Anger, Annoyance, Arboreum

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If he wouldn't be sure that it would attract even more enemies, William would have screamed to the heavens.
Yet another time did he have to visit this place of which he had hoped never to have to see it again.
How much more annoying could this shrine possibly get? But there was no doubt that the riddle on it was referring to the leaves they had already discovered in this area. And that meant that he would just have to keep on searching for more of these annoying things. Couldn't he just go buy a pot of paint and colour some of the leaves? No, for some reason these mystical things always could tell the difference. How did they build them to do that anyway and why didn't that technology survive into the modern age?


(E=65-11=54)

"Possible, even though I doubt there would be much more you would be capable of doing. I am an avid reader myself and yet I haven't found a single mention of the language used. It is unlikely that there's been many books written about the civilisation that wrote this.", the Ghost type spoke, deciding not to mention the obvious attack on his intelligence made by the Misdreavus.
He couldn't help but doubt her survival instincts however. Here she was, definitely much weaker than him and even though she barely knew him she still believed for it to be a good idea to mock him. Nevertheless William was better than that. He would simply achieve his goals, ignoring the stuck-up Misdreavus.

The Misdreavus huffed. William wasn't getting it. Because Miss T knew all of the tricks recorded, she would be able to come up with new ones, and therefore understand ones invented and unrecorded. If they were overly complicated, however, it would be much harder, but not impossible. The pure ghost type still highly doubted any other Pokemon were capable of creating such a complex coding system and still be able to understand it themselves.
"I'm not going to repeat what was already said. Differentiating the language used isn't the only way to write alternatively."
She began to doubt her theories about the shrine, now that she knew the Gengar didn't understand it. Perhaps the clues were misleading, and didn't make much sense? What would different-colored leaves have to do with a puzzle, anyway?

"I am going to repeat what I already said however. I was alive when this civilisation existed. I am not aware that there have ever been any books or other materials written about them so even with the most meticulous studying the language they used should not be known to someone, no matter how much they studied. And since that would mean that it is highly unlikely that even you know the base language, it means that no matter how many tricks you are aware of, you very, very likely will not be able to decipher the writing as you should be unfamiliar with the very language used, no matter how it has been twisted."
What was so difficult to understand about a simple message like this? The Misdreavus could as well have been saying "I can't count but I can play five instruments so I should be able to do advanced calculus just fine!".
Some of the Pokémon the Ghost type had to deal with...

"Are you doubting my abilities? I've solved several languages unwritten about, made discoveries no one would have ever tried to, and kept going beyond what most thought was my potential. If you don't believe I can solve this enigma, then you have another thing coming."
Her face flashed a look of serious annoyance, a purely unamused facial format. She whipped away from him in an expression of aloofness and hovered away.
"Good luck solving your pathetic riddle," the Misdreavus spat.

"Why, thank you.", the Gengar replied, a sickening politeness in his words.
"I do find myself wondering however, why you do find yourself in the need to act so condescendingly towards me. After all it might be a bit of...troublesome for you to leave should I suddenly suggest I would not want for you to leave."
Of course the Ghost type would never do such a thing, but this Misdreavus had been too much of an annoyance for him to just sit by idly and have her keep talking. And he had done enough guildwork already. Surely the stories of one Pokémon with no witnesses would not be believed by anyone.
Smirking slyly, the Poison type waited for his conversational partner's response.

Miss Treavus cringed at first, as the Gengar sounded polite, but it was a mere lead up to a retort that offended her slightly. She knew she was better than that, to fall down to his level, so instead she turned around and nodded once.
"Perhaps you're right," she agreed with a considerate-sounding voice, while her face continued to look dull and unamused, the only thing moving was her mouth and the involuntary bobbing up and down from her levitation. She didn't mean it, for she knew she was smarter than him. Maybe not wiser, but her intelligence certainly prevailed in comparison to any other's. She was sick of being looked down upon just because of her size and basic form. She lacked power physically, and she chose the power of knowledge instead.
"Fine, I'll continue, and if makes you happier, I'll also stop talking."

"That could be helpful.", the Gengar snickered.
"After all your talking might have alerted half the dungeon to our position and I am quite willing to bet that they aren't too pleased to know of us being here. As a tip for next time - keep your voice down when you're in a dungeon and have no intention of taking up a job as target practice."
Well, at least the Misdreavus was going to stay silent for now. Maybe some day the Ghost type would challenge her to a battle of wits. Not now of course. That would be far too dangerous. But he couldn't deny that he'd be quite interested in seeing the Misdreavus' rection to having lost to him. Judging by her behaviour she couldn't be too old, maybe a few centuries in the Gengar's eyes. It wouldn't be easy, but William believed for him to be able to outsmart her.

Miss T rolled her eyes, and couldn't help but bear a slight smile. She knew she could be obnoxious loudmouth, but only to those who were jealous of her abilities. It was pretty obvious that noise attracted attention, but she didn't bother agreeing. After all, she made a promise. She decided to be magnanimous towards her fellow ghost type, for it was hard not to get frustrated with someone who seemed to act like she knew everything.
She returned to a serious casual face and set her mind to keep her thoughts within her mind and follow William, and perhaps she could reach a partially meditative state while doing so. Hopefully that would relax her and get rid of the anger she experienced earlier. That kind of frustration was unhealthy and could take over her naturally calm spirit, and possibly intrude her studies. After all, because of the dangers in this dungeon, the chemist hadn't meditated for more than just hours. It must've started getting to her.

Upon noticing that the other Ghost type was finally remaining silent, the grin on the Gengar's face took on a softer tone again. It was time to continue wandering these wretched paths in the search of something he couldn't even be sure of would result in anything worthwhile. For all he knew he could very well be unable to correctly solve the riddle or maybe he would not get anything useful for managing to solve it. Why was he still trying? To be perfectly honest - he did not know.
In fact he was beginning to doubt his own sanity the more he actually thought about the situation. Maybe he should just return home and forget about this place ever having existed. But each time one of these thoughts entered his mind, he quickly was reminded of all the work he had put towards solving the riddle already and once more his conviction never to give up was renewed.

Miss Treavus followed William and began pondering about what to set up at her dream shop. Some potions she created were too dangerous for common use. Her store could be shut down before it even really opened due to possible side effects and reactions. She could be taken of all her belongings if some explode, or even cause death by accident. She would have to be very specific when explaining the usage, especially how mixing or ingesting too many could cause the majority of the problems the Misdreavus was worried about. She would, of course, have to refrain herself from selling powerful ones, that when in the hands of a villain, could lead to ultimate destruction. The most basic ones could easily be sold, but at what price? Because of what happened here, she doubted she would want to go back into a dungeon to find ingredients. Perhaps she could require them from the buyers...

The Misdreavus seemed to be lost in thought, which was all right to William just as long as she wouldn't start blabbering about her percieved superiority again. What was she thinking about anyway? Quite possibly about how to annoy the Gengar a bit further. But since she wasn't running into any enemies William didn't mind the possibility. Still the Poison type was wondering why the two of them were traveling together in the first place. It was obvious that neither of them liked the other and the Misdreavus didn't seem to be able to help much in battles either. To put it bluntly - she was a load. And since she would simply be able to float out of the forest she didn't need anyone to escort her either. But knowing how most Pokémon reacted she would likely stubbornly keep exploring even if William were to leave, which could easily lead to unwanted consequences...

Miss T bit her lip. As she snapped out of her blankness at the realization, she needed to ask a question. However, this promise felt important as the Vow of Silence, which she took decades ago temporarily to master her meditation and power of thought. But her question she wished to ask was extremely important: where were they going? If the poison-ghost was just leaving, both could exit with ease without the other's help; if he was targeting the center of the dungeon, or the shrine, surely he wouldn't want to drag her along; if he was just going the way his thoughts took him with no goal in particular, what was the purpose in that if he seemed to have everything he needed to move on?
Eventually, she decided on what to do that didn't quite break her promise. She was capable of telekinesis and telepathy, so why not use the power of her brain to communicate?
I'm sorry, but where are we going? she thought in a way that sounded louder, and could direct the soundless voice into another's mind. This way, at least it wouldn't attract the attention of wild Pokemon because they wouldn't be able to hear anything.

The Ghost type simply rolled his eyes.
"Nowhere in particular.", he responded.
Why had the Misdreavus felt the need to ask such a question? Did it really matter where they were headed to? She was looking for ingredients for her potions so it would not be of any importance to her. And that meant the only reason she could have been asking would be curiosity, which in turn should have been stopped by her having agreed to finally stay silent. Unless she wasn't taking that seriously of course. This would be an even more exhausting trip than William initially believed it seemed. Countless hours spent in such an annoyingly bright dungeon and now with a Pokémon unable to shut up at his side...
The Ghost type sighed.

The Misdreavus sighed and sunk to a lower level of levitation. This was exactly what she hadn't wanted to be happening. If it was going to be this way, why couldn't she just leave? Her ghostly streams behind her head waved and shifted as they always did, but her eyes shifted towards looking to the ground, her mouth minimized to a flat slit. It was one of those moments where she appeared lost in thought, but she was just staring at the ground while moving with no mental words or pictures, and the least amount of activity it's had. She wanted to be able to think of something, some challenge to occupy her, but she just stared at the air below her. Her eyes weren't even focused on the ground, but on absolutely nothing, as if staring into another dimension. She hated being wrong, but she also hated realizing that maybe she's not the smartest. Was it really all the bookworm wanted in life? To seem smart? The whole potion career was just to promote that, but what was the real meaning in an afterlife?

The Gengar simply kept floating through the forest, his eyes darting around aimlessly in search of further leaves. He did not speak a word but if he did it would most likely have been a massive amount of cursing as he was getting rather tired of this place and its vegetation.
Maybe he should just ignore the shrine and its riddle. It was most likely not worth the effort anyway.
It probably was just a bad prank made by the first explorer to get there. But then again how many Pokémon were still capable of writing in that ancient language? Not many - that was certain. Should he stay or should he go? That was something that would be quite difficult to decide.