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

[whateveryoueatliveitspart]

[Apollo nods, finishing tying a cloth across his face. Following through with Lux's suggestion, he had changed out of his Ranger uniform and into dull green pants and shirt.

Apollo's plan for this is the following:

-Apollo in the air with Talonflame, Apollo using his new Psyshock analogue and his Telekinesis that always seems to crush anything he tries to move to sow confusion, and Talonflame using Ember, Razor Wind, and Natural Gift (with the bag of various berries Apollo has on him). They'll need to be careful, since the ranged moves they have access to are all potentially lethal, but they're both good enough fighters to be able to pull it off.

-Hippowdon will be on the ground and trying not to attract too much attention as he uses Yawn. If they need to pull out, Hippowdon can start up a sandstorm with his Sand Veil ability, but since it will hurt them as well that's something of a last resort.

-Shiftry will be ninjaing it up on the ground, using Nature Power (Earth Power on sandy terrain like here) to make the ground erupt, mostly under unoccupied tents and wagons since Apollo doesn't want anyone to die here.

-Tropius will be in the air using Sweet Scent to lower evasion in support of everyone else and using Whirlwind to make a mess of the enemy's response. In the event that Talonflame can't carry Apollo anymore, Tropius will act as Apollo's backup mount.

-Bellsprout is rather underleveled for this, but knows Sleep Powder and Stun Spore and will be putting them to good use.

Since Apollo's a Child of the Verdant Forest and will have an aerial view, he'll be able to direct and warn the Pokémon on the ground as needed.

[timeywimeyorb]

[Setsuna follows Haruka's gaze and spots the caravan. It would seem her timing wasn't so bad after all. Setsuna then looks up at the cliff and watches the other woman get ready. So there going to fight some more? An ambush is really right up her alley between a Feint Attack or Teleport.]

Very well. I'll assist where I can.

[incousinswithyou]

[it's not quite as easy as Haruka makes it look, but Michiru will follow her up that cliff. Once there, she'll crouch, keeping an eye on the caravan and the surroundings while presenting as small a silhouette as possible. Time to clear her mind and. Well. Status boosting moves sure are handy that way.]

[bravenewmods]

[...The caravan proceeds forward smoothly.

When it is about 1000 feet from the shed, though...

It stops.

............Maybe the guards were meant to identify themselves or something whoops.]

[actsmagnificent]

[ .....well. It's....not a moving target now?

Better not give them any more time to think about this than necessary. Warp Band at the ready, Haruka stands up to serve as bait. ] Looking for someone?

[ Ambush is go. ]

[timeywimeyorb]

[Leave it to the actors to know how to improvise. Setsuna isn't sure what to do when the caravan stops so far out, but Haruka is ready and Setsuna looks to Michiru for some kind of signal. If they're going to still ambush then they need to use Haruka's act of distraction to their advantage.

Concentrating, Setsuna fades out of sight and, using the shadows, performs a Feint Attack to sneak up on the unsuspecting caravan.]

[incousinswithyou]

[Setsuna got a nod at the far side of the caravan and a slight smirk, before Michiru herself darted away towards the other side.

Once in place, Michiru concentrates and that's a Deep Submerge tidal wave crashing towards the caravan.

A glimmer of her Warp Band, and her Gardevoir is at her side, serious and Psychically linked.]

[willbethebest]

Wukong grinned at Rosa. Or possibly he bared his fangs. It was a scary face.

"Don't be ridiculous. There's only twenty five of them. We'll be fine!"

[bravenewmods]

[Not too far away, Lea and Roxas hear the sound of voices approaching their position. They're indistinct right now, and definitely unrecognizable, but they seem to be coming closer]

[bravenewmods]

[The caravan is eerily silent. Whoever's inside doesn't react at all to Haruka's appearance, either having already understood that an attack was underway or perhaps being remarkably unconcerned about this entire situation.

It's only when the water begins to surge in that something happens.

With a flare of light, a brilliant blue shield suddenly appears around the Caravan; a second flare and six strange Pokemon are suddenly floating around the caravan.]

Squad 309 - On defense!

[There is a strange undulation in the air - the entire group will suddenly feel a sensation of unbalance. As if they're trying to move underwater. It may be possible that they've experienced the effects of Trick Room well enough to recognize it.

In the meantime, three heavily armored soldiers leap out, their own movements somehow much swifter than would be expected. The waters are heavily mitigated by the Light Screen that's up. They can probably expect that there's a Reflect in place as well.]

You think we travel without protection? I thought Calderans were supposed to be good at strategizing.

[inthenameofthemoon]

[ Really, Usagi hadn't meant to tag along with the group. It wasn't as if she wanted to get herself lost after trying to be helpful... although really if she had wanted to be helpful she should have stayed in Union and not listened to the voice in her head telling her to get more involved because this was important. Her pokemon hadn't helped in that decision either.

So now, she's certain she may have made a nuisance of two of her most respected people she knows and is trying not to get in their way despite getting lost and having no other way home except for Haruka, Michiru and Hotaru.

Usagi's looking around idly, taking in the sights of this new place while Pinky is settled quite nicely in Usagi's arms. If there was anything that the Clefairy knew about her human partner, hugs during a high stress situation were the answer to keeping her from fretting too much. For now though, she keeps herself quiet because they look like they knew what they were doing... right? ]

[actsmagnificent]

[ Oh. Oh, defenses are one thing, but that weird distortion to the environment hits Haruka hard. Smart of them to plan for something that takes out speedy assaults. She staggers but raises her Warp Band. ] We're more improvisational.

[ Attacking feels impossible right now, but she does summon her Rhyhorn and her Murkrow. World Shaking the Rhyhorn almost immediately tosses his head in frustration. He feels heavy! What's going on?!

That's what Haruka would like to know. Be her shield for a moment, World Shaking, while she gathers her thoughts to regroup. For some reason, her speed's just...gone.

She's glaring daggers at the man who's been calling the orders, though. That's the one. That's the one she has to take out. No matter what. ]

[bravenewmods]

As the team progresses into the caverns, they notice a faint light, which, as they approach, grows brighter and hotter. Stepping into the next room, they find themselves on a huge alcove overlooking a massive pool of bubbling lava.

[bravenewmods]

((Ahh no I linked the wrong thing, I apologize! Trick Room is the right link. It makes slow Pokemon fast and fast Pokemon slow. Rhyhorn would be quite happy in it, just as a heads-up.))

[timeywimeyorb]

[Perhaps not immediate strategy, but they DO have an analyst on their team. Setsuna is hindered by the Light Screen from attacking, but that isn't blocking her from taking in each and every Pokemon's abilities, strengths, and powers.

She raises her hand and summons two Pokemon with her Warp Band: Lethe and Cerberus. If their speeds have been reversed then Slowpoke isn't going to be so slow any more.

And her ability to use Disable is not going to be stopped by projections like a Light Screen or Reflect. Setsuna sends the mental command through the Warp Band and Lethe responds in kind by using Disable.]

[actsmagnificent]

[[ ooc: No, I get it! Since Haruka's Rhyhorn is an ex-professional racer, I'm figuring he's faster than the average Rhyhorn and therefore displeased. You're good! ]]

[incousinswithyou]

[somebody decided to dump Speed EVs into a Rhyhorn so.......

Well, at least it makes things interesting. A flicker of thought between Michiru and her Pokemon, and Gardevoir starts setting up a Moonblast attack. Michiru summons her Gyarados and...damn. No Rain Dance, not with the other Pokemon in the field. Aqua Tail, on the other hand...

Gyarados is the first to strike at one of the strange floating Pokemon, swiping at it with a broad lash of her tail. Gardevoir follows up with Moonblast at the same Pokemon. Michiru uses the time to gather a Water Pulse in her palm as she takes in the situation.]

[celebrity_commentator]

Right! Just leave the scanning stuff to me.

[Himiko automatically moves forward to support the Psychic humans while Rise has a look at the Gigas soldiers, squinting to try and get a read on the Pokémon they might be hiding in those ball devices.]

[airguitarist]

For Blue Rose's part? She didn't speak because that just wasn't part of her nature, but she did give all three of the Enlightened the most unimpressed face she can muster-- which on a Nidoran♀, can be pretty damn impressive.

Luckily, Nero was immune to any glares or stares from her (somewhat), and too wired to care about enemy numbers. He felt he could take on more of them on his own at any given time. Not to mention he didn't like the Pokéballs on their belts-- as a guy who turned into a Pokémon on a regular basis, that was just downright wrong. He'd heard of them from stories about the times of the War, so how'd these people get their paws on them?

"Like the Chimchar says, we'll be fine. After we're done with them, they're gonna need reinforcements." And to emphasize, he scratched his claws against the tree.

"So, we going in or what?" Nero got down on his belly and started crawling towards the humans, using the brush as cover.

[ourlegends]

[ Oh, well, this is awkward. Hilda hangs back a little, behind Aster. What's wrong with her being a girl, huh. :| ]

N-Nice to meet you guys ... I hope it's not an inconvenience or anything that Sam, Eileen and I are coming along.

[ Yes, she made her to include her sheep and her bird. ]

[realmenknitplushies]

[Small mercy, that one. But not much in the current state of things.]

Already? Damn.

[Kanji frowns, sighs, catches his thumbs on his pockets and looks down-]

I've got another batch cookin' up, but they ain't quite ready yet, and I'm gonna need some more bottles...

[actsmagnificent]

Sewaaaaaaa.

[ Sewaddle hangs his head over Haruka's hood and gasps. Oh, boy, that's hot. Haruka's throat closes too - the air in here's stuffy, it's messing with her sense of the wind - but she doesn't betray emotion, just holds up an arm to make sure nobody tries to keep walking. Her Murkrow is flying around the lava pool, cawing in distress. Who put this here? It's uncomfortable! ]

An impasse already?

[ She gives Michiru a look - at least they'd known it was a volcano - and then turns back to the lava pool. Does the path continue on the other side, if they can find a way over? Is there anything written on the walls? ]

[actsmagnificent]

[ Haruka has had time to regain her equilibrium now. Her head still feels funny, and her limbs still feel heavy, but she's going to give it a go.

Her Pokémon go first: targeting a different Pokémon than Michiru did, World Shaking shoots a Rock Blast in the hopes of striking multiple times, while Murkrow swoops in for a Night Shade. (They'll Pursue if the enemy has more than one type of Pokémon up their sleeves.) Haruka fires an Air Slash close on their heels, but wow, she can actually see it, that's unpleasant.

Something's got to change, here. ]

[globetrotting]

[ It's her houndoom and nidorino that accompany them with the trip to get the refugees to safety, houndoom listening out for anything suspicious and nidorino ready to help with any trouble. Houndoom keeps closer to the back while nidorino to the front.

Blue looks to Roxas she they lead the group, putting a hand on his shoulder to get his attention. She speaks softly. ]

Okay?

[incousinswithyou]

[if it gets really bad, she might try something like Water Sport to see if that will help. And if there's no path, but something on the other side, her Gardevoir knows Teleport.

Glancing at Haruka, and then at the kids.] Are you two alright?

[Michiru either looks like she's bearing the heat better than the others or she actually is depending on game mechanics]