[attr="class","skullimg"]

[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]Isaac's efforts may not have landed him a position in SPECTRA, but they had apparently landed him a reputation for pushing his simulated luck to the limit. Now Priam was certain that Isaac would join him in a fight against impossible odds.[break][break]

As someone painfully curious about what made this simulation tick, Isaac found the siren song irresistible. Was knowing more about Arceus, the Dark Triad, and the endless parade of threats facing the Hoenn region important to him? Sure. But he had far more personal investment in figuring out how to reach Maldacena.[break][break]

Maybe throwing this plot off its railroad would be what it took.[break][break]

"Fuck it. Might as well find out, right?" Isaac asked, voice casual. His own hand sank down to his belt, resting on its breakaway. All it would take was one quick squeeze to get six Pokeballs clattering to the ground, ready to get this party started.[break][break]

"Let's see what this digital world's made of."

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[attr="class","itemcolicon"]

[attr="class","itemcolname"]drk triad event

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[attr="class","itemcoltexttit"]HEXENZIRKEL 1-B

[attr="class","itemcoltext"]You decide to attack the white-haired lady. Her colleagues emerge from the shadows too, each partnered with an Unown.[break][break]

Their identities are perpetually masked by moving shadows that are impossible to dispel: an eerie shroud that smothers all light.[break][break]

Eventually, throughout the battle, each of you are struck by an Unown's HIDDEN POWER, causing you to warp away into another location entirely.

[attr="class","skullimg"]

[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]Priam said let there be light, and life said lol, lmao. This was already off to a fantastic start.[break][break]

But Isaac wasn't here for an easy win. Isaac was here to push this simulation as far as he could. So what if Maldacena couldn't pay for the lighting budget? Isaac wasn't going to let it stop him! The Pokeballs rained down around Isaac, releasing some of his fastest, trickiest Pokemon to face the mounting odds.[break][break]

Supernova was the first to go, the cocky Staraptor's wing getting clipped as it danced around the darkness. The Colonel was quick to follow, the Combusken getting tagged right as he leaped high into the air. Far from the expected KO, the two were enveloped in a shimmering blanket of force. They blinked once, then twice, and then disappeared.[break][break]

The forward vanguard was gone. The rest of Isaac's team fanned out, doing their best to play cagey on defense. Ivan's Agility let him dart from place to place, launching volleys of Pin Missiles from his tail every dash. Haru slipped through the darkness with an ease only a Zoroark could, his Bitter Malice answering every attack that missed with a pulse of freezing cold. Even as they fell one by one, Knuckles' Extremespeed let her dodge with ease. Her Aura Spheres let her focus entirely on dodging, ripping out attacks with no need for aim.[break][break]

It wasn't enough. Even she was taken out in a single blow.[break][break]

Echo was the sole survivor, Teleporting Isaac every time the two of them were about to be targeted by a deathblow. He was too busy with teleporting to put out any offense, but by this point it didn't matter. Isaac wasn't trying to fight back anymore. He was just trying to see how long he could hold out.[break][break]

It worked for a while, but soon they caught wise to Isaac's tactics. They fired not where he and Echo were, but instead where they would be. The Ralts was smacked directly in the forehead, teleporting him away and leaving Isaac falling to his hands and knees. For his efforts, he was rewarded with a firing squad of Unown.[break][break]

"Guh . . ." Isaac groaned, clutching his head as the next dimension took form before his eyes.

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[attr="class","itemcolname"]random event

[attr="class","lgdcol"]

[attr="class","itemcoltexttit"]108 SOULS 1

[attr="class","itemcoltext"]The scene shifts to that of a dark, cold underground tomb. A small hole allows a beam of sullen moonlight to cast its silver rays against this cursed chamber. Thousands of headstones surround you, but there is one rock with a fissure running down its center. It is the only stone illuminated by the full moon above.[break][break]

It finally notices you. A SPIRITOMB emerges from the cracked stone, its malevolent smile set against a spectral swirl. Souls whip in and out of its shape...

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[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]"Oh, great. She killed us so hard, we woke up in the Game Over dimension."[break][break]

Much like Priam, Isaac wasn't phased too bad by their defeat. It felt more like a spoopy game of laser tag than anything actually threatening. Besides, their Pokemon were all in one piece. Isaac's team was quick to return to their trainer's side, practically surrounding him the second he landed back in the crypt.[break][break]

Priam was quick to praise his abilities and shame their foes for being so uncouth. "What can I say? If I'm gonna go for it, I'm gonna go big or go home," he admitted. "You never know what someone's capable of. Better not to give 'em a chance to show what's up their sleeves."[break][break]

Of course, that also meant he was showing everything he was capable of in one fell swoop. If a foe could weather his initial onslaught, he wouldn't have many trump cards left to break out. Sure, he had plenty of tricks up his sleeves. But not any that could fit in a little red and white ball.[break][break]

Once his cards were on the table, he'd have to turn to the folds of his brain instead.[break][break]

Priam speculated about what they'd find as they wandered through the graveyard. However, Isaac's team instinctively piled closer to him as he brought that reality up. "No clue what we'll find. But, man. If I knew we'd be here, I'd've totally brought my kit," he said. Isaac and actual-ass ghosts had a long and storied rivalry with one another, and yet here he was without so much of a pinch of salt on him.[break][break]

"I'm not too worried about a legendary. Those usually make a big show of announcing themselves. But here, something could pop out at us from around any corner. Keep your eyes out, and make sure you check every corner twice. If there's something lurking here, it'll wait 'til you least expect it to jump out at you."

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[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]Haunt survival rule #0: You never say "easy" in a graveyard.[break][break]

A Spiritbomb came roaring out from the cracked stone beneath Priam, hellbent on challenging his assertions. It sent the souls that composed its body swirling around the assembled group in a hurricane of bad tidings, leaving Isaac, Priam, and their Pokemon standing in the eye of the storm.[break][break]

Isaac fished around in his pocket on instinct, only to remember that he had nothing to work with. In a moment of desperation, he tried to curl his fingers into some approximation of Arceus' holy symbol. It looked more like he was throwing gang signs at the Spiritomb than anything else, and its wicked cackle gave way to a look of pure confusion.[break][break]

"Guys, back me up here!" Isaac hissed, his equally confused Pokemon quickly snapping into line. Echo generated an orb of Life Dew over her head, flicking it towards the Spiritomb as if it was holy water. The Colonel, scraping some limestone off of a nearby gravestone, threw the (hopefully!) salted gravel in turn. Knuckles' spikes glowed silver, her Meteor Mash used not to smash but instead to ward off the spirit. Haru's Illusion shifted into a towering Golurk, holding a spiked shield and pointing forebodingly away from the group.[break][break]

It was the most bootleg exorcism Isaac had ever seen. But, damnit. His Pokemon were giving it their all, and that meant he'd have to as well. "The power of-" Isaac started, only to shake the thought. "Y'know what? Screw Arceus! Our power compels you!"[break][break]

They say an exorcism was strongest when either the spirit or the holder truly believed in what he brought to bear.

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[attr="class","itemcolname"]random event

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[attr="class","itemcoltexttit"]108 SOULS 1-B

[attr="class","itemcoltext"]You attempt to exorcise the SPIRITOMB by any means possible, whether it is by Pokemon or incantations. As the ritual continues, dozens of souls begin to fly out of the ghost. This enrages the SPIRITOMB. It begins to chase you aggressively, lugging its keystone while lunging forward with its ghostly neck.[break][break]

You hear voices crawling out from the tombstones: "500 years... 500 years... 500 years..."[break][break]

As the Pokemon pursues you, it attempts to DESTINY BOND you and your Pokemon before the next shift.

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[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]"Nah. No expert," Isaac said, a brief lull in his chant. "Just been dealing with this shit enough to pick up a trick or two. Same as everything else." From the tone in Isaac's voice, it was clear that this had rapidly become the norm for him.[break][break]

Just how many fires had he been thrown into? How often was he forced to sink or swim?[break][break]

Luckily, Priam didn't find his efforts laughable. If anything, he was quick to join the fray, lending his own improvised flair to the effort. Isaac couldn't help but grin. "Yeah. Very exorcism-y," he said, before turning back to the Spiritomb for a final push. "Now BEGONE!"[break][break]

The good news was that it was working. Each of their words and deeds banished one of the 108 souls away from this realm. The bad news was that 108 was a lot of souls. Trailed by the spirits that it had shed, the Spiritomb rushed towards them, maw spreading wider and wider as it attempted to devour them.[break][break]

By now, the time for playing around was over. Isaac tried to run, but the Spiritomb was gaining on them by the second. It was actually Echo who acted first, hopping off of Isaac's shoulder to meet his foe head-on.[break][break]

Face met face. A Draining Kiss to the forehead left the Spiritomb hissing in agony.[break][break]

"Now's our chance!" Isaac called. However, the bravado in his voice petered out as he saw the Spiritomb's eyes flash. A shadowy miasma appeared around Knuckles, the Lucario flinching as it began to take form. She tried to dispel the Spiritomb with a Blaze Kick, but her attempt left her wincing in pain even as it sent the Spiritomb roaring back. What the hell was going on here?[break][break]

Isaac turned to Priam, a look of concerning on his face. "Do we take this thing out, or look for a way out?"

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