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The third time may typically have been the charm, but despite his best efforts Rhys couldn't bring himself to find anything particularly charming about this place. The wormhole deposited him at yet another part of the city he hadn't explored on either of his previous expeditions, and as devastated as the last segment had been, this was even more so.
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The streets practically crumbled underfoot, and while the general outline of some buildings remained, great furrows in the earth and through the edifices were nearly circular in nature, as though some enormous worm had decided to make a meal of the surrounding infrastructure.
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A frisson of fear ran down his spine as he surveyed the damage; he'd never seen something capable of causing this level of destruction, but then again he'd only seen zombies in movies until discovering this strange place, so he supposed anything was possible. As Yumi stepped out behind him, his attention was drawn to the tall tower near the city center.
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A blinding light erupted from the summit, casting crazed shadows from the silhouette of the shattered skyline, and the distant sound of shuffling groans reached Rhys's ears as the insensate beings who populated this forgotten city shambled toward the display, just as they had been drawn to the fireworks created by the strange pokemon before.
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"Look," he murmured lowly to Yumi, indicating the tower. "That's got their attention somehow. If we keep to the outskirts, we may be able to avoid them entirely this time. We've got this, right?" Admittedly, his pep talks needed work, but he could think of worse.

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"I have no idea," Rhys murmured in response, nearly stumbling as he navigated his way across a field of enormous, boulder-like debris. His Comfey, who apparently considered having to float behind her trainer to be leagues beneath her, hung around his neck, her bright coloration a stark departure from his otherwise monochrome attire.
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The alleyways were few and sparse here, blocked as they were by piles of rubble and twisted metal framing. The long furrow he and Yumi found themselves navigating led through what had to at one point be a row of buildings, but now resembled nothing more than something akin to jagged trees cut too soon, their remains creating an arena instead of a skyline.
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Suddenly, the ground began to rumble threateningly, and Rhys did lose his balance this time, his foot sliding off of a piece of rubble as he landed hard on the unforgiving stone. At first he thought it was another low building collapsing, but the enormous shape coming into view was, in fact mobile, and not shaped like a building at all.
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Rounded in silhouette, the creature possessed glowing blue eyes, too many clawed appendages, and - terrifyingly - a gaping, fang-toothed maw nearly as big as its body. Nearly thirty feet tall, the thing systematically chewed through and destroyed the ground and structure around it, casting further debris in a wide radius that told Rhys exactly what had happened here.
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"I have an idea! I have an idea!" he yelped, dragging himself to his feet - dammit, his ankle was not going to like him in the morning - and hurriedly tried to move to the side of the valley toward the safety of what remained of the buildings - at least they wouldn't be in the wide open expanse of the street.
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The sudden flash of blue in his direction and the accompanying ground-shaking growl, however, told him the Ultra Beast had other plans.

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Rhys could appreciate Yumi's decisive action in the face of such a ridiculous embodiment of danger; this was more reminiscent of his experience with her in the Mechanical Kingdom than their last foray into this city, so it appeared that as long as the horror show was kept at arms' length, she made for a valuable ally. "Oh, good, we know its name," he panted. "Looks like it fits, too."
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As Yukiko darted out to fire a CONFUSE RAY at the Guzzlord, Maia detached herself from around Rhys's neck and offered a HELPING HAND, giving the darting beam the distance and intensity required to slam into the Guzzlord in an array of flickering, distracting lights. The beast roared, flailing a further path of destruction as it slowly, inexorably ambled toward their position, crushing everything in its path.
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It opened its enormous mouth even wider - which Rhys hadn't realized possible - and the man moved to stand ahead of Yumi, wary of the attack that was surely coming from the strangely armored creature. Instead of a colossal blast of energy, however, a sinuous, pincer-tipped tongue shot out like a crazed, sentient grappling hook, zipping beneath the graceful Ninetales to latch directly on to Rhys's ankle.
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"Ow!" he exclaimed reflexively, trying to dislodge his leg, followed by: "Oh, fu-"
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With a cry, he was summarily yanked off his feet and dragged toward the Guzzlord, the force of the pull whipping him at speed inches above the jagged ground. "Do somethiiiiiing!" he yelped, his scrabbling hands finding no purchase on the loose stones and debris forming the basis of his passage.
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With a high-pitched coo, Maia flew forward, but despite her sudden surge of motion, she was slower than the Guzzlord's hunger. Her attack, however, was not, and a PETAL BLIZZARD spread outward in a breathtaking array of sharp color that lacerated the offending appendage, causing it to release its prey and snap back into the mouth from which it had come.
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Rhys groaned as he rolled to a landing - not a soft one, as several stones to his legs and ribs attested - but a landing nonetheless. Scraped and battered, he still had the wherewithal to bring himself to his feet, staring warily at the Guzzlord before turning back to call toward Yumi, "We gotta bring the firepower, you ready?"

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Rhys couldn't help a fierce grin as Yumi reacted without wasting time to acknowledge, her Ninetales launching into an AURORA BEAM as she leapt toward the Guzzlord. His Comfey followed suit, another wave of sharp-edged petals cascading in a flurry toward the enormous creature.
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The attack might as well have been actual flower petals, for all the effect it had on the beast, and Rhys's satisfaction ebbed and then vanished entirely as the beast opened its maw wide to unleash a devastating attack. Waves of dark energy poured from the open maw, blasting Yukiko backwards and sending Maia smashing into the ground.
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"No, no, no," he chanted, jogging over to the position where she had fallen. His Comfey wasn't built to withstand an attack of that magnitude - he couldn't think of any pokemon that was, really. He recalled her into her pokeball with a lance of crimson light and rummaged in his satchel. Where was she, where was she?
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The Guzzlord's attack had been devastating, yes, but it seemed the effort had taken its toll on the behemoth creature as well; the plates forming its black armor sloughed off, impacting the ground with the resounding clang of metal against shattered concrete. Did he have a chance?
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Yumi's Mega Beedrill zipped forward, tearing into the weakened Guzzlord, and Rhys, at last finding the Heavy Ball he'd been searching for, threw it forward desperately. His Clefable materialized with a bright chirp, though her expression turned from welcoming to stoically determined in an instant as she sighted her foe.
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Shimmering energy coalesced in front of her before she launched it forward in a MOONBLAST, slamming into the Guzzlord with an impact that caused it to stagger even further. No, this was it - this was his opening, because they wouldn't be able to hold out if another attack like the previous was brought to bear.
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He ran. Clambering over rubble, skipping over twisted rebar, he ran toward the beast, and his arm felt like it was nearly twisting off from the force of his throw.
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The ball struck the Guzzlord against its underbelly, and like some insane miracle, the entire beast was subsumed in a wash of crimson light that was sucked into the capsule. It wobbled once.
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It wobbled twice, nearly leaping from the ground in its exertions.
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It lay still, and Rhys let out a loud exhale, swaying on his feet. "Holy cow."

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"Yeah...no problem," Rhys responded faintly. He approached the fallen pokeball tentatively, and when he crouched to pick it up he did so with all the care he would have given a live grenade.
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Fortunately for them both, the ball appeared to be well and truly inert, and he slipped it carefully into his satchel. His mind was abuzz; he could take this back to study it - Naomi Sato had probably seen countless similar specimens, but the plating that had adorned this one was strange, and reminded him of the corpses he and Yumi had passed across in their last expedition. It gave him something to do, some initiative, some purpose - or...
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He could keep it. He'd caught it, after all, fair and square. He could train it, subjugate it, control it. He could be stronger, never to meet the wrong end of a knife again. Never to be dismissed as a glorified clerk or a second-rate school nurse. No, he was a man, a researcher, a fucking doctor, and part of the organization that was going to turn Hoenn on its head.
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And now, he wouldn't let anyone forget it.
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He rose and straightened his jacket, picking his way over the debris back toward Yumi and her Beedrill. Callie tottered toward him, smile bright in recognition, but Rhys only cast her a passing glance as he directed his attention to his companion. "Thanks," he offered, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. "I, uh, thought we might have some trouble back there. Tell Yukiko I'm sorry, if you think it'll make her feel better."
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The light at the top of the tower in the distance shone brilliantly again, and the distant moaning and shuffling rose up again. Nodding in satisfaction, Rhys extended his hand to Yumi, a wry smile playing on his lips. "Hey, good timing. If we head back the way we came, we ought to make it out without any more monsters on our tail, yeah?"

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