bottlecaplogs | FLIGHT AND FREEZE

Who: Kris, Umemiya, Archnemon, Shoka, Bigby, Siffrin (SA), Kinger, Sanji, Need, Ren, Akechi, Anasui, Emporio, Ingo, Emmet... and Noelle!!
What: Move over Team Intimidate, there's a cooler Pokemon that needs saving.
When: Early October
Where: All over
Warnings: Will update as needed!!

Noelle has vanished while recovering at the clinic and nobody can find her! She may have run away while having a mental health crisis. Please, bring her back safely!

Mightyena doesn't know where Noelle went, just that she was still in recovery when she vanished. She thought Noelle couldn't have gone far in her condition... but if that's the case, why hasn't she been found yet?

[ QUEST START ]

After a tense day of discussion, organizing and planning, Kris and Ingo gather the volunteers at the outskirts of Bottlecap Bay. Supplies are handed out, groups are chosen, and everyone is given a quick debriefing on the plan: start close to home, then work their way further out as they narrow down her location. Some groups should hang back, ready to set out once a fresh lead is established—the pearls are perfect for this, so everyone should keep their own handy. Spreading out too wide will only make things difficult once they find her trail, so it's important that everyone stays on task.

Once everyone's roles have been assigned, it's time to set out. It's going to be a long, long day.

BEFORE THE SEARCH
TEAM A | TEAM B
TEAM C | TEAM D
TEAM E

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'm on it, kittycat. [It almost sounds like they originally meant to have that sound cheerful, but it came out oddly serious... they're focused on the route in front of them more than anything else.]

[It's not too long before they cross the trail again - for a short while, the scent might even be strong enough for everyone else to follow it as well! And Sawsbuck was telling the truth, it is leading toward the mountains. Siffrin speeds up any time they're able, though they never quite go up to a run again; they've learned their lesson.]

[As the ground slopes slowly upward, though, and the air gets colder... the smell of peppermint gets fainter. Several times Siffrin has to stop and circle to catch it again, and then - just as a few intermittent flakes of snow start drifting from the sky - they lose it for the last time.]

[This round of circling gets increasingly more desperate, looping wider and wider, and they even try to backtrack a little bit - but whether it's because the scent is fading fast, or the trio have drowned it out with their own, or anything else, Siffrin can't find it where they know it existed either. It's just gone. They haven't even properly hit mountain-steep slopes yet, but this section is all gravelly so there's no chance of tracks, and there are like ten directions she could've gone from here, and it's just gone -]

[Siffrin claws at the ground, frustrated. Then they start circling again, even though there's no way they're finding something new at this point.]

[Shoka doesn't even bother to patch up her shroud before she starts moving again. Her disguise-head bobs heavily behind her as she scurries after Siffrin, leaving a trail of black dust (pieces of herself, apparently, flaking right off of her without the layer of fabric there to keep them intact) in her wake.

At some point, she detects Noelle's scent again on the air and chases after it with renewed vigor—but it comes to her only fleetingly. Not long afterward, Siffrin finally loses the trail, too.

Shoka stands there uselessly, watching them circle around and around.]

... No. [Her voice, when she finds it, is thin and hopeless.] Don't—... Don't tell me...

[ His heart races. Neither Siffrin nor Shoka push back on an obvious bad idea. There's still time. They still have a chance. All that matters is finding Noelle before she's gone all over again. Anything else is secondary.

With Siffrin bounding after the trail, and Shoka following soon after, Bigby glances back one last time at the herd. A few watch as the trio run after their angel, until the Sawsbuck shakes the leaves in their antlers to draw their attention away. Bigby's still not sure what to make of them — or their encounter with Noelle — but he darts ahead to catch up without thinking much more on it.

Before they even reach their dead end, Bigby's already feeling the drop in temperature. His ears give in to a slight tremble, but all he's focusing on are Shoka's words. He can't be the one to say it. ]

Th-there's only so many ways up. We — we just have to find a path first— [ What if she didn't even go up to begin with? ] ... Or maybe we missed a turn somewhere. We can retrace our steps. Find the scent again, and...

[ Frustration rises. He's starting to pace. There's nothing they can do, but they can't just do nothing. ]

[Siffrin is better equipped than Bigby for the drop in temperature - but their winter coat has only just started to grow. Despite their more and more aggravated circling, and the way they try to poof their fur up... it's not very long before they also start to show signs of shivering. It gets more violent as a sharp breeze slices across the side of the slope.]

It's... I can't find it -

[Great job, Siffrin! There's one thing you're here for and you still couldn't handle it!! They don't even know why - shouldn't it have been getting stronger as they got closer?? (It's the cold, and the wind that's gusting intermittently - but they don't know enough to realize.)]

[When Bigby mentions a path, their head jerks up. They try to rein in both hope and desperation in their voice - Bigby's tracking was useful earlier in the woods, maybe,] Can you see something? To show which way...

[There's a soft clink against the rocks as Siffrin's grumpearl slips out of their hat, loosened by that jerking motion and all of the racing around they were doing up until this point. They scoop it up without thinking, and stare at it dully.]

[Shoka doesn't move from where she stands watching the two of them, her heart sinking as their words fall on her fluttering ears. They've given this their all, and they're still trying, but it's become rapidly, mercilessly clear that they're out of ideas. Deep down, she already knows that they've done all they can. It's the sight of both of them shivering that finally makes her heart hit rock bottom.

Frustration and despair make her voice emerge as a too-harsh snarl.]

If he could see something, he would've said something, wouldn't he?

[She's more static than shadows again, the edges of her hidden true form jagged and jittering beyond her control. Particles of it continue to escape from the tear in her disguise, scattering in the wind. Her eyes focus on Siffrin, then their Grumpearl, and then on nothing. She doesn't want to say it... But someone has to.]

We... We have to go back. [Her voice shrinks, the frigid wind rendering it almost inaudible.] I don't... wanna lose you, too...

[ He wraps his arms around himself to stave off the bitter cold. Bracing against the harsh breeze, all Bigby can think about is finding something, anything, to keep going. When he hears Siffrin's question, he's still pacing around, looking, hoping, but he can't bring himself to actually answer. There's nothing.

When their pearl hits the ground, he stops, suddenly jolting from a trance he didn't even realize he was in. He starts to shrink into himself. Shoka's words are like a punch to the gut. The weather is quickly becoming relentless. If they don't back off soon, Noelle won't be the only one in need of rescue.

He looks up toward the mountain one last time, before motioning his head toward Siffrin's pearl. Another dead end for the search party. ]

... Let's call it.

FLIGHT AND FREEZE

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