Sojaveña Wilds Twilight Quarry

[Jackie Cat]

"I have a hypothesis. You're only saying that because you couldn't beat me at your best if you wanted to."

"You're a child," barked Ein. But his voice wavered. A child should be a pushover, and yet...

Koa's punches, Mhynt's blades, shockwaves from eardrum-battering meteor blasts. It was too much. He was stronger, but they were much stronger, and outnumbered him, and had that caustic light—

The Electrike's Radiant attack pulsed gold, and Ein's imminent tirade of derision – and volley of counter-attacks – was cut off as his body seized up.

"Don't have the nerve to kill me?" he taunted, his sclera turning black with seething Shadow.

She disappeared in a flash of light; an instant later, she completed her throw... from behind Ein, her true target.

Ein's face held solid shape long enough for his eyes and mouth to fix in a disgusted glare of cold malice, and then his body melted into captive aura. The capsule shook, and shook again...

...and with a hollow clang, it sealed shut.

 

[Tetra]

Koa gaped in surprise at Mhynt's tactic, then he broke into a grin as relief flooded him. Hopefully that would hold long enough. No time to waste celebrating. Heart still hammering, he whipped around to see that Owen had been snagged as well, and the team was making a break for the exit. Most of the team. A flicker of red hair caught his eye.

"Get Silver!" he called to Mhyht. "I have an Escape Orb, I'll be fine!"

He scrambled through his bag and grabbed the orb. Then he grabbed the ball with Ein in it and broke the Escape orb. His vision blinked and he vanished and then appeared on the far side of the pit, not far from the team.

 

[Namohysip]

Turn 5
Player Phase​

The team escapes with Owen and fights off the wraiths! Astrid takes out the swarms on the south, but Silver is still stranded in the pit...!

Victory!​

The swarm was beginning to stir again. Even after Astrid took them down on her way out, there were still more along with Silver who seemed to be too exhausted to escape. If he remained there... he could become the next wraith.

Mhynt looked briefly torn between getting the ball and rescuing Silver until Koa solved the dilemma. She nodded with a genuine flash of gratefulness before sprinting into the pit. "Silver!" she shouted, reaching out a hand.

A bit rough, she slammed her claws onto Silver's shoulder. In a flash of light, they both disappeared from the pit mere seconds before the swarm converged on their former location...

They left the Quarry behind. Owen stirred in his ball. The swarm was hot on their tail.

"Persistent, aren't they?" Mhynt snarled. Their warping and Orbs had given them a massive head start, and even then--

Suddenly, Owen's Pokeball rumbled. He was about to pop out again. They could easily withdraw him again, but each attempted escape would slow them down...

 

[Ambyssin]

Nova's beak trembled a bit. Well, shit. This was obnoxious.

"Anywohn hab... a way... to cahm him dowh?!"

 

[Butterfree]

Once Owen was inside the ball, Dave reached for his Escape Orb and smashed it. Out of the pit, out to safety... except not. The swarms were still after them, persistent as ever. And Owen's ball was wobbling in Nova's mouth.

Dave growled, panting as he ran, trying to keep up speed. "Put him to sleep with Silver's thing, or sing him his favorite lullaby, or whatever the fuck!"

 

[Ambyssin]

"Wuh abow shtoping shwahm?" Nova said. He got much quieter.

"Guh tuh shleeeeep... guh tuh shleeeep... guh tuh shleeeep big scuhwy chuhzuhd..."

 

[Cresselia92]

Silver was already resigned to whatever fate awaited him when a shout snapped him out of his darkened headscape. He looked up, startled. “Mhynt—?!”

Whatever thoughts he had dissipated the moment Mhynt dug her claws into his shoulder. One second before they were surrounded the wraiths, and the following one, they were surrounded by their team, bruised but safe. Shaken and relieved, Silver took many deep breaths, trying to bring his mixture of Radiance and Shadows back to a tolerable level.

“I’m okay I’m okay I’m okay I’m outta there I’m okay I’m outta there—”

But the Shadows were still pursuing them, and Silver let out a loud growl, light and darkness mixing with renewed rage. “Oh c’mon! Can’t we catch a tiny, freaking break?!”

The Sneasel shot a perplexed glance at Dave. “Huh, and how I’m supposed to put him to sleep without letting him out and risk to have him go berserk again? Just say ‘aaah’, force the Ultra Ball’s ‘mouth’ open, and pour in venom as if it were a cough syrup?”

As soon as he asked that, he glanced at the Ultra Ball in Nova’s beak and then at his claws, actually considering the idea. But then he shook his head and turned to the Togetic.

“Grace! Can you call a Tailwind to speed us up or an Embargo with your Metronome? Maybe that’ll keep him and the other dude locked for a bit longer.”

 

[Magyk]

As Silver called to her, wind was already starting to pick up behind the team, encouraging them forward as they ran. Or in Grace's case, flew.

"Uhm Embargo? Will that stop Owen and the other guy from popping out?" she asked, sounding unsure. "I was thinking that all those Shadows might be making him fidgety, and Radiance might calm them down, but, um, I dunno how sturdy those balls are."

 

[Ambyssin]

When I tried using radiance on a berry the other day, it melted. But I was able to infuse a blast seed with radiance back when we were fighting Cipher.

Nova's thoughts buzzed in his teammates heads, even as he kept singing dumbly to the ultra ball in his grip.

 

[Butterfree]

The Sneasel shot a perplexed glance at Dave. “Huh, and how I’m supposed to put him to sleep without letting him out and risk to have him go berserk again? Just say ‘aaah’, force the Ultra Ball’s ‘mouth’ open, and pour in venom as if it were a cough syrup?”

Dave sighed in exasperation. "Not now, when-slash-if he comes out of the ball! If he stays in it, it's a non-issue anyway."

 

[Cresselia92]

“Ah, yeah, that I can do,” said Silver, nodding. He didn’t really like the idea of messing with a furious Owen again, but if push came to shove… “But first I’ll… try something.”

Silver focused hard on his aura, gearing up his body and mind for the task. His gaze grew sharper, focused, not losing sight of the wiggling Ultra Ball.

If Owen got out of his ball, a nice little Dire Claw would be his reward.

Silver changed his Ability from Tough Claws to Keen Eye! Opposing evasiveness’ stages are ignored!

Silver is preparing Drowsy Dire Claw…

Now I wanna see him try to pull off his stupid dodgeball shenanigans and try to get away…!

“Just in case, prepare yourselves to jump on Owen to paralyze him,” he added, glancing at Dave and Koa. “If we overwhelm his senses, it’ll be harder for him to resist re-capture.”

 

[Namohysip]

The edge of the Dungeon was narrowly in sight. If they could keep this speed up for another few seconds...

The ball wobbled. Curiously, Ein's didn't seem to do the same; was he deliberately staying put for now? Or perhaps he recognized the futility of it all... Something Owen did not.

He poured out of the ball and Silver followed through with the strike, knocking him onto the ground before he could so much as roar. He siphoned into the capsule again...

"...We're probably going to want to cycle through that," Mhynt said between breaths.

The Dungeon's edge was just in front of them.

And just then... the Dungeon pulsed, growing two shades darker. Mhynt lost her breath and glanced behind her.

"GO!" Mhynt said, voice cracking. "No no no... he...! I... know that power..."

Everyone could feel it. Like cold fire against their scales and skin. Something powerful just entered the Dungeon.

That wasn't a Zweilous anymore.

But the Dungeon's edge was a second away. He wouldn't know... she hoped.

 

[Ambyssin]

Red might be outside the dungeon. He could warp us all away in an instant!

Nova didn't look back or stop or anything of the sort, just kept charging through to get the hell out, carried by Grace's Tailwind. And once he was out, he'd get the ball out of his beak so he could shout.

"We've got what we came for! Get us away from here!"

 

[Tetra]

Koa hurried after the team, jaws clenched around Ein's pokeball, careful not to crush it in his hurry. Almost there...

Icy, smothering darkness. An all too familiar chill and oppressive presence. The distraction cost him, his paw catching on some nameless crack or rock. He crashed to the ground hard, Ein's pokeball slipping from his jaws. He cursed under his breath and his heart skipped a beat. Half crawling forwards, he scrabbled forward and snatched the ball back up.

His heart was back to hammering again, his hackles up and legs stiff. It was Alex, here they were too late-. Somehwere in the back of his mind, he knew he needed to keep moving, but his body didn't seem to get the memo. Instead he found himself glancing around, half expecting an attack from somewhere.

 

[Butterfree]

Jesus fuck. This mission just did not let up, did it.

Dave glanced around, muscles burning. Was everyone there making it out? Koa was definitely with them, right? He'd seen him use the Escape Orb, right?

...No, he wasn't. He skidded to a halt and turned around and found the Electrike standing still, frozen, staring.

"Koa? Koa! Come on!" he yelled, doubling back. "We're almost out of this fucking--"

He managed to race right up to Koa in a second, see him snap out of it and shake his head. He turned back around and made for the edge of the dungeon at the Electrike's side, everything on fire.

...and as he tried to climb the fucking ledge, his energy was just gone, sapped away by all of this entire fucking fight. His legs wobbled and the jump he attempted was dead before he was even off the ground. He scrabbled uselessly against the rock. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

 

[Namohysip]

The Dungeon's distortion faded behind most of the Wayfarers; Alexander, if he didn't sense them yet, could no longer feel them from here.

Meanwhile, an invisible force picked up Owen's Poke Ball from before. But just then, it popped open, the Charizard roaring again for another fight despite how severely injured he'd become. With the team's exhaustion, they didn't have a moment to keep him from attacking this time...

Clouds formed above them. That same electric, Shadowy charge crackled in the sand...

"Enough of that, now."

And in an instant, overwhelming pressure eclipsed everything else. Owen stopped his charge, pupilless gaze fixed on the new presence. Giovanni, the Mewtwo, with his arms crossed. He floated such that he was at eye level with Owen, and then a few inches higher.

It was like the Charizard was frozen in place. The clouds faded.

"Behave and withdraw for now," Giovanni commanded as the ball landed in his palm. "Is that clear?"

Owen said nothing. His dark heart had been captured instantly by Giovanni's commanding presence. If Red was some legendary trainer who could capture the heart of a Pokemon with his honesty... Giovanni seemed to be the other side of the coin. Owen lowered his head... and the ball claimed him once more.

"We have yours as well," Giovanni said as a bag of Poke Balls appeared out of nowhere. "We will drop you off at Frontier Town, and take the Shadow to my base, like Drapion."

Mhynt looked apprehensive. Still... Giovanni had been nothing but helpful before. She glanced at the others. Was that fine?

 

[Ambyssin]

"This one's a bit... different from the ones we brought you last time," Nova said, the corruption finally fizzling out now that he had a moment to catch his breath. He was a mess of red and brown void ash, with chunks of rock clinging to his fur courtesy of the giant meteor that had thwacked him not too long ago.

"Also, we found an idiot Cipher goon we thought Alexander killed." The chimera was too tired to gesture behind him. "He's... arguably going to be less cooperative than the charizard." He coughed up some ash. "I don't... suppose one of us... could go with you? At least for the night?"

He glanced at Mhynt. It was the best compromise he could come up with on the spot.

 

[Tetra]

A ring of fire, trapping him and Archie. Shadows, sieging the wagon. Alex's shadowy voice, commanding him to attack-

"Koa? Koa! Come on!" he yelled, doubling back. "We're almost out of this fucking--"

A familiar voice broke into his thoughts, and his wide-eyed gaze jerked around to land on Dave. He shook himself and nodded at Dave, blinking away the memories.

"I'm good," he mumbled around the ball. He took off after him, keeping an eye on the Mightyena. Concern filled him as he saw the state Dave was in from fighting Owen. No time to worry now, they could rest outside when they were free. Putting on a brust of speed, he started to scramble up the final ledge, when he saw Dave's body give out.

A flash of blind fear surged through him as he saw the mightyena slip down. "Dave!" Releasing his grip on the rocky slope, he spun and raced back down in a couple strides. Energy coursed through his paws. No way was he leaving any of them behind to suffer that fate... "Come on, we gotta get out of here!"

Koa used Strength!

Aura wreathed his legs as he moved behind Dave and then heaved him upwards. "Go!" he called desperately, rushing up alongside him, careful not to stray too far in case he slipped again.

The sight at the top of the ledge gave him pause, as he saw Giovanni. His grip tightened on Ein's ball. Maybe this was their best shot...

 

[Butterfree]

It wasn't exactly dignified, but Koa managed to get behind him and just plain push him up the slope until he'd managed to get enough of a grip to clamber up the rest of the way. They were out of the dungeon. Dave took heaving breaths as he tried to recover, unable to speak but nodding at Koa.

Christ. Alexander shit, never again.

And just then, Owen's hovering Pokéball burst open again, and he was just about to have a fucking heart attack when Mewtwo popped out of nowhere - Mewtwo, Giovanni.

"Excuse me, what the fuck?" he said as he recovered the ability to speak, just about. "We got him out of this dungeon just to hand him over to another fucking supervillain?"

 

[Ambyssin]

"I did say... at least one of us should go with," Nova mumbled. "Where else do you propose we can take him and not cause a massive panic or alert Alexander to his location?" He coughed up more ash. "If Alexander can tunnel between dungeons, do you really think whatever Sinopa's doing over there will stop him from showing up? Do you even want to risk the prospect he finds his way over there? Cuz I don't."