the fractured paradise (open)

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    [fancypost=background-color:transparent; border-width: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px;]A quite hum rumbled from Seraph's throat as she thought the offer over, and with an irritated sigh, she agreed. "I'm in, even though this matter doesn't really matter me personally," she turned her attention to Anna, grinning subtly. "It does matter to others, though," she then shrugged, closing her eyes. "It gives me something to do with my life too," a small giggle escaped her lips after her sentence, but after a split second her cheery nature disappeared, and was quicklu replaced by her stoic one. "Do you have any idea where the next location is or might be?"
    //low muse-mobile

    "We do," Faba replied with a confident smirk, acknowledging Ahi and Seraph's questions with a nod. "As you might observe from this map here, the recent disappearances - now known to be caused by portals - seem to be concentrated in the areas where the Ultra Beasts first appeared. One such beast appeared in the Malie Gardens next to where you were attacked, for example-" he paused to gesture to the screen, where a map comparing the locations of the disappearances to the locations of the Ultra Beast appearances was displayed. "We can make prediction based off of this and monitor the islands for the effects you described, developing an early warning system of sorts. Our technicians are already working on installing a prototype now, in fact."


    Throughout the man's explanation Anna had stood to one side, listening to the other's talking with growing excitement. While Seraph's cheer had quickly been masked, however, Anna's was obvious; as hope for her brother being found grew, so did her grin. Finally, their efforts were paying off. "So, you're both up for it, then?" she asked, turning to the other trainers while Faba paused to fuss around with something on the computer. "This really means a lot to me, you know. I don't think I could have done this alone."

    [fancypost=background-color:transparent; border-width: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px;]"Don't sweat it," Seraph replied casually, smiling subtly. "Besides, if I had a brother and he went missing, I'd want someone to help me find him too," she hummed, and after a few short moments, she awkwardly bumped Anna's shoulder with her fist. It was a friend thing, and if they were technically friends, she wanted to try it. When Team Skull was still active and she was still part of it, Seraph formed a close bond with all of her fellow team members. They were like a family to her, in a way. After Guzma disbanded the group and everyone scattered, she became distant. She still kept in touch, but she missed the whole "family" aspect of it. However, after awhile she stopped being bothered by the loneliness. She's used to it now. This made making friends awkward; she was never used to social interactions with people who didn't know her. She thought she'd make a bad impression on them.

    Anna laughed and swayed with Seraph's shoulder bump, once again glad that she had some friendly faces to turn to in these otherwise dark times. Like Ahi she had travelled around a lot in the past, and had never really stayed in one place for long enough to form any real bonds with any of the people there. Her brother had been her closest friend, so the realisation that his disappearance hadn't left her completely alone was a novel one for Anna. "Thank you - both of you," she said with a smile, before a determined expression settled on her face. "Let's see what we can do, hmm?"



    Turning back to the computer, the trainer took another look at the map. Faba was still fiddling around with a programme on another screen - presumably something to do with the early warning system that he had mentioned - leaving Anna free to inspect the locations of past Ultra Beast appearances. "Where do you think the next disappearance will be?" she asked aloud, half to her herself and half to the others. Beside her, Faba muttered something about 'patience' and 'the installation process almost being complete', but Anna wasn't paying him much attention any more. She was more concerned with what she was seeing on the screen.


    "Hey, guys, look at this - one of the Ultra Beasts appeared here before, apparently. Here, inside the Aether Paradise."

    [fancypost=background-color:transparent; border-width: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px;]Seraph crossed her arms and tsked rather audibly, quirking a brow. "I'm not surprised," she replied, glancing at Faba for a split second before reverting her attention back to Anna. A subtle frown graced her features as she started to subconsciously tap her foot, slowly growing impatient. If Anna's brother was still...wherever he was...he could be in danger. Or worse. She didn't want to think about that. Seraph clutched one of the Pokéballs in her bag, this one contained her strongest partner, Toxapex. If that thing harmed Anna's brother, she'd personally punch it in the face. If it had a face. Nevertheless, she'd still punch it. No one harmed her friends, her friend's friends, even their friend's friend's friends. She was protective like that; she felt responsible to take revenge against those who wrong her companions.

    Faba stopped what he was doing for a couple of moments and looked over his shoulder, frowning at the group. "I don't know what you're talking about, Ahi," he replied, turning back to complete the installation, "but I assure you that any worries you may have are completely unfounded. The previous Ultra Beast breach was contained, and this whole area is very carefully monitored in order to prevent any future incidents from occurring. The Aether Foundation hasn't had any contact with the creatures for months."


    Some doubt must have been obvious on Anna's face, because the man sighed and continued; "Besides, the new early warning system should let as know as soon as any breach occu--"


    Faba didn't get the chance to finish his sentence, however, as a wailing alarm cut him off. Anna jumped at the sudden, blaring noise, one hand going to the pokeball containing her Sceptile while she herself looked around for the source of the commotion. Her eyes rested on the computer at the same time as Faba managed a weak 'oh dear'; across the screen, the message 'WARNING, BREACH DETECTED' could clearly be seen. Over the sound of the alarm, an invasive, buzzing thrum could start to be heard, and the air in the conservation area began to warp.

    Anna cursed loudly, and exclaimed; "Oh, not again!"

    [fancypost=background-color:transparent; border-width: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px;]Seraph growled audibly and fished through her bag, grabbing another Pokéball. This one held her Lucario, which was another one of her strongest Pokémon. Watching the warp in the sky the trainer grimaced, her eyebrows furrowed. "What was that about breaches?" She hissed, glaring at Faba for a split second before redirecting her gaze back to the warp. "I swear to Arceus-..."


    While the sky was warping, she tried to focus on the brighter side of abduction. If they were taken, Seraph would get the chance to punch the thing in the face. However, the good thoughts were soon replaced by the bad ones. What if they couldn't get back? What if they were killed? What if it didn't have a face for her to punch? A small frown graced her features at the last thought. She was pretty hooked on socking it in the face...

    Anna unconsciously shuffled closer to the others, her eyes darting around the open space as she prepared herself for trouble. Somewhat inappropriately (given the circumstances), she felt a brief spark of amusement upon seeing Faba's blatant and exaggerated panic, before her attention was drawn back to more pressing matters by the increased warping of space. It wasn't long before the empty air above the group seemed to crack open, and a brilliant white light illuminated the room.


    Even knowing what would happen next, Anna still wasn't prepared when the events of that morning repeated themselves; a couple of seconds passed, in which the young trainer shot a nervous glance at her companions, before the the light shot outwards and enveloped them all. Once again, Anna was blinded, though this time the loss of vision was accompanied by a strange, rushing sensation. As soon as it stopped a wave of vertigo hit her, and she struggled to remain upright. Her eyes blinked blindly as she struggled to see, the afterimage of the light burst still dancing across her vision, and she struggled not to give in to panic.


    When Anna's eyesight finally cleared, the conservation area was nowhere to be seen: bulbous, alien plants replaced the familiar greenery of the Aether Paradise, and a strange twilight illuminated the area around them. They were a long way from home indeed.

    [fancypost=background-color:transparent; border-width: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px;]Seraph growled audibly when she was blinded by the light, and when she regained her vision, her stoic expression managed to prevail even though the situation seemed grim. Furrowing her brows an irritated frown graced her features as she took in the scenery; they were quite far away from their home indeed. "What are these..." she hissed, examining the life closely.


    //Low muse-school+mobile

    "And where on earth are we?" Anna added, only helping to emphasise the group's confusion. "Though perhaps I should be asking 'on what earth'..."


    Looking around, the scenery was like nothing she had ever seen before, not anywhere in her travels. The cavernous area they were standing in branched off in several places into what looked like tunnels, and there was an ominous chattering sound coming from somewhere in the distance that reminded Anna of the noise bug-type pokemon made. All-in-all, it only helped to add to the image that they were in a massive hive of some kind, or an underground maze. The thought made Anna's hair stand up on end.


    She shook herself, and turned to the others. "Are you both okay?" she asked, a bit belatedly. "This place is giving me the creeps."

    [fancypost=background-color:transparent; border-width: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px;]"I'm fine," Seraph responded subconsiously, her gaze still trained on what she thought was vegetation. After a few moments she reached out to touch it, but quickly recoiled when she realized how bad that idea sounded. Tsking in disgust the trainer turned away from the strange organism, then started to rummage through her bag. Pulling out a Pokéball, she released her Aerodactyl. The avian Pokémon squaked in surprise as he took in the scenery, then snarled in annoyance. He stuck to his trainer's side like glue; if something jumped them, it wouldn't get through him. Examine the area closely the dual-type growled lowly, his intense green gaze burning into the organisms nearby. Just to be safe, he pressed his side up against Seraph, trying to shield her from the unfamiliar creatures. He didn't trust this place, that was for sure.

    "Good idea," Anna muttered, reaching into her bag to retrieve a pokeball of her own. A sableye appeared in a flash of light, and immediately began to scuttle around the area. Its trainer stood back and watched with detached amusement as it ran in a lap around the cavern, obviously unsure of what to make of this strange new place. She had to reach out and grab the gem-loving pokemon, however, when it apparently decided to continue where Seraph had left off and got a bit too close to one of the alien organisms.


    Luckily Anna managed to pull the squirming dual-type away before it could try and take a bite out of one, or worse. "Ugh, please don't try and do that again," Anna scolded, casting a wary look towards the organic matter. "I don't think we should go near anything that looks like it might be alive..."

    [fancypost=background-color:transparent; border-width: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px;]Seraph's Aerodactyl huffed in irritation and rolled his eyes at the Sableye's antics, clearly annoyed by its curiosity. He grumbled under his breath and continued looking around, then slowly began to walk forward with Seraph. The trainer's gaze flickered from tunnel to tunnel like a metronome, examining each one. "The sound seems like it's coming from that tunnel," she reported, pointing at the pathway to the right of her. "It's hard to tell though, this place sure is noisy..."


    Turning on her heel, she placed a hand on her hip and tilted her head off to the side, frowning subtly. "Should we split up, or tackle this place as a group?"