- Content warnings -
[ Strong language ]
- Content notes -
None!
Chapter 10: Subaquatic
"So, what exactly are we looking for? You and Rickard were talking about how you found caves similar to this overseas, and I think you said they both shared similar characteristics to this one?" Julia asked, before earning a nod from Anya. "And where did you guys find these places? Two different countries?"
"Yes. One was in Lanark, and the other was in Aldaine."
"And those countries aren't exactly close to each other, I think..." she said as she tried to visualize the two on a map of the continent of Caelton. She knew that the two were separated by the Gossamer Sea, but was uncertain of how big that sea was, and how that might benefit or hinder the transmission of human cultures. "I'm thinking that if they looked similar to each other, and both of them felt similar to what you're experiencing here, maybe we'll find, well, similar characteristics here?"
"That makes sense," Anya confirmed with a nod. "I'll know for certain we're in the right area if we start seeing things that look like manmade construction. Things like pillars, stairs and intricate tiling on either the floors or the walls."
She folded her arms and looked around the chamber. "Signs of human habitation? Down here? I can't imagine anyone building anything down here, it's so far from the mainland! Not to mention so far down from the surface."
Anya shrugged, then grabbed the hem of Julia's skirt and tugged lightly, and started leading her down one of the numerous tunnels that branched off of the main chamber. "I'm not an archaeologist, so I couldn't explain why anyone would build anything down here. But when Rickard and I explored the fire caverns of the Schimgrotten, he theorized that the chamber we discovered may have been some sort of holy site for an ancient religious cult."
"Hmm... I guess without having seen what you've seen for myself, I'm having a little trouble grasping it."
Anya placed her finger to her mouth in thought. "Are you familiar with
The Book of the Elders III: The Dreadwinds?"
"Can't say that I am, what is it?"
"It's one of Rickard's favorite video games that he wastes his time with when he's resting at home."
"Oh. I'm not really a gamer, so all of that stuff is unfamiliar to me. But, is it that one where you're the big buff guy that eats dragon souls in a medieval world? I think I remember seeing one of his friends play that one when I was over at his place that one time."
"Yeah, that's the one! The chamber we found in the Schimgrotten looked a lot like one of the burial tombs that you visit in the game, except a lot less... grand."
"Hmm, I don't remember Rickard's friend ever visiting a burial tomb -- all I really remember is him dying a dozen times to a giant Regirock, heh. But now that I think about it some more, I'm really curious to see this place you're describing. Hopefully your hunch is right and we find something similar here."
Anya led Julia out of the main chamber and into one of the tunnels; she chose one that had high concentrations of crystal clusters, hoping that the soft glow that was coming off of them would aid with Julia's vision, while Rickard wandered down another tunnel with the lantern. If anything, it helped too much -- the glow coming off of so many tightly packed crystals was almost overwhelming, and Julia joked that she'd remember to bring her sunglasses the next time she went cavediving.
After a few moments spent adjusting to the light levels, she mused, "Rickard really likes pairing the two of us together, doesn't he?"
"It sure seems that way!" Anya chirped happily. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I think he picks me to babysit you because we can talk to each other. I'm the easiest to work with, except for maybe Grit."
"Grit? Is that another one of his pokémon?"
"Yep! He can talk, too, but he's... not as agreeable as I am, especially with strangers. A man of few words, and much less eloquent."
"What species is he? I don't think I've seen his full collection yet. Just you, Rime, Bolt, Ginger and, uhh, what was that little Bidoof's name again?"
"Bucko?"
"Yeah, that's it."
"Grit is a Sawk. Are you familiar with them?"
"Hmm... Are they those judo master pokémon? The short and burly red ones -- or, no, wait! They're the tall blue karate masters, right?"
"The blue ones! That's right! Though Grit is closer to a swampy green."
She pumped her fist in victory. "Green, blue, doesn't matter! Score one for the martial arts nerd! I think the red one was the mascot for my old martial arts dojo... Throh, I think those ones are called? Kinda weird how that was the mascot when a majority of the instructors there taught karate instead of judo."
Anya giggled. "But yes. If you want to meet Grit and get to know him a little better, we can let Rickard know. I get the feeling that you think I'm creepy, and I'm sure he'd be happy to have us switch places."
"Oh, no, no! I don't find you creepy!" she protested, before quickly relenting. "Okay, maybe a little bit. But that's on me. You're a wonderful young lady, and I'm just... not used to such a human-looking pokémon that's capable of holding a conversation with me. It's kind of bizarre."
"I understand."
She shrank away and slowed down somewhat. "S-sorry. I shouldn't have said that."
"Julia," Anya said in a reassuring tone, patting a hand on her lower back. "I'm not upset. I understand. It's something I'm used to -- people thinking I'm weird, that is. I'm familiar with the human concept of uncanny valley, and how much I personify it. I understand I'll always activate that feeling in people, but all I ask for is respect. So far, you've given it to me, and I'm thankful for that."
She nodded. "I see no reason not to give it. You seem like a good soul."
"Despite my rough and tough exterior, my soul is pink and fluffy! Literally! Something like that has to be a good soul!"
"Souls have color and texture?" she asked. "Wonder what mine looks like..."
"I could tell you, if you'd like."
The concept puzzled her. Not only did she have mild difficulty believing in the concept of people having souls -- based mostly on interactions she'd had with people since her middle school days, and the rest on her tattle-tale older brother Charlie -- she questioned how such an ethereal force or concept or energy, or whatever a soul was meant to be, could have a physical and perceptive form. "Umm, I guess."
"Let's find a place for you to sit down, then."
The tunnel around them, characterized by the steppe-like pools of alabaster that they had seen earlier, would have had ample seating if they weren't filled to the brim with water. After several minutes of trying to find a dry one, Julia lamented that they'd likely not find a good place until they left the cave, upon which Anya said she'd make a seat if needed. A few minutes later, she did just that -- utilizing her telekinetic ability, she formed a partially transparent convex forcefield and brought it down hard into one of the pools of water, explosively spraying almost every last drop of liquid out of it.
The sight left Julia in stitches as she tried to contain her laughter. "Good glory, you're a troublemaker, aren't you?"
"Mehbeh! Now, have a seat!" Anya commanded, earning another giggle out of Julia. With her new friend seated, Anya asked, "May I see your hand?"
She extended her hand forward, palm up. Anya cupped her own hand under Julia's, then pressed her index finger and ring finger into the awaiting palm. Despite Anya's warning that she would feel it, Julia was taken by surprise by the intense sensation of cold that shot up through her arm and came to rest in her upper spine, before it radiated through her chest and the base of her skull.
"W-what is --" she murmured, fighting off what felt like oncoming brainfreeze.
"Oh, right, sorry." Anya realigned her fingers, bringing her thumb into contact with Julia's, and lifting her index finger while bringing her middle finger down. "It's been a while since I've done this. Forgot the necessary finger work."
"How do you even figure out how to do something like this?"
"It's
almost like second nature, though I spoke with a mystic who filled in the gaps of my knowledge. Now, let me focus, please."
The sensation of cold faded and was replaced by a warm one as Anya closed her eyes; her brows twitched and her eyes started to dart back and forth as if she'd slipped into REM sleep.
"Wow..!" Anya honked. "It's like I'm looking at the sun... It's bright orange, but it's covered in dark, blurry blue blotches."
"Guess that makes sense, orange
is my favorite color."
"I don't think there's a correlation -- my favorite color is a yellowy-green, not pink."
"I stand corrected, then. So my soul looks like fire, and it's covered in sunspots? Wonder what that means."
"They're moving about, blotting out the areas that are starting to shine brighter. This looks like... depression. Misery, anguish."
"Thanks, doc, but I didn't need a palm reading to tell me that I'm depressed. I know I am."
Anya's eyes opened, and as soon as they did, the sensation of warmness faded. "Hard not to be, based on the stories you told me. You've been through a lot, things that no one should experience."
"Well! At least I have a soul! That's reassuring," Julia said -- unsure if she even agreed -- before pushing herself back to her feet. "More than can be said for some people."
"I believe that everyone has one, good or not."
"Even someone like that pink-haired skank who sucker punched Rickard?"
Anya paused for a moment before adding, "Someone like her could make me question if
everyone has a soul, but I still believe so. What I wouldn't give to see what is inside of hers..."
"How about Rickard? What's his 'soul' look like?"
"Hmm. I'll let Rickard tell you that, if he wants to."
"Not gonna gossip? In that case, Rickard doesn't get to learn about mine, right?"
Anya tipped her head forward with clasped hands. "Of course. It's a private matter."
Their exploration of the tunnels ended in disappointment after disappointment -- they'd followed four of them for as far as they could go, each terminating with either a dead end, or shrinking in size so much that Julia couldn't fit any further. Despite their disappointment, they did discover evidence of what Anya said they might find: they found what appeared to be small polished tiles scattered on the floor near the end of one of the tunnels, and their size and color indicated to Anya that they might have been used in the construction of a mosaic of some sort -- something that she and Rickard had discovered in both the Schimgrotten and underneath the city of Steelport. Why they were seemingly discarded in the middle of nowhere, she couldn't say.
They planned to search one more tunnel before returning to the main chamber to reconvene with Rickard, and as they did so, Anya began to act bizarrely. Her bubbly persona practically exploded into pure exuberance, and her breathing became heavy -- not out of physical exhaustion, but out of excitement about the energy around her. She appeared to be fighting between boundless ecstasy and remaining cogent, prompting Julia to pull her back and for them to discuss returning to the main chamber. It took a few minutes of convincing, but eventually Julia coaxed her backward, and as they retreated back towards their rendezvous point, her senses returned.
As they returned to the main chamber, they found Rickard waiting there, accompanied by Rime. In contrast to his typical stoic visage, he too had an uncharacteristic look of jubilation on his face, and he excitedly waved Julia and Anya down as they approached.
"I think I found what you were looking for!" he said with glee. "I didn't explore too much, but I found another large chamber that looked similar to what we discovered in the Schimgrotten!"
"You did!?" Anya bleated. "That's great news!"
Julia tilted her head in confusion. "Huh. I thought
we were on the verge of finding something ourselves. Anya was having trouble keeping her composure in one of the tunnels, so I brought her back, just in case. I thought that meant we were onto something, but I didn't want to risk getting stuck there."
He put his hand to his chin in thought. "Hmm. Interesting... We might have to check that out before we return to the surface."
Anya shook her head. "It could be worth investigating, but... I don't like how little control I felt I had while in that tunnel."
"Yeah, I had to practically pull her away," Julia added, before glancing at the time on her phone. "Wow, almost 8 PM already? It's getting kind of late... You might be used to it, but I don't want to be out in the middle of nowhere when the sun goes down, if I can help it. Why don't we just investigate this big chamber of yours and then head back to town?"
He nodded. "Gotcha. That leaves us about an hour, then. This way!" He reached for the Master Ball that hung from his belt and raised it. "C'mon, Rime, back in you go!"
. - = ( ○ ) = - .
The journey from the main chamber was a confusing tangle of branching tunnels, as well as considerable drops in elevation, either by the tunnels coiling downward, or dropping down several sets of steppe-like precipices, prompting Julia to wonder how he kept his bearings in such a place. He explained that cave exploration was one of his favorite hobbies, and pointed out several non-descript markers on the way that he used to guide himself first back towards the main chamber, then again back down.
His non-descript markers may as well have not have even existed in her eyes -- anomalies in the strata of the stone around them, the phallic shape of a particular stalagmite, what looked to be a human-stacked set of stones at the entrance of one of the branches. All of it looked so plain to her that she worried he had indeed gotten lost, but Anya's building jubilation at the energies around her soothed her fears. Eventually, after over a dozen twists, turns and drops onto lower platforms, they found the opening that led to the chamber that he'd discovered just a short time earlier.
"You okay, Anya? Cold?" Julia asked. She looked down to see that Anya had started shivering, and upon seeing it, suddenly felt the chill in the air around her as well.
"N-no. Well, a little, but... I-It's the energy. There's definitely something very potent down here."
"Gonna be able to keep it together?"
"Yes, miss Julia! Thank you for the concern."
Despite Anya assisting with their eyesight in the dark, the chamber didn't have much ambient lighting to it. The crystals they had been using as their guidance in the dark were much smaller, but much more numerous -- they looked much like stars against the dark backdrop around them, and Julia could swear she recognized some of the surface world's constellations among them. The echo of roaring water, coupled with how distant the crystal geodes seemed to be, hinted that the chamber they were in was much larger than the one they'd come from.
"How is something this large this close to the surface?" she wondered. "We haven't gone down
that far underground, have we?"
Rickard shrugged before moving forward. "We might have. Those were some pretty big drops we took. And by the look of it, we have more ahead of us."
The three stepped further into the chamber, jumping down several concave ledges that were filled to the brim with stagnant-yet-pleasant smelling sea water. As they vaulted down the final ledge, they landed on what appeared to be a table, which was topped with numerous objects -- what appeared to be rudimentary stoneworking tools, a folded and weathered sheet of leather that might have been the cover of an ancient time-rotted book, as well as a porcelain bowl that was stained with amber blotches on the inside. Their journey into the chamber took them across slick slabs of polished calcite that was pocked with miniature tide pools, then across intricately tiled mosaics that were obviously man-made.
"Are you sure we should be walking on these things?" she asked as she tried to step around the mosaic tiling as best she could. "I'm reminded of those ancient Romatti mosaics they keep unearthing during construction projects on the continent. Aren't they precious archaeological sites?"
"Might be... I reported what I found in Aldaine to a friend who works for a prestigious research institute, and they sent a team out to investigate what I found, but I never heard back about what exactly it was that I found. I should definitely look into it, now that it looks like we've found another..."
"No kidding! This looks like a remarkable find!" she said, stood beside an expansive mosaic mural that was set into the polished calcite wall beside her. The mural depicted what looked to be several distinct scenes:
The first, at the top left corner, depicted a great storm raining down on what appeared to be an artistic representation of the central island of the Storm Islands archipelago. Lightning bolts cut through the heavy rain that fell from the roiling, swirly clouds; above the island, a massive avian pokémon soared the violent skies. Julia wondered if it was meant to depict the mythical thunderbird Zapdos, but Rickard was quick to discount her theory -- the wings of the creature were too long, and the ribbon-like tail behind it further disproved her. What it was, however, he couldn't identify.
The second scene, just below the first, showcased a diverse array of sea life. The shapes used to define the creatures were rudimentary and angular, but she recognized several species of pokémon: she recognized a Blastoise in full swim, a snaky and coiled Milotic, as well as a rather spiky and meaner-looking variant of Gyarados. Among the creatures depicted on the walls, there were several she didn't recognize; various types of fish, something that looked like a Finizen based on its tail design and lack of snout, but obviously wasn't, as well as what seemed to be a tri-pointed variant of Staryu. Rickard recognized only one of the mystery creatures -- a subspecies of Kingler that had been thought to have gone extinct sometime before the 7th century, only to have been rediscovered in a remote tropical lagoon a year earlier.
"Huh. I was thinking these mosaics might be Romatti in origin, but now that I think about it, did they even get out into the ocean?" she asked. "I don't remember that part of my history lessons."
"They did, but they never discovered the Storm Islands. And that was only after the failed conquests they tried on Lanark, after the 1500s. So if I'm right about that being a South Star Kingler... Some other culture must have made this mural, and maybe the other one I found in the Schimgrotten in Aldaine. Because from what I remember of the chamber I discovered there, it also had a mural that had the same angular art style -- Romatti in style, but the Romatti Empire's influence never reached that area, or here, as far as I know."
"Didn't you say you also found one of these places in Lanark? What about that one?"
He shrugged. "Couldn't say. We found some strange stuff in some tunnels below the city of Steelport, but no murals. But we were also... kinda herded by a corporate security team that kept us from exploring too much."
"Huh."
On the far right of the mural, a large scene depicted a sea vessel with peculiar shaped sails. Despite the presence of several masts and sails on the vessel, it also had several banks of oars. Neither were experts on sailing ships, so they couldn't come to a conclusion as to what they were looking at. How old was it? What culture did it come from? Why have both sails and oars? Why were the sails star-shaped, rather than the square rigging they'd learned about in school?
The center of the mural, separated off from the rest of the panels with a circle of intricately carved stone, showcased a group of hooded robes kneeling in deference to a central figure -- a figure himself clad in an ornate robe and surrounded by a golden halo, flanked by two tattered, bone-like wings. Something about the presentation of the central figure was disturbing, as its face was obscured by the brightness of the halo behind it -- the only features being visible were its narrow eyes.
"Ugh, creepy! It's almost like the iconography at the church I used to go to, but... kindaaaaaa... Unsettling in a way? I wonder if this is meant to represent the Savior of Edenia? But why the creepy wings?"
"What's more unsettling is how familiar this looks... I remember seeing these robed figures on the Schimgrotten mural, too."
"Any idea who they are?"
He shook his head in silence then pointed towards Anya, who had wandered off into the distance. "Let's go see what Anya's up to. Seems she's captivated by something."
"Sure. Just give me a minute to take photos of this thing, okay?"
. - = ( ○ ) = - .
"That up there is what we're here for," Rickard said, pointing across an expansive water basin at the center of the chamber. Raised a significant height from the water's surface was a pillar of calcite, and atop it was a large obelisk of glowing crystal -- pulsing dimly with tones of deep blue and a brighter sea green. "Incredible, isn't it, Anya? By the look of it, it's just like the one in the Schimgrotten."
Anya shuddered with anticipation. "Ohhhh! I can't wait to get a closer look at it!"
"What exactly is it?"
They both shrugged in unison.
"And... how are we going to -- oh right, Anya's telekinesis."
Rickard chortled, then ran his hand through Anya's hair. "How about we send her up there, first? This is her discovery, after all."
As Anya lifted her up into the air and sent her towards the platform, she looked down in awe at how clear the water was. Despite the darkness around them, she could see quite far down into the depths, aided by the glowing nodules of crystal that clung to the subaquatic walls of the basin. A peculiar sight caught her eye as she raised high enough to see under the cliffside that she had just departed from: something was eclipsing the bright specks of light coming from the crystals in a rhythmic yet chaotic pattern.
"Wait, wait, WAIT!" she shrieked. "What. The.
Fuck! Is that!?"
"What is it, do you see something down there?" Rickard asked.
"B-b-bring me back! Th-there's something down there and it's moving!"
"Get her back here, now!" he commanded. "Knew this wasn't going to be as simple as it seemed..."
She nearly lost her balance as the platform reversed course, and dropped to a prone position to stabilize herself. With her fingers wrapped tightly around the unseen edges of the platform, she watched in concerned amazement as the wiggling mass at the bottom of the basin began to stir and unfold, and then start to move toward the surface, now partially lit up.
"L-little faster!" she pleaded.
Whatever it was, it was fast, and just as her platform returned to the safety of dry land, the creature breached the surface of the water.
"Woah shit!" Rickard gawked, hand already attached to one of the pokéballs along his belt. "Hello!"
She jumped off of the platform and tumbled to the floor, then took up a defensive position behind Rickard, only to realize he had no hope of shielding her if the creature decided to attack; the creature appeared to be a giant squid, but it sported more than two dozen barbed and clawed arms in addition to three longer tentacles. Atop its mantle sat a large spiral shell that came to a sharp point, with openings in the sides that the fins slotted into.
"Hey hey, a Skullkraken! Step back, Jules, I've got this! Anya, keep an eye on her and keep her safe!"
"Yes, sir!" Anya said before grabbing her hand and tugging her away.
She refused to let the creature leave her sight during their escape, and quickly backtracked rather than ran. "What the
fuck is he going to do against something
that huge? We need to get out of here!"
"Have some faith in your friend, he's a very capable man. You'll see!"
Eyes still fixed on the massive Skullkraken, she shrieked with terror as it raised two of its tentacles high into the air. "Ooooh, holy shit! Here it comes, look out!"
Just as she figured it would, it brought one of its tentacles downward towards her with alarming speed. Unable to scramble to safety and absolutely certain she was about to be hit by the whipping tentacle, she tried her best to jump over it; with a springing jump, she attempted a backflip, hoping that by flattening her body, there would be less for the tentacle to strike. Her theory proved correct, but her timing was wrong; with with a loud, audible slap, the tentacle collided with her left leg and sent her spinning out of control, causing her to crash onto the hard calcite floor face first.
"Ugh..." she rasped as she pushed herself to her hands and knees. Overcome by a bout of dizziness from smacking her head on the stone below her, she scrambled haphazardly across the floor in search of a place to hide. "Fuck me, that was too cl -- W-woah!" Her body lurched forward and sailed through the air, having been pulled abruptly by Anya towards the mosaic mural.
"Over here, Miss Julia!" Anya called out, without giving her a choice in the matter.
"Ohhh..." she groaned as she inspected her leg -- no obvious bleeding, though the bright red streak of skin that ran from her thigh to her ankle stung like white hot fire. "Th-thanks for the lift..."
"Are you okay? Your forehead is bleeding."
"Feel like I just got hit by a baseball bat..." she said as she dabbed her fingers against the wound; only a small amount of blood lingered on her fingers. "I think we have bigger problems than my head. Are you absolutely sure he's capable of defeating this thing, or are you going to have to pull him out of there?"
"Mister Rickard!" Anya called out. "Is everything going well on your end?"
"Yeah! Where are you?!" he returned before the chamber shook hard, likely from another swing of the Skullkraken's massive tentacles.
"Behind the mural!"
"Good spot, stay put! I've got this!"
Their calm demeanor put her off; how could Rickard keep a level head on his shoulders in a situation like this? Did he frequently find himself cornered by giant and potentially deadly pokémon, ones that completely outclassed the typical day to day encounter? Or was this a run of the mill experience for the average trainer? It couldn't be, she reckoned, or no one would do it!
She felt bad about doing so, but took Rickard's advice to heart and stayed behind the mural that she had just taken pictures of; though she was scared out of her mind about the prospect of possibly being killed by such a large and powerful creature, worry crept over her that the Skullkraken might lash out at and destroy the mural -- a potentially valuable archaeological find -- in its attempts to reach her.
Another hearty shake rocked the chamber, causing dust and particulate to rain down on her, and she tightly wrapped her fingers around one of her pokéballs. She tried to think if either of her two current captures could make a difference in this situation, but she reckoned not; for all she knew, Baybree might very well have still been on fire from their previous encounter with the two poachers, and the arena they found themselves in seemed like it would be too tight and too dark for Gale to be of much use. Instead, she grabbed her phone and brought up the camera app, then poked her head around the corner of the mural and started to document Rickard's skills as a trainer.
To her amazement -- and terror -- Rickard was standing his ground with Bolt a short distance in front of him. He seemed excited by what was happening, energetically waving his arms and loudly shouting commands for Bolt to follow as they stared down the goliath squid. She captured the fight between the two sides, with Bolt connecting arc after arc of powerful, explosive electrical energy with seemingly little effect. Steam hissed off of the oversized mollusk's rubbery skin at the site of the electrical impacts, but the creature seemed unphased by anything that Bolt threw at it. In fact, it seemed more annoyed than anything, and swatted away at the Electivire with its three liquid-like tentacles several times before eventually making contact and sweeping Bolt off of his feet. With reflexes almost as fast as Bolt's electrical attacks, Rickard recalled his companion before he impacted the wall of the chamber; in his place, Rime was called to the fight.
Rime's first tactic was to raise his stubby arms toward the sky and conjure a large collection of icicles, which rapidly shot towards the Skullkraken like scattershot. Despite the Skullkraken's large mass, very few of them actually hit their target as it deftly thrashed around in the water to avoid them. In response, Rime simply repeated his tactic to similar effect, prompting Rickard to chastise him and remind him that there's more to a fight than raw strength, before both had to dodge a whipping snap of its tentacle yet again. Rickard ordered Rime to focus on the Skullkraken's mobility, and by employing the same tactic that allowed the trio's journey to the island, he began to root the giant squid in place by freezing the water around it.
The tactic of freezing the Skullkraken in place seemed ineffective at first, as it simply fractured the thick ice apart with its tentacles, but it was a losing battle for the giant cephalopod; not only was Rime quicker at creating the ice than the Skullkraken was at breaking it, he eventually locked down all three of its tentacles into the ice. At that point, all the Skullkraken could do was limply flail the ends of its tentacles, and try to reach anything with its smaller arms -- a fruitless endeavor, as they barely breached the surface of the frostbitten water. With his target fully immobilized, Rime assaulted it with dozens and dozens of sharpened icicles, causing the creature to shriek with a deep bellowing that sounded much like a foghorn.
"What, is he going to capture this thing?" she wondered aloud as she saw him reach into his pocket and return with a blue and white pokeball. "What is he even going to do with it? It's not like he can use it in a battle, right?"
"It does seem foolish... A Skullkraken would only be an effective ally in the sea," Anya added. "Perhaps he intends to bring it back to his biologist friend for study?"
The ball sailed through the air and impacted the creature square in its face, just above what she would describe as a blowhole or exhaust vent of some sort. The ball split in half and struck the Skullkraken with its capture beam, but then shook violently and exploded in a shower of sparking shrapnel.
"What the..?"
Undeterred, Rickard tried again with another pokeball, this time one that she identified as an Ultra-EX ball. Just as the blue and white ball of unknown design did, the Ultra-EX broke apart with a concussive explosion as soon as the capture matrix was engaged. Rickard reached into his pocket again, but came back empty handed before commanding Rime to finish the job.
As ordered, Rime resumed his wintry assault, pelting the Skullkraken with glimmering hailstones and razor icicles; the sound of the Skullkraken's distress almost made Julia feel bad for it despite the fact it didn't hesitate to try to kill them. Before long, the repeated blast of low frequency noise had started to rupture the ice that was holding it in place, and eventually, the Skullkraken broke free. Rather than continue the fight, however, it sunk back into the water with a tumultuous splash, before disappearing into the depths.
"Is it over?" she asked.
"Looks like it..." Anya said, before tutting with worry as they watched Rickard inch closer towards the edge of the water basin.
Rickard looked down into the crystal clear water before giving a thumbs up. "Yep! We're good! I just saw that wretched thing high tail it into a tunnel down there. I think we scared it away."
"We," she repeated as she approached the basin beside him.
"Uh, heh, I wasn't talking about you. Bolt, Rime and I, I meant."
"O-oh," she bleated before chuckling. "Makes sense."
"Now," he said, casting his gaze upon the obelisk on the raised platform once again. "Where were we?"
She shook her head as she joined him in gazing at it. "Are we sure we want to go up there? If that thing comes back and we're up there, we have a lot less room to work with."
He shrugged. "Doubt it will, but if it'll make you feel better..." He turned to Rime and patted his hand on the Glacizard's back. "Rime, the lady worries that our friend will come back. See that it doesn't, okay?"
"
The lady," she repeated to herself in thought. "
Is he just being a goofball, or is he being sexist? Or, wait... He called me a lady? Maybe he's getting it through his head finally that I don't want to be called Jules anymore..."
Her thoughts were interrupted as Rime jumped over the precipice and down onto the ice floes, then started a systematic effort of freezing the surface of the basin. Compared to how he did it on the surface, he seemed to be expending significantly more effort in his wintry assault, not only creating a wider area of effect, but a much deeper one, too. It relieved her to see that he was creating a much thicker shield of ice that could protect them from the Skullkraken if it returned, but doubts lingered in her mind -- would it be strong enough to withstand the creature's seemingly impossible strength? While Rime continued his work, Anya started hers; yet again, she formed an unseen platform of force underneath Julia and Rickard, and sent it upward towards the raised column.
The obelisk was a strange sight once she got a closer look at it. With its extremely sleek and curvy glass-like surface, it was obviously crafted via unnatural means, but she couldn't figure out by what process it could have been created; it lacked the tool markings she assumed would be present if it were created by an ancient culture, and the glossy surface was uniformly even in its sheen, showing no signs of scuffing or scraping.
But whatever it was couldn't have been made by human hands, either; suspended within the dense and solid form of the object were small motes of glowing material that seemed to move within it like it was a liquid. Something she found even more unnerving was the dim flash that lit up the object in a predictable pattern, one she quickly realized matched her heartbeat identically -- with each discomforting throb that coursed through her bruised leg, the obelisk glowed almost imperceptibly brighter before dimming back down.
"You seeing this?" she asked.
"Seeing what?" Rickard replied.
"This gentle strobing effect -- the little flashes of light."
"Yeah, what about them?"
She pressed her index and middle fingers against her neck to measure her pulse. "It's matching my heartbeat perfectly. Isn't that creepy?"
"What?" he asked incredulously. "Bullshit, you're yanking my leg!"
She leaned closer to him and stuck her neck out for him. "Don't believe me? Try it yourself."
He removed his glove, put his fingers on her neck, and observed the obelisk. After a few moments, he removed his fingers and shook his head. "You're imagining things."
"I'm serious!" she pleaded as she placed her own fingers back into place, timing the beat of her heart with that of the strobing effect deep within the crystal structure.
"Why would it be doing that, anyway, other than coincidence?"
"I 'unno! I worked at an overpriced jewelry store, not some metaphysical shop! I'm not some woo woo crystal expert!"
She stepped closer to place her right hand on the obelisk and found it warm to the touch. As her palm caressed the glassy surface, the glowing motes within began to buzz about quickly, much like agitated fish in an aquarium.
"You're seeing
that right?" she asked.
"Huh... The one in the Schimgrotten didn't do that when I touched it..."
The alluring dance of the motes captivated her and held her attention, and as she ran her fingers down the obelisk, her hand began to glisten as if it was slick with water. She instinctively pulled her hand back and rubbed her fingers together to disperse the moisture into nothingness, but as she did so, they only grew more and more wet. "Huh?" she bleated as she tried to wipe the water away with her other hand, only for it to spread even further, and start to cover both hands. Where was it coming from, she wondered?
"What's up?" Rickard asked.
As she rubbed the back of her left hand with her right, she felt an intense prickling sensation in her palm and turned it over to an alarming sight: a sea urchin had been jabbed into the flesh of her hand. "Ah! Ahhh!" she shrieked as the pain grew more intense, and she feverishly scrubbed at her palm in an effort to remove it. "F-fuck! Get it off of me!"
"Woah, woah, Jules? What's up?" he implored.
Despite her intensive attempts at removing the urchin, more and more started to sprout from her skin, as did other forms of sea life -- barnacles formed along her knuckles and wrists, and sludgy fronds of kelp wrapped around her forearms, snaking their way upward and into her sleeves. A look down at her legs showed similar phenomena. "F-FUCK!"
"Hey, chill out! What's the matter with you?" he asked as he reached out to grab ahold of his increasingly erratic and animated friend. "What ar--"
His words became dull nonsense, sounding as if he was on the other side of a wall despite obviously being in front of her. She clutched at her neck as she gasped for air, feeling the crushing weight of thousands of tons of water pushing down on her; retching started as she fell to her knees, and her heart started to race impossibly fast as her senses started to fade -- her vision faded to pure darkness, the sounds around her were muffled and unintelligible, she could no longer smell the freshness of the water around them, and waves of cold crashed into her entire body.
. - = ( ○ ) = - .
The crushing sensation of water pushing down on her chest lessened until it disappeared entirely, and her vision returned. Rather than find herself in the chamber under Seastar Isle, she instead found herself surrounded by roiling, warm water. Above her, she could see rays of sunlight twinkling as they broke the surface of the water, and below her, she found darkness there, and nothing more; all around her -- featureless, empty, uninviting and terrifying.
Where the broken seas meet the watchful trees...
A rapid and heavy sensation of movement overcame her as her vision narrowed and became dark once more. It felt like she was being dragged by the scruff of her neck, downward, and very fast. As her vision returned, it was still dark, but not enough to blind her -- something above her was glowing brightly. As she strained her body to look up, she discovered the source of the light -- what looked to be the Skullkraken that Rickard had just defeated, but glowing with pulsating bioluminescence starting from its mantle and radiating out into its arms and tentacles. In a fearful panic, she tried her best to put some distance between herself and the creature, and only alerted it to her presence instead. It wrapped its tentacle around her, crushing her midsection in the process, and as it did so, the flashing glow that coursed through its body shut off entirely.
An unchecked ancient power sleeps within the tower...
After what felt like hours, eventually the crushing pressure around her midsection waned -- the only thing she could sense had gone, leaving her in empty, soundless darkness. Then, a bright flash of murky brown as the churning sea floor below her opened up. The water hissed and bubbled away as thick, obscuring smoke surged forth; from within the hostile fissure, a curious creature that resembled a Magcargo -- but easily twice as large and covered in thick, rusted sulfurite plating -- emerged and explored its new surroundings.
Topped by broken stone, endlessly alone...
In an instant, her vision faded once more, and this sensation of oppressive loneliness dragged on and on and on until something new appeared: brightly glowing bipedal figures that resembled starfish slowly meandered along the mucky abyssal floor. As they passed closely by her, they stopped in their tracks and started to circle around her; their crystal bodies flashed brightly with tones of red and gold before they resumed their travels. Despite the fact that she heard nothing and saw no movement of body parts, she could tell that these strange creatures were communicating both with each other, and her -- but what were they trying to say?
Forgotten by the storm, an eternity to mourn...
Eventually, the glow of the crystalline stars faded into the abyssal murkiness, leaving her alone in the empty void once more. Through it all, a new sensation overtook her -- she felt like she was prey, and something was lurking in the darkness around her. Flecks of murky glow broke up the darkness in the distance; had the Skullkraken found her again? As she strained in the darkness to gaze at the distant lights, only to feel a chill in the water behind her; she turned to see what it was all about, she spotted a monstrous barrel of flesh looming towards her. Its gaping maw was lined from top to bottom with razor sharp teeth, guided by a pair of glowing antennae at each side of its mouth. Despite her best efforts at making an escape, she was no match for the creature's speed, and with her fully enveloped within, it clamped shut and left her in the darkness yet again.
. - = ( ○ ) = - .
"Julia, are you with me?" Rickard's voice called out.
"Please, miss Julia, wake up!" Anya's voice echoed.
Her eyes slowly opened at first, then widely as she bolted upright.
"Hey, hey, slow down," he said as he gripped her lightly on the shoulders. "Did you hit your head when you fell down?"
She gazed around the chamber in confusion. "Where... Umm... W-wh--" she started before letting out an exasperated sigh. All of a sudden, she realized where she was -- back in the chamber underneath Seastar Isle, rather than wherever it was that she had been just a moment earlier.
"You okay? What happened?" he asked as he let her go. "What were you freaking out about? Looked like you thought you had a swarm of bees attacking you!"
She held her hand out in front of her to find that nothing was there -- no sludgy kelp, no itchy barnacles, no stinging urchins, and bone dry. "Did... You didn't see, like, seaweed wrapping all over me?"
He stared at her blankly, before looking down at Anya. "S-seaweed..? Umm, no. I didn't see anything like that. Did you?"
Anya shook her head.
"It felt like I was being pulled underwater, but..." she abruptly looked around in a panic, finding herself still on the platform, merely steps away from the obelisk. "I never left this platform, did I?"
"Nope."
"But I did... I was... Where was I? The ocean floor... Th-th-the crystal stars, the rusted armored snails... The Lamprex, the endless darkness..."
"Uhhh... Lamprex?" Rickard bleated before looking at Anya again. "Should we get her checked out at a hospital?"
"How... how long..?"
"Maybe twenty seconds between when you hit the floor and when you woke back up."
"Twenty seconds..." She shook her head, tugged on his arm, and pulled herself back to her feet with his assistance. "Felt like hours... I, I... I've... Pff... I'm done here. I need some sunlight or something..."
"Sure thing. Give me a few minutes to have a quick look around? Then Anya and I will get you out of here."
"No, now. I really want to go,
now," she whispered. She watched as Rickard stood back up and started inspecting the obelisk again, then held her hands to her face and dragged them downward hard. "What the fuck
was that..."
