World Tree MUSH

    The world that Evie, Hornet, and Red would find themselves in now has dumped them out at a seaside. The roar of desolate surf, a pine forest and the bleached grays of old grass and driftwood stretch as far as the eye can see and either direction, looping back around itself, seawrak covering rocks and in the air, the sound of gulls carries on the salty wind. 

    Everything smells of salt and high tide, the ocean quietly roaring and beating against the shoreline with a sense of lacksadaisy unhurriedness. The sun is out; it appears ot be mid-day, and a mild climate.

    Another day, another world to be explored. Not Hallownest, but after the last few days, that wasn't much of a surprise to Hornet. "Hmm. I haven't seen such a large body of water before. The Blue Lake is grand, but this is... much more then that," Hornet explains as she glances out over the rolling waves. "Are such things familiar to you, Evie?"

    "The ocean? Mm!" Evie states, almost excitedly, "but this is a very distant climate from England. I've not seen the sea beyond the ports, never anything like this." Evie states excitedly, sliding from Red's back as she steps towards the water. "It's salty, most creatures probably can't drink it, but great creatures larger than Red dwell below the surface -- sharks, whales, and who knows what other creatures in the deepest depths?" the brunette Englishwoman states as she slides towards the water, mindful of her footing. 

    "I would guess by the conifers that we're in at least an equivilent of the Northern Hemisphere of Earth -- the planet I'm from. Maybe even the Americas?" she considers, half to herself. 

    It was nicer, after all, to have a traveling companion. And Hornet was a far better listener than Jacob.

    "Interesting, Nothing like that exists where I'm from. There are some massive creatures in some reaches of the realm, but nothing so massive underwater. In fact, I'm not sure anything lives in Blue Lake," Hornet says, wondering about just that. "It's fascinating to me just how vast other worlds are. Hallownest is grand, but the worlds beyond have shown just how small my home is in comparison."

    Evie is looking out over the ocean, watching the sunlight dance on the surface before turning back to Hornet. She gives a wry little smile. "A hundred years before was a golden age of sea-faring in my world. Pirates, whalers, exploration..." exploitation. 

    She draws her way carefully back up towards Red and Hornet. "Someday, should I find a reliable way to my own world, I should show you some of its wonders, Miss Hornet. I'm not sure how *shipworthy* Red would be, but I--" 

    Evie Frye stops short. Something is wrong. She breathes out, and turns about herself as a low pitched rumble could be heard. 

    "... Hornet, mind your feet--" she begins to warn, but the beach begins to crumble beneath them, a crack opening up between the wanderers as the sand and rocks began to cave in on itself!

    "That sounds like a delightful time, Ms. Frye. You speak highly of your world, I'm sure I would enjoy seeing it," Hornet states as she watches the woman start to wander back to her and her mount. It's just as Evie comes to a stop that Red starts to shift anxiously, "What is this?!" Red, on instinct, pedaling backward from the divide that's forming. Hornet's has already lept from the large stag beetle's back, needle out and at the ready for .. something.

    Evie braces, but the collapsing sand and rock isn't easily escaped. She can't find a solid handhold, her eyes opening wide before she begins her descent into darkness, hands reaching for anything to grab onto -- roots, outcroppings of rock, anything! 

    Hornet and Red would have better luck; they weren't on the sandy side of the divide, and might be able to backpeddle their way from being swallowed up by the hole opening up in the beach, leading down, down to the dark! 

    There at least is water below, as the sea begins to cascade into a subterranian cavern.

    Red has the strides and the speed to be able to back away from the forming chasm. Hornet, on the other hand, had sent her weapon out into the sands to try and find an anchor to pull herself up with, but the Needle had found only sand. There's a surpised yelp from her when the weapon catches her weight for a moment, but then pulls free. 

    Seems Hornet is going down into the sinkhole with Evie Frye. 

    Evie gives a soft curse, and lifts her left arm. With a squeeze, a dart fires out, and finds solid rock, embedding itself as the grappling line tightens. 

    HEr right hand reaches out, and she tries to catch Hornet before she can go further into the darkness! 

    "HORNET!" she calls out, gloved hand reaching as the grapple tightens, but holds her weight.

    It's an awkward fall, but with the delay she created for her by her weapon, she's able to reach out and catch Evie's hand and arm on the way by. She's not all that heavy, Evie will discover. "Ouf. What in the world just happened?" she calls aloud, taking in the underground surroundings before driving her Needle into the rockface so she has her own anchor.

    Evie swings slightly from the grappling line from her bracer. She *had* hoped to keep her secrets a little longer, but... she wasn't about to let Hornet fall to who knows what. 

    "Well," she trails a moment, looking up at the sky above, and down to the water below. "It appears we have fallen through a crack in the world." she states the obvious, and as Hornet gets an anchor in, Evie looks downwards, narrowing her eyes. 

    The Assassin's eagle sight would show if there *was* anything down in the water below, as the sea rains down on both Evie and Hornet. 

    "... I feel like I just got my underpinnings dry at last, and now I'm soaked again." she mutters.

     Miwa happened to be exploring as well and was swimming in the ocean just a bit offshore. It was colder than she would prefer, but it was still a new place with new things to see, so she would tolerate the less than optimal comfort in cooler water. Of course, the tremors rippling through the water from that chasm opening up on the beach are hard to miss. 

     She decides to investigate, but in order to avoid falling in herself, she begins to sing softly, forming an orb of water around her using her aquakinesis, and her melodic wordless singing will probably echo down the cavern as she floats over its mouth, peering down inside. She is surprised to hear voices and allows her bubble to sink lower as she looks for who is inside this strange cave. 

     "Hello? Is anyone hurt down there?" She asks in a hopeful tone as she wishes to help if they are, but hopes no one is injured.

    The assassin has her eagle vision, Hornet has her natural vision from living underground. She's still taking in her surroundings, but releases her grip on Evie's arm to allow herself to hold onto her nail which is in the rock face now. "Heh. Figures, does it not? Seems that we are having quite an interesting streak of luck, good and bad," she muses as she peers into the darkness. "Hm... I wonder what's below," she muses aloud, peering in that direction. 

    Hearing another voice, Hornet's gaze breaks away from the darker depths below, back toward the sunny sky framed by the chasm she had just fallen into. "It sounds as though we have a 'visitor'," she notes to Evie before looking further. "Not hurt, not yet at least!" she calls.

    %R    "Just water, it looks like... forutnately." Evie replies quietly, then draws her vision up to a ... floating... seal in a bubble? Her eyes go wide, and she takes a deep breath as she considers the idea that she might have hit her head harder than she thought. 

    "Ah... no, no I don't think so?" Evie replies, the poor human simply hanging by one arm and a grapple in the wall, caught in the mist of a seaside waterfall. Her lips purse a moment in curiosity.

     Miwa is relieved to hear that no one is seriously hurt, or at least they say they aren't. But out of curiosity and figuring, they may still need help unless they were rock climbers or something, she continues to sink lower into the cave until she can see both Evie and Hornet better. They both look like off worlders to her, but so is she, so for all she knows they are from this world. 

     "Um, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess you both fell in here? Do you need help getting down, or back up for that matter?" She asks with a smile, apparently completely oblivious to how much they may find it odd that some sort of sea-lion is talking to them.

    It would SEEM Hornet isn't enitrely sure if they should be going back up or heading down. "Ah, well, I'm honestly not sure which way to go. The beach up above may end up suffering more issues and falling into this cavern, or we can just go down and see about finding a way back up and out to .. somewhere." 

    At least Hornet has lived underground, the idea of going down into the dark doesn't bother her one bit. "Ms. Frye, do you have a preference? I doubt we'll have another easy opportunity to head back up. Also, seeing as Red didn't fall down here, he'll be fine. He has an uncanny ability to be alright when he needs to be."

    "Well. If Mr. Red is fine where he is..." Evie trails off a moment, and looks to Miwa. "Evie Frye, of London. How do you do?" she introduces herself, and gives a wave of her free hand. "I apologize for the abreviated introduction. This is highly... atypical." she states to the sealion in respendent ruffles and pearls. 

    "Going down?"

     Miwa nods. "Down it is. I'm Miwa by the way, welcome to Primarina airlines, we're a little damp, hope you don't mind." She jests before singing a few higher melodies as her bubble of water expands and flattens out, offering room for Hornet and Evie. 

     "Please be mindful not to burst my bubble, or we'll be taking the express route to the bottom." She offers in a warning.

    For a few moments, Hornet regards the bubble with some trepedation, but eventually she pushes away from the rock wall and tries to move over into the bubble. When she finds her weight is supported, she carefully tugs her nail from wall, places it against her back, and gives a nod to Miwa, "Thank you for the assistance. You've met Evie, I'm called Hornet."

    "Pleasure to make your aquaintence, Miss Miwa." Evie states, and she pulls up on the line with her tensed arm, swings herself onto the bubble, and retracts the grappling line, letting it retract to her bracer before she pulls the sleeve of her jacket down. 

    She does, however, regard Miwa with a most curious look. 

    "Please pardon if it makes me sound rude, but I've not encountered anything like you before. Is this your world?"

     Miwa smiles as the two hanging women join her on her bubble, which while able to support the three of them, is certainly a bit crowded now. She then allows the bubble to slowly descend toward the floor of the cavern, only singing a few notes here and there to keep the bubble floating and direct it away from colliding with the walls. 

     At Evie's question about her being a local, she grins and shakes her head. "No, I was just visiting and exploring the ocean a bit. I'm a Primarina, a type of Pokemon, the region I'm from is also much more tropical than here. It's a good thing this happened when it did, if I had wandered off to deeper water, I may not have noticed the little quake from this cavern opening up."

    A .. pokemon? That's not a term Hornet is familiar with. She's come to realize that as she ventures from world to world, she will hear plenty of terms that she doesn't know. "My apologies that I don't know what either of those things are, but I will say I appreciate the assistance. Your control over water is incredible," she says as they continue their descent. 

    "Positively magical!" Evie replies with a little wonderment evident in her voice. "How is it done? Vocal modulation? Manipulation of the element itself? Is this an acquired skill or does it come natural to your kind of--" she tails off on the quick, and then clears her throat a moment. They reach the ground floor, where there's a relatively flat area for Evie and Hornet to step off, opening into a tunnel and a large cavern, though rocks and sand make the walk a little trecherous. 

    "... the water must be draining elsewhere, or else we'd be walking down a cascade."

     "Sorry, I guess that isn't terribly helpful if you don't know of my world." Miwa says with a laugh. "Pokemon is basically a general term for most creatures on my world, and from there are subdivided into types. I am a hybrid water and fairy type. Other common types are fire, ground, bug, electric, etcetera." 

     She blushes a little at the compliment to her control over water, and Evie's questions about how it works make her pause for a moment as she's never really thought about it and explained it to anyone else. 

     She ultimately decides that one of Evie's guesses is actually pretty spot on. "Primarina have a natural talent for controlling water with their vocal modulation. In addition to being able to control the movement of multiple orbs of water in the air at once, I can also make them explode, and shoot a powerful stream of water from my mouth. My fairy typing also allows me to harness the power of the moon for attacks and some other uses."

    Once the bubble has lowered far enough, reaching the cavern floor, Hornet carefully steps free of it, peering around into the dark, sweeping away some rock and other debris as needed. She has the benefit of an exoskeleton, not everyone else does. "Interesting, and very fortunate that you ran into us then, Miwa. The more worlds I find myself in, the more I find myself interested in them and others I hear about. Yours must be one of quite a variety of creatures if so many types exist."

    After another sweep of the area, she regards Evie again, "Mind your footing, Ms. Frye. It's a bit wet, sand, small stones, othe such things. I don't see anything skittering about, which I consider a bit of a boon for us at this time."

    Evie peers down the tunnel, and a soft remark of 'Neither do I' can be heard, though she adds "It... is a bit dark." in admission, and she begins to feel about her pouches for matches. 

    "I am rather curious about your world, Miwa -- are pokemon the primary occupants? Are they akin to you in form?" she questions as she searches for matches and -- 

    Finds hers completely soaked through. Bother.

     Miwa decides to keep the orb of water around for now as it may come in handy as a way to get back out of here, or as a source of water if they run into something aggressive. For now, she continues floating along just a bit above the floor of the cavern, doing her best not to bump into anything and lose some of her bubble's water. 

     She decides to answer both Hornet and Evie together, as they ask similar questions about her world and it's Pokemon. "Yes, there are many different types of Pokemon, and most are actually quite different to me. Some have bodies that are partly made of rock, or metal, bug types are predictably very large bugs compared to most worlds, except for perhaps yours Hornet, some ice types are even made of ice. Very few can speak though. I'm a bit of an exception there, though being a singer, I probably had an easier time learning than some Pokemon would." She pauses a moment to take a breath and collect her thoughts before continuing to the question about primary occupancy. 

     "Humans also occupy my world, but for the most part they live as partners with Pokemon, rather than hunt them to extinction like I've heard happen on some worlds..."

    There -are- other worlds with bugs like in Hallownest? Now Miwa has Hornet's undivided attention, ".. I would very much like to see your world at some point, Miwa," she admits as she regards the Primarina. "Hallownest is quite diverse, but these pokemon you are a creature of sound even more diverse than my home. However, at this time.." she muses, starting to peer back down the tunnel, "That will need to wait until we are free of this cavern."

    With that knowledge stated, Hornet's gaze turns back down the tunnel, her nail is drawn, and she starts to move further into the cavern. "I can see rather well in the dark due to my world being mostly underground. I can lead if that is fine with both of you. As long as we keep moving, and keep pushing upward, we will find our way out of here."

    "You may be able to see well enough, Hornet, but mind my eyes aren't used to such dark... if I don't have a light source, I'll only slow you." evie replies quietly. She rips at the bottom of her shirt beneath her jacket, and kicks around for a root to use as a handle. 

    "London never had much trouble with lights below..." she trails off quietly.

     Miwa nods as Hornet offers to lead and Evie comments on her eyes not being used to suck dark places. "I'm no better, being from a sunny tropical island chain. Sure it gets dark in deep water if you go down far enough, but I usually don't go that deep. Some Pokemon do, but I don't have much reason to. Besides, I can only hold my breath for so long. If only I was a fire type, I could easily light the way." She offers as she tries to look around a bit, but continues on. 

     "As for visiting my world, you are both welcome. There is a vine that leads right to Alola near the beach where I live. But you're quite right Hornet, unless we stumble upon an underground vine down here, which I guess isn't impossible. You said you live underground on your world? Do you have tricks for finding your way to the surface?"

    "There's no real trick, Miwa. The best thing you can do is always make sure you're moving forward and upward. I have a lumafly lantern but since it's the middle of the day, it's with Red, so. I apologize for that." She glances back, then notices Evie seems to be coming up with something. "Do you need a moment, Evie?"

    "Just a moment... and a bit of oil." 

    She turns her back gto the group, winding the cloth from her undershirt around the root, adn then with a strike of something metal against a bit of flint, a spark. The spark strikes the oil on the cloth, gathered from the mechanism of her bracer, and ignites. It's a low, smouldering light, but the fabric burns, illuminating Evie's path. 

    "There. Now we shan't be without." she states cheerily. 

    The corridor turns a bit at the back, heading up and to the left.

     "Makes sense. Underwater just go up toward the light, but without light, just go up, assuming you know which way up is." Miwa says with a light laugh, then watches curiously as Evie tries to fashion a makeshift torch, and a moment later, it's lit. 

     "Well, someone came prepared." She comments in admiration.

    "It is the best way to be, Miwa. I do have a fair amount of supplies for us both due to us travelling but, well, they're with my mount whom was lucky enough to have not fallen into this cave," Hornet explains before turning back to the pathway. "Now then, lets see if we can find our way up and out of this little adventure."

    "A little ingenuity, that's all. I'll have to find my way to a ladies' clothier later." Evie gives a bright smile, with a little smug at her own cleverness as she holds the torch aloft, and lets it burn. She has drawn her cane out, and is feeling about with it to make sure the ground's steady enough for her to go through. 

    Coming around the corner leads to another cvern. This one is full of white lime stalactites and stalagmites, some joining into pillars. The way is a little narrow here, and it smells of sea water and, up above. there is a skittering sound. 

    ... Evie minds herself as she walks into the cavern, peering upwards and pulling her dark hood over her head. 

    "Bats." she comments to the others, "most likely."

     "Well, I'd carry more supplies with me if I had hands instead of flippers, and it wasn't for the fact that salt water ruins most things I've found." Miwa offers for her excuse for being empty finned. She soon ponders something else. 

     "I wonder if unstable ground and quakes opening deep chasms like this is common here? We sometimes get earthquakes where I'm from, and more frequent volcanic eruptions, but huge holes opening in the ground are not something you see often, in fact, I can't remember it happening as long as I've lived in Alola, though I admit that isn't very long." 

     As they round the corner and the path grows narrow, she smells the sea ahead and thus lets her bubble burst as it will be hard to squeeze it through the path without that happening anyway. Besides, from the smell, hopefully, there will be water up ahead for her to draw from if needed rather than her internal reserves. At the mention of bats, she nods and tries to be quiet so not to wake them.

    "It goes a long way, Evie. I'm glad to have someone as resourceful as yourself to travel with," Hornet admits as they move on into the next portion of the cave. The limestone coming down and rising up draws her gaze, but the skittering far above causes her to pause and grip at the nail at her back a little more tightly, "I hope bats are less dangerous than belflies, Evie.."

    "Well, Miwa, you have your abilities with water, and as long as you can come up with different ways to make use of those powers, you can be resourceful, just in very different ways. One must try to think outside the box at times. That is what I do with my weapon all the time. Just a blade, just my silk, but believe me," she glances back, "There are so many ways to combine them."

    "Well, if this didn't work... I was going to have to go through blind. Thankfully, I have someone who can see well enough to guide me." Evie gives a wry smile to Hornet as she draws up the torch a moment. The salt and limestone cave glitters like a multitude of diamonds around them. 

    "I would think that there was little volcanic activity before going dormant.. that flint was pretty far down..." she trails off quietly as she looks up again. 

    "What is belfly?" she inquires quietly. 

    The path is narrow, but passable as they take another turn, going upwards still. There appears to be a bit of light bouncing off the walls.

     Miwa can't help but grin and nod at Hornet's comment about being resourceful with her abilities. "You should come to one of my concerts sometimes. I do all sorts of things with my water and fairy abilities. Some people actually enter contests with their Pokemon and do similar shows, putting on as much of a spectacle as they can with their abilities, just usually with less singing, though that's not unheard of either. I have also been learning different ways to use my abilities in more practical ways, so you're right. I am resourceful in my own way." 

     She smiles a bit and turns back toward Evie. "Ah, so you picked that flint up off the ground? I missed that. I'm also curious what a belfly is though with the context I'm not sure I'll like the answer." She adds as she follows along, fortunately fairly adept at walking with her flippers.

    "A belfly is an extremely territorial cave dweller from Hallownest. So territorial in fact that they will dive at intruders and -explode-. Most people in Hallownest know that shrill cry very well and would rather just leave them alone instead of the alternative," Hornet tells as she moves along the limestone, catching sight of some light coming off the wall, "Lower the torch just a moment, Evie, if you don't mind. I think there is some light up ahead," she asks.

    "Good, good, Miwa. Resourceful and creative! It's rather fortunate we met. I wish it would have been under less troublesome circumstances," Hornet says as she keeps moving forward, now toward the light she feels she noticed."

    Evie lowers the torch as asked, her eyes narrowing as her lips purse. That was, indeed, light up ahead. Another turn, and there was light! Daylight -- though it was coming through a sort of narrow hole, about ten feet up. The hole was about six inches across -- must be how the bats get in!

     Miwa isn't quite as surprised to hear about exploding territorial flies as some might. "Hmm, that is some major dedication. There are actually some Pokemon who can perform a similar explosion to defend themselves. It's a pretty all or nothing act though, as it causes the Pokemon who performs it to immediately faint from the self-inflicted harm it causes." She offers informatively, then smiles at Hornet's sentiment about their meeting. 

     "Well, still we met, and that's the important part, right? I'm glad I found both of you. I helped you out of a bit of a bind and then got to join you on a bit of an adventure. I don't mind the circumstances at all." She offers happily as she comes into view of the source of the light. "Well, unless we can make that hole bigger, I don't think we're getting out that way..."

    Ah, she did see some light! However, the size of the hole gets her to peer at it rather irritably. "Well, that's the source of light, but, well, I'm not sure how well we could fit through that little opening," Hornet muses. "I'm sure I could use my nail to get up to it but fitting through would be extremely difficult," she decides. She glances back at the others, giving a nod to Miwa after she finishes speaking, "I can't argue that. Still very well met despite the circumstance. However," she glances back up, "Do either of you have an idea?"

    "Just one." Evie states, and she pats herself down again. "Provided it's not too wet... but the residents will not like it." she warns, and she produces, from one of her pockets, a round cylinder with a string attached. It is red. She gives a soft sigh, and turns it over in her hands a moment before she brings up her torch to take a good look. 

    "I don't suppose you have some sort of magic way to shield us from debris?" Evie inquires to Miwa.

     Miwa shakes her head at Hornet's request for ideas. "If that's solid rock, I don't think even my strongest water attack is going to be terribly effective at making that hole big enough for us to leave through it." 

     However, when Evie asks if she has a way to shield them from debris, she nods. "I can create a thick wall of ice for us to hide behind. Do you think that will work?" She questions, already starting to chill down her core temperature in preparation since she wasn't a true ice type.

    Unaware of what this red tube is, Hornet regards it with mild curiosity before glancing between both Evie and Miwa. "I'm.. not sure what that is," she admits before looking toward Miwa. "If the ice is thick enough, it should work."

    "If it shields us from the worst of it..." Evie states, her green eyes peering from beneath the hood, and she exhales. "I'm loosing too many of my knickknacks. I shall never hear the end of it." she bemoans to herself before she pulls one of her throwing knives, and clips the long tail of its wick, then lights it. A expert toss, and the beautifully sparking wick and dangerous candle is sent upwards. 

    Evie moves quickly. She undoes her jacket front, showing her vest and the glint of her pocket watch as she moves, reaching out with her gauntleted hand to try and grasp Hornet and pull her back with her a distance from the dynamite stick, and spreads her jacket like a cape to try and cover Hornet and Miwa the best she can. 

    "Miss Miwa, if you would raise that shield?" she questions, and turns her head to watch the explosion. 

    She's not cool enough to pay no attention to it.

     It's likely fortunate that Miwa starts making that wall of ice as soon as Hornet and Evie state that it's a plausible idea, as it's not exactly something she can whip up instantly. Building it up from the floor, the wall is several inches thick and just tall enough for the trio of them to huddle behind when Evie throws the explosive cylinder into the hole. 

     "I really hope this works!" She says as she hunkers down and covers those starfish-like appendages on her head with her flippers.

    After the throw, and watching the red tube sail through the air, Hornet is caught off guard when Evie is pulled over toward the others. "I take it that is an explosive?" she asks, cause she can't imagine why else Evie would be so protective. "Time to duck and cover, Miwa!"

    "Dynamite." Evie replies, just before -- 

    Bsst. Pause. 

        BOOM! 

    The ground shutters as the explosion rockets the cavern. There's a lot of very, very angry squeaking and skittering from beneath them -- but the whole in the ceiling of the cavern is now a good six feet wide. Should be enough for everyone to get through. Evie's movements are now very deliberate and steady, her face set in a thin line as she shakes her jacket off, and leaves it open. She's discarded that torch -- it fizzles out beneath the debris, and she looks down the darkness from which they came before turning back to the light. 

    "Ladies? Our escape." she motions to the entrance, though her lips give a small quirk upwards.

     "Yay, freedom!" Miwa cheers as she follows Evie out through the hole she just made, careful not to cut herself on any jagged rocks created by the blast. "So, did either of you have something you came here to do? I guess what I'm asking is, what now? If there isn't anything super important, you're welcome to follow me back and we can enjoy some refreshments on a much warmer beach, my treat."

    EXPLOSION!

"That was a very powerful explosive," Hornet says after the cacophony dies down and the ringing in her ears fades away. "You're just full of tricks, aren't you, Evie?" Hornet compliments before rising and brushing herself off, despite being very well shielded from it all. Once she the stands and peers up at the hole, she gives an approving nod. "Well, either Miwa can assist us once again, or I can see if I can send my weapon up there and see if I can anchor it on something." 

    "Ah, myself and Evie here are roaming from world to world, when we find vines, to see if we can find our own worlds again. We have not yet had much luck, to this point. I was fortunate enough to meet a woman by the name of Aloy from a city called Meridian that provided a room for us."