[CYOA] You Are a Rock

[Mirage]

Spoiler: line-by-line

You figure out how to roll down the window--if only by accident as you step on the button--

Yup, definitely figured that one out by ourselves. We'll uh, we'll go with that.

But then, innate knowledge, perhaps from Yveltal, floods in next. Dark Matter, a being of negativity... knows only negativity. Therefore, if you doubt, even if the majority of it is a belief in working together... what would Dark Matter see? It can only see the negative...

Oooh, the negative feedback makes sense - that's what fuels Dark Matter in the first place! It's the lack of trust that set him off, that's a negative emotion. Hmm... that's good to know for when we work with/against him next time. Seems like the ease of emotionally unbalancing him could be a major weakness...

For now, you've lost them. Dark Matter is too slow to catch up. You see it land in the middle of the road, kneeling. A dark aura intensifies but then fades out of view... Was it charging something?

Charging, huh? I hope that whatever Dark Matter's cooking there, it won't be able to reach us from our distance... if he's preparing some kind of teleportation or speed boost, we might not've seen the last of him yet.

She throws it at the back of her head, but the impregnable barrier that is Caitlin's hair deflected it effortlessly.

Why are we even worrying about defensive abilities, we got all the defense we need right here

In fact, you see flecks of darkness in its ice as well... but it feels off. That isn't Dark Matter's.

Now that's a mega eyes emoji right there so we know that Dark Matter's not behind the corruption for Kyurem. If we're not the ones behind Kyurem's corruption (which... seems like we'd know by now if we were), then that implies there's a third being around here who's able to corrupt with darkness?

As of right now, I don't have any strong guesses to who that could be... if Ghetsis is being introduced to the story, he would probably be my most likely choice, but we haven't seen him yet or know what he's capable of, so that's jumping the gun there.

"Kyurem has a lock on us!" Shauntal cries. "We can't even get out of the car without being iced over! What do we do?!"

"I see." Caitlin hums. "Okay."

"Okay? Okay?!" Shauntal snaps. "What can we--"

Caitlin's utter indifference to what's going on around her absolutely cracks me up

That's it! That's the same corruption in Xerneas! It... isn't Dark Matter's? What do you mean?

That's incredibly significant, so now we know Xerneas is also corrupted by whoever corrupted Kyurem, and it isn't Dark Matter. IF we can somehow defeat Kyurem, we couuuld get N to maybe speak with it, and figure out where the corruption came from... but I dunno if we have the strength yet to do so. Maybe we can get a clue with Lifesense again?

-------------------

For our actions, we need to buy some time here. The best strat I've been able to come up with, from the discussion post, would be to try using Aura Shroud and hoping that Weavile knows something like Double Team that can combo with it. If so, maybe we could cloak the car from Kyurem, and maybe even project a few illusions to through Kyurem off? N seemed to be doing that earlier against Dark Matter to reasonable success...

It's going to be rather expensive energy wise though, so I am 100% down for an option that uses less energy. Just putting this in tentatively.

Attack (target is the car): Aura Shroud

Telepathy (target is Weavile): "Weavile, do you know any techniques that can provide stealth or create illusions?"

Consider: How strong is Kyurem? Do we stand any chance against it in battle?

 

[Negrek]

Gotta be a bit quick here, but let's see... I'm a bit worried that Weavile may not have anything too defensive in his moveset. From what I can tell, we've seen him use or used ourselves Ice Shard, Triple Axle, and Night Slash, and from our first encounter with him he used something that moved fast and left behind afterimages. Maaaaybe Double Team? But it sounded like an offensive move, possibly Quick Attack. As well as what sounded like Hone Claws. That would already be five moves, and I could be misinterpreting what Namo wrote for one of them, and Pokémon can swap out attacks... but it doesn't sound like Weavile favors defensive techniques. (We definitely were supposed to explore Weavile's moveset earlier, and we probably even could have chosen four moves to bring with us if we did, oops.)

So! Hopefully Weavile does have something that can synergize with Aura Shroud, but I'm also going to try and get an assist from Dark Matter. I think they're both somewhat dicey ideas, but hopefully one of them will work!

> Telepathy @ Dark Matter: "We're just trying to do what you asked us to do! We'll get a lot farther if we work together instead of fighting. Can you distract Kyurem for a minute? I can't guarantee the others will let you come with us on the plane to Kalos if you help, but I can at least try to convince them!"

> Consider: Is there anyone in the airport besides Kyurem? Is there anything there that looks like it might be controlling them?

 

[Namohysip]

RESULTS​

Aura Shroud the car!

Considerations:
- (1) How strong is Kyurem? Do we stand any chance against it in battle?
- (1) Is there anyone in the airport besides Kyurem? Is there anything there that looks like it might be controlling them?
- (∞) ...
- (3%) ...

"Weavile, do you know any techniques that can provide stealth or create illusions?"

A plain negative is your vibe. Weavile was stealthy in the conventional sense; the magic of a Zoroark or a Ghost was beyond his grasp. So much for that.

It seems like a bad idea for you to leave things out in the open. Your first thought is to shroud the car--except, you'd only done that for yourself before. Would this be safe? No time to think. You try it anyway, clutching onto the seat fabric and channeling your energy through it. A pulse of darkness spreads through the car like food coloring in water, and the whole thing lurches downward, earning a startled cry again.

"Gengar?!" Shauntal cries as if this was something he could have done.

Aura Shroud... on the car! Triple Energy! Energize halves the result! -3 Energy!

And it seems he had caught on to your intent--and is helping you, pulling the car into the abyss. You peek outside in this abyssal realm out of sheer curiosity and see... a hollow outline of the road above you like seeing the outside world through a screen door. You even see the road markings trail above you. Below, the wheels are spinning on Psychic platforms managed by Caitlin's Pokemon, and for all you know Caitlin herself.

You can sense Dark Matter getting closer. And rapidly. It was definitely charging up some kind of speed boost. Hoping that you're close enough, you mentally shout back: "We're just trying to do what you asked us to do! We'll get a lot farther if we work together instead of fighting. Can you distract Kyurem for a minute? I can't guarantee the others will let you come with us on the plane to Kalos if you help, but I can at least try to convince them!"

Icicles pelt the ground above you, completely missing the car, even as your stamina wavers. The energy you'd taken from Dark Matter could only help so much against the car's sheer size. You can't hold it for much longer.

"We're coming back up soon!" you warn.

"That will do," Caitlin replied.

"What?" you ask.

"Just tell me when. Darach?"

"Of course, Lady Caitlin." Darach summons Houndoom again and merely offers a nod. Somehow, that's enough for Houndoom, in this relatively cramped quarters, to understand what to do next.

You're probably getting closer to the city at this point.

And then, Houndoom breathes into the device, and the car lurches forward. You lose your concentration and the car pops out of the ground. And then... kept going. Higher and higher on psychic paths and starry trails.

Shauntal passes out. N looks moderately ill. Darach calmly places the car's control stick to the 'N' letter. You can only assume this car was custom-made to help N feel better because you have no idea what else that would be for.

Caitlin appears to be asleep again.

And now you're weightless as the car loses altitude. You're pinned to the ceiling... and thanks to your new viewing angle, you see two things at once. First: Kyurem is staring at your vehicle, charging an attack--and it appears that the car's current trajectory... is directly toward the hulking ice dragon. Second: Dark Matter is flying after you, disobeying every single traffic law on the books as it leaves the streets in a ruined mess from the shockwave of its incoming speed. Clouds of debris and concrete fly behind Dark Matter's wake. At first, you think it will strike the car in the air... but instead, it goes past you and into the city.

Darach is looking through the glove compartment with the same urgency as someone searching for a lost quarter.

You have approximately ten seconds before impact.

Current Status​

HP: 17/13+5
Energy: 10/13
Offense: 5+2
Defense: 6+1
Shadow: 3%

Considerations:
- (!) How strong is Kyurem? Do we stand any chance against it in battle?
- (!) Is there anyone in the airport besides Kyurem? Is there anything there that looks like it might be controlling them?
- (∞) That's it! That's the same corruption in Xerneas! It... isn't Dark Matter's? What do you mean?
- (3%) Fine. First, Kyurem.