[ti]event[/ti] Mile High Club (Pre-Raid Event)

orioncayge rocketed past the pair like a hamster shot from a potato cannon. Big Bee grit his teeth in fear, clenching his body as if he could insulate his bandana bro from the crash through sheer empathy.

M'Foxy took off in a gust of fresh, grassy wind, her glider cutting through the air like a kitchen knife through an overdue Amazon package, and Big Bee was left standing in the dust, her words ringing in his ears. "It's not the angle- its the vibe!"

He tried to take off through sheer willpower, but the gem in his helmet didn't respond. Sure he felt a bit lighter, but that wasn't going to help him save his bro. "I'll come get you man!" he shouted, but the gem in his helmet dimmed, leaving him grounded.

"No! Let me take to the skies!" he said, banging on the side of his helmet. "Orion needs me! And Mfoxy-" he looked over to the paragliding foxgirl. She seemed fine.

Again, Mfoxy's advice echoed in his mind, like the sage words of a voluptuous Yoda. "It's not the angle- its the vibe!"

"That's it!" he said. "I just need to get the vibe right!" He closed his eyes, envisioning his mind as a swarming array of points. Usually they were focused. Aligned. Pointed towards a single goal. That's what enabled him to do his best work, when there was a single, clear target.

But now everything was muddled. What was the vibe? Was it 'be cool'? Was it 'go fast'? Was it 'make a good impression on the new sexy foxgirl bro'?

No. There was only one thing that mattered. The vibe here wasn't to be radical. It was to save Orion.

Big Bee unclenched his fists and focused his eyes on the runaway surfboard still jetting across the Steppes. "The vibe is heroic" he said loudly, and the gem in his helmet began to glow. A tiny propeller extended and unfolded from the top. "And I will SAVE MY BRO!" he shouted. The propeller spun up to speed, carrying him after his runaway bro at top speeds.

Tuesday is a firm believer in Murphy's Law, and today's special variant apparently is: anything that can go wrong will go wrong when you're in a team with your ex, who is easily distracted and doesn't ever listen to you despite the fact that you're perfect and flawless at everything that you do. Such is her fate.

So, remember how she had said she would stay behind to make sure her team got through the ring of Ducklett first? Well, not a minute later Saint is calling for her in a panic, yelling that said ex in question is falling.

"Fuck me." Apologies to the children nearby. And, speaking of children... it's with the deep sigh of an underpaid babysitter that Tuesday makes a turn on her board, facing in the direction of the manchild she's currently responsible for. "I've got it, Saint! Make sure you get through the ring!"

She doesn't waste a second, rushing through the air and making use of the board's propulsion system to gain speed. The sail remains retracted for now, partly because there's no time for that and partly because they would have gotten in the way when she reaches for starlitlover and yanks him by the harness of his wings...

It's far from the most graceful catch, but it gets the job done, even if it sends them spinning around for a moment there.

"ADA! CLOSE THE WINGS!" She yells while trying to regain stability on the board, but anticipating that Adarsa won't listen, Tuesday once again takes matters into her own two hands, lifting him over one shoulder (like a potato sack, except that he probably weighs less than one) and carrying him that way so he won't get in her way. She's a very strong catgirl, okay?

After some more struggling, stability is regained, and they can once again make their way towards the ring of awful dreadful Ducklett.

"Just don't move until we get through." Tuesday says then, glaring at the blue duck Pokémon almost as if to say 'if you try to bite me, I'll kick you'. She has done it before and she has no shame in doing it again, but for now, a glare seems to be enough to deter the Ducklett as she crosses. Maybe Cygnus used one of his weird machine to hypnotize these or something. Sure would explain the perfect ring.

After a wide smile to the kindly man who picked her up, her feet slid through some holes seemingly cut out just for this purpose as she swiveled about in some rotating little cockpit. It was rad as heck! And her little feet stuck out the bottom! Very cute too.

The only problem was, she had no idea how to operate any of the devices and buttons and levers in the craft she was in. She'd take assistance from Tiernan Oaktread again, positioning and getting into place before watching everyone else struggle.

Heh, now she was sure most of these people were her age. They were all acting so silly! It was just a flying game! You just uh- "Hey, what button do I push to-" She turned back, watching Fairytale move further away to fly, a fact that caused her to frown slowly. She didn't know how to message people! The UI was confusing! Even still, she watched with aye, seeing them just rise up into the air and begin to fly.

"Wow..." Rose mumbled to herself. "Okay, this is, so, cool! I wanna fly in real life!" Mom probably wouldn't trust her with a jet pack, but it would be cool!

She hummed, glancing at the small little console in front of her. It had so many dials and doodads it was kind of hard to tell what did what, but the big red start button was labeled at least. The little saucer rumbled to life, and it suddenly rose from the ground a few inches. For a moment, Rose thought she was going to soar into the sky! Only to realize little wheels came out of the device, and lifted it up just a foot. If she kicked her feet, she could push it around! Like, some silly old cartoon.

"This is... harder than it looks." She grabs what looks to be a little joystick, pulls back, and suddenly goes flying into the sky almost instantly as steam poured out of small vents on every side, almost to mock her comment about difficulty. She was very, very lucky, the baby-proof device had some gyroscopic systems active by default, keeping her from immediately tipping over and crashing. Not that she knew what that technology was, even if you described it to her.

"Wooooah!" She giggled to herself, having absolutely no words to describe the feeling of shooting up into the sky among everyone else. It was exhilarating, a total rush! Maybe the nice man would her let keep this.

Adjusting the joystick a little bit, she eventually found a second one, albeit smaller, and began to carefully move back and forth, up and down, in a rather stable, hovering motion. It was kind of like using a game controller, almost. With a wide grin, her ecstatic giggle echoed across the skies as she followed her partners in this team exercise.

"Look at me! I'm flying!" All the while, her little feet dangled back and forth, as if she could run and move faster! "I have, no idea how to land! But I'll learn! I will learn real good!"

Laguna took the arm strap from Bergamot Gristleborg and strapped it to herself and the flying surfboard-like machine. Most surfboards had leg straps, but most surfboards you could float back up in the water. She needed her hands closer to the board if she tipped over, dangling upside down was a dangerous prospect.

Cygnus began to rise into the air and give them their first proper test on these devices, and she had to admit it was mildly interesting seeing everyone flock like newborn birds attempting to figure out how to fly.

Perhaps the metaphor was a bit more apt than she thought at first, given that everyone was learning how to fly, quite literally.

Standing atop the surfboard on the ground, she examined it for a few seconds, all while watching Sarah Lee begin to experiment with her belt. "Well, it has to start... somehow." She glanced at the strange engine-like machine in the back of the board, finding a few foot pedals that seemed to activate the device, but that seemed to be the extent of the automatic control. The rest seemed to be just her skill in surfing the waves. Or rather, clouds?

In her distraction, she didn't notice Sarah Lee suddenly floating away. "Uh- Give me one second, and I'll see what I can do! I just, have to... Figure this out." She pumped her foot on the pedal, nothing, but it did feel like she was moving something inside the machine. Like trying to start up a lawnmower, she pressed again and again before it suddenly roared to life, and began to glide forwards slowly against the ground, before picking up into the air a few inches. Before she knew it, it was carrying her away from the other member of their team.

"Uhhh," She glanced at Morgana and their hand-glider, hoping they could figure it out as the surfboard just swiftly carried her forwards and away. "I'll come back if you need help!"

Turning her attention back to the waywardly floating teammate, the surfboard continued to pick up in speed, and she slowly leaned back and forth on the board, finding its movement to be pretty intuitive, and very much like actual surfing. The only main difference was the lack of water. And the only main problem, being vertical movement.

She couldn't just fly straight up! She'd fall off and lose her grip! And there were no foot straps! Suddenly kneeling down, Laguna gripped the edge of the board and leaned back, pulling up as the board lifted upwards, It was a start, at least. Intimidating, dangerous even, but absolutely positively exhilarating.

Laguna's eyes hadn't sparkled this brightly in years. She laughed to herself as she rediscovered how to surf again, slowly swerving the board back and forth, building up speed.

Once she was up about the floating trainer's height, she leveled the board out again, standing up tall and flat. As the board soared past, Laguna would reach a hand out to grab Sarah Lee, hoping that their own gravity belt wouldn't complicate the rescue.

Or pull them right off their own board. But hey, that's why she was strapped in.

"Climb aboard on the board! Or maybe just, grab onto the edge! This thing's got plenty of juice!" Laguna shouted, hoping to then turn pivot and lead the two of them up to the Ducklett ring. "What kind of partner would I be if I let you just float away? ... A pretty shitty one, probably. Remind me to take us actually surfing sometime!"

Of course... She did promise, even if she might regret it now. She glanced back down, trying to find where Bergamot Gristleborg might be. Laguna genuinely didn't really get what their deal was, but they were at least more funny and amusing than they were annoying. As far as she could tell, their antics were almost endearing. Almost.

Team Women's Suffering: Sarah Lee Bergamot Gristleborg

Aero's flying contraption was a bit simple, yet risky. She was wearing a purple jetpack with wings and goggles and she was smiling the moment she wore it. Of course, that would mean leaving her Pokemon to a strange female NPC, but at least they would have some training time while she enjoyed flying with Yggy Br00ks and another person named @killian.

There was one problem. She had no idea how to fly and didn't know how to operate her jetpack. But did that stop her from flying? No, it didn't. In fact, she was ecstatic as they set themselves up to fly. So when the Mythstar guild leader signaled them to start, it didn't take long for her to jump off the cliff and activated her jetpack with no hesitation.

Surprisingly, she managed to drive it very well. Although it wasn't without a few bumps. She could feel a bit of turbulence from take-off, but she didn't have any fear in her bone. Instead, she was grinning at seeing herself flying in the sky for the first time and she was surprisingly adapted to the controls and UI immediately.

"Woohoo! I'm flying like a Pidgeot! Mom, look at me now!"

She was still smiling at her achievement. Yet she was unaware she was about to miss the Ducklett ring in front of her.

The fact that Muin had both heard and seen ibis coming doesn’t take away from his surprise, and if his avatar were one of those cat-people that are so popular, his hair would probably bristle in surprise. However, since he is no cat (more of a dog person, really), his shoulders tense instead, ever one to put a high value on his personal space.

“I’m perfectly capable of doing this on my own, Ibis.” He says, despite the fact that he had been confused about what he was doing a second ago. Not that he'd ever admit to such a thing, of course. Not that he'd ever claim to need any help at all.

Then, he looks at Silvermoon, and although some would perhaps feel guilty for choosing them as the second person to get dragged into Ibis' antics, Muin remains ever so composed, eyes rolling in disbelief at Ibis' actions despite the fact that there, for a mere second, an ever so slight smirk illuminates his expression.

“Don’t mind his excessive enthusiasm… You get used to it with time.”

Apparently, Muin sure had.

At least they do manage to get through the Ducklett ring, right?

At the sound of the ten minute bell, the training ground is pure chaos. Groups of trainers drag each other through the air, which is choked with sparks, smoke, explosions, and huge airy updrafts.

"Smell that, trainers? That's progress," Cygnus says, arms folded across his chest. "I believe that we all reach our greatest heights when we are set a near-impossible goal. That means that for any of you that failed to reach the ring, you did as expected. And for anyone that passed through the Ducklett, you performed an exemplary feat." He nods approvingly at the trainers who managed to complete the task.

"Now! You all know how to take off and how to move in the air. I noticed many of you click with the unique controls present in the machines you picked. That's perfect."

At a sign from Cygnus, two Mythstar assistants wheel out a pair of cannons, one red and one green.

"This next challenge will push you to hone your newfound movement skills, combining both a positive goal with a necessary avoidant."

The beams switch on, blasting bright lights into the sky like giant laser pointers. The green beam dances in the air high above the training field, while the red beam is manually operated by a member of Mythstar with a steampunk nametag that reads 'Titanius'.

"The green cannon fires a Training Beam, which will raise your flying capabilities." Cygnus's eyebrows raise. "The red cannon will instead shoot an ḁ̶̀v̷̢͐ĭ̵̡i̷̧͝ị̴͘ṭ̶̉ä̸͍́z̴͖͝u̴̺̽g̵͓̈́ģ̸̽.̷̮͒ Beam, which will drastically d̶̪̋w̸̲͑z̵̩̀i̶͈̾î̸̬ ̴͚̌y̷̬͛ġ̶̦i̷̙̋d̵͎͠ ̴̜̄f̵̞̃x̶̝̿e̸͝ͅw̸͔̾q̷̼̕ ̴̹̇t̵̟́f̷̟͊c̸̼̏f̶̪̕b̸͙̓.̸̓ ...I haven't tested it on women." He strokes his mustache thoughtfully, seeming not to notice that he said anything strange. "Your goal: try to reach the green beam while avoiding getting hit by the red beam."

He gestures to Titanius, who nods and starts moving the beam towards the players closer to the ground. "Ready, and: fire!"

In round three you must reach the moving green beam while you avoid the red beam!

The red beam will usually target players on or near the ground, but may chase players for fun.

The green beam is MUCH higher than the Ducklett ring was, and players will need to work with their teammates to reach newfound heights and touch the moving target.

Mile High Club This round will end in 72 hours, Midnight June 18 JST.