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as olivia descends into the ruins, silence befalls her journey. for awhile, her footsteps against the cold stone steps are the only sounds she hears until finally... water. moving water. it is only until she navigates through a treacherous hybrid of cave, crypt and ocean that she reaches a an small chamber with a low ceiling.[break][break][break]

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four small waterfalls of water stream from stone spigots. the water meets a shallow square pool. on each corner of this square, four short pillars are erected. atop of each pillar, clamperl-shaped sculptures rest as if in waiting. their upper-shells are bent upward, but the clamperl itself is missing. only its six nub-like extensions exist with enough space to place something in their center.[break][break][break]


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around the room, four spherical empty urns are placed in various locations. two are simply resting on the stone floor. one resides higher, on a stone shelf out of human reach. another rests in the pool, floating around lazily.[break][break][break]

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should olivia touch the water, she would feel that it is terribly cold. furthermore, the whole room seems to be damp, as if water has graced its walls...[break][break]

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the cold damp air of the subterranean chamber hit the back of olivia's throat with a chill as she sucked in a breath. ruins and crumbling caverns was what the mistress of the sea had thought to be awaiting her, and she was partially right. it had been a twenty minute trek through waist deep salt water as cold as one would expect hidden away in the earth until they reached the atrium. it was not what she had expected at all. the ornate fountain, toppled statues, still standing pillars - it truly was breath taking, and intriguing.

she thought it a puzzle or, at the very least, the spheres were out of place. "meara." olivia whispered, and her trusty vaporeon rose from the waters in an aquamarine light. pointing a manicured finger at the sphere pointing in the pool she ordered, "fetch that, and take it to the north eastern pillar." obediently, the vaporeon used acid armor to meld into the water of the pool and direct it towards the pillar. then, with a precisely measured hydro pump, she launched it to its presumed position.

meanwhile, olivia had summoned two more of her companions: calypso the azumarill and opis the omastar. "calypso, jump up there and grab that sphere and then take it to the north west pillar." olivia whispered, flicking her wrist to where the sphere was hidden. like the soldier she was, calypso tottered off and used her bouyant tail to bounce up on the shelf, grab it, and then bounce up to place it in its correct position. as the blue bunny bounced away, olivia kneeled down next to her omasta and asked, "make us two ramps so we can roll those last spheres up to the southern pillars." like a soldier, even with a little tentacle salute, opis obeyed. he used his eldritch powers to cause two rock slides to jut out from the base and make a ramp to the top. the omastar rolled one up to its position while olivia did so with the other.

all in all, the whole process took about twenty minutes and when they were done olivia admired the architecture and their handiwork. her pokemon returned to her side, their eyes and her own ocean eyes looking for any details.

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ONCE THE URNS ARE PLACED, nothing happens for a little while. the room is cast in a placid silence... but something shifts. the grinding of ancient stone declares the slow opening of four ceiling tiles above.[break][break] suddenly, from their openings, water rushes forth. cold briny streams fill the urns with a frightening surge- and continue to pour even after they are filled. the surplus rushes into the room; under the weight of these filled urns, the clamperls press down upon an inset tile on each pillar.[break][break][break]

each pillar "clicks." the pouring of water intensifies. the room begins to flood, cold seawater rushing up to olivia's knees. although her pokemon may be of aquatic breeding, the test still stands for whether olivia can bear such a mantle, for it is clear that the ruins are attempting to drown their intruder.[break][break][break]

water continues to rise, the floor of the pool in the center of the room begins to shift. it begins to flap downward, revealing the beginnings of an underwater tunnel: the only exit. however, the pool floor fails to open properly. there is no space for a human to squeeze through in its this current state.[break][break][break]

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it was the perking of her pokemon's ears that alerted olivia to any change, her gaze following the beady eyes of calypso who jerked her head towards the ceiling. slowly, four hatches opened from above and olivia narrowed her eyes as they did so. they were far below sea level so any opening from above could only mean...

water. it rushed forth from the ceiling like a torrential downpour. the urns upon the pillars quickly filled and overflowed with salty rain as olivia took tentative bounds away from the flooding scene. as the room began to flood, the water already up to olivia's knees a second mechanism activates: the center of the cavern opening partially to reveal an escape route. "fritz freeze!" she barked, snapping her fingers towards the ceiling. meara acted without hesitation, immediately blasting the nearest hatch with an icy aurora beam - freezing it shut, for now at least. as the vaporeon readied another blast of ice, olivia continued to order her companions as she waded through the water towards the opening.

"opis, break through! calypso with me." olivia ordered and her omastar broke through the opening with a precisely placed rock slide. finally, with the opening free, olivia gave a final high pitched whistle. the water was at her shoulders, at this point meara had frozen two of the hatches; though that final whistle alerted the vaporeon to return to her mistress using a speedy quick attack. calypso had already done her part, using her natural abilities to create a balloon of air around olivia so she could breathe.

the exit open, her pokemon by her side, and a bubble to provide air olivia dove through the cracked floor and into the unknown.

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OLIVIA'S OMANYTE SUCCESSFULLY SMASHES through the stuck opening. boulders sink in the dark waters as the councilwoman dives forth. the bubble provided by her azumarill allows her to breathe; however, with each breath, the balloon becomes smaller.[break][break][break]

this underwater tunnel is walled with stone. certainly, this is no natural path. oddly enough, the walls possess several dark stone plates that protrude outward and are angled downwards. furthermore, at the base of the plates, there are hinges. this is evident when olivia sees a plate that is angled upwards; the respective hinge seems broken at its base. they start out small before they grow longer in length, obscuring the tunnel so that the passage through becomes more difficult the deeper they go.[break][break][break]



the water begins to pull upon her bubble and her pokemon. the plates jut out sharply and are in the way of the councilwoman's dive. they threaten to pierce olivia's bubble- or her body. her pokemon are also in danger as an underwater vortex begins to pull them down in a dramatic shift of pace.[break][break][break]

if olivia allows the tunnel, now an underwater whirlpool, to take her naturally, she will certainly be battered if not killed. drastic measures must be taken.[break][break][break]

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as they traveled into the darkness, olivia’s bubble of air was soon surrounded by spinning aqua rings, the water illuminating the dark waters with healing light. their descent was slowed as olivia took notice of their surroundings, the odd black plates jutting out; almost like her sharpedo's jaw, ready to crush and shred anything in its path.

then, the water began to move; no, rush, towards the darkest depths of the jagged tunnel. instinctually, opis enacted a protective barrier around olivia as they were sucked towards the bottom. she had to act quick, think quick; ocean eyes lost in the darkness of the whirlpool found relief in the glint of a broken hinge. one of the plates wasn't quite in place - and that was all olivia needed to bully her way through.



"fritz freeze!" she barked inside her air bubble, the sound waves traveling quicker through the water than air. meara blasted the broken hinge with a freezing rainbow aurora beam that chilled the water around it before encrusting the hinge in ice. "get us out of here." olivia ordered with a cool calmness; yes she was in danger, but the water was her home. her place of worship. her turf.



from below, her omastar shot out fossilized spike cannons at the frozen hinge, loosening it further if not out right destroying it. olivia gave a nod to meara and calypso, then let go of her azumarill. the air bubble immedeitly began to shrink as calypso launched herself at the plate empowered by her huge power with a glowing aqua tail. the plate, presumably shattered, provided a route for Olivia and her pokemon to escape from.

in a blue blur, meara used quick attack to nab olivia and her shrinking air source towards the hole, the rest of her pokemon following suite and opis closing the hole with a wall of rock slide. olivia returned to calypso, and her life support bubble returned as well. now it was time to explore this... dungeon?

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THE AQUA TAIL SMASHES the offending plate. it does not break- but it does align itself with the others. the water stills, as if a threshold of resistance has been met. like the metal flaps of a wing stalling an aircraft's descent, olivia finds her own watery dive to be calming. although some may fear the water, perhaps, for an abbiati, being surrounded by water is as natural as breathing.[break][break][break]

the walls curve. the current hastens- but not as violent as before. olivia and her pokemon will find themselves being spat out from a smaller waterfall and into lower level of a cave. here, there is no light. the cold stream continues ahead. should olivia desire to lift herself from the waters, there is enough ground for her to walk on.[break][break][break]

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a roar rumbles from the middle of the cave. the cavern rumbles, and so does the water. the absence of light makes it difficult to decipher the design of the cavern- and to see what's all around her.[break][break][break]

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SPLISH SPLASH SPLOOSH! the four of them tumble out of the waterfall into darkness, but there was air and olivia's head bursted through the water as her hair of moonlight cascaded behind her.



she couldn't see a thing, tentatively grasping at darkness for a ledge until her two pokemon guided her towards the rocky ground. with a grunt, olivia heaved herself up from the calming waters into the unknown. "some light, mea-" olivia had began to say, until a thunderous roar shook the cavern and echoed around her. they weren't alone. "dim light, local." she ordered in a curt whisper and meara obliged, a faint rainbow glow of aurora beam forming in her mouth - providing the equivalent of a candle's brightness.

the trio stuck to the walls as they rounded about the cave following olivia, ever careful. olivia tried to look for anything that could hint at what awaited them, yet as they continued their descent into darkness a growing worry began to brew in her stomach. out of caution and concern she gave an order: "protect." instantly, an invisible barrier erected itself in front of her omastar who had been at the head of the procession.

there was so much olivia didn't know - and was quite literally, left in the dark. all that was left now was to push on.