[ti]quest[/ti][Q][C/Aero] Plumbing the Forbidden

The sight of a Braviary with a young female on its back startled Josh and Ares. At first, he and his Pokémon were defensive, Embers dripping from the Charmander's mouth, thinking the duo were hostile. When she let out a cry to greet Josh, both dropped their guard. "You could have told me you'd be flying in on such a fierce Pokémon! I thought I was a goner!" Even Ares didn't find it funny like he would other similar situations; he knew he could have been in big danger, too!

A high level Pokémon would be perfect. "Of course you can!" If Aero offered Josh a handshake, he would happily accept it. Regardless, they would party up, Josh gasping at Aero's stats and those of his Braviary. The level difference was pretty stark. "Wow, you've been playing for a long time, haven't you?" he asked. "I've been playing for less than a month. Name's Josh, and I want to be UNOVR's greatest cavalier one day!"

Seconds after the party information appeared, several more alerts appeared at the top of Josh's UI:

Information> New Objective: Restore Power to the Laboratory
Information> New Objective: Prepare the Lab for Future Renovations
Information> New Objective: Retrieve 3 Diary Entries

"Looks like we've got our work cut out for us," Josh sighed. "Let's head on in. And keep your eyes out for nasties. I don't think this is going to be easy." With that, Josh and Ares walked across one of the metal beams leading to the lab entrance.

Josh looked more impressed than anything. Having a Rufflet of his own, he knew how advanced Aero had to be to be able to ride a Braviary. "I can't wait until I'm able to fly like you can. Gonna be a long time, though," he replied, his eyes shifting to his meager level and stats. They would come in due time. "A cavalier is a mounted combat specialist. They fight from horseback, usually with polearms. In UNOVR, it would be from the back of a Pokémon." He had already settled on his build: Bolter for speed and Player for the ability to fight on his own.

Josh shook his head at Aero's suggestion. "It's probably gonna be too dark to see too much in there without turning the power on. If you have a Pokémon that gives off light, we can probably swing it." A Charmander's tail wouldn't cut it. He needed something brighter, like a Ponyta. Sure would have been nice to catch one from the Surge Steppes before coming all the way to Ostellia. Those were the breaks, though...

"Sounds like a winner," Josh answered. As he stepped inside the lab proper, the metallic clink of his steps against the floor echoing loudly, his in-game music stopped, only a horror-like ambient droll playing similar to what one would hear in a Metroid title. It made his hair stand on end... like something was going to jump him at any moment.

Many of the lab's electronic doors were frozen in place due to a lack of power. Many of the ones that weren't were mangled or blast open by brute force of some kind. One such door had been completely torn off. "What... what could have done this, Aero?" Josh asked. "To rip apart a metal door like that..."

Another door, this one closed, had a huge dent in it, like something had struck it in a precise location with a tremendous amount of power. "Hey, Ares, can you shine your tail by this door for a bit?" Josh asked.

"Sure, but why?" Ares replied, doing as ordered. Surrounding the impact point, a cut at the center of its dent, was evidence of electrical arcing, and strong arcing at that. If it could leave burns on metal, the strength of the current had to be out of this world.

"Aero, do you know of a Pokémon that attacks both with a whip and with electricity? I can't think of one."

Even the experienced, much higher-leveled Aero was clueless. Lovely. "Guess we're going in blind, then. Be really careful. Whatever did this is... powerful. Ares, turn up your tail to full power. We're gonna need all the light we can get." With a nod and a cry, the Charmander's tail flame grew in temperature and size. Even the fire-type himself began to sweat; it was clear he could not hold the extra luminosity forever. "Let's go in."

Taking a step into beyond the mangled door, there were glass shards scattered all over the large room. Good thing Josh was wearing good shoes! As crackling noises accompanied their footsteps, so did a different kind of crackling - that of electricity. A thunder-like explosion rocked the room, accompanied by an electric discharge that illuminated the thick wires composing a Xurkitree.

This was bad. Really bad.

With only two members in their party, the risk of a white-out was high. Perhaps an investment in some more Kindler class features would be warranted before returning, if their combined strength was not enough to take down the wire-framed Ultra Beast.

"What... what in the world is that?!" Josh cried, Ares' mouth dripping embers already...