To say he'd gotten used to this haunting realm would be a flat-out lie. But Remiel Calcifet at least was beginning to understand how to navigate it safely and efficiently. This was not his first time here, after all. However, he knew the same could not be said for Galayne Valois — his former girlfriend now turned expedition partner.

"We keep low, and we keep quiet. Got it?" He had said to her shortly after traversing the portal. His MIMIKYU partner sat on his shoulder, ready to protect them at a moment's notice. Despite her size and cutesy charm, Remiel had learned some time ago that DAISYLOOP was a force to be reckoned with when threatened.

As much as he wished to catch up with Galayne, the black-haired prince knew that this was no place for idle chatter. And, when they rounded the corner of a dark alleyway, the piles of MEGALOPOLAN CORPSES they would find strewn across a dimly lit street would kill any thought of casual conversation right then and there.

Remiel would drop to a crouch beside one of these bodies before unslinging his backpack from his shoulders. "I'm going to take a sample," He says in a half-whisper as he pulls out some equipment. "If I had to guess, the black crystals devouring these bodies like a parasite are a result of NECROZMA's power. I've seen it before... in that other Galar." He adds somewhat solemnly.

PROMPT CLEARED!

19 encounter the haunting corpses of megalopolans that have been completely overtaken by black crystal or metal. it seems like the megalopolan's flesh has been completely overtaken by the material.

CHECKLIST 📝 19 22 23 24 + 🗺️🗺️

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LESSER MEGALOPOLIS 💠
Galayne Valois

☉

Galayne nods in silence at Remiel’s warning, not even managing to recall why exactly she had decided to explore the secretive realm that was Lesser Megalopolis.

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The stench of death perpetrating her nostrils, the piles of bodies almost as numerous as the streetlights back in Lumiose City; every step a reminder of what could happen if she were not careful. It had dampened her adventurous spirit into something more cautious as she followed Remiel like a shadow.

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He’d been here once before, he’d said. So she hoped -prayed- he’d know where to lead them if things went awry. Yet she hoped even more that ‘awry’ would never come.

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Mention of ‘the other Galar’ make her want to ask more, but time and place dictates she keep that for another time. Instead she looks at the samples he’s taking with keen eyes, and asks a simpler question. ”Necrozma?”

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And as her gaze roams further across the bodies strewn about, looking for further signs of the crystals among them, she wonders. ”Would those things function like fungal spores, you think?” she whispers her inner thoughts out loud. Eventualy, although not far, Galayne carefully meanders between the bodies, certain not to touch them.

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A glimpse of something out of place within the recurring structure captures her eye, luring her focus away from the crystals towards the walls. Partially hidden behind a slate of metal she finds it; frenzied, crazed drawings carved into the wall behind it. A few, at first sight, but there seem to be more and more as she starts to look around.

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Against her curious tendencies Galayne retraces her steps back towards her former boyfriend, gently tapping his shoulder before pointing in the direction of the drawings. ”Uh, Remy? Could you…?” They seem to cover part of the wall that turned a corner further down the alley, and brave as she may be, the Kalosian was not about to push her luck.


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Prompt 24 - Started[break]

Witness frenzied drawings etched into walls of an ULTRA NECROZMA DESCENDING UPON THIS CITY; your characters will not know what ULTRA NECROZMA is (until they do)—but may find it similar to one of the tapestry found in GOODBYE GALAR'S ALTERNATE 'REALITY' HAMMERLOCKE and make logical deductions.

+ Remiel Calcifet || 19 - 22 -23 -24

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Remiel nods as he seals his sample and carefully places it into his pack. "That seems to be how it works. I've seen these crystals turn Pokémon into complete abominations... so long as we refrain from touching them, however, I doubt we're in danger of being afflicted ourselves." He adds, straightening in posture and turning to set his eyes on Galayne Valois when she taps his shoulder.

In moments, the black-haired royal points his flashlight onto the frenzied etchings on the wide alleyway walls. His eyes widen with a mixture of fascination and shock, then narrow with focus as he tries to make sense of it all. In particular, Remiel scrutinizes the strange entity depicted there (ULTRA NECROZMA) before tapping his finger against it. "This looks... familiar. I don't know what it is, but it was on a tapestry in that 'other' Hammerlocke that I've since recreated in—"

The exiled prince cuts himself off at the sight of movement in the periphery of his vision. What at first appears to be human— a clown, even— emerges like a staggered drunk from a pile of trash and rubble in the alleyway. It's only when Remiel turns and points his beam of light at it that he realizes what it truly is:

A BLACEPHALON.

With an odd wave at them, the lanky creature removes its perfectly spherical head and activates the kaleidoscope of colors within it. Though past trauma nearly freezes Remiel right then and there, the alarm snaps him out of it. He immediately seizes Galayne's hand before casting a LIGHTNING STILETTO towards the 12th floor of a tower balcony in the distance.

"HOLD ONTO ME LENA!"

In the blink of an eye, the pair of them disappear from the spot they once stood before reappearing where the lightning javelin had been landed. Just in time, too. Their new vantage point provides them a perfect view of the MIND BLOWN attack that fills the streets below a colorful explosion of light, blossoming in front of them like a CRYSTABLOOM firework.

PROMPT CLEARED!

22 encounter one or several blacephalon slumbering in a building, alleyway, or any place else in the city. they will use their move, MIND BLOWN to detonate their ever-spawning head like a firework. every explosion will attract danger to the area as they prance about before fleeing.

CHECKLIST 📝 19 22 23 24 + 🗺️🗺️

POTION BREWING! 🧪

PHILTER OF LUMINESCENCE

10 POSTS - AT LEAST 5 REFERENCING CRYSTABLOOMS/INFINITY ENERGY (4/10)

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LESSER MEGALOPOLIS 💠
Galayne Valois

☉

"Wasn't planning on that, but good to know." she nods, shifting and watching as Remiel's flashlight illuminates more of the wall. Its details become more pronounced, and the things she did manage to see are all part of a horrifying whole--- the way Remiel's face reflects an instant of shock has the Kalosian even more on edge.

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It looked familiar? There were bits and pieces about an incident that'd occurred a while back that mentioned another Galar, all speculation to Galayne, rumours of memories or maybe a whole lot of people having looked too deep in their respective glasses for her to bother further with it. But Remiel mentioning it... now that was reason to believe there was truth in those words.

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"The 'other' Hammerlocke...? What do you mean by that-"

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Movement. The flashlight shifts and in the beam of light something appears; colorful and odd and entirely foreign to her. It's the confusion of its strangeness, lanky, innocent and very much out of place in this distopian city that keeps her oblivious to the danger it poses. Only when Remiel grabs her hand and moves, throwing something bright away from them that she realises too late.

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"HOLD ONTO ME LENA!"

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Instincts flare and clinging onto him for dear life, they disappear, and when she opens her eyes again they're farther away than she could possibly encompass. Questions rise, but the explosion that rocks the streets below -where they had once been- ceases every thought within the Kalosian.

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Her breath hitches, pure fear overtaking Galayne. Her grip tightens on the exiled prince, fingers cramped and seeking refuge in the fabric like claws, expression and gaze fixated on a point even she cannot comprehend. The ripple within the air caused by the shockwave below rattles through her body like a devastating tremor as she starts shaking uncontrollably.

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She doesn't see the beauty of the crystabloom fireworks as the memories flood her. Even her voice defies the cry for help it tries to release, nothing more than a pained grunt escaping her as she slowly sinks towards the floor, growing smaller and smaller.


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+ Remiel Calcifet || 19 - 22 -23 -24

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Remiel does all he can do in the meantime: hold her. The tower balcony they find themselves on now is stories high and far from the colorful explosions at ground level below. When the reverberations of said explosions shake the very foundations beneath them, however, the black-haired royal pulls them away from the balcony's edge.

"It's ok... we're safe up here." For now, he thinks, before helping Lena get back up on her feet. His Mimikyu, in the meantime, hops off his shoulder to investigate the materials in the room further. It isn't until Remiel turns around that he realizes they're in some sort of R&D (research & development) laboratory.

The royal gapes at all the alien technology littering the area. Most of it is decrepit, of course— left abandoned for who knows how long after disaster struck this city. Remiel isn't even sure he'd know how to turn on or use half of the things in here. If there was still any power at all, of course.

But, aside from searching for more clues on Isra's disappearance, he'd come here for this exact purpose: to find something to perhaps help with ZEKROM's condition.

Nevertheless, before he begins his search, the crown prince turns back to his ex with a look of concern. It was obvious she'd been a little rattled. "How are you holding up? Are we okay to remain here a little while longer?"

CHECKLIST 📝 19 22 23 24 + 🗺️🗺️

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LESSER MEGALOPOLIS 💠
Galayne Valois

☉