Urban Exploration 1: Curiosity [Harvest Moon]

[Once-ler]

There were legends surrounding the abandoned Denbigh Asylum in North Wales. Some said it was haunted, others said that demons possessed all that entered..but for Urban Exploration enthusiasts, just another building to be explored and photographed.

No one knew why people ventured there willingly in the towns nearby, all the townsfolk spooked by the urban legends and haunting myths. Some said that sirens lived in the basement of the ruined hospital, forcing men and women to come to the Asylum.

To tourists, they'll say that citizens and visitors that had gone to the Asylum never came back. They'll warn to never go there after nightfall, that something of pure evil lives there. Of course, many will ignore the pleas of the townsfolk. The 21st Century dulls down the supernatural with its TV shows on ghost hunting, and demon hunters. Spirits, demons, angels, all appears to be fiction in the eyes of regular Humans. But will it work on others from different universes? Different ages? Different races even? Heroes? Villains?

Something lurks deep within that not even the new explorers that began to appear would understand. Each was brought here for a certain reason, the entity within the building wanted them for a reason. Only by entering the Asylum would they understand what kind of danger they were walking into. However, during they day they'd be safe, it was night they had to fear...when everything would wake up...but for now...the lambs flock to the slaughter...as they arrive at the Denbigh Asylum.

[Garchomp]

Buildings, in general, weren't Makya's strong suit. She was hardly the largest of her kind, let alone of all Pokemon, and not bulky either, but doorways and corners were difficult for her to manage at the best of times. A fight in an enclosed space was better than in snow, but only mildly, given she had little space to move and nothing to dig into. Still, this one was... different. For one thing, it was large, and going by what the humans she had eavesdropped on said, it was haunted. That meant ghosts, or ghost Pokemon - though that was less likely - or perhaps some strange reflected holes like the ones that occasionally appeared around her mountain.

Was something off in the air, or was it just her tension, demanding some sort of absolution? If it was haunted by something, truly, then... well, maybe she could fight it. Fighting a ghost seemed to make sense, though that was mostly because she was tired of hiding and lurking in shadows and eating dogs that got too close. She wanted to do something, to find something to blame for her arrival here so she could fight it and go back to where things made sense.

Barring that, a fight would make her feel better. She needed to meditate.

Growling softly, she swung around to stare at the area around her, studying it with sharp eyes, and then slowly headed for the doorway. Of course, the problem of getting through the doors she encountered was a significant one, but the Dragon-type had already made a decision to just break any down if they weren't already unlocked and ajar.

[Ruby]

For the love of Lucifer, humans were so easy to screw with. They were the only species on earth that you could spread a rumor of life-threatening danger among - life-threatening danger that manifested itself in an abandoned, supposedly haunted asylum, for instance - and their response was to go flocking towards it just for the hell of it. Seriously. Dumb as bricks. Ruby liked to think of their stupidity as nature's own built-in form of population control, which lately wasn't proving to be as effective as she would have liked.

Whatever. They'd all be dead soon enough anyway, once Lucifer rose to power. And if that knowledge bothered her, even a little, she stuffed it back down into the darkest corners of her consciousness to be forgotten once again. There were more important things to focus on, such as the reason she was actually here. Whether Denbigh Asylum was actually haunted, or whether the humans were just pulling 'spooky' stories out of their asses as per usual, Ruby couldn't say she knew. Not for sure, anyway. But the number of disappearances that had occurred on or around this location was growing large enough that it could not be ignored - not by her, and most certainly not by the humans who whispered to each other about this place. The asylum was becoming more and more infamous, and as the possibility of danger grew...well, naturally, more and more people took an interest in the place. And by 'took an interest in', she meant that they either took it upon themselves to be oh-so-noble and put a stop to this madness (Winchesters - she thought pointedly) or they were normal people derping right on into harm's way just because they thought it would be 'cool' or 'exciting'.

Yeah, okay. The point was, if this kept up and it turned out that the place actually was haunted? It could mean exposure for the supernatural community. Big-time. And Ruby wasn't about to let that happen, not when they were so close to everything they'd been hoping to achieve. So, taking up her terribly tragic guise of the poor little demon who just wanted to hunt her own kind in order to find redemption - though to most unsuspecting onlookers she was just another human, not like she was going to spell things out for them if she didn't need to - Ruby had traveled to Wales in order to investigate the goings-on at Denbigh. Best case scenario, she was going to find the place completely empty - just one big scam. That, or she'd be able to get all these restless spirits to kindly tone it down a little. Worst case scenario, she'd be making sure that there'd be nothing left here to cause any commotion in the first place.

Dressed in a white tank, dark jeans, boots, and of course her usual black leather jacket, and carrying only a flashlight (though she had other 'supplies' in her bag and on her actual person), Ruby had done her best to come off as nothing more than the casual explorer - though there wasn't even much need to, seeing as she had yet to run into anyone else yet. Hm. Maybe this place wasn't as popular as they made it out to be. She was getting...weird vibes from the place, it was true, but so far nothing particularly out of the ordinary had happened.

Boring.

And then, as if fate was aiming to directly contradict that thought, the noise of a door breaking down behind her caused Ruby to whip around. Finally things were picking up speed. Every muscle of her vessel's body tensed, she shone the beam of the flashlight directly into the face of whatever-it-was, only to find herself staring directly at...she blinked...

"Dragons?" the demoness blurted out of sheer surprise. When they'd said this place was haunted, she'd kind of been thinking they'd meant something more along the lines of ghosts, demons, all sorts of spooky spirits. So she really, really wasn't sure what to make of this. "You have got to be fucking kidding me." Should she...be running, maybe? She hadn't exactly been prepared to fight a freaking dragon, and if she was going to have to, she'd need a little time to build a game plan...

[Bao Yu Chao]

Report after report found its way to her in America and drove her to make a trip over here after digging further. There wasn't a whole lot piquing her interest in the states aside from her main bodyguard considering how he was a sharkman delivered from the past and into her present. Where was he? Hell if she knew! The Chao family's heiress rushed over here in a hurry to find out was was fact or fiction. This sort of mission didn't call for Captain Mako's backup...she could handle this on her own! There was A LOT the wealthy girl took on in the past without his help and this was on par with the old days before him.

So far, during her quiet little search...there was a whoooole lot of nothing going on. Nothing worth whipping out her sling shot or handgun over, anyway. That outfit of hers was the same ol' uniform that made her look like she was possibly with some branch of the mob or something. Adjusting her piggy pink tie with a completely unamused and sternly bored as hell look on her face...she wasn't about to outwardly admit it but Mister Ridiculously Taller Than Her Sharkman would have been useful in killing boredom. However, that wasn't a choice she could go back on and had to deal with the boredom, keep on looking for clues and all that good stuff for evidence. Platform boots ending a bit past her knees and chock full of tricks had their pink soles lightly crunched at the debris beneath her feet. "Damn it...there has to be at least one paranormal thing here..."

Muttering those words under her breath as she continued to make her way in an office. Nothing at all...up until some crashing sounds came from near the entrance. Okay, what the HELL was that?! It was dead quiet not too long ago, but now THAT was a ruckus she simply couldn't neglect! So what did the girl wearing a charcoal hued skirt do? Rush to the door while pulling out one of her blessed, silver box cutters right out from the rim of her boot and kick down the door, of course! ....all to see a pretty normal looking girl and a dragon looking creature.

Quirking up a pink brow as she couldn't help but narrow her sapphire tinted optics a bit. Almost like she saw what this place did there and wasn't sure what feels to have going on in her head at this point in time. Stepping out as she felt her eye slightly twitch from all the annoyance swimming through her brain from things being boring only to result in one of the craziest things to find. A. DRAGON. Creature....sort...of...thing...in an asylum of all places. This was sticking out more than her bank account! "What in the name of all my family's money is a DRAGON doing in an asylum?! It's pretty damn obvious that isn't the asylum's fault...the environment may not be in the best condition, but there are enough doors unscathed by its size to prove it."

Gesturing around with her itty bitty blade that looked like it was all kinds of useless, she crossed her arms over her chest and wanted explanations if any were possible. Hell, she wasn't even sure if the dragon could speak, but obviously the human girl SHOULD be able to unless she had brain damage or mute...or...uh...newly deaf without any way to work around the handicap. Either way, answers first, continuing to look around later. If both proved to be work-with-able then she'd obviously make some attempt at organizing something called team effort to investigate. Of course, she kept her guard up for whether this dragon would flip its lid OR if something would actually happen in this place that demanded her attention. Sure, if she had some sort of MAGICAL sixth sense to find paranormal happenings she'd have found all kinds of things but oh well, unluckily for her she didn't so she'd just have to take every moment as it happened then handle it accordingly like now.

[Raidou Kuzunoha XIV]

October 8th 2012
Denbigh, Wales
17:28
Case File: The Malevolent Sanitarium

Europe was far more peaceful than Raidou had imagined. Growing up in Japan, the passing mentions of that far-flung continent were often skewed by those that spoke them. The old man who had lived through the end of the late Tokugawa Shogunate decried and protested the foreigner and their 'dark ways', demanding a return to tradition and the Japanese way of life. Isolationists. Then, there was the 'modern man' who grew alive with the sounds of industry and churning cogs around him. He supported and loved the foreigner, or at least, as much as his pocketbook allowed him to, and embraced the ways of the west like a long last son to a long forgotten mother. These ideologies, he supposed, exemplified his era in retrospect. Historically, the people of Japan would come to know the 1930's as the end of an era for better or worse, and after would come the collective fusion of the ways of the wise old man and the enterprising youth.

"Hey, Raidou. The old asylum's in view now. You might wanna' get a wiggle on it."

A familiar voice echoed through Raidou's skull, snapping him out of his daze of contemplation. He looked down to the cat perched on his shoulder, before gazing out into the distance again. A large, rotted complex dominated the horizon, contrasting with the lush green fields around it's perimeter. The feline stuck it's head up, peaking around at the complex, studying it's dimensions. But more than that, it spied some activity-- what appeared to be a large, purple dinosaur and two hysterical bystanders. It sighed and placed it's petite paw against it's head. For this cat was far from just a cat-- and was instead Raidou's personal companion and mentor, Gouto-Douji.

"It seems like this case has attracted some unwanted 'helping hands'...and they managed to beat us here. That's just keen."

As the little cat bemoaned their situation, Raidou simply kept walking forward. They had originally been hired by the townsfolk here to investigate this building. It seemed like a hotspot for paranormal activity according to the chatter, and not the faulty publicity kind either. The normal M.O. didn't seem that different from the average 'haunting', at least outwardly. Spooky noises, strange lights, spectral figures sighted from about a mile away. But each of the people Raidou interviewed seemed genuinely spooked, and worst than that, they all had a strange...air to them, especially the more 'recent' ones. There was certainly something going on in that old building, both Raidou and Gouto agreed, and even if it turned out to be just small scale stuff, investigating it was the least he could do for these people. But neither of them counted on there being others here. Was the town really that frightened? Or had they come of their own accord? He wouldn't get answers just thinking about it, and the asylum wasn't but a few more yards away, and downhill at that. Gouto took his cue and hopped off Raidou's shoulders as Raidou picked up the pace and sprinted down the hill.

Raidou remained cloaked as he rapidly made his way to the asylum. He began thinking of what sort of people that might be there, weither to avoid them not. He also wondered about the purple creature they were so startled by-- Raidou sensed a demonic presence, but it didn't seem too particularly hostile. Still, he ought to insure that his two 'helping hands' retained their hands should the creature begin berserking. In less than a minute, Raidou had made his way to the concrete path towards the decrepit madhouse's entrance. Slowly, he approached the group, his hands concealed behind his black outfit. Calmly, and exuding the air of an expert, Raidou, a few feet behind them and flanked by his cat, spoke up.

"...Is there a problem here?"

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[dean]

Dean usually went all over the country looking for supernatural creatures to hunt and then ganking their asses. But this... wasn't exactly the same country Dean was used to. He didn't even know how he'd gotten there, he just woke up one morning in a completely different place: Wales. The Impala was outside the hotel he was apparently staying in now and, besides from it being Wales, everything was relatively normal. Y'know, except for it not being where Dean went to sleep.

But, before he could ask any questions he'd heard something. Rumor about a haunted asylum. Now, people told ghost stories all the time, so Dean had initially brushed it off and started looking around for whatever zapped him to Wales. But, he heard more people talking about the asylum as he looked around.... and that was why Dean was en route to the Denbigh Asylum while prepping a few weapons for the hunt.

As soon as he reached the asylum, Dean noticed something he really never expected to see. There was a freaking dragon standing there in front of a group of people. Dean couldn't do anything but stare for a moment before opening the door of the Impala and preparing the Colt. That'd probably take down... goddamn dragons, right? This was way too surreal for Dean to deal with, though he really should have believed in dragons since he'd already seen stranger things.

Dean walked up to the group, the Colt in hand. "The hell is going on here?" He asked, looking from the dragon to the group. Then he noticed someone familiar. In the group stood Ruby, who was apparently trying to look like a hunter. "...Okay, what the hell are you doing here?"

[Garchomp]

Makya growled in surprise as a beam of light passed over her head, briefly blinding her. Recoiling, she blinked rapidly, trying to get her eyes to adjust - and snorted at the sight of a human. This one, at least, seemed to take her for what she was - finally someone recognized a dragon when they saw one - but she took a step back anyways, to ensure she didn't look too threatening. She had come here to take a look at ghosts, not startle or hurt humans. Not that they would have made a good fight anyways, even if more seemed to run out to see what was going on.

Humans. She supposed their curiosity made them predictable - her trainer had always wanted to poke into every mystery and problem he had encountered. Still, it was just a little disconcerting to discover just how many had managed to crowd in behind her, and she turned to look them over. Some man in a cape with a... cat, another man with a weapon of some sort, and then the two who were already inside. They clearly meant to get in, if not confront her, so she lashed her tail and moved to the side of the entrance hall, head lowered as her eyesight finally adjusted to the general gloom of the building. At least the inside allowed for easy movement - even the doorway had let her enter without needing to duck.

The air was... not panicked, but tense, and she shifted her weight. Speaking up would reveal she could talk, which was occasionally troublesome. However, it could also perhaps assure them that she meant no harm. The annoyance of enduring inane questions was outweighed by the annoyance of dealing with a group of scared humans, and she tilted her head before nodding it at the caped one. "No," she said at last, voice a quiet rumble. And then, answer given, she started walking, giving everyone else a wide berth to make sure she wouldn't accidentally step on them or hit them with her tail or anything.

A building meant many rooms to explore, which could be tiresome... but now that she was here, she could feel a slight resonance, a bit like the feeling of a Ghost-type. That was good. There really was something here, then.

[Ruby]

Whoa. Okay. So maybe this place wasn't so empty after all. Ruby fought to suppress a smirk as the first human of what was probably many zipped quickly into the room, clearly ready to deal with whatever threat she thought was here. Much like Ruby, however, it didn't seem like she'd been quite prepared to be faced with a dragon of all things. Though she wanted to keep a careful eye on the dragon to make sure it didn't, y'know, go nuts (though as of yet, it didn't seem aggressive), the demoness took a moment to size up the girl who'd just walked into the room. "It probably came to appreciate the fine architecture." Ruby answered sarcastically, gesturing 'meaningfully' around the room. "Dragons are suckers for that kind of thing." No, hell if she knew why a dragon of all things was here! It wasn't like she could just ask. Did dragons speak English? Probably not..

Her attention, however, was quickly diverted when yet another stranger entered the room. A man who was taking this all very seriously, clearly - and surprisingly calmly. Well gee. You didn't get that kind of reaction from a human everyday. ..And then there was the fact that the girl from earlier was armed with a knife, and seemed closer to exasperated than frightened. ...Oh...oh crap. Was she actually surrounded by hunters right now? Ruby wanted to walk over to the nearest wall and slam her head against it a couple of times - and she probably would have, if in the next moment she hadn't spotted the cat at the man's feet. Naturally, the snarky demon was incapable of just not commenting. "Really? Did you wake up this morning thinking 'today seems like a good day for a monster hunt; I think I'll bring my cat with me?'" She rolled her eyes, marveling once again at the stupidity of the human race (something she was sure she'd be doing many, many more times that night).

And that was when the dragon - the dragon - answered the man's question from earlier. Admittedly caught off her guard, Ruby whipped around to stare at it. ...It could talk? And now it was starting to walk off...she wasn't quite sure how she felt about that. And she didn't have much time to figure it out, either, because in the next moment she became aware of an aaaall too familiar voice addressing her none too elegantly. Of for the love of - of course. Of course at least one of the Winchesters would show up here on the exact night that she'd decided to check the place out as well. Why was she not surprised?

Well, at least now she was guaranteed to have some fun. Crossing her arms and turning around to face him, Ruby shot her old 'friend' a smirk. "Wow, Dean, you're here? I thought this would have been a little too spooky for you." she told him with mock concern, raising her eyebrows. If she knew him, though, what was going to follow was either him bitching at her nonstop, or just taking out his gun and trying to shoot her. To avoid both of those options, Ruby motioned in the direction the dragon was headed. "Quick, look! The dragon's getting away." she told him, her voice full off false excitement the way a person might encourage a puppy to go chase a ball they'd just thrown. "Better go follow it, like a good little hunter."

[Bao Yu Chao]

This...was....stupid. Almost as stupid as Gary's annoying antics and all the things he did that made her kill him over and over again! There really wasn't any time to just cat and mouse this whole sarcasm crap the other HUMAN female dished out. It was a bit amusing, but she just wasn't in the mood for this crap! Not to mention to rich for it too...guuuh and there were even MORE buffoons stumbling on in as this was some sort of paranormal investigation party! At least the girl seemed somewhat tolerable under the snark, the sharply dressed man who OBVIOUSLY liked cats fell under alrightish, Mr. Favorite Word is HELL was a little questionable but she could understand the annoyance of this scenario...the dragon....geeze...why WAS that here? The mythos surrounding this place were colorful, alright...but she honestly didn't expect to see a dragon-like creature! OH WELL....at least it spoke....wait.

What. Hold up. IT. SPOKE. In that moment, the heiress narrowed her eyes and pointed up just sort of ignoring everyone else for juuuuust a bit to focus on something people weren't exactly focusing on. THE DRAGON SPOKE. THERE WAS NO WAY IN THE NAME OF HER WEALTH SHE'D LET IT JUST FROLIC OFF! "Hold it right there, dragon! I don't know if you're actually here to enjoy the scenery, but it's probably not the best idea to tough it out by yourself here no matter how big you are."

Storming on after the strange dragon creature when those authoritative words made itself known. So what if she was a short stack? Didn't mean she had to be a damn coward because of a height complication! "The commoners can stay here and bicker if they want, but I'll go with you." There was no need to answer everyone, for crying out loud...the woman with locks of chocolate hued hair seemed to have that under control. Though she still had her handy dandy knife within her grasp while walking after the dragon LIKE A BAWS LIKE A BAWS since it was just good to have a weapon at the ready. Besides, it's not like she explored enough to jump to assumption land about how it's safe enough....no no no no....she wasn't going to drop her guard just yet.

[Raidou Kuzunoha XIV]

'That certainly escalated quickly...'

Gouto's voice echoed it's way into Raidou's head. And Raidou couldn't help but agree. It would seem his would be...'allies'? 'Assistants'? Whatever they had meant to be, the majority of them seemed a bit too...dysfunctional. But separation might not have been so good of an idea. This group seemed rather unstable. If there truly was a powerful demon in that building, then it might just tear them all apart, which Raidou simply could not allow. Quietly, he surveyed the situation.

The bossy woman seemed in control, or at least wanted to seem in control. She certainly had made an...'impression', and Raidou himself certainly wouldn't want to serve under her by any stretch of circumstance. She didn't seem all that competent by face value to Raidou...and thus, he was worried for her safety. Behind her was the new arrival, of whom he had yet to gauge. Then, there was the dragon. It seemed relatively level headed, or at least pragmatic. Not one for talking, obviously, but anything else, but an eye also ought to be kept on it...but lastly, there was the woman, who say fit to lay a dry, snarking comment upon Raidou's shoulders. The comment itself meant nothing to him-- but the fact she felt compelled to utter it shined a light on this woman's no doubt ever pleasant personality. But now that his focus was on her, and the Dragon was retreating, he felt that demonic presence not getting any further as he had previously thought. Perhaps that dragon was not the source of that presence. In fact, as he looked at Ruby, he realized that the true source wasn't that beast, or any manner of colorful creature...and was instead coming from inside this one girl.

And that was a problem.

'So you felt it too...That house has got it's own mojo going on, but more than that, it seems like there's a demon around here...you think...?'

Gouto confirmed his suspicious. Raidou checked inside of his cloak, and loaded his gun. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six.

Six rounds. Enchanted with the element of lightning.

Should push come to shove, those six rounds ought to put a conflict down very quickly. He kept the gun hidden as he finally spoke up to the woman.

"...What business does a demon have amongst hunters?"

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