#asktheprotocol

[ Previously ]

The doors to leave the lab are locked. I have no way out from the inside. [ @asktheprotocol ]

there's only a text message.

ᵂᵒᵘˡᵈ ʸᵒᵘ ˡⁱᵏᵉ ᵗᵒ ᶜᵒᵐᵉ ᵛⁱˢⁱᵗ ʸᵒᵘʳ ᵖᵃʳᵉⁿᵗˢ' ʷᵒʳᵏ?

(@asktheprotocol)

He was confused on the buzz to check with a raised bow from reading an unknown text message from someone. He would have almost deleted it, had it not mentioned about his parent’s work that got him to pause.

[“???”]

[“How do you know about them? Are you a friend or some co-worker working alongside them?”]

Sada: Eat shit !

[ @asktheprotocol ]

(@asktheprotocol)

She's silent as she looks at her computer screen. Corrupted and glitchy, her own voice, along with Turo and Clavell's, speaks out to her, asking her, "What keeps you above ground, and not pursuing your research...?"

“Course the teleporters not working, course you’re gonna make me walk through hell…” She hissed, managing to open the bulkhead door that overlooked the crater… The wind that kicked up made her hair whip like a razor, as if echoing the ferocity of what lingered below.

Adniel was quickly summoned, and shes quick to mount up, the Garchomp taking them both down into the cloudy depths, clinging to the pokemons shoulders as they fell with grace… And came to rest at the bottom- The familiar serenity settling on her ears like five tons of silence…

If nothing else, the stranger -did- offer to show a path. And, presumably, a place to rest indicated there was some measure of safety in the midst of the various threats that were inherent in the Crater itself. As far as they seemed concerned, it wasn't far more than simply leaping out of the frying pan only to fall into the fire.

Then here's a base map.

Considering how they had already managed to contact Giovanni, perhaps it wasn't surprising that they knew his general area in Paldea; the attached file was one of a digital map, indicating a route from his rough location to the Zero Gate itself.

The start of a path, at least. Presumably safe, by how it avoided most trafficked routes.

I've gone ahead and sent a wild Swanna to your friends for them to chase and buy you time. But I don't know how long they'll be distracted. When you arrive, hold this device up to the Gate and I will take care of the rest.

While speed was of the utmost importance, there was no questioning that he was detoured. Giovanni was running. Running from what? He didn’t know. He didn’t know how Neo Rocket had become so sharp at picking up on his movements. It’s a bold move on the part of a war band.

Giovanni directed him, as expected, past the shadow of Paldea’s mountain ranges to where the cloudcover hung around their ankles. He had left his monsters behind, all of them, with Green. In return? His husband handed him two sets of heavy reinforced gauntlets, with needle like points.

He told him not to be stupid, and to come back safe. It’s the same thing he tells him before every absurd objective he chases. The same thing Red signs back too.

So, he ends up here, in clothes much older than he was, carrying a backpack heavier than he was, and a trainer id keyed to a dead man.

The fact that it still worked was damning to history.

He hadn’t figured out how to hook the auxiliary pack onto the rest of the suit.

Red’s boots are heavy when he walks onto the metal platform of the Zero Gate, mask on his face. A glimpse in the phone screen of his rotom is particularly horrifying.

So this is what you looked like, huh?

The drop below would kill anyone. He’s caught looking over the edge, down into the clouds below. 

There’s no sound here.

This is where we were supposed to meet...