When you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss gazes back.[break][break]

They stand on the deck of the Quaestor Lucis. As if yet, there has been no blood in the water. Hostile lifeforms have not made their presence known. It is just the three of them and whatever Pokemon they wish to have out. This is a far cry from their first foray. They are ready, armed with information, supplies, intel from the League.[break][break]

“Let’s hope this goes better than last time.” Navy says. He seems to say that a lot. There’s no one to bail them out. Not the council that put them up to heading this investigation, not the champion who kindled the fire of heroism in his brother’s heart, not the elites he would one day beat. Venturing down into the depths of this fallen vessel, they are alone with only their wits.[break][break]

He keeps Tsubaki close. He doesn’t let her wander. He won’t let the song of the sea claim her again. If she’s close, then he can fight whatever creatures try and claim her. Little do they know he is made of far meaner stuff than they. They may be stronger, they may have powers so far removed from mankind as to seem godlike, but they don’t know how to fight dirty.[break][break]

Roland, one-armed ghost of a Gallade, walks behind them. Shadowing them. The machine’s blade is already out. He will never be whole again – not after the battle with an avatar of some other foreign god. Even one armed, the machine is still deadly. The second half of his blade clings to his back. There is no arm rest for it anymore. The sword in his right hand more resembles a typical eastern sword, albeit with a pink blade.[break][break]

That blade soon finds flesh.[break][break]

A shadowed creature jumps out at them as they turn a corner. The blade pierces it to a wall. It dies its final death. It is nothing but a froakie. The little frog is missing flesh. Beneath is bone that looks more like coral. Its eyes are barnacles.[break][break]

“Arceus.” The detective curses. “What the hell was someone thinking, bringing down a little guy like him during the battle?” Roland pulls his blade back. The corpse falls to the floor. That’s the best they can do, kill him for good. Navy pulls out one of a few special pokeballs he brought for just such an occasion – one meant to carry dead Pokemon. He’ll carry this little creature and all the rest up to Mt. Pyre once they get back.[break][break]

It's the least he can do.[break][break]

There’s whispers from deeper in the ship, behind a locked door. He’s seen it on a few of the scouting missions he’s done. Conveniently, after he joined up with the League, he realized something terrible: they have a key. Somewhere along the way, their people found a key leading down into the dark depths below.[break][break]

Michael…[break]

Colton…[break]

Tsubaki…[break][break]

It calls each of their names.[break][break]

Their mission is to go down. Their mission is to explore these new depths. Find what the dead passengers of this vessel knew.[break][break]

“Ready, guys?” Navy asks as he prepares to turn the key.


[break][break]

+ Colton Boothroyd Hyakkaryōran Tsubaki

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

The abyss calls them down in a soothing voice. They go willingly, without protest. Navy doesn’t know which expeditionary force found this key. It slips into the lock. Some primal part of his brain prays it won’t turn – that it’s the wrong door. Some doors are meant to remain closed.[break][break]

It clicks. There’s a telltale turning of pins. Whoever these people were, their tools mostly resembled humans. Navy should know more about this race that tried to invade his homeland years ago. There’s questions he would ask, like how this ship came to be here. Questions like those are beyond a warrior in the arena. Dr. Morales and Dr. Reyes can figure out those riddles. They’re here to find what lurks in the depths.[break][break]

Roland advances in front of Navy. His blade is drawn. It glows in the dark, casting light out for a few feet. There’s a long stairway leading down. Down, spiraling into the abyss below. Each step the machine takes is a clang against the metal of this old ship. The steel, corroded by the sea outside, groans and hums against them. Navy reflexively strokes his belt. He wishes he had a gun, or that paddle sword he tried out for a bit to help out the eggheads.[break][break]

It wouldn’t do him any good, but it would offer small comfort. Roland finds a landing at the bottom of the stairs. He sends a surge of light cascading down the hallway in the form of a bolt. In the flash of light, he sees that the hall is comprised of flesh. It’s as if the ship has ended and something else deigned to begin down here.[break][break]

“Careful.” The detective whispers. Lighting up his flashlight, he scans the room. Perhaps his mind is playing tricks on him, but the pulse seems louder down here. Every step is a slosh. They’re wading through flesh.[break][break]

“Looks like there’s another door.” Navy whispers back to them. This one is of a more futuristic bend. Once, it was likely an automatic door. It opened down the middle thanks to a sensor. Flesh has scabbed over the groove in the middle.[break][break]

Roland’s blade pierces the flesh. It slashes down. The flesh bleeds. For a moment, it feels like the whole world trembles.[break][break]

And then, the door simply slides open with a twist of the blade. Inside is a dead man, laying at a desk. In his hands is a journal. Navy takes up a post at the entrance. He trusts neither this silence nor this sea.[break][break]

“Baki, Cole. One of you two go check out this room.” He gives a quiet order.[break][break]

“I’ll cover you.”


[break][break]

+ Hyakkaryōran Tsubaki, Colton Boothroyd

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

“This guy will never be sated.” Navy sounds sad, frowning at those words. “He won’t be anything ever again.” How passing strange that his corpse is so immaculately preserved. It’s not the first time he’s seen this, either. Although their spirits have long left them, the bodies of those left in this wretched sea insist they will never die.[break][break]
Roland, one-armed warrior, lingers back when the attack comes. Instead of participating in the battle directly, he protects Tsubaki in another way: electricity spreads from his own quark drive, turning the room into electric terrain. The other warrior’s spirit break makes short work of them thanks to the boost.[break][break]
The creature is small. Tender. A newborn creature whose life among the living has been cut short. Only now that this sad play has transpired does Navy walk across the room, feeling the metal creak under his feet. Holding up his light, each delicate step leads him closer to Tsubaki and the dead man. Roland follows.[break][break]
A pink blade cuts into the dead man’s neck. His head goes rolling. Roland has little patience for this place or its tricks. The blade crosses and cuts down. Navy prides himself on his capacity to stomach anything. He’s seen grisly murders, bloody aftermaths of drug binges, the worst of humanity. He isn’t prepared for the ooze that drips out of this body as Roland tears him apart.[break][break]
Inside the frame of this creature that was once a man was a small clutch of eggs. Was, as Roland’s blade has torn them apart. Underdeveloped Nihelgo and other creatures fall out of their eggs dead.[break][break]
“Let’s – let’s keep moving.” Navy turns and walks out of the room. He expects the other two will follow him – they have to follow him. There’s safety in numbers. Separation is stupidity tantamount to suicide.[break][break]
“The ultra beasts attacked Hoenn a few years ago. Surprised you didn’t hear ‘bout the Three Days War in Kanto.” Those were three of the scariest days of his life, hunkering down with Gabe.[break][break]
Thinking back, he wishes he had done more than sit aside and trust Kyle. He wishes he’d been fighting. What better way for a man to seize the reins of his own fate than to fight on his own terms? Thoughts for another time.[break][break]
The hallway grows stranger still as they walk down the passageways. More eggs, whole clutches of them. They stick out of the chests of passengers aboard this vessel. Their eyes see nothing anymore. Some of the eggs rustle as if they, too, will soon hatch.[break][break]
“Holy hell.” Navy gawks. “It’s like we’re in a big hatchery. Looks like we’ve found out where the Nihilego come from.”

[break][break]

+ Hyakkaryōran Tsubaki, Colton Boothroyd

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Above them, this creature, an angel floats. This whole place is underwater, they drift through a sea. It floats through air as if it were water. Looming above them, it sings its song. The gift its kind have given so many Pokemon and humans drips onto the carpet in front of Navy.[break][break]
The journal he took from the others is still in his hands. He barely notices the passage concerning how the dead passenger thinks he is in the belly of some great creature. That is something they already know. Though they do not, at this juncture, know this creature’s name, the Sheriff knows that it is mighty – mightier than any Pokemon save the creator himself, perhaps.[break][break]
These are his angels. His disciples, invading the mortal plain. That means it is his duty to stand against them, come hell or high water.[break][break]
With what he has in mind, high water will come soon.[break][break]
“Cole. We’re leaving pretty quick. Grab eggs from some of the bodies. Any unhatched eggs will do. Baki, keep yourself together. You’re a good fighter. Cover me. We’re in a hatchery. We’re gonna drown the bastards. When I do this, run. We’re gonna lock the door behind us on our way out and we’re gonna run like hell. Roland?”[break][break]
Roland and Navy are not bound by a sygna suit. What understanding they have between one another comes from an innate understanding – one warrior to another. Although a boundary of flesh and metal separates them, beneath is the same sort of soul. They have to save others. They have to fight.[break][break]
Roland rushes forward, bringing his psychic blade to bear along the far edge of the hallway. With an activated quark drive, he tears apart the walls. Water leaks in, it flows, and then it bursts. There may be more secrets dwelling here, but if he can drown all these hellspawn, so be it. Hattori and him will dive later, once they have all drowned.[break][break]
The flood begins, Roland firing off thunderbolts to buy them time.[break][break]
Turning around, Navy prays the others listened. The opportunity to study a few of the eggs, kill some of these creatures in true water rather than the air they float upon, and make off with the journal is too good to pass up.

[break][break]

+ Colton Boothroyd, Hyakkaryōran Tsubaki[break]

28 find signs that the ultra deep sea that you have explored so far seems to be the inside of a large, living organism.[break]

the ship key will unlock the lowest levels (e.g. boiler room, lowest level rooms, storage, your choice, etc.) that has been overcome with sprawling, pulsating flesh and ichor. clutches of eggs can be found here too. during your exploration, the lower floor will suddenly flood (the cause is up to you) with putrid, black waters that will threaten to drown you.[break]

utilize paradox pokemon in a pivotal way.

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

What secrets does this hallway hold? What could they learn? They’ve already confirmed crucial details. There’ll be time to sort it out in the wash when they’re all out of here. Navy is the last up the stairs, staying behind the other two. Roland cuts any of the parents that follow after them. His psychic blade cleaves through the rocks.[break][break]
They’re at the door. Navy shuts it behind them, slamming it closed. A quick turn of the key and they’re safe. Pressure builds against the door but nothing gets through. The door holds. They’re safe. From the other side, he hears whispers. Their names. Secret things no one should know. Whispers of knowledge. Hints that ultimately mean nothing, meant to goad him into opening this door once more.[break][break]
“Alright, alright…” Coughing, breathless, he looks to the other two. They’re all alive. They have the eggs. He looks down at the journal once more, now that they have a moment to breathe. The man who lived down in the hatchery before it was a hatchery says what they all knew – this is the inside of some massive creature. An eternal beast, a child of the creator. One who will never die.[break][break]
“Let’s get out of here. Nothin’ good will come from staying here.”

STGyk2hx

[break][break]

+ Colton Boothroyd , Hyakkaryōran Tsubaki

[attr="class","pokeclass"]