“Aye, fine as can be.” Sigurd responded to the roll call. Words still affected by the sheer uselessness that he had displayed.

A surprisingly spirited clap on his back shook him out of the rut he found himself in. The grin contagious in its earnesty spread onto him. Sigurd stretched his back removing the slouch that had come to it.

He joined the rest of the group as their Captain held a quick meeting. Sigurd gave a pleased nod in Doug’s direction as the man remembered his surname.

A rest for the civvies was suggested. Sigurd thought that wise, he didn’t mind continuing on.

Rides were asked about. And everyone who hadn’t already summoned one of their own. Sigurd didn’t. Instead he patted the back of the Flygon by his side as he said “I will stick to Frigg here.” Before climbing atop the Flygon once more.

The Flygon clearly didn’t mind.

“Well, I am as ready as can be.” Sigurd replied, having now gotten nice and comfy on the Flygon’s back.

OOC: EXPLORATION TIME!
LOCATION: ULTRA DESERT
TAGS: Elaine Highland / maverick noah ryder / John Sullivan
TLDR:
- Sigurd Join's the Flygon Rider club with Elaine
- Sigurd is ready to go!

ULTRA DESERT: EMSD

1st Expedition: Survey Corps— move out!

Doug nodded, grinning at Tiamat. "Good to see the best dragon around."

Not just someone, but sometwo as well! The youth's grin broadened as Sigurd Holst joined Elaine Highland in the Flygon Crew, briefly considering joining them with his own...

Almost as if sensing his thoughts however, Officer Jenny whimpered beneath him, putting down the idea in short order.

"I didn't say anything, silly." The Lt. Colonel huffed, ruffling the Arcanine's mane with both hands. "We've got our own Arcanine Squad anyway, ain't that right, Mr. Ryder?"

A fancy Arcanine club at that... Doug and Officer Jenny both stared curiously at maverick noah ryder's Ancient Arcanine. Doug had only seen a precious few before, and his own Arcanine had seen none at all.

After a moment however, the soldier shook it off, briefly pulling onto Jenny's fur to get her refocused before he nodded at Maverick.

"I could use the help, thanks!" He said, turning a grin towards the Vaporeon before patting Officer Jenny's back. "Let's go, Theia!"

Once the Vaporeon was safely atop the Arcanine, the youth looked over the group before nodding at Holst words.

"Same here!" He said. "Everyone, ride out!"

---

"Make sure to mark our path on the walls, guys!" The young officer instructed as they ran through the halls.

The ride through the underground passage was peaceful, if not particularly exciting. The path was rather wide, though it lacked the mountainous ceilings of the chamber they had all fallen into.

It also lacked the light of the sun from the massive hole left in their wake.

Their pokemon would need to illuminate their path. Perhaps a couple of luminas?

The sound of running water was only becoming stronger the deeper they went, and with every twist and turn they took, guided by Theia's senses, the very oxygen they breathed seemed to change, moisture beginning to fill the dry air.

As they rounded around yet another corner however, they all saw it— a light at the end of the tunnel.

"Keep your wits 'bout'cha, y'all!" Doug said excitedly as they sprang out of the caverns—

And into a deep depression on what appeared to be a large, collapsed chamber.

Streams of sand continued to pour down from above into large mounds as a thin stream of water cut across the room. Stray rays of sunlight slipped inside and boused off the water's surface to provide some middling illumination as pokemon drinking from the underground river took notice of the group, and scampered away, leaving the group alone.

Large obelisks erected towards the sky could be seen beyond the collapsed ceiling, outside of the chamber but large enough to tower over the deep depression the cavernous paths had been carved into.

"Hoh..." Mumbled Doug, his grin growing wider as he took stock of their surroundings... and decided he liked it. "Think... we've found our base."

ULTRA DESERT: EMSD

1st Expedition

After the unit of four had departed and split off from their support group, it didn't take too long for them to come across something significant. Though she hardly had amazing night vision, at least Tiamat more than made up for it with her own eyes as the gentle sunlight began to tear away at the void of the underground area.

Between the lack of incident and the water Pokemon with its own gentle light leading the group to the sound of the water, it was all very calm--a far cry from the tumble they had all just come to experience.

And before them lay a massive complex. Multiple large obelisks pierced the heavens above. Surrounding the obelisks were decrepit structures--what clearly used to be a grand wall as well as a set of stone buildings.

Elaine paid no heed to the creatures that fled upon the group's arrival. No, what grabbed her attention within the eroding walls.

"What happened here?"

As she got off of Tiamat's back and walked upon the remnants of a cut-stone road, she noticed that the few one-story buildings in the area that remained standing all had certain peculiarities to them.

And that same set of peculiarities seemed to run throughout the place. Holes in walls and road-tiles clearly not part of the natural course of erosion were all over the place.

Obelisks were structures built for some religious purpose and the presence of these structures around them seemed to suggest that reason held consistent. Yet, something was off about the place.

And as she walked into one of the empty buildings, she found...

"Yeah, we're probably safe for now. Whatever caused them to abandon here is long gone."

The eminent symbol of decay, of time long past--scattered pieces of a skeleton lay against a wall. A skull showing cracks. Femurs splintered.

Yes, whatever had come here had long since gone. For now, at least. Realizing there was some moduicum of safety, she walked herself over to one of the obelisks and ran her finger down the stone structure as she noticed a major oddity in its structure.

"Hey, boss. You guys wanna come take a look at this?"

---

TL;DR:

• Elaine examines the area to find it abandoned, likely after being attacked
• Spooky Broken Skeleton
• Prompt: ELAINE HIGHLAND's expertise of being an investigator must be pivotal in some way
• Prompt: Involve the discovery of ancient obelisks that possess holes for missing seals.

Sigurd joined the group upon the back of his Flygon. Traveling through the maze that was sure to lead them to the water.

One thing Sigurd, or more precisely his Flygon, made sure to do was mark the wall at proper intervals leading any civilians who would want to follow them in the right direction.

Even as Darkness encroached on them, only to be fought back with the help of their Pokémon, Sigurd and Flygon followed closely. Only for the light at the end of the tunnel to blind them.

But they continued without fear.

A cavern expanded before them. Quickly the group disturbed the peace of its dwellers. The Flygon landed gently upon the sandy ground.

Sigurd joined their leader in the surveying of the cavern as Maverick and Elaine did their thing. Moments went by before John proclaimed that this would be the place. As if Sigurd had merely been waiting for a command, he quickly asked. “Want me to fly back and fetch the others?”

OOC: EXPLORATION TIME!
LOCATION: ULTRA DESERT
TAGS: Elaine Highland / maverick noah ryder / John Sullivan
TLDR:
- Sigurd follows along
- After surveying alongside John, he offers to fly back and fetch the civvies.

ULTRA DESERT: EMSD

1st Expedition: Survey Corps— move out!

Team Flygon and the Arcanine Crew had found their soon to be HQ.

"Not a clue, but it's good, innit? Good job, Theia!" Doug said to Elaine Highland as he scratched the vaporeon's head gently, grinning wide. He had been caught off guard when she had started shining; he still wasn't used to Lumina pokemon. "Now..."

They needed to bring the rest of the team here.

He hummed at maverick noah ryder's words.

"That it is. We can figure something out, though... Ah! That would be helpful, thanks!" Doug said next to Sigurd Holst with a nod, before his eyes shut. "But the passage... kinda narrow, innit?"

A lot of the equipment brought with them would need to be carried on hand due to the required vehicles being too large; a lot would need to be left behind alongside the large vehicles, too. Not to mention it coming with several other stresses beyond that...

Tipping his head back, he hummed thoughtfully, bringing a digit to his temple. What to do, what to do. Needed to transport a lot of people and equipment in one go—

"Oooh! I've got it!" His mind jumped back to Sootopolis for a moment. Of relatively few live military experiences, it always lingered in the back of his head, waiting to jump at him and pull his mood down. In this case, however, he remembered the evacuation—!

"Alrighty, so!" Doug turned towards Holst, producing a walkie-walkie, as well as Garo's shining net ball. He grinned.

"So, when you get back to everyone, tell 'em I ordered all the vehicles be gathered close together, and for everyone to get inside!" He handed the man Garo's pokeball and another walkie-talkie. "Then, just let Garo out. Ring me up, and he'll do the rest!"

He clapped the man's back spiritedly.

"Thanks again, Holst!" He said cheerfully, before his attention was called by Elaine. "Hn? See ya soon, mate!"

Saluting in farewell at Holst, he turned towards the detective and quickly marched her way, ducking under a collapsed ceiling stone leaned against a wall before hoisting himself over several rocks to reach the young woman.

"So! What are we lookin' at?" He asked as he approached her, before releasing a low whistle as his head began craning back... and back... "... That's a big rock."

Tower? Obelisk? Whatever it was, it and its several clones certainly cut an impressive skyline, and an imposing presence upclose.

"... Is that structurally sound?" The youth asked after a while, eyes narrowing as he squinted at the several holes that had been... seemingly poked right through the structure. "That's, uh... unnatural, innit?"

Much like everything else here, the damage caused upon the towering structures here seemed to have been brought not by time, but by something. Presumably live and dangerous.

Hopefully long gone.

"Hn..." Doug pinched his chin thoughtfully. "Let's split and look around, then reconvene 'ere."

He half turned towards in Maverick's general direction, shouting.

"Did'cha catch that?" He asked in a half-shout, his voice hopefully carrying over to the man before he turned back to the Detective. "These things seem important; might as well check a number of 'em out."

Maverick was still taken back by the scenery to really notice what his team mates were going on about. He dismounted the shadow hisui arcanine, tapping his shoulder in a silent good job. The canine let out a series of grumbles, shifting his weight annoyed. The burnt scarred man scoffed, recalling the beast back into its ball before Koji decided to do whatever Koji wanted to do. And once the canine was back in his sphere, Maverick also recalled the Theia the Vaporeon back into her ball. Mav mumbled great work to the sphere before shoving her back into his pocket.

Crimson colored orbs took in the location they found, faintly hearing what was going on around him. And before he knew it, their leader called for them to split up. His crimson colored orbs lifted to their leader, giving him a nod that he understood. His gaze fell upon the houndoom, motioning with a nod for her to follow. Azula let out a series of rumbles in her chest, following after Maverick as they began to explore the hidden oasis they found.

ooc: computer is acting up. quick reply. will make this nicer later.

Sigurd joined the group upon the back of his Flygon. Traveling through the maze that was sure to lead them to the water.

Sigurd gave a brief salute to Doug after he was handed Garo’s Pokéball. They then departed for their mission.

Flying along the narrow passage they had used to get there to begin with. They made sure to follow the marks that Flygon had left behind.

No longer bound by the constraints of traveling in a group, Sigurd and Flygon reached the expedition team they had left behind quickly.

One well trained landing later, Sigurd was approached by some of the civilians there, clearly curious as to why only he had returned.

And so he began to explain. “We’ve found a fitting place.” He began, immediately raising to calm the excitable questions down. “But the passage there is narrow. The Vehicles aren’t getting through.”

Disappointed by the people, they clearly weren’t looking forward to carrying it all by hand.

“But we have a plan! So gather all personnel and equipment in the vehicles, and get the vehicles as close together as possible.” The people nodded. Some of them clearly already had an idea of what they were going to do.

After a while, Sigurd and the rest of the gang had gathered everything that needed gathering, and got nice and comfortable in their vehicles. The only thing that they needed to do was release John Sullivan’s Pokémon and ring him up.

Sigurd released the Pokémon before activating his communications device. “Holst here, we’re all gathered up and ready.”

Now all they could do was wait.

OOC: EXPLORATION TIME!
LOCATION: ULTRA DESERT
TAGS: Elaine Highland / maverick noah ryder / John Sullivan
TLDR:
- Sigurd goes back to the main expedition team.
- Sigurd gets everyone to gather up.
- Sigurd Releases Garo from its Pokéball and Call's Doug on their communication device of choice.

ULTRA DESERT: EMSD

1st Expedition

That was correct. The spire that she had found had a significant hole. But the more she examined it, the more of a peculiarity it became.

"I wonder..." The more that she looked at the hole that the leader was looking at, there was almost a strange quality. "It's precise. Almost as if it were machined. I wonder..."

The detective muttered as she looked around the area. Luckily, this was hardly the only obelisk in the area.

"Gotcha. I'll get looking at the others. Come on, Tiamat."

As she took to Tiamat's back once again, she flew to each of the other obelisks and found similar oddities. They were all hardly the same size, but they were all precise.

"It's as if they were all built to have something inserted into them." Elaine muttered as she ran her fingers through the specific indentations.

Was there a specific mechanism that would be activated if the appropriate objects were placed? Was there some significance?

"And why were these left behind?"

---

TL;DR:

• More obelisks
• Prompt: ELAINE HIGHLAND's expertise of being an investigator must be pivotal in some way
• Prompt: Involve the discovery of ancient obelisks that possess holes for missing seals.

ULTRA DESERT: EMSD

1st Expedition: Survey Corps— move out!

Doug watched Elaine Highland, muttering to herself as her dragon followed behind her. His gaze swiveled away from her and to maverick noah ryder next, finding the man as he and Azula, too, began to explore.

With that out of the way, Doug dropped on his bum against the Obelisk and waited for Sigurd Holst's call.

Several moments later, the man's voice came blaring through the walkie-talkie, prompting a grin from the Captain.

"Good job, Sigurd." Doug said over the device as he rose, patting the sand and dirt off his bum before lifting his arm in the air. "Leave the rest to us! Garo! Z-move!"

The Orbeetle's eyes gleamed as energy crackled around its body, the glow switching from blue to red as it slowly rose in the air and the space around it began to distort. And then—

POP!

Everyone began to disappear.

z-move

Fascination UFO

POP!

A moment later, Holst was back with the Lt. colonel, along with everything and everyone else, Garo slowly descending from above unto the Colonel's head.

Doug snickered as a number of folk struggled to regain their bearings, clapping his had tog et everyone's attention.

"Welcome, everyone! Look around and get familiar with your surroundings—!" He said as he swept his arms wide. "Because this is where we're setting down our base."

The Lt. Colonel approached Holst and clapped his back spiritedly.

"So don't get comfy just yet, ladies and gentlemen! We've still got a TON to do."

Things would only be getting harder from here!

---

- JOHN DOUGLAS SULLIVAN's military experience & ELAINE HIGHLAND's expertise of being an investigator must be pivotal in some way.

#done!

6CTJgnG3

Sigurd watched with a certain amount of anticipation as Doug’s Pokémon rose.

He noticed how space distorted before people began to disappear.

Before Sigurd could even perform a gulp of nervousness he was the next one to be consumed by the Orbeetle’s Power only to appear moments later at their soon to be base.

A wave of nausea hit him. He quickly got out of the teleported vehicle, bent over in nausea. A few gagging sounds escaped him but nothing came out.

A side-effect of the move? Holst pondered as he reigned in the nausea.

A spirited clap on the back made Sigurd aware of Doug’s presence and words.

“Yes, Sir!” Sigurd replied, tinges of nausea still to be found in his voice. But surely it would go away the moment he set to work.

hLW2xQhS

OOC: EXPLORATION TIME!
LOCATION: ULTRA DESERT
TAGS: Elaine Highland / maverick noah ryder / John Sullivan
TLDR:
- Teleportation Nausea here we go.

ULTRA DESERT: EMSD

1st Expedition

Unfortunately, there was precious little to be gleaned from what she was investigating. Multiple spires with holes that looked like there should have been something that belonged there. An abandoned complex or even town built around them. The scars in the structures and ground.

All of them pointed to an answer, and yet there was not much she could say about it. After all, it was all just circumstantial evidence.

In a world as desolate and abandoned as they were in, 'evidence' was more liable to be eroded by countless sandstorms and the passage of time.

The young woman sighed as she turned her head back and saw the grand sight of the entire caravan they had left behind being teleported to the area.

Deciphering what they had found could wait for now.

In the end, the group had found a semi-appropriate place to set up base camp.

So, she merely nodded along and left to join the rest of the group.

---

TL;DR:

• Regroup
• Rolling

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