Bastiko Pradhana
claims not to be Pikachu
- 118
- Posts
- 20
- Years
- Age 37
- Seen Aug 11, 2009
Chapter 37: The Nature of Edanna
They awoke in the morning of the next day.
"Did everyone have a good sleep?" asked Professor Oak.
"That was like sleeping on the Myst library floor," said Jessie.
"Maybe... a little bit worse?" said James.
"Maybe youse guys need a bit of exercise," said Meowth.
"That's a good idea, Meowth," said Ash. "Maybe we'll do the 'bird' tusk today."
"Right, and we've scheduled you, Jessie, and James for that tusk," said Brock.
"What about me?" asked Meowth.
"See, the thing is, Meowth, we need the teams to be evened out. If the teams are not even, there's no telling what might happen, and... let's just keep it at that."
"Oh, okay then. I'll do anything you say. Hey Jessie? James? Please don't do anything foolish."
"Okay," replied both of them.
"All settled?" asked Ash. Jessie and James nodded. "Let's go, then."
"Oh, Ash, you'll need this." Brock gave Ash Saavedro's journal. "You'll need it in case you found stray journal fragments."
"And these too." Misty gave Ash the tusk combination sheet and a sheet of paper from the journal. "You'll need it for the code wheel in the tusk and the symbol at the end."
"Thanks." Ash put the items in his pack, and he exited the observatory with Jessie and James.
"Let's see," said Ash. "The 'bird' tusk is over there, so we need to go under here to get to that tusk," he said, pointing to a set of stepping stones. The three made their way across the stepping stones, up the ramp onto the rocks, and across the first bridge.
"Uh-oh."
"What is it, James?" asked Ash.
"The entrance to the tusk is high up."
"You're right. I think the solution might be down here," Ash said as he pointed to a ladder. He climbed down first, and Jessie and James followed. They were standing on a ledge.
"That plant looks like an ear," said Jessie.
"Yes, it does," said Ash. "In fact, it does act as an ear. Right now, you're hearing nothing. But..." Ash pointed the ear plant towards the rock he heard earlier on his way down to the greenhouse with the group. The group heard a loud and eerie sound.
"That's the sound of the rock we heard before!" said Jessie.
"And it sounds a whole lot louder," added James.
"Exactly. I think this will be a key for getting up to the tusk," said Ash. "But there's still more answers to be found, and I think they are down there," he said while pointing to the basin. Ash climbed down a set of ladders nearby, and Jessie and James followed. After walking along the stones, they came upon three more plants.
"The plants on the rocks look like they're the same plants on the tusk cliff," said James.
"James, you are correct," said Ash. "And I like this cute creature too, whatever it's called," he said as he pushed a button-like plant on the top of a nest.
"And what does this all have to do with each other?" asked Jessie.
"Well, the little creature has to eat, right? When the creature came out, it was looking towards those plants James was talking about. It wants to eat the plants, but it can't get across."
"How can it go across, then?"
"That's where this plant comes in. I looked and touched the side leaves of the plant, and they'll help the creature get across." Ash then touched the top of the plant, and the plant spread its leaves. "I think the creature can get across now." Ash touched the plant on the top of the nest, and the creature made a dash for the rock plants. When the creature chirped, the plant buds expanded.
"Oh, now I get it. Since the creature's chirp makes the plants grow, you're planning to capture the sound up there, make it louder, and make the plants on the cliff expand, am I right?" asked James.
"Yes, you are," replied Ash. "Let's go up there right now." The three climbed the ladder back to the ledge with the ear plant. Ash pointed the ear plant towards the site where the creature was chirping. The sound of the creature was immediately heard at a higher volume, and the chirping immediately expanded the buds on the cliff to a very large size.
"Nice job," said Jessie.
"Thank you," replied Ash. The three climbed up to the bridge landing and carefully made their way across to the tusk. Ash opened the door and the three went into the tusk. "Now, Misty said I need to use the combination for the code wheel here, and behold, a code wheel." Ash took out a sheet of paper from his pack.
"So what's the combination?" asked James.
"Ah, let's see. It is NNW, WSW, S, and SSW, in compass directions and in order from the outermost marble." Ash set the code wheel to the combination, and the book cage lowered. "And here's the book - titled 'Edanna'. All we have to do now is find the moving image and touch it to go to Edanna." Ash opened the book to the moving image and they touched the moving image.
The three were standing at a landing near the end of a cliff.
"Welcome to Edanna," said Ash. "Our task here is to find that symbol, just like what Misty, Brock, and I did with Voltaic."
"And where would that symbol be?" asked James.
"It's somewhere, but if I had to guess, it would be in those vines somewhere." Ash then was focused on a red-green flower with a blue middle. "This flower looks like it can view something that's far away." Ash then looked into the blue part of the flower.
"What'd you find?" asked Jessie.
"A J'nanin linking book." Jessie and James became ecstatic and looked through the lens.
"It is a J'nanin book," said James, "But where would the book be?"
"It's in the vines," replied Ash. "Something tells me that if that book is there that means the symbol is somewhere there. Right now that's all we can see here, so I guess we should walk down the path." Jessie and James agreed, and the three walked along a path. At the end, they came upon a plant with a helix-shaped row of leaves.
"What do we do here?" asked Jessie.
"This plant is impressive," said Ash. "It gives me the impression that it makes a staircase. Let me see what I can do." Ash steps onto the bottom set of leaves. Immediately he was whisked away to a high ridge.
"That's exciting!" said Jessie. She then stepped onto the bottom leaves and was also whisked away.
"I guess there's no other way to go but up," said James. He, too, stepped on the bottom leaves and was whisked away. The three then stood on a high ridge.
"Hey, look here." James was pointing towards a botanical basin. "The spiral plant has a stem that drinks from that basin."
"James, you're right. It seems that this thing needs water to function."
"I hate to interrupt you two, but that looks like another one of those viewing flowers," Jessie said as she pointed to a red-green flower.
"Hey, Jessie, you're right, too. Let's go up there and check it out." The three walked up the slope. A giant, brightly-colored bird carrying a fruit cage suddenly swept in front of them into a nest crevice across the red-green flower.
"Well, you don't see that everyday," remarked James. The three continued up the slope to the flower. Ash viewed the blue part of the flower first, followed by Jessie and James.
"The bird's got a few chicks," said Jessie.
"And that's probably why it was carrying the fruit," added Ash.
"Hold on, I saw a curve back there," said James as he pointed towards the spiral leaf plant. "I wonder where it leads to."
"I was wondering about that too. Let's check out that curve," replied Ash. The three then walked back down the slope to the curve, which led towards a large pod. They were near the pod when Jessie's eye caught something else.
"The bird's flying away," said Jessie.
"It probably went to find some more food for its chicks," replied Ash. "This pod looks interesting. It looks like it has water."
"And here's another one of those spiral plants," James said as he pointed to a basin stem and the leaves. "But it seems it's dry, closed up, and is looking for water."
"Hey, I was right after all. These plants do really need water," said Ash. "I think the idea is this pod contains water. If we can find a way to pop open the pod, the water can spill into the basin and the spiral plant can drink and open up its leaves."
"How do we do that?" asked Jessie.
"There are some more plants up there," said Ash, pointing towards a ridge. "I'm hoping that we can use those plants to somehow pop the pod." They decided to walk up to the ridge. When they got up to the ridge, they saw a sunflower-like plant and a palm with fan-shaped leaves.
"This is the ridge," said Jessie, "But what can we do with these plants?"
"Well, we shall see, won't we?" said Ash. He approached the sunflower-like plant. He touched the stamen sticking out of the petals, and the bright orange petals opened to reveal a clear, amber surface.
"So it's another viewing plant?" asked James.
"No, not quite," replied Ash. He then pointed the flower towards a black spot. "See that black spot? I think this plant is used to focus sunlight towards a spot. And that gives me an idea."
"What are you thinking?" asked Jessie.
"If we can get sunlight to this flower, the flower will able to focus the light into a burning spot, and I'm thinking of pointing that burn spot at the water pod, and that should be able to pop the pod."
"Smart move," said James. "But there's no sunlight here. How do we get sunlight?"
"Ah." Ash looked around for a brief second. "That palm is blocking the sun with its fan leaves."
"This palm?" asked James as he put his hand to the heart of the palm. As he did that, the fan leaves of the palm retracted, and its stems shot straight up.
"James, way to go!" said Ash. "Now there's sunlight in the area."
"There's something else, too," said Jessie as she pointed towards a J'nanin book.
"Jessie, that book is used to get back to J'nanin if we're stuck here."
"But we aren't."
"That's right. So hopefully we won't have to use it. Anyway, now the flower can create that burn spot I was talking about." Jessie and James crept up closer to the flower and watched Ash. Ash reopened the amber surface, and pointed the burn spot at the water pod. After a few seconds, a loud pop was heard, and the water from the pod spilled into the basin. The spiral plant began drinking the water in the basin, and the leaves of the spiral plant began to open.
"Way to go," said James. The three came down from the ridge and back to the pod basin. The spiral plant was opened and ready. Ash stepped onto the plant first, and he was taken away to a low ridge. Jessie and James followed, and they ended up in the same place.
"That was fun," said Jessie. The three then walked along the path to another basin. This time, the basin contained a strange creature. The creature was feeding off roots of another plant by shocking it with electricity.
"That's a strange creature," said James.
"I know," said Ash. "It looks similar to something I saw before." The three continued along the path, which was now glowing with a purple glow. They then came across a spiked pod.
"The pod looks menacing," said Jessie.
"Yes, it does, Jessie," replied Ash. "But it looks just like that pod we popped earlier, only not filled with water. Maybe something will happen if it's touched." Ash touched the pod. The pod immediately began to fill up with water and a purple-glowing fish.
"That fish was in the basin! How'd it get here?" asked Jessie.
"Jessie, see the stem? That stem must have been connected to the basin, and it took in the fish as well," explained James.
"Nice explanation, James," added Ash. "Why don't we go ahead?" The three continued walking onto a yellow-lit path. There they found another fragment of Saavedro's journal. They picked up the fragment and began reading.
"Poems?" asked Jessie and James.
"Wherever they are, they must have been damaged somehow by Saavedro. So there's no point in trying to find them," said Ash. He put the journal fragment into the journal and back into his pack. "Let's just go on." The three walked along the passage until they came upon a large clearing, with a log bridge on the right.
"Uh-oh, what are we going to do here?" thought James to himself as he crossed the log bridge with the others. Suddenly, a loud sound was heard.
"What's that?" asked Jessie.
"Uh-oh," said Ash with concern. "That's the bird! Oh, no. I think something bad happened to it."
"What can we do?"
"The sound comes from the forest below. I don't think we can do anything until we get there. Let's just move on right now." The path curved in towards a coiled plant with a closed light spore.
"I guess we pull on this spore to uncoil the plant," said Jessie. She pulled the coil on the spore, and the spore opened to emit light. The plant uncoiled into a large leaf.
"Way to go, Jessie," said Ash. He stepped onto the leaf, making sure it was stable, and Jessie and James followed. They started to look around.
"That's the pod with the strange creature," James said as he pointed to the pod.
"That vine looks like a swing," Ash said as he pointed to the vine.
"That area looks like a trap," Jessie said, pointing to a ledge to the right of the leaf they were standing on.
"A trap?" asked Ash and James. They then looked at the ledge Jessie was pointing at.
"It's a trap, all right," said Ash.
"How do we get to it, though?" asked James.
"Um... We swing?" Ash pulled down the vine. "This thing looks like a swing, and it looks like it can reach that ledge across the clearing as well as that trap ledge. I'll try it." Ash hopped on the swing and swung towards the far ledge. However, the log bridge whipped the vine as he swung, and brought him back to the large leaf.
"Whoa," said both Jessie and James.
"That far ledge looks promising," Ash started, "But that log bridge blocks the way. Let me see if I can swing to the trap ledge." He hopped back on the swing and swung to the trap. This time, he landed successfully on the ledge.
"Jessie, try it," said James.
"James, you try it," said Jessie.
"Hey, let's swing together!" said both of them. Both hopped on the swing and swung to the trap. They almost missed the ledge, but they landed successfully.
"But what are we to do here?" asked Jessie.
"Remember that creature we met earlier in J'nanin?" said Ash.
"Yes..." replied the other two.
"There's another one like that here, but it's in its nest right now, and we can't get it to come out now."
"We're going to trap it?" asked James.
"No. See those buds on the log?"
"Oh, I get it now," said Jessie. "We want the creature to go out of its nest and chirp at the buds, so they'll expand and break the bridge!"
"Exactly!" replied Ash. He pulled a lever, and the trap rose. He then shook a pink fruit loose from a tree and knocked the fruit away from the trap. "To get the creature away from the nest, the trap has to block the nest when we release it as the creature comes out to munch on the fruit. If the fruit was left under the trap, we would have trapped the creature, and when the trap's released it'll just run back to its nest."
"Clever," said Jessie. "But how do we go back to the tongue leaf?"
"Tongue leaf? Oh, I like the name, Jessie," said Ash.
"Thank you."
"To go back, I guess we just slide on this ramp," said James.
"Nice find, James," said Ash. They slid down the ramp and walked back to the "tongue leaf". As soon as they stepped on the leaf, a creature came out and munched on the fruit. "The handle here should release the trap." Ash pulled the handle, and the trap fell. The creature paused for a moment and headed toward the bridge. The creature chirped, making the buds on the bridge expand, and thus breaking the bridge.
"There it goes," said James.
"I think we can swing now to that far ledge," said Ash. He pulled the vine down, hopped on, and swung to the far ledge. He landed safely on it.
"Jessie?" said James.
"I think we need to go one by one," said Jessie.
"Okay." James swung first and landed safely at the far ledge. Jessie followed and she, too, landed safely. "Since the log bridge is out, how do we get back to the other side?"
"I found a tongue leaf here. The light spore is here, too." Ash pulled the light spore, and the spore emitted light, making the "tongue leaf" uncoil. "There. If we need to go back up, we'll have a way up. Right now, we're going down." They went down a curving path. At the first curve, they heard more noises.
"That plant looks familiar," said James.
"That's because it's a flytrap plant," said Ash. "It looks like Saavedro planted this in order to make our tasks harder." Loud whaps and squawks continued to be heard from the plant bulb.
"What can we do, then?"
"If you remember, on J'nanin we opened a flytrap by shocking its roots with electricity. I happen to think it'll work here."
"How?" asked Jessie.
"I think I know, but we need to continue along this path." The three then walked along the curving path towards a mural. They turned left and looked at the mural.
"Saavedro painted this," said the three at the same time.
"And there's one on every lesson Age," said Ash. "I saw one in Voltaic, and now in Edanna. That leaves only one; Amateria."
"It looks like Sirrus and Achenar are trying to win the boys over to their side with Ages," said Jessie.
"And it looks like this was the last mural he did, judging by the paint supplies nearby," said James.
"And this is another pod," said Ash, pointing to a dry pod. He touched the pod, and the pod bulged with a purple glow after a few seconds.
"It's the creature again," said James. "The pods must be connected."
"Yes they are," replied Ash. "And the stem from here is going towards that jumble of flytrap roots. I think we should follow it." The three took the left path and walked around a basin. There they found another pod. Ash touched the pod and the pod filled up with water as well as the creature.
"Hey, the flytrap roots run right into the basin. Oh wait- now I get it. If this pod can be popped, the fish will spill into the basin, then the fish can shock the roots, and the bird can be free!"
"You got it!" replied Ash. "That's what I was thinking, too."
"I'm guessing we need to use that orange hotspot flower again," said James. "There's one over there." James pointed towards a bright orange flower nearby.
"How convenient," said Jessie. "But how can we get light over there?"
"Jessie! James! I've figured it out. Come up here," called Ash from the right path. Jessie and James walked up the left path and out to the right path. The three then walked towards a landing.
"What is it?"
"These flowers all reflect light. There's one over here, two over there, and another one near the orange flower. I'm pointing this flower's light to the lower one of the two."
"Why?" asked James.
"The other flower is set to point at the flower near the orange flower, but that flower is not pointing to the orange flower. And look over there."
"It's faint, but I can see a tongue leaf."
"Correct. But guess what? The leaf has no light spore. I set the lower flower of the two to point to the tongue leaf, and now since the leaf has light, we can get across. And that leaf looks like it's in the left path, so we've got to go there and walk to it." They then walked back to the left path, rounded the basin, and continued walking.
"Hey, I just noticed something," said James.
"What?" asked Ash.
"There's a wire next to the basin, but it's not natural. It's electrical. And it leads to..." James took a turn from the path into a little alcove.
"...an imager!" completed Ash. "Nice find." Jessie pushed the imager button.
"Twenty years, Atrus. Twenty long years alone. They tied me to a post. They burned their Myst linking books in front of me. They took everything I had. My wife! My two baby girls! And then, when I finally made it back to Narayan and I saw... I sss... It would have been better if I had died."
"Sounds like Saavedro's real mad about what happened to him and his home world," said Jessie.
"He's got to be, considering how he's stuck here for such an insanely long time," replied Ash. "Let's move on, shall we?" The three got out from the alcove and walked to the "tongue leaf". They crossed the leaf and made their way from a hollow branch into a landing where the orange flower and the reflection flower were placed. Jessie pointed the reflection flower to the orange flower.
"Hey, why didn't you adjust the orange flower?" James asked to Ash.
"Because I can't and I don't have to," Ash replied. "The back petal's been cut away by someone, and I'm not sure who. This flower is locked to pointing at the pod anyway, so that's one less thing for us to do. Let's go back to the left path." The three walked out of the landing and came upon an intersection of hollow logs.
"Uh-oh. Where do we go?" asked Jessie.
"The path was down there, so we should go by the bottom path," said Ash. They walked along the bottom log back onto the "tongue leaf" and to the flytrap basin left path down to the landing. "Now all we need is to point this flower at the upper flower of the two up there." Ash pointed the landing flower to the upper flower. As soon as he did that, the pod above the basin popped, spilling water and the creature into the basin. The creature immediately shocked the roots of the flytrap and fed on the roots. The flytrap immediately opened and let go of the bird; the bird, now free, flew out of a gap near the landing into the open air.
"We're done?" asked James.
"We're done," replied Ash. "But we still have to check out that other hollow log. Let's go there." Ash pointed the landing flower back to the lower flower, and the three quickly made their way all the way to the hollow log intersection. They then took the path of the top hollow log, and along the way, they found another fragment of Saavedro's journal. They read the fragment.
"Saavedro let Atrus send his sons because he was so nice to them," said Jessie.
"Exactly, but it seems that he was fooled into thinking the whole family was bad because Sirrus and Achenar were," said Ash.
"Maybe it alternates generations," said James. "Gehn was a bad guy, but Atrus wasn't, and Sirrus and Achenar were."
"Good point, James," said Ash. "Why don't we move on?" They continued walking along the log to another swing vine.
"Do we have to swing again?" asked Jessie.
"No, I don't think so." Ash looked down. "I think we use this to go down there." Ash hopped onto the vine and he dropped down to a lower level. Jessie and James followed him.
"Now what?" asked James.
"My guess is that we go into that arch tunnel," replied Ash. They walked into the tunnel and into a chamber path. They followed the path up to a gap in the path, which led to another chamber.
"Hey, the same flower's in both chambers!"
"James, you're right. This dark flower is completely closed up and the light flower is open and has been picked off somehow- oh, wait!"
"What is it?" asked Jessie and James.
"Remember the fruit that the big bird was carrying back on the high ridge? It must have come from here. The only problem is that the flower over there has been picked clean off. Maybe we need to get the bird to pick the fruit off the dark flower. If I'm right, then the flowers need both sunlight to uncoil the little strings at the top, and the insects to open."
"How do we get light here?"
"Maybe there's another one of those reflection flowers up the dark path." The three continued along the darker path to a ledge with a reflection flower. "Yippee! Oh, Jessie, want to do the honors?"
"Sure." Jessie pointed the flower at the stamen of the dark flower. The stamen began to uncurl. "Hey, you're right on one thing."
"But what about the other?" asked James. The three went back down the path and walked into the gap to the other chamber.
"There's a fan leaf palm over there, but it's retracted," said Ash. "James, could you open the palm leaves? That should block the sun." James walked along the upper pathway and touched the heart of the palm. The palm fan leaves opened, blocked the sun, and the flower closed. James walked back to the two.
"Nice work," said Jessie. "But the insects are not leaving."
"No, they aren't," Ash looked around. "Ah, I see it. The insects are avoiding the little bulb mushrooms, probably because they contain spores. Follow me." The three walked the lower path up to a clump of mushroom bulbs. Ash touched the biggest bulb, and a cloud of spores ejected from the middle of the bulb. The three stepped back, and the insects began to swarm out of the chamber.
"Way to go," said James. "Where do we go next?" Ash then pointed to a root hole.
"That hole in the root looks like it is big enough for us. Let's see if it leads somewhere." The three entered the root and followed its winding tunnel. In the tunnel, they picked up another fragment of Saavedro's journal.
"This guy's really serious about his suffering," said James. "I almost want to feel sorry for him."
"But James, he has Releeshahn!" said Jessie. "We need to teach this guy a lesson."
"But what if he's not a bad guy?" said Ash.
"Good point. Why don't we just move on?" The three continued along the tunnel and they ended in a cage.
"Guys, we're inside the dark flower," said Ash. "The fruits look like a cage." The three climbed and sat on the fruit cage.
"The insects are here; the flower strings are open; now what?" asked Jessie.
"This looks like a big handle," said James, pointing to a big stem. "It's practically screaming at us to 'pull.'"
"Let's pull it," said Ash. The three pulled the stem. Suddenly, seeds shot up into the sky with a loud pop. The big bird, alerted by the sound, grabbed the fruit cage with its claws and started flying up.
"Uh-oh. Hang on tight!" called all three. The cage continued to fly until it dropped into the nest. The bird then swept into the nest and looked at all three briefly; it then tended to its young.
"Oh, what a fun ride that was," said James.
"That was actually better than blasting off," added Jessie.
"I guess we go down this ramp from the nest now," said Ash. The three slid down the ramp into a walkway. They then came across a strange vine formation. "Hey, this is the symbol of the Age. We need to record it down on paper."
"I'll do that," requested James. Ash gave the piece of paper he received from Misty and James then drew a sketch of the symbol. "Done."
"Okay, and the J'nanin book is up ahead," said Ash. They all ran to the J'nanin book, opened it to the moving image, and touched it. James made sure he had the symbol sketch before going back.
The three were back in the observatory, and the whole group reassembled.
"Do you have the symbol?" asked the Professor.
"Here it is," said James. He gave the symbol sketch to Professor Oak and the Professor put the sketch onto the table. As before, a three-dimensional form of the symbol appeared on the base surface, and a gear on the bottom of the table came down onto the surface and rotated the assembly. The gear returned and the image dissipated. The book cage then opened, and another hologram message played. Brock took the symbol sheet and put it into his pocket.
"This what you expected, Atrus, when you followed me here, hoping to reclaim Releeshahn? This classroom what you expected to find? I read your journal, you know. In Tomahna, after I found your linking book abandoned outside this observatory. I read all about the D'ni. How you started their world again. Can you really do that, Atrus? After everything that's happened to Narayan, could you start their world over again? I don't think so. I think there is too much blood on our hands, too many ghosts. Surely you can't change that with a pen stroke? One more symbol, Atrus. Narayan is waiting."
"Saavedro's really serious," said Meowth.
"Can't blame him. 'Twenty long years alone,'" said James.
"Then he has been alone for a real long time," said Brock. "Why don't we tell our stories in the morning? It's getting dark."
"Agreed," replied the whole group. Brock took the symbol sheet and placed it in his pocket. The group then fell asleep on the observatory floor.
They awoke in the morning of the next day.
"Did everyone have a good sleep?" asked Professor Oak.
"That was like sleeping on the Myst library floor," said Jessie.
"Maybe... a little bit worse?" said James.
"Maybe youse guys need a bit of exercise," said Meowth.
"That's a good idea, Meowth," said Ash. "Maybe we'll do the 'bird' tusk today."
"Right, and we've scheduled you, Jessie, and James for that tusk," said Brock.
"What about me?" asked Meowth.
"See, the thing is, Meowth, we need the teams to be evened out. If the teams are not even, there's no telling what might happen, and... let's just keep it at that."
"Oh, okay then. I'll do anything you say. Hey Jessie? James? Please don't do anything foolish."
"Okay," replied both of them.
"All settled?" asked Ash. Jessie and James nodded. "Let's go, then."
"Oh, Ash, you'll need this." Brock gave Ash Saavedro's journal. "You'll need it in case you found stray journal fragments."
"And these too." Misty gave Ash the tusk combination sheet and a sheet of paper from the journal. "You'll need it for the code wheel in the tusk and the symbol at the end."
"Thanks." Ash put the items in his pack, and he exited the observatory with Jessie and James.
"Let's see," said Ash. "The 'bird' tusk is over there, so we need to go under here to get to that tusk," he said, pointing to a set of stepping stones. The three made their way across the stepping stones, up the ramp onto the rocks, and across the first bridge.
"Uh-oh."
"What is it, James?" asked Ash.
"The entrance to the tusk is high up."
"You're right. I think the solution might be down here," Ash said as he pointed to a ladder. He climbed down first, and Jessie and James followed. They were standing on a ledge.
"That plant looks like an ear," said Jessie.
"Yes, it does," said Ash. "In fact, it does act as an ear. Right now, you're hearing nothing. But..." Ash pointed the ear plant towards the rock he heard earlier on his way down to the greenhouse with the group. The group heard a loud and eerie sound.
"That's the sound of the rock we heard before!" said Jessie.
"And it sounds a whole lot louder," added James.
"Exactly. I think this will be a key for getting up to the tusk," said Ash. "But there's still more answers to be found, and I think they are down there," he said while pointing to the basin. Ash climbed down a set of ladders nearby, and Jessie and James followed. After walking along the stones, they came upon three more plants.
"The plants on the rocks look like they're the same plants on the tusk cliff," said James.
"James, you are correct," said Ash. "And I like this cute creature too, whatever it's called," he said as he pushed a button-like plant on the top of a nest.
"And what does this all have to do with each other?" asked Jessie.
"Well, the little creature has to eat, right? When the creature came out, it was looking towards those plants James was talking about. It wants to eat the plants, but it can't get across."
"How can it go across, then?"
"That's where this plant comes in. I looked and touched the side leaves of the plant, and they'll help the creature get across." Ash then touched the top of the plant, and the plant spread its leaves. "I think the creature can get across now." Ash touched the plant on the top of the nest, and the creature made a dash for the rock plants. When the creature chirped, the plant buds expanded.
"Oh, now I get it. Since the creature's chirp makes the plants grow, you're planning to capture the sound up there, make it louder, and make the plants on the cliff expand, am I right?" asked James.
"Yes, you are," replied Ash. "Let's go up there right now." The three climbed the ladder back to the ledge with the ear plant. Ash pointed the ear plant towards the site where the creature was chirping. The sound of the creature was immediately heard at a higher volume, and the chirping immediately expanded the buds on the cliff to a very large size.
"Nice job," said Jessie.
"Thank you," replied Ash. The three climbed up to the bridge landing and carefully made their way across to the tusk. Ash opened the door and the three went into the tusk. "Now, Misty said I need to use the combination for the code wheel here, and behold, a code wheel." Ash took out a sheet of paper from his pack.
"So what's the combination?" asked James.
"Ah, let's see. It is NNW, WSW, S, and SSW, in compass directions and in order from the outermost marble." Ash set the code wheel to the combination, and the book cage lowered. "And here's the book - titled 'Edanna'. All we have to do now is find the moving image and touch it to go to Edanna." Ash opened the book to the moving image and they touched the moving image.
The three were standing at a landing near the end of a cliff.
"Welcome to Edanna," said Ash. "Our task here is to find that symbol, just like what Misty, Brock, and I did with Voltaic."
"And where would that symbol be?" asked James.
"It's somewhere, but if I had to guess, it would be in those vines somewhere." Ash then was focused on a red-green flower with a blue middle. "This flower looks like it can view something that's far away." Ash then looked into the blue part of the flower.
"What'd you find?" asked Jessie.
"A J'nanin linking book." Jessie and James became ecstatic and looked through the lens.
"It is a J'nanin book," said James, "But where would the book be?"
"It's in the vines," replied Ash. "Something tells me that if that book is there that means the symbol is somewhere there. Right now that's all we can see here, so I guess we should walk down the path." Jessie and James agreed, and the three walked along a path. At the end, they came upon a plant with a helix-shaped row of leaves.
"What do we do here?" asked Jessie.
"This plant is impressive," said Ash. "It gives me the impression that it makes a staircase. Let me see what I can do." Ash steps onto the bottom set of leaves. Immediately he was whisked away to a high ridge.
"That's exciting!" said Jessie. She then stepped onto the bottom leaves and was also whisked away.
"I guess there's no other way to go but up," said James. He, too, stepped on the bottom leaves and was whisked away. The three then stood on a high ridge.
"Hey, look here." James was pointing towards a botanical basin. "The spiral plant has a stem that drinks from that basin."
"James, you're right. It seems that this thing needs water to function."
"I hate to interrupt you two, but that looks like another one of those viewing flowers," Jessie said as she pointed to a red-green flower.
"Hey, Jessie, you're right, too. Let's go up there and check it out." The three walked up the slope. A giant, brightly-colored bird carrying a fruit cage suddenly swept in front of them into a nest crevice across the red-green flower.
"Well, you don't see that everyday," remarked James. The three continued up the slope to the flower. Ash viewed the blue part of the flower first, followed by Jessie and James.
"The bird's got a few chicks," said Jessie.
"And that's probably why it was carrying the fruit," added Ash.
"Hold on, I saw a curve back there," said James as he pointed towards the spiral leaf plant. "I wonder where it leads to."
"I was wondering about that too. Let's check out that curve," replied Ash. The three then walked back down the slope to the curve, which led towards a large pod. They were near the pod when Jessie's eye caught something else.
"The bird's flying away," said Jessie.
"It probably went to find some more food for its chicks," replied Ash. "This pod looks interesting. It looks like it has water."
"And here's another one of those spiral plants," James said as he pointed to a basin stem and the leaves. "But it seems it's dry, closed up, and is looking for water."
"Hey, I was right after all. These plants do really need water," said Ash. "I think the idea is this pod contains water. If we can find a way to pop open the pod, the water can spill into the basin and the spiral plant can drink and open up its leaves."
"How do we do that?" asked Jessie.
"There are some more plants up there," said Ash, pointing towards a ridge. "I'm hoping that we can use those plants to somehow pop the pod." They decided to walk up to the ridge. When they got up to the ridge, they saw a sunflower-like plant and a palm with fan-shaped leaves.
"This is the ridge," said Jessie, "But what can we do with these plants?"
"Well, we shall see, won't we?" said Ash. He approached the sunflower-like plant. He touched the stamen sticking out of the petals, and the bright orange petals opened to reveal a clear, amber surface.
"So it's another viewing plant?" asked James.
"No, not quite," replied Ash. He then pointed the flower towards a black spot. "See that black spot? I think this plant is used to focus sunlight towards a spot. And that gives me an idea."
"What are you thinking?" asked Jessie.
"If we can get sunlight to this flower, the flower will able to focus the light into a burning spot, and I'm thinking of pointing that burn spot at the water pod, and that should be able to pop the pod."
"Smart move," said James. "But there's no sunlight here. How do we get sunlight?"
"Ah." Ash looked around for a brief second. "That palm is blocking the sun with its fan leaves."
"This palm?" asked James as he put his hand to the heart of the palm. As he did that, the fan leaves of the palm retracted, and its stems shot straight up.
"James, way to go!" said Ash. "Now there's sunlight in the area."
"There's something else, too," said Jessie as she pointed towards a J'nanin book.
"Jessie, that book is used to get back to J'nanin if we're stuck here."
"But we aren't."
"That's right. So hopefully we won't have to use it. Anyway, now the flower can create that burn spot I was talking about." Jessie and James crept up closer to the flower and watched Ash. Ash reopened the amber surface, and pointed the burn spot at the water pod. After a few seconds, a loud pop was heard, and the water from the pod spilled into the basin. The spiral plant began drinking the water in the basin, and the leaves of the spiral plant began to open.
"Way to go," said James. The three came down from the ridge and back to the pod basin. The spiral plant was opened and ready. Ash stepped onto the plant first, and he was taken away to a low ridge. Jessie and James followed, and they ended up in the same place.
"That was fun," said Jessie. The three then walked along the path to another basin. This time, the basin contained a strange creature. The creature was feeding off roots of another plant by shocking it with electricity.
"That's a strange creature," said James.
"I know," said Ash. "It looks similar to something I saw before." The three continued along the path, which was now glowing with a purple glow. They then came across a spiked pod.
"The pod looks menacing," said Jessie.
"Yes, it does, Jessie," replied Ash. "But it looks just like that pod we popped earlier, only not filled with water. Maybe something will happen if it's touched." Ash touched the pod. The pod immediately began to fill up with water and a purple-glowing fish.
"That fish was in the basin! How'd it get here?" asked Jessie.
"Jessie, see the stem? That stem must have been connected to the basin, and it took in the fish as well," explained James.
"Nice explanation, James," added Ash. "Why don't we go ahead?" The three continued walking onto a yellow-lit path. There they found another fragment of Saavedro's journal. They picked up the fragment and began reading.
"Poems?" asked Jessie and James.
"Wherever they are, they must have been damaged somehow by Saavedro. So there's no point in trying to find them," said Ash. He put the journal fragment into the journal and back into his pack. "Let's just go on." The three walked along the passage until they came upon a large clearing, with a log bridge on the right.
"Uh-oh, what are we going to do here?" thought James to himself as he crossed the log bridge with the others. Suddenly, a loud sound was heard.
"What's that?" asked Jessie.
"Uh-oh," said Ash with concern. "That's the bird! Oh, no. I think something bad happened to it."
"What can we do?"
"The sound comes from the forest below. I don't think we can do anything until we get there. Let's just move on right now." The path curved in towards a coiled plant with a closed light spore.
"I guess we pull on this spore to uncoil the plant," said Jessie. She pulled the coil on the spore, and the spore opened to emit light. The plant uncoiled into a large leaf.
"Way to go, Jessie," said Ash. He stepped onto the leaf, making sure it was stable, and Jessie and James followed. They started to look around.
"That's the pod with the strange creature," James said as he pointed to the pod.
"That vine looks like a swing," Ash said as he pointed to the vine.
"That area looks like a trap," Jessie said, pointing to a ledge to the right of the leaf they were standing on.
"A trap?" asked Ash and James. They then looked at the ledge Jessie was pointing at.
"It's a trap, all right," said Ash.
"How do we get to it, though?" asked James.
"Um... We swing?" Ash pulled down the vine. "This thing looks like a swing, and it looks like it can reach that ledge across the clearing as well as that trap ledge. I'll try it." Ash hopped on the swing and swung towards the far ledge. However, the log bridge whipped the vine as he swung, and brought him back to the large leaf.
"Whoa," said both Jessie and James.
"That far ledge looks promising," Ash started, "But that log bridge blocks the way. Let me see if I can swing to the trap ledge." He hopped back on the swing and swung to the trap. This time, he landed successfully on the ledge.
"Jessie, try it," said James.
"James, you try it," said Jessie.
"Hey, let's swing together!" said both of them. Both hopped on the swing and swung to the trap. They almost missed the ledge, but they landed successfully.
"But what are we to do here?" asked Jessie.
"Remember that creature we met earlier in J'nanin?" said Ash.
"Yes..." replied the other two.
"There's another one like that here, but it's in its nest right now, and we can't get it to come out now."
"We're going to trap it?" asked James.
"No. See those buds on the log?"
"Oh, I get it now," said Jessie. "We want the creature to go out of its nest and chirp at the buds, so they'll expand and break the bridge!"
"Exactly!" replied Ash. He pulled a lever, and the trap rose. He then shook a pink fruit loose from a tree and knocked the fruit away from the trap. "To get the creature away from the nest, the trap has to block the nest when we release it as the creature comes out to munch on the fruit. If the fruit was left under the trap, we would have trapped the creature, and when the trap's released it'll just run back to its nest."
"Clever," said Jessie. "But how do we go back to the tongue leaf?"
"Tongue leaf? Oh, I like the name, Jessie," said Ash.
"Thank you."
"To go back, I guess we just slide on this ramp," said James.
"Nice find, James," said Ash. They slid down the ramp and walked back to the "tongue leaf". As soon as they stepped on the leaf, a creature came out and munched on the fruit. "The handle here should release the trap." Ash pulled the handle, and the trap fell. The creature paused for a moment and headed toward the bridge. The creature chirped, making the buds on the bridge expand, and thus breaking the bridge.
"There it goes," said James.
"I think we can swing now to that far ledge," said Ash. He pulled the vine down, hopped on, and swung to the far ledge. He landed safely on it.
"Jessie?" said James.
"I think we need to go one by one," said Jessie.
"Okay." James swung first and landed safely at the far ledge. Jessie followed and she, too, landed safely. "Since the log bridge is out, how do we get back to the other side?"
"I found a tongue leaf here. The light spore is here, too." Ash pulled the light spore, and the spore emitted light, making the "tongue leaf" uncoil. "There. If we need to go back up, we'll have a way up. Right now, we're going down." They went down a curving path. At the first curve, they heard more noises.
"That plant looks familiar," said James.
"That's because it's a flytrap plant," said Ash. "It looks like Saavedro planted this in order to make our tasks harder." Loud whaps and squawks continued to be heard from the plant bulb.
"What can we do, then?"
"If you remember, on J'nanin we opened a flytrap by shocking its roots with electricity. I happen to think it'll work here."
"How?" asked Jessie.
"I think I know, but we need to continue along this path." The three then walked along the curving path towards a mural. They turned left and looked at the mural.
"Saavedro painted this," said the three at the same time.
"And there's one on every lesson Age," said Ash. "I saw one in Voltaic, and now in Edanna. That leaves only one; Amateria."
"It looks like Sirrus and Achenar are trying to win the boys over to their side with Ages," said Jessie.
"And it looks like this was the last mural he did, judging by the paint supplies nearby," said James.
"And this is another pod," said Ash, pointing to a dry pod. He touched the pod, and the pod bulged with a purple glow after a few seconds.
"It's the creature again," said James. "The pods must be connected."
"Yes they are," replied Ash. "And the stem from here is going towards that jumble of flytrap roots. I think we should follow it." The three took the left path and walked around a basin. There they found another pod. Ash touched the pod and the pod filled up with water as well as the creature.
"Hey, the flytrap roots run right into the basin. Oh wait- now I get it. If this pod can be popped, the fish will spill into the basin, then the fish can shock the roots, and the bird can be free!"
"You got it!" replied Ash. "That's what I was thinking, too."
"I'm guessing we need to use that orange hotspot flower again," said James. "There's one over there." James pointed towards a bright orange flower nearby.
"How convenient," said Jessie. "But how can we get light over there?"
"Jessie! James! I've figured it out. Come up here," called Ash from the right path. Jessie and James walked up the left path and out to the right path. The three then walked towards a landing.
"What is it?"
"These flowers all reflect light. There's one over here, two over there, and another one near the orange flower. I'm pointing this flower's light to the lower one of the two."
"Why?" asked James.
"The other flower is set to point at the flower near the orange flower, but that flower is not pointing to the orange flower. And look over there."
"It's faint, but I can see a tongue leaf."
"Correct. But guess what? The leaf has no light spore. I set the lower flower of the two to point to the tongue leaf, and now since the leaf has light, we can get across. And that leaf looks like it's in the left path, so we've got to go there and walk to it." They then walked back to the left path, rounded the basin, and continued walking.
"Hey, I just noticed something," said James.
"What?" asked Ash.
"There's a wire next to the basin, but it's not natural. It's electrical. And it leads to..." James took a turn from the path into a little alcove.
"...an imager!" completed Ash. "Nice find." Jessie pushed the imager button.
"Twenty years, Atrus. Twenty long years alone. They tied me to a post. They burned their Myst linking books in front of me. They took everything I had. My wife! My two baby girls! And then, when I finally made it back to Narayan and I saw... I sss... It would have been better if I had died."
"Sounds like Saavedro's real mad about what happened to him and his home world," said Jessie.
"He's got to be, considering how he's stuck here for such an insanely long time," replied Ash. "Let's move on, shall we?" The three got out from the alcove and walked to the "tongue leaf". They crossed the leaf and made their way from a hollow branch into a landing where the orange flower and the reflection flower were placed. Jessie pointed the reflection flower to the orange flower.
"Hey, why didn't you adjust the orange flower?" James asked to Ash.
"Because I can't and I don't have to," Ash replied. "The back petal's been cut away by someone, and I'm not sure who. This flower is locked to pointing at the pod anyway, so that's one less thing for us to do. Let's go back to the left path." The three walked out of the landing and came upon an intersection of hollow logs.
"Uh-oh. Where do we go?" asked Jessie.
"The path was down there, so we should go by the bottom path," said Ash. They walked along the bottom log back onto the "tongue leaf" and to the flytrap basin left path down to the landing. "Now all we need is to point this flower at the upper flower of the two up there." Ash pointed the landing flower to the upper flower. As soon as he did that, the pod above the basin popped, spilling water and the creature into the basin. The creature immediately shocked the roots of the flytrap and fed on the roots. The flytrap immediately opened and let go of the bird; the bird, now free, flew out of a gap near the landing into the open air.
"We're done?" asked James.
"We're done," replied Ash. "But we still have to check out that other hollow log. Let's go there." Ash pointed the landing flower back to the lower flower, and the three quickly made their way all the way to the hollow log intersection. They then took the path of the top hollow log, and along the way, they found another fragment of Saavedro's journal. They read the fragment.
"Saavedro let Atrus send his sons because he was so nice to them," said Jessie.
"Exactly, but it seems that he was fooled into thinking the whole family was bad because Sirrus and Achenar were," said Ash.
"Maybe it alternates generations," said James. "Gehn was a bad guy, but Atrus wasn't, and Sirrus and Achenar were."
"Good point, James," said Ash. "Why don't we move on?" They continued walking along the log to another swing vine.
"Do we have to swing again?" asked Jessie.
"No, I don't think so." Ash looked down. "I think we use this to go down there." Ash hopped onto the vine and he dropped down to a lower level. Jessie and James followed him.
"Now what?" asked James.
"My guess is that we go into that arch tunnel," replied Ash. They walked into the tunnel and into a chamber path. They followed the path up to a gap in the path, which led to another chamber.
"Hey, the same flower's in both chambers!"
"James, you're right. This dark flower is completely closed up and the light flower is open and has been picked off somehow- oh, wait!"
"What is it?" asked Jessie and James.
"Remember the fruit that the big bird was carrying back on the high ridge? It must have come from here. The only problem is that the flower over there has been picked clean off. Maybe we need to get the bird to pick the fruit off the dark flower. If I'm right, then the flowers need both sunlight to uncoil the little strings at the top, and the insects to open."
"How do we get light here?"
"Maybe there's another one of those reflection flowers up the dark path." The three continued along the darker path to a ledge with a reflection flower. "Yippee! Oh, Jessie, want to do the honors?"
"Sure." Jessie pointed the flower at the stamen of the dark flower. The stamen began to uncurl. "Hey, you're right on one thing."
"But what about the other?" asked James. The three went back down the path and walked into the gap to the other chamber.
"There's a fan leaf palm over there, but it's retracted," said Ash. "James, could you open the palm leaves? That should block the sun." James walked along the upper pathway and touched the heart of the palm. The palm fan leaves opened, blocked the sun, and the flower closed. James walked back to the two.
"Nice work," said Jessie. "But the insects are not leaving."
"No, they aren't," Ash looked around. "Ah, I see it. The insects are avoiding the little bulb mushrooms, probably because they contain spores. Follow me." The three walked the lower path up to a clump of mushroom bulbs. Ash touched the biggest bulb, and a cloud of spores ejected from the middle of the bulb. The three stepped back, and the insects began to swarm out of the chamber.
"Way to go," said James. "Where do we go next?" Ash then pointed to a root hole.
"That hole in the root looks like it is big enough for us. Let's see if it leads somewhere." The three entered the root and followed its winding tunnel. In the tunnel, they picked up another fragment of Saavedro's journal.
"This guy's really serious about his suffering," said James. "I almost want to feel sorry for him."
"But James, he has Releeshahn!" said Jessie. "We need to teach this guy a lesson."
"But what if he's not a bad guy?" said Ash.
"Good point. Why don't we just move on?" The three continued along the tunnel and they ended in a cage.
"Guys, we're inside the dark flower," said Ash. "The fruits look like a cage." The three climbed and sat on the fruit cage.
"The insects are here; the flower strings are open; now what?" asked Jessie.
"This looks like a big handle," said James, pointing to a big stem. "It's practically screaming at us to 'pull.'"
"Let's pull it," said Ash. The three pulled the stem. Suddenly, seeds shot up into the sky with a loud pop. The big bird, alerted by the sound, grabbed the fruit cage with its claws and started flying up.
"Uh-oh. Hang on tight!" called all three. The cage continued to fly until it dropped into the nest. The bird then swept into the nest and looked at all three briefly; it then tended to its young.
"Oh, what a fun ride that was," said James.
"That was actually better than blasting off," added Jessie.
"I guess we go down this ramp from the nest now," said Ash. The three slid down the ramp into a walkway. They then came across a strange vine formation. "Hey, this is the symbol of the Age. We need to record it down on paper."
"I'll do that," requested James. Ash gave the piece of paper he received from Misty and James then drew a sketch of the symbol. "Done."
"Okay, and the J'nanin book is up ahead," said Ash. They all ran to the J'nanin book, opened it to the moving image, and touched it. James made sure he had the symbol sketch before going back.
The three were back in the observatory, and the whole group reassembled.
"Do you have the symbol?" asked the Professor.
"Here it is," said James. He gave the symbol sketch to Professor Oak and the Professor put the sketch onto the table. As before, a three-dimensional form of the symbol appeared on the base surface, and a gear on the bottom of the table came down onto the surface and rotated the assembly. The gear returned and the image dissipated. The book cage then opened, and another hologram message played. Brock took the symbol sheet and put it into his pocket.
"This what you expected, Atrus, when you followed me here, hoping to reclaim Releeshahn? This classroom what you expected to find? I read your journal, you know. In Tomahna, after I found your linking book abandoned outside this observatory. I read all about the D'ni. How you started their world again. Can you really do that, Atrus? After everything that's happened to Narayan, could you start their world over again? I don't think so. I think there is too much blood on our hands, too many ghosts. Surely you can't change that with a pen stroke? One more symbol, Atrus. Narayan is waiting."
"Saavedro's really serious," said Meowth.
"Can't blame him. 'Twenty long years alone,'" said James.
"Then he has been alone for a real long time," said Brock. "Why don't we tell our stories in the morning? It's getting dark."
"Agreed," replied the whole group. Brock took the symbol sheet and placed it in his pocket. The group then fell asleep on the observatory floor.