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Galactic-Rainbow — Mission 2: Secrets From the Moon, Part 2-3
Published: 2013-11-09 20:08:18 +0000 UTC; Views: 2963; Favourites: 21; Downloads: 6
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Part 2-3: Keys From the Past
And with that, Amy, Ryoshi, and Jukidoor followed Zeena and company back to King Alaric's palace. As soon as they stepped outside, Amy realized that the sun was already straight overhead. Noon, huh...? They sure slept for a while.
She then asked her grandmother why they would risk coming all the way out here in case there were any crazy dragons about, especially since they were all sick, and Zeena said that it was worth it to bring the three of them back and make sure they were all okay. After all, they were sick too.
Inside the castle, there was much excited discussion, especially among the warrior women, about the whole concept of the Fairy type and the advantages and disadvantages it would bring to them all. In addition, Amy also noticed that more people from town who had been suffering from the disease like them. Lorelei Kloi the Whimsicott, Nu Zheng the Kirlia...well, there weren't that many, but it served to remind her that it wasn't just her tribe's species and Ryoshi that were affected by this in the first place.
Finally, when they were rested up again, they all left the castle and gathered at the front door like Dullahan had asked them to. Among the crowd, Amy not only noticed some of the sick Pokémon from before, but also many healthy ones from the warrior class, and even the king and the Captain of the Guard themselves.
"So, it isn't just us then, is it...?" Ryoshi muttered to Amy as he too noticed the others from town who were gathered with them. "I wonder when Dullahan is going to sho—"
As if on cue, the Duskull materialized in the middle of the crowd and cleared his throat, along with the depressed Litwick, who appeared behind him.
"Ahem. Citizens of Aether, and the Hoshizora tribe, thank you all for gathering. Tonight is the night in which the sacred ritual to return the Celestial Stone to its rightful place on the altar on the mountain can be, and must be, performed." The Duskull pointed to said mountain outside of the kingdom. Amy had remembered getting Gawain to fly her up there to the top so she could see ahead of time the best way to get to the altar, so she was feeling better and better that if they got this treasure stone from the ghost king, they would all live. Of course, that was the hard part.
"All those of you who have defeated their shadows are also here, and for those who have not been afflicted with the illness, I humbly beg of you to do whatever it takes to help your comrades out in this campaign."
Amy looked around. There were definitely plenty of guys who weren't affected at all; at least, from what they could get of the warriors who weren't busy defending the kingdom's outer border from the crazy dragons. Plus, Zeena was only taking about half of the tribe's warriors with her; the other half was staying behind as reinforcements as necessary.
"This key that is around my neck right here is what shall lead us all to that ancient passage, where the young king lies. Be brave! And let us do whatever it takes to save our comrades! Now, follow me!"
A battle cry ran up through the crowd, which Amy thought seemed a bit much since they were pretty much sneaking through a secret passage, if she heard right. But hey, if they needed this many people, then maybe this ghost king guy was really that powerful. Either way, though, she held the Chargestone in her hands, ready for anything.
As they followed the Duskull to the church and beyond, where it looked like they were heading towards some sort of shed. As soon as they turned the corner, Amy came across the oddest of sites. A bunch of vertical stone slabs sticking up in the ground. What. The heck.
"Wonder what's up with this place..." Ryoshi leaned over and whispered to Amy. "It sure doesn't look like much, especially not a king's palace or ritual place or anything like that..."
Amy just shrugged in response. She was even more confused about why some people's faces seemed pretty creeped out upon looking at the stones.
Then Dullahan held up the key and inserted it in a hole that everyone thought was just a funny symbol on the stone. To their surprise, it caused the stone to move and the patch of ground it was on to slide open, revealing a set of stairs down below.
"Gawain and King Alaric, you two follow me first. You are our strongest fighters who are in the best shape to help if worse comes to worse," requested Dullahan as he floated down into the tunnel ahead of everyone.
The snake king nodded. "As a representative of my people, it is only fitting as well."
One by one, after the Serperior and the Charizard, everyone else closely followed behind into the ground. Amy began to be wonder whether this really was safe, or a trap, or whatever, though such fears were quickly assuaged when she noticed that the walls of the dark passageway down below glowed with symbols...
Symbols that looked very, very similar to Hoshizora tribal imagery. In fact, the same sort of symbols they'd use for their sand paintings and stuff like that.
"Holy crap, Ryoshi, check these out!" Amy whispered, holding onto one of his arms while pointing at the light-blue glowing symbols. "And here I wondering whether Dullahan was telling the truth, but he was! Only the people who came before my tribe could have made symbols like these!"
"Whoa..." Using the hand that Amy wasn't clinging onto, he ran his hand across the glowing symbols as if feeling them engraved upon the stone wall would grant him some further knowledge on them. "So... these are your culture's versions of language symbols? Like the symbol I showed you that meant 'love' in my language?"
She shook her head, resisting the urge to laugh. "Oh no. Well, kind of. But they're used to represent certain beliefs and meanings, such as how this one here—" She pointed to a symbol of a fairy about to enter a complex-looking maze. "—represents how everyone has to find their own path through life, like how I just did. Or how this one here—" She pointed to what looked like a pie chart with four sections on it, as well as a circle and a plus in the middle. "—represents the six sacred directions. East, West, North, South, the sky, and the ground. Though a lot of other tribes have those, so they're nothing new. What makes you really be able to tell are those symbols on the ceiling."
And sure enough, on the ceiling were many star constellations and figures overlaying many of them. "There's the constellation that represents the three gods, there's another one that represents the guy who went all the way to the moon and back...lots of them. I could tell you stories about a lot of them, but we don't have a lot of time, unfortunately."
"That's fine..." Ryoshi laughed as he tried to wrap his head around the symbols Amy had already described. "There will be plenty of time for that at a later point... And maybe I'll tell you more about my symbols too."
She hugged his arm and smiled. "...I'd like that." That was a better way of looking at things; assuming that they'd succeed and have a future after this.
Right then, the procession stopped as Amy could make out something strange guarding a door of sorts. It was a floating moon head that Amy wasn't sure what it was...
Then its eyes opened. "Hello, Dullahan," it said. "I see you have told them everything."
"Indeed I have, Chaldene. Tonight is the night, after all."
King Alaric slithered up to the floating moon face and asked, "Excuse me, but may I ask who you are?"
"Certainly. My name is Chaldene and I am a Lunatone. I came here on the meteor along with the ancestors of the Hoshizora tribe so many millennia ago and have been watching all this time. In fact, what this door is the entrance to is the sacred crater that the meteor made so long ago, and is also where the coronation ceremony took place, too." The Lunatone glanced at the imposing double-doors, and then back to the group. "Back when the kingdom used to be around, I served as the high priest for its church."
"Hm, we could use a high priest when this is all over. But anyway, I digress. So. You say the ghost king is through this door?"
"Yes he is. Brace yourself."
The snake king nodded.
Then he turned to everyone and said, "My people! Those of you who wish to confront the ghost king, come with me, while those who do not, stay out and watch the door. When you are ready, please let me know."
"I'm going, Amy." Ryoshi gave her a stern nod. "I'm not sure if you want to or not. I know you dislike conflict and all, but this is your tribe and all. I won't judge you either way."
"I'm going too," she automatically replied. "I have the Chargestone, after all, and I'm going to do whatever it takes to convince him to give us that Celestial Stone."
"Great." Ryoshi grinned widely and gave her a thumbs-up. "That's my girl. And this time... I'm determined to keep you safe. I promise."
In the end, nearly everyone ended up volunteering to battle anyway, with only a few guys like Jukidoor who would serve as guard duty. Amy was starting to get worried that it would be hard for them all to fit in the room ahead. That is, unless it was bigger than she thought it was...
"I see you have all made your choices," said Chaldene. "And I see that you are all ready. Then let us begin."
His red eyes glowed, and the double doors pulled open, reminding Amy a lot of that last room with the Minotauros in the Trial of Wisdom. This time, though, the enemy would be a ghost, who, while not quite as burly as a Tauros, would probably be a lot trickier to defeat. Assuming it even came to that...
The group tiptoed in warily, scanning the room for any signs of the king. Amy had to admire the way the room was set up, though. Even if it was in ruins, the symbols on the walls, ceiling, and floor told her that it was the site of an extremely important ritual; the one in which a new king was crowned, according to Dullahan. And she could see how such a thing was possible, too.
The doors slowly shut behind everyone, making them on their guard after all.
"Get out..."
A voice drew all the eyes in the room towards the center, where Amy could presume where the prince would evolve and be crowned. A dark, shadowy aura started to gather on the marked spot and seemed to form the shape of a Gengar with two piercing, red eyes.
"Get OUT..."
King Alaric was unfazed. "Fellow king from another time; we were told that you have a treasure that we need to have returned to its altar by tonight, or else—"
"TREASURE!?" the Gengar roared. "NO! It must NEVER leave this room! Many have come before you, trying to take it for their own evil ends!"
"But sir!" shouted Amy. "A lot of us are sick, and if we don't get it to the altar on the mountain by tonight, WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!"
"Why don't you all die right NOW!?"
And with that, the Gengar charged right for Amy.
"NO!"
Out of nowhere, Ryoshi leapt straight over the Jigglypuff's head and delivered the most powerful Knock-Off slap he could muster straight to the Gengar's jawline, causing him to bounce back a bit.
"Now you listen to me!" the Mawile commanded in the strongest voice he could. "You do NOT threaten my fiancée with death. You shouldn't be threatening anyone, but especially not Amy! Now, I suggest you let us take this treasure in order to save all these people."
The Gengar growled. "And why should I?"
"BECAUSE I ALREADY TOLD YOU!"
And with that, Amy wasted no time in lunging forward and smashing the Chargestone in the Gengar's face, causing him to roar in pain.
The king then coiled himself around the temporarily blinded Gengar. "Were you not one of them in life? Do you truly not have any sympathy towards your descendants!?"
Right as Gawain was about to come in with a Dragon Claw to complete the combo, a bright light materialized in the middle of the room above the Gengar's head.
"STOP!!"
And in fact, everyone did. But especially Amy, as well as every member of the Hoshizora tribe who was in the room.
For floating before them, inexplicably...was none other than the Goddess Cresselia.
For real.
This is a prose-with-picture collab for #Pokemon-of-Avalon 's Mission 2: Hauntings of the Past (Part 2)...yeah, I know we're doing this early, but it's important for Amy and Ryoshi's upcoming wedding, so bear with us.
Featuring *Amy-the-Jigglypuff 's Amy Apirana the Jigglypuff and =ChicoChikorita 's Ryoshi Sumiura the Mawile:
Table of Contents for Amy Apirana: fav.me/d61kc40
Table of Contents for Ryoshi Sumiura: fav.me/d67tvml 
It's a really good thing I completely retconned that bit with the mysterious Gengar showing up at the end of Mission 1; otherwise, it wouldn't have made sense in this context, as he has been pretty much trapped here the whole time! XD ...I think...maybe...
Oh yeah, and those symbols on the wall (at least the ones that Amy is describing) are actual symbols from Native American traditions. Many cultures, especially that of the Lakota Sioux, have motifs that represent the Six Sacred Directions, the Pima and Papago tribes make generous usage of the "person about to enter a maze" symbol to depict a person's road throughout life and the difficulties they encounter along the way in order to reach happiness at the center, and the Navajo tribe views the open circle as both perfect beauty and at the same time accomodating for dynamic changes. Man, this Native American Religions class is awesome!
Ahem... NIGHT OF THE FINAL DAY: 12 HOURS REMAINING.
Hehe, obvious Zelda reference aside, I guess now we're getting into the actual mission part of the mission. And by that sense, we're also getting deeper into Amy's tribe's history and backstory. Complete with ruins and ancient kings and goddesses and everything! ...Wait... Goddesses? When did Cresselia get here?!?
Prose by both of us!
Art by *Amy-the-Jigglypuff , unless otherwise specified.
Cameos in this pic:
