Psycho Monkey
Member of the Literary Elite Four
(OOC: In case any new comers didn't read the discussion, this RP is closed so please don't post. (That means you too Corey 
) Feel free to read to your hearts content though.
To my four cohorts, Let the Hunt Begin!
)
BIC:
Two Months Ago
Deep beneath the surface of the Unova region excavators and their Pokémon were hard at work expanding the Relic Passage that extended between Driftveil City and Castelia City. To have a network of tunnels connecting the furthest points of Unova, that was the dream of the Driftveil City Gym Leader, Clay. Thanks to his ambition, one could travel to and from Castelia City and Icirrus City in half the time it used to in previous years.
“Hey Gurdurr, could you bring me one of those support beams?” requested one of the workers. He wore a brown hard hat, white gloves, and a jumpsuit. The legs of the suit were yellow while the torso and arms were black. A Pokémon resembling a Muppet on steroids came over with a long wooden beam slung over one shoulder. The species usually carried red beams made from steel, but for the tunnel work, wooden beams were more efficient. Gurdurr effortlessly stood the beam against the cavern wall to support the ceiling and prevent a cave in.
“Thanks partner!” said the worker giving his Pokémon an appreciative thumbs-up. Gurdurr grunted with a derpy smile as if to say “No problem Boss!”
Elsewhere in the tunnel a Pokémon with a mostly yellow and white hide with thick brown spines protruding from its back was digging away at a wall with long sharp white claws. The Sandslash swiped at the wall but struck a surface harder than the rest of the dirt around it. It struck again assuming it to be nothing but bedrock only this time the entire wall collapsed on it.
“Claws!” shouted another worker and the Pokémon’s Trainer. “Are you alright?” he asked worriedly. Claws dug its way out of the rubble no worse for wear. “I’m glad yer fine.” said the worker with relief. He looked up at the collapsed wall only to see the slab his Sandslash was having trouble getting through. It looked to be a mural of some kind.
“Tom! Hey Tom! Get over here will ya? I think we got somethin’!” the worker shouted. A man with a thick brown mustache, who was obviously the supervisor by the orange vest he wore over his uniform, came rushing over to the scene.
“What’s wrong Jim?” inquired Tom.
“Whadda ya make of this?” Jim asked pointing to the mural. Tom got a big grin on his face at the sight. He slapped Jim on the back a few times in excitement.
“I think we just made the discovery of the century! Get Clay on the line!” the supervisor said with a hardy laugh.
---------------------------
Present Day
Six long white claws erupted from the ground spinning like a drill pushing the earthen terrain away so fast it produced a cloud of dust. Once the hole was large enough and the dust had settled, a small mole surfaced. The creature was covered in short black fur with white fur on its face and nose and blue stripes adorning its arms and body. It had a short tail and was the owner of those massive claws, three on each hand.
‘Drilbur, the Mole Pokémon. It makes its way swiftly through the soil by putting both claws together and rotating at high speed.’ read the Pokédex of Shiro Yukimura.
Shiro had spent the whole day yesterday training his Pokémon in Wellspring Cave, a limestone cave carved out by rainwater over thousands, if not millions, of years. Having spent the night in the cave, Shiro was awoken early in the morning by tremors. He quickly threw on a pair of dark blue jeans, a purple T-shirt, and white running shoes before jumping out of his tent to see what was causing the vibrations. That was when the Wild Drilbur appeared.
“I hope you had a good night sleep Mizuki because it’s time to battle!” Shiro called throwing a ball that was red on top and white on the bottom. Emerging in a white light was a small otter with light blue fur covering most of her body, white fur on her face, and dark blue fur covering her ears, long feet, and paddle like tail. She had a round orange nose, small black whiskers, and a tan seashell on her chest called a Scalchop. The Oshawott yawned opening her mouth wide showing her small fangs. She rubbed her eyes with her stubby arms to try and wake herself up.
“Good morning Mizuki. I need you to battle now. Blast Drilbur with Water Gun!” called Shiro. The Sea Otter Pokémon opened her mouth gushing a powerful stream of water that struck Drilbur for heavy damage. The Wild Pokémon decided it was having enough and retreated back underground.
“Don’t let it escape Mizuki! Flush it out with another Water Gun!” Shiro commanded. Mizuki ran over to the hole and spewed water into it. The ground behind her erupted as Drilbur reemerged spinning like a drill. Before Mizuki could even turn around, the Mole Pokémon Scratched her with its long claws.
“Tackle it Mizuki!” the boy called. The Oshawott rammed her head into Drilbur’s chest knocking it to the ground. The Mole Pokémon responded by swiping the wet cavern floor with its claws sending mud into Mizuki’s eyes. Mizuki cried out as she tried wiping the mud from her face.
“Try spinning in a circle while using Water Gun!” suggested Shiro. He immediately regretted his command as the attack instead struck him and the tent while Drilbur simply ran in circles far enough away from the stream that it wouldn’t get hit. He couldn’t be sure, but he thought he saw Drilbur laughing at him. “Alright Mizuki, stop attacking.” The otter ceased fire but had an uncertain look on her face.
Shiro quickly looked around trying to think of what to do next. The only light in the cave was the faded sunlight coming in from outside, but he could make out the faint shimmer of water not far from where the battle was. He must have unknowingly set up camp near an underground lake.
“Mizuki! Run forward!” he commanded. The Oshawott was confused, but she trusted her Trainer. She did as told until the ground gave way beneath her and she fell into the spring with a yelp. She then climbed back out with her eyes fully flushed clean. “Good job! Now use Water Gun!” commanded the young Trainer. Mizuki jumped out of the lake and with perfect accuracy, shot Drilbur again bringing it to its knees.
Now came the moment where Shiro had to decide if he wanted to simply knock it out or if he wanted to catch it. If he had just had one more Pokémon when he battled Lenora that time… Shiro rushed back into his tent, pulled out his black backpack, and threw a Pokéball at Drilbur which absorbed it in a red light. One shake. Two shakes. Three shakes. A crack then appeared on the lock of the capsule before the Mole Pokémon broke free and destroying the Pokéball in the process.
“Dammit! I almost had it!” Shiro shouted in frustration. “Mizuki! Tackle it one more time to weaken it further!” he called. Drilbur attacked Mizuki first by putting its claws together and Rapidly Spinning into her chest like a drill. Luckily it was her Scalchop that was struck preventing too much damage to the Oshawott. She then rammed into her foe getting Scratched again in response. Shiro threw another Pokéball which sucked Drilbur in. After three shakes the ball clicked resulting in the Trainer’s third Pokémon.
“Yes!” he cried in excitement. Mizuki smiled at having played a part in recruiting another teammate. Shiro sent out Kisaru, a monkey with red fur on its legs, tail, head, and ears and tan fur on its torso and face. He then sent out his new Drilbur to get acquainted with the other Pokémon.
“I like the name Simon the Digger for you. Simon for short.” Shiro said to his new companion after learning it was male. He then retuned his tent to its Item Ball, a grey sphere that resembled a Pokéball with similar functions for items, hoping it wouldn’t get moldy from Mizuki’s Water Gun, and stuffed the ball into his backpack. Shiro washed his face in the lake but the cave was still too dark for him to make out his reflection. He hoped that his medium length brown hair wasn’t too much of a mess this morning and if it was, he hopped that it was at least hiding his ears. He was self-conscious about that particular trait of his.
He and his Pokémon had a light breakfast after which he put on the last of his outfit, a pair of black and white checkered wrist warmers and threw on his backpack.
“Alright, even though Simon is the newest member of our team, I think Mizuki and Kisaru have had enough training to finally beat Lenora.” he said to his Pokémon as sort of a pep talk. “I hope you will do your best too Simon.” he said to the Drilbur. The Mole Pokémon wasn’t entirely sure what was going on, but nodded anyway. He was the type to just go with the flow. With that, Shiro returned his Pokémon and exited Wellspring Cave. He had to shield his blue eyes from the intense sunlight until his eyes adjusted.
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When Shiro arrived in Nacrene City he headed straight for the Pokémon Center to get Mizuki and Simon fully healed and ready to face the Gym Leader Lenora. After that, he headed for the Gym.
“What the…?” he said in surprise when he got there. The Nacrene Gym was inside the Museum which, while a grand and amazing place, had a huge crowd of people gathered at the entrance slowly filing into the double doors atop a flight of stairs. Shiro impatiently stood in line trying to figure out what could possibly warrant such a crowd. It was always possible that the last time he was here it just happened to be a slow day. Or on the flipside, this was an unusually crowded day. Well it was mid-June. Everywhere except school buildings became more crowded when summer began.
A large red banner with blue trim hanging above the entrance caught Shiro’s attention. ‘Welcome to the Grand Opening of Ancient Unova!’ the banner read in bold yellow lettering. He then remembered there was one exhibit in the museum that was closed off the last time he was here. That must be what was drawing the crowd. And just his luck, today was the grand opening of the new exhibit. This place was going to be packed!
Inside the Nacrene Museum people of all walks of life were gathering. Archeologists, historians, and students in those fields had come wondering what such an exciting and new find could mean and if the artifact was going to change Unovan history as they knew it. Curious people who were simply hungry for knowledge were there hoping for a piece of information pie. Citizens of Nacrene City who had been longing for this day since the new exhibit was first advertised hoping that it would give them artistic inspiration for their next song, painting, or sculpture. Everyday people who had decided today would be a good day to take a trip to the museum either by themselves, on a date, or with their families and just happened the pick today along with the unexpecting Trainers looking to challenge Lenora to a Gym Battle like Shiro. And the press was there to document it all.
All of these people gathered in the east wing of the museum where a large rectangular object of some sort stood in the middle of the room veiled by a large white cloth. Whatever this exhibit was stood about seven feet tall; at least two heads taller than the dark skinned woman standing next to it on the left. That was Lenora, the Nacrene Gym Leader and director of the Nacrene Museum. She had a large afro of black hair tied back with a red and pink striped bow. She wore red shoes, blue pants, and a pink apron overtop a white shirt. Standing on the right side of the mysterious exhibit was a tall lanky man with pale skin, glasses, and thinning brown hair wearing a long white lab coat and brown slacks. That was Lenora’s husband and assistant director of the museum, Hawes.
As more people filed in, journalists standing at the front of the crowd crouched down so those behind them could see while keeping their notepads held out in front of them ready to write every word, every detail, of what was to come. Reporters stood idly at the ends of the crowd with cameras fixated on Lenora, Hawes, and the cloaked object.
Hawes looked at his watch which read 9:59am. The exhibit would officially open at 10am. He mentally counted down the seconds in his head until the minute hand clicked over onto the hour for it was a simple analogue watch.
“Dear.” he said with an underlying tone of passion and admiration for his wife in his voice.
“Thank you Hawes.” she responded with a warm and thankful smile directed at him. She then turned to her audience.
“Ladies and gentlemen. And of course children.” Lenora greeted in a loud and clear voice giving a special nod to a little girl sitting on her father’s shoulders. “I would like to personally thank each and every one of you for taking time out of your busy schedules to be with us here today on this momentous occasion. As I am sure all of you are aware, the Driftveil Mining Corporation, founded and led by my personal friend Clay xxxxxx, has been creating a series of tunnels beneath Unova to make traveling easier for people journeying the western part of the region. About two months ago, a team he had expanding the Relic Passage came across this!” Lenora and Hawes both grabbed their respective side of the white sheet and pulled it until the relic beneath had been unveiled.
The up until now secret exhibit was a large stone slab with what appeared to be the Unova Region carved into it. Camera flashes illuminated the room as everyone with a camera or a cell phone snapped pictures. Lenora waited for the roar of the crowd to die down before continuing her speech.
“For those of you in the back who may not have a good view, this slate has a map of the Unova region carved into it. Unfortunately, the northeastern corner from Pokémon League Stadium down to Humilau City is missing. We don’t believe it was damaged during excavation because the edges are smooth. In all likelihood, it simply eroded away. This map is, of course, extremely outdated. Most of the cities and landmarks we know today are nowhere to be seen on this map besides Castelia and Opelucid. After all, if you look here,” Lenora pointed to a marked of area in the middle of modern day Route 4, “this settlement here no longer exists. It stirs my curiosity to find out what secrets lay within that desert!” Lenora cleared her throat realizing she was getting off topic. “Based on the information this map gives us about the political geography of the time, the layer of sediment we found this in, and our own dating tests here at the museum, we have determined that this artifact is approximately 2,500 years old. That is what makes this such an important discovery. It comes from the time period where the sibling founders of Unova unified the region with the help of Reshiram and Zekrom. Allegedly of course. We have no solid physical evidence of Reshiram or Zekrom.”
Lenora then pointed to another marked section near the first one. “What we do have evidence of is this. This is the Relic Castle. Today they are but ruins with untold secrets hiding within them. It makes my heart throb just thinking about what hidden treasures from a forgotten age still hide there.” Lenora cleared her throat again from letting her passion of archeology get away from her. “It has been known for decades that the Relic Castle was created 2,500 years ago as the seat of the newly formed civilization based on the artifacts we’ve already excavated and uncovered within the ruins. This helps support our theory on the age of this mural.” She then pointed to an island in modern day Undella Bay.
“Over here is a place you will not find on a contemporary map. This island sunk into the sea more than 2000 years ago, but recently divers have discovered ruins that have been given the name the Abyssal Ruins. Once again, these ruins are home to innumerable archeological finds.” she said keeping her enthusiasm in check this time. “Items found inside the Abyssal Ruins are dated as old as 3,000 years, but the ruins were clearly still on the surface 2,500 years ago.” She then pointed to two more marked areas that surrounded modern day Icirrus City.
“These two areas here are Celestial Tower and Dragonspiral Tower. It is no surprise that Dragonspiral Tower is located on this map as it is by far the oldest structure in the Unova Region. Even I cannot claim to know how old it is. The greater surprise is Celestial Tower. While it is a very old building, we never expected it to be as old as this map is telling us it is. We cannot be entirely sure yet if there was some kind of important structure in this location 2,500 years ago that Celestial Tower was built on top of or not. Further research will be needed to determine whether this map is indicating the Celestial Tower we know of or some other ancient landmark.” Lenora took a short pause to give the audience a moment to absorb all of this. She forgot for a moment that not all of the people here were her colleagues is the history and archeology fields. Most of the people were average citizens so she hoped that nothing was going over their heads.
“Now, y’all are probably wondering why I took special consideration to point out these four locations.” Lenora teased at. “That is because these four are specially marked. Human settlements are marked with small houses.” she said picking up a large zoomed in photograph depicting two lines with a triangle drawn over top. Beneath it were the characters of a forgotten language that most likely gave the town’s name. “These four locations were each marked with a castle.” Lenora held up another zoomed in photo which depicted a design resembling a rook piece from chess. Within the design of the castle was a crescent moon. “Now while that may not seem special, just a way to denote four towers in Unova, if you look closer each castle is represented by its own individual marking. This one is a blown up picture of Celestial Tower marked with a crescent moon.” Lenora picked up another photo. “A sun denotes the Relic Castle, a cloud symbolizes Dragonspiral Tower, and finally the Abyssal Ruins are emblazoned with a star.” she explained with a picture for each.
“We are still unsure as to what these marking mean and why our ancestors felt the need to separately mark each tower. Maybe it was for easier identification, maybe it had some religious purposes, we just cannot be sure. If I could, I’d love to ask them myself.” Lenora’s joke got a chuckle out of the crowd. “So far the Celestial Tower is the most visited of these sites and the Relic Castle has been looted continuously for decades. We are only just now uncovering the secrets of the Abyssal Ruins and Dragonspiral Tower has been untouched for centuries. I would love to get in there to discover its secrets.” She mentally berated herself for getting off track again. “We are also still working very hard to uncover the secrets of this map.”
Lenora took another pause. She looked at her new exhibit with wonder and integrity. After two months of research she felt she had only scratched the surface of this mural’s mysteries. Still, she wasn’t going to gain much else keeping it in her musty old lab. Something as grand and historical as this deserved to be public where anyone could see it. Maybe some bright young university student with fresh ideas would spot something she didn’t. Perhaps an artist’s perspective would see some aesthetic her scientific mind overlooked. She turned back to the audience with a large smile.
“Well I am sure y’all are tired of hearing me yammer on.” she said getting another laugh from the audience. “If anyone has any questions about the exhibit, please direct them to my assistant Hawes. I assure you, he is just as knowledgeable about the subject as I am. If you are here with the Nacrene Times, the Striation Post, the Castelia Tribune, or any other newspaper, magazine, or TV station, and you want an interview, please schedule one for after hours. I am a Gym Leader after all, and I am sure there are plenty of Trainers here today who are looking for a match with me.” That earned a cheer from Shiro and several other people in the crowd. “Once again, thank y’all so much for coming out today. Please enjoy the rest of your time in the museum and never stop learning! Curiosity is the spice of life! Without it, life is bland!”
The crowd erupted into a roar of applause as Lenora took her leave to her office. Once everyone had settled down, people started dispersing to explore the rest of the museum, to bombard Hawes with questions, or to get a better look at the slab. Shiro waded through the crowd to get into the Gym. The exhibit had definitely caught his attention, but he’d be back later to look at it. Hopefully the crowd would have died down by then. Right now he had only one thing on his mind, and that was his rematch with Lenora.
Back in the exhibit hall, a group of five stood in front of the map. A young woman with black hair tied back into a ponytail with her bangs hanging over her forehead wearing a navy blue tank top and beige cargo pants grinned.
“Well guys, I think this is what we were looking for.” she said to her companions.
********************
(OOC: So yeah, the section where the Great Chasm is supposed to be is missing meaning we'll need to figure out that a key is located there on our own. For the record, it was symbolized by a castle with a meteor on it.)
) Feel free to read to your hearts content though. To my four cohorts, Let the Hunt Begin!
)BIC:
Two Months Ago
Deep beneath the surface of the Unova region excavators and their Pokémon were hard at work expanding the Relic Passage that extended between Driftveil City and Castelia City. To have a network of tunnels connecting the furthest points of Unova, that was the dream of the Driftveil City Gym Leader, Clay. Thanks to his ambition, one could travel to and from Castelia City and Icirrus City in half the time it used to in previous years.
“Hey Gurdurr, could you bring me one of those support beams?” requested one of the workers. He wore a brown hard hat, white gloves, and a jumpsuit. The legs of the suit were yellow while the torso and arms were black. A Pokémon resembling a Muppet on steroids came over with a long wooden beam slung over one shoulder. The species usually carried red beams made from steel, but for the tunnel work, wooden beams were more efficient. Gurdurr effortlessly stood the beam against the cavern wall to support the ceiling and prevent a cave in.
“Thanks partner!” said the worker giving his Pokémon an appreciative thumbs-up. Gurdurr grunted with a derpy smile as if to say “No problem Boss!”
Elsewhere in the tunnel a Pokémon with a mostly yellow and white hide with thick brown spines protruding from its back was digging away at a wall with long sharp white claws. The Sandslash swiped at the wall but struck a surface harder than the rest of the dirt around it. It struck again assuming it to be nothing but bedrock only this time the entire wall collapsed on it.
“Claws!” shouted another worker and the Pokémon’s Trainer. “Are you alright?” he asked worriedly. Claws dug its way out of the rubble no worse for wear. “I’m glad yer fine.” said the worker with relief. He looked up at the collapsed wall only to see the slab his Sandslash was having trouble getting through. It looked to be a mural of some kind.
“Tom! Hey Tom! Get over here will ya? I think we got somethin’!” the worker shouted. A man with a thick brown mustache, who was obviously the supervisor by the orange vest he wore over his uniform, came rushing over to the scene.
“What’s wrong Jim?” inquired Tom.
“Whadda ya make of this?” Jim asked pointing to the mural. Tom got a big grin on his face at the sight. He slapped Jim on the back a few times in excitement.
“I think we just made the discovery of the century! Get Clay on the line!” the supervisor said with a hardy laugh.
---------------------------
Present Day
Six long white claws erupted from the ground spinning like a drill pushing the earthen terrain away so fast it produced a cloud of dust. Once the hole was large enough and the dust had settled, a small mole surfaced. The creature was covered in short black fur with white fur on its face and nose and blue stripes adorning its arms and body. It had a short tail and was the owner of those massive claws, three on each hand.
‘Drilbur, the Mole Pokémon. It makes its way swiftly through the soil by putting both claws together and rotating at high speed.’ read the Pokédex of Shiro Yukimura.
Shiro had spent the whole day yesterday training his Pokémon in Wellspring Cave, a limestone cave carved out by rainwater over thousands, if not millions, of years. Having spent the night in the cave, Shiro was awoken early in the morning by tremors. He quickly threw on a pair of dark blue jeans, a purple T-shirt, and white running shoes before jumping out of his tent to see what was causing the vibrations. That was when the Wild Drilbur appeared.
“I hope you had a good night sleep Mizuki because it’s time to battle!” Shiro called throwing a ball that was red on top and white on the bottom. Emerging in a white light was a small otter with light blue fur covering most of her body, white fur on her face, and dark blue fur covering her ears, long feet, and paddle like tail. She had a round orange nose, small black whiskers, and a tan seashell on her chest called a Scalchop. The Oshawott yawned opening her mouth wide showing her small fangs. She rubbed her eyes with her stubby arms to try and wake herself up.
“Good morning Mizuki. I need you to battle now. Blast Drilbur with Water Gun!” called Shiro. The Sea Otter Pokémon opened her mouth gushing a powerful stream of water that struck Drilbur for heavy damage. The Wild Pokémon decided it was having enough and retreated back underground.
“Don’t let it escape Mizuki! Flush it out with another Water Gun!” Shiro commanded. Mizuki ran over to the hole and spewed water into it. The ground behind her erupted as Drilbur reemerged spinning like a drill. Before Mizuki could even turn around, the Mole Pokémon Scratched her with its long claws.
“Tackle it Mizuki!” the boy called. The Oshawott rammed her head into Drilbur’s chest knocking it to the ground. The Mole Pokémon responded by swiping the wet cavern floor with its claws sending mud into Mizuki’s eyes. Mizuki cried out as she tried wiping the mud from her face.
“Try spinning in a circle while using Water Gun!” suggested Shiro. He immediately regretted his command as the attack instead struck him and the tent while Drilbur simply ran in circles far enough away from the stream that it wouldn’t get hit. He couldn’t be sure, but he thought he saw Drilbur laughing at him. “Alright Mizuki, stop attacking.” The otter ceased fire but had an uncertain look on her face.
Shiro quickly looked around trying to think of what to do next. The only light in the cave was the faded sunlight coming in from outside, but he could make out the faint shimmer of water not far from where the battle was. He must have unknowingly set up camp near an underground lake.
“Mizuki! Run forward!” he commanded. The Oshawott was confused, but she trusted her Trainer. She did as told until the ground gave way beneath her and she fell into the spring with a yelp. She then climbed back out with her eyes fully flushed clean. “Good job! Now use Water Gun!” commanded the young Trainer. Mizuki jumped out of the lake and with perfect accuracy, shot Drilbur again bringing it to its knees.
Now came the moment where Shiro had to decide if he wanted to simply knock it out or if he wanted to catch it. If he had just had one more Pokémon when he battled Lenora that time… Shiro rushed back into his tent, pulled out his black backpack, and threw a Pokéball at Drilbur which absorbed it in a red light. One shake. Two shakes. Three shakes. A crack then appeared on the lock of the capsule before the Mole Pokémon broke free and destroying the Pokéball in the process.
“Dammit! I almost had it!” Shiro shouted in frustration. “Mizuki! Tackle it one more time to weaken it further!” he called. Drilbur attacked Mizuki first by putting its claws together and Rapidly Spinning into her chest like a drill. Luckily it was her Scalchop that was struck preventing too much damage to the Oshawott. She then rammed into her foe getting Scratched again in response. Shiro threw another Pokéball which sucked Drilbur in. After three shakes the ball clicked resulting in the Trainer’s third Pokémon.
“Yes!” he cried in excitement. Mizuki smiled at having played a part in recruiting another teammate. Shiro sent out Kisaru, a monkey with red fur on its legs, tail, head, and ears and tan fur on its torso and face. He then sent out his new Drilbur to get acquainted with the other Pokémon.
“I like the name Simon the Digger for you. Simon for short.” Shiro said to his new companion after learning it was male. He then retuned his tent to its Item Ball, a grey sphere that resembled a Pokéball with similar functions for items, hoping it wouldn’t get moldy from Mizuki’s Water Gun, and stuffed the ball into his backpack. Shiro washed his face in the lake but the cave was still too dark for him to make out his reflection. He hoped that his medium length brown hair wasn’t too much of a mess this morning and if it was, he hopped that it was at least hiding his ears. He was self-conscious about that particular trait of his.
He and his Pokémon had a light breakfast after which he put on the last of his outfit, a pair of black and white checkered wrist warmers and threw on his backpack.
“Alright, even though Simon is the newest member of our team, I think Mizuki and Kisaru have had enough training to finally beat Lenora.” he said to his Pokémon as sort of a pep talk. “I hope you will do your best too Simon.” he said to the Drilbur. The Mole Pokémon wasn’t entirely sure what was going on, but nodded anyway. He was the type to just go with the flow. With that, Shiro returned his Pokémon and exited Wellspring Cave. He had to shield his blue eyes from the intense sunlight until his eyes adjusted.
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When Shiro arrived in Nacrene City he headed straight for the Pokémon Center to get Mizuki and Simon fully healed and ready to face the Gym Leader Lenora. After that, he headed for the Gym.
“What the…?” he said in surprise when he got there. The Nacrene Gym was inside the Museum which, while a grand and amazing place, had a huge crowd of people gathered at the entrance slowly filing into the double doors atop a flight of stairs. Shiro impatiently stood in line trying to figure out what could possibly warrant such a crowd. It was always possible that the last time he was here it just happened to be a slow day. Or on the flipside, this was an unusually crowded day. Well it was mid-June. Everywhere except school buildings became more crowded when summer began.
A large red banner with blue trim hanging above the entrance caught Shiro’s attention. ‘Welcome to the Grand Opening of Ancient Unova!’ the banner read in bold yellow lettering. He then remembered there was one exhibit in the museum that was closed off the last time he was here. That must be what was drawing the crowd. And just his luck, today was the grand opening of the new exhibit. This place was going to be packed!
Inside the Nacrene Museum people of all walks of life were gathering. Archeologists, historians, and students in those fields had come wondering what such an exciting and new find could mean and if the artifact was going to change Unovan history as they knew it. Curious people who were simply hungry for knowledge were there hoping for a piece of information pie. Citizens of Nacrene City who had been longing for this day since the new exhibit was first advertised hoping that it would give them artistic inspiration for their next song, painting, or sculpture. Everyday people who had decided today would be a good day to take a trip to the museum either by themselves, on a date, or with their families and just happened the pick today along with the unexpecting Trainers looking to challenge Lenora to a Gym Battle like Shiro. And the press was there to document it all.
All of these people gathered in the east wing of the museum where a large rectangular object of some sort stood in the middle of the room veiled by a large white cloth. Whatever this exhibit was stood about seven feet tall; at least two heads taller than the dark skinned woman standing next to it on the left. That was Lenora, the Nacrene Gym Leader and director of the Nacrene Museum. She had a large afro of black hair tied back with a red and pink striped bow. She wore red shoes, blue pants, and a pink apron overtop a white shirt. Standing on the right side of the mysterious exhibit was a tall lanky man with pale skin, glasses, and thinning brown hair wearing a long white lab coat and brown slacks. That was Lenora’s husband and assistant director of the museum, Hawes.
As more people filed in, journalists standing at the front of the crowd crouched down so those behind them could see while keeping their notepads held out in front of them ready to write every word, every detail, of what was to come. Reporters stood idly at the ends of the crowd with cameras fixated on Lenora, Hawes, and the cloaked object.
Hawes looked at his watch which read 9:59am. The exhibit would officially open at 10am. He mentally counted down the seconds in his head until the minute hand clicked over onto the hour for it was a simple analogue watch.
“Dear.” he said with an underlying tone of passion and admiration for his wife in his voice.
“Thank you Hawes.” she responded with a warm and thankful smile directed at him. She then turned to her audience.
“Ladies and gentlemen. And of course children.” Lenora greeted in a loud and clear voice giving a special nod to a little girl sitting on her father’s shoulders. “I would like to personally thank each and every one of you for taking time out of your busy schedules to be with us here today on this momentous occasion. As I am sure all of you are aware, the Driftveil Mining Corporation, founded and led by my personal friend Clay xxxxxx, has been creating a series of tunnels beneath Unova to make traveling easier for people journeying the western part of the region. About two months ago, a team he had expanding the Relic Passage came across this!” Lenora and Hawes both grabbed their respective side of the white sheet and pulled it until the relic beneath had been unveiled.
The up until now secret exhibit was a large stone slab with what appeared to be the Unova Region carved into it. Camera flashes illuminated the room as everyone with a camera or a cell phone snapped pictures. Lenora waited for the roar of the crowd to die down before continuing her speech.
“For those of you in the back who may not have a good view, this slate has a map of the Unova region carved into it. Unfortunately, the northeastern corner from Pokémon League Stadium down to Humilau City is missing. We don’t believe it was damaged during excavation because the edges are smooth. In all likelihood, it simply eroded away. This map is, of course, extremely outdated. Most of the cities and landmarks we know today are nowhere to be seen on this map besides Castelia and Opelucid. After all, if you look here,” Lenora pointed to a marked of area in the middle of modern day Route 4, “this settlement here no longer exists. It stirs my curiosity to find out what secrets lay within that desert!” Lenora cleared her throat realizing she was getting off topic. “Based on the information this map gives us about the political geography of the time, the layer of sediment we found this in, and our own dating tests here at the museum, we have determined that this artifact is approximately 2,500 years old. That is what makes this such an important discovery. It comes from the time period where the sibling founders of Unova unified the region with the help of Reshiram and Zekrom. Allegedly of course. We have no solid physical evidence of Reshiram or Zekrom.”
Lenora then pointed to another marked section near the first one. “What we do have evidence of is this. This is the Relic Castle. Today they are but ruins with untold secrets hiding within them. It makes my heart throb just thinking about what hidden treasures from a forgotten age still hide there.” Lenora cleared her throat again from letting her passion of archeology get away from her. “It has been known for decades that the Relic Castle was created 2,500 years ago as the seat of the newly formed civilization based on the artifacts we’ve already excavated and uncovered within the ruins. This helps support our theory on the age of this mural.” She then pointed to an island in modern day Undella Bay.
“Over here is a place you will not find on a contemporary map. This island sunk into the sea more than 2000 years ago, but recently divers have discovered ruins that have been given the name the Abyssal Ruins. Once again, these ruins are home to innumerable archeological finds.” she said keeping her enthusiasm in check this time. “Items found inside the Abyssal Ruins are dated as old as 3,000 years, but the ruins were clearly still on the surface 2,500 years ago.” She then pointed to two more marked areas that surrounded modern day Icirrus City.
“These two areas here are Celestial Tower and Dragonspiral Tower. It is no surprise that Dragonspiral Tower is located on this map as it is by far the oldest structure in the Unova Region. Even I cannot claim to know how old it is. The greater surprise is Celestial Tower. While it is a very old building, we never expected it to be as old as this map is telling us it is. We cannot be entirely sure yet if there was some kind of important structure in this location 2,500 years ago that Celestial Tower was built on top of or not. Further research will be needed to determine whether this map is indicating the Celestial Tower we know of or some other ancient landmark.” Lenora took a short pause to give the audience a moment to absorb all of this. She forgot for a moment that not all of the people here were her colleagues is the history and archeology fields. Most of the people were average citizens so she hoped that nothing was going over their heads.
“Now, y’all are probably wondering why I took special consideration to point out these four locations.” Lenora teased at. “That is because these four are specially marked. Human settlements are marked with small houses.” she said picking up a large zoomed in photograph depicting two lines with a triangle drawn over top. Beneath it were the characters of a forgotten language that most likely gave the town’s name. “These four locations were each marked with a castle.” Lenora held up another zoomed in photo which depicted a design resembling a rook piece from chess. Within the design of the castle was a crescent moon. “Now while that may not seem special, just a way to denote four towers in Unova, if you look closer each castle is represented by its own individual marking. This one is a blown up picture of Celestial Tower marked with a crescent moon.” Lenora picked up another photo. “A sun denotes the Relic Castle, a cloud symbolizes Dragonspiral Tower, and finally the Abyssal Ruins are emblazoned with a star.” she explained with a picture for each.
“We are still unsure as to what these marking mean and why our ancestors felt the need to separately mark each tower. Maybe it was for easier identification, maybe it had some religious purposes, we just cannot be sure. If I could, I’d love to ask them myself.” Lenora’s joke got a chuckle out of the crowd. “So far the Celestial Tower is the most visited of these sites and the Relic Castle has been looted continuously for decades. We are only just now uncovering the secrets of the Abyssal Ruins and Dragonspiral Tower has been untouched for centuries. I would love to get in there to discover its secrets.” She mentally berated herself for getting off track again. “We are also still working very hard to uncover the secrets of this map.”
Lenora took another pause. She looked at her new exhibit with wonder and integrity. After two months of research she felt she had only scratched the surface of this mural’s mysteries. Still, she wasn’t going to gain much else keeping it in her musty old lab. Something as grand and historical as this deserved to be public where anyone could see it. Maybe some bright young university student with fresh ideas would spot something she didn’t. Perhaps an artist’s perspective would see some aesthetic her scientific mind overlooked. She turned back to the audience with a large smile.
“Well I am sure y’all are tired of hearing me yammer on.” she said getting another laugh from the audience. “If anyone has any questions about the exhibit, please direct them to my assistant Hawes. I assure you, he is just as knowledgeable about the subject as I am. If you are here with the Nacrene Times, the Striation Post, the Castelia Tribune, or any other newspaper, magazine, or TV station, and you want an interview, please schedule one for after hours. I am a Gym Leader after all, and I am sure there are plenty of Trainers here today who are looking for a match with me.” That earned a cheer from Shiro and several other people in the crowd. “Once again, thank y’all so much for coming out today. Please enjoy the rest of your time in the museum and never stop learning! Curiosity is the spice of life! Without it, life is bland!”
The crowd erupted into a roar of applause as Lenora took her leave to her office. Once everyone had settled down, people started dispersing to explore the rest of the museum, to bombard Hawes with questions, or to get a better look at the slab. Shiro waded through the crowd to get into the Gym. The exhibit had definitely caught his attention, but he’d be back later to look at it. Hopefully the crowd would have died down by then. Right now he had only one thing on his mind, and that was his rematch with Lenora.
Back in the exhibit hall, a group of five stood in front of the map. A young woman with black hair tied back into a ponytail with her bangs hanging over her forehead wearing a navy blue tank top and beige cargo pants grinned.
“Well guys, I think this is what we were looking for.” she said to her companions.
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(OOC: So yeah, the section where the Great Chasm is supposed to be is missing meaning we'll need to figure out that a key is located there on our own. For the record, it was symbolized by a castle with a meteor on it.)
