bravenewworld | A Baptism by Flames

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A Baptism by Flames

"It's here."

The feed to the Warp Band flickers on. The image projected is intensely distorted and shaky, showing nothing but the too-close face of a woman. She's running; it's obvious from her breathing and the way she keeps glancing over her shoulder. Though her voice is carefully calm, spitting out words between each breath, she's continuously interrupted by the sound of an enraged bellows from close behind.

"This is Mamir, of the Eastern Gale Tribe. The beast has emerged again, southwest of our tree."

The video flickers terribly as she thrusts the Warp Band behind her - it's incredibly difficult to get a good view: blurred images of an enormous, seemingly grinning face, of swarms of... somethings darting through the skies in a panic, of waves of some liquid rippling out through the plains leaving trails of steam and smoke...

And then, through no planned effort of her own, the running Valkyrie takes a few steps without jostling her arm, and a clear view of the creature is displayed for the world to see. It bellows again and a plume of fire erupts fifty feet into the sky.

"Matriarch! It's advancing quickly! We're keeping it at bay for now, but we have to retreat! Our companions - they refuse to obey commands - they're too afraid to get near. I... I've lost Aerie."

It isn't entirely clear who or what Aerie is, as a shockwave echoes through the plains, sending the Valkyrie tumbling through the ground. The image on the Warp Band distorts wildly before it cuts off into static.

...

Hardly ten seconds later, the feed flickers on again to display the grim countenance of the Matriarch.

"Well. I think it's in everyone's interest to get rid of this thing before it heads say, west towards a certain comfortable volcano, or south to warmer climates, don't you think? My girls could lead it in circles to another destination, but we'll keep it in the plains if you step up to the plate."

((This is the final portion of the event, and the first Legendary Pokemon (openly) encountered within the game. In dimensions, Heatran is about 12 feet in height and 20 in length. Like all Legendary Pokemon in this game, it exudes an aura that induces fear and terror in all opposing humans and Pokemon. This sensation can be mastered by the strong willed, but is difficult to overcome. Also like all Legendary Pokemon, Heatran is incredibly powerful and should be handled with care.

Please remember to sign up here and post in your groups. Each group may individually choose how they approach this situation; in terms of RP, it will be considered that each group runs into Heatran in a separate location on the Plains and confronts it before it moves on to the next group. There are several potential outcomes depending on how the majority of groups respond to this threat.

Thanks and have fun! We'll be responding about once every 24 hours regardless of whether or not the whole group has posted, as per our usual policy. Questions can be asked in the sign-up post.))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"WAH"

Falling inelegantly from the unexpected Magnitude is a certain very out of place scholar. On his belt are quite a few cloth pouches. He had been holding another, but after being knocked over, it slipped out of his hands, a curious orange stone slipping out of it. He quickly scoops it up, hoping that the creature didn't see, and placed it back in the pouch before running for the group.

"I'm so glad that I found you! Although really all I had to do was follow this big thing, so it was fairly easy, all told. I found something that should calm this beast down!" He sounded a bit rattled, but not quite enough that he wasn't babbling on. He hands the pouch with the stone off to the group. "Here, take this, and listen closely.

"This needs to be placed on that creature's back. There should be some kind of indentation there. Once placed along with the others I have here," He pats the other pouches at his side, "It should calm it down enough that it will stop charging Citadel!"

Max looks up, swallowing hard. "I-in any case, I need to get these to the others! Be careful!"

[OOC: Your group has acquired a shard of a Magma Stone. It will need to be placed on the back of Heatran in order to help pacify it. However, sight of the stone will further anger it until it is in place.]

Feliks looked at the pouch with the stone, looked at the gigantic Pokémon -- it had to be more than twice as tall as he was! Or any of them, for that matter. How were they supposed to get it up there?

"Okay." Gods, he absolutely didn't have any sort of a plan, but anything resembling sense was still frozen on the inside of him somewhere; somehow, the word came out with a hint of authority. "We like, slow it down as much as we can, and try to get up there! Try and get it paralyzed or asleep, or block its path!"

The two Rapidashes and Ignacy were out already. Maybe if they charged up fast enough, took a flying leap, he could manage to scramble on? He had better fire resistance than Pamela, for sure, but didn't know about Lute or Lenna. As for the other two in his Warp Band...

He didn't want to call them. They were both strong, both loyal, and he couldn't stand to see either of them hurt. Jadwiga was always his right-hand Gardevoir, and he'd hatched Huzar with his own hands. They both had moves that would be useful. Huzar couldn't carry anyone, but she could fly, and fire wouldn't hurt her much. But they were his girls. His babies. What if they got hurt?

They'd be hurt worse if he died out here, too proud to call on them, and didn't come home to them.

His warp band lit up. "Jove, Mieszko, use Agility! Ignacy-- Magnitude, one more time!" He looked at the terrified young Dragonair and the Gardevoir struck suddenly with her own terror and his on top of it. She looked less afraid than he'd imagined, all the same-- he guessed he'd always come first to her. For her sake, he tried to pull himself together as much as possible. "It's gonna be fine. You two totally trust me, right? Jadwiga, use Imprison, and Huzar, go for a Thunder Wave!"

Huzar was the first to react. Possessed of her "mother's" impulsiveness, she raised herself up and flung lightning at the giant Pokémon, followed quite shortly by Jadwiga's attempt at sealing its power to whatever extent she could. Ignacy again aimed out in front of Heatran's path, while the two Rapidashes, Jove with Feliks on his back, focused on trying to keep pace with Heatran itself.

Edited (Spelling!) 2014-08-04 08:31 (UTC)

"Thank you," she said to Max the researcher. Like Feliks, she didn't know exactly how they would get it up there but at least it had made their situation a little less hopeless.

Thankfully, Pamela had thought to wear her Calderan Vulcanweave vest for this excursion. It didn't leave her feeling terribly confident, but between that and Hibiscus' innate ability being Flash Fire, she was at least less concerned about being immediately roasted if they got too close to Heatran. All Hibiscus had to do was turn in such a way that Lenna would be shielded in a worst case scenario.

She touched on her warp band again to call on the rest of her team. Clover and Sage appeared, reeling at the sight of Heatran. "Pine, use Ice Shard! Delphinium, Spark him again!"

Hopefully this would work. Or at least hopefully they wouldn't die. She just needed to keep things together and they needed to keep this Pokemon busy until one of them could get up there and get the Magma Stone on there. If they were closer to the trees, she could bend the trees to her will and make one of their branches drop her onto Heatran. Hopefully she'd be protected from damage long enough to get the stone in place, assuming Feliks didn't get up there first...

"Clover! Sage! Both of you use Sleep Powder!"

There was a chance one might miss, but if they both attacked, odds were better that Heatran might be put to sleep in the short term.

"Be careful, Feliks!"

Lenna likes him and respects his bravery, of course, but this is a god they're dealing with, and she's certainly more than a little worried right now. But she knows the best thing she can do right now is try to support and protect him as best she can.

"Gogo, use Mimic and hit it with another Sleep Powder!"

The Mr. Mime nods and happily complies, moving exactly in the manner of Pamela's Pokemon, the expert nature of its miming calling a real Sleep Powder attack into being to join the first two. With any luck, with three of them out there, at least one would hit home. She keeps Gilgamesh back for now, just in case she needs to provide backup later on.

The ground in front of Heatran cracks and shakes with the force of Ignacy's two magnitudes. Along with the dual Sparks from Delphinium, the attacks don't seem to have hurt it too much, but it is definitely angry--especially once it sees the stone.

Its entire body and the air around it erupting into flames, the ground begins to crack more, feeling a bit murky underfoot; almost more fluid than solid. Sleep Powders and Ice Shard burn up in the fiery aura as it readies a Magma Storm, and with it a full force of fear toward the party. Thunder Wave hits and manages to lock the creature in place, although, from how it was forcing muscles to move against the paralysis, it would not hold for long.

Water Sport will dampen the damage, and Thunder Wave and Light Screen thankfully limits the damage done, as well as helps tame the flames; it would appear that they partially dodged a bullet, so to speak, by interrupting it mid-attack.

This is probably going to be their best chance. No, maybe their only chance. Lute grabs the stone and calls back to Cadenza, never taking his eyes from the Heatran.

"Stay here!"

And he vanishes. He reappears a second later on the Heatran's back, looking around desperately until he finds a likely looking indentation. Hoping it's the right one, he shoves the stone in.

It's chaos, people and Pokémon struggling to do whatever they can, fire raining around them, hissing and throwing off steam as it meets with the water. Feliks takes his eyes off of Heatran, trying to figure out where everyone is--are his Pokémon okay? Are his friends? Where is Lute?

Perhaps it's that moment of distraction that keeps him from keeping a better eye on Jove's path. The Rapidash loses his footing on a chunk of rock displaced by the last Magnitude and masked by the steam, sending himself and his rider toppling to the Earth. Feliks feels strangely disconnected from the crack! of the arm that breaks his fall--there's no time to worry about it. Not with himself and his Rapidash suddenly surrounded by the swirling magma... Both of them get quickly to their feet, but the heat is as awful, as unbearable as the intense, stifling wave of fear, and there's no reasonable way out in sight.

Huzar panics, between the fear effect and seeing Feliks in danger. She freezes up in shock briefly, then dashes up to Heatran, going for a Water Tail attack. "Stop it! Leave him alone!"

Jadwiga turns to Feliks, preparing to teleport to him--only to stop when he shakes his head at her. She can sense his determination, and it stuns her, though perhaps she thinks it shouldn't at this point. "I want you up there! Help Lute if it didn't work!" It takes her a moment to force her will, to make herself abandon her trainer and get any closer to Heatran, but she listens, appearing a moment later at Lute's side.

Edited (Tense.) 2014-08-06 02:49 (UTC)

Hibiscus' moved in front of his Pokemon teammates. His Flash Fire ability activated when the remnants of the Magma Storm attack hit, and he did his best to turn his body in such a way that Lenna wouldn't be hit by much of it. He knew his trainer had some protection in the form of that special vest she was wearing, but he didn't know what protection her friend had, if any.

Pamela was still reeling from the attack and the overwhelming aura of fear. It was a good thing she had that Vulcanweave vest, because it was what kept her from being hurt much. It didn't stop the air from being terrible to try to breathe, and she worried for Pine, Clover and Sage in particular. Much to her alarm, the three Sleep Powder attacks hadn't even reached Heatran.

And then Lute was up on Heatran. She wished that she'd loaned him her vest, or that he'd announced his plan, but there was nothing that could be done for it now except to hope that he got himself to safety before he was seriously hurt.

"Pine, use Barrier," instructed Pamela. Something defensive was probably for the best right about now. "Clover, use Lucky Chant. Delphinium, use Charge. Sage, use Leech Seed."

Anything that would help keep them all alive.

Lenna's only protection against Fire type attacks is her own typing, Water. So between Hibiscus' defensive maneuvers, Light Screen, Water Sport, and her natural resistances, Lenna is mostly unscathed from Heatran's attack. Maybe a few burns here and there, but nothing severe enough to worry about at the moment.

"Gogo, use Reflect. Gilgamesh, Scald."

Leaping into action, the Mr. Mime tosses up a second shimmering barrier in front of the group to help bolster their defenses even more. The Panpour, for its part, takes advantage of all the heat in the air to let loose a boiling hot water attack toward the great beast.

Lenna only hopes that their efforts would be enough.

It doesn't take much to see where the stone should go and, too enraged by the constraints of the previous Thunder Wave, it hardly notices as Lute climbing on its back. It does, however, feel the stone being lodged there, and raises on its hind legs, roaring in anger and throwing the man off.

Truth be told, it isn't as angry-sounding as one might expect.

The heat lowers by a few notches, and Aqua Tail and Scald do a lot to further quell the flames. Unfortunately, this isn't enough to not incinerate the Leech Seeds before they hit.

Lute hits the ground hard and Cadenza lets out a concerned cry. He achieved his objective though, so now all he has to do is escape before he gets trampled or burned to death.

Well, that sure as Hell did something. The deafening roar of anger chills something in him, but the water attacks appear to at least be helping weaken the flames-- though it's hard to feel that they've been weakened enough, still surrounded by swirling magma. He bites his lip, pulling his thoughts together again, trying to ignore the pain starting to blossom in his arm.

Jadwiga is thrown along with Lute, though her power allows her to grant herself a soft landing. Since she's still near him... "Jadwiga! Grab him and teleport onto Mieszko!" She complies immediately, reaching for Lute and trying to deposit the both of them just over the Rapidash who's still safely out of range. "Ignacy, Defense Curl! Huzar--"

Huzar isn't listening, isn't interested in waiting around for orders. "Go away! Go away and leave them alone!" Her voice shakes in a way that must be obvious even to those who can't understand her, but there's intense conviction behind it, and she shimmers with water from her last attack, in what she hopes is a threatening way.

Feliks tries to get a good hold and get up on Jove's back again with his good arm. "Wait for it to die down a little," he whispers, stroking just below the Rapidash's mane. "Just hang tight a second, we'll find a path out..."

"Delphinium, use Spark," Pamela instructed, now that her Luxray had the chance to charge up his attack a little more.

Before following through with his trainer's instructions, Delphinium snarled at Heatran, even though his body was quivering. "She's right! Leave everyone alone! What's your problem, anyway?!" He let another Spark loose.

"Pine, use Icy Wind!" Not that ice attacks were particularly useful against this Pokemon, but perhaps the Icy Wind might do something to reduce the heat of the flames. It was better than nothing.

"Clover, use Mega Drain," she said, hoping that perhaps they'd at least be able to tire Heatran out enough that he'd be willing to pause and speak with them. Or at least that he'd calm down and leave. That sounded like a good option right about now.

The Heatran doesn't seem to care where Lute and Jagwida landed, but was more concerned with the annoyance of that thing on its back. It thrashes about, angry at the whole ordeal. It does not seem to be pursuing or giving the party much attention, even after the Spark hits.

Icy Wind does little to Heatran, but does seem to make the heat at least somewhat bearable, and Mega Dreain does little to affect the beast.

Should they want to make their escape now would seem the time, as the creature does not seem to want to talk. Only thrash.

"Now's our chance! Let's go!"

They've done what they agreed to do. It was up to the other groups now. There's no way they would be able to hold this thing off all on their own.

Lute was still trying to get his breath back when he was suddenly teleported to a very fortunate safe distance. He smiles gratefully at Jadwiga.

"Thanks."

Seconds later, Cadenza teleports herself over there and activates her heal pulse. Lenna is right though, it's time to get out of here. They've done all they can.

Jadwiga bows her head to Lute. "You've done well. Thank you."

As the Icy Wind tones down the heat, the magma that kept Feliks and Jove trapped weakens slightly. Feliks turns the Rapidash's head to show him the way out that's their best bet-- it doesn't seem like they're going to have a better moment to go for it. "We've gotta do it now."

With a toss of his head, Jove surveys their situation-- and quickly comes to the same conclusion. He backs up as far as he can on the shred of land they're stuck on, gets the best head start he can, leaps--and lands just clear of the magma, stumbling forward with Feliks clinging to his neck.

As soon as their footing is stable enough for Feliks to sit up better, he activates his Warp Band to send Ignacy home. Mieszko the Rapidash is already running, with Lute and Jadwiga on his back-- good. Huzar, still hovering around Heatran, lets loose with another Thunder Wave to buy everyone time if she can.

"Huzar! We're going home, come on!"

Hearing Feliks's voice, seeing him freed, she flies immediately to his side, and with her helping him stay upright on his mount's back, Jove speeds off after the others.

"Hold on," was all the warning Pamela gave Lenna before giving Hibiscus a little nudge to let him know that now was an excellent time to run full tilt away from Heatran.

She pressed her Warp Band to send the rest of her team to safety. Delphinium and Pine would be able to run reasonably quickly on their own, but neither Sage nor Clover were built for speed.

They'd done what they could. Hopefully others would fare better.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

A Baptism by Flames

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RNG 7 & 8 on magnitudes

Lute>Teleport

Re: Lute>Teleport

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Assuming you meant Aqua Tail instead of Water Tail

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