[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Iron]

Also, if Calam's so serious, how does Dizzy react/behave to the scenery?

Dizzy isn't quite as serious as scarred, grizzled Calam. He is cautious, though, not knowing what to expect. He doesn't like what he smells, though his sense of smell isn't as strong as Ditto's.

[Iron]

Heart runs on ahead. Ditto tries to keep up, but is a little conflicted about who it should stay with. It ends up with Nathan.
Lucifer is also with Heart.

The crew behind can hear startled, involuntary hollering from Heart. They're too far away to make out any words or specifics, and Mr. Finder is crippled without his Pokemon.

Blisters in the wall of ice pop open, spilling forth a horde of Whirlipede. They come barreling down at Heart and Lucifer, venomous points flashing.

Choose two Pokemon to drive them off in fast-forward mode.

[Dragonstrike]

Calam has no qualms in KOing the Solosis. The Pokemon itself is pretty resigned to its fate, and not fast enough to Evade anyway.

"...th-thank you, C-Calam..."

Seeing that Solosis doesn't even try to struggle when Calam attacks...well, that's both a good thing...and makes Nathan feel very guilty...though he still goes through with KOing the little blob.

...he can't afford to try and split his attention right now.  His thoughts turn too quickly back to worrying about Ralts.  If he wants any chance of trying to help restore Solosis's willpower and emotions...he needs to make sure it stays with the group...

...

...he might have to ask Solosis another question or two later...


...

...he so, so hopes no harm has come to Ralts...

[Dragonstrike]

Alright, I think now is a good time for that music I picked out last night!  I think it fits the mood for this entire scenario rather decently.

A Sense of Extreme Urgency: The Egg Dragoon - Sonic Unleashed

[Lord Windos]

Spoiler

(...)

She instantly reached out and made clear attempts to leap forward and follow that siren's song, but thanks to the star's and Reshiram's aid Ventus prevented Shiva from doing something very stupid as he wraped his arms around her, pulling her close to himself. He was stronger, but that didn't mean that the fae enthusiast didn't TRY to break free.

Oh, and HOW she tried! She made use of anything she had in order to get her love from setting her free, struggling and squirming in his grasp like a Barboach that has just been grabbed by a hungry bird Pokemon. Only barely Ven's words of asking her to not succumb reached her. "Ven, what are you doing there? LET ME GO, P-L-E-A-S-E! Can't you...feel that, hear that? Need to... Have to...follow!! Can't....." She jolted her head to him, facing him directly - they were only centimeters apart from one another. In her expression, there was agony, fear, her eyes threathened to fill with tears, a low and weak "No...." escaped her among the hitched breaths of hers.

Anything that'll cause her to avert her attention from that urge to run down the tunnel and focus on the moment/current situation instead and/or shock her will probably do the trick of calming her.

Also, if Calam's so serious, how does Dizzy react/behave to the scenery?

Seeing that his dearly beloved girlfriend had all but succumbed to the insidious influence of that bewitching urge and his empassioned words/grappling had negligible effect in free her from it, Ventus did the second best thing that came to bringing Shiva to her sense: he reared his head back and slammed it into hers, hard enough to break her concentration of that urge and hopefully refocus her, but not to hard to serious injure her, and then shouting:

"Shiva, snap out of it! Listen to my voice, feel my concern for you, share in my resolve, and close your mind to that horrid siren's song! SHIVA!"

Order: Restrained Strike with his head (A human headbut) to free her from that desire to go running off into danger coming right up! Afterwards, since Lucifer decided to accompany Heart he's summoning Aspis by his side to protect/attack all that tries to harm him/the group! After Shiva gets herself together (hopefully) and decides what to do, Ven's ready to go on ahead to confront that THING that drew their Pokémon away and/or rejoin with Heart!

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

(I'd like for @Iron to roll that out, please, but the reaction from Shiva will be quite similar regardless how much damage points she takes, means I can post that right away.)


Given she was absolutely not prepared for that, it hit her literaly twice as hard, once physically and once emotionally. She ends up struggling in his grasp, and simply STARES at him in a rather startled state, her senses immediately focusing on HIM now.

A few seconds later, she somehow managed to find her voice back, and she made him notice that she did so rather clearly. "V-VEN! By....by all means, WHAT WAS THAT FOR?! One... one doesn't just hit a woman! You....." For one more second, she looked ALL READY to slap him back as she simply glared at him, regardless whether he was her respective other or not, but... Then, she just swiftly averted her gaze. For quite a while, she said nothing and just avoided looking at him in the slightest. "...Let me go." That was all she added to him in a rather low tone.

It did the trick to make her forget/block out that URGE TO RUN DOWN THE TUNNEL, but... What was the issue again, what happened?


A quick reminder will make her refocus, thanking Ven for the aid, the she should be ready to move on as well!~

[Lord Windos]

Spoiler

(I'd like for @Iron to roll that out, please, but the reaction from Shiva will be quite similar regardless how much damage points she takes, means I can post that right away.)


Given she was absolutely not prepared for that, it hit her literaly twice as hard, once physically and once emotionally. She ends up struggling in his grasp, and simply STARES at him in a rather startled state, her senses immediately focusing on HIM now.

A few seconds later, she somehow managed to find her voice back, and she made him notice that she did so rather clearly. "V-VEN! By....by all means, WHAT WAS THAT FOR?! One... one doesn't just hit a woman! You....." For one more second, she looked ALL READY to slap him back as she simply glared at him, regardless whether he was her respective other or not, but... Then, she just swiftly averted her gaze. For quite a while, she said nothing and just avoided looking at him in the slightest. "...Let me go." That was all she added to him in a rather low tone.

It did the trick to make her forget/block out that URGE TO RUN DOWN THE TUNNEL, but... What was the issue again, what happened?


A quick reminder will make her refocus, thanking Ven for the aid, the she should be ready to move on as well!~

Ventus was both relieved and intimidated that using his head worked exceptionallty well, he did his best to ignore her anger/command towards him and instead gripped her even tighter and stare her deeply in her eyes with utmost severity and graveness as he intoned a command for her.

"Shiva, you were nearly ensnared by whatever force lured away our Pokémon when you opened you empathetic senses, so I implore you to close your mind to outside influences. Imagine your mind as a great, vacuous castle, guarded by a moat of fathomless depths that is spanned by a indestructable drawbridge. Now, raise that drawbridge, and seal of your castle from the invader that is try to come in and steal your Will away! Do as I say, Shiva, and quick, before you fall under its grasp once more!"

[Lord Windos]

Heart was following the path of footsteps trying his best to find the path. "C'mon...where are they?"

(Survival+Insight+Knowledge to follow the path to find them.)

(Mate, you have bigger things to worry about right now, what with the horde of Whirlipedes barreling down on you. Focus on them first, THEN find out where the Pokémon went.)

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Ventus not even CARING in the slightest bit to obey to her ask but even tightening his grasp around her caused her snap her head towards him in the very moment she felt him even closer to herself. She returned his stare directly and very unafraid, viciously telling him 'How dare you!' with her eyes. Her focus on him increased, somehow that severity in his own gaze was catching her - that, and the shock accompanying the pain neatly. At least now it's ensured that she listens to what he says.

And what he said, hit her just as raw and recklessly as the URGE just before, just like.....the....s-siren's song? Wait, there was something about that.... Her expression changed - at first it just twitched and frowned barely noticably, but then AGONY AND FEAR returned on her features, and she gasps once more. This time however, not due to the urge, but due to Ven's words that IT, whatever it was, could steal her will away, make her just an empty and useless husk like these Solosis. Or in short, kill her inner and mind.

She quickly closing her eyes and swiftly hugging Ven even closer herself showed that she was 1. back on the current scene again, 2. obeying his advice and closing her mind from that nasty nasty 'force' and 3. not incredibly mad and disappointed by him anymore for what he did.

In this hug, she even whispered a low "Thank you..." to him that only he'd hear, followed by heartfelt sob and deep breath.
Deep breaths, my dear...
You stay inside the castle. Please.
I will. We will.
Great! N-No way the fiend will make it over these stone walls!
If he does, we'll show him that he's an univited guest. Hmpf!!!
Then, and only then, Shiva would slowly loosen her own grasp on Ventus, but she doesn't 'let go of him' as she will at least keep one of her arms enwrapped around one of his own. She even makes it to smile mildly at him, though it's quickly overshadowed by seriousness, a no-nonsense-expression and a gleam in her eyes behind the glasses to GET STUFF DONE. "N-Now then... Let us make haste and find our bewitched Pokemon, and steal them back from that force, Ven... There's enough room on my Tropius' back for two!"

In a quick movement, mentioned grassy sauropode is summoned, and finally Shiva feels prepared to start on the pusuit of them, her mind is now closed off from that bad influental something, and the instant panic she felt over her Mightyena and especially Mr. Finder's Pokemon (without them, they're all lost down here!) having gone amiss decreased to the degree that she can keep a relatively cool head until something triggers her.


------------------
Mechanics:
Done, from my side we can go onward and actually track our lost Pokemon down~ Dizzy's the only Pokemon Shiva keeps outside aside from Tropius that she and Ven mounted.

[Spiritmon]

Spoiler

Heart runs on ahead. Ditto tries to keep up, but is a little conflicted about who it should stay with. It ends up with Nathan.
Lucifer is also with Heart.

The crew behind can hear startled, involuntary hollering from Heart. They're too far away to make out any words or specifics, and Mr. Finder is crippled without his Pokemon.

Blisters in the wall of ice pop open, spilling forth a horde of Whirlipede. They come barreling down at Heart and Lucifer, venomous points flashing.

Choose two Pokemon to drive them off in fast-forward mode.

"We dont have time for this! Rose! Gustav! Come out and take care of these Whilipede now!" Then Heart bring Rose and Gustav to the battlefield. "Rose! Use Ember 3x then go ahead with Flare Blitz! Dont let any of them block our way! Gustav! Bubbles 4x! Lucifer! Any super effective move would be good!"

Ember: Dex (3) + Fight (3) + Canalize (3) - Actions (4/5/6) = 5d6/4d6/3d6
Damage: Power (2) + STR (3) + STAB (1) + SE (1) = 7d6+1
Effect: D2 chance to burn

Flare Blitz: Dex (3) + Fight (3) + Canalize (3) - Actions (7) = 2d6
Damage: Power (5) + STR (3) + STAB (1) + SE (1) = 9d6+1
Effect: Recoil.

Bubbles: Dex (3) + Fight (3) + Canalize (3) - Actions (4/5/6/7) = 5d6/4d6/3d6/2d6
Damage: Power (2) + STR (3) + STAB (1) = 6d6
Effect: 1d6 to reduce foes Dex. Hits all foes.