Why does he keep coming back here? Duty seems an obvious answer, but that’s not right. Hope is a warmer answer. He hopes that he’ll find answers or closure. Navy is a creature that must know why. Even when he’s in the arena, locking eyes with his opponent, he has to know what brought them there. He can’t let something go. Knowledge can’t simply drift in a vacuum.[break][break]
So, at the slightest provocation, he returns. The pretense is the same as always. These caves appeared seemingly from nowhere. He’s to go down there, make sure that nothing will leak out into the world above.[break][break]
At his side is a creature born of this rift. Roland, a creature the scientists of both Rocket and the League have universally dubbed Iron Valiant. To Navy, he’ll always just be Roland. The fact that there are at least a dozen other of his kind in existence matters little. None of them are solid chrome or missing an arm, courtesy of a beast.[break][break]
He walks through the tunnels. Crystals light his way. His reflection gazes back out at him from the crystals. By a chance of the light and angle, he sees a woman up ahead.[break][break]
“You know, sometimes those signs the League puts up mean more than no fun allowed. Dangerous down here.” He warns the woman. His tone is light. He smiles. Even in these dark corners, his spirit is strong.[break][break]
“But I guess you can handle yourself pretty well if you’ve got somethin’ like that l’il guy following you.”

[break][break]

+ Lulu Flint

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

a voice drew her out of deep thought. her gaze rose from the floor, looking for the source through the glittering fire of tera crystals.[break][break]

”penrose isn’t much of a bodyguard—but i would say i’m fairly capable,” she responded coolly.[break][break]

his movement was caught in a shimmer, then. her eyes followed it, soon falling across the metal body of a paradox pokemon. one which she’d only seen in reports upon her return. one which didn’t belong in their world.[break][break]

”what about you?” her eyes shifted to him last, beginning to make out his features under sharp chiaroscuro.”should i feel in danger?”
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]mission: tera tunneling act i[break]
Michael Navidson [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-poipole"]

Their eyes meet at last. He finds himself looking at the subject of what Navy jokingly called the most beautiful mugshot in the world. Maybe he just has a type. With an exaggerated shrug, he shakes his head.[break][break]
“Nah. No point in makin’ a scene if the people upstairs aren’t around.” Of course, there were exceptions. Some people he wants to fight on principle. He tells himself that she’s not one of them.[break][break]
“Enjoying yourself? These tera crystals sure are pretty. Rockhead like me can’t make heads or tails of what they’re supposed to be, though.” [break][break]
Pixeled magenta eyes scan the darkness. Roland, at least, believes they have bigger problems than the woman in front of them. They scan the darkness, looking for a threat that has not, as of yet, emerged.

[break][break]

+ Lulu Flint

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

his face she only vaguely recognized from before her departure. a war hero, catching his moment of fame on tv after the harrowing battle of dewford. she had, however, been absent for the months that moment of fame had continued.[break][break]

though she did not recognize him as law enforcement, it was easy enough to parse together that he was some manner of authority, and he knew of her. she was at ease, despite it.[break][break]

”i appreciate that.”[break][break]

when he brought up the tera crystals, her gaze moved to the invasive mineral. some crystals dwarfed them, nearly tall enough to reach the stone ceiling, while others grew in small bunches, pervasive like crystablooms.[break][break]

”i’m looking for answers,” she explained.[break][break]

as their company drew nearer, the poipole finally seemed to take notice, loop de looping over to offer a friendly smile and a wave.[break][break]

ignoring her companion, she continued, ”a mystery indeed—but it seems to alarm beings from beyond our world. surely for good reason.” she thought back to dr. holo’s moments of desperation on the meteor. how she had tried to teleport the crystal ‘anywhere else’.[break][break]

”i believe it possesses greater power we have yet to witness.” her eyes flicked towards him again. ”i also believe it is in some way responsible for the existence of that pokemon of yours.”

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]mission: tera tunneling act i[break]
Michael Navidson [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-poipole"]

“Guess I owe you my life, then.” He takes no shame in admitting that to her. His gunmetal eyes turn to Roland. The machine gives nothing away about its thoughts. It merely acknowledges her Poipole with a nod.[break][break]
“I had a Gallade. He fell into the interdream mist. Then, when the chips were down, this guy jumped out and saved me.” He gives the machine a pat on the shoulder. It’s cold and strangely uncomfortable to the touch.[break][break]
“Just what do you think these crystals can do? I’ve got my own—” Fate, it seems, isn’t very keen on him to share just yet. The rumble grows louder. A telltale trail of dust comes from a forming fault line in the cave above them. Navy runs to her and Roland follows. A moment’s hesitation beckons a short lifetime of regret.[break][break]
His sync stone surges. Though his black dragon might be asleep, the power born of their connection remains. A dome forms around the two just before the rocks fall. Their way back crashes down in a groan. Roland flicks his blade, as if expecting for something else to appear.[break][break]
Nothing does. Not yet.[break][break]
The shield fades and they’re looking at a collapsed tunnel, crystals crushed and sent trailing like shattered glass.[break][break]
“Crap.” He curses.


[break][break]

+ Lulu Flint

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

”do you?” though puzzled, she didn’t question him further. [break][break]

his story about the iron valiant matched other reports close enough. ”that’s not surprising. there seems to be some relationship between the interdream zone and the tera crystals.”[break][break]

his last words piqued her interest, but their conversation was cut short when rocks came tumbling down. while his quick action saved them from injury, she wasted no time releasing another pokémon from its shiny black pokeball—rocket’s infamous letter ’r’ printed on its case.[break][break]

a shadow alakazam appeared, notably different with its long white mustache and eyebrows. it looked old, wise perhaps.[break][break]

”thanks for whatever that was. you’ll have to tell me about it later.” for now, her attention was on the cave. the ancient tomb, and its hidden threat.[break][break]

”my alakazam can teleport us out of here—but what fun would that be?” she looked over at him, wondering if he’d protest. ”i’d rather find out what that was, wouldn’t you?”[break][break]

her alakazam’s eyes glowed a bright, sinister red as it raised its spoons, future sight peering into what was to come.[break][break]

meanwhile, her poipole had successfully dodged the falling rocks and was on its own search from up high.
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]mission: tera tunneling act i[break]
Michael Navidson [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-poipole"][attr="class","pkspr pkmn-alakazam"]

“Just one of the sygna suit’s tricks.” His words are punctuated by the sputtering of the sync stone hanging around his throat. “…can only do it once.” Doubtless, she’ll be able to pick up the slack. Her Pokemon’s a fearsome thing. It reminds him of the army Cillian and Tempest Quinn used against him in Dewford.[break][break]
“Couldn’t agree more though. Whatever’s going on probably isn’t good.” Cracking his knuckles, Navy turns back to the path left to them. Their way is lit by yet more tera crystals.[break][break]
What warns him something else is wrong is the smell. Sheriff Navidson remembers the smell of the interdream mist. It smells like someone mixed a sickening sweet perfume into a fog machine. He’ll remember that smell until the day he dies.[break][break]
“…looks like we’ll have company soon.” Reading a report about these tunnels being riddled with living paradoxes is one thing. Seeing them is quite another.[break][break]
“Lookin’ forward to seeing one of Rocket’s best in action.” There are probably people who’d call him a hypocrite for that on both sides. What can the Sheriff say? He’s a sucker for wicked women.



[break][break]

+ Lulu Flint

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

“ah.” sygna suits. she’d yet to get herself one, but it was high on the list of to-do’s–and more prioritized in the wake of darkrai’s leave, still an unknown to the league.[break][break]

when he agreed to stay, a smirk pinched at the corner of lips. he was some news-worthy hero, whoever he was. he had a sygna suit. the two of them would be formidable against whatever it was that stalked them.[break][break]

as the interdream zone began to leak from the cave’s fissures, her smirk was replaced with sharpened focus. ”looks like it.”[break][break]

upon his next words, she chuckled lightly, eyes never leaving the mist. ”you flatter me. looking to join? you’ll have to show me what you can do first.”[break][break]

her alakazam’s future sight saw something, and it turned. as its mind reached through time to some threat yet to be seen in their world, its spoons glowed, well prepared to deliver a psychic strike upon manifestation.

[attr="class","ooc"]mission: tera tunneling act i[break]
Michael Navidson [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-poipole"][attr="class","pkspr pkmn-alakazam"]

“It’s way more tempting when you say it than the last girl.” He teases her, his own hard eyes never leaving the mist. “They oughta put you on the recruitment posters, Flint.”[break][break]
Roland turns his head an inch towards Navy. The display showing his eyes has them raise up a trace, as if the machine is raising an eyebrow at his liege lord. Returning his attention to the mist, he waits. Alakazam has seen something. The elderly psychic prepares something for the beast that threatens to spill out of the mist.[break][break]
He has no eyes with which to see the future. Audio-visual receptors feed information into a cold, calculating machine housed behind a chrome helmet. This computer his faster than a nervous system. At the first millisecond of a monster’s approach, he marches forward. One-armed though he may be, with one half of a blade, but one arm is enough.[break][break]
They call this creature Sandy Shocks. Navy doesn’t know which scientist among the warring gangs’ science divisions came up with that name. They deserve to be fired.[break][break]
Roland is upon him, circling behind. Placing his fellow Paradox between a rock and a hard place, his pink blade carves at the creature’s back side with a psycho cut. Hit from the front with a blast of psychic power, the three-headed beast cries out in pain. With the cry comes a discharge of electric energy.[break][break]
“Watch out.” Navy says, taking a step to stand in front of her, for all the good that would do. Chauvinist Chivalrous tendencies die hard.



[break][break]

+ Lulu Flint

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

truth be told, she wasn’t interested in bringing him aboard. it had been a joke, but how interesting that there had already been a recruitment attempt.[break][break]

he was flirting now, as well. also curious. what did the league mean to him? was he corrupt, even with that smile?[break][break]

”not sure the rest of hoenn would find that so alluring.”[break][break]

the region knew of her as an avatar of darkrai, a being that could pull someone into their darkest fear and suck the light out of day. many a hoennian had witnessed its particularly horrific powers and did not care to do it again.[break][break]

the paradox pokémon charged into reality, and the glow of psychic attacks bursted against the cave walls. she watched as the iron valiant surged to the front. studied its mechanical precision. it reminded her of genesect.[break][break]

when the man stepped into the line of an oncoming attack, poipole’s protect came just in time. bolts of the sandy shocks’ discharged electricity crackled across the glowing dome that briefly surrounded them. the ultra beast’s giggle echoed eerily as it darted away again.[break][break]

”risking paralysis for me? some crush. makes me question your sanity.”[break][break]

the cave floor began to glow pink. not all dream mist, but alakazam’s psychic terrain glittering upward and casting many-colored reflections. it had noted the psychic ability of their gallade-like ally.[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]mission: tera tunneling act i[break]
Michael Navidson [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-poipole"][attr="class","pkspr pkmn-alakazam"]

“Insane? Nah. Just stupid.” He says with confidence and an easy smile. “Brain’s still broke at the end of the day, but different parts are missing.” Beneath the smile, the broken brain runs through a few questions on repeat. There’ll be no concrete answers, trapped here together, so the questions are forced to loop. Someone in Rocket killed his brother in Sootopolis. Was it her? Arceus knows Darkrai’s avatar could do it.[break][break]
Of course not. Some part of his brain tries to reassure the rest. You’d know if it was a big wig.[break][break]
Where had she gone, and why was she back now? Doesn’t matter. Not your fight. Not like you’re gonna arrest her anyway.[break][break]
What would the League have to say about this? Why do you care? The intrusive voice asks.[break][break]
For all of his liege lord’s uncertainty, Roland is decisive. Basking within the psychic terrain of his ally, he finds his blade bathed in renewed light. Dancing around Sandy Shocks, he fights to ensure its attention stays on him and him alone. Whenever an eye starts to move towards the elderly Alakazam, Roland is there. His blade teases them with a cut, searching for a decisive opening.[break][break]
“Guess the line between the two’s thin. Thanks, little guy.” The warrior smiles at the Poipole as Sandy Shocks turns its three eyes upon Roland fully. More electricity begins to gather. It fires a charge beam powerful enough to level a cave wall, met by a blast of fae light.[break][break]
Amidst the beam clash, it has no time to focus on the Alakazam.




[break][break]

+ Lulu Flint

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

just stupid.[break][break]

”well, that’s unfortunate.” what did he mean by missing parts? was he being poetic?[break][break]

the charge beam was bright and powerful. the scientist held her breath, hoping for little damage to the cave.[break][break]

when given the opening, alakazam’s spoons were held higher still, crossing before they were drawn apart with force through the air. a psycho cut sliced into metal faces.[break][break]

the paradox pokémon retaliated in an unexpected way. just as her poipole smiled at the sheriff’s thanks, dark streaks of a strong gravity pulled it out of the air and to the ground with a hard thud.[break][break]

”gravity?” it was heavy for everyone in the vicinity, stronger in the psychic field and making it difficult to stand upright. ”wasn’t expecting that.”[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]mission: tera tunneling act i[break]
Michael Navidson [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-poipole"][attr="class","pkspr pkmn-alakazam"]

“Arceus, these paradoxes are strong.” He marvels at their strength. Navy is no scientist. He doesn’t look at the world through that lens. His is a world of romance, of fleeting feelings and transient emotions. Even someone like that, when faced with such irrefutable evidence, can see the truth.[break][break]
But he also never loses faith in their ability to win. Whatever else she may be, Lulu Flint is also strong. He’s no slouch himself. Putting his hand in his pocket, he struggles to remain standing with a gambler’s grin on his face.[break][break]
“Alright, then. Before the fighting draws out some of his buddies, let’s finish this. Roland, give him hell.” Ordinarily, he tries to control his language. It’s a special occasion. Buried under Arceus knows how much earth, facing a prehistoric Magneton, he feels the urge to use powerful language.[break][break]
Roland’s pixelated eyes close. He recalls the Gallade whose memories are stored within the supercomputer of his mind. That Roland was driven by something called fighting spirit. These two words mean little to a machine. What could a machine know of spirit?[break][break]
But he wasn’t always a machine. He was a creature of flesh and blood with something to protect and something to prove. Along the edge of his blade, energy gathers. Red, raw, powerful. Say what you will about the gravity, but it improves his aim. His aiming cursor has been slowed down. He catches the Sandy Shocks just right…[break][break]
…and fires a focus blast aimed to send Sandy Shocks to the great beyond, or whatever lies beyond the pink mist.


[break][break]

+ Lulu Flint

[attr="class","pokeclass"]