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a soft gust of wind stirs, carrying with it a strange energy that prickles along nick's skin, raising the fine hairs at the nape of his neck. he pauses mid-stride, his feet crunching against the stone, and turns his head slowly, searching the horizon for signs of disturbance. it's hard to tell in the fading light, but he swears he sees a shimmer, a wavering heat that doesn't quite belong.[break][break]

a shape solidifies out of the twilight, and nick's eyes widen behind his glasses. it's a pokemon, or at least the semblance of one - a solrock, its body wreathed in a strange, ethereal light that pulses and glows. but it's… wrong. the colors are too bright, the edges too sharp and too blurry at once, as if reality itself is struggling to contain it.[break][break]

in the distance, a woman is drawing near, her figure small and determined, a puppet dangling from one hand and a chatot perched on the other. nick's eyes widen as his mind makes sense of the scene.[break][break]

he had been sent here to check on anomalous reports related to the sightings of odd pokemon glowing with brilliant light, but he had not expected someone to get there before him, much less someone who would dare to get so close. he remembers what happened last time he tried to get close to one of these things. this could end in a bloodbath if he's not quick.[break][break]

racing forward, nick pauses across from morrighan, the odd solrock suspended in between them. he holds out one hand, eyes wide. "wait! don't get any closer!" he calls out. "it might attack!"

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Just short of arriving near the clearing that the mysterious Solrock has taken dominion over, a figure intercepts and makes her halt immediately, blinking at what the stranger is telling her. "Pardon?" she wonders out loud, not quite understanding the rather frenzied state of the other, but still taking the precaution to leave some distance between her and the brilliant Pokémon. "Might I take that you are familiar with this kind of ... occurrence?" she asks, taking the cue that it might be more appropriate to be quieter.[break]
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In truth, there is something eerie about this strange sight - she has looked at her own Solrock for enough times to notice the subtler differences, too, something that adds to a feeling of distortion. But perhaps it's a same sense of familiarity, too - as wrong as it may be -, that she feels a curious pull towards it. A wildcard, truly, and she still reserves judgement.[break]

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nick blinks, startled out of his flustered state by the woman's calm, measured response. he had expected her to argue, to demand an explanation - but instead, she seems almost… thoughtful. cautious, but not frightened.[break][break]

he lets out a slow breath, running a hand through his disheveled hair. "i, uh. yeah, i've seen these before," he says, his voice rough with disuse. "they're poppin' up all over the place now."[break][break]

the memory of a frenzied, violent golurk glittering in a similar fashion spears into his mind, and then swiftly fades.[break][break]

"they're not normal pokemon. they're… something else. like spirits, maybe. they don't stay for long, and when they go, it's violent."[break][break]

he looks back at her, his gaze piercing even through his glasses. "they seem to protect certain areas, and will attack you if you get close," he continues, then pauses, and adds in a softer tone, "but i don't think they want to hurt anyone. i think they're just scared, and lost. like they don't know where they belong."[break][break]

his eyes flick back to the solrock, and he feels a pang of sympathy, of kinship, in his chest. he knows what it's like to be lost, to not know where you belong. to be scared and angry and lashing out at the world around you just because you don't understand it yourself. a terrible, self-effacing ritual that nick has partaken in for many years now. he hopes he can champion a new era in his life now.

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Curiosity outweighs any kind of other emotion in this moment, making her listen to the other with as much attention as she can spare with a volatile Pokémon - volatile spirit-of-sorts nearby, the peripheral of her eyes ever-looking for that strange brilliance now again. It's ... odd for sure, though the voice of the other - marked by prolonged silences - is also revealing a different tale. It urges her to study this phenomena altogether all the more, but ... of course, danger cannot be fully exempted from such a thing.[break]
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"I see ... thanks for warning me, and for sharing what you know with me," she remarks in turn, bowing politely to emphasise her words. "I guess my curiosity nearly got the better of me," Morrighan hums, although she still very much desires to observe those glowing creatures from closer-by, it doesn't seem like they would be prone to such a thing. Instead, however, there is a different kind of interest piqued. "It almost sounds like you are quite familiar with the situation yourself-" is as far as she comes next, however, words interrupted with a sudden movement in the corners of her eyes-[break]
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Immediately, she brings out Chrysanthemum the Lunatone, putting it between the glowing Solrock and themselves, "Harden, quick!" She doesn't like seeing her partner take the damage for them, but it's the quickest she can think of right now.

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fear sparks along nick's veins as he catches sight of movement, the solrock beginning to twitch and shudder like a frightened animal. and indeed, perhaps it is frightened. like calls to like, and nick feels the thrum of panicked energy pass through him like an electric current.[break][break]

he doesn't think, he just reacts. "leonius!" he calls, sending out his altaria in a burst of light. "take down!"[break][break]

the mighty bird flaps its wings, its body coated in a swirling vortex of air, and his body thrums with pulses of energy, rippling like heatwaves - and then, with one powerful beat of its wings, leonius races towards the solrock, who gathers a beam of light in front of its face.[break][break]

the solrock reels as the attack hits it head-on, its body flaring with sudden brilliant light. then, the solar beam releases, cutting a smoking swath of light through the surrounding trees, an attack that was certainly aimed for morrighan had the solrock not been displaced. for a moment, then, the thing is quiet and still, staring blankly at the scar it cut into the foliage. against his will, nick's shoulders lower.[break][break]

then, the solrock turns towards him. its eyes glow a disconcerting ruby red.[break][break]

"shit."

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