bravenewworld | Absolute Destiny Apocousbians

Hopefully. [Michiru looks back. That is definitely a small, brownish splotch out in the horizon, swimming with the utmost single-mindedness.

She could almost admire that determination.]

[ ....Haruka isn't going to try to think about what that means re: Brad's stamina. Hopefully after this he will never want to Surf again.

It's extra impetus to head into the cave, anyway. If she'd brought her Rotom they'd have automatic light; as it is, she strikes a match and reaches for a lantern attached to her travel pack. ] Everything missed the memo about this being a vacation.

[ Including Haruka, given that she's got that survival kit on her back. Then again, the leaf attached to the pack betrays whose idea that had been. ]

[Wow, rude, attempted drowning of a Pokemon. The Pokegods frown upon their callous treatment of this noble and virtuous and definitely misunderstood beast.

In other news, they seem to have landed on the north side of a rocky atoll that the natives casually refer to as 'Noibatopia'. The cave beckons them forward into its gloomy, guano-filled interior as Haruka lights the lantern.]

At least it took him a few days to catch up. [as inexplicable as that was.

Michiru might wrinkle her nose at the interior, but will follow without complaint.]

[ They keep ending up in the Swamp for things. This is a cakewalk.

Haruka shines her light around the passage, checking ahead for obstacles or forks in the path. And...bats much? Wow. ] Why did they all settle here?

[ What happened out here in the past? Did this place just happen to become a gathering place for this species? She hasn't seen it in Union. ]

[Probably because there's only the one cave. You try thinking of something to do to entertain yourself besides procreate when you're surrounded by water on all sides.

The lantern illuminates a long, narrow path before them - probably people come through here on occasion to do a bit of spelunking, but it's obviously not vvery well-traveled. The initial walkway is about a hundred feet, sloping downwards, before it broadens up into a massive cavern. The lantern's light doesn't reach the top, though faint rustling may inform them that this is where the bats generally congregate.

Before them, however, the floor sinks down and becomes submerged by the saltwater of the ocean. It's possible they can swim further and find a path on the other side, but the poor lighting makes it hard to tell. The cavern floor also seems to remain above water on the sides, making it possible to inch around the subterranean lake by pressing up against the wall.]

Adequate food and shelter? [have an obvious, not-really-useful answer, given the lack of anything suspicious looking.

And at the lake, Michiru will pause and look over at her partner. Your Lapras, your call.]

[ Hm. Haruka jerks her head at the path, then readies her Warp Band. They can divide and conquer on this one. That way, if either of these routes proves treacherous, the other one can serve as backup. ] I'll do the lights.

[ ...okay, so Michiru won't need much backup if the worst that could happen to her is "falls in the water". She's a Water-type. Anyway, though, so's this Lapras, who blinks sleepily but doesn't seem bothered by the odd surroundings. Hi everyone.... ] Praaaaaaa.

[ Riding a Lapras isn't as fun as a Rhyhorn, but Haruka makes do. She nudges Rhythm with the heels of her boots, holding up the lantern. ] Stay near the edge, but head towards the other side.

Laaap. [ Off they go. ]

[As Lapras and Haruka drift out onto the water, they might notice that they seem to be churning up an awful lot of bubbles... Or, well.

Something is churning up a lot of bubbles.

The first nip to Lapras's flippers will likely inform them immediately what's happened here.]

Kaaaaaaa...!

[The water froths violently as a school of Carvanha set in from all sides!

...In the meantime, nothing especially exciting is happening to Rhyhorn as it slowly crawls around the edge.]

[well, it's actually just Michiru up here on the ledge. The appearance of the Pokemon may give her a moment's pause, but then she carefully picks up the pace. It should be easier to help on the other side, if need be.]

[ Shoot. The bats up there have really lousy taste in neighbors.

Rhythm is an easygoing Pokémon, but even she bays in dismay, lifting up her flippers to try and keep them out of the Carvanhas' reach. Haruka pats her neck, glancing across the cavern. She has to stay ahead of Michiru to light the path - and she doesn't want to violently attack the fish lest something worse rise to the surface. That leaves them with discouragement and neutralizing.

And fortunately, for once she has a Pokémon around with status moves. ] Safeguard!

Praaaaaas! [ A sparkling shield settles on Haruka, the Lapras, and Michiru, then vanishes - now Rhythm can use Sing later (or Michiru, should she choose to, can use anything else that causes status changes) without having to worry about affecting their party. For her part, Haruka starts shooting small Gusts at the fish, trying to pry off the ones already nibbling her Lapras and impede those who haven't reached them yet. Keep it up, Rhythm! They'll make it across! ]

((Whoops, misread 'Rhythm' as 'Rhyhorn' earlier, sorry!))

[The school of Carvanha, of course, continue on with their intent to Bite Lapras until they're satisfied with their mid-day meal. Gust is vaguely effective at keeping them away, but the unseen predators are certainly quite tenacious.

Michiru's path will cut off sharply in front of her as it sinks into the water - but if the lighting strikes her path just right, she'll find a small indentation in the wall it seems like she might be able to slip through. At the same time, if Lapras continues straight (or if the light progresses far enough), they'll find that proceeding straight forward will eventually lead them into their own smaller passage. This one, of course, seems more treacherous due to being filled with small biting fish.

They can always dive, too, if they're exceptionally brave.]

[Michiru will try to see what's inside, but her choices are limited. Going back isn't the best idea - she'd rather not let Lapras get nibbled on any more than necessary - and her other choice involves jumping into the water.]

Haruka! I'm going to see what's inside. [and she'll light her own lantern if needed]

Right. [ This isn't tenable. Even if Michiru finds a dead-end, Haruka has to wait on the ledge. Steering Rhythm towards the side, she sends the mental order to Sing.

And Sing Rhythm does - a low, soothing melody in the hopes of replacing lunch with naptime. Now they know what's in the water, though. Haruka will wait for a sign from Michiru and then they can decide how best to proceed. ]

[As the sound echoes throughout the cavern, the frequency of the bites slowly begin to fade away. Its abysmal accuracy means that Lapras will need to sing for a while before it will have its full effect, but it will be enough to save the Pokemon from fainting for the moment. Haruka might want to slip it a Potion sometime soon, though.

In the meantime, Michiru will indeed need to light that lantern as she slips through the wall; upon doing so, it will be immediately obvious that this passage was constructed by man. It is dry, here, with a slight upwards slope away from the water. From Haruka's perspective, Michiru has simply vanished into nothingness - it was clearly meant to be well hidden, but the passage of time eroded away some of its concealment.]

[Michiru will walk a few feet in, holding up her lantern as high as she can. She examines what she can see of the passageway for a moment, and then returns to fetch Haruka.]

Let's try this way. [Lapras might be getting a concerned look too.]

Right. [ And indeed, as soon as Haruka is on that ledge, she's patting Rhythm on the head for being brave and tending to what injuries she can reach with Potions. Then she returns Rhythm with the Warp Band, telling her to rest up while she can. Not everybody could have withstood that. She owes Lapras one.

After that Haruka's all clear to follow her partner, unsure what she'll find given how suddenly the other woman had disappeared earlier. There are no Lapras-eating fish this way, however. That makes it preferable.

Currently. ] D'you sense anything?

[It soon becomes clear that they're traversing an elongated upward spiral, almost as if they're ascending into some sort of tower. If Michiru is looking for Pokemon, she might find it difficult to get a grasp on anything in particular given the hundreds of Noibat and Carvanha in the cavern providing background noise they'd just left.

However, there certainly does seem to be more Pokemon ahead of them, as should probably be expected.

At some point, the path becomes stairs - extremely corroded stairs that are difficult to maintain their footing on. Here and there, there's also small cuts in the rock that afford them a glance outside. They can see glimpses of the ocean from here.]

[Michiru shakes her head.] Nothing that stands out.

[besides, you know, the fact that this was definitely not a work of nature. Their luck is either very good or very bad; either way, she's curious now.

Plus these stairs are treacherous enough that even Brad would have trouble with them.]

[ Haruka peers through one of the cuts - more for a sense of completion than any expectation she'll see anything other than "ocean". There's no way to know whether the people who made this had to contend with the carnivorous fish infestation in their day, so she'll keep an open mind about whether or not that had been a trap and just keep moving.

Gingerly, though, to stay upright on these stairs. ] So we won't be saving the world today.

[ Just like their last few vacations. Man, are they in a rut.

Haruka casts her lantern over the walls, checking for carvings anyway - anything that'd give a hint what they're dealing with in here. This isn't the kind of place she'd have expected to find human ruins, and The Mission never sleeps. ]

[Is that a small brown dot still determinedly swimming in their direction?

Anyway. Haruka will be in a good position to spot the remainder of the Archipelago spreading out in that direction, islands dotting the landscape. The walls, like the stairs, are too corroded to see much of anything.

In the lead, Michiru will be the first to stumble up the last of the stairs into a hollowed out room. The first thing she's like to notice is the enormous clay statue that stands in the middle of the room, black and white and pink, vaguely in the shape of a human.

Behind it is a rusty iron door.

This is not suspicious at all.]

[it's probably a tenacious, death defying brown dot. Kinda like that picture of a seal escaping a great white shark, except he only gets away because he doesn't taste that great.

Michiru takes a moment to examine the statue, but will move towards the door if nothing else seems interesting.]

Well, this isn't suspicious at all. [is that chill down her spine due to the whatever's ahead of them or is it because Brad's getting closer?]

[ Haruka's chill is from seeing the dot, but this does indeed appear to be getting more ominous. She keeps a pocket of wind swirling in one palm just in case anything jumps out at them, and stays close to Michiru. But that statue has her attention. ]

It's not a Pokémon. [ Does that mean this statue wasn't used for worship? Or is she wrong, and it's a representation of a rather humanoid Pokémon? She gives the statue another long look before making for that door. Whatever's behind it, they'll open it together.

Unless there's a trap in this room (always a possibility in the back of Haruka's head). In which case that's what they'll spring together. You never know. ]

[Traps are so much fun to spring, though, aren't they?

As they make to push open the door, their efforts will cause an audible click sound to echo through the chamber. Instantly, above them, there is the sound of scraping as the ceiling rumbles open. Before they can ponder on this too much, a burst of... what appears to be some sort of rainbow light flares to life and jolts straight into the motionless statue behind them.

...Haruka may want to reassess her opinion as the statue slowly begins to levitate into the air - what was obviously paint before now smooths and blends as it becomes something... more.

The pink eyes blink open.]

[should've paid attention to that feeling of foreboding, dammit.

Michiru immediately starts edging away from the door, hoping for a bit more open space and...those are a lot of eyes on that Pokemon.]

[ Haruka steps back too, knifing her body between the Pokémon and the door to present a smaller target. She won't make the first move, but she does hold up her empty hand to show that it's exactly that, snuffing the wind. A guard? And here they are without a lamp to sacrifice.

She backs towards Michiru's back so they'll be covering each other's blind spots, though her own eyes flick towards the door. They'll still have to keep that path clear.....

Though, seriously, her and her big mouth. ] .....Don't say it.

[Fwsh. Whrrrrrr....

It's almost like a machine coming to life. The clay Pokemon begins to revolve in place, each of its eyes resting on the two intruders as they spin by. Despite that it's alive, it doesn't seem to be particularly intelligent more than it seems to be carrying out an ancient set of commands...]

. . .

[Without further ado, the world suddenly distorts as a heavy psychic field ripples through the air. Claydol slams heavily to the ground; in the same moment, Haruka and Michiru will find it extremely difficult to so much as lift their feet off the ground - their own weight seems to have increased dramatically.

It seems it has used Gravity to attempt to keep them in place.]

Edited 2015-03-30 01:56 (UTC)

I can think of better uses for your mouth, if you need any suggestions. [her light tone belies the Water Pulse forming in the palm of her hand.

And...no, it certainly doesn't look like it's up for negotiating. Michiru stops trying to move, focusing instead on her attack and launching it at the Claydol.]

Maybe once we don't have company. [ Shoot. It got her speed.....and Haruka feels like something else's changed, too, though she can't put her finger on it....

At any rate, the top of a decrepit tower is hardly the place for Earthquake or Fissure, so her options are limited. Haruka stays out of the way of that attack, following it with an Air Slash as quickly as she can. A Pokémon made of clay is likely to be a Rock or Ground-type, but it's worth one attack to find out whether her Flying moves have any effect at all. ]

[The Water Pulse slams into the clay creature, and as expected, it certainly doesn't seem to appreciate this. The head spins around a bit more rapidly for a moment as the eyes fly open and disconcertingly hone in on Michiru. Haruka's Air Slash does have some effect, but she might find that it's... oddly less powerful than she would want it to be.

For the moment, it's Michiru that's incited its wrath; in the blink of an eye, Claydol has Teleported in front of the woman to slam her with its fist. It seems its strategy is to restrict its opponent's movements as much as possible while using its psychic abilities to continue to move fluidly.]

[Michiru manages to take the hit on her forearms, though the attack sends her heavily to her knees. That's a hiss of pain, but instead of trying to get up and dodge, there's a gleam of a Nasty Plot in her eyes instead.]

Michir--

[ Haruka's cry is cut short when she tries to dart forward and finds her movements impeded by Gravity. Drat. What good is she if she can't even reach the enemy...

But then she catches that look in Michiru's eyes, smirks, and stands down instead - at the ready to defend herself, but not trying to get Claydol's attention. Something needs to be taught an etiquette lesson, and she's not the Water-type Master of Training here. Better let the virtuoso take the stage.

Still, assuming whatever Michiru's planning works, it's going to be extremely satisfying. ]

[Claydol seems to fail to realize that it should be wary of anything in particular, though it appreciates that Haruka has remained still. Stretching its arms to the side now, the silent sentinel conjures up a spinning ring of rocks that rapidly begins to rotate around its body.

Ancient Power is applied on the water maestro with all the subtlety of a circular buzzsaw.]

[well, that's great. Too close to dodge, Michiru takes the hit and gets thrown to the side, shoulder scraping along the ground. As soon as she can see, she's forming her powered up Brine attack and sending the small tidal wave towards the Pokemon.]

[ ...but the downside to letting one's partner defend herself is having to watch her get attacked. Haruka flattens herself against the wall, trying to stay out of Brine's way, and begins making her slow way back to Michiru's side. She'll bring Rhythm back out if she has to, but at the least she can cover Michiru to keep that from happening again, right? ]

[Once again, the flood of water is not received kindly, and though it doesn't quite register pain in any familiar way, it performs its head rotation trick even more rapidly now. Claydol teleports back and forth in strange, jerking motions, its movements so haphazard that it appears blurred. As before, though, in the blink of an eye, it settles in front of the two women and raises its appendages high.]

! ! !

[With both fists held up in front of it, each of the clay statue's eyes flash a deep crimson color now as light begins to gather before it in the shape of a beam. ...A Hyper Beam, if you will.

...This seems like it could be bad. Fortunately, game mechanics are loosened here so there's certainly time to get off a final attack or a defensive maneuver before it attempts to blasts the two of them clear through the tower walls.]

Edited 2015-03-30 18:53 (UTC)

[she manages to get back on her feet as Claydol starts getting weird, but then her eyes widen when it's clearly gathering up energy.

It's now or never. A quick glance at her approaching partner, and then she's putting all her focus into another Water Pulse and launching it at the Pokemon.]

[ There's really no point to trying to dodge - or worrying about collateral damage - when everything's this slow and the attack looks that damaging, is there. Haruka returns that look and changes trajectory, palm out to try and make contact with Claydol for an Earthquake shot directly into the hostile Pokémon from the opposite side of the Water Pulse. If they've only got one chance left, she'd better not waste it. ]

[The wave of water and the erupting earth slam into the clay statue simultaneously, and for a moment, it simply seems to shudder in place while stalwartly weathering the attacks.

The laser does not dim...]

Tck.

...Tck. Tck... tck tck tck tcktcktcktck -- !

[But with a series of jolting noises, the Claydol's head slowly grinds to a halt as its eyes quietly blink shut. With an almighty crash... the ancient idol topples backwards into the ground, fists still raised up before it. ...It's almost a little sad.

...The effect of the Gravity lifts.]

Ka-chnk.

[The door that they had tried to push open smoothly slides upwards into a crevice in the ceiling.]

[Michiru stares at the motionless Pokemon, hardly daring to breathe. When the only sounds she can hear are the waves crashing on the beach outside, she winces and slowly walks over to the door, acutely aware of how her adrenaline is wearing off.

Getting scraped across the floor is never fun and neither is the dull ache she can feel in her arms, threatening to bruise.]

How long had it been just waiting there? [said quietly, as if she's afraid she'd disturb it]

[ Haruka is observing Claydol to see whether there's any chances of it getting up again in the near future. Satisfied, but also not keen to spend more time in its presence - it wasn't acting like a flesh-and-blood (clay?) creature so much as some kind of mechanism - she also heads for the door. ] It served its purpose.

[ Or tried to. Haruka wonders if whatever had told it to be a sentinel had realized it stood a pretty good chance of smashing up the tower all by itself. Or maybe orders were misinterpreted over time.

In any case, lest it does rally again, what's through this door? ]

((Sorry about the wait! Gonna wrap this up now.))

[The lonesome statue will be left to lie motionless on the ground for another unknown number of centuries... But in the meantime, as they step through the door, they'll find themselves in a circular chamber.

A number of pillars here are arranged in a ring - and while it's not immediately clear what they're for, another shuddering noise will accompany the slow descent of two of the pillars into the floor.

Two items are perched on top. Two items that may seem vaguely familiar.]

[Michiru immediately slides into a more defensible posture when the noise starts up but the sight of the objects stops her entirely. Her eyes are immediately drawn to the mirror, though she manages to retain enough sense to inspect the rest of the room.

A glance at her partner.]

[ Haruka glances at Michiru too. Seeing Michiru's had the same instinct, that she's feeling the same things, she inclines her head and steps up to the pillar upon which the sword is resting. She's not going to think about what she might be feeling. She's not going to consider the ramifications.

She only knows that her instincts tell her to grab the sword. And thus, slowly, she does just that.

The resulting flash of light is even stronger than her usual complementary special effects. ]

[The two objects are removed without much further fuss - the only thing left to note is that upon departure from the room, the door will once again descend from the ceiling to seal it off behind them. The Claydol, strangely, will be returned to an upright position under the ceiling tile hiding the odd light.

Apart from the Carvanha and Noibat and the waiting brown dot outside, their return will be unimpeded.]

((And that concludes the mod portion of the log! Feel free to continue RPing though, and hope you guys enjoyed!))

Absolute Destiny Apocousbians

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