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[attr="class","aurelie_body"]Aurelie wasn't sure which was more breathtaking: the sudden, eyeblink-swift manifestation of two startlingly beautiful ice blades into Jayden's ready hands, the resonant, hair-raising snarl of his Chien-Pao as it charged into battle. Or was it his quiet promise to protect her that made her breath catch? I don't know if I should be grateful for his help or ashamed that he knows I need it, she thought wryly.

But without a doubt, Jayden and the Ruinous Beast were glorious to behold, a formidable combination of grace and strength. What a spectacular entrance into the base! she marveled. Not very subtle, maybe, but cooler than anything in an action movie or video game, for sure.

Aurelie might have envied him for it—except that, with every glance toward Jayden, she could see the toll his Avatarship took. It wasn't just the change in hair and eye color, or even the chill that radiated off him and the Ruinous Beast like vapors of dry ice. It was in the subtle strain of pain on his features as he summoned his weapons, the signs of scars and wounds across his body with every agile movement, and the aura of pure, unalloyed hatred that poured off him in heart-pounding waves.

Right now, though, Aurelie blessed that aura of hatred. The black emotion filled and strengthened her, stiffening her spine and leaving no room for fear or doubt. She strode after Jayden with knives raised, as her hatred for the shadowy multiversal assassins plotting to destroy her universe overflowed her heart and sharpened her focus to a razor's edge.

Inside the base, several black-clad figures in dark masks recoiled as they approached. Backing away from the Ruinous Beast, they hissed harshly at Jayden and her in words she couldn't quite make out. From the walls, black symbol-like Pokemon detached and revealed themselves to be Unown.

Glaring at them in loathing, Aurelie called to her Aegislash, "Get them!" She hefted her knives and darted forward after her Pokemon.

To her surprise, an Unown floated in front of her, shaped vaguely like the letter M or W. She'd thought it would try to avoid the Aegislash's approach, but instead it came closer, touching her arm with one...tip or flange or whatever. Aurelie blinked—and in that blink, suddenly found herself elsewhere.

Instead of being inside the base, she found herself being flung against a cave wall embedded with tera crystals. Did it teleport me? It teleported me! she thought in disbelief. The hatred ebbed, leaving a sense of outrage—but also dread.

At least, it didn't feel like she was in an alternate dimension, thankfully. Instead, she seemed to be in a large, dimly lit room...a basement, perhaps? As her vision cleared, Aurelie gasped as she saw the bars of a cage surrounding her, with more cages lined up beyond. Most were empty, though a few held Pokemon of normal and Paradox varieties alike, and one even held what looked like a comatose Megalopolan, though it was hard to judge skin tone in the low illumination.

Gritting her teeth, Aurelie climbed to her feet. She could hear voices and footsteps from above, so she wondered if she was still in the same base, just teleported into a cage in the basement. "Admin Cross?" she shouted, moving toward the cage's door and eyeing the lock speculatively. "Can you hear me?"

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

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[attr="class","aurelie_body"]Aurelie didn't even notice the red eyes that flashed into view beside her, because she was so focused on getting herself out of the cage where the Unown trapped her. At first, she tried breaking or bending the bars of the cage, only to find that her knives and physical strength simply weren't up to the task. She probably had a Pokemon or two who could manage it, but there wasn't enough room.

Instead, the red-haired smith turned her attention to the lock. Given their multiversal origins and high technology, Aurelie expected the DRK Triad's locks to be fancy, intricate, digital things. The one securing her cage, though, was a simple heavy-duty padlock that could've come from any hardware store.

Now, that she knew how to handle. The only challenges were the dim lighting and the lack of room to maneuver. Sticking her knives through the cage bars, she struggled to use the blade of one to pry up on the U-shaped bar and the hilt of the other to hammer into the thick metal body of the lock.

It took several minutes of work, an enormous amount of patience from the already tense and anxious smith, and a lot of swearing whenever one of her knives slipped or fell to the floor. Just when the red eyes appeared, Aurelie let out a stifled cheer when she heard the pop of the padlock opening. She quickly unclasped the padlock and pushed the cage door open with a harsh metallic creak.

"Yes!" she exclaimed breathlessly, stepping out of the cage and sighing in relief. "Now, I just need to find... Whoa! Hello there!"

She stared wide-eyed at the bright red eyes glowing in the dark basement. Was it a Pokemon? Another person down here? Where was Jayden?

Remembering how he and his Ruinous Beast had attacked, Aurelie suddenly wondered if he was fighting up there. I should be there, helping him! she thought fiercely. Besides, I've never seen them fight together for real! I wouldn't want to miss a sight like that.

Aurelie's gaze flicked from the ominous red eyes toward the basement stairs. She thought that she could hear voices from above and tightened her grip on her knives.

"Hey," she said tentatively, looking back at the eyes. "Do you know where Admin Cross or Chien-Pao are? White-haired guy and white ice cat. You can't miss them. There might also be a ghost sword Pokemon following them around."

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

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[attr="class","aurelie_body"]Aurelie drew in a sharp, suddenly fearful breath as the outline of the Duskull seemed to materialize out of the darkness, its skull mask glowing ghostly and eerie in the basement's gloom. The red-haired smith remembered Jayden having his Duskull along, but she realized with a shock that this one might not be his.

What if this is a trap? she wondered. Her grip tightened nervously, futilely, on her knives as the red eyes glowed brighter. Should I get ready to fight this thing?

Thankfully, her unspoken question was swiftly answered when the Duskull didn't lunge at her to attack. Instead, it discharged a series of bluish white flames and sculpted them into the tiny figures of a sword-wielding man and a cat in a sort of fiery shadow play. Aurelie let out a giggle at the rather cute shapes.

Then the Pokemon flew away down a hallway she hadn't even seen until now. Letting out a startled gasp, Aurelie ran to keep up. "Hey! Don't leave me behind now!"

What is that noise? she wondered as the unlikely pair drew closer to another turn in the hallway. To her surprise, she saw no one else anywhere. The entire base seemed oddly empty. Was that a scream I just heard? And that wet squelching noise! Oh Arceus, what if that's Jayden? Is he okay?

Impelled by the sudden fear that Jayden could be hurt, she pelted forward past the Duskull and turned the corner. Her eye was met with a hellish sight. Blood was sprayed and splattered all over the floor and walls, seeping between tiles, gushing into pools, clotting into the wounds of numerous fallen bodies all wearing the DRK Triad clothing and masks.

And in the center of it all stood Jayden and Chien Pao, utterly pristine and untouched, facing a single last survivor. A dozen ice blades sank into the man's body and he fell to the ground, causing the squelching noise she'd heard earlier.

Unexpectedly, Aurelie was reminded of the Chien Pao's clash with the Zamazenta before the Ancient Tomb. The Hero Dog's mighty shield, raised up in its full glory, now seemed like the only thing that could possibly stand against the Ruinous Beast. The battle between the two titans had then sent them into the Calyrex's dream of Galar, where they'd lived for twenty years.

The red-haired smith cleared her throat. "Admin Cross? It's Aurelie. I...I think you got them all. I don't think there's anyone else alive in this base." She delicately sidestepped a stream of blood trickling from a DRK Triad member's body, and her lips curled into a wry smirk. "Despite all their fancy body armor and shields, too..."

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

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[attr="class","aurelie_body"]Frosty gusts of breath plumed out from Jayden's nose as he caught sight of her and sagged in place, as though all the energy had been drained from him at once. Aurelie started toward him, only to freeze in place as she met the Chien Pao's gaze. Its eyes narrowed almost speculatively, and a wave of primordial terror suddenly engulfed her as she realized what it felt like to be prey.

Raising her hands up defensively in front of her, she gasped out, "Uhh, I come in peace, I promise! I'm not here to hurt you. Please don't hurt me!"

To her infinite relief, the intensity of the Chien Pao's gaze gradually lessened, and it turned its head back toward Jayden. She sighed deeply, feeling her pulse beating rapidly in her ears. As she dared look down at the scattered corpses of slain DRK Triad members, though, a tendril of the Ruinous Beast's power still reached out and touched her, galvanizing her with an unexpected current of HATE.

Not that it was too much of a stretch for Aurelie to hate the DRK Triad, who she knew wanted to destroy Hoenn and kill avatars—including the man standing before her. She gritted her teeth, shaking with rage at what they'd sought to do and vengefully glad Jayden had sliced them all to ribbons.

"I'm okay, Admin Cross. Are you all right?" she managed to say, her voice harsher now under the HATE's influence. Reaching out a hand to steady him, the redhead added, "I wish I'd seen your fight against them! It must have been incredible.

"And they deserve it," she hissed, as the tendril of HATE slowly ebbed in her. "For the war they've declared on us, for the fact they want to see us all dead. It makes me wonder..."

The word war had reminded her sharply of the Calyrex's words at the Dyna Tree, after it had heard and meditated over all their stories. "A familiar, ominous force draws near," it had told her, "and we must ready ourselves for the impending clash of war." She had thought it referred to Eternatus, but perhaps it was something else entirely.

"I'm sorry to ask this after you've already been fighting, Admin Cross," Aurelie ventured hesitantly. "But—well, do you remember the Calyrex that came to Sootopolis City? It spoke to me of war, at the end.

"I wonder if it meant against the DRK Triad. And if so, well..." She gestured to him and then to his icy patron. "I can't imagine a finer warrior than you. Would you be willing to help me with doing whatever's needed to win our war?"

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

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