Vertigo

Pokemon: Dream

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_{Abandoned Stellar Toy Co. Factory
@Rune_Alchemist, @XxFellsingxX, @Crusader Lord, @Savo}

Things escalated fast.

One moment Chloe was looking for the source of the strange phenomena around them, the next she was harassed by Yuu's floating phone — with the lamest cover she'd ever seen, by the way, purple was so last season — and then the asshole himself stepped up to try and be all important instead of actually helping, and then—

A forklift whirred to life and started barreling towards them.

Chloe felt her heart skip a beat, a million thoughts running through her head. Did it actually see them? It couldn't turn that fast, could they just get out of the way? But like, they had nowhere to run! Wait, could it break a way for them or something? Would it be enough to like... break through a wall?

She felt Jill tense up beside her. Whether out of fear or because she planned to do something, Chloe didn't know, but it worried her all the same. She had to keep the girl safe and prevent her from trying to like... attack the thing or something crazy like that! She was practically responsible for her now. A big sister.

Chloe inhaled, shaky and sharp, then took a wider stance. She was just about to start shouting at the vehicle to try and lure it after her and hopefully to a wall, when all of a sudden, it seemed to lose control. It swerved sharply to the side, towards the exit door, and crashed right through.

Oh.

But... why? What happened? Had Clarissa done something? She hadn't, Jill hadn't, and mister know-it-all sure as heck hadn't, so—?!

"Hi! We're here to save you!" Jill shouted all of a sudden, and Chloe quite literally jumped. Body still tense and mind still reeling, she trailed the smaller girl's gaze up the stairs to a girl with absolutely gorgeous purple hair. Like! What products did she use?!

Turned out the girl was Clarissa — and that she really had done something. Chloe pressed a hand to her chest, heaving a sigh of relief. "Girl, same! I'm SO thankful you're okay and SO sorry we took SO long. And like, in the end you saved us? For real, how hilarious is that?"

Chloe's gaze fell on the Pokédex in her arms as the purplette explained what'd happened. "Huh, so like, it's in there? That's so cool. But-- um, you might wanna keep that away from me for now?" She flicked her frizzed hair with furrowed brows, half-annoyed, maybe quarter-joking. "I hold grudges."

As Clarissa continued to turn out to be such a nice person, Chloe ended up having to agree with Yuu on one thing, at least. "That's so generous of you, but if anything, I owe you a potion! Or like, two. Pretty sure a forklift would've been all 'super effective' on us, you know."

Clarissa asked whether they wanted to come with her to the Contest Hall, and Chloe's eyes visibly lit up. Wait, there was one out here too? With maybe a show tonight?! She felt giddy, her excitement only somewhat dampened when Yuu mentioned he had to go to there too, for... whatever reason. Maybe he was hired help or something? Ugh, hopefully nowhere near the stage.

The surprises didn't end there. At Yuu's offer for Clarissa to join 'us', Chloe couldn't help but arch a brow. Um, who exactly was us? Him and Jill? Cause she was not going to let Jill travel alone with him. Or, what, did he think they were all traveling companions after he'd tried to literally get her killed? And why did he want Clarissa to come with them, anyway? He had ulterior motives, Chloe just knew. And she swore, if he planned to hurt her too, she'd take him down herself. Like why did he even have to be here, she would've loved to travel with just the girls!

When the asshole glanced at her, clearly about to say something, Chloe narrowed her eyes in preparation for whatever nasty thing came out his mouth next. His statement turned out surprisingly neutral. Trying to pretend like he had manners in front of the new girl? What a Grimer.

Whatever.

Chloe turned back to Clarissa, reaching to grab one of her hands into both of her own, grinning from ear to ear. "You know I'm so down for Contest Hall! Are you gonna like, participate? Or just watch? You know I'd love to try a contest some day! I've been to so many shows! Ah, at what time is it tonight though? Cause I need time to like, fix this mess," she nudged her head upwards to her hair, as if Clarissa hadn't already clocked its sorry state ages ago. "And I gotta get ready, and-- we gotta get Jill ready too, so we should probably get g—"

A bark. Then another, and another. Chloe turned to glance besides her, expecting Snuggles to have joined in on making friends with the other Pokémon. But as she did, she realized the barking didn't come from next to her — it came all the way across the massive room. The Snubbull was on all fours in front of a door that she could have sworn wasn't ajar before, seemingly barking at nothing.

"Snuggie, what's wrong?" Chloe shouted after her, hesitant and concerned, as she let go of Clarissa's hands and took a step after her partner. "Did you see someth—"

Too late. The fairy type took off, and unlike earlier, this time Chloe didn't freeze. She dashed after her partner out of instinct, the fervent clicking of her heels echoing off the walls and ceiling.

"Um, you girls go ahead! Don't worry about me, I'll catch up!" Is what she managed to get out, before she disappeared from sight through a door, hot on the Snubbull's heels.

Epyllion: Beyond Moonlight's Reach

No I will not elaborate on what any of these entail xP

@XxFellsingxX

You fiend.

You know what, hit me with the uncontrolled magic! It fits with Fellwing's recent musings. And my gambler tendencies.

Symphony on High

💀

20 | Female | Maverick Alternative | So(ME)thing On Your Mind
Kiss & Make Up | Handgun | Physical | We Are But Dust and Shadow
Hellspawn | Streetside Devil
Friends on the Other Side | Shadow | Abyssus Abyssum Invocat
[Obfuscate, Intangible] Damage X (6), Restrain (4), Blink (4), Minor Heal (2), Summon (4), Enhance (2), Powerful (0), Homing (2), Avoid (2), AoE (2), Bend (0), Construction (4)

[Silver Self][Obfuscate][Intangible] = -90
[Silver Projectile][Damage X] = -90

DAMAGE: B | SPEED: C | SENTINEL: E | 1000

PHYSICAL: D | ARCANE: D | CHAOS: E | 604

At the sound of the shotgun, the world shattered.

Well, not really, just her shadow 'rilla. But it might've just as well been the entire fucking world, because all Ciri could see after was red. This bitch did not just waste both her time and mana after she gave them an overly-generous out. They did not.

The gun turned on her next. Ciri's survival instinct flared, barely edging out her anger, and pushed her out of the way rather than towards the threat. Somewhere, anywhere with cover, because she had no time to create some herself.

The next she knew, she was atop the goddamn nerd from earlier, in what was a direct re-enactment of a scene from some second rate romcom anime. God, the guy probably felt like a main character right about now. Ew. Ciri raised a hand, about to strike the dude for existing, when she heard back from It.

The sudden presence of her partner, be it in mind only, brought Ciri some respite — but the message It conveyed did not. The damn dragon was still on the run, and would probably get away if she didn't give chase, stat. But what was the point, if they'd need to potentially deal with this psychotic-ass Viper bitch the whole way? Without knowing their intentions, they were too loose a cannon to just ignore. She had to — wanted to — do something about them first. Kill, preferably. Maim, if possible. Incapacitate, if nothing else.

"You," she hissed at the nerd, her tone venomous; as if he was the one responsible for everything going to shit. She sat up atop him, and instead of slapping him, jabbed a finger at his face. He was already here, might as well use him. Someone like him wasn't exactly going to refuse, anyway. "Start screaming. You're going to be a distraction. And make it loud, I know you're a goddamn squealer."

With that, she stood up and dashed towards the wall separating the room from the hallway. With a cast melody and a sharp inhale, she slipped through the wall to the other side — some good distance behind Viper, she hoped. She was invisible for two seconds; that was enough. If she saw Viper, her goal was clear. It was their time to go boom.

Epyllion: Beyond Moonlight's Reach

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Fellwing was glad she and Garrock were on better terms now; otherwise, some petty part of her would've struggled to admit how impressively fast the old dragon was, given his... everything. Now? Now she could be openly amazed as she struggled to keep pace, wings flapping to push her forward when her legs failed to do so fast enough. Thankfully, Garrock made a brief stop once they were outside, giving the Seer time to likewise reorient herself.

... Only for Garrock to, understandably, opt to take flight and leave her in the dust not a moment later. Moons above, this day could hardly get any worse. Fellwing couldn't wait for better wings. Or, failing that, better luck.

With a heavy sigh, she pushed herself into a run, neck craned to keep track of the old dragon in the sky. Hopefully, he was a slower flier than he was a runner.

ooc

Fellwing rolled for traverse the wilderness, and got an 8.

SPIRITUM

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While the others were busy discussing politics and protocol, Silje found herself trying to picture the mist storm the princess mentioned. One powerful enough to misplace an airship, without causing wanton destruction in its wake. Something of that magnitude should have been the talk of the evening, yet she'd found no mention of it online. She'd checked every news feed and media platform, twice. Nothing. Not even the mist storm chasers had said a word about it. Or maybe that was because they were all dead from chasing mist storms? They were pretty weird.

Anyway, the unknown airship that shot at them seemed to have known about it all, if it knew to attack the Vangarian airship right after it emerged from the storm. That, or they had some pretty lucky timing. Something, everything, was off. Almost as off as the mist she'd been in contact with earlier. Was it connected to the storm? Was the storm artificially created? Or was the princess lying? Could princesses even lie?

Hum.

Silje would've continued that train of thought to its — likely illogical — conclusion, but they had to start hauling the truck to a safe spot for the evening, and the diminutive battlemage knew it couldn't be done without her. So, she assumed her usual position atop the truck and spewed words of encouragement at the top of her lungs until they truck yeed its last haw, or whatever the truck equivalent was.

Then, she yielded her spot to Kalina and hopped down, having already forgotten all about wanting to greet the princess or figure out the storm. The princess was their prisoner-not-a-prisoner, so she'd still be there in the morning, anyway.

"Dibs on the top punk!" she called out, thrusting her hand so far up in the air her feet threatened to get off the ground. "And the last watch! After everything has already been watched."

With that, she made a dash for it, eager to claim her spot before anyone could beat her to it.

Epyllion: Beyond Moonlight's Reach

She would follow from a distance!

Sorry for dropping off the face of the planet btw alkdbadad

Symphony on High

💀

20 | Female | Maverick Alternative | So(ME)thing On Your Mind
Kiss & Make Up | Handgun | Physical | We Are But Dust and Shadow
Hellspawn | Streetside Devil
Friends on the Other Side | Shadow | Abyssus Abyssum Invocat
[Obfuscate, Intangible] Damage X (6), Restrain (4), Blink (4), Minor Heal (2), Summon (4), Enhance (2), Powerful (0), Homing (2), Avoid (2), AoE (2), Bend (0), Construction (4)

DAMAGE: B | SPEED: C | SENTINEL: E | 1000

PHYSICAL: D | ARCANE: D | CHAOS: E | 784

That's right, bitch, Ciri thought, a wicked smile on her lips, as the dragon man's startled screams carried to her ears from somewhere within the building. Shouldn't have run.

The audible panic made for a nice little background track to her climbing effort, and she really needed the mood boost, since her share of the chase wasn't going so well. There hadn't been any reasonable way to enter the hallway directly, so she'd really had to take a detour through someone's room. And she hadn't even needed to break shit to do it; someone'd just left their window open! Worse, that someone was...

"At least take a fucking shower once in your life, the water's free!" she shouted over her shoulder at the weird nerd kid, made involuntary eye contact with the oni in the poster, and felt the sudden urge to take a shower herself. Ugh.

It would have to wait, she had a job to do, and it looked like she arrived just in time to do it. The dragon man was nowhere in sight, and the fact that her partner hadn't communicated otherwise meant his trajectory hadn't changed. The pissbaby was going to be running straight to her arms in no time. All she needed now was a little magic to help her and her friend hide.

A door to her right opened, and Ciri glanced over, half expecting another weeaboo. What she got was arguably worse. Someone decked out in what looked like cheap cosplay gear of a nuclear wasteland desperado, or something. They even had their name spray painted on! Talk about lame. And even with a literal name right there, their misplaced attitude begged the question of—

"... Who the fuck are you?" Someone who knew who she worked for, so probably a freelancer. They got all sorts in that little circus. With a quirked brow, Ciri hoped off her gorilla, nodding at it to go find a hiding spot — even if that meant tearing apart a door to do it, then turned back to 'Viper' like it would've taken her tremendous effort to do so. Her tone was more bored than threatening, but not a single part of her suggested she was joking, either. "Bitch, you don't even have your getup under control. Now move, or we'll move you, and then the whole world won't have enough tape to put your sorry-ass gear back together."

She glanced towards the stairs. She asked for an "ETA?" from her partner, one hand impatiently on her hip.

As for the freakshow to her right, she'd give them one chance to bail. Hopefully, they knew what was good for them better than the dragon had.

Rerun: Blackguards!

Was waiting for a few more posts after my last one, but can get something up soon.

SPIRITUM

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Staring at the sky like a woman possessed did pay off in the end. Had Silje blinked even once, she might've missed it; another flash, another round from the ship. She had no time for theatrics or cool poses, pity as it was, as it took all the speed and mist she could muster to meet the missile mid-air and deflect it. Instead of blowing her and all her friends to smithereens, the explosion, detonating a little to their right, only pelted them in debris and deathly shrapnel, so losing out on looking cool was kind of worth it, though.

Then came the lightning. Still blinded and left reeling from the previous blast, she wouldn't have even noticed them, had it not been for Justice. She deflected a bolt headed straight at them, and it was the shimmer of her mist in Silje's peripheral vision that eventually drew her attention.

That's when she saw them; more lights, more bolts of lightning. Deflecting them was easier than dealing with the ship, though it still left her no time to pose. She couldn't even stand up; even when tethered to the truck, their speed was immense and swerving so frantic she kept being tossed around like a ragdoll. And not the fluffy, feline kind. It was disorienting and nauseating, and only very slightly cool.

She held on, eventually closing her eyes as branches threatened to poke her blind. They were in a forest, which was good as far as cover went, but also bad, because now she couldn't see their—

... Huh.

As Silje finally freed herself from the assault of broken off branches, sticks and leaves, she realized the glowing eyes of their pursuers were... turning around? So was the ship, except it had to do the whole creepy whale wail thing one more time before it left. Silje couldn't take it anymore, her head threatening to burst from the sound and the pain it wrought. With a groan, she leaned over the edge and retched.

By the time she was done, she noticed the quiet. There were no sounds but their own and the forest's; like they were just ordinary people on an ordinary road trip once more. Except Val was probably actively dying still, and they had a princess in the back.

As if on cue, they slowed to little more than a crawl. The faint, purple hue of the truck dissipated, and Silje instantly flung her head down over the side once more, this time to check on her friend — who was hanging halfway out the car and expelling her guts. Or if not guts, everything else. There was a lot of blood, and it was distinctively purple. The fact it had colour at all was worrisome; it meant it was drenched in mist.

Concern knitting her brows, Silje leaned further down. "Val-pal?" she reached a hand to try and gently pet her hair, tethered to the roof only by her knees now. "You look really awful. But in... an admirable way. Like 'I possessed a truck and lived' sort of way. And that means you actually can't die, because then you would look awful in an 'I possessed a truck and died' sort of way. And that's different."

She said it with purpose and finality, as if that knowledge alone would help save her friend.

But just in case it didn't, Morden came in to help, too. There wasn't a lot of space for so many people, so with a final, encouraging pat of Val's head, Silje retreated back to her spot on the roof. She'd long-since been forbidden from taking part in attempts at first aid. So, instead, upon hearing they got service, she pulled out her phone out of reflex.

"Sooo," she drawled out loud, scrolling to check whether anything that happened was already on the news, her legs swinging over the edge all the while. "That could've gone worse."

Epyllion: Beyond Moonlight's Reach

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The first emotion Fellwing felt upon spotting Skobeloff was confusion, followed by awkward self-consciousness, and then relief; Skobe was clever, maybe he could get her out of the figurative hole she'd dug herself in? She never did excel at conversation or socializing, but he seemed to have a very, very peculiar knack for it.

But as Skobeloff approached, it wasn't difficult for a Seer accustomed to her friend's shenanigans to realize he was up to something. And, just like that, her 'oh yes, he's clever' turned into an 'oh no, he's clever.'

He went off about spiders in the mines or some such nonsense, and Fellwing could do little but watch in horrified amazement as Garrock took the bait and excused himself, leaving behind a roomful of flabbergasted dragons in his wake.

Upon hearing Skobeloff's evil(?!) laugh, Fellwing turned to the Trickster to ask what in the world he was planning, only to find him gone, too.

Ever so slowly, even at the risk of regretting it later, Fellwing excused herself and slipped after Garrock. If her instincts were right, the old dragon wouldn't get to be alone for long, anyhow.