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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[ Nope. Nothing gets through. Except laughter. Something sounds like it's laughing at Right, except sound (aside from their voices) is being swallowed by the bleakness of their landscape. So what's with that?

The laughter may very well even cut into Right's Imagined vista. ] {{ Pretty dreams. Have you told him what you're leading him into? }}

[ Now Haruka reacts, looking around on the offchance the "speaker" will show itself. ] Who's there?

[ World Shaking jerks his head up too. Trainer. That weird sound in his head...it kind of sounded like Trainer. ]

Eh? Told me what? Who is that? [Right looks to Haruka first before he, too, starts looking around for the source of that new voice.

Soft Steel also looks around, seeking any aura signatures beyond those around him. Having that half-mile range can be very helpful in this kind of situation.]

[ Soft Steel's aura sensing will discover....nothing! They're it. They're the only things left alive. On the whole planet, potentially.

And yet that voice persists, to Haruka's dampered frustration. ] {{ Have you told him? }}

Shut up!

[ Something's trying to distract her. Therefore, she can't let herself get distracted. Attempts to trick them just mean they're onto something, right?

She levels out her voice and addresses Right. ] Get behind me.

[Right stares in surprise for a moment. That's the first time he's heard her raise her voice outside of playing a role. He does comply with her order, but he still looks around with a wary look on his face.]

Haruka...what's really going on here?

[ She's being played, is what's going on here. That's enough to give Haruka difficulty with her temper - but it's also enough to convince her she needs to watch herself, to know she's not trustworthy. To stand outside herself the way she stands outside others. To focus on the big picture.

And the big picture is that, although she hates the idea of giving some voice what it wants, Right is at a disadvantage if he doesn't understand what he's seeing. She doesn't want him dragged into things if they get this bad, but he is. She's the one who's been blind to reality.

Fine. The leader of the Divine Defense Force can't afford that kind of handicap.

Her voice is low again when she speaks, still glancing around. If she gives whatever's out there what it wants, it might try to take advantage of...whatever happens. She'll have to split her attention between it and Right. ] D'you ever have nightmares?

[ World Shaking rumbles in alarm. He's only picking up on emotions, but he recognizes this undercurrent of nervousness. It's what Trainer used to come to him with in the middle of the night. They used to run until the current subsided, and then she'd sleep on his back in the stable. World Shaking feels this without understanding it.

Except that it's bad, and he does not like it, not one single bit. He can't put any of that into words, but he knows this feeling. And it's awful. ]

So, you sense it, too? [Soft Steel quietly inquires towards World Shaking. Haruka may not be showing it much on her face, but he can see how badly shaken she is from the hues in her aura. It's not something that he's used to seeing from the leader of the theater, and it sets him on edge. If their leader is shaken...then just how bad is this threat before them?

Right, meanwhile, is caught a little off-guard from that sudden question.] Eh? Well...sometimes. I mean, everyone has them, right? Though they're normally not this quiet...or lifeless.

[ That tension eases at Right's answer, if only since it's a reminder that at least he hasn't had to live with this. But of course he hasn't. He might be a member of the Divine Defense Force, but he wasn't called to it like she and Michiru were. He's an outsider. He has no idea.

Then again, that's because she hasn't told him.

Haruka keeps her eyes on the buildings around them when she speaks, in a low, perfectly even, emotionless voice. ] Not for you.

{{ You left off the "every night" part, huh? What a troublesome leader. }}

[ World Shaking nods to Steel and steps forward to put a large, rocky paw on Haruka's shoulder. Trainer wants to calm down. He will be calm for Trainer, and his calm will help.

Rushing Wind, on the other hand, starts flying in circles above them. The fact that she can't tell where that voice is coming from is bothering her. ]

She's not troublesome! Not at all! She wouldn't be our leader if she was any kind of trouble!

[Right has no idea where that voice is coming from, but he's not about to stay silent while whoever it is slander her like that.]

[ Haruka pats World Shaking's paw and then shrugs it off her - she's okay, she's got this. Right standing up for her only twists the hypothetical knife, but she'd made her decisions and she won't regret them. They've found themselves in a situation where perhaps she has to share some more information with him. That's all this is.

The worst hasn't happened yet, and she will not be spooked into overreacting further. So she keeps on talking as if neither that voice nor Right had interrupted her. ] This is what we're trying to prevent. We don't know what the gods are capable of.

Only that our ancestors were no match for them.

[ Only that, when actually transported to the past, she could do nothing....She clenches a fist, daring that voice to speak up.

When it does, it talks to Right. ] {{ Sounds like she's been keeping secrets. }}

...I dunno if anyone's a match for them other than themselves. [Echoes of that ice-bird God's freezing rampages still haunts his dreams every now and then. He does look thoughtful for a moment.] I think that the best anyone can do is try and talk to them - try and calm them down, work with them...prove ourselves worthy.

[A smile tugs on Right's mouth.] Maybe one day, we can get the chance to be friends with one of them.

[That smile disappears, though, upon hearing that voice again.] So? As long as they're not bad secrets, it's okay.

{{ What if talking doesn't work? }}

[ Haruka isn't thrilled that voice is now echoing her own thoughts on the matter. Which she suspects is the point. ] {{ Waste of time, that. Would you fight?

Would you be able to live with someone who'd decided to fight? }}

Are you going to let us through? [ Haruka has just about had it with this, but not in anger anymore. She's crossed anger into resigned exasperation. Speaking of wasting time....

But the voice just laughs. ]

Why wouldn't it work? We of Union have done nothing to anger the gods since the Great Cataclysm. If they didn't think that we were worthy...I'd think we'd be dead by now. Besides, fighting Gods doesn't solve the problem with Gigas. They are the real enemies, not the Gods. And if we wanna prevent all of this-- [He gestures to the ruins around him.] --then we gotta stop them from repeating the mistakes of the past.

{{ I thought you had Imagination. }}

[ It doesn't take much for Haruka to imagine the destruction of everything, on the other hand. And she's starting to figure out what's going on with this particular illusion. That voice, the fact that it knows what she's thinking, the fact that its opinions are starting to mirror hers - ]

It doesn't matter.

[ She stands up, looking around, energy for Earthquake building in one hand. If it's all an illusion, then what if they try disrupting that illusion? If it's all supposed to make her admit the things she's been keeping from Right, why not do that on her terms? If she's supposed to feel guilt about dragging an innocent into the Divine Defense Force -

Well, it can just think again. Because that's not what happened. ] He made his decision. I made mine.

[ She laughs, and brushes just the ends of her hair with the fingertips of that Earthquake-ready hand, flashing the sight of that gathered energy at Right in the hopes he'll get the message. She still thinks he's short-sighted. But he's got conviction. That counts for a lot. And she'll deal with the rest at her own pace, thanks ever so. ] We'll see who's right if the world ends.

[That makes Right gape in shock for a brief moment.] I do too have Imagination! You're just some ghostly jerk who--

[He gets cut off, though, by Haruka's first remark. And his eyes widens - not from seeing the energy for that pending attack, but from her last words.] Hold on a sec - whadd'ya mean by that?

[ Sorry, Right, but Haruka's intent on talking later and attacking now. ] World Shaking!

[ Her Rhyperior joins her in a joint attack - her using Earthquake, him using Hammer Arm. It's a cave. It's a cave. If it's a cave, disrupting it like this should make the illusion waver, if nothing else....

It's better than doing nothing. ]

Ohsh--Get down! [Right immediately moves to cover Wagon and Yami with his own body from any possible debris from the blast. His Lucario, in turn, shields him as well.

Vlad, being part-Flying, simply flutters high above them due to being immune to any Ground moves.

Hikaru the Litwick...simply turns invisible. Such a lovely benefit of being a Ghost-type!]

[ The illusion wavers for a moment, yes, but it straightens itself out as the voice laughs triumphantly. ] {{ Are you trying to finish them off yourself? Do you really think they're that useless? }}

They distracted you. [ She barks at Right, jerking her head at a nearby ruin. ] That building!

[ If they all attack the same thing, then maybe -

This time she'll go for Fissure. World Shaking, however, decides to just Bulldoze. ]

Eh? That building...? [Right looks up at the building in question.]

Maybe it's a weak-point in this illusion? [Soft Steel looks inquiringly at Right. Commands, Trainer?]

If that's the case... [Right gets to his feet, then points at the building.] Everyone - let's go at with all we got! Full Speed...Ahead!!

[And they're off, charging at it right behind Haruka and World Shaking. Hikari charges in with a Flame Burst. Soft Steel pounds the blocks with a Power-Up Punch. Right himself sends out a bunch of star-like rays via Swift. And Wagon Bites any and every wooden and block bit she can find.

Only his Bunnelby holds back, grumbling about how they're gonna cause a cave-in.]

[ That's a smart Bunnelby. No building, illusory or real, could withstand a pummeling like that - but as it collapses, enormous clouds of dust billow out, obscuring everything from view. The entire area shakes with the impact.

And when the dust clears....

...They're standing in a cave. And are surrounded by a bunch of fallen stalactites. (One even landed on World Shaking's head, but the latter prevailed: it's split and is lying on either side of him while he blinks and sneezes.)

Haruka stands up straighter. That was almost very bad, indeed. ]

[Right and his Pokemon all flinch when World Shaking got that direct hit, but he seems to be unaffected by it...maybe?] You okay, buddy?

[And then he turns his attention back to Haruka.] There's one thing I don't get, though...

[ Haruka looks over. There's a lot she doesn't get, but she's just glad it's done.

But she's listening. If he has questions after that, she doesn't blame him. She might even consider him entitled to that information now. ] What?

What did that voice meant by "someone who chooses to fight"? You don't intend to fight all the Gods that we're gonna meet without talking to them first...do you?

Edited 2015-08-08 17:35 (UTC)

[ The honest answer to that is "no", or maybe "we'll see". She had psyched herself up too much for the worst-case scenario and lost sight of the big picture - Haruka's seen that now, between watching Right (and people like Right) talk to gods and watching gods completely not care when humans attack them. But if talking fails? If judgment falls on those who are trying to talk? Better her hands be dirty than theirs. Better she be damned for her sins than them for their goodness.

But that's not what she's interested in at the moment. At the moment, she's more interested in Right. And what he'll do right now. ] And if I do?

[Right looks at Haruka for a few moments.] ...then I'd think you're in the wrong. Just attacking them without giving them a chance to explain things, or try and work things out - I don't think that's how we're supposed to work.

At least, when it comes to the Gods. We're supposed to keep the peace between them and us, right? Then we shouldn't be the one starting fights with them.

[ What if they start the fight, though? That's what Haruka is worried about, but she doesn't argue with Right's reasoning. Instead she closes her eyes, turns towards the depths of the cave, and lifts her head. ] ...Let's go.

[ She won't fight him over this. She won't stop him from trying to talk. She's willing to let Union be Union, now. She wants him to succeed.

She just can't say it. Which gets a silent chuckle from her. Maybe the voice was right, there. But Haruka's okay with that. She is fine with herself just as she is.

And even though she still thinks he's naive, she's also willing to be fine with Right. So she lets that chuckle touch her lips. ] We might need to chat with whatever's down here.

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Descent into Darkness

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