Blaguarro Town Abandoned District

[Namohysip]

Alex shook his head. The muffled one continued to glare.

"I don't know much. Just that here is nice, quiet, and a good place for training without disturbing the peace. And I found a good spot to enjoy some soup, too, when I need a break. I can't help you much for where... those two are. Are they outlaws?"

 

[Goat]

Astrid caught the sound too, down the road—but something else had her attention first. The muzzle. The head. She met its glare with intense curiosity.

Your suppressed aggression...

Astrid put a lid on it for now, instead focusing a bit harder on the more pressing issue. The others had heard it too. She could feel the atmosphere between them all get tenser, but the alarm hadn’t been raised just yet.

“Have you see—er, sorry, encountered anyone nearby that made the place not so quiet?”

 

[Inkedust]

"'Mon who the locals have flagged as suspicious, but they don't seem to have the extra head to stir paranoia." Bellatrix answered, keeping her attention on the building. "What brings you out to Blaguarro specifically, surely there are other places that would be more welcoming and understanding regarding your misbehaving head?"

To the others she quietly asked, gesturing to the large building - body language was of little concern given that zweilous, if she wasn't mistaken, were blind. "Do you think we should investigate that place?"

 

[JFought]

To Alex's obliviousness, Isidora returned a deadpan look. Does this guy even know anything? It was either that, or he was really good at playing dumb. She was starting to feel impatient, especially with that noise they needed to investigate...

She turned towards- wait, can Alex hear us? Y'know what who cares. She turned towards Bellatrix and whispered back. "If you want to keep questioning him, I or someone else could go ahead and scout. Though I'm startin' to wonder if we can even get anything out of him..."

 

[Inkedust]

"It might not be a bad idea," Bellatrix replied, "though I'd suggest taking me along in case you need my illusions in a pinch."

She eyed Alex again. Though her suspicions held, at this point, she was more worried that the zweilous would become easy pickings for whatever was causing the disappearances in the first place. Maybe the others could distract him with conversations about soup.

 

[Namohysip]

"It sounds like there's something dangerous nearby," Alex said. "I'm afraid I can't help you with that. I haven't run into anyone, though I could have easily not found them with my limited senses. I can only keenly sense things that are, oh, a few tens of feet away. Any further and, well, that's what you eye-havers are for. One day I'll know what it's like." He offered a friendly smile, tilting his head. The other head tried to make snapping gestures, ineffective.

"Well... Perhaps I'll go, then. Travel once more. I tend to go from town to town. Did you have any recommendations?"

 

[canisaries]

The rattling made Andre tense up, his limbs itching to bolt. He appreciated the alertness this body brought, but he could have done without the anxiety.

"Well... Perhaps I'll go, then. Travel once more. I tend to go from town to town. Did you have any recommendations?"

"Sure! Come to Frontier Town when you have the time," he said, smiling despite the stress. "All our friends are there. If you're more into books than socialization, though, check out Little Scriven."

 

[JFought]

"It might not be a bad idea," Bellatrix replied, "though I'd suggest taking me along in case you need my illusions in a pinch."

Isidora nodded. "Sounds like a plan."

It looked like the conversation with Alex was starting to wind down. So Isidora took her chance. "Yeah, we took the recently finished rail line to get here, so it shouldn't be that hard to hitch a ride to Frontier Town if you're interested," she added. She then took a deep breath. "Though actually, I need to check somethin' real quick. If you'll excuse me for a moment..."

She followed that up by looking at the others and signaling at the suspicious building with her claw. And with that, walked towards it with calm steps, expecting at least Bellatrix to follow.

Apprehension prickled across her fur as she approached. Though I'd like it for everyone to join for this...

 

[Namohysip]

Alex tilted his head. Even the muzzled one was curious, now, as he followed where they were walking. "Is there something nearby?" he asked. "I don't think I want to be alone if something is prowling around, if... you don't mind."

 

[Inkedust]

Bellatrix nodded and followed the sneasel without saying anything. She seemed ambivalent towards Alex following them.

As they approached the abandoned large, boarded up building - white walls badly stained by a massive buildup of dirt and grime - they would find they would find that the large doorways that was its entrance was not boarded up, only chained together by a large padlock. The comparative lack of grime on the lock indicated that it saw its fair share of use, even to this day. Walking around to the building's left side to try and look through one of the boarded up windows would reveal a dim room filled with dangling meat hooks making clear what this buildings original purpose was: It was a slaughterhouse.

If Isidora was to taste the air again, she would have realised that the older, musty sent led here. Just what was this building being used for now and how could they get inside?

 

[JFought]

The hell...?

When she peeked through the window, Isidora wasn't sure what she was looking at at first. The hooks hanging from the ceiling looked old and sharp, implying some morbid, unknown purpose. She didn't have much time to think about it, but it nagged at her. This place belongs to Giratina...

She went back to the front door to check the padlock. Looks sturdy. There's two ways in, then. They could break the chains and walk through the front door, though it'd leave behind obvious signs that someone had infiltrated. Breaking through a window was the other way: it'd only be slightly less obvious, but maybe it'd be stealthy enough to give them some time if the 'mon with the key came over.

Isidora glanced at Alex. It made her uncomfortable to get him involved... but on other hand, you don't become a zweilous by being weak. "If you want to follow, then stay close and be careful." She then walked back over to the window, prepared Fighting-type energy from one of her new moves on her paw, and punched through the glass. She followed by getting closer and continuing her onslaught by punching through the boards, until enough were broken to allow everyone through.

She hopped inside and tapped on the windowsill. "Window here. Jump through," she said to Alex. "And mind the glass."

 

[Namohysip]

Alex tilted both heads before obeying, hopping in one bound through the window and onto the other side.

Unfortunately, he must have heard wrong and were a bit clumsy. He smashed through an adjacent window instead, toppling and stumbling until they were on their backs. The muzzled Zweilous head muttered something that Isidora was vaguely confident were slurs and curses in no particular order.

But he did not appear to be harmed.

 

[Inkedust]

It took a bit of effort, but the boards being so old to the point of rotting allowed them to break under the pressure of Isidora's ice and slashes, creating a large enough opening for the group to squeeze through. Bellatrix was the first to follow.

Beyond the row of hooks was a wide open doorway, the doors themselves absent from their hinges, which lead directly behind the large door at the front entrance. Walking towards the foyer would reveal several things to the investigating pokémon. The first, in one of the corners, was a set of stairs that led downwards into a basement; second, in the centre of the room appeared to be some kind of platform attached to a pulley system, a crumpled covering laying besides it. Compared to the rest of the building, which appeared untouched and abandoned for the better part of a decade, this looked relatively recent, likely seeing active use like the padlock. The platform itself appeared long and narrow and Andre would immediately what dimensions that were in mind when installing it. It looked as if the wagon he had been put on would perfectly fit.

As Bellatrix walked around, checking out this mechanism, she found herself standing on a pile of blindfolds. "Was this what the murkrow were talking about?" she muttered to herself, pulling one from the pile. It was old and looked like it had been worn many, many times. She sniffed them, trying to figure out where its scent may have led...

 

[JFought]

Isidora jumped when Alex came crashing through a different window than she signaled. She hissed: "Not that one!" No one better've heard that!

Her tail twitched and she brushed her fur flat before moving into the foyer. There were too many things to investigate here, and an air of danger hung over the recognition that this place was still active. This is it. This has to be what we're looking for. But what could've caused the rattling sound...?

She briefly looked at the odd pulley mechanism, curious as to what it must've been for, when her eyes were drawn to the stairs. The deerling's earlier words rang in her head again.

Isidora flexed her claws. Dammit. And then walked over to peer cautiously down the staircase, keeping an ear out for anything that could be at the bottom.

 

[Inkedust]

Bellatrix shuddered at having to hold the grimy blindfold in her mouth to track the scent for it tasted quite awful. Conveniently, it seemed that the scent of the blindfolds also led down into the basement, still and silent. She pointed between the blindfold and the stairs, hoping to get the idea across. The gears had been turning in her head, however, she was still missing many pieces of the puzzle. Perhaps once the others had done their side of the investigations...

It appeared that the only way to see what was down there was to enter.

 

[JFought]

Isidora caught Bellatrix's signal. A deep breath. Let's get this through...

Right then, she had to wonder why she had felt the need to get involved in all this. Was this really worth it?

She entered the basement.

 

[Inkedust]

The basement was largely empty. Four wooden panels forming the shape of a long rectangle stood in the centre of the room, its location directly corresponded to the pully mechanism just above, hiding whatever what was meant to be lowered from the platform. Bit of discarded equipment with all sorts of uses laid scattered about on the floor such as hammers, pokers, nails, and a loose maroon scarf. Whoever was using these had made a makeshift path, long and winding, through them. At the back, there seemed to be some kind of metallic shaft leading deeper into the darkness. It's presence there looked out of place, like it was a last-minute addition or if it had been removed from somewhere else within the main building and shoddily placed here.

"It seems that this was designed to completely throw off any sense of direction the wearer of these blindfolds might've had," Bellatrix said, through her clenched teeth. She didn't adhere to the path, cutting straight through the junk get a better look at the shaft. It was partly open, which would make it easy to get a good look inside.

 

[Namohysip]

"Hm." Something about that seemed to amuse Alex. A few moments of thought while staring at the blind Pokemon would illustrate why.

 

[JFought]

With gathered nerves, Isidora took a look around. Naturally, she found herself following the path as she wandered, and soon her eyes caught on the maroon scarf. She walked over and picked it up. "Anite said something about the excadrill and sandslash wearing these, right?" she wondered aloud. She sniffed it, figured it'd be a useful clue to bring back, then stuffed it in her bag.

"It seems that this was designed to completely throw off any sense of direction the wearer of these blindfolds might've had."

"Hm." Something about that seemed to amuse Alex.

She glanced at Alex for a moment. "Maybe you could wear a blindfold as an aesthetic," she deadpanned. ...Though admittedly that lifted some tension.

She noticed Bellatrix move towards the shaft and crept closer. "See anything in there?"

 

[Inkedust]

Using the edge of the shaft as a prop, Bellartrix hoisted herself on her hind legs to get a good look inside. After about three metres of metal, the funnel saw a steep drop off. Steeling herself, Bellatrix prepared to veil herself under an illusion and began to crawl forward into it. She stopped after about a metre and a half, calling back to the others, "It looks like... It looks like it leads into some kind of underground tunnel."

She shuffled back a little, not realising that she was biting down harder on the blindfold. Between this, the blindfolds and the platform - which now that she thought of it, did look to about the same size as a wagon - she was beginning to strongly suspect that this was meant to be the way to Terminal Two and if it was, whoever was running it was going above and beyond in ensuring that its location would remain hidden, even to its prisoners and if the facility was taking these precautions before the prisoners even arrived...

Bellatrix shuddered. It was all just speculation on her end but if that were true that meant that in some deeply ironic, twisted way, the group that went with the wagon were beyond lucky that they were attacked by that charmeleon.

"I think... I think this is it," Bellatrix said after a few moments. "The way to Terminal Two, I mean."