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Of all the powers gifted to her by the Unown, there was one in particular that she had found especially difficult to master.[break][break]
Shepherding scientific research equipment from the beach to the nearest cave entrance wasn't exactly a quick task, so Nomi had thought to speed the whole endeavour up by using teleportation. As long as she'd been somewhere once she could instantly go back to it - so naturally, she'd assumed she'd blink right over to the mouth of the cave simply by picturing it in her mind's eye.[break][break]
As it turned out, the art of teleportation was a fickle one.[break][break]
Nomi appeared, disoriented, next to a tree, a mile from the cave. Kallistatus accompanied her, its shining blue form reflecting the light of the mid-day sun. She blinked, noticing that there was a man nearby - standing next to some sort of sign? She flattened herself against the tree, the backpack full of sample collection kits and several devices used for collecting energy readings clutched tightly to her chest.[break][break]
"Go get a closer look," she hissed at Kallistatus. "If he's with the League government, we'll need to do something about that..."[break][break]
The shiny Unown-K bobbed up and down, then drifted quietly over to the man's position.

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there was only so much standing around one person could do and the heat was wearing down the large man as sweat rolled down his face. he looked down to his water bottle and imagined the feeling it could give him if he just emptied it over his head to cool him down. then he remembered the damn thing was only half full and if he did that he'd pretty much just throw that water away. drinking it was enough but he needed to get out of the heat as fast as possible, the sooner the better.

his dreams of being drenched in water was cut short when something entered his peripheral vision and erased his dumb little thoughts. looking up he could see a small unown of all things floating around. it seemed to be staring straight at him. while he didn't want to say his dehydration was starting to play tricks on him something about a lone unown here of all places felt...odd. like it didn't belong but the more he scanned the area behind it the more he couldn't see any signs of more of them or at least a trainer in sight.

if it was all by itself and alone...

"lets get us a cute new buddy." he was quick to flick one of his pokeballs off his belt to release his ceruledge who stood tall and let the sun glimmer against his black armor. it took one look at the unown before charging forward with a shadow claw swiping right at the little alphabet creature. all the while kaz was searching through his pockets to see if he had brought some spare empties to try and toss them at it. adding one of these things to his pcs would be a nice feather in his cap.

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Nomi watched the unfamiliar man through Kallistatus's eye, finding herself amused despite the circumstances when he began rummaging around for a spare Pokeball. If he were to throw one, of course, it would bounce right off the shiny Unown - since it already belonged to her. He had no way to know that, of course.[break][break]
Well, might as well spare him the trouble.[break][break]
Kallistatus blinked out of existence just as the SHADOW CLAW sliced through the air where it had been floating, reappearing behind the man with a pop. The Unown-K began to glow a soft orange, a beam of HIDDEN POWER blasting forth from its small, seemingly harmless body.[break][break]
Nomi switched back to her own vision, taking the opportunity to make a break for the cave entrance while the man was distracted. She gathered up her backpack, packed to the brim with equipment, and, heaving from the exertion, began to run forward - out from behind the cover of the tree. Unfortunately, she wasn't exactly practiced at hauling heavy items while running. With a yelp, she tripped, falling awkwardly to the ground in a heap.[break][break]
"Ouch..." She muttered. Hopefully, the man and his Ceruledge hadn't noticed...

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The little letter vanished in the blink of an eye and both Ceruledge and Kazimir both blinked as they exchanged glances between one another. Normally a Pokemon wouldn't runaway like that instantly if it came up to them. The optimistic reason was that it was just playing with them but that soon proved to not be the case as Kaz felt his shoulder suddenly burn as a beam grazed against it.

"What the heck?!" The ghostly knight used an ally switch to quickly swap places with Kazimir to put himself between the Unown and his trainer. It gives Kaz a bit of time to catch his breath and clutch his arm as the stinging sensation continues alongside the burn. Slowly he moves away from the two Pokemon to avoid anymore crossfire when he hears something.

A noise coming from the cave that he was protecting.

As fast as his legs can carry him he races over to its mouth only to be greeted by the sight of a woman with a bunch of equipment sprawled all over the floor. She definitely wasn't supposed to be there. "Hey! What are ya doing down there!" he shouts as he makes his way towards her only to bend down and offer a hand, "You ok?"

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Nomi blinked up at the hand in her face. Panic swelled as she realized that the man had noticed her after all. Trying to remain cool - maybe he didn't suspect her of being Rocket yet? - she took his hand, and allowed him to help her to her feet.[break][break]
"Thanks," she muttered through her mask. Then, deciding to take the risk in favor of a more believable lie, she pulled it down, smiled, and held out her hand to him. "Let's try that again. I'm Naomi, nice to meet you. PhD student at Slateport University. I was sent here to run some experiments in the cave system. What are you doing here?"[break][break]
Kallistatus seemed to sense Nomi's distress. It blinked away from the Ceruledge, appearing by her side in an instant. She glanced it, her smile turning sheepish.[break][break]
"Oh, sorry about my Unown. It's a very curious creature - and a bit protective of me."

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"Me? I work...security here." It wasn't a total lie. "I just have to keep people away from here while work gets done. Though I guess since your here...that...means."

Shit what did it mean?

Was there a memo that he had forgotten about this place being investigated? Cause if so...then why did they just send over one person? "I'm here to escort you in. Its dangerous with all that inter dream mist and all that." There was no way this was all just a misunderstanding right? Either way it was probably better to just let it play out. His Ceruledge slowly returned itself to its Trainer's edge as they walked as a group deeper into the cave.

"So is it really just you they sent? Kind of thought there would be a whole team y'know?"

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Nomi breathed a soft sigh of relief as the man bought her lie. Well, it wasn't a complete lie. She was a PhD student at Slateport University, after all.[break][break]
As she gathered up her equipment, Kallistatus watched the man with its unblinking eye, still somewhat distrustful. The feeling seemed to be mutual: the "security guard" fellow was staring at her with an equally skeptical expression. She tried to look nonchalant as she headed towards the cave entrance.[break][break]
"Oh uh," she began, glancing over her shoulder at him as they made their way inside. His line of questioning wasn't necessarily accusatory - but it had an undercurrent of suspicion. She couldn't really blame him: she knew the League was full of competent operatives, trained to weed out Rocket infiltrators.[break][break]
"There's more of us here, but we had to divide and conquer, you know? There are several entrances to the cave system below. If we want the best chance at figuring out what sort of energy this island is producing, we need to attack the problem from multiple angles."[break][break]
That sounded scientific, right?[break][break]
The interior of the cave was cool and damp. Nomi looked around, assessing the landscape. She needed a way to shake this man, but how to go about it...[break][break]
Something flashed in the corner of her vision. A whisp of familiar purple.[break][break]
"I think some of that dream mist you mentioned is here," she said pleasantly.

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"Yeah makes sense." If even one group could find a single weak point to use to their advantage then all the better. He'd be modest enough to admit tactics wasn't a strong suit of his. That's for the brainiacs and the people who know what their doing.

For him his forte was battling anything and everything. That even included the monsters that crawled out of the mist. "Damnit. That's bad news. Igknight." Few words were shared with the Ceruledge as it stood behind them with its back towards the duo, Kaz did the same and the two of them sandwiched Nomi between them as mist started to roll in. "We're about to get company, keep close miss."

A wall in front of them explodes as a Sandy Shocks waltzes in in a mix of dust and mist and as soon as it sets its eyes on the group of cave explorers it stamps its feet on the ground. Power of the earth erupts into pillars around them almost forcing them to squeeze together Igknight charges his blades with the limited solar power that exists in the cave.

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Nomi quickly realized that the sudden appearance of the Sandy Shocks would provide her the opening she needed to escape further scrutiny by her impromptu "captor." She didn't necessarily want him to suffer for it, however, and she also did not want the cave entrance to collapse lest she find a way back here later, once the man was gone. So, before slipping away, she telepathically commanded Kallistatus to aid the Igknight.[break][break]
Dark obsidian crystals coalesced around the shiny Unown-K as it Terastallized. Reflecting the dim light of the SOLAR Blade, Kallistatus sent a DARK TERA BLAST at the Sandy Shocks. The energy collided with it, pushing it back. Rocks rained down around Nomi and the League man, and she covered her head with one hand to avoid getting hit. As she did, she quietly backed away from him, towards the mouth of the cave.[break][break]
"Time to leave," she murmured to herself, taking out a Pokeball. With a flash of light, her Marshadow appeared. Using her teleportation power would be too risky now - not only was she still perfecting it, but she did not want the man ahead of her to notice the ability.[break][break]
"Get me out of here," she requested. Summoning a PHANTOM FORCE, the mythical ghost whisked Nomi and her equipment out of the cave and away from the action. In her mind, she called to Kallistatus, letting it know where she'd escaped to. The Unown-K would join her in due time.[break][break]
Make sure he gets out of there okay, she told it. Then meet me back by the beach.[break][break]
And with that, Nomi retreated, accepting the delay and resolving to find a different way beneath the island as soon as possible.

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Before the solar blade was even drawn a black energy was suddenly launched against the strange Magneton-like beast and the roof started to come down on everyone. "Whoa get down! Igknight!" The ghastly knight wasted now time unleashed its solar powered sword on the rocks falling above himself and Kazimir keeping them safe from being squashed underneath as they ran. Only they ran in the opposite direction of Naomi Sato as she fled without them even realizing what she was doing.

"Hey! You ok out there?!" Kaz called out as the dust settled and soon the cave became clear once again. Only he and his Ceruledge were the only ones left. Even the Paradox Pokemon had left them. "Uh...where...where did she? Go?" The man looked left and right and even spun around in place to see if he could spot his "guest" anywhere.

Not a single strand of hair was left of her.

This left the man scratching his head and turning to his knightly companion who in turned just gave him a shrug. "Guess they...got out quicker than us? Let's go back and try to find them." Too bad for them that was the last they ever saw of her and her Unown.