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

LF> Partner for Abandoned Lab. I barely meet the reqs, so be patient with me.

As soon as she saw the "Looking For" request, it didn't take long for Aero to rush to the sender's location. While the lab looked scary to her, it wasn't enough to deter her from taking the quest. It has been a while since she interacted with another player, so she was excited to meet with them for it. Plus, wandering into the lab sounded like a haunted house attraction, so it would be extra fun to her.

After a few minutes of flying on her Braviary's back, Aero landed in the abandoned city where the abandoned laboratory was. She looked around the area until she noticed a blonde-haired man waiting with his Charmander by his side. "Oh, hey!!!" She called out while rushing to Josh and waving at him. "I heard you need a party for the quest. Can I join? I have a high-level Pokemon and I can fight with my Armorer class!"

Being the nice girl she was, Aero happily shook Josh's hand while her Braviary landed next to her and observed the new trainer and his Pokemon. "Oh, sorry about that. I didn't expect you guys to be shocked about Ruffy. But just in case..." She took out her Poke Ball and aimed it at her eagle Pokemon. "Thanks for your help! Return!" Ruffy frowned at this, yet he resigned as he let the red beam absorb him back into her ball.

Then when Josh commented on her long experience in the game, Aero sheepishly laughed. "I don't know if it's a big deal. I did a lot for my first few months and I haven't hatched my legendaries yet." Then when he introduced herself, her eyes widened at his last sentence. "That's awesome! I don't what cava-whatever means, but I think that's the same as my dream to travel around the game world with my Pokemon. So far, I haven't gone that far with this area since it was just released and I had a lot of offline things to do beforehand."

As the tasks arrived in her UI, Aero hummed when Josh warned of the "nasties" crawling. "Maybe we should try finding the diary entries first. If we do that, we can focus on the other two later," she said as she followed Josh into the lab. "How about we find a room where it has some files and folders like in those TV shows?"

Aero's eyes glimmered once she learned what cavalier was. "Hey! I'm already become one with Ruffy! I can also battle as myself, too!" And by "herself", she meant using her Armorer and Player subclass to battle alongside her Pokemon. But she doubted it might not be the right time to tell Josh that.

Looking at her UI that listed her current Pokemon, she frowned at the choices they have to act as a temporary light source until they achieve the first task. "There's Coco's Incinerate, but he might accidentally burn some stuff. Zuri can somehow see or hear in the dark, but I doubt he could help us if we can't see through it..." She groaned in dismay. "I guess we should find the power source then. I'm willing for risks, but I'm not playing needle in a laboratory hay stack."

Despite the eeriness of the lab's dark interior, Aero was surprisingly calm during the trek. She would chalk up to Josh being with her or not flinching during horror scenes unless they're all about Rube-Goldberg-style unalive scenes. It wasn't until they saw a metal door completely torn off by force. She tried not to lose her composure as she hummed in thought. "There's no way an NPC or player with a Player subclass would do this. Maybe it might be a Pokemon or something worse..."

She shook off her fright for a while and turned to Josh again when she asked her if she has any Electric-type Pokemon or who can use a whip of sorts. Aero fell on all fours as if she was defeated and groaned. "Unfortunately, I didn't catch any Electric-type or any Pokemon with those traits," she answered in dismay. "I have a special item that can generate electricity. But I can only use it once in a battle, so I can't use it willy-nilly outside of it. And there's Ruffy who just got his Electric mod. But I doubt he can help us since he can't learn Electric-type moves naturally."

For the first time since the Zapdos raid, Aero froze in fear as she witnessed something truly unimaginable in a Pokemon MMO like UNOVR. Wires moving around like tentacles approaching the two trainers in a menacing fashion accompanied by electricity rampaging around them like lightning bolts. Regardless, she knew where those wires and electricity came from. The last time she saw them was in Pokemon Ultra Sun where she caught every Ultra Beast including the Poipole line. If she could calculate their strength via her current evolutions in the party, there was no way they could beat them right now.

"Something that's too early for us to face," Aero responded to Josh's fearful question. "I do have some Ground-types with me, but there's no way I can deal with that Pokemon alone!" She would try since the leveling system in UNOVR was almost non-existent, but she knew from her earlier losses back in Pokemon X's post-game that it would be reckless for her to fight Legendary Pokemon under-leveled. "But we have to turn the lights on if we want to move forward, so fleeing isn't an option."

If she knew anything from VR games, there was a chance they could do more than fighting or battling. She learned that from the Zapdos raid where she chose to cooperate with the raid boss rather than face it to complete it. "How about we turn this into a stealth mission? Try not to get the Electric Ultra Beast's attention while taking care of the power?"

While she was more imaginative than her classmates back in real life, Aero was the type to learn new things in order to complete a puzzle or level. As Josh said, they needed to observe the Ultra Beast's movements so they could find the opening needed to sneak past it. However, he also warned her to prepare for any battle ahead of them at the same time. She was confident when it came to type advantages, but she needed to remain cautious due to their current level gap. "Alright. I trust you on making the call, Josh."

She quickly took out her Poke Balls containing her Orthworm and Onix, the only Pokemon in her team who could handle the Xurkitree in terms of type advantage. Following Josh's suggestion, she quietly observed the Electric-type Ultra Beast with bated breath. She had a feeling she might break after a minute of observation, but she knew she couldn't break down right now. She wanted to survive this quest and she wanted to complete it at the same time.

Walk, don't run.

It was a bit difficult for Aero considering her one-track mind. But they were facing against an Ultra Beast, so she couldn't afford to screw it up. Though she was a bit concerned about something "below" then. "Uh... sure. My feet will be as light as a feather," she whispered with a hint of concern.

Still recalling of Josh's warnings, the young trainer slowly followed the rider behind him quietly. She tried not to run on instinct as Josh suggested as she covered her mouth so she won't yell or scream as well. It was even to the point she avoided releasing her Pokemon by her side so they wouldn't disrupt their stealth mission. She did have her Pain Threshold turned off when she started the game. But knowing the threat Xurtxitree would pose, she didn't want to risk herself just to get to the window by running. It would be a little more until they could reach it.

She only hoped nothing bad would happen such as the Ultra Beast noticing them...