it was perhaps one of the last places either of them wanted to be at the time. however, for the glory of team rocket, two battle-hardened scientists found themselves deep in the ultra deep sea, in search of greater power still.[break][break]

they’d made it past league defenses to the core, though her team was not unscathered. they would likely not have long before reinforcements arrived.[break][break]

”i can’t help but wonder if these crystals can grow in other bodies, too,” she noted, lingering as close to the core as he did. she felt the paranoia that began to creep in.[break][break]

take the brunt equally

[attr="class","ooc"]Cillian Quinn [break]

her?[break][break]

she was no biologist, and cillian knew that – but this was about the tera crystal.[break][break]

there was a moment of hesitant consideration before, as she had when he’d asked if she would go after cresselia again, she simply responded, ”yes.” of course she would. who else better to do it?[break][break]

a blast from her genesect loosened one of the poison tera shards. she pulled at it, stumbling back a step when it freed before stowing it away for the later cursed research she’d committed to.[break][break]

she fell quiet as they focused again on the dynite ore. over time, however, she began to notice her heart beating quicker and quicker with anxiety. her eyes glazed over, thoughts circling in deep space where the sound of sirens screamed impossibly loud, but only for her to hear.[break][break]

but the stars were real. they taunted her through the glass-like body of eternatus. her brow furrowed. what space was this?[break][break]

her building anxiety thinned the skin barrier between them and the beyond, exposing them more to the great unknown as seconds passed. her heart thumped.[break][break]

”something’s coming.”[break][break]

within moments, they would find themselves surrounded by nihilego.[break][break]

she released a lunatone, the red glow of its capsule reflecting off the living walls. soothing psychic energy radiated from it, offering a calm mind as her genesect dove in for the fearlessly.[break][break]

focus on heals/defense

[attr="class","ooc"]Cillian Quinn [break]

such gripping paranoia felt reminiscent of what she’d felt during the battles in area zero. she’d couldn’t place it. the only parallel she could draw was the presence of the tera crystal.[break][break]

she watched her brother’s hands slip from it, her eyes lingering on its facets instead of him, but she took note. it wasn’t just her. he was feeling the effects too, and it was confirmed by the release of his sylveon.[break][break]

lugia’s pressure ont top of it all was almost so unbearable that she found herself unable to move. her genesect was quick, its metal claw crashing against one of the jellyfish-like creatures. psychic energy glowed faintly through the darkness of lugia’s shadow storm, her lunatone’s psyshock stunning another before all were blown away.[break][break]

the stars she saw through the body of eternatus took on a rainbow of colors, then, like what she’d seen through an ultra wormhole simulation. through it, she saw a nightmarish being only from her dreams: a giratina, encrusted with the black crystals of necrozma. a frankensteined monstrocity.[break][break]

it phased through the alien’s skin, seeming set to kill and devour them.[break][break]

”it’s not real,” she told herself, and cillian too. ”it’s just a dream!” but it could, a voice corrected in her head, because as their universe died, dreams were becoming real all around them. besides, she’d felt the same gear before the eye of the distortion world had opened in area zero.[break][break]

”genesect!”[break][break]

as she went on the offensive, it may have been clear she didn’t believe her own words. a golden aura of z-power became like a halo in the dark, connecting her to her cyborg and preparing the most devastating attack they would manage.[break][break]

battle a fusion pokemon

[attr="class","ooc"]Cillian Quinn [break]

the anxiety, the fear, the pressure was all crushing. as the fusion of giratina and necrozma got closer still, she remembered another nightmare of being eaten by a dragon.[break][break]

and yet, she couldn’t move, except to slowly lower to the ground, rooted there by a different kind of gravity. she still saw it: that planet, so close to their eternatus vessel.[break][break]

unable to theorize or utter her confusion aloud, she only stared in shock. it was only when their pokemon knocked the creature back that she was able to get to her feet, dropping much of what she’d collected and taking off to create some distance. she recalled her other pokemon behind her, and released an alakazam just ahead.[break][break]

holding out a hand for the brother, she’d offer to teleport them back to the rift.[break][break]

"come on!"[break][break]

lessen the load and escape

[attr="class","ooc"]Cillian Quinn [break]