[center][h3]Aviary Biodome[/h3]
Level 7 Big Band (65/70)
Raiden’s [@XoXKieroBombXoX], Big Band, Peacock
[b]Word Count:[/b] 1135[/center]

Though Band couldn’t deny that the idea of a safari through a dense, exotic ecosystem housed in the frozen arctic intrigued him, his team wasn’t here to sightsee or picnic. As the the technorganic tour guide Ivara led the group of visitors away, the detective scanned his surroundings, doing his best to ignore the various botanical wonders endemic to the man-made rainforest and instead find a suitable spot to do his job. “This buildin’ oughta be high enough,” he told the others before zeroing in on Peacock. “...Any chance you pop up there to call in one o’ those Moogle things?” The little cyborg shrugged, which prompted a sigh from Band. “C’mon, give my ol’ bones a break!”

“What bones?” Peacock questioned while squinting at him, as if trying to answer her own question visually. “And when am I gonna get a break, huh? It’s been [i]days[/i] of walk-walk-walk, talk-talk-talk, climb a mountain, beat up some schnooks, yada yada yada.” She gestured with her hands to accentuate each point, then brushed one arm across as if sweeping everything off an imaginary table. “When’s the cartoons, for cryin’ out loud?”

Band shook his head in resignation. “See, what’d I tell ya about too much TV? Now ya can’t live without it!”

“Hey, I need my fix, doc!” she replied, sticking out her tongue. “Otherwise I’m liable to get bored, and you know what happens theeeeen~”

“Ugh, forget it,” Band grumbled. He looked over at Raiden. “Just keep her out of trouble while I’m gone. Won’t be a minute.”

After a quick reconfiguration the detected blasted off, boosting up to the roof of the base to land on the reinforced metal roof. From the outside, the place almost looked like a citadel, and Band couldn’t help but wonder why. Did the people running these tours anticipate some sort of major threat? Needled by the thought, he got a good look at his surroundings. Nothing but forest, swampland, and craggy outcrops in all directions as far as he could see, and though a sizable portion of the flora and fauna seemed rather alien, no perils jumped out at him. Band made one last pass, breathing in sharply through his nose, then gave a long exhale through his mouth. The coast was clear. “Kay then, uh. Moogle?”

A puff of smoke promptly went off in front of him, like a particularly violent cough after a long drag on a cigar, and from the haze the koala-like creature fluttered. “Hi there, kupo!” he said. “Mission control’s pinging us right now, so just hold tight a minute!”

“Ping-ing?” Band repeated, unfamiliar with the word. “I figure it ain’t important or anythin’, but that word doesn’t ring a bell.”

The Moogle scratched his head. “Oh, well…I’m not one hundred percent sure how it works myself, kupo. They said it’s some kind of big wave that comes out from Alcamoth and hits us. Or maybe it comes out of this thing they gave me, and goes back, kupo?”

“Sound a little like radio, I guess,” Band replied. He could feel a bead of sweat forming on his forehead thanks to the ambient humidity, and deployed a couple mechanical arms to doff his hat and wipe his brow.

The Moogle did not seem to be following. “...Radio?” A moment later he got a beep from his little device. “Okay, it’s done. I’ll be right back.” The next second the creature had disappeared.

Band didn’t move, but continued to wait, fanning himself with his hat. That is, until a terrifyingly sudden and ear-ringingly loud alarm went off without warning, only a few feet away from him. The man’s panicked yell got drowned out, and with the source of the clamor so close, he had no choice but to leap back down to the earth, his eyes as wide as saucers.

Peacock [url=https://i.imgur.com/USQip4U.png]hurried[/url] on over and slid to a stop, an appropriately confused and alarmed look on her face. “Whaddya do now, pops?”

“Nothin’ I did,” he barked back at her.

The question on everyone’s mind received an answer as the base’s front door slid open in a rush, and from inside barreled a [url=https://i.imgur.com/Q3QXgVr.png]camoflauge-patterned SUV[/url] with the well-armed squad from earlier in the back, and as the [url=https://i.imgur.com/WALr8hr.png]red-haired driver[/url] floored the gas pedal the vehicle’s engine roared to life. “...Already stage two, don’t know how it evaded our sensors so long,” she was yelling at the others.

“Which means by the time we find it, it’ll be stage three for sure!” the gruff-looking trapper with mutton chops spat. “You softies’re finally gonna see what a real hunt looks like.”

Band frowned as the squad passed by, watching it speed away across the dirt and grass until the Moogle appeared beside him again. “Hello again, kupo! Um, unfortunately, there’s a slight problem. Mission control couldn’t get a lock on this place, might be something to do with the dome, kupo. If you can get out, it’ll work, though. Probably…kupo.”

Peacock blinked twice, then looked up. “You means we gots ta get all the ways up there?”

“Or just out the sides, wherever they are.” A quick search for any sort of signage that might indicate where such exits might be turned up nothing, not at all to Band’s surprise. “Could ask the nice folks ‘round here, but I’m guessin’ they have more pressin’ matters right now.”

As if on cue, the doors slid open again, and a second [url=https://i.imgur.com/3UKqAR3.png]emergency response vehicle[/url] rolled out. This one sported only two passengers though, with Sir Hammerlock behind the wheel and [url=https://i.imgur.com/yNinf22.png]Beckett[/url] in the passenger’s seat. When they spotted Band, Raiden, and Peacock, the Warthog slowed down. “Hey, are you three fighting the monster? Need a ride?”

“Oh!” Peacock realized, tugging on the hem of Band’s trench coat. “We could go with them! All we gotta do is mulch some monster, and we’ll get all the help we need! It’s poifect!”

While Band’s first instinct was to flat-out deny the idea, he caught himself just before he could shoot Peacock down. “...Y’know, that ain’t half bad. We can give it a shot, and beat it if things get too bad. After all, no way it’s worse than what we faced yesterday. C’mon, then.” With Beckett and Hammerlock beckoning hurriedly, Band stomped over to the Warthog and climbed on the back. While it sank a little, it held beneath his weight, and in short order the new team was on its way through the Biodome, most of its members totally ignorant to what lay ahead–or even on the way.

[center][h3]The Chalk Prince, the Prisoner, and Frisk[/h3]
Frisk’s [@Majoras End], the Prisoner’s [@XoXKieroBombXoX][/center]

Albedo paused as a hushed cry issued from behind him, and looked back down the snow-coated bridge he’d begun to climb to see Frisk half-running, half-sliding down a slope going the opposite way. Looking puzzled and annoyed, he retraced his steps, then followed in Frisk’s at a cautious pace to see what exactly she was getting into. The alchemist stood at the top of the slope with his arms crossed and watched as the woman zeroed in a wild animal that lay at the side of a mostly-frozen pool down on the bottom level of the cavern.

Her sudden approach pleased the Spheal itself even less, and as she grew closer it gave off a cry somewhere between a whine and a growl, warning her to keep her distance. After a moment, though, her sympathetic murmurs and nonthreatening body language seemed to get her intentions across, and the Pokemon didn’t struggle when she lifted it up in her arms and embraced it lovingly. While normally the creature would have been snug and warm beneath layers of insulating fur and blubber, even after a dip in such frigid waters as these, this Spheal felt cold thanks to the injury that acted as a vector for the cold to seep in. Said wound was quite the laceration, which didn’t quite fit with the perpetrators that Frisk blamed for it, given that the enemies within this cavern seemed to use a mixture of projectile weapons and drills. Though it must have hurt, the Spheal snuggled close to Frisk’s body, craving security as much as it did her warmth.

Without her hands to steady her during the climb back up the snowy, uneven slope, plus her rather heavy new burden, Frisk took some time to reunite with Albedo. No particular empathy stirred within his eyes when he saw the beast, although he did feel somewhat impressed that Frisk managed to detect the Pokemon from all the way up here and recognize its need for help. Some insight borne by the memories and expertise of Melony, maybe? She approached, offering a sort of apology, and though Albedo didn’t mind the delay, what came next did concern him. The moment Frisk carried the Spheal close to him, the little creature’s eyes went wide, and it began to thrash around as much as a limbless living orb possibly could, crying as it did. Growing nearer to the alchemist made its struggle all the more intense, threatening to reopen its wound.

Albedo backed off, his expression murky. “How bizarre,” he said flatly. “I’ve never seen this animal before, yet it appears to be highly distressed by my presence.” He thought for a moment, then stepped back. “Here, you go on ahead, while I follow at a distance. It wouldn’t do to raise such a fuss that the monsters are alerted to our presence.”

With that plan in mind, the quartet made their way upward across the natural stone bridges through Starglow Cavern. By the time they crossed the third, they’d ascended a couple stories in terms of vertical distance, and they stopped at an open area that branched in several directions. One doubled back, one led straight toward some goblin-infested ruins, and another rounded a huge formation of ice into unknown territory, but the one that caught Albedo’s attention was a high-up stretch only accessible via a drop from a side-path that led above it, which harbored an outcove partially obscured by fallen rock and ice. Going over there took some more time, but it turned out to be well worth the team’s while. Through the opening one could see the remains of a campsite among the fallen rubble, and though it might have once sat at the mouth of a cave itself, that other entrance seemed to have collapsed entirely. After a little inspection, however, it would turn out that the contents of the abandoned campsite itself appeared to be rather recent. Eager seekers could turn up some wood, some cloth, torches, a compass, a bowl, even flint and steel. Most telling of all, when the team’s forerunners discovered a well-worn pouch among the items, it held inside of it a handful of scribbled notes, crumpled but largely unharmed.

[i]The snowstorm from the summit came too quickly. I barely had enough time to duck into this cave. I lost half my supplies in the chaos, too...I don't know why, either, but the rocks above the cave collapsed suddenly, sealing the entrance with the falling gravel. This is very bad...But... I believe that there's another way out for me. The other end of this cave is a cliff, yes, but there's nothing below but thick snow. If I try climbing a certain distance down and then jumping the rest of the way...My supplies won't last more than a few more days. I have to act soon...I promised Joel that I'd take him to see the snow. I won't break that promise. Oh, yes. If anyone sees these notes, please put some food into that feeding bowl for those foxes. They kept me company the entire time I was trapped in here. If I get the chance, I'd love to bring Joel back here to see them…[/i]