When one Path Crosses Another......

First topic message reminder :

(I generally specify an age when these start, so Imma say this happened about a year ago; when Fox was 15.)

Kitsuné Fira, commonly known as "Fox" by practically all who met her, was making her way down some random road outside her hometown one sunny day. She wasn't looking for anything in particular as she walked, just something to do. She had noticed that things typically came along when she was just randomly out and about. Zepher was off flying somewhere, so Fox was totally on her own at that point in time.

"Let's not sweat the small stuff; we made it didn't we?" Fox laughed as she examined some runes on the wall. "Amazing. These writings are remincent of both those in Johto and those in Sinnoh." she muttered. She put her hand on them to wipe some dust away, but all of a sudden they began to glow and she fell back onto her butt with a loud "GAHH!"

"If you say so..." Pika responded skeptically, and watched Fox as she examined the symbols. "Really? They must be connected then I'm guessing." He suggested, and walked closer to them. "Can you read them?" He asked, as they started glowing and sent Fox backwards. "Well that was sudden. What did you do to them?" He asked, holding his hand out to Fox to help her up.

"I put my hand on it for two seconds, that's what I did." Fox grumbled as she let Pika help her up. She stepped up to the glowing runes. "It says.... and, this is a vague translation....." she began, squinting her eyes so that she could make out the shapes. "Something about 'The chamber will be opened when the middle is pierced...." Fox stopped to think for a second. "Hey, are you good with swords? Or knives? Or forks, even?" she asked.

Hearing this, Pika immediately pulled out one of his Katanas from being hidden inside his sweatshirt, and stabbed it into the middle of the dias hoping to pierce it. Of course, his katanas were hidden inside his sweatshirt in such a way that the blade went down his pant legs, as to hide them fairly well, and hopefully pulling one out randomly didn't cause Fox to panic and use some kind of alchemy to blast him off the mountain.

"Uhh, hey buddy. This wall." Fox snorted as she stifled her laughter, patting the wall she was standing in front of. "Specifically, I need you to skewer the rune here; right above my finger." she added, pointing to one of the runes. The runes seemed to glow a little brighter the closer she was to them.

Pika made no noise whatsoever for a minute, staring at the dias, and then the wall, and then to the rune. "Oh. That rune." He simply commented, trying as hard as he could to not let his face get red. He pulled his Katana out of the stone and pointed it towards the rune, stabbing it into it. "Alright, did I get it right this time?" He asked slightly sarcastically but also wanting to make sure he didn't mess it up.

As if to answer Pika's question, all of the ruins on the stone wall suddenly began to glow with a very bright light and with a loud "crack" the wall itself split in half vertically and began to roll away, revealing a secret pathway that seemed to lead on further into some unknown chambers of the temple. It was quite a showy spectical.

"Does that answer your question?" Fox asked in awe, realizing just how big this discovery could be.

Pika stared in awe as the wall fell away, backing up slightly to pull his Katana out and watch the wall clear away. "I'm going to assume that we're the first people to be here in a little while." He stated, looking at the pathway. "So, shall we get going? Who knows what's in there?" He asked, suddenly feeling very excited.

"I'm willing to bet your right." Fox agreed, still in awe and slight shock. She was still for a few moments longer, then suddenly began to push forward. "I don't even know where we're heading, but I'm sure as heck not just going to stand here and do nothing!" she smirked as she marched forward. "You with me?" she asked as she began to enter the unlit hallway.

"I'm with you all right." Pika responded, smirking, and headed into the hallway, walking forward. "I don't suppose you have anything to use as a light. Just to make this easier on us. Do you?" He asked, as he held his hands out, feeling for the walls so he could tell where they were going. Even if she didn't have anything, he was still going to press forward. Who knew what would be inside the area?

Fox grabbed a strange glove out of her back pocket and slipped it on to her left hand. "As much as I hate Pyroalchemy..." she muttered as she did, and then drew in a breath. She snapped her fingers, and the few sparks that were produced turned into a small yet extremely bright flame that stayed above her fingers, which she kept pinched together. "There. Glad that's over with. And that I didn't blow anything up." she snorted silently, getting a good look around at the rune-covered grey walls. "Funny; as we walk along, the origin of the runes seems to lean more towards the Sinnoh style...." she muttered.

"Jeez, aren't you one for taking risks and not telling me..." Pika muttered, and looked at the walls as well. "There's that, or maybe these ruins were here first, and the Sinnoh ruins came after. I guess the only way to tell would be to figure out what time the two were made, but unless there's alchemy for that then we're out of luck." He continued, looking at the walls. "Well, maybe we'll get our answers up ahead. This could be a really big discovery..." he trailed off, starting to walk on ahead, anxious to see what was in store for them.

Suddenly, a low growl was heard coming from down the hall. Fox stopped dead in her tracks and listened as the sound reverberated off the walls...... And grinned. "All right." she grinned evilly as she cracked her knuckles. "I was hoping that we would run into some action here."

Fox began to flex herself out as she continiued to walk more excitedly down the hall. She wasn't paying half as much to the ruins now; although there was no doubt she would come back and study them later. She was completely absorbed in finding out what was going on at the end of this chamber. "If you're gonna chicken out, now would be the time." she snickered.

Pika had heard the growl and moved his hand to the handle of one of his katanas, not wanting to get caught off guard in a tunnel. After this, he moved his attention back to the various symbols, deciding to check for anything that might indicate what was in the area with them. Fox's comment made Pika realize that she had run off further down, and that she was taking their only light source with them. "Hey, I wouldn't let someone like you run off alone. Now slow down, I'm starting to lose the ability to see in here!" He commented back, running after Fox to catch up with her.

"I can't slow down, who knows-" Fox started to call back, but before she could finish her response she saw something that made her stop. A shadow figure that looked identical to herself, only maybe a year older with a flowing dress, wolf ears and a tail, stood in a doorway about twenty feet away from where Fox was standing. Even though the figure had no eyes, Fox could feel the figure's burning stare directed directly at her, a feeling that made every inch of Fox's skin crawl.

"That thing.... You're from beyond the gate!" Fox yelled dumbfoundedly and angrily at the figure. The figure only sidestepped and vanished, and the second after it did....

"GROOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRR!!!"

Something was just beyond that doorway. And it was unhappy.