"shit."[break][break]

it isn't the rift at mount pyre he had discussed with petalburg gym leader DEREK HOFFMAN the other day but it is still something. a wide expanse of a desert dotted with rocky structures and towering monoliths. to think that this exists a mere step away from petalburg is damning.[break][break]

he turns to his expedition party, understanding that his expertise does not fall within the realms of exploration. he chooses not to rely on boruta maher, however, and looks at Shalin Nariya instead.[break][break]

"so! where to?"

[attr="class","ooc"]boruta maher Shalin Nariya Andrea Vaneau[break]

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

when they appeared out of the rift, the view was breathtaking and strange. not totally unlike hoenn’s desert, but indescribably alien.

he looked behind them at the slice in the dimensional fabric. after what had happened at the temple, and distortions, he didn’t trust that it would be there when they returned. underneath a nearby shrub, he stacked several stones. he would continue to do this along the way, every so often.

it came as no surprise that cian deferred to someone else. he didn’t much care to interact with him either, and was convinced this was punishment, whether divine or administrative.

in no way reluctant to the idea, he was the tail of the group beside his urshifue. his eyes followed the tip of shalin’s finger, and internally, he reasoned, why not. they would go west, or wherever that direction was.

notes:
- stacking rocks as trail markers
- following quietly

CIAN MAHER Shalin Nariya Andrea Vaneau

☉

Andrea stuck out like a sore thumb even in this otherworldly landscape, trudging along the dunes in her signature onesie. She didn't know anyone in her expedition group, aside from remembering Cian from the Gym challenge. That green-haired lady, though, seemed like she knew what she was doing, so the young PokéManiac followed her lead.

A towering Alolan Exeggutor waddled behind the dragon-hooded girl, its large, leafy head providing some much-needed shade from a merciless alien sun. If only it could also do something about the sweltering heat. It truly went to show how they'd hopped into an alternate dimension when Hoenn itself was freezing, yet this desert was hot as a furnace.

"Ugh, so hot! I can't take it anymore!" The draconic cosplayer let out an exasperated groan, reaching for the zipper behind her costume. It was actually happening, folks: She was finally going to take that ridiculous gear off.

Fret not, she was thankfully not naked under that thing, a modest sports bra covering her (surprisingly girthy) chest. She kept the bottom half of her onesie on, the rest of the costume shagging behind her like a Scraggy's tail.

"Are we there yet?" Andrea asked their fearless leader, wiping a bucket of sweat off her forehead.

Shalin Nariya, CIAN MAHER, boruta maher

☉

in order of who's leading the group: shalin, cian, andrea, boruta. this is the marching order they decided on because cian would rather not be directly in front of his brother.[break][break]

the longer they walk, the more he's starting to realize just how hot it is. his thoughts are vocalized by Andrea Vaneau, so he turns around to agree with her.[break][break]

"yes it's scorching out here!"[break][break]

he's glad to see her taking her draconic outfit off because he can only imagine how uncomfortable it must have been. he smiles at her, agreeing before looking back at their leader in the front.[break][break]

"should we look to set up camp soon?"

[attr="class","ooc"]boruta maher Shalin Nariya Andrea Vaneau[break]

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

bo was beginning to stall behind further and further, both with his rock-stacking and thorough inspection of their surroundings. it was for this reason he noticed the ground shifting, far behind them all. something was coming. something big.

”oh.”

he dropped the rocks in his hand, reached for pokeballs to switch out his irshifu as he ran. an aerodactyl burst from another pokéball, and he jumped onto it, still headed in the direction of cian and andrea as they continued on-foot. he hoped to catch them in time that they’d hear his warning clear enough.

”hey! there's something—!”

before they had made it three feet off the ground, the worm burst from the sand, sending bo and his aerodactyl hurtling violently through the air.

notes:
- sees something moving under the sand
- tries to warn cian and andrea in time
- is knocked into the air by giant orthworm

CIAN MAHER Shalin Nariya Andrea Vaneau

☉

"Don't worry, Letheia. You don't have to carry me on your back if you don't want to." Andrea said with a weary smile, reaching for the Alolan Ninetales' fluffy mane in order to pet it. Sadly, its frigid presence was a minute solace from the Ultra Desert's abnormal heat, which was bordering on unbearable.

"Don't worry, sweetheart, I'm sure you and your friends will get through this together." A gentle, maternal voice spoke inside Andrea's head. A woman dressed up like a Charizard was suddenly standing across from her.

"M-Mom...?"

"You can do this, my girl!" An absolute unit of a man dressed up like a Tyranitar appeared alongside Andrea's Mom, flashing a hearty thumbs up. "And don't forget the first rule of cosplaying: Never get your costume dirty!"

"Dad?! What are you two doing here?!" The girl blurted out in sheer shock.

Little did she know that her parents and their loving words of encouragement were nothing but a misleading mirage brought about by the heat.

The young PokéManiac was snapped out of her hallucinating stupor when a Giant Worm burst out of the ground, followed by another, and another. The tremors generated by their sudden emergence caused Lola the Exeggutor to lose her balance and fall on her massive trunk.

Following the advice of her hallucinatory parents, Andrea tucked the shaggy upper half of her costume into the bottom half, before sending out another of her Pokémon to fend off those wacky-looking creatures: A fearsome, green-scaled Hydreigon. "Chomper, Outrage!"

The three-headed dragon barreled into one of the gargantuan noodles with his full draconic might, while the eccentric cosplayer ran up to her toppled Exeggutor to make sure the latter wasn't badly hurt.

Shalin Nariya, CIAN MAHER, boruta maher

☉

watching Shalin Nariya take off on her yanmega, cian shouts out a warning a little too late.[break][break]

"i don't think we should split up!"[break][break]

that's like rule number one in all of fiction. those that do decide to split up eventually end up getting picked off after the other. he hopes that won't be the case now.[break][break]

but as Andrea Vaneau starts to hallucinate, or at least he assumes she is considering there's no one else around them, he cannot help but sigh.[break][break]

his sigh is cut short by boruta maher's warning and the GIANT ORTHWORMS that erupt from the sand beneath them.[break][break]

"shit! get up in the air, quick!"[break][break]

caturne's SPIKY SHIELD forms underneath cian, spikes pointing downwards as it forms what appears to be a bowl. one of the GIANT ORTHWORM slams into it which sends cian up into the air.[break][break]

a pokeball bursts open, and from it comes a flygon that catches him.[break][break]

"go go go!"[break][break]

prompts:[break]
- 02 involve gigantic orthworms who attempt to hunt you using tremorsense.[break]
- 16 search for suitable locations to set up camp/base (e.g. an oasis).

[attr="class","ooc"]boruta maher Shalin Nariya Andrea Vaneau[break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-cacturne"][attr="class","pkspr pkmn-flygon"]

as he was falling through the air, his eyes caught a glimpse of another worm shooting up from the ground. then, his brother was airborne, just as he unceremoniously and painfully dropped onto the passing body of his aerodactyl.

the buzz of shalin’s yanmega was both deafening and nauseating in volume, each sonic wave like a repeated kick to his gut until they were out of the audial danger zone.

andrea had her hydreigon, and seemed to be ready to use it, so bo zipped past. unknowingly, he repeated his brother verbatim, ”get up in the air!” his eyes shot over at cian. somewhere in that glance was gratefulness that he had not been eaten. it was torn away just as quickly to look back at shalin again.

if the buzzing had subsided, he’d call, ”we don’t know how many there are! let’s just stay off the ground for now!”

notes:
- escapes orthworms on aerodactyl
- suggests staying in air for now

CIAN MAHER Shalin Nariya Andrea Vaneau

☉

The tremors were alarmingly increasing in both duration and intensity. As per the warnings of the Cian siblings, the draconic cosplayer hopped onto her Hydreigon's back, who took flight. With all of the expedition crew airborne (sans Lola who was returned to her ball instead), the wild Orthworm wiggled about in confusion, unable to locate their prey using their tremorsense.

Things only got worse for our big, wormy friends when Shalin's Terastallized Yanmega overloaded their senses with a boosted Bug Buzz. "Whoa, so cool! It's just like back at the meteorite!" Andrea loudly mused, while covering her ears to avoid going deaf from the blaring noise.

However, Chomper decided that the Orthworm hadn't been bullied enough, turning towards his trainer with a meaningful look. Andrea blinked. "You wanna do a cool thing too? Don't tell me... You wanna use a Z-Move?!" She gasped. Wasn't that a bit overkill?

No, said Chomper, leaving his trainer on top of a large rock pillar for safety, and staring at her fiercely, practically begging her to activate that Z-Ring. The girl nodded. "OK, let's do it! INFERNO OVERDRIVE!!" She shouted at the top of her lungs.

The Hydreigon's body was coated in intensely hot flames. Letting out a mighty roar, he descended upon the crowd of disoriented, tangled Orthworm like a giant ball of fire - or more aptly a gigantic, ravenous, fiery maw. The resulting explosion could be seen from miles away, though there was likely no-one else in this desolate desert to observe the phenomenon.

Shalin Nariya, CIAN MAHER, boruta maher //z-move for the thread used

☉

in the air and out of danger, at least for now, cian watches Shalin Nariya and Andrea Vaneau handle the orthworms, dealign with them in their own respective ways. one utilizing the new tera crystals while the other opted for the more familiar z-move.[break][break]

it's only when he spots a familiar green that sticks out from the beige does he remember he left his cacturne down there.[break][break]

"hang in there lugh!"[break][break]

his flygon dips back down, weaving in between the BUG BUZZES before coming close enough for a pokeball to recall the cacturne.[break][break]

back up cian goes, leveling shortly after.[break][break]

from that high up, he can see more and more orthworms traveling across the desert. tens, maybe even hundreds start to make their way over, drawn to the BUG BUZZES.[break][break]

"there are shit ton more coming our way! we should leave for now and return later when things have calmed down!"

[attr="class","ooc"]boruta maher Shalin Nariya Andrea Vaneau[break]

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