WIDE GUARDS enact, shielding them from potential doom. it's a shame matias doesn't see it that way, no matter the sources of them.[break][break]

"i had it!"[break][break]

but with options now presented in front of them, matias wastes no time in deciding on one. what better than the chance to fight the biggest and the baddest?[break][break]

he'd settle for nothing less.[break][break]

briefly, he casts a glance at FERNANDO SILPH, gesturing at the patch over his eye. he doesn't bother hiding the grin he wears; it's one of both smugness and excitement for what's to come.[break][break]

"love the new look! what do you say, brother? you up for a fight down terminal two?"[break][break]

regardless of FERNANDO SILPH's answer, matias sprints down TERMINAL TWO with Eva Morales, swapping out his pokemon along the way. his manectric darts ahead, ROARING away.

[attr="class","ooc"]4YNb2SxT [break][break]
- using ONE SALAC[break]
- officially invites FERNANDO SILPH along[break]
- heads down TERMINAL 2 with Eva Morales[break]
- MANECTRIC preemptively using ROAR[break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-manectric"]

move.[break][break]

nagi doesn't. [break][break]

still as a statue, and just as ornamental. he watches as the hand lunges out of the screen; as nails dig in; as red blossoms over PENELOPE LIVY 's neck. the uncanny, dead-eyed copy presses in, and his boss gasps for air, and when nagi finally unsticks his semi-translucent foot from the floor, in a shaking, staggering step forwards, he —[break][break]

— doesn't know what to do. [break][break]

move. help. [break][break]

(you told her to look, it's your fault.)[break][break]

"mime — "[break][break]

his voice is drowned out in the commotion. he watches, as Andrea Vaneau charges in, fists swinging; as the crackling hum of Josh Devlin 's THUNDER WAVE sparks through air. all too quickly, and yet not quickly enough, the people around him surge around to help penelope struggle free. [break][break]

and he can only watch — arms halfway outstretched, mouth halfway open. soundless and motionless.[break][break]

useless. [break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] @ CYBERCHASE [break]
[break]
• sorry boss :sob: [break]
• nagi doesn't do shit. in a roomful of heroes someone's gotta be the loser!!![break]
• will quietly follow PENELOPE LIVY to terminal 3 [break]

Well that's not good.

Quite a few individuals have already set off a trap of sorts, and paid for it by being choked by these...copies of themselves. These apparitions didn't seem to speak out with some kind of agenda or battle cry, or even behave in a way that made them come off as much more than digital replications. Thought it did seem to have taken a fair amount of effort to get rid of some of them.

Likewise, part of Derek wanted to help PENELOPE LIVY. But these people were so close together that he wasn't comfortable with the risk of harming them in the process. So he let things play out as they would. It wasn't quite as bad as one could've imagined.

Personally, the worst thing he witnessed was that nagi miwa seemed to stand there, petrified of them. In this place, having a coward along for the ride was probably the most dangerous thing he could think of. Not that they had much of a choice. What with free will and all.

And worse yet? Derek was the one who offered them a ride down here in the first place, making him feel responsible for getting them out. God dammit.

Observing those that began splitting up, there was an urge to head elsewhere. But as he searched the groups, Derek only noticed one person so far that he felt could be trusted to look after those headed for TERMINAL 03. Rather than take any chances, he reluctantly follows behind Greyson Connors and those with him..

OKxxHAem

---

- Porygon-2 remains next to Derek
- Derek heads for TERMINAL 03 to keep an eye on things

CYBERCHASE CONUNDRUM

☉

One second he’s taking tabs of the battle, seeing who is where, who might need help, where he needs to go--

--and the next, she’s gone.

Just, gone.

The sounds of fighting dissipate into a vague hush and his mouth goes dry, a sickly, cold feeling sliming its way through his stomach, his limbs. His heart rate rockets, and it’s only when he hears Alex’s voice-- just his voice, not what he’s saying, because brain dot exe has stopped working, that he realizes he’s been screaming.

Nothing else matters. He sent his friend into the fray and now she’s gone. Vaporized. Deleted.

Dead?

He’s flailing like a toddler, nails scraping at Alex’s arm, pushing, pulling; it’s a horrifying feeling. All of Guillermo’s sacrifices so far have been self-made, willingly given; this was his friend, his fault, his responsibility.

The datascape writhes and breaks around him, lost in the madness of his own panic and heartbreak. His ankles click against the floor, sending shocks of pain up his legs, and Alex is talking at him again, but he still doesn’t comprehend the words. At least his screaming fades into the rest of it.

Alex has to bodily drag him in the direction of the larger man’s choosing.

“I can’t just--,”

What? Leave her down here? There’s no ‘her’ left to leave. Shivani is gone.

Two braincells manage to bonk off each other in his frightened mind and he realizes that by having a meltdown he’s making Alex a bigger target. So, he steels himself, gripping the arm wrapped around his waist with white knuckles, forcing himself to-- to--

He stops flailing. His feet touch the ground.

“I’ll-- you can let me go, now,” he says, voice calmer, but struck through with a wave that reveals his sadness. It’s a throaty, echoing tone. He’s trying not to cry.

“Let’s go. L-lead on.”

---

G_AWP|vz

tl ; dr
- memo has no pkmn out
- freaks out after seeing shivani the banette get zapped, spends the entire post freaking out
- eventually drags himself together to follow alex's lead. your little boy is growing up. they're taking the middle path/the second terminal.

Alexei Ivanov et all c:

☉

diving into a sloppy roll, greyson uses the momentum to push himself to his feet. chaos played out around him, but he'd been granted a brief interlude. aiming to use it wisely, he does a brief scan of the events as they unfold. greyson held no concern for the more capable battlers, such as kyle lopez, MATIAS SILPH, Eva Morales and so on, and so forth.
[break][break]
his eyes snap to, and linger for just a solitary moment, on annalise henderson. her hands were full with... copies? his expression shifts as he takes in the scene in-front of him. men and women were in the iron death grip of exact replicas of themselves, their stares blank and expressionless, like dolls given just the briefest sparks of life. anna was attempting to pry mint frost free — huh, so even mint was here? — the thought disappears in a flash as his mind attempts to come up with a course of action.
[break][break]
next to mint frost was PENELOPE LIVY, her own copy wrestling to snuff the life from the reporter. why in arceus's name was she here? she wasn't a combatant. was she covering this for a story or something?
[break][break]
greyson growls at the recklessness oft both annalise henderson, and PENELOPE LIVY. he'd share his own keen words with mint frost, too, the little smurf shit.
[break][break]
other had, of course, taken up the mantle of attempting to free them from their copies. some (Josh Devlin) more dangerously than others. but, he didn't really blame the guy — this was a momentous shit storm.
[break][break]
"delphox," he calls to the fire-type's back. she didn't turn, but the flick of her eye onto him for a second, was enough for him to know she was at least half-paying attention. he points, both mentally and physically, in the direction he's aiming for.
[break][break]
"assist those two. anyway you can."
[break][break]
his attention by now had moved on to the new riddle. his first instinct was to go to terminal o1, or o2, but he sees clearly now that it's also the intention of nearly everyone else. putting it into the context of a video game was simple; if you needed to beat all three bosses to proceed, and one was severely undermanned, they would be stuck here.
[break][break]
forever.
[break][break]
the burst of PSYCHIC energy pulls him back, as delphox focuses on SEPERATING THE CLONES from their originals. if she could, she'd even HOLD THEM STILL for the other pokemon to attack. he's already moving towards TERMINAL 3.
[break][break]
"you just keep getting yourself into trouble," he'll tell PENELOPE LIVY as she rejoins him. but, from the corner of his eyes, he spots a lone figure that doesn't seem to advance. his delphox psychically tells him her name, before the words could even leave his mouth in a harsh yell.
[break][break]
"Andrea Vaneau, get your ass moving!"
[break][break]
satisfied, he turns to the man next to him, grinning something primal.
[break][break]
"DEREK HOFFMAN, nagi miwa, and the rest of you — we'll have to make introductions later (Johanna Joy, Isaac Merlo) —, are you all ready?"
[break][break]
for whatever the hell awaited them?

[attr="class","notes"]@cc

[break][break]

5nBcIDPY

[break][break]
⤷ takes a minute to breathe and assess the scene.[break]
⤷ wonders why annalise henderson, PENELOPE LIVY, and even mint frost are all here in the first place.[break]
⤷ delphox uses PSYCHIC to HOLD STILL THE COPIES/RELEASE THEIR GRIP on originals.[break]
⤷ runs off to TERMINAL xo3, ULTRA BEASTU, and makes sure everyone already going there, is ready.
⤷ RECALLS Delphox

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉

While the Protect serves its purpose in defending them, it does nothing against the unexpected, murderous doppelganger that emerges from Locke's phone. Skyler's attention splits, people rushing past in either fear or excitement as she takes stock of this new threat.

Why is it always Locke? The thought pops up even as she's twisting her body to face this new threat, fist coiled tight. Arceus damn it, that postman is cursed.

Angelo effortlessly jumps into the fray and Skyler is not far behind. While the pilot makes sure their Locke is safe and out of the way, Skyler goes on the offensive.

Pincurchin's spiky body crackles with electricity - right before a punch connects with fake!Locke's face. Instinct overrides reason and logic, Skyler quickly falling back on what she is most used to. 

Immediately after, a Thunderwave arcs over Skyler's head to hit both fake!Locke and the device it's emerged from. Hopefully frying it enough that it doesn't spew out any other alternate selves. Sea Queen Skyler had been more than enough - but three of them? The multiverse might as well implode.

"First one!" She's barely taken notice of where it leads, but then again she'd never been one to cower from some improvisation from time to time. "I swear, if I see one more doppelganger-"

The following description is a quite graphic backdrop to their venture, Skyler and angelo vestri easily keeping pace with each other, along with Locke Jamison .

Fxh4Wuvx

TLDR;
- gdi locke, pls stay safe
- skyler PUNCHES fake!locke
- pincurchin uses THUNDERWAVE on fake!Locke and on the device, hopefully paralysing the first and frying the latter
- going to TERMINAL 01

angelo vestri Locke Jamison  

☉