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Rhys wouldn't count himself the most adventurous person on the planet - or even in the same room, on a given day - but the notion of entirely other dimensions, rife with the unknown and sheer possibility, had him all but frothing at the mouth to experience firsthand. Eager to prove himself, eager to expand his horizons, he'd managed to not only secure passage through one of the rifts, but arranged for a traveling companion as well. Two heads are better than one, and even he was not foolish enough to charge headfirst into the unknown by himself.
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As he alighted on a ruined street, Althea the Audino at his side, he couldn't keep his jaw from dropping momentarily. The sheer scale of the glistening obsidian structures rising around him was baffling, and he stopped in his tracks purely to survey the landscape.
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What had he gotten himself into?
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Turning, he beckoned Althea closer to him, the pair waiting for their remaining companion to catch up.

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Following Marianne's gaze, Rhys nodded agreeably as he caught sight of the same structure she'd noticed, even if the words were made heavier, more cloying, by the oppressive wrongness of the city around them. "That might do," he allowed, falling into step just behind her as they began their approach, Althea tagging along at the rear of their little expedition.
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A strange environment, to be sure, but Rhys couldn't help the frisson of excitement running down his spine. Who knew what they might find?
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He would have an answer to that particular query sooner than he'd have thought.
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Drawing closer to the ruined schoolhouse, Rhys suddenly slid forward, extending an arm in front of Marianne to halt her movement, a single finger going to his lips in a silent plea for silence. Catching her eye, he inclined his head to one side of the thoroughfare, indicating a shambling, humanoid shape emerging from one of the ruined entryways.
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He tensed minutely, observing the Megalopolan as it lurched sideways against a fallen slough of rubble. Had it seen them? Would it notice them if they continued? He couldn't be sure, but...did he want to chance it?

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Rhys relaxed as Marianne's Klefki led the being away from their intended path, releasing a sigh he hadn't realized he'd been holding.
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"I couldn't say, not without getting a closer look," he responded, brow furrowed as he stared in the direction of the exited Megalopolan. "Something is definitely wrong with it, though, you're right."
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As though to underscore the statement, Althea shrieked in alarm, a pink-tinted MISTY TERRAIN rolling out under the group's feet reflexively before a searing pain tore through Rhys's left bicep. Another Megalopolan had snuck behind him while his focus was drawn and he now had a jagged claw wound to show for his carelessness.
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He cursed under his breath, tearing away from the creature but doing his level best to keep his body between the assailant and Marianne. "Get it away, Althea!" he bit out, cradling his wounded arm and rifling through the pouch at his hip until he came out with a length of white bandage.
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The Audino unleashed a HYPER VOICE that sent the Megalopolan bodily backward, crashing tumultuously into the ruins of a nearby storefront. Rhys used his teeth to cinch the bandage around his wounded arm, then grabbed Marianne's wrist with his good hand and began sprinting toward the schoolhouse just ahead.
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"We've got to get in and hope there's nothing in there with us," he panted between steps. Behind them, Althea kept pace, the MISTY TERRAIN rolling with them as they made their advance. "There's some kind of necrosis on this wound and I have to treat it properly before Althea runs out of steam - she's the only thing keeping it from spreading, I think."

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"Nice one," Rhys gasped as the Phanpy managed, despite its size, to mostly obliterate the door barring their access to the schoolhouse. Clutching his arm, he darted around a ruined desk set near the doorway and, in the absence of being able to use his own arms for the job, leaned his weight on it, sliding it slowly across the aperture to block the entryway to the building. With a squeak, the Audino joined in his efforts, pushing with all her might, until the heavy furniture covered the lower half of the door.
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"Not enough, not enough," he muttered to himself. His vision was starting to swim, not helped the least bit by the curls of softly-curling pink mist that kept whatever substance that tainted his wound from spreading. Reaching blindly to his belt, he fumbled a toss of a pokéball. a pale Zorua materializing with a curious tilt of his head. "Ev, cover that," Rhys bit out, jerking his head toward the partially-sealed doorway.
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The Zorua nodded, brow furrowing in focus. The air around the doorway shimmered and distorted before the entrance simply seemed to blink out of existence, a stretch of unblemished wall replacing the hastily-moved barricade. Sighing in relief, Rhys sagged to the floor, his back against the wall just to one side of the illusory cover. Grimacing in pain, he shrugged out of his jacket and rummaged in his satchel, withdrawing a bright scalpel that made quick work of the shirtsleeve obstructing his injured arm, the tube of fabric tugged off and tossed aside unceremoniously.
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With the wound exposed, Rhys could see clearly the jagged laceration marring the skin of his arm, as well as the tendrils of black infection darkening the edges of the incision, almost seeming to squirm in place as though they wished to spread further but were prevented from doing so. He glanced at the scalpel in his hand, then to the wound again, and finally up to Althea, the Audino's features darkened with concern.
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Rhys winced, offering a grimace to Althea. "Ready, please." He looked around, searching for Marianne, and grinned apologetically, face tight with pain. "Might want to turn around, miss Marianne. This won't...be pleasant." His attention turned back to his injured arm, and without any further preamble his scalpel darted down in three quick motions - left, right, forward, and the entire segment of wounded skin flipped forward, neatly separated from his arm, and landed on the ground as he yowled in pain.
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True to her word, Althea was ready, offering a steady stream of LIFE DEW that trickled onto the angry red oblong of exposed muscle on Rhys's arm, and already his skin began to knit together, slowly but surely. The danger of infection passed, Althea allowed the MISTY TERRAIN to dissipate, and almost immediately the discarded segment of skin utterly blackened, sloughing into an unidentifiable lump of necrosis.
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Panting, Rhys allowed himself to drop the scalpel, head lolling slightly as he looked toward his companion. "Sorry for that, but I thought it best I made it out of here in one piece," he grunted. "What about you? Can you see if there's something we can use to bar the rest of the doorway? The illusion's good enough, but it's not solid if these things can smell their way through it."

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As his Audino's LIFE DEW finished its work, Rhys let his head hang, just for a moment. This had been far more excitement than he'd bargained for, but at least he'd made it this far. If it had been six months ago, Rhys was unerringly certain that he'd be bleeding out on the ground where he and Marianne encountered the first Megalopolan - and her beside him, as likely.
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Still, he'd come here as an independent researcher, and she the same, so he shouldn't feel conflicted. He knew he was putting on a show, the smiling mask he wore when he encountered...well, anyone, really. The submarine - no, that first mission with Zev Harcourt - had been the first time he'd really been himself. Not a psychopath, not a megalomaniac, no, just...tired. Frustrated. Bitter. Vengeful.
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Growling, snapping, and sulking wouldn't help the woman - girl, really - who'd entered the space with him, and if he were honest it wouldn't help him, either, so the polite, reserved, encouraging mask did all the talking.
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He did raise an eyebrow at Marianne's Klefki setting to work at the door, and it was as honest a reaction as he'd ever given. It seemed that she was in fact capable, in the right circumstances. "Nice job," he ground out, coming slowly to his feet.
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At her inquiry, he shook his head. "Barricading isn't going to help, I think, not if these things really want to get in. Still, between the illusion and you setting things right, it's bought us more time than if we'd just been sitting here with the door wide open. We need a way out."
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He moved slowly, but he moved, at least, which was a positive. Heading to the stairs, he beckoned Marianne. "If there's one entrance, there might be more than one exit. Maybe, if we're lucky, we can come back here in the future, when we're more prepared. Save us the time of having to dodge those...things right off the bat, yeah?"

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