The Mural Reader

Lead — Reading Summary

“They carried the same names. They were not the same things.”

Compiled by the Bureau Reading Team / 23 plates · Seventh Bundle

The figures recovered beneath the Silent Stair number 23 in all. Half the pigment has fallen away, and what remains was cut by something far larger than a human hand. The reading team agreed on one point before any other: the things drawn here are not the Pokémon we know. Nor are they entirely other.

Joint count, horn count, tail division, eye placement. Measured against the modern index, all 23 plates produced a candidate. Yet none matched the index illustrations. In every case a type sits one step off, and the weight of the creature falls somewhere it should not.

We name these provisionally the Old World forms. Shapes split by region, shapes returned to their origin, and one shape not yet divided at all — three strands tangled on the same walls.

The figures fall into three groups. Twelve standing in a row make Part I. Those scattered down the corridor walls make Part II. Two that share an inner chamber make Part III, and those two were not drawn to the same scale as the rest.

Most inscriptions are broken. We have left the broken places as … and chosen not to fill them. One warning in closing — nearly every surface also records how the people died. This is less a chronicle than a notice.

Part I · The Twelve Apostles

I – XII · Regional

Twelve stand in a row on one wall. It is not a group portrait — each holds its own panel, cut separately. The team reads them not as commanders with troops beneath them but as twelve offices, each filled by one. Only the twelfth panel is a hand’s width larger than the others.

Rubbing of Luxray — Rubbing Ⅰ · 71% intact

Apostle 1 · Regional

The Mane That Swallowed Lightning

Candidate — Luxray LUXRAY / form 1

“Do not throw a spear at him. The spear does not come back, and his mane grows a hand’s width brighter. When every weapon we owned had become his food, we were left standing with open hands.”
— wall inscription

Human Casualty Record

Twenty-two broken spears are drawn in a row below him. They are not snapped — they are hollow. He did not fight back. He ate what was thrown and brightened by exactly that much. Those still alive set their weapons down and ran.

ProportionDefense and Sp. Def read highest. The attacking parts are small. This is a body built to remain standing.

Rubbing of Scizor — Rubbing Ⅱ · 64% intact

Apostle 2 · Regional

The Verdict of Two Shears

Candidate — Scizor SCIZOR / form 2

“He does not cut deep. Small cuts, many of them, only where they count. A weak blow placed in his hand becomes … a man went to his knees without knowing where he had been opened.”
— wall inscription

Human Casualty Record

The bodies carry no large wounds. Wrist, knee-back, nape — three short lines and nothing else. The team reads this as a record of precision. He stopped people with skill, not with force.

ProportionAttack and Defense read highest. The striking arm and the guarding back are equally thick. Nothing here intends to step back.

Rubbing of Trevenant — Rubbing Ⅲ · 38% intact

Apostle 3 · Regional

The Tree That Gives It Back

Candidate — Trevenant TREVENANT / form 1

“Strike him with an axe and the hand holding the axe breaks. Curse him and the curse walks home. The forest was his body, and the roots reached the village well. So … …”
— wall inscription

Human Casualty Record

The human figures lie pierced by their own weapons. He did not even counterattack. He stood there, and everything sent toward him turned around and came back.

ProportionHP and Sp. Def read highest. More weight sits in withstanding than in bulk.

Rubbing of Milotic — Rubbing Ⅳ · 55% intact

Apostle 4 · Regional

The Scale That Rules the River

Candidate — Milotic MILOTIC / form 1

“No one who went to the water to look at beauty came back. He does not become angry. But when he draws breath the river draws with him, and what the river takes in belongs to the river.”
— wall inscription

Human Casualty Record

There are no human figures above the waterline. All of them are below it. They were not shown sinking; they were drawn underwater from the start — the river did not swallow the people, the river simply became wider.

ProportionSp. Atk and Sp. Def read highest.

Rubbing of Froslass — Rubbing Ⅴ · 42% intact

Apostle 5 · Regional

The Bride Who Calls the Blizzard

Candidate — Froslass FROSLASS / form 2

“Where she passes, a season goes missing. The village waiting for spring learned spring was not coming only when … She froze no one. She left a winter behind her and walked on.”
— wall inscription

Human Casualty Record

The whole upper register is covered in white pigment. The team reads this as part of the drawing, not as damage. Eleven rooftops show faintly through it. The village was not broken. It was buried.

ProportionSp. Atk and Speed read highest. A light body, and yet what was drawn largest is not the hands.

Rubbing of Noivern — Rubbing Ⅵ · 47% intact

Apostle 6 · Regional

The Silent Teeth of Night

Candidate — Noivern NOIVERN / form 1

“If you cannot hear the wings, it is already overhead. He saw us in the dark and we … … This is why the rule says never open a door at night.”
— wall inscription

Human Casualty Record

Every human figure has its head tilted up. They were looking upward, and they ended in that same posture. He never landed. He passed over.

ProportionAttack and Speed read highest. Thin and long. Everything staked on arriving first.

Rubbing of Absol — Rubbing Ⅶ · 52% intact

Apostle 7 · Regional

The Horn That Brings Disaster

Candidate — Absol ABSOL / form 1

“When he appeared, people tried to kill him. They believed he carried disaster with him. But he had not brought it — he had seen it first. We killed the warning, and after the warning was dead the disaster came.”
— wall inscription

Human Casualty Record

This surface holds no record of him striking anyone. Instead people are drawn surrounding him, and beyond that ring a far larger shadow is drawn. They were watching the inside and never looked past it.

ProportionAttack and Speed read highest. Thin and long. Everything staked on arriving first.

Rubbing of Volcarona — Rubbing Ⅷ · 59% intact

Apostle 8 · Regional

The Sun on Six Wings

Candidate — Volcarona VOLCARONA / form 4

“When he dances the sky warms. One turn melts the frost, two turns boil the river, three turns … … We built him a temple. There was no way to make the dancing stop.”
— wall inscription

Human Casualty Record

Only on this surface was the pigment fired twice. It runs redder than the rest. The human figures kneel inside the temple, and outside the temple nothing was left.

ProportionSp. Atk and Speed read highest. A light body, and yet what was drawn largest is not the hands.

Rubbing of Flygon — Rubbing Ⅸ · 44% intact

Apostle 9 · Regional

The Singing in the Sand

Candidate — Flygon FLYGON / form 1

“If you hear singing inside a sandstorm, it is not someone calling for help. Six caravans followed that song and did not return. The seventh stopped its ears and came back alone.”
— wall inscription

Human Casualty Record

Camels and people lie half-buried in sand, all facing the same way. There is no sign of a fight. He only called; the desert did the rest.

ProportionAttack and Speed read highest. Thin and long. Everything staked on arriving first.

Rubbing of Hydrapple — Rubbing Ⅹ · 36% intact

Apostle 10 · Regional

The Fruit of Seven Necks

Candidate — Hydrapple HYDRAPPLE / form 2

“Whoever eats his fruit does not die that day. Nor three days later. But whatever that person touches turns black, and the child he holds … So we kept the ones who had eaten outside the walls.”
— wall inscription

Human Casualty Record

A single figure stands alone outside the village, ringed by five black circles that grow fainter outward. He did not kill them. He turned a person into poison.

ProportionDefense and Sp. Def read highest. The attacking parts are small. This is a body built to remain standing.

Rubbing of Lucario — Rubbing Ⅺ · 57% intact

Apostle 11 · Regional

The Blind Monk Who Reads the Wave

Candidate — Lucario LUCARIO / form 3

“With his eyes closed he sees the mind. He sees the hidden knife, and the reason it was hidden. No one who lied in front of him was ever struck. They came apart on their own.”
— wall inscription

Human Casualty Record

The human figures on this surface are whole. No wounds. But every face has been scraped away. The team reads this as a blow struck not at the body but at what stands in front of it. The survivors could not say their own names afterward.

ProportionSp. Atk and Speed read highest. A light body, and yet what was drawn largest is not the hands.

Rubbing of Aegislash — Rubbing Ⅻ · 88% intact

Apostle 12 · Regional

The King’s Blade, Captain of Apostles

Candidate — Aegislash AEGISLASH / form 2

“One stands ahead of the twelve. He is shield and sword at once. What is fired at him returns to the one who fired it — not weakened, but whole. So do not even take aim.”
— wall inscription

Human Casualty Record

This is the best-preserved surface of them all, which means no one tried to deface it. A figure is drawn twice: once levelling a blade, and once levelling it at himself. It is the same man. The team places this surface last among the twelve.

ProportionSp. Atk and Sp. Def read highest.

Part II · The Remnant

Corridor figures · 9

These lie scattered down the corridor walls, away from the apostles. Cut without ceremony, at inconsistent sizes. Unlike the apostles they were drawn inside the range of daily human life, which is why their casualty records are the more specific ones.

The Drumming Root

— Rillaboom RILLABOOM

“Three beats of his drum and grass rises from dead ground. He does not strike a fourth. What became of the village that heard a fourth …”

Casualties

Roots come up through the earth and lift the floor of a house. Nobody was hurt. The village simply tilted, all of it, and the people left on their own.

ProportionHP and Attack read highest.

The Foot That Kicks Molten Iron

— Cinderace CINDERACE

“What he kicked was not a ball. It was the village gate. The gate flew inward and … … No one ever saw him running. He had already arrived.”

Casualties

The gate is drawn bent inward. The human figures overlap it from behind. He was not aiming at people. People were simply behind the gate.

ProportionAttack and Speed read highest. Thin and long. Everything staked on arriving first.

One Shot from the Shadow

— Inteleon INTELEON

“He fires once. There is no need for a second. If you saw him at the water’s edge, that was not him — that was the place he had been.”

Casualties

A single dot is marked on one human figure. The others carry no mark at all. He chose one out of the group, and that one was giving the orders.

ProportionSp. Atk and Speed read highest. A light body, and yet what was drawn largest is not the hands.

The Coffin That Will Not Close

— Cofagrigus COFAGRIGUS

“If the lid stands open it is already empty. Whoever goes inside remains as memory and keeps the coffin. So he does not die — each death only leaves him one memory richer.”

Casualties

Nineteen faces are drawn overlapping inside the coffin, each fainter than the last. The bottom face is nearly invisible. It is the oldest one.

ProportionDefense and Sp. Def read highest. The attacking parts are small. This is a body built to remain standing.

A Forgotten New Technology

— Rotom ROTOM

“… … It lived inside a slab the size of our palm. The slab gave off its own light, and we looked into that light every night. That it was looking back we understood only later.”

Casualties

This surface was cut far later than the others; the method is different. The team concluded that this site does not belong to a single period. The human figure is seated, looking down at a rectangle held in both hands.

ProportionSp. Atk and Speed read highest. A light body, and yet what was drawn largest is not the hands.

He Who Owns a Mountain

— Aggron AGGRON

“He named one mountain his own and counted the trees inside it. When a tree went missing he knew. No man who carried an axe came back down.”

Casualties

Fourteen figures lie along the ridgeline at even intervals. The team reads the spacing as the distance each managed to run. He did not chase. He walked down until the mountain ended.

ProportionAttack and Defense read highest. The striking arm and the guarding back are equally thick. Nothing here intends to step back.

The Equation Four Brains Wrote

— Metagross METAGROSS

“He calculates before he fights. How many we are, where we stand, which way we will run. Once he has finished calculating … There is no way to beat a correct answer.”

Casualties

The human figures sit on a grid. The grid was not ruled by whoever painted the mural — it appears to have been ruled by him. Each cell bears a small mark, and only the people in marked cells have been erased.

ProportionDefense and Sp. Atk read highest.

The Shape of What We Threw Away

— Garbodor GARBODOR

“His body is made of what we discarded. That is why we could not hate him. When he walked toward the village, people recognised their own leavings one by one.”

Casualties

Bowls, shoes and weapons are set into his body. The ground he crossed is painted in a different pigment — the team reads it as corrosion that eats even steel. The weapons of those who chased him vanished in their hands.

ProportionHP and Defense read highest. The body on the wall is thick and low. Everything is weighted toward enduring.

The Dragon That Climbed the Sea

— Gyarados GYARADOS

“Each time he won he grew. By the tenth he was larger than the ships; by the twentieth … … Every attempt to defeat him made him larger.”

Casualties

Five ships are drawn in order of size, and his figure grows behind each one. Beside the last ship only his shadow appears; the body runs off the edge of the wall. The wall could not hold all of him.

ProportionHP and Attack read highest.

Part III · The Two Figures

Complete · Origin

These two are not on the same wall as the rest. They share one chamber at the end of the corridor, facing each other, and the scale is different. Measured against the human figures they were cut six to twenty times larger than the twenty-one before them. The team opened this chamber last.

COMPLETE FORM

The Mountain Torn from Twelve

Candidate — Regigigas REGIGIGAS / form 1

The only intact surface in the chamber. Not even an attempt at defacement.

“We took one piece from each of the twelve. Bone and eye and heart, each from a different creature, fastened onto one. It was not built to serve a god. It was built to kill one. We left instructions for waking it. For putting it back to sleep … …”
— wall inscription

Human Casualty Record

There is no picture of people dying here. There is a picture of people building him. In the final panel it is not the makers who stand in front, but the made.

ProportionAttack and Speed read highest. A body this size has no business being this fast. The slowness was removed in advance.

ORIGIN FORM

The Forgotten Original God

Candidate — Arceus ARCEUS / form 19

Different from the shape the modern index draws. Even the stance is wrong.

“When he enters a room the blade in your hand grows heavy. Not the arm — the will goes down first. Even ghosts could not hide in front of him. Having no body was no excuse.”
— wall inscription

Human Casualty Record

Every human figure has set its weapon on the ground. Nothing was taken by force; they put them down. He did not strike. Only, while he stood there, no one could raise a hand, and days passed that way.

ProportionAttack and Sp. Atk read highest. There are two striking sides. Block either one and the other remains.