Foxside: The Temple of Inari 55 - So many ships, you'd think it was on the ocean

[Recaiden]

Plum nods at Calicyra.

"Our consciousness is here. But it is only an unimportant copy-fragment."

"'Resigned to our fate' is a bit overdramatic, don't you think? You sound too concerned with identity."

[Fenric]

[To the Moon]

Krystal nods thoughtfully, but Calicyra is unconvinced

We aren't all transcendent multi-instanced beings, you know. I'm powerful and undying, but there's only one of me thank you very much.

Krystal giggles

And thank goodness!

There is a distinct sensation of turning and acceleration, and the station rapidly recedes into the distance

Looks like traffic control has cleared us: off we go! Gets boring from here out: like I said: nobody ever...

She doesn't get to finish, though. The ship abruptly shudders violently and slows rapidly: people who are standing will likely be thrown to the ground. More unhappily, an alarm starts to blare and the lights flicker.

The frell?

---

[Tour]

Kitnick points to the right

That's the hospital. It keeps getting bigger, too... guess you can't run a temple without somewhere to take care of sick people. And there up ahead is the staff apartment building where I live. We'll get a closer look in a bit though: first, we head over here...

He turns left. Not far ahead is a very obvious playground but beyond that are odd little enclosed areas much like a modern zoo. Strange places, though, with odd distortions in the air hinting that more is going on that may seem to be.

You have got to see these things.

[Morty]

[Gardens]

Batu shrugs.

"We use a bunch of magic. Our shamans talk to spirits, windcallers mess with the weather... I think there's even a bit of magic in our beast-taming. It's just sorcery that's forbidden."

[Deathkeeper]

Tour

Sam looks down (and down, and down) at the tiny fox, curious.
"You guys have a petting zoo?" he asks incredulously.

[Recaiden]

"You will be."

Then something happens to the shuttle.
Plum tumbles a bit but flaps her wings and lands on her feet, Nai was still seated, and the other two fall and slide across the cabin a bit. Ow.

"What was that?"
They start to bring up their magical protections for the event of suddenly being thrown into space.

[Fenric]

[Gardens]

Tirigan nods, then looks across to the priest's quarters

I have to get to my class! It's been nice talking to you, though, Batu. I hope things work out for you.

---

[Tour]

Kitnick laughs

They're not my fault, Sam! But look!

In a frosty cold enclosure rests a family of Glaceons, while two Flareons frisk in a firey zone. Thick vegetation hosts a Sylveon and Leafeon, while a trio of Vaporeons swim lazily around in their watery home. An Espeon watches Kitnick and Sam approach with a bored expression, and Midnight the Umbreon is taking a nap in her cave and isn't presently visible. A mother Ninetails is teaching her seven Vulpix cubs to hunt, and two Fennekin are squabbling over a stick. Sparky the Jolteon and Precious the Evee however trot right up, making their respective sounds.

Aki the tiny silvery dragon is probably lurking around somewhere, too...

Aren't they silly? And they talk... sort of... if you get inside the fence: there's a translation spell up permanently.

---

[To The Moon!]

Krystal springs back to her feet and looks out the window: a flock of large reddish comma-shaped creatures with wings is busy throwing unpleasant-looking projectiles at the ship!

What! How did they get this close without being detected?!

[Recaiden]

[Tour]

Aki is swimming around the watery enclosure, chasing the vaporeons. Swim faster, little fishy fox-dogs!

[To The Moon!]

"Those look kind of familiar?"

"I'm going to guess that someone with broad powers over light and such hid them from your sensors, or that your security is lax because nothing ever happens this close."

Nai is getting up and unfolding a gun as she makes her way towards the airlock.

"What's the procedure for getting rid of them? Should we go out and engage, distract them from the ship?"

[Deathkeeper]

Tour

Sam makes a face at the enclosure and all its occupants.
"Wow. That's a lot of foxes. It seems like a pretty big thing to have in the middle of a temple. They're cute. Kind of...kind of odd though. Hrm." he ponders. Kitnick would likely require self-restraint worthy of the priesthood to not point out that the comment is coming from a giant blue pig with debateably eight limbs.

[Fenric]

[To The Moon!]

Krystal scowls

Zerg. And their stupid psionics are pretty good at disrupting my divination, to boot. Yeah, we gotta shoot 'em... watch out for the glaives, though: they bounce. And there must be something bigger than these mutalisks out there: they shouldn't have been able to stop us.

Calicyra scoffs

Those are your terrifying Zerg? Do you really insist on fighting them, or shall I just backlash their psionics and fry their tiny little brains?

---

[Tour]

Kitnick nods

Yeah... there's some thing about them being more refugees than pets, I don't really remember it all. Odd, though? I mean... seriously...

Clearly not a priest :D

[Deathkeeper]

Tour

Sam turns to Kitnick, confusion on his face.
" 'Seriously?' What do you mean?" he asks, entirely innocent.
Sometimes Sam manages to forget that he's a seven foot tall blue pig with debateably eight limbs.

[Recaiden]

"I wanted to try to capture one."
Atorre is just a little disappointed.

"But if you can hit them with a psionic attack, that would be safer for the shuttle."

"They wouldn't send just mutalisks to take out a shuttle so close to the station."

[Fenric]

[To The Moon!]

Krystal rolls her eyes

If it was a simple matter of blasting them with feedback, we'd have set things up to do that that automatically a long time ago. It takes a very particular form of shadow-based psionic energy to hurt them at all, and I guarantee that a sun-god tool like you doesn't have it

The nerve!

She gets her helmet out and starts getting it ready

So don't pout, guys: you'll get your chance to try to catch one... but they're a bit big so I don't know how you'd do it.

She eyes Calicyra

He probably makes a decent rifle, but I'm used to my own magic. You're welcome to try if you want.

RIFLE?!?!

---

[Tour]

Kitnick grins

Well, you're blue for one thing: not a common color for mammals. And you're huge. And you have four arms and two tails...

JolTEOn jol jolt.

having not entered the fenced in area yet, there is no translation.

[Deathkeeper]

Tour

Sam gives an incredibly embarrassed smile, looking away as he taps his lower fingertips together.
"I'm not...
.....that...
...huge."
Though he is the weight of approximately 3.1 Vulpans. Probably approaching 4 Fenethi.

[Recaiden]

"Do you prefer 'ray gun'?"
Nai picks up the irate sun god tool and heads for the airlock, joined by those who are getting back on their feet and heading to the airlock.

Plum is taking her seat again and strapping herself in.
"We don't have the full setup here, but I'm hoping that the helmet for keeping out Calicyra's domination could cut one off from control. Since it specifically lets our channels through, it mightn't be too hard to influence its 'tiny little brain'."

[Fenric]

[Garden]

Kitnick laughs good-naturedly

Why does that make you shy? I'm tiny at just four feet four inches tall! But come on, let's leave the pokey-things to their games. That's the Temple school over there and this is their playground: the kids'll be out for recess soon and we don't need to get kid-mobbed.

He starts to head back the way they came, toward the staff apartments.

---

[To the Moon]

Indeed... if it wasn't that this presents the opportunity to actually do something for the first time in years

Krystal straps on a simple looking jetpack/life support unit and locks her helmet down as she steps into the airlock with the others. She doesn't seem to be sparing the grumpy crystal rod any thought as she prepares herself.

Ok: so something like a Psi Disruptor and your own domination channel? That works really well as long as there isn't any of the really high-end zerg around, which should be the case. Anyway: backup will already be on the way, so we just have to delay these things long enough for them to actually get here. Try to spread out a bit to make it harder for their bounces to hit us, and shoot their faces - it's not like the game and they will react to protect their eyes.

[Deathkeeper]

Tour

"Some things just take a long time to get totally used to. Where are we going now?" Sam asks the fenethi, deciding not to elaborate on his answer.

[Recaiden]

"That's the idea. Of course it hasn't been tested on actual zerg before."
"But we have our brains and little guns and our non-rifled friend."

As soon as the airlock cycles, they jump out in different directions, sailing away from the shuttle. Nai whips Calicyra forward to point at the nearest alien. Not knowing exactly what he would to do to attack them, it probably won't hit the eyes. But it might be effective all the same.

[Fenric]

[Tour]

Kitnick smiles

Oh, yeah! I'm still bracing myself for the first snow this year... that was so scary.

They get to a more proper "path" rather than walking across well-worn trails in the grass, but Kitnick turns left at a large building

Well, this is the Staff Residence: I have a little apartment here. But around back is a small stable building and we might get a glimpse of one of our more famous residents!

---

[To The Moon!]

Out they hop! Krystal swiftly imprisons one of the mutalisks in a cage of woven purple-black energy: it struggles and would probably be screaming if it weren't for the complete vacuum.

The moment Nai points Calicyra, the rod blazes with golden light

Lord of Light, Lord of Death: show forth your power to these unbelievers!

A searing bolt of energy blasts out at the mutalisk, vaporizing and incinerating it instantly.

Oh, that was nice! Pick another one!

but a large something is blotting out the view of the stars on the other side of the shuttle. The flare from the artifact briefly shows a wall of shiny, lumpy purple-red but not long enough to really make out any details.

[Deathkeeper]

Tour

Sam values Kitnick not asking about it more than he could know.
"Oh? Are your apartments pet-friendly, with all your cute little critters running around? I haven't a clue if mine are."
Given their location, Sam highly doubts it.

[Fenric]

[Tour]

For the briefest moment, Kitnick gives Sam the strangest look. Then he chuckles

I could have fish in 15 gallon or smaller tank, or one bird but it has to stay in its cage, or a cat. Dogs aren't allowed, as far as I know and anything else would need approval by Housekeeping but I do know one vixen who has a lizard of some sort so they are at least a bit flexible.

Coming around the back of the building, they encounter the standard red pole-building that serves as the temple's barn and stable. Kitnick peeks in and looks for Atreyu or Sir James.

[Recaiden]

Are you sure you want that? You know, if they believe in the existence of a god, they'll try to eat it. You'll laugh, but it's happened before.
Nai takes aim as requested. No need to go for the eyes when the whole target is incinerated. Better to try for the center of mass where the wings meet the body. She wonders if simply blasting off a wing would impair their flight.

The other two start accelerating, little bits of telekinetic force angling them towards the attackers from their different directions.

Inside, Plum tries to send a message to Krystal. Do they use radios here, or is it magical communication, or something stranger?
"There's something big - and hidden - on the far side of the shuttle."

[Deathkeeper]

Tour

Sam returns the look questioningly, checking if he's got something on his face.
"What?"

Sir James has already head off to the recess that Sam and Kitnick purposely avoided, and is not presently here.

[Fenric]

[Tour]

Kitnick sighs

Oh, well... nobody home. Let's move on!

As they walk the length of the building, Kitnick chuckles

"Pet" is still a bit of a dirty word to a lot of us. But it's not your fault: even if you know, it's not consistent between us - there are folks who actually miss that life and don't have any trouble with the notion at all...

he shakes his head

I wasn't part of that whole thing, myself: I was born and grew up in Home, but my sister in law was and some her stories are really dreadful.

As is common among the Fenethi, Kitnick assumes everyone knows at least the basic story.

---

[To The Moon!]

Not everything calling itself a "god" is worthy of the title.

With another flare of intense energy, the mutalisk that Nai was aiming at is destroyed. Given Calicyra's overall mental state, it seems unlikely that he'd restrain himself to just blasting off a wing (which would be a useless gesture at any rate as they maneuver by gas jets while in vacuum).

Krysta's force cage is quite successful at immobilizing her target, but she is a little preoccupied dodging. She does indeed have a radio with standard basic frequency modulation analog capabilities among other more sophisticated but less interoperable options.

Oh, hi, Plum. I've got you a 'lisk in a box, but I'm a bit stuck now 'cause holding that takes all I've got.

What's that you say? There's something on the other side?

She dodges the current set of projectiles and spares a glance that way

Yeah... something's there... too dark, though.

[Deathkeeper]

Tour

Sam blinks.
"Oh, sorry. I was just talking about the pokey-thingies. Didn't mean to step on any uh, paws." he says, rather confused about the whole thing.
Foxes are weird.

[Recaiden]

We can talk about it later. Or never, really. Asking Calicyra to not be arrogant is expecting far too much.
Nai takes aim at another of the flock. Whatever that big thing in the dark is-
-in the dark.
Wait; instead, light up the thing on the far side of the ship.
She twists and waves the rod back near the shuttle, aiming just over the 'top' of it. Just in case.

The other two get on target and zip over to the cage. Hopefully its escape attempts don't make getting the device on its head too difficult.

"Thank you!"

[deleteman900]

[Mirror Temple - Pokémon Enclosure]

Now Zhi and Kartuk look a bit lost, and Jian frowns

No... I haven't got any better ideas... but being in the position of owing this thing a soul to eat isn't exactly great either.

Genji nods with a gentle sigh, "Its not anecessarily easy decision, I know. I'll take responsibility for this if it becomes necessary, but I'm not going to stay here and allow our evil counterparts to chase us down and do Inari knows what..."

On a hunch he makes his rounds, sniffing each member of the group to make sure that they smelled exactly how they were supposed to, remembering their evil counterparts smelled slightly... off.

"Once we get home, the higher-ranking priests and Priestesses can help with how to handle our new... friend. Is everyone ready to give this a go and see if we can get home?"

[Fenric]

[Tour]

Kitnick shakes his head

No apologies necessary, Sam: just caught me off guard 'cause I was distracted.

Right turn at the end of the building, back north. Ahead is an ornate and overly-high foot bridge over a small stream.

So: left there is the hospital. Biggest single cafeteria in the place, but worst food - so bland. Ahead to the right are the front sides of the guest and priest's quarters... nothing really much worth saying.

The higher than reasonable bridge used to actually cross a street here, until the Temple bought all of the lots around and closed it off entirely and extended the artificial river. That was before I was here so I never saw it, but if you go way to the outer wall there's a plaque mentioning it. And the river's fake: it just runs in a big loop and there's a pump of some sort under the sanctuary to keep it moving.

---

[To the Moon!]

The pair attempting to "crown" the caged mutalisk have little trouble doing so: it is struggling but can't really move particularly well at all.

Nai swings the crystal rod around, and it creates a bright light: easily illuminating the vast red-brown carapace of an enormous creature. A mouthlike opening is already wide and it is moving toward the shuttle, aleit rather slowly.

Lovely... Looks like they want to catch us

she tilts her head for a moment, listening to an encrypted, digital communication channel that Plum can't easily hear.

It's pretty solidly cloaked, all things considered: it's not on our short-range scanner and the station can't see it either. They're upgrading the alert level, but nothing worthwhile is going to be able to get here before it catches us: can't really hyper-jump with all this mass around. The six little interceptors that are on the way right now aren't going to be able to do anything meaningful.

Sadly for us all, I do not have any significant abilities in the way of Teleportation.

---

[Mirror Temple - Pokémon Enclosure]

Everyone smells "right" (some more so than others ), and they all nod

Yeah, let's get out of here. I think it's pretty obvious they meant to sacrifice us to their twisted excuse of a goddess, so getting caught again would be... bad. What do we do?

The Chandelure sends Genji the image of everyone holding hands.

[Deathkeeper]

Tour

Sam blinks at Kitnick's description of the river.
"So, it's like that attraction for kids at the parks with the pools?" he asks, having never seen an actual water-park before. He'd probably get shy if he did, and Sherrel's not the kind to visit a place like that. Well, he's actually never asked but he doesn't think metal implants mesh with large amounts of water.

[deleteman900]

[Tour]

Kitnick shakes his head

No apologies necessary, Sam: just caught me off guard 'cause I was distracted.

Right turn at the end of the building, back north. Ahead is an ornate and overly-high foot bridge over a small stream.

So: left there is the hospital. Biggest single cafeteria in the place, but worst food - so bland. Ahead to the right are the front sides of the guest and priest's quarters... nothing really much worth saying.

The higher than reasonable bridge used to actually cross a street here, until the Temple bought all of the lots around and closed it off entirely and extended the artificial river. That was before I was here so I never saw it, but if you go way to the outer wall there's a plaque mentioning it. And the river's fake: it just runs in a big loop and there's a pump of some sort under the sanctuary to keep it moving.

---

[To the Moon!]

The pair attempting to "crown" the caged mutalisk have little trouble doing so: it is struggling but can't really move particularly well at all.

Nai swings the crystal rod around, and it creates a bright light: easily illuminating the vast red-brown carapace of an enormous creature. A mouthlike opening is already wide and it is moving toward the shuttle, aleit rather slowly.

Lovely... Looks like they want to catch us

she tilts her head for a moment, listening to an encrypted, digital communication channel that Plum can't easily hear.

It's pretty solidly cloaked, all things considered: it's not on our short-range scanner and the station can't see it either. They're upgrading the alert level, but nothing worthwhile is going to be able to get here before it catches us: can't really hyper-jump with all this mass around. The six little interceptors that are on the way right now aren't going to be able to do anything meaningful.

Sadly for us all, I do not have any significant abilities in the way of Teleportation.

---

[Mirror Temple - Pokémon Enclosure]

Everyone smells "right" (some more so than others ), and they all nod

Yeah, let's get out of here. I think it's pretty obvious they meant to sacrifice us to their twisted excuse of a goddess, so getting caught again would be... bad. What do we do?

The Chandelure sends Genji the image of everyone holding hands.

The poor fox can't help a slight shiver that runs down his spine and through his tail as he gives Jian a light nuzzle, happy to have her back, safe and sound~

"Good. Everyone hold hands, we're not coming back for you any time soon, and this might be a one-way trip." He smiled softly, taking Zhi's hand as well as Jian's, holding them firmly to make sure their grip wasn't going to break easily.

Once everyone had linked hands he telepathically signalled to the Chandelure that they were ready to go, squinting his eyes shut to brace himself...

[Recaiden]

They have no idea what it is exactly that was just revealed. But it seems to be trying to eat the ship and that's no good at all.

Nai points the sun-rod at another attacking comma-creature. The big one isn't doing any damage to the shuttle yet. Which they can't say about the glaives.
Hm. We're nowhere near our teleportation matrix either. We'll just have to handle them ourselves.

About that crowned mutalisk, it's a bit hard to listen to; these are hardly the ideal circumstances for mentally contacting and controlling a new and unusual brain.
Calm. Still. Wait. These ideas should be simple enough to get across. They know the feeling of holding one's wings steady and soaring with no input that it should also know. Relax.
And if it responds appropriately, they'll tell Krystal so she can focus on something else.

"Could it be some sort of illusion? It's almost unbelievable that-no, the psionic signatures are real enough. Is there a point at which we abandon the shuttle?"
They're not nearly close enough to the moon for that, are they?