TRIAL OF MUSIC: KILLIAN

Yeah okay, fair enough. Though admittedly he didn't expect that the Underworld NPC would be very chill about him just...coming and going with Pokemon souls in tow. ❝Oh shit really? I'll hold you onto that, Seta, I'm going to come back here and help out as many souls as I can, so just throw those trials at me! I mean, if they want to head back, of course! I dunno if the game's just allowing me to pick from Pokemon that specifically want to go back or you're just pulling this out of thin air, but--yipe!❞

The trainer would clench his teeth at the sharp twang of the mask. It looked like Seta didn't even hit it, the mask...just made the sound on its own. It was nothing like what happened with Dewdrop's mask. What the heck happened to that Blitzle?

A few moments after Seta finished his words, the room would become dark, swallowing up everything in his sight. Another few moments would pass before he would find himself in a not so narrow corridor. Not narrow enough to feel claustrophobic in, but there were clearly walls on both of his sides, light gold or yellow in color, decorated in what he could only describe were items that would fit an opera house. He was surrounded by antique-looking furniture of whites and reds and blacks, and he found himself standing on a plush and soft carpet. Looking both forward and behind him would simply reveal an endless corridor. It reminded him a little of his previous trial with the desert, but this one had one clear direction. Huh, looking up, he realized that the ceiling was painted with imagery that looked a little bit like the Surge Steppes. Was the Blitzle caught there?

All the while, he had been ignoring the largest clue to find what he was looking for: in the distance, he could hear...something. A cacophony that was hard to pinpoint what it exactly was, but if he were to make a guess, there was breaking, falling, shouting, and a constant rumbling of thunder. At random points he could hear an explosion. It froze Killian in place, realizing that fuck, this wasn't horror scary, this was dangerous scary. He knew that, at the back of his mind, this was a game and permanently dying was not possible, but it didn't mean that he didn't want to rush into danger. Every instinct in his body was telling him to run away, not towards it, but he took deep breaths. Deep breaths.

This was a game, and this was a trial.

And that was a Pokemon that needed help, and he was the only one who could help it.

Right. Okay. What did the pop up say? Something to help him better prepare for what was to come.

It was in that moment that he perceived the faint sound of a note playing in the air. A single one that didn't change, though he wouldn't be able to identify it since the last time he had music lessons was back in high school (and he was terrible in that class. Sorry, teacher, he had no sense of rhythm). The quest box also mentioned something about moving forward created more notes, which he eventually assumed would become music, and according to the notification, become something else the closer he got.

Killian gulped. He took a step, hearing a second note come into play. The cries continued in the distance. Something he assumed was a vase fell onto the floor, shattering into a thousand pieces.

❝Goddamn, Nico, you're really in for it now.❞