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[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]Isaac's head was a swimming, pulsing mess. Instead of safe at home, or keeping to the fringes of the region, El Sunderland was here. They were involved, in danger, ant risk. They were a Ranger, for crying out loud! And instead of being able to convince them to leave, now they were wandering the depths of the Ultra Deep Sea, a decision that left dread festering in the pit of Isaac's stomach. What else could he do but wander the outskirts of the realm himself, desperately searching for something, anything to tether himself.[break][break]

That tether's name was Gavin Merlino. There was work to be done, and he couldn't collapse just yet. Desperate for some sort of purpose, and longing for some sort of escape, Isaac let himself get swept up in the underboss' storm.[break][break]

There was a vicious attack on one of Rocket's supply caravans. Resources that could be used to protect people Isaac cared about were being overwhelmed, and if they didn't act soon would surely be taken into League custody. Not today. Gavin was the first to engage, a Hurricane of Legendary proportions overwhelming the battlefield. He was the anvil, the solid, reliable base that the League's forces would break their ranks upon as they tried to engage with the might of a legendary being.[break][break]

That meant it was up to Isaac to be the hammer.[break][break]

Sanford came out from his Pokeball, the Dhelmise immediately dragging Isaac into the Phantom Plane. Together they strode through the battlefield, the howl of the wind, screams of panic, and din of battle fading into a distant, muffled background noise. Here on this plane, Isaac was able to walk through the violence and chaos completely unimpeded.[break][break]

Soon, he was behind the bulk of the League forces, standing where their ranks were thinnest. The Phantom Plane faded from around them, and with it the overwhelming roar of battle resumed in force. For a second, Isaac flinched, forgetting just how intense the sound could be. However, he clenched his fists and steeled himself, turning to the anchor hovering ominously before him. "Sanford, take their back line!" he commanded.[break][break]

The Dhelmise spun, and as he did the currents beneath him followed suit. A large Whirlpool sprouted up from beneath the League's back ranks, further isolating their weakest flank beneath a wall of crushing tides. What was once a pincer maneuver now had a large gap punched into it, giving the caravan freedom to fall back towards that direction.[break][break]

If the could slip out, it would fall on him and Gavin to hold the line and prevent them from being followed.

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[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]What Isaac had hoped would be a nonlethal measure keeping League forces back had turned into a plague of Egypt at Lugia's command. Isaac forced himself to look away from the swarm of grasping hands bursting out from the whirlpool, even as he could oh so vividly imagine them falling limp in a final surrender.[break][break]

This was war. He had to move on. It was one thing to have a soft conscience during a routine mission, where needless escalation just harmed Rocket's reputation and made a mess of everything. It was another to object when, had they allowed it, those same League personnel would have killed them without blinking an eye.[break][break]

He hated that this was his reality. He wouldn't succumb to it, whenever possible. But it was beyond ignorance and into outright foolishness to pretend that it wasn't happening.[break][break]

At least for the time being, he could choose a passive role instead of an active one. Toto appeared at his command, the Blastoise waving its arms to indicate for the Rocket Grunts to follow in their wake. He blasted clouds of Life Dew as they approached, easing their pain and replenishing their stamina. It was no full substitute for proper medical care, but it'd get them through the hour.[break][break]

When the final Grunt crossed the threshold, Sanford shot his anchor across the intervening space. Its anchor shimmered several times as Growth began sprouting across the length of the chain. What was once empty space was quickly becoming a barrier of algal blooms, growing larger and denser by the moment. Any League officials trying to give chase would have to either take the long way around or try to scale a living wall.

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[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]Little did those survivors know that the wall was not a wall.[break][break]

Sanford's wheel lay flat against the floor of the Ultra Deep Sea, looking for all the world like a piece of driftwood that had washed up from some galleon off the coast of Dewford. All parties involved were so fixated on slicing and dicing through the wall that they didn't even notice it starting to move.[break][break]

The wall folded inward as Sanford's wheel floated to meet its anchor, the chain forming a loop as it slowly, inevitably encircles itself. League officials wheezed as they were suddenly bound, clutched by chains and smothered by algae. Even as Sanford was slashed on all sides, it paid the pain no mind. It simply hovered, expressionless and silent, as it beheld the writhing mass of people that it had ensnared. In the blink of an eye, it vanished into the Phantom Plane.[break][break]

When it returned, its grasp was empty.[break][break]

A chill shot shudders through Isaac's spine. He was no stranger to Sanford's disdain for life, but the extent to which the otherwise loyal Dhelmise would enact such cruelties never failed to unnerve him. For a fleeting moment, Isaac wondered how many of his other Pokemon would go to such lengths.[break][break]

Still, the wall was down, and there would undoubtedly be reinforcements on the way. "See what you can find," Isaac asked Toto, the Blastoise shooting Isaac a curious look. Nonetheless, he formed a pair of Aura Spheres within his cannons, firing them straightforward in the direction of the shattered League assault.[break][break]

The leftmost one sailed straight forward, fizzling out in midair. The rightmost one arced slightly, as if homing in on the presence of life energy, before careening into a cave wall.[break][break]

"Keep eyes on our right. We're still not alone," Isaac warned. He squinted suspiciously into the distance, as if hoping to get the drop on whatever foes would approach.

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[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]The first set of League officials were there to do a job. Fighting them was incidental to the mission, and their fates were a tragic inevitability of war.[break][break]

The next set of officials were here for revenge. After what Gavin had done, what Sanford had done, what Rocket as a whole had done, they were out for blood. It was kill or be killed.[break][break]

Yet Isaac knew he'd never be able to take that abstract off of the page. Killing, it turned out, was hard, unpleasant work. It was one thing to know he was being hunted. It was another to grab that dynamic by the horns and become the hunter. Deep down, he knew it would take a gun being trained on his head for Isaac to make that leap.[break][break]

A part of him wondered if even that would be enough.[break][break]

However, he couldn't let his unwillingness to kill become an unwillingness to engage. With him and Gavin's lives on the line, he'd need to find other ways to be firm and unyielding. Today, that firmness came in the form of a Mega Brace. The keystone nestled within began to shimmer, swirls of Infinity Energy wrapping around Toto in response.[break][break]

His guns retracted into his shell, bursting back out as a single, fused cannon large enough to leave him hunched over. His features became harsher, craggier, almost ogre-like. Shells sprouted out from his wrists, a pair of backup Mega Launchers poking out from under them.[break][break]

Yet despite this pomp and circumstance, the light of evolution did not fade.[break][break]

"Wait for it," Isaac said, holding up a single finger. Cracks began to run across the shell of light, pure power erupting from beneath.[break][break]

"Wait for it!" A second finger. A second set of cracks. The light of evolution, rather than fading, only seemed to grow brighter.[break][break]

"Wait for it!!" A third finger. By this point, the cracks were such that, rather than fading, the light of evolution exploded off of Toto. His shell was far thinner than a normal Mega Blastoise's, all of the energy that would normally go into reinforcing it instead flooding into his cannon. Like an anime martial artist taking off his training weights, nothing empowered a Pokemon more than a series of Shell Smashes.[break][break]

"Now!!!"[break][break]

The resulting Water Pulse was strong enough to shatter diamonds. However, it wasn't Isaac's enemies that Toto aimed towards. Instead, it was the ceiling of the very cavern they fought within. Stone practically exploded in all directions, sending a relentless tide of stone flooding into the space between the Rocket caravan and the League officials.[break][break]

While the spectacle was horrifying, it was just another example of the smoke and mirrors Isaac wielded best. The disorienting light show of a thrice reinforced Mega Evolution, the nightmarish sound of rock and stone being torn asunder, and the massive clouds of dust and debris that followed in their wake all served to hide the distance between the attack and the League pursuers.[break][break]

To the officials, it would look like Lady Luck narrowly spared their lives. To Isaac, his scheme was equal parts a blockade and a deterrent. Any actual damage done was but a distant third priority.[break][break]

Isaac could only hope none of them valued vengeance over their lives.

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[attr="class","skullbody"]Isaac blinked. He looked at the pair of blood red algal colonies hovering behind them, their ominous hovers vaguely off sync with one another. "Something tells me we're gonna be just fine," Isaac admitted, biting his tongue to prevent any deadpan from bleeding into his voice. "Not much out there that can trap us when we can take two back to back hops through the Phantom Plane."[break][break]

Still, the way Gavin beheld the avalanche was strange. The way he shuddered made it seem like either he was scared (Gavin Merlino, ergo impossible) or like he had witnessed a religious experience (it was just rocks??). With his typical poker face 99% of the way on, Isaac could no longer tell which was which.[break][break]

What he could tell was that a strange liquid was seeping from the rocks, and it sure as heck wasn't oil. And even after the impact, they seemed to quiver and jiggle, almost as if they were-[break][break]

"It's quieting down, at least," Isaac said, as if trying to both reassure Gavin and distract himself. "You think there's gonna be anything big up ahead? Or are we in the clear?"[break][break]

At this point, Isaac almost hoped it'd be an Ultra Beast. At least those he could fight without a shred of pity or remorse.

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[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]"I've spent the last year learning that, for better or worse, there's nothing assured in my life." What was supposed to be a miserable, grey survival had turned into the most chaotic rollercoaster of peaks and valleys in Isaac's lifetime. Joining Rocket had been equal parts the best and worst thing to ever happen to Isaac.[break][break]

"But I know if we count ourselves out, we're dead men walking." Overconfidence was a killer, true. So, too, was the surrender brought along by underconfidence. "You've got a Legendary Pokemon, an army of shadows, a caravan full of grunts, and me having your back. If we can't ghost our way out of whatever the fuck these cave-sphincters have in show, then we're just gonna have to make them regret messing with us."[break][break]

Truth be told, he was terrified. But much like a dog or a Tyrannosaurus Rex, Gavin could smell fear. Instead, he tried to channel it into a reminder of just how well equipped for this job they were. The scariest man in Rocket was not going to die at the hands of some fucking meat rocks![break][break]

That said, Gavin was right. The paranoia mounting in this place was the opposite of a good time. He just wished that the Wild realm hadn't been playing the dirtiest trick of them all; the truth. "At least a trick's just that," Isaac said. "Let's stick together. With a whole caravan, at least one of us should be able to spot the smoke and mirrors, right?"

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[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]Pressure squeezed Isaac's chest in one hand and his throat in the other. In that moment, he knew he,'d fucked up.[break][break]

He'd made a rookie mistake. He'd given into the ravages this realm had on his mind and projected them out. When Gavin spoke of confidence, he meant overconfidence, the mind-killer. When Isaac spoke of it, he spoke of what shreds of confidence remained in his killed mind.[break][break]

The angry red scars of the Nihilego's toxin blared like alarms against Gavin's flesh. All Isaac could think of was how three had surrounded El Sunderland, and would have surely destroyed their mind had he been seconds later. His own sibling, put through the same horrific agony that Gavin had been subjected to. And he was supposed to just be okay with parting ways so they could navigate this warzone alone? While knowing full well that, in the eyes of people like Gavin, they were the enemy?[break][break]

Isaac had nobody he could confide in this fact to. Not with the zealous turn Rocket had taken. All he could do was live with this terror as it gnawed at the back of his mind, all while Gavin berated him for his insolence.[break][break]

A part of him wished Gavin at least pretended to be motivated. At least then he'd feel useful. Instead, his brain gnawed at itself in its own helplessness, like a coyote whose arm was trapped under a big, meaty rock.[break][break]

"I understand," he said, voice small and will far weaker than Lugia's. "I'm sorry."

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