Wider and wider it split until it created a narrow opening into the hallow tree. The moon was now totally covered by the shady clouds and Emily was forced to pull her flashlight out again. “’Ze answers to the mystery of the Impiety tablet are in here. ‘Zis is truly a breath-taking discovery, indeed! I’ll become the most famous student archeologist in Hoenn! Thanks for helping me, Landon; I wouldn’t have gotten this far all by myslelf.” She stated. “Thanks…I guess.” Landon scratched his head dimly. With Emily leading the way and Landon in the back, the three treaded into the tree and down a narrow, dim staircase. The strong scent of mold and age caught their nose and Landon started to cough a little. The deeper they went down, the louder their footsteps came. The corridor became wider with each step they made. The walls were elegantly crowded with ancient symbols and art. Pictures of many different Poke’mon were shown interacting with humans in peace and harmony. The more Landon looked on, the more familiar the place seemed to be. “By the way, how did you know what ‘ze Unown symbols read back there? It took moi a good year to learn how to read them.” Emily’s voice beat against the walls of the ruins. Landon blinked for a second, then replied, “I…guess I don’t really have an answer to that one.” “You are kidding, yes?” “No..nope,” Landon went into deep thought again. But before he could get far, Indigo floated beside him secretly. “I’ve never seen ruins like these before that were still standing. This is definitely something rare.” She thought to him, “Indigo, why do these ancient hieroglyphs look so familiar?” Landon asked her. “They should; these symbols are Teothlithan characters.” “Are you serious?” He blurted out and Emily glanced back at him.

       “Serious about what?” “Oh, don’t mind me; I’m just babbling.” Landon forced a smile, sweating anime style. They emerged into a vast stone room that strangely resembled a large version of the tunnel that Landon fell into three years back. Even with the flashlight, however, a small portion of the room was hardly visible. “’Zis flashlight isn’t going to it. I will have to put up some lighting” Emily searched through her bag and started to pull out a group of collapsible poles. “’Zis won’t take long.” She set them into the ground, placing round lights on them. “Lights on!” She exclaimed and the lights illuminated the stone ruins. Just like in the stairway, the walls were elegantly painted with pictures and symbols of Poke’mon. There was a line of corridors on one wall and a large mural on the wall near the steps. Emily secured her spotlights into the ground so that they wouldn’t fall out. Even in her excitement, however, her ears were still able to pick up the sounds echoing against the stone walls. “…” It was faint at first, but she was sure she could hear the fluttering of small wings beating from the other corridors. Toya’s tailfin twitched—she could sense something as well. The flapping got louder and louder and there was an air of shrieks as a mass of bat-like Poke’mon burst into the large room. They didn’t have any eyes, but instead, had big ears to be their sight, sharp teeth, and dark blue bodies’ for nocturnal camouflage. “Zubat, the Bat Poke’mon. Zubat are blood-sucking bats that inhabit dark mountain caves.” The Poke’dex blinked, “However, Zubat have been known to inhabit any place that is dark and secluded from humans.” “Landon, ‘ze Zubat will know where we are by using their echolocation.” Emily stated, surprisingly calm. Landon, on the other hand, wasn’t too happy about the fact that Zubat were “blood-sucking”. “Yeah, I knew that.” Landon said without taking his eyes off the Zubat swooping overhead. “What if we produced a sharp sound that could distract them away from us?” “That’s a brilliant idea, Miss Emily.” Landon exclaimed. “Then I choose you, Zubat!” Emily threw a poke’ball from her bag and it burst  open, revealing a Zubat with yellow ribbon around its neck. “You have a Zubat?” “That would explain why she’s so calm.” Landon thought to himself. “Zubat, aim your Supersonic on the corridor in the corner.” “Bat, Bat!” Emily pointed to the corridor that they had entered from. “…oh, I get it.” Landon marveled at her plan.

       “Squeeeeeeeee!!” Emily’s Zubat screeched towards the colony of floating bats, its cries beating against the walls powerfully. The entire ruins started to tremble from the cry’s intensity. The group of Zubat twitched their ears to the new sound. “Zubaaaaa!” The lead of the group took a turn towards the staircase with its colony following it. “Good job, Zubat. Now take a rest inside your poke’ball.” Emily call her Zubat back and replaced the poke’ball in her bag. Then she turned to Landon, “Landon, not that you slow me down or anything, but I think it would be best if we split up and searched the ruins.” Emily pulled out a pair of small black radios and gave one to him. “Radio me if you find something interesting.” With that, she ran off down one of the corridors, her footsteps echoing in the hall. Now, Landon was left alone in the brightly lit ruins. His eyes wandered around the tatty and weather beaten stone wall. Just by standing there, he could feel the history of the ancient civilization all around him. It was as if he could hear the voices of the past trying to tell their story to him. Toya clambered up to his shoulder, yawning out of sheer boredom. “This is truly amazing…” “Ha!” Landon’s and Toya’s hearts jumped along with their bodies and they crashed to the ground, panting. Indigo had appeared from out of nowhere and was floating in the air, admiring one of the long walls with a mural painted on it. “Don’t-do-that!” Landon gasped breathlessly, “One minute, you’re gone, then you appear out of nowhere the next. Make up your mind!” “Sorry, it’s just that the hieroglyphs that were painted into this mural are truly a work of art.” Indigo told him. With Toya in his arms, Landon stepped back to gaze at the wall. On one side, the right side, was a picture of humans in purple sarongs, and on the left side was a mix of different Poke’mon. In the middle was a painting of one of the humans and a Poke’mon, surrounded b flowers and shaking hands. However, the pictures above didn’t seem as pleasant as the one below. The human side was drawn with the people running from vast infernos and the Poke’mon fleeing away as well. The flowers were burned to a crisp and the land was desolated. At the very top, three Poke’mon formed a triangle.

       One of the Poke’mon looked like an arrangement of orange, gray, and red stones. Its broad arms looked as if someone had welded boulders together and its face only consisted of seven yellow dots in the shape of the letter “H”. The Poke’mon on the opposite side was composed of crystal-blue ice. Its legs were pin-sharp icicles as well as its arms and claws and it had sharp icicles sticking out of its back. It also had seven yellow dots on its face, but in the shape of a plus sign. The one at the very top was a scary-looking metallic Poke’mon. Its arms and middle were black, but the rest of its body was all steel. There were red triangles above each of its knife-like claws and seven red dots on its face in the shape of a hexagon. Landon’s eyes widened as his brain processed the mural in extreme detail. “Pretty breath-taking,” “Mud-mudkip,” The Poke’mon marveled. “Isn’t it pretty, Lnadon….Lan?” Indigo floated over to him. “Lan, pay attention! It just so happens that this mural is explaining what I was trying to tell you outside.” “I…I understand…” Landon replied as if he were in a trance. “Huh? Have you lost it or something? What do you mean by ‘I understand’?” Indigo floated to his shoulder and sat on it. “I understand what this mural says. I understand it and I can read it like a book. As a matter of fact…” Landon’s eyes went from their calm sapphire to a glowing crystal blue. The Crystal Bell started to glow and vibrate as well; his body was outlined in a weird sort of aura. Not once did his eyes leave the mural, “The reason why this place seems so familiar is because these symbols came straight out of the pages of the Poke’sphere.” Landon stepped up to the mural and reached out to it. His hand touched the cold stone and he could feel a light jolt go through his body.  “Centuries ago in the ancient past, there existed a countless number of tribes across the planet. But there was on that stood out above the others. The Poke’tilaneon people lived on Poke’tilan Island and were some of the most sophisticated tribes in the world, as well as the most mysterious. They excelled in art and had the most complicated system of writing ever created. Poke’tiloneons’ ultimate goal was to develop a peaceful bond between humans and Poke’mon alike. However, they didn’t seem to realize the long road they would have to travel in order to reach it. It wasn’t until an ancient king settled all differences between them that they were able to live in peace.

       “But dark times fell over the island as a dark shadow engulfed it. Three powerful Poke’mon caused destruction and mayhem to both sides; they turned one another against each other. Legend states that the Poke’mon titans could not be defeated by no force that man or Poke’mon could create and they spread their destruction across the plant. When it seemed like there was no hope, the prince of the Poke’tiloneons sought to create a weapon that could resist the three destructive forces. He called it the Fang Sword, a weapon created by the very essence of the Poke’mon titans. The prince imprisoned these three in three separate parts of of the Hoenn region, but at the cost of the components of the sword scattering as well. The planet was allowed to rebuild peacefully, but they never forgot the dreadful year of darkness.” The aura around Landon’s body died down, but his eyes remained in the chance for a little while longer. “That’s amazing! But…” Indigo scratched her head, “I thought you couldn’t understand Teothlithan writing.” “I…I don’t know…when I saw it at first, I thought it was a bunch of gibberish too.” Landon told her, “Isn’t this what you were trying to tell me?” “Sort of; all you have to worry about is finding the three components of the Fang Sword. That’s your first mission—no one said it would be easy…?” Footsteps could be heard from the entrance corridor and Indigo vanished like a mirage. “Who’s there?” Landon turned to see the Darkhorns standing on the steps, grinning. “Thanks for finding these ruins for us, little Lan.” “Yeah, thanks to you, we can get filthy rich selling the old tablets on the black market.” “You guys aren’t touching any of these ruins!” Landon stepped up, “This is a place of history and I won’t let you destroy of it.” “Watch it, kid; we let you off easy last time, but we’re not going to be so lenient this time.” Yoshimari said as if he had already won. The sound of footsteps echoed once again throughout the underground, but came from on of the underground, but came from one of the lower corridors. Next, the sound of panting, then Emily emerged into the mural room excitedly.

       “Hey, Himura! You won’t believe…who are they?” “These guys are nothing but trouble.” Landon said. He could hear Toya hissing dangerously at the two teenagers. “Then get ready to battle.” Tsubimi and Yoshimari withdrew the poke’balls concealing their Poke’mon. Landon pulled the Premier ball from his belt, tossing it into the air. “I call Tambourine!” It burst open in a bright flash of light; the light wiggled on the ground and Tambourine’s body took form. “Furr-urrr!” She scratched her ear with her foot. Toya jumped off of Landon’s shoulder and took Tambourine’s side. “Mudkip!” “Fur-ur!” The two Poke’mon stepped p at their trainer’s call. “Go, Tailow!” “Go, Loudred!” Team Darkhorn called out and their Poke’mon were released also in a flash of light. “Tailllllowww!” “Louuu!” The two Poke’mon cried. “Loudred, Mega Punch!” Yoshimari pointed to towards Tambourine and his Poke’mon rampaged at her. “Tambourine, let your body drop and Toya, wrap the combo with a stomp!” Landon’s Furret waited till Loudred thrust its glowing fist at her, before dropping to her stomach and evading. “Mud-kip!” From behind her, Toya leapt into the air and slammed her hind legs into her opponent. “Now grab it, Tailow!” Tsubimi ordered. Tailow clucked as it swooped across the room and snatched up Toya with its talons. “Oh-no!” Landon clinched his teeth as he racked his brain for a counter-measure. He watched as Tailow soared in circles around the room with Toya kicking and struggling to get free. “Toxic attack!” Yoshimari exclaimed and Loudred got to its feet. “Lou-dred!” The Poke’mon opened its mouth wide and expelled a steaming purple liquid into the air. “Mu…” Toya started to sweat the more she watched it come dangerously closer to her body. “Swift attack!” Landon cried and little lightning yellow stars raced from Tambourine’s body into the air.

       Like tiny darts, they pelted Tailow in the chest. Its grip on Toya was weakened to where she could work her way out; now, the steaming liquid sped towards its new target. There was a loud singing, followed by the smoking of Tailow’s left wing.“Oh-no, my Tailow!” Tsubimi rounded on her brother, grabbing him by the scruff of his cloak, “What did you go using Toxic for?! Now we’re short a Poke’mon. Return, Tailow,” As Tailow took a nose-dive for the ground, its trainer recalled it to its poke’ball. Landon kicked off the ground to catch Toya from falling. “Now, Tambourine, use Fury swipes!” He shouted in mid-air. A grin spread on Tambourine’s face and she sped towards Loudred with her sharp nails withdrawn. “Fur- Fur- Fur- Fur- Fur!” She repeatedly lashed at it, simply giving it no room for retaliation. “Loudred stamped its foot on the ground and the ruins started to shake violently, causing some of the wearing stones to come crumbling to the ground. “Landon, ‘zese ruins are very old and frail; try to take it easy with ‘zem!” Emily explained. “Yeah, I know-I know, Miss Emily.” Landon said without turning to her. Tambourine shakily got off the ground as Loudred prepared for another Earthquake attack. “Now, use Headbutt!” Tambourine pushed off the ground and threw herself into Loudred’s gut. It let out a winded groan as it staggered backwards, then fell with a heavy plop to the ground. “Arrrghh!” Yoshimari clenched his teeth as he returned his Poke’mon to its poke’ball. “We’ll be back another day—count on that!” Tsubimi frowned and she reached into her cloak pocket to pull out a cherry-sized ball; she smashed it to the ground and it erupted with a puff of white smoke, making it seemed as if they disappeared. “Good job, you two!” Landon encouraged and they replied by smiling back at him. “That was <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">tre’ magnefique, mon ami!” Emily gave him a thumb up.

       Landon, Toya, and Emily stood in the tree clearing in the silence of the night. “Well, I’m going to stay here and study ‘ze ancient ruins. Perhaps our paths will cross again in ‘ze future.” Emily held out her hand and Landon shook it, smiling. “Right; I hope you become the best archeologist in the world.” “And I hope ‘zat you become the best in whatever you do.” Waving goodbye, the two went their separate ways, smiling to themselves. “Lan, why didn’t you stay to learn more about the past?” Indigo appeared beside Toya and started walking with them. “I know what my first mission is, so I don’t want to delve too deep; I’ll just take it as it comes.” He glanced back at her, “But first, I have to find the components of the Fang sword.” “And it won’t be easy, mind you.” They stopped in their tracks as king Teotan pushed his way through the trees. His eyebrow twitched angrily and his eye could’ve burned the trees down. “Indigo, young lady, you had better have a good excuse.”


This is the end of Episode 5 period. See ya' on the flip-flop!