EPISODE II - DARK, WONDEROUS PAST
CHAPTER XXIII - FACE TO FACE WITH A PATRON
As Sam and Alice had started to prepare for their run on the temple, on one of the separate islands, one could just make out a distant flicker of light. For most, it would look like a distant star in the night sky. But from one specific angle, it would be blinking on and off like a makeshift lightbulb.
Atop the mountain, the light beacon was alight with flame, a few pieces of wood sheltered from both sight and the wind by a new rocky windbreak. It did have one opening however – one that was being covered on and off by a confused looking Odessa's wing. "What exactly am I saying with this… code?" she questioned, as she repeated a simple pattern of raising her wing for a second, then three seconds, then a single second again before repeating.
Standing next to her, Kaliani watched her movements. "It's SOS. Every shipmon knows it, and the Explorers guilds do as well!"
"More like everyone knows it." grumbled Denver, dragging an extra log over to the light beacon. "You sure the guild will see it from here?"
That was something that worried Kaliani. Without a focusing element, they couldn't project the beam over as vast distance. But if someone was closer, hopefully the regular signal would be enough to garner someone's attention. It had been a couple of hours since night had fallen… there was still time to-
"Wait a second…" Denver said, jabbing his rear stinger towards something in the distance. "What's that?!"
He was pointing in the direction of where they sailed from!
Kaliani spun to look, and the Chieftain lowered her wing fully to get a better look. But as Kaliani looked down the mountain side towards the water, no ship appeared. Her heart sank, "But… where-"
"Not down there!" Denver snapped, "Up there!"
This time, she looked up to find a black shape flying in their direction, it was gigantic, it's wings beating steadily as it approached. Underneath, a basket hung in it's talons, containing another bipedal shape in it's shadow.
As they approached, their forms became apparent. The flying creature was something the sailor recognised as a Corviknight, and their passenger-
"Holy shit, Rex!?" Denver shouted, his face turning red as the trio scurried over to the basket, where the Blaziken had stepped onto the gravel underfoot.
Rex raised a brow towards Denver, "Sorry I'm late." He explained, "We've been scouting around the islands to try and find the Penguin and Crow."
"Blown out of the fucking water by the pirates." Denver explained.
Rex's features darkened, eyes narrowing. "Where is everyone?" he questioned.
Odessa patiently stood to one side as Denver and Kaliani hastily summarised what had been happening, who was suspected to be where, the threat of the pirates, and finally, the current plans. Rex absorbed all that information, his brow furrowed at their words. There was a brief flicker of shock - or was it worry? – when they mentioned the pirates gunning for fire types, but the guild master managed to keep his face composed right up until they finished.
The Blaziken scratched his chin for only a second, "Then we need to move quickly." He stated, before turning towards the chieftain. "Apologies, I just needed to find out the fate of my people. Guildmaster Rex." He introduced himself, extending a hand in greeting.
"Chieftain Odessa." She replied, shaking the hand. "Your rescuers say you would be of great help to us."
"Indeed we can." Rex confirmed, "The Red Kite was preparing to depart just as I set off with Clovis." He motioned towards the Corviknight, who merely bowed his head towards the Decudieye.
"I can pass on word back to the Guild for you." The knightly bird explained.
"Just you?" Kaliani asked, "Guildmaster, does that mean…"
"I'm staying." Rex declared, rubbing his wrist as a brief flicker of flame erupted from it. "I can help co-ordinate with the Kite but first of all, I need to know exactly where Team Audacity have gone."
Sam and Alice were surrounded completely in darkness, sans for the glowing mural under their feet. The faint hum sounded through the air around as the lift continued to descend deeper into the temple. Sam partly wanted to approach the edge of the platform, but frankly he had no idea how far off the ground they were. Heights and all.
"How far do you think this goes?" Alice asked, trying to peer into the blackness.
Sam bit his lip, "No idea… huh… must be close."
A faint white-blue light formed around the edges of the platform, revealing four rocky pillars slowly appearing out of the darkness across on each corner. The hum started to quieten down as the lift started slowing down, sliding into a circular slot on the floor before finally fading away as the ground juddered beneath them. Sam's legs quivered as he steadied himself. The lift, still lit with the same mural, was nestled into a smaller pyramid structure itself, with only a few steps leading down to a lower floor. Down each set of steps, there was a path that ran towards what appeared to be tunnels on three sides and what the Scorbunny had to guess was another mural. Perhaps a door?
Along the walls and pillars, small, cylindrical lights flared into life. Not to different from torches judging by the flickering light contained within yet more… artificial somehow.
Sam rubbed the back of his head as he stepped forward, "Err… anybody home?!" he called out, his voice echoing throughout the chamber.
No response came.
Alice moved to join him, looking slightly miffed at him, "Do you want everyone to know we're here?" she moaned,
"Hey, just figured I'd give it a try." Sam replied. In truth, he kinda just wanted to do it. Get a sense of scale of the place. He just hoped there wasn't anything else inside the temple with them. No pirates seemed to have followed them in at least, which was convenient.
"Where do we start then?" Alice asked, cracking her knuckles. "This place is massive. Squishy didn't suggest anything?"
"No… but I do have a good guess on where to start." Sam stated, moving to walk down the steps leading towards the large mural on the wall. He tried his best to ignore his footsteps echoing across the stone floor as he approached the mural, with Alice right behind him. It seemed to be made of a trio of rings surrounding a single circular symbol. The very familiar tear and star symbol that Sam figured was the Guardian's own. He fiddled with his lips as he looked over markings surrounding the symbol, it didn't look remotely like the others he had seen upto this point.
"That looks familiar." Alice mused, moving ahead of him. In front of the mural was a small carved obelisk sticking out of the ground, marked with a smaller version of the Guardian emblem. Almost like on the elevator platf-
Sam hissed as a pulse of pain flared across his paw. Wincing, he lifted it up to find blood flowing slowly out his stinging hand, his digits already stained with the stuff. "Damn it!" the Buneary growled, hopping back over to his side and pulling out an Oran Berry. "Why the hell did you do that?"
The Scorbunny gritted his teeth as Alice tore a small chunk off the berry and rubbed it over the wound. "Well, it worked for Kain and Kaliani right?" he replied, wafting his hand to one side. "Maybe it's extra security."
Glowering back, the Buneary flicked her head towards the door. "These Guardian's better not have any more blood 'locks' through here. I'm not patching up your hand everytime you decide to cut it open."
Still feeling a faint stinging sensation across the healing paw, Sam strolled towards the obelisk. "Trust me, I'd rather not do that again." He said, feeling a little sick to his stomach as he walked towards it. Where was he… oh yes, the obelisk. It looked similar to the small rock feature that cleared the weather atop Waterfall Mountain. Perhaps it could open a passageway, like the symbol did on the elevator.
Well, let's hope that this symbol doesn't need blood too.
Gingerly, and using his unwounded hand, Sam pressed the symbol on the obelisk. Another chime rang out through the air, and with a low rumble, the rings on the wall started to rotate. Ah… so it was a door…
"I don't get it." Alice questioned, pumping her ears as a faint clunking began to work it's way through the door. "These… locks don't make any sense. I can't use them, yet you can. Then there's the whole blood thing."
It hadn't really crossed the Scorbunny's mind. "Maybe this Master ended up… I don't know, coding me into it."
"But how would he even know what to look for?" Alice replied, a final clunk reaching Sam's ears from the door. "Or even do the same for the Oracle?"
"I've got a feeling we're going to find out." Sam replied, willing a fire to kick start inside him as the door slowly began to grind itself apart open. He instinctively brought a foot back, waiting to see if anything would anything or anyone would come charging out from the otherside. But no shape emerged, leaving only a dark corridor to appear.
Together, the two rabbits crept forward towards the opening passage before them. The interior was initially dark, but as they reached the threshold and the doors ceased moving, another set of sealed torches flared into life. Unlike the others, these lights were warmer, offering a yellow glow to their surroundings.
Sam's skin tingled as he gawked at the sight inside. "Whoa…"
The corridor had a lower ceiling compared to the chamber before, albeit still towering over their heads. Pillars ran just in front of the walls themselves, but in between each one, there was a large statue that stood at least eight times their height. Each one had a distinct shape and form, albeit the one thing they had in common was they were all creatures. Like Pokemon, but far more… regal in their appearances. A complete contrast from those of the Pokemon he had seen before.
"Okay…" Sam said as he took a few tentative steps forward. "I wasn't expecting this…"
Alice frowned for a moment, only for her eyes to widen with… a flicker of wonder? "I know these!" she said, staggered.
"Huh?"
She hopped over to one of the first statues, a hulking reptilian creature, one that upon closer inspection had a few glistening red lines running through part of it. "This is Groudon, a super-ancient legendary."
A legendary? What, like Tapu Koko?
Before he could even ask again, Alice had already turned to the other side of the corridor, looking at the statue opposite, complete with blue lines and looking like some kind of fish or whale maybe? "Which makes this Kygore! The land and the ocean!"
Startled by Alice's sudden change in demeanour, Sam felt a little spring in his step as he stepped further inside. "Who are you and what did you do to my partner?" he teased.
Failing to contain her smirk, Alice rolled her eyes as she moved to join him. "Mum and Dad talked about a few of the legendaries when I was a kid… I haven't really been thinking about it until now…"
They moved towards the next set of statues, this time what appeared to be a spiky bird and a cat with massive of some kind, this time marked with yellow lines. "Zapdos… and Raikou." She said, moving onto the next pair. "Articuno and Suicune. Then Moltres and Entei." Alice let out a faint gasp, "It's… every legendary."
Sam's gut vibrated as he walked further down, looking at a pair of bipedal dragons in a solid black and white colour respectively. "Must have considered them pretty important." He replied, "I remember reading up on these two by accident. Zekrom and… Reshiram?" he asked himself. He turned, but Alice was already skipping on ahead, almost unnaturally mesmerised by the scene. The fire-type chuckled to himself, even with the danger of pirates no doubt pounding on the ceiling door, he felt himself warm up with delight at his partner's sudden cheery nature.
His smile quickly vanished from his face as he reached the next statue though, one that Alice mustn't have noticed. Another reptilian, with a mix of red, yellow and blue lines running along it's surface, a giant ring extending from it's back.
"Volcanion…" Sam coldly uttered, stepping closer to look over the doppelganger of the mythical that chased them out of Broken Wood. The same thing that nearly pressure cooked them alive.
"I, Volcanion, shall not abide by this trespass any longer! You cannot be allowed to leave with the knowledge of this place!"
Sam went cold, Hang on a second… if the Legendaries and Mythicals are represented here… and there was… his mind drifted back to the mural hidden in the depths of Broken Wood… not too dissimilar to the ones they had later come across. That down there… could… could the Guardians…
"Alice?" he called out, "I think I've got something on Volcanion."
No response. Sam's pulse quickened as he scanned back down the corridor, "Alice?"
The Buneary was staring at another statue, quite close to the end of the corridor where Sam could spot a larger chamber. Frowning, he made his way towards her, passing a few more statues along the way. His worry only gnawed at him more when he reached her side, her fists tight and her eyes cold as she stared at the statue. It was that of a bird, albeit one that lacked the same degree of flight feathers and was coloured almost completely red. In fact, from where it was positioned, it looked almost like a flying Y.
Y… Where would that-
Sam's heart missed a beat as he connected the dots. If there was one Legendary that Alice would know… especially to react this way… "Alice… is that who I think it is?"
Alice's fists tightened, "Yveltal." She quietly growled, her voice quivering. He couldn't tell if it was grief or rage.
Maybe a bit of both.
Sam looked up at the rather menacing form of Yveltal. He hadn't quite come across much regarding that Pokemon in what little he had read… but he knew enough from Alice. The same Pokemon that was under the influence of Dark Matter.
One of those that had a hand in killing her parents…
Gently, Sam rested his uninjured paw on Alice's shoulder. She didn't react, her eyes still fixed on Yveltal's statue. "Come on." He quietly urged her, "We need to keep looking."
Alice didn't say anything, but as he carefully pulled her along, she followed, tearing her eyes away from the statue as they stepped into the larger chamber beyond. It was a large, circular chamber, with a set of stairs leading up to a higher level. More statues surrounded the edge, slightly larger than before. Sam could recognise one of them straight away, a serpentine form with green outlines running along its surface. "Rayquaza. The legendary that blew up that meteor years ago." He noted. "Though… I don't really know what the big guy does otherwise. Any ideas Alice?"
"A guardian of the sky, a bit like Groudon and Kygore. I recognise a few of the others too." Alice admitted. "But I definitely don't know about this one."
Turning, he found her looking over one final statue, one positioned right at the centre of the room near the base of the stairs, even larger and more detailed than the others. Honestly, he was surprised he missed it the first time, probably being that focused on how Alice was faring. "Seems a little bit… different from the others." She added.
This new statue looked a bit like a snake, coloured a brilliant if rough green alongside a dark black. A few hexagons were visible across it's surface, four of which seem to double as eyes. From behind it's head, five dark frills rose above it. Alice is right… this one is… strange…
"Yeah… why place it here? Sure you definitely don't recognise them?"
Alice shook her head, "All the ones on Air and the well-known ones at least." She admitted, "But definitely not a big snake." She waved a hand towards the foot of the statue. "I can't read that either."
"Read?"
Sam leaned forward to inspect the base of the statue, where there was a plague written on in some kind strange text. It didn't look much like the Unown characters, or the other kinds of characters he had seen before in every day notices back at the Guild. This was more… artistic, with several lines forming distinct symbols. Four of them to be precise.
Huh… okay, what kind of langu-
The symbols blurred, distorted and started to change shape. Sam blinked and rubbed his eyes, was his vision blurring? No, it's was the characters, forming into the more familiar Unown script.
"Can you read this?" Alice asked, leaning forward to look him over.
"I… I think so." Sam replied, rubbing his eyes again as he had a closer look. A new word had formed, something he could read. "Zy… Zygarde."
"Zygarde?" Alice replied, looking over the statue.
Sam rolled the word in his mind, Zygarde… who are they? The Guardians must have found them important enough to-"
"Have a big statue of them?" finished a squeaky voice.
Out of nowhere behind them, a familiar green blob had appeared out of nowhere. Sam spun, blinking at the sight. "The hell – Squishy? What are yo-"
Alice's head swivelled, "Wha-?"
"-doing here?" Squishy finished for him, their body jiggling with delight as they hopped over towards them. "Well, technically I'm not here. I'm just a projection. Seems like this chamber has the means to do that from outside your head!"
"Sam…" Alice quietly questioned, "What's going on?"
The Scorbunny hissed softly, one of his ears dipping. "Ugh… okay, Alice. Squishy has somehow… got out of my dreams and… is standing right there."
Alice scowled at him, "I can see that!"
"I don't know-" Sam's mouth hung open, looking towards his partner, "Wait. You can see him too!?"
"For once, yeah!" Alice replied.
Squishy looked somewhat embarrassed at this, "Yeah, the technology in the Arcanum can allow for mental projections to be seen by multiple people at once. Pretty cool."
Sam scanned the room as the strange creature hopped past, approaching the statue of Zygarde. I wonder where these… projectors are being kept. I don't see anything that could do that.
"So… you two have finally got in." Squishy announced, settling themselves in front of the statue. "I'm sure you both are going to be wondering about question one… who am I exactly? How can I get in here?"
"Given you've been mucking around with my partner's head." Alice grumbled, "I think we could do with that."
Tapping his foot, Sam crossed his arms, "Squishy… you did say we'd find out who you were. So… who are you exactly?"
He was frankly done with tip-toeing around things, it was about time they started gaining answers.
Despite lacking a mouth, Sam could tell that the creature was trying to grin. "Well, you're looking right at me!"
"The fuck is he on about…" Alice quietly groaned.
Yeah… not exactly helpful.
He rubbed his eyes, scanning over Squishy's form. The green blob, the white eyes, the red hexagon… how did that even help?
Wait… hexagon.
The same one stuck inside of Squishy.
Gingerly, Sam tilted his head up towards the statue of the snake Legendary, it's hexagonal shaped eyes staring blankly forwards.
"You've figured it out." Squishy said, their voice deepening.
"Sam?" Alice asked worryingly. "Figured what out?"
No… we can't have just met another…
"Go on Sam." Squishy encouraged, "You can say it."
The Scorbunny turned his eyes down towards the green Pokemon standing underneath the snake. And when Sam finally spoke, his voice was quiet and shaky from the gravity of the name.
"…Zygarde."
Writer's Note: Well, time to throw in a longer chapter than originally planned, with a pretty big and important reveal at the end... the first of a few big ones coming up within this episode that are really going to change Sam and Alice's perspectives on the wider world. So, I hope this one can get you excited for what's to come! Some of these chapters might be longer than my 2k word target for now, but that's because there is alot of ground to cover!
Looking forward to revealing what comes next!