Her vision tunnels: she is surrounded on all sides by enemies. Panic threatens to overwhelm her, but then a voice cuts through the haze.[break][break]
MOVE![break][break]
Neffatari Nzingha's tone brokers no room for argument. This is the woman who has conquered the unconquerable, domesticated the devourer. It is with absolute authority that her glare finally snaps Nomi out of her prophetic paralysis. This might have been inevitable - the DRK Triad's assault - but that does not mean she lacks the will to alter whatever fate Arceus has in store for her.[break][break]
Our futures belong to us, she'd told Nisa Holo, with a defiant certainty. Here, now, she would channel that same resilience: the unwillingness to become a cog in someone else's predetermined wheel.[break][break]
"Kallistatus!"[break][break]
The Terastallized Unown appears, teleporting to her side in an instant. As the assassins close in, a dome of winking stars and infinite galaxies springs up around them, a miniature recreation of the Unown Dimension in all its extraterrestrial glory.[break][break]
[break]
It is enough to freeze her assailants in place.[break][break]
It is
not enough to stop the ceiling from caving in on top of her.[break][break]
Blocks of cement come crashing down, and Nomi screams, covering her head with her (too-small) hands and ducking for the nearest lab table. She isn't fast enough, already fatigued from using her powers: a chunk of stone collides with the right side of her body, knocking her forward. Her forehead slams into the table leg and there is a ringing in her ears. The metallic taste of blood burns her tongue, and all she can see are neon lights where her vision should be.[break][break]
Dizzy and disoriented, Nomi tries to make sense of what is happening. Vaguely, she registers crushed blueprints and shattered computer screens. The bodies of the DRK Triad assassins are nowhere to be seen, which is both a relief and a
problem. Shakily, she fumbles for Pyro's Pokeball, willing the Gouging Fire to return to it, though she cannot find their body amidst the dust and debris.[break][break]
Kallistatus is there: she senses the shiny Unown-K, reaches out to them with the scraps of her consciousness. She has no idea if Nenet survived the blast - or whatever that had been - but she cannot do a single thing about it. She can hardly move at all.[break][break]
"Go! Make sure Nenet's okay! She needs to get out of here," Nomi croaks, urging Kallistatus to go after the astrobiologist.
"What she's carrying - it's more important than me."[break][break]
Somewhere, perhaps ironically,
parker jones fights for Nomi like she is the only thing that matters on earth.[break][break]
"Please," she begs, pitiful. Had she ever truly fooled
Noel Parker? She feels small and helpless, now; so unlike the dark sorceress she'd attempted to be.[break][break]
A single eye stares at her, reluctant. She pushes herself to her feet, holding onto the lab table for support.[break][break]
"I'll meet you outside the building."[break][break]
Another Pokeball. Valerian appears, shaking out his Illumina fur with impatience. He glares at Nomi with the sort of fury born of love.[break][break]
"Val will protect me."[break][break]
Finally convinced, the Unown blips away. Only then does she collapse back to her knees, tears of pain streaming down her cheeks. She wraps her arms around the Sylveon, pulling him close. A bubble of
LIGHT SCREEN ripples over them.[break][break]
And then she is gone.