victory_road | action;

Entry tags:

action;

Who: Min-Gi Park [

outofsynth] + anyone else doing research
Where: Area Zero
When: April 9th - 10th
Summary: Researching a strange new place with strange new Pokémon
Rating: PG
Log:

ABOVE GROUND

[Here it's easier to relax. Despite the wild Pokémon being less used to humans there's more space to avoid them, making them easier to observe without agitating them.

Min can be found placing trail cams, trying to find obscure enough spots to keep them hidden. He has a big enough stash to keep him busy for a while, though he's in no hurry to place them. He might as well do the job properly, and so he tries to find places that are popular enough with the local Pokémon to make them worth setting up.

When he isn't doing that, he can be found sitting in a quiet grassy spot to write notes far enough to not disturb the Lotad playing in the nearby water.]

THE DEPTHS - BATTLE

[It's here that things are proving a little trickier. The caves are more confined, making it harder to deescalate when coming across any Pokémon that feel threatened by his presence.

Later, the scientists will likely appreciate whatever he manages to find by battling an Iron Jugulis, but for now it's not much comfort. It's aggressive enough he hasn't had chance to use his PokéGear, and he's unsure about the typing. He'd thought maybe a dark or dragon and steel type, but his Pancham is not faring well. A few well placed flying type moves have left Blitz weak on his feet, and fighting type moves aren't hitting as hard as he'd anticipated.

He grimaces, cheeks a little red from frustration at how this match is going. Maybe Blitz could keep going through level advantage, but that's not a chance he wants to take right now. The Pokémon down here are powerful, and he needs his team to have enough health to get them back out.]

All right... Parting Shot.

[Honestly, he's still not sure who he's sending out in the Pancham's place. Some back up would probably be appreciated.]

THE DEPTHS - EXPLORATION

[This is likely the most dangerous part of Area Zero, but despite having had a few run ins he's not as nervous as he could be. The crystals in the deeper caverns are breathtaking, and that helps take the edge of for him.

The Glimmora that accompanies him seems to appreciate them too, too lively to camouflage himself on any of the surfaces he briefly latches too before moving onto the next.

Even so, he's glad to see anyone else who happens to come down this far. There's a lot he's unfamiliar with, and there's always safety in numbers.]

It's really something down here, huh?

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Looks like you could use a hand.

[Riz tries to make that line sound smooth and cool, like an awesome spy in a thriller. Of course, the fact that he is trying, and was probably rehearsing the line in his head as he ran up, is probably going to make the line come out a little stilted and the absolute opposite of a cool one-liner.

But hey, at least help is here.

Riz is no more familiar with Iron Jugulis than Min is, but perhaps it's a steel type? It is a sort of robot, after all. It feels like a safe enough bet.]

Puk, it's your turn. Light 'em up.

[The Kecleon appears and immediately unleashes a a blast of fire at Iron Jugulis. Lets see if Riz's instincts are right and if this guy is a steel type weak to fire. And if he is not, well, Puk has plenty of other moves under his belt, which is why Riz is starting with him.

(And also maybe to show to Min how cool his way of fighting with Puk is. Maybe that too)]

[His hand is just hovering over Fade's ball when Riz shows up. It's not surprising to him when the new Pokémon doesn't seem to be weak to fire, but at least it's still doing some damage. He's less sure about the steel typing than he had been when he'd sent Blitz out and wants to see if there's maybe some dragon type weaknesses he can exploit.

Given Fade has two separate types of super effective moves at her disposal she seems like the ideal candidate. He briefly reconsiders knowing he has an ally to fight alongside, but she's a good team player, and he doesn't have to change that much.]

All right, Fade. Use Confuse Ray.

[The Vulpix appears in a flash, firing off a beam of brightly lit orbs that leave their opponent dazed. The Iron Jugulis has used Work Up while Min was finishing settling on his next Pokémon, undoing Blitz's final effort but at least buying them a little time to strategize.]

Does he know any fairy moves? If that's effective, I might have an idea.

[He hopes it is. Riz is good at this kind of thing, and Min kind of wants to show he can pull off some interesting twists too.]

[Riz frowns. Fairy is one of the few types Puk doesn't cover. He'll need to look and see if there is any way to change that. Later though. When they aren't fighting a very angry pokemon that could squish them both.]

No -- use shadow claw, Puk -- What have you been trying so far? Anything I should stay away from? Cause this thing is either not a steel type, or whatever dual typing its got compensates for being weak to fire.

[That's disappointing, but they have bigger problems right now than the lost opportunity to maybe get to show off to Riz.

Especially since it successfully fires off a retaliatory Dragon Pulse at Fade in spite of its confusion, seemingly not too hurt by the Shadow Claw.]

Get it back with Ice Beam!

[Fade picks herself back up, turning her attention back to the Iron Jugulis.]

Dark type moves don't do much. Normal and fighting seem okay. Ice--

[Ice does hurt! Min laughs in relief as the Ice Beam not only hits, but hits harder than anything he's thrown at it so far. He turns back to Riz quickly, like he might not have seen the reaction for himself.]

It doesn't like ice.

Oh, well, in that case --

[Riz gives Min a sharp grin, but rather than order Puk to use one of his ice moves --he does have some--, he reaches for his poke balls again, quickly recalling the little chameleon.]

-- Let's bring out the expert! I, get over here.

[And out pops a pokemon that looks rather like a giant ice crystal -- a cryogonal! A very weird ice type, and yet, very fitting for someone like Riz.]

Triple Axel!

[If ice hurts this pokemon, lets see how it'll fare against an Ice attack from a level 100 pokemon.]

[It hadn't been his initial idea, but the introduction of another ice type makes another Min's favoured strategies viable without risking his ally. Before he gets chance, however, the Iron Jugulis targets the Cryogonal with Dark Pulse. It's almost as though it's feeling them out for weaknesses, like they aren't the only ones facing a Pokémon they haven't encountered before.]

Use Hail, Fade.

[Despite being inside, the area the Pokémon are battling in darkens, followed immediately by a downpour of hail. It might not be necessary in the end. Now they've found a weakness, it definitely seems as though it's starting to falter.]

[Isosceles tanks the hit without looking too trouble. If nothing else, when the sudden chill rises in the air, and the hail starts coming down hard, he spins in about as much delight a snow crystal can show.]

Oh, great idea, dude.

[Riz shoots Min a quick thumbs up.]

Hit 'em with an Ice Beam, I!

Just don't switch him out.

[As though Riz would make that kind of mistake. Still, Min seems pleased with the acknowledgement. The otherwise focused Fade also wags her tail a little at Isosceles' enjoyment.

The second Ice Beam has things looking rocky for the Iron Jugulis. It appears a little desperate before it makes its next move: Hyper Voice, which isn't super effective on either of them, especially Cryogonal with its bulky special defence, but does still hit both of them.

That's okay. There's a part two to this plan, and with Isosceles able to put out so much damage he feels pretty safe taking on a more supportive role.]

Aurora Veil.

[There is the barest nod before the Vulpix summons up a veil of protective light over both of them.]

[Battling like this makes Riz feel like he is fighting with the rest of the Bad Kids by his side. Sure, he might not be fighting himself, but this sort of team work is the same that you find in a party, where people everybody can take up different roles in the fight, and everybody can focus on what they do best.

Which in Riz's case has always been dealing damage.]

Hit it again, I!

[Protected under the Aurora Veil, and frankly, loving the Hail, Iscoceles fires off another heavy beam of ice at Iron Jugulis, ice starting to creep up the creature's limbs.]

[Whatever it had been planning next, they don't find out. Isosceles' attack has frozen it in place, keeping it from attacking. It's looking extremely weak at this point. Min suspects if he attacked now they'd defeat it.

It's tempting to take the opportunity to win this now, but a quick glance at Riz gives him the idea he's enjoying this almost as much as his Pokémon is. Besides, they've been doing well like this, and with Aurora Veil up they're well protected.]

Confuse it again, Fade.

[They'd been unlucky in their previous attempt, with the Iron Jugulis able to push through its confusion pretty quickly and not being held back by it. Maybe this time it will prove more useful, but he suspects if Riz has his Cryogonal attack again he'll be able to defeat it.]

[Riz will be more than happy to finish off this pokemon. But before he does so, he does have to do a quick check in with Min.]

Do you wanna catch this thing?

[Riz'll pass! It's a bit too big for his tastes. Plus he already has a couple of pokemon he is training, but who knows. Maybe Min needs an angry... robot dragon thing in his life. Riz isn't judging.]

[He hadn't been planning on catching it, but when Riz asks he does have a moment of hesitation.

Should he catch it?

Probably not. He's not sure he wants this particular Pokémon anyway, but if he did he might be better off finding one that's less aggressive. After a short pause he shakes his head.]

No. If you want to catch it, it's all yours.

[It is a pretty weird Pokémon, so maybe Riz wants it. He's welcome to it, if so.]

Nah, I'm good.

[Riz already has plans for his next pokemon capture and nothing is going to beat owning a shrimp with a gun. For real, why did it take him so long to find out about that pokemon.

But well, now they have established that neither of them want this pokemon--]

Time to finish this then! I, one more Ice Beam.

[MMmmm watcha saaaay...]

[One more Ice Beam is plenty. Especially after Fade's Confuse Ray pays off this time, causing it to hurt itself instead of its opponents. Min turns to Riz with a grin, holding out a hand to beckon Fade back towards him.

She listens, though she's definitely still very interested in Isosceles.]

Thanks. That would've been a lot harder if you hadn't showed up.

[He's so elated he's forgotten all about the part of him that had wanted to prove himself earlier.]

[Riz is grinning wide, holding his hand up for a high five.]

That's the power of a party, baby.

[Well, technically, it's just the two of them, but it's something. Also, you aren't just going to leave him hanging here, are you, Min?]

[Of course he's not going to leave him hanging. What kind of self-respecting 80s dude turns down a five?]

Yeah?

[He's strangely touched that Riz is counting him in his party, however briefly. They've butted heads on this kind of issue and especially because of that Min knows how important that is to him.

He doesn't like to admit he could be wrong (and he still thinks Riz put himself in way too much danger back home), but...]

I guess I can see what you see in this.

[Radical.

Riz laughs, before shooting a thumbs up at Isosceles as well. Unfortunately, he doesn't have any limbs which can be high-fived.]

Yeah. Can you believe I thought I didn't need friends once upon a time.

[Fade could high-five, but she prefers ears scritchies so that's what she gets.

It actually does surprise Min that Riz didn't always think he needed friends. He always speaks so highly of them, and they seem to come up in almost every topic.]

Huh. I kind of used to think that too.

[This might be less surprising from Min-Gi whose life is so focused around Ryan and music, with everything else taking an obvious backseat in comparison.]

Were you also bad at making friends as a kid?

[Because that is where it had stemmed from for Riz -- despite numerous attempts on his part, he had never been able to connect to his peers as a child. Part of that was his attitude and interests, part of that was being a goblin in a world that didn't rate them well. Eventually he had simply convinced himself that he didn't need friends, because it was easier than getting hurt over and over again.]

[Min-Gi straightens up after giving Fade's fur one final ruffle.]

My friends were Ryan's friends. When he left...

[When he left Min-Gi tanked his childhood friendships all by himself, but he still doesn't see it that way. The reality is they had plenty of friends who liked Min just fine. Some who probably even thought they clicked with him better than they did Ryan. But he'd brushed off any attempt they'd made to hand out with him post-high school, convincing himself it was just holdover obligation.

Who has time for friends when you have a full schedule of uni applications, a job you hate, and moping around anyway?]

[Riz nods, for once immediately picking up what Min is putting down here. He had never quite experienced it himself, mostly on account of not having had any friends before Penny, but he certainly knew about 'friendships' only lasting as long as you were useful. It wasn't all that dissimilar.]

Wait, why did he leave? I thought the two of you were tight?

We are. But... you know. He wanted to play music, I wasn't ready.

[This is an extremely sanitized version of how things went down, but close enough for this conversation. Min shrugs, definitely casually.]

Sometimes you just aren't in the same place as someone no matter how close you are.

['Not being in the same place as someone no matter how much you love them' could be something Riz could take note of and learn from. It would certainly help address some of his insecurities.

Of course, Riz absolutely does not, under any circumstance, examine his fears and anxieties, so he's going to swerve that shit.]

That won't be me and the Bad Kids. We'll be together forever.

[High school, then the same college, then who knows. Houses on the same street or just one big mansion. Riz has it all planned out.]

Edited 2024-05-24 02:09 (UTC)

[Despite all the danger he faces and the responsibility he puts on his own shoulders it's stuff like that that really makes it hard to forget that Riz is still such a kid. He's nowhere near as grown up as he thinks he is.

Min could point out that change isn't always as scary as you think, but he doesn't think it would be that reassuring. He sure wasn't ready to hear that when he was his age, and although that had cost him for once he decides against pushing his advice onto Riz.]

Sure. Maybe it'll be different for you guys.

[His tone still manages to sound a little patronizing. He's trying, okay?]

[Change is terrifying, thank you very much. Riz has finally gotten to a point where he is quite happy with the state of his friendships and he absolutely does not want that to change in any way or form. Especially because he has no idea if he could ever rebuild it. Meeting the bad kids had been such a fluke, how would he ever recreate the circumstances? Colleges don't even give you detention.]

It'll absolutely be different. You don't go through a nightmare forest and not create a neverending bond.

[Okay, technically, they had gone through the forest alone, but hadn't the thought of their friends been the thing driving them on? Doing it all for Kristen, being spurred on by Gorgug telling them to keep going; it had still been a group project.]

[That's a little irksome. He knows himself how scary change can be and it's mostly the fact that was already on his mind that keeps him biting his tongue on saying anything along the lines of even seemingly neverending bonds needing work. Maybe it will be useful for him to hear eventually, but there's little point in risking it now when for once they're more or less on the same page.]

I guess that is a pretty big deal.

[Besides them the Iron Jugulis stirs, causing Min to jump and Fade to bark out a quick warning in case the trainers haven't noticed.]

...we'd probably better get out of here.

[Oh, Riz wouldn't mind hearing that bonds need work. He loves work! He does so much work, Min. He takes overtime on his overtime on his overtime. If all he has to do is put in more work to keep his friends together, then he'll chug another five cups of coffee, cut his sleep down to two hours, and fucking thrive.

(this attitude might be slightly self-destructive)]

Huh, yeah.

[Not that Riz is too worried about this guy. They beat him once, they can do it again. But they are burning a lot of time just standing around and chatting here when they could be doing things.]

Wanna find some more to beat up or are you heading back to the research station?

[A perfectly good and healthy attitude that is definitely in line with Min-Gi's sentiment.

He seems surprised that Riz wants to seek out more battles, but most of his team are still in good shape. He could, especially now he has someone he can team up with. He glances down at Fade who nods.]

We can stick around for a bit if you need the help.

Yeah, dude.

They said they were gonna find some way to reward us if we helped them out and it's not that I don't enjoy sorting through some file cabinets [There isn't even sarcasm in his voice; Riz does genuinely like that sort of stuff] but getting to battle these guys is pretty fun.

[Min-Gi gives him a bit of a look to try and decipher whether that's sarcasm or not. It doesn't seem to be, which might surprise him if he didn't already know that Riz is kind of a weird dude.

Even so, his excitement to battle more is more expected.]

They're pretty tough. Have you fought many on your own?

[ Luisa isn't entirely used to really formal research; it wasn't entirely necessary, with the Encanto closed off as it is there wasn't much need for it. But while she's not familiar with the process of it, she can at least help by carrying a lot of the equipment around, transporting them to others that are setting things up.

So while Min-Gi is setting up some of the cameras, Luisa is carrying them to different spots that are designated to set up, and she waves as she's bringing him another set. ]

Here. Where do you want this one?

[Min-Gi isn't used to research like this either. He'd forfeited his place at uni, but even if he hadn't finance wouldn't exactly have given him much experience with this sort of equipment. What's been more useful, actually, is all the time he's spent setting up equipment for Chicken Choice Judy shows.

It's not exactly the same, but it's been handy when it comes to helping him learn how to set the cameras up.

He looks up when Luisa asks where to put it, casting his eyes around to some of the places he'd been considering for the next one.]

How about there?

[He nods over to a bushy area where the foliage is thick enough to disguise the camera, but sparse enough they can probably set it up to get a good view.]

[ Glancing in the pointed direction, Luisa carries the equipment over easily enough and sets them down gently. She isn't familiar enough with them to try setting them up herself, so she'll leave that to someone who would know a bit better. ]

There are a lot of cameras we're setting up. I was wondering how much we really need them, but I guess this area is pretty mysterious.

[Min-Gi's just happy to have someone to help with the heavy lifting. It's not like he isn't used to hurling heavyweight equipment around, but the cameras are still new to him and it's nice to be able to focus on them.

He stands, following Luisa over to where she's put the next camera down so he can start setting it up.]

I guess it helps to record them when they aren't being watched. They can look back at them later this way too.

Yeah, that's true. I guess it help to have it all up just in case something happens.

[ While Luisa doesn't try to set up the cameras herself, she's more than happy to hold things to make it easier for Min-Gi to get them ready. ]

Yeah. Better to have footage you don't need than risk missing something important, right?

Yeah... as long as there's enough space for all that footage, I guess.

[ She's not sure exactly how it works, but all that has to be stored somewhere right? ]

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The Depths - Battle

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Above Ground

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