Welcome to Gaia! ::

((Happy Satur-da....y. Oh. Right. *ahem* AP are updated, regardless. To the post!))

The dim orange glow brightened briefly, revealing a ghostly, humanoid figure for the barest of instants to Juno's straining eyes. The image was a character of muted colors: browns and dim yellows, with eyes hidden by shadows, and that figure was lost. There had been an indecipherable smile on its face.

And then, the glow started slowly growing brighter, as though it were coming closer. It was up to Juno to decide in what way to test her luck.

Twenty feet above her, Paul McCulloch looked down through the thirty-yard hole into the impenetrable blackness, and his flashlight beam reflected back off of what appeared to be a domed surface, like the blackest mirror every known, stretching from one end of the chasm to the other. Zoidberg reported that it was a pokémon's, or perhaps more than one's, psychic technique. It blocked light and ether without any physical obstruction, and didn't block sound - so his call made it down to Juno.

---

((Thought I would get more done tonight - didn't. Next post tomorrow, probably late afternoon. Sorry guys!

P.S. Wow that is pathetically short. Will -definitely- post tomorrow, late afternoon.))

((Okay, here's the rest of the jazz.))

"All right, then," Jacob said, "seems like we all know eachother, then. 'Lexis, would you mind leading the way on back? I'm pretty sure Gerard's gotta get to whoever sent you. Alex, you can sit in the side car here, if you'd like." He walked back to his motorcycle and patted it invitingly, then started fishing around in his pack and pockets for food, finally successfully drawing out a bottle of water and a sandwich, both of which he offered to her.

"But... but the gold roses-"

"I'm sure, Miss Alex. Y'can tell us all about 'em on the way."

"They were pretty-"

"I'll bet they were. Get your butt over here."

"There were two of them-"

"Yep, just as many seconds of patience I have left; you want this sandwich or not?"

"Flowers..."

Jacob moved to bite into the sandwich. A surge of that strange strength and power meant it was out of his hands before he had quite realized it and Alexandria was tearing into the small meal. With a helpless shrug, he returned Bella to her pokéball and mounted his motorcycle. "Take us away, Alexis." He gave a small look over to Gerard, who had remained quiet the whole time. There was something wrong with the boy - had to be. No reactions, few words - just that little laugh, and then he clammed up again. Some kids are quieter than others, that's for sure, but it's the rare kid that's got nothing to say about a cracked up drug addict.

For ease of transport, Gerard returned Justice to his pokeball, completely unaware of the looks and thoughts of Thatcher. Gerard did, however, pause to watch as Alex devoured the meal in a manner reminiscent of his younger sister after she came in from playing. Gerard's mouth twisted into a brief, sad smile before he turned away and climbed onto his bike.

He settled in, the engine roaring to life. He looked expectantly at Lexi; what Thatcher had said was true, most likely. Gerard was trying to find someone, and it seemed that Lexi knew who Gerard was and where he needed to go.

The boy waited silently to depart.

As the new party made their way out of the deserted town, Lexi and Gerard followed by Thatcher, only Jacob noticed that the communication link on Alex's radio was open. He eyed it with a hard glare as they went, but didn't say anything. Instead, he grit his teeth for a second, shook his head and rode on.

After some time riding, the party came upon a rather odd sight - planted all over the ground by the side of the road were small circles of thin leaves; little plants that were remarkably healthy for the time. Perhaps stranger than that was the conductor's baton that lay on top of the one thick-petaled flower that had bloomed among them. And perhaps stranger than that was the old, rustic pipe organ set a few feet away from the cluster of plants. It was little more than three manuals and maybe a few dozen pipes in a wooden chamber off to the side, but all the same - a pipe organ? Despite all this, Jacob set his jaw and was ready to go on by.

---

Abruptly, Juno felt something p***k her hands, and then the soft, slightly damp flesh of a flower petal. The light had gotten right up next to her face, and the strange, sepia-toned creature was visible again. It seemed to be a human being, albeit wrinkled, slightly hunched, and covered in a thick, tattered cloak. In the dim glow of its lamp, Juno could see what had pricked her: a single, purple rose. The odd creature looked away from her sheepishly. She could see a green, thorny stem hidden away up one of its baggy sleeves, the bright colors contrasting sharply with her visitor's earthy ones.

The scene was too intriguing for Gerard to act as Thatcher did - though he did not stop outright, he slowed significantly, staring at the incredibly odd sight as he drifted past.

Lexi had thought about grabbing Alex’s radio when she was considering going back into the post office for the flowers, but then remembered the woman had it, and when Mr. Thatcher didn’t object to Alex bringing it, Lexi had figured it was okay to have around.

As the green spot came into view, Lexi didn’t know what to think of it. A high level of grass ether? Then the musical implements came into view, so the whole thing looked even stranger and she slowed for a better look. Oh great…Now I’m curious… The voice in her head was whiny, because she knew she couldn’t stop. She had promised her family she would come back in the right number of pieces, and so far, the only reason she was still alive was sheer luck…She had already screwed up and gotten into rather dangerous situations three times in the last 24 hours… Her helmet had worked once, the reverend hadn’t been after her, and Alex wanted food more than a fight, but that was all luck. Until Phoenix got big enough to pull her out of a tight spot or she found out how Dr. Terrian teleported, she really shouldn’t be exploring strange things in the middle of the wilderness. Ohh…but I want to know! She ducked her head and groaned, shifting her bike back into high gear.

Ulysses offered an exhausted smile, eyes slightly glassy at remembering his most recent encounter with the mentally twisted scientist. "Yes, that was Dr. Terrian. He's a strange fellow, but helpful and kind. It's often a good idea to heed his words." Then Ulysses turned to Jacob to make sure he was alright. The kid looked shaken, but nothing worse. "Keep strong, Jacob."

Then he spun to see what Jeremiah was up to, and found him straddling a motorcycle. His shoulders sagged some at the idea. Dr. Shonevsky wasn't fond of putting his pokémon in pokéballs, and they weren't particularly enthralled by the idea either. He sighed and gave them understanding glances. Gloria nodded and Junior merely shifted slightly against Ulysses's leg. He pulled them both into pokéballs. Djinn could fly along, although he would probably be wanting rest soon. He'd been through a lot, and it was still daylight. Ulysses mounted one of the motorcycles that had been left unattended in the wake of combat, and gestured Jacob to hop on behind him.

For a moment, Ulysses paused, trying to remember exactly where he was headed... "Glenville, right?" Ugh, what a time to be forgetting details.

Paul considered his options. "Zoidberg. Think we can jump down safely? Look, the sphere probably has its centerpoint at about ground."



"Alright. Oddjob, back in for a moment," Paul ordered, and the charmander grudgingly returned to Paul's pokéball. "Mmkay. Hear that? A voice. Sounds... female, teenage. Yup, this's our mark. She's not screaming yet, and she's talking, so I'm going to assume she's alright. Oh, Zoidberg - think there'll be any way to get out of it once we get in?"



"Hmm. What do you say about just tossing down the nidoran and letting it do the job?" Paul chuckled.



"Rather. Alright then, I guess we're going in. Maybe we should take the motorcycle."



"Good plan." Paul spent a moment securing his method of transportation before returning to the edge of the hole. There he removed the scope from his rifle and replaced it with the reflex sight.

"Over the top, I suppose," he declared, before the two jumped into the darkness. Zoidberg tensed, then as they passed through the ether shield gathered air, made it push against them, create a safer landing surface. They were still moving by the time they reached the floor, and so they both ended up collapsing knees and doing quick rolls to negate some of the downward action. Paul's brought him all the way back up to his feet; he brought his rifle to his shoulder and made sure he was ready to rock. Luckily, there wasn't anything immediately dangerous down here; the human? pokémon? didn't seem aggressive yet.

"Hello," Paul told Juno. "I see that you're alive and well, somehow. I apologize for being forced to follow you, but you didn't give me a chance to explain."