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Remiel switches channels and her line goes quiet, save for the gentle hum of frequency static.[break][break]

It's so tempting to just continue on her way and ignore him. But to do so means abandoning someone in peril, and she simply can't bring herself to do it. Fumbling fingers click through frequencies until they land on the one Remiel had specified, though she remains silent as the person on the other line shouts frantically at them.[break][break]

She only speaks when addressed, but when she does her voice is hesitant and unsure. "M-maybe? Umm..."[break][break]

Maps and directions aren't her forte, though she'd done her best to study all the materials provided by the League before this expedition. Panic starts to settle in, spurred on by the desperation laced through the other person's voice, but she forces herself to take a few deep breaths and focus.[break][break]

Her sygna suit helps. Influenced by her Sylveon in design, it emulates the same calming aura as Sugar's ribbons do to calm her anxiety. It helps her think more clearly, allows her dig back into her memories and search the maps she'd poured over before the mission.[break][break]

"I think so. Though I don't remember anyone mentioning mushrooms...do you think it might be the Interdream Zone?" She pauses, considering. "I don't think I'm too far, but it'll still take me a little while to get there."[break][break]

However, her train of thought is interrupted by a sudden horrible possibility: is this a trap?

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MP Fund:[break]

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The interdream mist seems to intensify and react to the growing intensity of this sudden situation. Unlike Luka, Remiel's SYGNA SUIT had not been completed prior to his arrival here. He is therefore much more vulnerable to the effects experienced in this extradimensional realm. He knows his stay here can only last for so long before...

Suddenly, the radio sparks back to life with the sound of the wayward cadet once more. "Please help! Nidorino and I can't climb out and... and I think there's something in here with us!" He frantically adds as his Pokémon cries out.

Remiel takes a moment to reassure the lad that they were coming, then returns to the conversation at hand with Luka. "More than likely. I should be able to reach it within ten minutes or so... meet you there?" He tentatively asks.



MP FUND 🎟️

COMMS: POSTDORMITUM
Remiel Calcifet
luka chêne

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"I—"[break][break]

The answer is yes, yes, obviously yes. Even if it's foolish, even if she's walking into her doom, Luka can't bring herself to abandon someone in dire need of her help. Her altruism might just be her achilles' heel— easily exploited by the wrong people— but even though she's lost everything else she hasn't forgotten her kindness.[break][break]

"Ten minutes. Mmm. If this is some kind of trap," she mutters into her earpiece, "I...I'm never going to forgive you, okay?"[break][break]

A pause. "And Helios will probably come after you too, just so you know."

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Remiel had expected her to make such a response. In a somewhat pitiful way, it granted him a sense of relief to see that expectation come true. Despite his lies, after all, the time they had spent together and the love they had shared was very real.

Not one to dwell on such thoughts for too long these days, however, the royal snaps himself out of it. "Understood. And... thank you." He answers, turning to the tunnel that will (hopefully) lead him true. Casting a LIGHTNING STILETTO, he watches as it travels down said tunnel before embedding itself against a distant cave wall.


Then, in a flash of lightning, he instantaneously teleports. His Kartana is swift to follow along despite that, however. Teleport after teleport, Remiel draws closer to the destination at hand before reaching a ledge overlooking a massive pit.

Carnivorous plants and fungi seem to have infested this underground chamber. It is filled with just as much bioluminescent lighting as well. Streams of saltwater cascade down from the ceiling above, pushed outward by the enormous pressure of the alien ocean that looms around them.

Raising a hand to his earpiece, Remiel contacts luka chêne once more. "I'm here... are you seeing this?"



MP FUND 🎟️

COMMS: POSTDORMITUM
Remiel Calcifet
luka chêne

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Luka doesn’t have nearly as convenient a transport device. However, her sygna suit allows her to move a bit more swiftly, and her Musharna is able to transport them short distances in a hurry. The hardest part is avoiding Rocket or those strange paradox pokemon on her way, but luckily Luka only encounters a few members of her faction during the trip. She considers stopping to ask them for help, but they all seem busy with their own tasks and it would take too long to explain anyways.[break][break]

”Not yet. I think I’m almost— woah.”[break][break]

She rounds the final bend of an undulating tunnel and into the vast, cavernous room. While Remiel had found himself on a ledge overlooking the pit she finds herself standing right in the depths, staring up at the large growths of plants and fungi that tower over her. It’s like something out of Jules Verne’s imagination— which she would know if she actually read any classical literature that wasn’t Jane Austen.[break][break]

”I…I’m down here,” she says hesitantly. She can’t see Remiel at all, and his absence makes a crawling unease settle in the pit of her stomach. His absence reeks of ambush. ”But I don’t see anyone else…”[break][break]

But she hears something, very suddenly. A sharp cry pierces the air, followed by an even more disquieting silence. From his vantage point Remiel might be able to see what’s going on, but Luka can’t see a thing amidst the vegetation.

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MP Fund:[break]

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At the first mention of her location, Remiel attempts to scan the thick jungle below in search of her. When his sharp hues of cobalt fail to spot Luka, however, the Galarian sighs. "I can't see you... I'll suppose I'll just have to find a way down to try and group up."

Peering down the ledge, he debates the safety of teleporting around in such a place when he could just as easily find himself trapped within the treacherous pit. When a piercing cry fills the air, however, and the thought of Luka being harmed seizes his mind, the exiled prince casts those precautions aside. "Luka?! Are you okay?! I'm coming down!"

Sending his Kartana down to scout an area of its own, Remiel swiftly casts a lightning stiletto towards another before disappearing in the blink of an eye.



MP FUND 🎟️

COMMS: POSTDORMITUM
Remiel Calcifet
luka chêne

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”Eh? Th-that wasn’t me!”[break][break]
But her reply comes too late. Though Luka can’t see him she notices the flash up above and can only assume he’d teleported himself down towards her. Except they’re still both stuck amidst a nearly impenetrable wall of vegetation, separated by whatever is lurking around in the dim green light.[break][break]
The general rule of thumb is to stay put in situations like this, but there’s someone else that needs their help and Luka isn’t about to stick around and wait for Remiel to find her. Instead she releases her Blaziken, the member of her team she’d saved to use for last. The rest of them have been battered enough for the night— her fight with oscar clayton had left almost all of her main team incapacitated— but Helios is still in relatively good shape.[break][break]
Sharp talons and bursts of flame make quick work of clearing a pathway through the alien plant life. Luka continues to keep an eye out for the person they’re trying to help, and an ear tuned towards any voices that might filter through her comms. The though that this might be a trap still lingers, but she presses on regardless, stubbornly determined to see it through.

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MP Fund:[break]

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Before long, Remiel finds himself alone in a jungle of fungi and carnivorous plants. Raising a hand to his earpiece, he calls out to the wayward cadet... but receives no answer. With a sigh, he addresses Luka afterward. "It seems we're the only ones on this channel now. I'll see if I can't find our lost cadet near the bottom. Over."

Shifting aside his poncho to unsheathe a tanto blade from his hip, the Galarian begins to cut a path through the flora as he searches for a safe way down. He wonders how his Kartana is faring in its own search for a moment, confident that it would be able to DETECT his presence if it were close enough. As that thought fades, however, the silence on the radio between himself and his former lover soon becomes deafening.




MP FUND 🎟️

COMMS: POSTDORMITUM
Remiel Calcifet
luka chêne

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MATIAS SILPH is a topic she'd rather avoid. Once upon a time Luka might have confided in Remiel about that entire catastrophe, but they're not exactly close anymore.[break][break]
"I don't really want to talk about it," is all she says about it. "I've been working more with the rangers these days anyways."[break][break]
It feels rather bizarre to engage in small talk during a search and rescue, though it does help to cut the tension a bit. Still, Luka remains on high alert as she and Helios carve themselves a path through the vegetation. Their vigilence pays off, for another cry soon echoes around the bottom of the pit, this one sounding much closer than before.[break][break]
"I-I think I'm close!" she shouts into her comms as Helios burns away thick swaths of kelp. As they press on, she can hear the sounds of conflict and movement up ahead. It's hard to make anything out clearly, but something large and fungus-like seems to be moving up ahead where the cry is coming from.

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His attempt to try and begin to smooth things over is obvious and unwelcome. No one would blame her for shooting it down either. At the very least, Luka shares that she's been working the Ranger Corps more often, though Remiel can't help but withhold a lingering suspicion about her relationship with Matias and how it fared nowadays.

Nevertheless, they are quickly drawn back to the task at hand when she hears something near her. With haste, and little regard for his own safety at this point, he summons a LIGHTNING STILETTO in his hand. "Don't engage yet, Luka! I'm headed down right now to find you!"

Hustling over to a nearby ridge, he casts his crackling stiletto down and sees it strike a large mushroom below. Then, in an instant, he TELEPORTS to the point of contact... only to quickly find himself face-to-face with something unreal:


Before he can react, Remiel is violently cast aside with a THRASH. He collapses into a pile of moss nearby as the BRUTE BONNET makes a strange alien roar afterward, loud enough for luka chêne to hear for herself nearby.



MP FUND 🎟️

COMMS: POSTDORMITUM
Remiel Calcifet
luka chêne

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"Wh- Remiel?!"[break][break]

It's the first time she's uttered his name in ages, and it feels weird on her tongue. But the panic in his voice and the roar that follows is enough that she forgets her scruples towards the man.[break][break]

She follows the sound, pushing her way past alien foliage until she comes across the beast herself. There seems to be no shortage of strange Pokemon in the rift, but that doesn't mean she's any less surprised to see this one. However, her eyes are quickly torn from the creature and land on Remiel instead, lying prone in the moss.[break][break]

"A-are you okay? What ha-" She's cut off as the giant mushroom notices her, but Helios is already charging at the thing with a fiery flare blitz. He collides into the Pokemon in a clash of sparks and cinders, causing it to screech again in fury and pain.[break][break]

It gives Luka an opportunity to run to Remiel's side— and she would, had another shout of help me! not echoed around them. As she searches for the sound, she realizes there are more of the fungus creatures nearby, surrounding a young man and his Nidorino.

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MP Fund:[break]

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Remiel comes to when Luka appears, and he quickly staggers back up onto both feet at the realization that now she, too, was in danger. As Helios fends off the Brute Bonnet on its own, however, it soon becomes apparent that the cadet needing rescuing is in a more dire situation. The royal grunts in pain before clutching at his ribs.

There were too many aggressors. He didn't want to leave Luka alone to fend off one of these highly dangerous Paradox Pokémon with Helios but... he had no choice. Not unless he was willing to sacrifice the young lad who had trapped himself here in the first place. "I'll go save him... can you keep this exit clear?" He asks, summoning his SHINY NOIVERN. "GUAVAFANG will help you..."

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to him, his Kartana has located the lost cadet and his Nidorino. It throws itself into the fray bravely, fending off three Brute Bonnet with a well-aimed VACUUM WAVE before darting around rapidly.



MP FUND 🎟️

COMMS: POSTDORMITUM
Remiel Calcifet
luka chêne

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[attr="class","main"]

"Eh? But...b-but you're hurt!"[break][break]

But with Helios still grappling the bizarre looking Amoonguss, she has no room to argue. Most of her Pokemon have already been knocked out and even though she'd managed to revive a few, they're still exhausted. There are no troops left to assist the pair of them, so she has no choice but to let Remiel go off by himself while she tries to maintain an exit route for them.[break][break]

She glances at his retreating form, eyes narrowed slightly. Though she wants so badly to believe his motives are honest, she can't help but worry that he's leaving her here to face death by mushroom, or some other horrible rocket attack. But then again, it does sound like this cadet is in genuine danger. She shakes her head to try and dislodge the paranoia, and focues instead on the battle ahead.[break][break]

Helios manages to hold his own well against the fungus, his fiery attacks causing it to hiss and back away. The dangling foliage from it's mushroom cap appears singed at the edges. However, in this small space there's few places to run, and Helios is getting battered as well from each thrashing counterattack.[break][break]

They're lucky that Guavafang is here; the two Pokemon work surprisingly well together, even if Helios looks none too happy about it. They manage to beat the fungus back, only to realize that two more have started to emerge from deeper within the foliage and interdream zone.[break][break]

"H-hurry up, if you can!" Luka shouts in Remiel's direction. "I-I think I know a way to block them off, but we all need to be together!"[break][break]

In the meantime, she needs to make sure Helios stays healthy so they can escape. It makes her feel awful, but she summons her weakened Audino to use heal pulse on her father's Blaziken, ensuring that he can continue to fight against them.

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