Within the deep dark

Planning

Silence. 

That was all that went true in the dark spacious cave. No signs of life shown across the dark area squeaks from bats, or scurrying footsteps from insects, no, nothing. Occasionally, there would be an illumine glow of black-green across the ground or the sound of tricks falling from the ceiling which a clicking noise may follow before silence returned. Occasional slight movement of something floating mid-air wiggling side to side, or a large insignificant figure creeping by the sides of the cave's walls. It wasn't like any normal cave, where there would be at least the slightest signs of life. But down here, it was an actual ghost town...

*Slam*

"Yesssssss!!!!!"

Shrieks echoed throughout the cave, gurgles, and clicking ran like a running chainsaw, and roars from far bellows were deafening with the thunderous stomping of footsteps on the soaked mossy terrain. Hidden bats flew out of their caves, squeaking in fear, searching for another cave for them to hide.

An abnormal loud noise, followed closely by a yell of delight echoed loudly across the cave, sending whatever inhabitants into a frenzy. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In an isolated run-down shack near the cave wall, Izuku was curled up like a ball, shaking. But he wasn't shaking from fear or pain. No, Izuku was shaking with joy, pure excitement. 

Why, because within a single month, he had finally deciphered the encrypted language! Finally, after hours of staring at something a child drew, trying to piece those letters to the japanize letters, he had succeeded. And on an open page of a paper in the book, surrounded by a mess of papers that lay on the ground filled with an abundance of letters, circles, and messy lines, was the official result of Izuku's hard work. 

On that piece of paper, was the final result. It was neatly arranged from A to Z. It had the encrypted language on the top and the Japanese language below. With this new piece of information, Izuku could now read the text of all three books, learn more about the inhabitants here, and possibly find an exit out of the place.

Eventually, the noises outside had quietened. The roars had shushed and the stomping had vanished. Izuku slowly uncurled from his position, and slowly crawled towards the piece of paper, his body still shaking from the excitement of deciphering the language. He just couldn't believe that his hard work and determination had paid off. He stayed indoors pretty much of the time trying to decipher the letters, only stopping for meal breaks, or leaving the hut to collect water from the stalagmites cave. 

But now even with a translation sheet in his hand, his job still won't be that easy. To read a sentence, he'll have to place the sheet next to the page and slowly translate it. It's time-consuming, but hopefully, he'll be able to memorize the translation of the encrypted language.

But now, he was kinda sick of being stuck indoors. 

When Izuku was at home, he would sometimes lock himself in his room and spend days analyzing new or existing heroes on the internet. Only exiting to eat or shower, or he was dragged out by a small green-haired figure, or a freakishly tall person. But in the end, it only lasted about three to four days to get him out of his analytic stage.

But being alone with no one to stop him meant that he had to be aware of his situation, both mentally and physically. He would be so focused on deciphering the letters that he would get little to no sleep. Paired with the fact that there was no access to sunlight meaning it was nearly impossible to tell if it was night or day, Izuku would occasionally doze off on top of his notes unaware and sometimes drool on his notes destroying them. 

And physically, he had to remember to eat, drink and collect the water. He didn't have much water to bathe so Izuku had to use the glow berries juice to bathe. (Izuku tried to bathe in the pond but the minute he place his feet into the pond, he step on a sharp shell of a crab and had his toe pinched.) Izuku also tried to exercise but he kept getting tired nearly instantly and out of breath. So he decided to focus more on deciphering the words, resulting in a long month sitting down, muttering silently to himself, and wreaking his brain on possible combinations.

Now, his legs ache to work. Izuku thought hard about what he could do or where to explore.

'Maybe I could do some squats? Take a light jog?' Izuku thought, 'Maybe I can explore the ruins near the center?'

Izuku decided to explore more on that decision. 

'The ruins are in the center of the cave meaning the moss outside near me might be some sort of moat. Judging by the distance from here to there it might be about a 5 to 6-kilometer distance. I can't run that distance through as the villains can appear at any time below me. However, the path to the stalactites cave has closer proximity to the ruins, roughly 2 to 3 kilometers distance, meaning that's a much more suitable option to enter the ruins. I'll also have to bring a vine of the berry so I can grow a steady food supply and light source there. I'll have to be silent as footsteps on solid surfaces are much louder than on the mossy ground. And once I'm in the ruins, I can't just explore them right away. I don't know if somebody is inhabiting this place or if there are any screaming things there either. And if I do explore the place, do I pack my things and move over there or shall I remain here? What should I pack if I move in there?...'

*Shriek!!*

A loud hollow shriek from outside interrupts Izuku's thoughts. Izuku remains silent and stops thinking. But when nothing happens, Izuku begins to get up.

'Must have been a rock,' he thinks, plucking berries from their vines and shoving them into his bag. 'Must have fallen quite far away, that shriek was relatively silent. Might have been an echo.'

He tugs at one of the blooming vines hanging from the ceiling. He snaps a vine in two and places the leaking vine into his bag before going to snap another one.

'These vines' insides are mostly water making them light. When they're broken off, the water insides leak out, but the sides of the plants seem to close in on the broken area, closing it. These plants must reproduce asexually, meaning to increase their population they'll need to be torn apart and stuck to a spacious surface where they can hang and produce their berries. A good thing is that their leaves curl up when there is a lack of water, saving me lots more space.'

As he thinks, the leaves on the vines he plucked were rolling in on themselves, and the vine was curling into a circle.

'But I'll need to hurry though, they'll shrivel up quickly.'

And with two water cans by the side of his back bag pockets, and the gas mask on his face. Izuku was now ready to venture out into the darkness to explore the ruins of this dark cave.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Apologize if this one is much shorter and has a massive time skip. I was a bit lazy, but I promise something exciting next chapter when it comes out hopefully. ;Py

Best regards;

BMXK7669.