They were, in fact, not statues of Regice. Well at least, not exactly.
Dante studied the piece of sculpture before him. Now that he took a closer look, it was more of a combination of the three primary Regis.
It had the head of Regirock, the body of Regice, and the arm of Registeel. Not only that, its dot-like eyes were arranged in a 3x3 formation, which doesn't correspond with any of the three Regis, nor Regieleki or Regidrago.
"So? What do you think?"
Alder's voice interrupted Dante from his contemplation.
After clearing the whole room of Pokemon, everyone decided to stop and study whether there were any mysteries in these statues. After all, they were the most conspicuous thing in this otherwise plain temple.
"...I don't know. I've never seen or heard of a Pokemon like this."
"Hmm, from what we know, this is most likely another Legendary Golem."
"Legendary Golem?"
"That's right. Among the Legendary Pokemon recorded in the Alliance, the Legendary Golems are the most well-studied."
"Regirock, Registeel, Regice, Regidrago, and Regieleki; Rock, Steel, Ice, Dragon, and Electric- they are elemental energy that gained sentience and became a Pokemon."
"And the statue here resembles their appearance. According to those guys at the base, we may be on the verge of discovering another form of this Legendary!"
Dante stared at the excited Alder, then at the statue. He didn't know what to say.
From a rational point of view, since the Regis are made from Elemental energy, then it's logical to conclude that there should also be Regis of other types.
However, Dante knew that was not the case- in his previous world, at least. Regirock, Regice, and Registeel were created corresponding to the Ice Age, Stone Age, and the Metal Age. Regidrago corresponds to either the Middle or Prehistoric Age, while Regieleki represents the Modern Age.
Even if there's really a new form of Regi that he doesn't know, it should be something that corresponds to the Philosophical Age or even the Dark Ages.
That would mean a Psychic Regi or a Dark Regi, not a combination of Registeel, Regice, and Regirock.
Speaking of…
Dante glanced over once again at the statue, then shook his head in disappointment.
Other than the five Regis, there was also Regigigas, their creator who represents the Age before humanity.
His legend of moving the continents corresponded with Pangea- the period of history when the world was only composed of one, single supercontinent but cracked and drifted off to compose today's world.
From what he recalled, Regigigas has only six gemlike eyes on each side of its chest, along with a yellow band in the middle that is separated. This statue doesn't resemble that at all.
It was a pity. After fighting and conquering its creation, Dante thought this ruin would give him a chance to also fight against it.
He gave Alder a perfunctory answer as the rest of the team continued to look around.
This room was huge. After some careful searching, they finally found another thing of interest in addition to the pillars and the statues.
There, high above and near the ceiling, were indecipherable words embossed upon the wall. It faced the entrance of the room. Due to the lack of light and its high position, no one noticed it at first.
A powerful light flashed upon the words and everyone on the team stood below. Cynthia was at the forefront, staring at the scripture with a hand under her chin, her eyes flashing with fascination.
This was the main reason she joined this exploration- to discover the history that this temple may hold. From her inference, this building may be connected to the history of the Pokemon world that she was currently researching.
"Cynthia, can you understand it?"
Alder asked, scratching the back of his head as he stared at the unfamiliar language.
"Hmm, unfortunately, it falls outside the scope of my knowledge. I have only studied the Celestic language of Sinnoh. And the words etched here should be the ancient script of Braille."
"Braille, huh? Then isn't that…"
"Yes. The language of the Golems."
Cynthia said. With this, along with the statues, it's basically confirmed that the temple they are in is associated with the Regis.
It's just a pity they couldn't read what was written. Although she could understand one or two of the words on the wall, basing their decision on that would be reckless.
However, this was also the reason they brought other experts. They would be stationed at the inside camp of the ruin tomorrow, so they just have to wait for a day before they could interpret this.
For now, their main goal was to still expand on exploring this ruin.
Just as their team was about to head deeper into the ruins, a voice made them stop.
"Въ сей пещерѣ живѣхомъ"
"Hmm? Dante, what's that?"
Alder looked at the young man behind him. The white-haired boy was currently staring at the words above with furrowed brows.
"Въ сей пещерѣ живѣхомъ.
Всѧ должьнѣ есмы Поукэмону.
Но заключихомъ Поукэмона.
Боѧхомъся єго.
Имущеи дерзость, и имущеи надѣю,
Отвори дверь. Вѣчныи Поукемонъ чаетъ."
"It's what's written. Translated, it means:
In this cave we have lived.
We owe all to the Pokemon.
But, we sealed the Pokemon away.
We feared it.
Those with courage, those with hope.
Open the door. An eternal Pokemon waits."
"You know Braille?"
Cynthia asked in surprise. Based on her limited knowledge of the language, what Dante said indeed matched up with what she knew.
"Yeah. I'm somewhat interested in the history of the Pokemon world, so I studied other languages in my free time."
Dante responded with a smile. He was lucky. Among the items Cofagrigus dropped, there was a tablet which contained a "Regis to Pokewords - Alphabet Translation".
He just took it out to look at during his free time and with his high IQ, memorized them quickly. Who knew he would be able to use it in this situation.
Staring at the interested Cynthia, he knew he found a way to make a breakthrough in their relationship.
"Hahaha, not bad, kid. It seems taking you on this exploration was the right decision. From here on out, we'll rely on you to translate all the writings we'll find."
"Leave it to me."
Dante nodded with confidence as Alder patted him on the back.
Next, their group gathered amongst themselves to talk about the interpretation of what Dante said. The text itself was pretty straightforward.
There was a powerful Pokemon sealed in this temple. And from the statues and text, it was easy to guess which.
"Now, there's no doubt. There should be one of the Legendary Golems sealed at the end of this ruin. What do you think?"
"There should be no problem with all of us here. We had already anticipated it before coming. Based on the Alliance's findings, even with the abundant energy of this ruin and its long life-span, it can't grow to a point we couldn't handle."
"...I agree."
After the three Champions' discussion, the exploration continued.
Although there may be a Legendary at the end, they weren't worried. They were already prepared to face a Legendary before they came here. This added information just strengthened their resolve.
Along the way, they encountered countless branching pathways. Fortunately, with Zoren and his team to lead the way, they didn't have to waste time on exploring the paths that lead to dead ends.
They only have to take care of the Pokemon such as Golbat, Weasel, Bronzong, and Nosepass that appeared.
Except for Bronzong who was always needed to face a Swampert with Damp due to its danger of exploding, the other Pokemon they encountered were systematically taken care of.
At this time, Dante got to see the experts of the vanguard team in action.
Even in the face of the siege of countless Pokemon, they always kept their calm- cooperating with each other and not hindering each other's movement and even assisting each other to make up for their weaknesses.
A Pokemon was in charge of using Taunt whenever they encountered a group of hostile Pokemon. This prevents the use of any troublesome status-type moves, while at the same time attracting the attention of everyone.
Then, there would be the long-range Pokemon, in charge of intercepting any incoming long-range attacks from the opponents. They would take shots of their own when they saw an opportunity.
The remaining ones are the Melee Pokemon which would take care of any enemies that got close, relieving pressure from the Taunter. Then there was the supporter to heal any Pokemon that sustained injuries.
In short, because of their professionalism, Dante had no chance to take any action at all before their group swapped with Shenhe's.
Eevee already lay down on his shoulders to take a nap. Pikachu was once again using his bag as a phone stand, watching the movies he had downloaded.
Even Ursaring, Azumarill, and Riolu were only keeping a basic eye out on their surroundings, with Mawile even holding his hands and treating this as an outing as she chatted with Ninetales.
He couldn't blame them, though. Although the stats of the Pokemon here varied more than those in PMD dungeons, it doesn't change the fact that they don't really pose much of a threat.
The 5 star dungeon they recently conquered had Pokemon with all stats ranging from 110-120. And what about the Pokemon here?
The highest stat of a few of them in one aspect just reached that range. Most of the time, their average stats only ranged from 70-80- equal to the level of a 1 star dungeon.
Any one on their team could easily clear a dungeon of that level by themselves.
Fortunately, Dante himself had things to do to relieve his boredom. Whenever they encountered an ancient script, their group would pause to ask him to decrypt it. Such as now.
"We're here. This was the furthest our scouting could go."
Zoren said. Before them was a massive, circular stone gate. Two statues stood on either side of it, with a text written above.
Dante stepped forward. Inwardly, he hoped the requirement for opening this door wasn't something as random as in the Pokemon Emerald games. He remembered some of the passages required a Relicanth and a Wailord at a specific level just to pass.
He had to grind and fish for several hours to get them. That period was when he had to search for walkthroughs on the internet for the first time to finally catch the three Regis.
If the requirement here was just as outrageous, he could only let Azumarill politely knock the door open.
Luckily, it didn't come to that. Though the hint given was a bit vague.
"It says we need the power of Pure Ice to unlock the passage."
"Pure Ice? What does that mean?"
"I don't know. Maybe use Ice attacks?"
Dante said, his tone uncertain.
After some discussion, the other members of the team agreed with his conclusion. One stepped out and commanded their Glalie to use Ice Beam.
Rumble!
The lock began to slowly turn. However, after it shifted to about half, it stopped and refused to budge. And when Glalie stopped his attack, it returned to its initial position.
"What's the matter? Is it stuck? It's been so long, after all."
"Hmm, I don't think so. I think it's related to the strength of the Ice Attack. Since it already reached half, come on, let's bombard it together."
Alder said as he took out his Vanilluxe. Dante's eyes lit up. He could finally see a Champion-level Pokemon in action!
Alder's Vanilluxe and the other trainer's Glalie bombarded the gate once again.
However, to everyone's surprise, the gate this time only rumbled for a moment and only moved slightly. It didn't even reach the same level of progress as when it was only Glalie who was attacking.
After almost a minute and the progress remained the same, Alder signalled the Trainer beside him to stop.
"What's going on? Our attacks this time were clearly more powerful. Did I break it the first time?"
"It shouldn't be. By Pure Ice, maybe it means it only registers the attack of one Ice Pokemon?" Dante said.
During the whole process, he used his Copycat vision to check Vanilluxe's power level.
He admits, he was a little disappointed. Based on what he saw, Vanilluxe surpassed her limit by only 3 times. If this level of strength is enough to become the Champion, then his dream would be easier to realize than expected.
Other than that, he also observed that when the two Pokemon's attacks reached the stone door, only one energy was absorbed at a time.
When it sensed Glalie's energy, the energy it absorbed from Vanilluxe's was released. And when it sensed Glalie's, it released Vanilluxe's. This was the reason the lock this time barely moved.
"I see. Yes, that makes sense. In that case…Vanilluxe, use Ice Beam!"
Unfortunately, it didn't work. With Vanilluxe's attack, the lock on the stone door only moved 2/3 of the way before stopping once again.
"Ahaha, Shenhe girl, it seems I need to trouble you for this."
Seeing this result, Alder laughed and scratched the back of his head.
His Vanilluxe had no moves that could boost her offense- only ones that could increase her speed and defenses. So unless he used an external item, he'd have to give this up to his fellow Champion.
"...okay. Frosmoth, Quiver Dance then Ice Beam."
Shenhe retracted her gaze from Dante and nodded absentmindedly. With her words, the Frosmoth who was hovering behind her slightly wiggled. Then, it let out a massive beam of Ice-type energy.
The hair on Dante's skin rose. He watched as the tiny, moth-like Pokemon released an attack countless times its body size. It bypassed everyone and smashed against the door.
Almost instantly, the stone door was blown wide open. The Pokemon behind it didn't have a chance to learn what was going on before they were engulfed by the beam of ice.
The attack continued to head deeper inside the ruin before a bang sound was heard. Presumably, it had hit the wall of this temple.
"It's open."
Shenhe said in her monotone voice as she signalled Frosmoth to stop. She didn't seem to notice, or care, about the silence in the room due to her attack. Instead, she just turned her head and once again 'peeked' at Dante.
A/N: Thanks to JEFEROLAS1 for the idea about the language for a breakthrough with Cynthia. After searching around the net, I focused on Braille- the official language of the Regis.
Of course, that means there will be no Braille in the real world. Though if the need to use it arises, I'll just call it a different term.