enough tiles in the box to form four or five sets of the alphabet, assuming the alphabet was the same as the modern one that is.
Sam frowned a bit. "I won't lie, that's not what I expected," said Sam, a bit of disappointment in his voice.
"There's got to be more to this," said Niya as she looked at the tiles, "I don't know what it is…but there has got to be another puzzle revolving around these tiles."
"Maybe there's a room in the ruins where place these tiles, either in some kind of receptacle or maybe in the walls," suggested Alyssandra, thinking about what these tiles could possibly do.
"You'd think someone would've found that room yet though," shrugged Jeremy, though Sam was quick to jump on his comment, "They never found these tiles in the one room we were in. Arguably one of the most studied rooms in the ruins."
Jeremy nodded in defeat, but everyone was certain the mystery of these tiles did not lie in the ruins, not anymore. "These tiles were hidden rather well, there's got to be a point to them," agreed Jeremy, "You don't go to all that trouble to hide something like that if it wasn't important."
Sam nodded, agreeing with them, but not sure how or where to begin with this puzzle. "I say we think on it," suggested Sam, "We'll keep this box with us, and we'll try examining it over the next little while, keep working with it. If we discover something, great. If not, I say we give it to Professor Rowan and have him help us. Maybe he'll know something."
"Professor Rowan?" asked Alyssandra, "But what about secrecy?"
"I trust him," replied Sam firmly, "Besides if we need to we can hide some things from him. But it's better than nothing."
Everyone nodded and Alyssandra placed the tiles back into the box, locking it, and slipped it back into her bag. Everyone couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed that they had hit a dead end after so many victories today.
They had not only got to explore the Solaceon Ruins and see one of the most beautiful pieces of human ingenuity, but they had discovered a secret of the ruins that no one else had found before.
Archaeologists, linguists, historians; for hundreds of years they had tried to crack the secrets of the Room of Glyphs and the Solaceon Ruins and four teenagers and a Pikachu were the ones to do it.
Once Alyssandra had stashed her bag inside the closet wall safe provided in the room, Sam, and Jeremy, with Pikachu preferring to remain with Niya, made their way out of the room and back to theirs to put their own things away.
That's when Sam had an idea. "Jeremy do you mind bringing my stuff to my room for me? I'll catch up later, there's something I need to do," he asked, almost suddenly.
Aurelio smiled wryly as he knew where Sam was going with this.
Jeremy, confused, yet still complacent, agreed and took Sam's helmet and other belongings, except for his shoulder bag, and returned to their room.
"Lyss, can you join me on a walk for a minute?" asked Sam once Jeremy was out of earshot.
Niya looked up as well, having turned to a magazine; her usual read, Pokémon Trainer's Weekly. Every chance the group had, either visiting a Poké Mart while travelling en route, or stopping by one in a city, Niya would always buy the latest issue, and any issues she was behind on, in order to read them.
Pikachu sat there with her reading, though Sam suspected he was merely looking at the pictures, of course, he could've been wrong.
Alyssandra looked a little surprised but nodded quickly after a brief pause.
Niya gave Sam a smirk and went back to her reading, though Sam knew what she was implying.
Sadly, now was not the time.
Sam and Alyssandra walked from the hotel, down the bustling main street towards the nearby park, hoping to get some quiet and privacy as Sam prepared to explain perhaps the most unexplainable thing ever.
Once the two were situated on a bench, they released their Pokémon, even their Rapidash, and let them play freely in the park, as this park was also made for Pokémon to enjoy as well.
Instantly the Eevee, both of Sam's and Alyssandra's own, huddled together to continue playing as they usually did.
Lopunny, recently having discovered her maternal nature, kept watch over the Eevee with the help of Sam's Staravia.
Alyssandra's Piplup and Sam's Empoleon decided to lead a game of hide and seek, to which Alyssandra's Shinx, Cherrim and Roselia agreed to join in on, as did Sam's Cranidos, Gabite, and Luxray.
As the Pokémon ran off in different directions, Gabite, wicked clever as he was, started digging himself a tunnel underground and covering it up afterwards.
Sam finally turned to Alyssandra to explain.
To Sam's surprise his grandfather hadn't followed him beyond the front door of the hotel lobby. He gave Sam a thumbs-up and a smile, and then disappeared again to go who knows where.
"Alyssandra, we were talking earlier in the ruins," started Sam, to which
Alyssandra nodded.
"You remember what we were talking about there?"
Alyssandra nodded again. "We were talking about how I'm worried about you. You've been acting odd lately," she answered, "Are you giving me an explanation?"
Sam tried to find the right words to use, and finally came up with something after thirty seconds of sitting there with his mouth slightly open.
"Yeah, I guess you could call it that," he said with a slight laugh, "Just…just promise me you won't judge me?"
Alyssandra nodded. "Of course! We've been friends since we were kids, you know I'd never do that."
Sam smiled a bit; that made it easier, though he couldn't help but wonder how easy it would be for Alyssandra to uphold that principle after she heard what he was about to say.
"As you know, ever since we left Floaroma Town, there's been some strange things happening to me, to all of us really by extension," started Sam, carefully picking his words as to not sound crazy or worry his friend anymore, "Well, back in Hearthome, some weird things started happening again."
Alyssandra frowned a bit, out of concern that Sam's dreams had come back. This caused Sam to quickly get on with the next bit, so as not to keep her worried for too long.
"I…I don't know how this is possible, but I swear I'm able to see ghosts," said Sam suddenly, blurting it out after an initial stumble, "Well, maybe that's not the right term. I can see a ghost in particular. I can see my grandfather's ghost; at least I think it's his ghost. I'm not entirely sure. All I know is that I can see him, he's definitely my grandfather, and he's kind of been popping in and out of my life giving me advice and grief in equal measure."
There was a long pause, and Alyssandra just stared at Sam, her face impassive. Sam couldn't help but worry that she wasn't going to believe him and was instead going to tell the others and force Sam to get medical help.
With each minute that ticked by the worry inside of Sam grew and grew, until he was just about ready to burst. Then, Alyssandra spoke, and the worry that was building up inside Sam burst and melted away.
"I believe you," said Alyssandra smiling, "Honestly, weirder things have happened to us out there."
Alyssandra had a point; there were some weird things that had happened to the group as they travelled. If there's one thing they knew for certain it's that nothing in this world was certain, and there were far more things out there that couldn't be explained than could.
"What's one more, weird thing on top of everything else we've been through, right?" smiled Alyssandra, placing a hand on Sam's shoulder, "And don't worry, we'll keep this our little secret okay?"
Sam nodded, grateful that Alyssandra understood how he felt.
"Well, that went well I'd say," smiled Aurelio, appearing behind the two of them on the bench.
Sam gave a big smile, not even perturbed by the random, sudden appearance of his grandfather anymore.
"He's here isn't he?" asked Alyssandra, smiling as well, curious to see what Sam was going through first hand, even if she couldn't see Aurelio.
Sam nodded, and Alyssandra gave a noise of excitement and tried waving at Aurelio and greeting him.
Sam became a translator between the two, as Sam had to give Aurelio's responses to Alyssandra, being the only one who could see or hear him.
Aurelio had been close with all of Sam's friends. He treated them all like his grandchildren, seeing as he only had the one, and each of them respected Aurelio like a grandfather.
Though, Niya and Jeremy did have their own grandparents, Alyssandra never knew hers, and had always been just a tad closer to Aurelio because of it. So, the two friends and the ghost of Sam's grandfather conversed in the park for the remainder of the day, talking about old experiences, new adventures, listening to Aurelio's stories about his youth and travels, and reminiscing about the good times.
This continued until an orange light began to fill the sky as dusk was slowly approaching.
Sam and Alyssandra, realizing how hungry they were and that they needed to get back before their friends started worrying, recalled their Pokémon, though were surprised to see that as they finished doing so, Aurelio had disappeared—or so Sam explained to Alyssandra.
"Is he going to come back?" frowned Alyssandra, disappointed that he had to go, whether she could see it or not.
Sam nodded. "I'm just not sure when, but he will. He always does," he responded.
Alyssandra nodded in response, still a bit disheartened, but happy that at least she'd get another chance to speak with Aurelio through Sam.
"Come on, let's get back," smiled Sam, their Pokémon safety returned to the Poké Balls that hung off their waists.
Alyssandra agreed, giving a small nod and the two returned to their hotel, the Sleepy Swellow Inn, prepared to debate with the others about where they should go for dinner.
