The Search (First Chamber) [Group Mod]

[Pixel]

The unown was captured. All fell silent in an instant, but the trouble wasn't over yet. Freya tensed, well aware of the voices filtering through to them through the cracks and ancient hallways. She whirled, her skin prickling with alarm.

"Everyone made it out," she murmured. Everyone BUT them. "And they've closed the entrance. We're stuck in here unless you have a pokemon that has the STRENGTH to move a door that heavy out of the way." There surely had to be more than one way out. They couldn't just be sealed up in this tomb...alone... with these glowing runes.

She looked apologetically towards Trixie, "Sorry you were dragged into this." Like she was at fault for what was entirely accidental. Anyone could have strayed into this part of the ruins and irritated the unown into attacking. "But we should probably get moving before the walls literally jump out at us again." She knelt to pick up the ball, her breath catching. She tucked the swablu into her sweater for now and ignored the grumblings of her frigibax as she scanned for signs of potential escape at ground level. 

There were small cracks of light peeking in from behind the walls in places—light that looked like it could be from the sun rather than the ominously shining runes.

"Have any thoughts, Trixie? See anything?" Freya wasn't the sort to domineer when teamwork was more likely to get them out of a pinch. "Orthworm, try to find us a tunnel or something." He pat the steel worm and watched as they wiggled away, vanishing in and out of the gloom as they searched for a means to get out.

"Those pokemon...their illusions were powerful and they weren't really interested in a conversation. They are obviously very protective of this part of the ruins...nobody else was attacked." Freya moved towards the walls, braving those glowing marks to run her hands across them. "They could be guarding some kind of treasure or passageway. Wouldn't that be ironic? If they were trying to scare us off from the way out of here."

She poked and prodded, hands pressing at indents, searching for a disguised exit. 

There had to be a way out.

There just had to be.

"Tell me if you find anything interesting," she called out to Trixie, ignoring the way her skin crawled as she ran the pad of a finger along the edge of a runic letter.

—

Word Count; 407 | OOC:

New encounter!
Removing swablu to only have orthworm in this thread.
Jenesis

Seen: U, !

[Jenesis]

"Hey! Let us out of here!"

No dice. As much as Trixie pried and prodded at the door, as much as she hooted and hollered for anyone to come rescue them, the door was not opening anytime soon. At last September gave Trixie a tug on her pants and the teen girl sighed in defeat. She grumbled through bites of her peanut butter and Rawst jelly sandwich as she returned to Freya, realizing as she approached that she had offered the Swablu a sandwich as well. September broke off a corner and extended it to the cloud bird still huddled within Freya's jacket, hoping she would be trusting enough to reach out for a bite.

The Charmander's tail lit up the gloom, strange lights dancing on the walls as they moved in and out of the sunlight that almost made the eerie carvings appear to move. Trixie shuddered. It was bad enough that they were attacked by fossil illusions, but now they were apparently stuck in here with no way out? "No need to apologize. It's not your fault," she said with a shrug. "It was the Unown who attacked us. At least that one has hopefully learned its lesson." She pointed to the Pokeball that had snagged it, which now hung proudly on Freya's belt.

Did Trixie have any thoughts? She didn't want to admit it, but logic puzzles had never been her strong suit. She pretended to observe the carvings with interest when realistically, her best chance of solving this would be to have a clue jump out at her from nowhere. Then she saw Freya send her Orthworm out to look for a tunnel, and that gave her an idea. "I'm gonna be honest, I don't know much about illusions... but I do know someone who does." A wicked smile played across her face as she tossed another Pokeball high into the air. From it emerged a black-and-red fox, who with a toss of her head, surveyed her surroundings with cool grace before turning back to Trixie and wagging her tail in anticipation.

"Mirage, this is a situation that calls for your expertise. We appear to be trapped in this room by wild Pokemon that like illusions." The last word sparked a grin of recognition in the Zorua, who leaped into the air, curled into a ball, and transformed into a brown-haired child with a flash of light. The tricky fox would follow Freya, uncannily silent as she ran her "hands" over the carvings on the walls as they searched for anything - a hidden switch, a secret door, or perhaps an entire illusionary wall? - that would let them escape this room.

"You really think they're guarding some sort of treasure?" Trixie's ears perked up at the mention. She didn't need the riches, of course - not with her family being as fabulously wealthy as it was - but how cool would it be to be the discoverer of a lost treasure in the ruins? Maybe their names would even appear in one of those history books that professorly types loved so much. With renewed vigor, she began following along with the pair's exploration, mumbling to herself as she poked and prodded at random inscriptions, while September desperately tried to curb her enthusiasm.

Then, it happened. Freya, Trixie, and Mirage were all running their fingers over the same style of carving at the same time, when Trixie felt the hair on the back of her neck standing on end. At once, the carvings appeared to glow with an eerie light, and she could detect a surge of power in the air. It was not a hidden panel sliding open - far from it...

"Well... We did something!"

[words=616] 600 to Incubator
Pixel it continues! I'll be handling the mod call right after this.

[Caramell 🍬]

They pushed and prodded on the inner walls of the chamber in vain. Surely, something had to be there, right? Though, try as they might, Freya and Trixie would find for quite some time that only the strange glows and clearly defined walls greeted them. Something blinked in the span of time in between. Like a blur, it would appear before them, just to disappear in a blink. Was it pink? And small? Like a kitten with a really long tail?

Then they managed to stumble upon a bit of wall that was different than all the rest. The strange glow intensified when they pressed on it. The ruins themselves shook. Loud groans exchoed from deeper inside of the cave, a clear warning that they shouldn’t do whatever they were doing. Suddenly, thousands of eyes popped out of the wall itself, and the pieces they pressed on grew teeth, then attempted to bite down on Trixie’s hand.

“UNNOOOWWWNNN!” The wild Pokemon called loudly as it peeled itself out of the hieroglyphics on the wall. “UNNNOOWWWWNN!” It’s friend cried alongside, as it crawled out of the hieroglyphics as well. Suddenly, rocks of various shapes and sizes floated up into the air and began to spin around them wildly. It was clear that if the two girls didn’t react fast, the Unown were going to attack them.

Lv 11 Unown (E) & Lv 8 Unown (I) are attacking!

Shiny? ZuxMbQy7p_1-42 p_1-42
1-42·1-42

[Pixel]

Swablu was skittish but...the offering of snacks did have the little bird peeping with curiosity at the charmander who offered the treat. With a bit of fluffed feathers, it nibbled the treat, peeking out before darting back into Freya's clothes to hide. It would be slow gaining their trust, but perhaps it was possible even in these ruins to make new friends.

"An illusion specialist?" Freya queried absently as she traced runes with her hands. There was a flash and... "Oh! A zorua! An excellent idea. They're so intelligent and because they can psuedo shapeshift, they can help us look for clues. Perfect." She watched the fox become a small child and was a little reassured that they would succeed.

Onwards they hunted. More, more, more. They touched and tapped and poked together until the runes started to glow. Woah.

"Did we find some sort of password?" Freya wondered aloud before suddenly, there were eyes. So many eyes. And unown came pouring down like a rain. She yelped, throwing herself out of the way of falling rocks, unsure if these were illusions. "Orthworm, use smack down! Knock those rocks aside." And maybe an unown with them!

—

Word Count; 000 | OOC:

Sorry for the delay! I missed this one!
Orthworm uses smack down on the E.
Jenesis

Seen: U, !, E, I

[Jenesis]

The Swablu sated by the sandwich, it tucked itself back away into Freya's coat. Trixie knew it probably still didn't trust these strange humans, and had positioned itself where it felt safest for now. She couldn't rush it; not least because they had much more pressing priorities, namely getting out of this mysterious sealed chamber.

Speaking of pressing, the two girls and one not-quite-girl seemed to activate a mysterious energy that caused the wall to glow and the entire ruins to shake. A loud groan was heard, like the rumbling stomach of a hungry beast. Thousands of eyes appeared all over the wall, and teeth sprouted from the stone, aiming to clamp down on Trixie's outstretched hand. Both she and Mirage screamed at the top of their lungs, the Zorua's tail breaking the illusion from her fright, and leaped back, clinging to each other.

At long last, two Unown emerged from the wall and floated up into the air, manifesting illusions of rocks with their psychic power as they did so. Or was the psychic assault real this time? Trixie couldn't tell, and Mirage was too frightened to utter anything more than whispering, quivering gasps. Fortunately when Freya and Orthworm stepped forward, rocks floating in the air and prepared to pummel the Unown down to the ground, she could regain control of her emotions and focus. With a deep sigh, she set Mirage down. Then she rallied her Charmander forward, the lizard having looked upon the whole scene with a mix of consternation and pity.

"Hey, don't be like that," Trixie said with a frown. "You didn't have any better ideas." A huffy "Char!" was the response.

Nonetheless, September bravely stepped forward to confront the foes, as he had the last time. Working in tandem with Orthworm, he would attempt to breathe fiery Dragon Breath onto the cyclopean hieroglyph the worm was attacking.

[words=313] to Incubator
September uses Dragon Breath on Unown E.
(ooc note to Pixel : If we KO the E, then Trixie would like to catch the I; <64% is needed for guarantee with a standard Pokeball.)

[Vaygen]

The two guardians of this hallowed ground floated above the rubble ground. They swayed back and forth, letting out moans and groans that had frightened tourests to run screaming. These two travelers and their companions were different, they were made of stronger grit. They did not turn and tuck tail, no instead they stood firmly and faced the two unown head on. The guardians did not know what to make of this, for never before had they been challenged as such. "Unownnnnn." One of them tried to spook the humans again. Instead of fear, they were searching, for what they searched the Unown did not know. The larger of the two Unown drifted forward, perhaps to freak one of the trainers out when shards of rock smashed against its body. No longer able to leviatate from the ground, the pokemon crashed into the rubble. "Un." It coughed out as it skipped once then twice against the solid stone. The small unown blinked its single eye in surprise, how aggresive these humans were! They were the ones who did not belong here!

The larger unown, the one shaped roughly like an E did not have the time to dodge the next attack. This attack did not come from the first who had attacked it. Instead the little lizard with their fiery tail that was like a lamp in the darkness aimed a breath of dragon flames at it. "UNNNN." The pokemon moaned out, their big eye falling close as they passed out into sweet arms of the abys. "Unn!" The remaining Unowns voice shook as they looked at their fallen companion. Power like no other, that glowed a sickly purple shimmered from the Unown that was shaped like the letter I. They attacked the burnt orange lizard, wishing revenge. 

Wild Encounter

---

Weather: Clear

[attr="class","qkt-bkgd"]

[attr="class","qkt-wild-pkmn"]
Unown LV 11
HP 0% [0/0]

[attr="class","qkt-wild-pkmn2"]
Unown LV 8
HP 100% [28/28]

[attr="class","qkt-wild-imgbox"]

[attr="class","qkt-pkmn-img"]

[attr="class","qkt-wild-imgbox"]

[attr="class","qkt-pkmn-img"]

[attr="class","qkt-trainer-pkmn2-1"]
September LV 12
HP 88% [36/41]

[attr="class","qkt-trainer-pkmn2-2"]
Orthworm LV 15
HP 100% [50/50]

[attr="class","qkt-trainer-imgbox"]

[attr="class","qkt-pkmn-img"]

[attr="class","qkt-trainer-imgbox"]

[attr="class","qkt-pkmn-img"]

Unown (E) [Levitate]: Healthy
Unown (I) [Levitate]: Healthy
September [Blaze] : Healthy
Orthworm [Earth Eater]: Healthy

SP 29 Orthworm uses Smack Down
SP 29 September uses Dragon Breath
SP18 unown E has fainted!
SP 15 unown I uses Hidden Power^DRG

SPOILER: Click to show

Smack Down
Crit? xk9Jj9|Jp_1-16 no
Damage? p_1-16 -15
Dragon Breath
Crit? p_1-16 YES
Damage? p_1-16 -23
Hidden Power type? p_1-18 Dragon
Attacking who(Orthworm/September?)p_1-2
Crit?p_1-16 no
Damage? p_1-16 -5

1-16·1-16·1-16·1-16·1-18·1-2·1-16·1-16

[Pixel]

Their team work took down the stronger of the two unown. Between dragon's breath and smack down, the living glyph hardly stood a chance against their combined efforts. However, that didn't mean that there was any comfort to be found. "I still can't tell if those rocks that fell were illusions or legit," Freya muttered under her breath. "We'll have to get this last one out of the way. Do you think one of us should catch it?" 

Freya was wary of moving forward without properly ensuring their path was clearly, especially given the high stakes, but whether to knock out or catch the floating symbols was more the question rather than fleeing now. 

Orthworm shimmied her way forward and let out a small cry, little legs emerging from her sides to flail around threateningly at the remaining hostile.

"Use smack down," Freya called out. "Make sure we don't get hit by any rocks if more come crashing down, okay?" Orthworm made an agreeable noise before shimmying forward, picking up a stone from the floor...and flinging it at the floating threat. Well...that was one way to stop more from falling down but not exactly the intent of the command. They'd work on that.

—

Word Count; 203 | OOC:

Smack Down on remaining Unown
This should get you down into catching range for next round~
Jenesis

Seen: U, !, E, I

[Jenesis]

September and Orthworm's teamwork was proving to be a potent combination. Their combined attacks made quick work of the Unown shaped like an E, which shuddered and vanished back into the floor as it was grounded by Orthworm's rocks and then scorched by September's draconic flames. The remaining Unown was not about to go down without a fight, however, and it glowed with a sickly purple light before sending it crashing into Trixie's Charmander, causing him to stagger backward. Thanks to his previous battle experience, however, he was more prepared for the cyclopean Pokemon's tricks, and recovered quickly, looking to Trixie for directions.

Freya asked if one of them ought to try catching it, and Trixie was already prepared to answer. They certainly couldn't just leave it behind, not if it would take the time to rally more of its friends to harass them all the way to the exit... if there even was an exit to this place. So as Orthworm prepared to throw more rocks at it, Trixie withdrew a Pokeball from her bag and let it fly at the I-shaped Unown, aiming for the place where it would most likely try to dodge to avoid the fate that had knocked down its fallen friend.

[words=207] to Incubator
Trixie used a Pokeball!

[Vaygen]

The lone unown shook from facing two strong pokemon and their trainers by themselves. How had their taunting fun turned so dark? All they had wanted to do was play a trick or two on the two girls, but now one of them was knocked out and the other faced a dark fate. What would the trainers and their pokemon do? The unown understood that they were lost but that did not mean that they had to bully the lone unown. "nownnnnn" The wild pokemon seemed to plead with the two trainers. They just wanted to be left alone now. They no longer wanted to battle. Their worry was quickly forgotten as one of the trainers threw a red and white pokeball at it. NOOOO! The unown thought, attempting to dodge the thrown ball. But they were not quick enough! The ball BOINKED it right on its awkward nogging. With a ZIP sound the pokeball swallowed the wild unown whole. With a TING the pokeball fell to the rubble floor. ZING, ZING, ZING! The pokeball rocked back once, forth twice and then calmed on the third ring. Trixie's wish had come true! They caught the wild unown! The young unown was curious as to what the trainer had in store for it!

Trixie uses a pokeball on wild unown level 8! SUCCESS!

Catch?mNfypcDmp_1-100YES!

---

Trixie pokeball (25 > 24)

---

Orthworm has gained +2 levels! 15 > 17

September has gained +2 levels! 15 > 17
September +1 Happiness 1 > 2

What is this!? September can evolve into Charmeleon. Would you like to evolve September?

Would September like to forget a move and learn Fire Fang?

Mirage is also holding an exp share!

They gain 1+ level! Level 6 > Level 7!

---

Trixie please fill this out!



[img src="https://play.pokemonshowdown.com/sprites/gen5/unown-i.png"]
[b]unown[/b]
Name: [choose]
Gender: Unknown
Level: 8
OT: Trixie Hayworth
Moves: Hidden Power
Ability: Levitate[sup]DRG[/sup]
Nature/Personality: [choose]1-100

[Pixel]

With the unown captured, they needed to act fast.

"The chamber you found...is it a way out?" Before they had been attacked again, Trixie had touched a panel and Freya could have swore she heard something grinding and sliding into (or out of ) place. She peered in that direction to find a doorway that hadn't been there before. She took the girl's arm, gently this time, and stepped into the chamber, using her phone to light the way ahead. "There is...a strange podium of some sort and more of those markings on the wall. Though, there are only a few here..."

She traced the letters.

"Funny. It almost looks like it spells the word escape. But...there's no way out of here. It's another dead end..." Freya remarked. "...Unless... Trixie! Help me move the podium! I think I see a seam of some kind in the floor! This may move." Ah, yes, brilliant foresight, go INTO the underground tunnels in the spooky Ruins. Perfectly sensible.

Even if Trixie tried to talk her out of it, she would be adamant in her efforts, having Orthworm help as well, pushing and shoving until a strange dark drop was revealed. "...I can't see anything below but...I smell... I smell fresh air. Trixie! Do you have any rope? We might be able to get out this way if we have enough rope." She had no idea how far the bottom was...but Freya was already pulling some out, ready to tie it off on the podium so they could climb down, no hesitation, just full steam ahead to investigate what was on the other side of that darkness. 

Maybe Freya WAS NOT the responsible adult in the room.

She looked a little too eager for adventure.

—

Word Count; 000 | OOC:

I believe the plan now is to use the Escape Rope in the chamber!
Jenesis
Orthworm learned bulldoze (@lv 16) over mud slap.

Seen: U, !, E, I