The Battle for Caldera

[bravenewmods]

The time for action is at hand, and the players have been set in place. Those who choose to make an attempt at diplomacy head off at the appointed time to meet with Valeria, the clerk and representative of the general who leads the Gigas army. Those who wish to take more direct action against Gigas leave with General Ironbrand to put their plans into motion. In the meantime, the refugees continue to stream into Union, while supplies are gathered and flow the other way.

The outcome of this war may very well depend on the combined results of these four efforts…

((This log will be a catch-all for all four efforts of the attempt to save Caldera. There will be four different parts of this post: Diplomacy, Aggression, Refugees, and Supplies. The first two should be well established, but the Refugees portion will encompass bringing those in Caldera who require help to Union and giving them medical aid and care, while the Supplies portion will encompass people in Union setting up shelters and gathering resources to send back to Caldera, as well as other miscellaneous tasks that may be of help. Gathering resources may entail leaving Union to explore out in other areas. You all signed up for groups, so please try to maintain these groups when posting, particularly to the Diplomacy and Aggression sections. The other two may be more free-form.

Mods will be responding at least once every 24 hours to keep the logs moving.

EDIT 5/31: Please try to group up if possible! We'll generally try to wait for threads to have 2-3 people before we jump in. Threads with 3+ may attract the attention of something a little more... interesting.))

Comments

[withcourage]

If you say so, Hilda.

[He's still a bit worried about his friend, but he won't voice those thoughts quite yet.]

Let's get going, then! It'd probably be best to get back before dark, or else we'll have to camp out or fumble around trying to find the way back, and that might not be a good idea.

[Honestly, Aster's still just nervous about being out for so late. He won't say it, of course, because he wants to keep morale always high and he doesn't want anyone to worry about him. Those worries would dissipate with time, hopefully.]

[niepokonany]

[Guns? Feliks has never come face to face with the possibility of something like that being turned on him--there's a certain disbelief in his mind as the shots begin to ring out. And they have a Steel type, too--not good for him or Jadwiga, defensively, but at least there's something he can do about it. Taking cover as best he can and hoping the mist and general confusion will help obscure their side, he flings a blast of flame towards the Bisharp.]

[Jadwiga gets hit by the Flamethrower attack, but that isn't enough to distract her. The trainers have deadly weapons and deadly intent, and besides, a Houndoom is all but harmless to her trainer. Priorities. Focusing on the nearest trainer with a gun, determined to protect her friends, she puts all she has into a powerful Psychic attack. You do not threaten Feliks around her.]

[A bullet strikes the earth in between Oberek the Exeggcute's different eggs; all of them leap up in surprise, talking among themselves for a few moments before angrily returning fire towards whoever's nearest with Bullet Seed.]

[threemoms]

[ Hotaru wasn't expecting a Seviper. Especially coming from a small ball thing - honestly, what were those?

She, unlike the others, wasn't a trained fighter. But she did practice, and she did have Pokémon instincts to guide her. So when Seviper struck out at her with Poison Fang, she moved. Darting to the side, she used her much smaller relative size to her advantage, trying to maneuver behind the other Pokémon. As she did, she called out Celosia, her Litwick, using her Warp Band.

Celosia, as expected, decided to appear on top of Hotaru's head. ]

Celosia! Confuse Ray! [ As her candle-like friend gave a mock salute and launched the attack, Hotaru finished trying to maneuver into place and lash out with a Bite. It was her most powerful non-lethal move, and she knew that a good Bite could make another Pokémon falter even when fighting and hyped up on adrenaline. Hopefully, between her attack and Celosia's, they could do something. ]

[bravenewmods]

[Thunderbolts and counterattacks alike go awry in the haze of smoke spewed by Koffing and not much productive is directly accomplished on either side.

The slip 'n' slide created by Robin's Pokemon earlier will present something of a challenge as the caravans continue forward and Asemu's shots will ricochet randomly off the ice - a few yelps from down below will indicate that he's somehow managed to strike his target with this pinball maneuver nonetheless.

But the caravans are trying a different strategy now as something small and pink pops out of a Pokeball to jump onto the roof.

It smiles and begins to wave its fingers back and forth - as it works, the fliers will begin to feel a crushing weight.]

[bravenewmods]

[Biao will sniff his way through the crowd - then give a bark as he catches on to something. If Chie follows, she'll eventually reach the same area Morgiana is in.

Morgiana, in the meantime, will come across a red and orange bird running around in circles in the middle of the alley, flustered for some reason. There is a large slab of rubble behind it.]

[bravenewmods]

[Lotad burbles and squirts Melaka in the face with some of the water as she stands around looking awkward. Cheer up. Go get some food or something.

Then it hops back to the Pancham, who avoids looking at the humans.

It's really up to them what they do with the two Pokemon at this point.]

[whateveryoueatliveitspart]

[Apollo notes the existence of Siege Engine Rotom down below and mentally signals for Hippowdon and Shiftry to start falling back and support Garen's retreat as much as is practical. Now that Talonflame's hp is at a more comfortable level, Apollo passes him a new berry and they both turn their attention towards attacking; Apollo uses Psyshock and Talonflame uses a Rock-type Natural Gift, firing a spray of stones at the fliers, then follows up with a Quick Attack to abruptly shift position and possibly get a hit in. During the Quick Attack, Apollo will attempt to cut someone's reigns or something similar with his knife as they pass to see if he can't force the person to focus on flying instead of attacking.

As they get closer to Garen, Shiftry will use Leaf Tornado to try and distract the fliers attacking Garen, while Hippowdon will use Sand Tomb to trap a bunch of Gigas's ground forces in a small sandstorm and keep them away from the Union ground forces.]

[rejected_trash]

Identify that Gengar!

[Knowing that command as well, the Donphan uncurls, raising it's trunk as it uses Odor Sleuth. However, Luxray doesn't like the annoyance of Hypnosis and uses Roar. Sync meanwhile opens his wings and flaps as he dodges aside; they are more for helping him maneuver at this stage than true flight after all. He also starts gathering up a lot of energy in one of his fist and black particles start rolling off. He's waiting for a chance to get close enough to try the Curse Slot though, guns aren't something he ever expected to deal with.]

Do something about the Bisharp and the guns.

[His Ninetails responses by using Will-O-Wisp, and waiting for a chance to follow with Hex, very unperturbed even with the guns. Meanwhile, his Talonflame preps for it's own Razor Wind and Crobat uses Air Cutter at the new trio of soldiers.]

[crimson_pinnacle]

Alright Ribbons, Nike, let's get serious, we need to get going!

[The Aerodactyl, while initially very upset with Lucas being close huffs one last time, and stands, lowering it's head and shoulders enough for the boy to get on. Meanwhile, Nike, the ever troublesome one, snorts, looking at Kanji and opening a wing, saying something to Abby which in turn makes the Charizard just shrug. Kanji's arguably too big for everyone, so. Huffing, she lowers enough for him to get on, spreading her wings and flicking her head to indicate for him to hurry. While he's an Electric Enlightened, she trusts he's aware that accidental discharges in the sky will result in her being less one rider quickly. Abby looks to Red, who reaches to adjust his hat...which is still in the Charizard's hand, and he huffs now, before climbing onto it's back.]

Just remember to let them do most of the leading and we'll be fine! Ribbons likes his ears scratched...you may want to compliment Nike's plumage or something. She likes being flattered. Anyway!

[Abby crouches, and leaps, flapping it's wings as they're off.]

Now...Tell me about these flowers. I don't recall...oh! Yeah, I do now, I was out training right at the end and just got lucky enough to bond with Atley!

[mightofdemacia]

[With the additional support, Garen can tell it is time to retreat, he accordingly dismisses all of his Pokemon save for his Doublade; it would be deeply offended anyway at the action, and he can move better without having to worry about the rest being in danger. Raising his sword, he again uses Iron Defense to buff himself, and then takes off through the ruined ground and the sudden rises of sand that threaten to pin him in as he makes his way back to their entry point, at last catching sight of the Siege Engine Rotom and he feels very lucky for the moment they've achieved their goal.]

[makeitquick]

We really oughta get back to the water.

[ More to Squid Girl than anything ] And the rest of 'em. I can probably carry both.

[flying_chains]

Well, it doesn't take a genius to figure this one out. Morgiana ran over and started lifting at the debris. It was really big, but Morgiana had never let herself be beaten in terms of raw strength.

[footprints_on_your_face]

Morgiana, hey!

[Chie and Biao come running up. She knows full well how strong the other girl is, so Chie just stands back and lets the Fanalis do her thing.]

Biao, get ready to get in there and drag the girl out, okay?

[moemoetentacles]

Yeah, we should kelp these guys out.

skip my next turn; i'll be busy all of tomorrow!

[antiseptic]

[It's unfortunate that none of them possess much in the way of defensive abilities. There's nothing to do but brace himself - the bullets are much too fast to dodge. He focuses, maintaining the illusions the best he can in order to misdirect the soldiers into shooting at the wrong targets. Duskull hovers next to him, trying to coordinate his attacks with Jadwiga by targeting that same soldier with Confuse Ray.]

[Sandshrew completes her Dig, tunnelling out right beneath the group of soldiers to strike swiftly. Seeing the amount of reinforcements, however, she hastily burrows back into the ground, at the same time kicking up a large amount of dirt in a Sand Attack, adding to the confusion.]

[Behind the group, the sound of singing stops as Jigglypuff succumbs to the Hypnosis. Although he's concerned about the loss of a fighter, Jade doesn't allow himself to grow distracted. He doesn't even glance back to check on his Pokemon.]

[second_destiny]

Dammit!

[At first, Asemu ups his energy output, but he can see this going bad for him. So he lets himself drop to ground level, and instead uses his energy to dash. He charges into the smoke, and strikes at the wagons' wheels with his beam sabers.]

[realmenknitplushies]

[He's trying to make himself as small as he can, okay? He knows his types are trouble here... being as careful as he can be as he climbs on, then, giving Nike a little stroke.]

See? You've got me. You're gonna do great.

[a_gentle_boy]

[Is it really a sincere compliment if he told them to give compliments? But Lucas won't question that now as he slowly slides on - he'll reach out to scratch the ears as he was advised while telepathically communicating some degree of warmth and gratitude.]

The flowers?

They came a few months ago! Early in the spring... It was really strange; all at once, Union was just covered...

[ourlegends]

[ She can tell Aster is nervous, and she smiles a little, taking his hand into her own and giving it a reassuring squeeze. It's okay, buddy. Everything will be okay. We're with adults! ]

I'm at least pretty familiar with the Scorched Forest. That's where I met Oliver and Gavin.

[ Her Magby and Slugma, she means. She loves them both. Even if she can't tough Gavin at all. ]

Once we get there I'm sure we'll be able to find plenty of burnable things.

[bravenewmods]

[Kelping them out sounds like some sort of medieval torture method, but Lotad and Pancham won't object too much. Lotad will burble a little bit if it's grabbed, while the tiny panda will weakly struggle.]

[bravenewmods]

((Sorry guys - since this happened practically when the event was ending, we probably won't be able to count this for anything in particular. Did you guys still want to thread something out though?))

[bravenewmods]

[...There are no small children underneath the pile of rubble, thankfully!

But there is a gap between two buildings behind it, in which a small child is hiding. She has covered her ears in response to the loud noises of Morgiana clearing away some of the debris, obviously fearing that more explosions were about to happen.]

[bravenewmods]

[The trainers are largely forgotten as the Gigas troops realize what the thrust of their offense was for. They're too well trained to panic - at least, panic too much - and the majority of the soldiers scramble back as far as they can away from the engine in something vaguely resembling an organized fashion.

But they really have no idea what to do, it's clear. This could take a while to sort out.

None of their Pokemon - and few of them - have escaped this entirely unscathed, as was expected, but it's probably a victory that none of them are dead.]

((Just gonna leave this here and count it as a completed log!))

[master_tactician]

I'm on it!

[Robin hones in on the pink Pokemon and launches a lightning spell at it while Fimbulvetr attacks with Icy Wind]

[bravenewmods]

[Beams of red light recall the Haunter, Kadabra and Houndoom as they all faint under the onslaught. Meanwhile, several soldiers are sent flying by Napoleon's furious attack]

Pull back! Retreat!

[The soldiers scramble for safety, some helping those that are on the ground get up as they start fleeing before the might of the shifters]