[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Lord Windos]

Spoiler

Within the dark hole, lit only by Firoke patrolling the surface, is a monstrosity of a Pokemon. Swollen, baglike, and slow, a massive insect rages in the dim light. She is covered in tufts of red, blue, and yellow fur, and she has gossamer Yanma wings - clearly incapable of lifting that nauseating body. Each wing is tipped with the color of a Legendary Bird, and many elements swirl in her wake. She has too many eyes and perceptive tufted antennae. An immense aura of power radiates from her. Only those she invites into her lair may come forward into her presence. Most never leave, for if she merely wishes to issue orders, she may do so without leaving her nest. So many of her visitors, the mates and the strangers and the specially bred Pokemon, end up as her food.

She is the source of the scent compelling you onward.

Slung on sticky webs, within the clawed clutches of the Bug Queen, are the missing Pokemon. Nathan sees Ralts and experiences a surge of emotion, but it's only the tiny portions capable of reaching through the cracks in the pheromone-laden fuzz infecting every mind within a dozen miles. Mr. Finder, whose sensitive nose is now swollen and red and cracked with oozing sores, is all set to walk right into the belly of the beast. Ventus' empathy is tightly closed, lest he rush right forward. The pheromones still affect him anyway. Heart, for once, is speechless. Unable to open his mouth, he flares his nostrils and inhales...and obeys the command to come pay tribute.

Desperately, Ditto's current form lets out a little howl, which only you six can hear over the rustling of chitin and the clacking of pincers. Strength flows back into you, enough to turn away from the horrendous sight and to grab Mr. Finder if you want. Herolune is pinching his nose shut.

You regain control of your characters. You recognize you are in the presence of a secret legend hidden in the bowels of Mt. Sentry.

To say that Ventus was in awe inspired terror at facing what he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt was a Legendary Pokémon would not be entirely accurate.

To say the very sight of the ANT QUEEN inspired a cold-hot raging inferno of pure unfettered HATRED and ANIMOSITY within him towards the BEING for bewitching them and their Pokémon/luring them all to her that warred an instinctive, wary, paranoid and cravinous TERROR of IT and a sharp spike of intense intellectual and scientific INTEREST in IT, which clashed spectacularly with the now ever present haze in his mind and his concern for E V E R Y O N E ' S wellbeing, creating an emotional malestorm the like of which he'd hadn't experienced since he left Team Plasma all those years ago.......well, that would be an entirely accurate and overly wordy description of how he's feeling right now.

Suffice to say, he was put severely off balance by his meeting with the Legendary Bug Pokemon Siekamater, and was only just barely holding himself together and keep his cool in ITS presence. If he started to freak out, or worse, try to lash out at IT for their crimes , he and everyone he loved and cared about would be set upon by the SWARMS UPON SWARMS of Bug Pokémon that the QUEEN has firmly under her control before they could begin to regret him not restraining his impulses.

As the researcher FINALLY regained control of himself thanks to Ditto's aid ('They are definitely going to be given a reward for saving us all!) wretched his gaze away from the ANT QUEEN , he took several steps back from IT and pulled out some nose plugs to stopper his sniffer up as he did so to shield him partially from the enrapturing chemical she was constantly secreting. Unlike either the resident lore/obscure info expert Nathan (who seemed both terrified out of his gourd too yet all too defiant towards THE QUEEN despite sharing many the same BAD gut feelings inspired by HER) and the well studied/traveled Heart (who seemed more aggressive towards her than fearful, bizaarely enough), Ventus had zero clue or Insight about THE ANT QUEEN before the all , save for what the rare collector just uttered about her (nothing of which helped the mounting tension within him).

Due to all of the above, he felt completely out of his depth and totally lost on what to do in such a catastrophically dire.......

........until he remembered that he was a Pokémon Researcher that specialized in handling/studying Disobedient Pokémon, and that he had hands on experience with befriending an increadibly viscous Legendary Bug Pokémon known as Genesect.

What's more, he couldn't afford to breakdown at a time like this, not when everyone depended on each other to get out of this with their Pokémon in one, undigested piece.

He could do this! He WILL do this!!

Once he realized/recalled all that, Ventus muster every last scrap of Will and resistance he had left and tried his damnest to fully steel himself against the dominating SEIKAMATER , gritting his teeth so hard he could feel his gums ache and bleed as he straightened himself up to his full height and forced himself to calmly and cooly regard the queen. His emotional state was still a right mess, but he was able to push it aside and/or clamp down on it enough so he could begin to clearly think of a solution, any solution that could rescue their Pokémon and themselves from the Legend.

'Oh dear Tao Trio save us from the Queen........no, I MUST have hope we can all survive this....this Legendary Being, or all will be soon lost to its colorful clutches! Now think, what can be done to appease this Siekametar or escape it with our Pokémon with minimum casualties. Come on, think Ventus.....! You didn't get your doctorate in Pokémon Research and Sociology for nothing, so think!!!'