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Pain is dulled only for a moment by the dulled adrenaline. Whipping across the room, Kaida and her Pokemon hasn't even noticed the attacks trapping the floor, but they felt it as they approached the staircase. Warmth spread across Kaida's arm as a nauseous pain made itself known. A hissing cry came from Freya, clinging desperately. Stealth Rock had activated, and Kaida found herself with a shard plunged into her arm, which she decided to leave in a desperate attempt to retain blood. Freya found herself with a similar shard cutting deep into her back, only avoiding more injury by the speed that they had passed through, and that Sticky Web hadn't slowed them much. Hema wasn't as lucky, having to struggle through a web, Spikes peppered her underside, leaving a streak of red on the floor as she desperately continued after Kaida. It was only pain, they could handle pain! Vegetation grew under their feet and, while Kaida felt no change, blood loss did slow, and wounds did attempt to heal. [break][break]

Nonetheless, with her injuries and the attacks having been launched specifically to harm others, Kaida's face twisted into a snarl, baring her teeth. Someone was here to mess everything up, to ruin her mission. To harm this tree. She skidded to a stop before the people by the stairway, eyes flickering over each and everyone. Strangers. Strange Pokemon. Cillian Quinn marcel maeda and Emma Wolfe were in the way. The Shadow Sandslash growled at her and, in a moment of fury, an inhuman sound rumbled from her throat. "Don't threaten me!" She spit like venom, stomping forward and hiding her wound, "If you don't-" [break][break]

Her words died as a long groan shook the foundations, her eyes widening in a primal fear as her attention was suddenly on Hema and Freya. With the tree growing like that, it was only going to mean they'd fall, and then...-"Move. Get out of our way." Her voice was dull, but direct. An aloofness entered her gaze, the sheer amount of uncaring in her eyes being like she wasn't even looking upon her own kind, not even enemies. Her attention fixed directly beyond her blockers, standing still for only a moment before she pointed at the rubble blocking their escape point. She didn't stop even if anybody was in the way. Giving a few seconds, wasn't that enough to expect these strangers to get out of the way? "Freya!" [break][break]

It didn't matter if there was anybody in the way. This was an issue with her family, a partner. There was no way she was allowing them to be hurt for the sake of somebody else, especially harmful strangers. Freya reared up and spewed a great Flamethrower, her Nasty Plots beforehand lending additional heat to the attack. She had no way to clear the path otherwise. It might burn, it might be hot, but they were getting to safety. Like Kaida, she didn't pause to consider anything in the way, anything in the stairway. If it was survival, Kaida lead, and she wasn't wrong. [break][break]

However well the attack did, Kaida leapt forward, her Pokemon by her side. Hema's tail glowed a dark purple as she prepared Night Slash to clear anything else in the way. Kaida's path was clear, the moment the stairway had any space, she aimed to leap inside, saving herself and those following her. [break][break]

Md7pbiF3

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[attr="class","illie b"]help comes in the form of a former partner. Kaida Adachi is perhaps kinder than their last encounter, ushering one of her snakes to assist the bumbling scientist. hema comes over quickly with gentle jaws clamping around the fabric of her cape. it's enough to pull her in their direction, enough to find secure footing and shuffle along with kaida's pokemon. a grateful smile is flashed in the woman's direction. she's touched, really. kaida didn't have to help her out but she did and it makes her feel a little warm despite the ice surrounding them.

and then, as the day seems to constantly be heading in this direction, things take a sour turn.

debris, spikes, rocks, webs. they all litter the ground before them, yet another obstacle to overcome. they almost look strategically placed for maximum damage and time lost. her kirlia tries to twist and twirl around them only to have one cut through her arm in the process. blood splatters across tiles and illeana is quick to gasp, quick to well up with tears. no. nonono. her movements are panicked, desperate, and perhaps that's what causes her to fall victim to the trap.

a rock rushes up as she scrambles to her kirlia's side, catching her through one of her exposed thighs and holding her hostage. spikes join the rock in cutting at her skin and really, she definitely should have worn something else now. cuts scatter across the skin of her arms and legs but the main thing that slows her down in the large piece of land stuck in her thigh. it elicits a shrill shriek of pain and she doubles over, hands scrambling toward the wound. "shit," she hisses. that hurts. damn it.

"custos," she whispers, not even sparing a glance back toward the shadows of her cape. her golett peeks out from beneath the fabric's shade, already pulling out of the darkness enough to assist. removing the rock isn't ideal, not in this type of situation. she doubts anyone has a spare med kit anyway... instead, she's gesturing toward the base of the rock with bloody hands. "break the rock. please." her tone leaves little room for questions and so, with as much care as the automaton can muster, it hits at the rock with a shadow punch. another shriek escapes as rubble breaks apart beneath the pressure of the blow, the rock breaking apart to allow her mobility once more.

and yet, before she can even think about moving, things somehow manage to get worse?

the building groans and rumbles, lurching in a way that isn't normal. she's stumbling at the trembling of the floor, struggling to find footing against the traps and unstable tiles. is... is the floor going to give out? oh god, please no. could they even survive a fall from here? would they get crushed beneath the rubble? her heart lurches into her throat at the thought and she's operating out of the pure need to survive now.

kaida has a similar reaction, rushing to overcome the obstacles keeping them from the safety of the staircase. illeana's trying in vain to rush after her. the movements are sluggish, slow, painful. she can't move quickly now, can barely even apply pressure to one leg. from somewhere behind them, green mist slowly rolls in over the floor. it's soothing in a way she can't place and perhaps there's some good in her sluggishness. the mist grants some relief from pain, some minor healing to lessen the injuries for both her and her former partner. virgo, too, feels the relief of green mist and soon, she's returning to the scientist's side. a quick glance toward the psychic type and she's pleading with whatever god or higher power might be around for this rushed plan of hers to work. "can you lift all of us with psychic?" virgo nods, although illeana isn't quite sure it won't exhaust the kirlia. they have to try, though... "lift the injured toward the staircase, please." the telltale purple glow of PSYCHIC radiates around her, around them, and virgo is struggling to lift them out of harms way.

only custos lingers where they once stood, the golett rumbling almost menacingly. it teeters forward with heavy footsteps and clay legs, all too intent on assisting kaida with the endeavor of clearing the way to the staircase. instead of focusing on those that block their path, however, it turns its attention to the rubble. the automaton lurches forward with SHADOW PUNCH ready and overtaking one hand, more than ready to break through the rocks blocking the entrance to the stairs.

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After verifying that Emma was unhurt, Gavin turns toward the stairs — just in time to watch as they collapsed, blocking their path and separating them from Marcel.[break][break]

Alarm surges through him, but he carefully maintains his composure as he tries to think of a plan. The same cannot be said for Kaida Adachi; Gavin turns cold amber eyes onto the woman as she snaps at him, accusing.[break][break]

"It's not threatening you." Sandslash does not help its case, flexing its metal claws. It snarls as she storms forward, sensing furious intent. "You are stressing it out—"[break][break]

Speaking over her, Gavin, too, falls silent as he feels the floor tremble beneath his feet. Whatever Kaida says next is lost to Gavin's own survival instincts — Sandslash disappears in a halo of red, replaced by an Aerodactyl who flares her wings and looks to her master for command. Gavin clambers aboard the prehistoric beast, motioning frantically for Emma to join him.[break][break]

"We have to get off the ground!"[break][break]

Should Emma climb aboard, the Aerodactyl would do its best to get airborne.[break][break]

"Shift that rubble, now!"[break][break]

With a rumbling cry of affirmation, the Aerodactyl would attempt to gain control of some of the rubble using ROCK SLIDE, hoping to lift it and toss it out of their way.[break][break]

9AWLP7e_ [break] [used THREE OF MY SIX salacs, WHAT IS THIS LUCK :sob:]

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No sooner does she squeeze close to Gavin do the stairs fall away into rubble. They're facing a barricade of dread and Marcel had managed to slip past before the floor began to collapse. She can feel the floor groan and shift beneath her feet as the tree's sudden growth spurt takes its toll.[break][break]

Fortunately, the vending machine gang's set-up of traps and boobies is behind them, there's no danger. It merely means they're caught between a rock slide and a hard place of pointed stones. They couldn't go back but they also couldn't go forward. [break][break]

Kaida Adachi, a woman Emma didn't recognize nor care to, pushes past the STEALTH ROCKS and various other obstacles. She's bleeding, she's angry, and she whirls on Cillian Quinn's Alolan Sandslash. The savage Pokemon's aggressive response is justified as the woman snarls back. One might almost assume the girl in question was feral herself.[break][break]

Emma wrinkles her nose at her in response, but her voice is lost to the rumble of tile smashing and foundation crashing. She feels her weight shift uncomfortably, a lurch in her chest as she reaches out to latch onto Gavin. As she turns to face him, however, the man is already returning Sandslash in a flash of light. She follows his lead, tucking Skuntank away to protect her from the fall.[break][break]

And then the man's warmth is gone as he clambers onto the back of a prehistoric dinosaur with wings. He's reaching for her and she reaches in return, pushing herself to react and grab hold of him. She slides into place in front of him, worried if she had climbed on from behind, her smaller stature might slip and fall off.[break][break]

He shouts something over the top of her head and it spurs Aerodactyl into action. The Pokemon begins to try and pull away the rubble and keep them off the ground should the floor give way. [break][break]

In the meantime, however, Emma works to retrieve her Zoroark's pokeball. As soon as she finds it she releases the Pokemon - though it shows itself as her Crobat. [break][break]

"Protect us!"[break][break]

Without question, the illusioned Crobat attempts to surround the Aerodactyl with a PROTECTIVE barrier, remaining close to Emma's shoulder so that she might catch the Crobat if he fell.[break][break]



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the caged trio did their best to try and free themselves with a gallade and machoke doing most of the heavy cutting in order to free them. when Goro Shimizu's mime jr comes out however its when kazimir can't really keep his eyes off of it as it suddenly does its cute and sort of twisted plan of burning its way through this cage. that sure was one way of escaping if it didn't mind getting everyone else a set of burns all around them. his focus was so caught on the little clown and its attempt at tree barbecue that he didn't even notice Katherine Fairburne's morpeko slip away and start chipping away at the ceiling above them.
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however soon they were all free and they made their way onto solid ground which once again felt soft and comfy as some tossed around costumes were the ones to break their fall through it. "oh man...is this storage?" kazimir couldn't be too sure as he was trying to wonder why all of this was so far under the main building. he didn't get a lot of time to process it as the sound of crunching wood burst through his ears and the sight of their previous cage suddenly being smashed together was enough of a distraction. "yikes... glad we weren't in there. here's not any better though.".
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like a jinx the moment he opened his mouth more rumbling could be heard only this time it was from the ceiling above them, literally. as he watched cracks form above him he recalled his two pokemon back into their balls as a chunk of ceiling fell onto a rack of clothes which prompted him to move closer to the trunk. out of reflex for self defense he grabbed whatever looked solid to him, a painted wooden sword by the feel of it and used it to brush away the debris rolling around at his feet. "ok so we need to go. now. or we're gonna be a pancake breakfast." he instructed to the two others as he looked around the trunk that was blocking their way. it didn't take long for him to find a space that looked like they could all slip through it.
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"hey over here! i think we can get through. uh...single file though." that last sentence was added as soon as he slipped into the crack and could tell that it was pretty cramped with him just barely having enough space to shimmy through it.
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F_1joRA3

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[attr="class","mthread"]the result is unexpected. while the tree seems unaffected, his sylveon glows--only a moment, part of him believes it was imagined. before he has time to process this observation, he feels a hand on his wrist. his immediate reaction is to pull back, but manages to catch himself in face of priam conrad.
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it was impossible, given marcel's rank and the size of their team, for him to stay ignorant. he recognised the lie immediately--all too aware that he was guilty too--but this has been some time ago. among all the preparations for this, it'd been easy to forget he'd yet to confront priam on the matter.
[break][break]he stifles a sigh. "shouldn't i be the one asking that?"
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he supposes he shouldn't blame him for making his mistakes, but it's the fact they are his that frustrates him so. marcel knows how badly this path can end. as he's dragged towards the hatch, he holds up a hand to protect his face as the floor above begins to crumble. his expression settles into a grim line.
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still, marcel has faced worse grievances than these; compartmentalisation, for him, is a practised art. he's learnt the hard way a mission always comes first--it's a lesson he isn't forgetting any time soon. grumbling a thanks to priam, he opens the hatch. "protect the floor." he orders his sylveon before making his way down.
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he hopes emma and gavin are safe. the protect would only go so far; he cannot help them from here.
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tl;dr
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★ katherine is sort of freaking out, but she's good at keeping it cool since... the mission comes above all, doesn't it?
[break]★ gallade is ordered to use ICE PUNCH on the floor, whereas morpeko is ordered to use AURA WHEEL once again. their intent is to break through the floor and allow kat (and her team) to pass through safely to the next floor, where she assumes the roots of the tree would be found.
[break]★ hatterene is also called out during that time, and katherine asks for her help. the psychic-type prepares PSYCHIC to ensure that they land safely together.

Selena Desmarais mostly

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[attr="class","merktagI"] marie jules