bravenewworld | Descent into Darkness

Descent into Darkness

As the characters arrive, they will find what appears to be a rather deep cavern. Upon entering, the caverns are quite narrow, with twists and turns everywhere and different tunnels that all seem to be interconnected. As characters travel deeper within the caverns, reality around them will start to warp, they will start to see and hear things that aren’t necessarily there - images of old enemies, past failures, voices of condemnation, visions that strike at the soul and core of the characters. Once this begins, it will only increase in power and volume, demanding it be confronted, lest they be trapped within these caves forever.

[OOC: This event will run for a week. All characters who enter the caves will be subject to some of their deepest fears, darkest demons, and most abject failures. To overcome them, characters must help each other out, finding their purpose through strength of character and resolve to move forward. In general, these visions should require characters to come to grips with themselves. Illusory images and voices can and will appear and can take any number of forms, depending on what is most appropriate to a character. Additionally, characters may thread with each other and are encouraged to help each other out to overcome these personal demons. For those who wish to take part, they are able and encouraged to narrate their own personal demons, which will be on display for everyone who enters their thread. IC threads may be made in this post.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ "Nobody can tell me to stay quiet!" Was what Tendou would have said if there was anything important to say. Instead he's perfectly content to walk more or less together with Haruka: a few feet between them, but moving in the same direction. It wouldn't help either of them to be moving alone now. ]

Is this your nightmare, or mine? [ He had to move closer to speak quietly, but oh well. ]

[ There's a chance this could be generated by this person's head, too? This time he gets a whole glance from Haruka. She doesn't know this person. They're also concerned about the world ending? ] Does it matter?

[ Shoot, it's got her on edge just by existing. Just by the fact that guessing it's not real doesn't make it go away. Haruka stamps down on her temper, but that doesn't do much for her facial expression. ]

[ Tendou resisted a smirk. ] It really doesn't.

[ For someone faced with what was possibly his own nightmare, he was oddly calm. He had already seen it enough in his head, lived it even, to let himself be broken down by something he knew was an illusion. ]

Calm down. A boiling pot only turns to steam. [ His grandmother's wisdom again. Technically it was a call for men to stay cool, but really, it applied to both sexes. ]

[ This kid's got a saying for everything. Haruka does smirk, closing her eyes. It's annoying that he noticed, but he's right. She's not going to get them out of here if she isn't able to let this all just waft over her. If she can't become the wind, blowing through everything, unchanged. Unchained.

When she opens them, she thinks she has a hunch. ] This way.

[ You can stay, kid. For now. As long as you're not opposed to take a "street" headed down, deeper into the broken landscape... ]

[ He really does have a saying for everything. He's also completely right a maddening amount too. You can blame his mysterious and wise grandmother for it.

He's perfectly fine following in silence, because for all his many sayings, Tendou's also a man of action. He does wonder where exactly she's taking them, if it's a specific place in what used to be Union City or just going in deeper for the sake of going deeper, but he doesn't ask.

He'll find out when they get there. ]

[ Haruka's staring hard at everything they pass, trying to see through it - is this an illusion? The future layered over the present? She doesn't know, and more importantly, she doesn't know how to make it stop. Assuming she needs to make it stop to get to...whatever's worth discovering in these caves. Maybe if she just keeps walking...

It seems to have no shortage of Union to show her, silent and barren. She passes what used to be the Rhyhorn racing arena and is now little more than a dry circle of stones before she takes a breath and speaks to her companion again. ] Why did you ask if this might be yours?

[ Insofar as ignoring this trick is concerned, it doesn't matter. But if other people are plagued with visions like this even outside of the caves, that's something Haruka needs to know. ]

[ Tendou threw his head back in thought, wondering how much exactly he wanted to tell. ]

I used to live between Caldera and Gigas. It was a small tribe, not even really a village. There's nothing there now, it got completely wiped out. [ He wasn't sure by whom. It came flying in from the sky, probably a Pokemon, possibly just artillery. He suspects Gigas, but there's no way to know. ]

I have a new home now, and I fully intend to protect it. [ Which is why a failure to do so would be amongst his worst nightmares. ]

[ Modern reasons, then. Haruka...can't exactly be glad for him since everything he knew had still been wiped out, but at least he hasn't also been having dreams of the last apocalypse on top of that.

She nods, easily able to imagine how anybody in Gigas's way could fear something like this happening, no gods necessary. Humanity makes it very hard for her to defend sometimes. ] That's admirable.

[ He has a goal. He has resolve. She has....no idea where they're going, as the path branches off here and levels off. One path is strewn with more rubble than the other - it'll be harder to travail, but that also means something bigger passed through it.

Haruka slows to see which path the guy looks inclined to take. If they're stuck together, she might as well get an idea of what he's like. ]

It's only natural. This is my world, so I'll protect it. [ He means it in a slightly different way from most people. As far as Tendou's concerned, the world belongs to him. Not because he has plans for world domination, that's boring, but because as his grandmother said: Force the world to revolve around you, life's more fun that way.

Now then, there's a fork in the road, and it looks like the lady wants him to choose. ]

This too, is only natural. If you're going to adventure, make it a big one. [ And with a hop, he's going over the rubble. He might be relatively new to this whole Enlightened business, but he's still more than capable of walking a rough road. ]

[ ...you are something else. Haruka snorts, but she follows. Whether this is the actual future or just shadows conjured to frighten them, the place where more seems to have happened is more interesting.

The desolation shows no signs of letting up. If anything, it begins to swallow even more sounds, until they can't even hear their own footsteps or Rushing Wind the Pidgeot's wings beating the air. ]

Still feeling this is natural? [ That's not what he'd meant, and she knows it. But Haruka doesn't like this silence. It consumes everything but their voices. ]

[ Tendou would have taken that as a compliment. He has no intention of bring the same as everyone else.

The quite continued to be disconcerting, growing stranger the further they walked. It was one thing for there to be a silent illusion, quite another for it to seem to absorb sound. ]

Nothing about this is natural. Which is why I intend to break it, and be home in time to make dinner. [ He raises a fist and smashes it through the nearest wall, and it shatters like concrete would, but with barely any sound. It definitely wasn't their imagination, or perhaps everything was their imagination. ]

[ They can interact with it to that extent? Haruka raises an eyebrow slightly, but that's all. ] You'll exhaust yourself.

[ Hence her searching for the source. Something has to be out there...

And a moving shadow does indeed seem to flit through the wreckage up ahead. ]

Just making sure of something. [ The ruined city definitely felt real enough, and it wasn't as though all sound had been cut off, just being mostly absorbed by some unknown force.

It was an illusion, and all illusionists had their tricks. When Tendou makes flowers appear out of nowhere, it's sleight of hand. This though, it's hard to tell.

With a sidewards glance at the lady to make sure they'd both spotted the same thing, he starts towards the shadow. ]

[ Haruka remains where she is, but she sends her Pidgeot to accompany Tendou. If there's something out there, and it notices pursuit, it might try to run. She'll be free to cut off its exit.

The shadow keeps moving, apparently heedless of the attention it's attracted. It turns down what had once been an alley before the buildings were razed, taking a shortcut towards one of the crumbling bridges. ]

[ Tendou didn't particularly care whether or not she followed him. Even without the Pidgeot for backup, he would have gone after the shadow anyway. Still, he appreciated the backup.

Following it was easy. It wasn't trying to hide, and was moving along roads that were easy to follow. Where it was going to was the real question. One that would eventually be answered as long as he kept it within his sight.

A bridge? Was it going to cross? It seemed dangerous, considering the state the bridge was in, but Tendou would deal with the bridge potentially buckling under his weight when he got to it. Hopefully, the Pidgeot would be willing to help out. ]

[ The figure flits as if insubstantial across the bridge - and then takes off like a shot. Haruka, who had been following warily, lifts her head up at that and frowns. Is this a trap, or is it just running to run?

Only one way to find out. Recalling World Shaking to her Warp Band, she heads for the bridge and nods to Rushing Wind, who dips down to see whether Tendou wants a ride. ] Let's go.

[ Haruka, for her part, streams a Gust from each hand behind her and leaps the bridge, propelling herself with her attacks. Nothing beats her at speed. It's on. ]

[ Tendou briefly considers his options before hopping onto the back of the Pidgeot. He could try to chase the lady on foot, but even if he won, (he wouldn't have,) it would be incredibly sweaty work. ]

Right. [ Hanging onto the back of a Pidgeot was not a smooth ride, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise, but Tendou held himself together fairly well. Of course he would, newly Enlightened or not, dealing with speed was his speciality. ]

[ Rushing Wind is a good chaperone, too: she'll remain alert to the human's weight atop her and straighten out her flight path if he starts to feel insecure on her back. She'll also fly as fast as she can with a passenger in an attempt to catch up with that moving shadow, but it knows the terrain and remains ahead.

For her own part, Haruka can't keep pace with a Pidgeot, but she is making good time on the ground, eyes focused just on their quarry. But it's not getting any closer...and that half-broken pillar they just passed registers as odd in the back of her mind. She dismisses the feeling until it can work itself out unconsciously. All she has to do is run. This is simple. Racing right towards a goal, focusing only on that goal, comes easily to her.

Still, that pillar seemed kind of familiar. Like they'd passed it before. ]

[ Tendou could keep a clearer head from his bird's eye view, there were less distractions when he wasn't moving himself. So he was suspicious the second time they crossed the broken pillar. ]

Pidgeot, I know I'm not your trainer, but could you hold still for a moment? I need to check something.

[ Either way, he's hopping off the back of Rushing Wind, landing beside pillar and waiting, armed crossed over his chest. If his suspicions were right, he would be spotting the lady again soon. If he wasn't, well, he'd just have to run after her. Hopefully the Pidgeot was willing to land him a hand.

Or a wing, as it were. ]

[ Rushing Wind is happy to oblige, keeping close lest her rider need her services again. They're stopping? That's odd. All her training with Trainer has been about going, and going, and going...

...and here comes Trainer now. At first it seems like she might run past them, but at the last moment she looks up and slows. What's he think he's doing -

But Rushing Wind wouldn't have humored him if there wasn't a reason. ] What's wrong? It's escaping!

There's nothing wrong with having your eyes on the prize, but don't let that blinker you, or you won't even know if you've been led astray. [ Tendou taps the broken pillar behind him with a knuckle. ]

This is the second, possibly the third time we've passed this. If you don't believe me, keep running, I'll be waiting.

[ It was a strange phenomena, but this entire cave was a strange phenomena. In the first place, how could a cave fit the entirety of a ruined Union City within it? It simply made no sense mathematically, so of course it was always possible that they were running on the spot. Tendou had not thought of that at first, but now it seemed obvious. ]

The fleeing shadow was a trap? [ That's not difficult for Haruka to imagine. Stopping outright, she puts a hand to her chin to think. It's a closed world, then. That makes sense - but it also means that her original plan of "keep going and ignore the illusion" won't work.

She looks up at Rushing Wind. ] Can you see a boundary?

[ The Pidgeot shakes her head. There's just city as far as the eye can see... ]

It might have been a trap, or it could have set a trap. [ Tendou shrugged. ]

Does it matter?

[ They could pontificate on the nature of shadow monsters after they had figured out space looping in on itself. ]

I'm going to walk ahead, see if you can figure out where exactly this trap ends.

[ If they were lucky, they could just hit it with Brick Break and it should fall apart. ]

Right. [ Haruka climbs onto Rushing Wind's back and directs the Pidgeot up. First, she wants to see whether they'll hit the ceiling; second, she wants a look at the vista for herself. If it's a perfect cage, how will they break it? She doesn't like the idea of exhausting themselves by pounding away fruitlessly at fake scenery.

World Shaking, for his part, just wanders over to some wreckage and pokes it with its drill. Pieces crumble off, but everything seems intact otherwise... ]

[ It was easy to find where exactly the trap extended to when paying careful attention. Being fast was important of course, but there was no use being only fast if it meant they had missed something so obvious. It was something for Tendou himself to take home.

Unfortunately, the edge where space was folding in on itself was a little more complex than a Reflect barrier, so hitting it with Brick Break was apparently not enough. So he wandered through the barrier and walked back to the broken pillar, waiting for the lady to see if she had any ideas. ]

Descent into Darkness

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbzflQJo6pI

not inaccurate, but with less daisuke ono

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

i think we're done here!