victory_road | Mysterious Interference and Action for Thace's traveling group

Entry tags:

thace (voltron)

Mysterious Interference and Action for Thace's traveling group

Who: Thace, Catra, Claudia + anyone who investigates the mystery interference

Where: Route 29, about where it meets with Route 46

When: 7/13, late evening

Summary: Some 'Gears might experience some interference! Thace and Co. experience the consequences of setting that off

Rating: PG-13ish?

Log:

Late in the evening, a little closer to midnight than sunset, Something happens to the 'Gears of anyone traveling Route 29, and slightly less noticeably to those traveling route 46 or who are in or around Cherrygrove.

The first group experience a severe disruption in their signal! It's a heavily staticy multi-tonal noise. It repeats more than once in succession, and character who are paying attention will realise there's a pattern. The pattern also happens several times more, with no immediately obvious reason for the different time periods between events.

The second group doesn't experience the severe disruption, but if they're paying attention they will notice a static and low buzzes that have a pattern to them, but that repeats of the pattern don't follow at equal intervals.

Whatever it is and whatever is causing it, some Pokemon who are in range seem either very interested, or very upset by it. Mostly it's limited to Electric types, and those very sensitive to sound or radio waves (especially Zubats and Noibats). In fact, if someone is there to witness it, a whole swarm of the bats, and a few other denizens of the southern end of Dark Cave are booking it down Route 46 toward Route 29.

Pre-Swarm
Thace has been using any rest stops, and his self-appointed shifts standing watch to do something to his 'Gear. Tonight he seems to have finished it, and addresses his companions. "I'm going to go a distance away from our camp for a little bit. If this goes wrong, I don't want to accidentally cause any discomfort to the two of you."

While he stands up, he doesn't move to go just yet, having come to expect questions.

During/Post Swarm
Bats. So many bats! Upset bats, flying as fast as their wings can carry them. Along with them are a few slower swarmers, including Whismur, and maybe even a Roggenrola or two. At least one local Shinx has come to investigate things too.

And, well, once everything's settled, there's time to catch breath, patch up Pokemon, and discuss what the hell just happened.

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Catra's seated with her back to the small fire in the middle of their campsite, one knee drawn up to her chest, busy feeding pieces of trail mix to her ponyta and trying to ignore the discomfort of the darkness she should very much be able to see through, and yet very much can't. Her head jerks around as Thace speaks, and her mismatched eyes narrow slightly.

"If what goes wrong?" she asks warily. In her experience, that's the sort of statement that usually precedes catastrophe.

Thace has found Catra to be reliable and competent, so he considers the question and opts for being honest about omitting things.

"Details are best left unsaid, but I'm attempting to send a message to a group of rebels. Worst case, it gets intercepted by Imperial troops both clever enough to de-encrypt it, and close enough to arrive quickly and I get captured and tortured."

His gaze goes distant and he rubs at the shoulder (bearing a wicked scar partly visible beneath the neckline of his clothes) the same way he does after his eerily quiet nightmares.

"Other unpleasant options include interception and decryption by nosy locals, although given that vehicular travel appears uncommon here, I'm judging it a low risk. Or my modifications could always overload the device and cause it to explode or catch fire."

Thace says that with a very subtle, but there, note of wry humor in his voice.

Catra notes the gesture, and winces a little in sympathy. That said capture isn't merely a hypothetical, drawn from cautionary tales about others who've been unlucky, is abundantly clear. Adora, she's certain, would insist on going with him to provide backup just in case the worst case scenario does come to pass. She doubts Thace would accept - not least because if his rebel group does answer, he's not likely to want to expose them to someone he's known for all of two days. He's not one of the princesses, infuriatingly certain of the innate goodness of any and everyone not actively trying to kill him.

The thought of shadowing him does cross her mind, but her gaze flicks towards the third member of their party, and she dismisses it. A few months spent with the sort of people who treat leverage like a dirty word and collateral damage like something to be avoided at all costs hasn't been enough to erase her understanding of how a soldier under the sort of empire that employs torture as a matter of course thinks. If it was her following an enemy signal, she'd sweep the area to catch any stray civilians to use either as leverage or a source of information. And while Catra's confident in her own ability to evade anyone who might respond to Thace's call...

"Or something from the forest could mistake it for a mating call and decide to take you back to its nest," she says, meeting his subtle humour with a bit of absurdity - not because she doesn't understand the possible dangers, but because she very much does, and knows there's only so much that can be done to guard against them with as few resources as they have.

"If something goes wrong, try to send us a signal. If we don't hear from you by midday, we'll keep moving. We'll probably spend a couple days in the next town." Long enough for him to catch up, if he needs to evade something.

His smile is grim, but he catches the humor for what it is and appreciates it. "I'll be on the lookout for lonely Pokemon too."

He sobers after that though. "Best case, I'll be back before dawn. Even if they receive the signal right away, there may not be time or personel to send someone looking for me. They will know how to find me if they can come."

Technically, it's a lot more complicated than that, but she's still a stranger. Caution is too ingrained to be ignored. The unspoken offer makes his smile flicker back. It's sensible and familiar, in a way.

"I will, if I encounter delays that don't damage the device." Thace then glances at Claudia, something almost wistful in his expression. "If I don't come back, would you stay with her until you get to the town? She's so..." he falters, "unprepared for the universe."

He doesn't want to ask more than Catra is willing to give, and even now a part of him is uncomfortable with the thought of traveling with someone so innocent. And yet, he wants to protect Claudia too, so that's what he settles with.

"No kidding," Catra says, though there's no malice to it. A hint of bemusement, perhaps - is that what everyone's like, if they've never been touched by war and conquest? Even the princesses have more edges to them, buried though they might be beneath faith and relentless optimism.

She's silent for a moment, before agreeing quietly, "I'll stay with her until we get to the town. And make sure it's actually safe to stick around in for more than a couple days." Every local she's met so far has been relentlessly harmless, but it's hard to forget the unnerving stubbornness of the woman who had claimed separately to be each of their mothers, and harder still to dismiss the possibility that some or all of the people native to this world might be under some form of control.

"Thank you," Thace says softly, "if this time is the last we see each other, I'm glad we were able to meet."

He means it, because he sees so many hints and glimpses in her that resonate with himself or others he knows among the Blades. First impressions can be false, he knows, but they're all he has to go on right now.

"I'll make every effort to return when I'm done." With that, Thace turns, ready to set out if Catra doesn't have anything else to talk about.

"Yeah," she says, just as quiet. "So am I."

She watches his departing back for a moment or two before her Ponyta nudges her hip, halfway shoving her off her perch. She shoots the small creature an exasperated look, but springs to her feet and darts after him. "Wait!"

She thrusts a trio of small potion bottles in his direction, jaw set in a belligerent expression, as though she's half-expecting argument. "Take these. In case anything does go wrong."

Thace takes them with almost reverence and a little squeeze of her hands. "Thank you. I know how much this means."

His smile is soft but open as he turns again. Thace really hopes the worst doesn't come to pass, but he can't just decide not to do this. Too much might hang on it.

[ Keith is in Cherrygrove City when his gear starts acting up. That much is more annoying than anything else, until he listens to the interference for a few moments. He can't quite believe it at first, it's been years since he's heard this defunct distress signal that had lured so many of the Blades to their deaths. Could it be that Macidus or the other druids had arrived in Johto?

There's a more benign explanation for this, of course -- the source of this could be a Blade from before the massacre at the Marmoran base, but as they say, hope for the best, plan for the worst. Quickly, he sends off a message to Allura to alert her of where he's gone just in case, though he doesn't expect a druid to be able to put up much of a fight with all their magic stripped away.

With Ally, his Rotom, to help triangulate the source of the signal, he starts heading towards Route 29, sticking to an off path route so that he stays concealed in the trees. When Ally lets out an electronic warble to indicate they're close, Keith presses close to a tree trunk, then reaching for the chef's knife in his jacket, he peers around.

He isn't sure what he'll find here. ]

[What Keith finds is a man (tall, but not quite ridiculously tall for a human) kneeling by the edge of a brook, and looking like he possibly just got ran over by a herd of Pokemon. Or maybe a swarm, because one of the injuries bears suspicious similarity to a Zubat's bite. Most of them appear to just be bruises and scrapes though. Except for the vivid, new looking scar across the left shoulder and part of the chest. Now that is something not usually seen in this reality. Scars like that are almost always Druid-caused, at least where Keith is from.

He's washing himself up with a cloth and the provided soap for new arrivals, not even wincing when he goes over the scrapes. The Honedge hovering around him in circles that look like nervous pacing and wringing her tassel seems to be doing all the wincing for him in any case.

After a moment, he looks up and brushes fingertips over the tassel, promptly getting his wrist wrapped up. A ghost of a smile flickers over his face at that.]

It's alright; you did your best. I've experienced much worse before.

[That doesn't seem to calm the sword down a bit, and moreover, everything else might look different, but Thace's voice is exactly the same.]

[ Keith doesn't recognize the stranger -- at least not right away, though he can't quite shake the vague feeling of familiarity either. The scar, he recognizes as one likely caused by magic, and with the accompanying Honedge, he's fairly certain this has to be a Blade. It's only when he hears that voice that all the pieces come together. ]

Thace -- [ Putting the knife away quickly, Keith steps out from the cover of the trees to approach with a warm smile. The Rotom follows close behind, emitting a pleased glow over a job well done. ]

Your message had me worried, friend. Let me fly you to a clinic to help with your injuries?

[ There are so many questions, of course, but this has to take precedence. ]

Edited 2020-07-17 10:22 (UTC)

[Thace looks up, for a split second tense and wary, but it starts morphing into a smile when he recognizes who it is.]

Brother Keith--

[And that's when two things happen at once. His Honedge postures protectively in front of him, waving her blade at the Rotom. And the Noibat that was hiding in the branches above divebombs Keith's face with a loud shriek in an attempt to startle. At least the effect is ruined when he breaks into bat cackles halfway through the dive?]

Vrig, stop! [Thace puts his head in his hands at the Noibat's shriek and groans.] Quiznak.

[ The sudden movement catches Keith's attention immediately, hand instinctively reaching for the knife handle. He's been here long enough to know it's just a pokemon, but certain habits just don't die. Thankfully, the Noibat starts cackling and Keith in turn relaxes slightly. His Rotom, however, floats up in front of Keith, emitting little sparks of static electricity in warning. ]

Ally, it's okay. We're all friends here.

[ Then to both Noibat and Honedge: ] I just want to help. promise.

[ Then looking back towards Thace: ]

Seems you've settled in with a good team already

So it seems.

[Thace seems reserved and worried when he says that, but the Honedge returns to float at his side, and so does the Noibat after blowing a raspberry at the Rotom. There's a pair of wide, staring eyes (an Espurr) peering from behind the pack nearby on the ground, but Thace strides forward, keeping himself between the pack and Keith and smiles.]

I had never thought to see you again. How did we come to this place?

[ Keith laughs a little quietly, though his Rotom remains slightly peeved at the retreating Noibat. It floats down to Keith's shoulders with a sulky electronic warble. ]

Wish I could tell you about how or why any of this is happening, but your guess is as good as mine. [ He shakes his head, holding out his hand. Maybe a handshake is a touch overly formal, but the thought only occurs to him after he's offered it. ]

This area is called Johto. People can arrive here from vastly different realities, and in cases of people hailing from the same reality, different points in space-time. Nobody truly understands how this is happening, but it's been going on for ten years. [ A beat. ] Deca-phoebs. I've been here for one deca-phoeb.

As far as I've discerned, this world is mostly peaceful. There are two human organizations, one called Team Rocket, the other called the Aether Foundation that are responsible for most of the criminal activity when it occurs, but neither syndicate currently pose a threat as significant as the former Galran empire.

[ Yes. The former Galran empire. ]

... but all that said, I don't mean to alarm you. The people here are kind and generally mean no harm to others. You're in good company. As unusual as the circumstances may be, I'm very glad to see you here.

[Thace will give a Galran-style hand shake, fondly, and listen quietly until Keith is done. Well, mostly.]

With Voltron, we succeeded?

[The smile is quiet, and fades.]

I find myself looking for sinister ambitions or secrets behind every smiling face. But if this world is as peaceful as you say, I'll learn to trust, given time.

It wasn't without significant loss. Both for the Blades and for Voltron.

[ He doesn't know how much Thace would like to hear about it, but he won't sugarcoat for a fellow soldier. ]

But yes. The Galran empire is now part of the intergalactic coalition dedicated to keeping peace throughout the universe. [ A beat. ] Kolivan and Krolia were both elected as the Galran representatives.

[ He pauses, giving Thace a moment to digest that before continuing. ]

Many of the surviving Blades are going through a similar experience as you back home. If there's anything I can do to help put you at ease, don't hesitate to let me know.

[Thace says something very soft, an old Galran phrase that mourns the dead, but isn't surprised. Just resigned.]

So we knew would be the end for so many of us, but we had to fight.

[The rest of the news is more interesting, although it can't counter the familiar grief completely.]

They will lead well, and it is so good to hear that they survived.

[He has no idea what he even needs, as far as the offer goes, so he just gives a little shrug.]

The dark reminders of home will have to fade with time, or be proven false similarities, I suspect.

It was thanks to their effort and their sacrifices that the universe has something better to look forward to than endless warfare.

[ And it's something that Thace can enjoy as well now. As much as Keith has some mixed feelings about people from home showing up in this world, there's no doubt in his mind that the heroes that lost their lives during the war deserve to have a place like Johto. ]

But speaking of the other Blades, I should let you know that the signal you used is one that may bring back some painful memories. It was used by the druids to lure out many unsuspecting members. There may be those who will hear it and may assume the worst should more Blades arrive in this world. Fortunately, I haven't encountered any druids or former enemies here, and hopefully it'll stay that way.

It'll be good for you to rest, I imagine.

I don't intend to use it again. It greatly disturbed the Pokemon in the area.

[Thace looks disturbed, but also grateful.]

Thank you for the heads up, however.

[The look Keith gets says Thace isn't sure being here qualifies as 'rest' but a second later he nods.]

Rest would be welcome, yes. And I am glad that a Brother is here.

"But-- what about you if it goes wrong?" Claudia asks, frowning. "Should I call 911 on my, uh, pager thingy? Do they even have 911 in this world?"

She's not sure. And honestly, Thace is kind of worrying her. She doesn't know much about his past as a space alien, but she's kind of figured out that it wasn't very nice.

"I don't know what 911 refers to," Thace says with a hint of amusement, "so I can't say."

He can't keep the humor up and his smile drops. He doesn't want to endanger her, but at the same time, he needs to at least try to contact the Blades. "I'm prepared for the potential risks outcomes as much as I can be. I'm glad that you're concerned, but Claudia, I'm going to ask you to stay here. Are you willing to do that?"

"Back home if you dialed those numbers on your phone one after the other, it would bring you to the emergency line for the police and the doctors," Claudia explains. "If something bad happens to you, you'll need the doctor, right? Even if we aren't asking the police?"

She bites her lip. "But I guess I'm okay with doing that," she says finally. "Do you really think you friends will hear you?"

It's like ET, she thinks, only nobody's bike can fly with magic.

"That depends on what might go wrong, but yes, it's possible that I would need medical attention."

That question is the important one, isn't it? Thace closes his eyes for a moment. "I have to try. I suppose my chances depend on how much stock you put into the theories of alternate realities, and whether or not it's possible to cross between them."

Claudia wrinkles her nose. "That sounds like Janine stuff. Not anything I understand."

(Thace by now might know that 'Janine' is Claudia's older sister and that their relationship is... occasionally shaky.)

"That's the general response to Slav's theories. I don't really understand it either, past knowing that there are theories."

Thace's dry humor is shining through again. "Given that I somehow ended up transported from the middle of space to a bed, and changed into a different species, anything feels possible right now. So I have to try."

After a moment, Claudia nods. "There's something really weird here," she says. "And if you're trying to solve that mystery, then I need to help you with that. Even if I don't completely understand it myself."

He's her friend, after all--but also, mysteries were there to be solved. Claudia and her friends had done enough of that over the... year to be sure of that.

Thace nods, a flicker of a smile, a fond one, on his face. "I will appreciate your help, but this I should do alone."

"Okay," Claudia says, with a little nod. "Just remember, I'm only one yell away, okay?"

There's a moment where it looks like Thace might be leaning down to give her a hug or something, but in the end he only squeezes her shoulder. "Thank you. It means a great deal to me."

And then he goes to accidentally set off a swarm.

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Mysterious Interference and Action for Thace's traveling group

Pre-swarm

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Pre-swarm

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