Colton nervously smoothed out the wrinkles in his lab coat, his heart thumping in his chest as he was led into the encampment. He felt like the entire weight of the world was on his shoulders, despite the issue being with the communications going out to the actual leaguers that were doing battle. At least, he was helping, even if it was in his own, small way.

Colton's body went stiff when he was introduced to the council woman, unsure if he should salute or bow as a greeting to her. Both seemed a bit too formal, though, so he simply nodded his head. "Happy to be of service. Where do you want me to start looking? Or is there any particular spots of exposed, frayed wires?" he asked, looking over his shoulder as he did. Behind him, Arti floated up, a box of tools balanced on its head while Burnout pulled a cart of tools behind himself, as well. Perhaps it might have been too much, but when it came to electronics, there were any numbers of potential problems.

Better safe than sorry.

PENELOPE LIVY

OOC: Comms 1/2
50 MP (Participation), 10 MP (IC Post)

Colton nodded, already looking to the transmitter. His mind was racing through what potential problems or solutions might be. His stance relaxed as he approached it, kneeling down as his Pokémon moved up behind him. Just a cursory glance gave him no indication as to what went wrong, as nothing appeared damaged save the side paneling being opened up to expose the wiring.

"I should be able to, yes, barring any unforeseen circumstances," he answered, waving Arti over with one hand while retrieving a small knife with his other hand. Very carefully, he cut open the rubber casing around each wire, exposing just a little bit of it. "Run through the wires and see if you can't find the issue, Arti." The Rotom obeyed, leaving its preferred washing machine body and zipping into the transmitter as Colton reached into the box that had been on top of Arti's head, pulling out an Ohmeter.

He carefully set up the pins against each wire, checking the feedback received from each one as his Pokémon's electricity ran through them.

PENELOPE LIVY

OOC: Comms 1/2
10 MP (IC Post)
Total: 70 MP

Colton glanced back and forth between the wire he was touching and the Ohmmeter, sucking on his teeth when one of them came back with a reduced flow. He whistled, prompting Arti to pop its head out of the exposed wiring. He pointed to the offending wire, the Rotom buzzing in response as it dove back into the transmitter while Colton collected some additional tools.

"Sort of. I went to school for engineering, but I figured out a lot when I was a kid by just messing with stuff," he answered, wrapping the exposed wires in electrical tape to seal them back off again. "Radio transmitters were pretty easy to get a hold of and they generally all operate the same."

He didn't turn to look back at Penelope as he worked, pulling various tools and parts out as he steadily disassembled the transmitter.

PENELOPE LIVY
OOC: Comms 1/2
10 MP (IC Post)
Total: 80 MP

Colton nodded at her observation. "Pretty much since day one. Makes me sound like a huge nerd, but I enjoy it. Learning what makes things tick has always fascinated me," he answered as he gently placed each individual piece of the transmitter aside, leaving the interior electronics exposed. He set the screwdriver aside before lightly tapping the offending wire that detached itself from the circuit board a moment later, Arti's mischievous smile appearing in the small spark for a brief moment before the other end detached itself as well.

"Just trying my best to be helpful, Ms. Livy," he answered, shaking his head in a dismissive manner. As he reached back to retrieve a fresh spool of wire, he gestured to the space around them. "I have to say, this is probably the strangest place I've ever worked in. Nothing like an eldritch, alien landscape to really set the atmosphere."

Almost as if it was an invitation, a small horn made from coral sprouted on to the top of his head, the red tip just barely breaching his messy brown locks.

PENELOPE LIVY
OOC: Comms 1/2
10 (Mutations), 10 MP (IC Post)
Total: 100 MP

Colton chuckled in response to Penelope’s statement. ”It certainly can be. Seems like everyday, the world just goes more and more insane,” he mused, his hands and tools continuing to work deftly across the circuits as he talked. ”That’s another reason I like machines. In the face of everything, they just make sense. Easy to predict, easy to fix, easy to understand. Makes for a good bedrock in-“

He paused, looking back over his shoulder at Penelope with an eyebrow raised. His head? What was going on with his head? Did he have something leftover from the jellyfish creature he and Hideo Kino had encountered there?

He reached up, running his fingers through his messy brown locks, expecting whatever it was to fall out after a pass or two. Onky, what he found didn’t move. It merely jerked at the top of his scalp, where further inspection concluded that it was indeed procuring out from. He could feel his skin smoothly merging into the hard, lumpy substance. He felt his heart begin to beat faster in his chest as his free hand pulled his Rotom phone out, directing it to snap a picture of the horn on his head.

When his phone swung itself back down, Colton stared at the picture dumbfounded. There, clear as day, a piece of coral jutted out of the top of his head. He felt panic begin to set in, his skin itching. He wanted to run away, to see what else had happened to his body, to get out of this nightmare world before his mind snapped…

But Arti, sensing his trainer’s growing panic, popped its body outside of the circuit board, floating over and nuzzling itself against Colton’s cheek. The staticky feeling of his partner next to him brought Colton out of his own head for a moment, just long enough to look at Arti’s concerned face, then to the broken apart transmitter. The circuits all going into their designated spots, the antenna leading down towards the transceiver, which lead to the speaker. Everything flowing as it should, even in pieces as it was. A bedrock of certainty, of reality. Something he could cling onto amongst all this madness.

Slowly, Colton’s breathing slowed and his heart rate returned to normal. He took in a deep breath, held it for a moment, then slowly let it out. ”A side effect of being in the Ultra Deep Sea, no doubt,” he answered, his voice calm as he turned back to his work. ”I can’t let it bother me, though. I’ve still got to get communications back up.”

PENELOPE LIVY
OOC: Comms 1/2
10 MP (IC Post)
Total: 110 MP

Colton shook his head, needing to take a moment to breathe and resettle himself. It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate her concern, but he was teetering on the edge of sanity, his mental state threatening to slip and fall at each possible step.

“I’ll be okay. It doesn’t hurt or anything, so it’s probably nothing more than a cosmetic change,” he answered, managing a reassuring smile with a thumbs up.

Colton had no idea if that was true or not. for all he knew, the coral horn could be sapping his life force to birth another ultra beast or something. but now, in that moment, It was nothing more than a simple horn. One he could push through so long as he kept his focus on the task at hand.

PENELOPE LIVY
OOC: Comms 1/2
10 MP (IC Post)
Total: 120 MP

Colton could tell there was some hesitation as she yielded to his decision to ignore the coral horn. It wasn’t that he wasn’t worried about it, far from it considering he was actually terrified that mutations had begun to sprout off of his body. But, if he could just keep his focus, he could delay the inevitable panic attack after he finished his work. And hopefully still be alive to actually get it checked out.

”Admittedly, I’m something of a homebody,” he said, checking the electrical flow for a moment before going back to work. ”I spend a lot of time in my personal lab just working on stuff. Trying to be useful while staying out of the way. This is really my first time out in the field and I can’t tell you how much I want to be back in my safe little hobbit hole.”

PENELOPE LIVY
OOC: Comms 1/2
10 MP (IC Post)
Total: 130 MP