Planet Dross

The large semi-sphere structure at the center opened, light pouring out, a laugh came out, a deep rumbling laugh that seemed to shake the very ground. "COME! FACE THE END!" Out boomed Alexander DeCross's voice, entirely natural, not a single artificial enhancement in the sound.

Silas blinked before looking at the rest of his crew, "We're close. This is the last stop on the line, by the end of today we're getting that Wormhole tech, dealing with a supervillain, and hopefully going home. It's all over, we just need to deal with one last thing."

He flew in, down into the bowels of Dross itself.

Malie City

-It's a dark, foggy night here. Gudrunn is walking here, a Phantump, Bounsweet, and Snorunt by her side-

Solonn the Snorunt: <I'm not sure I like this...>

Vanessa the Bounsweet: <I dunno, it's kinda my aesthetic.>

Dryad the Phantump: <Yeah, it's pretty!>

Gudrunn: Quiet, guys, he's probably around here somewhe-

-She's interrupted by an Arbok slithering out of the fog-

Nagini: <She's here, Izaya.>

-Izaya himself quickly steps out of the fog-

Izaya: Why hello there. You were looking for me?

Gudrunn: That I was. You must be Izaya.

Izaya: -chuckles- That I am!

-bends down-

You have some cute Pokemon.

Gudrunn: Thank you! I got Vanessa and Dryad on the last island and Solonn from a very attractive man on this one...

-Dryad stares at Izaya curiously. Solonn quickly backs up behind Gudrunn-

Vanessa: <I like your style, Izaya.>

Izaya: Thank you!

Gudrunn: Wait, you can understand Pokemon?

Izaya: -giggles- Of course! I've been meaning to find you for a Liepard freind of mine, he has a little... Something for you.

Gudrunn: -grins- Take me to him then.

-Izaya starts heading off, then turns back toward Gudrunn-

Izaya: By the way, do you know someone by the name of Shizuo Heiwajima?

Gudrunn: Oh! Yes! He's a good friend of mine!

Izaya: -winks- Tell him I said hi, will you?

Elsewhere on Ula Ula

-Shizuo twitches extra voilently -

Malie

-Izaya, Gudrunn, and their Pokemon head off into the fog-

Malie

A human(?) with a red stained hand steps out of the shadows and greets Gudrunn and Izaya. "Ah, Izaya, this the individual I was told about? Charmed, I'm sure. Name's Dack, Dack Fayden."

Lyra: "I'm ready."

-She follows Silence.-

Malie City

-Solonn tries to hide himself more behind Gudrunn, with limited sucess due to being an unusually large Snorunt. Vanessa eyes Dack carefully while Dryad looks at his hand curiously-

Gudrunn: I thought you said he was a Liepard?

Izaya: He has a lot of tricks up his sleeve.

Gudrunn: Well, pleasure to meet you Dack! I'm Gudrunn. Gudrunn Ginnung.

Dross

-Jean, Dave, and Mia dive down into the abyss-

Malie

Dack grins. "Heard you were in the market for some Artifacts of Auric Origin, mayhaps?"

Malie City

Gudrunn: That sounds familiar... So yes, yes I am.

Dack reaches behind him and pulls out a small bag. "In this contains a ring of unimaginable power. The master of this item, it's said, can control all four Auric elements. I'm a master of two already, and I like dealing with artifacts that have less... side effects, so I'm willing to hand this to a worthy third party. Or at least one with enough incentive to have me fork it over."

Dross

-Cliff nods and heads in-

-Trainwreck hesitates a bit, but heads in-

-Sack then goes in as well-

Planet Dross

Alyesha also flew in, not wanting to stop so close before their goal.

Malie City

Gudrunn: Um... What kind of incentive?

"Well, my dear, I trade in both Artifacts and secrets. And something tells me you have many stories to tell."

Aether Paradise, inside, past

Quirinus: ~Gah!~

(Pinned under Steely Dan, Quirinus resorts to wildly scratching and biting at the hefty wrestler cat, occasionally coating his claws and teeth in flame. He was interrupted just in time; his pain-sharing attack never hits Bad Company-)

(-and an explosion, a truly vast BANG, sounds outside, and suddenly the walls are buckling and melting-)

Outside, past

(The more of Magma's impressive combination attack he endures, the more haggard Elagabalus looks. The final strike from the boulders manages something nothing else has come close to doing throughout the fight - it knocks Elagabalus clean off his paws. Any hope of it finally being over is dashed, however, as the ancient foxmon slowly hauls himself back upright, grinning even wider than he was before.)

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Elagabalus: <Heh... impressive, kid. Genuinely. I don't say that often, neither.>

(His eyes flash as his voice once again shifts gears from worn drawl to primal boom.)

Elagabalus: <But I will not let one thousand, three hundred years of constant training go to waste! You shall learn, children, to fear the God in the Mountain!>

(With a turn of speed his aged limbs have no right to be capable of, Elagabalus starts almost dancing around his opponents. Every twitching, staggered step sends another red line of searing heat shooting across the ground, until it quickly looks and feels as though a volcano is about to blow beneath his opponents.)

Elagabalus: <Catha!>

(The Mega Charizard X soars back onto the scene... then pauses, looking slightly horrified.)

Catha: <O-oh, goodness! Y-you're not going to do - that - not to such a lovely-looking place! Hasn't there already been enough damage->

Elagabalus: (sharply) <The time for arguments is over, Catha! Do as I say!>

(The jagged "cracks" in the Paradise floor are emitting walls of sparks by now. It's next to impossible to move; even hovering over one of the lines is enough to blast you with a wave of agonising heat.)

Catha: <...I'm so sorry, my dears... it really was a very pretty building you had...>

(Elagabalus leaps into the air, an act of agility that defies his age even more staunchly than his flaming danse macabre; Catha closes her eyes and wraps the Ninetales in a cocoon of her own blue flame; he hovers for a moment, as though his sheer power alone is enough to suspend him-)

(Then he falls, and he strikes the ground, and the cracks open up and explode.)

(The noise is tremendous. The force, even more so. It seems astonishing to any mon trapped within that this attack is not enough to kill them in an instant; it feels and looks like a plunge into the hottest layer of Hell itself, the rippling nine-tailed silhouette faintly visible through the firestorm may as well be a demon...)

(Finally, the heat and the light and the rush of upward force that suspended every target a few feet off the ground subside. Elagabalus tilts his head as the flames subside, looking, to the extent a mon with no working eyes can be said to look at anything, at the enormous hole his attack has carved out of the metal walls and surfaces of the Paradise. Frieden's defenses have been well and truly breached.)

Dross

(Solar Flare follow the Cobalt Stars into the darkness. Case quietly speaks up over the comms.)

Case: ...I have to admit, that was deeply satisfying to watch.

Malie

Gudrunn: Well,if you want a story...

-She gives a (rough) summary of her time as The Sorceress and with the J-Team-

Dack's smirk fades as he hears this story. "Intriguing. I suppose you have upheld your end of the bargain. Here you go, I suppose. Just be warned, the ring comes with a list of side effects including, but not limited to, megalomania, possession, delusions of grandeur, removal of empathy, and chronic snoring." He holds out the bag.

Aether Paradise

Amaterasu stared slack-jawed at Elagabalus' pyrokinetic display, now feeling well beyond humbled.

She sprinted behind her to pick up Colton's jacket, draping it over her shoulders.

She then picked up her and her 4 present teammates' Pokeballs and shoved them into the pockets.

And then she got the fuck out of dodge, sending out one last Extrasensory, Confuse Ray, and a Fire Blast to keep the ancient Ninetales at bay.

edited 11th Sep '17 5:26:32 PM by AbsentCoder

Malie

-Gudrunn gulps, then takes the bag-

Gudrunn: I'll, er, be mindful of the snoring.

Dack grins. "Excellent! See that you do! On that note, I have to be somewhere else, avoiding the consequences of this day! Toodles!"

He turns around the corner, vanishing without a trace

edited 11th Sep '17 5:50:36 PM by ConflictedPsyches

Malie

-Gudrunn blinks and gulps nervously again-

Izaya: Oh lookie here, you managed to scare ol' Dack off! Impressive!

Gudrunn: Er, thanks?

Izaya: And your story managed to give me some good info as well, so my work is done. See you! Remember to tell Shizuo I said hi!

Nagini: -snickers- <We're looking forward to what you'll do with that ring.>

-And they head off-

-Gudrunn and her mons stand there silently for a while before Gudrunn eyes the bag with the ring in it-

Gudrunn: ...I'm definitely putting this on a bit later, from a certain old friend or no. -stows it away-

Solonn: <So you're really a sorceress?>

Gudrunn: Yes. Yes I was.

Dryad: <Cool!>

Vanessa: <Were you a goth sorceress?>

Gudrunn: Er, I guess? What even is a goth?

Solonn: <Will... Will you hurt us with your powers?>

-Gudrunn's look grows hard-

Gudrunn: Not my friends. Not if... Not if I can help it...

-they head off-

Mt. Hokulani

-Frieden gets a buzz from his Comm, signifying a breach in the foundation. Frieden looks up to Willhelm.-

Frieden:.... I'm terribly sorry but it seems someone has breached the foundation. May I ask you whether it was you who just ruined my life style?

Aether Paradise

-Everything is in near ruins. The Rock has been flung to the side, trying to stand up like a new born puppy. Minos still lives thanks to his focus sash, but is breathing heavily. Lyn only survived because he was thrown into the ocean. Only Krieg stands in front of Elagabalus.-

Krieg: Al........ You're the only one in the lab...... I'll try to protect this hall, but I don't think I'll be much help..... Take care.......

-Moon light hits Krieg, turning him into a duskull. He uses shadow ball on Elagabalus.-

edited 11th Sep '17 7:51:36 PM by Lawlight

Aether Foundation

-Steely Dan takes one look at Elgabalus bursting through the walls, yowls, and runs-

Within The Foundation

-Something heads for the entrance, accompanied by a human shape-

Mount Hokulani, past

(Let's assume this is the exact time of the break-in and no time has passed since the last response. Wilhelm grins and shrugs.)

Wilhelm: Who knows? It's not as if I can track the personal proclivities of everyone on the planet at once.

Aether Paradise, past

(The Shadow Ball means so little to Elagabalus, it doesn't even take a single point off of his health bar.)

Elagabalus: <...are y'all serious?> :/

(He swats the newly-formed Duskull aside as easily as if Krieg were a mothball. In the Paradise itself, Quirinus, now free once again, resumes his teleport-run towards the lab area - though he may well be interrupted by an oncoming shadowy figure...)

Mt Hokulani

-Frieden sighs, grins back, and looks calmly at Willhelm.-

Frieden: Meh, got more time to talk anyway. I trust a certain piece of ass to keep it safe. Do you have someone like that yourself?

Aether Paradise

Krieg: <Hold it.......>

-Krieg flings another shadow ball at Elagabalus.-

Krieg: < I'm trusted by a piece of shit...... to keep this place........ intact...... so...... Make me faint properly...... First........>

edited 11th Sep '17 9:38:06 PM by Lawlight

Aether Paradise

-Quinirius is suddenly hooked in a Shadow Claw-

-He is then slammed down with tremendous force and a sickening crunch as the figure responsible and its human companion keep running toward Elgabalus-

edited 11th Sep '17 9:23:14 PM by Umbramatic

Aether Paradise Inferno

Of course, a Ninetales with Flame Charge would effortlessly outpace a regular human being. Even if she was balancing a jacket with four differing payloads on her back.

<We can't beat him without Helmsman!> Amaterasu panted as she made her way to his trainer, who wasn't thirty seconds from where Quirinus was. Colton, deciding this Swanna chase meant bugger all, hopped on to his Shiny's back, being sure to not sit on her tails.

Tired, but not completely winded, Amaterasu returned to the scene, then her Pokeball.

Before Colton could grab Helmsman's 'ball, Minister's opened up, the Stoutland nodding to his trainer.

<90 seconds, at least, like you promised,> he echoed, somewhat aware that Quirinus was near, even if Colton wasn't.

He nashed his teeth, now flaring with a little bit of dark energy, as he approached the Delphox, Colton eyeing his trail.

"No!" Colton hollered at his normal-type. "He's mine." He dashed for Minister and leaped onto his back. "But a ride would be appreciated; you can get a scrape in if you want."

The Big-Hearted Pokémon rolled his eyes as he continued his advance.

Quirinus is nearby, isn't he?

edited 11th Sep '17 8:51:03 PM by AbsentCoder