bravenewworld | The Labyrinth of the New Moon

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The Labyrinth of the New Moon

Most of Union was familiar now with the second world that had so abruptly inserted itself into their lives. They called it the Dream World: a place where fiction became more real than reality and where the imagination knew no bounds. If it weren't quite so intrusive, some might even find it an amusing place to visit - there were secrets to be uncovered here, surely, where the mental barriers of friends and enemies were relaxed, and powers to be taken advantage of. Who wouldn't want to host a pool party every night?

For a week, the people of Union continue to pop in and out of the Dream World until most have grown tired of the seemingly random nature of the disappearances. Low mutterings and disgruntled complaints begin to spread throughout the city, but it seems as if no one truly knows how to stop it. Giant fans to disperse the fog are suggested facetiously once, and a number of Fan Rotoms are seen working hard the next day... But such efforts amount to nothing.

On the night of the seventh day, something changes.

Those who pop into the Dream World tonight will realize immediately - the landscape has changed. Dream mists still swirl and eddy at random intervals, but the Neutral Spaces have grown dark and shadowed. There's no ominous feeling of danger, but rather... alertness. The sense that something unusual is about to happen.

Up in the sky, a shadowed moon gleams with a faint luster. A new moon. ...This is impossible, of course, but then, many things are impossible in this world. And no matter where you head, it seems as if each step takes you closer to that black moon, a gaping maw in the twilit sky... Step forward, retreat backwards, close your eyes and flee. It matters not. One more step and it has devoured you whole.

There is the sensation of falling, of spinning, of coming to an abrupt halt without feeling an impact. But when you open your eyes, you are not alone. Two or three others you may recognize are with you, and a long corridor stretches out before your group with doors dotting each side as far as the eye can see.

Welcome to the Labyrinth of the New Moon.

[OOC: All plot logs for people in the Dream World will occur here. Please make the first post with all the names of the people in your group in the subject line so people know where to post. Mod responses will come about once every 24 hours as long as at least one person has posted.

The group listings are here. We will not be running randomizers anymore, but you may still sign up with a full group of at least three if you can find one and tag in. Keep in mind though that the log may not be finished depending on when it is posted. You may also hop in an existing group as long as all existing group members give permission and the group is not full.]

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[So the same thing happened for all of them, huh...? Minato exhales softly, glancing at the others as they speak.

A Ralts comes toddling over from a spot slightly further away, coming to a stop near Minato and holding up her arms as if to ask to be lifted. He obliges.] I'm Minato, and this little one is Lucia.

[Introductions all around, huh. Ichigo scratches the back of his head with his ponytail hair 'hand', sighing softly.]

I'm Ichigo. I'd say it's nice to meet you all, but...

[Being in a weird maze is probably not the place to do it in. Walking stiff leggedly, he wanders over to one of the nearby doors, hair hand touching the surface of the door itself.]

...Do we go in?

[ Mentally marking names with faces, Metalhawk wanders beside Ichigo and eyes the door with suspicion. A gnawing sense of unease shadowing his steps. He eyes the door beside this one, then the one behind Minato and Lucia or Lea and Marie, noting any similarities or differences. ]

Can we make out any visual markers? Anything to hint at what lies beyond?

[The doors are ornate, with silver handles and other fine things that, had they the time, the group might notice. But the maze, being the sentient thing that it is (it isn't), decides that this train needs to start moving.

The ground moves suddenly, and they feel the floor abruptly drop away from them. It would appear that they were also standing on some kind of door, because things make complete and utter sense in this place always.

When they finally come to, they'll hear screaming. Pokemon and humans alike run past, a few shifting into either form in mid-stride. One disappears, then another, and another, a strange spherical object appearing in their place.

Run, boys, or you're gonna get caught!]

Great. Now that we're all properly introduced... [Lea puts his hands on his hips, frowning as he casts light down the hall with his tail. So many doors...] They all look identical... I guess we should just pick oUUAAAAHHH!!

[the yelling, because the floor just fell out from under them. Everyone except Marie, who looks around, bewildered. Where did they go?! She panics for a moment before noticing the door. Oh.

When Lea wakes up (again with the unconsciousness? This is getting old), it's to Marie shaking him. She'd love for him to die and join her as a ghost but there are more pressing matters! Like those horrible balls!! He quickly gets to his feet]

Oh crap.

[It's those hideous devices that Team Evolution uses. Lea would never forget them]

Run!

[Following his own advice, Lea takes off]

[Minato gives a startled yelp when the floor disappears and Lucia clings for dear life.

He grumbles to himself as he comes to, and he hasn't quite gotten his bearings when he sees the balls. He scrambles after Lea, not needing to be told twice.]

[OOC: Over 24 hours, moving this thread along!]

[Their faces are distorted, but from the suits and insignias embroidered on their jackets, it would seem that Lea's assumption is correct. A man stops to pick up one of the pokeballs and his face nearly slips in half with a cheshire grin. Flames mar the horizon, colors melding with the setting sun.

As they flee, they pass by others who run with them, their pursuers gaining ground. Running behind what seems to be a mother and son, the young boy stumbles over his own feet, falling to the ground. A mother screams, but is pulled in the other direction by the stampede.]

[The balls were....incredibly familiar. Just like the nightmare he'd had, they bring up an odd sense of...deja vu. There was something about them...

But like everyone else, he'd turned and ran. He didn't want to be caught in them, not at all - But he still couldn't shake the feeling that he knew what those objects were.

By the time the other people appear in the dream, he's past worrying about it. Just keep running -

- until the child falls, and he hears the anguished cry from the little boy's mother.

He doesn't think. He just stops where he is, turning around faster than it seems possible, running for the child and skidding to a stop in front of him - physically placing himself in front of the approaching persuers.]

go!

[Yelling it at the boy, he gets into a fighting stance, shrugging the top parts of his robes off, letting his hair hand grab and hang onto them.

He's not about to let these bastards get away with whatever they're doing - not anymore.]

[ Falling into a tumble as the floor swings away, he remembers smacking hard against something before he comes to. Double vision mars his view and Pidove prods him, frantically cooing as sound washes over them. The tidal wave of bodies push past them like a deluge of humanity and pokemon. ]

[ Metalhawk shifts and climbs above the masses. He goads Pidove to follow the others and she does so reluctantly. ]

[ Ichigo had stayed behind to protect the boy. Metalhawk will not let him stand alone. He attempts to weave through the trajectory of pokeballs, unsure of what they were, but certain of their harmful nature. ]

[out of the corner of his eye, Lea sees Ichigo make a 180 and head back into the fray, followed by Metalhawk]

[Lea bares his fangs, irritated] Savior dammit, these idiots! [he looks at Minato and groans] We have to go back for them.

[he turns around, darting into a shadow on the ground to avoid the flow of the stampeding crowd and heading back to where Metalhawk and Ichigo were making their stand. Jumping from the shadow, Lea has his chakrams out and blazing. His warp band flashes and next to him appears a large Garchomp, unleashing a plume of dragon rage on their attackers]

You're both complete morons, you know that?

[But Mother Hen Lea can't let them do this by themselves. He doesn't know any of them well, but they're his little group and he's going to make sure they're ok]

[By some stroke of luck, Metalhawk is able to elude the pokeballs with some skillful ducking and weaving.

Frozen with fear, the child closes his eyes tightly, expecting it all to be over in an instant. When he isn't immediately trampled, however, his eyes snap open, and he looks up at Ichigo, Metalhawk, Lea and Garchomp in awe. Rubbing his arm over his wet eyes and nose, the boy nods emphatically, scrambling to his feet and breaking into a full-tilt run, shifting into a striped pokemon. His mother told him not to, that that would give him away, but it was too difficult to run fast on two legs!

Unfortunately, that would be the boy's undoing. A flash of light, a rolling pokeball, and a mother's anguished scream from the mob; in less than a second, he was gone. The man with the split-faced smile scooped it up, looking at it and grinning. The rest of his face was obscured, and all that was left was a slightly hooked nose and that gruesome mouth curled into a sadistic smile.

Pokemon and people continue to run past, but, if the group looks closely, they'll notice something is off. The mother keeps running past, screaming as she's swept up by the rest of the mob, until it repeats again a moment later. Eventually they too start to fall away, but the man stays, turning his attention away from the boy in the pokéball to the four, mouth opening into a strangely green grin, green lights and a purple aura swirling around him.]

Looks like I've got some good ones here. Better run home to mommy, boys. I'll give you to ten.

[Minato's a little late in turning back around to the follow the others, but he skids to a stop next to Lea. Lucia jumps down from his arms, prepared to fight as well.]

You really think we're going to run after what we've seen?

[Ichigo'd made a strangled cry himself when the child got kidnapped, but the strange repeating events and eventual fade tell him that it's not quite the terrible situation he thought it was.

But...

As the man turns, the aura and grin revealing his true nature...Ichigo's eyes narrow, his arms turning into blades. Another shifter? And doing this, on top of it? He doesn't know the pokemon, but...

It doesn't matter.]

You need to run.

[And just like before, he leaps in - even when he probably shouldn't, being such a low level. A little help, guys?]

Heh... Not like we can run anyway. We're trapped in this weird place. We might as well deal with the likes of you while we're here.

[That grin, that aura... It's somehow familiar. Ghost type, his ability tells him. There's more, but it's hidden away from his view, somehow. Occluded, clouded. Probably from the fog of the dream world.

He opens his mouth to say "let's not make any sudden moves," but that was apparently already a lost cause.

So when Ichigo moves, Lea does as well, vanishing into thin air and reappearing, crouched, right below the mysterious Team Evolution man. With a quick motion, he attacks the hand holding the pokéball, aiming to knock it from his grasp.

Or break his arm. Whatever came first.

To make sure he hits the damn ghost-thing, he imbues his strike with the Dark type, a swirling shadow surrounding his already flaming chakram]

[Ichigo please, put those things away, who are you trying to scare? The split-faced man tilts his head back at an impossible angle, his whole body shaking with laughter. His voice distorts, a cacophony of different voices melding into one, his speech difficult to understand.]

Do͓̙̫̞̪͘N͕̭̝̟̮͔̥͞'͙͟T̷̗̲ ̙sÁy̙͎̦ I̗͍͔̟̯̬͍ ͇̘͎D̵̲̺̱̱̘̖I̧ͅd̘̺n͔̻̥̯'̫͇͕̼̟̻T͇̰̫͓̣̺͘ W̧͇͓͚̻̻a̙r̰͙͓̰̲̭̬͜N̘̮̬̹͍̱͈ ̦̫̩̱̦Y̴o͝u͏͕̝̘̘̫͖.̡͖͈̝̳̰̠̫

[The man throws out both arms, body becoming incorporeal. Laughing madly, a flurry of the pokéballs fly from his body at them, blanketing everything around. They are indiscriminate on what they capture--trees, the remaining apparitions of pokémon and people running, even the sky seems to be blotted out by these things. The world disappears and, if the party isn't careful, they may go with it. It cackles, all voices at once whispering, screaming, crying in a wall of sound.]

F͚͖̞e҉̞̟̘e͘L͔̙͓̮͔̤ TḪ͎̝̪͞e͙͔̳̳͍̗̖ ̢̟̠ṕ̣a̛͍̠̮̗i̖͉̖͙̠̳Ņ͇ t̠͇̞͠H͠aT҉̗͙͍ ̥̘̥̰̠̭̥͘W͙̘̼̗̱E ̬̼f̦̮͓E̥͕͖͚͕͔̞͜L̲̮̩̮̭ͅt̳,͓̯ͅ ̠̱͕̕ͅE͓n̸S͝L͍͖̘̰̳͇͍A̗͙v̦͔̥̯̟̯e̳D͉̞̭͍̜͝ͅ ̛͇̥̹͉̥̘f̮o͡R̺̗̙̫ ̛̱̲͉̯̠e̸͇̞t̲̳̜e̹̣͢R̭͠N̶̲̖i̢̖̩͈̘̲t̯̭͔y̛̠̖̙̻̤ i͔̱̠̗͈͠N͚̥̬̖͚ ͞E̞͎̻̙̘N̳͔D̟l͝e̻͔̫͉͇̜S̭͚̜͉ṣ se̼̻R͕V͈̱͈i̛̖͈̹̺̲̦t̥͇̼̗͙̥T̨̳̻̯̮u̼̪̰̭̝d̗ͅE̶!̟̀

[Lea goes unnoticed until the last possible moment, his attack striking true. The man screams, form freezing and shifting, distorting, melting away to reveal a Spiritomb. It begins rotating quickly, rising into the air, working into a frenzy.]

H̗͞o̷W͇̖̳̯̼ͅͅ ̘̬̹̤̹̝d̗a҉̳͖͔R̖̻͓̩̗e̳̙̣͈ y̨̝̪O̼̤͜U͖̥̯̝͎̗ ̪͠I̴̳̮͕̙͈͚'̪̕l̥L̝̱̖͙͍̮͓ ͍͔͙̱̮͉͝K͏̩̱̯̙i͏͎̭̳L͉͔ͅL͇ ̖̮̰̰̹͘ͅYOU̥ ̷ͅA͖L͇̖͉̙͚̼L̘̩̩̮̥͇͘ ̵̱͓̖k͖I͈̲̪̰L͏L̢̤̼̫ ̫̬̝͚͠a̧̠L͖̤L͉̱̗͚͓͚͙ ̙̼̼̜̙̯K̲̱I̥͇̦̹̙̼L̻̗̠̼̹̠L̩̤ ͔̗̠͓̜Y̸̺O̴̹͙U̙̞̦̹̺

Enough.

[All at once it stops, body slowly settling down as it bobs from side to side in the air, dissipating a bit. The Spiritomb struggles against something for a brief second, before finally succumbing to some unseen force, its gaseous body retreating to parts unknown. The world slows to a stop, a deep voice filling their minds.]

I see that a lack of self-preservation still exists. It must run deep with your kind.

[ Metalhawk halts mid-dive, prepared to be a brave little bird, but thrown off by the sudden change of everything. He banks gracefully in the air and settles himself beside the others, shifting back into his human form. He glances around them, head still ringing from the previous chaos, pulse thrumming in his ears. ]

-Who?

[oh. Spiritomb. Dammit, Lea hates these things. With no weaknesses except to Fairy, they're hard to knock out, and creepy as hell to boot. Lea prepares another attack to defend himself and his team against the Pokémon's wild attacks when a deep, dark voice fills their heads, and the void around them.

Eyes narrowed, Lea remains on guard]

Yeah, we're kind of an annoying species like that.

Invasive species. That's the term you humans would use. Capturing our kind and using them for your own whims. It's a wonder why we didn't wipe every trace of your existence from that world centuries ago.

[There is still no sign where the voice is coming from, but a wave of something washes over them. Not the same type of fear that the fiery god that attacked Citadel exuded, but something similar; it demanded respect and reverence from them, and would get it.]

[Minato inhales sharply. Some part of him does understand where the mysterious speaker's coming from, since he doesn't consider himself human first, but...

That was centuries ago, wasn't it? The Absol Shifter is pensive. He doesn't respond.]

Edited 2014-11-02 21:55 (UTC)

It is Gigas that continues to utilize tools of entrapment. They have chosen to exert their will via force rather than by peaceful means. They raid villages and lay destruction in their wake. Regardless of their monstrosities, you cannot generalize all of humanity based on the faults of a few...—or the sacrifice of one.

[ He stands tall. He stands proud. ]

[Capturing our kind...

...Ichigo doesn't know why that resonates with him so much. There's something there, but...it's all hazy, just like his dreams.

But it does make him pause, his blade arms shifting back to normal arms. He still keeps the top part of his robes off in his hair hand, just in case. But...The feeling he get from those words...like Minato, it makes him fall silent.]

[A glowing pair of eyes hover in the dark, directing their attention to Metalhawk.]

I can. What makes you so different from them? You're both flesh and blood. You conquer all that you touch. You twist nature to your petty whims. Mankind has not learned a thing, and yet they idealistically believe they can save everyone. Such big, empty words from a minuscule, petty and vain species. Your kind are there and gone in the blink of an eye. What makes you think that you can accomplish what others could not?

[ Metalhawk glowers back ]

Maybe they-we are minuscule, petty, and vain, but- I want to believe we're capable of something better.

[ Being a shifter means he has one foot on each side of the line. Part of him can't deny those words of damnation. Humanity has done terrible things, but what of pokemon? Are they blameless? Who can say? ]

[ He looks to the others. ]

[Lea simply shrugs, maintaining his cool demeanor despite the cruel eyes and dark voice. Inside, though, he's scared. Terrified, really. But no one would know it just looking at him]

I still think you're mostly talking about Gigas, Spooky Disembodied Voice. There's good and bad in every species, and humans definitely have a lot of the bad, not gonna deny that! But a lot of us, all of us talking to you right now, we try hard to not be assholes. There are plenty of Pokémon that would ravage a forest and destroy lives if given half a chance. No one is perfect, and I don't think you're giving humans enough credit... But do I detect a hint of bitterness? [Turning the questions back on the voice, Lea grins a bit and swishes his tail] Raise your hand if you have ever been personally victimized by human beings.

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The Labyrinth of the New Moon

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So sorry, my notifs are messed up right now. Will try to fix this by the next pass.

np hon!

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