Scene #7058: Ingredient Hunt: Maple Syrup

Owner	Pose
Ishirou	On the coast of Lake Ontario, there is a small trading town that sits around a large number of woodlands. It's thick getting through, and often impossible to make any kind of real path through, because of how fast the forest seems to grow when it can. That is either because the harsh winters erode such paths, and then the growing seasons take advantage of the erosion. Or maybe something just hates roads specifically. Regardless, the portal ends up in this small trading post. People already start regarding you with some strange eyeing. Nobody knows why you are here, but there is something of a hopeful and fearful look. Whispers that someone is here to deal with the monster. This causes some people to be hopeful, while others are afraid you'll extract protection money or some other tribute. Whatever you decide to do, you can hear the friendly Android in your ear. "Hello! I'll be monitoring you from a distance, so if you need help, I'll do what I can to provide direction. Right now, I can detect high concentrations of the syrup we need to the northeast. You might wanna stick by the water, and then go north-easterly when you get to..." A point is marked on the map. "Here, but you can do things however you want, I am just making observations." You can take this time to question people about the monster nearby, make last-minute preparations with items that could be traded for on sight, or just head out to the forest. Whatever your choice, eventually you'll come to the point where I4 gave you your first lead. It is absolutely silent. No animals, no birds, no insects buzz here. No sounds at all, though you can hear each other perfectly fine. It's a grove of trees, as opposed to just a wild forest. These trees are planted in such a way that they could actually be harvested frequently. Fruit trees are heavy here, so this seems to make sense. Looking around you will find a house that is literally flattened and coated with a syrupy substance. However, this substance has hardened, trapping various animals, insects, and people inside it. The people's face caught in a horrible scream as if they died screaming. Though they're so fresh that they seem to be alive. Maybe they still are? There is a loud THUMP coming from around the grove itself, and the trees move.
Selene	Among the people that arrive is... A scrawny teenager with a hat that sort of looks like those weird bits on a chicken's head. It's a flower, but Selene is wearing the hat sideways so it looks much more like a chicken-shape. She might not exactly inspire confidence looking as unprepared for anything as she does between the bulky winter jacket and nothing else in the way of visible weaponry or protection, but she certainly doesn't look or sound worried about anything. Why? Because she's got a handful of balls on her belt and someone presumably smart talking into her ear. Also, a sandwich. "Mrphm... Okay! Let's do some recon and then punch a tree in the nuts!" She does a bit of snooping around to see if anyone in town is looking for stuff from the northeast, but doesn't stick around that long before actually heading out that way. The sight of the flattened house and those trapped inside doesn't hamper Selene's wide-faced grin, though, as she takes out a blue and gray ball and hurls it skyward. Out of that ball comes a massive blue bear-cat sort of thing donning luchador mask-styled facepaint. "Alright, Slunch... Let's Dig 'em out!" Selene announces with gusto, striking a pose as the Snorlax does a whole lot of nothing. "... Oh yeah. Uh. Just... Pull the stuff off." That gets the beast moving, and it starts trying to pull off the hardened substance, digging its meaty fists and claws into the dirt at the edges to try finding a handhold for the mass.
Kotone Yamakawa	Lake Ontario, she'd been out east on her own world before. This earth? She'd not really been this way before. It was somewhat of an uneasy experience for her given this was a post-apocalypse version of Earth. She was already suited up in her stealth armour. She was armed with a weapon slung across her back and she took note of I4 over the comm. <<Right so what's the state of the lake here? It toxic or is it safe?>> Kotone was already formulating tactics. She will then look about to the town folk and will start asking about for any details on the thing that has been menacing them or features of the local terrain, and the like she's friendly enough. Once she's done she'll leave town and will move on to start hunting and she'll let loose several flying recon drones to send out ahead to scout for the creature.
Alexis	So they are hunting a monster. For syrup. And also because it's apparently terrorizing the locals... But the original job request was about the syrup. Alexis read the message one last time as she walked out of the portal, then shrugged and put her C-Gear away with a shake of her head. "Not the weirdest fetch quest I've dealt with." Come now, there's no need to stare at her as she makes her way through the 'town'. She's a perfectly normal looking human. Well other than the pinkish-red hair. And being kind of tall. But she has a hockey stick! Canada still loves hockey, doesn't it? Nothing to see here... Okay, not so perfectly normal looking. Let's just move on. Which is what Alexis does. And in doing so catches sight of that other Trainer girl--Selene wasn't it? Imagine that. "Hey there, kiddo. Good to see ya wandering outside of Alola." Hopefully the Snorlax won't try to eat anything stuck in the syrup while trying to dig it out. She's more concerned with the lack of natural ambience. Doesn't take an expert to know that means the local fauna have either been driven off or worse. She frowns thoughtfully as she finally picks a pokeball and flicks it up. "Com'n out, Machete." In a flash she's released a green bipedal reptile with leafy foliage on it's arms and tail (in the same way modern science believes raptors had feathers). "Get some high ground and take a look around." The Sceptile nods, darting to climb up one of the trees for a better view of the area.
Staren	NEW BOWMANVILLE... is not this town. It seems someone has had the bright idea to haul an artificial warpgate on a platform behind their transport to various towns, giving them a chance to trade directly with the Multiverse when they are normally more isolated. In the 25th century, the wilderness is a dangerous place, and even here Lazlo's forces can't patrol all of it at once. Staren, for his part, has his curiousity piqued by mention of a 'monster'. If the person he approaches is fearful or suspicious, he flashes an old Lazlo Defense Force Tactical Response Unit ID card at them; while it may have expired long ago, his intentions /are/ genuinely helpful. At the very least it's probably not too hard to convince them he's relatively local. RE: Kotone Staren comments, "The lake's safe for fishing, but you don't want to go out too far without a boat equipped for combat. There's monsters in the lake just like everywhere else." Then: After gathering info and setting out, Staren finds... a fruit farm? Just as he starts examining the hardened goop, though, he hears a thump and turns to face the grove, right arm raised and ready to fire the beam cannons on his armor. He doesn't speak yet, looking for the source of the sound. A monster probably wouldn't care about a cry of 'halt, who goes there!' anyay.
Rean Schwarzer	Rean shows up to the lake, where there's apparently a monster harassing people. Specifically a Syrup monster. A syrup monster that's already gotten a whole house stuck in syrup. It's kinda gross, actually. There's a foreboding thump once they get there, and Rean places one hand on his sword's hilt, drawing it quicky enough to send the resulting shockwave flying through the trees in the general direction of the thump.
Ishirou	Selene is told by some people that Jackson's farm to the northeast hasn't come into town for a while, and wants you to check up on him. People complain about a monster that looks like a tree that has been eating people who go out too far into the woods, but the descriptions are all wildly different. The Snorlax sits down and starts clawing at the dried sap with its claws. This stuff is surprisingly stronger than expected, but not impossible to claw away with enough time. The thumping gets closer, however...time might be short. <<"Lake is fresh, as far as I know. Might be things in it, but nothing I know that's /dangerous/.>> I4 says back towards Kotone. The Townspeople give you what Selene gets, wildly varying reports. There might be some myth starting to get associated with the creature, which means misinformation. Though you do hear that the creature has left 'samples' of sap around, allowing you to get a sample of the stuff prefight. If you had some ability to figure out its composition, or experience with natural substances or chemistry...or someone that does, it might yield to you a way to dissolve the sap. Drones spread out, and when the thumping starts they can hover around to determine that a creature is in fact coming. And it looks like a giant angry tree. In fact, Alexis' pokemon gets a good view of it too. It looks like a large tree, with multiple 'arm' like branches. It has two large 'root' like feet, and a face on its trunk that looks like a creepy grin, with two eyes that sink into the trunk that seems to glow a malevolent green glow. Staren gets a lot of people to trust him, not many people pay attention to the expired part of his official-looking document, as long as he sounds confident. Again, he gets a lot of the same confused stories, the indication that someone hasn't been to town in a bit, and a lot of missing person's reports from the local peacebringer. On the farm itself, Staren's inaction is the best part of his move. This prevents the monster from hearing them clearly, and instead of a specific place to head towards, only heads in a vague direction towards them. This secures the ability of the group to get the drop on the monster. Rean gets ready, preparing to strike with the thing finally comes into the grove. The monster roars as several attacks cut into it, staggering the beast as it tries to look for people who are trying to actually kill it. Finally, after losing the first strike, roars in a very strange way, the sound seemingly coming from the air around you, through the forest itself as it charges forward. Staren makes himself a target first, by his strong attack. The claw-like arms attempt to tear into him, and if they do some sort of strange green poison is left behind aiming to try and leak through his body and melt it from the inside out. Then it spins around, as sap comes out of its mouth attempting to spray everyone else. The sap is thick and strong, and very delicious, but very hard to fight through.
Selene	EARLIER That's some weird sap alright. Selene tastes a bit of it to see if it's poisonous, then passes it off to someone if they're willing and able to do a reading on it. --- NOW It's that pink-haired trainer from the bus stop! "Hi! Yeah, good to see you! I didn't know you were coming for this syrup job, too." Selene replies to Alexis as she whips out a flat red device when the giant angry tree's presence is made known. With that tree in sight, she holds the device up to try getting a reading on the giant angry tree! Namely, if there's any publically available data on... Well. 'Giant angry tree' rather than just 'giant tree' of that particular type. Whatever the case is, though, it's still something to fight. "Plan B, Slunch! Grab that tree and keep it from going all nuts!" She holds onto her hat as the Snorlax leaps right over her, jogging towards the tree and intercepting that sappy spray head-on to keep the trainer safe from harm. It gets slowed down even more than it alraedy is, but it keeps charging forward, diving forwards to try grabbing the tree monster and squeezing the sap right out of it!
Staren	Upon hearing vague talk of a monster, Staren grills the townspeople on details. How do they know it's a tree and that it eats people? WHO saw it and escaped, exactly? Etcetera. Soon enough he's facing it himself, though! Claw marks dig into his armor and he's sent stumbling back; he fires back a warning shot but keeps backing up for now, trying to put some distance between himself and the tree monster while using a magitech device from his bag to spray himself with water, trying to hose the venom off!
Alexis	Forests were Sceptile's natural domain. Even creepy, mutant and monster infested ones. He has little trouble scaling up the trees for a better view of the surroundings. Which pays off as the vantage point allows him to catch a glimps of the syrup fiend that was shaking the groves. "I don't think we got a proper introduction last time. Name's Alexis--" And the conversation would of kept going from there, if it wasn't interrupted by the shrill call of her leaf-raptor. "--Sounds like he spotted something." Cue the Sceptile arcing down through the trees, wall-jumping off one and then twisting in the air to Aerial Ace dropkick the creature in.. as close to a head as he can approximate. Then tumble backwards from the impact to 3-point land near where Alexis was standing. See, appointing a lookout pays off. Not that there is much time to appreciate it as the monster makes it's full appearance, thrashing branchs and spitting noxious sap. That latter part is the problem, as even as Sceptile leaps away from the gnarled limbs the gunk splatters on him, and Grass types don't like toxins very much. He emits a hiss at it even as he's getting back on his feet. "That's going to come back to be annoying later isn't it..." Alexis rubs her temples a moment, but then gets an idea and snaps her fingers. "Well, two can play at that game. Get behind it and burn some of that energy back off!" Sceptile nods, and reachs back to pull some of the bulbs off his back, then dashes back into the fight, ducking low and weaving to get past the thrashing limbs. Then skids to a stop, spinning as he does to throw the pods at the back of the tree. They burst on impact, the seedlike shrapnel digging into the monster's bark and sprouting, boring in to start leeching away at it's reserves.
Rean Schwarzer	Rean jumps back, trying to avoid the claw and getting spattered with toxic syrup instead. It sticks to his arm and starts to eat its way through his jacket. Ok, definitely gross. It's gonna suck when it starts to harden, too. "Hey, I4? How excatly are we supposed to collect this stuff, anyway?" Rean asks, igniting his sword. He then rushes the tree monster with a shout, making three slashes at it.
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa should have brought something fire-based then again they would need the thing intact enough to get the materials I4 was after. She gets some good info about the lake, both from I4 and Staren which proves useless if they need to lead it into the water? It won't be a hazard, but they should not go too deep given the monster warnings. So she gets some information out of the townsfolk. The efforts of the team are successful in locating the creature. Even better they can stage an ambush on it, which goes fairly well then the fight is underway. Kotone also falls prey to the strange toxin which is damaging her robotic body. This is a very large concern for her even if she'd managed to avoid a direct hit. Which was something she didn't want to think about much. She will get on the move and starts to use the term by trees to vault around snapping off shots as she goes while her body's own systems are trying to deal with whatever the hell she was just hit with. All the while with a lovely little biohazard symbol and beeping on her HUD.
Ishirou	Selene finds out that the sap is not poisonous at all, it is, in fact,/very/ good. Supernaturally good, infact...you feel recharged just by tasting it. It's just, somehow, very inefficient with its inherent qualities, and needs to be processed somehow to be more efficient. Though it's a sugary substance, and water will naturally dissolve it over time. However, in the present, the Snorlax does what Snorlax does...besides sleep all day and eat. It grabs the creature in a bear-cat hug and starts squeezing it tightly. Of course, the SAP does come out, but in a spray that might be dangerous for the Snorlax. Staren doesn't get much of anything. Most people have not seen it directly, but some have heard of a friend who had a friend who got away from it. The stories wildly vary, but they do have one thing in common. It traps people in a sap to eat them later. The Venom is not easily removed, sticking quite dangerously. Though the Beam cannon is effective at burning parts of the treant away, in fact, it now has a dangerous hole in the top of it's 'head' region. Unfortunately, the Snorlax is still SQUEEZING IT, causing sprays of sap to try and hit Staren. Sceptile manages to get a few shrapnel seeds on it, less than she'd probably like, but enough to cause the intended effect, as energy seems to drain out of the creature. It roars in pain, before attempting to swipe at it with its giant branch claws. Those claws attempt to drag it into its mouth, attempting to coat it in sap, and spit it back out. Rean swipes out with several slashes, tearing into the tree around the Snorlax as it roars again. In pain, it spits more of the sap into the air, and Rean might get coated in it. Uh oh! <<"Kill it? Once you kill it, you can then use a tap on it to drain it into the magical kegs I gave you. If you can also return a cutting from it, that'd be good too!">> I4 transmits. These are followed by focused shots by Kotone, punching holes into the back of the Trent. They're making good progress on the creature, looking reasonably bloodied at this point. Well, as much as a tree could look bloody. Its mouth was in a frozen expression of pain, as opposed to anger. This is more so when the Snorlax hugs it again and sprays another shot towards Kotone.
Selene	The Snorlax is doing a bang up job just eating that sap spray! Figuratively and literally, even, as the sap gets right in its face, slowing it down further and loosening the bearcat's grip on the tree as it finds itself getting stuck to itself. Furrowing her brow, Selene calls out to her allies as she stuffs a hand into her purse. "Water dissolves the sap! It tastes really good on its own, too!" She says both things in the same exact tone of voice and with the same amount of emphasis, the latter seeming pretty obvious with the blue giant appearing somewhat torn between eating more of the poisonous sap or focusing entirely on the fight. "Different idea. Slunch, give it a Headbutt and back off! Time to switch gears!" The beast nods as it rears its head back, then slams forward with a mighty bash of bear-face on treant-face, pulling its arms back at the last moment to try and get some distance. As it does that, Selene brings out another decorated Pokeball. "But where do I throw this...? There's gotta be a good spot somewhere!"
Alexis	That they want intact samples is the only reason Alexis didn't just turn a Fire type loose on the monster and be done with it. The sap being a biohazard, on the other hand, that's going to be a bugger to deal with if the fight drags on too long. They're going to have to wear it out faster than it wears them down. Nothing like a little pressure to make things interesting, right? Yeah, keep telling yourself that girl... The sap is proving to be a bigger bother than on would hope. Sceptile can't move as quickly as he should be, and gets snatched up to be thrown in the monster's mouth. He's at least still quick enough to keep from getting swallowed whole, if only by doing the thing where you get your hands and feet on the opposite jaws and hold them apart. But that's still a physical strain, and he's still getting pelted with sap slobber via proximity, which one might start to argue is worse than getting eaten in some situations. Ugh, there's no time to take this easy and strategic. Alexis takes out a pokeball, and uses a good smack with her hockey stick to launch it into the fight. Instead of worrying about where to release it, she's just going to use it to her advantage. The pokeball smacks against a branch and opens, releasing something long and serpentine as it does, which coils onto the branch. The Seviper drapes down with her head end to grab around the Sceptile's waist and pull him out of the creature's maw. Once he's reeled free Seviper twices, uncoiling the opposite length of her body and aiming to stab the massive poisonous blade on the end of her tail into the monster's body.
Kotone Yamakawa	The creature even with the ambush is proving to be far more of an issue than she thought it would be. She ends doing some nice hits on the Treant which does piss it off in the process as now she's given another blast of the goo which is doing very nasty things to her and her synthkin too. It's not very nice its quite painful and she looks like a mess from this. The Biohazard just gets even more annoying on her HUD just to add insult to injury. She has to back off for a little bit as she takes a moment to recover. Still, she's able lay down a bit of fire on the Treant as she keeps moving with the intent to use Alexis own actions as some measure of cover.
Rean Schwarzer	The tree monster shoots venom into the air as Rean slashes into it, coating him in more sap. Some of it gets into his mouth, even. "It's good, but should we /really/ be eating this?" Rean says, spitting some of it out. After all, it was an apparent biohazard. Anyway, Rean gets to work on getting that cutting. His motions are slower because of the sap, but he still manages to rush past the tree, one strike blooming into many.
Staren	Staren gets covered in sap! Breaking out of it does a number on his armor -- servos strain, plating is warped and dented, but he's able to break free with just an unpleasant stickiness making his armor look all grimy. That's going to be a bitch to clean later! Placing a tap on it or getting a cutting are interesting ideas, but they have plenty of sap, and they need this thing dead -- it KILLS people! Trees are weak to fire, right? Staren tests this theory, a missile rack popping into place over his shoulder-- CREEEAK I said, a missile rack popping into place over his shoulder! CREEEAK Okay, fine, it's stuck in place. The mini-missile launches straight up instead, but arcs down at the tree all the same, exploding in a superheated fireball! Let's see how the tree likes being set on fire!
Ishirou	The headbutt of the Snorlax sends the Treant staggering backwards, giving both Slunch and Selene the room they desperately needed to make their next move. Unfortunately, there is a lot of sap around, and Selene needed to make her decision fast. The Trent was looking mightily hurt, and the face had turned back into a mean-looking expression. The Seviper manages to curl around a branch, much like the serpent of Eden. It manages to rescue it's compatriot, and its tail makes a stabbing attempt. However, it's position on the tree gives it good leverage, and the tail strikes home causing the tree to make another roar. The trees around the place shake as the Treant seems to be in serious pain. Kotone backs up to try and recover some of their stamina, deciding to play it safe. This gives her a chance to look for an advantage, or at least break off the sap making their movements more difficult. However the shot takes it by surprise, and while it doesn't look like much, every bit of damage is helpful. The creature staggers, looking for where the shot came from. <<"It's not dangerous, Rean. It's just magical sap. Now that green stuff on its bark? Don't eat that. That's bad.">> Thanks I4, you're very helpful! However, Rean's attempt to go on the defense is dampened by a thick back being where the sword struck. It does damage to the bark, sure, but if it could find those places where the bark was torn off, it would be much more effective! Plasma mini-missiles from Staren cause the creature to shriek in an uncontrollable manner. The Treant, now on fire runs around, like a tree on fire and trying to beat itself out. The damage was done and the tree looked like it was on its last legs. However, when something is backed into a corner, and set on fire, it tends to be very dangerous. The shrieking tree seems to have some effect on the nearby trees themselves. They don't unroot, but their branches become claws that snap out in all directions, trying to grab onto anything they can. Pokemon, dirt, human, whatever it can and start RENDING IT. Except for Staren, as the Treant looms overhead, its body on fire...determined to at least take him out with it. Both claw-like branches come down, trying to smash the boy genius to the ground, before leaping up...and trying to impale him to the ground with the roots and grow them into the soil like spikes.
Staren	Somehow, Staren manages to avoid being impaled. That's the good news. The bad news is that the roots still dig into his armor with glancing blows, and pin him to the ground. If he doesn't take it out now... he's probably finished. So he fires everything. Minimissiles turn the air around both of them into a superheated fireball (Staren bets his armor can take it better than wood). Particle beams blast at the monster's trunk. Micro-missiles explode into piercing lances of energy, but does this thing even have any 'vital organs' to hit?! Behind that visor, Staren's sweating as he considers that question.
Selene	With space between the Snorlax and the treant, Selene's feeling confident enough to put the next phase of her plan into motion. She finds a good spot for her next Pokeball-toss, and... The treant's on fire and going absolutely berserk. The Snorlax, still being a bit too close for comfort, can only stand there and defend itself with its arms, roaring in pain and anger as it bleeds all over the goddamn place between those sharp claws and the sap getting into those wounds. "Crap crap crap... Okay! Plan C! Keep backing up, Slunch! Butter'll take it from here!" As the Snorlax continues backing away, Selene tosses the next ball at a nearby tree, ricocheting it just so that it comes at the flaming treant from behind. As it does, it pops open, and a horse-sized whaleball bursts out. "Give it a good beatdown!" The trainer shouts as the Wailmer hurtles through the air, spitting a burst of water out to speed itself up on its path to slam right into the treant like a horse-sized cannonball!
Alexis	Sceptile is lobbed in Alexis' direction, giving her a chance to return him to his pokeball before he's worse than gunked up. "I don't know what you're planning," Alexis comments over her shoulder towards Selene, "But I don't have any Water types with me for deluting." Once her teammate is safe Vipera pulls her tail-blade free and uncoils, slipping off the treant's arm-limb and into the trees of the grove. Unfortunately this is when the sap treant chooses to make everything else in the vicinity share in it's rampaging rage. Trees animate before the Seviper can find a reasonable perch and instead she ends up getting thrashed about. "Coil! Use Coil!" Alexis shouts, and the serpent does so, winding up upon herself, gaining a small amount of defense from the tight bind. It's enough that she's thrown around a bit and then chucked into the ground and eventually rolling to a stop. That was not a pleasant experience. It takes a moment before the Seviper slowly uncurls herself, wobbling more than usual for a snake when she rises up. "That was a doozy. Got enough for one more ol' girl?" It takes a moment but the serpent hisses, tongue flicking. She can probably manage something even if the after-effects put her out of the fight. "Alright then." Alexis considers, then clasps her hands together. "Welp. No point in not going for broke. Go do what snakes do best." At that Vipera slithers into the tangled mess of exposed roots and broken branches from the massive thrashing, until she finally slinks up near the base of the main treant. "Sssssvvv!" She does the whole unhinging jaw thing snakes do, so her fangs can flare out fully. Not as big as the blade on her tail, but there's two of them, like long slender daggers full of venomous nastyiness, that she chomps down with! Hopefully they can still penetrate deep enough to do some damage!
Kotone Yamakawa	It's a good thing Kotone did back off, or things would be even worse for her then they are now. The Treant is just unrelenting upon the party and it may be looking to be pretty bad for them all. Hopefully, the others are fairing better than she is right now. She has some heavier options in her storage unit and she's going to switch weapons. It takes some time and she's caught for more of then she gets the full force of the creature's wrath. It cuts through her armour, though her synthetic flesh and into her internal working right across the toro and stomach. Rather than blood from the wound, there's a mix of sparking severed power lines alongside a foul-smelling red liquid which isn't blood and Kotone really isn't looking too good here. With the new weapon in hand she'll take a moment attempting to line up the shot with the large weapon and fire a single shot aimed for the 'legs' of the creature she's trying to cut it down so her allies can hopefully pile on and finish it off.
Rean Schwarzer	So the monster tree can control normal trees. That's different. Different, but still a massive pain as Rean gets battered by branches, roots and leaves from the surrounding trees. Also the sap isn't helping, making it really hard to move out of the way...or at all, really. And all the scratches and wounds on him are getting filled with acid sap, and it /burns./ Rean winces. Well, only one thing left to do then. "ARCUS, activate!" Rean shouts, a ring of blue light surrounding him. A spell circle appears above the monster tree, and flaming rocks fall out of it, slamming into the ground and hopefully the tree with heavy force.
Ishirou	Staren attempts to fire /everything/ at the Trent. His weapons blast away the outer layer of the bark, burning through more of its defenses. It staggers away from him, even as the fire spreads to its other branches. While this will eventually kill it, it is however now a fire hazard to the area. Of course, it's likely to not get close to the edge of the forest by the time it burns down. Selene recalls her Snorlax, and sends out the Wailmer to try and change the tides of the fight. The water hits the Treant, causing its fires to burn a little lower. While it's still a hazard, it's a controlled hazard. Though the tree does not look worse for wear from the strike, it is still very very poor looking. The face on the creature could be best described as x_x. The Vipera throws everything it has left into the bite. Striking between bark it roars and spins around trying to get the creature off. However, between all of the Toxins, the pokemon won't be able to hold on forever before being thrown off. However, despite this, it did what it needed to do, as the creature looks even more worn down. A railgun shot tears through the forest, taking out the legs of the Treant as it falls to the ground. Flat on its face as it looks up to reach towards the source. It was in pain and agony, but it was also enraged, hateful of the humans hurting it. Falling rocks smack it, causing more damage to its body, and reigniting the flames. Most of it is crushed or burning, but SOMEHOW it still manages to hold out as intact. Howling, it's pain-filled calls coming from the trees that surround the group again. Unable to stand up, it drags itself along the ground, a claw aiming to swipe Rean out of the way as it drags itself towards Kotone. Its claws dig into the earth, before trying to tear out of the ground underneath them snapping up and attempting to drag it into the ground to leave her buried there. The Treant shakes, aiming to try and put itself out again, spinning the flames in a wide arch around it. It tries to rise again, but unable to get up, it falls backward, aiming to use its mass to try and crush Staren. While the flames aim to try and burn Selene and her pokemon to ash.
Alexis	Normally a Seviper's bite was very hard to break free. Why do you think Zangoose evolved an immunity to it's poison so it could keep fighting even when being lockjawed? But this wasn't a Zangoose, and normally there wasn't all this other gunk polluting the fight in the meantime. Vipera doesn't have the strength to hold on any longer than she can, but at least she pumped it full of more venom before she's finally kicked off by it's thrashing. Alexis scoops the snake up, and quickly backpedals from the fight as fast as she can without tripping over roots or slipping in sappy sludge. "Sorry guys, gotta back down from here! Finish it off!"
Selene	Close, but not quite enough. Selene climbs onto the Snorlax's back to start hosing it down with various potions and healing items, but her eyes keep darting between it and the Wailmer valiantly trying to not die from being sent out to fight a mostly-burning tree trying to immolate everyone along with it. Luckily, this Pokemon's quite sturdy as well, and it spits water around itself to soothe the pain from the flames that get through its thick skin. Also, to continue bounding arund like one of those rubber balls that everyone's parents hated. "Just keep moving! You got one shot, Butter! So let's make it..." She waits as she holds that last word in, staring right at the treant's face as that grin grows wider with each passing moment. The wind blows. The flames burn. The whaleball starts to leak a bit from its mouth. Selene reaches into her purse, yanks out ANOTHER Pokeball, then hurls it forward. "... Now! Take it down from both sides!" Ten the whale spits out one last burst of concentrated water, sending it into a wild spin as it ricochets off another tree, launching straight for center mass one last time. As it does that, the third Pokeball pops open, and a black and red cat goes flying right at the flaming tree's top with a mighty... It's actually not that imposing compared to the other two, but it does have some pretty sharp teeth to rend through whatever it can actually reach.
Staren	TIMBERRRRRR! Everything Staren had wasn't enough. The tree slams down on his armor and presses it against the ground. It begins to crack and creak ominously... ...the helmet pops off and a black-furred cat with a scarf around its neck dashes out, cat-sized energy wings appearing at it's back and helping it speed along for the cover of the trees! If necessary, he can return with backup!
Ishirou	Slowly the Treant rises, it can taste blood. It can taste that victory is close, it can taste the blood of man almost on it's...barklips? Raising, it starts to lumber, until it's smacked from behind by a Whale, smashing it into the ground. It's still alive, staring up hatefully towards Selene. That was until something zipped by its head. An unimpressive cat stands behind the Tree. Looking odd for a moment, the head of the Treant starts to split, until it finally splits far enough down to realize that the very sharp claws did their job. The Treant finally settles down like a normal tree and loses all life. A spirit zips out of it and zooms up into the sky, unable to keep its possession of the tree going. The tree, leaking sap, magical power, and looking like it fought a bus and lost, is now rooted there in the grove.
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa sees that one glorious moment her shot connects she's pulled off her plan, the Trent has been hinder in hits movement that's awesome what is not so awesome as the trant still has her covered in whatever this goop is. She has a chance to move her normal agility might have saved her. The goo, however, hinders this just enough that she can't escape the wrath of the Treant. Kotone gets a new life experience as some part of the thing Treant out from under the ground she gets out a scream of terror. With the sort of shriek she's not made in a very long time. The next thing Kotone knows is she's dragged underground a good way left buried in her damaged state. Kotone has been planted rather forcefully for a dirt nap by the Trent and will likely need help should her allies survive this affair. She is, however, trying to get off a distress call, I4's out there right? If all else fails she's also very glad she's no longer flesh given the sorts of injuries she has, would be /bad/ to be burried like this.
Rean Schwarzer	The treant backhands Rean out of the way as it tears across the field, throwing him into one of the nearby trees. The syrup gets him stuck there, and he kinda just sits there, dazed from the impact / burning acid on him. But Selene comes through and takes out the tree. A ghost of some sort zips out of the treant, and it becomes a regular tree again. A magally leaking tree, but a tree nonetheless. Rean groans, looking around ans his brain starts to function again. "...Can someone get me unstuck from this tree?"
Selene	@emit The treant is down for the count! The Torracat struts a bit with a smug air to it despite being a dirty kill-stealer, the Wailmer is skidding to a stop as it sputters out some more water, and the Snorlax is finally settling down to just take a nap while Selene works on stopping the copious amount of bleeding. She looks up as the strange spirit emerges, then hops onto the bearcat's belly and pulls out another Pokeball with fire still in her eyes. "Ooh... Get in here!" She rears back and chucks the ball with all her might, managing to send it... Maybe a good five yards before falling over with a coughing fit. It seems the fight and all that shouting is taking its toll on the trainer, and she barely gets an arm up to point at Rean. "Butter. Get the.. swordguy and spray up those farmers from before once you're done. Torra..." The cat hops back next to the trainer, and it helps her sit back up, then slide off the bearcat. "Okay.. Back to work. IF you're hurt, I got the FUN JUICE!" By fun juice, she means healing sprays for wounds and burns. It doesn't taste very good, though.
Staren	Once it's clear the (demon?-)tree isn't moving anymore, Staren steps out of the forest, back in his usual form. First he goes to recover Kotone, his matter manipulator sucking up the dirt covering her. "Are you able to move?" He'll help her up if so, otherwise he may need to come back with assistance. <"I4, the mission's complete. Bring the tap, we should be able to get a cutting no problem."> Then it's on to the farmers frozen in resin. He starts chipping away at it with the matter manipulator. Time to find out if they've been supernaturally preserved, are just recent enough for him to revive, or just too far gone.
Staren	Staren also places a call. Some time later, a hovercycle speeds out of the woods, slowing to a stop outside the grove. Astride it is someone wearing the same model of body armor as Reyes, but without runes all over it and shaped to accomodate a feminine body type. Behind the visor can be seen the face of a human woman in her 30s, with hair dyed purple. And she is excited as only an adventuring botanist who's had a new plant creature discovered nearly in her own back yard can be! She briefly shakes hands with those from other worlds, "Annie Flowers, nice to meet you!" but she's here for the plant. Carefully taking samples from all parts of it and of the sap. <"I've never seen anything like it! Do you think it could be related to the Forest Wardens down south? Or perhaps as you suggest, it's the first recorded case of a demon-posessed /plant/. I'll need to get this DNA analyzed... if it was posessed, it should just be a normal plant now, but if it's alien, it shouldn't look anything like an earth tree..."> She inserts the tap and takes the requested cuttings with care. Not charging for her services this time, since she's getting to examine something unique! She continues to babble excitedly as she works, until she's satisfied she's gotten everything she can and prepares to head home.