“There’s a Joltik on your shoulder,” he remarked once the Braviary got up to soaring altitude and the other man could see the source of the trees suddenly falling over and the ‘earthquake’ they felt while down on the ground.

“Where the fuck did this one come from? It doesn’t look like it’s from around here,” he remarked as he tilted his head in the Regirock’s direction.

“Also, yeah—we can go faster if we’re on our own air mounts. That Regirock looks—”

The titan of stone then turned to face ‘them’, before letting out a high-pitched beeping noise…

“Oh, come on! Why now?!” he exclaimed as the Braviary screeched; trying to stay airborne.

---

• Regirock sighted, Regirock sighted!

Even if the lumbering giant was moving ‘slowly’, he knew that the danged thing was headed straight to where his friend was on the ground.

Needing no words, the Braviary let out a screech, diving downward.

The other man would see a blur of blue, before hearing a familiar voice shouting, “Recall your Pokémon, quickly!” before trying to pull him onto the Braviary’s back.

Normally, his Braviary could take the weight of two people comfortably, however this was going to be a tight squeeze all things considered!

Meanwhile, the Regirock would continue its wonton destruction of the undergrowth, sending trees falling left and right as it swung its stubby, rocky ‘arms’ around, seemingly looking for something…

…or someone. Who knows?

---

• Alex tryna save Tom

If someone was to take a look into his mind right now, it would be a cross between panic and just outright… fear.

“What?!” he exclaimed; very nearly causing the Braviary to drop him had the avian not jostled him right back up.

“Are you serious?!” he continued, pinching the bridge of his nose.

And then… another noise ripped through the area.

[player]https://file.garden/ZXZrnWMYuz15frfJ/HOENN%20MUSIC/MysteriousCry2.mp3[/player]

“Don’t tell me we’re getting close?!” he exclaimed again the moment the noise reverberated through where they were. Hopefully it wasn’t that thing that had left the big footprint, or Ting-Lu, but…

Who knew their trip was going to get rather explosive in a few moments?!

It wouldn’t take long before something large would come from out of nowhere, the very brown coloration staining the immediate horizon…

“Are you kidding?!”

Famous last words, Alexei.

---

• using the 8 prompt from previous post in this one! (Hear this unknown cry echoing from somewhere deep below)
• REGIROCK is coming, oh noes.

“Did you find anything?” he continued from his current perch, when the Braviary quite literally let out a screech of disgust; like he’d scented something horrible.

…and how unfortunate that it was quite literally, a big, steaming pile of dinosaur dung fertilizer components!

A few seconds later, the stench would hit him, too.

“Oh, ew, what made that land mine?!” he exclaimed from up above, waving his arms about; geez, this smell was going to stick for days in his clothes!

---

• stimky

In classic “help, I’ve fallen and can’t get up”…

This happened!

Why did it have to happen to him of all people?! Good grief. While he’d managed to send back his Braviary that had an injured League-affiliated explorer back to where the healing corps were waiting…

He’d forgotten that he had only brought his Braviary with him, whoops. Why did he think it was a good idea to leave all his other Pokémon behind and bring only Kyouya?!

He was so fucked.

Hopefully, nothing was out there to get him…

(This is why you don’t put full-support people out on the frontlines! Mistakes would definitely be made!)

It also definitely didn’t help, the moment he heard something keening from some distance away…

Oh, shit.

---

• ROLL 2-10. - Hear the following cry echoing from somewhere deep below:
[player]https://file.garden/ZXZrnWMYuz15frfJ/HOENN%20MUSIC/MysteriousCry2.mp3[/player]

The good thing was that they didn’t need to go into the damned thing, because it was there for a fleeting—he stopped the phone recording a few seconds after the ‘rift’ disappeared.

It was like the place hadn’t been disturbed, but the implications of it all meant that—

“I’m not a science-y type, however… that’s a very probable guess. And quite concerning, too,” he would concur. His thoughts then went to a massive, Hoenn-sized Distortion rift that had nothing but the same caverns that they were exploring here…

Chilling.

“There, the tracks continue onward—let’s go,” he called out as the Braviary made to follow the sight of said ‘large tracks’ ever onward.

---

• terrifying intrusive thoughts featuring the distortion world

Maybe it was luck the Braviary didn’t fly too far ahead, because—

“Wait, what?” he called from his aerial perch, looking down to where his friend was on the ground before looking up once again and…

“What the hell is something like this doing out here?!” he exclaimed, quickly reaching for his phone and pulling it out to record the strange phenomena that had just… suddenly… spawned right where they were headed.

“Yeah, Tom, I am definitely seeing it… what in the hell?!” he exclaimed as he squinted into its depths.

“Have any idea why they’re appearing out here?” he would ask a few moments later.

---

• TF why is there a space-time distortion out here?!

The Archeops let out a friendly little caw, before immediately fussing over the smaller Archen.

“Aww, look! Cute,” he said while tilting his head towards the Archen and Archeops interaction. He then shook the empty bucket of birdseed and then pointed with his other hand just behind him.

“Yeah, I just finished feeding most of the peanut gallery,” he continued in the same snarky, yet affectionate, tone as some of the avians let out a ‘CAW’ of dismay because… well, some of them were incredibly smart!

“…yeah, they know when I talk shit to their faces,” he added with a bark of laughter once she was inside and he closed the perimeter gate.

“So what brings you out here? Want to feed some of the calmer birds yourself? Or is there something else…”

“Got it!” he called from where he was, and the Braviary—whose eyes were far sharper than any human’s even at peak condition—also picked out the tracks as they were lost in the undergrowth… leading into the darkness.

The blue-plumed avian let out a cawing noise before flying off in a certain direction; and if Tom were to look up he would see Alex pointing in a certain direction; because the Braviary had spotted more of the tracks and had found a trail they could follow…

Hopefully they weren’t going straight into a trap!

---

• large tracks spotted, lesgo

“Yeah, definitely. I’ll keep an eye out from up here,” he added as his Braviary then flew back to a higher altitude; better to have one pair of eyes scouting ahead from the skies so Tom on the ground could prepare.

“What direction should we look for more clues? I’ll let you know right away if I see anything suspicious,” he went on as he then turned his sights to looking ahead for them—who knew what the fuck was waiting for them our here in this strange, and unknown place.

---

• time to look for whatever attacked the research team!

“I have a feeling there’s a suspension on the horizon for me, if we’re being honest,” he replied in the same quiet voice, before letting out a minute sigh.

“I literally got quartered, roasted, plucked ass-naked, and—oops, sorry, have to watch my language—lambasted would be the lightest definition of what I got from them,” he added with a frown.

Although…

“I’d riot if they took him away. There’s no way I’m letting them pass him around like a rag doll. There was a reason why this brother came along with me, of all people.”

Another sigh.

“No meetings yet, but I have a bad feeling Fortree’s going to be under a lot more scrutiny now, all things considered.”

Trust was hard-earned, and when lost, could never be returned…

Just when he thought the earthquake was the worst of it; a strange, keening noise then ripped through the space where they were.

“What the fuck,” he called as he swooped down low; the better so he could talk with his friend.

“Yeah. I definitely heard it. Unfortunately I have no idea what the fuck it is,” he added a few moments afterward.

“But whatever made that sound… you think it’s what attacked the research team?”

Hopefully not; but still. This was Hoenn; the possibilities were there.

---

• creepy times