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.::Stark & Rem & Geisha & Will & Argonne::.

Stark waited patiently, pacing back and forth, gathering speed with each turn, until, finally, his call to action came, so to speak. Rem launched one final boulder, smashing right through the shield and narrowly missing the Gardevoir. Stark was off like a shot, tearing across the ground toward the pair and leaping at them savagely. The Gardevoir yelped in shock and surprise as Stark sailed past her, clamping his jaws around the Hypno's neck, lifting him bodily and throwing him against the wall.

The Hypno sat up groggily, clutching at his neck. His eyes widened in shock at Stark's approach, but his expression was cut short from a blast of white light off to the side, slamming him against the wall again. The Hypno slipped down the wall pathetically, unconscious. Stark looked toward the origin of the blast to see Argonne standing unsteadily, his palm raised. Stark ignored him, simply glad he was okay, and turned toward the Gardevoir.

.::Stark & Rem & Geisha & Will & Argonne::.

Stark blinked in confusion at the spectacle that unfolded before them. What seemed like another attacker turned out to be... a friend, he supposed, from the way they talked to each other. Stark looked over at Rem, then gestured for him to follow. The two walked over just as the Mightyena- James, he thought- inquired about the team. Stark smiled.

"I could ask you the same question," he said, somewhat playfully. "I'm Stark. This is my co-captain, Rem," he continued, indicating the Ninjask with a nod. Rem bowed his head slightly.

"Pleased to meet you."

"And that back there," he said, pointing to the rest of their gathered party, "is our team. We're helping Gabriel do a job, in exchange for him helping us with our end of the work. And... you are?" He was pretty sure he had heard the name already, but he wanted to be sure. Besides, he wanted to know what this Mightyena was doing down here in the first place. It wasn't exactly a prime tourist spot, that was certain...

.::Stark & Rem & Geisha & Will & Argonne::.

Stark blinked for a moment, then smiled widely as he listened to Gabriel and James speak. He stepped forward.

"What a golden opportunity this is, then- James can lead us right to the kid, and then- luck willing, we can finish the rest!" Argonne groaned behind them.

"Does this mean we have to fight more of these freaks...?" he said, clutching his side. Stark grinned in response.

"That depends." He looked toward Geisha, still grinning. "Are you going to be seen, Geisha?" Geisha looked puzzled for a second or two, then grinned widely.

"Not a chance in hell, Mr. Dravin," she said exultantly.

Stark nodded, satisfied, then turned back to the two. "So this is a pretty good deal, I'd say- you have the info," he said, nodding at James, "and we've got the people to do something with it," He said, pointing back at Geisha. "So just point this kid out to us, and we've got half the job already done. So... lead the way, sir," he said, gesturing for James to take point.

One down, one to go, he thought, quite pleased with the turn of events.

.::Stark & Rem & Geisha & Will & Argonne::.

Stark nodded, and the team followed followed behind James and Gabriel as they meandered through the hallways of the underground. It took quite a while, to be sure- even longer than it took to get down here in the first place. Good holy Arceus, this place was gigantic. James was kind enough to pause every once in a while to call back warnings about the path- which was nice, but unnecessary. Having a living Aura glowstick was a distinct advantage in the dark. Eventually, the team's journey ended at... a wall.

"...What the? This is it? What kind of--" Will tried to finish the statement, but Stark clamped his paw over the Luxio's mouth as James spoke. Stark grit his teeth as the Mightyena went on.

"Well... not exactly how I like to do it, but there's not a damn thing we can do with this wall in the way." He pondered the wall for a moment. This meant they had to find another entrance when they went to find the source of the cult's insanity- assuming they didn't just have to break the wall down itself. What a pain.

Argonne sat down, then played a few tentative notes on his flute before deciding it was too loud for it. Rem and Geisha followed suit, and the team waited for something to happen- preferably soon.

==~==

"Wanna play I Spy?"

"..."

"...What? What'd I say? Don't give me that look- what'd I say?"

"I Spy... in a pitch-black cavern... where the most visible thing for what seems like miles is me."

"...Shut up."

==~==

"...Ninety-four bottles of beer on the wall--"

"Oh, GOD, kill me already."

==~==

"How much frikkin' longer is it gonna take for these people to eat...? If they're on a fast or something, I will kill that Mightyena."

"Just be patient--"

"SCREW patience!! We've been waiting here for hours, with no sign of life, no entertainment--"

"Gentlemen--"

"No sounds to listen to except our own breathing--"

"And your bitching..."

"Guys--"

"My a** has blisters from this floor--"

"SHUT THE F*CK UP AND LISTEN TO ME!!" The team jumped at Geisha's outburst, particularly Will. After calming slightly, she continued. "I hear people. They're coming into the hall right now." The team listened closely, and found that she was right- there was indeed a low drone of activity coming from beyond the wall. Geisha nodded.

"I'm going in. Wait here." And with that, she sank through the floor, moving beyond the wall, sneaking her way toward a dark patch toward the back of the hall. She emerged, invisible, from the shadows, and observed the hall. The cultists were gathering around long stone slabs, that seemed to have been set up as makeshift tables. They spoke to one another, but in muted tones, as though simply jerking through motions of conversation. There was no soul to their movements at all. Geisha looked about, and saw their prize- a Meditite, and even with most of his bands gone, there were still far too many around his ankles and his wrist to make a mistake. This was their target.

She waited as an important looking Alakazam moved toward the front of the hall, holding not the customary spoons, but a large metal rod in his hands, capped with some crude metalwork of an eye. He raised his arms, and all of the cultists sat in unison.

"My children!" he droned, though somewhat livelier than the rest of the cultists. "Before the servers come to give us our blessing of food, let us offer our customary prayer to Our Lord!" He bowed his head, and the rest of the group followed in turn as they all intoned in unison. Now was her chance. Geisha shot to the ground, swimming through the shadows directly beneath the Meditite. Then, without hesitating, she shot up, unnoticed, and seized the Meditite around the ankles, and dragged him under the shadows without so much as a sound.

She shot away, her charge in hand, and emerged on the other side of the wall, though some distance away from the others. The Meditite looked up at her with fear.

"Sleep," she said, using a small Dark Void to silence the Meditite. Geisha cradled his now unconscious body, and carried him back to the group.

"Delivery- one unconscious cultist kid."

.::Stark & Rem & Geisha & Will & Argonne::.

Stark grinned as Geisha came back with their charge- or, rather, Gabriel's charge, all things considered. What would I do without you? he thought to himself as Gabriel sent the Meditite back to the Guild. He grinned even wider as Gabriel and even James relinquished control to him. The time for pleasantries had thankfully passed- this was his rodeo now, and it was exactly the kind of rodeo he loved. He got up, shook the dust from his shoulders, and walked over to the wall.

"Would you say all of the members are on the other side of this wall?"

Geisha nodded. "It's like clockwork- they all do everything in unison. I can't imagine any of them have the free will necessary to ignore whatever power keeps them like that."

Stark nodded. "Argonne, status- how many souls we looking at?"

Argonne closed his eyes, and appeared to look toward the wall. His mouth twisted, and he shook his head. "Given the placement, I'm counting at least a dozen tables, with at least thirty to forty at each one. Way too many to take head on."

Stark nodded again. He'd expected that. He turned back to Geisha. "Any chance you could do some recon? See about the layout?"

"I can try," she said, phasing through the wall once again. He turned to Rem, then.

"Anything you can glean?" The Ninjask shook his head.

"Rough images, mostly- I have to be delicate enough that they can't sense me. But I can sense something else- there's a massive psychic potential deeper in. It... it has a conduit, of sorts, to each of the cultists, but... one of them is somewhat weaker." He opened his eyes. "Whatever it is, it's the source of the brainwashing we've seen." He finished just as Geisha phased back through the wall.

"There are three big halls at the south end of the structure- all of them the same size. There's the mess hall, just on the other side of this wall, then a main hall, and another hall that appears to be a community sleeping quarters. At the north end of the main hall, there's a big little door- it's more decorated than the other walls. The weird thing is, I couldn't phase through it. Something's blocking me off."

"Probably the psychic that's behind all of this. Could you find a way to enter the room?"

Geisha nodded. "There's a hole in the floor just in front of it- and I saw that priest guy holding a staff with an eye on the top. There was a carving that looked just like it on the door."

Stark nodded. "Any other entrances to the temple itself?"

"One in the main hall, but I don't know how we can get to it from here."

Stark sighed, then turned to James. "You run into any other promising paths while you were down here?"

.::Stark & Rem & Geisha & Will & Argonne::.

Stark nodded at James, though his comment about something smelling like death did nothing to alleviate the tense nature of the situation. He turned to Geisha. "How much time would you say we have?"

Geisha shrugged. "Difficult to say, but quite a while. The prayer had just finished when I was coming back here, and they only have a few servers. I think they all eat in unison, too. None of them were eating when the servers gave them anything."

Stark nodded, then turned to James and Gabriel. "Alright- take us to this entrance- and hurry!"

==~==

Argonne groaned as he heaved the fallen column aside, and he looked up. A massive door sat in his way, one engraved with a crude drawing of an eye. He grinned, then turned down the hall.

"It's here! I found it!" He ran toward it as Stark and the others dashed toward his voice in response. They all accumulated around the door, looking up at it.

"Any idea how to get this puppy open?" said Will hesitantly. Obviously he wasn't planning on heaving at the damn thing. Argonne rolled his eyes.

"The proper solution to any problem," he said, walking over to the door, "is usually the simplest." With a small shove, he pushed the door open with a dull scraping on the stone floor. Stark grinned.

"Nice," he said, dashing inside. He looked about. It was much the same as the rest of the temple they had seen- dark, though somewhat brighter, considering the larger amount of torches in the hall. Stark looked around further, sniffing at the air. He cringed- the smell was stronger here. The one James had mentioned. He followed the scent off to one side, where a number of dust-stained sheets were tied around a number of bundles in the corner, laid in neat rows, about two dozen or so. Stark walked over to one of the bundles. The smell was stronger here. Cautiously, he scratched at the cloth covering the bundle, revealing its contents. When he saw them, he snarled and leapt back.

It was a body- desiccated, decayed, but a body, nonetheless. A corpse, long dead from the looks of things. Stark swallowed, and he looked over the rest of the bundles, and he realized them for what they were.

"Holy Arceus," came a strained whisper from the side. Stark looked over to see Argonne and Geisha on the other side of the hall, inspecting another group of bundles- about twenty or thirty more. Feeling ill, Stark looked about the hall, his eyes finally adjusted to the dim light. Body after body lined the walls of the main hall, all wrapped and placed neatly in rows. Stark swallowed again, fighting his nausea. It wasn't a hall at all- it was a tomb.

"Arceus preserve us... what the ******** killed all of these people...?" He looked at the bodies once more, before he heard an odd tapping sound behind him. Like metal on stone.

"Oh...? More lambs for our congregation? Wonderful," came a wizened voice behind them. The group whirled to see the same Alakazam that Geisha described walking into the hall, eyeing them with an innocent-looking grin. He spread his arms in greeting.

"Welcome, children. Welcome to the Family of Our Lord Oculus. How may I be of service to you?"

.::Stark & Rem & Geisha & Will & Argonne::.

Stark sat in shock, not quite sure how to respond to the Alakazam finding them. He was snapped out of it by Gabriel's comment. He grit his teeth a little at the name "Starky"- he always hated that nickname. He turned to the Alakazam.

"Who... who are you?"

The Alakazam bowed. "I sir, am Father Abraham, high priest and servant to His Omnipotence, the Lord Oculus. I cater His flock of worthy minds until they are accepted to be tested by Our Lord. I was the first- the first to bask in His brilliance, and so, I have made it my worthy goal to gather other minds to be claimed, to be tested of His Omnipotence."

Stark looked grimly at the bodies surrounding them. "Any of these folks ever fail your 'test?'"

Abraham followed Stark's gaze. "Ah," he said, his voice tinged with genuine sadness. "You speak of the Unworthy. Such potential, but... His Omnipotence has seen fit to call them back into His fold, rather than bless them. So many souls returned to the embrace of Oculus. Perhaps they will be returned once again someday, and granted another chance to show their worthiness." He sighed, and began to walk away. Stark's mouth twisted in disgust, but he followed.

"So... how many people actually are considered 'worthy?'"

Abraham pondered this. "About one of every ten souls who have come here have been Judged worthy of Lord Oculus' brilliance. The rest are called back." He sighed, and then turned back to them with a tired old smile. "But enough of such troubling details- you have come because He called you, yes? To the Requiem? You have come to be Judged?"

Stark scoffed. "Not happening, pal. Your little charade is at an end," he said, settling into a ready stance. Abraham's face was blank.

"I do not understand..."

"Let me put it this way," cut in Argonne. "This whole 90% death rate thing is not okay. We're here to slim it down."

Will snickered. "In other words, this Oculus guy is gonna take a little vacation, 'kay?" Abraham looked bemused for a moment, then his eyes widened in shock and anger.

"You... ruffians!! You dare to suggest such blasphemy?? You think to ascend yourself above Lord Oculus Himself?? I will not stand for such foolishness!!" He slammed his staff onto the ground, and a bell-like peal sounded throughout the temple. There was an eerie quiet for a moment, then a chorus of angry shouts from the dining hall. Abraham settled into a stance that suggested battle, his staff outstretched, and launched a Psychic at Stark. It breezed by him, blasting the door behind him to rubble. Abraham wore a confused look, then diverted his attention elsewhere. Meanwhile, the angry shouts had reached the dining hall door, and there was a great commotion, as though the cultists were trying to open the door, but their numbers were hindering them.

"The staff!" shouted Stark as another Psychic narrowly missed Argonne, shattering the wall behind him. "We need to get the staff!!" And with that, he lunged forward.