Too many Mirrors! [Mission]

[Kouji Sakuraba]

deets in Spoiler tag

445

Since he had some time between searching through the Badlands and he was practically bored out of his mind, he decided to pitch in with the Lumiose Press, at least for a part-time gig that they were offering. “So… it seems that they need writers to just give ‘em an article about any one singular location in this region, eh?” he muttered to himself as he looked over the ad he’d snatched from the nearest telephone pole. “Looks like it’s time for me to actually get a proper tour of this region… lucky I brought along my camera…” he said with a grin to himself, before folding said ad and then pocketing it; before heading out of Cyllage City. He knew that this was going to be much of a hike, and he had to get to the cave as fast as humanly possible—he checked his shoulder bag to see if he had everything he needed. “Camera, of course… paper, check; pen, check; Pokemon companions… check, why would I travel alone, that’s stupid…” he muttered, pawing through the contents and ratting off the list. “Snacks, check… extra camera batteries and memory cards… hell, I’m all set!”

Several hours of hiking later…

He was now just outside Geosenge Town, and there it was—the entrance to the Reflection Cave. He’d heard crazy stories and rumors about a waterfall existing in its depths; to the fact that the walls inside said cave were like a mirror—and anyone could easily get lost within its grasp; some people had gone into the cave and had not come out since… and once that thought entered his head, he quickly slapped himself several times in order to be able to be rid of those horrifying thoughts! “Relax, you’re not going to get lost. You’ll be fine…” he muttered to himself as he squared his shoulders and then plunged into the caves depths, ready to tackle the subject at hand! upon entry, he didn’t notice anything too ornery—but the moment he saw that most of the walls were reflective—he then approached the first wall he saw; and then took out a small hand-mirror to check if it was real—and it most certainly was.

“This place isn’t so harmful after all… must be wives’ tales about people getting lost in here and getting trapped…” he said with a reassuring grin as he then took out a small notepad along with his pen and began writing his barebones outline of the article; he’d already done a bit of research earlier—which was by interviewing the locals about the place—and decided to include it in the article as well.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Mission Details!}Title: History & Life
Claimed By: Open
Catching: No
Members: 1-3
Rewards: •15
Description: Lumiose's Press is running out of interesting news to publish in their latest editions, and has decided to let civilians and trainers alike submit their own stories to be published in their new History & Life column. Submissions can be anything from an interview to Laverre City's Gym Badge Storyteller, to a short paper on fossils or Kalosian marine life, to an article on Anistar's mysterious Sundial.
Location: Kalos location of your choice
Notes: Mission takers may choose any Kalosian location to roleplay this mission so long as, by the end of the thread, their characters are able to submit a written or recorded article to Lumiose Press, either by electronic means or in person. Open to any and all characters, regardless of class or affiliation.

✉

Mission Report start!

CODED BY SYLVIE

[Kouji Sakuraba]

short history and description of the place

805

Kouji had also decided to pack along a small video camera; since his own bulky rig was one that could only take pictures. The moment he’d stepped into the darkness of the cave, he then reached for the other bag that was slung alongside his camera’s carrying case and then quickly took it out, before fiddling around with the buttons a bit and the rotating it around so that the screen and the lens faced him—all the better to see what he was going to be talking about! Well, they did say it can be either recorded or written… why not go both ways then, if I can manage it? He thought as he fumbled and finally found the “On” switch and then heard the camera blip for a few seconds, before seeing his face on the “Standby” screen. “Alright, testing, testing…” he said, looking into the screen, and seeing that he had an ample source of light in order to be able to start this madness that he was planning. He then fiddled around and then coughed a bit in order to clear his throat, before finding the “Record” button and then pressing down on it—a little red light then flickered on at the bottom right-hand side of the lens.

“Hello, this is Sakuraba Kouji, live from the Reflection Cave. This is for the Lumiose Press, so I hope you enjoy the little show that I’m about to embark on. Alright, so here goes. The Reflection Cave, apparently, is unlike any other,” he began, walking around, before shifting the camera in his right hand around so that it slowly panned, showing the cave’s interior—before slowly shifting it back towards him and continuing, “…because for starters, it is different from the Glittering Cave. If the Glittering Cave has different deposits of what look like gems, which tend to attract quite a number of Sableye to live there and guard their “cache” with zeal, the Reflection Cave has this unusual feature that sets it apart from its sister cave—its walls are a natural occurrence of one of our everyday items that we use in order to check if we look great or not—a mirror.” At this point, he then panned the camera slightly forward, until he came to a stop showing that he was now facing a part of the cave’s wall; and in the wall’s reflection—it showed the perfect reflection of the place he’d just begun walking around in.

“It’s not known if the Reflection Cave serves as a natural source for the material needed in order to make this region’s supply of mirrors, but it would be pretty interesting to try and find out,” he continued, now in a voice-over feature, as he was now walking deeper into the cave, still showcasing the highlights of the area. “There are a lot of tales and rumors circling this particular landmark that’s only found here in the Kalos region—one of them being that there’s a waterfall hidden deep in its depths; another one of them being that there’s a reflective pool somewhere, and if one looks in it, they can see a rainbow shimmering from its depths. Of course, the Reflection Cave is also home to some of the region’s subterranean dwellers… like so,” he trailed off, catching sight of a lone, wandering Roggenrola that was rolling a boulder around. “Ah, there we have a Roggenrola. Normally, this species is native to my home region, Unova—but due to the sudden boom and migration season of Pokémon; this particular species has apparently experienced a boom in population, and is now a permanent denizen of the Reflection Cave.”

He then let the footage pan in a bit closer to said Roggenrola, which was pparnetly taking the boulder it was rolling to a cache of rocks that it was collecting, before he decided to move forward and slowly bring the focus back to his face. He had walked a ways inside the cave; totally and completely unaware that he was actually getting himself lost at the rate he was going. Now that the camera was facing him again, he continued, “...It is quite unnatural for the Reflection Cave to be so bright—because normally, dark places such as these require Pokémon assistance; or a little derring-do from the people who walk through it with the help of a torch or a light source—is completely disregarded. The many crystal formations, such as one here—“ he trailed off, before panning around to a pillar that looked like it was composed of clear crystal, before continuing in his voice-over, “…naturally provide a source of illumination; along with the reflections that the walls naturally convey. Truly, this is a place where no such interference is needed; if but to see its natural beauty.”

✉

His location: Reflection Cave 1F

CODED BY SYLVIE

[Kouji Sakuraba]

After hitting the “Pause” button on the camera, he then decided to explore by himself, marveling at the way that the walls of the cave reflected everything back naturally at him; while at the same time providing a light source so that the cave wasn’t too dark. “This cave is pretty easy to get lost in…” he muttered, perking his ears up for any unusual noises that he might hear scuffling around. Asides from the lone Roggenrola he’d encountered earlier, the environment seemed pretty quiet—quite strange for a cave of this size and magnitude. He was so busy looking around, he didn’t realize that he was about to walk right into a crystal pillar—and only felt the sensation of pain and throbbing a few moments later when his field of vision suddenly went all jarry and changed from looking around, to blinking and holding his forehead with his other hand!

“Ouch!” he yelped, suddenly feeling something strike his forehead, and his left hand automatically went up to ease the throbbing sensation. “Gah! What the hell?!” he exclaimed a few moments later, thankfully keeping a tight grip on the camera in his right hand. “Dang it, these pillars are dangerous…” he hissed a few moments later, looking around—was there something… different about the area of the cave where he was in right now? He’d been too busy walking around, trying to take in all the sights… he didn’t realize that he’d gotten himself quite lost. “Oh, crap…” he muttered a few moments later, looking up and around—none of the sights in this part of the cave looked familiar. “Heh, guess I better make the most of it…” he continued, rubbing his forehead as best as he could to dull the feeling of pain as he made his way through the Reflection Cave—looking around and seeing that in some places, there was dust… or rocks, falling from the ceiling. Finding the “Play” button, he then hit it once again; and the camera continued to record.

He then panned the camera up as gently as he could, while going on in a somewhat hushed tone, “From the looks of things—it’s not just terrestrial Pokémon that make the Reflection Cave home’ there are also several species of—WHOA!” he shrieked as the dust that was falling from the ceiling suddenly swooshed down; revealing that it was a Woobat! “Oh, hello,” he continued in voice-over as the Woobat then caught sight of the camera; before fluttering around it for a few moments. “Here’s another example of a Unova-native species, the Woobat; and just like the Roggenrola we’ve seen earlier, mass migration of their species to the Kalos region have made them a permanent fixture of the cave we’re now going through,” he added, before following the Woobat’s flight pattern—which ws apparently headed somewhere deeper in the cave! “Looks like they’re on to something… shall we see where the Woobat’s headed?” he asked, posing a rhetorical question for the camera, before deciding to sprint forward in order to be able to keep up with it.

After several minutes of chasing the Woobat down, it had led him to something that looked like a sloping path—something that led down into the deeper regions of the cave. “Well, let’s see what the rest of the Reflection Cave has to offer, shall we?” he said in the same voice-over option for the camera, descending into the darkness that lay ahead…

| | | | |

His location: Reflection Cave 1F; headed to Reflection Cave B1F

CODED BY SYLVIE