[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Lord Windos]

Spoiler

Chandelure Rematch Round 1 cont

Malphena
*rolls*
Excited, witchlike shrieks rise up from the stony depths!

Chandelure
*rolls*
The candles light up and stay lit!

(...)

Chandelure Rematch Round 3

Malphena
*rolls*
The torches go out! The room is plunged into darkness, and two ghosts come spiraling out of the Candelabra, both laughing triumphantly! Malphena's ghostly hair is on fire - that and the light of their eyes are the only light in the supernaturally dark room! Maybe a hint of red from Malphena's jewels...

When Ventus looks on them questioningly, the twisted bracketed body of Chandelure is tossed to the ground by Haunter. Little blue embers are all that remain of Chandelure's consciousness. You can hear Apsis slithering forward to end this!

Note: Haunter looks significantly bigger than he did before descending!

(How much XP did Malphena and Ven get from that fight? Not much I imagine, since it has to be split between Haunter and Valder, but every little bit helps!)

Several times Ventus hunched over in stress/apprehension as her heard and saw the after effects of his sister's and Haunters battle, counting the seconds/minutes that passed as the conflict seemed to drag on to eternity. What was happening down there? How was his/Valder's Pokémon fairing against that craven wretch? Should he signal them to pull out so that he and his mercenary can just cave in the place to take care of it for good/spite it? All these questions and more churned through the masked maruader's mind, though with the tight grip he had over himself now their was no chance those concerns would whip up an emotional frenzy. He must stay calm, collect, and focused: only after all is said and done is he allowed to react however he pleases.

When all the lights went out, he tensed up and let out a low growl, ready to assume the worst case scenario had occurred and summon Haneal to his side/order Valder to summon Mamo and enact THAT plan......

......Until his banshee and the grinning ghost emerged from the bowls of the Candelabra, their feelings of ecstacy and triumph telling him exactly what he desired: that they had done it. They had done it. The disguised researcher could only initially stare in questioning shock as his long sought after vengeance was almost at is very cusp, which prompted Haunter to 'deposit' his most reviled enemy right in front of him. ".........Well done, Malphena and Haunter. While I could not see it for myself, I know for certain that your battle against Chandelure was glorious and epic, a struggle that tested and threated to break your metal, but despite their treachery and having the home field advantage you prevailed against them, and laid them low. Rest now, and be proud of what you accomplish this day,you were able to extinguish their flames and bring them to justice, forever ending its soul devouring tyranny once and for all. Well, after Malphena is put out, that is. Haunter, Valder, could you help her with that?" Ven said after a short moment of silence at Haunter just casually handing his enemy, before he motioned/asked it and Valder to go help put of his sister's Burn. It wasn't life threatening enough that it warrented using a Burn Heal, so he rather save on supplies in this instance. He still had a trip to plan towards Mt. Molten to search for a spot to evolve his Magneton into a Magnezone, and no doubt he needed those Burn Heals more in such a extremely thermal area!

He was going to ask about where the Litwick that accompanied its boss were, but then he noticed how big Haunter gotten, made some reasonable assumptions, and quietly decided not to bring it up. They gave his main target in the end, so he won't begrudge Haunter and/or Malphena from feasting on the younger candlestick spirits afterwards. Such was nature, where the strong devour the weak and grow stronger still….

As his 'horrifying' sister was being taken care of, Ventus turned his attention towards his now thoroughly subdued nemesis, raising a hand in a halting motion to forestall Apsis from brutalizing it right away as she moved in for the kill. This earned him a mystified a somewhat mystified and confused look from his venomous viper, as she thought he'd want to utterly destroy it effective immediately once it was within his 'tender mercies', but she still stopped as he commanded and patiently waited by his side. Her master had a greater claim on that vile thing after what it did to him, so its within his right to dispose of it however he pleased, whether it be by her fang or his own hands, *Hiss....*

Upon closer inspection, Chandelure looked to be in worse condition than he first thought. It looked so broken and mangled, a far cry from its default state and also testament to the considerable supernatural might wielded by the 'Good' Ghosts, and he could only stare as he realized how pathetic  it now seemed. Here it was, laying unconscious and rendered impotent, completely defenseless to any and all manner of things he could do to it now. The sight alone should have inspired a fierce sense of sastifaction, and the thought of FINALLY returning it all the HATE and NEGATIVITY it violently speared it with its Memento with interest should have grinning like a mad fool he sort of is.

Instead, he felt....nothing. Empty. Wait......thier was something. It was.....pity? Bittersweet? Rotten? A sense of loss? Bereft of the joy he expected, Ventus could only stare at the candlestick spirit in befuddlement, suddenly feeling ill at ease with himself.

'This......why does this sight of the wretch not inspire joy in me, instead of leaving a vacous void sucking at my conscious. I should be experiencing elation over exacting revenge against Chandelure, not.....not guilt or loathing. What in Reshirim's name is going.....'

The moment he thought of this, he realized why in a flash of Insight so grand and yet so simple he nearly collapsed in shock. Ventus gains his last point of Insight for 40 XP, leaving him with only 5 XP left.

Chandelure wasn't the monster in this scenario, nor the twisted fiend as he initially made it out to be.

Beyond Mementoing him their first Encounter, the Ghost hadn't done anything else even remotely malicious to his person, instead opting to avoid him altogether instead of pursuing or further waylaying him. Even...even the near mind breaking/twisting grief and negativity it inflict on him was more in self defense/panic than any malice or spite, as at the time he was about to order Hanael to use Magnitude in the Candelabra, which in hindsight was an utterly idiotic decision to make. Overall, the spirit was only really guilty of fending off an overzealous and fierce trainer that had more bravado than sense.

His own actions, in contrast, were not even remotely as justifiable. While being Mementoed was hellishly bad (To understate it), it didn't deserve him swearing upon Reshirim's name to both curse it, its lineage, and exact equally terrible revenge on it. Shiva nor Nathan deserved to be bear the brunt of his vile, apathetic mood (though it was sorta justified by him being freshly Mementoed). The Ruin Maniac didn't deserve to be terrified out of his mind in order to rid him from the Candelabra, nor did those Patret he captured deserved being gruesomely sacrificed in the vain attempt to lure out Chandelure. Valder didn't deserve to be dragged into his plans for vengeance, nor Haunter putting himself in harm's way.

In fact, the Ghost had absolutely no desire to molest him any further, and was plain horrified by him enough by that time to avoid them altogether like the plague. No, it was him that so doggedly pursued and hunted after it in, going well above and beyond reason in order make good on his vow and violently, brutally, and Painfully slay it, and it was all too aware of this.  The fact that it felt the need call in for backup to protect its life/ward him off and his response was to acquire more Ghosts to neutralize their advantage was extremely telling of just who was the aggressor in this situation.

It was him.

He was the monster.

Or will be.

Memories start to come to the forefront of his mind, both recent and nearly forgotten, as if to hammer this point home into his thick skull.

Awakening From A Nightmare

The dream collapses.

Darkness grows longer.

Deeper.

Blacker.

Ventus feels his mind numbing.

Decaying, in the fracturing nightmare.

Negativity growing.

It's consuming him.

D E V O U R I N G H I S S O U L.

Fading...

.....

"Hehehe, you are going to let a bad dream Do you in?"

A light. Weak, but growing.

"Nightmares are terrible, but at the end of the night, you always awaken from them."

Brighter. Warmer. A face can be seen, but it's fuzzy...

"Only one of us should be sleeping eternal, and it sure as hell isn't you right now."

A hand extends, grasping his own. Their face become clearer now.

"We've made our mistakes, committed sin after sin, but you don't deserve to wither away. Not when you have repented so Ernesty, tried so hard to be a good person in a cruel world. Unlike me, Venny."

Sans...!

"...Nice to see you again, brother, even in such circumstances. Now, though, it's time for you to wake up. Remain good, Venny. Don't lose youserlf to hatred, like me. You have people to depend on, and they in turn rely on you. Don't let them do, ok?"

SAN!!!

"Hehehe...saying good-bye is always hard, isn't it? We, guess I have to do it this time. Bye bye, little brother!"

The hand retracted, pulling him into the blinding light.

A Nightmare Reborn

(...)

Slash, parry, repeat. Grow strong and overcome what stands in your way, become more than you are. 

Grief over what is forever departed. Time misspent, knowing you can never have it back, tell them how you love them.

A jeweled babble, devoured in a frenzy by fiend. Its owner sharing its fate, their fate consumed along with it.

Trapped in the dark, lost and in despair. No one will save you. No one will help you. No one to stop you from dying alone.

...

You share much with these vision.

You shall find you have more in common as time goes on.

You already have began to, after all.

History repeats, and so will yours.

Tell me.

What hope do you have of ever being more than a monster?

One that lurks not in the dark, but walks in the light,

Yet no less dangerous for it.

One that wears a friendly face, that tries to be kind and generous, pretends to be a person that everyone can trust and count on.

One that will lure in victims with pretend smiles and false promises of friendship and love.

One that will strike at the worst of times, and take everything from them, leaving them to rot if they are fortunate.

(...)

A Promise Between Lovers

(...)

A small break followed, where she gathered more words.

"Ven, I cannot promise you that I won't do similar actions again. I simply cannot as I do not know what may await us on our further traveling... I don't want to give you my word now and then nevertheless more or less accidently do something that be dangerous for me or hurtful to you, you see? ...Do you know how people grow as a person? ...By facing hardships. By SOLVING hardships. If there's a magical easy way to do so, I'd love to hear about it. ... I CAN promise you that I'll take good care of myself from now on in particular to that issue, and try to keep the risks minimum for me and my Pokemon, BUT ONLY if you do the same. ...Alright?"

(...)

By the time the memories came to an end, Ventus was hunched over and shacking, as he held his hands up to his face and muttered these words in a tone so low, only he could barely hear them.

"Oh by the Tao Trio, what have I done?"

'.....I've nearly murdered a Chandelure guilty for only defending itself from its aggressors, and all sorts of grossly unnecessary things. The only good thing to come from this is accepting my new sister Malphena into my, and even then that did not come without great cost itself. Why, oh why did I think it was a just cause to swear vengeance and nearly blackened my soul once more. Did that Memento have more of a impact on me than I first thought, or was I so blinded by my own anger and pain that I couldn't think clearly until now....?'

Ventus slowly but surely wills himself to calm down, clenching his fists and straightened up, looking upon his once nemesis with empathy, regret, and unease instead of pure blind hatred. He still GREATLY resented what it did and nearly did to him, and a certain bitterness will always linger in thoughts when they would turn towards it, but he could no longer find it within himself to hate Chandelure.

'......It doesn't matter, I suppose, for the crime has nearly been done. The only thing to be done now is to just.....stop, repent from my sinful actions thus far, and make sure I do not repeat my past follies so easily. If I am to become a monster once more, that is a decision I will take with great deliberation and consciousness, not because I let my WRATH and anguish steer me down dark paths. I must become a better a better person for everyone's sake. ....No, its simpler than that: I must be the person who I am now, instead of who I was then....'

A firm sense of conviction filled Ventus as he intoned these thoughts, and he knew that such promises would be hardly easy to keep. Yet, he was willing to try anyway, for would it be as worthy of a goal otherwise if it were child's play to obtain? Good things take hard work to achieve, and he was going to start putting in the effort from now on, one step at a time.

What better way to start, than to turn the other check?

".........Apsis, I have had a change of heart. Instead of slaying Chandelure, we are going to catch it instead, and travel to Corsage to find a worthy enough owner that can afford it. The though of its blood staining my hands now....it sicken me greatly, and I do not need their death on our conscious. We've punished it enough for its transgression, so let this be its lesson on not using excesive force on those that do not warrant it, or that will suffer equal or greater retribution in turn........" the empath said, his voice firm and stern, broaching no argument from his poisonous big sister, who was now staring increaduosly at him now. What. Just....what. Where did this change of heart come from, all of the sudden?! Before, they were both eager to hunt that insidious torturer down and utterly tear it into shreads, but now he wants to be merciful to it?! *Hiiiisssss.....* That's....that's just not fair for her. She could accept her master's decision, but to be denied her own revenge against the candlestick spirit.....it was greatly frustrating to her on so many levels. She's the huntress, a creature of her passions, and to have her rightful prey and retribution denied to her......

Sensing his resplendent reptile's distress over the situation and understanding where she comes from, Ven lets out a sigh and shake his head, and decides to grant her at least one way to sastify her need for vengeance. "....I know my new stance regarding Chandelure displeases you, so I will allow you exact some measure of payback on it, so long as you do exactly as I say and nothing else. Paralyze it with fear by using concentrating your spite and directing it at them with Glare, demonstrating your barely checked hatred with held Ice Fang until they are Frozen stiff, then finally spew your fury at it with restrained Poison Stings until it Poisoned. Afterwards, I will catch it in a Pokeball, so do NOT kill it under ANY circumstance. Understood?"


Order: Gain 1 Point of Insight, make Ventus have a change of heart, and capture Chandelure instead of killing it. Apsis will be allowed to vent her own murderous feeling/sate her desire for REVENGE by Glaring at it until its Paralyzed, then using Held Back Ice Fang (Which will do no damage) until its Frozen, then finally Poisoning it with Held Back Poison Stings (No Damage on this move too). This also conveniently inflicts it with 3 Statuses, which combined with being Fainted give it a - 8 Resistance to captured, so ideally a Pokeball will capture it in short order. If not, Ven will keep trying until he runs out, in which case he'll order Valder to stand guard over Chandelure while he goes get more Pokeballs from the Pokemart in Stair, then rush on back. It gets close to dying via Poison BEFORE it gets captured, Ven has an Antidote he's willing to use on it, just in case.

Afterwards (assuming the Ghost is caught), he'll returned Malphena (Her reaction to all this, btw?) to her ball, tell Valder he can return to Cress now, then Ven will exit Mt. Sentry into Stair, recall Apsis/summon Haziel, and Teleport to Corsage to find a trainer willing to pay in Poke for a Chandelure, the funds of which will go towards paying Mr. Finder. He'll then teleport to Cress East Pokémon Center, and respond to Shiva's text in another post.

What a twist, am I right guys?