[Closed]

[braavado]

Who: Korra (braavado) & Steven (geophile)
When: IC 5/2-5/6; OOC 1/4-1/13
Where: Outside the colony
What: Finding suspicious shrines and exploring caves in the jungle
Rating/Warning: None


[It doesn't take that long to pack for the trip, with Korra certain that they'd only be gone for a few days. Her bag, slung over her shoulder as she waits just outside of Steven's apartment building. Though his presence guarantees she'll have an easier time breathing outside the walls this time, leaving the colony for an extended amount of time still makes her antsy.

Part of it's due to the metal scraping sounds she can still hear from the area they'd sealed off not too long ago, she figures. Korra turns her staff in her hands, occasionally frowning in the metro's direction as she waits for her friend to arrive. It's not until she sees Steven approaching her that she finally stops fidgeting.]

Ready to go when you are.

Comments

[braavado]

[Korra adjusts her grip on the staff and picks up the speed until she's flying beside him. It doesn't take long for her to notice the change in the air, most likely because she's expecting it this time. With them still fairly close to the colony, though, it's just a faint tickle of awareness, and not an overwhelming sense of discomfort each time she breathes in.

She'll shoot him a smile if he turns his head to look at her.]

So far so good. [Though no one's seen the winged creatures since the colony flooded, it's still a relief to see the sky clear of them.]

[geophile]

[ steven on the other hand is feeling perfectly fine, but is still keeping an eye on korra to make sure she isn't having trouble breathing yet. her words reassure him enough to meet her smile with a small one of his own, but he isn't about to let his guard down. ]

Don't hesitate to speak up if you start having trouble breathing.

[braavado]

Trust me, I'm definitely not planning to keep quiet. [Suffocating out in the jungle isn't exactly the way that she wants to go, even if CERES restores her code.]

I'm not sensing anything so far... you said you saw a bunch of caves scattered around the jungle, right?

[geophile]

[ good! quiet suffocation is Not Optimal, so he relaxes a little at her response. he feels responsible for her, but knows that she's more than capable of taking care of herself. ]

I did. Now, if I remember correctly... [ he looks over skarmory's shoulder, scanning his eyes along the lush tops of the jungle's trees before he spots an area devoid of vegetation. ] That's one of them over there.

[braavado]

[Chewing on her bottom lip, Korra stares at the patch of land he's pointing at for a moment before coming to a decision.]

Let's take a look and get some of those rock samples you wanted first. It might be easier for me to sense something when we're on the ground. [A flash of disappointment on her face--she knows she still has a lot of room for improvement when it comes to her spiritual senses, but it still bites. A lot.

Suddenly, Korra's head jerks up.]

Do you hear that?

[It's faint, but the sound of squawking's coming from their left, where a small flock of monsters approaches. However ridiculous they might look, they sure are flapping toward Korra and Steven aggressively and in the mood for a snack.]

Ugh, figures we'd run into something, even up here! [Korra swings her glider around to face them, prepared to take them down. Look, if suffocating is low on her list of priorities, being pecked to death by oversized chicken monsters is even lower.]

[geophile]

[ he nods at her suggestion, but is interrupted by that squawking sound. uh oh. ]

On your left!

[ hey, ridiculous-looking powerful things are a staple of his world. regardless of looks, those things are approaching like they're ready to attack, and need to be driven off properly. ]

Break their formation apart! Flash Cannon!

[ with steven on his back skarmory is limited to the attacks it can perform, but that doesn't mean its offenses are completely nullified. from its open beak, he charges a beam of energy that shoots into the middle of the flock, hitting a few and dispersing the rest. ]

[braavado]

[Her hands are somewhat tied, since she can't exactly let go of the glider staff, but she can think of a few tricks to fall back on anyway.]

Get behind me, quick!

[Korra's already flying forward as soon as the warning to Steven's out of her mouth. With some maneuvering, Korra hovers precariously a short distance from the flock. She breathes in deeply and then expels the air in her lungs forcefully as fire directly at the monsters. Some of them immediately fly off, probably retreating into the jungle to put out their burning tail feathers. The few that are left look a little singed, but they stay put--and their squawking sounds even angrier than before.]

[geophile]

[ he does as korra instructs, watching her... breathe fire? it's the first time he's seen her firebend, and it's quite an impressive spectacle. but he's not about to throw all the work onto her, and driving the remaining monsters away means taking a risk. ]

As we practiced, Skarmory. Steel Wing!

[ it's true that physical attacks were out of the question with steven on skarmory's back, but there's no problem if steven dismounts, which is exactly what happens. he lets himself fall off of skarmory's back while the bird's wings begin to glow and harden, speeding towards the remaining monsters to strike them all down with wings as hard as refined steel.

the hits are powerful enough to drive the remaining monsters off, leaving skarmory to speed downwards and swoop down to catch his trainer in mid-fall. his speed is almost blinding - in almost the blink of an eye, he's back by korra's side, catching his breath from the rush of adrenaline. besides that, he seems quite calm - there was no doubt in his mind that he couldn't trust his partner. ]

Are there any left?

[braavado]

[Part of her tenses up in surprise when Steven drops, and only his words stop her from immediately flying down toward him. As it is, she loops around restlessly, attention split between Skarmory and Steven. Only when Steven's safely on the pokemon's back again does she relax.]

They're all gone now. [Sparing a brief moment to nod toward the fleeing chicken monsters, Korra then turns her attention back to Steven, brows raised. She's impressed.]

That was gutsy. [Now that she's not worried he's going to splat on the ground, it's easy to grin at him.] Nice job.

[geophile]

[ he trusts her to let him handle himself unless something goes wrong, and he's correct in doing so. he breathes a sigh of relief when she dismisses his worry of more monsters being around, running a hand through his windswept hair. still, a smile grows to meet her's. ]

I try not to take risks unless they're calculated, but thank you. [ deep breath in, deep breath out. ] Shall we continue?

[braavado]

[Korra changes course again, this time aiming for the caves Steven had pointed out earlier.]

Yeah, let's book it before they decide to come back with more friends. A lot of the things living in the jungle like to travel in groups.

[As confident as Korra is of their ability to fight, she'd rather not compromise the whole trip.]

[geophile]

Right.

[ he's no stranger to being attacked by hordes of wild pokemon - the only difference here is that he can't catch these monsters. he follows korra without another word, making their descent until see the ground below. there's a clear space close to the mouth of the cave, giving skarmory enough room to land properly.

he hops off of skarmory, giving it a thankful stroke on the beak before returning him to his ball. ]

Let's hope that it stays quiet...

[braavado]

Don't jinx it. [A smile tugs at Korra's lips as she scans the trees around them for any movement.]

All clear, I think. [Korra props her hands on her hip, finally turning to the mouth of the cave.] So, you're the expert here. How should we do this?

[geophile]

With a little help, of course.

[ he reaches behind him at his belt, both hands taking two poke balls. they enlarge once their buttons are pressed, opening with their familiar flashes of energy. ]

Cradily, Aron, your assistance please.

[ the energy phases into two pokemon korra hasn't seen yet. ]

Cradily can keep a constant light source inside the cave, while Aron is trained to recognize metallic substances and stones with abnormal chemical makeups. They'll help us keep an eye out for things - once we find a decent formation, we can extract some samples.

[braavado]

Wow, they really do come in all shapes and sizes, huh?

[Korra immediately walks over for a closer look at the two pokemon, even bending down a little as she grins.] Hey, Cradily, Aron. Looks like we'll be working together.

psssst go look at our private plurk

[geophile]

As many as you can imagine, and more.

[ aron chirps happily at her new friend, while cradily, a little more reserved as the older, stronger one, offers her a polite nod. ]

Let's not waste time. Cradily, Flash.

[ the larger pokemon's eyes within the dark crescent in her head dim for a moment before glowing brightly, almost like two headlights brightening their path. like a kid in a candy store, steven won't hesitate - he moves forward into the cave at a pace a little too brisk to be considered walking. oh, this is exciting! ]

[braavado]

[Korra's not even bothering to hide her grin as she follows him in. The enthusiasm's cute, considering he seems so calm on most days.

Occasionally, she'll turn and make sure the tunnel behind them is clear of monsters from the jungle, just to be safe. Mostly, though, she stays just behind Steven and the pokemon, letting them guide the way with their expertise.]

[geophile]

[ steven becomes decidedly much less calm when it comes to looking for rare stones, but can you blame him? the prospect of a new discovery is all kinds of exciting! wowie!!!!

after some searching, and with korra's help with climbing and moving boulders when they reach a deeper, cut-off part of the cave, aron comes across a strange, glowing mineral - it looks like something that steven has seen before, but its glow seems so much brighter and more alien. without hesitation, he's kneeling next to her and taking out his tools to extract the specimen properly. ]

Beautiful... I can't wait to examine it!

[braavado]

Whoa. [Korra shuffles a little out of the way as Steven moves closer, giving him space to extract the mineral. Admittedly, she hasn't really paid attention to any special stones before this, but even she can admire the way the way it reflects the light in the cave. Wait a second...

Korra squints at the mineral suddenly.]

Uh, is it supposed to be glowing like that?

[She's no expert, but that's pretty unusual, right??]

[geophile]

[ as he digs the specimen out of its place on the cave wall, he furrows his brow. the more he looks at it, the more curious he gets... once it's in his gloved hands, he briefly examines it under cradily's light before pulling a container from his bag to store it properly. ]

Not in an environment like this. If it were under an ultraviolet light, I could understand... but this appears to be some sort of bioluminescence. [ he hums, but it's paired with a smile. ] Though with specimens like this, thinking within the borders of what I know almost feels limiting. I feel as though we're set to encounter some strange things while we're out here.

[braavado]

So that means you haven't seen anything like this before either.

[She nudges his shoulder companionably with hers once the sample's been stored away safely, and she's careful not to jostle him too much.] We haven't even been in here for long and we already found something new. Bet you're excited.

[Straightening up as she teases him, Korra begins to scan the parts of the cave wall illuminated by Cradily's flash.] See anything else you want to take back with you here?

[geophile]

Similar, but definitely not the same. It's certainly curious!

[ as he rises back up, he nods. ] If this cave holds new things to discover, I can only imagine what the others hold...

But as much as I'd like to stay, we have other matters to attend to. Let's head back for now - setting up a base camp should be our next priority.

[braavado]

[Korra shoulders her pack again, picking her way over the bumpy cave floor beside him.]

There was a river in here somewhere when the spirits took us out of the colony. There's got to be another one closer to the walls--or a spring or something around here.

We should scout for one of those and set up camp nearby.

[geophile]

I'll have Skarmory search the area from above. If he finds one, he can lead us there.

[ and that's just what he'll have him do once they're back at the mouth of the cave. ]

[braavado]

[Korra watches the pokemon fly off, sunlight catching on the metal wings.

As she's turning toward Steven, her breath catches slightly and she raises a hand toward her throat with a grimace. In the cave, she had been too distracted to feel the air start to change for her, but she feels it now.]