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"Sit on a Ferroseed...how crass." She scoffed, feigning insult and scandal as she clutched red jewel hanging from her necklace. "My dear feathered man, I always arrive at the most opportune time, no sooner or later." The woman smirked in response to Sol. As Aile knelt to do something with the Herba Mystica Barbara would begin to make a move, not wanting her opponent to get the plant first, the red jewel she was still gripping beginning to glow faintly, that was until Reno stepped up and launched the first attack. "What the-" Was all she got out as Reno threw the piece of metal.

While it was debatable on whether or not the Magneton was going to be nice to Aile as it got in close to reach the Herba Mystica the mysterious Pokemon would be too distracted by Reno's attempt at playing fetch with it to care about the woman on the ground. "Bzzt bzzz!" It cried excitedly as it reached out with what magnetism it had to pull the flying piece of metal towards it. The piece of metal would make a u-turn behind Barbara and came flying towards what would be come known as Sandy Shocks. Barbara however had enough awareness to side step out of the way and avoid the metal hitting her but that was okay, it distracted her long enough to stop Aile from doing what she was going to do. "No!" Barbara shouted at Aile.

As soon as the last root left the pile of iron sand a beam of yellow energy would erupt upward from the pile and completely engulf Sandy Shocks. In that same moment the iron sand on the ground would rise up and begin to collect on Sandy Shocks, giving it 'hair'. As the energy beam intensified the strange Magneton would let out a cry that increased and volume and pitch as the energy was absorbed into its body causing it to grow into a titanic size. Now towering over them all and free from the spell that bound it to that place the Sandy Shocks stomped on the ground twice, shaking the entire chamber of which it barely fit in, as if to declare its newfound freedom. The stone floor would crack from the impact.

Barbara would look on and gawk as she watched the Sandy Shocks become the Quaking Earth Titan, true to its name as the ground shook from its impact, snapping the Rock Channeler out of her trance as she looked from the Titan Pokemon to Aile and snarled. "You idiot! You're going to kill us all! Minior!" She shouted, taking out a Premier Ball and tapping the button on the front to release her Minior from the device.

"Get me that Herba!" She said, pointing at Aile with one hand and still holding her necklace with the other as it began to glow. In response the Minior would spin around and shatter its own protective shell, revealing its red inner self. The pieces of its shell would fall to the ground but soon rise back up with chunks of the stone floor, bigger chunks shattering into smaller ones once they were all airborne. With countless pieces of rock and stone in the air they would all begin to swarm around the Minior and quickly gather together to form three 'men' of stone made from the rubble, Minior inside of one of them. This must be Barbara's Channeling, but didn't Amaranth have her artifact?

These 'Miniormen' would promptly charge towards Aile, closing in to attempt to snatch the Herba Mystica from her, making no moves to actually hurt her, just to grab at the plant. Meanwhile Barbara wasn't going to just stand there and watch. "Glimmora! Ancient Power targeting those two!" She commanded, her Glimmora rotating in place in the air and summoning from the ground chunks of stone itself, sending these now rainbow glowing pieces of rubble flying at Sol and Reno respectively. While that happened the woman closed her eyes and began to...chant? Softly, to herself. Or was she just talking to herself? Either way what was that about?

As for Sandy Shocks it wasn't compelled yet to do anything as it was too occupied with happiness over its freedom, swaying from side to side and buzzing happily. At least it wasn't accidentally stepping on them at the moment. Maybe they could get it to focus and do something to help.

Aile narrowed her eyes and raised her arm to shield her eyes from the light, barely able to see what was going on while being so close. Though, she could at least tell it was growing. That wasn’t good. “Oh boy…” She was already having to look up at the Sandy Shocks, but now this was a whole new level. “Right. It was just locked in there with the- Merde! Tati, Sarlaac Earth Power!” She’d try to run away from the Miniormen, with Tatooine trying to be in the way while blasting the rock puppets with an Earth Power blast, the Palossand following up on that as well. At this point, Aile would keep the Herba close to her chest, gripping it tight with both arms as she looked back up to the Quaking Earth Titan, noting the cracked earth underneath them. Was there more to this place still? Or at least some tunnels underneath them? Whatever, that wasn’t her concern at the current time. “Hey, uh, Sandy Shocks? If you help us out in dealing with that woman, I’ll see about getting you out and getting you more metal!” Hopefully, it would listen to her. And as long as it did help, she’d do her best to keep up her end of the bargain. For now, though, it was just playing keep away of the Herba Mystica from Barbara, holding it tight to her chest now with both hands.

The Miniormen would not halt their pursuit of Aile and the Herba Mystica she possessed, with one of the Miniormen jumping onto and off of the shoulders of one of them. The other two were completely shattered by the Earth Power attacks and yet the one that was used as a springboard quickly reformed, at least partially as it was just an upper torso, reforming itself in lunge at Tati. The one that didn't reform simply launched all the rocks that composed its body at Aile, attempting to pelt her from the moment it was shattered. The upper torso that lunged at Tati would attempt to use its weight and momentum to take the Flygon down to the ground with it where it would fuse itself in the floor, looking to pin the Pokemon down. Sarlaac was ignored, the Minior perhaps recognizing it was foolish to try the same to the pile of living sand.

The third Miniorman would leap through the air and come down on Aile just as she was being pelted by rocks, attempting to take her to the ground as well, pinning her one real arm with one hand and grabbing her neck with the other. An arm was quickly forged from the rocks on the Miniorman's chest, said new arm reaching to snatch up the Herba Mystica. However, creating this arm used some of the rocks composing its body leaving a hole in its chest from which Aile could see a glowing red light inside. This body was housing the actual Minior that controlled these bodies.

Reno and Sol would manage to avoid, block or destroy a majority of the Ancient Power rocks, but that was fine by Barbara, it was just a distraction anyways. Once thing she wouldn't care too much for was her Glimmora being struck by the Psyshock, the Super Effective move sending the Glimmora spirally through the air due to the powerful impact, its only saving grace being that its physical defenses were slightly better than its special. Also, as it tumbled through the air it sent poisonous spikes flying through the air, the debris scattering across the grounds of the chamber.

While this happened Barbara attempted to focus on something only for Reno to intrude on her thoughts, the woman wincing immediately upon picking up on Reno. The Psychic Channeler wouldn't get much from the psychic intrusion, just that she was establishing a link with her Pokemon lingering elsewhere, a Lunatone, of which that Pokemon was clearly trying to connect her to another source however Reno butted in a little too early and only deduced that the third party was somewhere much more distant and human. "Gah! Get out!" Barbara screamed in her mind and as proof of her talent as a Channeler her Lunatone would mentally ejected Reno from her mind, a psychic punch delivered to his mind as he was forced out.

With the Rock Channeler's focus broken she opened her eyes and glared at Reno while holding her head, not amused by his intrusion. "You think that was funny, don't you? I have such a headache now!" She complained, didn't feel too good to have Reno kick her mental door in like that. She noted her one Miniorman trying to pin Aile and thought she had time to retaliate against Reno however the woman began to feel static electricity build up in the air and immediate darted her eyes to the giant Magneton in the room, watching as it began to crackle with electricity. It looked like Aile's words got to it. Quickly registering the threat that thing was to her she called out to her Pokemon as she shut her eyes tight. "Confuse Ray!" She screamed out, her Glimmora, which was barely floating at this point, immediately releasing a bright flash of disorienting light that filled the chamber for a millisecond.

"Bzz-bzz-zzt..." Sandy Shocks would get a triple very large eye full of the Confuse Ray, the flash of light confusing it greatly as it released its built up charge in the form of a Magnetic Flux, giving everything metal in the chamber a magnetic charge which included Pokeballs. Now everything metal really wanted to either go towards or away from each other, hopefully no one has two Pokeballs on either side of their fingers or something. That wasn't their main concern however as the confused Titan still wanted to attack but really couldn't figure out how and just began to stomp on the ground several times, causing the entire chamber to shake violently, considerable force into these stomps. The ground would begin to crack even further, Barbara stumbling as she tried to maintain her balance, falling to her butt. What she was clearly concerned for though was the foundation and the large cracks forming. Also while it stomped the Toxic Debris spikes would bounce and roll around, Barbara bouncing herself and ending up falling on one. "Ouch! Arceus dammit!" She hissed, trying to regain some footing to pluck the spike out of her back end. Thankfully she had an antidote in her purse.

As the chamber shook chunks of stone would fall from the ceiling and recognizing how much danger she was on the woman released another Pokemon, a Golem. Immediately the Golem utilized Protect to create a protective dome, protecting her from any falling debris as the Sandy Shock continued to stomp. She just hoped her Miniorman managed to take the Herba Mystica off of Aile before this place cave in.

The Toxic Debris from Glimmora didn't set well for Sol, the spiky, poisonous rocks catching him off-guard. Of any Paldean Pokemon he was familiar with, Glimmora was one he dealt with the least, for a number of reasons. "Reminded why I never liked seeing these in caves... always made it a point to run when I did," he remarked with a tone of disdain. He and Hoja were both careful to avoid moving if they could help it, neither one keen on the idea of being poisoned by a misstep. Unfortunately for both of them, the Confuse Ray made sure to make that trickier.

Sol was able to shield himself just in time to avoid the flash, but his Leafeon took the full thing before he had a chance to shut his eyes, disoriented in an instant and stumbling into one of the spikes. Before the light could clear, he'd hear the clattering of his sword within its scabbard and feel a few tugs along his belt. All at once came Arcoiris and his remaining Pokeballs flying away from him, repelled by their newfound magnetism, and more shaking from Sandy Shocks' stomps. With rocks and toxic debris bouncing and finding their way of hitting both him and Hoja, let alone the whole place threatening to cave in and the ground cracking, things were getting dicier by the second.

And to make it worse, one of the Miniormen stuck around and was still trying to get the Herba. And they were supposed to trust Barbara wouldn't pull anything if they just gave her what she wanted? If this was how she was being without doing that, he didn't want to see otherwise. But more importantly, something needed to be done, both about the Minior and Glimmora. The important one felt like Minior; they did have that weird form...

He'd start trying to work more Fire energy in an effort to start generating plasma, get a Thunderbolt going. But as soon as he did, the water energy still in him would make it short, zapping his hand instead. "Ah! Blasted water, how much did that wall send through!?" He needed to get it out, it was proving to be too much of an issue. If he could just weaponize it somehow, it'd be a lot more useful than the giant hindrance it was being-

Wait. Maybe he could...

Pained shouts beside, both from water and now poison entering his system, he'd focus on the water energy and try to work with it rather than trying to counteract it. A small orb formed in one of his hands, barely keeping its form and leaving wisps from all the shaking and bouncing. It was making it hard to form much more, cupping his hand to try and keep it together. He was already starting to feel a little sick with more toxic spikes hitting him, but forcing a Full Heal and its poorer efficacy down his throat would have to wait, let alone one for Hoja. "Force it out, let it into the ball..." He said to himself, the orb slowly growing in size and starting to take on a bluish tint as the water gave it more of a form. With it came an internal sense of relief as it left him, bracing himself on the ground and giving a deep sigh to focus even more. As it kept growing, he'd call out to his Leafeon.

"Hoja, throw some sand in-" Forgetting about the disorientation, Hoja would struggle to get a good read on the command and instead flung a few Leech Seeds. At Reno's Alakazam. "...crap."

Feeling he was on his own for what efforts he could add here, he'd have to keep focus on the orb. By now, he'd manage something roughly the size of a baseball and a deep blue in color. Wisps still formed around it, waterdrops riding along them as he gingerly took it in hand. It didn't look terribly impressive, but the Water energy did feel like it got out...

"Hey, Minior, let's see those reflexes! Catch!" He called, chucking the watery orb at the Miniorman.

For a second there it looked like the main Miniorman would succeed in snatching the Herba Mystica away as well as choking Aile out, the woman finding it harder and harder to breath, her head becoming light and her grip on the plant weakening. Even though she had a plan to get it off her she still needed time, something she was quickly running out of. Just when it looked like she was going to black out Aile would feel water splashing on her face and the rocks holding her down, the Miniorman loosening its grip on her neck, allowing her to take a good deep breath. It was Sol, having turn what was punishment for failing the password earlier into something beneficial and buying Aile the second or two she needed to get out of this mess.

With her improvised arm cannon, perhaps taking inspiration from the earlier Armarouge, the Ground Channeler would launch the rock straight for the Minior inside of the humanoid construct. While Aile launched the rock it didn't have that much force behind it, like if a regular person chucked a rock but had second thoughts about hurting their target at the last moment, though Aile had no such second thoughts it was simply because she lacked experience with what she was doing. However there was enough force to launch the rock and send it passing straight through the Minior's Flying energy passed form and thus disrupting its physical state as it gently burst into smaller balls of energy. It would be able to quickly recollect itself but that was okay, Aile had succeed in her true intent as the rock puppet fell to pieces on top of her, the Minior no longer able to hold its shape as it was more worried about pulling itself back together. Aile was free.

As for the half of a Miniorman holding Tati down Aile's Palossand had the genius idea to essentially stretch its form beyond its limits as the sand built up and pushed the rocks apart more and more until finally it 'popped', the entire construct losing its control over the rocks as said rocks scattered in all directions.

"Gah!" Barbara cried out in pain as Reno delivered a headbutt to the back of her head, the woman stumbling forward and instinctively grabbing the back of her head, then hunching over in pain. In that same moment Reno's Reuniclus would put down the annoyance that was Glimmora, taking it out of the equation before it and Reno's Alakazam, as well as his leg, decided to forge a sudden dog pile. Back to Barbara once she had a moment to pull her thoughts back together she looked back and spotted Reno, hissing at him. "Seriously, what is wrong with you people!?" She demanded to know. "Golem use-"

It happened very suddenly and was a surprise to no one, the obvious end result of what was already occurring. The Sandy Shocks continued to stomp wildly in its confusion and eventually the foundation would give up, the entire floor reaching the point of critical failure as it shattered completely, opening up a pitch black hole deeper into the Earth below them. Everyone and everything in the chamber would fall; Sandy Shocks, Barbara and her Pokemon, the Snagems and their Pokemon, everyone's belongings, even the Stellar Locks, everything now falling through the blackness of the void below.

...everything would go dark for the Snagems, having blacked out at some point in the seemingly endless fall.

-----

[An unknown amount of time later.]

Aile would be the first to wake up, stirred awake after feeling something crawling on her, or rather trying to attach itself to her. It was a strange flower-like purple Pokemon that might remind her of Barbara's much bigger rock flower, a Pokemon she would one day discover be called Glimmet. Once Aile began to move the tiny Pokemon would ceased trying to plant itself in her and fled with a cry.

Once Aile was at least somewhat coherent she would note they were in some sort of tunnel and despite having fallen into pitch black darkness it was somewhat illuminated in her by beautiful blue crystals growing out of the tunnel's walls, just enough of them with their weak light to allow her to see her immediate surroundings. She would then spot her teammates, Sol and Reno, as well as their Pokemon, all knocked out cold for the time being. She would also spot the now destroyed Stellar Locks, a big chunk of one laying on top of the now-normal-size Sandy Shocks, it too out cold. The only thing she did not see was Barbara and her Pokemon. She might have awoken first and escaped and yet...

Looking to her remaining hand she still had the Herba Mystica. Good, that was still there, so if Barbara did take off she must have decided to call it quits after all that. With the Herba secured Aile would no doubt turn to waking up her friends and perhaps freeing Sandy Shocks from its new prison underneath the debris.

No sooner than Sol throwing the orb did he go digging for a Full Heal or two, something to address the poisoning and Hoja in turn, hoping he bought just enough time to do something before it got much worse. "What's wrong with us?" He asked, as he found the item he was looking for and went to pull it out. "I'd sooner ask why you're so fixated on getting all the herbs yourself-"

His gaze shot downward as the floor gave, shattering before he had a chance to actually force the medicine down his throat. The stomping had been too much, and the ruins too old to handle the kind of stress put upon on it, and now he and Hoja were both in a freefall. There was no bracing to be had here, vision going black as the poison continued to worsen matters let alone the landing to come...

Left on the ground for some time after the fall, Sol would have no idea when he came to. Just that he had, and he was feeling oddly feverish for it. Surely a result of the poison still in him. He'd groan and cough as he'd try to look around, finding minor fortune in the Full Heal he'd hoped to use on himself nearby. And his Leafeon, totally unconscious. His first instinct was to spray some of that Full Heal onto him, followed by unscrewing the spray top and forcing himself to drink the remainder. There wasn't going to be much luxury here; might as well take the chance and hope it's effective enough to counteract the poison.

"We still alive, or do I have an audience for getting the reaper in check this turn?" He asked, finally registering the glowing crystals and seeing Aile and Reno. Aile, at least, seemed to be up and about too. Though Reno wasn't, he couldn't find Barbara at all... either she escaped or they'd find her one way or another later. She didn't seem like the sort to be taken out like that.

"Still alive here, I think. For now," he answered, testing his own limbs for any breaks as the color in his feathers dulled slightly, using Recover to force some strength back into him. Though being a hybrid did make him a bit sturdier, he was still sore and winded and being able to move his limbs fine-ish didn't necessarily mean he came out of the fall unscathed. Though he kept an eye on Reno, he'd keep up a search for his belongings, finding his blade among the debris as Aile moved it to free Sandy Shocks. Then, he'd find what should've been Hoja's ball as a new top for Sarlacc.

"Here, mind if I take this one? Thanks," he commented to her beforehand, recalling his Leafeon soon after. A bit more searching would see him with the other two as well: one with his fallen Gallade, and the other his Quilava. And the only one he could still call on in a pinch. "Anyways, I see no sign of Barbara. How about you and yours? Not sure where we've ended up, either..."

(Aile capture chance for Sandy Shocks. 70% success rate, if 1-7 then capture is successful.)

The Ultra Ball would bounce off of Sandy Shock's...head? At least one of them. The ball would pop open and convert the unconscious Pokemon to energy before said energy was drawn into the open device and once the last of it was inside the ball would snap shut and fall to the ground shaking. One...two...and...click! The weird looking Magneton, what a certain rag called 'Sandy Shocks', was captured!

With Sandy Shocks captured and Sol and Reno awakened and their Pokemon and things collect the group turned to figure out where they were and where to go from here. While Reno discovered his personal teleporter was of no use for that purpose right now they would also discover their SNAGs had no signal down here, the group incapable of requesting outside help such as Claydol. Sure, Aile could probably get her Flygon to fly her upward but who knows how far down they were and if the opening they fell through is still there anymore, for all they know the 'eye' itself caved in completely. With no other choice the group would head in the direction they assumed was forward, Reno having acquired a piece of the weird glowing crystal, the group moved towards...somewhere.

-----

The trio would walk for what felt like a good ten or twenty minutes, difficult to discern how long it had been unless they checked their SNAGs for the time. The tunnel didn't help with the monotony as it all looked the same, just rocks and more rocks with the occasional cluster of glowing crystals along the way. In fact, they didn't even see another one of those weird rock flower Pokemon again. If Aile used her Tremor Sense she would note there wasn't much useful to pick up on, the tunnel simply stretched forward and backwards far past the range of her senses and as far as she could tell there was nothing in either direction. They were going nowhere fast.

A few more minutes after Aile last checked in with her Tremor Sense something would finally change. It was very faint and brief but one or more of them could swear they heard the sound of metal clanging, like someone knocked a spoon against a metal pan just once, somewhere far off in the distance as it faintly echoed back. If Reno heard this he might try to reach out telepathically but would turn up with nothing. However if Aile heard this she might check the Tremor Sense again and would pick up that there was definitely something up ahead, metal in fact as metal objects had a distinctive 'feel' when they echoed back to the Ground Channeler. But that's all she could discern, something metal just straight ahead and with Reno's lack of in sight there was nothing living up ahead either.

Four or five minutes later headed in that direction they would pick up on the metal 'clank' again, a bit louder than before, no doubt closer as they had walked towards whatever was there.

Roughly two minutes later they heard it again, much louder than the first clank and if Aile used the Tremor Sense she would pick up it was much closer, they would stumble upon this metal object soon no doubt.

Thirty seconds later, the metal sound rung out again.

Ten seconds after that, again.

Five seconds, again.

Two seconds.

They weren't approaching it, it was approaching them.

With a single loud ear splitting beep a blur of pink and green would come running up on them from the darkness ahead, the blur of a...thing...splitting right through the group as it attempted to cut them down with its glowing pink blade, said blade empowered with Psychic energy as it utilized Psycho Cut.

Whether or not any of them managed to get cut the wielder would cease its charge and mechanically turn around with purpose to face the group, the Snagems now getting a good look at the strange...creature? With the appearance of both a Gardevoir and Gallade but made of metal the apparent robot stood and stared at them motionless, its energy blade disappearing as it dispelled it. For a split second it might appear it wouldn't attack again as it withdrew the blade but they quickly learned it only meant it would resort to another attack as it raised a single hand up, palm pointed at them, and fired off from it a single shot of Moonblast, the white ball of energy with a pink aura flying straight for the group.

Sol didn't have much to add as the trio walked, keeping his guard up and close by for the sake of using the light already afforded to them. He couldn't help it wandering a bit, or a lot. There were obvious reasons for it, being worried about Aden after the earlier run-in with the Ziton and the uncertainty if he'd actually recover from it. He'd been able to keep his mind occupied up to now, but knowing he'd be unable to do much to help him right now wore on him. There was everything with Team Star too, and the concerns of that, to say nothing of Barbara and this whole situation.

And this situation had his thoughts swimming all the more, too. Those ruins and that room... he felt he'd need to make a trip in the future. Something to confirm, to make sure his mind wasn't playing tricks. And even if they were, there were mysteries left for him. Maybe a few answers too, but he couldn't afford to sit down and try to piece things together; had there been more certainty for their safety, he'd almost suggest setting up camp to rest and process things alike. For now, he kept an eye and ear out for anything that might show up, unsure what might be in store. Hopefully, with any luck, a way out or some semblance of shelter...

"What's odd? What're you picking up on?" He asked, unable to hear anything yet. But he'd take Aile's word for it, taking his sword and Quilava's Pokeball in hand just in case. Better to be ready to fight and not need to, especially in a place so unfamiliar. He'd suddenly stopped around thirty seconds later, hearing a loud clanking sound and getting more confirmation that something was close. Then another, even sooner than that, and even louder. Then yet another, sounding like they weren't the ones getting close.

It was getting close to them.

In time with the loud beep, he'd raise Arcoiris in a defensive stance out of reflex, trying to ignore the ringing in his ears for the moment. He was lucky to deflect the blur that came past, thrown backwards from the impact's force and falling over for it. But he'd otherwise manage to avoid being cut down by the group's assailant, unable to get a good look at them before they stopped. The mechanical sounds were unnerving to him, but not surprising with the earlier clanking, as they turned around. Unlike the Ziton, he actually had a chance of parsing whatever this was, but it still looked about as foreign to him as the Magneton- Sandy Shocks, now- did. "A robot Gallade? Gardevoir?" He asked, noticing features of both.

No answer came of course, aside from the hand they raised and the Moonblast was fired off. Still on the ground, he'd lay low to brace himself, able to take the shot's impact better between it and natural resistances. "Gah! Certainly a lot less keen on us than Sandy was. Calida, mind melting them a bit with Flamethrower?" He asked, hoping her and any others' actions would give him a chance to get to his feet.