To watch Magearna be punctured with earth power was one thing. To watch her be swallowed and crushed by the earth was another. The shattering of her gears was the last thing Ameena heard, rendered numb to her own voice as she screamed, "DUCHESS!" But of course, this was no dream. Her last tie to Amor was gone in an instant, the pokemon he had carefully entrusted her with and ordered her to take care of, a simultaneous test of her abilities in Rocket and a token of their growing relationship. [break][break]

Gone. [break][break]

Montgomery's words were worlds away. 'I've been a Rocket before...' could not register in her brain, though Gardevoir took the entire scene in in full, with disgust. Ameena's mind does not come back to her body at all until the sound of screeching from the Skarmory that burned and burned and burned. It's metal-hot-glow created an afterimage that followed her gaze. A sadistic token of this day. [break][break]

"If you cannot accept a dream, then you can dwell in a nightmare." Gardevoir takes her cue and throws a hand out to generate a psychic blast, but it is not for Claydol. She shoots it straight at Montgomery. [break][break]

Above them, sharp debris not unlike Skarmory's scalding corpse fell from the sky like tears.

TAGS – Montgomery James [break]
NOTES – Ameena spirals. She is shattered like Magearna. What is left? [break]
Magearna dies. Gardevoir uses psychic on Montgomery..[break][break]
10 MP per IC post in your prelude thread.[break]
50 MP have your character's Pokemon symbolize or represent in some way, the condition of your character.[break]

Claydol tanks the hit. Ameena wants to imagine strangling the life out of it, but her tired brain is wracked with guilt and regret and grief and an overwhelming numbness. Duchess is gone. Ameena could not protect Amor's gift after all. Amor was gone, and he had left overnight with only a letter left in his absence. Ameena lost her opportunity with Montgomery and gained nothing in exchange. She is here for Rocket to protect her research interests and she has done nothing but lose everything in the process. Her entire life is losing things over and over and over and over and [break][break]

Claydol's ancient power forces her to look up and see the scattering of fiery metal debris like freckles against the sky. She hadn't even noticed. Her mortality comes to her full force. "Gardevoir," she says softly, and Gardevoir uses life dew on Ameena while Claydol handles the sky. Thankfully, it seems the downfall of debris is not so serious as to require sustained attention. [break][break]

Montgomery's choice to handle the debris before handling her is either an insult to how threatening he finds her or a consequence of his ideals, choosing to handle it rather than flee while she was unaware and easily struck by the deadly debris. She doesn't think about the latter. "You know how this ends," she says, soft but lacking warmth. Her side is coated in her own blood. She feels cold, but now that the wound has closed thanks to Gardevoir, the only ticking clock she feels is that of the battle. [break][break]

She finds she doesn't even care. Why would it matter? Her righteousness, her anger, it didn't change a thing. It doesn't matter. None of it does. What she loses now is immaterial, as much as it hurts her, for it can be regained once she accesses the dream realm. She just has to make it to that point. Nothing else matters. [break][break]

She is unaware of the pink mist curling around her feet, seeping out of a crack in the ground from the earlier use of earth power.

TAGS – Montgomery James [break]
NOTES – Ameena tries to find her resolve. Interdream mist begins to rise.[break]
Gardevoir uses life dew on Ameena.[break][break]
10 MP per IC post in your prelude thread.[break]
50 MP have your character "hit rock bottom" (their lowest point).[break]

She isn't fast enough to duck the stun spore. Gardevoir and her are struck by the speedy production of spore from the Breloom, giving her only a moment to dread the impact as he tackles her. She hits the ground hard. Her mind spins, unable to process the last few seconds until his Claydol explodes above them, disintegrating a large metal shard. [break][break]

The tell-tale scent of interdream mist, like raspberries, fills the air around them just before Ameena notices the pink fog blur her vision. "Oh," she says limply, devoid of rage and rendered more aloof than apathetic because of the mist's soothing properties, "there is interdream mist here." Laughter bubbles from her chest and spills from her mouth like a brook, something staggering and improper and deeply unlike her. A soft amusement. [break][break]

She reaches for her pokeball with all the grace stun spore permits and returns Gardevoir to her pokeball, not wanting the pokemon to be trapped in the unfolding scene. It is too unavoidable now, and she does not want to make a mistake with Gardevoir because they're both under its influence. [break][break]

The world around them shifts fluidly. They are no longer on a residential path in Mossdeep surrounded by unconscious bodies. They are on a lush hill, and the sky is not on fire, and there is no distant clamor of war. A light breeze tickles the long grass she lies on, and her peripheral suggests there are countless dark blue-purple pansies surrounding them; her favorite, though her father always thought them ugly and bruise-like. They were resilient flowers, probably the sturdiest of all pansy species. And beautiful. [break][break]

The context of battle slips through her fingers like sand as the interdream mist settles. Montgomery is on her, and she finds herself cradling his face instead of trying to strangle him as she would otherwise. "Hey," she says simply.

TAGS – Montgomery James [break]
NOTES – Gardevoir is forcibly returned to her pokeball. The dream begins.[break]
10 MP per IC post in your prelude thread.[break]
50 MP include a motif or recurring symbol of some kind in your thread (pink fog-like mist, Musharna's and interdream).[break]

Finally. [break][break]

The relief is so overwhelming she has to fight tears as he finally kisses her. She pulls him close even though they're already touching, desperate for them to feel like one. He tastes a little like smoke. She isn't sure if her head is spinning or the world is, but she feels anchored underneath him. Several heartbeats later, licking her way into his mouth, she realizes that odd sensation in her chest: she feels safe. [break][break]

Safe.[break][break]

It's part of the reason, she tells herself, she doesn't notice the Brute Bonnet encroaching on their moment until the sickly sweet scent of its secreting poison overpowers the gunpowder scent of Montgomery.

TAGS – Montgomery James [break]
NOTES – Dreaming... (brute bonnet!)[break]
10 MP per IC post in your prelude thread.[break][break]

She wants to keep him here forever, but the Brute Bonnet and Slither Wing have made it impossible to enjoy their moment. He gets to his feet - she really doesn't mind the view despite the disagreeable nature of him being any distance from her - and she follows. She chooses Cora for this fight, letting the Corviknight out above them all.[break][break]

Cora meets her eyes for a long moment, well aware Montgomery is the enemy. Still, it's clear to see that Ameena isn't fighting him. But she doesn't have opportunity to explain herself. Those paradox pokemon pose a serious threat. She touches the mega stone necklace to increase Cora's power. [break][break]

Corviknight grows to an impressive size, taking up much of the pink-toned sky. "Tear his eyes out," she orders, and Cora dives in with a drill peck on the Slither Wing. "We need to get free before the interdream zone consumes us." It's hard to think clearly, as the dream mist is a tantalizing enemy that makes you want to keep huffing it. But they most return to the world where they are sworn enemies. In the horizon, she can see more paradox pokemon coming their way, only proving her concerns to be true. The zone wants to kill them with these apparitions. [break][break]

TAGS – Montgomery James [break]
NOTES – Dreaming and fighting[break]
10 MP per IC post in your prelude thread.[break][break]

She smiled at him like a mad scientist as he asked after her Corviknight. Cora was so large and fast in that form that they could travel Hoenn on her back easily, east to west in less than a day. But there was no time to look at opportunities or alternative futures - there was trouble ahead. Thankfully, their pokemon were more than capable, and their typings were more than favorable. [break][break]

"Still more coming," she observed as a stampede seemed to come from the horizon. The interdream mist was hungry for victims. But she turned her head as Montgomery shot a hand out to protect her. It was... [break][break]

"That is not what Tornadus looks like." She stood there gaping at it as it flew like a blur. It seemed to disappear all of a sudden to their left. In its absence was a hole that seemed to be yawning open. "It opened the interdream mist's zone." They had an easy escape! "We need to take our opening before it closes." Who knew how long the dream mist would hold them captive otherwise? [break][break]

She dragged him along to come towards it with her, but her footsteps grew hesitant. On the other side, they were mortal enemies again, and their opposing agendas required the other to be unfit to contribute to the rest of the war effort today.

TAGS – Montgomery James [break]
NOTES – Dreaming and fleeing[break]
10 MP per IC post in your prelude thread.[break][break]