[Mari]

Ciel nodded in understanding, briefly flashing back to a time she'd done just that.

"

...I still feel guilty about the ones we couldn't save, but without their help we wouldn't have been able to survive long enough to secure a better future for everyone. A part of me hopes that, much like Milan, they've been given a second chance at life in this place. I just hope they haven't succumbed to the starvia. I've never heard of it infecting energy, but it has proven itself very versatile in the past."

"

Those memories weren't the most pleasant ones for Ciel. Passy in particular stuck out in her mind, as she'd had to personally sacrifice the what had been her friend to save her own life. She knew in her heart that Passy had accepted her fate and that what they'd done had been necessary to save not only their own lives but ultimately thousands more. Yet, there was simply no coming to terms with death like that. Not in her heart, anyway.

Soon the gogoat would slow to a more relaxed pace. It seemed they'd reached their destination and now all that was left was to find the others. Ciel quietly urged the pokemon on with the subtle movements of her hands. It almost seemed like it was reading her mind, but she could tell based on the timing that he was responding to her body language.

Ciel Damage: 7% Shield Damage: 0% Status: Normal Curiph Cooldown: 1 Turn Cooldown

[Rina]

"Mm...even if I'm on a different world of circumstances, I think I would've reacted the same way."

Guess Ringo still has a bit more to learn about the cruel world outside her home. While things got close to getting lost, they never did, so she's still new to the repercussions of death, plague, anything that doesn't really happen around Suzuran. A heavy silence came from Ringo, only reacting to the Gogoat coming to a gentle stop. Ringo took a careful around the surroundings for anything interesting or suspicious... They were still on a search, after all.

[Mari]

Ringo might be feeling down, but her response was exactly what Ciel wanted to hear. It was more than she'd honestly been expecting, even. She'd been expecting maybe a sorry, or perhaps even just an attempt at changing the subject. The scientist would turn her head and offer Ringo a bright smile over her shoulder. "...Thanks, Ringo. That means a lot to me, actually." Ciel would reply rather warmly, her eyes glimmering with appreciation. "You're a good friend." she went on to muse aloud, trailing off in thought. She would be rather busy thinking about what had just happened for a few moments, so it was a good thing one of them was paying attention. Looking around, Ringo spots... more cacti. Huh. You'd almost think this was a desert. The gogoat began nosing forward to a heavily forested area. One could assume there was probably something hidden inside the grassy burrow.

Ciel Damage: 7% Shield Damage: 0% Status: Normal Curiph Cooldown: 1 Turn Cooldown

[Rina]

"Glad I could at least raise the spirits. Moping on the past too much isn't good."

As she searched, she eyed...more cacti. This IS a cove, right? These cacti are starting to bother her a little. She still has the feeling they're sentient, but she can't jump to conclusions without solid evidence that they're not ordinary plants.

"...I'm still seeing cacti. Why are they even in a clearly non-desert-like climate?"

She shook off the thought, shifting her attention towards the thick forest shrubs. What could be in there? Ringo wondered. Forests are a strong candidate to house a bounty of fauna, so it might be worth looking into. She looked carefully, checking for some small tip-offs of a Pokemon or some other living being.

[Mari]

"Good question... I hadn't noticed there were more of them until now." Ciel replied, somewhat unnerved by the cacti's presence. Surely, running into them twice couldn't be a coincidence could it? There had to be some reason they were here... Ringo can spot faint movements from within the enormous shrub. The gogoat ducks down a bit as they enter, slipping them through the small entrance. Inside, the duo would be able to observe a diverse little forest grotto created by the pokemon inhabiting it, a diverse natural hovel that seemed quite luxurious if you ignored the dirt. A group of poliwag were lounging in a tiny makeshift pool. A blue, monkey esque pokemon watched from above. A diglet poked its head out of the dirt nearby. All of the pokemon shied away from the girls, apparently somewhat unnerved by their presence. Many smaller little sleeping areas were burried from sight behind hte foliage, waiting to be explored.

"

It's like a miniature ecosystem in here! I guess porygon must be somewhere in this place, but where..?

"

[Rina]

"? Did it just- Ow!"

Ringo rubbed her eyes upon noticing it twitch. Was...was she imagining it? Okay, now it's really bothering her. That has to be some cactus-like creature stalking them. Just when Ringo tried to get a closer glance, she bumped her head on the top of the entrance, ducking her head after that mishap. She rubbed her forehead after clearing the entrance, raising her head back up to be greeted by the grotto that awaited them past. Such a lush place among a starvia wasteland is quite the rare sight indeed.

"Whoah...Look at all this wildlife."

[Mari]

Ciel stopped what she was doing at the sound of distress from behind her to give Ringo her attention. "Are you alright..?" she asked. Her concerns were elsewhere, unaware of any silliness going on outside. "Yeah--This is pretty incredible. They say that pokemon have a naturally high resistance to the starvia. The nature of this resistance isn't clear, however. There's another new project to work on..." Ciel mused aloud as they were guided through the foliage to a particular corner of the grotto. Sure enough, laying right there in front of them was...

Porygon Appeared!

"

That didn't take too long. Now all we have to do is... convince it to come back with us. ...This might be the hard part.

"

At their approach, the porygon rose to life and began to gyrate its limbs as if they were attached to its body by a spinning axis. Ciel promptly dismounted the gogoat to better address it. It occurred to her that they were surrounded by backup, which meant that if things got ugly they might have a real fight on their hands. Perhaps this wasn't the most ideal situation after all.

[Rina]

"I'm alright, just a bump on the head is all."

Ringo looked around, taking note of what Ciel said about the Pokemon's high resistance. They must be pretty hardy creatures to fend it off so well! Continuing down the grotto, Ringo's eyes spotted the distinctly polygonal Pokemon dwelling here. It really does look like something out of an old game! Ringo carefully got off of the Gogoat, looking at the surrounding area. She has a bad feeling they're not alone, and for good reason. Since they're pursuing this very Porygon here, it's likely the wary Pokemon will open to attack the moment the girls do something funny.

She...didn't want to risk scaring it or alarm the others.

[Mari]

After waiting for a moment to see if the porygon became hostile, which it didn't, Ciel produced what appeared to be a laser pointer and began fiddling with it. The end lit up and she pointed it at the porygon, waiting for a moment before beginning to adjust the body of the pen by twisting it. It wasn't clear exactly what this did or what she was doing, but hte pen would ocassionally appear to flash or change colors. Thankfully, Ciel wouldn't allow this to by a mystery for long.

"

"This little device is emitting light-based data. I'm trying to find a wavelength that elicits an expected response."

"

REj64xiIp_1d20+5 (Ciel's attempts at communication)

...After several long moments of fiddling the porygon would shudder with acknowledgement before shifting over to Ciel and Ringo's side. "Huh! It agreed to come with us. ...That wasn't so hard." Ciel remarked, quietly pondering the extent of the sentient computer program's humanity.1d20+5

[Rina]

Ringo observed Ciel as she tinkered around with the laser-like device and pointed it at the Pokemon. Huh, is she transmitting some dialogue as data towards it? That's what she believes it's doing, anyway. She wouldn't put it past her to have technology like that. After a moment of fiddling around...the Porygon came to them without a hitch!

"Ah! You did it!"

Ringo watched the Porygon float over to their presence, observing its movements. It is quite the curious-looking Pokemon. The fauna must be so vastly varied!

...so how do the girls get back?

[Mari]

Ciel wanted to say something more to the porygon, but well--She wasn't sure it would understand. Instead, she turned around to address Ringo. "Wonderful. Now we just need to make the journey back to the chaser..." Ciel replied as if answering Ringo's thoughts. She began guiding the other outside, only to stop in her tracks as they emerged from the hidden grove. There was now a semi-circle of cacti surrounding them just outside the entrance.

[Rina]

"Agreed. Let's get go-"

Aaand stopped in their tracks by cacti. Well, Ringo was right to be suspicious about them, and this conspicuous half-ring of cacti just validates her suspicion. Ringo sighed, being right about something she wanted to be wrong with.

"...I had a feeling those cacti would be trouble..."

The question is 'Now what?'. If she attacks now, then she'd alarm the paradise. If she does nothing, then those cacti might have a free shot.

[Mari]

...Ciel was also at a loss. She didn't want to attack the wildlife, but this was clearly some kind of intimidation tactic they were being subjected to. She had the feeling they were about to be attacked, though, which had her reaching into her blouse for something hidden there. The moment Ciel did this, one of the catci lunged forward in the blink of an eye and jabbed it's spine hand into Ciel's face! Oooh... That looked like it hurt. A lot. Ciel understandably screamed in response to being hit like that, but this didn't stop her from going through with her plan. "Wall of... hope!" Ciel announced, a ray of celestial moonlight falling from the sky and forming a translucent pink moonlike barrier around Ringo.

((Ringo! For three turns you have 5% damage resistance and immunity to status effects))

A group of Cacturne has decided to prey on Ringo and Ciel!

((Ringo! Only one Cacturne, Cacturne A, has deigned to come after you for some reason. It attempts to punch you with its poison jab attack! Roll 12+ Dex to dodge. Else, it does 20% damage and has a 50% chance to poison, not counting the buff you just got.))

Meanwhile, Ciel gets mobbed by the remaining four. Apparently, they liked picking on weaker enemies... She can be heard freaking out from within the mob of rapidly stinging cacti pokemon. "Kynite..!" Ciel's frightened voice cried out,. She needed the cyber elf's assistance right then if she wanted to gain any ground and avoid being mashed to death by these monsters. A glittering fairy fused with Ciel's body, drawing in a massive amount of energy... What followed was a powerful pale pink explosion of energy radiating outwards from Ciel's body, blowing all of the unsuspecting cacturne away. The scientist forced herself to stand, but she'd seen better days... She'd been stabbed dozens of times in the short span of time she'd been down, and she wasn't confident but she felt like she could feel herself growing feverish.

Cacturne A 80 HP	Cacturne B 50 HP	Cacturne C 50 HP	Cacturne D 50 HP	Cacturne E 50 HP

Ciel Damage: 84% Shield Damage: 0% Status: Poisoned (6 Turns Left) Kynite Cooldown: 2 Turns Left

[Rina]

"WAAH! CIEL!"

Properly paranoid she behaved, suspicions confirmed. Cacturne they were, and she snapped her movements into action to avoid getting jabbed.

|1tK8KfJp_1d20+1 (CRITICAL DODGE!)

Surprisingly, Ringo managed to get away without a single scratch or hair lost. That's a surprise, but there's worse things to worry about: Ciel's getting ganged up on!

"I-I don't think playing pacifist is going to work anymore! R-Radian!"
(24%, Multitarget, 3-turn cooldown) p_1d20+3

Holding her hands out at the Cacturne attacking Ciel, she let out an electrial wave at them to keep them away from her. Only one of them targeted Ringo herself, but it's nothing like Ciel's problem. Having to deal with four of them on your own is rather ludicrous! Let's hope the sanctuary doesn't fall victim to collateral damage...1d20+1·1d20+3

[Mari]

"

(Winded) No, I don't think so...

"

Ciel was having a tough time dealing with the poison coursing through her system. Things had escalated at an unreasonable pace and she was suddenly a bit concerned for her life. She quickly called upon her reliable nurse cyber elf to aid her once again in staving off the pain. Curiph could buy her time, but they needed to get out of here in short order.

89lH6SV7p_1d15+2 (Ciel's Curiph; Heals 4%)

Ciel then called upon Alleras pulled out her only method of defending herself beside her elves, a plasma pistol. The pistol itself was quite powerful for its class of weapon, designed as an auxilliary weapon for use during war. She quickly popped off a couple of shots at one of the cacturne that had just attacked her, ignoring the needles embedded in her body for now. She couldn't stop and deal with herself while they were all on top of her.

p_1d20+2 (Ciel's Buster Shot; Does 8% Damage)
p_1d20+2 (Ciel's Buster Shot; Does 8% Damage)
p_1d20+2 (Ciel's Buster Shot; Does 8% Damage)

The cacturne goes down to Ciel and Ringo's combined offensive, but two more promptly advance upon the frightened scientist and take advantage of her focus to get in another attack!

p_1d20+2 (Ciel's Dodge!)
p_1d20+2 (Ciel's Dodge!)
p_1d20+2 (Ciel's Dodge!)

Poor Ciel. She is struck thrice and knocked on her bottom. The scientist's vision grows blurry and she clutches at her heart. The agony was unspeakable, and she found that she was unable to stand back up. Her body was shutting down rather quickly, and Curiph wasn't going to be ready in time to save her. She was cornered and simply didn't have the firepower to resist her attackers. This was it. She was going to die. What a terrible thought. ...Almost as bad as the thought of what could happen to Ringo. She'd promised the other this mission was supposed to be easy. Now she looked like an irresponsible fool.

"

A-Ah..! Ringo, run..!

"

Meanwhile, the lone Cacturne continues to be a nuisance. It slowly advances on Ringo and searches for an opportunity to hit her.

((Ringo! Cacturne A is still going after you. Roll 12+ Dex to dodge. Else, it does 20% damage and has a 50% chance to poison, not counting the buff you just got.))

Cacturne A 56 HP	Cacturne B 26 HP	Cacturne C 26 HP	Cacturne D 26 HP	Cacturne E FAINTED

Ciel Damage: 144% Shield Damage: 0% Status: Poisoned (5 Turns Left) Sabras (2 Turns Left), Critical Kynite Cooldown: 1 Turns Left Curiph Cooldown: 2 Turns Left

1d15+2·1d20+2·1d20+2·1d20+2·1d20+2·1d20+2·1d20+2