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[attr="class","skullbody"]He couldn't be mad at her anger. Arceus knows he had more than enough of it to go around. In many ways, it had become his main driving force, even as his time in Rocket shifted it from your garden variety rage into something he found unrecognizable.[break][break]

Yet half a decade ago, when he was just an abandoned child who had finally escaped a home that had become a prison, his anger was the spitting image of Akira's.[break][break]

"No need for sorries. They're your lines to draw, not mine. But you do know that's all I was trying to ask about, right?" he asked, a note of light amusement in his voice. It was a lie. Okay, a partial lie. His main goal was to hear Akira out on what she big airquotes did, true. However, her reactions made it clear that she was pent up to hell and back, and he'd been curious what that general response could have goaded out of her.[break][break]

Maybe he was hoping an ear could have stopped her from exploding.[break][break]

"Anyway, I promise. No treating you like some pitiful wet sandwich." A slight, teasing grin crept up the corners of his mask. "But maybe a dry one. Y'know, if you really give off those sandwich vibes."

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[attr="class","skullbody"]Isaac listened patiently to Akira's tale. The idea of her falling asleep in the middle of a warzone briefly lit a bit of concern in his eye, but he smothered it down as soon as it came. If Isaac knew Cillian Quinn, she'd already gotten the third degree. He didn't need to add his well meaning concerns about her being kidnapped by the League or ambushed by an Ultra Beast.[break][break]

"Never really a clear beginning to these things, huh?" Isaac commiserated. "Usually, I just say what comes to mind first. Then I just kinda see where it goes from there." Sometimes, thinking was too much effort. If he was going to pour his heart out, he'd go with its natural flow.[break][break]

Ourside of that, he passed little comment for now. He got the vibe that the girl had other people try to define her for too long. The last thing he wanted to do was join that chorus of voices.[break][break]

Today was Akira's chance to take all of that back, for as much or as little as she needed to say.[break][break]

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[attr="class","skullbody"]" 'Fraid I've got some bad news for you."[break][break]

Isaac's smile was equal parts amused and weary as he turned to the girl. He felt like Charon, guiding a poor, unfortunate soul down the River Styx as the weight of just what she'd gotten into hit her. "You're one of the last sane people in Hoenn. And now you've got a front row seat to why the rest of us are going mad."[break][break]

There was power in this mania. Isaac vividly remembered the day the Triad descended, not one but two gods under their sway. The League and Rocket came together and swarmed them like ants on a fallen hot dog. Never before did Isaac imagine men controlling Space and Time themselves being so systematically dismantled, yet he lived to see it with his own eye.[break][break]

There was also danger in that mania. What other region would hear the dangers of meddling in God's affairs and decide to make that the site of their next battleground? Team Rocket was hellbent on throwing Hoenn into the abyss for their own gain, and the League had no qualms with racing them to the bottom.[break][break]

A failing state or a shadowy cabal of terrorists. No wonder this region was in such dire straits.[break][break]

Yet in the midst of this insanity, he couldn't help but sweat the little details. "Your hand," he said, his shift from gallows humor in the face of a titan to genuine concern in the face of her wound surprisingly seamless. "Can I see it?"

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[attr="class","skullbody"]"Think long and hard about everything you've just told me, and then ask that question again," Isaac teased. Akira punched some weird misaligned League guy, got chased by a Gyarados in the middle of the Ultra Deep Sea, and apparently got jumped every five seconds like a cursed RPG protagonist. The insanity was already coming for her.[break][break]

However, he didn't have much time to focus on that. Not if her busted up fingers were any indication. "Probably had your fingers too loose," Isaac absentmindedly muttered as he gave Akira's hand a one-over. Most of her hand didn't look too bad, and the scrapes on her knuckles indicated that she'd at least hit in the right spot. "Used to fuck my hand up like that all the time when I got into scrapes. Good times. Good times."[break][break]

With his free hand, he clipped a Pokeball off of his belt and tossed it to the ground below. A Galarian Rapidash emerged by his side, his pastel mane and bright white fur a hilarious contrast to Isaac's skull mask and leather combat jacket. "I'm no surgeon or anything, but Charles here should at least be able to get your hand on the right track. Just hold still for me, okay? I promise, it's not gonna hurt."[break][break]

A soft pink glow rippled out from Charles' horn, flowing into Akira's raised hand. The Heal Pulse, while not some magic cure-all, would at least numb the pain and start promoting some early healing. The cuts and scrapes on Akira's knuckles would already start to mend, though the cracks in her bones would take far longer.[break][break]

"I know it's not much," Isaac said, a somewhat sorrowful smile on his face. "But hopefully it helps you make it through this cave in one piece."

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[attr="class","skullbody"]"If you're sticking around here, there's gonna be a next time."[break][break]

It was a rhetorical "if". One didn't just leave Rocket. Not after all those defectors tightened up Rocket's internal security. Akira was destined to be here for the long haul, so she was gonna have to strap herself in and enjoy the ride.[break][break]

"But, hey, don't sweat it. I've gone from an idiot with no clue what I'm doing to an idiot with some clues here and there. So if you ever need a pointer or two, I could lend a hand."[break][break]

He paused, then blinked. "I promise that wasn't intentional."[break][break]

Still, godawful pun accidents aside, Akira seemed thankful for his help. He simply accepted it with a warm smile and a nod. As much as he wished he could do more, it was a step.[break][break]

So, too, was every step they took towards his camp by the rift. "Shouldn't be much further," he said. "It's smaller and less stable than the main rift everyone's fighting over. But, hell. If it works enough for civilians to fall into, it works enough for me to lead 'em back out through."[break][break]

It's funny. He hated the idea of El Sunderland going to war, but had they not fallen down that rift Isaac never could have traced it in the first place. He owed his little sib a huge favor for that one.[break][break]

Finally, the tunnel was starting to widen. A small, unstable rift shimmered on a rock wall in the distance, a series of climbing ropes fastened to just underneath it. Scattered around the rift was a small handful of tents, clearly either stolen or salvaged in the chaos of battle. For the most part, it was completely empty, bereft of all people and Pokemon alike.[break][break]

It was a ramshackle operation for sure. Yet against all odds it stood, small and proud.

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[attr="class","skullbody"]At Akira's question, a small, proud smirk spread across his face. "Welcome to the Blackwing Bazaar's extradimensional nightmare war branch."[break][break]

It was funny how, when in the midst of the worst day of your life, a few ratty little tents could feel like an oasis in the middle of a desert. It was like Fyre Fest in reverse.[break][break]

"Far as bases of operation go, it ain't the worst. Far from command, but I'm keeping afloat on salvage. And it's nice and out of the way, so nobody's showed up to kick over my sandcastle yet." Approaching the rift, he shimmied up a climbing rope in a few quick hops. For a few minutes he was gone, his Pokemon quartet remaining in a tight, protective formation around Akira. Then he popped back in, landing gracefully at the bottom of the rift. "Arceus, I needed that top-off."[break][break]

No wonder he was able to keep his wits about him. He'd effectively found the mental equivalent of an air pocket.[break][break]

Once Isaac landed, he headed over to a nearby boulder. He knocked on it in a quick, elaborate pattern, hollow ringing echoing through the little safe haven. The rock proceeded to quiver and bubble. Was this another of the cave's oddities? Or was the slow turn of craggy stone into smooth, pink goo a sign that Isaac had stacked this deck even more carefully than it seemed?[break][break]

The boulder-turned-Ditto oozed over to Isaac's side, leaving a floating orange communicator. "Anyone ring in while I was out, Ex?" he asked. The Rotom infested communicator simply shook from side to side. "Del, you spot anyone poking around while I was gone?" The Ditto turned into a large, cartoonish thumbs down symbol. "Excellent."[break][break]

"Feel free to make yourself comfy," he said, turning back towards Akira. "But if you ask me, I'd bail sooner, not later."

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[attr="class","skullbody"]"Glad you agree." Her irony fell on deaf ears, but then again, so had his. He knew a shitty collection of tents in the middle of nowhere was nothing compared to the weekend grey markets he sprang up in random towns. However, the name wasn't all irony. They were both united by shared purpose; being an off the record aid that neither the League or Rocket would properly provide.[break][break]

He'd been far more hands off with it since Rocket's activities ramped up. After Meteno, the last thing he'd wanted was for his presence to cause the Bazaar grief. Nonetheless, it was still his baby, even as he'd gone from king of the castle to distant watcher.[break][break]

Ah well. He didn't need to bore Akira with the minutia. She was d to the o to the n and e Done. Isaac couldn't blame her. This was was taking its toll on even some of Rocket's most hardened. Someone listless, angry, and in over her head was going to be torn to shreds if she didn't rest up.[break][break]

Her clear and obvious disdain made her reaction all the more surprising. She turned away, talking about how everyone had her reasons for joining, and how now she was stuck with Rocket and couldn't leave. Isaac understood. He truly did. He'd spent the better part of today wrestling with those thoughts. Maybe that was why he stepped forward, putting a soft, supportive hand on Akira's shoulder.[break][break]

"You do know I meant bailing from this realm, right?"[break][break]

His smile was equal parts sympathetic and amused. As much as he couldn't help but mess with this poor girl, he also felt deeply for the struggles she'd been put through. Part of him wanted to offer a hand and hear her out. Another part figured that she'd already suffered enough. It was better to end a day on a light goof than gutwrenching torment.[break][break]

Perhaps another time, they could talk about their shared struggle.

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