Malantau Wight Barrens

[Phoenixsong]

Welp. Probably shoulda seen that one coming. They were seeing it coming right now, literally even, right there like only five seconds away from impact. Dammit.

She wanted to stop, stand her ground, but Laura was saying go and— dammit—

"If anyone doesn't think they can run then get on now," Leaf hissed. It was fast but she could be faster if she had to, slow it down with a psycho cut or something—

 

[Inkedust]

"Well it certainly will be if we stand around waiting. Hopefully it will be enough to lose it," Bellatrix muttered.

"How fast can you run?" she asked the group. After a moment, she added, "I hope fast enough because none of you should stop moving. It'll defeat the purpose of we stay right where we vanished."

This better be worth it, she thought. Bellatrix had the sinking feeling that this was a gamble, a risky one, but in the heat of the moment, this was the only maneuver that came to mind. With a determined look, her fur rippled as she tried to draw upon ghostly energy to conjure an illusion to cloak the group within the cloudy haze.

 

[Chibi Pika]

The thing moved with a clunky, unnaturally mechanical gait, but it was way faster than it had any right to be. Jade took a step backward, fur standing on end, some instinct telling her that they didn't want to fight this thing as a cloud of fog spilled out from around Bellatrix, enshrouding the party.

On the other side of the illusion, Jade saw the thing pause abruptly as the party vanished from view. Then it opened its muzzle, but instead of a whinny, all that came out was a horrible, hollow, rattling sound, almost like a corpse trying to speak. At once, a horde of icicles condensed out of the frozen air, hovering overhead for just long enough for Jade to process how many of them there were before they started falling.

??? used Glacial Lance!

"If anyone doesn't think they can run then get on now,"

Without thinking, Jade threw herself onto Leaf's back, clinging to her cloak as the first icicle crashed to the ground right where she'd been standing a moment ago. She threw a hurried glance around, saw the others making a break for it, and for a heart-stopping split second she realized one of them was falling right at Laura—

CRASH!!

The ice spear crashed against something in midair, shattering to bits that rained down around Laura. Something blue flickered in the empty space, gone as soon as it had appeared.

Something took the hit for 203 damage!
It looked like it would have dealt 431 damage...

A flash of red in Jade's peripheral. She jerked her head in its direction, but couldn't see anything. Then a frantic voice from nowhere, crying out to all of them:

"There's a cave that way! Go! Hurry!"

Another flash of red and Jade caught a glimpse of a small ridge of rock way off to the left, with what could have been a small crack in its base. Outside the illusion, the icy beast stomped the ground repeatedly, no doubt agitated from not being able to see its targets. The sparse vegetation at its feet crystallized as something terrible began building...

??? is preparing Sheer Cold.

 

[Inkedust]

No need to tell her twice. With what was undoubtedly a powerful move on the way, there was no time to think about the who, what and why about the new mysterious pokémon. She could ask questions later.

Bellatrix quickly exchanged a look with the others and held a claw to her mouth demanding silence as to not give away their position. Then, she bolted towards the alleged cave, still focused on holding the illusion until they escaped, not waiting on anyone else. If they had common sense, they would be running alongside her but she still made the effort to scoop up and stray party members who hadn't taken Leaf's offer in an attempt to ensure their safety.

 

[Phoenixsong]

Leaf threw herself forward as soon as she felt Jade jump on, felt ice shrapnel scatter against her back as the attack crashed to earth right behind them. There were blurs of color cutting through the mist and then there was a crevice and then there was no more time to think about it, they had to move. "Hold on tight," she ordered, and she launched into a quick attack toward the cave.

 

[Panoramic_Vacuum]

Chunks of ice pinged off of Steven's body from every direction as the ground fairly exploded from the creature's attack. Had he heard Laura call it a Saint?

Either way, Bellatrix's illusion had done its job. A quick scan of their group showed everyone still standing. Somehow. No, he knew how. That voice, he could feel another presence here. Another psychic?

No time to contemplate though; he could feel the crackle of frost begin to climb up his limbs. That Saint-- or whatever it was-- wasn't stopping. He almost called out to Laura on instinct, but Bellatrix was right. Silently, he willed himself to move (curse his sluggishness in this awful cold) hoping she, and everyone else, had sufficient help to get to that cave.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Howling hells, that was close, that was too bloody close and it would have taken her out in one hit—

Laura yowled sharply in alarm and scrambled away, her vision shaken by the near-impact. —could've died, you could've died just then it would've been lethal— A cold grip – Bellatrix? – dragged her off her feet. She swore furiously inside her head, and snapped her paws to give whatever just saved her some kind of boost.

A cave, what cave— there!

"Saint won't fit in the ridge," she gasped, "gotta try and lose them..."

The flashes of red and blue... Who was that? They moved like a goddamn jet fighter...

 

[Chibi Pika]

Jade clung tightly to Leaf's cloak, claws thoroughly hooked through the fabric and eyes screwed shut against the frigid air pelting her face. She wanted to check if the others were close behind, but it felt like her eyelids had frozen shut, and her brain kept imagining them falling behind, getting caught in the blast and frozen solid and this wasn't helping.

The movement slowed. Jade felt the air halt and the temperature shift, warmer somehow. Jade pried her eyes open to find that they'd left the frozen wastes behind. Bellatrix had just rushed in after them, Laura in tow, and a rather frosty Steven following at the rear. That was everyone? But then...

Jade slid down from Leaf's back and squinted out at the stark white expanse they'd left behind, and the flurry of snow kicked up by the thing thrashing about, icicles crashing haphazardly all around it. Still fighting whatever had saved them...?

"Is... is everyone okay?" she dared to ask.

 

[Phoenixsong]

"'M fine." She managed something like a smile through the panting. "You?"

Leaf looked around, still confused about the space they'd found themselves in. Dungeon stuff, yeah, yeah, et cetera, but. Was it actually warmer in here, or was it just that they were out of the wind? Had there really just conveniently been a little cavern nearby, or had the dungeon—or someone else—nudged things a little bit?

"...Thanks for helping us?" she ventured, wondering if they were actually alone in here.

 

[Inkedust]

Putting down the frosty ball of fur that she assumed to be Laura, Bellatrix looked beyond the crevasse herself. When she thought the equine was distracted enough, she nodded. "Yes," she said, "but I can see why this place has remained untouched by researchers."

She leaned against a wall. "But who were those pokémon?" she asked, obviously rhetorical, a pin in this expedition, "and what business do they have out here?"

 

[Jackie Cat]

Laura pulled her scarf over her mouth like a balaclava, as if breath vapour would give them away. Then after a moment, not able to stand waiting, she took a glance out towards the fight. She could hear attacks, cries, impacts, even as snow dampened the sounds of combat.

"The Saint is Glastrier," she hissed, sotto voce. "It's a Galarian legend in my world – some medieval warhorse that never stopped fighting an old war, the land turns to winter where it steps, it sees only a cold and unclear world through its Nevermelt Mask..."

Of course, Forlasan Saints were rarely quite like legendary pokémon in her own world. Or anyone's, necessarily. So far, they'd all been people, once-mortal, embodying some concept or aspect of the world...

"Could Glastrier have turned Malantau into the Wight Barrens?" she whispered, mostly to herself.

That idea didn't feel right... but surely a local Saint attacking intruders on sight would at least know something about what happened. Were they guarding the Eremus Rift? Did it matter who the Wayfarers were, or did Glastrier mistake them for, say, Cipher...?

She tried to get a better look at whatever was fighting the frozen unicorn...

 

[Panoramic_Vacuum]

Once inside, Steven veered to the side of the entrance and came to a shaky rest against the rocky wall. Never had he felt so relieved to be in a cave. (Okay maybe that was a slight exaggeration, but it helped that the alternative was being crushed beneath a torrent of icicles out there.)

"I'm fine," he answered Jade, tilting back level and attempting to scrape some of the offending frost from his limbs. "Although I don't remember snow being this annoying as a human."

As he moved, little flakes of snow and ice rained down onto the cave floor below him. "Sorry," he said to no one in particular.

He continued to try and clean himself off as Laura spoke up. Not a Legendary he'd heard of before, but it certainly fit the brief of what they'd just encountered.

"Well, whatever the case, it certainly feels right at home here. And doesn't like visitors. Makes you wonder how anyone from Terminal One got past it."

Like the others, he too found his gaze wandering back towards what was happening just beyond the safety of their shelter. He began to fidget with the notch in his claw.

"I know this is going to sound absurd, but... should we try to help them?"

Whoever it was, they were still fighting that ice Saint. Were they... winning?

 

[Jackie Cat]

Laura tried to track the blurs. Maybe, to take on a Saint, they were... also a Saint. Or Saints – she felt increasingly sure there were two of them.

"I don't think anyone from Terminal One did get past it," she murmured. "At least not regularly. I think Cipher might have been trapped in Eremus Rift by that thing, and that's why it was so important to make a second tunnel into Forlas, in Blaguarro..."

 

[Chibi Pika]

"I'm fine," Jade replied automatically, shaking her head to loosen the snow from her fur. She followed Leaf's gaze further into the cave and had a feeling that she was wondering the same thing—was this a dungeon?

For some reason, hearing Laura talk about the thing—Glastrier—and its history in her world was... grounding. Legendaries were scary powerful, sure, but they were familiar. It got her brain to stop insisting that the ice horse was some unearthly horror here to terrorize them in particular. Still, her eyes couldn't help drifting back to the outside, to make sure it wasn't intent on following them into the cave. Didn't seem to be.

"Travellers. Are any of you injured?" a voice asked.

Jade practically jumped out of her skin. One second there was no one else with them, the next a gray-blue dragon was hovering lightly right in front of everyone. Jade's heart leaped upon realizing that she recognized that jetlike shape with pointed wings. Familiar yet unfamiliar—distinctly scruffy, with patchy, slightly off-color feathers compared to what she was used to.

"It's—it's you!" she blurted out stupidly. "Latios?"

 

[Jackie Cat]

"I think we scraped by without anyone getting badly hurt," said Laura, eyes widening.

(Something in her insisted she should interview the Saint. Not now, not now!)

Okay, okay, this was one of the Twin Aeons, then. The captain of the Polymath had said some superstitious shit about the Aeons. They watched over travellers, that was the myth. Patron Saints of long journeys, traders, migrants. Very popular in the Commonwealth with anyone who'd shipped over from the Old World.

"Were you watching us this whole time—?" she started, then shook her head. "Wait, first, should we hunker down here or make a break for it? We need to find a dungeon somewhere around here. Any dungeon, I think? Probably. We'll explain later."

(Howls, but their situation was pretty weird. Maybe they'd be lucky and Latios would already know about the Wayfarers? Hell, the Aeons should be the patrons of the Wayfarers. They were never not travelling, and they'd come just about further than anyone else to be here!)

 

[Inkedust]

Bellatrix, by contrast, was less patient than Laura and decided to dive right into questioning – having no reaction to the fact that she was speaking to a Latios.

After affirming that she was uninjured with a nod, she approached the dragon and said, "Though I appreciate the aid I must ask, what are you doing all the way out here and do you have any idea what that thing that attacked us was and why?"

 

[Jackie Cat]

"Glastrier," muttered Laura. She had said that already.

 

[Phoenixsong]

So the thing out there trying to turn them into popsicles was some kind of legendary, and now the thing that had helped them was also a legendary? A latios, even? Sure, why not, just another Plainsday.

"Thanks," she said again, too rattled by their narrow escape to bother not staring. She half nodded along to Laura's comment about the dungeon—they still had to find someplace, right, still had a job to do even if there were legendaries falling out of the sky and occasionally attempting to run them over. Right.

"Maybe a dungeon that's not gonna set off that guy's alarm, if there is one." She tossed her head in the direction of the "glastrier".

 

[Panoramic_Vacuum]

Steven jumped along with Jade's surprised shout, though he echoed the sentiment. It certainly explained the psychic presence he had felt. But... Wait, they'd all been watching the cave entrance. When had Latios--?

Never mind, at least now they knew who to thank for saving their behinds.

"I think we're all alright, relatively speaking," Steven said. "Thank you."

He tipped forward in a small bow, before peering outside one more time. "Would be even better if we don't have to face that rampaging ice Saint again."

Steven ventured a glance around at the rest of the cave. Was there a way out of here that didn't involve having to go back outside?

 

[Jackie Cat]

"I said it's called a fucking Glastrier," seethed Laura, coping and malding.

---

Ah, hello? Wayfarers?

Please forgive my having previously overlooked this, but...

...it appears that this crevice into which you have entered is in fact...

...a Mystery Dungeon.

The distortion of the rift at the peak of this mountain is so substantial that it obscures several minor rifts around the foothills of the mountain. That peak is itself partially obscured by the singularly powerful distortion of Eremus Rift, which is within travel distance of one of this duingeon's exit points.

This burrow system will make an adequate waypoint anchor.​