116 Secret Passage
"Sigh..." White sank in his chair, staring at the broken artifacts on the table.
At this time, he was sorting out the remains of the ancient temple or whatever was left of it. Sadly, many of the relics were destroyed in the battle just now.
Only a few of them survived. One of which Eve managed to put inside her bag before the Onix laid waste to the temple.
He also told the other archeologists to find the bell that had gone missing earlier.
"Dr. White!"
Suddenly he heard Jiro calling his name. He hurriedly walked out of the tent and saw Jiro running toward him.
"Did you find the bell?" He asked in anticipation.
"Not yet, Dr. White." Jiro shook his head, much to White's disappointment.
"But we've found a secret passage inside the temple. Dr. Eve and the others are checking it out." He recounted what they had found earlier.
After clearing the wreckage of the temple, they accidentally discovered a hidden passage in one of the rooms inside the temple.
"Really?" White said in surprise.
"Lead the way!" He stopped thinking about the missing bell and hurried toward the temple.
The team was setting up some equipment outside the hidden passage, preparing themselves for an expedition.
White put on a headlamp and clicked on the switch several times, making sure it worked fine. Taking a deep breath, he entered the secret, followed by the others.
Along the way, they saw many murals that portrayed the Pokémopolis civilization. However, one of them caught White's attention.
It was a mural depicting a scene of many humans in white robes worshipping a massive Pokemon. The Pokemon in question had a long mustache, a thin and long snout, and two horns on his head. Covering its yellow body were brown armors on its chest, shoulders, wrists, and knees. It was also wielding a golden spoon in each hand.
"If I'm not wrong. That's Alakazam." White said his thoughts out loud.
"But why does this Alakazam has strange markings around his face?" Jiro asked.
"Maybe we'll find the answer later." White replied.
"By the way, where is Dr. Eve? I thought she was supposed to be with you?" He looked at the archeologists with a questioning look.
"Dr. Eve entered first with Hisoka. They should be up ahead." One of them answered.
"Let's catch up with her first." White nodded and started walking.
***
"Strange. Why this water is black?"
White knelt down while taking a small test tube from her bag. She wanted to collect some samples of the water for a test later.
Meanwhile, Hisoka was standing behind her, flashing his flashlight around. They were inside a large cavern, where a large pyramid stood in the center, surrounded by water. There was only an old bridge that led to the pyramid.
Suddenly, a scream escaped Eve's mouth.
"What happened?" He went over to her and asked.
"Look!" She pointed at something with her trembling hand.
As he flashed his light toward where she pointed, he found the test tube on the ground. Nearly half of it had been corroded.
At this time, the other archeologists had finally caught up with Hisoka and Eve.
White quickly ran toward them and said, "How is it? Did you guys find anything?"
"Yes." Eve nodded and aimed her flashlight at the pyramid, saying, "We found a pyramid, b-"
But before she could finish her words, White suddenly interrupted her.
"Then what we are we waiting for? Let's get over there quick!" He said as he walked past them in a hurry.
"Wait!"
Hisoka stopped White from moving any further.
"What?" White looked at him, puzzled.
"The water is corrosive."
As he said that, he tossed a rope into the water. The others watched in horror after Hisoka pulled it back and showed it to them. The rope was cut down in half.
"So, how do we get to the other side? That bridge looks on the verge of collapse." White said hesitantly.
"Let me go first." Hisoka volunteered.
"But that's too dangerous!" Eve shouted.
She wanted to dissuade him, but after he explained that Gardevoir could use Teleport, she finally gave in. With Gardevoir, he didn't need to cross that rickety old bridge.
After he teleported with Gardevoir to the other side, he waved his flashlight toward them, letting them know that he was fine.
"I hate this place. It reeks of death." Gardevoir told him.
"Yes. This place gives me goosebumps." He agreed with her.
They circled around the pyramid but didn't find any entrance. Instead, they found a staircase that led all the way to the top. A few minutes later, they reached the top, where they found a black altar. On it was three black spheres that were connected to each other. The middle one was slightly smaller than the other two.
He wanted to pick it up, but Gardevoir pulled his hand back.
"Don't touch it! It is dangerous. I sensed it just now." She looked at him gravely.
Gardevoir was, without doubt, the person he trusted the most. If she said it was dangerous, then it must be. She wouldn't lie to him.
"Can you use your power to control it?"
Since it was dangerous, he thought of another way to take the item without him touching the item.
"No. It will trigger it." She shook her head vehemently.
She, who was a Psychic-type Pokemon, knew how dangerous the item was. There was something terrible inside the object. It made her feel dread.
***
"You said you saw an artifact on top of the pyramid? Why you didn't take it back?" White looked at Hisoka in disbelief.
Hisoka shook his head and said, "That item is too dangerous. Let's get away from this place now before something bad happen."
"But we already came all the way down here. Might as well take it back. What do you say, Eve?" White ignored his warning and turned toward Eve.
"Err." Eve looked hesitant. She was thinking about whether to side with Hisoka or White.
"I believe Hisoka." Jiro suddenly said from the side.
"He saved my brother's life. He even saved us from that giant Onix. Why would he need to lie to us?" He added.
"I think we should call the League for help."
A few moments later, Eve finally made a decision.
"Yeah. I think we should."
"This place is giving me the creeps."
The other archeologists also sided with Eve. They couldn't wait to get away from this scary and dark place.
"But..." White watched as the others left one by one. He was reluctant to leave the artifact here. Most importantly, they wouldn't have anything to do with this find once the League stepped in.
***
Nightime.
"Haaa!"
Eve stopped writing in her journal and stretched, yawning loudly.
There were two objects on the table she was sitting at. It was the cylindrical object and the golden soon.
She returned her attention back to her work. She felt there was some kind of connection between these two relics. But she couldn't figure out how they worked, no matter how hard she thought.
"Forget it. I'm done for today. I'll continue this tomorrow."
She then turned off the light and went to bed.
Later that night, two figures were seen sneaking outside the campsite while everyone else was asleep. The two were talking in hushed voices as they headed for the excavation site.
They walked into the destroyed temple before arriving at the entrance to the underground cavern. Then, one of them nodded at the other person and entered the passage.
A few minutes later, the person finally reached the cavern where the pyramid was located. Taking a deep breath, he began to cross the old bridge slowly and carefully. It was only after he reached the other side that he finally released the breath he was holding.
He then climbed the stairs to the top of the pyramid. After he reached the top, he carefully lifted the black artifact and put it inside his bag. As he made his way out of the underground pyramid, a pair of red eyes appeared on the artifact for a split second before it disappeared.
White was pacing outside the entrance, waiting for the return of the person who went down earlier. Suddenly, he heard several footsteps coming from the entrance. He turned around, and sure enough, it was the person who he had been waiting for.
"Did you manage to get it?" White asked the man eagerly.
"I got it." The man nodded with a smile. He then took out the black artifact from his bag, saying, "Nothing happened just now. Do you think Hisoka's lying?"
"That doesn't matter anymore. What's more important is that we got this artifact. Good job. Aaron! I'll raise your salary later." White said, taking the artifact from Aaron.
"Thank you. Dr. White!" Aaron said happily.
"Let's go back." White nodded in satisfaction.
The two were going back to their camp. White was holding the artifact tightly as if he was afraid of someone stealing it away.
Suddenly, the pair of red eyes appeared again.
Aaron caught it. He rubbed his eyes in disbelief and then looked again, only to find that the eyes were already staring at him.
"Dr. White! What is that!" He pointed toward the black artifact, shivering in fear.
"What?" White asked in confusion.
As soon as he said that, the artifact was suddenly yanked out of his hand and flew toward the sky. Then, a black mist emerged from the artifact, blocking the moon from sight as the surrounding area quickly became dark.
"Gar Gar!"
Suddenly they heard a laugh that was full of evil and malice. Following that, two red lights shot out of the relics, heading toward them. They tried to dodge, but the light was too fast for them.
After they got struck by the red lights, they were quickly sucked into the artifact, just like how a Pokeball captured a Pokemon.
Not satisfied with just those two, the artifact began to find someone else to absorb. Large footsteps appeared on the ground. Strangely, none of its body could be seen.
It was heading toward Dr. Eve's tent. But before it could get close to her, a multi-colored beam suddenly struck the floating artifact. It then slowly fell to the ground, and the dark cloud vanished.
