Shrine of the Fallen Riddle

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This was it.
Now the trio had finally reached the shrine hidden deep within the Fallen Leaf Copse.
But would they be able to solve its mysteries or would it just remain another slab of stone for them, their exploration in vain?
All this would be decided now.
Slowly the Gengar approached the shrine, inspecting it closely.
There seemed to be odd lettering on it, but it was a bit hard to discern.
On top of the shrine seemed to be a primitive candle, which obviously seemed to hold some importance. But what was it?
"I think I recognize this language from somewhere...", the Gengar mumbled, trying to remember where from.
"Maybe I have read about it some time ago. But it's all difficult to remember. Why don't you two try and light that candle up there while I try to decipher this? It may take a while and even if the candle isn't related to this it'll at least help with reading this."

A Servine slunk across the leaves of the copse floor, moving almost soundlessly despite the shiny Zorua on her back. It had been a while since Serena had been here, and it seemed like hopefully this would be the last re-visit to the copse at all. "I swear to Arceus, if I have to come here one more time, I'll destroy it completely." The grass type muttered irritably.


"Oh, don't be such a prick, Serena." The Zorua said calmly, but in an obnoxious tone. Ramira smirked. Serena could be easily annoyed when the dark type was around, but this visit was important, so the shiny refrained from bothering the Servine too much. Fortunately, to Ramira's great delight, the shrine was nearby. She heard Serena mutter, "There's Sosio and William," with a smile on her face. The Zorua was glad that Serena had switched moods.

As he lay there, his head resting on the accursed slab of stone, William could almost swear he was hearing the Flying type's voice. Was it just a really vivid memory of the agonizing torture he had been subjected to in this place? Had the Copse finally shattered his sanity, driving him mad with hallucinations? Or was this maybe the shrine's doing, laughing at the Gengar's inability to solve its riddle? Whatever it was, it was a clear sign that this place wasn't doing the Ghost type any good. He should probably leave here as quickly as possible. Why did he even return in the first place? It wasn't as if he liked it here or anything!

Sosio could somewhat hear others coming near, but for now she had to focus on William, who still hadn't taken note of her presence. The flying type stretched her wings out as if to say, "Hello? I'm right here!"
Is he dead? Naw, that makes no sense because he's a ghost.

While William couldn't even sense her own presence, but she could sense another as they spoke. She pivoted her body to see the other friend she had come here with, along with another acquaintance the bird had met, who's name she couldn't recall. Surprised to see them here, Sosio didn't know what to say, and rather gestured with a wing to the collapsed ghost.

Serena gasped. "What the heck is wrong with William?" She asked. He just seemed to be standing there, motionless! Was he ok? Did he need help? The Servine didn't know, but with Ramira atop her head, she slithered over worriedly, looking at him. "William, are you ok....?" Serena asked him. The grass type felt worried, because the Gengar just didn't move. Would he be dead? No, he was a ghost. Why would she be so stupid?

Ramira shrugged. "If you ask me, I'm sure he's just confused, as I've seen how annoyed he was when I met him here. He must have some sort of assumption that you guys are illusions, which is incorrect. If they were illusions, I would be right here, sitting NEXT to you instead of on top of you." The Zorua semi-explained, not sure if this was true or not. All she knew is if there WERE illusions, SHE would have been the source of it, and not the shrine. What kind of a silly assumption would that've been? Shrugging off the thought, the dark type waited patiently for a response from William, Sosio, or Serena.

And now the Zorua was here too. Had William done something wrong to deserve this? Was this hell?
Was that the reason he was drawn here by some strange force day after day to explore this livid, bright dungeon? The repetitive enemies, never finding what one was looking for. It all made sense now!
Removing his head from the altar again, the Ghost type sighed.
Rubbing his eyes he could confirm that all these illusions still were around. Either they were real, which was unlikely, or he had snapped completely now. And that was worrying. If he had snapped, then had he hurt someone without realizing it maybe? Hopefully not...

"William!" Sosio cried out. He seemed to be somewhat dysfunctional, and when he turned around, he seemed to be exhausted as he usually was when he was in this dungeon. The Fletchinder could never really figure out why he hated this dungeon so much. She actually really loved it here, but wanted to solve this riddle even more.

"So, have you cracked the case yet?" she asked curiously, leaning back and forth on her toes and heels. She fluttered over near the shrine and looked at it. It seemed just the same as when she last came here, which was a good sign. No one else must have tried to solve it since they were last here. Either that, or no one did so successfully. Hopefully they would be able to complete it this time.

"Let's hope he did," Serena said, walking closer. She poked William, only to have her arm go through. 'I'm hoping he felt that...' The Servine thought. 'I need him to be focused so he can answer us.' The grass type stepped next to him, and decided that she should take a turn with the leaves this time, unless William was uncomfortable with that. She sighed. "William... if you think you're hallucinating, you're not. I literally just tried poking you." Serena said, a little bit of an irritated tone in her voice.

Ramira jumped of Serena's head and stood in front of the shrine, tail now casually laying limp on the ground. She looked up at William briefly. "You know, just because you've been here plenty of times doesn't mean you've gone mad. Go ahead and tell us if you've solved the riddle or not. If not, I think you should rub the ashes on that weird symbol that the inscriptions are under." The Zorua said, knowing about the burning of the leaves only because Serena had told this to her before they had come back.

((Serena told Ramira in the gap between her leaving, and then both coming back. Just saying to avoid confusion.))

"Huh? You guys are actually real?", the Gengar asked in surprise.
"But why did you get here? I thought we left this place just a few days ago. I just stumbled over the shrine again by accident."
Indeed why were these Pokémon here in this place in this moment? Was this one of those fate-things?
Were they destined to solve the shrine's riddle or something? It would explain why they kept coming back here despite despising this place so much at least. But how to solve it? Their last attempt certainly hadn't been successful.
"I don't think I've managed to think of anything else. Nothing written on the shrine could mean anything else from how I see things..."

Sosio watched the Servine try to poke the ghost with her limp little arms. It was both confusing and amusing to watch it go straight through William, as if Serena expected it to hit a solid object, but slipped through instead. Before the moment of contact, it appeared that the ghost wasn't buying any of this, almost a look of unamusement on his face.

Next, the bluish Zorua recommended something about the riddle, which sounded rather interesting. But she wondered what some ashes could possibly do to an emblem. If it was some sort of activation thing, then wouldn't any embers at all do the trick? The bird honestly didn't know anything about this. She may have discovered the dungeon, but she was a fool if she thought she would be able to solve this riddle.

Finally, William recognized the three as being real. Following his act of surprise came a question, which kind of confused Sosio somehow.
"I come here all the time, and just today when I came, you happened to be here. Just coincidence, I guess, that Serena was here, too."
When he explained that he didn't have much of an idea for a solution, the Fletchinder sighed. This just seemed like an endless, pointless effort. What they had done seemed like exactly what they were supposed to do, yet that wasn't enough...

"Again, we could rub the ashes on the symbol after burning the leaves. It's a hunch, and I'm just guessing, but it could work." Ramira said. The Zorua leapt up next to the bowl of ashes, and blinked. If nobody was going to listen to her, she had to get up higher to show she was an equal in this conversation. The dark type noticed Serena roll her eyes.

"It's a one shot thing, but we could give it a try," Serena said. Ramira wasn't always full of good ideas, but when she was, the Servine tried them out. Sighing, she stepped forward. "Which one of us should burn the leaves this time?" The grass type asked the whole group. Last time it had been William, but were they going to change it up and have someone else burn them over the candle this time?

William simply sighed.
"Rub the ashes on the symbol? I honestly doubt that's going to work. But then again it's not as if we have any other ideas I guess. It's better than doing nothing at least."
This was a huge disappointment. The Zorua's suggestion made little to no sense as nowhere in the riddle there was anything that could mean that they had to do what she suggested. The Ghost type was beginning to think that this entire shrine had only been placed here to annoy those trying to solve its likely impossible riddle. Maybe it had been a way of luring other Pokémon into an ambush that was no longer used because noone had been so stupid to fall for it?

The Zorua once more stated her suggestion, this time taking higher ground for better attention. Sosio heard her the first time, but didn't bother commenting on it because she didn't have a clue as to what they should do. Serena asked who should burn the leaves, which reminded Sosio that she was the only one with some firepower around here.
"Hold on, I'll light the torch," she announced, shooting an ember at the pile of ashes after Ramira was no longer in the way.

William agreed that there was no alternative to trying to solve the riddle, as the writing did appear to have nothing left to decipher. The Fletchinder didn't want to put the leaves, as she feared she would do something wrong. She'd gladly let the Servine do the honors this time, but who knew if the grass-type was afraid of fire or not. That only left Ramira, who seemed comfortable enough to stand on the torch itself.