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Nomi faltered, losing her sense of direction as the fog thickened around her. The island had proven to be frustratingly obtuse, much harder to navigate than she had initially anticipated, even with the help of her Unown acting as spies from above. She knew there was likely a cave entrance nearby, but where, exactly, she was not certain...[break][break]
All of a sudden, the terrain around her began to morph and change: not unlike the way the RKS Machine abruptly switched between simulations. She stumbled forward, and Kallistatus appeared out of thin air in front of her, its shining symbolic body a beacon amidst the dull purple mist that had thickened significantly. When it finally cleared, Nomi's eyes widened with shock: she was no longer standing within the rocky dunes ringing the mysterious island's coast, but rather, on the streets of a broken city that looked suspiciously like...[break][break]
"Galar?" she breathed.[break][break]
Panic and nostalgia warred within her, and she could not help but wonder if this was another dream sequence that would leave her trapped, mentally, in the war-torn region for another twenty years.[break][break]
There wasn't dream mist last time, the logical side of her brain reminded her. This feels more like what happened in the Ultra Deep Sea...with my parents.[break][break]
A voice startled her out of her reverie, and she whirled to see a tall, masculine figure attempting to traverse the remnants of what had once been a brilliant clocktower. She ducked quickly behind a cracked pillar, then motioned for Kallistatus to get a closer look. Friend or foe, she didn't want to reveal herself just yet.[break][break]
The blue Unown-K drifted towards jack wainwright, and Nomi switched to looking through its eye, curiosity overcoming anxiety - as it usually did.

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In spite of his recognition that he was in the strange interdream mist and not Galar, Jack's heart still raced as he clambered down from the toppled pile of rubble. "Hello?" he called again, more confidently than he actually felt.[break][break]

Movement caught his eye and his muscles tensed as he threw his arms out, hands open to call Harpe as the Doublade lept forward, a sword hovering on either side of him. He relaxed almost instantly as he spotted the strange blue sigil floating toward him rather than a menacing paradox pokemon or ultra beast. Seeing Jack's relaxed posture, Harpe's swords came back together and he hovered silently behind his trainer as the man stepped toward the k-shaped pokemon.[break][break]

"You'd better get out of here, little one. This place is dangerous," Jack said softly as he smiled toward the eye in the pokemon's center. "I'm not sure where the way out is, but if you stay hidden you should be okay."

NOTES

✦ MP total: 20 (posts) + 50 (participation) + 10 (interdream mist) = 80[break]
✦ Bewitching Brews: ultra beast[break]

BY GUNSMILE

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Nomi gasped softly in surprise. As she gazed at the man through Kallistatus's eye, she realized that she knew him. It was jack wainwright, a friend she hadn't seen in quite sine time. As a League Ranger, he must have been sent to the island to investigate.[break][break]
Nomi's brow creased. Jack had been oddly absent from her life as of late. He'd been known to frequent her brewery, and she often saw him at various events around Slateport...but now that she considered it, she hadn't seen him much at all lately.[break][break]
His kindness towards her Unown brought a small smile to her lips.[break][break]
Nomi's eyes flickered back to their normal crimson, and she deftly pulled off her mask, hiding it within her jacket. Jack didn't know she was Rocket, but luckily, she had a perfectly reasonable explanation for why she might be creeping about this strange new island - one that Jack was sure to believe, given what he did know about her.[break][break]
"Jack, is that you?" She called, stepping out from behind the ruined pillar. She gave him a small wave. "It's been a while."[break][break]
Kallistatus floated over to her, bobbing up and down expectantly, as if pleased.

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As Nomi stepped from behind a pillar, the tension drained from Jack's shoulders and Harpe stopped preparing to unleash a sacred sword attack. Instead a wide grin broke across the Ranger's face as he stepped forward and called out, "Nomi!"[break][break]

The pang of guilt struck him as he clambered over more rubble to approach his friend; she was yet another person he had lost contact with since he had left for his ill-fated mission to Galar.[break][break]

"I'm glad you're not out here alone, little one," Jack said to the hovering pokemon before returning his attention to Nomi, "but this place is dangerous. Even without this mist spawning monsters, there are Rockets everywhere and the fighting has been vicious. I'm not sure what you're doing here but I'll escort you to safety."[break][break]

Jack looked around at the ruined Galarian town around them, fighting off another wave of panic. "If you know how to get to safety, that is. I'm a little lost," he admitted.

NOTES

✦ MP total: 30 (posts) + 50 (participation) + 10 (interdream mist) = 90[break]
✦ Bewitching Brews: fighting type[break]

BY GUNSMILE

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Nomi felt a pang of guilt at the mention of Rockets. At least Jack had not clashed with any of her peers yet...perhaps if she guided him out, she could help him avoid any further trouble. It would help Rocket's cause for as many Rangers as possible to leave the island...ideally without injury or death. Jack was certainly the sort of man who did not deserve to be caught in the crossfire.[break][break]
"I was sent by the university to investigate the strange energy emanating from this island," Nomi explained, using the excuse she'd rehearsed. It helped that it was not entirely a lie. "So far, all I've found has been...well, dream mist."[break][break]
As fascinating as it was, it was old news. She'd hoped to discover something new here.[break][break]
Nomi looked around at their surroundings, really taking them in. "Why Galar?" She wondered aloud. Was it because of the vivid, prolonged dream of Circhester she'd had during the conflict at the Ancient Tomb a few months ago? Or...[break][break]
"You're from Galar, aren't you, Jack?" She asked suddenly, remembering that detail about his life. "Does this look familiar to you?"

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Jack nodded as Nomi explained her purpose on the island, but he remained uneasy. "Well, if I can snag any reports about the energy source from Rangers, I'll pass them your way but neither of us should remain out in the open like this. I don't think the two of us could hold out against a Rocket scouting team," Jack said, attempting to impress the danger of the situation on his friend.[break][break]

Jack glanced around the ruins again, snippets of memories flashing through his mind: fires burning in blacked out villages, collapsed and abandoned buildings, a ragged scarecrow guarding a field of rotted crops. Nomi's question broke Jack from his reverie though the sorrowful feeling of the memories remained.[break][break]

"Yeah, I'm from Galar," he responded, trying to keep the pain from his voice. "Unfortunately, when I went back last year too many places looked like this. This could be any number of towns out in the countryside that had their people disappear and the survivors leave for one of the larger cities when the infrastructure broke down."[break][break]

NOTES

✦ MP total: 40 (posts) + 50 (participation) + 10 (interdream mist) = 100[break]

BY GUNSMILE

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Nomi tried her best to look as concerned as Jack sounded, but inwardly, she felt a thrill at the mention of Ranger reports. She had no intentions of hurting her friend, but taking advantage of the Rangers as an organization? She wasn't above doing that.[break][break]
"Yes, do let me know if you hear anything from your colleagues about the energy source," she emphasized, coloring her tone with gratitude. "But you're right, this place is dangerous. We should try and find a way out."[break][break]
She followed his gaze as he took in their surroundings once more. The sorrowful look in his eyes was not lost on Nomi. As he talked about Galar, and his recent return there, she moved closer and gently rested a hand on his arm as if to comfort him.[break][break]
"I'm sorry," she murmured, meaning it. "I hope your family's okay."[break][break]
She, too, was familiar with a wartorn Galar...but not this one. She now had her answer: this was their universe's Galar, not the Galar she'd visited during the conflict at the Ancient Tomb. It was no less horrific a revelation, however: what had happened in the memories she'd visited were clearly part of a devastating pattern that plagued that region.[break][break]
Hoenn was not the only place suffering from the instability of their particular universe, it seemed.[break][break]
Rubble shifted nearby, and Nomi glanced in the direction of the sound. Was there someone else here?[break][break]
"Jack, did you hear that?"

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The well meaning comment hit Jack in the gut like a sucker punch. My parents are gone. He had avoided thinking about it since his return to Hoenn for the most part, pushing back into the dark recesses of his mind. He opened his mouth to reply but shut it so quickly that he could hear his teeth click. For being so recently reunited with his friend and being lost in such a dangerous place, he didn't need the news of his parents' disappearance and presumed deaths to come spilling out now.[break][break]

Jack turned at the sound of stone on stone at the same time Nomi heard it and Harpe's dual blades zoomed to his side. He stepped forward, hoping to shield Nomi from whatever was lurking in the rubble, his muscles tensed. The Heatran appeared in an explosion of stone, bursting from the remains of a fallen municipal building with a thunderous roar.[break][break]

"Harpe, Sword of Judgement!" Jack shouted over the clamor and the Doublade shot forward as if launched from a crossbow, hovering over the Heatran as the power of the z-move built within it. The dual blades crashed downward in a blazing arc, slamming into the pokemon as one entity, piercing it and cracking the cobblestones beneath with the force of the attack.[break][break]

Jack glanced to Nomi and her diminutive pokemon partner and said, "We need to either finish it off or get out of here while it is still paralyzed."

NOTES

✦ MP total: 50 (posts) + 50 (participation) + 10 (interdream mist) + 10 (faction race obstacle) + 10 (z-move) = 130[break]

BY GUNSMILE

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Something changed in Jack's expression at the mention of family: a tired sorrow transformed into real grief, and Nomi's eyes widened as she realized that perhaps Jack had lost more than just a physical home.[break][break]
"Jack, did they - ?"[break][break]
She did not get the chance to ask, however, as the Ranger suddenly stepped in front of her, shielding her from the violent emergence of a Heatran from the dream mist-constructed Galarian rubble. Nomi would have been more startled had she not encountered such creatures already with Zev Harcourt. She backed up instinctively, however, watching Jack's Doublade leap to their defense. Kallistatus hovered beside her, turning to look at her with its singular eye, questioning whether it should assist.[break][break]
Last time a Heatran had blocked her path, she'd run. Granted, there had been several of them...with just one, perhaps they could defeat it or even attempt to catch it?[break][break]
Before she could make her decision, however, the Heatran made it for her: it began to glow with a white hot power, magma pooling beneath its clawed feet. Recognizing the signs of a MAGMA STORM, Nomi quickly beckoned for Jack's Doublade to return to them.[break][break]
"Kallistatus can get us out of here," she assured her friend. Gripping onto his arm, she waited until his Pokemon was by his side, then turned to the shiny Unown-K.[break][break]
I'm going to teleport us out, she told it through their telepathic link. Jack would be none the wiser: it would appear as if the Unown was doing the work of teleporting them. But in reality, Kallistatus and Nomi would need to work together to bring Jack and his Pokemon with them.[break][break]
In the blink of an eye, all four of them disappeared, reappering moments later on the beach near where Nomi had originally landed on the island. Sweat beaded at her forehead, but she turned to regard Jack with a concerned expression - more for him than for herself.[break][break]
"Everyone allright?"

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Reality dissolved around him as Jack and Harpe were teleported away by Nomi's pokemon before the Heatran could fire off another attack. Guess I shouldn't have doubted the little one. The relative safety of the shore was a welcome sight, free of the risks of the interdream mist.[break][break]

"Thank you," Jack said to the strange pokemon with a sincere smile, "but we're not out of danger yet."[break][break]

He scanned the barren shoreline, his eyes flicking up to the sky overhead and across the cresting waves of the sea for any sign of Team Rocket.[break][break]

Turning to his friend, he said, "I promise I'll send whatever notes I can over to you at the university but you should head back home. You could be unintentionally caught in the crossfire even if you try to avoid the fighting and I wouldn't put it past Rocket to kidnap you, especially if you're studying the energy here."[break][break]

A scowl tugged at his features before he continued, "I need to get back to the League basecamp so I won't be able to escort you back to the mainland, but I'll reach out to you when things settle down here. Maybe we can get a beer?"[break][break]

Thinking of Nomi's beer, he scowl transformed into a forlorn frown. I don't even know if she is still brewing. I lost so much time in Galar and for what? He did his best to fix a smile back to his face as he returned his Doublade and released his Sawsbuck. Vaulting onto the Season Pokemon's back, he waved farewell to his friend before galloping away across the sand.

NOTES

✦ MP total: 60 (posts) + 50 (participation) + 10 (interdream mist) + 10 (faction race obstacle) + 10 (z-move) + 100 (mission complete) + 250 (draw) = 490[break]

BY GUNSMILE

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Nomi breathed deeply, the events of the day - and all of the various ways she'd been using her powers - beginning to wear on her. Luckily, Jack did not seem to notice that she'd been involved in their expedient retreat to the beach, silently praising her Unown instead, so earnest in his expression that it made her smile despite her exhaustion.[break][break]
"I'll head home," she lied, nodding along as he outlined the dangers to her in a well-meaning tone. "Do send along anything of note. I'm eager to study whatever energy seems to be manifesting here."[break][break]
She might need to regroup now, but at least she'd secured a Ranger's intel. That counted for something, right?[break][break]
When he mentioned getting a beer, she felt a pang of guilt: Jack had always enjoyed her brewery. How would she explain to him that she'd needed to sell it? All the same, it still existed...they could meet there sometime, even if it would be somewhat bittersweet for her.[break][break]
"A beer sounds nice," she murmured, a mirror of his own frown melting from her face as she attempted to rally. Waving goodbye, she watched him become a speck in the distance, and she hoped, for all their sakes, that whatever they were doing here ended up mattering.

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