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As much as Beau had heard about it, he still hadn't been prepared for the journey to the Ultra Deep Sea. To think that the entrance to a place as plainly unsettling as this was basically in his backyard was just...well, unsettling.
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He nodded in agreement when Jack spoke, eyeing the crystal deposits and hefting his pick experimentally. When that sharpness crept into his friend's tone, however, his knuckles turned white as he clenched his free hand into a fist. Blinking, he quickly relaxed - what was he doing? He would never hit a partner, never mind a friend.
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"Yeah, this place is somethin' else," he agreed in a low, grumbling murmur. "The sooner the better, brah, I got your back." At least he hoped he did. This place was making him paranoid.
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With each swing of his pick, he felt it in his arms. It was easier to ignore his surroundings, ignore his companion, and focus on the task at hand.
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His shoulders were burning, but he couldn't stop. If he stopped now, he'd have to think about how the pulsing walls of this place made him feel insignificantly small inside the belly of something so horrifically great it couldn't be comprehended. He'd have to think about how scared he was that his friend, who he'd known for years at this point, could very easily send that new pokemon of his over to gut him like a fish without batting an eye.
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If he stared at the fragmenting crystal in front of him, he could just count, and not think about how he might want to attack Jack first to prevent that scenario from occurring.
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He nearly jumped out of his skin at Jack's exclamation, the cluster of Nihilego appearing in a dizzying distortion. He turned, backing up, and butted into the crystalline growth he'd been whittling away at. No, no, now he had to think, now he had to fucking worry. The Ceruledge was occupied. Jack was by himself. He had to throw a pokeball now, he had to, or he wouldn't make it out of here alive.
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The ball left his hand before he realized he'd thrown it, and he couldn't say which he pulled. A spray of red light signaled the emergence of the creature, which coiled in the air above Jack's head, glowing with prismatic energy.
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The Dragonair looped a figure-eight gracefully in the air, dropping a curtain of light around Jack, and around Beau, creating a SAFEGUARD from the environs. Almost immediately, Beau felt his head clear, and he gasped a breath he didn't know he'd been holding.
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"I got your back, brah!" he called to his friend, echoing his earlier statement with a great deal more enthusiasm than before. "Soren, help 'em out!" The Dragonair trilled in response, whipping about to unleash a TWISTER that gathered the Nihilego into a molten tornado of flame.
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With the Nihilego dispatched, Beau cast Jack a last, even look before turning back to the crystals and hefting his pick once more. With each pulse of the core, the ease of mind he'd been granted by Soren slowly ebbed away, and with every fall of his pick, his body grew more tense. Of course Jack would want to get rid of the Nihilego, otherwise he wouldn't be able to get out himself. Beau assisting had just made it easier for the other man to leave Beau here, dead or alive, at the end of all of this.
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With a heavy slam, his pick tore another chunk of crystal away, and beneath it was a swatch of fur, half black and half pink.
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Frowning in confusion, he drew closer, less striking the ore now and more peeling the smaller bits away from the opening, like some kind of enormous glittering eggshell. As more and more of the crystals fell, his vision swam. Reaching down, he lifted his excavated prize - a Stufful, gazing up at him guilelessly.
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A rapturous, beautiful array of prismatic light arced outward from Beau in every direction. A ray struck the Stufful, and it showered Beau with blood, mewling piteously as it died in his arms. Trembling in shock, he turned to look at Jack, who lay dead in front of his own crystal, the Ceruledge motionless not far past him. "W-wh-" Beau stuttered, his breath coming in a shallow whistle.
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The strike of Jack's pick across the chamber caused him to snap his head upward, and he was back to reality, Jack mining away with his Ceruledge, Soren coiled around Beau's shoulders protectively, and a pile of perfectly untainted crystal in front of him. It had all been in his head.
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Wheezing in relief, he turned to face away from Jack for a moment, crouching to catch his breath. Another pulse of the core caused the air to warp once more, and through a twisting ripple of space, the enormous sable claw of Necrozma reached, stretching, for Beau himself.
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"No," he whispered, shaking his head as he backed away from the thing. "No, you bastard, you're not going to take anyone else! AAAAAARGH!" he screamed, running toward the rift with his fist raised. Soren was even faster, channeling his Trainer's OUTRAGE to pummel the disembodied hand with a blast that shook the floor.
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Drained as the visions faded, Beau couldn't do much more than slump to the ground, Soren circling around him, concerned. The immediate pulse of the core had the bile rising in his throat, and he'd have vomited if it weren't for the fact that he was too scared to.
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Looking up, he noted the eye-like shapes scuttling open on the walls, and he scrambled back on all fours reflexively, gaping. He couldn't comprehend what he was seeing, nor did the vision of a planet make any sense to him. Where the hell were they? What was this thing?
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"Too right, brah, let's get the hell out of here. Yesterday." He moved to his pile - he'd been so engrossed in the act of mining that he hadn't even bothered collecting any of the stuff. Grabbing a few handfuls, he threw the yield into his bag and slung it over his shoulder, Soren glowing with another SAFEGUARD as he jogged over to help Jack forward.
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"Come on, brah, way we came. Then we're never coming back, not ever."
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