Descent

[bravenewmods]

Iron Mines:
The trip to the eastern mountains is punctuated by the continuing aftershocks. After each one, it may be tempting to glance back at Union to see if any of the towers have fallen yet. The expedition parties move with incredible speed, knowing that the fate of their City hangs on the line.

When they reach the mountains, guided by the coordinates given of the 'strange radio signal', the parties will find that many of the normal entrances and routes have been blocked by cave-ins. In contrast, however, a gaping hole has opened up where none existed before. As this seems to be the easiest way to gain access, the parties slowly lower themselves in...

They will find themselves in the long-sought iron mines.

But there are so many twisting turns and tunnels, it will be impossible to stay together and make any sort of progress. Each group will have to take their own paths from here...

Old City:
Each of the twelve entrances down into the Old City take a different meandering route through the ruins. Though several are blocked off by this time, there are still many potential paths to take. The state of the Old City is poor, being underground as it is, and occasional soft rumblings are certain to cause unease. As the report states, however, there is enough of an interval between quakes that it should be possible to investigate safely.

It would be unwise to venture down alone, but it is impossible, too, for everyone to stay together if they wish to make headway.

Union:
The wild Pokémon continue to come out of the Old City, though the frequency has been somewhat lessened. Rubble lines the streets and though no towers have collapsed as of yet, some seem to be dangerously close and certainly nobody should be staying inside of them. As stated, the towers in Sector 3 are the worse off and construction crews work frantically to attempt to restabilize the foundations of these buildings.

The injured are innumerable, the number of casualties is as of yet unknown, and the chaos and panic is difficult to fend off.

There is a great deal of work to be done.

((Please post below with your groups - in the first comment, please note the members of your group, where you are, and whether or not you intend to keep a threading order. Regardless of threading order, mods will be responding at least once every 24 hours to keep the event moving. Groups should be three to four people in size.

At this time, all characters entering the iron mines will be able to choose to bond with a free extra Pokemon listed under 'Cavern' in the Map and Wild Pokemon post. Please respond there if you intend to make use of this. Characters who have already claimed a free Old City Pokemon may not do so.))

Comments

[moonbay]

[She grits her teeth at the Roar as Onix slides behind the two of them to regroup, silently thanking it for their defense. She could always call in Rhyhorn, but that'll be a last ditch effort if she even goes that route. Venipede and Swadloon are out. For now, they'll stall until Onix is ready to get back in there.

Moonbay looks to Irvine, quickly to make sure he's on guard.] Talk to it if you can. Get it to calm down and find out what's got it riled up. I can't be the sole reason, even for something this bad. Watch its feet, teeth and head for attacks, as well as the surrounding rocks. Keep a distance if you can.

[She brings up the warp band to use, just in case.]

[bravenewmods]

[The damn noise is coming from behind Tyrantrum, from back where it had come. Even as Irvine shifts, the noise will seem to become even higher-pitched and louder! Tyrantrum will stamp its feet on the ground in anger, rushing forth to try and Stomp Moonbay and Irvine. Irvine himself may begin to feel a bit... incensed.

Onix won't be immune to the effects of this, either. It will feel a strong desire to clash with the thing that had chomped down on its body.]

[wolvenmemory]

[No, he really, really thinks it's mostly just the noise and the present annoying as hell company he can suddenly and acutely sympathize with. He flinches visibly when the sound intensifies. At least he gets that the noise is probably what's causing him to feel suddenly aggressive. Doesn't change the fact that that he does, but what the hell. If the damn dinosaur wants a fight he'll give it a fight. Fighting the urge to snap a comment at Moonbay behind him (it'd be all-too easy, but he knows he'd just come out of it more annoyed), he darts forward, using Detect to dodge the Tyrantum's questionable foot placement he navigates behind the ticked Pokémon so at least he and Moonbay aren't on the same side of things. Because that would be stupid.

What was he supposed to do? Talk to it. Right? Good plan. Maybe she should have done that first.]

Hey! What the hell is wrong with you?!

[He usually has more tact. Most of the time.]

[moonbay]

[Moonbay, meanwhile, is yelling at Sora over the warp band. She's angry enough that there are a couple threats that she'll never follow up on thrown in for emphasis. Now she's got to keep an eye out not only for the giant dino, but Onix as well as Irvine to a degree. If they all make it out of this alive, it'll be a miracle.]

Irvine, don't piss it off more!

[bravenewmods]

[The Tyrantrum will pause for a moment at being addressed - then it will proceed to multitask very impressively, Stomping Irvine and answering him simultaneously.

...Answer in a matter of speaking, in any case. The gist of the message is probably what Irvine suspects - that noise that noise that noisethatnoisethatnoisethatnoisethatnoisethatnoisethatnoisethat fucking noise]

[wolvenmemory]

[Sure. He can translate that.]

It's that fucking noise, Moonbay!

[And then his foot comes down. Ow. Well, at least his current body is more equipped to take damage than his... human one. As soon as the Tyrauntum lifts his foot to stomp on him again, he's dashes away, trying to prevent getting stomped on again with a burst of speed from a Quick Attack.

Then he pivots around to address the Tyrauntum again.]

We're here to stop that damn noise, so cut it out!

[moonbay]

Irvine!!

[As much as they argue, he's her friend, and watching him get attacked makes her blood boil. Moonbay moves forward, getting herself between the rampaging dino and Irvine, eyes narrowed. The warp band activates just as the noise dies down a little, though she has no way of knowing.

She feels the connection start, and her emotions and thoughts go tumbling through. Fear, anger, determination... The fear of their home being destroyed, what could happen to her friends, how many people and Pokemon were being affected. Anger about the same things, especially those who had started this... if there was even anyone behind it. She was determined to make it stop, the noise, the attacks, all of it. Maybe he'd want to join them. She'd like it, but whether he did or didn't was up to him. Right now, she just needed him to calm down.]

[bravenewmods]

[The emotions that come through the other end are overwhelming. The sheer anger stands out most of all, the creature so irrationally upset that it hasn't the least idea of what it's doing. Pain is predominant as well, as it's clearly suffering. There is confusion there and some level of panic. The noise has been unrelenting for days, and it only seems to be getting worse. It tried to destroy the source itself but getting near it was like walking towards the sun to try to blot it out because it was too bright; the task was impossible and so it had thrashed and raged fruitlessly.

This all reads loud and clear; Moonbay will feel it like she is slapped in the face.

...And then, as the connection continues... it fades.

The noise has dropped to a lower level. Its mind responds sluggishly - slow surprise accompanied by dawning realization... It could still sense it, but the majority of its pain has been alleviated. Its thoughts are clear now for the first time in a while.

But the Tyrantrum seems confused for a moment or two as it swings its head back around and stomps around in circles, getting dangerously close to the edge of the chasm.

...Moonbay will get the sense that something still isn't right.]

((An attempt to communicate with the Tyrantrum has been made! Unfortunately, it is not possible to split one Pokemon between three people so we ask at this time that you discuss amongst yourselves and decide who will bond with it. Bonding may also be unsuccessful depending on your IC actions from this point.))

[moonbay]

[She nearly recoils upon receiving the connection from the Pokemon, but she stays put, though her teeth are gritted quite nicely. As it approaches the edge of the chasm, Moonbay takes a hesitant step forward with a look of alarm crossing her face.]

H-hey! Be careful!

[Almost instinctively, her hand reaches for it, and she calls to Irvine while signaling Onix to be ready just in case.]

C'mon, a little communication help here?!

[wolvenmemory]

[Once the sharp noise fades—and good riddance—it takes a few seconds for his head to clear. But when it does, he can clearly see what Moonbay's worried about, and nods, voice finally losing its harsh, irritated sharpness from earlier.]

Hey, stop! There's a chasm back there and you're going to fall into it if you keep going that way.

[bravenewmods]

[Tyrantrum stops.

But it doesn't seem to have acknowledged them more than it simply responds automatically to a command. It sits for a few more moments, its emotions radiating confusion, before it performs an abrupt about-face and stomps back towards Irvine and Moonbay, its jaws slack.

It aggressively throws its head forward and exhales hot breath onto the two of them. A low growling sounds - the emotions have changed to suspicion and guarded aggression.

As the noise and the pain have lifted, it seems as if it doesn't have a full recollection of what had happened.]

[moonbay]

[She can sense the tension now, and she does her best to remain calm and relaxed. Her hand remains extended, but she slowly turns it to face palm up so the Pokemon can sniff it. Or chew it off. Hopefully it's the former, if anything...

Moonbay remains quiet, barely breathing, waiting for the Tyrantrum to move next.]

((ooc; mods next i think...))

[bravenewmods]

[...Tyrantrum will roar in her face instead.

If she doesn't topple over, it will glare and exude a demand for information.

What are they doing here?

When it last saw creatures like them...]

((Gonna assume Moonbay has been chosen to bond with it; I'll be responding boomerang-style from now on. If either Sora or Irvine wants to cut in at some point, though, feel welcome to!))

[moonbay]

[She definitely recoils quite a bit, but she manages to stay upright and bounce back with a well placed glare.]

There was no reason to do that! [More glaring.] Do you even know what just happened?

[bravenewmods]

[The confusion it expresses should make its thoughts about the matter clear:

???]

[moonbay]

[... right. She sighs, then taps the side of her head.]

Your head was hurting right? There was a weird machine causing it. We destroyed it.

[bravenewmods]

[...Tyrantrum grunts.

The emotions are fluctuating chaotically now, and its eyes flicker uncertainly. It doesn't understand. Something weird had happened. Something wrong. ...It was still all wrong, but... but the pain had stopped.

Moonbay will experience a very faint flash of what had been tormenting Tyrantrum for a brief moment - a feeling as if every particle of her body was being stretched and squished and broken while her mind rung with the sound of a million bells.

They had stopped the pain?]

[moonbay]

[One hand is held up, palm straight, and she slams her other fisted hand into it to mimic a beating. There's a smacking noise as contact it made. Moonbay offers a grin before dropping her hands and looking at it curiously.]

Are you feeling better?

[bravenewmods]

[...
...
...

There comes another puff of hot air out its nostrils.

This seems to be a 'yes', although maybe not having been consumed yet is its way of thanking Moonbay.]

[moonbay]

[Moonbay nods, satisfied with the answer.. and not being devoured. Remaining uneaten is good. She pauses before continuing.]

You should know, there are probably more of those machines still around. We've got others from the city searching, too, and my friend sent out a message to tell everyone about them. We'll make the rest of it stop as well.

[bravenewmods]

[The continued faint ringing of the noise in the background has informed it of that. ...But if what she says is true, then it supposes it has something to thank them for.

...She will remain uneaten for another five minutes.

OK fine she gets a small nod of acknowledgement. Tyrantrum pauses for a moment before turning around to stomp back towards the area the machine had been in. It seems to have something to show.]

sneaking this in

[heartstorage]

[Which Sora was just about heading out to check on them after finishing the message, when he sees the giant Tyrantum turn his way]

[...Excuse him as he makes a small noise and backs the fuck up and out of that guy's way. Possibly to behind a rock to hide]

[moonbay]

[WALKIN RIGHT ON PAST YOU DUDE]

[moonbay]

Hm?

[Moonbay follows suit, though she stays a decent distance behind the Pokemon, curiosity piqued.]

Did we miss something?

[bravenewmods]

[Out of the goodness of its heart, Sora will also remain uneaten.

Tyrantrum will stomp right up to a large pile of rocks in the corner and sweep them out of the way with its tail.

There is a passage behind there. There is a path out of this area although it doesn't know where else it will lead but that's how it got in.]