Rosco and the Sandalit worked hard on making the cage, with Oscar nearby giving directions. "Stop trying to make a bottom we gotta be able to walk...no no that's too small it needs to fit four adults...great artistic expression but that's a cube it needs to be a cage..." Between moments of guidance, Oscar took a moment to visually check in on the others. Ceri and Gerald were working nearby, but Oscar could not place Gaultier. Where had he run off to?

Gailtier would luckily soon return, reciting more information he had found. Oscar huffed through his nose, turning away to think to himself. He did not enjoy sneaking during survey missions, no witnesses meant nothing brought back could be fully trusted--and he would not stand for that. Plus he could have been ambushed, that would have been downright tragic. He would have to keep a closer eye on Gaultier--no no everyone from now on.

Oscar finally spoke to comment on the presented information, "This was probably an early attempt to harness energy for their world. Long before they became desperate. That would explain why everything looks old by Megalopolan standards." Oscar turned back toward the others and clapped his hands, "Alright, when the cage is done we can go further into--"

BANG!

The ceiling collapsed nearby, and from the resulting hole came a Xurkitree. The spindly predator crawled upside down toward the group, quickly followed by several others. Oscar yelped and withdrew Rosco before pulling the Cage over his head.

"The cage is done, everybody get in and hobble for your life!"

tl;dr
--Oscar is suspicious of solo-searchers and has vowed to be more attentive.
--The Xurkitree have broken through from above and are crawling toward the group! Oscar got under the faraday cage and encourages everyone to do the same.

Prompts
--19 engage/encounter roaming or eerily still xurkitree that may be pivotal as a narrative obstacle or tool (e.g. powering things up).
--26 involve the use of old, broken down megalopolan technology that is reminiscent of a tesla coil or faraday cage.

Ceri Glynn @gaultier Gerald Kaiser

Oscar tapped his jaw with his fingers, pondering the possibility of mastering cyberspace travel. "Well if the dark triad can do it why can't we?" Oscar shrugged, very slowly pacing as he thought out loud. "I mean these fuckers are on their high horses because they have it all figured out, but if we can learn some of their tricks maybe they won't be such a threat."

The dark triad puzzled Oscar, as unlike the megalopolans they could actually back up their insufferable posturing. He felt the same disdain for them that he felt for the likes of Necrozma and Kyurem, feelings that Oscar once again shared.

"They're one and the same with the other apocalyptic threats just outside of our view. Situations we cannot hope to defend ourselves against without great sacrifice." Having made his way a good distance from Lulu by now, Oscar would quickly turn displaying a familiar grin. It was that same look he had when he first pitched to her the Infinity Generator; a manic look of demented joy. "I think--better yet--we deserve to have tricks of our own!"

Lulu Flint

Oscar chuckled and shrugged, "Oh you know, just a bit of tinkering and a can do attitude heh." Oscar's mineral/energy analyzer was actually rather haphazardly made. He indeed wanted to create a device that could detect energy deposits underground, but the way he went about it would be rather confusing to anyone other than him. Energy was detected by the device as 'Limestone', and in turn Limestone was now 'Quartz' and so on and so forth. Basically every mineral or rock it detected was now labeled as something else, and if it were not for his own demented understanding of how the device worked it would be impossible to use.

Anyway they pressed on, moon-hopping toward a large crater not too far from their landing site. Oscar was sure to take note of environmental details that might help them retrace their steps should they wander too far. The last thing they needed to be was stranded on the moon. With Lulu's confirmation, the two would begin hopping down the sloped edges of the crater. Oscar had to try very hard not to giggle with amusement, as naturally it was fun as fuck to hop downhill.

As they reached the bottom, Oscar would continue hopping in place. "I can't imagine this getting old any time soon, though traversing through this low gravity may tucker us out if we're not careful." Oscar ceased hopping, taking his own warning into quick consideration. He pointed his analyzer toward the ground and pulled the trigger to activate it. 

"...Huh..."

Lulu Flint

Oscar was pretty thankful when he got his latest assignment. With all of the betrayal going around lately, Oscar had been very busy purging the disloyal--which got old quick. It is just a lot of work, y'know? So much running, sometimes a bit of jumping, it was really wearing Oscar out. Luckily today's Beast mission was pretty basic, a good old fashioned extortion! It had been a while since Oscar got to beat money out of someone, and today he got to do it with a friend! 

Their stroll so far had been rather nice, you would hardly be blamed for forgetting that they were in town to commit violence. As Mint shared his little slice of trivia, Oscar raised an eyebrow. "No shit? Huh, well he's gonna be happy to see you again." Oscar had forgotten that Mint used to be a debt collector, with how bubbly and fun Mint was usually you would never guess that he used to make his living beating the shit out of people. Though some might say the same about Oscar if they knew about his past. He does not exactly scream tomb raiding black market dealer these days.

As they came upon the dark alley, Oscar stopped to consider their options. "Hmmm, what's the game plan? He might start running right away if he sees you, he probably has a back door or something. I can try to find it and block his escape. Or I can go first and you can wait out of sight until he's distracted? Ugh, choices."

mint frost          

Oscar blinked rapidly, slowly digesting Ceri's words. After a moment of silence he would stare forward and say only, "Hmmmm yeah..." Oscar had never considered these factors before, which made him feel rather silly in this moment. He quickly shook his head, dislodging the sea of intrusive thoughts attempting to drag him into the abyss. "Right um--well we should probably work on the pod."

Oscar turned toward his machine and pointed up to a series of metal tubing at the top. "See those are the extractors, my biggest issue right now is getting them now to just--suck out all of the infinity energy from a pokemon at once. I have been considering some sort of wire filtration system? You know, something to act as a buffer to umm----umm---"

Oscar abruptly leaned against his machine and crossed his arms, "So like, what would you do if you wanted to create a stronger magnetic field?"

Ceri Glynn

It took Priam a second, but eventually he caught on. Oscar chuckled at his candy companion's suggestion, but had something a little more traditional in mind. "Don't you worry Priam, I have the perfect prank in mind--and we won't even have to do anything." Oscar patted Clavis the Dewpider on his bubbly head, and the little arachnid let out the world's most adorable battle cry before crawling down Oscar's back and toward the manor.

It took just under twenty minutes, but with some helpful directing from his human companions Clavis was able to envelope the front of the manor and its yard in sticky webbing. Now it looked plenty spooky. Clavis crawled up Oscar once more, sprawling out over his master's shoulders as he tried to catch his breath. Oscar gently swept his fingers gently across Clavis's bubble. "Good job bud, you fuckin' nailed it. Now this is some Halloween spirit."

Oscar began to chuckle, and in a better world this would be where the thread ends but instead we have another paragraph of consequences.

"What the fuck!?" Oscar looked over to find a very tired looking man glancing between the manor and the two hooligans on the sidewalk. The man motioned to the duo, "Did you do this to my father's house!?" Oscar stepped forward, he was not afraid to owning up to his shenanigans. "That's right! Serves him right for being a funny duddy--by our standards." The man looked close to tears as he screeched, "What the fuck are you talking about?" 

Oscar rolled his eyes, "He did not decorate for Halloween so we did it for him!" There was a long pause while Oscar high fived Clavis and then tried to high five Priam which Priam would absolutely return because a bro does not leave another bro hanging. The man eventually acquired the strength to scream, "Didn't decorate!? Didn't fucking decorate!? He's dead you assholes!" Oscar blinked as the stranger's words sank in, and after an additional pause he would lean over to Priam and say, "Run." before turning around and bolting down the street.

priam conrad

Oscar sneered, Amor's interest was all Oscar needed. Oscar reached into his coat and pulled out his wallet. Opening it, he pulled out a black business card and slid it across the table to Amor. The card was labeled with nothing but an address in an eggshell white print. Before taking his hand off of the card, Oscar stared dead on into Amor's eyes.

"Your finances are of no importance. You should take this card if you feel as though you've been wronged and want to get back at those who have wronged you. Just know that once you start, there's no going back." 

Oscar slowly lifted his hand off  of the business card, abruptly yawning and resuming his usual informal persona. "Right then, glad you're alright at least. Pastries are yours, I gotta head out. Got a fuckin' mountain of paper work to get through." Oscar got up and stretched before turning to Amor's door. As he placed his hand upon the handle, he would pause to make one final note.

"Oh and, that card is only good tonight. Tomorrow, nothing will be there. So no pressure, but try not to drag your feet. Tootles!" Oscar left, his cheerful whistling resonating down the hall before slowly disappearing.

@amor