the tera crystals were a threat to all universes, perhaps, but saying so outright had done little for her in rocket. they were interested in what they could get out of it, as with any resource or pokemon.[break][break]

”they’re very powerful, but that’s obvious, isn’t it? i suppose we don’t know enough to make a judgment.” though she’d done so already. still, she admitted, ”part of me feels we ought to be more careful. the other part of me just loaded two of them into my latest project.” she shrugged. ”guess we’ll see.”[break][break]

the approaching war was something she tried not to think about much. with any luck, she’d be able to get by with little combat. she had packed up most of her home lab in anticipation of a move, and if they lost sootopolis, that was her brother’s problem.[break][break]

”i just… don’t really think about it, i guess,” she admitted with a shake of her head, before realizing how strange it probably sounded. ”i mean, there’s so much else to give my attention to. war doesn’t end in this region. there will always be a coming battle.”[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]ameena abadi

it would not be the first time investigating his dreams, and she wondered if she might see him in the water again like last time, or if it would be something entirely different.[break][break]

how had his mind changed since then, to be seeing other visions finally? she could only hope that it had been for the better.[break][break]

”alright then,” she nodded with a few taps on a glowing keypad, before climbing onto one of the gurneys. "it'll start now. breathe deeply."[break][break]

after a couple of beeps, dream mist began to fill the room, pluming from either side of the machine and inducing a deep sleep.[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]THEO BECKETT

"mhm. we'll be in his dream today."[break][break]

as she finished loading it up, she shrugged, ”i don’t know exactly how the rks system works, either, to be honest. seems to do what it wants to, or maybe what someone else wants it to, that we don't know about.” the drk triad, she suspected. she’d tried to find some rhyme or reason as to why simulations activated over others, or how to queue them up again at will, but to no avail.[break][break]

”the dream machine uses some of the same technology, with a few other ingredients.” which only made things more confusing really, but the important part was that it worked, right? her eyes drifted to the tera crystals slotted in the machine’s steel body. ”the tera crystals are powerful. i really do wish we knew more about them.”[break][break]

one more keystroke, and the lights in the room dimmed. the gurneys were kept off to the side of the room. the interdream zone mist meant they could stand, remaining awake through the whole experience – a phenomenon she found unsettling.[break][break]

”ready?”[break][break]

at his go-ahead, mist would begin to pour into the room.[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]howard slayte [break]

the case was stashed away again, and she lit her cigarette and offered him a light as well. her dulled eyes never made contact before looking back to peer over the waves once more.[break][break]

like old times…[break][break]

”no.” she had never considered buying it back. ”it reminds me of something i’m not anymore.” powerful, able to sink into the many shadows that swathed the dim old building, where darkrai had once lurked too on occasion.[break][break]

she didn’t leave room to ask what she meant exactly, moving on to the next topic.[break][break]

”i didn’t tell you, but back at that island we found regice in?” the same island where they’d argued, and she’d screamed at him, and he’d used his powers on her. ”i battled PENELOPE LIVY , and she told me rowan gave the league intel on me. isn’t that some shit?”[break][break]

and to think she’d gone up against cillian in defense of their rat of a younger brother. she blew a long, sighing cloud of smoke.[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]Cillian Quinn

indeed, nothing came without the risk of failure – but why not at least try their best?[break][break]

”we can’t know that it will be, rose. you’re making a bet.” unless he knew far more about the tera crystal and their situation than he was letting on. such certainty seemed unwise. ”i’m going to find as many people as possible that might help.”[break][break]

as for her pokemon, she nodded. ”i’ve seen my houndoom. i’m sure the rest are around here somewhere. you?”[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]Amor Rose

it was a colorful crew. the lizard was rude, the doctor was quite awkward, and the jumpluff was grinning at her like something was funny. she did her best to ignore it all, smoothing her wig a little once more.[break][break]

when aubre pulled up the file about the reason she was there, she nodded, ”that’s right.”[break][break]

the pokeball in her hand cracked open, releasing said noivern into the room. it warbled a sad cry as it tried to stretch its wings painfully. it would be clear that it had been ruthlessly attacked, or in a brutal battle of some kind.[break][break]

”her wing is torn.” that much was clear enough, though. ”she hasn’t been able to fly since. can you help her?”[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]Aubre McKenna-Settentrione [break]

”celesteela can. we’ll be fine,” she assured, though unsure of it herself. she returned the rest of her pokemon and held on tight. as they left, what could seen of the moon through the black smog was consumed by fire.[break][break]

countless celesteela abandoned their home at once, reducing the lunar terrain until there was nothing left. smoke and moon dust darkened the yellow atmosphere. the journey back was nerve-wracking by surprisingly safe, as all ultra beasts seemed preoccupied with their evacuation.[break][break]

when they landed, they could hear lunala screech as it disappeared into the darkness above. something else had vanished too.[break][break]

"the moon... it's gone," she pointed out, staring up in surprise at where she was sure it had been previously.[break][break]

prompt 42 – moon destroyed

[attr="class","ooc"]saskia volosenkova [break]

a facsimile of regidrago. ”created?” she was surprised – and of course she hadn’t heard about it, but never mind that. she could circle back around once they were out of this hell and back in the old one.[break][break]

”don’t you think conflicting ideas and thoughts might… dilute things, so to speak? it’s not just us here. there’s the league, the megalopolans, those pokemon back in the prison, and whatever never-rot is… it’ll be like a mental battle for control.” at least as far as she could figure.[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]Amor Rose

”she’s one a few scientists with the drk triad that seem to be studying our world. her research is on interdream zone. she’s been around since it first started to leak during the star soiree at mossdeep space center, and she’s been a nuisance to us since.”[break][break]

”when we went first mine the tera crystal on meteno 99943, she tried to stop us. she didn’t want the crystal in our world. after we briefly managed to apprehend her for interrogation, she said we’d ‘doomed’ ourselves to a ‘worse fate’.”[break][break]

it was a warning that was easy enough for her to believe after all that had happened since the crystal’s arrival.[break][break]

“i’m sure you must be familiar with macro cosmos’s rondez-view of luv app?” surely it was on abcon’s radar. developers seemed to have collected virtually unknowable information on many of hoenn’s top figures. an anomaly in the digital space, that even featured a couple of the drk triad too. ”holo’s route seemed to warn us about the influx of endless ideas and paradoxes to our world, and said that it would be one of several threats that would result in the end of all universes.”[break][break]

and she believed it, though it was none of rocket’s concern, was it? not until they were all dead, at least.[break][break]

she sat back and brought her own tea to her lips, reiterating before taking a sip, ”our work is very important.”[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]ameena abadi