WHO PUT THE CHARIZARD IN CHARGE OF SCUBA DIVING

[rivalkidneypunch]

Who: Zero, Knuckles, Char, Riwane, Jolt, Connor (possibly Melia? Chiyo?? If I've missed someone, let me know!)
What: LAKE EXPLORATION. Why's the water rising? What's down there?!
Where: The lake, of course
When: Late afternoon, July 9
Warnings: Mysterious watery bullshit, probably

It had taken a little looking to get his hands on some Devon Co. scuba gear, but Char, being Char, had of course come through in the end. Char was much more familiar with Silph Co.'s stuff, but he had to admit, this would work nicely enough: a pair of goggles and a small, portable breathing apparatus, not bad. He couldn't say that he felt all that much more at easy about this idea, though -- Charizards, water, still not great friends.

Even so, he arrived at the lake, a messenger bag full of the scuba gear he'd promised hanging off one shoulder. Jolt and Riwane should have been arriving any second now, and considering how much attention the rising water levels had gotten, they probably wouldn't be the only ones.

Comments

[rivalkidneypunch]

"It ain't exactly gonna be pleasant, if that's what you mean," Char grumbled, still continuing to not look forward to this in the least. He, frankly, expected it to hurt, but he had his pride and that was that. "Ain't something you'd expect a Charmander to try and survive, but we're grown-ass Charizards, and these ain't ordinary fires."

Having declared that much, he too pried off his hoodie and shirt, leaving him down to shorts. On went the diving gear. "We made up our mind we're all goin', so no point puttin' it off. Let's get this over with."

[monotreme_101]

"Hm. Alright."

Hey, if they were OK with it, he sure wasn't going to argue with them. There was way too much about the people here he didn't get and he didn't want to be a burr. Still. He'd keep an eye out. If it looked like trouble, he could probably heave them back out onto shore. Maybe. Possibly.

"Well, I'm ready when you guys are." he said, starting to walk out towards deeper water again. There was green grass under his feet, now. The kind that usually didn't grow under water. This thing really WAS rising, wasn't it?

[mohawk_tomahawk]

Connor was ready when he arrived here. He had no idea he was going to see a lot more familiar faces but that made it easier for him.

He knew most of these people knew what they were doing. People were explaining risks and Connor was soon simply looking into the lake and spotting the area.

He was saying very little. Until Knuckles spoke.

"It is important we leave no stone unturned," Connor said as he went into the lake. He didn't wear any swim gear, but he did remove the top layer of his robes.

[birdlady]

"Ah, please don't chew on that!" Came a new voice, slightly panicked.

Melia had heard the crowd gathering at the lake, but as she was there for a different reason, she had paid them no mind, until now that they were wading into the water. It was then that she noticed one of the chao she had been checking up on had wandered away and had found a new chew toy in the form of that expensive looking diving equipment. She may have accidentally shoved somebody out of the way in her rush to get the little critter before he did any damage to it.

"I'm... I'm so sorry!" She gasped, turning beet red. "I was trying to keep an eye on them, but it seems this little one was a bit curious about your diving trip."

[awakeningwill]

"It's not a trip, it's a mission," growled Zero, his exasperation starting to bleed through. This was seriously just like the Egg Carrier all over again, wasn't it. Ugh, fine.

He snapped at the ostentatiously dressed girl, "If you're not prepared, then stay out of it," before running into the lake. Clunk clunk splash, there go the metal robot.

[birdlady]

R U D E RUDE. Melia is too dumbfounded to reply while Angry Robot Man splashes away, instead opting to yank the chao up into her arms (...gently).

"Well!" She finally huffed. "Maybe I'm not part of your special mission, buy you're not the only ones concerned with the lake water."

She bounced the chao in her arms and looked away in a huff. That ought to do it.

[blazebottom]

Riwane kind of smiled apologetically and waved. "Don't mind 'im, things are jus' a bit outta place rite now. I'm sure erryone's concerned an' we all appreciate erryone 'elping!"

With that though, she finished putting on her gear and waved one last time before following into the water.

[rivalkidneypunch]

"I'm with... whoever the hell that was," Char agreed, not actually having any idea what Zero's name was or anything but always continuing to be on board with just getting shit over with. Niceness and cooperation with the team never had been specialties of his. One of the actually-civil folks could handle the teamwork, he'd handle the getting shit done

He, however, managed to be far less graceful of a swimmer than Riwane. His tail immediately began hissing and spitting the second it hit the water, and it was with a great deal of muffled swears and bubbling that he dipped down beneath the waves.

[monotreme_101]

....man. There was some Deja-vu for you. Chao, a young girl, rising water-slash-the threat of a watery grave.

"Hey! Girl!" he said, pointing a gloved mitten-finger at Melia. "Take good care of those Chao! If they get hurt, bad things can happen!"

He'd hate to see FDC go down like Station Square.

Though, Chaos couldn't be in this lake, right? And even if he showed up here, no Chaos Emeralds meant no perfect form. So things should be fine.

....still. He couldn't help but worry as he started walking deeper into the water, following his Robot Pal and the two Fire Tails.

[rivalthunderbolts]

Well, Jolt wasn't about to stand by and let himself get shown up by the girl with the ponytail, Knuckles, or the two firetails.

"Here goes nothing!" he declared, hopping into the lake as well, diving in after his friends.

[blazebottom]

For a flamebutt, this girl almost looked at home in the water! Swimming fairly gracefully and using all her appendages to glide through the lake. Those who knew her well knew she had a deadly fascination for water and she practices her endurance and swim often.

That said, she was following closely those who have ventured in first, with the occasional exploring out of curiosity.

[monotreme_101]

Knuckles was plenty used to running around under water in one of these shields. His feet didn't leave the lake bottom as he sprinted to catch up with Zero.

The water was a little murky, waves of silt having been stirred up by... something. Not the bright, clear lake water he was used to seeing down here the few other times he'd gone swimming in the school lake.

"...So, about that whole 'if there needs to be combat, let me take care of it' bit." Knuckles said to the reploid. "I think we better rethink that considering now I'm not the only guy who needs to breathe down here and I got the added advantage of not bein' a creature who's supposed to be on fire."

He had no idea how dependent on their tail flames Charizards were, of course. He didn't take Pokémon studies as a class. But his general take on nature was there was a reason for pretty much everything it did. If something was born On Fire, it probably needed to stay On Fire.

[awakeningwill]

"Hrmgh," was the sound of Zero's decidedly displeased grumble. This was officially too many people for him to control and, if it came to it, protect on his own. Such was the problem of people insisting to investigate in huge, unorganized groups instead of leaving it to a smaller squad. He didn't really have a choice but to reconsider the plan, now.

"If it's too much for everyone to handle, then I'll distract it while the others get to safety." Probably not a plan B that Knuckles would be all that satisfied with either, but when Zero didn't have the limitation of needing to breathe, then he had the luxury of taking bigger risks.

With the water so cloudy, and the light form above growing further and further away as they ran deeper into the lake, Zero began to charge his weapons, letting the energy's glow in his helmet light the way.

[rivalkidneypunch]

Char, meanwhile, was having a lot less fun than everyone else present. Even with a steady supply of air, thanks to the Devon scuba gear, his soul-flame still felt painfully smothered, dimmer than usual in this extremely hostile environment. It, at least, provided a beacon in this cloudy, piss-awful water.

For whatever good that did, anyway. He could see whats-his-face's... forehead lightbulb? Whatever that was. Riwane's tail, too, shone through the murk and the darkness, so at least there wasn't much chance of getting separated.

Though... bright beacons all around in their little group... shouldn't they have been attracting fish? That was what happened with Starmies and Chinchous, anyway. If there was something down there... surely it was bound to notice a bunch of big bright lights coming into its turf?

[aquaticus]

What was that? Larger aquatic predators attracted by bright lights? That never happens. Ever. Don't be silly. Just keep swimming closer, please.

There was a rumble under the feet of those walking and anyone swimming would surely feel a changing of currents as something huge moved nearby.

And then a pair of luminous eyes opened. Something was there. And it was either angry or hungry or both.



See? Super not-so-happy noises.

[blazebottom]

Okay, no, not cool. Half of their group, including her, were not adept at this kind of environment and something had just stirred the surrounding hard enough that made even the generally fearless firetail worry.

In the murky depths it was hard to see and she immediately set to move closer to those she cared for most, that being Char and Jolt. She swam as fast as she could, keeping a look out beneath her considering she felt the shift below her. They'd have to be ready for whatever decided to show themselved.

[rivalthunderbolts]

Okay, even Jolt felt that one, stopping for a moment as he looked around. His first instinct was to start charging up, but under water that would end badly for everyone. He had to keep his instincts in check for now. But he would stay closer to the group. Just to be sure. He was going to be ready for a fight, because wow, that sound wasn't normal.

[awakeningwill]

For the dudes down on the lake floor? That big, loud something was considerably closer. As the water currents swept against him and those eyes lit up, Zero stood his ground - he was far more concerned about the swimmers than he was about himself. They were too far away to communicate with, so he couldn't warn them of the danger, and scuba gear didn't exactly allow them to talk back. He had more confidence in Knuckles holding his own than that group, to be honest.

Zero drew his sword, hoping the additional glow of a beam sabre would draw the monster's attention to him. As an aside to Knuckles, he remarked, "What are the odds you'll actually let me distract this thing on my own?"

[machomonotreme]

"'Bout Zero percent chance. No pun intended, buddy." Knuckles replied, also holding his ground as the sea serpent reared its head, collective lights illuminating it from different angles even through the murk and stirred up silt. It was an impressive sight, but probably better viewed from an extreme distance.

"That thing's too big for me to feel right leavin' you to face it alone. I'll keep an eye out for anyone in serious trouble and if I need to do a rescue mission, I'll leave him up to you. Deal?"

[awakeningwill]

"Deal." That was as good an offer as he was gonna get from his stubbornly brave echidna friend. Zero readied his buster as well, and pointed it at the dragon. He'd been holding in a charge for a while now, but this first shot was going to have to draw the beast's attention, and make for a warning to the others.

The good thing about large enemies meant they were pretty hard to miss. A Burning Shot was fired off, looking less like a energy blast and more like a cluster of white-hot orbs. Upon impact, they erupted into a fiery explosion, lighting up the murky waters and with a blast of heat and sound.

Who said you couldn't use fire underwater?

[aquaticus]

In the light of Zero's blast, the assembled heroes would have been able to see the scale of that which they now faced. Huge finned limbs, kelp like protrusions all along its body and a large, serpentine tail.

The light dimmed again and the creature shifted once more, lifting from the bottom of the lake.

"...My Turn."

It opened its mouth and a gout of blue light shot out through the water, aimed at Zero initially, then sweeping around towards the others. The Water Laser was a fast moving, difficult to avoid attack that did absolutely nothing for the visibility down here every time it hit the lake bed and tore chunks of it up.

[blazebottom]

Oh fuck this got real right quick Riwane thought as she saw the spark that blew this whole thing out of the water almost. They were so not prepared... This went from investigating a possible disturnbance stirring the lake, to a full blown out rodeo with all the bells and whistles the city county could afford and then some.

That said, her first thoughts were her friends and she did her damndest to clear out of the way of that blast and speed to them. She was glad she had trained so often in water or she was sure she'd be extra crispy... or whatever that beam woulda done to her.

[rivalthunderbolts]

OKAY, THE GIANT FISH MONSTER WAS SHOOTING AT THEM. And he couldn't fire back, not without hurting everyone else. He could probably fry it right away if he didn't mind zapping all of his friends, including his thunderweak brother and kinda girlfriend. He hated the idea of retreating, but he knew he was more of a danger to the group if he stayed to fight. He swam out of the way and tried to signal to the others to get back to the surface.

[machomonotreme]

Knuckles managed to spindash out of the path of the attack fast enough to save his bubble shield, but just barely. He growled under his breath, coming out of the roll and skidding to a halt some distance from the beast.

"That's how you wanna do this huh, bub?" he called. He could see the creature illuminated against the wavery blue light of its own attack and a familiar excitement started to well in his chest. This was almost like fighting the Ifrit all over again. Just a different element, that's all. Plus, he had help this time and Rouge wasn't being mind controlled into attacking him.

In short? It was On.

He revved in place a second before launching himself at the dragon and crashing into its side, swinging punches and launching kicks and hoping no-one needed his help.

[awakeningwill]

Huh. That was new. Usually, massive sea dragons didn't speak English.

Zero had been expecting some kind of counterattack, so he was ready on the dash when the Water Laser shot towards him. He sped out of the way and began recharging the buster gun immediately, firing off a few more shots whenever he had line of sight.

With Knuckles going for an assault in close quarters, the reploid hung back to provide support from a distance, giving him cover fire and hoping to draw the beast's attention with a well-aimed charge shot if it looked like the echidna was about to get swatted.

"So, you can talk." Didn't look like answers would come easy, though.