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

[somnambulatory]

It's hurting... shouldn't we try to help it? O-or calm it down?

[Even though she says that, Jinxie is as white as a ghost. Quite literally, even - all the color has drained from her face, leaving it as pale as her Duskull's mask.]

[tagteams]

I can... try to communicate with it. I mean, I can do it without the Warp Band and all of that, but I fear that it's in so much pain that it might not listen to us.

[She sets her lantern down, now holding the Pikachu in her arms properly, who is really shivering against her chest like a very scared child.]

[somnambulatory]

[Jinxie nods slowly.]

Uh... uh huh. So can I. But you m-might be right...

[whateveryoueatliveitspart]

[At the first glimpse of the Tyrantrum, Deerling dives behind a nearby boulder, not even willing to peek out. Hippopotas stops in his tracks, unsure what to do, and even Fletchling starts digging his talons into Apollo's shoulder. Apollo himself simply starts looking more serious as he sizes the Tyrantrum up. Knowing more about what's going on both simplifies things and brings the level of danger into harsh focus.]

We have to try. They might attack us if we try to get close to that machine unless they understand that we're here to help.

[Without waiting for what he assumes will be agreement from the others, Apollo shifts his mental focus. The minds of the Pokémon outside of the cavern the group's in vanish from his awareness as he reduces the range he's reading from. His connections with his own Pokémon recede into the background, and he focuses his mind on the Tyrantrum.

Calmness. Reassurance that help is here. A promise that everything will be done to stop its pain. Apollo "yells" everything he can think of that might get the Tyrantrum to calm down into its mind, opening himself to it and letting his own feelings flow through the link alongside his "words", trying to prove his sincerity by showing it to the Tyrantrum without reservation. Since he isn't hiding anything, the fact that he's willing to fight the Tyrantrum if he has to to ensure the safety of Union is sent as well, as is the fact that he really doesn't want any more people to get hurt over this if at all possible.]

[a_gentle_boy]

[Avey, strangely, bristles and growls at the sight of the creature. It slaps its trainer in the face with its tail before leaping off and dashing forward a few steps. On his part, the color slowly returns to Lucas's face and he seems to shake out of his stupefaction.]

.....A different one...

[His mind begins to function again in time for him to catch the end of the conversation. Lucas will give a small nod.]

We shouldn't fight... not unless we have to.

[Given that this seemed to be Team Talks With Pokemon, Lucas will lend his own psychic efforts to Apollo's.]

[somnambulatory]

[Jinxie can't project thoughts to Pokemon the same way Apollo and Lucas can, but she can at least speak with them and understand what they're saying too. Heartened by the presence of her Pokemon and the fact that her allies are stepping up themselves, she steps up to join Lucas and Apollo as well.]

It's all right... we're here to help you. You don't have to be in pain anymore.

[tagteams]

[She steps up to join the rest of her group as well after finally swallowing those negative thoughts out of her system. If she was here by herself, then she would struggled a lot. Her Pokémon are still staying very close to her, but if that Tyrantrum decides to strike, they will be there to help her. If Valor was here, he would have done the same thing... Or start a fight with the thing. Her determination is back now, the people of Union are counting on her and so is everyone else. She's not going to give up her mission without a fight, or in this case, a conversation attempt.]

That's right. We came here to stop the thing that is giving you pain. We don't want to fight you.

[bravenewmods]

"It hurts! It hurts it hurts ithurtsithurtsithurtsithurts!"

The Tyrantrum is still smashing into the machine. The machine's already taken some damage but is made pretty sturdily, so it appears to be the outer casing. There is a control panel near a monitor on the ground. You can tell this would be a great prize for Union - if it could be recovered. Of course, while it remains active, the Tyrantrum doesn't appear to be doing any better.

[tagteams]

Hang on!

[Which is for the Tyrantrum, of course. Looking at the machine from the best distance she can, she does notice that control panel.]

That must be the device to control the signal. [Or taking a wild guess, but hey, no time to think hard and deep when there is a giant Pokémon that could kill them with one false move.]

I could probably get to it and figure how to shut the noise down if you guys keep talking to the Pokémon.

[Always risking her life and doing dangerous tasks that could result in Union losing a Ranger, but she's willing to get it a shot.]

[somnambulatory]

[Jinxie nods to Quinn nervously before turning back toward the Tyrantrum.]

Ss... sshhh... c-calm down... we're going to make it better for you. We don't want to see you hurting either.

[a_gentle_boy]

We have to get it away.

[It was far too dangerous for anyone to go down there alone with it smashing constantly against the machine. Lucas hesitates for a moment before reaching down to pick up Swadloon again.]

...Dozer - use Grass Whistle. ...Aim it that way; don't let it affect us.

[Swadloon hesitates for a moment before it draws its leaves more tightly around its body. After a few seconds, a lulling melody begins to echo throughout the cavern... shakily, at first, before its confidence grows.]

Try to whistle louder than the noise...

[whateveryoueatliveitspart]

[Apollo understands what Lucas is planning once he hears the melody and shifts his message, sending the Tyrantrum the idea that if it can just fall asleep the sound might be gone when it wakes up.

At the same time he makes a request to Hippopotas, who puts on a determined face, trots out in front of the group, plants his feet... and uses Yawn as loud as he can. It's aimed at the Tyrantrum, who might not be able to hear it over the noise, but seeing Hippopotas yawn makes Apollo and Fletchling both have to hold back their own yawns.]

[bravenewmods]

The Tyrantrum is still struggling a bit - at first, but it appears to be fast losing strength as sleep overtakes it. With a loud thud it falls to the ground and lets out a vicious snore, but otherwise lying still - for the moment at least.

As Quinn examines the HUD, she notices the controls are in a strange script. It's definitely not the text found on the Old City either, this is entirely different. It is hard to decipher, but there's some definite roots in the normal text of Union. She can make out dials with labels reading "Power Control" and "Dispersion", as well as a button that reads "Display Projection" on the control panel.

[tagteams]

[Right as the Grass Whistle and Yawn start to get into effect on the Tyrantrum, Quinn quickly makes her way over to the machine. Quick as in she literally made a bolt towards it as time could be short and the Pokémon can wake up any second now.

Examining the script, she can't really understand it much besides what the text above the dials reads. Taking a deep breath, she turns the dials to the opposite direction from their original spot in hope that this will do the trick. She will probably escort someone back here once the mission is done to see if anyone is familiar to this text.

If this doesn't work... Better get ready to run.]

[bravenewmods]

The machine begins to power down. The sound, for those that can hear it, begins to slow, until it stops entirely.

And as it does, the Tyrantrum stirs.

[You will now have the opportunity to bond with the Tyrantrum, if desired. Please discuss among yourselves who will attempt it. Be aware that the bonding attempt may fail, depending on the actions taken by the character.]

[somnambulatory]

I-it's waking up...!

[Jinxie's voice is a loud whisper as she watches its huge eye slowly fluttering open.]

S-should we try to bond with it?

[tagteams]

If you guys want, sure. With the machine off, it should be safe to approach and talk to it now.

[Quinn doesn't move from her spot near the machine, giving the Tyrantrum plenty of room to wake up and shake off any leftover pain.]

Maybe it knows a thing or two about the machine.

[a_gentle_boy]

[Lucas breathes a sigh of relief that the strategy had worked. He takes a few steps back from the great creature, giving Dozer a small squeeze of gratitude.]

It might be better to just let it go back home...

But, um. Maybe it can tell us more about what happened, too. So...

[He seems to be more interested in someone else making the attempt.]

((Lucas will be very uninterested in having anything to do with Tyrantrum! Someone else can feel free.))

[whateveryoueatliveitspart]

[Apollo walks up to Hippopotas and rubs the Pokémon's nose nose as he mentally thanks him for the Yawn. A thank you is sent to Dozer as well.]

It's their choice whether to come visit Union or not, but it would be a good idea to ask them if they know anything about the machine.

[Apollo doesn't ask anything right away, instead waiting for the Tyrantrum to finish waking up.]

((Apollo doesn't have his heart set on Tyrantrum, but will still ask if no one else does and see what response he gets. If Jinxie or Quinn want it, they can have the first tries.))

[bravenewmods]

The Tyrantrum slowly stands and blinks at everyone, bleary-eyed. It looks a bit dumbfounded. The anger is gone and now it's just kind of confused.

[somnambulatory]

[Jinxie looks to Apollo and nods.]

I... can ask, at least. I think it should be up to Tyrantrum whether or not he wants to come with us. But I'll ask.

[Since everyone seems content with that, Jinxie will slowly step forward, keeping her voice as calm and quiet as she can.]

Um... are you all right now?

[a_gentle_boy]

[Lucas will nod and keep quiet, his hands tight around Dozer as he watches. Avey continues to growl from nearby, although it allows Jinxie to speak.

Dozer glances towards Apollo and manages a faint smile before it retreats back into its cover.]

[tagteams]

[She lets Jinxie speak with it, just listening and finally relaxed now that most of this mess is over. Jasper lets out a long "Pikaaaa", just sighing in relief that nobody became dinner to the giant Pokémon. He already had his fair share of becoming dinner.]

((Yep, Quinn has no preference over bonding with the Tyrantrum, so Jinxie can go ahead and communicate with it.))

[whateveryoueatliveitspart]

[Apollo sees no reason to bombard the Tyrantrum with multiple conversations, so he'll just busy himself coaxing Deerling out from behind that boulder.]

[bravenewmods]

The Tyrantrum blinks and nods a bit.

"You're... awfully small aren't you?"

The Children of the Verdant Forest in the party get some memories from the Tyrantrum, it seems until recently it was not evolved and doesn't appear to have realized this yet.