Naomi shrugged.

"He's a guy," she said. "Guys are always hungry." She grinned. "Let's keep going to the Ruins, then. He can wait."

"Hey!" Hunter protested. "What if I want to stop and eat?"

"Then you can sit outside the Ruins while we explore," Naomi replied. "It's not that difficult to understand."

"You're so mean to me," Hunter pouted.

"You make it so easy," Naomi teased. She grinned, letting him know she didn't mean it. They were bickering more often, but that's because they were twins, and they were getting more comfortable around Sayuri.

"You know... I've noticed the same thing with Ruben... We're the same age more or less, but he's always making his way to the fridge when he's home. I don't have to watch to see him doing that as he walks pretty loudly. And since his kitchen is pretty much right next to my bedroom it's not hard to miss." She loved teasing her cousin when he wasn't around. He'd be irritated, but he owed her for all the times he was mean to her.

She turned to Hunter. "I'm sure it's not that much farther to the ruins if we keep walking. The trick is not to think about it." She smiled at him, knowing exactly how he was feeling, not showing her own urge. "I'm assuming you do this a lot. Tease each other and such. Kind of amusing how you guys pretty much think alike."

Both twins shrugged, proving just how alike they did think.

"We tease each other--" Hunter started.

"And joke around--" Naomi added.

"But we really don't mean any of it," they finished together. Naomi grinned, and shoved her brother.

"Hey!" Hunter yelped. He almost tripped, but Naomi grabbed his hand to keep him from falling.

"See?" she said to Sayuri. Hunter rolled his eyes and pushed his sister, grabbing the strap of her bag to keep her from tripping. Naomi yelped, but didn't fall.

Sayuri giggled. "Looks like you two have fun." She got along pretty well with Chikorita, but not like they did. Chikorita couldn't talk human, but she could be understood anyway.
Her other Pokemon... Well they'd met them already. Hyperactive "twins" and rude weed... Not to be mean however with the names.
"I'd love to have someone like that to talk to, but sometimes I can be a solo person, too." Like Ruben... Maybe the two did have some kind of similarities after all...
"It almost looks like you share the same brain or something. Though maybe all twins are like that..." Her Oddish seemed to share the same brain and they weren't even twins... It confused her...
So much she didn't even notice the ruins ahead.

The twins both looked a bit sheepish, but shrugged. They'd heard that one before. Naomi suddenly looked up as they walked into the ruins, her eyes going a bit distant. Hunter looked at her. Nothing seemed to be happening to him.

"Naomi?" he asked. He touched her shoulder. Naomi blinked and shook her head.

"Sorry..." she murmured. She still sounded a bit distracted, and her gaze kept moving around the buildings of the ruins. "I thought I heard something..." Hunter looked around, and then shook his head.

"I don't hear anything," he said. He looked at Sayuri. "Do you?"

Sayuri shook her head. She hadn't heard a thing except for some trees rustling nearby, knowing some Pokemon lived in trees and would often move in them. Some times it was more noticeable than others, though.
"What did you hear?" She thought of something. Not long ago she acquired a card for her PokeGear. She popped in in and searched for something while she waited for an answer, either from Naomi or her device. Could differ, too...
Chikorita hadn't heard anything either besides the trees and was also curious as to what the girl heard.
After some searching Sayuri found a peculiar noise coming from her PokeGear's Radio function she just put in. "What this it?" She had a puzzled and yet odd look on her facing as if saying, 'What is that noise?' as her eyes were squinted a bit.

"I thought I heard... Humming..." Naomi said. She looked distracted again and looked around, as if trying to find the source of the sound. Hunter was more interested in the funky noises coming from the radio. He turned on his own PokeGear radio, but got the same result.

"That's so bizarre," he said, turning the dial left and right. He got the same strange noise on every frequency. "I wonder what's making it do that?" He glanced back at Sayuri, and then at Naomi. They had walked closer to the main building of the ruins, and Naomi was slowly meandering her way inside. "Nao? Naomi, are you sure you're alright?"

"It's louder in here," she responded. She sounded a bit dreamy. She went over to one of the walls, where the ancient drawings were bright and clear. She reached out and gently touched a wall. "No, not louder... More insistent."

"Nao, you're not making sense." Hunter went over and grabbed one of Naomi's arms, and then jumped back with a yelp when one of the drawings on the wall opened an 'eye' and pulled away from the stone wall.

Sayuri went pale when she saw the 'creature' come out from the wall. Before she'd also been worried about Naomi and why she was acting so strange. Not saying a word as she let her brother do the talking. She tried to get a word in but... Those two were connected so she figured maybe he could get through to her more than she could...

Anyway, back to the wall... "W-what is that thing?" She fumbled for her Pokedex and held it up hoping to get a reading. Nothing... It was almost as if it was non-existent... A ghost...

Next she grabbed her handbook and looked through the glossary. "Ruins... Ruins... Here we go... Uhm..." She skimmed the pages of the section she found about them till something jumped out at her. "Unown... It's said to resemble hieroglyphs on ancient tablets or something... Also that they're rarely seen... Nothing more..."

Hunter watched the creature warily. It didn't seem to be dangerous, but that didn't mean anything. Pichu didn't seem dangerous, either, but Hunter knew that they could shock a person into unconsciousness. The Unown gave a high-pitched croon and twirled in the air. After a moment, a few more pulled away from the walls and floated about curiously. Hunter stepped a bit closer to his sister protectively. Naomi's expression seemed to clear a bit, and she shook her head.

"They're kind of cute," she said. She reached out to one slowly and tapped it gently. It twirled in the air and crooned. "Look, they're flat. And they kind of look like letters, don't you think?" Hunter just looked at her.

"You're so strange, Nao," he said. Naomi reached over and pushed him a bit.

"Then you're just as strange as I am," she replied. "We are twins."

Hunter rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you're okay now. What happened?"

"I don't know," Naomi replied. "It's kind of fuzzy. I remember hearing the humming, and coming in here, and then just kind of...coming back."

Sayuri bent forward with her left hand index finger curled at the top of her upper lip and around like an 'n', her thumb resting under her chin, as she thought while observing the creatures, not scared anymore. Not that she was before... Just startled. "They do kind of look like letters... English alphabet letters. Capitalized." She walked over to one then to another and finally the third one "This has to mean something... They're all the first letters of our names... As if they knew what they are!" This was interesting as it didn't seem completely random... Soon after thinking that, Sayuri spotted a 'C' for Chikorita which was surprising since Chikorita were rare even here.

"That was a great trance anyway. I wonder what made it happen... Maybe your love of psychic Pokemon?" It was sort of odd that only Naomi would go into a deep trance like that, but maybe not completely illogical or random.

Sayuri wasn't as dumb as her cousin thought she was. She had her strong points and it seemed like this was one of them... She always had a knack for observing things.

Naomi watched the Unown as they floated about.

"I wonder what type they are...?" she mused aloud. She giggled a bit when one nuzzled her shoulder. They seemed to be affectionate, whatever they were. All of a sudden, Eevee was up on her shoulders, growling possessively. Naomi petted the pokemon for a moment. "It's alright, really. I still love you more." Eevee nuzzled her, placated.

"I'm guessing maybe Psychic... Considering you were the only one of us in a trance..." She paused to think about that before continuing. "Could explain why the rest of us weren't affected since you seem to have a connection with psychic Pokemon. Though I can't be sure if I'm right or not. The book doesn't say and they don't seem to show in the Pokedex at all..." She was sure they all had theirs upgraded at some point. She started off with the Johto Pokedex and had the National Dex upgrade right away since she was going to Kanto so she knew she was okay for that. So then, why? It was a mystery... "They are cute, though. I can see why your Eevee got jealous." She giggled as the 'S' came close and nuzzled her as if to say 'thank you'.

"It's possible," Naomi admitted. "Who knows, my brain might be set up different or something because I train psychic-types."

"I wonder," Hunter spoke up again. "Obviously, nobody knows these things are here."

"So?" Naomi replied.

"So what if we tried to catch one?" Hunter asked. "Send it back to Mom and Dad? I bet Silph Co. would want to know about this." Even before Hunter finished speaking, the Unown all vanished in little flashes of light. Naomi thought it might have been Teleport, but she wasn't sure. It wasn't like any Teleport she'd ever seen. The twins both blinked when they all disappeared. "Or not?"

"Or your own Pokemon transmitted or transferred some sort of weird power to you somehow... Maybe..." She heard it could be possible, but wasn't sure if it was entirely true.

She turned to Hunter. "You're probably right. These Pokemon probably don't come to just anyone. There has to be some kind of connection..."

Sayuri was pretty surprised herself when the Unown suddenly vanished. "Umm... They must be shy... Or don't like being confined..." She knew some Pokemon didn't. Chikorita didn't like it, but would go inside sometimes. Usually during contest practice battles. There weren't any contests in Kanto when she started her journey, but Sayuri was preparing for the future.

She returned to what had happened while getting out her daydream and looked around the place. "Maybe someday you will catch one. They might not all be that shy... Some might even like humans..." She was being a bit optimistic then while giving the impression of hope for the future.

Naomi shrugged. It was the only theory that they had at the moment, so she was willing to roll with it. Besides, it was kind of neat to think that she was somehow absorbing abilities from her pokemon. "More likely, they don't want people to know about them," she commented instead. "I mean, if they've been here by themselves for so long without anyone realizing it..."

"Then why show up for us?" Hunter pointed out. It didn't make sense. "Why not just treat us like any other people and stay hidden?"

"Why are you asking me?" Naomi asked. "I don't know."

"Well, you're the one who seems to be able to connect with them," Hunter said.

"Not like that, clearly," Naomi retorted. Hunter rolled his eyes.

Sayuri couldn't answer why... She made the theory of Naomi having some kind of connection as she couldn't think of some other explanation.

"I'm guessing they've been here for quite a while. Maybe they're not used to having humans around..."

Chikorita had to agree with her on that one. Perhaps being alone all those years had made them too afraid of humans. Or something happened in the past making them afraid... More theories...

"Anyway... Maybe for the time being we should explore this area and see if there might be clues to all this." Ruins, she knew, would sometimes have some kind of clue. "Maybe if we split up we can find something. Writing on walls... A plaque... Anything helpful."

Meanwhile Ruben was already in Violet city ready to fight the gym leader there only to find out he wasn't at the gym! This annoyed him as he searched for someone to ask. Not finding anyone and after having to wait a bit, becoming more impatient, someone who worked at the gym saw him sitting there and told him where the leader was. The answer didn't please Ruben and he went to the place that was spoken of. The ruins... Why the gym leader was near there was beyond his knowledge...

Naomi nodded distractedly, pulling out her guidebook.

"It says there are other buildings that are open to the public," she said after a moment of reading. "Maybe we should look in there? See if there's anything worth investigating?"

Hunter nodded in agreement.

"It's worth a shot," he said. He looked over his sister's shoulder at the guidebook. "Hey, does that say something about puzzles?"

"Yeah," Naomi replied, reading. "Something about tile puzzles. Nobody has been able to figure them out."

"I want to try," Hunter said. "What's the worst that could happen?" He nudged Naomi. "Come on, let's go see." Naomi closed the guidebook.

"Okay, okay, I'm going."

"Yeah. The puzzles I mentioned earlier." She remembered she had said something about them. Must have slipped their minds after what happened with the trance and weird Pokemon... Either that or Naomi was too excited to see the ruins, her words were missed... Didn't really matter to her and she didn't take it in a bad way either as she focused on the topic.

"Maybe we can figure out some of them." She opened her own book and skimmed through the pages explaining the puzzles. "Though... Some of the rooms with puzzles are out of reach for us right now... According to this we'll need to go through Union Cave which leads to Azalea Town to get to two of them... We also need a Pokemon who can use Strength for that trip. Then there's another room with a different path that requires Surf." The book really helped. She wasn't sure if there was another way of getting to them all so she referred to that method instead.

The twins nodded as Sayuri spoke. They didn't have any other comments to add. It was warmer outside than it was inside the ruins, and much brighter. The twins both squinted against the light, and Naomi yelped when she suddenly tripped over something. Hunter's hand flashed out and grabbed the back of her shirt before she could fall on her face.

"What was that?" she asked when she had her footing again. She jumped and looked down when something landed on her foot. A little Natu chick looked up at her and chirped. Naomi blinked and knelt down to pick up the little bitty pokemon.

"Hey!"

The twins both turned when a young man a bit older than they were ran up to them. He was dressed in traditional clothing, and had a thick leather glove on his left hand.

"I'm sorry, is this your Natu?" Naomi asked politely when the young man stopped in front of them.

"Yes, he is," he replied. "He keeps slipping away from me. Thanks for catching him before he got too far."

"No problem," Hunter replied, before Naomi could. It was a seamless transition, as if Naomi's words just happened to come out of Hunter's mouth instead. It was normal for them. Naomi held out the little pokemon, and the Natu fluttered over to land on the young man's gloved hand.

"Still, thanks," he said. He looked at the three of them. "So you three are trainers, then? Are you planning on challenging the Violet City Gym?"

Sayuri followed behind the twins as she saw Naomi fall and Hunter catch him after she herself regained her sight from the brightness. "Nice catch!" She was impressed even though she knew it would happen with them. "Are you okay?"

Sayuri didn't need to wait for an answer as she knew her friend was. Especially when she bent down to pick up the cute little bird Pokemon. But was startled by the voice. She looked up to see the man in traditional clothing with gloves, slightly surprised.

"Yeah. Eventually. First we decided to explore the ruins since they were on the way to Violet City." Sayuri answered the man which whom she recognized right away. "I'm guessing you're the gym leader?" She was pretty sure it was the same guy she saw years ago on TV from home, but put her suspicions in question form anyway.

The young man nodded.

"My name is Falkner," he replied. "I run the Violet Gym."

"What're you doing out here?" Hunter asked, curious.

"Natu training," Falkner said simply. "I find that they respond best to training out here near the Ruins for some reason. So every so often, I bring some from my aviary and work with them here."

The twins both nodded. It made sense.

"I have a Natu," Naomi commented. "She's really very sweet, but she packs a really mean Nightshade." Falkner gave Naomi a look that said 'go on,' and soon the two were chatting about Natus and Xatus and how best to train them. Naomi was actually picking up quite a few tips from him.

Sayuri knew she was right. He hadn't changed much after all, not that she knew him personally... She didn't really know any of the gym leaders besides Erika, having similar interests. Including their love for Grass Types and perfume making.

Sayuri refrained from saying another word as she noticed the two going at it with their Natu talk, something she didn't understand much.

Hunter seemed quiet now she noticed, but wasn't about to ask why. He seemed more the shy type to her even after only one day... Though, his sister was busy talking to the gym leader. She'd noticed they would talk as if they were one person usually and now that Naomi was talking to Falkner... She wasn't sure why she was thinking of this as she walked over to some nearby water and looked in.

Naomi chatted with Falkner for a few more minutes. Near the end of the conversation, she agreed to come and challenge the Gym the following day.

"What about you?" she turned to her brother. Hunter, who had been trying to decipher some of the Unown carvings on the outside of the building, blinked and turned to her.

"What about me what?"

"Are you going to challenge the Gym too?"

"Yeah, of course, why?" Hunter asked, puzzled. He hadn't been paying attention to the conversation at all. Naomi just nodded and looked at Sayuri.

"What about you? It's a flying-type gym..." She trailed off. She didn't want to say what type Sayuri favored, because sometimes typematching was a huge deciding factor in beating a Gym Leader. You didn't want them to know they had the advantage. Hunter looked at Sayuri as well. If nothing else, he would offer to lend her Landslide, or Aron or something. Something that wasn't weak to Flying-types.

"I'll give it a try..." Sayuri knew her Pokemon were at a disadvantage this time and wouldn't be able to learn attacks that could work as advantage against flying types and whatever other type they may have attached. She wasn't used to people helping her in situations like these as she'd pretty much fended for herself over the last year, but maybe sometimes help was required... She'd prefer to use her own Pokemon in battles like these but this time... The first three gyms in Kanto were easy enough compared to the sound of this one...

Not wanting to seem rude, Sayuri had turned herself around to face them as she answered the question before turning herself back around. Gazing into the water made her think... Maybe she should train more than one type after all... She liked water and ice... Maybe a nature theme? She wasn't sure as she continued watching the water as small waves formed. Soon enough Sayuri was drenched as a Wooper came out of the water using Water Gun on her, making her yelp.

The twins both looked over when Sayuri yelped, and they both grinned a bit when they saw the Wooper.

"You realize that that thing's got to be the perfect opponent for you," Naomi teased as she helped her friend up. "It's water-ground, which makes it twice as weak to grass-types."

"And completely immune to electric types," Hunter grumbled. He'd learned that the hard way with Buzzer.

"But it's resistant to ice-types, because of it's ground nature," Naomi added. It was second nature for her to type-match like that. She knew in her head what types were weak to others. It had always made sense to her, so the lessons from school stuck.