Sand Continent ~ Isle of Light

[IFBench]

Saltriv looked around the crater. Rayquaza really did a number on this place. If they had arrived sooner, could they have stopped this? Or maybe not, since their attempt to calm down Rayquaza fai-

No, stop that! They did their best, and they managed to get Rayquaza to at least pause.

Saltriv stood with the others, a determined smile on their face.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Celeste's eyes glowed faintly as he used his radiance to keep an eye out for danger.

He really just wanted this to be over. Especially because it meant being in close quarters with Grey. Some "ally" she was. Really, she was part of the reason he felt the need to keep his radiant vision up.

 

[Cresselia92]

“Hmm… Quite the frighteningly fascinating machinery to behold here,” commented Icetales, taking many sharp glances around the place. Back when he was still a Vulpix he had taken a look at the weird Rocket machine, and despite the dark nature surrounding it, he couldn’t help but be intrigued by that alien technology. “I wonder if we will find more of those pocket spheres and other things around here…”

With a couple of notepads in his rightmost tails and two pens in his leftmost tails, he alternated between scribbling notes and sketching the various sights. Sure, photos were a thing with the badge, but he much preferred the old-fashioned way.

 

[Negrek]

Back in the desert again. At least they'd be inside, in the fucking shade this time. Nate stepped carefully to avoid the broke glass, here and there spitting out a stream of water to make sure there weren't any tiny shards where he was about to step. He made his way towards the middle of the chamber, where the charmander said he thought he saw the ground had been disturbed. As a mudkip, he didn't have the kind of, like, earth-sensing abilities a marshtomp or swampert would have, but he tried to reach out with what energy he could, the same as if he was trying shape the ground for a mud-slap attack. And also, like, just fucking look with his actual eyes. Any kind of passageway around here?

Sure would be helpful to have that marshtomp here, who might be better at feeling out any hidden tunnels or irregularities in the earth where shit got buried. Or that poochyena and his nose.

Rocky was sneaking around at the edge of the group, making exaggerated tiptoeing motions and diving to hide behind random outcroppings like he was some kind of fucking cartoon spy. Taking the whole stealth thing way too seriously. At least it was keeping him fucking quiet.

"So, Shield was going on about some horrible evil feeling or whatever the fuck when he was here, right? Anybody, I dunno, getting the sense that there's some fucking ancient evil hiding out around here?" Nate asked.

They hadn't brought anybody who could do the aura thing with them, had they? Dammit.

 

[windskull]

Every few steps, Nip raised his head to cautiously sniff at the air. The open desert provided little in the way of cover, and most of the pokemon among them would stick out like a sore paw. He could only hope that they were downwind from any enemies that might be here; the last thing they needed was to lose the element of surprise.

At his side, he clutched his bag close. He hadn't brought much on such a short notice, just something to eat and his yet-to-awaken ultra stone.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz strolled amongst the group and alternated between scanning their surroundings and people-watching. That Darkwhite was a wild piece of entertainment, to be sure. This wasn't just a serious scouting mission, but an opportunity to see for herself how members of the posse acted in this sort of situation. Especially those Brisa didn't know so well.

She pulled up alongside the weavile and gave him a little wave.

"Howdy, fella! It's Nip, right? I'm Luz, I'm Brisa's familiar!"

 

[Namohysip]

"So, Shield was going on about some horrible evil feeling or whatever the fuck when he was here, right? Anybody, I dunno, getting the sense that there's some fucking ancient evil hiding out around here?" Nate asked.

"I can only sense darkness," Maple replied with a frown. "I'm sure if I sense something powerful, I will know. But for now... I do not think we are close enough."

"There's something right here," Owen said, pointing.

"Really?" Cal asked. "Looks like normal ground to me."

The Charmander blob approached, but Owen quickly said, "Wait--it could be trapped!"

"I'll be fine," Cal said. "I'm just a blob, right? My core is way sturdier than your body is."

After the team inspected it carefully, though, it was indeed not trapped. Cal brushed aside the sand, and others helped dig through, and eventually they found...

"Oh, that explains it..."

It used to be a bunker of some kind. However, the hatch had been... probably flung far into the distant ocean, or melted, or otherwise annihilated. Sand had pooled into the hole, flooding the room, and it was only after digging through that they found the chamber at all, within the crater.

Most of the area had been completely flooded with sand, but there was still a hall that led further inside, covered with scorch marks that Maple explained were telltale signs of a Radiant battle. The markings were precise, like a blade or stencil drawing, but were purely of burns on the surface, and did not actually leave cracks behind.

 

[windskull]

Nip slowed to a stop as he reached the spot where Owen and his familiar had stopped, acknowledging Luz's presence with the flick of an ear.

"Well met, Luz" he murmured, squinting as he tried to keep an eye on the horizon. "As you said, I am Nip. Pleasure to meet you." He turned to dip his head to Luz — who had taken the form of some sort of pokemon that he'd never met before — then returned his gaze to the horizon.

"I may not know much about this region, but this certainly feels... too quiet, if you ask me."

He turned his attention next to the hole that had been dug out. Case in point, the signs of a struggle made his fur prickle. Something had happened here, and it was anyone's guess if the combatants were still around.

 

[Virgil134]

"Well... I guess we found an entrance to their base," Cabot remarked, looking into the room below.

 

[Dragonfree]

Mia followed silently along with the group. Dave wouldn't like that she was here. But Maple had come to the training rooms and asked for backup, and Mia'd asked if they would be fighting, and she said yes, there might be. Training on her own was good, but it was much better to actually fight someone, and best if it was real, and she didn't have to hold back at all. And he would probably be annoyed when he got back, but it was very unlikely she would die, so he would be fine.

They entered an underground bunker. Maple said there were the marks of a Radiant battle. They were straight lines, scorched but without signs of physical impact - like they came from blades made of Radiance. "Those look like they were made by your power," Mia said, narrowing her glowing eyes at Maple. "Are there others who can use the same attack?"

 

[Namohysip]

"No," Maple said.

"Well, kinda, but not as well," Soda said. "Still... these marks look more like they were explosions that left uniform straight-line splashes in all directions. Joule's light has a funny property like that."

They continued through the hall and soon found themselves at a split in the hall, which was made of some kind of concrete. The material didn't look like it had been derived from the sand above it, and it was dim. There were lights in the ceiling made from Luminous Orbs, but not only were they improperly installed, they also seemed to have been broken, aside from a few here and there that had miraculously avoided destruction.

Maple, Owen, and Cal ended up being the ones to light the way with their tails.

"Hmm..." Owen looked toward Wishkeeper, who scanned the rooms.. "There's a lot of stuff in this room to our right, but it's really big. I might get overwhelmed if we try going there."

"And the path of destruction is continuing further into the hall," Maple said.

"And this place looks cool!" Darkwhite went left, toward what appeared to be a hole in the wall too small for large Pokemon to fit through.

"Should we split up or remain together?" Maple hummed to herself.

 

[IFBench]

As Saltriv entered the pit leading to the structure, they stumbled, and tumbled down the slopes, landing in a pile of sand. Their leaf was the only thing that stuck out of the pile, at least until they shook off all the sand a few seconds later and ran down the hall towards the rest of the group.

Once they reunited with everyone, they looked around. The room to the right did look pretty big, and the path ahead was shrouded in darkness. To their left, laid a small hole in the wall, just big enough for them to squeeze in.

"I'll go this way!" they said, starting to walk towards the hole.

 

[Negrek]

Nate ran his hand over the scorch-marks on the wall, which was unsettlingly smooth despite the attacks it had apparently taken. Straight lines, meant they probably came from the necrozma's attacks, huh? So presumably he'd been chasing Rayquaza out...

Apparently the chikorita was all in favor of splitting up, since most people weren't going to fit into that little hole. Nate grimaced. "I dunno. Soda, you got enough juice to cover everybody if we split up? If not, I can follow that guy while the rest of you go on ahead. Otherwise I'll probably go look at what's in that big room with loads of shit in it. I figure if there are any machines, that's my department."

Tech wasn't exactly his thing, but he at least knew human shit better than the pokémon-pokémon. There weren't a ton of former humans along on this trip.

 

[windskull]

Nip's tail feathers twitched as he watched first Darkwhite, then the chikorita approach the hole. He glanced back at the rest of the crew.

"I'm not too keen on splitting up, especially when you don't know where the enemy is. It's the easiest way for hunters to become hunted. But if someone is going to check out the hole..." He paused to nod in the general direction of Saltriv and Darkwhite. "It would probably be smart for someone to wait outside and watch for trouble."

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot paused in thought a moment, looking over each of the three directions carefully.

"Well, since the destruction continues further ahead, doesn't that mean that Shield logically got Rayquaza from over there? If that's the case then maybe any other gods that are still held in this base would be over there as well."

The Cranidos looked over in Nip's direction as Saltriv and Darkwhite seemed eager go explore the hole instead, and mulled over the Weavile's argument.

"I... think there's enough of us to safely split up," he said. "Though you still make a good point, Nip. Perhaps we can just split up into groups of two for now? If that room on the right is so big then maybe it's better to explore that one last when we're all together again."

 

[Namohysip]

"Then I shall remain behind," Maple said, nodding. "If I see trouble, I will make some noise for you to return quickly."

"Then I'm gonna go!" Darkwhite said, following after Saltriv with a cheerful shout. Cal followed her next.

Owen glanced uneasily at the largest room, and then continued through to the destruction down the hall.

As Saltriv and Darkwhite continued down the hole, it appeared that it didn't seem to go anywhere. Perhaps it was some sort of stray blast, or maybe an old experiment of something else that had gone wrong? There wasn't a lot left to recover here, only smooth ground where the concrete had been destroyed. Compared to the other blasts, it seemed to be more precise. From behind, it looked like the hole had been caved in partially, and it used to be larger.

Further into the path of destruction, they found various ruined machines and broken-open doors. Some doors were intact, but did not open without a manual push or pull. "Weird..." Owen looked around. "This tech feels like it's even more advanced than Destiny Village..."

There were three doors, two closed and one blown open. Inside the blown open room was surely where Rayquaza had once been kept, along with the others in the trio. Puddles of water pooled in the corners of the room, where pits had been left behind. A broken chamber of element-proof glass stood at the far end of the room, though there didn't appear to be anything else inside...

But, curiously, there seemed to be something that stood out from the inorganic structures. Near the right side of the room, there appeared to be warped, broken, crystalline structures, like a lump. One appeared to be like half of a chest plate; another looked like a lower jaw. A third looked like part of an oblong cylinder, almost a leg, or an ankle...

 

[Virgil134]

"What... are these things?" Cabot asked.

Pleo seemed similarly confused and tilted his head, before giving one of the crystalline structures a curious peck.

 

[Negrek]

Nate had followed after the chikorita and charmander familiar, his own familiar shrunk back down to his rocky core so Nate could carry him along inside. Now and again a golden ring of light gleamed around Rocky's core, but otherwise it was basically dark as shit.

Didn't look like there was much here from what Nate could make out, though.

"Hey, Darkwhite, can you stick your head into the caved-in part and see if there's anything fun buried under all the dirt and shit?"

 

[Namohysip]

"Anything fun?" Darkwhite repeated eagerly, and then, without any further persuasion, flew toward the caved in portion of the wall like a bullet. Sand and bits of stone flew in all directions as Darkwhite planted her upper half into the debris, wriggling her rear until she transformed into a Dunsparce. Worryingly, it was her backside that had become the Dunsparce's head... "I'll find something!" Darkwhite said, drilling further in. As she did, a few random objects fell out of the dirt, though it all appeared to be broken technology and gadgets. This room must have once been a place where human tech was kept... Nate might recognize a few of them by the design. Rocket elemental suppressors, charged capture nets, long-range Poke Ball launchers...

--

Owen approached the object with Cabot, poking it uncertainly. Crystal. "This looks really familiar," Owen said. "Doesn't it kind of remind you of the armor on Bahamut...?"

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot looked a bit closer.

"... Huh, it does. But how can that be? The only other Necrozma we know is Joule, and I doubt parts of his body just randomly fell off and were left here."