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.]

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[Wow. It's been a long time since he's felt pain like this. Once the sword clatters to the ground he takes a deep breath that he didn't realize he was holding.]

[He only glances a little over his shoulder as the Double talks. So- is that what this was? A terrible future? Something shown so that it could be avoided? He didn't know if he wanted to buy that or not.]

[He scoffs a little, lowering his hands which are still throbbing and bleeding. Figures the one time he wanted his body's pain receptors to short out, they didn't.]

Cliche as that sounds .....s'not bad advice. But- however things come to pass- [He looks at her again. The scars that appeared on his face earlier, starting to fade.]

I'd never peg that for your future for any reason. Union is stronger than it thinks. Same goes for you. [He shakes his head.] You have anger, but I know that you have a good heart, too. Gigas will never win against a thing like that.

Yuuna sinks down to her knees, head in her hands, and she just begins to sob. Wracking, pained sounds that come from deep in her chest, rocking her whole body through and through. It's hard to even process what she's just seen. A...her...so obsessed, so far gone, that she was barely anything more than pride. A her that took pride in fighting, killing, being a part of that?

A her that was more concerned with strength than in taking care of people. Someone...so very Gigan.

"I...but...I...just..." she cries, unable to make words form. Everyone with potential was taken in. You would definitely be someone they'd want. And admit it. You wouldn't mind being stronger, would you?

[He kneels down and starts to told his hand out, stopping part way because wow- he was an actual mess. He unties his ascot and wraps it around his hand and tries again, gently taking her shoulder.]

That won't be you. I know it won't.

"How...how do you know? Anyone...they could grab anyone..."

They'd grabbed Takeshi. They'd taken you too...

[He shakes his head.]

Because I believe in this city and the people in it. This so-called raid of Gigas that shadow talked about? You couldn't pay me to believe it.

[And then his expression shifts a little. Somewhat sad, somewhat pained.]

Even if they got their hands on you, even if by some stroke they made you like me- like Takeshi, I still don't believe you'd turn out that way. What's important, and what I believe in is here. [and he does point to where her heart is.]

That's stronger than anything Gigas can do to you.

[And then he smiles lopsidedly.]

And then I imagine Takeshi and I would come and burn the whole place down ourselves if they so much as thought about it, so there's that.

That, at least, has some meaning to her. She understands the idea of heart, of how important it can be and how it can affect the world around them. Heart, as cliché as it sounds, is at the truth of all things. Battles are won with heart, as is love. Peace is found by heart, as is strength. Never forget that had been one of the first things Master Yashio had told her. Her tears, still falling, slacken significantly and she nods once. She also has no doubt that if she was grabbed up, Takeshi, Merrill, Haruka, Hayato, and others would not just sit around.

“I’m just…I’m afraid of a war. I know it’s coming. It feels so…inevitable. Just, what if you’re wrong? Not about me. I won’t…I refuse, I’ll fall on my own sword before I become something like that. But Gigas is full of trained soldiers. We’ve…been lucky before. But for how long?”

This, as much as anything personal, is her real fear. She’s no soldier. She knows that. Her confidence is shaken at best, foundation crumbling at worst, after Sanctuary. That had been bad. So very, very bad.

War is terrible, and that's for sure. I don't think there's a really good way to be ready for it. For all of Caldera's boasting of strength, even we almost lost. But the reason I learned we didn't is because we got something Gigas didn't have.

[He shrugs a little.]

Allies. Help from Union. Union is a strong force of nature because it's a city that has been relying on not conquest, but compromise. That's something Gigas doesn't understand.

You all also have an infectiously stubborn set of morals that I don't see you guys letting go. Honestly I don't think Gigas will know what to do if Union has to jump into the fight.

[He stands up and offers her his hand.]

But the best we can do now is be ready.

She accepts that hand, letting him pull her up, and then she steps forward and hugs him. Her face presses against his shoulder and she coughs, worn out from the experience.

"Yeah. I guess...that's probably right. Getting ready, I guess. As much as I don't want to militarize like that."

She chuffs a weak laugh, her hand reaching up towards Hayato's bleeding arm, unbothered at all by the scarlet leaking out onto her glove. She's a medic, she's dealt with worse.

"Sorry. I guess I got you good, too."

[He offers her a wan smile.]

Better safe than sorry.

[He hates war and conflict, himself. Wanted nothing more than for there to be peace but ...after all of this he's also come to realize that hoping isn't going to be what stops forces like Gigas. Some times you had to stop it without your own hands.]

[So it was.]

[He laughs a little looking at his arm.]

You really did. Hurts a lot more than much of anything in the last several months. Kudos.

[And that wasn't even sarcasm. Pain was a weird thing to him these days. It was kind of nice to feel it sometimes.]

"Good thing for you, before I changed career paths the night before graduation? I was on the medical track. Pissed Takeshi off."

She's alreay letting him go, wiping her eyes on a sleeve as she goes for a medical kit.

"That doesn't add up though. You're what? Steel typed? My sword is Electric."

Oh yeah? That's pretty convenient. Do you have any embarrassing stories about Takeshi that I should know? You can't tell me you don't.

[He let's her go pretty quickly. Hugs were ...something he was getting used to. Honestly the contact still scared him but between her and Honoka he was loosening up a bit.]

[As for the arm he frowns a little.]

I dunno. I'm Steel and Bug, but I don't have any particular weakness against electricity. It honestly should have hurt a lot less. Maybe you're just that tough!

"I do, but I'm not sharing yet."

She smirks and starts dressing the cut. It's way, way deeper than it should be, almost to the bone...

"And I may be. It had to have been adrenaline. Because I shouldn't be cutting you like that."

[Which explains why it actually hurts so damn much. He winces a little as she dresses it. He might actually need stitches for this. Crazy.]

Aw. Oh well.

[But yeah, she's got a point. Not much has been able to hurt him like this in a while.]

Adrenaline might explain it. It can ...get a whole lot done.

[He sighs.] Figures the one time my body doesn't short circuit is the one time I need to not feel pain.

“It really can. I’ve seen some pretty crazy things come from adrenaline.”

She chuckles, rubbing the back of her head and going to work, cleaning the cut with iodine and the like.

“Sorry, but you did kinda jump in the way. Lucky you are steel typed or you’d be an amputee. And I’m no good with prosthetics on the fly.”

[Adrenaline is what got him and Takeshi out of Gigas, so he certainly knows. He opts to just laugh at that last part.]

I'm bug, too. Maybe it would have grown back.

[That's a joke but now that he thinks about it he just kind of looks horrified by the thought.]

On second thought, I'm glad you didn't lop my arm off.

"I'm glad too. I'm not good with emergency field repair like that. And I don't have a Heal Pulser on hand. I should...really...get Kokishi to learn that sometime."

This is all joking, of course, as she keeps on working.

"Thanks though. Seriously."

[He waves his hand in a 'don't worry about it' kind of way.]

You seem like the kind of person who would probably do something similar if our places were swapped.

[And he would have been content to let her keep working after that. However a moment or two later and he starts to feel an odd tingle in his finger tips. He snaps his eyes open wide and tenses. Ah, there it was.]

[It was an almost cold feeling- or maybe that was just the way he almost always felt panicked when it happened- but it spreads throughout his body. Cold and then followed by complete and utter numbness. ]

Dammit.

[She half smiles, half frowns.]

I would have, but I’d have lost an arm. I’m just me, regular old me.

[Her eyes shift when she feels him tense up, his panic internalized or not evident to a trained medical professional.]

What? What is it?

[He gives her a bit of a wan smile.]

Don't underestimate the good a person can do, superpowered or not.

[But then he takes a deep breath. He stays tensed and seems pretty focused on staying perfectly still.]

It's fine. My body is just acting up.

Acting up?

[She stops, looking him full in the eyes.]

What do you mean?

[He meets her eyes briefly before looking down at the ground, smiling something small and humorless.]

Sometimes my body just goes numb. It'll pass. I'm just- not going to move. I can't gauge my strength like this. It's how I've broken every doorhandle in Thorin's house.

Don't be stupid, it's dangerous. And I have a friend you can't break even if you try.

[She taps her Warp Band and the cave is now filled with a very large, very tall Pokemon. The Golurk grunts and looks down at his human...]

Kuroshi, take Hayato to the surface. Don't hurt him.

[A big hand reaches down...]

[That sure is a Pokemon. Hayato looks up at the Golurk ...lurking over them and takes a step back.]

It's fine- I can't leave yet, anyway. I'm down here looking for someone.

[Tough or not, he's going to stay out of reach of Kuroshi. It's not that he thinks he'll hurt him, its just that he doesn't like any kind of touch when he's like this at all.]

[Kuroshi shrugs and turns to his master. Yes, master. He's a golem.]

Suit yourself. Call if you need me, and go to the medical center immediately after getting home. Mandatory. If you don't, I'll be sending out my houndooms for you.

[So he is.]

[But her relenting actually relieves him considerably. Rather than comment on the medical center specifically because AHAHAH GOING TO SEE A DOCTOR WHEN YOU'RE A WALKING EXPERIMENT, he comments on the other part.]

You have houndooms? As in, more than one?

Descent into Darkness

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