Lockdown

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Lincoln only had to take a few steps into the Mansion before he realized he had made a grave error. The aura in this place twisted and turned, only not in the way that made him think of hot, doughy pretzels or twisty candy made with berries. This was the kind of twisty turny that made him think of bones snapping, limbs getting caught under a plow, goo sliding through a trough. It made his spine shiver, and he could almost feel his stomach turning with the aura.

Nope. This was the end. He was sure he had seen enough to ride himself of his fear of the copse. Time to head back to sanity-

Wham.

......The door shut in front of his face as he went to leave. Now Lincoln was all alone. In the dark. His nerves snapped with panic, and he could feel his fur bristling at the root. He ran up to the door and tried to both push and pull the door, but neither worked. Lincoln knew it wasn't going to work. Why would it work? He had a feeling haunted house logic would be screwing him over for the entirety of this adventure. He turned back to the foyer and looked at the grand double staircase. Did he dare proceed....?

Lincoln the Riolu: 22 - 16 = 6 Energy

She had not even gotten up when a certain little brat attached itself to her leg. She was in the midst of trying to register what just happened still, so she did not try to immediately kick him off. She was frozen to the spot with a blank stare as she waited for the moment to end. Lincoln retreated from his unusual grasp and allowed her to sit up on the sofa. Immediately the riolu began to babble on and on, but she hardly understood a word he said. Fortunately, he slowed down and spoke more clearly. An apology was issued for hugging her leg.

"It's uh...it's okay," she spoke, though her voice suggested that she was obviously still shellshocked from the experience she just went through. She noticed that Lincoln didn't seem to be keen on looking at her, but she did not blame him to be quite frank. What he did was pretty...childish. What was she, his mother? How old was Lincoln anyways? A new curiosity burned its way into her mouth, but she stopped herself as she noticed he was about to speak.

She still sat on the couch as he did so...the broken yet comfy couch. To be quite honest she was kind of afraid reality would break before her once again if she were to get up from the one thing that saved her in this mansion. Interest peaked as Lincoln mentioned that he had questions. She gave a nod to him, "Yeah...I think about as good as I'm going to get in a place like this at least."

"What's up?" she asked him, curious about just what he had to ask.

ooc// Sorry about the short post ;n;

He nodded at her, feeling a bit better just knowing that she was doing better. His first shaky steps back into reality were succeeding much better than he had actually expected them to, making him feel just a little more confident in his sea of insecurity. The problem now was he had to figure out exactly which of the questions for Kira he should be prioritizing - or something like that. It sounded like the smart thing to do, but if he wasted too much time... well, another ghost was bound to pop out of some random cranny and enact more crimes against reason. Or maybe the house would literally grow a mouth and swallow them. The possibilities seemed to be unfortunately endless here.

He decided just to start with the basics, so that he could actually be a functioning team player instead of constantly tripping over his own two paws. "I was wondering... if you knew anything about this place? Like, maybe some lore or something. Maybe why it is the way it is, or how it got so... broken," he started. One one hand it did seem like kind of a silly question, but he figured if he knew a little more about this place maybe he would know how to deal with it a little better and an guild member/ex-guild member seemed like the appropriate person to ask about that kind of stuff. He felt a little self-conscious asking such an obvious question, however... not to mention it was super broad. He tried to narrow it down by continuing on his line of thought. "I mean... clearly there are a lot of ghosts here and that it's haunted for days. So that has something to do with it. ...Was it built on an ancient burial ground or something? Is there a reason all these ghosts are all up in arms over this old house outside of just being sadistic, like some kind of amazing ancient relic?" The little Riolu had no idea how close to the mark he actually was.

Outside the confounding residential pocket dimension, another Drifblim slowly floated around the perimeter of the building; playing a silent sentry to the twisted house. It wasn't really engaging anything itself, just gently floating around and peering into the house from it's high vantage. It knew about the stir that was happening within the building, and it was keeping its eyes out for anything out of the ordinary. It seemed like intruders were cropping up every other week now, more than they ever had before. They had to have watchers like themselves now as a first line of defense against strangers who came in and poked too deep into places they didn't belong.

He approached a set of large parlor windows slowly, just barely visible from the inside.

Lincoln the Riolu - 10 Energy

Lore huh? The lucario focused her attention on recalling anything she heard about this place prior to the dungeon. She folded her arm over one another as her expression looked a bit focused, "Well," she began. "If I recall there was a series of horrid events that happened here. The details on what exactly they were were never clear exactly. Pokemon like to make up stories or stretch the truth, but the consensus on this place is that it's a cursed house."

She recollected herself enough to stand. The furniture creaked as if in a complaint as she stood up, but she paid it no mind. The fighting type brought her paws over herself and dusted what little filth that had collected on her off. She failed to pay attention to her surroundings, her aura senses being put on the back burner in exchange for speaking with Lincoln. She may have evolved, but she was still a far cry from completely mastering the strange technique that was nearly unique to their species. The lucario rose a paw to the back of her head and gave it a scratch before she spoke up once more, "Some say this was the house of a cruel and wealthy persian that perished alone while others say it was cursed by Arceus himself after a temple of his was torn down to build this in its stead. Though the most common rumour is that it was created by a greater power to protect some underground paradise from the outside world."

She gave a hopeless shrug, almost as if apologizing for her lack of certain information, "But that's all we really have in this place, rumours-and pokemon just love gossiping and telling tall tales just to amuse themselves." It was just a part of life, but that did not mean she liked it. The lucario took a brief glance around the room. She failed to notice the ominous figure in the window as her eyes swept over it, not even a double take to make sure the strange shape was not something potentially hostile. The door Lincoln had gone through seemed to have still been there, a surprise to her considering how this place just loved to make doors appear and disappear in the blink of an eye.

Wait...

Her eyes squinted as the sudden realization struck her. There was a complete possibility that they would never be able to leave this place because of this sick sadistic settlement. Did she bring an escape orb? She did not check her bag just yet, completely forgetting if she brought one, but instead of doing so she decided to ask Lincoln, "You don't happen to have an escape orb do you?"

Lincoln could help but feel the slightest bit enthralled by listening to Kira talk, though the content of her stories left him throughly unnerved on a deep emotional level considering they were actually inside the horror terror that she was describing. "A Persian... or Arceus? Wow that's kind of a big disparity. Going into a place that Arceus openly rejected though... that would explain a lot, honestly....." he thought to himself as she went on. With all these intrigue-y rumors that Kira had to share, that moment wasn't far from being a story time of sorts. A grown-up story time, where the stakes resting on the story were the difference between life and death. Lincoln was left grappling with both his burning curiosity and his sense of self-preservation by the time Kira had finished.

"Well, at least its something to consider..." he replied with a nod, trying to at least semi-validate what he kept reminding himself was load of hearsay. He looked around the room with new context, trying to pick out things that maybe looked like an artifact, or just looked out of place. He was finding plenty of the latter, in pretty immediate retrospect. He decided to stop before he devolved into a string of conspiracy theories that was inevitable at this rate; he guessed someone as professional as Kira wouldn't get much use out of that kind of speculation. Well, at any rate, at least that info-sharing session was good for building their morale...

"You don't happen to have an escape orb do you?"

...It had been. It had been good for raising their morale.

"Uhh..." Lincoln breathed after a moment of silence, all the while thinking to himself, "Oh no. Do I...? When was the last time I saw an Escape Orb. Oh no, ohnoohno." The look on his face betrayed the feeling of shock that itself betrayed that he obviously didn't know if he did. He thrust his paws into his bag and started shuffling his items around. He pulled out a few different items as he sorted around; seeds, a weird bell, a weird ribbon... how had those even gotten in there? He didn't recognize them, but he was also too concerned right now to give it a whole lot of thought. Beyond those there were... a surprising amount of orbs in there actually, but he could already tell that they were not what he was looking for. "...I haven't actually found one in a while..." he admitted silently, thinking back to the mountain he had previously been on and how it had been basically devoid of that particular item. He looked up at her, slowly coming to the same realization that she was having.

"Hrrnk, well, I mean... it's not impossible that we might find one in here, right?!" he suggested quickly, already trying to come up with an alternative. He scrambled to action, going around the room and checking anything that looked like a good hiding spot for treasure. "Ah-HA!- oh," he cried as he lifted an orb out of the loveseat, only to find it was a different kind of orb. He dug through the drawers in the coffee table and found two more; both not escape orbs. He started to sweat a little bit; this was... a nightmare. He spotted an orb in yonder china cabinet, but when he pulled it out...

"How are there this many orbs that aren't what we need??" he exclaimed, flabbergasted and frustrated. He reached back inside and dug deeper; he was clearly so close... The second his paws touched something spherical, his face lit up triumphantly. "Yes! Here, I bet this is-"

It was an incredibly small Pumpkaboo. He was holding a tiny, pigmy Pumpkaboo. He looked at it before letting out a high-pitched, girly screech and immediately letting go of it. It bounced off the ground with a dull "thud" and began to toddle around the room, seeming pretty unphased by the whole ordeal. She became enamored with the (relatively) big footsteps that Kira had left in the thin veil of dust that coated the ground; first comparing her feet to them, and then starting to walk inside them essentially mimicking Kira's path around the room.

The Drifblim floating by easily caught sight of Kira, and then Lincoln when it focused in more. It was in high alert mode now. It didn't involve itself right away though, instead tagging the room and bringing the alert to more nearby ghost types while it hovered there in order to keep observing.

Her hopes were drained as Lincoln failed to answer with certainty and speed. Her expression fell into a concerned and almost horrified look. She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. In fact, she could not even remember what she was about to say. The riolu dove through his bag of goodies to search for one, but eventually admitted that he had not come across one. A nervous smile cracked in the corner of her lips as she became almost giddy with the realization that they were potentially trapped here.

She was almost certain now that she did not have an escape orb. She could never recall putting one in her bag, ever. Lincoln began to panic as well, she could both see and feel. His aura flickered with uncertainty and quivered as he sprang into action. She was spurred into action alongside him as she too began to search the room in a desperate search for an orb that would guarantee their escape. In this bookshelf? No. Under the loveseat? She dropped to her stomach to check. Nope. In the cushions? Lincoln certainly found something there.

She propped herself back on her knees with her arms clung to the seat's arm. Her attention solely focused on Lincoln as he held the orb in his paws. Nope, that wasn't one either. She did not even need to tell him that it was wrong as he realized it himself. She continued her search as well. She readily flipped the sofa onto its back where she could finally observe the damage she had done in her fall. The destruction was not what she was concerned about, but getting a better look at what was underneath, perhaps even inside the springs of the furniture.

Nothing.

"How are there this many orbs that aren't what we need??" Lincoln exclaimed as Kira moved the bookshelf she looked into earlier.

"I swear this place is messing with us!" her panic transferred into irritation as she spoke. She snorted in a sharp exhale of breath as her search produced nothing of value. Yet again, Lincoln proclaimed that he found something. She turned to have a look, less confident that he would have what they needed this time around. She proceeded to correct him on it, "That's a-" before she was cut off by the most effeminate scream she could have ever heard. It was honestly an amusing scene, but being there to have her ears assaulted by the screech only served to add to her misery. Her paws flew up to her ears as the pumpkaboo was dropped onto the floor.

"Knock it off!" she growled to Lincoln with venom to her tone that she surprised even herself with. She lifted the paws to press against her face. She took a deep breath in as she forced herself to swallow her frustrations and act like an adult. "No, no. Sorry," she apologized, though her tone failed to convey a sense of sincerity.

"We need to not panic. Panicking is what's gonna get us killed. We'll end up expelling our energy far too quickly and die in here if we flounder around like a bunch of lost toddlers." She spoke in a more calm and controlled voice, but her paws still have yet to leave their spot in holding her face. She pressed the pads against herself before she dragged down slowly in a deep exhale. She lectured him, yet she had done the same thing just moments ago. They both needed to calm down about this. Get their act together and-

What was that aura?

Her eyes snapped towards the window. She saw nothing through the glass save for darkness, but she could most certainly feel something over there. Was it hostile? Would it attack? Was it even aware that they were there? If Kira were more proficient in the art of aura, she would have been more aware of the answers to these questions. Unfortunately, she still lacked the proper training that most lucarios had when they evolved. Instead, she was left to guess.

"Lincoln?" She spoke quietly with an intensity that should have been enough to warn the riolu of potential danger, "If I say run...you run...okay?"

Kira's sudden snap startled Lincoln out of his previously scrambled state of mind. He had been so distracted by all the commotion of his attempt to help Kira find an orb that he hadn't really thought about what he had been sounding like or looking like; he just knew that they needed to find a way out. After the shock had worn off, he realized the outburst hurt him a little bit. He felt like he was right back at square one; he was acting too much without achieving anything - and had that Pumpkaboo been anything other than a Pumpkaboo, he would have been in a lot more trouble and Kira would have been in a position where she had to save him (assuming she wanted to save him). Lincoln started to feel incredibly disappointed with himself. He thought he had turned it around, but really he just gotten on one track again and had stopped considering all the possibilities before acting. Honestly he was being more frustrating than productive; he could even feel the sharp emotion about her (and he wasn't even trying). He was way in over his head and there was nothing he could do about it. He hadn't even brought the one thing that he absolutely should have had with him. Maybe that was to be expected from a kid who had just barely been to two dungeons though.

...Lincoln's disappointment morphed into frustration as he realized he was doing it again. All of the pointless waffling he was doing wasn't getting him anywhere! He had literally just been standing there staring for a solid minute, and for what? It wasn't getting him anywhere, which meant it was getting the both of them about -2 steps closer to the exit of this spook house that apparently wanted them to remain here forever. He shook his head, trying to bite back what was bothering him so that it wouldn't get in his way. He really just wanted to do something useful at this point, or at the very least assist in doing something successful. His self-esteem was kind of relying on it now.

"Okay... Okay you're right," he answered quietly, nodding along with her suggestions. He felt a jump of panic in his heart when she talked about them dying, making the little muscle beat a little faster and harder. He strained to fight against it, telling himself, "No, no... this is exactly what we're trying to not do. It won't happen if you don't do this!!!" ...but wait, wasn't straining himself like this similar to straining himself with panic? So then, this was also expending energy needlessly. He felt disappointed again, but at least now the disappointment was serving to mellow him out a bit. He kind of took comfort in that, actually.

Feeling the potent caution in Kira's tone as she spoke to him again, Lincoln immediately hushed his volume. "What about you?? If I run, who's going to help you?" he whispered back, although there was a tinge of something behind his voice. He knew it wouldn't make a difference whether he was there or not... he wanted to be there, but it might be better if he let her handle the fighting so that she didn't have to hold back and look out for him. As he looked around the room to identify a place to run to, however... he came to the incredibly difficult realization that this was, indeed, a room. A room with four walls, some big windows, and a door that probably led to some demon from the seventh ring of the underworld probably, at this rate. He guessed he could try it, if he had to.

"Wait... if I run somewhere, how will we meet back up?" he added. He guessed if he needed to run, he could do some laps around this room? He could probably shove himself into the chimney of that fireplace over there, assuming that there was nothing in there waiting to bite his head off the second he tried.

The Drifblim made no attempt to engage yet; still just looming and sending the information he was picking up to the others in the area. The Duskull approached the room, but when they poked their heads through the floor behind the two blue dogs and saw Kira they knew they weren't going to get anywhere with a direct confrontation. They looked around the room for something to manipulate instead; anything at all to get the two intruders to move so that they could get a more advantageous setup. One of them identified that they were looking for a specific type of orb; that would work very well for their needs.  He conjured the illusion of the orb, while the other Duskull stayed positioned on the floor.

The Duskull caused its illusory orb to fall off the table with a convincing auditory hallucination of a little "plink" noise to boot, hoping to catch the two's attention.

Lincoln heard it and immediately felt unnerved. He looked around them, trying not to panic but still also pretty skeeved out. "Did you hear that? Is that what you were talking about?" He somehow found a tone quieter than a whisper to ask Kira this with.

Lincoln the Riolu - 10 Energy

FoxFireAlchemist carried out 10 launched of one Ruined Chateau :

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Guilt found its way into her emotions when she noticed the fall Lincoln's aura seemed to have at her snip. Unfortunately, she felt as if she had not the time to reassure him that her snap was just her nerves getting to her. Then again, she wasn't sure if she should inform the probably-a-child that she was not quite in as much control as she should be. She remained silent and observed their surroundings with caution as the riolu reacted to her words. Who was going to help her? Nobody, that was who. That was alright though, she was used to it.

Then the fighting type brought up a more pressing matter. How would they meet back up? Well, she guessed that they wouldn't. It would likely have given Lincoln a better chance for survival if she were to lose, but if she lived then she was certain that she would be able to find him again...kind of. Okay, not really. It was not a good idea and she was kind of glad Lincoln didn't listen.

The ghost type made no move. She closed her eyes as the dongles on each side of her head began to rise. Aura in the air shifted as she began to read carefully into the environment around them. Lincoln seemed scared. A defensive urge overcame her as her nerves were kicked into a higher gear. A fighting posture was taken up, but again no other movement to engage was made. Now on high alert, she noticed the two apparitions that attempted to approach the room stealthily. She paid close attention to her unique sense and watched as the ghosts did something just behind them.

She kept herself in place as the illusion was cast. Strange, she never knew ghosts could replicate the illusionary strength of a zoroark? The lucario was not able to hear what lincoln said, but she did at the very least respond to the riolu. "Change of plans, stay near me." Her instructions were quiet, but clear. Her tone, however, made it seem more like a demand than a suggestion. She wanted lincoln to do as she said and she wanted it done now.

The pokemon that were in the area were not directly engaging, perhaps they wanted to avoid a confrontation? She paid little attention to what the little boy beside her did or said as she instead spoke out to the potentially hostile strangers, "Hey...you don't want to fight right?" she started off with her assumption, "We don't want to either. We want to leave. Is that alright?" It was true in a way, she was curious about the house, but the implication that they might be stuck here forever made her have second thoughts. She never wanted to enter this house without some form of guaranteed escape again.

Kira's commanding response left Lincoln no wiggle room to argue, not that he particularly wanted to argue with her suggestion in this circumstance. He had seen how her dongles appeared to activate and how she appeared to be scanning the room, something he could only do in a very vague sense himself. He wondered if he would be able to do the kinds of things she was able to do when he evolved? He had heard about some of the abilities Lucarios had from his relatives, but of course he had never experienced any of them himself. In light of all that he was more than ready to scamper over to her side without question, content in accepting the fact that she was seeing more in this place than he was.

The Duskull was less than pleased at being found out so quickly. Something about that Lucario's weird vibrating head dongles had sold it out, perhaps? He had heard stories about the strange species from other mansion dwellers who had had prior experiences, but they had given him no hints on how their odd powers actually worked. One thing was blatantly clear, though: simple diversion would not work on their kind. He dismissed the powers he had summoned and eyed the Lucario with a defiant look that conveyed only dismissal of her offer. He seemed to reconsider after a moment of staring her down, however. The terse body language he had received her request with melted away, replaced by what was essentially an implied sneer.

"Certainly, it's fine if you don't want to fight. It's also fine if you want to leave," he responded sincerely. "Fighting is a bit of a hassle so we avoid it where we can. It's mostly up to you really. If you say you don't want to fight... then passage should be fairly easy for you." His companion in the floor chose not to engage as he did; rather they darted under the small one's feet towards the fireplace on yonder wall. An odd feeling began to emanate through the room as others became attracted to the area in response to the subtle beckoning of the floor Duskull.

It seemed Kira really had seen something Lincoln could not, because the seemingly-an-orb she had been talking to suddenly became a Duskull right out of nowhere. The ghost type certainly didn't seem too pleased with being found out, either; even Lincoln had a sense of that. The Riolu got a similar sense that they weren't going to like the reason why he suddenly relaxed and got all cackle-y. He looked up at Kira, but there wasn't exactly a good way for the two of them to communicate with a stranger right in front of them. An outwardly... "friendly" stranger perhaps, but not in a way that seemed especially caring or concerned. Lincoln got a fairly bad feeling from that stranger overall, and now that he was thinking of it he was getting bad feelings from all over this room. Was that... was the floor making him uncomfortable?? He frowned; certainly Kira wasn't going to trust this guy.

"Passage to where? To the exit?" Lincoln chimed in from beside Kira's leg. He felt like it was a harmless enough question to ask; Kira probably would have done the same if he hadn't beat her to it. This guy was being unnervingly ambiguous, and his answers were generally unhelpful.

The Duskull chuckled. "Into the mansion, of course. Where you go from there is up to you. You could come even come back here if you like it so much." He floated towards the blank wall where there had previously been a door. "Once you figure out how to get back here, that is."

Lincoln stared blankly at Kira, hoping she had some kind of explanation for this. He couldn't completely wrap his mind around anything the other pokemon was saying. "Wait, so... are we not in the mansion? How did we get out??" He questioned blankly, much to the Duskull's amuzement. "Where are we if we're not in the mansion? This seems pretty definitively mansion-y to me..." Lincolned remarked further as he made it past his initial reactions to the Duskull's words and the wheels in his head began to turn...

Seeing the many forms converging about the area where the two intruders were, the Drifblim felt content enough with the situation that he was comfortable in straying from the position, heading off to investigate other disturbances in the house's odd atmosphere. With that much backup, they couldn't imagine there would be that much need of their presence. And if the worst were to happen and the others were to need assistance, it wouldn't be that hard for the drifting ghost pokemon to make another lap around and get in a position to engage from. Feeling assured in this though, they went about their sentry route with no further hangups.

Lincoln the Riolu - 0 Energy

A sense of caution and dread overcame her at once. The lucario listened to the words the duskull spoke, though the laughter and overly friendly tone certainly raised red flags to her. Strangers that acted so friendly in such a hostile environment was sketchy enough on their own to her, but the actions and previous attempt for some sort of distraction only made her stamp a great big seal of 'nope' on the idea of trust. Her eyes remained closed as she focused her 'sight' on aura rather than what she could perceive with her eyes.

Lincoln spoke up, she wished he didn't at all but at the very least he was reasonable with what he asked. It was a question she herself had after all. He was a child, she assumed, it would be for the best for him to remain silent and attract as little attention as possible so that he could make an escape if things were to go wrong.

Presences, many of them. The forms of the creatures were clear as day, two of which she recognized to be litwick. The form of the drifblim appeared to drift away, but she did not have either the range nor the idea to see where it would drift off to. It simply became a presence of irrelevance. Instead, she focused on what was around them, searching for any sign of a potentially hostile movement as she gave Lincoln a quiet hush followed by a paw placed on top of his head if he allowed for it. Hopefully, that would be enough to let him know that it was time for Adult Swim.

"You mean deeper into the mansion," she spoke with certainty rather than a request for clarification. She was quite certain that they were still in the chateau. She had no evidence to support this thought other than the fact that they never noticeably left, but she was willing to use that to hold up her argument should it be questioned. "We don't want to go deeper right now," she responded, "We want out to where we belong." It was honestly a shame to her that she could not return to that special forest that was hidden deep within the depths of this strange contraption, but with the addition of Lincoln and the lack of an Escape Orb, she did not feel as confident as she once was in this endeavour.

It was at this point that the litwicks that she noticed earlier decided to chime in, their voices echoed from the walls in an eerie unison with perfectly matched tone and pace, "To get out, you must go in. Deeper and deeper through the maze, until you reach your end~!" The duo's sing-song tone broke into a melodious giggle as if they thought the travellers before them silly for thinking otherwise.

"..." Kira decided not to respond to the fire types, not even to claim that their words made no sense. For she could recall that the strange force within the forest blasted her previous expedition out of the house altogether. Was...was that really the only way out? No-it couldn't be...right?

Things were getting stranger and more worrying by the minute. That tingle that had been growing in the back of Lincoln's head was now a distinct buzz; it was a certain confusion that matched his own... but was also very different. It lacked the panic that he had, replaced by more concern and tension. Lincoln had a funny feeling that it was probably Kira. His feeling was confirmed when Kira's paw hit his head and the feeling grew stronger.

He had never really payed a lot of conscious attention to his natural Riolu abilities, not until situations like this forced him to be more aware of it. And aware he was. He was stuck feeling intimidated under the weight of Kira's concern. He began to consider possibly trying to use the extrasensory ability he had in some way, but he equally dreaded the idea. Lincoln had a distinct sense that he wouldn't like what he felt if he tried. He did try anyways, because trying had gotten him this far, after all. He didn't have to try very hard, there was ill feeling everywhere. All kinds of bad intentions. If was more than enough to overwhelm him, make him feel sick. This was bad... He felt like he should do something again, but the pressure behind him made him feel like he had to wait. He stood frozen in his uncertainty.

On another note… there was a tiny part of him that was really happy Kira had reached out to him, even despite all of the internal panic. It made him feel looked out for, even though he had kind of gotten himself in this mess in the first place. He had been kind of a nuisance to Kira with his inexperience... but she was still looking out for him regardless. He had been really up and down internally during this entire exploration, but this one small comfort was enough to bring his spirits up again.

Ha ha, spirits.

The small comfort couldn't stop his reflexive reactions, however. The Riolu practically jumped into Kira's palm as the voices from the walls seemed to perfectly accentuate the Duskull's perfectly eerie attitude. He could hardly keep himself from shrieking in surprise... again. His paws reached up to grab for his heart and he clenched as an ache made him tighten up. Gosh, why did they have to keep doing that?? As if this deathtrap wasn't perfectly unnerving enough...

"Yesssss… a maze, not a labyrinth. The only way out is forward~~~" A voice taunted in a gleeful rasp near Lincoln's ear. This time, he did yelp. But only a yelp. He was barely even aware of how he had embarrassed himself as he began to swat the empty air in an attempt to fend off the seemingly invisible cackling voice. Lincoln was beginning to feel like he was being targeted. He probably was, because he was scared. Yet another reminder that he was the weak one here; he was the one that shouldn't be in here. He felt inadequate and lost, and for a moment he lost control of the cool he had been maintaining. The ghosts had gotten the rise out of him that they had been looking for.

He decided to do something.

"Urr, this isn't fair!" he exclaimed at the duskull in protest. "You're mocking us, and you... You're tricking us. I bet you're not so hot behind all of the show you're putting on. You probably just have to because you know Kira outclasses you otherwise!!" It stung a little that he had to mention only Kira to make that sound threatening. The sting only worked him up more. "Why don't you try without the tricks?!?! Let's see what you're really all about!!" the frustrated Riolu reached inside himself and tapped into the same power that he had used earlier to identifying the ghosts, pulling it up and expelling it out into the room.

His frustrated grimace fell back into shock as his influence revealed Litwick, Ghastly, Shuppet, Duskull… a group of them all opposing himself and Kira. Oh, there actually were a lot of ghosts.

Fiddles.

The ghosts didn't seem to have much of a reaction to being exposed, though they clearly could have taken it as a sign of hostility. It seemed they were comfortable in their numbers behind them, comfortable enough that they weren't exactly phased by a little materialization. They all leered at the two explorers with nasty grins and cackles, like they were enjoying this game far more from the points where they were hanging from the air than actually engaging in some kind of fight. It was the power game they liked.

"You may continue as you wish. You may do whatever you please in this room," the Duskull chortled with an air of delight, "but just remember what you have endured to this point. Without us - without heading our words - you will continue in this way for as long as you care to stay motivated. Endlessly searching for this 'exit' you seem so sure exists..."

The raspy Shuppet grew eager and jumped at the chance to add something to the mix. "Yes... forever is a long time to live in a delusion, don't you think so?~"

Lincoln reflexively gave a small groan of dismay. He was so embroiled in an internal knot that he was hardly even aware it had happened; how it made him sound as if he had so little hope left.

Alright. Okay. Alright okay. The lucario’s attempt to silence the riolu went in vain. Instead, Lincoln decided to challenge the ghost types despite their numbers and the potential that all of them might not have been as weak as they seemed. She wanted to snap at the riolu and force him into silence, but as she opened her eyes and looked down upon the riolu her motivations would shift. It was only then that she would take in the overwhelming amount of fear that he exuded. A quick switch back into Aura-vision would practically overwhelm her. The voice the younger one made only sealed the deal. The way the ghosts seemed to take amusement out of this…

What was once a sense of caution and concern that flowed from her aura suddenly took a sharp turn. It would weave into the air around her and it would not have been difficult for the riolu to pick up on-in fact it would have been just as easy for it to overwhelm him as it had her if he honed in on it.

These pokemon were just here to torment them. What they said-it quite possibly had no relevance to the reality of the situation other than to intimidate them. Her voice spoke up, stern, solid, and absolutely through with this nonsense, “Alright, that’s about enough.” She spoke with a sense of authority, as if she were in control of the situation. She had absolutely no idea if she could actually take so many in a fight- “I am giving you to the count of three to turn and leave us be or I will make you leave.”-but she was sure as hell about to damn well try.

The litwicks turned and looked to each other before one would try to hold back a laugh. The vain attempt simply caused the other litwick to outburst in laughter. “One.” Kira spoke firmly. She should have felt frightened by the current situation, but the way the fear turned through her mind simply seemed to output as contempt for these ill-doers. They were simply getting a rise out of the younger child. They needed to be put into their place-but she was not in a position to do it. She would give them the opportunity to do so.

A gastly within the group seemed to find this amusing. It had seen this sort of act before. It was an attempt to look big and tough, but it was what it was-an act. The ghost type’s smirk only grew three times in size as he waited for the countdown to continue. “Two.” Kira spoke shortly and curtly. She gave a pause to allow ample time for them to leave. Whether any left or stayed, there would at the very least be the gastly from what she could tell. The Lucario’s paws flexed as she developed her plan. Her pause could have been seen as hesitation, but it would be proven otherwise. The aura she expelled shifted specifically to target the Riolu. She would be unable to hide her temper from the little one, but the wavelength should have formed a carefully carved silent word to the riolu, “Eat.”

“Three!” she exclaimed without further explanation to the riolu. With swift and slightly klutzy sleight of hand, her paws reached into her bag and passed on a small vanish seed to the Riolu. With excessive speed, she would leave the riolu’s side and dart straight towards the gang of ghosts. Her paw would reach straight back inside the bag and pull out an orb. She reeled her hand back and moved to push the orb into the group. Whoever was in the middle was about to get a whole face full of Decoy Orb and become the center of attention for their friends to attack.

The battle was on.

For what felt like an eternity, the now crowded room was draped in a tense silence. Lincoln wasn't well acquainted with this "telepathic" ability he possessed, but the atmosphere was poignant enough that he was getting a pretty good picture. He was specifically feeling a concentration of anger off of Kira just off to his side, which he failed to try and push aside in his mind. She was his only role model in this situation, and he seemed to have done enough to trouble her considerably. He continued to fight his self-depreciation, but he could not full put the unease out of his mind. It was enough to interrupt his other thoughts and even skewed his field of vision at the edges in his fear. "If I keep messing up, we'll both suffer the consequences..." "Who knows what will happen to us??" "I can't fight all of these pokemon at once...."

...

But actually, he realized, yes he could. Why would he even think that, he wondered? Though he hadn't exactly practiced with it much for combat... He knew that he definitely did have an attack that could at least hit most of these enemies, if not all of them! ...That didn't change the fact that he had no experience, and was out in the open, and was clearly a target -

“Eat.”

I'm sorry what.

Lincoln stared into space blankly as a definitive feeling of word suddenly penetrated his subconscious and completely derailed he train of thought. Eat? Eat? Was this ghost how freaking talking to him and trying to get him to maintain a healthy diet?!?! It may have gone completely over his head if Kira had not immediately tossed a Vanish Seed into his paws. His eyes widened as he realized what she had done. He didn't know what the item was or what it was meant to do, but somehow she had bent the feeling of word to communicate to him that he was meant to eat this presumably helpful item. Was that... could he do things like that too?!?! Were his abilities that potent as well?!? He was kind of too tight in a bind to further consider the prospect right now, but he was definitely far more interested in his abilities than he had been now.

Cronch.

The seed was eaten.

Lincoln vanished from the perception of all other pokemon in the room, and suddenly everything kicked off. The ghosts sneered as they began to dance and shift their semi-corporeal forms about in a confounding motion, becoming blurs until the duskull and the shuppet settled behind Kira. The litwick came to rest on a table where Lincoln had once been visible, and the ghastly seemingly sunk through the wooden floorboards and vanished. Their taunting cackles begin to fill the room once again.

"You may lash out and strike, but you only further yourself from your goal," the shuppet sneered with unnerving glee. The duskull mirrored their sentiments and chimed in: "Yes; you will be here forever at this rate. The fact remains: you must descend deeper to move forward, and we will be there at every turn to twist your pat. Your struggle only speaks volumes of your lacking characters." He glanced around the room menacingly, but he could not find the child not matter where he looked. "Oh, and don't think that you can save yourself by hiding. This house lives and breathes in tandem with us... we will find you."

To make a point (and also to try and reveal the target), the Litwick released an electrical pulse from it's spoopy body and tried to direct it at what it thought to be the missing pokemon. As it turned out, however, this was the decoy that Kira set up immediately in turn as the ghost re-positioned themselves. The litwick faltered, confused but understanding that something was certainly not right. It was too late for them to try and communicate the situation, however. The combination of the attack and the sudden decoy drew all of the ghost's attention.

"Found you!!!" The Shuppet cried as they gleefully released a Shadow Ball at the decoy. The Duskull began priming his own attack, as well; absorbing energy from the house and storing it inside his body in preparation.

Lincoln had already vacated the area; in fact he had started running as soon as he had eaten the seed. He dashed past the babbling baby litwick that was still ambling about aimlessly through the room, and made his way over to the table near the windowed wall. He climbed atop it with surprising grace, something he wished Kira had seen but he would live. He was still impressed by her quick thinking, but for now he knew he had to act quickly on the opportunities he had. He prepared his Vacuum Wave. He was still uncertain about how well he could pull this off, but with the better vantage point certainly he had a better chance of-

Wait where's Kira.

Lincoln could only spy the form of a stranger among the ghosts now. How- Where had she gone?!?! Presumably it had to have been Kira - right? Unless... Unless the ghosts knocked her down and were attacking her while she was prone... Lincoln was torn for a moment by this dilemma. On one hand, he risked hitting her and putting her at a disadvantage. But on the other hand... Well, he just didn't want her to have to fight alone! He steeled himself against his many thoughts. Surely, if the ghosts were producing the attack, then it was still right to attack them and cut them off. A bead of cold sweat ran down his neck. He just had to target the ghosts; no more thinking.

Lincoln focused deep inside his chest, and then released a shockwave of pure force into the room and it's surrounding space. The pressure felt crushing to those who experienced it; and even the Ghastly could not escape it's range. His anxiousness focused tightly on the cruel Shuppet and the Ghatly below the floor that he feared ws trapping Kira; but all malicious entities in the room felt affected.

RPG log:

The decoy was set, Lincoln was invisible, she felt as if she were in a slightly better position than before. The lucario weaved herself between the opponents with caution as she sought to escape the crowd. She did not actually stop to see if Lincoln was invisible, however, as she merely assumed so. She would only pause briefly to close her eyes and focus on the forms of aura around her. She could pinpoint Lincoln general area while the ghost types looked as if she might as well had her eyes open.

She expected Lincoln to simply get to safety, but it seemed as if he was compelled to assist her. A shockwave erupted from the fighting type that crashed into her with a damaging force. She was not blown off of her feet by the shockwave, as she instead kneeled to the ground in order to keep her footing. Oh, wonderful, someone else who liked to blindly throw their attacks around without considering their allies’ condition. She wasted no time on the matter, as there were far more important issues at hand-like the duskull and shuppet just behind her.

She jumped backwards, it looked as if she were dodging some invisible attack. The shuppet and the duskull would take the opportunity to get a good mark while her back was turned. However, the lucario would quickly pivot around. Her leg burst into flames as her energy was channeled into the attack. The shuppet and duskull were lined up almost perfectly for the attack, though the duskull managed to slip out of the way before she could land a proper hit. Kira completed the round-house kick with a send-off for the shuppet. The ghost type was sent on a path into a wall where it would disappear beyond their sight.

All talk with the opponents were no longer an option. They just needed to get rid of them all. In a more fluid movement as her foot landed from the kick, she would dart forward and seemingly attempt to tackle the duskull. The ghost would cackle. Confidence swelled as she switched the attack to kick the ghost type with a fiery leg once more. The Duskull seemed to be prepared for it, however, as its eye took on a brilliant glow. The fire from her leg extinguished itself as her paw simply moved right through the creature.

A confused aura overtook Kira as her leg met with air. Before she could react, a blast of repulsive wind swept her off of her feet and off to the side of the room. The lucario attempted to save herself with a graceful landing, but her attempts to correct herself only hindered her. She smacked against the woodwork upside down. When the winds allowed relief, she slid down onto her shoulders uncomfortably and flopped over miserably. Fortunately, it did not do much. She picked herself back up with a quick shake to try and ignore just how humiliating that looked.

It seemed as if the duskull volunteered to be her next target.

Log:

Oh shit he hit her and she did not look happy. Lincoln made an undignified squeak noise and pulled back a little, but she seemed distracted so maybe she wouldn't get mad at him oh god please. He needed to be more helpful!! Kira didn't seem to be struggling much with these enemies, but... Riding on her coat tails was not what Lincoln had come here to do, and he wasn't about to settle for watching her do all the work from the sidelines!!! He decided it was best to try and stick to things he knew were helpful, though - no more vacuum wave until he had more control over it. Instead, he focused his thoughts on the duskull that was giving Kira a hard time, as he had earlier in the dungeon - with the other ghosts. He clung to that same feeling that had made them feel physical before, forcing the ghost type out into the real...

Meanwhile, below the floor, the gastly watched it's Shuppet friend get blasted into the nether and realized that maybe things weren't looking so good after all. These intruders might find their way lower at this rate... There was no time for second-guessing. Still staying below the floor for safety, the ghost-type sucked in a breath and then released a horrifying wind from it's body, blowing violently up to the ceiling through the floorboards and catching the hearts of all in the room. The duskull, already weakened from Kira's assault, could not resist it and fell.

Lincoln sensed it before he was hit by it. He felt the sudden burst of energy growing, and he panicked as he realized wha was to come. He had to hide- but wait!!! He looked over. There was still that litwick... it was just standing under the table where he was, flailing his arms and gurgling. ...That thing couldn't protect itself. Seconds before the blast, Lincoln vainly ducked under the table and flipped the litwick up onto his stomach, attempting vainly to spare it from harm while also taking whatever cover he possibly could.

The wind still hit, knocking the wind out of Licoln and blasting him apart from the baby. He flew over to the wall and slammed against it. He never had a chance, he realized. The wind had even stripped his camoflauge, something that hit him as stared down to his battered knees. He would have never known how to counter that blast in that moment... augh, and then the pain took over and he wasn't thinking about much at all anymore.

Seeing an opportunity, the gastly jumped up next to Lincoln and sneered before their eyes went completely white, probing into Lincoln's mind and forcefully repressing the memory of Licoln's ghost-affecting power. It leered down at him, having completely cornered him. The riolu had half-expected this. He was the novice here, the weakling. He had tried his best, but now it really was up to Kira...

...Please, just give me my own power!!! Give me the power to fight my own battles! Let me do anything, I didn't come here to be the one who needs saving!!!

Suddenly...

The small Riolu felt an energy like nothing he had felt before rip through his body, seemingly originating from... his bag??? How could he tell this? There was a bright light, too- it was so intense it blinded him. "Nnn... gaaaahh!!!" Was all he could manage through the shock and the sudden onset of like a million cramps. What was this?!?! What was going on?!!? Linc could only close his eyes and pray the sensation ended.

For the small litwick, this was the final straw. Everything was now too bright, too loud, and too mean. The cheery disposition was now all but gone, culminating into a pulse of energy set to warp the fabric of reality with every intention of punishing. Everything. The baby began wailing, and the walls around the remaining four pokemon began to visually warp.

"No... wait, no...." the gastly pleaded, looking around in horror at the incredible power being released. "You... You're- Stop!!! You're going to send them further in!!!"

Log:

OOC:

The lucario couldn't wait to get her paws on the masked fiend. Her expression matched exactly how upset she felt as her paws curled into fists. The thorn upon her right paw took on a curious glow, but she would not be permitted any time to react. A sudden wind erupted from nowhere that blew her closer to the little riolu. She opened her eyes at last, where she noticed that Lincoln lost his invisibility. She grit her teeth as she bared the pain of the winds.

Kira stood herself back up with wide and outraged eyes. Her leg was set aflame once more as she moved to strike the white-eyed gastly as it attacked the riolu. Once again, she would be denied of her move as a bright flash of white from the small fighting type would blind her. A word of profanity escaped her as-at the same time-the very air around her seemed to shift. The aura of both the Litwick and the Riolu seemed...different. She would have made a rush for the riolu, but something heavy began to way down on her as the room distorted and twisted in ways she didn't think was possible. It was difficult to move.

"Lincoln!" she cried out helplessly.

ooc// Ready to head to the next section when you are! Could just continue it there now if y'wanted.