Aegis Cave

[Namohysip]

Without much more to converse about, they made it to the very end o the Dungeon, the pit where Regigigas usually stood dormant... but now, it was completely empty. Still, Owen surveyed the room with Wishkeeper hovering behind him, scanning every nook and cranny for any possible sign of--

"Found something."

Shield immediately perked up. "Sword?"

"Sorry, not Sword. Look here." He pointed at a small indent on the wall, then at some of the stones beneath. "this looks like a punch from Regigigas. the way it fell makes me think it was recent, or at least a little recent... You know, compared to stuff that's years old..."

 

[Adamhuarts]

"Does this suggest a fight occurred here? Can you tell how recent it is? It would be helpful to know if this happened before or after we fought the time heroes in this dungeon months ago," Cynthian said, prodding at the punch indent on the wall with a vine.

"Also, any idea what they could've had to fight off? If Regigigas had gotten hit with a shade or something, I feel like Darkwhite would've already let us know back then... This might be something different."

 

[Namohysip]

"It looks like it was before our fight against Thyme... but I can't tell otherwise. Definitely around the time the Blacklight happened." Owen hummed. "IT must have been how they got abducted. They had put up a fight. But I can't find any evidence for who it might have been... Maybe it was just Giovanni..."

"Maybe we should try looking for something specific," Shield said. "Cynthian, what do you think?"

 

[Adamhuarts]

"Maybe there's some clue left behind that we can find," Cynthian said as she nibbled on a petal.

"It could be in the form of anything. Maybe the captors left footprints, hair samples, or some energy signatures we can sniff out." Cynthian crouched and started poking at the ground to see if she can unearth anything. While she did that, she thought more about the Regi legends. Wasn't there a whole means of communication inspired by them? Could that be it?

"Does this world have Braille too? Regigigas' adherents in my world used to communicate with him through that!" Cynthian said with a gasp as she sprung back up on her feet. "I remember the system being widely adopted by pokemon who've lost eyesight for one reason or another. The Regis might have left a message behind that way just in case!"

"Owen, see if you can find any arrangement of bumps, or holes, in this chamber. It should be arranged in a clearly deliberate pattern!"

 

[Namohysip]

"It's been far too long to find energy traces," Shield said. "Unless it was from an extraordinary blast, they would not have lasted longer than a day. And even then, you also fought Thyme and Pepper here. It would have been washed away there. Not to mention their swamp attack, which might have gotten rid of anything like fur or scales..."

"Ground is too solid for footprints," Owen said, looking at the tile, then the walls. "But... braille? We didn't even try looking for those in the last chambers..."

"Braille..." Shield paced around. "There's so much of the wall to look through, though. My eyes are crossing just thinking about it..."

"I'll do it," Owen said. "I'm... probably going to be out of it when I'm through, but that might be our only lead. Give me a little while and I'll search the chamber. Cynthian... use your badge to look up braille on Cibus. If I know what the symbols look like, it might be easier."

Owen sat down, curling his tail around his legs as he concentrated in the middle of the room. Wishkeeper flared to life, drifting around the walls, floor, and ceiling like a great wraith.

 

[Adamhuarts]

"Hang in there, Owen," Cynthian muttered. She brought out her badge and quickly navigated the holographic screen to look the symbols up.

"Alright, I've found a page with a list of them." Cynthian walked up to Owen and held the screen before him. "I hope this will do."

 

[Namohysip]

Owen nodded, breaking his focus to look the symbols over, and then continued his search.

It lasted for several minutes, punctuated by the occasional giggle or echo of Darkwhite far off in the caverns. Owen occasionally thought he'd found something, only for it to result in them just being particularly arranged markings in the ceiling that weren't actually a language.

After what might have been an hour, when Owen was about to give up due to an incoming, dull but intensifying headache, he suddenly grunted and pointed up. "Words."

"What?" Shield asked, but Owen had taken a deep gasp and clutched at his head. "T-take it easy! Okay! You found something! Where?"

Owen pointed again with a gurgle. The headache had taken over, but Shield followed his stare and inspected the wall.

"...Cynthian! Get that badge here! There really is a message! And it looks recent... well--by stone standards..."

 

[Adamhuarts]

Cynthian's heart spiked and she shoved her badge to Shield without a moment's delay.

"What do the words say?!"

 

[Namohysip]

"I'll need time. I don't know the language, but hopefully it's the same letters when I... yes, I think it is. Hang on..."

More time passed. Cal helped Owen get to a spot by the wall to recover. No matter what this uncovered, it didn't look like Owen was going to be able to do any more investigating for a day or so. He was out of commission, Perceive wise. It really was weaker here...

"...That should do it," Shield reported.

WE ARE UNDER ATTACK
INVISIBLE POWER
THE OTHERS ARE CAPTURED
UNKNOWN TECHNOLOGY
SENDING DISTRESS SIGNAL

THERE ARE THREE
CANNOT BE DETECTED
ONE IS STRONG AGAINST ALL OF US
AND HIDES AWAY
ONE IS KARAT
THERE IS A THIRD SOMEWHERE

UNSTOPPABLE
UNSTOPPABLE
UNSTOPPABLE

The last one had been punched particularly hard, like it was during some kind of panicked, grief-stricken stupor. Regigigas was afraid. And for good reason... They still had no idea where they all went.

 

[Adamhuarts]

"What in the world... Oh dear," Cynthian gulped as her heart drummed in her chest and her throat burned. She squeezed her eyes shut and exhaled a long sigh. This was no time to be having a panic attack.

"So, they got jumped by three attackers? The one strong against all of them and hides away... what does that even mean? The last part almost sounds like a ghost type sinking into a wall or something, but ghost typing isn't a shared weakness between the Regis." She tapped her chin with a vine. "What else then? Could it have been a blacklight corrupted opponent?"

"And, I thought Karat was clean. Why was he involved??" And then there's also the third mon, who not even the Regis could identify. Just what happened all those months ago? Thinking about it left a growing pit inside Cynthian's stomach.

 

[Namohysip]

"I have it logged down and I sent it to Maple," Shield said. "I don't think there's anything else we can get here after all this sitting. Cal, help me carry Owen--let's head back." He nodded to Cynthian. "I think we're done for now. Nothing on Sword... but at least this isn't returning home empty-handed."

 

[Adamhuarts]

"Right, we'll worry about this later..." Cynthian exhaled a defeated sigh and walked over to assist Owen as well.

On their way out of the dungeon, Cynthian glanced back at the braille inscriptions on the wall. To think that a clue left behind went unnoticed for this long. Just how many more mysteries laid beneath their feet waiting to be unearthed?

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