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[attr="class","text"]This felt far more preferable to working the front lines. Not that he wanted to run from the fighting (okay, well maybe sort of,) but scouting the area for good leads felt more productive and substantially less violent.[break][break]
They just had to be sorta careful where they stepped.[break][break]
“Happy to be here,” he replied, smiling over at her as her cheerful nature made itself apparent again. It felt like a return to something that had been misplaced. Sure, walking into battle now wasn’t exactly ideal, but it was like he’d said the last time they scouted one of these caves—they had strength in numbers.[break][break]
He nodded, green eyes scanning over the dank cavern walls, the space dimly lit by terastral glow. “Easy peasy. Can you read them? The glyphs, I mean.” Maybe they should’ve had a translating device. Or maybe his rotom could help with that?[break][break]
“He looks like he’s doing well!” Lam remarked lightly, pointing up toward the rowlet with a grin. “Way more active than his sister is.” Dorothy was a spoiled little rowlet, tucked away nice and cozy at him in the hutch where he kept all of his pidove.[break][break]
Instead, a different decidueye scouted ahead of them, sweeping along the cavern walls from below—watchful for the intrusion of any interlopers or the potential rise of any Interdream Mist. Artichoke would likely be a pokemon that Genny would recognize, one of Lam’s oldest partners. He’d been a tiny rowlet himself when they’d still been in Alola.

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[attr="class","credit"]MADE BY GUNSMILE

lam logan [break][break]

NOTES

- STANDARD ATTIRE[break]
- SURVEY - 50 MP for PARTICIPATION, 20 MP for POST[break]
- Taking pictures of the glyphs for later research, Genny and Lam bond over Rowlets. She's even surprised to see Artichoke![break]
- The glyphs are being glyphs. What traps could be in here?

MADE BY GUNSMILE

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[attr="class","text"]It really was a good thing to see Genny make a return to how she’d always acted around him. That cheerfulness had persisted all throughout their childhoods. It was a warm and familiar thing—the comfort of their hometown wrapped up in a kind heart.[break][break]
“Fair point.” It’s one he can’t argue with—it’s definitely beyond his comprehension, but even then Lam still has a burning curiosity to know instantly.[break][break]
“That's good to see, he’ll make a sturdy lil companion, then.” See? He knew that rowlet would flourish in her care![break][break]
The caw of the little owl makes him smile, and he glances up again as he moves to follow the path of his rotom as it zips to different glyphs. Though it captured images, quick processing leaves Lam with disappointing results on its little rotom phone screen:[break][break]
no recent translation obtainable[break][break]
But does that mean it doesn’t exist, or that it’s just not accessible to the average person?[break][break]
“Sure is,” a short nod confirms his words, and at the use of his name, the mellow decidueye looks back over his shoulder at Genny. One large wing sweeps out from under his hooded cape to wave at her.[break][break]
“He's gotten real big since you last saw him I guess, huh?” Idly, Lam leans forward as he speaks, squinting as he looks at a string of the glyphs. Without thinking, his fingers lift to brush against the carved symbols.[break][break]
Immediately, they pulsate with brighter light, lighting up one by one. “Uhhhh Gen, I think they’re doing somethin’…” His rotom snaps photos of the change, but Lam is looking to make sure that he didn’t inadvertently set something off on her side of the grotto.


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[attr="class","credit"]MADE BY GUNSMILE

lam logan[break][break]

NOTES

- STANDARD ATTIRE[break]
- SURVEY - 50 MP for PARTICIPATION, 30 MP for POST[break][break]
- Genny is so nostalgic. She's remembering Mr. Business as a little Darumaka... oh the memories.[break]
- After realizing what is happening, she uses her senses to hear something in the walls. A mechanism?[break]
- Spikes begin to shoot up from the floor in a rhythm, and Genny commands Oz to LEAF BLADE them.

MADE BY GUNSMILE

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[attr="class","text"] “I know, right? He used to be such a pipsqueak.” The tease earns an indignant hoot from Artichoke. The conversation turns wistful as she mentions Mr. Business, and Lam’s smile turns bittersweet.[break][break]

There’s a distinct memory of the once-rowlet perching on the darumaka’s head as he hopped about in an attempt to shake him off. “Yeah. I definitely think he would’ve been thrown for a loop.” Genny’s loss of the darmantian was a memory that stuck with him, and an event that he knew Ikarus Rook still feels guilt for.[break][break]

Hell, he’d never miss Mr. Business the same way Gen did, but Lam had known the Pokémon long enough to feel that achy feeling. He’d been a good companion and protector to a cherished friend. So now Lam takes on the responsibility left behind. If only to make sure that she doesn’t get caught in the trap this place springs on them.[break][break]

As soon as he said something, he felt the rumbling in the open grotto intensify. His first thought is to cross the space and get to Genny, but before the thought even finishes processing, spikes begin to shoot up from the stone floor as it splits apart.[break][break]

“Woah!” he blurts as he stumbles back, nearly losing his balance in the process. The startled cry of his best friend snaps him back to attention, and Lam is back to locating her as more of the spiked traps hurtle up in rapid succession.[break][break]

“Genny! Are you alright?” he yells back, doing his best to swallow down the frantic edge that wants to crawl up his throat. “Get video of this,” he manages to command the now-nervous rotom flitting around him.[break][break]

His decidueye sweeps through the space on wide, silent wings to shadow the much smaller rowlet. Artie! Help out!” Mumbled hooting follows, but as Oz attempts to slice through the spikes, he takes a different angle.[break][break]

Vines twist and wrench at the spikes as they erupt from the earth and crawl across the grotto. The FRENZY PLANT attempting to uproot everything in its path.[break][break]

But is it enough? The rumbling begins again as Lam attempts to inch around the circular chamber towards Genny, hand reaching for hers. But soon it feels like the walls are pushing them inward, making the already small space even smaller.[break][break]


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[attr="class","credit"]MADE BY GUNSMILE

lam logan[break][break]

NOTES

- STANDARD ATTIRE[break]
- SURVEY - 50 MP for PARTICIPATION, 40 MP for POST[break]
- Spikes done! Yay! Goot job, Artie! Oh. Crushing Wall... Vanilla Ice is on the case! AURORA BEAM on the glyphs to stop the mechanism? Yay![break]
- Oh. But there's spikes coming from the ceiling. Boo.[break]
- Lammy's turn. Spikes from the ceiling, what do?

MADE BY GUNSMILE

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“This place is all full of curve balls, huh?” he complains as his eyes turn upward toward the ceiling as it descends. More spikes protrude from the moving wall as debris crumbles from the movement to coat them with dust and rubble. An arm lifts to shield his face from the detritus. But soon his nose twitches, and despite the urgency of the moment, he sneezes.[break][break]
“Guess it hasn’t seen action in a while, either.” Taking a page from Genny’s book, Lam releases the Iron Bundle he came across in the wake of the events in the Deep Sea months ago. The metal bird skates across the floor on its little skis as mechanical, automized squawks denote its awareness.[break][break]
“Freeze up the corners,” Lam orders as he waves Artichoke back over. “Push back just for a bit, then follow, yeah?” The decidueye hoots before he leans over, beak nibbling at Lam’s ear—an affectionate gesture done ever since he was no more than a chick. Just in case.[break][break]
So as the Iron Bundle encases the perimeter of the ceiling in a frigid ICE BEAM to stifle the mechanism and cause resistance, Artichoke glows with powerful energy before surging upward to a gap between the spikes. The BRAVE BIRD pushing back against the descent to allow for his trainer and his best friend to make it out through the doorway on the opposite side.[break][break]
“Yep, time to go!” he asks as he grabs Genny’s hand to pull her toward the exit, around all of the uprooted and sliced up spikes in the door.

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[attr="class","credit"]MADE BY GUNSMILE

lam logan [break][break]

NOTES

- STANDARD ATTIRE[break]
- SURVEY - 50 MP for PARTICIPATION, 50 MP for POST[break]
- Lammy's got this! After more freezing, Artichoke gets them the way out! Lam grabs her hand, and books it.[break]
- She grabs Vanilla Ice and Oz is quick to follow.[break]
- As they exit... Genny calls for a role call. Hoping... everyone made it.

MADE BY GUNSMILE

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As they make their way out, the ceiling eventually begins to lower—even with Artichoke pushing up against it. The closer they get the more it drops as the decidueye’s strength depletes. However, he shifts across the ceiling and incrementally inches toward the exit as well. The ice from the Iron Bundle’s attack can only supplement his efforts for so long.[break][break]
It isn’t until each and every one of them has crossed the threshold that Artichoke releases the bulk of his effort to hold the roof up. His wings fan out to make his way to the exit, but the sudden release causes an abrupt drop in the heavy ceiling. The meat of one wing is pierced through by a spike, and as he flutters forward, he meets resistance that ends in a pained squawk that has Lam whirling back around to see what happened. It's enough to shoot his heart up into his throat.[break][break]
No no no, not again. This was supposed to be an easy assignment.[break][break]
“C’mon Artie!” Lam shouts, a frantic edge weaving its way into his voice as the bird struggles to unskewer his wing. Normally, he’s a cool and collected companion, but the more he struggles, the more frightened his hooting becomes. If only because the worry is there in Lam’s voice as he calls for him. The only thing urging him forward.[break][break]
Pressed close to being flattened and only a few feet from the floor, Artichoke puts all of his remaining energy into one finally burst of speed—[break][break]
He tears free from the spike that had hooked his wing in a spray of blood and feathers. The decidueye’s belly skids across the stone flooring as he clears the archway seconds before the heavy ceiling drops shut with a groaning, definitive thud.[break][break]
For a second, Lam can’t bring himself to look. Even as Genny chimes in to check on everyone, and he hears the assent of both her pokemon and his other two afterward. His eyes remained squeezed shut in a preemptive wince as his stomach drops.[break][break]
Then comes a tired hoot, quiet and barely there.[break][break]
Relief collapses in on him as Lam slides down next to Artichoke, arms slipping around the decidueye’s neck. “You scared me, Artie,” he scolds halfheartedly, carefully avoiding any contact with the bird’s mangled wing. Amber eyes blink at him, round and owlish and painbright, before he succumbs to the injury.[break][break]
Not dead, but unconscious.[break][break]
It’s only then that Lam lets himself breathe in a heavy exhale. He looks back at Genny, smile bittersweet as he lets the decidueye’s unconscious head drop to his lap. “Everyone accounted for.” For a moment, he strokes the softer, delicate feathers on Artichoke’s head and under his chin before recalling him into his pokeball.[break][break]
“We’re back at the entrance, right? Not further in?” In all of the chaos, he hadn’t really gotten a good look.

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[attr="class","credit"]MADE BY GUNSMILE

lam logan[break][break]

NOTES

- STANDARD ATTIRE[break]
- SURVEY - 50 MP for PARTICIPATION, 60 MP for POST, 10 MP for ASSISTING[break]
- Genny doesn't look away. Even as Arti rips his wing. Her fear bubbles to the surface, and-[break]
- With him out, Genny immediately rips her Ranger jacket to patch him up, and sobs.[break]
- Cry smiles to Lammy, saying they made it back to the entrance... Artichoke got to live.

MADE BY GUNSMILE

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It can’t be easy for Genny to watch this. Even under all of his urgent fear and worry, he can still sense her presence. Read the panic that she feels. For his decidueye, yes, but also the remnant of what she’s already lost.[break][break]
He’s grateful for her company all the same, though. That he’s not experiencing this alone, as he had in the deep sea. With Artichoke draped in his lap, resting, Lam lets his hand rest against his friend’s back, then pull her into a loose side hug when he hears her sniffling.[break][break]
Though he doesn’t cry, he can still feel the itchy tingle in his nose and the shakiness in his own breath. Head tipped against the top of hers, silence takes over as he lets her expel all of those bottled up feelings until the moment calms and the tension fully dissipates.[break][break]
Lam heaves a sigh at the confirmation. After the intensity of that moment, it feels like he could flop back and just lay there for a good minute. But he stays upright. “Good,” he huffs instead, lifting a hand to ruffle through his hair. Already messy, it sticks up at more odd angles, but he doesn’t care. “Can’t say I’m interested in running through any more booby traps for a minute.”[break][break]
He looks over at Genny, a dry chuckle following. And then it breaks into more tired laughter, because he can’t quite help it. What the hell was that? “That was like some Indiana Jones level bullshit,” he continues to laugh, as his hand moves to wipe at the corner of his eye next.[break][break]
He probably shouldn’t be laughing in a moment like this. With Artichoke in need of more medical attention than a simple, quick heal up at a pokecenter or with a full restore. But he’s alive. They all are—they’ve made it out in largely one piece, and that’s enough for relief to take over and override proper reaction.[break][break]
“Look at us. Pros,” he eventually manages, mouth cracking a tired, lopsided smile. Same as their trip to the tunneling caves, he lifts a lazy fist for her to bump her own knuckles against in success.[break][break]

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[attr="class","credit"]MADE BY GUNSMILE

lam logan[break][break]

NOTES

- STANDARD ATTIRE[break]
- SURVEY - 50 MP for PARTICIPATION, 70 MP for POST, 10 MP for ASSISTING, 250 MP for TIE[break]
- It's not much, but Genny's slightly tearing up at the fact Artichoke made it out alive. Bestie really be hurting.[break]
- Half hoping Mr. Business is happy they can get through without him... fist bumps.[break]
- They are so much better then Indy Jones.

MADE BY GUNSMILE