Test 5.

[azumods]

VERITY The journey this month has been easier on you in several ways; despite your losses, your numbers have been bolstered by the addition of two more this month, and unlike the unforgiving terrain on the way to Lake Acuity the routes to Lake Verity seem downright hospitable - they're straightforward, the climate is far more temperate, and there are patches of cheer visible here and there along the paths in the form of those brightly-colored flowers, even as you make your way toward the lakefront. But the lakefront itself is perhaps unsettlingly silent; a reminder, perhaps, of what you're here to do, of the importance of your task. You'll reach the lake sometime in the evening. The sun isn't down yet, but it looks as though it won't be too long before it dips below the horizon; there's more than enough light for you to see what the lake itself looks like, however - the water is still and clear, to an extent where you can see straight down to the bottom regardless of how deep it gets. There's no bridge or other way to cross over the lake that you can see, but once again there's a large rock formation rising out of the center of the lake and a good-sized opening in the stone, leading to what's likely a system of caverns further inside. Your exploration starts here, next to the crystal clear waters of Lake Verity; what happens next is up to you.

Comments

[azumods]

She shouldn't... She shouldn't be having you do this. Not for her. She can... She can handle this herself, she should be handling this herself. I don't know why she isn't.

[That's...surprisingly agitated, honestly.]

[takestheblame]

Do you think she's untrustworthy?

[That's agitation indeed. What's going on, Lucas?]

[azumods]

I don't know.

[swiftasacoursingkawa]

[Then...then...then what...?]

Th...the way she was talking, she sounded like she was tracking down this Cyrus guy herself, b-but...

[He unconsciously tightens his grip on the Abra in his arms. Thankfully, the little dude doesn't seem to care much.]

Why was she doing that...without tracking them down first...or was she there because of what happened...? Or...

[Gulp.]

Why can she handle this herself...? I mean, she's strong and all, but why her specifically...?

[azumods]

She's one of the strongest trainers in the region.

I don't know why she needs other people to do this for her. It's...happened before.

[swiftasacoursingkawa]

What's happened before?

[Confusion.]

[azumods]

She got someone to do things for her, instead of handling them herself. It didn't... It wasn't good. Now the region is like...

[...Y'know, this?]

[swiftasacoursingkawa]

...Huh...?

[Wait...what...?]

You're saying that...Team Galactic won in the first place because she didn't...

[She didn't step up when it was important? She isn't doing the same now? Is that really what you're saying here?]

[discutio]

Well. Good to know we were on the right track declaring her less than ideally trustworthy.

[he is. Not Happy.]

[azumods]

I don't know for sure. I wasn't there. But that seems...it seems like that's what happened.

[eudaimonikos]

I mean, yeah, but there's no evidence she's doing anything at all, and we wanna get this taken care of. You know she's got a big dragon she's apparently not fighting people with?

[azumods]

Of course I know. A lot of people here know.

[eudaimonikos]

Well, there you go. If she won't do anything, then someone else has to. Fuck waiting around for Cynthia to deign to take action.

[He can say fuck in front of Lucas right]

[azumods]

[..........................

that was not very e for everyone, michael

on the other hand, he's like twelve so

yeah, actually]

She's done this before. It didn't go well.

[perfectselfie]

...what happened, Lucas?

[azumods]

She and someone else went to fight Cyrus. Somewhere else, somewhere that wasn't...here.

[...He's not explaining this well, but bless him, he's trying.]

Another...dimension, another world. They went after him. He left that place eventually.

They didn't.

[hyruglyphics]

[ . . . Hmmm.

Zelda steps forward a little, crossing her hands in front of each other. ]

Lucas? My name is Zelda, so that I might introduce myself. [ She didn't earlier, her bad. That said, ] ... Would you be willing to tell us more about this "before?"

[azumods]

[Kind of?]

[ventulus]

...What do you mean by that?

[ What's going on here? ]

[azumods]

She shouldn't need to use other people. Not to...carry out her goals.

[heritrix]

I can't say what she's up to, but it wouldn't be fair to say that was wholly her attitude at the time we met. She encouraged us to look for the Guardians, yes, but most of our group wanted to seek out Cyrus, the leader of Team Galactic.

[And like murder the hell out of him. Look at how far we've come, guys, no death threats yet.]

That was the one thing she insisted we shouldn't do. It sounded like she intends to handle Cyrus personally... I'm not sure what she's up to now, but part of me assumed she's been preparing to fight him.

[azumods]

...You shouldn't. Seeking out Cyrus is a bad idea, I don't...know what she plans to do this time.

[heritrix]

[Rin nods, because likewise.]

We know. Even in a friendly battle with a former gym leader of this region, a couple of us were defeated soundly. [She doesn't sound like she laments that, though.] It was an important lesson.

[And beyond that, though it wasn't her fighting, she thought Kayneth and Zelda did their best. More than that, it was something to learn from.]

With that said, while we aren't looking to confront Cyrus, we still can't sit around on our hands doing nothing. Up until now, we've just been trying to help this world, and hope that saves our homes from the same fate in the process.

Since you don't trust Cynthia, would you suggest a different course of action?

[ventulus]

But we said we'd help out. She didn't force us to or anything.

[ ... ]

And she said one way to help things get better so this whole thing wouldn't spread to our worlds was to help with the Guardians.

[azumods]

It is. Or it should be.