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[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]"That's right, guys," Isaac said, sweat gathering on his brow as the crowd tried to hustle up to the rift. A Metagross clinging to the cliffside helped them up, its powerful legs serving almost like the carts of a ferris wheel. What appeared to be a second Ralts stood atop the ridge, Teleporting around those who made it up and showering them in Life Dew as if it was confetti. Bit by bit, the current rush was starting to ease up.[break][break]

Then Isaac saw another figure stumbling up the horizon. With a hand on her arm and fatigue in her steps, it was clear that she needed some aid. At first he raised a hand to wave her over. He was just about to call her over when, squinting a little, he decided to take a closer look at her.[break][break]

Even from this distance, she was unmistakable. She wasn't just some random lost civilian or injured combatant. She was someone whose appearance was documented in news article after news article. She was a member of the League Council, the hardest-line of the hardline Leaguers out there. She was a danger and a threat not just to this very operation, but to Isaac's life.[break][break]

She was Elinor Anderson, and trouble was sure to come in her wake.[break][break]

"Haru," Isaac whispered, glaring towards a section of cliff wall. It rippled and shimmered, a white paw extending out from it. What looked to be a pile of rocks was actually a Hisuian Zoroark's cunning illusion. Isaac quickly ran towards the wall, taking the paw and letting it pull him in. So long as they were this close together, the majority of the illusion would be able to cover him as well.[break][break]

His breathing slowed. His heart pounded. Isaac could only hope against hope that Elinor hadn't seen him. Maybe she'd be too weary to look a gift pitstop in the mouth.

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[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]Sweat gathered on Isaac's brow. Unlike Haru himself, he couldn't see through the illusionary rock and stone. All he could do was feel the pressure of the Hisuian Typhlosion's glare as it fixated on the wall. Its growl snaked through his ears, and the flickering of its violet flames cast a slight glow beneath the illusionary darkness.[break][break]

Haru glared, his hair starting to flare up on all sides around him. For a second, Isaac considered setting a hand on his shoulder, trying to get him to hold back his aggression before he attracted too much attention.[break][break]

Then he realized that the aggression never came. What Haru was exhibiting instead was tension. Focus, even. Unlike his opposite number, the Zoroark didn't even make a sound. If anything, he was pressing himself up against the walls more tightly. His eyes sharpened. His heart rate slowed. His posture compressed, long, powerful legs coiling up like springs.[break][break]

Isaac got the memo. He took a deep breath, trying to force himself to do the same. It wasn't nearly as easy. Any meditative thoughts he could have were met on the mental battlefield by the paranoia that this nightmare realm spread. His mind raced and his heart pounded. He squirmed uncomfortably in Haru's increasingly tight grip. A claw stuck into his skin, causing the slightest trickle of blood to start dribbling down his neck.[break][break]

Despite this, Isaac held on, sinking into Haru's grip like a scared child. Would their camouflage work? Or were they merely delaying the inevitable?

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[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]The rock melted down, moment by moment, until it was little more than a pile of slag and magma. Wisps of smoke rose from the stone, signs of surrender that not even the Ultra Deep Sea itself could hold back. What could possibly survive in the face of such an overwhelming Eruption?[break][break]

Apparently, Haru, who had pressed his gaunt body tightly against the furthest curve of his illusion. He had Detected the Eruption coming, clutching Isaac close to his chest so that neither of the two would be caught in its wake. Even then, it was far from comfortable. The mere feeling of the Eruption passing by left Haru's skin seared and hair singed. Had he been any closer to the attack, no amount of quick reflexes would have spared him the agony.[break][break]

For a second, Isaac considered waiting against the cave wall for a bit longer. Surely, the Typhlosion would be content in its own power and leave them alone, right? However, Haru shook his head. If the Typhlosion decided to go for the double tap, they'd be sitting ducks.[break][break]

It was time to act.[break][break]

Haru shoved Isaac out from the wall, the molten rock and stone shifting to form the pattern of a baleful eye. Pure, chilling hatred resonated from its glare, a peal of Bitter Malice cold enough to push back against the Eruption's residual heat. Would it buy Isaac time to fall back to the safety of the rift? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But Haru was more interested in making this Typhlosion hurt for even daring to lay a finger on his trainer.[break][break]

At least Isaac wouldn't be alone. Still embedded in the wall, the Metagross started to glow a bright white. The extradimensional energies of this realm seeped up from the surrounding rocks, more power coursing through its steely body by the second. It wouldn't be able to help quite yet. However, were anything to come after Isaac, this eye in the sky would gleefully serve as a pinpoint defense network.[break][break]

The tension in the air was heavier than any gravity.

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[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]An Aggron.[break][break]

For a second, Isaac's heart stopped. Then his hand settled over a Pokeball in his pocket, its weight heavy and magnetized. His hitched breath started to steady again. Within the Interdream Zone, he had finally been able to make peace with the scars of his past.[break][break]

Kiryu would always be inside him. He had nothing to fear from reminders and pretenders.[break][break]

The keystone on Isaac's brace beat like a thudding heart. Mega Evolution had once been theirs to share alone. Now, so many on Isaac's team had been given the potential. Knuckles. Toto.[break][break]

Omega.[break][break]

The glob hit Isaac's ankle. The Aggron charged onwards. Despite this, Isaac felt no fear. He simply held his arm high, the Mega Brace around his arm casting a light through the Ultra Deep Sea. "Now's your chance, Omega!" Isaac called.[break][break]

The Metagross' body seemed to split in half, briefly exposing a beating nexus of cosmic energy. The lower half shaped onwards and outwards, almost taking on the shape of a Metang before smashing back into place. Its arms rotated around its body, both its forearms and its claws becoming far larger and stronger. Four auxiliary arms formed in the holes left behind by this rotation, the shorter limbs keeping it adhered into the cave wall. With a shining sound, the X across its face grew larger and sharper, casting a golden glow on the world below.[break][break]

Omega was now a Mega Metagross. But if he was a Mega Metagross, then what was that teal blur charging in from the Aggron's side?[break][break]

Whoever this interloper was, he rotated like a tilt-a-whirl to build momentum as he careened from the sky. As he reached the Aggron bearing down on Isaac, he put all of his momentum into a whirling Hammer Arm, aiming to plant that Aggron into the ground for even daring to touch his trainer. As he spun to a halt, the small, dot like eyes made it clear that this wasn't the genuine article.[break][break]

Neither was the shape that burst forth from the wall by Typhlosion, shadows settling around it and forming into the shape of yet another Mega Metagross. As the disguised Haru rushed past the Hisuian Typhlosion, he thrust a foot out of the illusion to score a quick cheap shot. With any luck, this bit of Foul Play would help get some distance, letting him join his fellow Metagross copy.[break][break]

The genuine article, still clinging to the wall, was now all powered up. He detached two of his claws from the wall, pulled them back, and launched a powerful Meteor Beam from between them down towards the Typhlosion. With any luck, it would be too distracted by Haru's antics to realize that it was currently in danger of an airstrike.[break][break]

"I'm not going anywhere," Isaac said, matter of fact. Despite having his ankle gobbed to the ground and a hostile councilwoman bearing down on him, he kept his head held high. "You're welcome for the campsite, by the by. Glad it helped you as much as it helped the people you dragged into this mess."

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[attr="class","skullbody"]The Meteor Beam did its job in scaring the Typhlosion off. Now free to join his companions, Haru (the fake Mega Metagross) joined Delirium (the half-real Mega Metagross) and Omega (the true Mega Metagross) in flanking Isaac. The three stood behind him, tall and proud, as he defiantly stared down the councilwoman he'd put on the back foot.[break][break]

She sent out a Metagross of her own to protect herself, but did not have him join the Mega Evolution crew. That honor went to her Aggron. So, too, did the honor of a freshly-readied Z-Move. Power practically erupted as it flowed from Elinor to her Aggron, allowing it to bring the battlefield down in a surge of altered gravity.[break][break]

The three Mega Metagrosses, unable to float around, were forced to fall back on their auxiliary limbs. They scuttled around like weird crabs, dazed and disoriented by the sudden change to their polarity. Delirium's form began to ripple and bubble from the prolonged pressure, and Haru's illusion started to fade and flicker. It would be easier now to identify the true Mega Metagross, his steely body unyielding in the face of the attack.[break][break]

Neither was Isaac's steely spirit. As the gravity pushed him down onto his hands, he defiantly refused to let his knees touch the ground. It was only making the attack hurt worse, but he didn't give a shit. Elinor could look down on him from her bubble as he struggled to hold his ground, sheltered from the consequences of her actions as the council always was.[break][break]

He laughed at her accusation. "Do you really think there are that many monsters trying to destroy Hoenn?" he asked. "Wanna know where Rocket gets its numbers from? The desperate. Lost. Forgotten. The ones your council treats like some rounding error. They've got nowhere else to go. So they end up here."[break][break]

"We either die ourselves, or fight for our lives til we're the monsters they want us to be. Just a bunch of playing pieces in the big war game you two run."[break][break]

There was pain in Isaac's voice. Was it from the attack? Or was it from the burning realization that had been haunting Isaac for months? Rocket wasn't the safety net at the end of a long fall. Rocket was the fisher's net at the bottom of the abyss. It only held onto you until it was dragged up to shore, where the butchers behind the wheel could do whatever they wanted with you.[break][break]

His was not the only defiance. Omega and Delirium began wheeling around in place, their Hammer Arms beating down on the Protect bubble with all their might. It couldn't hold out forever. While their blows would have less strength against the Aggron's rock-free body, they would still pack a nasty punch when sandwiched together like this.[break][break]

Haru would charge as soon as the barrier was down, but not to join the beatdown on the Aggron. Instead, he would aim for the new Metagross on the field, popping out from his illusion to kick it square in the leg joint. A bit of Foul Play would easily turn the creature's superior strength against it.

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[attr="class","skullbody"]With Elinor's question came another round of gravity. Isaac's wrists gave way, leading his cheek smooshed against the floor. Despite this, he forced himself to keep looking forwards Elinor, even as the ground around him started to tremble and crack.[break][break]

"See . . . people starve . . . while you throw fancy balls . . . fill the ocean with treasure . . . build Leaders personal playgrounds . . ." His voice rose, too, if only so what he had to say would reach Elinor's ears instead of being lost in the dirt. "Silphs . . . in the Elite . . . in the Council . . . corps run this region more than you do . . ."[break][break]

He pressed himself up, ever so slightly, so his final point would ring as loudly and clearly as possible. "Children," he said, voice full of pain and venom alike. "Forced to count on Rocket . . . met three of 'em . . . three too many . . ."[break][break]

Asher Baran. LEVIATHAN SPADE. Eris Halla, especially. He'd fight for them, even if it meant tearing down the League and Rocket alike.[break][break]

Yet for all the League's flaws, all the League's excesses, all the harm the League caused, Isaac knew deep down that half of it was his own damn fault. Rocket caused half the damage that the League fumbled in fixing. Rocket sowed half the distrust that the League was forced to answer for. Rocket already did this to an entire other region, and now they were gearing up to give it another go.[break][break]

"Can never . . . beat Rocket . . . like this. Just . . . making them stronger." Was this a taunt? A threat? Or a desperate plea for the councilwoman to see reality? "Stop . . . feeding . . . need to . . . starve . . . the only way . . ."[break][break]

Omega's eyes widened in pain at the Shadow Claw, one of the few attacks that could actually cause significant pain through his iron shell. However, he refused to back down. Instead, bellowing a war cry, he pivoted on one side and smashed for the Aggron's chin with a rising uppercut. With any luck, the heavy Hammer Arm would topple the Aggron back, allowing a Psychic follow up from Delirium to knock it down onto its back. There, it'd have to deal with the gravity same as anyone else.[break][break]

As they brawled, Haru tried to leap over the Expanding Force. He came up just a little short, the blow knocking him back, but not before he sent a surge of Bitter Malice flying towards his foe. The Ghost type move would have no problems jackknifing through the Psychic type onslaught, but would such chilling hatred reach the Metagross in time? Isaac simply couldn't be sure.[break][break]

For now, he was a spectator in his own fight, too pinned to the ground to offer much more than words. Unlike his Pokemon, he lacked the physical strength to move against such gravity.

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