All rested and ready, Keeper and I finally headed off to Aegis Cave.
<Keeper> Man, this is going to be so cool! We're going to get treasure! And hang out with famous people!
<Athena> Have you ever stopped to consider that the horrible death that befalls Team Charm might happen in this very cave that you are so cheerfully prancing towards?
<Keeper> ... not really, no. And I'm not prancing either. This is my, uh, fashion walk.
<Athena> That just sounds worse than prancing.
We eventually made it all the way to the cave in the southeastern part of the region. Inside, Team Charm and other guildmembers were hanging out in the entryway. It looked like a pretty normal cave; the only thing of interest was a huge tablet of stone standing upright like some kind of humongous grave marker.
<Palutena> Geez, what took you guys so long?
<Keeper> Athena had t--
<Athena> *elbows Keeper* We were just enjoying the sights on the way here is all. Sorry to keep you waiting.
<Light> We're so glad you've made it, dears, we were about to go in.
<Luis> But first we want to check out this cool tablet thing!
<Palutena> We're pretty sure it's puzzle shenanigans.
<Drohn> So, now that you're here, it's time to break up into teams and solve the puzzle!
<Athena> Yay, puzzles~
Everyone left to go work out with their teams leaving me and Keeper alone in the room. Keeper was clearly chomping at the bit to get inside and start exploring, but I wanted to check out the giant tablet first.
<Athena> Hey, I know these things. These are Unown markings.
<Keeper> Unown markings? Like the Pokémon?
<Athena> Yeah. Each Unown is like a letter and those letters spell out words. It's like the footprint language, kind of, except it uses the shapes of Unown instead of footprints.
<Keeper> This is supposed to be writing? It just looks like gibberish to me.
<Athena> Well, the stupid footprint code is gibberish to me, but I guess that makes sense. The Unown letters are used him human writings, so you probably wouldn't know them.
<Keeper> What does this one spell out?
<Athena> ICE.
<Keeper> Maybe it's a clue?
<Athena> It's gotta be related to the puzzle somehow anyway. Let's go!
We went forward into the cave. It was more or less like any other dungeon, except the only Pokémon we encountered were Unown. We managed to recruit one of them, but it didn't seem to be able to help us out with the puzzle at all, so we sent it back. One of the Unown dropped an item.
<Keeper> Huh, what's this?
<Athena> You're Captain Obvious, why don't you tell me?
<Keeper> Because you can see with your own eyes that it's a stone in the shape of the Unown we just fought.
<Athena> Yep. This one is the letter "F". *sigh*
<Keeper> Why are you sighing?
<Athena> Because we've fought like 10 Unown and this is our first letter. I have a feeling this is going to be a very long dungeon.
<Keeper> Does that mean you've figured out the puzzle yet?
<Athena> No, but I have an idea...
Keeper and I continued onto the next floor where we picked up a C and a K stone, and then a J on the 3rd. When we reached the next level we were... back at the beginning of the cave? Sure enough, that was the tablet with the Unown markings, and Team Charm was clustered around it.
<Drohn> So, you guys ended up back here too, huh?
<Athena> Yep.
<Palutena> There's definitely some kind of trick to moving on involving this tablet.
<Light> With the Unown markings on the tablet, and the Unown in the cave... there's gotta be a connection there somewhere.
<Athena> Yeah, we already figured that much out.
<Light> Oh, so clever of you!
<Keeper> Yeah, and Athena kno--
<Athena> *elbows Keeper* What Keeper is trying to say is that I saw an Unown in this entryway before and that's how I figured out they were connected.
<Palutena> Well, we're going to go back in to try and figure the rest of it out. Good luck! *Team Charm exits stage cave*
<Keeper> Oww, my ribs... why didn't you want me to tell them what you said about the writing?
<Athena> Because we want to solve the puzzle before them, of course, otherwise they'll get all the treasure!
<Keeper> Okay, yeah, fair enough. Let's keep our cards close to our chest and press on.
Back in the cave a second time, we picked up an E stone, another C stone, and then finally an I stone.
<Athena> Alright, there we go, I think that should do it.
<Keeper> Do what?
<Athena> It's time to test my theory of the puzzles solution. But I'm not going to tell you what it is yet in case it doesn't work and I look dumb.
Finally we were back in the entryway again. I pulled out the I, C, and E stones that we had picked up and walked back to the stone tablet. I read the passage again and closed my eyes as instructed. When I opened them again, the stones were gone and the tablet was glowing. It began to pulse with light faster and faster until, with a giant flash, it disappeared, showing a staircase leading down.
<Keeper> Whatever you did, I think it worked.
<Athena> The tablet wanted us to collect stones to match the letters that it spelled out.
<Keeper> So... what's down there?
<Athena> I dunno, but something tells me it's going to be a Pokémon to fight that's going to be Ice-type.
We went down the stairs and into a chamber that was very similar to the one above, but this one had a Pokémon standing in place near the edge. It was Regice!
<Regice> If you want to continue, you're going to have to prove your power to me and stuff.
<Athena> Pfft, I'm a Fire-type. This will be a breeze. Come on, Regi!
I almost didn't need to bother with my Smokescreen attacks, because Ember did so much damage. With Keeper helping out, the battle only took a few rounds. Once Regice was down for the count, a mysterious light enveloped me!
<Keeper> Ack, what's going on?
<Athena> The narrative prompt says that I've received the guardian's permission. I guess that means we can go further into the dungeon now.
<Keeper> Sweet!
Keeper and I continued past the spot Regice was guarding and into another cave. This room was identical to the previous cave's entryway, complete with a stone tablet in the middle, though the colour scheme was a bit different.
<Athena> Alright, let's see what Regi this dungeon is for. Based on the colours I'm going to guess Rock, but...
<Light> Fabulous work, dearies!
<Keeper> ... buh?
<Team Charm> *enters like pros*
<Drohn> That was a very nice battle.
<Athena> You were watching?
<Palutena> Well, we can't let you get too far ahead of us. We'll beat you to the next one!
<Team Charm> *exits like pros*
Keeper and I looked at each other, shrugged, and then back at the tablet. Sure enough, this one spelled out ROCK. We already had a K rock and a spare C rock from our time in the previous dungeon, but we would need to pick up R and O. During our first delve, we picked up 2 Ms, a T, a D, and 2 Es and also saw (and recruited) our first non-Unown Pokémon, a Golbat. There was a note from Team Charm by the tablet when we were back in the entryway again, but we ignored their taunts and continued on. During our second trip, we finally picked up an R and also an L, though eventually our bag got full and I decided to only pick up the letters I knew we would need, and also began swapping other useless letters out for more useful items found, like Keys. We finally found an O stone on our third trip and made our way quickly back to the entrance where I performed the same ritual with the R, O, C, and K stones.
<Keeper> Does this mean it's time for another boss?
<Athena> Yep. A Rock-type one, too, so this is your turn to shine, Keeper.
In the chamber below, we were greeted by Regirock who challenged us to show our power again. We defeated him pretty easily, though not quite as easily as Regice, and once again I was enveloped by light. We moved forward into the 3rd, and possibly final, chamber.
<Keeper> So, shall we read the tablet again?
<Athena> No need, I know this one's going to read STEEL.
<Keeper> Well aren't you a smartiepants.
<Athena> You do know that Registeel is the only remaining one of the Regi trio, right? I don't know if we'll be seeing Regigigigigigigigigas or not, but we'll definitely be seeing Registeel next.
<Keeper> At least we already have a T, L, and 2 E stones.
<Athena> Yep, only S is left. Hopefully it won't take us another 3 dives to find this one. Let's go!
This time the dungeon was 4 floors deep instead of 3, but we still had no luck finding an S in the first dive, but the second was successful, so we rushed back to the entryway again. Ritual, staircase, Registeel battle, glowing, yada yada. You guys know the drill by now. Only this time when the passageway opened for us to continue, we were surprised by the knocked out members of Team Charm.
<Palutena> Oh geez, what happened...?
<Drohn> Registeel tore us a new one I guess...
<Light> And Team Awesome succeeded where we failed. Thank you kindly.
<Palutena> We owe you guys big for this. Seems like you deserve the treasure more than we do, so, go ahead and continue on yourselves to get the reward! We'll back you up.
The reward was.... another dungeon. Keeper and I sighed and plowed our way through, Team Charm following along behind. We finally came to the last chamber, the residing place of Regigigigigigas, and his posse of Hitmonlee and Bronzong.
<Regigigigas> SHOW ME YOUR POWAH!
<Athena> Yeah, yeah, we know already.
<Palutena> We'll help you out!
<Athena> Sure, why not. Just don't use up any of my Reviver Seeds, got it?
The battle was... an interesting one. I barely took a single step and then I was surrounded by Regigigigiga's lackeys, one of whom immobilized me, forcing me to watch and do nothing as the others attacked. Light was knocked out and I was taking damage myself when Drohn healed us all. Once I was back in action, the others began to mow through the remaining minions while I kept Regigigigas in check. Eventually, between all of us, the battle came to a close, and a huge red tablet appeared over the ground. I followed the instructions on the tablet and closed my eyes. It also said to "let my aura flow into the ground" but I wasn't quite sure how to do that, so I just stayed still for a bit and let the tablet do its thing.
As the tablet began to pulse with light... Regigigigigigigas stood back up!
<Everyone> Ohshi-
Regigigigigigas let out a huge roar and punched the ground, setting the whole cavern shaking lin an earthquake. The 5 of us all dashed out as soon as possible, forgoing the treasure to save our lives. We somehow ended up in a sandy, beach-like area.
<Light> Darlings! Is everyone alright?
<Keeper> I'm fine!
<Palutena> Me too, but....
<Drohn> The treasure.... :<
<Athena> Yeah.... >_<
<Palutena> But what's that over there?
<Keeper> It looks like the earthquake shook loose a bunch of rock and opened up the entrance to another dungeon!
<Drohn> Sweet! the treasure must be in there!
<Everyone> Yay! \o/
<Light> But, really, it's thanks to Athena and Keeper here that we were able to get this far. You have our gratitude.
<Athena> No problem. Being the main characters is our job, after all.
<Palutena> It was a pleasure working with you! Now go enjoy that treasure!
And Team Charm walked off into the sunset, we discovered that our treasure was, indeed, another dungeon...
<Athena> *sigh* All that work, only to discover that there's more work before we can even get to the actual treasure.
<Keeper> You're telling me. :\ If I never see another Unown again, it'll be too soon.
<Athena> I guess it's a bad time to remind you that we recruited like 4 of them then. >_>
<Keeper> Oh well, it's not like we ever use our recruits anyway.
<Athena> Anyway, I'm tired and this chapter is long enough as it is. Let's go back and get some sleep, sell of the r est of these Unown rocks, and come back in the morning.
<Keeper> Deal.