[attr="class","star2tsu"]
Underground[break][break]
The gloom congeals. [break][break]
In the face of a feral beast that turns out to be not-quite-so-feral, and bodies that turn out to be not-quite-dead, things are turned on their head. Nothing makes sense anymore. [break][break]
Tsubaki watches the bear dive beneath the surface, and the Gengar that lives in her shadow envelops her and follows suit. She doesn't complain. She doesn't know what to say at this point. She just follows along.[break][break]
All pretense of this being an ordinary mystery were tossed aside with the realization that
Thomas Benoit wasn't just an insane conspiracy theorist. That he might have a point. [break][break]
Anything can happen now.[break][break]
Under the Swamp[break][break]
The Ursaluna is not our enemy...[break][break]
"Yeah, it sure seems that way." Tsubaki replies to Thomas, walking from the shadows. [break][break]
She looks at her surroundings. The abject ruins of a Megalopolan base stare back at her, like something tore through it with a shotgun of some kind. She can tell by the wounds, by the damage to Megalopolan structures that seem so out of place here, that these holes were made by something of a large caliber. [break][break]
And yet, she doesn't recall anyone with a gun above the surface...[break][break]
"... Coins?"[break][break]
She almost stops to inspect the bodies, but there's no time. Everything hits her at once, like a freight train. The wanted posters on the walls, the fake bodies up above, the real ones at the bottom of the swamp. And of course...[break][break]
The enchanting, pearlescent body of a Nihilego still suspended in midair.[break][break]
It fills her with dread. Memories of the Ultra Deep Sea come rushing back, and she has to brace herself to not lose her balance. Some might not know its significance, others might be desensitized to it. But to her, it represents that sea of dreams still lying at the bottom of her adopted home, at the bottom of Granite Cave. A sea she's fallen into more times than she can count. Though she's left Dewford in
Navy 's capable hands, she still feels responsible for it. And if these things are cropping up elsewhere, if they're not contained to the sea, then...[break][break]
She can do nothing but stare at the Nihilego's form as it swirls into the air and
shatters with the light of a Tera Crystal. Only then does she stop and pay attention to what everyone is saying.[break][break]
The group start speaking of things she's not knowledgeable of.
Genevieve Cromwell speaks about a war she wasn't here for.
Thomas Benoit informs the rest of them in more detail. Tsubaki holds her tongue. There's ignorance, and then there's stupidity. She can excuse the former. Running a bit job in Rocket in another region for most of your childhood will do that. But choosing to not believe your eyes makes your firmly among the latter, and she can't afford that. [break][break]
It isn't until she's told more that she feels fit to interject, first towards
Thomas Benoit and then
Isaac Merlo , though anyone can hear her.[break][break]
"A ship... almost like... the one at the bottom of the Ultra Deep Sea? The... what was it called again... uhh, Quaestor Lucis! That's it!"[break][break]
She's surprised at herself that she can remember its name.[break][break]
She had been aboard its derelict ruins. It had been where she'd seen the corpse of a Megalopolan for the first time. It was where she recovered her own Nihilego, still a hatchling. She had no idea of its importance at the time. But she can remember its name. That much is seared into her memory. She'll never forget it.[break][break]
"So that's what it was for."[break][break]
She frowns. [break][break]
Maybe one day she'll venture to the depths again. This time, on purpose rather than in a waking dream. But it's too soon for that now. She's made a promise to
Navy and
freya morningstar to keep herself grounded in
this world for a while, rather than alternate dimensions and dreams. But that gets messy in a situation like this, when they're coming
here... [break][break]
She hangs near the Ursaluna her Gengar put to sleep. There are a few familiar faces she didn't realize were here, both for good at bad. She acknowledges
howard slayte ,
Eris Halla , and
Tempest Quinn . But nobody seems willing to fight one another over faction alliances at the moment. She scoffs at that, and follows the bear, and
Thomas Benoit by extension. [break][break]
Sagisou, her Gengar, stares at everyone with a malicious grin, turning in midair, sticking out its tongue at
howard slayte . Once. Twice. Three times. It seems delighted by the dour mood, feeding off of the confusion and the heightened emotions at the bottom of the cave. Whether it will help or whether it will just enjoy the show... that remains to be seen.[break][break]
+ Baki is filled in on the history of Megalopolans. She's a kid with a poor education, so she's processing everything. [break]
+ Baki mentions the Quaestor Lucis I, a wreck in the Ultra Deep Sea. It's her only point of reference for any of this.[break]
+ Baki heads down Path 2 with the Ursaluna, while her Gengar feeds off of everyone's complicated emotions.