Welcome to Gaia! ::

Beau had finally managed to get his courage up as he saw a few of the Dim Sun grunts taking off with some very familiar-looking pieces of machinery and wires. Okay, so they were going to be attempting to plant high explosives in order to force a lot of the issue for their gem retrieval. Okay. He could counteract that. He knew what he was doing.

As the nearby lava flow gave a small hiccup and shot a small drop of the molten rock onto the ground near him, Beau would immediately be scrambling away from where it had landed. There was the major problem. One wrong motion or moment of not paying attention and he might end up replacing the explosive personally. All he needed was some way to help that wouldn't require him to stare at a bomb for too long doing wire tracing and potentially ending up igniting. Taking stock of the surrounding devices, he would notice that Deo was standing nearby one of them. He could see through things, that would speed up wire tracing to cut the detonator and let Beau simply give instructions for what to look for while he basically kept an eye on the lava and heat to prevent any....accidents.

Slowly creeping over, he was about to ask the hybrid for some help on the bomb when he watched Sub's Grimer slide over and simply....inhale the entire device. Okay, well that would certainly speed up the process. Blinking a few times, he would simply decide that stuffing bombs into the nice ordnance disposal Grimer was much more efficient than attempting to disarm them all and praying the lava didn't set them off like he was worried he would be. Giving a shiver as he continued creeping along through the cavern, a cooling sensation would manage to drive down his fears of spontaneous combustion as a few splashes of water managed to hit him. Turning to see the source, he would be greeted with the sight of Lykas stalking towards Lavana as a whirlpool roared around him, he discussed a lot of things that definitely seemed beyond board for what was going to happen to that grunt and Lavana, and whatever wild swinging was going on with Keiko as she managed to land herself into the whirlpool as well. Oh, that seemed like it needed to stop before half the team was free to start beating up the other half. Opening up a Pokeball, he would look to the visibly sweating Snorunt that was now on the ground. "Alright, Eva. I know conditions are....far from ideal but I really need you to try and hit that big swirling water with a Blizzard." Beau said. The Snorunt would turn towards the whirlpool around Lykas and use all of the power she could muster in her current conditions for a Blizzard, unleashing only the equivalent of an Icy Wind to try and do something to immobilize Lykas.

"Hey! Anyone wanna help? We need to stop baby Cthulhu here before we end up with a very different problem!" Beau shouted, hoping to gather some attention from the other Snagems available to do something.

She wasn't quite sure how it had happened. One moment, she had been chasing around the grunts to get them out of the area and then that woman had started shouting about love and everything, alongside some sort of energy wave. It hadn't done anything to her and she was preparing to leap into action against her when a strange noise behind her broke her focus and then.....nothing. She vaguely remembered a sensation of being grabbed by the scruff of her neck and then she had been doing her best to drag her hammer along herself. After all, she didn't want to inconvenience Kanghaskhan mom by making her have to take on the full weight of the hammer. But, now that it had been a moment, she felt like she was coming back to herself and made to try and escape out of the pouch. She could see that Amaranth was about to be jumped and she needed some help. However, as she attempted to escape, she would feel the Kanghaskhan's hand wrap around her head and push her back into the pouch. Okay, so that limited her options on what she could do but she did at least have a few options at hand for her to do something.

So naturally, the thing she chose was to grab the Kanghaskid that was also in the pouch with her and hurl the small Pokemon to slam into the Infernape's head.

Taking advantage of her own crime, Leslie would shout, "Mom! That Infernape is gonna take out Kairi!" Pointing towards where she had deposited the Kanghaskhan's child, she would scramble to get out of the pouch in the chaos of her own created situation. She was going to get back to fighting on her own feet and by hell or high water, it was going to happen now.

Reno could tell the second the whole hypnosis attempt had gone off. After all, it had come with a big proclamation of love and all that other showcase to the bit. All he needed was a moment of telepathic contact and he'd be able to fix up a few of the more dangerous contenders before any of this got out of hand. Turning his attention away from the now defeated Magcargo, he would begin to dig in his pack for Harleen's Pokeball. While it had been risky to have her out off the top in case of this sort of hypnosis situation was something Dim Sun could reliably enact while out in the field, they weren't likely to be able to do it twice in a row. Feeling his fingers wrap around the right Pokeball, Reno would be jostled by a sudden impact that sent him stumbling and knocked his arm out of the pack.

Turning to look at what had assailed him, he would see his Finizen there chuckling at him as it recovered from tackling. Giving a huff at his Pokemon's ludicrously to want to play, Reno would turn his attention back towards getting out Harleen's Pokeball. Which is when it happened again, a high speed impact would jostle him and send him sliding deeper into the cave towards the others. Looking again at his Pokemon, Reno could see a little more clearly that whatever this hypnosis was, it had also affected his own Pokemon. And here he had been hoping that their distance would be enough to avoid these particular consequences. And with it able to move at jet speeds to keep his focus purely on it, this little Finizen was liable to keep causing him trouble.

He could work with this though. Especially since it would help get the little guy even more training. Keeping eye contact with the Water type, Reno would slowly begin to reach into his pack again. And as soon as his hand disappeared into the depths of the thing, Nori would begin to surround himself with a veil of water before it erupted into an Aqua Jet that sent the him flying towards his trainer. For Reno's effort, he was able to attempt a roll out of the way and managed to mostly evade the attack as it clipped his prosthetic arm and sent him spinning on his heel. But he had managed to keep his arm in his pack. This dance would repeat itself a few times, Reno managing to evade the Aqua Jets to some degree as he attempted to grab out a Pokeball.

Eventually, his evasive efforts would be hampered by his own slowly growing collection of fresh injuries and as he ripped out a Pokeball from the bag, Nori would slam straight into the device to try and send away the interloper that might get between him and his trainer. And as his nose slammed home on the device, it would activate. And return him to his housing.

Breathing a sigh of relief that the terror of dolphin ballistic missile was no longer a high priority, Reno would turn his attention towards the rest of Team Snagem and their current issues. Some of them were a fair distance away and completely out of his reach to deal with in any timely manner but his evasvie efforts had managed to drag him far enough into the cave that he saw one situation he could do something about. Tapping open one of his other Pokeballs, he would sprint towards where Tsuki and Sol currently were. And while he could only fully translate about every third word from Sol's outburst, he knew enough to determine that it was some proclamation of love. So that hypnosis could even work on Hybrids in some fashion? Okay, this was starting to get slightly impressive.

But there was no time to be impressed. He needed to do something before Arcoiris got well acquainted with the interior of Tsuki's throat. Here was hoping the little bit of Paldean he had picked up from his efforts making the boards with Sol could do something. "No manches el honor de mi biblioteca! Bailaré contigo!" He shouted, hoping this effort to defend Tsuki's honor for the man in this duel attempt would redirect Sol's ire. Or he just shouted absolute nonsense and was going to look ridiculous. Either way, he hoped that Harleen would eventually connect with him and he'd be able to start trying to telepathically fix this particular issue.

Aria had been doing her best to be under the radar as everything exploded all at once. After all, quietly assessing where the leader was to take out was kind of ruined by her announcing herself at full volume. Although.....it didn't seem like she was the actual full leader of Dim Sun either. Was that person even here, especially with how much this had turned into a trap despite there also being an actual honest effort to locate this Red Stone of Aja thing?

Well, she could attempt to generate an answer. Opening up a Pokeball, she would look to her Noivern and give a nod. "Alright, Vibrato. I'm going to sing a note and I need you to try and map out anything we haven't seen of this place yet. We need to see if we can find that leader because.....honestly, that tacky hot mess over there isn't leading anything but runway disasterpieces." Aria snarked, sticking out her tongue towards the terrorized Dim Sun member before singing and holding a note for a time.

Doing her best to let it go as long as she could for hopefully gaining an accurate understanding of this Boyleland volcano, she would have to take a breath just as Beau began to make the call for aid. Taking a deep breath as she attempted to steady her own breathing, Aria would look towards Vibrato. "Well, I don't think I can do another one of those for a bit so what we got will have to do. So lets unleash a Hurricane and try to keep our members from ending up on a registry."

The Noivern would give....a somewhat confused look to what his trainer had said before flapping up towards the top of the cavern. Giving a roar, he would begin to rapidly pump his wings and get the winds swirling into a small storm around Lykas and the whirlpool. Picking up the Icy Wind provided by Beau's Snorunt, the Hurricane would attempt get this and any other Ice attacks unleashed towards the hybrid to attempt to freeze them in place for the time being. Although the property damage that the gale force winds might cause to the surroundings wasn't liable to be minimal either, it was a worthy sacrifice to try and pin down some of the deluded hybrids that had been created by Lavana.

Freth wouldn’t realize it until it was too late when the hypnotic waves from the Bronzor hit her. “Augh…” she said, staggering a bit, but oddly, it wasn’t as effective as the Bronzor might have hoped.

“Huh…that was weird.” Eris spoke up.

“What was?”

“That Hypnosis attack that thing did shook the palace in here.” Eris said. “Like a minor one-second quake. Didn’t have anything like that happen since that Wyrdeer. Only the Wyrdeer was not a microtremor.” Eris said to Freth.

“So what? Am I immune to Hypnosis now!?”

“I…don’t think so. Hypnosis attacks work on the mental psyche for commands, and technically its trying to fight the impulses of two minds. You’re probably more resistant to it, definitely compared to how you were as the ice type hybrid, but more so if it was just your mind that it was trying to fight against since I am here. But I heavily doubt immune. If I had to guess, if this palace gets breached, you’re in trouble. But then, so will I, presumably. I really couldn’t tell you what would happen if two minds in the same body got hypnotized at the exact same time.”

“I’d rather not find out.” Freth said. She glared at the Bronzor, taking out a Pokeball and giving it a toss. “Absol, come back out!” She would toss out the Absol who only recently gotten a quick patch job after its battle with the Aggron and Rhydon. While it still looked fairly banged up, at least it was feeling better compared to post that battle. “Absol, Night Slash that thing. We’re going to have to sort out who that Bronzor belongs to later!” she said. She desperately needed to get back working on that cavern entrance.

Absol would then rush in, paws glowing ebony and came down on the tiny Bronzor.

---

As Freth continued to work on the wall, I was on the hunt for the machine. It wouldn’t take long before I saw Lykas there with Lavana…and…that…didn’t look like any sort of fight. “…please tell me I wasn’t doing anywhere remotely that…” I said, mainly to myself. Keiko didn’t seem to be faring much better, sweeping anyone into her own chaos. I gave a hard breath, a look as if to ask ‘you got to be kidding me’. But there was the machine, presumably the one that was giving everyone all manner of grief and is enabling…whatever the heck I was watching just now. Obviously, this machine was well out of place like any other machinery here so…

“Consider it broken…” I said as if Freth were here by me. With a wave of the arm, I would summon the rock-based attack of Ancientpower. The chilling ice pillars to pierce into, if not outright crush, the machine.

“Oh, trust me, love… I may be just one but you’ll never notice.” Lykas assured Lavana as she attempted to dissuade him from his approach. Apparently she hadn’t considered just what kind of affect her hypnosis might have on someone who was more often lust over love and she was going to learn to consider such things before this was all over. When she told him to be a “good boy”, he practically purred. “Oh! Say that again! I’ll be your good boy any time you want!” He assured her. He hadn’t stopped his slow approach toward her through the entire conversation thus far but as Keiko came into the picture and knocked Shoulder Twink from his perch, Lykas paused for a moment and glanced back, not realizing in the process that he accidentally swatted Keiko into the Whirlpool as well.

“Aww… I liked him.” He whimpered. “He would’ve been a fun third.” Shrugging, he turned his focus back to Lavana at that point, the march toward her speeding up a bit now that he wasn’t carrying the extra weight of another person.

“Oh… This can’t be good.” Clare muttered, wiping at their forehead as the heat truly began to get to them. A thin, slightly purple-toned sweat forming on their forehead was wiped away on the hybrid’s arm before they had a thought. “Oh! I bet I could freeze him in place!” They realized, recalling a move Gruntilda could use. Tossing out the Pokeball containing their Spoink, the Nihilego hybrid directed the Psychic-type as soon as she appeared. “Grunty, can you use Icy Wind on the hybrid over there? The one inside the Whirlpool!”

As Lykas approached Lavana ever closer, Gruntilda bounced in place for a moment, focusing on him before her eyes began to glow. A bright aura surrounded her pearl as her eyes glowed and from the pearl came a howling, frigid gale that wrapped itself around Lykas and chilled the whirlpool. It didn’t seem to do much, sadly.

Chinami was getting more and more frustrated by her master’s loss of self-control but seeing Gruntilda’s attempt to freeze him, she decided to try the same. Taking a deep breath and blowing it out, she did nothing but exhale a thing stream of hot breath. “Sam?!” She made another attempt only to receive the same result. “Rott!” She cursed. The cold tone of her voice translated to more than just tone as she barked one last attempt. “Samuuuuuuuu rott!” This final breath released a similar frigid gale to Gruntilda’s, though it wasn’t sustained for nearly as long, whipping up and wrapping around Lykas alongside the Spoink’s attack.

The two attacks were quickly joined by a third Icy Wind from Beau’s Snorunt, the poor thing looking like it was barely staying conscious in the extreme heat, and then a moment later, by a Hurricane from Aria. That seemed to give the trio of frigid winds the boost they needed as the Whirlpool began to freeze. As the water solidified, Lykas’ march toward the terrified woman in her pink outfit slowed. It wouldn’t take long with that much cold air and the speeds it was being whipped up to for it to fully freeze the Whirlpool solid, trapping Lykas in it’s center. Unfortunately for the Jellicent hybrid, he was also partly affected. His mostly-water body wasn’t frozen completely but it was hardened, his joints stiff and unwilling to move as he wanted to and not in the ways he wanted it to right now. “La…va…na…” He groaned, still cooing and trying to get the woman he’d become obsessed with to pay attention to him. She did want him, didn’t she?

Monique watched with interest as Sub's Grimer consumed the disconnected bomb, the ingested matter causing occasional flashes of color, like it might have full-time were it to evolve into a Muk.

"Think you can remember what that Lavana chick looks like? And think you can disguise yourself as her?" The ask came directly from Sub. There was no saying "no". Monique looked off in the distance, where she was fighting and had just released an Infernape to go after Amaranth.

"Yes." She concentrated for a moment, trying to gather enough of a view of her before shifting her Illusion. Where one moment they might have seen garden-variety human Monique, the next they saw a reasonable, maybe not carbon, copy of Lavana. Pink hair, done up in a ponytail about the size of her head; a hot pink halter top and short skirt; and matching boots and gloves. About the only thing Monique couldn't match was her chest, which was just a little more ample than the genuine article. Oh, or her voice, but that was bog-standard for a Zoroark Illusion. Monique was not a Chatot, after all.

Monique gestured at Sub, trying to get his attention and hopefully his approval. As she did so, it was a bit surreal to look down at herself and "see" much, much lighter skin than she ever had as a human. "You know, she's kind of a hottie...if only she weren't a villain and all..."

Keiko opened her eyes to the sound of Lavana screeching about loveless monsters. Her body ached - not only because of what it'd been through due to both the hypnosis and her own anger, but also thanks to the burn she somehow got. This was an ample source of Frustration, and now that the source of the Hypnosis was gone, she didn't have her body rebelling with flashes of Return.

"SHUT UP you judgmental ~/~!" Keiko screamed, tired of this petulant child's antics. "I'm happily married, I have three WONDERFUL daughters, and that hypnosis of yours feels like the the date-~/~ drugs forced on me when I was hybridized against my will SO SHUT THE ~/~ UP!!! You CAN'T force love, that's not how love works! By trying to force it, you're ruining the very ~/~ CONCEPT! Arceus, you're acting the way I thought love worked when I was FIVE YEARS OLD!" Keiko wanted to add that she was willing to bet that the men that followed Lavana just wanted to sleep with her, but any one of them could speak up and prove her wrong, and then who'd be the judgmental ~/~?

While her trainer went on a screaming fest, Natalia, Keiko's Xatu, helped herself out of her ball and spread her wings wide in front of the Magmorter, focusing on the offending Pokemon with a single-eyed gaze, as if daring the Fire-type to strike her trainer again. Instead of actually fighting however, Natalia followed this pose with Hypnosis, attempting to lullabye the threat away by using its Psychic-type energy to emit entrancing waves that would hopefully lull Magmorter into an immediate slumber.

Deo was having a hard time finding the gem. He took a break to gather his focus when he saw Aile. "Hey there, can you help me with finding this gem, I am having some trouble finding this gem." As he would then resume using his X-ray vision to try and find this rather odd gem. The pose went from a standing position to a more cross-armed and annoyed position. Not finding the gem would annoy Deo, but not to the point of making him angry.

Of course, Deo would be familiar with Aile, but he would realize that her ability to move the rocks around and rotate what was in the rocks which made the job alot easier. All was smooth when, THERE! The red flame looking gem came up. "There! underneath the surface right there!" As Deo pointed to the location with the gem just a little underneath the surface

The moment the Ancient Power attack pierced the machine to one side of the cavern, it was like someone had switched off the static. Malamar no longer had psychic interference to pass along to Monique. Well, that's good news, she thought. We ended that threat... No sooner had she thought that than they appeared. Suddenly, dozens of Dim Sun members appeared on the scene as if digitally inserted where there had been nothing or next to it. Her view of Deo was blocked, but the zooming Dusknoir, carrying a very red object that reflected the light of the fiery cave toward a middle-aged man with long hair and a mustache. That guy's trouble.

It took all Monique had to keep her cover as Blake Hall introduced himself as obnoxiously as possible, saying his name like it was the most prestigious building at Wyndbridge University. He scoffed at seeing the real Lavana, almost as if in disbelief at how poorly she had done.

The moment after Darts and Ogerpon issued the equivalent of a declaration of war, the Dim Suns unleashed all the Pokémon they could. Monique's Pokédex started ringing in her ears with identification of new species: Shieldon, Flaaffy, Gligar, Graveler, Snover. Everyone and their Pokémon and their resources was as mixed up as a plate lunch whose contents had shifted on the way home. "Psycho Cut!" Monique called over the din as a Koffing drifted too close. "I can't be poisoned now!"

For a brief moment, nobody approached Monique-as-Lavana, seeing her as a leader until—

"Hey, honey," a Dim Sum grunt called out as he approached from her right-hand side. "You know what's hotter than this volcano?"

Before she could reply, a woman approached from the other side. "Hey hottie... Did they make this volcano for you? Cuz you're glowing." Monique couldn't tell much about her given the chaos and the comparative drabness of the Dim Sun grunt uniform, but she filled it out well, that much was clear.

The last thing I expected to find in Almia were cheesy pickup lines. But clearly the Dim Sun grunts were dimmer and my Lavana illusion brighter than I could have anticipated.

"Well, lovelies," Monique began, raising her voice tone just a bit to cover for the gap between her and the real Lavana, "I think a hottie emerging out of nowhere." She grinned at the woman, who came closer. Please don't touch me. Humans aren't furry. Humans aren't furry, Monique thought. Any physical contact would destroy the ruse. "And thank you, miss." The woman who to all around looked like the leader of the Crimson Unit smiled back, her grin a bit big and goofy for such a chaotic scene. "Would you be a dear and help protect me?"

"Of course, Lavana. You're a snack worth guarding," the woman cooed. She's into me, isn't she...

Monique hoped she could keep up this charade. Right now, she had people that would fight for her. Failing that, she had a Malamar if she needed to hypnotize them. But she needed people to believe she was the real Lavana. If the fracas cleared, or if they could not be successfully hypnotized into thinking she was Lavana, they might see the real her somewhere else in the cave, battered as she was. Would they take the pretty "Lavana" over the genuine article? And how would Lavana herself react if they did?

Brian, Amber, and Rachel were all caught off guard when a gruff voice spoke out, and none of them could react well when they were suddenly surrounded by grunts. What in the Reverse World was going on? The idiot that was speaking now had Brian's nerves fraying, and Amber and Rachel were exchanging a look as if asking the other if they knew who this wanker was. The way he said his name made them think that he was completely full of himself. Had Darts not interrupted the moron's self-important speech, Brian would have. As it was, as soon as Darts leaped forward and clocked the first grunt, Brian was right behind him.

A Pokeball popped open and Lu appeared running right beside him, the two moving in concert as they both laid into the nearest grunts, sending a few flying and a few more crumpling to the ground. As they waded through grunts, Lu grunted in pain as a sudden psychic attack halted her in her tracks, and Brian turned to see a Kirlia standing there, staring at them with an empty look. Wait, what was a Kirlia doing here? He didn't have time to dwell on it before it used Confusion again, though Lu managed to dodge this time, sending an Aura Sphere at the Psychic/Fairy-type. The attack barely did anything, but it was enough to send the Kirlia stumbling back. Lu rushed forward with a Bone Rush, intent on not giving the Kirlia any time to recover. Her plan worked for a few minutes, and the Kirlia had to teleport away from the onslaught before hitting Lu with a super-effective Psychic. The Lucario cried out in pain, growling as she rushed forward with a final Bone Rush. Before she could land another hit, however, a Pokeball flew through the air and smacked the Kirlia in the back of the head. Lu turned to see Brian standing there, his arm outstretched as he watched the Pokeball shake. The Kirlia was violently resisting the capture device, but after all the damage it had taken, it wasn't strong enough to escape, and the capture device clicked shut as it finally gave up. Brian walked forward and picked up the Pokeball, handing Lu a Sitrus berry as he put the Pokeball in his pack.

Amber and Rachel weren't far behind Brian in wading into the grunts. Amber was liberally using Shadow Balls to send grunts and random Pokemon flying, while Rachel was attempting to follow her friend. She didn't have the same fighting ability that Amber or Brian did, but she had a mean kick that laid more than a few men low as she aimed at their most sensitive parts. One of them thought it wise to try and grab her, but she quickly showed him how bad an idea that was when she headbutted him in the face as he wrapped his arms around her from behind, making him release her, then turned on her heel and used her knee to punish him. Amber narrowly dodged a Shadow Ball that was fired at her, and when she turned to see what had used the attack, she was surprised to see a Sableye standing there. What was a Sableye doing in a place like this? She didn't have time to question it any longer as it used Shadow Sneak, and she barely dodged, the Sableye coming up right where she'd just been standing.

This one was going to be difficult. Not only was it part Ghost-type, but it was also part Dark-type, as well. She would have to play this carefully if she wanted to avoid taking damage. Before she could retaliate, however, one of her Pokeballs burst open, and Spooky materialized, looking murderous. "You will not harm my sister!" he declared, nailing the Sableye with a Shadow Ball, followed by a Night Shade. The Sableye had no time to react to the two back-to-back attacks, and while Amber watched, her first and most protective Ghost-type pummeled his fellow ghost. She'd never seen Spooky so angry, even when the Charcadet hybrid had attacked her back in Paldea. This time, however, he wasn't holding back as she'd asked him back then. Oh, no, this fool was going to learn just how badly it messed up.

Spooky, realizing that Amber was silently giving him permission to do what he wished, gave a sinister grin, vanishing into the ground as he executed a Shadow Sneak. The Sableye barely dodged, firing a Shadow Ball that made contact as Spooky reappeared. The Shuppet grunted, not having expected such a reaction time, but used Spite, then followed it up with Night Shade again. Sableye cried out in pain as the super-effective attack hit him, and as he stumbled a bit, a Sucker Punch smacked him in the gut as he tried to use Shadow Claw. This was effective enough to stop the attack, and the Sableye looked like he wouldn't be able to take another hit. Spooky watched as Amber fired a Pokeball from her SNAG, the sphere smacking Sableye in the face and sucking it inside in a flash of light. The ball fell to the ground, where it shook once, twice, three times. Then, just as she thought it was going to escape, the Pokeball gave one final click, indicating a successful capture. Giving a sigh, Amber picked up her newest capture and looked at Spooky, who was hovering beside her. "You didn't have to do that, but I'm happy you did," she said, rubbing his head gently.