Landsverd Site A-06 "Prism Hollow"

[Tetra]

Koa took in each new piece of information with increasing dread. Incineroar. Attack on sight. 'Volunteered'. Casualties. His stomach churned and for a moment an image of a rattata on a wagon flashed through his mind. He felt bitterly angry. If they'd never done all this, never dragged Starr out here in the first place, none of this would have happened. Had she had much choice between 'volunteering' and some grim alternative? It wasn't fair.

No point saying any of that now. They had to focus on saving her. How would she feel when she learned what happened? "We'll handle her," he said firmly. "Like we said, we have enough experience to do it properly." Without neutralising her, he thought angrily.

"Don't worry, we'll save your packmates," Anubis said, a flicker of something compassionate in his tone. "What are their names?"

 

[Cresselia92]

Ah. There it was, the confirmation they were waiting for, which was a fairly predictable outcome. Silver decided that was the best moment to break his silence and crossed his arms.

“Hmph. It’s not like we’ve got other options here. How’s staying locked here gonna work in the long run?” he asked, his neutral glare aimed mostly at Dr. Treste. “We either stop Starr and get outta this place, or we hide like cowards and die of starvation when we run out of supplies.” He quirked a brow and tilted slightly his head, daring the doctor to contradict him. “Which way d’you prefer?”

While Silver still held his head on his shoulders, Lyra was despairing about the many souls that died under Starr’s claws. Sure, they might’ve brought their fates to themselves, and yeah, they weren’t 100% good guys, but that didn’t change the fact that they were gone, most likely in a very brutal and gory way. That was too much, too much for her to keep bottled!

“Nobody else has to die here, okay?!” she hollered, flailing her arms as she was overcome by worry for her friends, those survivors, and herself.

Silver looked at her, startled by her outburst, but before he could say anything, she raised her paw, feeling better after unloading that weight off her chest. While she had the sensation that the others had more mixed feelings about those survivors, she considered every life precious and worthy of salvation and redemption, and she wasn’t going to leave them to die just for some petty revenge.

“I know y’all are worried and scared, and yes, this must’ve been a horrible ordeal for everyone involved. Casualties are never good, and Starr must be in a lot of pain right now…”

The haunting cries of grief of the newly-evolved family Camerupt, once he realized that the beautiful orchards he loved so much had been incinerated by his molten lava. Blaming the bad guys, Team Rocket and their strange evolution radio waves, didn’t bring any comfort because he did all of that…

“But as the others have said, we’re here to help, and we’re gonna help both Starr and everyone who’s still stuck in this terrifying place!” She aimed for the rim of her hat, but since it wasn’t there at the moment, she instead pulled the rim of her hood. “Now! How do we reach the other four?”

 

[Jackie Cat]

"We'll handle her. Like we said, we have enough experience to do it properly."

"Don't worry, we'll save your packmates. What are their names?"

“We either stop Starr and get outta this place, or we hide like cowards and die of starvation when we run out of supplies. Which way d’you prefer?”

“Nobody else has to die here, okay?! [...] We’re here to help, and we’re gonna help both Starr and everyone who’s still stuck in this terrifying place! Now! How do we reach the other four?”

Something inside the little Togedemaru scientist trembled, on the verge of breaking.

Brisa stepped forward.

"Starr Sakari is my partner," she said, softly. "If she's down there, then I'm goin' to go get her, the same as rain is bound to fall and tinder's bound to burn. Best I have the greater odds of succeedin', if'n such a thing is possible, but it's happenin' regardless. So. You gonna help, Doc?"

Whatever resistance remained inside Treste collapsed entirely.

"...Okay," she said, in a small voice. "We... We ought to try. Yes."

She adjusted her glasses, and hopped from her table spot to a different desk.

"Assuming you all can hold your own in combat... Well. You will need to eliminate the crystal formations acting as capacitors for all the excess RAD and SHaD down there – excuse me, that is to say, Radiance and Shadow. Only once that is done will the— ah, will Miss Sakari be unable to draw on those energy reserves."

Krokorok nodded, putting his hands on his hips. "If you can beat her in a clean fight, that'd be ideal. But if you can spare someone to evacuate the guys stuck down there, it might give you some breathing room."

 

[Butterfree]

Jesus. Dave'd been expecting to be coming here to rescue Starr, not to rescue some cowering CDE scientists from Starr. She'd been a volunteer, had she? He almost, almost made a sardonic comment, but bit it back. If she was here hopped up on two different kinds of mind-altering energy and had already been on a murderous rampage, they needed all the information and cooperation they could get.

At least Jean was back in Frontier Town, safe, and nowhere near any of this. Surely, if Betel had brought her here in a way that was tied to him, then if he didn't make it back she'd go home with him, right? And even if she didn't, then maybe she could have some happy little adventures in Forlas before she went back. He'd asked the Maus and Gerome to watch over her, just in case.

"Anything productive come of your research that we should know?" he asked, glancing at the Togedemaru.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Jade exhaled through her nose. It wasn't the way she'd envisioned this going at all... but there was a chance to fix things, and they had to take it.

"There's enough of us that we could try to do both--half of us fighting her, the other half evacuating the others." She glanced over at where Virga stood near the entrance to the lab, eyeing the computers and the various data readouts with a dubious expression.

The Corvisquire clacked her beak. "I imagine those of us who arrived more recently would be unlikely to last long in a direct conflict." She inclined her head toward Anubis and Lyra.

Jade nodded. "Yeah. You three are probably better off staying out of the line of fire, if you can help it. That way you guys can focus on evacuating the others."

 

[Jackie Cat]

"What are their names?"

With Treste still barely holding it together, Krokorok stepped up again to give the pertinent details.

"The outpost's a few levels down; I can guide you there over the intercom. It's pretty much a building like this one, mounted over an underground spring. It's where the fucking showers are. Anyway. The guys stuck there are named Alcott, Polk, Hayward, and Finick. I'm Graves, by the way, and those guys—" he gestured at the Magneton "—are Misters Coyle, Coyle, and Coyle."

"Hello!" "Hello!" "Hello!"

"The Coyles will be shunting RAD and SHaD for ya. We'll be able to hear you from here, so let us know if you want us to try anything, I guess. And if you get in a sticky spot, I can drag someone to safety if need be, but I'm not, you know, a warrior. I just bounce weirdos and break up scuffles. You get me."

Brisa huffed amusedly. "Don't worry, fella. We've got this."

Jesse nodded firmly. "Then we got a plan, or the outline a' one. Let's move. Ambrose, I want you with me."

"Alright. I'll put what little faith I got in you crazy bastards..."

Graves stepped over to the door, and un-barred it with a deep breath.

"Good luck."

 

[Chibi Pika]

With the door unbarred, Jade took a deep breath and stepped out into the cavern, Virga following behind her with a light fluttering of wings. She could feel her pulse pounding in her ears the moment she was outside the relative shelter of the lab, out in the open, exposed. The Meowth brain wanted to duck under the support beams of the structure and lay low until the coast was clear. She pushed that instinct back and focused on the way forward.

The cavern split off into multiple paths ahead, with the faint glow of the crystals visible deeper inside. The ground vibrated with the thud of heavy impacts on rock mixed with the reverberating echoes of bone-chilling snarling that made her fur stand on end. The air thrummed with power. Jade could already feel it sinking into her body, a tingle at the back of her brain (did they even know that there was anything left of her to save?) When she squinted, she could almost make out a shimmering haze clinging to the walls, flickering from dark to light.

"This environment holds a strange quality," Virga muttered, shaking her head.

Jade's tail swished. "That'd be the energies those guys were studying. Radiance and Shadow." She glanced from Virga over to Lyra and Anubis. "This'll be you guys' first time dealing with it. Hopefully it doesn't get too bad, but you might need to stop and clear your head if it gets too heavy." She couldn't help wishing they'd had the chance to get properly introduced to it, the way the rest of the Wayfarers had with Powehi, and with Luz.

Virga narrowed her eyes. "That explains little. You obviously have prior knowledge of these elemental energies. What is their significance?"

Jade ran a paw down her face. "It's—look, it's a long story, okay? There's this embodiment of darkness who wanted us gone at first, but then—"

Another roar echoed throughout the cavern. Closer this time.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Krokorok Graves grumbled incoherently to himself, nodding. "Yeah, it fuckin' weirds me out, to be honest with ya. Magic light and darkness that make you go crazy and wreck shit. Fucking RADSHaD or whatever is even worse. Trust the plan, I guess."

Treste adjusted her glasses again. "That's a... ahem, that's a good point, actually. Even if you've had experience with one or the other, I doubt you've had experience with the two combined. It's quite spectacular. Our research is, of course, highly classified – but I can tell you that our findings suggest the combination of Radiance and Shadow can be even more potent, proportionally, than powers imbued with only one or the other. Miss Sakari seems able to metabolise both at once in a relatively stable form, which exhibits a distinct visual 'tell' at high levels, sort of like a monochromatic flame made of, one could say, anti-light...? We're still looking for an appropriate name for this 'merged' energy—"

"Blacklight," said Brisa, in a low voice. "It's called 'Blacklight.' "

She padded out into the cave, her stance low, her tail writhing, and electric energy pulsing over her mane like golden waves.

 

[Cresselia92]

Alright! It was sink or swim, and it would have been in the best interest of everyone to make sure that it wasn’t Starr to do the sinking with her claws and fangs!

As soon as he got through the door, Silver glared at the luminous tunnels, feeling the adrenaline rushing through his veins and heightening his predatory instincts. He hissed in defiance when the snarls echoed across the cavern, his fur turning to thin needles and his claws pumping and dripping venom. If Starr wanted a bloodthirsty fight, then he had to be ready to bring hell on earth!

Lyra, instead, felt her adrenaline giving her much less useful suggestions, despite her heroic resolve: run, get out, survive, don’t touch grass, eat it!

No! My friends need me! Those survivors need me! I’m not running outta here without them! she mentally scolded her inner voices, and she took many deep breaths to steady her hammering heart and lift her spirit.

That was gonna be okay! She survived Team Rocket and many bizarre events back home, no? So a pro wrestler big cat who had lost her mind and who carried supernatural powers beyond mortal comprehension shouldn’t be such a big deal, right?

Lyra shivered. That wasn’t the uplifting flex she thought it was. “Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh—”

"This'll be you guys' first time dealing with it. Hopefully it doesn't get too bad, but you might need to stop and clear your head if it gets too heavy."

Lyra perked up, her eyes flashing with recognition and immediately feeling some relief. An excellent distraction from her turbulent thoughts.

“Ah! Right! Yeah! Nova told me a few things! He said—eeep!!” Lyra stared intently at the tunnel where the roar came from, her nose wiggling at top speed and her ears fully aimed forward. She shuffled a bit on her spot to suppress her rabbit’s fugitive instincts again, and blurted out, “No, no, wait, he didn’t say that! He said, huh, that Shadow magnifies negative thoughts and Radiance lowers inhibitions!”

“Huh. Good, so you did your homework,” retorted Silver as an attempted quip, but from his low voice and tense posture, it was clear his mind was busy with a myriad of thoughts.

Stop those crystals. Survive this ‘Blacklight’ or whatever. Save Starr. Find those foolish scientists. Don’t let Kotone die.

Lyra’s ears twitched, sensing the noises growing much louder, and she crouched slightly, ready to sprint faster than the wind (to dodge attacks, obviously, not to run away!). She looked at the others, silently praying for their safety, and half-whispered, “Be careful, everyone…”

 

[Tetra]

Anubis met Graves eyes. "We'll save them," he said firmly. Alcott, Polk, Hayward, Finik. And Starr. With a final reassuring nod to the Krokorok and little round rodent he followed the group. The whole shadow and radiance stuff still sounded bizarre to him, but Alpha said it was serious, so he took it seriously.

"Blacklight," said Brisa, in a low voice. "It's called 'Blacklight.' "

A shiver ran through Koa from ears to tailtip. He felt sure he'd never heard that name before and yet... No, he must have heard it somewhere. Here. Golden tendrils, red chains, training together... Blinking, he found himself staring at Brisa, unable to shake the feeling of something. A word on the tip of his tongue, or like he'd forgotten something important.

"Alpha?"

Koa snapped back to attention at Anubis' soft woof. The sensation had lasted but a moment, and he didn't think anyone had noticed. "Remember Anubis, you watch our backs and help evacuate. And if you feel yourself getting worked up, fall back. This Blacklight can get... a lot." He'd discussed the basics of the energies with Anubis, but in their brief practice he hadn't been able to draw it out. How would Anubis fare with it all?

Shaking himself, he pressed forward after Brisa. There was no time now for fear. Starr needed them. She was his only priority.