Pokémon TMR: Buried Secrets (book 2)

Chapter 2: Climbing the Plateau

The echoeing sounds of footsteps in a cave. A tunnel that stretched endlessly. Then stars. So many of them, twinkling in the darkness. Many different colors, all holding a story, all knowing what is to come.

An old man was on his knees, hands held in prayer. His dark head was bald and a white beard adorned his face. His eyes were closed, his face soft as if he were asleep.

"So you've come to visit."

His lips had barely moved, his posture never waning.

"You seek the Forbidden Light, do you not?"

I opened my own lips to speak, but no sound came out. It was only then I came to realize I was there, but not. I vaguely my surroundings, but everything felt so distant.

"You walk a dangerous path," he turned his head slightly in my direction, his eyes never opening. "Many have sought the light, but none have ever truly attained it. The knowledge that comes with it, it must never be spoken. Some secrets are best kept buried."

His eyes opened, revealing a startling blue. "I await your arrival, one who upset the balance of nature."

...

I awoke, gazing at the red sky. Morning had come and the sun was rising.

"Hurry and get up," a quick kick to the side of my stomach told me Xera was the one to come and wake me, not that she cared that I was awake before the kick. "We don't have all day. Luna wants us to start as early as possible, since we'll be going straight to night."

I groaned, rolling onto my stomach so I could pick myself up. "Of course we are. I'm still sore from running away from that giant Serperior."

A bone bounced off my head and tumbled into the grass. I rubbed the spot that had been struck, wincing in pain. I looked up to see Z in human form, picking a bone clean.

"I don't want to hear that from you, human," she growled, baring her fangs. "You're not the one who fought it. It was similar to fighting that accursed Sceptile."

A buzzing sound was above my head and I looked to see Yanmega there, holding a red fruit in his claws. He dropped it into my hands, settling down near me. 

I smiled. "Thanks."

I crossed my legs and ate. As I chewed, I saw Luna come back into the small clearing, a pile of vines in her arms. She dumped them to the ground and straightened. 

"When you're done eating," she turned her golden gaze onto me. "Help me with this."

I swallowed. "With what exactly?"

"We're tying these together," she explained, sitting as she tugged some vines closer to herself. "We're going to wrap them around us so we can be linked together. If one of us falls, we'll all fall together."

I bit into my fruit, then spat it out quickly. "Wait, what!?"

She remained serious. "You'll be our biggest liability."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," I grumbled. 

"All I'm saying," Z tossed the bone behind her as she stood. "Is don't make me have to save you all."

She morphed back into a Zoroark and padded into the forest.

I finished my fruit and went to help Luna. It took us a while, but once we were done, Xera and Z had returned, a sac in Xera's arms. She sat it down, several colorful fruits poking out.

"Let's get going," Xera said, gazing at the plateau before us. Just last night we had reached the edge of the forest and just feet away was the huge plateau. It was as if the very crust of the earth had risen above the rest, creating a massive wall for hundreds of feet. It wasn't totally vertical, more slanted. There was even a path leading up the side, but Luna said it stopped at a certain point.