Breach III: Expedition Log

[genpcs]

JOURNEY TO THE MAW'S CRYSTAL CAVES

At this point, news had been spreading about the flowers- the ones that only grew near crystals in the Maw, that they were what Seek had used on Nova City back in January, even though they were Fayren-native. Those who have made it this far to The Maw and searched for some time will finally find themselves at a cave, deep within. The only light there is whatever they brought with them and the bioluminescent glow of some crystals and fungus within the cave- certainly not enough to guide the way without your own source.

Once the expedition party is deep enough into the caves, they'll likely notice that the crystals have shifted behind them and cut off the way that they've come in. They have to go somewhat deep into the crystals to get to the patch of flowers they’re looking for, a veritable field of them. Most of the crystals are white or a pale lavender in color, and once in deeply enough it will become clear that the crystals have been enchanted as they rapidly spike up from their spots on the walls and cut off the entrance, regrowing just as rapidly if broken. A character may be able to get out if they have teleportation or phasing abilities, but they will not be able to bring other characters with them.

The only choice is to go deeper, and some who do will begin to find crystals that look a little different- refined, not bound to the enchanted white and lavender ones, and they’re a vibrant green in color. Careful though- spirits still lurk around certain corners, and with the low light and the Maw's nature.. well, you may want to stick close to someone else. Those aren't the only monsters down there.

DIRECTIONS:
-If you were RNG'd to receive a green crystal, you received a notification last night. Reply with a top-level to this post to receive the content of that crystal. If you do not post a top level by the 17th, your memory crystal will get rerolled to go to someone else who has already posted a top level. The mod NPC account will reply to your post with the memory crystal contents so you will not have any way to receive them unless you reply to the main post. Crystal finders: Cassian Andor, Koishi Komeiji, Link, Kamille "Mobius" Rainer, Belle, and Major Lilywhite.

-Regardless of whether you were RNG'd, anyone who replies with at least 5 comments by July 4th will receive a Fayren charm.

-If you are one of the four people who get to participate in capture, feel free to assume that your person got separated from their group and ended up finding the other three who did as well. That way you can still have main threads with whatever group your character came in if you'd like while we can limit the thread to a semi-reasonable amount of people for a single thread because 5 people in a single thread is already a lot and we do want to make sure that this thread is completed. A specific thread for this will be posted in reply to this post for each of those who joined in to participate. Once again, if you do not reply by the 17th, you will just have your character dropped from the discovery so that we can move on. Because this is an active thread and not just an info drop, the role will not be replaced unless all four characters do not participate.

-Just replying may also give you a chance encounter for other neat stuff in the Maw. A mod may reply with something fun to interact with if it looks like your thread is active based on a daily RNG through the 17th.

-Please feel free to assume that characters eventually find a second way out. They can also take samples of anything they want with them- flowers, crystals, rocks, whatever they may find. If your character wants to do something with something they took, please ask a mod what they'll find out and include the method they are trying to analyze it with. (If you just say 'analyze it' that's not going to tell us whether you'll find something out- if your character says they're looking at something under a microscope or that they're running a test for something specific, however, the mods are more than happy to answer if there's relevant information that your character can discover.)

Comments

Capture Log

[genpcs]

[ A group of Sync the Tempest, Peter Quill, Ildikó Odala, and Namur have managed to accidentally get separated from their own groups. That's when they hear something- a scattering of rocks in an area that's dark, far too dark for someone to be over there alone and yet. There's a shuffling sound, then stillness. Perhaps they should investigate it. And ignore that the mods don't have a blank icon bc it sure as heck isn't the CPU making that noise. ]

[om_nom_namur]

[Tricky light hasn't bothered Namur before, but it does slow him down as he tests each step before fully committing to it. Something he would really really like to not do is pitch himself into a bottomless pit and die falling deep within the earth where nothing but maggots will be able to eat him and take his energy. Maybe not even maggots, though there seems to be no shortage of skittering somethings. He's never smelled them before, whatever they are. Maybe it's just a bunch of spiders.

Damn Ace would be useful right about now. Hell, or even Marco. Both of them glow. But Sync is there, at least, so he's not completely alone in a cavern full of strangers. He'd never admit that it matters, but it does. It's comforting having someone familiar to smell.

His head whips around at the shuffling, mouth open to taste the air.]

The hell?

[Should he really be hearing three echoes of himself in such a small space? He begins climbing over a pile of crystals toward where he heard the sound.]

Hey, anyone else hear that?

Neither crew, just down here for funsies and maybe some sideplot

[notquitedracula]

[One of the people down in those caves didn't actually need a light source. Not only had his senses been sharpened by his awakening two years ago, he also had the benefit of echolocation - of course, he had to be a bat to use it, but being smaller down here among all these tiny spaces wasn't necessarily a bad thing.]

[Flapping around does get tiring, though, especially when it's a constant drain on your mana to be in a different form. So, for the moment, he's landed and taken human shape again - and courtesy of Buer, he has several flames floating around him in the air, providing light and warmth to those who might need or want it.]

[k2so]

[Kay, being a droid, doesn't have much trouble seeing either. Mostly, his optics give enough light to make it very clear where he is. To those unfamiliar with him, the view of a 7t tall droid with a dark paintjob and bright unblinking optics might look a bit ominous.

But he came down here to help and watch out for his friends, so no ones at risk of being harmed except any possible spirits that decide to show up. There's a lot of people he doesn't know and some are very...unusual.]

Nice trick you got there.

[ooc:hi! I wasn't sure if Soma changed form in front of people or not. Kay is talking about that, but if he did it in private, please assume he's talking about the floating flames.]

[earth_rick_c_137]

[ Soma's made a habit of running into unlikely adventuring partners while in assorted ruins and the like on Genessia, hasn't he? It seems this time won't be an exception, as an old man comes stumbling around the corner from an offshoot-path...

...Aaaand immediately regrets his life choices, at least of the last thirty seconds or so. ]

Fuck, that's bright!

[ Who's wearing some sort of super high tech night vision goggles? This guy. At least, until he reaches up and tears them off, blinking furiously in the light cast by Soma's flames. ]

[firefandance]

You can make flames float?

[Her ability wasn't meant to be used like that, but she still couldn't help but be fascinated by the floating flames, even if she meant that she stopped walking for a moment.]

Random find

[genpcs]

Unburied pirate treasure chest. It looks like it's been previously looted, but there are a few rubies and gold dubloons still hidden within. Whoever found it must've been in a hurry.

Koishi Komeiji Memory Crystal Toplevel

[koishi_komeiji]

^{[ Track: Easy Answer ]}
(I'll be arranging an adventure with someone to go along with this. But, for now, here's the toplevel.)

Well... Crap. Koishi just wanted to help bring an end to the spirit attacks. She didn't intend for all this to happen. The crystals closing behind her was bad. Sure, they weren't thick enough to keep her from teleporting out but leaving would do no one any good... But she could see in the dark. She had lived underground for decades. In hell no less. She refused to give up.

Especially after her humiliation in the circus arena and earlier still being devoured in that swamp.

And so, without light or form or thought, she began flying deeper and deeper into the cave. Any who wish to accompany her will be protected by Koishi's unseen nature and her potent magic and psionics.

She would gather things along the way. Flowers, rocks, other crystals of as many colors, mixtures, and/or shades that she could find. But nothing bigger around than a half-dollar or so. It had to fit in her pocket after all. She would be looking at and comparing them psychically, checking for any emotions lingering within them. She will also take them to Satori later for a different kind of psychic examination.

Additionally she will try to chew on a flower, though not truly eat it, seeing if the flowers affect her in any way as a an emotionless spirit monster. She will immediately spit them out if they start affecting her. If chewing does nothing then perhaps she might straight up eat one later.

Eventually she would find a memory crystal. Spying the vibrant splash of green at the top of a trickling fall, she would fly up to retrieve it from the flowing, murky water.

MEMORY CRYSTAL #4

[genpcs]

The same woman seems to appear in all of the memory crystals. A woman, probably about 25, appears on the screen. She's got a peppy spirit, and doesn't have a wrinkle in sight nor seemingly anything less than perfection. Her facial features seem to reflect a number of different ethnicities, none in particular standing out more than another. All of her features are symmetrical, and her chestnut hair is as voluminous as it is long, with a yellow ribbon tied into it. A few freckles spanned her cheeks beneath dark eyes lined with winged eyeliner.

"Atty Cuevas, year 2, day 45 of the PACIE Cognitive Alteration Experiments. Trials in ten different prisons have proven to be successful. Additional funding from our generous patrons has allowed us to start mass production. Iota Eta's government decided that due to the success of the project, they want to start implementing it hospitals despite warnings about patients with psychological ailments."

There's a grunt from Atty, who doesn't look pleased as something just hit her chair while she was speaking. Apparently she's not supposed to criticize them. There appear to be a number of agents in the background going through all of their things.

"Iota Eta's government has dictated that they will take the project over from here despite vehement objection, so we will no longer be needing your funding services. We thank you for your patronage up to this point, and hope you have good lives. If you have any questions or problems, please contact the governor and don't kill the messenger."

Belle - Finding a Crystal.

[clevermind]

"Hello?"

Belle called into the cave but heard no reply. She had wanted to help but she felt as if she had gotten herself into serious trouble. She had a stick with her, the one she’d been using to weakly protect herself from the spirits. It did nothing to them but gave her time to slip away. She considered herself lucky, none of the spirits had yet to touch her.

There was dim light in the cave but it did little to comfort Belle. She torn off a piece of her dress and wrapped it around the tip of her stick. She then struck a rock against the cave wall, working persistently until a spark ignited the cloth that she had prepared. It wouldn’t last forever but it gave her more light and a better weapon against whatever she might find in the cave.

Her steps were slow and cautious and she made her way forward.

She saw the vibrant green light shine as the light from her flame kissed the crystal surface. Curiosity ceased Belle and she stepped forward, retrieving the memory crystal from the cave floor. She didn’t know what to make of it but she didn’t have very long to inspect it. As she stood there the shadows in the cave pulsed and moved. She wasn’t alone and Belle would most certainly need help if she was going to get out of the cave unharmed.

MEMORY CRYSTAL #1

[genpcs]

"Video log number the first!"

A bright smile from a woman, probably about 25, appears on the screen. She's got a peppy spirit, and doesn't have a wrinkle in sight nor seemingly anything less than perfection. Her facial features seem to reflect a number of different ethnicities, none in particular standing out more than another. All of her features are symmetrical, and her chestnut hair is as voluminous as it is long, with a yellow ribbon tied into it. A few freckles spanned her cheeks beneath dark eyes lined with winged eyeliner.

"This is Atty Cuevas, newly assigned Documentation Tech to the Population Advancement Center on Iota Eta. It's my job to document all advancements and interpret what the scientists back there come up with to put it into layman's terms for you, our lords and masters, the people who pay our paychecks and sign off on grants and things so that we can continue to do what we do, and try to not be horribly boring about it while I am. Nice to meet you, welcome to video log one."

The video turns to go over a number of facilities, including some that appear to be working on genetic modification and other things in the video, and Atty continues to voice over the video.

"The Population Advancement Center on Iota Eta, or PACIE, was founded with the ideals of creating the ideal life experience. Civilized life has long since lost its hesitancy to interact with one another and desirable traits from all species have been identified and years of genetic modifications have allowed each and every person to customize their appearance. PACIE's job is to try to identify what the latest improvements the population wants to see are and make them available to the public. We've already managed to alter physical appearances, splice genes to give people cool characteristics from other species, and we've bred bacterial and viral populations into multiple environments that are incompatible with anyone who has PACIE's genotypes present in their bodies, effectively defeating even the common cold by affecting their evolutionary chain."

The video goes back to Atty, who is stretching a little off camera, having clearly mistimed the length of the pre-recorded footage. As she's stretching, it's clear there's a reflective surface over her arms- some kind of carapace that's largely transparent, but covered in artistic tattoos. Possibly one of the genetic enhancements she was speaking about. She quickly turns around after tilting her head back and realizing the feed was back. A sheepish laugh later and she comes back so it's just her bust again.

“It is my pride and joy to announce, in collaboration with Iota Eta's law enforcement services, we'll be working on a new project that will help reintegrate criminals into society in an effective and permanent way that will offer zero risk of criminal behavior in the future. Cooperation from prisoners will, of course, be voluntary but we have had very few turning down the offer to have their sentences reduced to zero upon program exit. Our scientists are working day and night to make the world a safer place. I'll attach the technical details, but the short of it is blahblah neat substance in a flower that can separate mental attributes like between positive and negative, enhance emotions or even cause the absorption of them. It's a whole bunch of crazy brain stuff and it's gonna be awesome and I know you guys don't care about the science so much as whether or not it works or not. So far so good. Initial tests have full-on separated the characteristics into separate bodies, so great scientists like my brother have been working nonstop to sort it out. We'll keep you updated, this is just the beginning. For now, as they said in the most ancient of times, 'Peace out.'"

OTA | Around the caves | "I came here to have a good time and i feel so attacked right now"

[k2so]

[Cassian and other people whom Kay cares about are investigating the caves so it's really not a surprise that he decided to tag along. That said, Kay is not a happy camper.

Small caves + 7ft tall droids = not a good combination.

His optics allows him to see a little but he still has hit his head against the roof and random stalactites too many times for his liking.

Currently, Kay is trying to disentangle a thin root that was hanging from the ceiling of the cave and that somehow got wrapped around the little antennas of his back. A little help would be welcome.]

[om_nom_namur]

[Namur feels this pain. Lord of the Sea, he hopes things open up a little bit more the deeper they go. He signed up to explore crystal shafts, not pull roots out of his hair for the next week and a half. He's currently inching his way between two crystals, but he's not too far away to lend a hand. Or a knife, as the case may be.]

Hold still.

[Roots are almost as bad as fishing line, but after some straining, he manages to hack his way through.]

Lord a the Sea, what a pain in the ass. Still got all yer bits an' pieces, do y'?

[He didn't think he accidentally hacked anything off of Kay, but he'd never really know unless it was something major.]

[unhappy]

Who let the walking bin go in first?

[ Yeah, Emerald's stuck behind him. granted, she didn't really announce she was coming and she intentionally was trying to stick close to Kay because he's a robot and robots are least likely to cause her to have weird feelings feedback, right? Probably. That's the logic. Getting stuck in a cave behind him is definitely making her cranky though. Sorry Kay. ]

Hold still and turn your head up so I can see the root.

[ His eyes are glowy, right? Right. It should help that Em's carrying around sickles. ]

[moviemagic]

This must suck for you. They just don't do caves like they use to.

[Krista was quick enough to at least go to try and help pull the vines off. Just how many of those are going to hang around. Get it? Krista moved slightly, thankful that she had been wanting to learn hoe to use swords and the like. But for now the dagger was the first step.

It's helpful when it comes to vines.]

Much better.

Cassian Andor - Memory crystal toplevel

[captain_by_the_book]

First trip to Fayren, and he hated it. Cassian wasn't shy about grumbling and snapping, either. Whatever tolerance he had left after the defense of Attleton was gone by the time they'd fought their way to the caves, and being locked in had been the zherry on top. Yet he would try to tamper his annoyance when in hearing range of someone he considered a Fayren resident - try, that was.

His flashlight served him well enough in the caves, the blaster less so, but he still clung to the familiar weapon while he carried the crossbow from David Haller on his back, to be used only if necessary. He would stop every now and then to take samples, though he didn't know yet what to do with his findings. It couldn't hurt to have them, in any case.

He cursed to himself when another spirit attacked, ducking and running to both lure it away from the others, and avoid having to use the crossbow that would demand its due again. When he came to a halt he found himself completely alone, he couldn't even hear their voices anymore.

A green glow further down caught his attention, he followed it to a large green crystal, gleaming and perfectly cut, like no crystal should down here. Cassian didn't hesitate to reach for it, to add it to his growing collection of samples.

MEMORY CRYSTAL #3

[genpcs]

"Stop goofing around on these logs, Atty, this is serious. You don't have the right levity at all."

The voice this time came from a rather chiseled-looking man. He was wearing a plain t-shirt and dress pants. He had auburn hair, and eyes that looked almost the same as Atty's right down to the freckle flooring. The view of him is from over Atty's shoulder, and she seems to have folded her hands in her lap for now.

"You just need a sense of humor. They hired me to keep them entertained, if that involves making jokes about things that upset you because you're close to the people you're working with, I'm sorry. Grow a pair. I don't care what of, just a pair."

"You're such a-"

"Good employee who does my job super well and you do yours. You can whine at dad if you want, the big old grant they just wrote PACIE isn't going to change."

"Ren died yesterday and you wrote it off like it was some kind of character death from a TV show! I know you two weren't close, but you are close to Faye. The twins deserve more respect than that."

"Shut up." The words came out from Atty sharply, like that was the first time he'd actually gotten through to her. "Shut up, I know, but this was Ren's idea. He wanted to keep going, and I'm going to make sure we can do that so if you have a problem then just get out and go do your job and I'll do mine!"

The man seemed to be stunned into silence for a moment, making a ‘tch’ with his teeth before stomping away. She understood why he was angry. She was too. The tenseness in her shoulders seemed to indicate as such, so did the sharp breath she took before she turned around with a strained smile.

"Looks like this video's going to need some editing... Or maybe just starting over. I'll keep it so I don't forget, Faye always says that's important, but I don't think this is going to go to the bosses. Unsung log for day 342, signing off."

Just exploring yo and maybe getting samples | OTA

[needssouls]

[Tayler was annoyed. The people she had been spying on for potential test subjects had gone to the safe houses, which made it so much harder to capture them. However it meant that she had some free time to explore and see what this place had. Thinking about what she could get and wondering how she could study it and what effects it might have to help her in her experiments.

As she looked those were the thoughts that were in her head. Glancing to the left, glancing to the right she couldn't help but speak up. Even if it was to herself as she thought.]

There is quite a bit in here. Interesting. Wonder what we could take first.

[koishi_komeiji]

She hadn't gotten far from the rest of the trapped group when a weird green monster with glowing eyes appeared. She was hovering just over her shoulder and very much so in her personal bubble.

"You want to take something that you can cleanly remove and nothing embedded in the walls."

Oh my god where did she come from?

"I don't know these caves well or the stability of the rock. So it's safer if you do that. I mean, if you're looking to get some crystals."

Random find

[genpcs]

It's a wolf puppy! It looks like it has an injured paw.

Kamille "Mobius" Rainer - Memory Crystal

[shelteringwings]

Oh, you've got to be kidding me.

[At this stage, Mobius and places with crystals weren't really expected to get along. Between the crystal cave city of Klistea being full of jerk mercenaries and the Galarios Island cave with lucemite crystals growing everywhere, his luck with these kinds of caves are questionable at best... and now they're trapped in one because they were enchanted. Great.

He'd spent some time hacking at the enchanted crystals with his beam sword alongside his Noibat using Air Cutter, but to no avail. It was against his better judgment to go deeper in, but it's not like he had much of a choice. Luckily, random spirits didn't catch him off guard, so he was able to deflect them away with the magic from his bracer, but he didn't know how effective that would really be. They needed to finish what they needed to do and find a way out - fast.

Most of the crystals he looked at all blended together due to their colors, but eventually, Mobius' eyes fell on a peculiar green one hidden off to the side. He stared at it for a moment before looking over his shoulder for anyone else in the area, then gave a glance to his Noibat who was comfortably clinging to the back of his head. Looking back towards the green crystal he took a deep breath, slowly reaching out for it.]

This is gonna bite me in the ass, isn't it.

MEMORY CRYSTAL #5

[genpcs]

"Wow.. it's been years since I've done one of these, hasn't it? I'm not sure what day I'd put this log at."

The video seems to be from a bathroom stall, a brick pulled out of the wall behind her. The video quality is much worse, like it was done from a burner phone. Despite the comment about years, she still looks just the same. It is a world where genetic modifications are pretty common, so it doesn't look like she's really aged a day. Her outfit, however, seems to have taken a turn for the imprisoned.

"Fay, John, Bard, and I were arrested. I heard from No the other day through a friend, but I don't know what happened to Dr. Glade. We're all officially disturbers of the peace now, though, after I tried to tell everyone that it was dangerous. That serum we made wasn't meant to be used on the population, but the government doesn't care. The man in charge already started implementing it, ignoring that the earliest trials have started exhibiting.. symptoms. No said that with the negative traits essentially destroyed, some of the patients stopped feeling things properly. Thrill-seeking behavior, asking others about strong feelings and trying to start drama, that sort of thing. Nothing that's really caused harm but.. They didn't give us the chance to find out long-term consequences. I don't know what happened to the rest of the team, but those four were the leads. Dr. Glade and No, stay safe. No, you always were the smart one in the family."

There's a sound in the background and a banging on the wall. Apparently she was taking too long, as an officer barked out at her to hurry it up.

"Finishing up now!"

Waiting for the footsteps to clear out, she sighed and whispered “Atty Cuevas, out.” then turned the video off.

Major Lilywhite | Memory Crystal Toplevel

[majorfuckup]

Okay. This might have gotten off to a rocky start.

[Major quipped when he heard their way out close behind him, checking over his shoulder with his flashlight just to make sure. He was just glad that claustrophobia wasn't one of the key personality qualities of the brain he was currently on. At least, if he was wrong that particular trait hadn't manifested yet.

Ever since arriving at Genessia, this was the closest to being in his comfort zone that he felt. Even things with Liv were different than before. She had memories here and he had ones she didn't know about yet. It was an adjustment, but her being here still helped. But the chaos, and having to trust someone else with his half-life and protect them in return, all of those things were easier for him, and it helped him not think about everything he had been struggling with. Hopefully, he was also helping everyone in Genessia in the process.

The cave itself kept him attentive to his surroundings. Several spirits had already met a pretty quick end. That didn't stop him from looking in awe at the crystals and flowers. They glowed softly in shades of lavender and white. He was in a literal fantasy novel. So he stopped in his tracks when he spotted a solitary green one, certain they hadn't run into one like that yet. He looked back over to Liv and her entourage, moving closer to the crystal.]

Think this is important? [He wasn't being serious. It was probably important. Or maybe it was toxic. Could rocks be toxic? Only one way to find out. He reached out to grab it, surprised when it didn't grow back like the rest had.]

MEMORY CRYSTAL #2

[genpcs]

"It's your friendly neighborhood Atty Cuevas here, checking in for log number 34. I know, I know, the logs have been pretty dry lately."

Atty rolls her eyes, resting her chin on the heel of her palm. "Day after day of me trying to explain DNA sequences between plants and animals, blahbiddyblah. But!" She perks up immediately, back to her chipper self. "I've got actual news today. Okay, so you remember this baby, right?"

She pulls up one of the flowers.

"It turns out, when you splice it together with some parts of a special neurodegenerative bacteria- that is, it's basically a disease that eats up brain bits, we should be able to create something that can target only the negative traits that the flower separates out. Long story short, we're looking at taking the bad out of bad boys. Now it's still a ways away. We haven't even managed it with the rats yet, so don't quote me and ask when it'll be ready and then everyone's like "Atty why did you tell them it was ready they're going to take away our funding if we don't show results yet' like calm down." She holds up a finger and acts like she's about to make the most dignified quote in the world, "As the ancient telephilosopher Bart Simpson once said, 'Don't have a cow, man.'"

Atty tucks her hair behind her ear and then slides the flower right out of view.

"It's only been over a month and we've gotten this far, I just thought you'd want to know what the current plan is. I'll keep you updated. Once again, our lords and masters of the checkbook, I bid you adieu!"

link - memory crystal

[mrhero]

[ What they're doing now has more familiarity to it than anything else he's done now. Sword at his side, bow on the back, walking carefully through the cave and trying to keep an eye out for everyone else that came down there, even if they had all split up. Sticking close to Jaune was what ended up happening, two capable fighters so Link had scouted ahead. Take the hit first should anything bad happen like the cave decided to collapse around them or a horrific monster made out of the rocks revealed itself among the spirits. Something like that. Been there.

Anything unusual could be the key to helping out so the sight of a crystal glowing green stands out significantly among the others. A creature of habit, his first instinct says to go ahead and grab it. Things like that usually do something, right? ]

MEMORY CRYSTAL #6

[genpcs]

This video starts by panning over what seems to be a very advanced city, or it used to be. The buildings are in ruins, embers beneath some of them and smoke in the distance.

"Iota Eta, everyone. The people started turning into those.. things. I don't know what to call them. They stopped feeling altogether and they started tearing into each other. Everyone. There's no taking back what PACIE created, but if anyone finds this log.. I want you to know, after the prison fell, we weren't the only ones who got out. They already injected Fay, so we're going to have to find a way to save her before she becomes one of them. At least we know she has a few years, and if we can save her then maybe there's hope for them.. for everyone."

The video goes back to her face. She's dirty, obviously injured and limping as she walks.

"But No found us a safe house. Some place we can work. Dr. Glade managed to make a barrier they can't get through on a small scale. It uses neurochemicals to essentially generate emotions for the beasts to feed off of and protects them from sensing our emotions- that's what they're after. It doesn't ever seem to help them, but they want them anyway. I don't blame them."

"Atty! Come on, there's no one left to watch that prattle, get over here before it's too late! Dr. Glade's sealing the barrier!"

Atty looks over in the direction of the voice- it sounds like No's, her auburn-haired brother's. She nods, then finishes up quickly.

"I guess 'peace out' was a bad phrase to start this off with after all. I'm sorry. We'll fix it. We'll find a way to save everyone. I promise."

[Neither crew, just funning around | OTA]

[youfool]

[Both arms stretched out for balance, Ted walked along one massive, jutting crystal in a cavern full of them. Long, pale things that formed a senseless, interconnected jumble of dim light and walkways. He's here for the same reason everyone is: to be a hero. To look for samples, go exploring, and have fun. He'd be having more of it if he wasn't so tired; he'd been fighting the spirits non-stop ever since the invasion. He wasn't used to that kind of exertion.

Still, he remains awake for the prospect of adventure and new things to discover. What an invigorating change of pace! Thanks to his goku uniform's unique properties, he can fit most anywhere, even though he has no idea where he's going. For now he's content to traverse these many, multitudinous rocks, getting more and more hopelessly lost all the time.

To his chagrin, the enemy lied in wait. It was dark here; dark enough to provide plenty of cover for any lurking void spirits to leap out of any crystal's cover. Ted was ambushed by a large, slithering mass of dripping ink that snaked its way around crystalline crevices. Ted's perception, super suit or no, isn't the best, and the ambush scares him out of his wits and off the crystal he walked along, hanging on by a literal thread.

The ensuing battle was a tough one; Ted can't fan out his threads to capture his foes so easily in such a jagged and uneven space. The foe he's facing has such an irregular, amorphous shape, that even a plain environment would prove challenging. On top of that, touching any of his threads would mean touching Ted himself, making him susceptible to the void spirit's enervation.

It got worse. He'd quite forgotten Gengar, the Shadow Pokemon, dwelt in his shadow the entire time. Gengar is both too clever and too disobedient to stay in his pokeball for long. He wanted to fight; wanted to prove how strong he was. And what better way than to try and rescue his overworked idiot of a trainer?

"Try" being the operative word. A few shadow punches--dark, fist-shaped bursts of energy from nearby portals--missed their mark, and the void spirit didn't take kindly to the second combatant. It swiftly slithered its way out and around Gengar before Ted could get back to the fight. He arrived just in time to see the spirit utterly engulfing his pet.

He gasped in horror. This was why he hand't let any of them fight off the void spirits. He couldn't bear the thought of any one of them being so drained. His mind scrambled to think of a way to extricate the rebellious ghost before it was too late. What weapon did he have that could harm the spirit, but leave Gengar unscathed?

Before he could come up with an answer, the spirit flew from Gengar to another part of the cavern. Ted leapt to Gengar's crystal, then cooed and comforted and did all the passionate things one does to see to the well-being of one freshly attacked. He was satisfied; it seemed Gengar would be just fine.]

"Thank God! I'll ground you for a month, Gengar! That thing would've sucked-"

[A horrible thought lanced across his mind. He didn't get lucky. The void spirit didn't need that much time to drain their victims. Now that he thought about it, wasn't Garchomp the same way? Completely unharmed despite being plainly out in the open? How-

The void spirit interrupted this train of thought with another offensive rush. Gengar, used to Ted's obliviousness, pushed Ted out of the way and went to intercept. Once again, Ted's falling, struggling through his exhaustion to find his footing in a battlefield so dark and treacherous.

An ominous pattern emerged once Ted got back to a clearer view. Gengar was doing battle with the spirit, and it kept avoiding him, dripping and weaving out of the pokemon's path. It was so ravenously hungry for emotions, and Gengar was, presumably, bursting with them in his usual eagerness for combat. There could only be one explanation.

A shadow punch struck true this time, bashing the spirit and eliciting a horribly discordant screech as it went to nurse its wounds. Ted could only stare at Gengar, a despondent whirlpool of emotions himself. He uttered in cold shock.]

"Why? Why don't they want you? What are you?"

[Gengar rebuked him, in his usual poke-speech, to stop with the navel-gazing and get his head in the game. But he couldn't. Ted was absolutely stunned and brimming with betrayed feelings besides. This made him a tempting target for the next void spirit to attack...]

[megabond]

[Despite that he wasn't supposed to leave Koishi's group for a while, Sycamore decides to do so in order to get more crystal samples. However, he didn't expect for him to encounter Ted at the place like this, especially that he's in a middle of a battle with his Gengar.

He just sighs at this before he pulls out his Poke Ball and calls out his Shuppet to help him out.]

Noir, use Shadow Ball.

[Of course, as he is still void of his emotion, he didn't give out any quips or his usual French words. He just asked him to use an attack as his Shuppet shoots out a purple ball of energy to the spirits.]

A side Arc

[aurabble]

[At one point, Jaune had unintentionally found himself separated. He was attempting to make his way back, but with all its unfamiliarity, much of the cave blurred together and distinguishing landmarks was proving to be a challenge. He was growing increasingly nervous as he trekked on, less than impressive parkour skills leading him to places such as flat on his face and missing abrasions and injuries only thanks to his aura. After landing in a patch of flowers, he started gathering as many as he could. Better safe than sorry. A movement just out of the range of his flashlight has him freezing. Any movement not his own puts him on guard, and he calls out, hoping it's another explorer and not a spirit or something unknown.]

Is someone there or am I finally going crazy in the dark?

[unhappy]

[ She was going to answer him until he asked if he was going crazy.

Now she's just going to gently throw crystal at his feet from the dark. Because annoying the shit out of Jaune seems more productive than what she actually came down here to do so she's actually really annoyed right now. So she's going to hide behind some of the bigger crystals so Jaune can't find her as she tosses crystals to lure him. ]