PokèDruids [PkmnWattys2016]

Fort Alpine

*Woohoo! 250 reads! I love you guys! We're one fourth of the way to a thousand reads!*

Everyone decided to stick together while observing the fort. They started by following the perimeter of the wall, which seemed to have just as many vines growing all over it as the forest did. The walls had some sort of damage to it, but it was negligible for anything but war. There also seemed to be an array of cannons on the side facing the ocean, but they were too old and rusted to be of any use. The turrets provided a beautiful view of the ocean, however. Otherwise, it seemed as if the outer wall protected the multitude of structures inside, many with a curious look to them.

As the party explored the inner perimeter of the fort in a spiral pattern, they found a multitude of abandoned military supplies and rooms, free from wild Pokemon. There was a plethora of old rations, both salvageable and spoiled, that could support a group like Eros' for years to come. Hank managed to find a few recoverable rifles, although he didn't take any along with him for now, considering his inexperience using them. The rooms they found included those for humans and all kinds of Pokemon, varying in shape, size and internal climate. There were also old maps and what seemed to be a mess hall, both decrepit from age. As they got closer to the center, what seemed to be abandoned training grounds all surrounded a mysterious stairwell in the middle of the ground.

As the party moved down this shaft, they found themselves in a dark room. Only because Cerci could conjure a light (it's a simple spell for anyone to learn), the room illuminated to show ten holes in the ground, all seeming like they'd fit an object shaped like a teardrop, what must be for the humanity stones. "This is it." Cerci retold the party the intended use of this device. "Of course, right now it's meant to harm ships and Pokemon in the sea and work for other war-like purposes; However, a quick rewire can fix that."

The party had taken an entire day to attempt to explore this place, using the older spring mattresses(which had the unpleasant scent of mildew on them) for the humans, and specialized dorms for the Pokemon, to sleep in between search times. Everyone was afraid that the rations wouldn't sit well if they ate them, but after Hank tried it out everyone agreed they were safe. After finding the Equilibrium and resting again, Cerci gathered everyone so they could hear what she had to say.

"This might be disappointing to whoever here likes the exploration part of our little adventure, but I need some time to rewire this device. This may take a day or two, so this might be a good time to do some training. Or something. Whatever you muggles do for fun."

Everyone looked a bit shifty at the ambiguity of this and leaving Cerci alone with the device, until she said, "I'd also like to train Eros a bit, too. We'll need all the power we have to get ten humanity stones." Everyone silently agreed to this, and everyone left except for Eros.

Eros suffered a few moments of awkward silence before asking, "What kind of training do you have in mind this time?"

Cerci looked around the room a bit, then extinguished her magical light, leaving the room in complete darkness. Then a voice came from Cerci's direction, "I need a light. Please make one."

"Okay then." Eros thought about this for a second, then released a shower of sparked, illuminating the room in the area which he directed the sparks.

"Great! Think you can hold that for a day or two?" Eros definitely couldn't pull off maintaining a constant stream of sparkles for even an hour, never less a day. He stopped emitting the stream, bringing the room back into the darkened state. What was that spell Cerci cast? It reminded him a lot of his magic missile. Maybe he just had to change the purpose of the bolt, one that means to create light. He focused on the energy on his body and formed another magic missile in front of him, levitating in the air.