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Post by Soren Forberg on Sept 11, 2011 20:51:52 GMT -5
Soren winced at the sensation of the dry desert wind washing over them as they started their descent into the vast open space of ever shifting sand dunes, patches of sparse grass and boulders jutting upwards like broken teeth. He wasn't very fond of the deserts even on their best day.
As soonas they touched down he withdrew Aerodactyl and waited for Ignus to land behind him. Once the explorer had landed Soren would lead him to a small rocky outcropping, which upon closer inspection, partially hit a narrow opening in the ground, just big enough for a man to fit into and black as pitch. The gym leader dumped his pack into the sand and retrieved a coil of heavy rope, securing one end to one of the stones rising up through the sand. "The opening is too small to fly down into and it's too far down to just jump...trust me," he said as he secured the line and tossed the free end down into the hole. "It's a good twelve - fifteen feet down so we'll have to drop in the old fashioned way once Master Fletcher gets here."
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Post by Ignus Draco on Sept 12, 2011 7:22:48 GMT -5
Ignus had been following Soren the whole time on his Hyderigon, Marcus squinting the eyes belonging to his three heads as the three-headed dragon Pokemon followed the Aerodactyl carefully towards the descent. Ignus, of course, had been through the artificial desert once or twice, but he never brought his Pokemon out to fly him over here.
Once they made their descent, Ignus patted Marcus' head, the larger of the three, and got a roar of gratitude before returning the Hydreigon back to his Pokeball. He then followed Soren to the outcropping, noticing the narrow opening in the ground. Ignus had his metal briefcase with him just to be better safe than sorry, since this was an exploration mission and all. As he listened to Soren, he began thinking about the tunnel system that awaited them down below, and what hidden wonders, and Pokemon, would lie there in wait for them.
He then nodded. "Alright then, Soren. So I guess we'll just have to wait for Mr. Fletcher then..." He was, of course, still wearing his black trenchcoat and black explorer's hat, so of course he was baking in this heat, but that didn't matter as he kept is hat on while a dry wind swept past as he waited for Terrance to arrive.
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Post by Terrance Fletcher on Sept 12, 2011 9:30:57 GMT -5
(I know Zeke wants in on this, so if we could wait for him that’d be awesome ) After the phone call with Brooke, Terrance had bid farewell to Lorna at the mountain and had ridden on Tabia back towards the South. They made a pit stop in Silverfern for supplies and then had carried on into the desert, it would have been easier to fly – but Terrance knew his way around well enough to have a vague idea of the location the Professor was talking about. With the speed of his Arcanine, it didn’t take them too long to catch up with Ignus and Soren; whom he had seen in the air and make their landing further ahead, at least he knew where he was going now! Upon arrival, Terrance dismounted the large red hound as she still ran; her momentum carrying her off to the side in a circular track to slow herself down. Terrance was dressed for the excavation, a basic tan top with combat trousers and old, well beaten in hiking boots; on his back his pack containing the various equipment he needed for getting around the island. “Mornin’ fellas.” He greeted with a cheerful grin, looking between the pair, a particularly bemused grin pointed at Ignus, “Bit hot for the coat don’t you think?” He jested, then was nudged gently by Tabia as she rounded up and padded back round to a walk. “Ahah, thank you Tabia. You ran well.” The Arcanine was withdrawn and Terrance realised he was probably being a bit rude. “Oh-ho, yes. I’m Terrance Fletcher, Warden of the Island yadda-yadda. I know we’ve all met before briefly at the Parade. Please though, call me anything you like that isn’t Mr. Fletcher. That’s my father.” He beamed at the two men; considering the solemn reputation that Terrance had, he was an awful lot more bubbly than people ever expected. He clapped his hands together, “So what’s the plan?”
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Post by Ignus Draco on Sept 12, 2011 16:11:31 GMT -5
Ignus nodded at Terrance when he came up, noticing the Arcanine raised an eyebrow at Terrance's question when he arrived, then shrugged. "I'm perfectly fine wearing the coat, Terrance. Also, it's nice to see you again." Although he was lying about the coat part (he was practically baking in the black trenchcoat), he wasn't lying about seeing him again. He then stopped himself thinking what Terrance said after: Island Warden? It was the first he had heard of this. But he ignored it, and motioned to Soren. "I think it's best you let Soren explain to you what's going on. I'm just here as an explorer along for the ride, Terrance." He then gestured to his metal briefcase he had slung by a strap on his shoulder.
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Post by Soren Forberg on Sept 12, 2011 21:20:28 GMT -5
Soren greeted Terrance with a grin, there was something about the younger man he just took a liking to. "Basically me being me I managed to fall down into this hole and knock myself senseless - made a right proper arse of myself," Soren chuckled. "I came back to check it out after I was sufficiently recovered and found an entrance to an underground tunnel system. I thought it prudent to explore them - Lugia only knows what could be down there."
That said the gentleman gym leader buckled a simple harness around his waist then clipped it onto the rope to prevent himself from descending too rapidly into the dark. Picking up the rope he looked at the other two men and winked. "Come on gents we've got a little spelunking to do."
Carefully he eased himself down over the lip of the crevice and into the dark. It wasn't a long drop, but he'd worn the harness (and left two above for the remaining men) because the edges of the crevice were more of an overhang and the walls widened quite a bit making climbing down very tricky. Once he felt the ground beneath his boots he unclipped himself and stepped back. He pulled out a flashlight and shone it around to make sure everything was clear. Either end tapered into a tunnel, though the one to his right was significantly larger and probably much easier to explore for the first time down. He looked back up at the sliver of light above. "It's all clear you're safe to come down!"
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Post by Terrance Fletcher on Sept 15, 2011 10:00:57 GMT -5
(Aright, Zeke is gonna join us a bit later on ) Terrance chuckled at Ignus' comment, "That's fair enough, I don't blame you though. I don't think I've properly been cave exploring since I was 15!" He slipped on a pair of fingerless climbing gloves and listened as Soren explained the situation, Terrance laughed where appropriate and nodded his head, "Ah nothing quite like the odd 'drunken' adventure eh Soren?" He clapped his hands together, "Never the less, it seems you've come up trumps with this one. Let's get cracking." Before he suited up with the harness and ropes, Terrance unclipped two Pokeballs from his belt, "I'm going to leave my Arcanine and Torterra out front to make sure nothing nasty's been following us and tries to get in this way, and warn anyone who comes by." The two large Pokemon were released, Tabia looked a bit confused as to why she had been withdrawn and released again so quickly. Terrance gave her an apologetic smile and patted them both on the back. "You heard me, I'm trusting you two." He said with a grin. Terrance returned to the end of the cravace and buckled up his harness, he flashed a grin to Ignus, "Allons-y!" And began his abseil down after Soren into the darkness, the descent was easy enough and Terrance touched down without any apparent hassle. He briefly removed his backpack to withdraw a few glow sticks, a force of habit - none of his pokemon knew Flash. He'd hand one to Soren, then Ignus when he came down and pocketed his own. "Just in case those batteries run out." He explained to Soren, "right then, after you Soren."
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Post by Ignus Draco on Sept 15, 2011 11:38:14 GMT -5
Ignus nodded. "I've been cave exploring for a good while..." Ignus readjusted his fingerless gloves as he attaches the harness to himself along with the rope, and abseiled down after Terrance, going as slow as possible, bouncing off the wall as he descended down and towards the bottom where Soren and Terrance were. After unbuckling his harness, he waved a hand at the glow stick offered to him. "Ah, no need, Terrance...I have a Pokemon that can help us." And with that statement, Ignus tossed a Pokeball and released Inazuma the Rotom, who whizzed around Ignus' head again, apparently happy to be out.
Ignus chuckled and beckoned to the Rotom, which he did and looked at Ignus curiously. "Inazuma, you know what to do." The Rotom nodded and immediately used Flash to illuminate the cave. He then turns to Terrance and Soren with a small smile."There's a reason why I take Inazuma to places that have dark crevices...he acts as a flashlight to help light the way."
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Post by Soren Forberg on Sept 15, 2011 13:25:06 GMT -5
((Alright the more the merrier! I'm going to jave a walking post then once everybody's along I'll reveal my little surprise haha)) Soren gave Terrance a crooked grin as the man landed next to him. "Oh the odd drunken adventure is fine Terrance - I'd just prefer not constantly making an ass out of myself in front of Professor Verity - she's getting rather irritated with me I think."He nodded and put away his torch when Ignus' Rotom preformed a Flash and quickly lit up the cavern. The gym leader pointed down the larger tunnel. "I think this way is our best bet for now - but we'll have to be careful," he said suddenly pointing down at the ground. There wasn't nearly as much sand as one would suspect and the middle of the tunnel floor yeilded hard bedrock and clay. The walls too, bore a suspicious looking line about halfway up. Soren pointed to it. "Look there - that's a waterline, this place is prone to flash flooding I'd wager."That beings said he started down the tunnel at an easy pace,assuming the others would follow. So far there was very little in the way of life - a stray Zubat here and there slumbering in a few cracks in the wall and a few subterranian bug types clinging to the rocks above the waterline, but other then that the tunnel appeared quite abandoned. The further they walked the wetter the ground seemed to become - first the rock became damp, then they started walking through a few puddles obviously left over from the last time the tunnel had flooded. "Hmmm there's probably a water source down here somewhere and where there's water there might be pokemon." Soren muttered half to himself, his voice echoing slightly in the rocky tunnel. Really, they had to be ready for anything.
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Post by Terrance Fletcher on Sept 15, 2011 13:48:06 GMT -5
Terrance snapped his fingers when Ignus released his Rotom, “Good call! I really ought to teach one of my lot that.” Thinking of his team though, he doubted any of them could actually learn Flash. Maybe Isis his Dusknoir, meh. He didn’t know off the top of his head. Anyway, he followed after Soren and snorted, “Don’t worry about her Soren. Brooke's held a grudge against me for my first few months of Gym Leadering because I made an ‘inappropriate comment’ about her, uhum, assets. She’s only just started to forgive me.” He chuckled, the memory still fresh in his mind and funny every time he thought of it.
He cracked his knuckles idly as they moved down the tunnel, seeing how the water line was steadily at at least three feet. Even though all three of them were tall enough, that didn’t mean they were strong enough to hold back should a torrent of water come through. Terrance enjoyed a bit of white water kayaking and he knew how dangerous the water could be. “I hope the both of you have a good swimmer.” Mantine was in her box, dammit. He should have thought about this. He might be catching himself a new friend down here, to accompany the flier he got a hold of in the mountains. It’d be nice to train up two new Pokémon together.
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Post by Ignus Draco on Sept 15, 2011 16:37:21 GMT -5
Ignus sighed as he walked, Inazuma lighting the way as he floated in front of him. "I think the Professor's just now forgiven me for the incident at Corkwood Jungle...though I'll need to be a little more respectful of her from now on...and watch what I say..." He was still afraid of Brooke, but that didn't stop him from trying to be friends with the Professor.
His face kind of went slightly went pale hearing Terrance's comment, and he patted his forehead in a facepalm maneuver. "Ugh, if I knew I needed a swimmer Pokemon, I would have brought my Sharpedo Barradus...oh well, hopefully there would be a Pokemon I can catch down here to help me..." He kept walking following Soren and Terrance, Inazuma the Rotom floating above their heads lighting the tunnel as they went.
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Post by Soren Forberg on Sept 18, 2011 21:07:22 GMT -5
((Damn, damn, damn I'm so sorry guys!!))
Soren couldn't help but grin at Terrance's comment. "Ah in your defence Terrance, Brooke does have some rather lovely 'assests'," the gym leader chuckled with a broad wink before he realized just exactly what he'd said and cleared his throat slightly, "...And that shall not leave this cave gentlemen - I rather like my head attatched to the rest of me."
With Rotom's light guiding them passage through the tunnels was considerably easier than Soren had expected. The danger of flooding was ever present in his mind - he wasn't a terribly strong swimmer, nor did he have any water-types with him, but he wasn't going to think about it. He'd prefer to save the worry until it was actually a concern. Suddenly the tunnel widened out into a large cavernous space - the change in size was simply staggering. Soren turned on the spot, observing the cathedral like space around him. Stalactites and Stalagmites glittered with mineral deposits and near the back of the cavern was large pool, fed by several small streams gurgling out of the multiple tunnels leading into the cavern.
Soren edged closer to the pool and noted the bright blue colour and murkiness of the water, presumably from some sort of mineral or silt. It took him a moment to realize that the space was not just lit from Rotom's glow - the little pokemon wouldn't be capable of lighting up such a massive space on its own and upon looking up he spotted a small pinprick of light in the ceiling; a hole leading back to the surface, not big enough to fly out of but perhaps large enough for a man to wedge himself through if he were to scale the rock wall at the back of the pool which slick with moss and moisture and rubbed smooth and places where the water liked to rush down from the surface. "Intersting - there seems to be a hole up there...this whole place seems to act as a conduit for the water - I'm betting when it rains this place floods and drains out over there," he said gesturing to a tunnel to the right of the pool, the rock scarred and smoothed by fierce torrents of water in the past. "You know with that opening to the surface and this pool of water there might be the potential for some pokemon down here."
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Post by Terrance Fletcher on Sept 19, 2011 10:23:45 GMT -5
Terrance couldn't help a rather loud laugh that echoed off of the walls, "What's said in the cave, stays in the cave. Is that a deal, gentlemen?" He asked whilst taking care to not slip over the damp rocks, which seemed to be slick with lichens and promised a broken leg if the walker wasn't wary. Terrance didn't fancy a broken leg. "Looks like there was a flood recently. Everything's soaking." He said, somewhat quietly, as if he were talking to himself more than the other two.
He was looking down when they emerged into the larger part of the cavern, negotiating some rocks that were especially slippery and threatened to topple him if he didn't focus. Once on firmer, drier rocks, he looked up and gasped. "Well this was unexpected." Terrance examined the area that was lit by Ignus' Rotom, grateful for the light that would've been better than any torch or glow stick! Once Soren offered the opportunity to check out to see what Pokemon could be dwelling down in these depths, he flashed a boyish grin and nodded, "We better get moving then eh?"
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Post by Ignus Draco on Sept 19, 2011 16:51:49 GMT -5
Ignus let out a small chuckle and nods, showing a small smile. "Agreed." He kept walking with them, Inazuma still floating above their heads lighting the way. As they got to the larger part of the cavern, Ignus immediately looked around, his ears hearing the pitter patter of water dripping from the ceiling, carefully maneuvering himself over the slippery rocks so as not to get a broken leg. His three years of being a Pokemon Explorer helped him sense danger in many different forms, including danger brought about by carelessness, something Ignus knows all too well...
As he got to more drier rocks, he looked around, listening to what Soren had to say, along with Terrance. Upon hearing Soren's suggestion to check for Pokemon down here, Ignus nodded, Inazuma still above his head lighting up the cavern along with the small glint of light from the hole in the ceiling. "I agree with Terrance. If there are any Pokemon down here, we'd best get moving. And who knows...perhaps we might find one that we haven't seen before..." He of course was referring to the two new Pokemon found recently and at Professor Verity's Pokemon Lab in Maple Town. If there was a Grass-type and a Fire-type native to this island, he thought, then there must be a Water-type Pokemon that's native only to Kansai as well.
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Post by Soren Forberg on Sept 22, 2011 14:55:01 GMT -5
((Sorry, sorry I was waiting for Zeke but I've since been told to move along )) Soren motioned for the other two to start spreading out whilst he started moving towards the edge of the pool. Crouching down by the water's edge he noted several strange looking marks in the clay-like earth - long drag marks, clearly from something heavy moving over the ground and presumably into the water. He craned his head back over his shoulder and called out to the others. "Gents I may have found something over he -!"The gentleman gym leader was abruptly cut off when a long serpantine coil, white as newly fallen snow, curled around his leg and pulled. His leg was hauled out from under him, causing him to fall backwards, the back of his head connecting with the ground with a painful crack. Stars danced across Soren's vision as he was dragged forward over the rim of the pool and down under the water. It was so cold he was hard pressed to fight the reflex to gasp when it felt like his lungs were being compressed in a vice. Without warning whatever had wrapped itself around his leg let go and he clawed his way back up to the surface. He surfaced with a spluttering cough, struggling over to the edge of the pull and attempting to haul himself out. "-little help would be much appreciated!" he chokedas he managed to drag his front end onto the stone lip of the pool.
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Post by Ignus Draco on Sept 22, 2011 18:38:52 GMT -5
Ignus didn't notice what happened to Soren until he heard the cracking noise that came from Soren's head hitting the rock. "Soren!" Inazuma began crackling with electricity as soon as it heard his trainer's yell. Ignus then calmed down when Soren crawled out of the pool, and immediately began helping Soren out. "My word, you gave us quite a scare. Are you alright?" He then began helping Soren towards more drier rocks and set down his metal briefcase, opening it up to take out his first aid kit. "Are you injured? You must have a nasty injury on your head..."
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