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The day had finally come to journey into the simulation.[break][break]
A shimmering, pixelated loading screen and then...Nomi was standing just inside the mouth of a small cave. She glanced around eagerly, eyes bright with curiosity, and found to her delight that the carvings on the wall were immediately familiar. It was as if the machine had read her mind, transporting her to a location she had been yearning to visit.[break][break]
The Ruins of Alph.[break][break]
"Isaac?" She whispered, wondering if he had been sent elsewhere - perhaps a location his brain had been thinking about as of late. But no, there he was - right next to her. The machine had sent them both to Nomi's preferred destination? Why? Was it because of her bond with the Unown?[break][break]
Something tugged at her mind, urged her to move further into the cave. Her ears rang, and her head ached with a sudden static. A sound was emanating from the small Unown communication radio she carried everywhere: a discordant cacophony of unintelligible voices. She strained to hear the exact words, try and make out what they were saying, but...[break][break]
"What do you make of this?" She asked her friend.

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[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]Isaac had no idea what he expected. Frankly, every new discovery Nomi made was more insane than the last. How the hell did a Seal Stone, a key to Arceus, bring them into a digital world? Was this the same digital world as Maldacena's? Or had he simply carved out his own virtual reality, "hacking" this fabric that made up their world? Were Arceus and Maldacena in cahoots? Was it playing him and the Triad against each other, or using them to hedge its bets?[break][break]

Was Arceus even real? Or were all these digital worlds a sign that deus ist machina?[break][break]

"I'm here." Because Nomi wanted him to be. At this point, his promise to her was one of the few tethers left. How else could he resolve it but by joining the maiden voyage of her latest and greatest experiment? Nonetheless, his voice was hushed, almost overwhelmed by the enormity of what unfolded before his eyes.[break][break]

It was the Ruins of Alph. Just the Ruins of Alph. They may as well have been plucked straight out of Johto. If anything, that almost made things more unnerving. Maldacena's digital world had been very obviously digital. It looked like the spaces in between the matrix. But this? This was such a perfect recreation that Isaac was sure they'd show up on the Johtonian census.[break][break]

"What I make is that every time I think I've figured this shit out, I get hit by another curveball," he admitted. "The Seal Stones are supposed to be some kinda keys, right? The things standing between Hoenn and Arceus? How the hell's any of that turn into some kinda digital world?"[break][break]

Frankly, Isaac would've loved nothing more than to glitch through the veil and find out what the hell any of this meant. If he found Maldacena somewhere in the space between, all the better. But something told him Nomi wouldn't appreciate if he tried to rack up every bug and error known to man through this voyage in a chance to finally have a reckoning with the trickster.[break][break]

Instead, he looked down towards Nomi's radio, trying to find any sense in the noise pouring out from it.[break][break]

"You crank it up a little. I'll try to record it on my phone," Isaac figured. "Maybe if we can fuck around with it a bit, play it backwards, slow it down, speed it up, we'll be able to make something out." It was a hail mary attempt, but any information would be better than nothing.

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"Keys, yes...or maybe maps?" She pondered. "The Seal Stones are supposed to lead us to Arceus, one way or another."[break][break]
Whether it was actually possible remained to be seen.[break][break]
Isaac's suggestion wasn't a bad one. Getting a recording could prove useful: if they could listen to it over and over back in the lab, slow it down and pause it, perhaps she'd be able to extract a clearer meaning from it. She pulled out the radio and turned the volume up as high as it would go. The voices screeched incomprehensibly and Nomi winced.[break][break]
Something tugged at her mind, and she turned instinctively towards the tunnel leading deeper into the cave. She stared ahead, her crimson eyes peering into the darkness with an intense focus. The radio slipped from her fingers, tumbling to the ground, but she barely seemed to notice. Nomi began to walk, footfalls purposeful, as if drawn forward by a magnet.[break][break]
"We need to go deeper," she murmured, sounding distant to her own ears. "Isaac, follow me."[break][break]

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[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]Isaac winced in the face of Nomi's amped up speakers. It hurt like hell, but what was a little bit of pain for the sake of progress? Isaac covered his closer ear with his one hand and held his phone towards the radio with another, recording as much of the sound as he could handle before Nomi killed it.[break][break]

Once recorded, Isaac turned the volume down to safe levels and popped it into a simple audio app. It wouldn't be anything compared to the work Nomi could get done in the lab, but at least it could give them some early clues. He tried playing it backwards, tried some simple speeding up and down, but it just made the gibberish sound like slightly different gibberish.[break][break]

"Wait, hold on. Maybe if I-" Oh. Oh, she stopped caring.[break][break]

This was the most focused Isaac had seemed Nomi since Parker walked away during their dinner date. However, this time, there were no back muscles to steal her attention. "Nomes?" Isaac asked, hoping to snap her out of her reverie. It didn't work. If anything, with how her radio slipped out of her hands, her focus was only wandering further. "Hello? Earth to Nomes?"[break][break]

Ugh. There was no reaching her right now. Isaac scooped up the radio so they wouldn't lose out on a potential resource, then scuttled after Nomi as quickly as he could. Worst comes to worst, he'd at least be there to pull her ass out of whatever fire she was walking into.

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[attr="class","itemcolname"]unown event

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[attr="class","itemcoltexttit"]UNOWN 1-A

[attr="class","itemcoltext"]The further you delve into the darkness, the more you lose sensation of yourself. There is no light save for what appears to be bright white blinking sclera emerging all around you. Suddenly, the darkness begins to engulf you.[break][break]

Before you know it, you're slammed against the dusty stone walls. Unown emerge from the stone slate as blinking glyphs. Voices flood your mind: "de▉▉rt for our sake. you must w▉lk with us but lea▉e us. we r▉fu▉e the ou▉▉ide w▉rld."[break][break]

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The pitch black darkness did not deter Nomi. She continued forward down the path, mind buzzing with the sound of whispered voices, a siren song of secrets.[break][break]
And then, very suddenly, she slammed into an invisible barrier. A psychic force threw her backwards, and she grunted in pain as her body hit the stone wall of the cavern. All around her, pinpricks of light began to pop into existence, illuminating her surroundings with a sickly orange glow. Eyes - dozens of them - peering at her. Observing her. Judging her.[break][break]
The Unown. All of them. The entire alphabet, and more.[break][break]
"I'm looking for Arceus," she told them. "Do you know where I can find it?"[break][break]
A breeze kicked up, and the disjointed voices inside her mind became one clear voice.[break][break]
De▉▉rt for our sake. you must w▉lk with us but lea▉e us. we r▉fu▉e the ou▉▉ide w▉rld.[break][break]
The Unown were speaking to her, as one. A collective. That could be dangerous, she knew. When Unown worked together, they could reshape reality, unravel existence and rebuild something entirely new in its place.[break][break]
They sound sad, she realized.[break][break]
"I want to help you," she insisted. Didn't they recognize her, understand she was the one who had been seeking them as of late? Could they not hear how badly she wished for them to trust her? "But if I leave, I'm not sure I'll be able to. Please - "[break][break]
The sudden urge to flee. She needed to run, get as far away as she could. Her body twitched, and with a jolt, she was released from the wall. Her legs began to move against her will.[break][break]
Isaac! She suddenly remembered that he ought to be there. He had come inside the machine with her, so where...?[break][break]

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[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]Black. Pitch black. Even the soft bounce of Nomi's pink hair had been swallowed up by the darkness. Isaac tried to look behind him, see where they'd come from. Alas, that, too, had been swallowed up in the darkness. Were it not for the crackling of Nomi's radio in his hand, he'd think he had been dumped in some sensory deprivation chamber.[break][break]

Static words hissed through the radio, tearing Isaac out from his reverie.[break][break]

Thousands of white eyes opened up in the distance, forming a dome of light at the border of the darkness. Isaac could faintly see Nomi's silhouette bordered against this stark contrast. In that moment, he knew what they were. He knew why she had come. Had this been luck of the quantum draw? Or was the simulation responding to her desire?[break][break]

Before he could call to her, warn her off of delving too greedily, too deep, the voices through the radio took form. They were blurred, distorted, some letters swallowed up in the static entirely.[break][break]

What did they mean? If they refused the outside world, then why did they keep appearing in Hoenn? Was it by their own choice, or had it been forced upon them? By the Triad? By Arceus? By forces beyond even its control? And how could one walk with them, even worlds apart? Was there any significance to the letters lost?[break][break]

As Isaac tried to consider this, he suddenly felt a weight slam into him. Nomi, once paralyzed from curiosity and intrigue, had broken into a full tilt run. Isaac did his best to guide himself into a controlled landing, ready to catch Nomi if she fell or roll away if she trampled through him instead.[break][break]

"Careful there," Isaac said, doing his best to shoot her a reassuring smile. It was clear that even he'd been a little shaken up, and he was just an observer. "You all good, Nomes?"[break][break]

Maybe he could ease her down and they could walk out together before the darkness consumed them. Or maybe she'd be right back up to her feet, dragging him around as she fled for dear life. But in either case, at least they'd be back together.

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[attr="class","itemcolname"]drk triad event

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[attr="class","itemcoltexttit"]FATHER WINTER 1

[attr="class","itemcoltext"]You find yourselves near Relic Red, a clothing store in Mauville City. There, a mischievous man calls upon you from a nearby alleyway in this indoor metropolis. He continuously flips a coin.[break][break]

"call it correctly and i'll give you something nice."

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Nomi slammed into something solid, yelping in panic. But then a soft, comforting, familiar voice spoke to her, and hands reached out to hold her steady.[break][break]
"Isaac," she realized, immediately pulling him close and hugging him. She held on for dear life, heart hammering. Why had she been forced to flee the Unown? Had all her hard work trying to win them over been for nothing?[break][break]
This is a simulation, she tried to remind herself, forcing her brain to focus on facts rather than emotions. This is a scenario, not a definitive future. It's one of many options. It's not the only reality.[break][break]
Multiple realities...it was all so mind-boggling, even for her.[break][break]
Before she could say anything else to Isaac, the darkness began to resolve. The air shimmered, pixelating briefly, until they found themselves standing in...[break][break]
Mauville City?[break][break]
The light was almost blinding compared to the darkness of the Ruins of Alph. Nomi blinked several times, trying to reconcile the sudden stark contrast. A voice that definitely wasn't Isaac's was speaking. With a blush, she realized she was still holding on tight to Isaac, and let go of him, head turning in the direction of the voice.[break][break]
A man in an alleyway, grinning enigmatically, his spiked hair dark save for the white around his hairline. Eyes like ice. A man that Nomi had thought dead: sliced in two by time and space.[break][break]
"Father Winter?" She breathed, skin prickling, body tensing.[break][break]
The DRK Triad had, as she'd suspected they would, found a way into Rocket's virtual playground: the search for Arceus had summoned them.

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[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]"Oi, we killed your ass!" Isaac made a point of being kind and understanding towards 99% of the people he'd met. The Dark Triad, after everything they'd done, were not spared such consideration. "The hell're you doing in one piece?"[break][break]

The man didn't answer. He just provided that same freaky coin flip that killed half of Mt. Pyre in a single snap of his fingers. Fear roiled in Isaac's guts, but he forced it to simmer down. This was a simulation. A game! Father Winter, and the Triad as a whole, had no genuine power here.[break][break]

Right?[break][break]

He may've lacked power, but he did have knowledge. Isaac gave him a suspicious once over, then turned back to Nomi. "Here's the plan," he said, certainty firming up in his voice. "We ask him everything he knows. And the second he either tries something or starts looping quotes at us like some kinda NPC, we put him back in the ground. Work for you?"

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The venom in Isaac's tone of voice gave Nomi pause. She glanced at her friend, surprised. Rarely had she ever heard him sound so...angry.[break][break]
All the same, Isaac's plan was a solid one. Nomi sucked in a breath, then approach Father Winter - tentatively, still with some distance between them. She eyed him, scrutinizing every detail of his appearance. The simulation was incredibly detailed, and it sent a shiver through her to see a man who had been ripped apart, his death confirmed by a crowd of witnesses, standing wholly untouched in front of her. Not even a scratch anywhere on his body, that she could see.[break][break]
It's fake, she tried to assure herself. Nothing about a virtual reality can be trusted. She wished she felt more confident about that.[break][break]
"Tell us everything you know about Arceus," She demanded.[break][break]
Nothing. He just stared at them, that enigmatic little smile plastered across his lips.[break][break]
"We killed Holo," Nomi lied, trying a different tactic.[break][break]
Silence. Cold eyes like ice boring into them.[break][break]
She turned to Isaac.[break][break]
"He - or rather, the simulation - is not giving us any other choice. What do you think? Should we call it?"[break][break]
A part of her wanted to find out what happened if they did. Based on the creasing of Isaac's brow and the deepening of his frown, however, she thought perhaps he had a different result in mind.

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[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]"The last time we played his game, half of us were killed where we stood. The Palkia he stole killed them all in a single Spacial Rend. It was as if he was bragging. Saying he could do it to everyone if he wanted to. If the Border wasn't ripped open too?"[break][break]

"Lots of us would've stayed that way."[break][break]

Playing that game wouldn't just mean opening himself up to Father Winter's sick games. It also meant giving them a respect that, frankly, Isaac didn't think they deserved. He was sick of gods and madmen playing with their lives. The Triad, and the Arceus they served, could burn along with Rocket and the League for all Isaac cared.[break][break]

Winter knew it, too. He knew it in how he toyed with them. How he stared through them with that smirk plastered on his face. How neither questions or threats seemed to move him. He was mocking them.[break][break]

No. He wasn't even capable of that much. He was already dead.[break][break]

Isaac's fear ebbed away as he realized Winter couldn't hurt him. His hatred ebbed away as he realized he couldn't hurt Winter. It would be like punching a wall with Winter's face taped on it. Rendez-Vous characters could improvise more than this.[break][break]

He wasn't just half the man he used to be. He was none of it.[break][break]

"It can't hurt us, and it can't tell us anything useful. Lets just play its game so we can move on to something more important."

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Isaac had a point. There were getting nowhere. Either this Father Winter (real or disguised) was committed to his harmless broken record act or they really were interacting with something pre-programmed.[break][break]
Nothing about this is harmless, Nomi thought warily.[break][break]
"Very well," she sighed. "We choose heads."[break][break]
At first, nothing happened. Father Winter's enigmatic white-blue eyes stared at them blankly, like portals into the silent icelands. Nomi felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up, her skin prickling with anticipation. Would he attack them? Her body tensed, and she slowly brought her hand to her waist, fingertips brushing a Pokeball.[break][break]
The flick of a wrist, a sudden movement, the glint of a coin as it flew into the air. Time seemed to stand still as it hung as if weightless: such a small thing - far from innocuous - capable of determining their fates.[break][break]
Nomi held her breath.[break][break]

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