victory_road | (no subject)

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Who: Everyone who wandered into the nightmare forest!

Where: Inside the nightmare forest!

When: October 22nd-29th

Summary: The culmination of weeks of worsening bad dreams comes when all that accumulated power is enough for the Pokemon to sprout an entire forest meant to trap people and harvest even more power. Now people from all over are lost in the woods...with very little distinction between what's real and what's not.

Log:

Whether by being drawn in or by simple curiosity (or poor decision making skills), people and their Pokemon have wandered in amongst the trees that have sprouted overnight. Only to find that once inside? There doesn't seem to be any way back out. No sunlight can pierce through the dense foliage overhead, but there is an eerie sort of green-tinted light with no source that gives people enough light to see by. The thickness of the woods varies--in some points it’s practically easy to move forward, and in others the trees are so close together that your character might have to squeeze between them. Phantump flit through the air and Drowzee can be seen occasionally running along the ground.

And in the background, a Trevenant and a Hypno watch. And wait.

Wait for these lost souls to finally drift off into sleep.

Full event info and questions can be found here!

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_{[NO SHE WILL NOT BE STOPPED. Someone just dumped an entire cliffside's worth of rubble on top of her.]

[But Ford has more to worry about than her limited stabbing range-- there's a piercing scream from above and something very fast and VERY red comes swooping angrily down at both him and his Shiinotic.]

[BUT HARK-- it is not a twisted abomination like the things that had chased him through the woods. It's a Pokemon. A Talonflame.]}

[ATTACKED FROM ABOVE AND BELOW! It's a complete debacle! Not that Ford is entirely too worried about the Talonflame (he should be, probably, but compared to other things he's had trying to tear his eyeballs out a bird is almost mundane). His Shiinotic is, though, and she makes a very high and very distressed sort of noise and flails her too-long arms.

There are getting to be too many variables here, and talking isn't working, so it's probably time to just start doing. Ford starts removing pieces of rubble, but it isn't going nearly as fast as he'd like and it's especially difficult between the bird and the knife.]

Use Ingrain, Angel. You can use your roots to move the rocks.

[Destroying Angel glances fearfully up at the swooping Talonflame, but apparently decides this idea has enough merit to try anyway. Thick roots snake down between the rocks, finding spaces between them to wedge in and push them apart.]

_{[The bird does take a vicious swipe at Ford's head as it passes, but LUCKILY FOR EVERYBODY INVOLVED, this Talonflame is actually very freshly-evolved, and isn't quite used to being in such a big body. So its talons rake at his hair, but don't manage to catch skin.]

[Angel's Ingrain begins to shift the rubble, and a head emerges from the dirt with a burst of coughing. Hard to tell that it's HEATHER just yet, but it's apparent that it's a young woman, anyway.]

[And right about at the same time that happens, another creature joins the party-- a Lucario, golden-furred, comes leaping up onto a displaced boulder. His shiny coat isn't so shiny-looking at the moment, because he just had to dig himself out of the landslide too.]

[But unlike his feathered team-mate, he doesn't jump to the immediate conclusion that Ford and Destroying Angel are enemies.]

[Instead, with a slightly hoarse bark, he leaps down and immediately joins Ford in digging his trainer out.]}

[How thick and unruly his hair is has never been something that bothers Ford, exactly, but it's nice all the same when it pulls its weight and actually comes in handy. He doesn't want to think what a potential disaster it would be if those claws did catch skin, because under that skin is metal, and he needs that metal plate. For one thing it's attached to his skull and removing it is a terrible idea and for another... look. He's working on his paranoia but it's a security blanket. The comforting clang is not something he'd want to lose.

Angel trills in response to the bark, a sound that's equal parts grateful and reproachful. How about calling off your feathery friend there, buddy? But her thick, barky roots are doing the bulk of the work on those rocks. Soon enough Ford thinks they might be at the point where he could pull her free.]

Alright. I'm going to pull you out. Do not stab me.

[Or at least, like. Don't stab him fatally.

He hooks his hands beneath her shoulders, newly-revealed with all their teamwork, and pulls. He is very, very ready to pull one-armed if he had to use the other one to try and restrain that stabbin' hand. Or bat away a determined death bird.

Boy this sure has been a night, huh?]

_{[The Lucario shoots Angel a very brief look-- excuse u, his trainer's safety is more important than anyone else's clearly-- but then his aura shimmers in a clear message to the Talonflame above. No more attacking, this is not a fight.]

[The hawk had totally been circling around for another go, but sees that glimmer and doesn't swoop back in.]

[Meanwhile, Heather is already fighting her way back above ground, spitting out grit.]}

W-- _[COUGH] Wolf...

_{[The Lucario grabs her wrists and starts to help pull her free, and thankfully now that she can actually see what had previously been on top of her, she is no longer wantonly stabbing.]}

Jesus fuck...

[Between Ford and the Lucario it's no trouble to pull her free. So that's one thing done, but now moving on to the next thing quickly is important. Angel's roots dissolve away now that they're no longer needed.]

Do you feel any breaks? Any pain?

[As far as he can tell nothing is like... visibly super wrong, but also that means nothing in the grand scheme of things. She just had a whole street dropped on her. The fact that her head isn't cracked open is incredible.]

_{[She spits on the ground, lifting an arm in the clear reflexive desire to scrub at her teeth, and restraining herself only because said arm is just as covered in dirt as her mouth is.]

[That's probably a good indication that she doesn't have more pressing physical injuries to deal with.]}

N- ... no... fuck, where did that come from?

Did you do that?!

_{[She rubs the grit from her eyes, trying to see him and his companion more clearly-- despite her accusing tone, she knows he's not a threat. If he was, he'd already be attacking her while she was vulnerable.]

[And his voice does sound kinda familiar...]}

No!

[Yes. A little. Indirectly, by getting the attention of the thing that did do it, but he's not going to take credit for it. He glances up -- is it still up there throwing a tantrum? More importantly, is it not coming down after him, because he really doesn't want to have to deal with that.]

It was something I've never seen before. Something like a sandworm with human teeth.

[Who wouldn't get a Dune reference?]

_{[THE ANSWER IS HEATHER, miss her with that scifi shit. She was never really into it.]

[She does, however, groan when he describes what was responsible for the landslide.'Worm with teeth' is all she needs to here.]}

Oh, god, that thing.

Come on, we need to get out of here.

_{[She lurches to her feet, shaking dirt off of her. The Lucario makes a soft noise of dismay and nudges his head under her arm to steady her.]}

It's fine, Wolf, I'm fine.

You know what it is?

[Excuse you, he is that scifi shit, but figuring out what the hell is going on in the here and now is more important. When you know what something is you can fight it with a lot more ease.

He slides down from the pile of rubble and then helps Destroying Angel down (her little feet aren't so good for delicate maneuvering). They can talk while they walk. He doesn't trust this road any more than the last one, but there's safety in numbers and especially safety in numbers with someone who might know better what you're up against.]

Unfortunately.

_{[The answer is curt and bitter, but also just frustrated enough that it... somehow sounds like this girl is way too used to this.]

[She doesn't seem like she trusts the road either-- she's keeping a very wary eye on both sides of it, although there doesn't seem to be many trees down here. Just road. The Talonflame coasts overhead, presumably also watching for signs of a threat.]

[But when nothing else shambles out at them just yet, Heather does mutter out of the side of her mouth--]}

Sorry you stumbled in here.

I hate it when dream shit like this happens.

_{[ALL THESE UNSUSPECTING FOLKS DROPPING STRAIGHT INTO SILENT HILL :(]}

I'm used to it.

Though I have to admit shared dreams on this scale are not something I've had to deal with before.

[He's been down this road (metaphorically) enough by now that he's cognizant of it. He probably would be even if haunted dreams weren't something he already had decades of experience with.

At least he hasn't started turning to gold again and the sky hasn't split itself open, though now that he's thought it he's sure it's going to happen eventually. He glances up, but the sky is just as dark as it was before. No X-shaped rift vomiting nightmares and regrets -- for now.]

It's happened a few times.

This isn't the worst.

... Not the best, either, but not the worst.

_{[The time ghost cicadas had sucked everybody's souls out had taken that crown. But this was barely better.]}

I'm Heather, by the way. The Lucario is Wolf and the Talonflame is Kite.

I don't know if we've met or not. I can't remember shit in here because it's straight up impossible to tell what's real and what isn't.

I can sympathize.

[He has spent the last week or so questioning his own perception of reality with varying levels of cold panic attached. He gets it. Hell, almost any time he sleeps that's what happens, with or without creepy ghost forests to help it along.]

In case we haven't met, I'm Stanford Pines, and the Shiinotic is Destroying Angel. I wish we were meeting under better circumstances, but I have also met people under worse.

[She could have split her head open, after all.]

I'd offer to pinch you but if a street falling on you didn't wake you up I can't imagine a pinch would do much.

--Oh. I do remember you. Wow. Destroying Angel is one hell of an upgrade from Eleanor. Naming wise, I mean.

_{[Now that they're not in immediate danger, the Lucario bows his head respectfully to Angel and lets his aura shimmer with a general apology for seeming terse at first.]

[:T just had to make sure trainer was okay and all that. NOTHING PERSONAL.]}

Edited 2018-01-27 09:41 (UTC)

[Angel is.. well, maybe benign is not the right word, but she's an unflappable fungus baby and that tiny smile on her tiny face doesn't waver. It's alright, Wolf, she gets you.

Ford, for his part, has the good manners to look sheepish.]

Would you believe 'Eleanor' requested a name change the moment she had the hang of telepathic speech?

But really, there was no other possible name for a mushroom. Amanita bisporigera is one of the most toxic mushrooms known to man, and Angel even possesses the veil commonly used to distinguish it from harmless button or horse mushrooms by amateur mycologists.

[You know. Her little pants dealie.]

_{[She can't help but snort. OH YEAH, FORD, SHE BELIEVES IT.]

[Of course, then begins the Mushroom Lecture. Some of it kind of goes in one ear and out the other because what, they are walking in a land of nightmares and he's waxing educational about fungi, who do you think you are my man, Bill Nye? How did she end up here, like, in her life?]

[But they're coming up on some sort of structure-- a gas station looms up out of the fog. It doesn't look welcoming in the slightest, it's as abandoned as anything else is here, but hey.]

[Heather stops, looking over at it appraisingly. Then, looks back to Ford.]}

You got a weapon?

Besides the most toxic mushroom known to man?

Besides my fists? No. Normally I would have at least two knives and some variety of firearm, but they are conspicuously absent.

[Even being armed in the waking world mainly involves just his own fists, because with fire breathing magical animals around guns aren't as much of a go-to and a little harder to procure. His pocket knife mainly gets used for basic benign camping tasks.]

_{[She nods, appreciatively. Because HEY, he gets her!]

[If she had to pick something about the world of Pokemon that she still actively disliked after all this time, it was the cultural attitude surrounding weapons. Having a team of magical animals on your side is all well and good, but she's never liked having to rely on them for everything. Knowing for sure that you have the tools to defend yourself personally is a comfort Heather still sort of resents having to give up.]}

We're gonna get you a weapon.

And me a weapon.

_{[She'd been carrying a tree branch, but had dropped it in the landslide, THANKS FORD.]

[Turning to Wolf, she nods. The Lucario nods back, then pads up to one of the grimy windows to peer in. Then shatters it with two deft punches from his spiked paws.]}

[Breaking and entering! Very good. Ford likes this display of moxie and resourcefulness.]

Angel, I'd like you to wait outside. Signal us if something happens, understand?

[Angel nods, her wide cap bobbling. It'll be easier than trying to maneuver her through that shattered window when she's so soft and puncturable and they both know it. Besides, she faced down a whole herd of those awful worm-infested things earlier. She's got this.]

I'm officially invoking 'dibs' on a wrench if we happen to find one.

_{[Heather is already picking her way in over the broken glass, but she shoots him a slightly amused smirk in the process.]}

I'm sure we could find better for you than a wrench, but hey, suit yourself.

_{[The inside of the gas station looks as decrepit as the outside-- everything is covered in a thin layer of dust and rust.]

[Wolf pads carefully in front of Heather, long ears pricked with great attention in case anything is lurking down the picked-over aisles of expired snacks and drinks with the labels worn away.]

[Heather makes a beeline for the counter, hopping it with some effort (still... sore from having an entire hillside dumped on top of her.]}

Hope for the best but plan for the worst, and all that.

[Ford follows after her, maneuvering his way through the broken window as though he's done this sort of thing many times before. Which, you know, he has. He is pretty sure there aren't going to be any firearms in here unless they get obscenely lucky. Then again who knows? Fortune smiles on people at the strangest of times.]

If you find a machete or a mace behind the counter you let me know.

[He's actually being kind of serious here. If beasts like the ones he encountered earlier are par the course for this place, then he wouldn't be surprised if any sensible gas station employee came to work armed.]

Wouldn't be the weirdest place I've unexpectedly found a mace.

_{[AND SHE'S NOT EVEN KIDDING.]

[But unfortunately, there's no maces behind the counter.]

[There is, however, a hunting rifle tucked underneath the register area, and Heather whistles lowly. JACKPOT.]}

HEY, snoop around for gun ammo.

Found a rifle.

Really? Fantastic!

[So they did come to work armed, and armed better than he could have hoped.

Apparently not well enough for this area to still be inhabited but that's fine. He and Heather are obviously professionals here. She can look behind the counter: he's going to investigate the floors and shelving. He isn't familiar with the tropes of survival horror videogames, but he knows when in this kind of situation it's prudent to take stock of every square inch of available space. And--]

I really would like to know the thought process behind stashing the ammo next to the gum.

I don't think a whole lot of thought went into the placement.

_{[Or maybe there was some kind of deep symbolism. It could really go either way in Silent Hill.]

[She holds out a hand for the box, fully intending to load this baby up right then and there. Wolf watches in muted fascination-- guns really aren't commonplace in the world of Pokemon, even though they do exist. Seeing his trainer handle one with such familiarity is a little weird.]}

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