the opposite of amnesia. [misson]

[tate & liza]

liza picked her way through the cavern, careful to walk around her nose scrunched up slightly as she breathed in the damp air, stale with the smell of salt and limestone. libra floated along silently behind her. the claydol rotated absentmindedly every now and then, opening and closing a few of its many eyes as liza searched for where she was to meet the informant.

her thoughts projected outward like an invisible net, pinpointing every being nearby. there were pokemon, of course -- there were pokemon everywhere -- but, so far, she hadn't come across a single other human since her entrance.

vaguely suspicious.

it took another fifteen minutes of nervous pacing back and forth at the rendezvous point before she could sense someone else. almost immediately, two of her pokeballs drifted off of her belt to float in the air before her. "who's there?"

EVENT

[EVENT]

the cave was dimly lit and chilly. it buzzed with a low hum- there were electronic devices in this cave. and every now and then, the floor would give a light shake or you'd hear a rock tumbling in the distance, echoing throughout.

a young woman, with cropped blonde hair short and clean, was wandering through the caverns, a hand cocked at her waist, ready to throw a pokeball. these parts of the caves were usually left alone, but in the past few weeks she had grown to love it here.

there had been a rough day down in the depths of the falls. hard work, and stupid supervisors. she had needed a long walk like this all day. the sound of the ocean hitting the sides of the caves...it calmed her. it soothed her. she had taken this little stroll every day for the past two weeks, partially in hopes that she'd find something, as the days could get so boring.

she was ready for almost anything, a wild pokemon or a booby trap. but what she wasn't prepared for was another person, and it quickly became clear to her that she was not the only one in this part of the cave, as indicated by the voice that called out and echoed off the rock walls.

her eyes had a low, green glow to them and she readied her pokeball, before quickly rounding the corner and asking firmly, "who are you."

tate & liza

[tate & liza]

her eyebrows raised in surprise -- not only at the pokeball in the woman's hand, but at the question that was posed. "liza." 

she usually assumed that she and her brother were fairly prominent figures, at least in hoenn, but then the teenager also figured most people would have been looking for people who stood over five feet in height.

(and if this woman didn't know who she was at all, liza couldn't help but wonder what this stranger had been doing for the past decade.)

her pokeballs floated in lazy circles in the air before her, mirroring the movement of the claydol only a few paces behind.

liza's gaze didn't waver. "who are you?"

EVENT

[EVENT]

the young woman loosened her iron grip on the pokeball, ready to release at any time. she glared at liza but didn't dare to move. she must be strong, to explore these caverns at night.

"no," she says, her voice polite but firm. "i don't have to answer to anyone. what i'm asking you is...." she took a quick, sharp breath. "why are you here."

she slowly raised a hand to press a button on her watch. the buzzing stopped, and the sensation that they were all being watched went with it.

"if you're who i think you are," she began, much less menacing, "it's good to see you, liza."

tate & liza

[tate & liza]

liza had little patience for this woman's glares, or for the unsettling feeling that'd been creeping into her bones since her arrival in the arceus-forsaken cave. it was an irritating, gnawing feeling at the base of her neck, crawling down her spine and through her body.

her eyes followed the stranger's every movement, narrowing slightly. the leader's suspicion hung openly in the air, serving as a silent warning. the girl had no tolerance for games.

then the gnawing stops, and liza blinks at the strange freedom. it were as if a blanket had been lifted from her, the muffling of her senses gone. (she did not, however, relax.)

"i wish i could say the same," she said curtly. "if you're who i think you are, you should know why i'm here."

and that the longer they spent playing these foolish games, the worse things would get -- for the both of them.

EVENT

[EVENT]

she nods, cheeks red, but invisible because of the surrounding darkness. her teeth flash and shine through, a wild grin across her face. "it's only a test," she says quietly, shrugging. "you know very well why i have to..." she sighs, rubbing her head.

she doesn't have the info on her, she left before the group downstairs had finished. it would have been suspicious to take everything with her- nope, they'll be done her soon. and then she'll bring liza down to the lab and get the information she has collected- flash drives, folders, notebooks, discs, all chalked full of inside experiments and technology being designed for boure.

"i don't have the stuff with me," she apologizes, shrugging. "but it's down in the workspace. everyone should be out momentarily, then we'll head down." she takes a step closer to liza and flickers on a flashlight.

"i'm margaret."

tate & liza

[tate & liza]

the girl sighs. "yeah." liza nods in understanding, her eyebrows only briefly coming together in confusion before her expression returns to being carefully neutral. she doesn't know, exactly, how things are run in meteor falls -- it's significantly different than the space station, at least -- and she's not entirely comfortable with the fact that the woman before her is her only guide.

liza shields her eyes against the sudden light. "margaret." she commits the name and presence to memory before nodding to her claydol. the pokemon dematerializes as it teleports somewhere out of sight, though she can still feel the mental connection between her and her partner.

she looks up at margaret, tilting her head to the side. "lead the way, then." hopefully, this mission would be both clean and easy.

(naive expectations.)

EVENT

[EVENT]

margaret leads liza down a winding path. small cliffs to slide down, larger ones to climb down. as they get deeper in the cave, the vibrations grow stronger. there is some strong equipment down here.

finally, she stops, adjacent to a particularly dry wall. she motions to it. "well," she says, sighing. "here we are." margaret chews at a nail. "when you're ready, i can open the door, but..." she trails off.

"i can't come with you. if they see my face on the security tapes, well, then...i'll be in serious trouble." margaret shivers and takes a breath. "i think you know the consequences of doing things like these." she lowers her eyebrows.

"i'll be right out here, though," she reassures liza, biting her bottom lip. she gears up to give the instructions, trying to remember the exact codes necessary. "okay, so, i'll open the first door. the second's combination is pokemon based, you'll need some sort of pokemon with a rock move or something. you've gotta manipulate the rock." she takes a breath. "the second lock is on the file room door. it's a combination. f00aa279. i've written in down for you here, just in case," she hands liza a scrap of paper.

"keep in mind, the file room is actually digitalized. i don't have a spare account- and if you log into mine, they'll trace everything back to me. you need to steal the hard drive in the computer farthest from the right. when you eject it, the alarms will automatically go off, if they haven't already." margaret hands liza a pair of rubber gloves, to conceal any dna if she so wishes.

"good luck." and she opens the first door, revealing another cavern.

tate & liza

[tate & liza]

liza sighs. she should have expected this. the girl inclines her head toward margaret, acknowledging woman's instructions and taking the offered combination code. "i'll be fine. second door, rocks. file room door, this code here." she smiles grimly. "and then the hard drive. with alarms."

fabulous.

the girl glances into the cavern and releases her chandelure, who shines faintly in the darkness. the girl keeps her head down and face covered, in the event of security cameras. haze. dark, wet mist spews forth from the ghost-type, obscuring her surroundings -- all she can see is the flickering glow of the ghost pokemon before her, but it's fine. liza's mind stretches all around her, invisible feelers searching for any sign of other people within the cavern. nothing. all right. go, fornax.

the ghost pokemon, whose sight is significantly less hindered than the girl's, leads the way through the cavern to the next door. liza glances around surreptitiously before reaching for her claydol. libra, come here. there's the strange-yet-familiar sensation in the back of her mind as the pokemon warps beside her, and she gestures at the second door with her thoughts.

ancientpower.

and the cavern begins to rumble.

EVENT

[EVENT]

haze rolls in and swirls in the air. the rocks on the wall begin to rumble and then buzz- the sound growing higher and higher in pitch as the ancientpower twists them. the wall simply crumbles to pieces, and the sound of a woman screaming is heard from inside.

margaret peeks in the cavern, and as the first, mechanical door closes up again, she mouths two words. "ignore her." and then the large metal doors close, and liza is left isolated.

tate & liza

[tate & liza]

ignore her?

ignore her? yeah, no. liza's curiosity tugged at her mind, as did the apprehension that came with the whole 'woman screaming from within the deep, dark depths of a cave' thing. she needs to go through this entire ordeal as quickly as possible, but the girl can't stop her desire to know from nearly overcoming her.

so she makes a compromise. haze again. their immediate surroundings are plunged into a thick darkness once more, and the chandelure takes up the role of leading liza through the crumbled stone wall toward the next door. it would be easy to leave and not look back -- but that's called giving up, and liza's pride tells her to press on.

libra, liza commands, go and see what's going on. the claydol pauses for only a moment before spinning like a top and heading in a slightly different direction. the sound isn't from afar, liza knows, but she doesn't waste a single moment in getting to the door to the file room.

she pulls on her gloves and carefully enters the combination with the dim light from her chandelure -- f00aa279 -- before pausing to process whatever her claydol is seeing, nodding to her current companion to be alert for any danger.

it's a skill she and tate have mastered with their pokemon; one that comes in handy in times like these. her vision changes -- and she's suddenly seeing everything around her with full three-sixty vision. claydol's senses are the strangest to see through, if only because of the sheer amount of eyes the thing has, but after a second of adjusting she observes libra's surroundings.

liza makes her way into the file cabinet with her true body even as she possesses her claydol (or, well, it's technically voluntary co-occupation of the pokemon's body, similar to what she and tate do at times), looking for the source of the screaming.

the girl is going to get the headache of a lifetime after this, but whoever said you can't do two things at once has obviously never met a psychic.

(if any of this doesn't make sense/is confusing pls ask)

EVENT

[EVENT]

as the claydol wanders off, the scream slowly fades into that of an infant's cry, amplified 100%. it roars throughout the rooms. but when the claydol arrives in the correct room, the crying is silent.

chatot used nasty plot
chatot used hyper voice

the incredibly loud screams will reach even liza at this point.

tate & liza

[tate & liza]

liza's mind snaps back to her own body like a rubber band the moment the blast of sound slams into her claydol, sending waves of pain through the both of htem. there's only so much she can do, really -- and, for now, having libra in relative control of its own movements is probably ideal.

sandstorm, ancientpower.

sand and loose gravel begin to swirl around in the cavern containing the two pokemon. a brief moment of silence, save for the scraping of sand, and the walls shudder and groan.

claydol used sandstorm
claydol used ancientpower

stumbling slightly, liza makes her way to the far end of the computer lab. her chandelure continues its onslaught of haze, the black mist obscuring everything but what's directly in front of her.

the girl's hands stop in front of the computer, and she doesn't touch it just yet.

EVENT

[EVENT]

the sand only makes the cavern more treacherous- the swirling sand and haze from earlier rushes through the air. the chatot falls to the ground, but continues to battle. the ancient power bruises and beats its wings. the chatot cries out, mimicking an infant once more.

chatot used taunt!
chatot used hyper voice!

-------------------------

inside liza's room, the slam of a door is barely audible, but the lack of sand flying in is noticeable. if she listens carefully, she can hear a low growl.

-------------------------

margaret frowns outside, hearing the commotion. she presses a button and speaks in a hushed voice, over the loudspeaker,

"liza- liza- what's going on in there, do you need me to come in? just gimme a sign or something, and i can-" the message stops, mid-phrase.

tate & liza (btw this is meant to be an absolute clusterfuck. just enjoy + be creative, do some cool shit)

[tate & liza]

don't let that hit you,, liza warns -- but it's a warning that carries no weight, as the claydol has already brought up another wave of earth and rocks. the sound-based attack breaks the earthen barrier, but its purpose has already been served. there's more rumbling, and more rocks begin to lift and attempt to converge on the chatot.

claydol used ancientpower

the psychic wonders, only briefly, if meteor falls will come crashing down upon them -- before something pricks at the back of her neck, putting the girl on high alert. she can hear margaret's voice over the loudspeaker, cut suddenly cut off, and she tosses caution out the metaphorical window.

it's time to move.

her hands fumble only slightly with the hard drive before unceremoniously ripping it out, ignoring the blare of alarms that suddenly resound throughout the cavern. fornax lights up like fireworks on the beach, turning into a flaming ball. the intense flames pierce through the remaining dark haze as the heat from the chandelure starts whichever unfortunate computer happens to be closest to him.

now that she can see, liza would make a break for the door, if not for ... well, whatever was in her way.

EVENT (left open-ended because i assume the growling thing is between her and the door)