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"No idea," she replied pleasantly. "However, logic dictates that dream mist, paradox Pokemon, and larger-than-average Tera crystals are all things we should be prepared to encounter, given their prominence in both the Ultra Deep Sea and the various cave systems that have cropped up all over the region as of late."[break][break]
Nomi was glad to have Zev Harcourt by her side in the absence of parker jones; though she would have, of course, preferred Parker - for many rather obvious reasons - Zev was highly reliable and quite literally indestructible. Any chance to study his Necrozma-blessed abilities was an added bonus, and Nomi was especially eager to see if his crystals would react to the unfamiliar energy detected beneath the mysterious island within which they now traversed.[break][break]
Kallistatus, the shiny Unown-K that had once belonged to DRK Triad agent Nisa Holo, hovered dutifully by Nomi's shoulder. Behind Zev and Nomi, Valerian trotted along, watching their backs. The Sylveon didn't much care for Nomi's new Unown companion, which she suspected had something to do with a fear of getting replaced - which was, of course, ridiculous.[break][break]
Nomi slowed as their flashlights, combined with Valerian's Illumina glow, revealed that they had reached a crossroads. Both paths seemed to slope subtly downwards, but one twisted off to the right and one to the left. Strange, unfamiliar glyphs were carved into the wall between the deviating tunnels, akin to some sort of crude sign post.[break][break]
"How curious," Nomi remarked, walking up to the symbols. They reminded her of something - not Unown, but something else - though she couldn't quite place what...

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Zev stopped next to Nomi at the crossroads. His flashlight followed the line of symbols carved into the wall. To him, they were completely unfamiliar and incomprehensible.[break][break]

"Well? Can you read it?" he asked the girl. Perhaps she had previously encountered such symbols in her study of the Unown.[break][break]

As he waited for Nomi's response, Zev shone his flashlight down both corridors. The noise of feet against stone came from both directions, but they weren't growing louder. And the cadence of the gait sounded quadrupedal, not bipedal.[break][break]

Did wild Pokémon live down there in the cave system? That was the only conclusion Zev could reach, with his limited knowledge.

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Frustratingly, Nomi could not read it.[break][break]
But...she did have an idea. Rummaging in her backpack, she pulled out the field journal she'd recovered at the Ancient Tomb. It was full of research she didn't remember conducting, but now felt absolutely certain was real thanks to her conversation with priam conrad confirming a shared repository of knowledge from a version of Galar several of them had, against all odds, lived in for an undetermined amount of time.[break][break]
Nomi held up the page featuring constellations drawn in her own hand to the etchings on the wall, shining her flashlight at paper against stone. Yes, they were similar. That's why the glyphs had seemed familiar to her: she'd seen something like them before. Unfortunately, she had not yet determined which constellations these were and what their meanings happened to be.[break][break]
Only vague faded memories, echoes of revelations.[break][break]
"I really ought to ask Nenet about these," Nomi sighed, snapping the journal shut. "She will surely know how to read a complicated star chart."[break][break]
She glanced at the two paths.[break][break]
"Might as well just pick one."[break][break]
Without hesitating, Nomi shifted left, entering the tunnel with decisive footfalls.

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Zev glanced over Nomi's head at the drawings in her journal as she shone her flashlight onto its pages. The images did match the carvings on the tunnel's wall, but they meant nothing to him. He hadn't paid attention to the stars strewn across a poison-kissed sky.[break][break]

As Nomi shut her book, Zev prepared to move on from the topic, but then the last name he expected her to speak fell from her lips. He whirled around, shining his flashlight into her face.[break][break]

"Nenet?" he asked, brow furrowed.[break][break]

Surely she did not mean Neffatari Nzingha. How could they have met?[break][break]

As Smoke zipped down the path to the left to check for any danger, Zev kept stride with Nomi. "What do you mean?"[break][break]

The ground sloped downward, twisting and turning toward the heart of the mountain.

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Nomi blinked furiously, caught off guard by the sudden bright light in her face. She shielded her eyes instinctively, then waved for Zev to lower the flashlight. They continued forward, descending down the left path, Valerian following after Zev's dutiful Gengar and Kallistatus remaining by Nomi's shoulder.[break][break]
"Neffatari Nzingha," Nomi explained. "She's a renowned astrobiologist who works out of the Mossdeep Space Center. She reached out to Slateport University about a guide for navigating the Ultra Deep Sea recently, and I was assigned." Nomi grinned, clearly proud of the fact that she'd been chosen.[break][break]
The temperature around them began to warm, but Nomi didn't pay it much mind as she continued to gush.[break][break]
"She is really smart, Zev, and super professional and - " Nomi paused. There was something about the intensity of Zev's gaze...[break][break]
Her eyes widened.[break][break]
"Wait! You said you had a contact at Mossdeep Space Center, didn't you? Is she your contact?"[break][break]
How a man like Zev Harcourt had even met a woman like Neffatari Nzingha was a total mystery to Nomi (did famous astrobiologists frequent bars like Howling at the Moon?), but she supposed the same could be said about parker jones and herself, to an outsider's perspective upon seeing them together...

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Nomi's explanation only confirmed what Zev had assumed when the Head Scientist mentioned Nenet's name: that they had met over a work-related matter. The inclusion of Ultra Deep Sea surprised him at first, but then he recalled Nenet mentioning "some university student" when she'd confessed venturing into that realm.[break][break]

So it had been Nomi, then.[break][break]

The pink-haired woman's ability to connect the dots was, perhaps, rivaled only by Zev's and Nenet's own. He had not expected her to jump to the conclusion that his contact at the Mossdeep Space Center was the same woman, but she was not wrong.[break][break]

Nor did he see any reason to deny it. "She is," he admitted. Then, because he anticipated Nomi's next question, he added, "She's my girlfriend."[break][break]

Which was incorrect, but Zev saw no reason to share the truth yet.[break][break]

As the air around them grew warmer, he and Nomi emerged from the tunnel into an underground chamber. It was not very large, and it branched off to other corridors leading elsewhere. The strangest thing about it, however, was the creature in the center.[break][break]

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"What is that? Some kind of ULTRA BEAST?" Zev asked, frowning. He'd never seen one before, though in some ways, it reminded him of the Volcanion from the Mechanical Kingdom.[break][break]

Unfortunately, they had no time to observe the creature further. Uttering a roar, it summoned a LAVA PLUME at Zev, Nomi, and their Pokémon.

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His girlfriend?[break][break]
Nomi opened her mouth to comment on this wholly unexpected news - her brain immediately attempting to picture the stoic, deadly Beast in a passionate embrace with the eloquent, academically-inclined Nenet - but any exclamation was cut off by the sudden appearance of a HEATRAN.[break][break]
It seemed this cave was full of surprises.[break][break]
"No, not exactly," she hastily explained to Zev. "It's a rare Pokemon said to originate from the magma hidden beneath Mount Coronet, in Sinnoh. Why one would appear here..."[break][break]
She did not get the chance to speculate further, for the Heatran immediately attacked the two Rockets. Nomi scrambled backwards to avoid getting burned by the spray of lava just as Valerian dashed ahead, putting up a LIGHT SCREEN around Zev and Nomi.[break][break]
At the same time, Kallistatus shimmered in the low light, its body hardening into blue-tinted obsidian crystal as it Terastallized. With a flash, it disappeared from Nomi's side, blinking back into existence closer to the Heatran. A DARK TERA BLAST slammed into the legendary guardian's back.[break][break]
"If Smoke can finish it off - " she began, waving at Zev's Gengar, but for a third time, she was interrupted by the arrival of another Heatran. And another.[break][break]
Three in total. Remarkable.[break][break]
Their chances of advancing, however, had just lowered significantly.

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While Nomi's Sylveon defended them, Zev's Gengar joined her Unown-K in the offensive. He glowed with the light of infinity energy before striking the Heatran with Z-MOVE: NEVER-ENDING NIGHTMARE.[break][break]

Unfortunately, the combination of attacks was not enough to incapacitate the hostile Pokémon. Instead, it retaliated with FIRE SPIN. Two more appeared, one causing the cavern to tremble as it summoned EARTH POWER.[break][break]

"We need to retreat. Down the other path," Zev said, realizing they had no way forward in this direction. There was not enough room to MEGA EVOLVE, or they might have had a chance to break through the Heatran's attacks.[break][break]

He whistled, and Smoke pulled back. Without waiting for Nomi to agree, Zev started back down the way they came.

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As the temperature within the tunnel continued to rise, the wild Heatran growing more and more aggressive as they advanced on the Rockets, Nomi hurried after Zev, silently agreeing with his suggestion that they retreat.[break][break]
Nomi nearly lost her footing as the EARTH POWER shook the ground. She focused on Kallistatus, willing the Unown-K to aid her; with a flash, she teleported back to the crossroads just as Zev - who was faster than her on foot - arrived. Valerian followed a few moments after, expression irritated. Nomi waited, holding her breath, but the Heatran did not pursue - whatever they were guarding below, they didn't seem to have any desire to leave it behind.[break][break]
"I suppose we ought to try the other path, then," Nomi sighed. "Perhaps we'll have better luck."[break][break]
In the meantime, she'd see if she could wheedle some more information out of Zev about his relationship with Nenet...

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