Doggo

Drake's approach seemed to only make Jocelyn more defensive as she physically recoiled from the outstretched hand though she took no actual steps back. But she didn't have time to even yell at the man, let alone try to swipe at his approach, before the bells began their ringing again. For a moment she thought she had died again as the lights went out and moving or speaking became nearly impossible. She certainly tried her hardest for that matter but nothing happened until after the fourth ringing of the bells. The same sad scene of bizarre church and obnoxious fellow dead was before her. Jocelyn nearly fell over from how hard she had been trying to move during the distortions. But soon after catching her balance she was able to take in the new door in the room. Wherever it led she was raring to go. Though some attempt at humor interrupted her immediate departure. Drake was examining some sort of bizarre symbols that had appeared on his hands. Jocelyn would have happily broken the arm for him but curiosity took over as she looked over her own hands. A similar set of symbols had set up shop on her left hand and arm. Before having the time to cuss that out the others had taken to waking up the bizarre figure that had appeared in the room with them. The creature's words only infuriated her further because she'd have to put her foot in her mouth here. Some sort of god named Ocean, very creative, had supposedly called them there. They were given the title Exalted and the woman wanted nothing to do with anything going on here. "Yeah, no thanks I'm getting the fuck out of here." She stated, dismissing further interaction with this supposed servant of a supposed god. Jocelyn moved swiftly toward the door, making no direct acknowledgement of the others or the horned girl. Apologizing to the weeb was just going to be annoying and she wasn't about to set out on some mission for anyone. Arriving at the door she readied to heave it open. "Next stop, anywhere but here." she stated still incredibly annoyed at the situation. But at least she wasn't screaming. The outside existed, surprisingly enough. And in contrast to the brightly lit church, the outside was overcast. There was mostly grass anywhere one looked. Stoney dirty roads and wooden houses dotted the immediate area. Cloudy as it was Jocelyn could still tell it was day time. Eventually her eyes locked on about twenty feet away from the door. There was a young girl with light skin wearing clothing clearly made of animal hides. She had long messy black hair but most noticeably on to the top of her hair were a pair of wolf-like ears and out her backside a wolf-like tail. The girl had noticed Jocelyn as well and looked excited to see her with a eyes beaming. "Goddammit." Jocelyn muttered in exasperation as she looked back to the figure and the church briefly and then back to the wolf girl. "You go to one furry convention..." she berated herself for her misfortune as she took her first step outside. Maybe taking the fursuit off had been a mistake. It would have been easier to not engage with anything going on behind a mask.

However peaceful the stained glass art had made Jocelyn, the others awakening and talking was quickly draining the effect. Each movement, sound, stare, and word wore at her ever shortening temper. The one who would later introduce himself as Drake spoke first, and his so calmly asking if they were all dead ignited the spark of anger in the young woman. Gene next spoke, wondering if this was Heaven. Jocelyn knew it couldn't be or if it was she wanted into Hell. The most obnoxious voice yet came in the form of Sabrina, enthusiastically declaring the group had been brought her to be heroes. If this was her destiny she should have kept Jocelyn and the others out of it and just gotten to it. Percy, a doctor, was next and spoke casually about having killed himself. That set off a much stronger rage than all the annoyances thus far. Abby joined the too casual about the whole dying thing club which just kept the rage boiling. Marshall didn't do anything directly offensive but by this point Jocelyn had negative patience with everyone playing along with the pleasantries of introducing themselves and explaining how they died. Several of the others began talking again trying to find some commonality to all their deaths. Through all this Jocelyn hadn't been unaware of the several strange looks she'd been given either. If a bunch of dead people had the gall to still be judgmental about a fursuit the woman was going to have to pound several heads in. Still she began taking it off as respectfully as her anger would let her. Somehow she doubted she'd be able to return it, but still it wasn't hers. Ripping it off would just be rude. One last deep breath as it was safely off and to the side. And then Jocelyn snapped. "Jesus Christ, what the fuck is wrong with all of you!?" She started abruptly to disrupt the conversation. "It's bad enough I get stuck in a church but it's not even fucking quiet? You shitheads think it matters how the fuck any of us died? We're dead! None of this should be happening. It's not a time for a meet and greet talking about how we bit it like it's a stupid ass college major." Jocelyn's rant began as she attempted to kick over a nearby pew. It was clear she didn't physically know what to do with her body at this point to express the anger she was feeling. Throwing something through the window she'd been admiring felt appropriate but nothing was readily at hand. Even a hymnal would have done the job but alas, this called for more aimed yelling. At Sabrina to start. "Stop with the fucking destiny bullshit! I don't care how much weebshit you watched, we're not special, no one chose us, none of that shit! That asshole shot himself," she continued yelling and motioning to Percy. "And the rest of us are just unlucky fucks, not hero material. Goddammit!" Jocelyn interrupted her own thoughts not possessing the clarity to roast each person individually anymore. She turned away from the group and started hitting one of the walls of the building. "Just let me go to hell already!" Jocelyn yelled at whatever higher power was trapping her here in this infuriating situation. Burning forever was feeling pretty appealing next to this. She continued to mutter and scream obscenities while striking the wall to little effect. It was going to be a minute before she was ready to talk again.

Aduain passed some time with Morgan, swapping stories about the respective missions. Enough time as it happened that he'd recovered enough nen to power his gills outside of water again. Though it took a few minutes to actually realize this. As he withdrew from the icy bath and got to hopping on his fins again it was something of a relief. Still he'd have to properly thank Fen somehow later as her quick thinking had quite literally saved his life. No gift could really pay that debt but a good meal never hurt. That was certainly something to work with. Now free to move the boy eventually withdrew from his fellow hunter and the other members of the team still dealing with the new pet. The room he'd been given looked the same as always. Out of curiosity Aduain knocked on the wall just in case any more angry old men in castles felt like threatening him tonight. While relieving he couldn't shake some sense of disappointment when nothing responded. Knowing all these other worlds existed just meant he had a lot more places to explore after the ocean floor in his own world. But while further dimension hopping wasn't on the agenda, the fish did still have a screen to play with. Sitting down with the device the days events had him wandering over to something he could hold water in. Beds were nice and comfy as long as his gills were working. But nothing beat sleeping with that weightless feeling underwater. To his excitement there was a great offering of aquariums though at first they all seemed a bit small for a catch of his stature. But eventually the scrolling started getting him places and the tanks started getting bigger and more sophisticated. "Wonder if I can get one the size of the room itself." Aduain mused as he continued browsing. Sure enough there were eventually things as big, and bigger even, than the room he was in. None of which the system seemed to let him buy. If the stuff he bought just appeared in the room that probably made sense. Some scaling back was necessary. Eventually he settled on a tank about twice the size of the bed he'd been given and nearly as tall as the room. Though it seemed there were still size problems. With some frustrated swiping and checking Aduain was eventually presented with a prompt to sell his bed. Curious, he accepted and the bed in his room disappeared almost instantly. Now his tank wasn't presenting any issues and before the hunter knew what was happening it was now occupying most of the space in his room. "Woooow look at that!" the fish exclaimed his excitement building as he checked out the features. Colorful rocks lined the bottom of the massive tank and the included rock formations provided some nooks big enough for him to hide out or sleep. The thing even had a pretty hefty looking filter and aeration system. The one thing his new bed alternative lacked was the actual water. Sitting down on the ground to think a bit the hunter eventually also ordered a bucket. For most of the early evening Aduain would go back and forth from the showers to his room depositing at most ten gallons of water at a time. It took a lot of work but that just made the completion of the project all the more satisfying. With delight he settled in for the night adjusting the air in his body to settle comfortably underwater without sinking or bobbing up. Now he could really call this his room. Waking up completely submerged was a feeling Aduain had nearly forgotten and while he would have loved to be lazy most of the day several things were important enough to get him to get out of the giant tank. First was a message from Mauvache. Apparently they were to do some training in the later afternoon. That was all well and good but since it was so much later in the day the fish put that on the back log. There was a much more important mission at hand so early in the morning. Breakfast! The rain was a welcome addition to the journey as the young hunter rushed out of the building early in the morning before the others had awoken. With trident in hand there was only one task. Aduain needed to find a fishing spot. Navigating on land never was one of the boy's strong suits, much less this foreign world he'd barely spent any time in. But that didn't deter him from jogging around in search of any body of water. The first answer to the search was a pet shop not terribly far from the apartment complex. But catching fish already caught didn't sit right with the boy. If he didn't make the catch himself it wouldn't be much of a gift for the others. Still it was an acceptable last resort. So on the fish went in search of other fish, gathering curious glances from other early risers. Eventually the search bore fruit as Aduain found himself in a park with sizeable ponds. "Where there's water there's fish!" he declared inaccurately but confidently as he took to inspecting the waters. There were definitely fish in there but there was only so much looking at them from above the water at pond's edge would do. Light refraction and all that. No the best way to inspect was to get in the water with and in Aduain went with a splash. To his amazement the fish in the pond shone with every color of the rainbow. For a time the hunter swam around with them trying to get a sense for how they moved and reacted to his presence. Naturally they were hesitant of the much bigger fish. It was only right Aduain thought for these small fry to fear a mighty shark. Wanting to preserve the beauty of the scales the boy decided against skewering his quarry and with some swift swimming of his own eventually had three of the things tails in his hand. A triumphant surfacing and shaking of his tentacles and a cheer signaled the end of the hunt as the boy began his journey home. The others had begun stirring by this point, and unknown to Aduain even a reporter had come seeking information on the new group. Still dripping wet from the dive into the pond and the persistent rain, the hunter came in through the front door, his catch still flopping around in his deceptively strong grip. "Hey guys! I got breakfast!" he declared unsure where exactly everyone had gotten off to. There was a woman he didn't recognize not all that far from the entrance but he made no advance to address her specifically. She wasn't part of the team so she didn't get any of the fish, that was just common sense. Besides, these fish probably had all sorts of crazy flavors for each color. Maybe the red bits were spicy. That'd be crazy and definitely not something to spread thinner by inviting strangers. For now he needed to get the food to the kitchen. A knife better served the task at hand than his trident.

With Noibat's help, some semi-hearty cheering and encouragement without moving, the team was able to start moving the pillar across the stream. The path for the less water-worthy Pokemon among them was becoming clear. That was until they had almost reached their goal. The pillar proved short enough to start dipping down into the stream before it finished bridging the gap. A dip of her toes into the cold water was enough to prompt some movement on Noibat's part, primarily scooting up some on the pillar before her lower half got submerged with it. The other side of the pillar was raising into the air with the Clobbopus who had decided to help too still stuck to it. If she wasn't about to take a freezing bath she might have laughed at the situation. The feeling almost left with Zeta's arrival back on the scene after being so adamant about leaving everyone behind. But go figure no one could be that heartless and here the Zorua was looking to help. They addressed Noibat directly though, telling her to move her butt out of the way which prompted Noibat to finally stand up and maybe start moving. Weighing down the end that was tipping up was certainly an idea, one that made enough sense. Noibat wasn't sure how much weight she had to offer to the situation but in the worst case scenario she could just get off the pillar and cheer the gang on again. That'd do it for sure. But first Zeta started a slew of puns about the Clobbopus' situation. Noibat snorted, trying to stifle a laugh but failing miserably. "No, come on." She started berating herself mentally. "Puns are stupid, don't laugh at that." she thought again while her body clearly disagreed. She raised a wing to her lips as if trying to stop herself from saying something. "He looks a little octopied." Noibat thought again against her own attempt at better judgement. This pun however did not stay in her own mind. Like her mod comment before it she unknowingly broadcast it into the minds of everyone nearby. Still oblivious to this new power the bat couldn't stop herself from actually laughing now that she had joined in mentally with Zeta. "God I needed that." Noibat managed to say as she calmed down and continued walking toward the other end of the pillar to aid in the effort of weighing it down. Of course she soon cleared her throat briefly as if to say that was over now and she had regained her composure. "Not that it's cool to laugh at his misfortune" she started saying to Z. while trying to keep a straight face. She was a bit uncertain which side of this she landed on despite how good laughing like that had felt for her nerves. She was trying to garner favor with the Zorua but not alienate herself from anyone who may have disapproved. A losing battle no doubt but nothing a little extra good faith couldn't aid with. "Hang on, we'll get ya down! Or the pillar at least, sorta on you to let go of it." she called to the dangling Clobbopus before having to stifle another chuckle at the absurdity of the situation she found herself in. It was almost enough to forget the dread of being ripped away from her proper life as a human and turned into a bat. At least for a little bit. OOC

Having used most of his mental faculties to produce the ceremonial site suggestion, Reinaan was relieved that the others in the group had additional ideas to add to the mix. Damien of all people ended up the most insightful for the situation. It was almost strange to hear him speak so much at once but the draken was more focused on the potential places to investigate to ask how the man knew this much about elven territory. A shrine and former tomb, a lake with changing magical energy, and a Dinosaur Graveyard were discussed in succession. For the fiery hunter, the idea of the graveyard was a strong pull. But much like the idea of chasing the wolf pack, Reinaan yielded to a more logical approach. Changing magical energy certainly sounded like something someone who stole a relic could exploit, or even just be the Demon Gate itself. With the lake decided, the boy readied his things to leave. The trip to the lake was more of the same grass, bushes and trees as far as the eye could see that the group had been confronted with since setting foot in this land. What caught Reinaan's attention was the shift in the fauna as they approached the lake. The trees had become thinner and began emitting various colors of light. If he didn't know the forest was potentially dangerous he would have been caught up in the moment simply staring. But the draken remained vigilant in his watch as the group progressed. Now a clearing and the lake itself presented themselves and the strangeness of the area only continued. Small huts covered in color changing grass, random spouts on the water's surface, moving mushrooms; none of this seemed natural. So naturally the changing magical energy had to be the cause which Madelyn soon confirmed. Damien could only laugh while Reinaan for his part was more confused than anything. "Doesn't magic normally have a purpose?" Reinaan tried to ask Ziiyol who had materialized at his side. But the fire spirit for her part was rambling to herself about the potential for the colors of fire she could make by burning things here. A bit of a lost cause there. But the boy was sure to remind her not to set anything on fire given the more explosive nature of some of her spells. For his part the draken wanted to investigate the small huts. There would be a lot to search through but that just made them the ideal hiding spots surely. Leaving Kloqah and Ziiyol to their respective business idling, the Fire Chosen readied his halberd and made his way over to the nearest grass hut. The openings were small as were the huts themselves. Not so small that a person couldn't use them as shelter. But they were small enough that Reinaan, still not fully grasping how much taller he'd gotten on this journey, didn't think it wise to try and step all the way in. His head would do for now to see what was inside. This first hut held something of a surprise. A two foot long fish partially obscured by moss was just lying there. It moved its head up in response to the draken's head and spat a stream of water at the boy's face. "What the-" Reinaan shouted before the water garbled his speech into nonsense. The shock of it all had him back up from the entrance and falling back onto the ground behind him. while not entirely mud, it was still enough to dirty his back side generally and it served as a reminder he needed to polish his scales again if they were ever allowed into the elven city. But the draken wasn't going to take this sitting down. With a huff Reinaan returned to the fish's hiding hole and this time thrust his halberd in, piercing the thing's side. Vengeance and dinner, quite the combo. The fish wriggled on the end of his weapon for a time as it died and Reinaan returned it to Kloqah's back to prepare later. Or just eat raw, it all depended on how mad he was still feeling. Still, this was not enough to discourage his search, but the hunter's halberd led most of the inquiries going forward. The other huts Reinaan checked did not contain rude fish he had to murder but they did contain other things. One had the cores of apples in them, not that the carnivore knew the name of the fruit he simply recognized it as a fruit. Quelling his gag reflex he reached in and touched one of the cores and pulled it out of the hut to examine it. The bite marks on it didn't look normal. But normal to Reinaan was predator-style pointed fangs and the like. These more matched the flatter teeth he'd seen in humans, halflings, and presumably elves as well. They seemed a few days old which was definitely something to go off. Another hut had bones in it, clean of meat but not themselves eaten like a predator would. Someone had been cooking something, maybe a rabbit. Again several days old at least. With these two discoveries, Reinaan shifted his attention to the ground around the huts. Ignoring any footprints he himself had made, he did notice impressions that could have matched a shoe. Of course there were animal footprints as well, and it looked like something had been dragged over the ground from the way certain prints were blurred and obscured. "Dammit, not fresh enough." He muttered upon concluding someone had definitely been here some days ago, but he couldn't speak to where they were now. Still it was worth reporting. "Someone was here a couple days ago!" Reinaan shouted back to the others caught up in their own investigations or discussion. "No clue where they went but they stayed here for a bit."

The sound of a bell jolted Jocelyn awake in her seat. But nothing about that seemed correct. She certainly hadn't been sitting, much less sleeping. She'd been running more than anything, after a friend and straight into a fireball. The bells continued, each allowing another thought through. But there was a stifling darkness to it all. Death was not feeling like anything she'd ever thought of or heard about. She tried to move a hand at first and felt oddly restricted in its movements. She lifted it to her face through the veil of darkness and yet didn't feel it touch her face when it should have made contact. A few more thoughts of dying, but that couldn't be. She raised her other hand to the same invisible barrier about her face and after some fidgeting pulled up and suddenly light poured in from a series of stained glass windows. "God, what the hell?!" JJ winced at the sudden flood of light. In her hands now rested the backwards deer head to the borrowed fursuit she had been wearing to the convention with her friends. That explained the darkness but... this was certainly not the convention center. It wasn't a hospital either which would have been the next logical place for her to wake up in. But certainly not in an intact suit. That should have been the first thing to burn. It was time to take in more of the scenery. First was her seat, a pew of some kind. That soon lined up with everything else she observed in the room soon aligned with the idea of this being a church, though none quite like any she'd ever seen. Not that she'd seen many churches to compare. "Look, if I'm dead just send me to hell, you don't gotta guilt trip me about never going to Mass." She muttered as she took the scenery in. She seemed to be towards the front of the room which prompted her to finally turn around in her seat and take in the fact that other figures were there with her. Standing slowly, as if expecting one of them to attack her, Jocelyn gradually backed up from her pew, keeping her eyes trained on the others. That was until she turned around briefly and her eyes landed on the designs present in the windows. The bird in particular captivated her enough she didn't take in the fact there wasn't an immediate way out. "I guess you can waste a bit more of my time." she said with a soft smile on her lips. If this moment could last forever like that weird floating sensation seemed to it might not be so bad. But time was very presently marching forward here. Enough that each second lessened the soothing effect of the glass art. Irritation was mounting, just waiting for a trigger.

Whatever confidence Noibat had built up for herself was quickly crumbling as none of the others seemed to take much notice of her. She had effectively said nothing thinking on it and it's not like 'go into the cave after the Zorua' wasn't going to be the literal next thing out of her mouth so in effect everyone was still following the plan. Still, it seemed better to keep to herself for the moment. This was immediately challenged by Cross, who was now a Cubone, crying. The sound alone registered so clearly in her ears it nearly drove her mad with how bad she wanted to help the kid. But helping kids was definitely outside of her skillset and some of the others seemed a lot more up to the task. For now, making sure everyone could out seemed to involve bringing a pillar down for the less swimming oriented Pokemon in the room to manage their way across the stream. Playing leader hadn't gotten her anywhere so follower seemed just as good for the time being. Only as she tried to walk after them Noibat immediately took stock of how ineffective walking was proving to be as a mode of transportation for her. "Right... Noibat now..." she muttered to herself as she flapped her wings limply a couple times. At this rate she was just going to fall behind so putting her doubts behind her for the moment she took to more vigorously flapping again. The more she flapped the more she could hear own heart racing. Incredibly fast at that. There was no way that was healthy but just something else to ignore since it wasn't exploding yet. With a bit more exertion she found herself hovering somewhat stable in the air. Awkwardly leaning forward in the air started moving her off toward the others. Attempts at corrections quickly became overcorrections and she had very little control of her speed or height. The next thing Noibat knew she was about to ram face-first an upright pillar near the group that was trying to push one on the ground. With a panicked extra flaps she rammed the top of the pillar with the side of her body rather than her face and was soon tumbling through the air and down onto the broken pillar. Happy to be not in the air for a moment she didn't immediately register where she was or that she was sort of in the way. "Flying always looked so much easier in..." Noibat trailed off through her own heavy breathing. The idea of several different shows were coming to mind but only in the form of things she'd seen discussed on the YCM or NCM forums. For the life of her she couldn't remember what the things actually looked like. What kind of cruel god would flood her mind with her own descriptions of all these awesome things and not the things themselves? With a groan she pushed her head up to get a better look at the others. She looked at the Chespin in particular who if her brain was serving her right had introduced himself as a current mod of NCM. Several of the others sure had rallied to his call after he approved of the Treecko's idea. "Since when does this community listen to mods?" Noibat chuckled as she thought to herself. Except this thought was not actually to herself. It had been sent directly to the minds of those aiding the in pillar effort, not that she knew. "Here to help gang." she said, still clearly jumbled from the fall. She raised a wing up for a moment like she was trying to wave with a human hand. Eventually it was going to register she was on top of the thing they wanted to move and only making things more difficult but now was not that moment.

Hands Rated E for Everyone

There were seven other people in the room. Adriana could hear that much. But calling them people was odd too because they didn't sound human-shaped. But how did that make sense? She'd read up on synesthesia because of it popping in up in the one-off anime or manga but from what she could recall about it this didn't seem right. Her eyes shot open as she sat up abruptly from what she saw was a stone floor. A small cry escaped her... ears? An incredibly high pitch noise sounded for a fraction of a moment and by the time she heard the echo, Adriana could now hear the size and shape of the room. Nothing of that was right, her hearing wasn't that good. Looking around she saw Pokemon of all things around her. There were seven others. The seven people she'd heard that weren't shaped like people? They had to be there was nothing else around. But Pokemon weren't real. This wasn't possible. "Okaaaay, time to wake up" She thought to herself as she raised a hand to poke her face. But instead of a fleshy finger she was poked by a sharp claw. What's more the claw was coming off of what she saw was a wing. She had two wings even. "No no no I'm a human not whatever this is." Her thoughts continued as she looked over her body. She couldn't see her face but everything so far was lining up with a bat or a flying squirrel and neither of those were human. Similar small bursts of sound would escape her ears again as the other Pokemon began speaking and even yelling in words she could understand. She heard them so well the yelling especially was a bit difficult on the ears. Nervously following the Zorua's lead, only after they had made their declaration they were leaving, Adriana moved to the side of the pool of water in this cave she found herself in. Sure enough, a bat face with rather pronounced ears presented itself in her reflection. She had to poke herself a few more times to be sure the movements she was making really were coming out in this very non-human body. "A Noibat? Whaaaaat come on. If you're gonna isekai me at least make me a Murkrow or something." she thought as she limply flapped her new wings up and down a few times. But wait. She'd been isekai'd. "That's not fair! I was supposed to get sent somewhere with magic and I'd be a mega-genius cuz of Earth stuff I knew!" she complained to herself again in her head. Despite the others speaking she either didn't trust this new body of hers to be capable of it or else felt that hearing her voice come out of a Noibat would seal the deal and she'd be stuck here. Maybe she could still reroll and end up as an evil witch in some high fantasy setting. Her hearing soon locked in on specific words some of the others were saying. Were the others human too? Did they get isekai'd with her? She wasn't with seven other people before so that seemed weird. "That's cheating that eight random strangers all got sent to the same place when they weren't together." she determined in her mind. Usually group isekai was because of some magical nuke at a school but she was only with one other person before. Or at least she was pretty sure. All she could clearly remember were things about forums. She knew for sure she was with a girlfriend these days but what specifically the two had been doing before any of this happened to her escaped her. Of course eventually Adriana put together some of the other things she was hearing. Several of the Pokemon had offered what sounded like usernames on the forum she could remember. And suddenly the thought that these Pokemon might know some of the embarrassing things she'd done on her time there filled her with a dread she hadn't been expecting and that trumped the concept of being stuck as a bat in a cave in the middle of no where. What was right for a situation like this? Aggression like the Zorua? Even they had introduced themselves so maybe that much was in order. Not everyone had introduced themselves yet either so maybe there was still a chance her girlfriend had gotten taken along for the ride but even if it was possible she simply could not bring herself to give them the name Fleur. A Chespin apparently named Chester, a nice joke some god was playing there, seemed to have a more level-headed approach to things and so that was what she decided to try and follow for the moment. "I-i'm uh.." She started before looking back at the puddle briefly "Noibat, I guess. I don't know much of what's going on either but.." she trailed off. Was that really what she was going to go by? Adriana only felt vaguely like her name. Fleur was the strongest in her mind but what if all of that was the messed up part? What if she was really just a Noibat that had been having some really wild dreams after like a concussion or something? It could explain the general amnesia. But some of those memories of the forum were so specific and the feeling she was supposed to be human was nearly undeniable. And something in her heart told her that if anime was purely an invention of her rattled brain then life wasn't worth living. "I need a nap..." Noibat sighed as she lowered her wings she had been keeping nervously close to her mouth prior. Under most circumstances she would have wanted to try and take charge, but she already felt so in over her head. Was there even a point to trying? She was a bat now and she was in a cave. It was like fate was speaking to her that this was her life now, why fight it? Though there didn't seem to be much in the way of food so at some point she'd have to get herself out and about. Probably better to try while there were still others with her. With the beating of her own heart ringing clearly in her ears, Noibat began flapping her wings with vigor while squinting her eyes shut. When next she opened them she was hovering about a foot off the ground before realizing she was flying, losing her balance and falling back down. Confusing as things were that was still an accomplishment. One that could energize her to try and take the first step. "R-right! Getting out of here!" she called a bit more confidently despite the blundeer. "Someone's gotta know what happened to us so we just gotta find em! But splitting up is how you end up dead in like everything ever so we're definitely going with Chester's 'don't go in the cave by yourself' idea." she said, nodding with her false bravado as if she understood anything.

With bows no longer trained on the group, Reinaan had something of an easier time relaxing. It wasn't complete of course because of the nagging irritation of how ultimately unhelpful the elves had been. With no real clarification on either task, they may as well have said the group would never be allowed within the city. Most of the group seemed more keen on finding the traitor too which only sounded harder than the wolf pack in the hunter's mind. But he couldn't argue the point that something that could bring ruin to the forest was best checked in on. Exasperations and opinions expressed and the group now reunited with Damien, the question turned to where to go when they had so little to go off. Ryia's idea that to destroy the forest it had to be in the forest gave him something of an idea. Though if he could be much more concrete with it than she had been he wasn't yet sure. "This probably wont line up very cleanly. But I know for my people whatever kinda artifacts we have only really get used at sacred sites. Not that we really built structures, it was just specific magma chutes. But I know other peoples like to build places for this stuff and the elves don't seem too much different. Well I guess are there sacred sites or places they'd do ceremonies around here? Not that the person would be hiding there but they might be trying to get there." Reinaan managed to say without tripping over his ideas.

After a loud crashing or splashing noise, Flurry eventually found himself on what he assumed was the floor of the room he'd been occupying under several stray objects. Sitting up he realized his idea of keep himself centered in the room with his wind had failed somewhere along the way. Where the lemur could never hope to say. What mattered was he intact and seemed to not have a concussion or broken bones. From the intercom he soon found Chimera still was as well but as a robot that seemed like the given shy of the ship exploding. He could only hope the others were okay but Ken seemed more durable than most and Zane might have just frozen himself in place to ride the crash out. In any case it was best to proceed as if everyone had survived and do his part to help the journey continue. "An airship and a submarine huh?" Flurry muttered as he stood and looked for the access panel the robot had asserted would likely be in the room. "Sure sounds like a nightmare waiting to happen even if Zane can get us patched up." the lemur continued speaking to himself to keep himself grounded for the task at hand. The panel was indeed in the room and it wasn't long before Flurry was presented with wall after wall of code written in the same style of what he'd seen in Chimera's code. That was to say, he understood maybe half of what he was seeing and even that foundation was guess work that had managed to get Chimera up and running again. The functions being called here were thankfully less complicated all said, perhaps because they weren't trying to create an AI, but they were nonetheless full of vocab and ideas not present in the robot. "Nothing to do for it but to get going." Flurry concluded with a groan as he began attempting to run simple diagnostics to get a feel for the ship's coding.

Trying to get away from the business with Chris with news of a new member seemed like a great idea when she tried it. But Estelle was quickly realizing the issue with all of this. What were they like? When would they get there? How far in the dungeon were they? Neither had asked but the mage was only now realizing she didn't even know the woman's name. Had she even given her own to her? By this point the mage's brain was spinning in place, making no headway on any particular thought. Several only barely recognizable as human noises escaped her as she tried to think only for a wave of relief to crash over her as the person she had invited arrived at the table herself. "Ah, yes Robin! This is the group. These are my comrades, Lana and Chris." Estelle said motioning to each in turn. She was quickly regaining some sense of composure. Though another thought demanded some processing which the mage's nerves weren't immediately prepared for. Estelle looked back to the bard and then to Robin again quickly. "T-the bard? They are with you? Well that is wonderful! We would be more than making up for the loss of our ally. We could truly press on deeper into the Dungeon." Estelle stated, a figurative spark lighting in her eyes at the prospects.

Holy Hole in a Donut, Batman!

Feel like the OOC will determine a lot for me but you do have me curious at least.

Truly shameful it took me this long to notice this. All the interest.

As the others spoke of what to do with the team's new furry friend, Aduain found himself quickly growing both bored and frustrated at his having to sit in the ice bath provided to him. There was so little to do and most any exciting thing he could think to do required getting out of the box. How long did it take nen to recharge anyway? No matter how many times he found himself in this situation his own impatience was his own worst enemy. And so he found himself idly slapping at the water or quickly closing his submerged hands to squirt small streams from the surface up in the air. It helped stave of the shivers anyway but it wasn't a good solution. But then a familiar nen caught his attention as before long Morgan had entered the room. "Hey!" He cheered at the sight of his fellow hunter, who had beaten him back after all. "Someone left us a pet or something. They're just figuring out where to put it." he offered in explanation to her question. "Buuuut more importantly, looks like I lost our race huh?" the fish chuckled nervously at the state he was in after the kind of bravado he'd challenged her with. "What'd you guys fight though?! We had to mess with a buncha giant monkeys!" Aduain offered excitedly, splashing all around the edges of his box at the movements he made.

Estelle's morning was thankfully much less eventful than the previous evening. The actual tea and conversation with Chris after their business had been arranged was relaxing enough. But that soon gave way to the attempt to reserve the library for him. It was fortunate she'd communicated clearly to her friend nothing was ever so simple with her family. But even her own modest estimations of what was within her power had proven complicated and she would indeed have to discuss the specifics with him. Still, the Drooling Dragon was as pleasant as always and the mage soon found herself seated with Lana. "Lana! I suppose I had just assumed we would meet here. In fact I might have assumed a lot about today..." Estelle said as a perplexed look took over her face. There was definitely something she was forgetting. But talk of Lana's troubles and Chris' arrival soon distracted her from that train of thought. "Nonsense Chris, sleep is important after all. Though you might have been responsible for the table's bill had you taken too much longer." she teased. Her face soon turned serious for a moment though as she thought of how best to approach the subject. Some level of secrecy seemed in order. "Oh yes, Chris about the matter we discussed. While I have obtained permission I am afraid the issue of privacy will be more complicated than proposed. I hope it will not overly trouble you." she spoke in something of a hushed voice. Though not hushed enough to prevent Lana's hearing, even over the music a patron was providing for those visiting the tavern this day. That thought from earlier came back in full force and clarity and the mage shot up in her seat as she recalled. "Oh! Yes that is right. I needed to tell the both of you I met someone yesterday interested in joining the excursions into the Dungeon. I had told her to meet us here so it is fortunate we have all gathered."

Tinkermon's reveal as the user Gusto came as something of a surprise but not one Jeanne would let shake her cool. Even the victory over the giant bug hadn't visibly impressed her. Though as Gazimon returned to her side she playfully patted him on the back. This left little else but Shion for her attention as none of the other players or digimon had yet to directly approach the pair. Her friend was floundering at how to respond to Gusto, even going so far as to seek her help in the matter. A small chuckle sounded, letting Shion know she found the situation adorable before she called out to Gusto as she departed to return her goodbye. "Gust-chan, bye-bye!" she called out and waved, channeling her vtuber energy for an overdramatic gesture. "There, it's like that ya dork." she said abruptly turning back to Shion and laughing. "But hey, no biggie. You'll be a big kid eventually and be able to do all that stuff yourself. For now, we got our slightly bigger digimon and a whole game to tackle. Where ya wanna go next?" As she spoke she hadn't even realized Gazimon had casually taken a hold of one of her hands, and he seemed fairly content for the moment.

Upon arriving at the elf village, Reinaan had in all honesty expected to simply be able to enter. But the elves swiftly decided to make that difficult, three archers barring the way before the city walls. Lindow however seemed to calmly handle introducing the group and their task, shy of calling themselves the Chosen even, which as of yet had kept any arrows from flying. So that was the energy the Draken chose to adopt. Or at least he thought that's what he was doing. Instead his eyes were fixated on the archers, practically unblinking, with enough ferocity it was clear what he intended to do if they sought to harm the group even though his own posture was nothing like a fighting stance. The group passed the moments in silence while awaiting the arrival of this Captain Cithrel. Eventually the third guard returned, another man in tow. The middle archer moved to the side to make room for the newcomer. An elven man wearing a cloak over a silver breastplate. He looked quite different from the other elves. In part because he had multiple scars across his face, with his left eye, ear and arm all missing. He looked first at the group, nodded to his archers, then jumped over the wall to land in front of it. A sword rested at his side, very similar in shape to Damien's. "What is a strange group like yorus doing so far into the forest? What could you possibly hope to find here?" Cithrel asked of them. Reinaan took it upon himself to speak next for the group. "We're here to find and destroy the Demon Gate in these lands, just like we told your men." Reinaan said, his gaze still fixed squarely on the archers. A bit rude but the man seemed to take no offense to it. "So I was told. He said, his one good eye examining them, "I can tell why they were doubtful. Still, even if that were the case..." he gestured back at the wall. "Do you expect to find it our city? Behind our walls?" "If we did you wouldn't have the time to be stopping us here, all the problems it'd cause." Reinaan tried not to scoff as he spoke. "But so far it's usually been our best bet to go to cities to find information. Someone here could have encountered something related to it and not even known." "Anywhere else that may be sound, however I do not think many would be willing to tell you anything they have not told our Lord. We cannot let outsiders disturb the harmony of our city...Not without them giving us reason that is. If you perhaps deal with an issue for us, our Lord might be more lenient on letting you step foot in our city for a time." Cithril spoke. At this Reinaan could not help himself from lightly groaning. Expecting help without first giving it was presumptuous but surely the Chosen deserved a good favor. But then they hand't played that card yet. It seemed doubtful it would matter here anyway. Whoever this Lord was would probably still want proof. "Just like the elders alright." Reinaan muttered, thinking back to his conversation with Damien on the nature of the elvess here. "What did you have in mind?" he called back to Cithril. "There are two...pests, shall we say. One, a savage wolf pack who keeps targeting our hunters when they set out. And the other..." his eye had darkened when speaking of the wolves but it darkened even further now. "A traitor. One who ran away with a dangerous artifact after trying to attack our Lord and kidnapping his son. We've been tracking them but they found some way to avoid the sight of our magic. Bring them here, alive, or bring us the head of the wolf alpha, and I can speak to our Lord about letting you in." He finished speaking. At this Reinaan turned to the others, letting his eyes off the archers for the first time. "Well, the idea of wrestling a wolf has its appeal for me. But what do you guys wanna do?" He asked, seeking the group's input.

For a moment it seemed like Fen was creating spikes for the box after all. But Aduain's heart sank a little bit to see it was just handles for her and Trevor to hoist the ice box up by. Still, seeing she could tweak her creations after the fact was cool in its own way. Another shiver rushed down his spine as another rush of cold water entered his gills. If his friends were insistent on taking him home with them he wouldn't deny the kindness. And being carried in a unique way like this was something of its own adventure. Aduain alternated fully submerging himself and poking his head out to speak with his teammates or others as needed. Seeing the world through the water and ice was clearly entertaining him as surges of bubbles indicating various giggles, oohs and ahhs from whatever he observed. Eventually the trio had arrived back at the new home front. It seemed the others had beat them back as Melissa was there to address them when they arrived. In something of a panic Aduain began looking around for Morgan, thinking he'd lost the race if the other team was back. But his eyes locked onto what the girl was holding. Similarly to Fen, something primal told him not to trust the cute little critter. But the fish was able to brush that aside cuz it was indeed actually pretty cute. And this whole lint roller business sounded familiar too. "Hmmmm..." he thought out loud, his teeth chattering some as he was pretty thoroughly chilled throughout now from his icy vessel. "Well he's probably got the fur to stay warm in an ice box. You might be on to something Fen!" Aduain cheered. Then a realization struck him. "Oh yeah, lint rollers! I remember those. Heather had one and used it a bunch on that school uniform she tried to get me to wear when I was trying to go to school. Haven't seen one in a loooong while though so sorry about that." Aduain said, moving back to thinking. If she needed to get hairs off her clothes he might have a solution. "Oh yeah! I could give ya a rinse that might get it off. Your stuff would just be wet for a little bit until my nen dissipa-" he started to say while beginning to push himself up out of the box some. He'd recovered some nen by this point of course but not nearly enough and his gills immediately had him gasping for air. Or water in this case as he sat back down into the bath. "Okay so that's not on the table. But uhhh, maybe you can buy one on those little TVs in the rooms? I still gotta play with em some more but seemed like they had some cool stuff you could order."

For her part, Estelle had taken to her personal chambers, intending to retire for the evening. To the point she had changed out of her usual street fair into a more plain evening gown though not quite so far that she had prepared for bed. Plain was perhaps a faulty descriptor as well for while it lacked elaborate design, the striking dark blue dress that covered well to the woman's wrists and well past her knees ended in lace at the sleeves and neck that looked as though no non-magical hand could have possibly woven it. The dress itself shimmered with a quality that spoke to its expense as well. Still, it was something of a relief to have removed the various head pieces and let her hair lie down as it would. It wasn't much longer, still hovering just above her neck, but still she found some calming moments in brushing it out. She was in the middle of doing just that, sitting in front of a large mirror, when a knock came to her door. "Lady Estellise." the voice of a servant sounded not long after. Estelle set her brush down and looked up toward the door. "You may enter." she sounded back, allowing the house servant permission to enter. The door to her chamber swung open slowly, the servant seeming a bit out of sorts. "Pardon me miss, I came to inform you that a 'Chris' has come seeking an audience with you at the servant's entrance. I had hoped to dismiss him as his claims of knowing you sounded baseless but he insisted. But fear not, Lord Campbell has taken the matter into his hands so you may remain here and let him attend to it if you wish." the servant spoke. "Why yes, Chris. How odd that he should call upon me- wait, you said Campbell is with him?" Estelle said, a hint of concern entering her voice as she put together what was likely to be happening. "That's correct miss. You really ought to leave it to him if you don't mind my saying." the servant insisted, trying to dissuade Estelle without going so far as to tell a member of the noble family he served what to do. "No, no it is no trouble at all. Chris called for me it is only right that i should see him in person." Estellise spoke while standing and grabbing her enchanted mantle and wrapping it about her shoulders. "Shall I show you to him then?" the servant spoke, still clearly not convinced this was a wise course of action. "Please do." The Fereis spoke as she followed the servant out of her room. As the door closed behind her she thought what could have brought her friend to the estate and how Campbell was treating him. It wasn't all that long of a walk for her to find out of course. It was not just any Chris for she plainly heard the voice of her friend Chris speaking as she approached the door to the servant entrance. Though perhaps fortunately for Chris she had not caught any clear details of what he had just been saying. This door too the servant opened for her with a well practiced bow to show her in. "Chris! It really is you. I was surprised to hear you had come to the estate at this hour. I had not thought to see you until tomorrow. Uncle Campbell, I trust you have been treating my guest well?" Estelle asked turning to her actually first cousin once removed. But as that particular relationship was a mouthful and the man was older than her, Uncle had always been her chosen designation for him, however technically incorrect it was. At first Campbell didn't respond, and Estelle noticed his shoulders tense for a moment before he relaxed and turned. "Ah, yes, as is only proper of course. That said, young lady, you should tell your....friends to visit in more proper ways in the future. It caused quite the stir after all." the man said. "Yes of course of Uncle. Thank you for your diligence. We shall try to avoid causing such issues going forward." she spoke with a courteous smile. "But as we are all here now I hope it would not be too troubling to make use of a guest room. I should hate to send Chris away without so much as offering tea and a place to sit a while." "Well, of course that could be arranged. But do keep some staff nearby, you wouldn't want any...rumors floating around." Then he gave Chris a look (one of those "don't forget what I asked of you" ones that she wouldn't see) before leaving with a nod and forced smile. With her cousin's departure Estelle seemed to more truly relax as she ushered Chris into the estate proper. She reserved speaking for when they were finally seated in a small room not far from the entrance. All the better to facilitate the staff serving guests after all. The room itself still boasted of the family's wealth with the ornate curtains covering the large window that took up the majority of the outer wall. The table and set of chairs were embellished with all sorts of intricate metal work on the trim. Servants offered seats to both Estelle and Chris before standing back, still in the room of course, toward the entrance. Before long a lavish tea set was set before the two of them, another servant going about preparing drinks for the both of them. Estelle for her part took a deep breath and let out an even bigger sigh before slouching from her perfect posture in her chair. "Now that I have you away from ears I cannot command to be silent on the matter, what brings you to House Fereis this evening my friend?" she asked of Chris, playfully eyeing the various staff for their confirmation they understood this conversation was to be kept from the other Fereis. All gave subtle nods, which only seemed to improve Estellise's mood.

With some help from his friends Aduain managed to not only let go of his weapon but fall over into the water box so kindly provided to him. The shock of being able to breathe again but also in fairly cold water due to being held in ice stirred the hunter immediately. The fish gasped as much as one could underwater, and several surges of bubbles erupted from the gills along his sides before his breathing calmed back into a normal rhythm. It took another moment still for Aduain to register where he was, that he was in fact still where he'd been fighting the monkey and that his friends and cooked up a solution to his inability to breathe in impressive time. He tried speaking before realizing that wouldn't make much sense outside the water. His head soon peaked up over the water's surface to allow him to talk while his gills lower down kept breathing. "Wow you guys sure cooked up a unique solution!" Aduain cheered with his usual enthusiasm quickly returning now that oxygen was circulating his system again. "You mighta guessed but my gills only work in air cuz of my nen and I maaaaay have used most of it up on the plan." the fish continued, still a bit on edge from the whole situation. That couldn't stand though as he focused on the positives. "But hey it worked! It'll be a bit 'til I get enough nen back to leave but you don't gotta wait up for me if you wanna head back. Don't see any wheels on the box here but that'd be pretty crazy if it did have 'em. Oh and spikes!" At this point Aduain was getting distracted by his own imagination but what mattered was he wasn't going to suffocate for doing his job. Fen-nen-that-wasn't-nen and a still-to-be-devised-clever-nen-name-for-trevor sure could do a lot of cool stuff. A little too cool maybe as the boy shook off some slight shivers.

While the rest of the watch was quiet, that only helped Reinaan pick up on Madelyn grumbling to herself. Whether she was upset at him, the general circumstances, both, or something else entirely he couldn't pick out but the chip on his shoulder told him it was probably about him. A perhaps unfair assumption but so long as she was staying quiet he couldn't complain. Eventually the sun rose, a welcome relief to the boy's scales which had gotten colder through the night than he'd let himself realize. That meant it was time to start waking people up. Lindow and Ryia were simple affairs. With Keres the boy seemed to hesitate to address or touch her, not wanting her to panic first thing in the morning. Thankfully the girl woke up on her own before he had to do anything. Damien proved the problem child of the bunch. After some nudges and calls Reinaan left him to his own devices which eventually woke him up some minutes later. Flux took to addressing the group speaking of difficulties in materializing while Keres was unconscious. Ziiyol appeared at Reinaan's side echoing the sentiment and her relief he had awoken and called on her when he did. Ryia meanwhile related the events of the watch and the draken was admittedly concerned a woman was just wandering the woods watching them in the night but if nothing actually happened, at least that she felt like commenting on, he could let it slide. He took it upon himself to report his and Madelyn's watch. "We had a lot of visitors, small little things. Not harmful but really curious. They were trying to get into anything and everything. Pretty sure we scared them off before they could get their hands on anything but check your belongings anyway." He started as he turned to Lindow with a smirk. "Can't be sure they didn't get any of your swords."

The sight of all of his nen freezing in two stages and ultimately capturing the giant monkey before it all disappeared should have had Aduain hopping up and down with excitement. And the hunter certainly did feel that way as he watched it all unfold but his body no longer had the energy to realize what he felt. The current priority was scrambling to reestablish a normal flow of nen but that effort was proving difficult. Things did tend to flow better when you had a lot of it after all. "Guess that was more than I intended." Aduain muttered to himself as he diagnosed the situation. It was all he could do to avoid mirroring Trevor and falling to the ground. "Great job guys!" he tried to muster his usual excitement but soon went reaching for his planted trident for support. Gripping it firmly he kept himself standing for the moment, the gills along his sides were clearly labored in their nen-aided breathing. That was until the left set flared out and began contracting and relaxing out of rhythm with his breathing which quickly sent the boy to his knees. "Yeah okay, definitely too much" he gasped out. Trying to meditate and more completely control the flow of what nen he had left to salvage his gills was going to prove difficult under the circumstances. But at least he had a team here. "Hey not to worry you guys or nothing..." the fish started, wincing as his right set of gills struggled to pick up the slack. He looked to Trevor then Fen. "But I'm not gonna be able to breathe outside water in a minute here- no more like right now." As he finished his thought his right gills also gave out. While his hands held their grip on his trident for the moment Aduain was going limp fast and sliding to the ground. This fish out of water needed back in and quick.

Like Ken and Zane, Flurry was also having a dream. But the dream the lemur was having was very different. Flurry felt like he was flying and he was, but not with his powers. He was on a ship. Very creative except it wasn't the egg-whatever it was called, it was something like Roxie's ship. He hadn't seen it very long so the details weren't exact. In fact the only reason he knew it was Roxie's ship was she was there with him. But something was off. Ah that's what it was. They'd traded outfits. That seemed fine. Until Flurry realized what that meant given what he normally wore. Even as just an imagination in his dream the lemur was a little more than excited to be seeing this. The actual conversation of the dream made almost no sense. The two simply tossed out various jargon at each other of the things they'd discussed in their brief meeting. Things about the ship and the chaos tracker. All the while they moved closer to each other. Now they were both dressed like Flurry normally was. Their faces were getting closer, lips inching ever closer to each other when all of a sudden Roxie's face was replaced with Chimera's, yelling something about fuel reserves. "Ugh!" Flurry jolted awake and was floating off of his bed by his own powers as part of the fight or flight response the series of events had triggered. Though now that he was awake the power stopped and he fell a few inches with a thud while Chimera's message continued informing them they'd be crashing into the ocean. "Stupid, how did we not check fuel before leaving?" He muttered to himself before standing and thinking of what to do. Rather than grab onto something Flurry focused on gathering wind around him and he slowly lifted himself off the floor. If he could keep it concentrated enough he could just float in the center of the room, not hit any of the walls and push anything that fell on him away. In theory it was perfect but having just woken up it remained to be seen if he could pull it off.