Deciding that trekking the slope on foot was too slow, Derek released another avian that would make much quicker work of their ascencion to the top of Mt. Pyre. Or close to, anyway. People sometimes liked to build them in hard to reach places, adding to the sanctity of their existence. This was usually the case so that when you visited them, you were alone with your deity, your prayers, or whatever the shrine was intended for.

But when Derek finally reaches it atop his Corviknight, the scene coming into view makes things clear—he was not alone. And there was surely no deity safeguarding this place. Just someone who stood tall, the intimidating pokemon next to them, and those lying on the ground.

"What happened here?" Derek asks, simply wishing to find out what had gone on in his absence. Though, as he asks this, a straggler seems to make a run for it. Was that really the wisest move he could make? Well, maybe.

A closer look at those on the ground would tell a great deal. One might even say they were the victims here...

sagira mosse

☉

Though Derek wouldn't hear the story, it appeared one of the groups heard of someone making the trip to the shrine with something valuable—a stone of "great power". Having arrived at nearly the same time, they seemed to have gotten into some kind of skirmish. As evident by the scene, neither side truly won the conflict...but where was the item in question?

"Hello?" Derek acknowledges the sound and small glimpses of movement, realizing that those on the ground were unconscious. Or...maybe dead? "There's no use running...or hiding!" While one hand fetched the small flashlight in his pocket, another grasped for one of the pokeball holsters at his waist.

The figure ahead of him reared on Derek, sending their pokemon after him. Without being told, the Corviknight he rode in on clasped the two in the clutches of it's talons, throwing them against the ground. It seemed they didn't have much fight in them, as restraining the figure and their pokemon went without a hitch.

"...Now where did our friend run off to." Returning to his search, Derek eyed the corners of the shrine's entrance, keeping his flashlight directed ahead while his Corviknight kept an eye out front. The carefully paced footsteps of his could be heard throughout the shrine, alerting anyone around when he was growing near...

"Sagira!?" He calls, wondering if she's here somewhere.

sagira mosse

☉

"What? No, I—" Hostility in the air roused confusion in the ranger, who had to take a moment to gather his thoughts because of it. "The only conscious person I saw ran just as soon as I landed." Shouldn't she have waited until after his answer to get mad?

Regardless, the figure and their pokemon had gotten away. Her hiss-of-a-whisper prompted Derek to speak similarly while posing his own question. "You got here before me, what about you?" As the two of them conversed, the sound of something (likely someone) near where Sagira had left her questionee could be heard. Derek thought little of it, though in her case...

sagira mosse

☉

Though he didn't have time to really say, there were only a few bodies lying out there. But something told him they were a little more than just unconscious. But like the quickness of the runner, Sagira cuts off the conversation and begins her pursuit.

With his Corviknight watching over everything else, Derek bolts after Sagira and whoever it was she was after. Let alone the tone of her voice, the look on her face seems to tell that she wouldn't be letting this one get away without one hell of a chase.

The Zarude she rides is quick, and no doubt she'd catch up to them. But seeing as his only avian pokemon was preoccupied, the ranger had something else in mind. A pokeball is lobbed forward, releasing a Machamp that quickly assesses the situation.

Randal isn't that fast, so he chooses instead to pick up and launch a miniature rock blast, either tripping up or even cripple the runner. All that was left was for Sagira to catch up and...

sagira mosse

☉