[attr="class","text"]
Nomi skidded to a halt, nearly slamming right into a massive stone pillar erected by Admin Bee's shadow Steelix. She glanced at him, and instantly realized he had not meant to impede her, but rather, protect the book from the ice crystals and tera shards flying across the chamber in all directions as the other Rockets engaged
jayden cross in battle. She nodded, then turned her attention to Alpha, who's blasts of
HIDDEN POWER were serving a similar function in keeping the book safe from harm.[break][break]
She let out a breath, anxiety for Jayden warring with a burning curiosity; she was intent on figuring out what was contained in the mysterious book, who's violet cover was so stark against the muted backdrop of the rocky terrain it laid upon that it almost didn't seem real.[break][break]
A swift hand reached through the other side of the stone barrier, grabbing the book. Before Nomi could even register what was happening,
Amor Rose had flung the book at her before turning around to face the fight taking place right next to them.[break][break]
Momentarily stunned, Nomi fumbled, managing to catch the book - just barely. A surge of guilt for having chastised Amor earlier in the meeting (when it had actually
been a meeting, and not an all-out brawl with a ruinous beast) caused her to wave at him, and call out a sincere
"Thank you!" before eagerly flipping to the first page.[break][break]
The first thing Nomi noticed as she rapidly scanned the contents of the book, her scientific mind racing to analyze everything as quickly as she could (lest the book suddenly
disappear as mysteriously as it had appeared), was a pair of extremely familiar drawings:
DYNAMAX power spots, a phenomenon she did not fully understand but had
seen, curiously drawn in her own hand, in the field journal she had recovered from the Ancient Tomb. Her chest ached in a strange, forlorn sort of way as she continued to read: poetry from a memory of Galar, so familiar and yet so distant, barely discernible, the depth of its meaning just out of reach - like trying to grasp light in the palm of her hand.[break][break]
She knew she should be paying attention to Jayden - he was in
danger - but she could not rip her gaze away from the book, her fascination overwhelming. Several pages in, she found something that caused her to audibly gasp. Beautiful, intricate drawings of three birds...so similar to the ones she knew, two of whom she had recently aided others in hunting, and yet...[break][break]
"Are these...Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres?" She asked aloud, as if the birds themselves might answer her.[break][break]
And to her utter shock, they
did.[break][break]
Bright, blinding, brilliant light filled the entire cave, and Nomi stumbled backwards, somehow managing to hang onto the book. Energy burst forth, and the three birds manifested
in the flesh, their power tangible. She tried, in vain, to catch their attention - but they began to fly away almost immediately, shattering through the barricade of tera crystals blocking the cave's entrance. She found her eyes drawn, like a magnet, to the dark inverted Moltres - like the rising of a midnight sun - and how it seemed to linger on
BARNABY FINCH...all of a sudden, she was reminded of a vision seen within the RKS Machine, of a winged man, wreathed in flame (or was it shadow?), and in that moment, her intuition screamed that it had been
Barnaby. He'd been with her at the time. So had she seen a vision of the
future? And if so, what was the nature of that future?[break][break]
This is important, I'll talk to him later, she resolved.[break][break]
Clutching the book, Nomi collapsed, as if the effort of holding onto it - a portal for the legendary birds? - had drained her completely. It felt warm to the touch, and she looked down tiredly to see that the cover was glowing. Symbols? A...lizard? There was so
much to learn about it, but she couldn't do it alone.[break][break]
They
all needed to survive this. Including
jayden cross. Then...then she would find answers.[break][break]
"Go and fetch Parker," she murmured to Alpha, wanting desperately to believe the other woman was okay.
"The way is clear."[break][break]
The Unown-A seemed momentarily torn about leaving Nomi's side, but then it blinked out of existence, supposedly following her command.