Welcome to Gaia! ::

Wren stayed back just a bit as Ulla began to move. He didn’t know her full story but he was fairly certain he’d heard she was an orphan. The woman she was speaking to, who looked suspiciously like her, gave him reason to believe the little girl needed something to keep her distracted for now. And so he allowed her to take the lead, hanging back and assisting in guiding those further back in the pack as the Snagems made their way up. He vaguely recalled bits of this as they went, having seen very little of the tower below the rooftop arena after crashing into it. He’d been one of those who had stayed to help free Ein’s captive audience after he’d been dealt with.

Emerging into the arena at last, he felt a sudden surge of anxiety, his chest tightening and his breaths coming shorter for a moment. What in the world was the cause of that?! He’d found the anxiety growing less prevalent as he had learned to properly tap into Channeling more so why now? Looking around, he found his answer. This wasn’t the arena he remembered leaving. “What the hell?” He whispered quietly. Snagem had freed all of the people Ein had trapped here before leaving. He had directly assisted in doing so. The sun-bleached skeletons in those seats said otherwise, however. “Is this why they’re after us?!” He asked, fighting the urge to vomit. These skeletons were old. Years old, most likely, layered in dust and cobwebs and bleached y exposure to the sun. There was nothing else left of the people they had once been, no blood, no viscera, no anything. As if they had been long-since picked clean by Vullaby and Mandibuzz, then left to the elements once they had nothing left to offer.

“Sub… We were thinking of the same person earlier, right? Volo?” He asked. “How could he play into this?” He finally asked, walking toward the Snagems’ leader. “And how could he be playing into anything at all?” He followed up, extremely confused. “We met him in Ultra Space - in another world’s past. There’s no possible way he could be here, is there?” This really wasn’t the time to be asking such questions and he realized that only a moment later as the sound of activity down below was interrupted by the sound of hooks latching onto the tower ringing out, making it clear people were making their way up from outside. And then, with no warning, a massive beast appeared amid the group, looking like it was ready to consume everything around it. “By the Kami! What is that?!” He cried out in alarm, staggering backwards a few steps as he fumbled for a Nest Ball on his belt.

Crystal would follow the others up, keeping quiet as she took everyone in. This place had to have taken a toll on people, physically or mentally. Her room was more physical, but from everything she could remember of Ein, he would have delighted in breaking people psychologically and mentally as well as physically. So, there was quite possibly some of that as well. She didn’t know, though, and wasn’t going to ask now. So, she followed and waited in silence until they got up to the open air arena, blinking a couple of times to adjust to the new source of light. From here, she could easily create a platform to get them back to the jet, but there was the issue of getting attacked on the way. With this many people on it, it would be much slower to make sure everyone stayed on. Not to mention the injured they had, which meant she’d have to take it even slower. No, the light platform would be ruled out.

Blizz’s exclamation would catch her attention next, with her looking around to the seats. It was like a graveyard of the damned, and it sent chills through her body. They were supposed to be saved? If this was saved… But, this also didn’t make any sense. The people standing with her wouldn’t have just left everyone to die. She didn’t have memories of what happened when some of the team left to face Ein, hell, the memories she had after crashing the S.S. Anne II here were rather hazy at that point. But leaving innocent people here wasn’t the M.O. of the Snagem she was a part of as an Espeon hybrid. That much she knew.

Before she knew it, she was standing in front of one of the skeletons, having apparently gotten there while she drifted in her thoughts. Standing before it, she still couldn’t believe it. According to Blizz, there shouldn’t have been any skeletons, but here they all were. Her white and black hand reached out to touch the skull of the skeleton, needing to check if it was actually real. It just felt so surreal and just… wrong. Like someone was playing a sick joke.

As soon as the galactic hybrid touched it, though, something told her to look around. And the sight freaked her out for a split second. What she had come face to face was a full blown Guzzlord. “Light, how?! Where did- Wait. Monique!” She wasn’t picking up any sudden traces of Ultra Energy, something that all Ultra Beats would give off, as well as herself, and Monique was notably able to create illusions on a whim. That had to be the explanation. Though, if SWIPE were her and saw this, the celestial catwoman would be on the hook for either bringing it here, or at least showing them something of this magnitude. She’d vault over a few rows to get close to the Zoroark hybrid, running up to her after that to try and give her a hug. “Monique! Monique, take a deep breath! Whatever you’re envisioning in your head, you’re bringing a vision of Guzzlord out! Whatever you're seeing, you’re not there! You’re here with the Snagems, in a helhole, granted, but you’re not wherever you’re reminded of. It’s going to be okay!” how much of that Crystal believed, remained to be seen. But something happened to their timeline. Had an Ultra Space jump of hers completely fiddled with it? Did she completely just whiff a landing and wound up in a close timeline, but things were slightly off? If the latter was true, why would everyone else remember it? Light, what in the Blinding Light was going on?”

-Meanwhile-


Aile had been going back and forth between the jet’s cockpit with the book to double check the controls listed and outside with her Pokémon, still reading said book on how to operate the Surprise Rayray Jet. It was all she could do to not worry about her friends. It gave her some relief that Reno’s Alakazam wasn’t keeled over at any point, but it did eat at her that she wasn’t there providing immediate support to her teammates. At least she had Brian, Rachel, and Kaiden as backup.

Eventually, Aile would just settle down with Tatooine as she was curled up in the shadow of the jet, continuing to read the manual. A good few minutes of that would pass, until she felt something. A ground type attack. Tatooine would raise her head at the same time as her trainer, and a moment later, Poggle would also reemerge from the sand, shaking himself off as the next two pulses came. “Tati, scout ahead. Poggle, on the jet. Brian, Rachel, Kaiden, get ready!” The woman would dart onto the jet with her Nincada while Tatooine would take off into the sky, intending on helping her trainer get a bead on the team and lead her to them. That much didn’t need to be explained to the dragon when the order was given. Aile would go through all the routine that needed to happen to get the aircraft started, as precisely as she could with the hand written instructions.

While her partner was starting up the long range air transport, Tati would climb high into the sky and head toward the building, flying around while trying to avoid the eye of any of the security. She was scanning for where the Snagems were, where she could then hopefully guide her to them. It would take her a round, but she’d spy them in the dome, as well as something that gave the Flygon a bit of a shiver down her spine to her tail. Back on the Rayray Jet, Aile picked up on that emotion though her channeling bond, frowning. “Tati,” she muttered, as she waved Rachel over to the copilot’s chair. “What happened?” Speaking up louder and regaining her composure, she spoke to the girl, “There’s going to be a few buttons I need you to get. Don’t worry about piloting, that’ll be my job. But jumping back and forth between the seats would be a bit much.” Once Rachel was there, Aile would point out what needed to be flipped or pushed on her end, until they could feel the jets rev up. “Thanks. Here goes…” The sand was admittedly a concern for her with the jet, not having the wheels get stuck in it. So, the main pilot would increase the power slowly at first, waiting to feel the lurch of the aircraft. After a moment, she would give the throttle a sharper push, finally feeling the jolt of movement she was looking for. The jet would go faster and faster, finally, with Aile pulling up on the yolk to get them airborne. “A sandstorm would have been nice, Tati,” she muttered, noting the smaller flecks on the side of the tower. Those had to be SWIPE, if she had to make a guess. And then she finally found where Tatooine was soaring over, the old arena. That feeling of concern was still there with the dragon, from what she could tell, which didn’t give the ground channeller a great feeling. “Arceus, Tati, what are you seeing that I’m not?”

Well, the sudden appearance of a giant mouth of a creature would be one thing, and if Tatooine hadn’t flown ahead, she would have known to head there now. What the hell did Crystal do this time?! She would see her Flygon flap backwards, spewing out royal blue flames with Dragon Breath towards this alien creature, though she couldn’t focus on that. Aile needed to find a place to land, which…

Her attention would shift to finding a place to land this jet, far enough away from the giant alien to not get immediately caught by it, but close enough to the Snagems for an expeditious retreat. Once she found that, it was time to bring the jet in, and that’s when she realized what her Flygon had found. The seats weren’t empty. The bottom of her stomach dropped as the skeletons that filled the seats were silent spectators once again to the Snagems, though there was no chance of being saved this time. That’s not the only thing that would make Aile pale, though. Some of the people here she had met and known. One, in particular, was the reason she had survived her time in Orre to start. “...Robert?”

As soon as she got the damned jet to stop, she would be out of it once the stairs were down. Eldritch being from beyond the veil be damned, she needed to see whether these were actual skeletons. “Robert! You old a** son of a b***h, these had better be a part of some sick goddamned prank! Sarlaac, I need a boost!” She’d throw out the Safari Ball that contained her sentient sandcastle, who immediately would shove her trainer up as soon as Aile stepped on one of the towers. The woman would be vaulted up from that to clear the first couple of rows, with Aile landing and reaching out for one of the skeletons. She needed to see if they were real or not. She needed to get some sort of reassurance that the old man was actually alive.

Brian and Rachel had stayed behind with the ship, neither feeling the need to go into the infamous tower. To pass the time until their teammates got back, the pair broke out a deck of cards. Lu joined them, not really having much to pass the time, and there was only so much meditation one could do before it became monotonous. Aile's voice calling them back onto the jet all of a sudden startled the trio, and the cards vanished back into Brian's pack as they did as they were told. What had happened?

Once they were in the jet, Rachel could see Aile waving to her, and she walked over and plopped herself into the co-pilot's seat. She listened as Aile explained what she needed, flipping switches and pressing buttons as told, until they were up in the air. When they landed, Rachel couldn't take her eyes off the gigantic horror that seemed to be waiting for them. What in the Reverse World was that thing?! Brian, seeing this, immediately jumped into action, though when he was on the ground with the rest of the team and saw Crystal talking to whatever that thing was, he relaxed slightly.

Could that be Monique transformed into that thing? That was a reasonable explanation, considering he could see Cera nearby. Pulling out a Pokeball, he released Chase, then pointed at the Guzzlord. "I know we've not done any real training yet, Chase, but I need yer help," he said. "I need ye to use Hypnosis on that big thing. If ye're able to put it to sleep, I want ye to use Dream Eater on it. If I'm right, and that thing is Monique, I think her memories might be triggering the transformation into whatever that thing is." Chase looked doubtful, but didn't argue, stepping forward to try and put Monique/Guzzlord to sleep.

The Guzzlord appearance startled Darts, clutching his young ward to his chest as he carried Ogerpon out of the tower. He took a defensive stance, feet skidding across the rooftop as he tried to figure out some way to fight this massive menace with his Pokemon in one arm and a stack of masks in another... until Crystal dashed through to be able to soothe Monique. It was just an illusion, but as the Solgaleo hybrid steeled herself and ran to the aid of their teammate traumatized in the middle of the projection, Darts caught a familiar hint of an energy he had sensed while in the Distortion World. Could it be...? He pushed it aside for the moment. There was no way to talk to her about it right at the moment, and on top of that... they were just about out of time.

Speaking of trauma, however...



Aile was confronting what was very much the very real remains of her old partners in crime, friends, and companions sealed in dust and desert sand on the top of the tower. But despite all of that, the gambler knew they didn't have any sort of luxury when it came to time to figure out what the heck was going on right now. The SWIPE grunts were close to summiting the structure, and they had to leave if they didn't want collars around all of their necks again. Securing Ogerpon in the Rayquaza jet, Darts comes back for their only pilot with masks tucked beneath his arm. "Aile!" he shouts, to be heard above the wind and oncoming assault force. "We have to go! We have to go now!" Ignoring any protests to the contrary he scoops her up over his shoulder, waving the others towards the jet as well as he goes, leading the way to the jet. Darts plops Aile in front of the joysticks, not giving her much room to argue as they boot the Robo-Rayquaza up again in a flurry of switches and manual-reading just like last time from the cockpit as the rest of the team straps in. There's an audible roar of rage from outside as Agent White himself reaches the top, two Type: Null emerging from capture capsules to race after the group in an attempt to take down the vehicle, and surely they'd be able to do so given the chintzy build of the rocket they were trying to get away in.

Luckily for the Snagems, the faulty Doctor Kaminko engineering decides to kick in at exactly the right time, the 'birthday protocol' that was expected to deliver when they arrived kicking in just in the nick of time. An explosive, raucous 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOOOOU' booms out of speakers hidden in the back of the jet alongside a series of hisses and wooshes as fireworks explode out the back of the thing, popping and sparkling directly in their pursuer's faces, providing Aile just enough time to get to her senses and engage thrusters with a massive burst of speed, taking them off the roof and out of the dome with a clarion 'AND MANY MOOOOORE' being the final middle finger to SWIPE as they make a clean getaway back on their way to their temporary HQ.

--

In the midst of all the chaos, however, as people were clambering onto the ship in their haste to aid government capture, they might have been able to see one other very interesting thing. It was odd, so odd it might have been mistaken as an illusion. Floating out over the desert sands was a pair of figures, standing atop a platform made of what looked like a black pool of shadows. One was clearly very at ease, clad in a combination of royal blue and gold, twirling a teardrop shaped necklace around his neck. Smirking out at what he was watching, Volo looked certainly quite amused by the flight of the team below.

The second figure was garbed in a regal-looking robe of dark forest green, a grim look set on his face beneath the hood as he watched his friends and comrades barely manage to evade capture a second time. Aden appeared to sigh, turning back to say something to Volo, who nodded in agreement. Familiar-looking, at least to anyone around Darts long enough, dark shadowy wings emerge from the platform, tipped at the ends in blood-red talons. They envelop the pair like a bird of prey settling in its nest, the edges folding neatly around the duo before they both vanish without a trace - gone to who knows where... or was it when?

Or was it something else entirely?

Monique was still coming down from the terrific thing her ability had done, holding Crystal like a little girl might hold her plushie, hoping the Solgaleo hybrid didn't mind given the circumstances. She'd stopped casting any illusion, revealing the face and body of a woman who was physically and emotionally exhausted from her first visit to Realgam Fortress. She let go only enough to let the two of them hurriedly board the Robo-Rayquaza, taking a seat next to Crystal.

"Oh tapu," she muttered nervously, a skyward glance to the ceiling of her conveyance. "So that thing, you called it Guzzlord... You recognized it?" She stared out the window at the Orrean desert, the jet leaving behind the cursed tower and thankfully their pursuers. She muttered under her breath, trying to ground herself. "She Who Floods the World... Protect me, protect them, from the horrors in that place..."

Chase returned to Brian after the illusion Monique was putting out dissipated. Brian recalled the Kirlia with a thanks, then turned to find Amber. Where was the Froslass hybrid? He found her kneeling not far from the door they'd come through, the evidence of her stomach contents not far away. What had happened to cause that? Looking up, the Ice/Ghost hybrid spotted him and heaved herself to her feet, swaying as she was unsteady after the onslaught of negative feelings. Spooky, who had finished his hunting, returned to her side, his zipper mouth grinning at Brian as the man stared at him in surprise. "Spooky evolved?" he asked, looking to Amber. "I'll tell you later," she said, leaning on him as the two made their way back to the jet. "Let's just get out of here." She recalled Spooky and Arauth as Brian did the same with Lu, then the pair boarded the jet.

Rachel removed herself from the co-pilot's chair as soon as the jet came to land, and when she saw Amber and Brian, she rushed over as the two took their seats. "What happened?" she asked, as the trio strapped themselves in. "How did SWIPE find us?" Amber shook her head. "I don't know for sure," she said. "Cynthia was waiting for us, and we all got separated almost as soon as we stepped into that blasted tower. Things went to hell in a hand basket after that."

Crystal would maneuver to cover Monique so the Dragonbreath wouldn't hit her… only to realize that it had fallen short. Once Tatooine had realized that the Eldritch Beast was a mere illusion, she closed her maw, immediately switching her attention. Crystal would look back over and sigh, not minding how Monique was clinging to her. Like she had expected, this place had been rough on people. With a nod toward the jet, the pair would get on, the catwoman taking a glance at their pilot before the inside of the aircraft was their world. After they sat down, she looked to the team’s illusionist as she spoke. “Yes. Eventually, you encounter a plethora of Ultra Beasts if you travel Ultra Space enough. Though, I was also taught about them when I worked briefly with Ultra Recon. That one… Its code name is Glutton. And it’s the world ender. You would need some way to send it back to Ultra Space to save whatever reality it appears, because its appetite is insatiable." She would let out a sigh before her ear twitched, picking up on some sort of familiar presence, however faint. It couldn’t be… could it?

—-

It was hard to tell if Aile could get any more pale at this point. The realization that these were all real skeletons was sending her sliding into the abyss. This couldn’t be, though! They saved them! She spoke to Robert after they had dealt with S-22 finally! She even met up with him in Galar after Reno was kicked from the World Tournament! How was this possible!? What the hell?! No, she needed to head to Pyrite Town. There would be more answers there, she could-



Aile was so lost in her own despair that she did not register Darts coming up on her, only realizing he was there when the gambler shouted at her. “No, no, I need to- Hey! HEY,” the woman protested, punching the demon dragon as hard as she could with her left arm. “Put me down! I need to get to Pyrite! Darts!” She was going to do her damnedest to try and get out, despite the last time she had been grabbed and restrained by Darts. She would only stop punching him when she was placed in the pilot’s chair, turning to get back up when she saw the rest of the Snagems. Right. There were others that needed to get out. Right. But…

~~~~~~~~

“Lady Alysandra?”

A red haired grunt would look at the young woman, who was panting on the ground as a training exercise wrapped up for the moment. “What,” the woman snapped, leering at the nearby grunt.

“Ah!” The grunt would stand up at attention, startled by the aggression Alysandra had spat out. “Uh, madame! Is, ah, everything alright?”

Alysandra snarled, picking herself up and dusting herself off. “Family. More arguments with my mother.” After a moment, the woman pinched the bridge of her nose, taking a sharp breath. “Sorry,” she apologized, “you’re not the ones I should be taking my frustrations out on.”

“Well, that apology is certainly appreciated,” someone else commented. Walking up to them would be a man in a white version of Flare’s uniform suits, a base level admin. “However, that doesn’t solve the issue. You haven’t been focused all training, and normally you’d be putting up more of a fight.”

Alysandra sniffed and looked down, doing her damnedest to not give into the urge to gross her arms, as if she was having a temper tantrum. “Well,” she started after a minute pause, “unless we’re going to have some therapy session, it’s going to be kind of hard to just put it aside right now.”

“Or, treat this training as if you were on an actual mission.”

The young woman looked up in confusion. “What?”

“You need to have your focus on your objective when you’re actually out on any sort of mission. Wait, you’re still pretty fresh, they haven’t sent you out to do anything yet, have they,” the admin asked, getting a simple shake of Alysandra’s head for a reply. “Right, so, when they finally do that, then, they’ll expect you to have your whole focus on that, so you have fewer chances of slipping up. So, practice that mentality here. Bring your whole focus on the immediate, leave any outside issues outside. Referencing our sparring, turn your mission into bringing down your opponent. That’s all that matters at the moment.”

Alysandra tilted her head, brushing some of her bangs away from her face. That…. sounded easier said than done. Just pushing everything aside? Depending on what it was, you were still going to have to deal with it when you got back… But, there was also logic about needing to put all of her focus on the mission when it was presented. Whatever problems she had would be there when she was done, but something more immediate needed her attention, and she could solve the others when she was done. That… sounded logical.

“Right then. Get ready, both of you!” Alysandra jumped at the command, shocked a bit as she thought they were done. Maybe it was to see if his point hit home. The young woman got back into position, thinking about the advice the admin told her. Treat this like a mission, huh? So, this one would be… bring down my opponent. And that’s all that matters. No family drama is here. No mother to chide me once again. Just this…

“Begin!” A hand would raise, and the two would charge at each other again. This time, though, the young woman would slip by her opponent, dodging the power lock up that they had been doing in previous rounds. The look of surprise gave some level of triumph to Alysandra, who would try to keep up the pressure by swinging her leg into the back of her sparring partner's knee…

~~~~~~~~



The loud sudden chorus of a joyous celebration brought Aile back into reality. The mission. This was a mission they were all on, and her specific part was to get everyone out safely. That’s what mattered. There was a chance to deal with other problems later, but for now, the mission was all that was important. There was no smile on her face at the ridiculousness of this, no emotion really, other than a sort of grim determination on her face. My mission is to get everyone back safe as fast as I can. Everything else can wait. Flipping the last few switches they needed, she would immediately give full power to the thrusters and pull up on the steering column, taking off quite expeditiously. Darts would notice that once again, her full attention would be on the sky in front of her, with her grip firmly on the yolk. However, this time it wasn’t out of fear.

Get everyone back safe. Deal with things later. Get everyone back safe. Deal with things things later. Get everyone back safe…


While Darts was getting Aile onto the rocketjet, Tati would start as well, only to stop and see the slow moving sandcastle slink toward the Air Rayray. "Goooon...."" If she just left her to her own devices, Sarlaac would probably get left behind, and who knew when they'd see her again, if they'd see her again. However, Aile was a bit too preoocupied to recall either of them, sooo... "Gongon! Fly gon fly flygon fly!"

"Saaaaaand!" Tati would fly over to Sarlaac, who would reach up with her towers and envelop the Flygon's small claw hands in them, the Palossand willing her sand to stay relatively in one unified piece as Tati flew them both to the Rayquaza jet, getting on right before the team closed up the doors. There wasn't that great of a place for the Flygon to be, so she would stay near the entryway, keeping her eyes squarely on her trainer. The emotions coming off of her trainer
would have worried her one way or the other, even without the channelling bond.

Sarlaac at least could spread out her sand, which she mostly did, just in case something happened. Her shovels were hers, though. And she'd survive one way or the other. She'd just have to protect Aile from a crash somehow.