Madison would've followed her surprise with an outburst, but Collax shot her a serious look, and the Pokémon before her had something she wanted. So she lifted the corners of her mouth as if they weighed a ton under her temper, the smile faltering midway before sticking plastically. Hopefully, it would at least be convincing enough to coax a delicious egg out of Chansey.
Unfortunately, someone else's appearance further tested her kindness. The atmosphere was so quiet that it only took a rustle in a nearby tree for Madison to dart her eye. She normally dismissed people, and this monkey girl on a branch was no different. Collax swung from them all the time, so they might get along.
Now was not the time for hard truth, however. If she wanted to cook a tasty omelet later, the girl needed to sugarcoat her own words and reserve her judgements.
"How interesting to see you up there," she began with a smile that was barely surviving at this point, twitching like the spinal reflexes of a dead person pricked by each word. "You should come down."
Saying "interesting" and leaving out why she should descend was the best Madison could do.
"We don't bite," she added more convincingly. She wasn't really being kind but setting an example, showing that unlike Aura she wasn't a biting savage. It was nevertheless enough to fool the optimistic Chansey, who cried happily and handed Madison the egg. Not a second later, she took a small step toward the pyramid, and the Pokémon eyed her warningly. She didn't have time to dwell on the uncharacteristic gesture as the pink blob waddled away, peaceful and oblivious as before.
Tucking the prize away in her purse, a similarly undeterred Madison advanced into the temple. Ultimately it was Aura's decision, but she had to catch up soon if she wanted to follow, because the light spilling from the entrance tapered into total darkness. Gible, as intelligent as her trainer, breathed a controlled Flamethrower to illuminate their path. The murk quickly reclaimed what they left behind, and in a matter of seconds they'd be no more than a dying flame to fellow explorers.
Devoid of mummies, booby traps, and other clichés, the pyramid's inside was as uninfluenced by humans as the outside. But there were more statues of that same snake Pokémon on either side, again, and again, and again... another two every few feet. Odd hieroglyphs were carved into the walls, and the path they walked was even more irregularly formed than the symbols. It often veered left and right for no reason whatsoever, dead ends turning them from the current stretch. Why not just allow straight passage, if there was nothing else stopping them? Perhaps the temple would've been a challenge had they gone in blind, but they'd solved that problem.
Where the broken road ended was even more puzzling: a massive, torchlit chamber. Its back wall was the only one indented with characters. Otherwise, the room was blank, not a single door gaping in its virgin faces.
But it was what the area contained, not what it lacked, that bewildered Madison. In the center floated a ring of Yamask, following each other in fast revolution and staring into the back of the ghost ahead. They seemed distressed and confused, as if they'd lost something but couldn't remember what it was. So the Pokémon continued to go in circles.
Madison and Gible avoided the wildly spinning Yamask, creeping along the walls and closer to the lone hieroglyphs. If they were instructions that detailed how to proceed from here, these writings were their best chance. Otherwise, she was trapped.
