Camp Alpha: or camp alphaaAAAAAAAAAAAA

[indigo_events]

Who: Everyone who came to Camp Alph
Where: The Ruins of Alph
When: July 21st
Summary: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA check out the info post over here!
Rating: PG-13
Log:


Night has fallen for the last time over the little sea of tents surrounding the Ruins.

But for the first time since the event started, there’s a considerable lack of people clustered around their campfires. Oh, there’s still a few, but most of the crowd is somewhere else.

Somewhere... spooky.

Somewhere... underground beneath the crumbling stone structures and in a place that maybe was not designed to hold massive crowds of people.

In the middle of the chamber dubbed “the Ho-Oh Chamber”, founding Legend Seeker Jackson stands with a flashlight aimed upwards under his chin for maximum dramatic effect. Beams of other flashlights and lanterns fill the room with tall shadows and in the still, underground air, it honestly is very unnerving down here. Beneath Jackson’s feet is the elaborate circle he’d finished chalking onto the stone just minutes before, the edge of the circle lined with words written in the ancient Unown text.

Along the far walls of the chamber, some of the Rangers have tiredly lined up to keep an eye on things and ensure that nothing is damaged, and to keep the exits clear in case of emergency. Who knows what might happen down here, and the last thing they need is for a bunch of people to get trampled.

Morty and Eusine are in the audience as well, right up front for the best view. Morty is looking just as tired as the Rangers, but this is a little more elaborate than the rest of the rituals that have gone on this weekend and he’s watching intently. Eusine looks a lot more taken in by the drama than his friend, but... well, this isn’t a Suicune chamber, so...

Jackson clears his throat and begins to speak, voice pitched low and grave.

“Welcome, my fellow Seekers... and park rangers, and archaeologists, and gym leaders. And... miscellaneous. TONIGHT, on our final, glorious night, is the big one. The most important ritual of all! Why did we all come down to this particular chamber, you might be asking yourselves? WELL, friends... That would be because of the legend my brothers and I dug up about what's down here. The truth!"

He flourishes his cloak, because of course he's wearing a cloak. What do you mean, it's the middle of July?

"As you can see, there are runes, ancient, MYSTICAL runes carved into the wall behind me... spelling out a phrase that has sent chills-- chills, I say!-- down my spine since I was just a little boy! “WE HUMANS NEED TO WALK WITH THEM. WE LEAVE HERE FOR THE SAKE OF THEM”... very interesting, wouldn’t you say?”

Somewhere in the middle of the crowd, an archaeologist coughs and timidly speaks up, “That’s actually not the most accepted translation of the writings, you see--”

He doesn’t get farther, shushed by several nearby audience members who are watching Jackson with rapt attention.

Jackson doesn’t seem too bothered by the interruption, continuing on with exactly the same amount of campfire story enthusiasm, “And who IS this ‘them’? Why, none other than a mysterious, multitudinal fiend who has slumbered within this chamber for centuries, a conglomeration of souls feared by all who behold it-- an enormous Spiritomb!! As the legend goes, it lived within these ancient ruins before they became ruins, and in a fit of greed, it absorbed all the souls of the people who once called it home! And tonight, we’re going to see if we can’t wake this... this... tomb of spirits up and kick this archeology stuff forward a few decades! So silence, please! SILENCE! We will now... commence with the ceremony.”

This time, the protesting archaeologist simply sighs and mutters something that nobody can really make out. Especially as Jackson steps back out of the circle and several Mediums, accompanied by a Gengar and several Haunters, step forward in his place. Together they begin to chant, lighting the candles that had been set around the edges.

It lasts what feels like forever... The flickering lights and the steady voices, the fluid movements of the mediums, the way it feels like everyone in the chamber and even the stone itself seems to be holding its breath... when it all stops with a loud, synchronized shout as the mediums raise their arms to clap their hands once in the air, making a number of people in the audience jump.

But then there's silence.

There’s no glow, no rising Spiritomb, nothing.

Just silence.

Nobody moves except to shuffle in place. Jackson, looking disappointed, makes a motion as though to step forward and begin speaking again.

And that's when the still air of the chamber stirs, making the candles gutter, as though somehow a breeze had managed to find its way all the way down here.

But it doesn’t feel refreshing at all--it feels... wrong.

Another gust, and this time, the candles around the circle blow out completely. There's still plenty of flashlights and lanterns to see by, but a loud wail disturbs the quiet. A ghost?! ... Oh, no, it's... someone's Sobble, struggling frantically to get out of its trainer's arms as they shush and comfort it.

Not unusual, everyone knows that breed is a total crybaby at this point.

... But then there's more cries, as more Pokemon seemingly start wiggling loose and frantically skittering for the stairwell out of the chamber.

And that's when the ceiling above them rips open.

Not the rock-- the air. A jagged line glowing bright blue, and inside it is a swirling nebula. Those who were there at Resort Gorgeous one year before and witnessed the appearance of the bizarre creatures then would recognize it right away. But whether you've seen it before or not, it sends a jolt right down the spine. It's a thing that shouldn't be there.

And from it, they emerge. Just a few at first, that pull their way out of the portal and into the room, hovering near the rift like confused wasps that have found their way into a building.

And then they start to pour from it like angry wasps whose nest just got punted across the room.

Someone screams, and that sets everything in motion real fast. The chamber fills with shouts that range from astonished to panicked, and the crowd begins to flow towards the tunnel back to the surface. Jackson is shouting for everyone to remain calm and not scare the mysterious beings, the rangers and Morty are trying to make themselves heard to direct people and stop this from turning into a dangerous stampede, and meanwhile more and more of the little paperlike creatures emerge.

They're here, and they're not happy about it.





---


After what’s probably felt like hours of fighting back against the massive swarm of creatures that have been pouring from the still open portal within the ruins, there’s been little progress on actually stemming the tide zipping out from the ruin’s entrance. Is it that those herded back inside are just coming right back out again? Are they really just continuously coming through the portal? Is the portal still even open? At this point in the fight, it’s impossible to get back inside to find out. The swarm at the entrance is simply too thick to even hope to get past safely.

But with so many kept occupied around the doorway of the ruin, so many being harried and kept out of the sky, the Unown are finally able to keep their entire formation steady. Dozens of individuals of each variety hover close together, forming much larger characters that would be visible from far off. There’s enough bright light coming from the campsite to illuminate them, even against the night sky.



They hold formation as best they can, moving in the air like a school of fish whenever a Kartana is able to fly at them, dodging as a group and reforming the letter almost right away. They got the help they needed-- in the form of FIRE (and the razor-sharp observational skills to notice in the chaos that fiery attacks were more effective than others), clever applications of status effects, and even, in a move as dangerous as it was effective, a Whirlwind unleashed on the swarm within the chamber-- and they’re not about to let that go to waste.

And it doesn’t.

It isn’t long before a chill breeze begins to pick up, one that carries the smell of clean, rushing water with it. Within minutes, it’s become strong enough to whip at the treetops and buffet the small paperlike attackers this way and that. To those who’ve been fighting so hard, it feels refreshing, like they’re being given a second wind.

The source of the wind soon catches up with it, a large form that bounds from the trees and up the ancient structures to the roof of the tallest one. Suicune is clearly visible even in the dark and the confusion, each hair on its body seeming to give off a shining glow of its own, the crystal diamond on its head beaming especially brightly. From his hiding place behind a tree, Eusine sheds a single tear. Suicune lifts its head and howls.



Suicune has joined the fight!

Wasting no more time, the legendary leaps into the fray alongside the battling trainers, working alongside them to force the creatures back towards the ruin. The wind in the sky knocks them off balance and keeps them from scattering high, and icy barriers raised from the ground force the much easier targets backwards in large numbers. Even those that were knocked out or put to sleep are blown along with the rest.

With the help of a legendary Pokemon, the edge is now firmly with the defending campers, and pushing the swarm back into the ruins is only a matter of time.

[OOC Note: CONGRATULATIONS, the win condition was unlocked and then some! Feel free to now include Suicune in threads, or toplevels if you still need/want to make one, from here on. A wrapup/aftermath post will be posted tomorrow afternoon!]

Comments

Webby Vanderquack | ota

[alittleobsessed]

[Going into spooky ruins to summon a ghost who could possibly kill them all? Well of course Webby is going! She is giddy the entire trip, thirsting for an adventure that involves ruins, ghosts... murdery ghosts even! She excitedly whispers to the person next to her:]

I hope we get to see Spiritomb! I wonder if I can offer my soul to it!

[And the ritual is as spooky as Webby would hope it'd be. But what happens isn't ghosts. But little paper creatures?]

Aww... they look kinda cute!

[And then there's more of them. And more. And they're buzzing around angrily.]

Oh... ohhh... that's probably not good, huh?

[ghoststanning]

[Ooooh no there's a kid here, Ray is distracted from throwing his Clefairy at them by Webby and is instantly Worried.

Especially how excited she seemed about the Spiritomb in a way that Ray can actually sympathize with.]

Hey kid, you need to get out of here; these guys look like really bad news!

[saint_sami]

[...okaaaay, why would you want to offer your soul to a Pokemon, Webby?]

Um, I don't think that's such a good idea...

[And then the strange paper creatures...]

Ahhh... that's... that's not good at all. We should, um... run.

[outofhershadow]

[Hm. Little paper monsters are never good. They look cute, but Lena knows enough about magic and curses that things like that are usually used in some pretty powerful stuff. It could be warding magic, or whatever this world's equivalent of warding magic would be, but the angry buzzing is definitely pointing to something more sinister going on.]

Yeeeeeah I'd definitely say this isn't good. We should probably get outta here.

[agent3]

Origami???

[Good? Bad? No, we're going to notice that those things sure do look like folded paper shapes. Thida backs against a wall near Webby, eyes very wide. One of her hands grasps a Pokeball at her side.]

O-Origami bees...?

Armin Arlert | OTA

[schachmeister]

[Bring a wide variety of pokemon types, they say. Be prepared for everything, they say.

After Armin manages to make it out of the ruins, he wastes no time in letting his four strongest pokemon out. The Rangers are busy trying to evacuate the many many people who came to the camp-out (not at all helped by the fact that some of those keep stopping to snap more and more blurry pictures of the weird creatures) and the least he can do is help them. Buy them more time.

Plus, he brought so many different pokemon types, surely one of them should be able to do something, right?

Wrong.

It doesn't take Armin long to realise that the little creatures are not only quick and dangerous, they are also strong, even against his strongest pokemon. Some of them even went up against the Elite Four, but whenever they do manage to land a hit on one of the creatures, it doesn't seem to do much at all. No matter the type of attack he calls out, it all seems to be brushed off by the quick like paper creatures.

But then he notices the Unown; the ones trying their hardest to get up above the ruins and do... something. It doesn't look like they are trying to escape. If that was their intent, they could probably manage it quite easily among all the chaos. No, it looks like they have some sort of plan in mind, a plan they are stubbornly trying to carry out, regardless of how often the quick little creatures knock them out of the air. Even injured, they still keep trying.

Considering how rarely Unown engage in battle, it must be significant.

Quickly going through his pokemon's moves, he then starts calling out new commands to his four.]

Athena, use Soak on as many of those... creatures as you can! Trying not to hit any of the Unown. Circinus, use Spark on each of the creatures Athena has hit. Try and paralyse them so they can't get to the Unown.

[The Golduck and Electrode each give their own nod, turning to start carrying out their new orders. Which gives Armin a chance to focus on his Noctowl and Shiinotic.]

Amadeus, I want you to fly up there and put yourself between the Unown and the creatures. Use Reflect as much as you can. If you can Hypnotise any of them, that'd be great too. [Armin looks worried about putting his oldest and one of his dearest pokemon in such a dangerous position, but it needs to be done.] I'm sorry to ask this of you. Come down and Roost if you start getting overwhelmed, all right?

[The Noctowl gives a hoot, before he takes off on silent wings, ready to carry our what Armin asked of him. Which leaves Gus the Shiinotic. He has a plan for Gus, but he'll need some help. Which has him grabbing the arm of whoever is closest, to try and get their attention.]

Please, I need your help.

[starry_forehead]

[Dipper's trying to make sense of everything. He's got his own team with him at the moment but while strong it's....not going well. So when Armin grabs his arm he's quick to answer.]

Yes! What do you need! What's even going on?!

[Please have a plan.]

[be_notorious]

[Drifter's been solely dedicated to leveling up just a few Pokemon, but none of his are level 100 yet. Therefore he's at a disadvantage, and honestly this feels about like what he would have expected.]

Aw, hell...

[And his brain is going worst case scenario, of course. Big invasion of some sort, summoned creepy insect creatures, oh he's had so much of that. So of course this is going to go completely tits up. Maybe ass up and head over heels and who the fuck knows what body parts are doing what.]

[Drifter's been getting to know Annie pretty well. Armin, he doesn't. Nor is he really aware they know each other. He just knows there's a guy grabbin' his arm ready to pull something. Honestly? Drifter was about to get out of dodge.]

Hope you got somethin' up your sleeve better than what I got.

[Sword Logic time, he guesses.]

Maya | OTA

[notyourgoddess]

[Now...this is much more interesting. Possibly terrible and she does feel uneasy even though she's fought and killed much more ...horrific things. But still! So, Maya tried the attack thing but she's also noticed the unown flying around and hey, really weird protect the thing mission. She can do this.]

Keep those things away from the Unown!

[Mostly yelling to her pokemon team, who are around her. But hey if you hear her too. That's fine. Maya also seems to be fighting herself and is smashing the weird pokemon with anything sturdy she can get her hands on, while she calls out attacks to her team. She already has more then a few bleeding cuts.]

I've killed worse then you, you -ow!

[A strange pokemon is promptly hit with a stored power attack by an annoyed Meowstic. Maya wipes some blood off her face.]

Thanks, Cataclysm. Let's keep going.

[fuelthefire]

[Krieg has found a very large, very heavy branch that's been a pretty good stand-in for his axe. He's used it several times already to bat away the aggressive origami monsters to great effect. He'd be more excited for even more batting if he didn't also have Zen Doll to worry about; as soon as the cranky swarm had appeared, Dolly had insistently and aggressively smashed as much of himself as he could into the crook of Krieg's neck. He's since managed to coax the Darumaka into the crook of one elbow instead, but it's still not ideal.

...He'll have to look into getting some kind of baby backpack for the little dude once this is over.

He's flanked by Murder Chicken and Torch Dragon, his oldest and toughest monsters. At this point, neither of them particularly need verbal directions from him - especially in a situation like this, it's pretty easy to see what needs to be done.

When Maya yells out to protect the Unown, the pair glance at him for confirmation, and he jerks his chin in an affirmative motion - do what she says.]

This is the best! Camp! Ever!

[He punctuates his statement with a heavy-handed smack, literally batting away an aggressive Kartana that had gotten too close. It goes sailing off with the force of his swing, but recovers quickly and darts back in for more.]

Ray Stantz | OTA

[ghoststanning]

[Ray goes to check this event out, but for once it's not because for his love of ghosts. In Ray's experience, most seances are done by people who are either too inexperienced or conman-y to handle the consequences of spirit summoning.

He spends a good chunk of the time critiquing the display under his breath- both about their so-called "facts" and the ritual itself.]

I betcha five bucks that this chanting has literally no meaning.

{It's almost kind of impressive to see Ray be this bitter about anything related to the supernatural.

Ray is one of he first to really realize something wrong is happening with his Sobble fussing. If he knows one thing about the supernatural, it's that animals almost always are aware of the danger before humans are.

And then the portal opens up-]

I knew I shouldn't have trusted this seance! What was going to happen best case scenario? A Spiritomb isn't the kind of Pokemon you summon in a seance filled with innocents!

[Yeah he is Pissed.

Ray decides to stay behind regardless, more to protect the people and Pokemon than he cares about this seance. He throws out his containment units and gives them directions.]

Stay Puft! Keep these guys from attacking any people or Pokemon! Starchild, hit them with all you got!

[Starchild doesn't need to be told twice as she is already setting fire to as many of these little dudes as possible. Stay Puft nods and... very slowly goes to protect any people in need.

They'll be a good wall really.

If all else fails, Ray will fight some of them off himself to protect others- even if it means getting a few cuts himself. He is not letting anyone get critically injured thanks to these mmorons]

seance

[pkemeter]

I can't identify the language at all. It seems as though they're simply speaking nonsense words.

[Egon looks rather bored. He stands stiffly with his arms crossed, gazing out among the crowd.]

Unless there is a different language than the ones I've come across during my time here--which I severely doubt. At least there's no "ectoplasm" being spit out by any of the participants.

protect fighting

[unabates]

[ jack doesn't expect much to happen, until athena literally launches herself off his back and starts taking off out the room. he has half a moment of confusion before the things start bursting out of the portal that opens.

in the mayhem he hears a familiar voice - ray - as his two smaller pokemon hop up to his shoulders. ]

Harley, Bandit - get the kids out of here. Dixie, Scout! Take care of these guys!

[ all of his pokemon give barks before they run off to do their respective tasks. jack, meanwhile, makes his way over to ray to help. a kartana makes their way towards them, only to be shot out of the sky by a quick moon blast from jolene, on jack's shoulder. ]

Looked like you could use a hand, Stantz.

Egon Spengler | OTA

[pkemeter]

[Holy shit.

This is exactly why he hates amateurs doing seances and dabbling in things that they don't understand! They chant phrases in a dead language that they aren't familiar with and then expect their pronunciation to be perfect, and the next thing you know, you've opened a tear in the fabric of space and time to another dimension.

Egon (and the other Ghostbusters, by extension) have dealt with his fair share of gods, spirits, so on and so forth threatening to overtake New York from another dimension, and boy, he knows approximately what's going on here. He grabs a nearby fleeing Hex Maniac, absolutely incensed.]

You! What book did you recount the chant from? Was it the Necronomicon? Lavender Town Spirit Guide?!

[The Hex Maniac lets out an incomprehensible squeak as a Kartana zooms by, narrowly missing the two of them and shaving off an inch of Egon's hair. He flinches, ducking down and scowling as he pulls out two PokéBalls. Faraday, Egon's Trevenant, and Kölliker, Egon's Reuniclus. The two of them get to work immediately, with Faraday trying to slam the invaders onto the ground with her claws and Kö shielding her from harm.

It becomes quickly apparent that neither of his Pokémon seem to be doing much--at best, Faraday is being sliced by the many blades of the Kartanas and trying to hold her ground. He continues to watch as best he can, occasionally ducking off to the side, hoping for them to reveal any sort of weakness he can take advantage of.

And then it hits him--literally. A swarm of paper and steel smack him in the face. Faraday lets out a distressed bellow and suddenly, the Kartanas are alight with blue fire. The swarm lets out a chittering screech and immediately breaks up, trying to extinguish the flames. Egon's eyes widen as he stares at the Kartanas, then turns to whoever is closest to him.

His face looks like it was set upon by a million papercuts. It's fine.]

You! Try hitting them with some fire attacks!

[paladinlost]

They're weak against fire...?

[Cecil hasn't even tried to aim for their weakness. He's just been taking cuts and shielding Unowns, while his Pokémon tried to redirect them. But when he hears Egon call out with this information...]

Child! Use Forest's Curse on the closest creatures! Hurry!

[Can Pokémon have a triple weakness? They'll find out soon enough.]

[neverstudied]

[Something is stirring.

It's not quite what the Legend Seekers expected- it's not even related to this swarm- but something is stirring nonetheless.

For now, it's remaining somewhat dormant, but they're beginning to peek out at the world, see the carnage surrounding the place. They're terrified. But curious.

Very curious.

Venkman doesn't notice.]

Spengs, if you're wondering, this is only slightly worse than the first time Bassingame got involved in our shit. And maybe slightly better than the Hob Anagarak incident.

[He shouts this over the sound of the swarm whizzing around their heads, blood dripping from a few different cuts. For now, he doesn't seem to notice, more focused on trying to keep his eyes on his Pokemon. Plunderbird is looking pretty exhausted- its way too low a level to keep up- so Venkman finally reaches into the veritable hornet's nest and yanks the angry set of keys and tools away from the dozen or so Kartana it was trying to fight. Plunderbird jingles furiously, even as Venkman casually slides it back onto his wrist, deliberately ignoring the dozens of cuts he sustained. He's gonna be pissed later when he remembers he could've just recalled him into a Pokeball.]

[islandshore]

[This is absurd. Everything's happening so fast. Too fast. It's just like those weird Jellyfish freaks before...

But when Riku hears Egon, he perks up immediately. Luckily, he's got a Charizard on hand, whose nostrils smoke as Riku raises his Mega Bracelet.]

Good call.

[Flare transforms into his Mega Charizard X form, orange scales shifting from blue and bright blue flames gushing from his mouth. He unleashes a Heat Wave, trying to nail as many of the nearby Kartana as possible. But while he has wings, these ruins aren't ideal flying conditions, and he, like Riku is getting some gnarly cuts, even as he swishes his flaming tail to ward off intruders.

All the while, Phantom the Haunter screeches irritably from above.

Turning to Egon, Riku asks-]

Think it's worth hitting them with Sleep or Confusion? Dunno how long it'd hold them off, but brute forcing it hasn't done us a lot of good so far.

Cecil Harvey | ota

[paladinlost]

[Cecil strongly, strongly regrets his decision to wear all white this weekend, dramatic effect be damned. And the general existence of dirt and nature around him has nothing to do with it.

When the little creatures had started coming out of the portal, Rosie, Child and Esuna had all suggested getting the hell out of dodge. A sensible idea, but... The terrified children. The helpless wild Pokémon.

Cecil has no blade. Cecil has no armor, either. But he has his body, three Pokémon small enough to fit in the chamber, and he has never given up in battle. That will suffice.

People trying to escape the chamber or to fight back might chance upon a Butterfree trying to Whirlwind the Kartana back towards the portal. A Clefable's song occasionally fills the air, trying unsuccessfully to soothe the creatures. A Trevenant directs a few frightened Unown towards the exit. Their trainer stands, bleeding from a few cuts, ready to throw himself between the attackers and anyone who needs cover.]

Stay behind me. I'll not allow them to harm you.

Re: Cecil Harvey | ota

[pikapikajankenpo]

I'm evacuating several people, [said Yayoi, coming out of nowhere as her Rapidash threw up a controlled flame wall that herded several more Kartana towards the portal.]

Already got Sasami headed towards the door. Everyone, stay behind Cecil, these things can cut through solid objects.

Sasami | OTA

[saint_sami]

[That's... that's not good. At all.

All of those tiny Kartanas flying around, buzzing like a pack of angry hornets (Beedrill?) as they look at the other trainers and the Pokemon they had. Sasami slowly started to back up as she felt the Buneary in her arms struggle to break free and the beloved first evolved Pokemon, a Butterfree, tug at her head. They wanted to run.]

We... we need... we need to get out of here!

[And she turns and runs as the Kartana attack her, trying her best to evade everything in such a small space.]

Butterfree, please! Confusion!

[The Pokemon would use its attack on them, but prove to be a flub as they easily dodge the attacks. Sasami'll yelp as some Kartana get in close, cutting her arms.]

Stop it! Leave me alone!

Re: Sasami | OTA

[pikapikajankenpo]

Keep your head down, keep low, [said Yayoi, shielding Sasami suddenly with Rapidash as the Pokemon threw up a flame wall which the Kartana shied away from.]

C'mon, stay close to me. We're moving to keep everyone out. Grab as many people as you can, and move as a group.

[There was a serious edge to Yayoi's voice, like she was a trained professional. Gone was the flighty woman, and a hard, seasoned rescue worker or some kind of superhero was in play.]

Dr. Peter Venkman / The Real Ghostbusters / OTA

[neverstudied]

[... Venkman is really torn between "I told you! I knew this would fucking happen!" and smugly leaving the Legend Seekers to deal with their own mess, and actual concern for the people here. Eventually, it's the fact that there's a bunch of kids and innocent Pokemon here- and his partners immediately getting involved in the fight- that convinces him that yeah, ok, maybe he shouldn't be an asshole about this. Not the first time he's had to help put a stop to a shitty seance. Probably still won't be the last.]

When we're done with this, I'm making 'em pay us. I don't care that it's another dimension, this still counts as Ghostbusting.

[It takes some trial and error for him to realize what types will work against these guys and what won't. Water, Psychic, Steel, and Fairy- all types he has with him- aren't working. Bug, Dark, Ghost, and Flying- also types he has with him- look like they're neutral. Fighting-type moves are super-effective, and according to Egon, so are Fire- unfortunately, Venkman didn't bring any of his Fire-types, and he doesn't even have a Fighting type. Might need to fix that in the future.

On the bright side, that doesn't mean he doesn't have Pokemon with those moves- Roach the Golisopod is smacking the little bastards out of the sky with well-placed Rock Smashes, and Kildarby the Honchkrow is putting in work with a combination of Heat Wave and Superpower. Even Georgie, who isn't much of a battler, is doing his best, phasing in and out of his invisibility to dole out the occasional Fire Punch or Drain Punch. This Kecleon was born and raised in these Ruins- he's not going to let a bunch of invaders hurt the Unown. Neither is Plunderbird the Klefki, though the only attack he has that even does good neutral damage on these guys is Foul Play, so he's just using that over and over and over again, throwing his weight around and smacking Kartana in the face with mini-tools and keys.

But those are just attacks. Let's talk strategically. Or about as strategically as one can talk while in the middle of a swarm of paper-cut alien wasps. Kildarby, Kirby(Mimikyu), and Roach all have Spite, which they're using liberally; Kirby is also throwing Will-o-Wisps around like it's no tomorrow. Sigourney, his Beheeyem, is using Guard Split, Power Split, and Telekinesis to even some odds, especially since basically none of her actual attacks seem to be effective and she's getting very frustrated about it.

And at some point, Georgie taunts one of the Kartana away from the Unown and into attacking him- activating his Color Change- at which point he uses Synchronoise to damage every single Kartana in range. Unfortunately, it's a Psychic move, and he's not strong enough to knock any of them out, so it mostly just. Aggravates an entire swarm?? Georgie makes a distressed noise as he realizes what he's just done and turns invisible again, clambering up Venkman's torso and trying to hide in his shirt.]

Huh? Hey, what're you-

[And then he just gets smacked with about 50 of the little paper monstrosities.

... At least some of the Unown are temporarily not under fire?]

[islandshore]

[Suddenly, outta the blue, comes an infernal sound. A shrill screech, like nails on a chalkboard.

The source? A very disgruntled Haunter, trying to use Hypnosis on some of those pesky Kartana. Behind him comes two Nidokings, both shooting Flamethrowers, though one hesitates more than the other.

When Riku comes skidding in, he's got some gnarly cuts along his arms and his cheeks. But how could he ignore someone getting dogpiled by these pests?]

Hey! You okay?

CARLY NAGISA | OTA

[insidescoop]

"A...Ahahaha..." Carly has recalled Everyone at this point, and is quaking. "...Anyone seen the Mummy? With the bugs?"

This has quickly turned sour. Turned to chaos, even, and Carly frankly is lost. Lost and more than that stuck in the middle. People are running- Pokemon are running faster. Carly can actually feel herself going deaf, but she's not really sure if that's because of the noise or because of the growing sense of wrongness coming on the air.

Somehow, it feels a bit familiar in the worst of ways.

...

Carly can hear 'chiming'. Or maybe not chiming. It's a different sound, and it's pretty clear what it is soon enough. Those are Unown. A whole swarm she quietly realizes, somehow not yet sliced apart from where she's been frozen on the spot. And...

And...

"I...I..."

Carly's Salandit, Mimikyu, and Joltik are now meeting the air, and as much as they (even Mimi-chan, which is enough to make her concerned) seem frightened they can tell their trainer is More frightened.

IT'S A TEAM OF COWARDS, READY TO STOP BEING COWARDS. The Unown are doing their best! Now so will they! "O-OKAY! We can't just stand here..! Consider this...PRACTICE TIME!" She points aggressively to the Kartana. "I... ...I'll be bait!" It's all she can be after all. "Kushi! We need nets! Electrowebs, like we've been practicing! Misty! We need fire! Even just little bits, like flashes! ...Mimi..."

...

Carly is slowly taking her glasses off, and that's probably when people should be getting concerned.

"...S...Scare them back!"

CARLY YOU CAN'T JUST WEAPONIZE MIMIKYU'S TRUE FORM

Whether success or fail, one thing is for certain at least- a halfblind woman running full tilt at the Kartana while screaming, as a bug, ghost, and lizard frantically try combinations of distractions and herding nets, will...Probably at least catch the Kartana's attention even if there's no success in actual corralling. "HEYYYY..! Origami-ghosts..!"

Th...they're not ghosts Carly...

Re: CARLY NAGISA | OTA

[pikapikajankenpo]

A rush of flames, and several Kartana scattered backwards as Yayoi stood there, Pikachu's tail sparkling on her shoulder as she held a hand over towards Carly. "Can you stand?" she asked, all business.

"We need to get out of here. These things seem to be weak to fire, but Rapidash is in close quarters and has no room to maneuver. We can only keep a small contained fire going for so long before anything goes to poop. Come with me if you want to remain uncut."

Dandy | OTA

[adandyinspace]

Huh...

[That's all that comes out of Dandy's mouth as he watches the chaos unfolded, hands in his pockets as he and his team soak in the scene. He turns towards his deino, who seems to be smiling for some reason, but then again she can't exactly see what's going on. Maybe the screams of panicked people sooth her, Dandy wouldn't put it past her.]

Well, you know what I say whenever a dimensional rip opens up and aliens start pourin' in like it's Happy Hour at BooBies.

[Martini barks a "Dei?", as if to ask him what DOES he say, although she continues to smile like she's playing some sort of part.]

You gotta start makin' money, baby!

[These things have GOTTA be worth something, right?! His partner snickers while the rest of his team panics behind them. Incidentally, not everyone on Dandy's team is an idiot and realize the gravity of the situation. Fine, whatever, maybe having them attack will take their minds off it. Ass Rat is immediately told to use Flamethrower since the skuntank is always the most frazzled in any situation, but Dandy clicks his tongue when he notices it doesn't seem to do much of anything.

Fine, maybe they just resist it, but he starts to notice a pattern when Martini's Dragon Pulses or Honey's Clanging Scales aren't doing much of anything either. God damn it, is he going to have to strategize?

It's Worm, Dandy's vivillon who plays the hero by flapping her Sleep Powder everywhere and causing tiny paper bodies to slowly fall to the ground, although she has to keep up the hard work since nothing's stopping them from waking back up. If only he brought his second Sleep Powder...er.

As Dandy struggles to come up with any better ideas, he watches as the more awake paper monsters easily slice through just about everything, and he defensively begins to grab his hair. The things he does for money...]

Dirk Strider | Closed to Ford Pines

[uber_marionettist]

From Dirk's point of view, the resulting chaos is exactly what he was looking for. What he was waiting for.

He doesn't need the immediate nausea of ill-ease to tell him that, either--he hardly noticed, even. He's feeling twelve kinds of reality dysphoria just being here, how the fuck can he feel worse? But goddamn if they aren't getting reactions from everyone around him. It's like a bomb went off, if the bomb turned into scores of whirling origami star-men and set off dozens of other bombs that exploded electricity and fire and screaming and general flipping the fuck out.

Deploying his own trusty steed is a real lesson in why the fuck he shouldn't, and he learns how much the things hate Pokeballs almost as quickly just by paying attention to other people's failed efforts. It's a lot of brainwork in a few seconds' time, stretching out into a mathematically defined moment, stretching out into actual minutes, plural--minutes he has to spend running through this noise and running thoughts so fast he can only just think them on the way to a goal and literally punching and ducking and rolling around like he hasn't actually needed to in--

In weeks, actually, and it almost feels good. Which is fucked up because he still feels like he needs to puke, or remove his eyes from his head, or peel his skin off or something.

Almost.

Almost, like he almost misses the congregation of swirling black shapes, a spiralling swarm rising above the ruins, shifting patterns that break apart, dissolve before they can be realised. Dirk has not, has never wasted time on thought while standing still, not when action is part of the equation. He thinks in motion, steps laid out ahead of him in an infinite grid, a flowing sprawl of choices and connections he can trace, a plan he can almost touch in its clarity. This description is true. It is also nothing like the truth, which is chaotic and raw and changing every second, full of haste and questions: What in the good goddamn are they thinking? Are they thinking? Which 'they?' He recognises Carly's voice in the noise, weirdly--or maybe not so weirdly, she's joining with them. She's not alone. Whose side are the letters on? The people?

By the time he gets there, he's made decisions. He has no evidence the Unown are on any side he's on, no evidence anyone is, for that matter.

If the papercraft are breaking 'into' the ruins, he wants to know where they're breaking in from.

The Unown, as the opposing force, are therefore in his way.

And they know it. They know he's not on their side. It's so chaotic and so simplified--the way they peel off and veer towards him. Is that why they were so captivated by him in the ruins? Did they know then? Shoving them aside isn't going to cut it. Jiraiya and TAN, then--he releases his Rotom and Greninja just in time for another Unown to swoop directly into his face, and he almost runs smack fucking into it.

It hovers, unblinking. The letter M.

It stares at him.

He stares back, just for a second. It glows softly. His scowl deepens. It still stares at him.

He fucking punches it.

Would you believe I play enough shitty old men that I almost tagged this with the wrong one

[meteorman]

This is not the first time Stanford Pines has seen unknown beings pouring out of a portal. It isn't even the second or third time, because this has been happening to him a long time before he ever knew what a Pokémon was. Maybe that's why he's not nearly as panicked as a lot of the people around him. For him this is just another Tuesday. If anything he's a little annoyed at himself that he didn't think to bring MIPS, who's proven by now that it's uniquely predisposed to fighting the creatures that come out of these rips in spacetime.

The point is he's not panicked. He doesn't think there's any need until something bad actually happens to somebody. And wouldn't you know it, the first real serious case of escalation he sees doesn't involve the strange little origami creatures at all. It's a lot more stupid than that. And normally Ford would be all-for stupid violence against the letter M for his own incredibly petty personal reasons, but Unown are small and more or less defenseless. All they know is Hidden Power for goodness' sake. You don't just punch a creature in the eye when an eye is literally all it has.

Most everyone else who is more concerned about this situation has fighting the unknown creatures on lockdown. This means Ford can divert his attention to this dumbass.

This involves body-checking him with intent to try and get him down on the ground and unable to do more punching. He doesn't shout. You don't shout to let someone know you're about to body-check them, what if they're smart enough to dodge? You just do it.

Shiro | ota

[shiro2hero]

"Flamethrower!"

No time to waste. No time to sit there and dwell on what's happening. On the figures swarming out of the dark. The creatures descending on the panicked people. It's happening again. It's happening all over again. He's afraid -- deathly afraid -- that nothing he tries to do is going to change anything. Nothing he does is going to make this better.

Thankfully, he has his team. His pokemon. Red the Incineroar is doing her level best to roast the creatures as she sees them. She'd swat them out of the air if she could, but fire seems like a better option. She can hold them back, at bit, at least, while Kuro starts muscling panicked onlookers away from the flames.

Blue pitches in, too. Shielding who he can with Protect. Including his idiot trainer, who seems to have frozen after uttering that one command. Staring at the creatures -- at the hole -- they're coming, they're falling, they need to run and there's nowhere to go --

[marmoron]

[And from not too far away because OF COURSE Keith was going to be here for some weird occult / conspiratorial ritual thing, Keith shouts over:]

What happened to "this place isn't dangerous."

[What a time to bring this up, eh? Hilariously enough, Keith's got his fists up as he stares down two of the ultra beasts. His Houndour's by his side, hackles raised.]

Jane Crocker | OTA

[cyan_maid]

[This seemed like the big event to Be At, even though the ceremonies are absolute hooey - Jane knows this, and yet still she comes, because this has been a nice trip so far and she ought to at least be around for one thing their enthusiastic hosts do.

Of course it's the thing where all the shit happens, though. Of fucking course.

She remembers the portals from that one time at prom - the new creatures, though, that's something else. Still, basic instincts dictate that Dinah's coming out to help. The Audino shivers as she appears, sensing the wrongness of the area, before turning to Jane.]

Come on, we've got to get people out of here - then we can send these things home!

[So if you find yourself squished in the crowd of rushing escapees and feel a small pink paw taking you by the hand, let it pull you out, because Jane and Dinah are here.]

Are you alright? I know, it's scary, I know, but - just try to wait by the wall and keep an eye on them, we'll be okay...

[Mitigate the panic. Keep people calm. Make sure everyone's safe.]