Ah. Good. He didn’t flinch too much. Violet still remembered how her last party had been all but paralyzed at the sight of these remains in the banquet hall. Not that she necessarily begrudged them for that. It was somewhat natural – at least for certain groups of people. But among Rockets, that was something less likely to happen.
[break][break]
As was the case here. Which was good, because she was very much still judging this man that she barely knew. Vio was reasonably certain that she could handle herself on her own – that was why she had accepted to be here with nothing but a semi-stranger at her side – but she preferred to not have to. It was just that simple. Just because one could do something with more limited resources did not mean it was the smart thing to do so.
[break][break]
Especially when it came to places like death such as this one. “Apparently the previous inhabitant of this kingdom, aside from the more ageless Pokemon. Though the mechanical one I told you about was pretty close to this place last time. I wonder if it walked off or if something had happened,” she said, half musing to herself, half informing him of some peculiarities of this place. Naturally, she’d had filed a report after her first foray to this place and he should have been given the info. But it was always good to reiterate to be sure. Lots of grunts barely skimmed, after all.
[break][break]

+ ooc notes

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Ah, so he was that kind of person. Not really interested in anything but combative results. The kind of person that she ultimately found useful, but also not all too stimulating to be around. After all, there was only so much she could do with this kind of question.
[break][break]
“Not like I fought it. The Pokemon was hospitable and capable of thought and vocalization of human-like level. That alone, to me, says it can be quite dangerous if it wants to be.” At least that was her experience with these kinds of higher-tier Pokemon. Hence, she was not going to agitate the one they might meet here. Especially not when it still seemed to invite them in, if that open door was any indication. [break][break]
“I caution to not attack it at all unless strictly necessary. This is their castle for all intents and purposes. We should not be rude guests unless we can guarantee positive results.” That was how she handled things, after all. Only fight when forced or she was reasonably certain that she would win.
[break][break]

+ ooc notes

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

To be frank, she had not actually expected an elevator of all things in this place, but on second thought, that only made sense, did it not? It just was unlike any elevator she knew, mostly based on moving clockwork parts that together managed to work as sufficiently strong levers to do the job. It was kind of impressive. “The Pokemon here must know their stuff if they keep everything in working order like this,” she mused, observing the gears and listening to the music.
[break][break]
Then again, she was never good with flags, now was she? Just moments after saying that, there was a screeching sound and a shock reverberated through her whole body as the elevator suddenly came to a harsh halt.
Well, almost. Looking to one of the corners of the elevator, where large gears had just moved, one for each corner, she noticed one of them starting to send sparks all around it, as if something had gotten stuck or so. Heck, she was not an engineer, she had no real idea what was going on there! “Um, you don’t happen to know a lot about elevator mechanics, now do you?”
[break][break]

+ big elevator fails

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Well, that would have been expecting too much. Plus, it wasn’t like she knew any more, either. Would have just been nice to not be brute-forcing things.
[break][break]
But then again, that was why she had brought a big, strong male with her, after all. He called out a fairly interesting Pokemon, but all he could think of having it do was breaking down the doors. Not very imaginative, but at least it got the job done. Half-way. Fortunately, they were not in a narrow shaft anymore. Instead, their elevator was part of a smaller, tower-like structure. Well, that was probably putting too much praise on it. A collection of metal beams that was not even enclosed on all sides was more like it.
[break][break]
That was good though. It meant that they could at least see some lights in the distance of this dark, underground cavern, somewhere closer to the ground.
[break][break]
It was also good since the impact of the doors being blown out reverberated through the apparatus. The sparking only intensified with a screeching sound that was not at all pleasant to the ear. But Violet had an idea where that was going, so she was already fishing for the Pokeball before things went completely haywire. “I’d not stick around until it starts moving again. Doesn’t sound like it will be all that proper after all,” she noted before starting for the door, bringing out her Togekiss as she did. Her instincts told her to get off and she would give him a ride, too, before the elevator might try to, well, make up for lost time, in a way.
[break][break]

+ ooc notes

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Well, so much for the elevator. At least they both got out, unscathed. Vio let out a brief sigh of relief, still on top of her Togekiss, as she watched the other make it out as well. Not a moment too soon, it appeared, given that the elevator was already crashing on the down below.
[break][break]
“Guess that leaves us with the age-old question: was that someone trying to pull something on us, or just century-old machinery simply not working as intended?” That was the question they needed an answer for before pressing onwards, after all. It was all fine if that was just faulty equipment, but they had been invited here by their host, right? In that case, it was important to know if this had been an attempt on their lives or not.
[break][break]

+ Gerald Kaiser

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

She couldn’t help but shrug. “Possible. After all, that thing looked and felt as if it had not been used in ages. So, anyone calling us down here would have probably taken another route.” At least if it was that Megaerna from before, she had seen it up on the surface. Well, whatever counted for a surface in this place. Either way, it had been in the area above. Which kind of meant that it had to have gone here somehow.
[break][break]
“Speaking of, though, I can’t exactly see a welcoming committee here, either. Maybe it was a trap. Or maybe we just went a route we completely were not meant to take.” Vio tended to at least try to attribute to stupidity which could be explained by that, not malice. But she could not be completely certain, either.
[break][break]

+ Gerald Kaiser

[attr="class","pokeclass"]