[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]his question lingers, drifts, and dies. and in the ashes it leaves, a terrible grin rises.

she glances back to make sure he heeded caution. upon confirming his distance from her, she has more room to move, to play.

a soft rumble escapes the automaton on her left. a signal of readiness, perhaps. and on her right, the unown incessantly chitters but its movement is off-putting. it's too fast, too jagged, too distressed. the beginning glow of power begins to vibrate out from its small body.

and she's quick to capitalize on the unstable energy.

"hidden power," she demands of the letter. another command quickly follows as a light around her wrist ignites with life. "z-move: never-ending nightmare."

the grin widens and with it, her greed.

"aim for the darkness. let's see if we can open something here."

both pokemon fire off their own attacks into the abyss of darkness. where hidden power is a brighter light, z-move: never-ending nightmare is an inky darkness. they combine together to strike in one spot and for, perhaps, the umpteenth time today, illeana prays for gods and legends and creation.

Felix Gallagher
mission

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]moves collide with darkness and for a moment, nothing happens. and then, everything does.

her mouth parts in surprise as pink, cyclone-like energy begins to bubble up where the z-move and hidden power struck. it looks alive. it ebbs, it flows, and it repairs. she watches with attentive eyes, stepping closer in the process.

her golurk rumbles out a warning: not too close.

and she stops as the distortion's edges repair. she blinks. the pink energy is gone when her eyes reopen.

felix speaks behind her and her head turns, eyes meeting curiosity and staring back. what did she think it was? her head turns again, back to the edges, back to where the pink energy had been.

she has an idea but... it's just a feeling. it's not certain, nothing is.

"space," she murmurs. the inky edge of the distortion ripples again but no more energy comes. it's only the chaos that remains. she thinks of creation, of the old tellings from ages ago. first, there was chaos and then, an egg. is this tied in?

something tells her it has to be.

and when she turns back to felix fully, her back to the walls of the distortion, there's determination in her bones. certainty is a fickle thing, reliant on facts and evidence and skewed by perspective. this is no different.

"it's a stab in the dark, honestly, but..." she stops, a soft sigh escaping before shifting to step back toward him. "i believe it was the god of space. i don't know of anything else that could do something to a distortion."

Felix Gallagher
mission

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]the why is an unknown variable. it's left to be discovered, left to be explored...

and she won't stop until she finds god.

her golurk guides the unown back toward them as illeana begins to move away fully from the edge. the pink energy is gone and there's more to look into than before.

"i'm not sure," she replies softly. her stare is curious but it doesn't settle on him. instead, it flitters between the chaotic edges and darkness. too close and she'll lose herself in it all. a risk she's willing to take, perhaps...

"but i'm not going to stop searching." it's firm, definitive, damning. even if it kills her, she will not stop until the god of space is within her grasp.

Felix Gallagher
mission

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]her head tilts. confusion etches into the muscles of her face. and for whatever intelligence she might possess, she doesn't quite understand the question.

why?

it's perplexing in a way she doesn't recognize. why does she do the things she does? instinct? knowledge? greed?

the last one strikes a chord and the sound is hungry, quick, striking.

"why what?" another step closer and her head rises to look up at him. "why keep searching?"

Felix Gallagher
mission

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]the question leaves her at... well, a loss.

and for a few moments, she holds his gaze. there's a searching concept in her stare, as if she can figure herself out just by simply staring into his eyes. and maybe, for a second, it works.

unfortunately, however, she's left with more questions than answers.

well, that's not exactly right. she knows the answers, knows them in her bones. explaining them, though? that's a different story.

"it's a feeling, i guess," she finally mumbles. and when her eyes retreat, more words rise to fill the gaps left behind. "i think i'm chasing a feeling." of something, anything.

and deep down, in the marrow of her bones, she knows it's more than that. it's power, control, destiny, creation.

Felix Gallagher
mission