Eighth.

[azumods]

ENCOUNTER. It's been days since you were brought here. Or, at least, you think it's been days; even if it's not something you're necessarily unfamiliar with, the stagnation of time and space are likely taking a toll, as is the fact that it's impossible to become spatially oriented in this place. The rotation of the walls to become ground beneath your feet, the floating patches of land with their bizarre floral biology, the pools of water flowing silently and horizontally directly above your heads... It's all a bit much to take in, a bit much to acquaint yourselves with. Perhaps it isn't meant for you to become acquainted with at all. The massive creature here with you has been becoming bolder over the last few hours; it's difficult to tell what's gotten into it, but its path through the shadows has been bringing it closer. Once in a while a sleek, sharply-spiked body can be seen twisting its way through the darkness; sometimes long, black tendrils with wicked-looking red tips are seen cutting through the shadows, each of them far larger than you are, before disappearing again into nothingness. It seems to fade in and out with the contours of the abyss; sometimes it disappears entirely, only to reappear so close to the patches of land you've taken to standing on that it feels liable to collide with them, that it seems almost like you can reach out and touch it if you wanted to. Whatever it is, your Pokémon don't like it. You can tell just by being in its presence that it's one of the old ones, one of those whose memories span far longer than most of you can comprehend - one that's always been, since the creation of the world. An ancient and powerful entity, and there comes a point on one of those passes that's too close for comfort that it doesn't pull away and disappear again. Instead it stays, and its head breaches the darkness, and it finally lets you see it. It's massive, alarmingly so, in the same way that Dialga and Palkia were massive - not just in physical size, but in the way that something about being in its presence makes you feel very, very small. Its body is long and graceful in a way that's almost repulsive; it doesn't set down anywhere near you, or anywhere at all; instead, it simply is, hovering before you in a way that commands the stagnant, empty space before you, floating over the abyss like it was meant to be in it, like it's been here for longer than you likely care to imagine. Those long black tendrils ripple a little as they stream out behind it; its body seems to glimmer in the darkness as it watches you from behind bright, red eyes. For the time being, it doesn't seem about to attack; just the same, it's watching you very, very closely. What happens from here is, evidently, your call.

Comments

[azumods]

No...?

[Rey, what the fuck are you doing.]

You asked me if I would provide support in killing him. I told you no, because doing that is going to result in everyone dying. I'm very interested in keeping everyone alive. That's all I've said; you're filling in all these blanks yourself.

[greydients]

[Let her just raise her hands in a gesture of tired supplication, because the very last thing she wants right now is to argue with the person keeping the death god from killing them.]

Alright, I've got that much and perhaps I could have phrased my question better. I just want to know if our goal - get rid of Cyrus, through whatever means necessary - aligns with whatever yours is. If your only goal is to keep us and any others involved from dying, then it probably doesn't.

Am I understanding you correctly?

[azumods]

[...]

I don't want any further harm to come to this region, or the rest of the world, for that matter. I think he needs to be stopped. I don't agree that it needs to be by "whatever means necessary."

[greydients]

[...]

I don't want you to misunderstand me. When I say 'whatever means necessary', that doesn't mean we default to trying to kill him. I've spoken to him at length, and as I said before, I think Jake and I have identified emotional weaknesses. Those are the ones I want to target, for lack of a better way of phrasing that.

But there may be a point where we can't...talk him down, I suppose you'd call it, and if I have to choose between killing him, and the safety of my world and my friends...

[...have an awkward shrug.]

It's the last resort, but it wouldn't be the first time I've killed someone, nor would it be for a lot of the members of our group. If you don't want to support us, then that's your choice and I respect it.