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"Just my pride," Beau tried to joke, a half-hearted grin accompanying the words. With the vision-obscuring mist cleared, Torben ambled over to his trainer, staring him solemnly up and down for a moment before grunting, tapping a fist on his shoulder opposite Eddie.
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He lifted an arm and offered the bull snuffling at his side a few tentative pats. Drawing a deep breath, he shook his head. "Nah, we shouldn't turn back, not yet." He ran a hand through his hair - a nervous habit - and surveyed the platform they currently stood on. "I need to get over this, or I'll be useless the whole time, and the League still needs info on this place, so we might as well try to see how much further we can get."
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He grinned gratefully at Eddie. "Not the best first impression, but I'm not usually such a baby, promise," he commented with a wry twist of his mouth. "Findin' cover doesn't sound half bad, maybe if we can figure out a safe spot, we can use it as a camp t'work from. Maybe that mist only hits certain places?"
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Locating a bridge to the next platform, he tilted his head toward it, a bit of his usual cheer entering his voice as he nudged Eddie with his elbow. "How 'bout it, wanna keep going, at least a little further this trip?"

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Rocking back and forth, Beau tried to talk himself through the situation he found himself in. The mist was all around him, blocking sight in all directions. It caressed his clothes, it was part of every inhale and spun, tauntingly, on every exhale. He could wait it out, not all the platforms were like this, the mist would surely part and drop back to the surface below any minute now.
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Any minute now.
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As he peered ahead of him, his spine a solid rod of ice, the mist did not clear. Instead it swirled and contorted, forming faint shapes that drew higher, moved to encircle him, and loomed ever higher. Cringing in on himself, he clenched his eyes shut, whispering, "It's not real it's not real it's just mist it's gonna go away you're not gonna die."
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"beau?"
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He heard his name, the things were calling his name now.
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"beau, can....my voice."
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Muffled, but clearer. Beau cautiously cracked one eye open, and then the other. The oppressive mist was still cloying around him, but there were no malevolent figures ready to snatch his soul. Coming carefully to his feet, he gritted his teeth. I have to do somethin' or I'll be here forever, he thought.
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Moving slowly, careful to ensure he was on solid ground with each step and not about to plummet off the platform, he moved in the direction of the voice he'd heard. Suddenly and abruptly, he came face-to-face with Eddie, and as though a reaction was triggered, the mist seemed to break like a bubble bursting, albescent striations streaming off the sides of the platform and clearing the air once more.
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Beau could have sobbed with relief. "Eddie, Arceus, I'm sorry. I dunno what the hell happened, it's this place, what the hell is this place?"

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Drained as the visions faded, Beau couldn't do much more than slump to the ground, Soren circling around him, concerned. The immediate pulse of the core had the bile rising in his throat, and he'd have vomited if it weren't for the fact that he was too scared to.
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Looking up, he noted the eye-like shapes scuttling open on the walls, and he scrambled back on all fours reflexively, gaping. He couldn't comprehend what he was seeing, nor did the vision of a planet make any sense to him. Where the hell were they? What was this thing?
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"Too right, brah, let's get the hell out of here. Yesterday." He moved to his pile - he'd been so engrossed in the act of mining that he hadn't even bothered collecting any of the stuff. Grabbing a few handfuls, he threw the yield into his bag and slung it over his shoulder, Soren glowing with another SAFEGUARD as he jogged over to help Jack forward.
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"Come on, brah, way we came. Then we're never coming back, not ever."
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Beau cursed under his breath. He'd thought that maybe Jack, with greater experience in this sort of thing, would have a more cohesive idea than Beau's half-baked notion of getting the ship into port.
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Still, with no better options forthcoming, all he could do was try, right? Worst that could happen is that it didn't work. He hoped. Reaching for his belt, he threw a pokeball that was lost in the dark downpour, but the crimson light of its release briefly eclipsed the silhouette of the ship, and the displacement of water from the Wailord appearing was enough to almost knock Beau from his Blastoise.
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"YO, TINY!" Beau bellowed over the driving rain. "PUSH THE BOAT! THAT WAY!" he hollered, gesturing wildly toward the Lilycove docks - or, what he hoped was the direction of the Lilycove docks and not some untimely shoal. With a keening wail, the Wailord DOVE beneath the surface of the water, and several long moments later, the SS Tidal began to move.
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"Holy cow, it's working," Beau marveled. He turned to Jack, punching the air in victory. "It's not perfect, but it's somethin'! We just gotta make sure it doesn't tip over on the way, let's keep it smooth, yeah?"

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With the Nihilego dispatched, Beau cast Jack a last, even look before turning back to the crystals and hefting his pick once more. With each pulse of the core, the ease of mind he'd been granted by Soren slowly ebbed away, and with every fall of his pick, his body grew more tense. Of course Jack would want to get rid of the Nihilego, otherwise he wouldn't be able to get out himself. Beau assisting had just made it easier for the other man to leave Beau here, dead or alive, at the end of all of this.
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With a heavy slam, his pick tore another chunk of crystal away, and beneath it was a swatch of fur, half black and half pink.
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Frowning in confusion, he drew closer, less striking the ore now and more peeling the smaller bits away from the opening, like some kind of enormous glittering eggshell. As more and more of the crystals fell, his vision swam. Reaching down, he lifted his excavated prize - a Stufful, gazing up at him guilelessly.
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A rapturous, beautiful array of prismatic light arced outward from Beau in every direction. A ray struck the Stufful, and it showered Beau with blood, mewling piteously as it died in his arms. Trembling in shock, he turned to look at Jack, who lay dead in front of his own crystal, the Ceruledge motionless not far past him. "W-wh-" Beau stuttered, his breath coming in a shallow whistle.
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The strike of Jack's pick across the chamber caused him to snap his head upward, and he was back to reality, Jack mining away with his Ceruledge, Soren coiled around Beau's shoulders protectively, and a pile of perfectly untainted crystal in front of him. It had all been in his head.
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Wheezing in relief, he turned to face away from Jack for a moment, crouching to catch his breath. Another pulse of the core caused the air to warp once more, and through a twisting ripple of space, the enormous sable claw of Necrozma reached, stretching, for Beau himself.
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"No," he whispered, shaking his head as he backed away from the thing. "No, you bastard, you're not going to take anyone else! AAAAAARGH!" he screamed, running toward the rift with his fist raised. Soren was even faster, channeling his Trainer's OUTRAGE to pummel the disembodied hand with a blast that shook the floor.
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Whooping, Beau and his Blastoise did indeed manage to reach the Tidal first, though not by much with Jack's Gyarados cutting through the water like a hot knife through butter. Slowing as he approached the bulk of the ship, he guided Blastoise in a sweeping circle around the hull until he saw the smoke of a signal flare near the prow, on one of the lower decks.
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Digging in his pack, he pulled out a flare of his own and lit it with a sizzling flash, waving it over his head. A crackle sounded from the position on a boat and a man's voice rang out, staticky through a megaphone. "Rangers, thank goodness! One of the fuel tanks malfunctioned - engines are fine, but we can't start them without risking a fire."
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Another burst of static interrupted the man before he continued. "If the waters keep calming down, we'd be able to port, but without the engines we can't get over there, and no other vessel's coming. Much obliged if you could do something!"
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Lacking the proper tools to convey anything he'd have to say to the boat, he simply waved his flare forward and backward a few times before snuffing it in the water and shoving it back into his pack. Peering around through the downpour, he rode over to Jack and hollered, "I think I've got a way to help tow the ship, you ever run into anything like this before??"

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Although his own pokemon had him on edge, he couldn't help but sport a little grin at the sight of the small Pancham riding atop the Runerigus's head as they progressed through the pass. So far, the ghostly thing had only seemed interested in clambering over as many rocks as it possibly could, and Beau had to admit he was huffing and puffing to keep up with the pair.
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As they turned the corner, a Mankey launched itself at Runerigus from above, making a swipe at the Pancham perched on its head. The Pancham wailed loudly, and Beau called out in alarm.
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The warning was unnecessary, it turned out, as the Runerigus's eye flashed a harrowing violet, and she lashed out with a SHADOW CLAW that knocked the Mankey into the wall from mid-leap, the small primate crumpling to the floor with a high-pitched groan.
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Beau came to a stop as he caught up to his pokemon and the Pancham who had hitched a ride, the small bear sniffling a bit as the action subsided. He regarded the Runerigus warily, but offered a slow nod. "Good job. Thanks for lookin' out for the little one."

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Beau nodded, a touch of ruefulness creeping into the expression as he helped secure the net around the sleeping pokemon. "Yeah, for a little while. It was awesome, an' I got to meet so many people, but it just didn't feel like the right fit at the time, feel me?"
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He cinched the net closed, standing and ruffling a hand through his hair absently. "Yeah, Jack's awesome, and I got to partner with Gunner up the Chasm a while back. Guy was great in a fight, but seemed...I dunno, kinda uptight."
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When Ollie brought Navy up, Beau tilted his head curiously. "Huh, really? Well, maybe you'll get your shot, brah, he said somebody else is gonna be takin' over his Gym soon. Don't ask me who, though, it's a heck of a name and I can't remember all of it," he laughed nervously. Thinking about the rangers, though, only renewed his enthusiasm.
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"Yeah, it's somethin' really special, I can tell. I've only been doin' it for a couple months, an' I've already been to so many new places an' helped a ton of people and pokemon. I didn't know what it really meant until I got into it, but I'm glad I did. Somebody's gotta be there, y'know?"
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Trembling - because this had to be the scariest thing he'd seen in his entire life - Beau shied away from the angry spirit, close enough to the edge that he might fall, but not caring a whit. When Eddie moved to intervene, he couldn't even register that he was the one normally doing the protecting; he just had to get away from the spirit.
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Beau-the-Tauros scored a perfect blow on the figure, catching it on his horns and sending it flying upward and backward dramatically from the platform, where it seemed to twist and contort before at last relaxing, the unnatural angles of its shape smoothing as it joined the flow of the other skybound apparitions.
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Beau-the-man, however, could not get a handle on his terror. Too scared to watch the battle unfold, he darted from behind Eddie and dove for the next bridge, dashing across it toward the next isle above. He had to get away before the thing came back and got him. Eddie and his Tauros could take care of Torben, they'd be able to meet up, but Beau could not linger around where that thing was.
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He knew he'd be seeing those bottomless sockets every time he closed his eyes for the next month.
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The mist grew thicker as he ran full-tilt up the bridge, and although he could feel his feet hit the solid stone of the next platform, all he could see around him was thick, cloying white mist in every direction. Turning, he couldn't even determine where the bridge was that he'd come from.
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What if the spirit was right behind him? What if he'd just run into a gaggle of its friends? What if it had gotten Eddie, and Torben, and Beau, and he'd let it happen because he didn't want to die? He was alone. He was alone, he had nobody, and he was going to stay in this quiet, endless mist forever.
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He screamed.

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Beau shuddered, finally looking away from the swimming skies as Eddie stepped through behind him. He turned to greet the man with a wave and a shaken grin, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "It's always something, y'know?"
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He set off along the bridge to the next island, mumbling half to his companion and half to himself, "Just once I wish one o' these things would go to like...the Ultra Resort or something. They could have little umbrellas for your drinks." Instead of making the mistake of looking up at the sky again, he focused on the mist swirling below as he made the crossing, and it helped lift his spirits a little by avoiding looking at the lifting spirits.
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Alighting on the next island, he looked around as Torben lumbered up to his side. He didn't see any signs of life, not in any direction, although with what was going on above his and Eddie's heads, he figured he could suspect why. Regardless, his spirit was staying right where it was, thank you very much.
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He turned to face Eddie as the other man drew near. "So, what's your story, brah? I gotta say you look familiar, but I'm not that great with attachin' faces to places, you know?" If they were going to be trekking through some weird Zen afterlife-y place, the least he could do was keep talking, he figured.
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Behind him, a low curl of mist extended upward from the edge of the isle, twisting into a shrouded figure with empty hollows for eyes. With an empty sigh, it surged forward to Beau, and before he could react, Torben snarled at the thing, swiping down with a NIGHT SLASH that the spirit slid away from effortlessly.
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"Torben, dude, wh-AAAAAAGH!" Beau exclaimed, confusion turning to terror as he turned around and caught sight of the spirit. "Kill it! Uh, again!" he yelped, scampering back away from the thing.

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Beau steps out of the wormhole and immediately his jaw drops. The scene before him is hauntingly beautiful - he's standing on a small floating island over a sea of spire-pocked mist, and the fading light seems as though the entire place is caught in the final moment before sunset.
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Behind him, Torben lumbers out and glances around dismissively, clearly not nearly as impressed as his trainer. This, at least, should be a cakewalk compared to his last journey through one of these weird rifts - the Ultra Deep Sea extraction had been harrowing, but this - this was practically a vacation!
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He'd signed up next to Eduardo Hisakawa, figuring it would be a good excuse to take a calmer mission than his last and meet some new people - something he'd been making a habit of since his return to Dewford.
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He looked up to the sky, curious to see if the mist below was reflected by clouds above, and promptly blanched, catching sight of wispy spirits fluttering high overhead, drawn to some unknown destination. "Wh- uh, what- what's that?" he stammered, fixated on the sight.
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Behind him, Torben grunted helpfully. Jerk.

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[attr="class","omgentop"]THE WILDS: THE BORDER

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ONGOING EVENT

EXPLORATION

MT. PYRE[break]✥ THE BORDER

[player]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1035423510278979624/1055281670649032755/bambooba.mp3[/player][break]

Northern Province - Area 2 (Riding) - Pokémon Scarlet & Violet

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THE BORDER IS A MOUNTAINOUS PURGATORY OF MUTED SEPIA SMOKE. By floating islands, translucent bridges soar through the realm toward the heavens. Tall stone spires jut out from the spiritual mist. In the sky, the wisps of spirits can be seen heading toward their final destination before the afterlife...[break][break]

Curiously, there are four broken seals embedded in four mountains. Though Adrian Malcolm and YVELTAL may have seen their location upon their unceremonious entry, the spirit realm has shifted since their last visit, rendering each broken seal far apart from each other.

PROMPTS

LIST OF PROMPTS

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• 06 Engage in battle with a malevolent spirit.
• 08 Experience immense grudgefulness, fear, envy, or hatred.
• 15 Become lost in the mist.
• 16 Search for suitable locations to set up camp/base.

RULES

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING GUIDELINES. A more comprehensive list of rules will be published in each event thread. These rules are also subject to change.[break][break][break]

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• Your character can only be in ONE EXPEDITION THREAD at a time.
• You may participate with all of your characters; however, be aware of your ability to post.
• If a thread partner has not posted in awhile, please skip them in this event. Momentum is important for engagement.
• Since these threads may feature combat, please be reasonable with your battling. Discuss with your group if you'd like one move per post, how many Pokemon are allowed to be brought, etc.
• Try to keep posts short for clarity and speed.
• Please be trusting and open to communicating with all of your thread partners.
• Please INCLUDE WHICH PROMPTS you are using in your expedition thread.
• Please have at least FIVE POSTS PER CHARACTER in your expedition thread.

Beau Fontaine Eduardo Hisakawa