if the healing mist wasn't a thing, aaron would probably be shitting himself by now. Josh Dragomir 's staff manages to slow their demise for a moment before the gondola doggedly resumes its path to the end of the track. with his braixen focusing on her psychic power, aaron grabs his pikachu in one hand and paws at the hot seat for something to hold onto with the other. 
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"holy shit," he breathes out shakily as the gondola comes off the track and begins to float above the jungle. "it actually worked!" 
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several thuds thump against the gondola and his braixen loses her concentration. no amount of healing mist can stop the knot of anxiety that rises in his throat as the gondola lurches and slips out of their pokemon's psychic hold. 
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when they come to a stop, cushioned by jungle foliage, aaron isn't completely convinced they aren't dead. it takes him a few moments of stillness to find the will to get up and move. his legs feel like jelly as he wobbles for the door, for solid ground, spitting profanities the whole miserable time.
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they need to get through this forest, somehow, and reach the summit — only, aaron isn't sure if that's physically possible or if this jungle is some kind of afterlife purgatory. he recalls his pikachu and replaces her with his feraligatr and nidorina, feeling, maybe, 1% more confident about his odds. 
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"fuck it — i'm gonna try and find a way out of here." it lingers like an invitation for the other crash survivors to join him in his endeavor, even though he offers no tactician's plan on how he thinks he will accomplish that. 
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heading toward the sound of groudon's roar, aaron orders his feraligatr to clear a path through the thick undergrowth with her SLASH attack. his nidorina gives her a HELPING HAND while braixen keeps watch in the back, her wand clutched in her paw.
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+ tldr: boy scout aaron recalls his pikachu and releases his feraligatr and nidorina. he's following the sound of groudon screaming in hopes that he will escape this jungle hell. his feraligatr uses slash to clear a path through the jungle thicket for him and nidorina gives her a helping hand with that. braixen is keeping an eye out for baddies. [break]
light screen (3/5)

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lucario continue to the lead way. with whimsicott gently holding the professor's shirt tail. the professor's freehand would come to find itself placed upon lucario's back who would guide. "it's alright, whimsicott. just remain close by." zenji fatherly spoke.

"keep up the good work luca--" zenji took notice of the jungle foliage around them. it was then that a rustling was heard. for a moment, as he turned toward the rustle, he thought he said lower-half of something PINK. it was too quick to fully notice, but for now he would ignore it. assuming it was to be none other than a pokemon running from groudon's wrath.

but there was another path where he heard the rustle emerge from leading toward something else. "whimsicott, refresh your SAFEGUARD once more." zenji would tug at lucario to halt. whereas the group may have chosen to go one way, zenji would choose another.

"let's see where this leads." and so he would steer of course toward the direction of where the pink blur moved. maybe there was a hint within this path that could lead them to victory.

HipU2ur2

note(s):
- zenji ordered whimsicott to refresh safeguard. zenji caught sight of something from his peripheral vision.

- zenji took note of another path that led both somewhere else and into the same direction of the pink blur he saw. he opted to go this route rather than the other out of curiosity, wondering if this could lead to what they were in search of.

@here

The maneuver had been clumsy, but at least they’d slowed down a bit with Caccio’s help. Still, away from that calming mist, Mint is all panic. He screamed as the spiderweb sunk down with his and another person’s weight before promptly bouncing back and down a couple of more times, allowing him to catch his breath. “Still live?” he wheezed checking his phone. Cool. Caccio and Gelato both wiggle in his grip, ripping the silk before the Luxio forced them to float back down to solid ground. A scream rips through the air and Mint isn’t blind to the sight of hot magma threatening to spill over. Even with the sunscreen from earlier, every exposed part of his skin was flushed red and slick with sweat. Droplets flush down his spine. [break][break]

“This is so goddamn weird…” he stated pointing his phone camera at the strange patches of jungle criss-crossing the landscape and the ancient pokemon that were roaming around. The humidity of the strips of prehistoric land only made the heat more intense. He moved his hand to his belt and let out his Snom. The bug pokemon promptly began climbing over his boot before Mint scooped him up and put him on top of his head. “Sorbeccito, can you use Powder Snow to cool us off?” he asked as he retrieved a small rag from his pack and held it in front of the Snom. The fat worm spat out a blast of cold energy that promptly melted and wet the rag, before beginning to produce a gentle snow around them. Hopefully that’d help. [break][break]

As he continued forward, wondering if his phone would catch the signal inside the jungle patches, he heard shouting nearby. Oh! The other people in the gondola had survived then yeah? Good for them. “Let’s meet up. Gelato take point and blast anything hostile with Ice Beam. Especially lava…hopefully it doesn’t come to that though. Caccio- fossils pokemon….uh…Iron Tail.” The Vulpix trembled as it moved forward, flanked by the taller electric type as Mint tried to join up with @giselle and aaron faust . Still streaming of course. “Sorbeccito if you can expand this a little to catch the other that’d be great.” He added attempting to offer some relief to his gondola companions but pushing forward and upward. Groudon’s towering figure loomed over them and the sun looked like it was growing even brighter. Despite all this, the stress, the adrenaline, the fear, the heat- Mint’s eyes wandered to the foliage and the scattering of ancient pokemon. Normally droopy green eyes were wide and alert for any signs of that fabled ice dino. Because why not take advantage of this situation? As his pokemon lead forward he kept his head on a swivel picking at any movement within the jungle foliage as they crossed.

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ZtYHC2cI

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+ tl;dr Cacio the Luxio, Gelato the Alolan Vulpix, Sorbeccito the Snom [break]
Mint is still live streaming this nightmare [break]
Lets out Sorbeccito to use Powder Snow to keep himself and company cool [break]
Tells Cacio and Gelato to take point to attack hostile things or lava [break]
Tries to catch up to @giselle + aaron faust [break]
Hunting for a ice dinos in the foliage. [break]

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”OW! What the hell?!”
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Of course that, out of all things, an Archeops just had to smack beak-first against his arm, because that was just Vic’s luck. It hurt like hell, and he felt something warm drenching his sleeve, but he could still move his arm, so let’s call that a win! Other than that, he was fine.
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Or was he now?
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While his Dragonite took a few seconds to rest after dealing with a barrage of birds, Vic looked around, squinting to be able to see past all the ash and tephra. Right there, at the crater of the volcano and half-sunken in lava, was Groudon. That kind of made it all sink in, huh? (No pun intended, mind you).
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What was Vic’s response to this sudden sight?
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He turned and got his phone out of his pocket one more time.
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For just this moment, the bandana that had been protecting him from inhaling all this ash was pulled down, and while still wearing goggles, he smiled at the camera – making a peace sign with his free hand. Behind him, over his shoulder, Groudon was clearly visible, and up above raged the artificial sun.
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Was it foolish, or was it the most epic selfie of the century? Jury's still out on that. But, he even tried posting the picture to Cliquesters Instagram despite the awful prehistoric Hoenn cell service, quickly writing the following caption:
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its gettin hot up hre! stay safe everyone!!!💞 we got this! #justhoennstuff

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It was important, alright?! People needed to know it would be alright even if things looked like absolute chaos! Even if, honestly, his own optimism was starting to falter a little...
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Despite this, just like that, the phone was returned to his pocket and the bandana was pulled up. ”Alright, you two, let’s head up fast! Go steady though, this heat is getting really bad.” This was no lie, and Vic wondered if they would all end up with some awful tan lines once all this was done.
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Anyways, onwards and upwards, to the sun!


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+ TL;DR:
[break]WE DID IT FOLKS, WE GOT OUR GROUDON SELFIE!... 'cause Azul really needed something for Vic to do while he flew up.
[break]He takes it, tries posting it, and continues flying up while telling his pokémon to be cautious and go steady. To the sun, bby!☀️

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Nle1vgKK

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