FIRST TRIAL

[bathymetric]

Alright, that seems like more than enough time to poke around the crime scene. Gather at the vault door, won’t you? It seems that for many of you it will be a short walk.

[ Once you’re all gathered at the vault door, Angel meets you there and quietly taps a keycard to the side of it. There’s an enormous whirring and grinding from inside as various mechanisms within the door move and whir - until with one last shuddering thud, the door starts to swing inwards, revealing a fully-glass tunnel leading off the side of the plateau the base is built on. Small lights built into the floor illuminate as you walk forward, until finally they light up an enormous elevator, perfectly capable of holding the twenty-four of you.

Angel comes too, putting a few numbers into a keypad just outside the door and inserting her card key once everyone is inside. She’ll gestures to get in if anyone seems unsure, but doesn’t really speak or enter the car herself. ]

Going down.

[ And down the elevator goes, leaving the lights of the facility behind - from here everyone can even see some parts of the facility you don’t have access to, it’s bigger than you realized. But it’s a long and uncomfortable ride to the depths, at least a minute or two before the elevator stops.

When the doors open, enough lights flash on to show that you’ve reached the ocean floor, some distance below even the depths you knew before. Lights around the outside of the massive glass dome you've found yourselves in illuminate the barren depths of the sea, with little if any ocean life to currently disrupt it.

At the top of the dome, among the lights, is an outward-facing circle of five or six different screens, each showing the telltale spiral that indicates The Professor is as present as he ever is.

Below them, of course, are the podiums, a circle of simple metal stands with some kind of video screen embedded into each, though they’re turned off for now. Each of your names is carved into one of them, though the podium constructed for Aela seems to have been just set to display a blank red light.

The screens lower down until they’re too close to eye level for anyone’s comfort. ]

Welcome to the trial room. You have as long as you need to discover who among you killed The Huntress. Once you have, I will explain further action. Take your places.

[ The screens rise back up - welcome to your first trial. ]

Comments

[obstagoodboy]

... seriously mate? Look at me, you think I could take that tank of a woman down on my own? Without my pokemon?

[blackmass]

...Without your what, now?

[ladygeryon]

He's a Trainer, just like me. [Nira gestures to Aria, who is now curled around her legs and helping to keep her upright.]

[blackmass]

[...hm.]

[HM.]

And what manner of creature is it that accompanies him, normally?

[obstagoodboy]

I have a full team, but I didn't come with 'em, unlike Nira. I assume it's 'cuz hers helps her stay upright.

[obstagoodboy]

Oh yeah, I keep forgetting not all of you know- they're like a battle pet. Folks from my world don't really fight often. We use pokemon for that.

[blackmass]

And you find yourself lacking yours? What a terrible shame.

[obstagoodboy]

Yeah, bloody shame 'cuz I'd totally ask my friend to kill for me if I did.

[The sarcasm is thick]

[blackmass]

I never implied you would ask it in the first place.

[obstagoodboy]

Pokemon don't attack without orders unless they're wild.

[blackmass]

...Not even if they were to be antagonized first?

Purely hypothetically, of course. Since yours aren't here.

[obstagoodboy]

Hypothetically? They'd probably defend themselves. But Obstagoon and the others wouldn't kill a human. Beat 'em up at best.

[ladygeryon]

Properly trained Pokemon won't use lethal violence against humans. Though of course they'll still defend themselves.