Rubik's Cube

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It was an oddly cloudy day today, even for Venen Gulch and the surrounding areas. Come to think of it, it'd been pretty cloudy in.... well, everywhere lately. It didn't exactly make for very appealing scenery, but honestly, this area wasn't very visually appealing in the first place, so that didn't really matter. Sova, for one, was here for two reasons. The Grima Outpost had helped him with one of his two goals; Finding a familiar zoroark. Now he just needed one more thing.... To get back to the forest. "Trust me, you'll love this place," he assured Mirage as they neared a large, old chateau.

Following the two from just barely close enough to see them was a little silver fox-like creature, a "shiny" eevee. While this body coloration made her fairly easy to spot in.... nearly any setting, she was being careful to stay behind what little cover she could find. However, cover was rather difficult to find in a barren place like this, so she didn't get many chances to move, having to wait for the other two to get very far away. She had a black bandanna over the lower half of her face in the hopes of not being identified if she was seen as well as to help with breathing the awful air in this area.... and because she wanted to look intimidating. Not that anything could help with that last one. Honestly, how was she supposed to look intimidating as a silvery-colored eevee?

Krikka, the eevee was called, had been following not so much the glaceon as the zoroark. She knew who the zoroark was and really wanted to talk to her! Oh, the things she could learn from an avid outlaw! She was also curious to see where Mirage could possibly be going with some random guy and from what she could tell, it was that supposedly haunted house that was in the area. But why with the random guy!? He certainly wasn't an outlaw Krikka had ever heard of. Were the two.... together, or something? Impossible, surely such a high-class outlaw had standards!

Krikka's ears perked up slightly as she learned a bit about this glaceon. Sova, a name she hadn't heard. She would have thought someone so powerful in the guild would be more well-known. Then again, maybe the name was well-known and she just hadn't heard of it due to her distaste for social interaction with others. However, what was more interesting to her was the fact that this glaceon was in the guild. She presumed Grassveil's guild, since it seemed unlikely for someone who couldn't fly to join Aileron. Now why would a GUILD member be associating themselves with an infamous outlaw? This was definitely something that intrigued the eevee.

"Oooh.... That's weird, why's he with Mirage?," she questioned, just to check if this tyrunt knew anything else.
Maybe he was a crooked guild member or something? Or maybe he was planning on trying to capture Mirage?

Sova noticed the thing he presumed was Mirage following the drifloon away and sighed. This meant he had to walk more, more work. Great. He wated no time in heading around behind the throne, immediately spotting the doorway and heading through it. He managed to get there just in time to see Mirage taking care of the drifloon without him! He leaned against the right wall of the passageway as he watched. "Hey, I was kinda hoping to have some fun with him, if you couldn't tell," he spoke up.

-Sova

Lord E V carried out 5 launched of one Ruined Chateau :

, , , ,

Mirage huffed, tossing the limp body at Sova's paws. It was barely breathing, but she spoke anyways, "You were having fun with the bigger one, greedy." It was obvious she was not serious about calling him greedy, as she did not glare or show any signs of aggression towards the glaceon. Instead, she merely picked up the boxes and examined them. Fantastic. MORE boxes she would have to smuggle into the guild to get opened. Who held their shop in there anyways?

Victoria shrugged, "I don't know," came the simple answer, "I haven't met them before today, a servant of mine met with Sova before, but that's about all I know of him." The tyrunt spotted Sova leaving, she wondered if they should follow or wait there. She decided it would be best to follow, in case something dangerous happened and the two would have a reason to attack whatever was dangerous that arrived.

Sova rolled his eyes at Mirage, though clearly not in an agitated manner. "Not my fault it thought it could take me," he replied, looking dully at the body before him.
It still seemed to be alive, but he didn't find killing it to be particularly appealing. No fun, no sportsmanship, what was the point? He wished he could find an actual challenge.... one that wasn't a god, of course. It seemed a bit unfair to fight a god, something he'd found out the hard way. Still, he definitely wanted a rematch against the "Guardian" that'd so rudely exiled him from the strange forest.

He turned around and began the walk back to the doorway, figuring there was no reason to stay in this place. It seemed to be a dead end and he assumed Mirage was planning on keeping the few things worth keeping in here. It wasn't like he cared about treasure, anyways. Unless it was something to help him fight, he wasn't interested.

Krikka couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed at the tyrunt's lack of knowledge on this "Sova," but it couldn't be helped. She'd just have to talk to the glaceon himself, and oh did she have so many ideas for what to say to him. She followed along as the tyrunt got moving, staying behind so if someone got attacked from the front, it wouldn't be her. "Well, at least I know his name now..... Sova, and I'm guessing you know who Mirage is. So, who're you?," she questioned, wanting to get to know the last member of the group now that she knew a bit about the others.
Knowledge is power, after all.

Mirage followed Sova back into the main room meeting Victoria and fluffball along the way. She did not seem to care that the two were following her around, if they got into trouble she definitely was NOT going to be the one to save them. Though she half hoped the tyrunt would drop dead so she could take that interesting looking amulet of her's. The zoroark huffed, "Just need to find another door it seems..." she mumbled though it was unclear of whether she was talking to herself or to the group as a whole.

Victoria smiled, "I'm Victoria, Princess of the Black Spear Kingdom, well queen as well but usually a queen can't be called a queen until she has been wed," she explained. She wondered when she actually would be able to be called a queen? Would she ever find a mon who's mon enough to help her handle a kingdom? She pushed the thought aside, as of right now there was no real kingdom in place, just claimed land. She needed to keep her mind on the present rather than setting her eyes on the future that did not yet exist.

Mirage

Kat carried out 1 launched of one Ruined Chateau :

Victoria

Kat carried out 1 launched of one Ruined Chateau :

Krikka hesitated to respond to the tyrunt, considering just giving her real name instead of trying to waste time thinking one up and looking suspicious. She wasn't well-known, so there was no reason to lie about her name. Plus, it seemed Victoria didn't care too much about outlaws, clearly knowing who Mirage was yet doing nothing about it, not even fleeing. "I'm Krikka. Being a queen sounds good, maybe I'll look into that myself," she replied.
While her words may have seemed like just a joke, she was actually serious. A queen usually got to wear fancy jewelry and rule over others, that sounded like fun!

Sova stepped through the door just in time to hear the eevee state her name. Krikka? What an odd name, definitely not a name he'd heard before.... and it didn't sound very feminine. Then again, his name wasn't exactly common or masculine, so it wasn't like he was in a place to judge for something like that, nor did he care if someone's name was weird. He turned back to make sure Mirage was keeping up alright as he heard her speak of finding another door, but something caught his attention as he did so. At the end of the corridor.... there was now a door! "Ask and you shall receive," he jokingly commented as he looked at the door that'd suddenly appeared down the hall.

Mirage approached the door, reaching to the knob and pushing the door inward to open it. It was a dark room, one that would have given a normal pokemon a chill down their spine. TO Mirage, this was nothing. She could see just fine in this darkness. Her eyes alert, she entered the room. It seemed like it was a maze of walls, filled with paintings. They seemed to have various pokemon as their contents, all of them seemed either depressed, terrified, horrified, and mangled among many other things. They all seemed to stare right at the viewer, and caused a bit of unease in the zoroark.

Victoria looked into the dark room, seeing nothing but pitch blackness. She looked around, not able to se the paintings with the darkness. She looked to the zoroark who was still bathed with a bit of light from the other room. Was her fur on end? What was unsettling the zoroark so much? She swallowed, "I-Is something wrong?" she asked, however the zoroark did not respond.

Kat carried out 4 launched of one Ruined Chateau :

, , ,

Sova followed at the back of the group, not desiring to take the lead as usual. Considering he likely knew Mirage better than most, he immediately noticed when the zoroark became bothered by something. However, he couldn't easily see what was in the next room that was bothering her so much.... They needed a light. "Hey, Mirage, come get one of the candles so we can see. Not everyone here is Dark-typed and you're the only one really fit to carry a candle," he suggested, referencing the candles that littered nearly every room in this entire place.
Surely, Mirage would have no problem with such a simple task, right? Besides, maybe it would take her mind off whatever seemed to be bothering her so much. Honestly, he really wanted Mirage out of the room for the time-being too, since he'd never really seen her worried.... It seemed like something worth worrying over.

Krikka followed along with the group, stopping at the door as she realized how dark it was inside. Mirage just walked right in, but did she expect everyone else to follow!? The eevee for one knew she was definitely not going to be able to see in there! Just as she was about to bring it up, the glaceon, whose name she now knew to be Sova, spoke up. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea," she replied, even though she had been about to suggest basically the same thing.
She disliked that someone else had managed to state her idea first, but she wasn't going to voice her agitation and stall out on getting the candlelight. Besides, it seemed Mirage was being bothered by something, so she likely didn't want to hear any complaints at the moment.

Mirage shook her head slowly,"You don't want a candle, trust me," she spoke. She thought for a moment, would be a bit troublesome if the ally and meat shields got lost while wandering around in this darkness. She figured she would have to lead them if they absolutely had to go through here. She wanted to just avert her eyes and not see the many gruesome images, but the house did not seem to be giving them much of an option.

"If you want one so bad then carry one yourself, i'm not doing it," came the prompt statement from the zoroark. Victoria wondered what could bother the zoroark so much that she would refuse to do something as simple as hold a candle. IT made her kind of curious, and spiteful that her father did not pass on his Fire Fang to her rather than a stupid Ice Fang. The Fire Fang would have lit up the area with ease, and they could walk on their merry way. But no, she was stuck with a move that barely ever had it's second effect ever.

Sova tilted his head to the left and gave a worried look at Mirage's odd behavior. "You saying that just makes me want one more," he replied, only to be met with more difficulty.
Honestly, if he COULD carry a candle, he would. The amount of effort it would take to do so compared to Mirage's ease with having hands and whatnot was just absurd! "You're the only one here who can really carry a candle very well.... and we kind of need to see to get through here, especially if something dangerous shows up," he responded, still hoping to convince Mirage to get them a candle.
Besides, what could possibly be in this room that was so bad that Mirage didn't want them to see?

Krikka began to grow uneasy at Mirage's reluctance to allow them to see inside of the room. The only logical conclusion was that there was something horrible inside, and if it was horrible enough to startle the great Mirage in such a manner, the little eevee really wanted nothing to do with it. Maybe they could find a different room? It seemed like the rooms in this house changed around a lot, so maybe there would be more doors back the way they'd come from! However, it seemed this Sova guy really wanted to see what was up. Honestly, it was making her curious too.... but at the same time, equally worried if not more so.

They insisted to see, Mirage seemed hesitant, but walked back into the previous room and ripped an ever-burning torch off the wall. She brought the torch back to the room and illuminated it for all to see, not quite willing to put up with their stubbornness. IF they wanted to be that mule-headed then let them regret it, that is if they even would. She looked to the group, the tyrunt and eevee seemed to be unphased by this.

Victoria looked at the dimly lit room. It was hardly much compared to her father's but it was still pretty gruesome, "More War Trophys?" she wondered. She looked up at the picture of an eevee, the brown fluffy ball looking extremely terrified with a looming figure over it.

"Hey this one looks like you Krikka, except like it has dirt all over it," she spoke, not knowing what an Eevee's true colors were, and simply thinking that Krikka was how all eevees were supposed to look.

Krikka followed inside as the room was illuminated for all to see. While most would likely regret or at most be neutral to seeing a place like this, honestly.... it just excited her. The artist of these paintings was clearly talented and the things depicted.... they intrigued her oh-so-much! However, she knew that this kind of view likely wouldn't be looked upon very well by the others, so she hid it and pretended just to be neutral towards it. She also considered an act of fear, but figured she'd get nowhere with a group as cold this if she acted like a wimp.

She approached the picture depicting an eevee and looked upon it with a blank stare, wanting more to smirk, but resisting the desire to. "It's not dirty, that's the normal color of eevees. I'm just special," she replied, wanting to make it evident that she was most certainly no normal eevee.
"And there's another difference between me and that eevee. I'd never be caught looking so scared," she continued, clearly wanting to make her superiority over the other eevee very evident.
She didn't like being compared to others of her own kind, especially one who looked so.... pathetic!

Sova allowed everyone else to enter the room before him, desiring to follow in the back as usual. Besides, with Mirage leading the way, it seemed safest for him to stay at the back, that way they could guard the weaker members of the group from both ends. He couldn't help but overhear Krikka trying to boast about how she was "special" and immediately wanted to shut her down. "Actually, you're an inferior breed of eevee that's all but gone extinct due to your fur color being less effective for protection and making you stand-.... out........ more....," he wasted no time in laying into the eevee for being so arrogant, but slowed down as some of the paintings began to catch his attention.

At first he only noticed the ones of things that looked rather sad and scared.... it was eerie, but his speaking slowed to a stop as he laid eyes on some of the worse pictures. Then he noticed the picture of the eevee and began to feel lightheaded, as if he were about to faint. He fell against the wall, which just barely managed to keep him on his paws, clearly showing his sudden poor physical state. This area.... he couldn't go through it. He wouldn't be able to keep his eyes off the paintings. There was only one option other than just going back. He bolted in front of the group, the lingering effects of Ice Shard simply reinstating themselves as he boosted his speed to ensure they couldn't keep up with him. Specifically, he didn't want the light source anywhere near him. He would have tried to tell them why he'd suddenly darted off, but he couldn't exactly think coherently at the moment.

Krikka was infuriated at the glaceon's remarks, but made sure to only slightly show her agitation so as not to provoke anyone. She was about to voice her anger and disagreement when the vile icy creature suddenly fell against the wall, seemingly having suddenly fallen ill. Before she could even ask what was wrong, he bolted past her, apparently deciding he could now see in the dark. Well, hopefully, he would run into a wall! It'd serve him right!

Shit, the useful one didn't react well to this. Mirage chased after Sova, not because of good friendship seeing as she never really grasped that concept, but because the useful one of the trio that were following her around was going AWAY from the group. If they were to be attacked by something strong she'd be screwed with those two getting in the way and failing to be meat shields! She dropped the candle as she chased after Sova on all four of her legs as the eeveelution took off using the priority move to gain speed.

"Hey!" she called after him.

Victoria cried out in surprise as the candle was dropped and two of their strongest party members fled from the hall deeper into the labyrinth. This was fantastic, she certainly couldn't defend herself against things like Drifliblim and she was not sure what the Eevee could do in the first place! She resisted the urge to ask if the eevee was special education rather than simply special, and spoke, "Where are you going?" she called after them in futility.

Sova bolted through the labyrinth as quickly as he possibly could, only growing faster as his mental state deteriorated further. One thing he knew despite his mental disorientation was that he was going to run into a wall if he didn't do something to avoid it.... and soon. He took in a deep breath and blew out a pulse of freezing air, which collided with the end of the path in front of him fairly quickly, signaling him to immediately stop. However, he could tell from the time between sending the attack out and it colliding with the terrain that just stopping wasn't going to be enough, so he leaped off the ground and twisted himself sideways just in time to catch himself on the wall he would have run into.

He then leaped off of it and continued running in the opposite direction, this time brushing his tail against the wall to his right to feel for any turns he could take. He quickly found one and took the turn, firing off a few more pulses of Frost Breath and listening for the collisions to discern when he was getting close to the end. This time, however, they sounded different, but he wasn't in a clear enough state of mind to think anything of it. When he realized he was getting close to the end of this pathway, he once more jumped up and used his legs to catch himself against the wall, but this time something very unexpected happened. He simply slammed through the wall, revealing it was actually a door and shattering it into many pieces! At the same time, he lit that area of the labyrinth and made it very clear where he'd gone to anyone trying to find him.

The glaceon groaned as he laid on the floor, still for a moment before pulling himself up. He found that he had double vision at first, which quickly faded and allowed him to see the room he was in. It was mostly empty, with four candle holders, one attached to each corner of the room where the walls and ceiling met. Despite the candles being upside-down, they somehow weren't going out. The flames were even burning upside-down as if they were facing upwards like normal! There were only two noteworthy things in the room. The first was a stone pillar that looked somewhat like a giant spike, easily taller than Mirage upright. It appeared to have something written on it in unown, but he didn't take the time to figure out what it said for the moment. The last thing in the room that he noticed, which probably should have been the first.... was a painting.

Something.... black. Mostly black, at least. It was clearly supposed to be a pokemon, but.... it wasn't anything he'd EVER seen or even heard of before. Then again, that wasn't too much of a shock considering it wouldn't be the first time he'd seen something he'd never heard of. What really caught his attention was the way this thing looked, with a black body that appeared similar to tattered fabric, white on the top of its head, something that appeared to be a menacing red spike-collar of sorts around its neck.... and a visible eye. A soulless, blue eye that made him feel as if the painting was alive and staring at him. It was a feeling that was impossible to describe, but not even the paintings he'd previously seen had filled him with the type of dread this thing did. He could do nothing but stare at it, as if his body was completely paralyzed.... It felt like it wanted to keep him there.

Krikka merely watched as her protection fled from her. What was she going to do now!? She was still burned and she couldn't see in the dark! Thankfully, she still had a light and at least one potential bodyguard, so things could definitely be worse. She looked to Victoria, not showing any of her worry and instead appearing perfectly calm. "Hey, we don't need them," she encouraged, though she didn't really believe her own words.
Honestly, she just wanted to try and keep her temporary ally in a positive state of mind. Temporary, because she was interested in throwing the alliance away for the shiny medallion around Victoria's neck as soon as she felt it was safe.

However, for now at least, she definitely needed the tyrunt.... and considering Victoria hadn't run off without her yet, she assumed the same was true vice versa. "Maybe we can go back and find another door? Maybe to somewhere less.... dark?," she suggested as she turned back to the door that was still in view thanks to the candlelight. There didn't seem to be a whole lot of options right now, considering the darkness here. Honestly, she wasn't even sure how Sova planned to navigate this place in the dark. Then she heard a distant crash sound, like something breaking, which made her think he probably couldn't and had just run right into something.

Mirage attempted to follow the glaceon, but the house seemed to be against her interrupting whatever intentions it had for Sova, and she seemed to be led to a completely different room than the glaceon. She growled in frustration, great she had lost the useful thing. Now what? She supposed that the intelligent thing would be to either look for him, or a way out. Whichever came first. She instead came to a strange room with a large masterpiece of a painting before her.

The room was empty, for all but the painting and some torches for lighting. She looked back, but there was no longer a door for her to go through. She swiveled back to look at the painting, it was large creature that looked menacing and terrifying. It had dark fur with glowing red eyes and a long flowing hair tied in a bead. It seemed to be glaring at her in disgust...was...was that a Zoroark? Like her? The image sent a shiver down her spine, wishing she could back up and curl into a small ball and wish it would go away. Normally a pokemon would wish for their mother, but very VERY few pokemon offered her comfort in her life, so she wished for nothing but a sweet oblivion to befall her.

Victoria shook her head, "No, I don't know how strong you are but i'm not that powerful. In a place like this i'd be killed easily. We need to find them again, or at the very least someone like them. I'd just be a hindrance to you if you're strong." the tyrunt spoke, marching forth into the darkness. She was positive that they would need those two, that drifblim looked monstrously strong, and she knew she would not be able to take on anything like that. They NEEDED the outlaw and the explorer. They would not be able to survive long without them she figured.

Sova could do nothing but stare at the painting covering the wall in front of him for what seemed like hours, though it was only a few minutes. Having someone there to snap him out of it would have certainly been convenient, even a hostile, but it was clear that he wasn't going to get any assistance here. He tried to move, but it seemed as if his body just wouldn't respond to him. He wanted to think of a way out of this situation, but his mind felt so hazy he could barely think. Worse yet, it was only getting worse, as if the free will was being drained away from him! Was he dying? No.... he began to feel something.... familiar.

Before the glaceon could think further on what was happening to him, his body began to move.... which normally wouldn't be an odd thing, but he wasn't doing it! Or.... at least, he wasn't trying to! He approached the stone pillar against his own will, just close enough to clearly read the unown text on it. His eyes were seemingly allowed to fall from the painting to the pillar in order to read the text clearly. It took him a minute, but he finally managed to gather what it said.

The first line read simply, "Berserker's Barrier"
"The battleline between good and evil runs through all souls" the second line continued.
Finally, the last line finished, "Let evil prevail"

As he finished reading the text, he began to feel as if the room was spinning. Then, before he knew it, he was collapsing to the ground. He could hear much of the Ice Shard armor around him shatter as he hit the floor, then his sight faded to black. This room wasn't meant to have this effect on those within, it was actually meant to drive them into a maddening berserker rage.... but he was a special case.

The glaceon's eyes shot open moments later, but he just laid there for a moment. In reality, he wasn't exactly Sova anymore. He slowly pulled himself to his paws, raising one to inspect it, as if to make sure this was real. S.S. had no clue why he was here, there was no fighting to be done! He had no recollection at all of what'd happened to put him in this situation. After taking a minute to inspect the room and finding the writing on the pillar, he gathered that something in this room had brought him out forcibly.... So what exactly was he supposed to do now? Wait for it to wear off.... go hit something.... ruin Sova's relationships.... try being a decent citizen.... Nah, definitely not that last one. It didn't really matter, though, as there was no door.

Krikka groaned in annoyance at the tyrunt's neglect to go with her plan. She didn't really disagree, as she was definitely fairly weak, especially with her injuries, but she still didn't like having someone disagree with her! However, she stopped herself from vocalizing these feelings, knowing she still needed Victoria around to help her. "It doesn't matter if I'm strong or not, I'm already hurt," she replied, not really saying whether she was weak or strong.
On one paw, she wanted to be honest so that the tyrunt could better assist her, but on the other, she didn't want to admit she wasn't strong, so she settled on a middle-ground of sorts. With that said, she followed along through the darkness. "Keep talking so we don't get separated."