Where Our Origins Lie...

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Present Time

Fox hadn't left her room for days. She was currently in what had become known as "shut-in status" (something that happened sometimes for various lengths of time that were frequently vaguely long, one time almost going on for a month until Zash had came knocking at the window halfway through the third week to snap her out of it), focusing all her energy into some form of something that was usually research. This time, however, it wasn't alchemy-related, at least not to her knowledge.

No, this time Fox was deeply sunk into a practically-ancient book (not that she wasn't already sinking lots of time into ancient books already) that she had found in some old lock-box that had just somehow appeared in her room.

Literally.

She had no memories of where it could have possibly come from. The librarian and the bookstore owner both had said that they hadn't seen her come in for anything like the book in any state; fugue or otherwise. Her friend at the historical institute had said he had said she hadn't requsting something of that nature from him... ever.

So where had this box, which she had found lying under a stack of research notes in her "myths and legends" pile, come from?

She had her suspicions as to its original whereabouts. By that it was implied that she had already figured out that she had probably dragged it back in a fugue state and then not noticed it up until now, but it was figuring out where she had wandered during the state that was giving her a hard time. She had obviously wandered way off from her usual routes she would walk on by habit...

The evening light was dwindling now as Fox's research on the book continued. A few of the night's first stars were now peaking out at the dimming landscape. Neighborhood children who had gone back out after dinner to see their friends once more were now being called in for the final time, and everywhere the town had a sense of preparation for the night to call upon it, bringing quietness and sleep in it's wake.

This is when Fox operated the best.

Nighttime allowed her to sneak out without worry of her parents discovering her missing. It allowed her to avoid her family and the terror they brought her; allowed her to break whatever rules she wanted and/or study in complete peace. Nighttime offered her complete and unappaposed freedom.

A cool breeze broke the dulling midsummer heat and blew in through Fox's slightly-opened window, another sign they night was fast approaching. Without even looking up from the page she was studying, Fox leaned over and turned her table lamp on (she assumed it was safe to having not heard from any of her family members in a while), flooding her room with the artificial light produced.

Her room had originally been pretty shabby, considering how her parents treated her. She could have fixed it up with alchemy a long long time ago, but it was already all she really needed. She had fixed it up some by hanging her research and other things over the damaged parts of the pale blue walls (even though she mostly kept her research under wraps), but things like cracks in the windows and small stains on the time-worn carpet remained.

Fox did have a few relics and trinkets from her adventures set out in various places around her room as well, including an artifact from her springtime journey to the Sinjoh Ruins sitting innocently on her windowsill. Looking at it would often cause her to think back to that that journey and the friend she had made it with; after causing her to wonder where he was and how he was doing...

Fox looked back at Pika, her eyes then slowly drifting over to Priam. "Hmmmmm..... Well, you two look freakishly alike. It's scary, really. Maybe that's why. Taiga stopped talking to me so I can't really ask her..." Deep red and blue crystals that glowed faintly with bioluminescent light appeared on the walls the deeper they got into the cave, signaling that their destination wasn't too far alway. "We're supposed to go to the chamber where Kyogre and Groudon used to seek refuge. There's supposed to be some kind of key.... Or maybe an entrance to something. The word 'hole' is mentioned in the text, so watch your feet. It might be in the ground." She explained, her nose buried in the book to try and sniff out clues. Water dripped from the ceiling and the cave was full of steam; the path they were following was spiral-shaped and continually led downwards. As the trail flattened out, a large naturally-formed archway appeared that lead into a gargantuan chamber completely filled with both colors of crystals. It was a spectacular sight; the light illuminated all around the room and each ray was reflected off another crystal's facets.


"This is it." Fox declared, closing her book slowly.

"This?" Pika questioned as he followed Fox into the room, looking around. "This is it? Are you sure you've got the right place?" He continued, walking past the arch and into the room. Alright, time to figure this out...It's pretty obvious, you know. You know how to get in? Yeah. You want to save us some time and tell me? No. Dammit. He sighed, seemingly at nothing as he looked around the room. Different colored crystals, the place of Groudon and Kyogre, key, keyhole... He thought for a moment, trying to put it together. Maybe they had to do something with crystal colors? Atlantis was sort of underwater, maybe the crystals had to be blue. Maybe they had to use a crystal as a key and put it in a keyhole. Maybe one of them already even had a key and just didn't know about it...Where's the steam coming from?
"Hey, question. Where's the steam coming from? Is there a hole in the ground around here?" He asked, looking around. "And I don't suppose there's some sort of key inside the book is there?" Pika continued to ask.[/b]

Hmmm if the the young lady is as sharp as I assume they'll make quick work of the entrance way then we'll be onto the trails. Poshie started to thing along to himself he slide the ring that held his consciousness up his finger to examine at the burn pattern around the finger.It looked almost like flowing wings wrapping around the finger. He tried to look at anything anything at all besides Priam or Taiga including the descents and or reincarnations that were present. From what Poshie could tell the three Atlantic Ancients were calling out to these three Poshie could see why, they all held similairities to them, he assumed there was another problem in Atlantis that required their service but he didn't want to be involved especially if that pyromancer was going to be there.

Fox frowned a bit. She opened her book back up, shut it, and then looked around a few times. "The steam is coming from the red crystals on the ground, which are hot. The blue crystals on the ceiling are cold, so they make the water condense and drop to the ground. Then, the red crystals re-heat it and the steam rises again," Fox stated. "See, this room is apparently able to flip over depending on who's inhabiting it. When Kyogre sleeps here, the current ceiling is actually the floor. With the cold crystals on the floor, the room stays cold. But these steamy hot conditions are perfect for Groudon, meaning he was the last one here." Fox turned to her friends. "I think the text is saying there's a keyhole lined up with the invisible axis that the room spins on, probably on either the east or the west wall. There are two keys, one slightly deeper red crystal that's hotter than the others and one slightly deeper blue crystal that's colder than the others. They're encased inside the normal crystals, though which means we," Fox explained with a sweeping hand gesture that indicated the entire room, "have to find them out of all these crystals. Time to get to work."

Pika nodded his head thoughtfully, taking everything in with a very contemplative look, as if he was thinking about something.
"Alright, I've thought somewhat long and hard about this. This is stupid." He commented, coming to that conclusion as he looked around the room. Why does there always have to be some sort of puzzle? Was every ancient civilization just paranoid and antisocial enough for that? And with crystals too?
"So, since the red crystals would probably be pretty hot, I'll let you take care of that." He said to Poshie, before looking up at the ceiling. "How do we get to the crystals on the ceiling though? Will the room flip once we find the red crystal?" He asked Fox.

" Yes that sounds like a good idea since I can't be burned." Poshie agree and stepped into the middle of the room. Hmmm the red crystal is a deeper red right? he though to himself he rolled up the sleeves of Zash's leather jacket. This guy is so wild and improper. He sighed to himself. raising a single hand he made a blue flaming orb just like the one he had made back when he first met Fox and they had played, Furta Igni, the light game. Lights started to reflect off of all the crystals shower the cave in an amazing aurora of light. " There" Poshie pointed two crystals to the right of Pika's foot. " How do we get it out now?" He asked Fox even though he was well aware he didn't want to lead on that he knew anything at all.

Fox shrugged. "I dunno. Break 'em. A couple whacks from your little staff oughta be enough; they're a very soft mineral." She looked over to Pika. "And bro, It takes to power of a legendary to flip this room. The room can sense when the legendaries are close, and it flips accordingly in order to be able to accommodate the visitor. Don't worry about it." With that, she went back to investigating the wall. There were no obvious keyholes... Not that she could see. She searched for about fifteen more minutes before getting frustrated. She clapped her hands together with an aggravated grunt and then alchemy'd the top layer of all the walls off, turning them to ash. On the wall perpendicular to her, something sparkled.

Looking down at the two crystals, Pika grabbed his staff base out of his pocket and pressed the button in, making it fully extend. Holding it by the middle and lining up his shot, he swung the staff down into the crystal, speaking between hits.
"Right, well-that doesn't really-help us out with-getting the ceiling crystal-now does-" While he was speaking, a loud crack resounded as the crystal broke off, hitting the ground next to him. He instinctively jumped back a bit, not wanting to get burned by it. As all of this was going on, Priam was casually standing off to the side, watching all of this go on with a smirk.

Poshie shut down the fire lights and rolled his sleeves back down suspecting that Zash wouldn't have approved of the look. He then proceeded to where the crystals had been and lifted the red one. It was smooth as glass but Poshie felt like there was something inside moving as he would walk with it like it an egg. "So this goes in here?' He feinted ignorance as he placed the orb within the appropriate place within the lock. "can you handle that one Pika?" Poshie asked since it may have been extra cold like the red was extra hot.

"Good work, both of you; I'll take it from here." Fox grinned. She was very tolerant of the cold, so she herself went over and picked up the blue crystal, then slipped it into the opposite side of the lock. The lock began to rotate rapidly, then stopped. A grinding and creaking could be heard throughout the room, and then the two halves split into and began to heave. They moved away from each other just enough to reveal an entryway right behind where the lock was, and then they stopped.

"Wow," Fox remarked. "That was insane."

"Well, apparently she's got it." Pika retorted to Poshie, pointing at Fox and putting his staff away. Turning to see her, he watched as she grabbed the second key and put both into the lock, causing the wall to split and reveal an entryway.
"That was interesting. So, who wants to go in the creepy entryway first?" He questioned rhetorically as Priam walked over towards the entrance, looking at it with a smirk.

" Yes I suppose she does." Poshie mumbled as the passageway opened, the last time he had been here he had been leaving Atlantis for what he had hoped would have been the last time but now he was returning he could only hope that they would return here to leave. He raised a hand and created a floating orb of his blue fire to provide light down the tunnel and signaled it forward. " Well I suppose we should carry on." Poshie said taking the lead with the light, no longer trying to hide his identity from Priam he supposed that he would know him by now by the unique blue fire he used his only hope was that he was long forgotten by the citizen of the city far under the sea.

With the addition of Zash's light, it was revealed that the opening was hardly an opening at all. It was a single room, with enough seats for all of them to sit. It had looked deeper than it was on account of the black material that it was crafted out of, sleek and metallic and clearly foreign to the rest of the cave. Inside were a collection of symbols on the walls, along with seams that seemed to indicate fused panels.

Fox looked at it with concern and wonder all at once.

"It's a vessel........." she commented. "It seems like it can carry us all. But what.... I thought we were finding coordinates, not...." she trailed off, as if awaiting some kind of answer. She waited for just a few moment before continuing, "Huh. Taiga is STILL not answering me. She's gone completely quiet...." However, that wasn't entirely true. Fox could feel a pressure in her heart, something that was tearing her up inside. Taiga wanted into that room. She was desperate, for whatever reason. She was aching, completely dying to get back to her home. Fox felt terrible for her, and was even more resolved to get in. But first.....

"What about you, Priam?" she asked suddenly. "You've been awfully quiet, and cryptic. What do you know about this? What should we know?" she questioned, looking at the man."

Priam had gone silent once the group had entered the room and begun working out the solution to opening the path forward. He'd decided it best to let the group of yung'uns figure out the solution to the puzzle and find their own way into the city. After all, they'd come this far and found their way here, it was only right that they finish earning their way in. On top of that, he had his suspicions about the three of them. Especially as he watched them work together, in a trio like they did. It reminded him of times that had long since passed.

Well, technically the trio wasn't exactly who he thought they were yet. One of them was very clearly under the control of somebody else, somebody he recognized from times long past, and the other was in communication with her apparently.

But he'd have to burn those bridges when he came to it.

"Huh? Oh, well, that vessel there goes to Atlantis. I just kind of wanted to stand back and let you five figure out how to get there. You know, as a rite of passage thing, really discovering it yourself. And, as for what you should know, well...I'll think about that on the way down. For starters, we're not used to guests down there, so be prepared for that." Priam stated, nodding his head and stepping over into the entrance of the vessel, heading in and taking a seat in one of the ones available.

Pika reflexively crossed his arms as he listened to the (apparently) old man, thinking about things pretty carefully. One of the things that stuck out to him was the mention of five of them.
Five of us? Who's he talking about? There's me, Fox, and Zash. Then...whoever's inside Fox maybe? That Taiga person? That makes four. That leaves Poshie and you, Kobal...
Either guess is pretty good. I've been around in my day, y'know, gotta change up the locale every now and then when you're punishing the populace. Then again, I haven't been pretty obvious, and Poshie isn't Mr.Subtle.
Alright, hold on. Do you know the answer?
Well, yeah, I'm pretty sure I do. But I'm not telling-
Wait. Only pretty sure?
I don't see where you're-
You don't fully know. You're not one-hundred percent sure either. Sorry, I just need to take some time to celebrate this, let it sink in. You're not all-knowing. Hurrah.
...alright, fine smartass. I'm taking a nap, and you're not invited. I'll pop in when something interesting's going down.
What can I say? It's the small victories in life sometimes.

"Well...this is what we came for, isn't it? Finding this place?" Pika finally spoke up, grabbing his staff and retracting it back to its original small state before pocketing it. He took a few steps towards the entryway they'd opened up and peered in, seeing Priam sitting there, waiting for the three and twiddling with his fingers.

"So how about we go find it?" He suggested, before stepping inside the vessel and finding the seat furthest from Priam. He stepped in front of it and got ready to sit down, but as he approached the seat, he felt his foot step on something. As he looked down, it seemed to be a tail...?

Suddenly, there was a sharp cry, a blur of motion, and some kind of white furred beast darted out from under the seat, pouncing the boy and knocking him over.

Pika's surprised yell made Priam blink and look over at the boy, staring over at him with a little surprise himself as he eyed the Absol holding Pika down to the ground.
"...Alkaios. Aren't you supposed to be with your father today?" The older man gently chided the pokemon, crossing his arms and addressing him like a father might address a child who'd stayed up past bedtime.

The Absol blinked and glanced over towards Priam for a moment, his head and tail drooping slightly as he turned and looked away, almost as if pretending he hadn't heard the guy say anything, though he'd clearly acknowledged it. Priam sighed softly and gestured with his hand, and the Absol stepped off of Pika, returning to his spot under the seat. Standing back up, Pika quickly brushed himself off and took the moment to catch his breath, glancing back to Zash/Poshie and Fox/Taiga with some apparent disbelief and surprise, before looking to Priam questioningly.

"My apologies. He's a bit of a skittish one, and I hadn't realized he'd joined me up here today." Priam responded calmly, nodding his head.
"...that's all you have to say? I almost got gutted by your stupid...alright, you know what, I'm just gonna sit down." Pika had begun to protest, but eventually grumbled and conceded, sitting down on the seat the Absol had run out from under and waiting for the others to join them.

"You must be Erasmus's little one aren't you?" Poshie causally entered the vessel, the all familiar look of the place haunting him but he put those thoughts behind him as he crouched down just beyond the threshold that entered into the vessel and extended a hand towards Alkaios gently in a kind gesture. " Alkaios was your name, wasn't it? Your father was quite fond of me. He let me play with you when you were just a hatchling you know." As he cooed the absol over to him in the hopes that he would recognize him even though his body had changed more times than Poshie cared to count.

Alkaios seemed to have no trouble heading over to Poshie and affectionatlly licking his hand. He looked down fondly at the little absol as he petted it's back with his other hand. He remembered that Erasmus had been there when he and Ziau had argued over the departure of his partner from Atlantis. The way he had stood and watched, his sharp observing eyes the way he could normally predict disaster. If only he could have for seen Ziau's wrath. Poshie thought glumly to himself as he looked up at Priam at the far end of the pod. Pika still seemed to be sulking in the opposite end of the vessel Poshie gave him a light smile as though to say that the lot of them were in a not desirable position together.
His expression flinched slightly he could feel Zash disturbing something inside his mind, he was digging for something mining into his inner thoughts and instinctual base for something but Poshie could not imagine what. He sighed and continued to resist him, Poshie had been around a long time it would be difficult for Zash to pull something off on him.

With that situation properly handled he turned his attention back to Priam and spoke now addressing him openly for the first time. " So you knew I was here from the start, aye?" He rose from his crouched position and stopped one hand in the pocket of Zash's leather jacket the other running through his hair. " They don't call me ευγενικό ένα anymore, I'm Poshie now and Priam I'm truely sorry for everything that happened after we left.." Poshie started to trail off before finally asking. " I suppose HE isn't happy?"