Scene #2243: Legends of the Hidden Temple

Owner	Pose
Mortimer Balman	Deep in the sweltering jungles of the Pethian continent- where some parts of it have reached temperatures of close to 100 degrees (and it's only Spring!) which feels even hotter with all the humidity, there stands past a forest made of strange pokemon disguised as trees a.. Giant robot. It's Mort's heavily modded Gelgoog M-type Mobile Suit. It stands out well against the jungle background, being painted gray and black with bits of red against the vast sea of green. Whenever Rory and Zwei find their ways to the beacon that Mort's broadcasting, they will find he is standing atop a colossal ruined temple. Much of it is buried underground but their sensors can no doubt use seismography and fancy futuretech gadgetry to tell that the top of the stratum is but a small portion. Around what appears to be the entrance to the enormous, remarkably intact (for its considerable age) wrought stone architecture- which may give off strange energy readings if they can detect any kind of psychic powers- there is Mortimer along with his Pokemon and Thunderwolf. The Wartortle, Delibird, Absol, Shuppet, and Butterfree are all there. Mortimer is using some manner of cryokinetic power to create a shell of ice to keep the heat from overwhelming his crew. The giant wolf and the wartortle are busy digging at the ground, have been for several days. They haven't made much progress though, since they lack efficient digging tools or machines beyond their own natural claws.
Rory White	As usual, Rory's arrival is via teleport beam! Not far from the beacon, she appears in a flash of light from the heavens. A few more beams follow, each one carrying with it some of her drones - extra eyes, ears, and hands. A few of them quickly set about doing full scans of the area exactly as Mortimer likely expects. Strangely, she doesn't seem AT ALL bothered by the heat or humidity and just toddles over towards the top of the buried structure. "This... this would be quite a dig to uncover! It's enormous!"
Fudou Moto	Fudou is about as psychic as a pile of bricks. Fortunately, what he lacks in AWESOME MENTAL POWERS, he more than makes up for in brawn and endurance. The Street Fighter arrives not too far from the beacon- but far enough that his inexperience with multiversal travel is pretty plain to see. The fact that he staggers a bit on arrival makes that fact even clearer- but he doesn't take too long to recover, either. He makes a curious noise as he stares up at the ruin. And the... The giant robot. Huh. Fudou fishes out a three-generations-old smartphone and snaps a picture. He'll have to show this thing to Misae. Also, the temple. Also the... Cute fuzzy critters. Man, he's a regular tourist today. After a quick glance around, Fudou makes his way over to the others, sweeping a thin mist of sweat from his brow. "Hey. So I heard there's stuff that needs digging," Fudou glances over at the temple, "So uhhh. What's exactly the game plan here?"
Zwei	Zwei has actually showed up the same way as Rory, using their Flotilla ship to make most of the journey and then teleporting down as a column of red-white light from there. It might seem a little contrary that Asche is at the Flotilla meeting while Weiss is here doing excavation work, but Weiss has better sensors, and the meeting is between close friends to begin with, so Asche's form of tact is suited just as well. Weiss herself doesn't really look any different from normal, which is predictable since she doesn't sweat and is entirely capable of dropping her body temperature well below human standard, leaving it just to the ambient heat. Also predictably, she hasn't brought any drones, because she's a one-Armiger utility kit. "Wow, no kidding!" she says in response to Rory. "Are you really hoping to dig the entire thing out? Or are we just looking for a way in?" she asks Mortimer, meandering over and tapping her knuckles against the leg of the robot.
Mortimer Balman	The 'cute fuzzy critters' are not all so cute. The Thunderwolf is larger than a Ford pickup truck- closer in size to an Abrams tank. The Absol is an ancient and hulking beast- for its species at least- and has a broken head-blade, its eyes do not shine with the same intelligences that the other pokemons' do. And the Shuppet.. Well. Okay she looks like a harmless little sock puppet.. For now.. And then Mort. Who pulls a pipe from his mouth while talking, focusing his thoughts to extending the ice-layer over his newly arrived guests so that they don't overheat too much. Even if Rory and Zwei don't care that much it's just polite to do. "Digging the whole thing out would take years, I fear, even with the fanciest of fancy space-future widgets you lot can pull outta yer collective arses. No, we're only lookin' fer a way inside. That path should be.. ..Hey Reder? Reder!" The Wartortle- most definitely not a 'cute' creature unless you find scar-coated toothbeasts cute- poked his head out of a hole. "<What's up Sarge?>" "How deep down you think the old way in is?" The beast tapped a claw to its chin. "<Hell, I dunno. Fifty, maybe eighty meters down?>" Mort rubbed his head. "Has it really sunk that much.." "<Well yeah, Sarge. We're lucky this much is sticking out. Hell we're lucky it's /visible/.>" 'This much' being almost six stories up, and it does not break the treelines. For reference to how damn tall a lot of these trees grow. Big stuff here. Mort thought a minute longer. "Well about sixty to eighty meters then. Rory, Zwei, one of you should be able to look for.. Well if you have any kinna seismo techno gadgetry look fer two huge-arse doors about ten meters tall each, that are four meters across each side. They'll be solid granite.."
Fudou Moto	Fudou may or may not have a skewed idea on what things qualify as cute. Fudou's arms link over his chest. His tufty, white eyebrows twitch a bit as they come together. He seems to be staring at the... The talking, blue snapping turtle. Not quite talking. Its mouth is moving and it's saying words and they somehow translate in his brain. It's kind of jarring. "Hey," he grunts, "Fifty to eighty meters is pretty damn deep, you know? It'll take-- yeah, years to move that much earth." Fudou scratches at his cheek, peering over at what of the temple is in fact exposed. "Can't we just... Punch a hole through a wall and make our way down that way? I mean, if this is the top of it, we should just be able to make our own doors."
Rory White	"Eighty meters? ...digging a navigable tunnel that far down won't be easy. I could have something ready for excavation in half an hour or so? An inclined tunnel that could be walked through. Provided you know where the entrance SHOULD be..." Rory offers, but then stiffens in a bit of beiwildered panic. Supernatural abilities still get her full attention focused, and ICE FROM NOWHERE is worth watching. As are newcomers. Fudou's peered over with a mechanical thorougness. A tiny Saucer drone even zips over to them and does a circling. "Hello? What brings you all the way out here? A friend of yours, Mr. Balman?"
Zwei	Weiss waits for Rory to forward something first out of politeness, but her gaze turns to Fudou in short order, doing the casual, silent, invisible full body scan to assess the most invasive details of his person without telling anyone, and then actually opening her mouth to acknowledge his presence. "You know, I actually agree with him. Eighty meters is a lot of dirt to clear. I could make us a tunnel, but an actually stable one would probably take longer than breaking in anyways." She can also teleport through a decent thickness of wall, but that's not really worth mentioning here. "Seismographs though, that's cute~ I'll read the mass signature." Which she does; assessing the subtle strain of gravity on the fabric of space to ascertain the density and shape of objects within a search area thirty meters across, ninety meters down, looking to match anything within a standard deviation of typical granite of a solid shape of the correct dimensions.
Mortimer Balman	Mortimer puffs some smoke from his nostrils.. And from the back of his neck. "Nah, we don't need to uncover the whole /thing/. I remember this temple.. So does Reder. We should be able to dig straight down and then forward to the door, I think. If we can do that we can just break inside.." He'd pause at the query on breaking a hole open. "No, that would be.. Dangerous. The temple is not meant to be broken. ../Things/ could happen. Don't ask me what." He'd look down for a moment. "A tunnel.. We can stabilize it if you can dig it. Keeping the earth still is easy. Getting it out of the way is hard.." Reder would climb out of the pit, then jump up onto Mort's shoulder- somehow balancing there, which is impressive for a thick meter tall tortoise. Mort shrugged at Rory. "Some kid who said he was curious. If he wants to help dig, he's free to. I won't turn down a helping shovel." Speaking of which. He'd let out a whistle, and an adorable little Delibird came waddling over, and hugged Morty's leg. "<Whatcha need Uncle Morty?>" "Roll sweetie, pull us out some shovels, okay?" "<Sure!>" She'd somehow smile <(^v^)> and then reach into her.. Tail, which appeared to be some sort of pouch, and despite the obvious problems with size and volume, pulled several large shovels out from it and tossed them to the ground. "<Anything else??>" Mort reached down to fuzzle her head feathers, "No dear, go back and keep an eye on Falstaff, okay?" "<Kay!>" And then she would bounce-waddle away, pouncing into the feral monstrosity's side and hugging into his thick white fur. The Absol, for his part, simply opened an eye, sniffed a bit, and let out a tired grunt, and turned to lick at Roll's beak a bit.
Fudou Moto	"Uh, hey," Fudou nods at the two ladies. His eyes, completely and utterly ordinary, can't identify anything... TOO out of the ordinary with either of them. One looks like she needs way more sun. Glowing eyes are pretty normal though, depending on the specific person, so he doesn't worry. Fudou's biometrics come off pretty ordinary under Weiss' invasive gaze. There are a few anomalous readings for physical traits, but nothing too bizarre- except that he also comes off as very red. Somehow. "Name's Fudou. I'm just out here to stretch my legs and maybe pick up a gift for my little girl," his hands hook into his pockets, "And maybe get some treasure out of it, too. Heh." That'd be pretty nice. Finding a priceless artifact or something. He'd settle for souvenir though. And then... There's a bird. Fudou's brow twitches as it, too, does the weird lip-flappy word-speaky thing that somehow turns into language when it reaches his brain. God that's weird. "Th...thanks?" He says, picking up one of the larger shovels. "Well, I guess if you just really want a tunnel, we can go ahead and dig a tunnel. Still seems kind of silly to me, though, but you're the boss."
Rory White	"Thankfully I assembled a drone ahead of time for this job!" Rory... actually sticks her tongue out playfully, leaning forward. Is she... trying to be teasing? Maybe? If childishly. The Cognizant Odyssey's teleporters come alive again, depositing a man-sized treaded vehicle with a large, manipulable drill on the front. "Eighty meters at an incline? Which side has the entrance?"
Zwei	Weiss quirks an eyebrow at Mort, disguising her vague reservations about the veracity of Fudou's data, and why it strikes her as a certain colour. "Hmmmm, if you say so. I doubt it's anything the four of us can't handle, but I'll just assume you're worried about archeological integrity rather than actually afraid." How very charitable. "Actually not all that far from here. I'll mark it for you." she says to Rory, sending the coordinates to her mesh uplink. Before anyone gets to any actual digging though, she steps up to a spot of jungle ground and scorches the grass off the top with an ultraviolet laser pulse, marking a circle ten feet in diameter. Aiming down, the wrist of her right arm pops open to expose the barrel of her PDW, which she uses to fire off a rapid series of high energy raiser rounds into the dirt, set to maximum penetration with no explosive collapse. The ground thumps and rumbles underfoot with each successive impact, throwing loose stones and twigs into the air as the grass thrashes violently. All the shots fall within the perimeter of the established circle, which after she's done firing, has been converted to an eighty meter cylinder of pulverized dust more than anything. All the hard packed dirt and stone is basically so much sand to move out of the way.
Mortimer Balman	Mortimer blinks, and when Weiss starts pulverizing the Earth in such a fashion; well, the whole damn jungle reacts. There is an ungodly SCREAMING sound coming from far away- very far away but still painfully loud- along with the roaring of birds, dragons, and beasts. A stampede occurs within a kilometer of the entire area, /away/ from that horrible sound of wrecked-to-hell earth. "Great buckets of Tauros shit?! I didn't know you could do THAT! Gods /damn/.. Gods /damn/ I ho-" Mortimer is cut off when the entire temple stratum begins trembling a bit. After all the effects of Weiss's shots finish. It doesn't explode, or open, or anything else.. It just trembles a bit and makes the ground around it do so as well. Then it stills. Only once it stops does Mortimer actually exhale- a big cloud of smoke- and wipe his brow. "Okay.. Okay I think that's a good sign.. C'mon boy, grab you a shovel, let's get diggin'.. Hey Falstaff, get off yer butt and help out, yeah?" Mortimer then dives /into/ the sand, burrowing with almost supernatural speed down to the bottom of the tunnel, and Falstaff and Reder start using their claws to chuck large quantities of newly made sand out of their way. The Thunderwolf does not help, instead hiding behind Falstaff and whining a bit. He clearly does not like the reaction that the temple has made.
Fudou Moto	Robots and lasers and stampedes, oh my! Fudou stands amidst all this chaotic earth-moving, staring up at the... The everything. What isn't there to stare at? "Huh," Fudou grunts, looking down at his shovel. "Well, damn. Now I'm feelin' kinda inadequate." Only one thing for it. It's sort of an odd sight, to be honest. Two pokemon digging at in tandem with a rather brawny man in a muscle shirt. They have claws, he has a shovel and is made of perhaps far too much meat. It's an honest day's work, at least... Even if he kind of wishes he had some kind of laser shovel now, or something.
Zwei	Weiss looks up at Mort as if mildly surprised. "Really?" she asks. "Didn't you fight a Stalker pattern Arma before? I have like, a thousand times the reactor output. It shouldn't be /that/ surprising." Clearly Mort does not have an adequate grasp of SCIENCE. "Sorry about all the noise though! I wasn't really considering the whole ecosystem around here. I'm sure they'll probably come back and resettle once we're gone." To try and play down the theatrics that had just happened, Weiss grabs a perfectly ordinary shovel alongside Fudou. She works at the kind of pace that someone attempting to do something very, very fast would, but would never be able to actually sustain over a long period of time. Good thing she doesn't get tired.
Rory White	All the noise and STRANGE WILDLIFE REACTIONS means Rory freaks out even as her own machine starts drilling. She ends up frowning at Zwei, but... ".. That was a creative use of weaponry I hadn't considered," She eventually remarks, slightly humbled by the analysis.
Mortimer Balman	From below the steadily being dug out surface of the sand pit, chunks of something begin being.. Spat out. It looks like glass. Dakhla glass to be specific. Massively heated bits of sand forming into a crude glass-like structure. A few bigger chunks fly out, occasionally deepening the pit a little more visibly. But it doesn't look like much else is being done. As time passes however, and more sand is thrown off to the side, they will find the /edges/ of the tunnel that Weiss has made are not loose rock and soil- it's the same kind of glass that has been popping up out of the pit in bits and pieces. Also, the deeper down they go, they will find it is becoming increasingly, uncomfortably, /hot/.
Fudou Moto	Fudou looks a bit awkward at having a girl- even an unusually pale one- help him dig a hole. Not too awkward to reject that help, of course. The drill is welcome, though... Except when it begins spitting out piles of sand and glass. He has to duck out of the way when a chunk comes flying just a little too close to his head for comfort. But, hey, progress! Right? Kind of. Is it getting hot in here? Hot enough for Fudou to have removed his shirt, at least. He's still digging, though, even if he's stopping more regularly for water and a chance to step out of the hole to cool down. "What the hell is even down there?" Fudou grunts, swallowing a mouthful of water, "A volcano?"
Rory White	"Temperatures are reaching beyond flat human tolerances!" Rory helpfully and swiftly warns Fudou as is proper. There's some worry in her eyes but she's really not sure what exactly to do about an overheating human besides cool them off. "Will you be alright?" WHAT ABOUT HERSELF? Oddly enough, Rory's not even sweating... weeeeeird, to anyone who doesn't know what she is. "You'd expect temperatures to DECREASE underground. Why is it the opposite? Something in the temple?"
Zwei	"Your guess is probably as good as mine" Weiss says to Fudou, entirely insincerely. "Glass isn't known for being breathable. It retains heat and radiates it over a long period of time. There could actually be something spitting out thermal radiation down here, or it could simply be enough of a closed system that something warms it up a little more than it cools down every day." She picks up a chunk of glass to analyze it briefly, before discarding it and hopping down the hole, boring ahead into the first signs of an entry she can find.
Fudou Moto	"I'll be fine," Fudou grunts, wielding his removed shirt like a sweatrag to wipe down his face. "Just need to stay hydrated and my body'll take care of itself. Ain't like I haven't burned hotter than this before." Earth rattles against metal as he takes up his shovel again and tentatively moves back towards the hole. "Besides, I can't just stand back while the two of you are still going at it. It just ain't right. A guy's gotta earn his dinner somehow!"
Mortimer Balman	The heat cools a bit as they wear on. Soon, they will get to the bottom. At the bottom of the now cleared pit- which has begun cooling down significantly, almost unnaturally fast, Mortimer is waiting for them. Getting down there is pretty easy- the sides of the tunnel are all glassy and rocky. Thick enough that they aren't so brittle that they'll snap like wet ice. More like handholds, it's like rock-climbing! Only on.. Glassy-rock! Anyway, Mort's FIERY HEAD is providing an excellent TORCH. Also perhaps giving them an idea as to what was causing the heat, but probably not if they couldn't figure it out after watching him literally dive into the sand pit and dig his way down lightning fast. "Took you fellas long enough. Everyone alright? Switchbait can bring down some beers if yer thirsty.. Well I guess only you an' me there, son." He motions to Fudou, then puts a hand to his ear. "Hey Switch float us down some longnecks will yah?" A few minutes later, the over-sized butterfly- which I should probably note has an almost unnecessarily British moustache and accent- flutters down with a cooler of ice and beers resting within. Mort grabs one, and tosses another to Fudou. The bottle tops pop off by the work of an unseen hand. The giant insect makes a 'free'ing sound, "<Is there anything I may do for you, sah?>" "Naw Switch, that'll be good. Actually.. No, you follow us in. Tell Reder and Nettle to keep an eye topside." The creature bows his little head, "<By all means, sah. I shall be right back. Ladies, gentleman.>" And then back up he goes.. Standing behind them all, illuminated by Mortimer's head, are giant stone doors. They have strange runes carved into them- which one might understand, if they know any languages similar to Sumerian logographics.
Fudou Moto	Well. It's cooler at least. Fudou wipes the last of the sweat from his brow before making a short series of broad leaps down into the depths of the earth. It feels like he might've sweated out a river- or an ocean. The beer is a welcome reprieve- he pops the top and tosses the whole, frosty thing back in one shot. Ain't nothing like a cold one after a hard day's work. "Right," he says, crushing the can in one hand. "Thanks, I needed that. Gotta say--" Fudou looks back up at the girls, "Those two are damn impressive. The Multiverse is a pretty crazy place, with ladies like that around. So!" Uh. Fudou stares right up at the doors. He cracks his knuckles and lightly pops the joints in his neck and shoulders. "We just need to get these open, right?"
Rory White	"You're welcome to eat whatever my fabber can make later, if you'd like!" Offers Rory, tone as polite as can be. Of course most of her attention is on the temple's innards. Some of her drones swoop down on the tunnel and turn on lights of their own to help illuminate things, though Rory herself is aumgnenting her navigation with infrared rendering others won't likely be able to appreciate. The writing on the doors gives her serious pause. "One moment, Rolan thinks he can translate..." About ten seconds later... "Translation... let's see. The meaning is... Enter, friends, and see the records kept by the wise leader Tilmun. At least I think that's the meaning. This grammar is strange. 'Memory of Time' would mean records, wouldn't it? History?" She looks bewilderedly at the otehrs, as if hoping for clarification.
Zwei	"Oh I'm not really a 'lady'. I'm essentially genderless. This body is totally artificial." Weiss casually corrects Fudou, dropping that fact like someone citing a sports statistic. "I don't really blame you for not realizing though. There are a lot of people who look weirder than this out there!" She pauses to consider the doors. "That's more or less what I got too. I'm guessing Tilmun is one of those Alakazams Mortimer spoke of, so while an archive of some kind is probable, there's a good chance there won't be much in the way of books to see. Could be interesting! Oh, and if you wouldn't mind!" She gives the street fighter the opportunity to assert his manliness by opening the massive doors for them.
Mortimer Balman	Mortimer chuckled some. "Very good! You got it mostly correct." He'd even go so far as to applaud- sincerely, at that. "I am surprised you can read the First of all written tongues, but you did! Not much context though is there? You can only enter if the temple thinks you're friendly.. Whiiiich might be hard given Zwei's little trick back there.. But this is what I want you all to do. /Think/. Think /friendly/ thoughts. Curiousity, eagerness, peace, that sort of thing. Think that. The temple will open the doors to us then.. Or it should, at least." The rumbling comes back again. Following that however is a.. /Presence/. Not quite a 'wave' but more of a /feeling/. Even Zwei and Rory would be able to feel it. An unseen and indeed unseeable, invisible prod of sorts, poking at their circuitry, their processors, their /minds/. Not /intruding/ per se but more of.. Inquisitively studying them, might be the best fit words. That presence is also studying Mortimer and Fudou of course, but they might find it much easier to handle.
Fudou Moto	"But you're--" Fudou snaps his mouth shut. Thinking about Weiss' gender seems to be giving him a bit of a headache. "Right. Okay. I'll buy it." The Multiverse is /weird/ man. First ambulatory bugmen, now robots? At least robots are sane. Mostly. Fudou's arms twitch reflexively as something else gets his attention. He turns his eyes back up towards the doors, regarding them with an inquisitive stare. Something deep inside flares like a quick, stacatto supernova- but his will focuses inward, forcing it back down. "What," he chuckles a bit, "Are the /ruins/ intelligent, too? This is kind of wild."
Rory White	This isn't really hard for Rory! She's usually friendly, curious, and peaceful. Very rarely otherwise. But the sudden pinging sensation DOES alarm her - she's up on her tiptoes and quickly toppling onto her tush due to paying a lot of attention to THAT and not enough on maintaining balance. "Wh-whoah?! Something's strange, something feels strange!"
Zwei	"Huh." is Weiss' eloquent reply to Mort's assertion. "Right. Okay. I'll buy it." It's obviously a friendly ribbing in Fudou's direction. "I guess if you have the capacity to do so, that kind of friend or foe identification function could be pretty useful for something housing important, potentially sensitive documents." Her response to the presence that finds her will have to go totally unexpressed. Weiss remains completely impassive on the outside, having no reflexive instincts to act surprised or astonished in a visible manner. For the manner in which is studies Zwei's mind however, it studies right back. It'd be difficult to call the Armiger 'friendly' in no uncertain terms, but it seems to have a complete and total absence of hostile thoughts, and a desire to learn what's inside, which is probably good enough. More importantly however, Zwei isn't entirely all 'there'. The temple will be basically examining one angle of a 3d object, enough to get an idea of what it looks like, but without the information required to get a full idea of its total dimensions. Like looking at a 2d snapshot, the additional data just isn't present. It's as if it only partially even /exists/.
Mortimer Balman	For a brief moment there's a half-faded sense of fascination. An ancient /thought/- not even a thought really. A memory of memory of thought that recalls what fascination would have been like in the distant past. The doors rumble open. "The stone remembers.. From then, till now, till the stones no longer Are; they Remember." He'd look back over his shoulder at the others. "...And that my dear guests, is part of why none took hostile actions against the Alakazams. They Remember when all that are left to recall are Sand and Stone.. We call these "temples" but really, they are more of /monuments/ than anything else.." His face looks downcast for a moment, but then Mortimer ventures inside. The butterfree has since returned and took perch upon his head. Somehow standing in the flames without being burnt. It is not dark inside like one might think. There is an ambient light that feels almost like sunlight, but there is no source either magical nor scientific behind the twilight glow. The butterfree murmurs to the others, "<Memories of the Sun, that we not forget how to See..>" Musty. Old. Ancient beyond mortal memory, tens of thousands of years old. They are in a large stone foyer. The lack of disturbance for untold eons has allowed a few scant bits of tattered cloth to survive, though they are so fragile that even the slightest breeze or touch may cause them to disintegrate. There are no altars, no seats, only various alcoves and odd hallways that do not go in one direction but many at once- to accomodate creatures that could fly and levitate under their own power rather than relying on footpower. "It should be past here.. A dozen or so meters, I think.."
Fudou Moto	Fudou gives Weiss a look. At least it's a pretty amused, genial kind of look, even if it's also one that screams 'I saw what you did there.' He doesn't comment further, though, instead letting the bright, shining beacon that is Mortimer's head lead them deeper into the temple. "So, what're we looking for, again?" He asks, peering about the inside the ruin. He hides his disappointment at a distinct lack of awesome artifacts strewn about all over the place like a proper sealed-and-buried ruin. Well, they did say it was a repository of ancient wisdom. Maybe all these paper scraps used to be books? "Pretty neat that this place is still doing things after so long, though," he comments at the dim, gloamy light permeating the temple complex. "Kind of makes you wonder what else might still be moving down here, huh?"
Zwei	If it bothers Zwei that it can't figure out where the light is coming from, it doesn't show on Weiss. In fact, she looks pretty excited to be here. "So it's a system that works entirely based on memetic memory? It's lit up inside because it remembers sunlight? That's incredible! It also means I was right! It's an archive, but it's sure not a library. How much of this do you think will-" she cuts off as Mortimer starts naming distances. "Wait, did you have a plan before coming here? I thought you were just digging stuff up for the sake of it. What are we looking for?"
Rory White	Rory recovers from her discomcobulation, although has to lean against the ancient stone wall to rise to her feet properly. Balance TAKES ATTENTION for her. It's still not quite an instinct or reflex. "What... exactly are you searching for, Mr. Balman?" She's not doing much searching herself. Instead, her drones are swooping around the chamber making exacting recordings of EVERYTHING. In truth, she's pretty awed by what they're coming across, but bad t showing it.
Mortimer Balman	Mortimer doesn't immediately answer their queries, he is most definitely looking for something. Reder turns around on his Sergeant's shoulder and looks at them. "<Sarge and I.. We were taken here once, during the War. Ages ago.. The 'Kazams found our battalion, what was left of it, after the Jin-Suk Offensive, nursed us back to health, got us home. Sarge saw the Walls then.. You'll see too.>" The usually acerbic and smart-assed wartortle is oddly somber, ear-fins all flattened to the sides of his head like that. "<Should be left of here, Sarge.>" "Right.." They stop at a wall. Well it looks like a wall. But Mortimer.. Just walks right through it. Zwei and Rory can probably tell it's some kind of illusion- not a hologram but it's still immaterial, generated by the same Memories that keep the place alight. Mortimer does not wait for them. However, once they all decide to walk through.. They will be inside of a colossal, hundreds of meters tall and wide cylindrical room. The walls are made of pure carved basalt. Throughout the vast chamber are floating abstract shapes and platforms made of solid granite, kept aloft by Memories of Flight. The air is sterile and cool, perhaps disturbingly /fresh/ despite being completely sealed off. They will see Mortimer jumping to and from the floating shapes, far on ahead from them- it is no small feat of acrobatics to do such as they are clearly designed to be perched upon by things that can fly. Switchbait, however, is still waiting for them once they have come through. Upon the walls of this enormous chamber are carved.. Names. Dates. Locations. The names are painstakingly carved in and inlaid with gold- tarnished gold, but obviously well preserved. The names are people- men, women. Designations- ranks, birthrights, titles held, honorifics. Dates- date of birth, date of death. Cause and place of death- every name is someone who died in a conflict of some sort or another at some point. Size eighteen letters- easily read even by those with poor eyesight- in various Earth-approximate languages. Sumerian, Japanese, French, Hebrew, Aramaic, Phoenician, Vietnamese, and many others. They are not all evenly spaced apart as some markers are larger or longer than others, but each one is carefully boxed off from the others. The butterfree's wings no longer flap yet he remains floating in the air, perhaps riding the localised psychic currents that can be felt even by the most lifeless of metals and machinery and staying aloft. "<This place does not have a proper name, you know. Not in spoken language, at least. It is a Thought, like so many other things..>" The insectoid pokemon /thinks/ at them, and an image of sorts can be projected into their minds. The Memory of War.
Fudou Moto	Fudou has never been in a war. Not an actual war. He's certainly been involved in gang wars. Sometimes he's even been responsible for breaking up gang wars. As such, when he enters the chamber, following after Mortimer and the Reder through the wall, it's without any frame of reference for what they find inside. It's... certainly a nice memorial, he thinks. A gravesite- a place that should be commemorated, remembered and respected. But he finds it all difficult to contextualize and internalize- one way or another, it feels as though he should not be in this place. Especially once he knows its Name. Kind of weird that it's the sort of name that's utterly unspeakable, no matter how hard he tries. "Mmn," is what he manages after a little while. He hooks his hands back into the pockets of his pants and stares up at the symbols on the walls. He doesn't say anything more, though. Gotta let old soldiers mourn on their own time.
Rory White	Walking through an illusion is a rather confusing experience, but the weirder thing is what faces Rory after she flails an arm INTO the wall-that-isn't.. and into the chamber beyond. If there's anything terrifying to an AGI, it's coming into a situation that invokes FEELINGS one did not know they had. Rory briefly panics, scrunching up against a wall from some instinct or another... while her gaze wanders EVERYWHERE. Instead of engaging in acrobatics herself however... once she recovers, she directs one of her Saucer drones to follow Mortimer. "This... this place... what did they do here? It's... I don't have words." Nor does she have a word to describe her current emotions, which is a serious cause for worry on her part! Of course the projected memories, HOWEVER they're even affecting her, aren't helping her cause much. Rory's shoulders slump even as the Saucer catches up with Charr... Hundreds of names are analyzed and translated in seconds.. "... Now I understand..."
Zwei	Weiss has the decency to remain quiet out of respect for the overall tone. Not so much respect for the dead, or respect for the memory of the war; it's an ancient, long gone history of conflict in an empty world Zwei has no attachment to, beholden to a person they only know in the casual sense. They can't can't feel any sort of emotional connection to any of this; but at the very least, they can recognize when someone is serious, and when it is appropriate to tread with dignity. As the corridor opens up into the monolothic, panoramic relief, she glides off the edge of the platform with an almost silent burn of tiny maneuvering thrusters in her back and calves, burning little holes through her clothes that she'll fix within seconds of landing anyways. She spins three-sixty at the center of the room, scanning the entire surface of the shaft and rapidly matching languages to her database, recording the sights around her. With her effectively unlimited storage space, her records of the memorial could theoretically last longer than the stones themselves. "It's a little funny to think about." she ventures after a while. "Since I was 'born' to fight a war that never happened. Despite all the data the Collective gathered on every single world, I don't think they've ever built a memorial to one they've killed."
Mortimer Balman	Switchbait gently floats around the others, answering Weiss first. "<We never developed such means, I fear. Not for lack of trying mind you, but limitations existed. Damned if I know what- racial inclinations? Social pressures? Time, money, politics, sheer dumb luck? Haven't a bloody clue. But the monks- the Alakazams- they did it this way.>" He floats down again, spreading his wings and sprinkling a few shiny spores that glitter in the memory of light, making sure all three of them can hear him. "<Always obsessed with historical accuracy, they were. Maybe because of how expansive their consciousnesses were, I suppose. Every one of their monument-temples is like this. There's one in Grouda dedicated to every notable developmental milestone- technology, social progress, economic theories, any kind of world-altering ingenuity. And one in Contiki somewhere that details the factual political histories of every nation- nobody could ever lie to an Alakazam, nobody could ever hide the truth.>" He fluttered over to a stone and perched on it, upside down, looking down at them. "<P'raps that is why they made these. To share the truth with everyone..>" A couple dozen meters up, Mortimer is sitting on an alcove, staring at one of the chunks of wall. Reder is sitting next to him, running his claws over the name-boxes. Neither of them look particularly happy, but lost in memories, mumbling wordlessly to themselves. Switchbait frees again, "<Ah, the Master made some promises about potential treasures.. I believe we may be able to find some, if we can discern the locations of the living quarters. Would any of you care to look?>"
Fudou Moto	"Well, someone's gotta record the past," Fudou says with a shrug, his shoulders aching in dull protest to the motion. "Else it's like it never happened at all, right? Could kinda see why someone'd go through all the effort to build a place like this." It'd be nice if more places had completely accurate historybooks, anyway. Would probably solve a lot of issues. "Yeah," he nods, then. "I'll go take a look around." Fudou issues a respectful nod to the two old soldiers, "Would probably be best to leave those two to their memories for a little while."
Rory White	"Nobody could ever lie?" Rory finds this simply hard to elieve, sttistically, but the amazing things around her DO lead some credence tot his claim. She has figured out the right word for this emotion: awed. And overwhelmed. Enough that she simply seats herself, letting her Saucers be her eyes to take things in rather than worry about two-legged locomotion.
Zwei	Weiss frowns ever so slightly at that information. "To an Alakazam." she adds to Rory. "They're a type of extremely powerful psychic. They'd have to be to build this place anyways. I wouldn't be surprised if they aggregated this information from looking into the minds of everyone they ever talked to. Perhaps even sharing it with each other through the same means. Some sort of collective thought?" It's interesting to hypothesize on, but a little frustrating to think that all of them are dead. "Sure! I'm not really sure what we'll find, but . . ." she looks over to Mortimer and Reder. "Are those two gonna be okay?"
Mortimer Balman	Switchbait, having checked on the two, nods. "<Oh yes, they will be fine, Miss Weiss. They're.. Well if you must know you may ask them yourselves at a later time. They shall "keep" as parlance goes.>" The butlerfree began floating around to another side of the chamber. "<Alakazams have extremely over-evolved minds- to the point where they are capable of perceiving and knowing things the rest of us humble mortals cannot begin to comprehend. But they are not a /collective/, no that is the /Ditto/. Each Alakazam is an individual, though they may communicate telepathically, each is their own person. It has been theorized however that sheer potency of mind allows them to work as a team to monitor the entire planet simultaneously, vast mental networks that have existed throughout history. Only a handful of the species did not deign to join the ranks of these monastic orders of theirs- those few often found themselves in positions of judicial authority. There is not a single known instance where someone has successfully lied to an Alakazam judge or interrogator.. And similarly, not a single known case of them abusing their positions.>" The butterfree paused at another section of non-marked wall, prodding at it with his tiny feet. "<Well, one place is as good as another to start looking. These monasteries tended to be very utilitarian so it should be reasonably easy to explore.. I say, miss Weiss, miss White, are either of you experiencing interference of any sort? If not p'raps we could use your amazing technological gewgaws to automatically map this place out a bit.>"
Zwei	Weiss' face lights up at that. It seems simultaneously strange and predictable that she should take such avid interest in a civilization like /that/. "Oh wow! A naturally generated, post-singularity ability! That's my first time hearing of anything like that, even in the multiverse! I'm kind of amazed they restricted themselves only to positions of monitors rather than being a more central influence to the course of the world. Was it just beyond their interest to influence history, or did they feel like touching it themselves would compromise its worth somehow? From the words 'monastic order', I assume it's rooted in a sort of species-wide cultural movement. Otherwise information control of that degree is basically all you need to take over an entire planet." She pauses at the indicated section of wall, laying a hand on it and scanning it intently for likelihood of being an illusion or secret passage, and moving through it if such is the case. "No, I don't think anything here is trying to interfere. I don't think the temple is 'broadcasting' /anything/. There aren't any signals being transmitted or commands being received here. It just kind of . . . is." She pulses her mass-scanners like a wave of sonar, deploying a three dimensional holographic map in front of her for Switchbait to see as well as Rory.
Rory White	"N-negative, no interference so far. I've already been doing so!" Rory's recovered from her stupor, but yes, her devices have already been reoaming much as Zwei's own sensors. Every single inscribed name, every detail that can be detected using the electromagnetic spectrum's being analyzed and compiled. "Psychic abilities are only a rumor or prank at best in my homeworld experiences. This is.... startling, no matter how many times I see it. An entire race of beings that were never selfish?"
Mortimer Balman	Switchbait shrugs, "<That we know of, at least. The Alakazams were extremely secretive.. And naturally, that meant watched constantly. They were powerful but by no means an /absolute/ power. Their lower-stage evolutions- Abras and Kadabras- were not nearly as potent and thus, not part of greater Alakazam culture.. But nobody ever found anything sinister- at least not genuinely so. During the old race wars back in the before the medieval period, there were a number of attempts by paranoid monarchies and oligarchies to purge them. Many died, but thankfully they were not exterminated..>" A pause. "<Species wide? Yes, most definitely. But I'm afraid anything past that is mere speculation. If any selfish or greedy or any other sorts of Alakazams existed I would presume their fellows would have.. Taken care of them and prevented that from becoming a problem. But mind you I am speaking optimistically. I could be entirely wrong, and everything they've done has been for completely sinister reasons. But with the world as it is now.. Well, I'm afraid we'd have to ask the Goddesses.>" And then Switchbait passes through an illusory wall. His head pokes through it briefly, "<Let's be off then, yes?>"
Zwei	"I'm willing to believe it. At this point, questioning that is like questioning how the characters are speaking in space in a cartoon about talking animals. If there's a species with bizarre super brains and psychic powers that let them record the history of the entire planet through telepathy, the idea that the vast majority of them shared the same ideas and goals isn't very far fetched, especially if they can project impressions and emotions like this. It could be that they just /understood/ something that made their policy of non-interference an obvious choice." Yes Weiss did just make an oblique reference to the idea of Spongebob Logic. "Given my species, where hundreds of millions of independent beings managed to share an almost perfectly unified set of policies and standards for a millenia, it's not too difficult to believe." She peruses the schematics of the temple, halfway following Switchbait, but steering towards anywhere that seems like it would be a logical in the placement in the floor plan to be living quarters.
Rory White	"This chamber also appears too TALL to fit within the physical limitations of the building itself," Rory exclaims after accepting the explanations offered. Her internal mapping software is going haywire in a few ways... Perceptions are weird sometimes. "Yes, I have the analysis! .... It's a pity that so much work went into this, yet its fate is to be buried and forgotten...."
Mortimer Balman	Switchbait frees as the two come through the wall with him. "<Ah but it has /not/ been forgotten, has it Miss White? Otherwise we would not be here. Given the length of time that these stratums can theoretically exist- if you want to believe legends, they were supposed to exist until the end of Time itself- it is inevitable that they would eventually be discovered by the next civilizations that come to Poqmori.. And even dead languages can be rediscovered and retranslated.>" The butterfree pauses for a moment. "<..I wonder.. No no that would be preposterous.. Anyway. The chamber isn't too tall, Miss White. No, it goes deeper into the ground than anything else. The temple itself is only about half the stratum. The rest of it is simply buried in the earth- surrounded by sturdy, magically enhanced rock formations caused by prehistoric volcanic and tectonic movements. If you've noticed, Poqmori has very little tectonic or volcanic activity compared to many other worlds. This place should keep for age measurable only in geological scales..>" Down one corridor, up another. "<..Hrm. Wish I had some idea of->" The butterfree is cut off by Mortimer's voice coming from behind them. "You're heading for the communal bathroom and toiletries area. The living quarters and meeting halls and guest rooms are below us, we should take the.. Was it left or right passage, Reder?>" Reder tortled from his sergeant's shoulder, "<Right passage.>"
Zwei	"Oh there you are!" Weiss turns to Mortimer. "Did you get what you came for, or are you looking for something else?" The question is entirely figurative. She's pretty sure he's seen what he needed to see. "It's the right." she corroborates with Reder, indicating the map, before taking obvious route there.
Rory White	"The ones who it would mean the most to, besides all of you... have left the planet. The ones it should mean the most to may not know it exists." Rory counters, for her viewpoint on such things is more communally oriented. "Hopefully the generation ships kept records. If the temples are abandoned I'd assume the Alakazams did not stay." Or hope, anyways. Then she gives an odd grin. "So that's it... Ithis chamber's so strange I've lost my bearings!" And that's saying something indeed. As he's quite overwhlmed by it too she's very interested in getting out of it, so she starts following the group again...
Mortimer Balman	Mortimer shook his head. "No, the 'Kazams mostly left too. Or likewise followed the collapse of civilization, filtering out into the general population, perhaps to start a new existence of their own." He took a deep breath, and exhaled. "It will be found again. If it is not.. Well, the generation ships had tremendous datastores. They should have all the collated information themselves." A shrug, and then he held out his arm for Switchbait to perch on. The pokemorph stopped in the middle of a large, mostly barren antechamber. Connected to it are a honeycomb of hallways leading to various rooms. "Efficient if simplistic design. Most of the decorum has long faded away. It used to be much nicer.. Let's see.." He'd look around a moment, pointing in an eastwardly direction. "There. That's one of the Forum rooms. They'd congregate there for debates with each other or, when guests were around, debate with us. They /loved/ talking about stuff. They wouldn't even read your mind- said it was much more enjoyable and healthy to let debates flow naturally.." Mortimer started walking into it, and then very suddenly, was flung away by a blast of compressed air powerful enough to make him smash into the wall, where he became quite firmly lodged. The same second there was a signature of a very complex- and ancient- digital signature. A horrid scraping sound is heard, and the telltale crackling of electricity and grinding of old gears and servos.
Zwei	Weiss' hair whips back as the blast of air rushes past her, ruffling her clothes as if caught in a storm, but not so much as rocking her backwards. She looks to Mortimer in a moment of surprised, scanning for vital signs just to make sure he isn't dead -- though she calculates the impact alone isn't sufficient to kill him -- before looking back to the doorway. ". . . I don't think I came make out whatever this says, but it's clearly different from the rest of this temple." She seems remarkably unmoved by the sounds she picks up in the background, though her personal interdiction field surreptitiously expands around her. "I'm picking up an actual energy spike though, not some kind of memory of one. It seems a little odd they'd violently defend a forum room after already having an IFF function at the front door." She steps to the very edge of the boundary Mortimer had triggered the mechanism, and fires up all sensors to full, focusing an utterly obscene amount of processing power on the task of assessing every detail she can find of the entry and the room beyond.
Rory White	"What just happened?!" With Mortimer going flying backward, Rory backpedals several steps and arms her (thankfully hidden) weapons, ready to bolt for cover if she really has to. "Mr. Balman, are you injured?! ... Perhaps it's some kind of guardian... but I'd find the idea of a trap now unlikely..."
Fudou Moto	Turns out that Fudou tends to zone out in ancient ruins if he's left to his own devices for long enough. Maybe it's the strangely hypnotic light radiating from the walls. Maybe it's respect for the ancients that came long before. Maybe something... else? Regardless, it takes Mortimer being blindsided by a jet of compressed air to snap him out of his reverie. Fudou shakes the cobwebs from his head and grunts softly at the disturbance. "The Hell? Guess it was too much to ask for an ancient ruin /not/ to be full of horrible death traps. This is turning into something straight out of some weird movie." Like it wasn't already?"
Mortimer Balman	Mortimer lets out a groan. "M'okay.." Reder falls to the ground, and Switchbait just sort of hovers there. "<You alright, Reder?>" "<Never better. Help me up please...>" And while they're busy working on getting Reder to his feet and trying to pry Mortimer out of the wall.. The creaking of servos is slow- the ground shakes a bit from the sound of tremendously heavy footsteps. A pair of flickering red eyes rapidly swivels around- no wait, they're not swiveling. They're /loose/, one's disjointedly out of proper alignment. A huge quadrupedal robot of some sort with a massive pair of X-shaped bars over its face, but the bars are bent and rusted. Its feet end in tremendous, now blunt, claws. A loud, robotic warbling that is shaky and staticy comes from it. "INTRUD...ERS. IDEN..TIFY. IDEN..TIFY. OR BE TERMINA..TED." It stumbles to the ground under its own weight, one of its leg servos giving out with a harsh sounding grate of metal against metal and slipped ball bearings. "INTUD..ERS. IDENT..IFY. YOU TR..EAD UPON SA..CRED GRO..UND."
Fudou Moto	Well that's a... Thing. Kill droid? Fudou steps forward, imposing his bulk between the creature and as many of the others as he can manage. "Woah, hey," he says, lifting his hands in a placating, "We're just escorting a couple old soldiers here to pay their respects." And to find some awesome loot, possibly. That's looking like less of a thing now, though. "You don't look or sound like you're in much condition to fight. Just settle down and we'll be on our way as soon as we're done." There's a tell-tale tension in the muscles on his shoulders- a sort of wound-spring sort of readiness. A thick vein throbs along the contours of his neck, pumping adrenaline straight into his brain as it begins surging through his body. "I am Fudou Moto. I have a wife and daughter. I fight for a living. We're not here to do do anything to your home."
Rory White	A threat! A serious one. And one with a nature Rory can't quite analyze. Is it a robot? Is it a creature? All in all, it's hard to consider her too threatening. With the white robes-labcoat combo she looks kind of like a priestess, and the way she takes a few steps back from the creature doesn't exactly speak of being very violent. "Rory White, Argonaut researcher. These regions are off-limits? Was the invitation at the entrance to enter and learn false?" She's worried that this thing might be entirely unreasonable or malfunctioning, to be sure, but unlike living beings she has a dozen times more mental speed to spend on being worried and thinking of what to do next...
Zwei	Weiss puts her finger to her chin, tilting her head in mock examination of the robotic metagross. Despite the fact that she's been so into the entire 'ancient psychic near-omniscient race of archivist monks' thing, and totally on board with the idea of memories made manifest, she doesn't seem to be buying the sacred guardian routine. "I don't think there's much of a point in introducing yourselves" she says to Rory and Fudou instead of the machine. "It's just a robot, not anything of psychic significance. This thing has been decaying for who knows how long, to the point where it's falling to pieces. I give it five minutes, tops." She actually /ignores/ the thing, walking just out of range of the machine and in through the way Mortimer had went. "I think the defense mechanism blew itself out too. It's like the last thirty seconds of power you get from restarting a battery after it's already been drained.
Mortimer Balman	One of the broken eyes swivels between Futou, Rory, and Weiss. It begins /levitating/- it's giving off a psychic energy signature now, lifting its broken body, which is already starting to crumble off in chunks, and floating out into the room. The other eye scans Mortimer first, then flings around to scan the others. "GROU..DAN RE..PU..BLIC MAR..INE. XE..NOBIO..LOGIC..AL AND XENOM..ECHAN..ICAL BEINGS. CUR..IOUS. I.. APOLO..GIZE. TILM..UN'S LEG..ACY MUST BE PRO..TECT..ED." It's using its psychic powers to hold itself together, what's left of it. "HOW.. LONG H..AS IT B..EEN? HAS E..VERY..ON..E LE..FT?" Mortimer is by now out of the wall, and flopping over by where he was smashed into it, grumbling something and scrutinizing the machine. "A /Metagross/ of all things. Makes sense I guess.."
Fudou Moto	So it... Sort of knows Mortimer? Or Mortimer sort of knows it. That's just kind of weird. "Long enough for damn near the entire temple to sink into a jungle," Fudou says with a shrug, the adrenaline tentatively beginning to drop away. His brow furrows at the ancient machine-creature, even as parts of its body begin to... Fail. It must not have long left to it. "You've been here a long time," he frowns, hands sliding back down into his pockets. "You sure you should be moving around like this?" He asks, inclining his head, "You don't... Look so good."
Rory White	Instant relief shows on Rory's face, but it's repalced quickly with worry. "In that condition you can't push yourself any further!" Yes, she's less astounded by the WEIRD LEVITATIon and more just plain worried the guardian's about to topple over and fall apart. "You're falling apart..." She's just worried enough to clap both hands together and fold them while examiningg the Metagross' structure. "... Though... simple maintenance won't solve half of this... how long has it been?"
Mortimer Balman	The Metagross simply continues to hover there, perhaps appraising the strange aliens and their concern. "YOU..R CONC..ERN IS NO..TED. I AM UN..SUR..E HO..W LO..NG IT HA..S BE..EN SIN..CE MY LA..ST MAIN..TEN..AN..CE CY..CLE. SER..GEANT. YOU AR..E A SER..GEAN..T YE..S?" Mortimer looks up and grunts. "Yea..?" "HA..VE THE..Y LE..FT?" It slowly starts lowering itself to the ground as Mortimer nods an affirmation. Only one of its legs remain as it touches the ground. "TH..EN I HA..VE DON..E MY JO..B. THE LE..GA..CY WI..LL RE..MAIN. THIS IS GO..OD. I A..M. HA..PP..Y. THE..RE IS ON..LY ON..E TH..ING LE..FT N..OW."
Fudou Moto	"I guess you've seen your share of troubles," Fudou rumbles as he watches the mechanical thing... Steel its resolve. It's not easy to face the end, no matter how old you are. "Don't worry, you've done a good job. We're the first ones to step foot in this temple in... I don't even know how long." Fudou dips his head into a respectful incline. His hands tighten in his pockets. "I'm not sure there's anything we can do for you, except maybe making sure this place stays safe."
Rory White	"Mr. Balman, could you please explain, instead of forcing the guardian? They're in awful shape...." Awful enough that, as it finally touches down, Rory rushes in. Her personal sensors are none too great and she's dealing with some kind of foreign bein but she examines the guardian with the same practiced rush that a doctor in the emergency department might. "Many remain on the surface but they've abandoned the cities and technology..."
Mortimer Balman	Mortimer shrugs a bit. "Sorry, Rory, I don't have a damned clue.. I guess this Metagross decided to.. Protect the place sometime before the Great Exodus and the Decline. There was a lot of strife at the time- not open war but lots of skirmishes and conflicts. Political shit, social ills, all that sorta thing. This fellow must have been here for.. Ten, maybe almost twenty thousand years, if I had to guess. Keeping itself together by scavenging and its own psychic powers.." The Guardian shifts a bit. "COR..RECT. THE OUT..COME WE PRE..DIC..TED HAS CO..ME TO PAS..S. I ASK TH..AT YO..U BR..ING ME T..O MY BR..OTH..ERS AN..D SIS..TER..S IN TH..E FO..RUM. I W..ISH T..O B..E WI..TH THE..M." At that Mortimer winces and furrows his brow some. "Well.. Gonna be kind of a heavy load.. But if it'll keep together, let's give the old fella a lift, yea?"
Fudou Moto	Fudou moves to the Guardian's side. His hands slide back out of his pockets and brace against the enormous, metal thing's crumbling husk. He draws in a breath-- and then pulls UP. His limbs briefly seem to surge with waves of deep, red energy as he ever so slightly opens up the throttle on the flame burning in his heart. Somehow, he might just be able to get it to move. "Don't... Worry," Fudou says from over the Metagross' crablike head, "A bit of a walk shouldn't be a problem. Come on."
Rory White	"Th-that's not the important question. Can't you see I'm trying to help them? This kind of damage would be terminal ..." And from what the Metagross is saying, it seems aware of this too. She ends up looking right into its eyes pleadingly, as if asking 'what should I do?' But yet she also aids Fudou in hoisting him up. She's much stronger than she looks, but hardly ot prodigious levels. underneath the veil of flesh, robotic limbs strain under the immense weight...
Mortimer Balman	Mortimer stares at Rory for a moment. "..The damage already /is/ terminal, dear.. He's dying. He's been dying for ages now, just.. Keeping himself together to keep the place safe. Look at all the power he's using just to hold himself together. He was going to use that to blast us if he thought we were threats." Mortimer would move around to help the two of them carry the creature. He's not as outright /strong/ as Futou and Rory likely are, but he can still pitch in and help guide them along. The distance is short but the /average/ Metagross weighs over half a ton, and this one is actually heavier than the average. Nonetheless they will eventually move it into the next room, around Weiss. There are at least a half dozen other Metagross in there, in various stages of decay and disrepair. They have completely ceased to function by this point. No spark of life, electricity, no mote of psionic strength left. Just scrap metal and worn away circuitry. When the enormous metal crab is set down it forces its eye to look up at and between them. "TH..ANK Y..O..U. ON..LY ON..E TH..IN..G LE..FT N..O..W." Waves of raw psychic energy begin to pulse from its ancient hull, ripping its last remaining leg off at the root. The pieces of its fellow Metagross are torn apart too, circling around the room and steadily shaking and tearing themselves into their component pieces..
Fudou Moto	"He is old," Fudou says to Rory, echoing the meaning in Mortimer's words. "He has lived his share of life, and then some. There is no need to mourn," the Street Fighter's muscles strain as he lifts. Even for him, this thing is heavy. Especially when he lacks the raw emotional force to bolster his strength. "He can rest, now. He can finally have the peace that time and duty have owed him for so long." When they enter the room full of the Metagross' fellow sentinels, Fudou sets the guardian down amidst its comrades... And takes a wide step back when he feels that pulse of energy wash off the pokemon's body. The fact that there's scrap metal flying around the room at dangerous speeds is another reason why he decided to give the creature a wide berth. "It's nothing," Fudou says to the guardian, "Do what you need to do."
Rory White	"But they still function, there's a chance to--" Rory starts to argue, but perhaps she senses the finality of the situation. Either way for the moment she quiets, pondering this-- and then, well, there goes her chance. "What, but that's going to--" WHOOOSH! It's a whirlwind of Metagross parts. Rory retreats quickly back the way they came for a bit of cover, only peeking in with a regretful expression...
Mortimer Balman	"T..H..A..N..K..S." Is the final word the Guardian manages to warble out before its vocalizer is ripped straight from its own hull. The pieces fly about the torn leg, surrounding it. Metal is herd clinking and tearing and ripping itself to fit the pieces properly. The good eye on the machine is ripped from its face next, and then shoved into the leg. The leg slowly levitates onto the ground where it is set in front of the ancient hull of the Metagross. A crackling of electricity is heard and then bolts of lightning scream forth from its empty eyes, flowing into the rebuilt leg. Circuits are fused together. Power conduits are spot-welded, carefully controlled by the last dying thoughts of the Guardian. A core inside of the leg is charged.. And then there is silence. The remaining pieces of metal collapse to the ground in heaps of junk and scrap. After several minutes, the eye in the leg lights up, twitching around curiously, staring at everything it can. Powerful magnetic forces lift it up off of the ground and it spins to use the eye to scan the gathered people. It beeps several times before words come from a vocalizer somewhere near the eye. "GR..EE..TI..NG..S. GREE..TIN..GS. GrEEtINgs. Greetings. Hello! I am Myrmidon!"
Fudou Moto	Fudou looks on in silence as the Metagross... Well, he kind of has a hard time explaining /what/ exactly the Metagross does. It infuses the leg with... something. Energy. Parts. Electricity arcs across the one leg's surface, emitting a flash of blinding, blue light that forces Fudou to shield his eyes from the glare. Still, he endeavors to watch on as best he can. It's the least he can do, given the situation. But soon, with the rattle of crumpling metal and a couple of beeps, the leg... Gets up. It floats and stares at them with one glowing, red eye. Fudou stares right back, eyebrows arched curiously across his brow. "That... Was something," he says, fighting back a bit of a grin. "Hey. The name's Fudou. Welcome to the world."
Rory White	Sky-blue eyes go wide at first in bewilderment.... but eventually that becomes awe again. Rory steps forward uncertainly, but eventually crouches to peer more closely at the creature who's emerged from this strange ritual. "Rory White. I... don't quite parse what just occured. Did a robot have a child?" The bewildered gaze is turned Mortimer's way, but she then smiles warmly at Myrmidon!
Mortimer Balman	Mortimer just kinda stands there- either he's seen this before or had some idea of what was happening. "Well that's damned impressive. Hi there little fella. This is a "Beldum", you guys. The first stage of the Metagross." The robotic pokemon hovers about before digging its claw-feet into a wall, eye still rolling around curiously. "Hi Fudou! Hi Rory! Hi.. Typhlosion-man! And other persons! I am Awake!" It seems excited. Hard to tell what gender-bias the voice has, if there is one developed as of yet. Switchbait flutters about and frees in amazement, "<Quite extraordinary! This was only theoretical in our time! The idea that a dying Metagross could recycle itself into one of its original Beldums!>" Myrmidon chirps, "Resurrection Protocol! Yes! ...I don't think it worked well though. I don't.. Know much. Remember much? Which is the right word?" Slow, possibly sad, beep.
Fudou Moto	"Something like that, I think," Fudou chuckles, making his own approach. "Something between birth and rebirth, I think." He laughs, unable to hold back the distant, almost childlike sense of wonder about the whole business. "Looks like it worked pretty well to me. Don't worry about what you know and don't know. You've got plenty of time now, right? Just take it easy and pick things back up as you go." He reaches out one hand to... Pat gently at the 'Beldum's' head. Head-eye. The thing that serves as its head. "And if you need help along the way, that's what adults are for." Fudou gives a wide, earnest grin, "Man. Misae would love to meet you."
Rory White	THIS Turn of events changed the entire atmosphere of things. No longer somber or irritated, Rory finds herself watching the little Beldum just as much as it's looking everywhere. "This brings back memories of my first activation!" Even she's a bit charged up now. When she rises, she's showing some natural body langauge. Shoulders bunched up with a bit of vigor! As usual, she seems bad at body language except if it's a childish, completely reflexive thing. "As he said. Everything's fine. The mission is over. Um... what now?"
Mortimer Balman	Myrmidon does not react to being patted at first, but after it stops it releases the wall and twirls itself so that it can perch on Fudou's arm, claw-feet digging in just enough for a grip without breaking flesh. "I guess I do! Who is Misae?" Pause. "Mission.. I had a mission.. My mission was successful though! That's why I was Awakened! That is good!" Cheerful little thing. The eye twitches about some more, stopping on the remains of the Metagross. "/Our/.. Mission. Yes. Many of us. Many that are now one. Our mission was successful!" Mort rubs his chin a bit and starts looking around the forum room. "Well what now is simple. Myrmidon will either go its own way or one of you can adopt it, and I'm going to see if I can't chip one of the frescos out of here so I can pay off Lute for helping me find my world." He gestures to a tarnished gold fresco that is part of one of the walls. Looks like Mew, Celebi, and Jirachi dancing around the planet, the moon, and the sun.
Fudou Moto	"Oh, uh." Fudou coughs into his spare fist. As one is presently being occupied by a Beldum, it'd be rude to use that one an ahem-ing arm. "Misae's my daughter. Best girl a dad could ask for, too," he may be a bit biased. Fudou doesn't care particularly much. If someone's got a problem with his blatant and indomitable love for his little girl, they can bring it up with his FISTS. "So you aren't just the... Metagross that we met a little while ago? Are you also all of the ones that were in here?" Fudou makes a soft 'hrm'-ing noise, glancing about at all the scrapped guardians. It's kind of an odd juxtaposition- so many remains strewn about around a newly born incarnation of so many lives. But he's not about to comment. "Well," Fudou says," I guess your new mission is to learn about the world, huh? I could bring you back with me and get you started if you like. It's not a very big place, but it's home." Mort indicates at one of the frescos, then. Fudou glances about the Beldum to peer up at the wall. He raises a brow. "Is that really a good idea? I mean, that Guardian did seem pretty all about protecting this place."
Rory White	"The only conclusion I can come to is that Myrmidon's the... 'child' of the guardians. All of them. How unique!" Interesting enough that Rory's genuinely excited too. She rises up, adjusts her outfit... and frowns at Mortimer. "I'm not sure whether to applaud your pragmatism or be appalled at vandalizing ancient ruins." While the words themselves would be sarcastic if anyone else said them, from Rory it's an honest quandary. She looks between Mortimer and the others - even Myrmidon - for a possible answer. But then she reaches over to the new'born' and places a hand against its side gently. "That stunt had me surprised. Well... the outside isn't very hospitable or interesting by my standards..." WHAT TO DO?
Mortimer Balman	Myrmidon chirps, "I am a hybrid of the remnants of their datacores and processor units! We must have been here a very long time for there to be only one me!" It emits a digital hum for a moment, "The data must have been very old and corrupted if I don't remember much.." Its eye spins over to Mort, and then at the fresco. "Oh go ahead. It's only gold. Worthless! You won't hurt the Wall will you?" Mortimer responded with a shake of the head. "Naw. Just the mural there, little one. That's all." "Okay! Can I go with you then Fudou?" Mort glanced sidelong over at Rory, "Gold was an abundant metal on our planet in the past. It was considered worthless until we figured out its uses in advanced metallurgy and components for electronics and stuff. But I do owe Lute for finding Poqmori. And gold is valuable to you offworlders. So a chunk of rock with some pretty metal on it will be just fine, I think. The Wall is the most important thing."
Fudou Moto	"Long enough for the temple to sink into the jungle," Fudou says, unintentionally repeating the very same line he said not so long ago. Technically, it's the first time the Beldum is hearing it! "So a pretty long time, I think." Mort gets an incredulous stare, then. "Gold, worthless? Really. It's pretty valuable stuff back home. But if this place's guardian says it's fine, then it's fine." His eyes flicker momentarily to Rory. He might be looking for conformation here, or something? It's not his temple, so it's not exactly his place to say what can stay or go. Whatever. He has something else to address right now anyway. "If you want to," Fudou replies, "We'd be glad to have you." Probably. Provided the wife is okay with a floating, psychic crab-leg floating around the house. "And the outside is plenty interesting," Fudou says to Rory. "If you know where to look."
Rory White	"Considered worthless? Ancient humans seemed oddly obsessed over shiny things. Strange it would be so different for your people!" Rory's sure surprised, but also delighted. Her expression turns to a fairly humble smile and she also relaxes her posture. It's Fudou's comment that gets her peering. "... um... a Xenoarchaelogist would be overjoyed. I'd alert some I know, but there are still people here who have things to learn from what's left..."
Mortimer Balman	Mortimer hops up onto a seat carved out of the wall, and starts tracing lines with his knife. "You can't build much with it and it was plentiful. Sure it's shiny- made for great low-denomination coins! But not for any sort of high value metal. Abundance affects value just as much as prettiness." He'd look back over at Fudou for a minute. "Leave some contact information with Switchbait if you would, son. I'll mail you some PokeDex info on my world's Beldum line. You'll need it." Myrmidon chirps, "Outside! I would love to go outside! And there are other worlds too? That is amazing! I am eager to go whenever you are Fudou!" It wiggles its claw-feet a bit in anticipation, making excited clicking and beeping noises as it releases Fudou's arm and starts floating around him, waiting on him to go.