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so many milestones missed. so many milestones yet to pass.[break][break]

"and if you stop, what sense of purpose is left?"[break][break]

the cold claw of night wind sneaks past dahlia's shoulders. traces her neck. she casts her hand toward her haunted skin as if to catch stray spinarak web, the soft glow of yujin's light a comfort.[break][break]

"and can you trust who will take your place?"[break][break]

she leans in, fingers restless.[break][break]

"ah, anything i can do to help?"

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dahlia plucks the dango skewer as if she were extracting a desert jewel. she cools the golden glaze with her breath, the condensation a brief bouquet.[break][break]

"no need to thank me." she says. "you've received the position out of your own merit."[break][break]

her lips hesitate before the dango.[break][break]

"i have to ask... are you worried about the amnesty program's reception? are you prepared?"

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rocket must not be allowed to progress with impunity. indeed, wrath has been earned. has been warranted, but morality's code constrains some at the table. oaths temper the flames—just barely.[break][break]

"the shoulder of lilycove, mossdeep and ever grande." [break][break]

the commissioner traces the map with her finger, the whole graphic gliding from island to island to coast.[break][break]

"dewford and its access the ultra deep sea. to be frank, every coastline is in danger, but we've reseized assets from nautica to strengthen our navy."[break][break]

but how can these resources contend against threats largely impossible to prepare for? little protocol exists in hoenn's history for matters such as these. there has been no playbook; the table has been writing it with no publication date in sight.[break][break]

as dahlia knits her brows together, necrozma haunts her thoughts.

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"just you." the commissioner says. "train hard. work hard. treat your pokemon and loved ones well."[break][break]

although the cherish ball remains in her hand no longer, she still feels heavy. she turns on her heels and begins her trek back to the league.[break][break]

"be prepared, thomas. war is coming."

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each strike against tapu koko's shell rings thunderously. but this is no death knell. after all, it is forbidden to ring bells during storms.[break][break]

instead, each resonance allows dahlia to see more clearly, the beating rhythm of thomas' heart.[break][break]

"enough."[break][break]

the tapu koko expands its shell in time with one of scizor's steely punches. a loud clang announces impact—and both scizor and tapu koko slide in opposite directions.[break][break]

"i'm satisfied. are you?" dahlia asks the tapu, and it nods, orange plume jouncing. "good. me too."[break][break]

she recalls the tapu koko into its cherish ball. quietly, she wades through the fading electrical terrain and graces thomas' scizor with a grateful pat of her hand. [break][break]

"i bestow unto you, our land's tapu koko. i hope that you two will be able to keep each other in check."[break][break]

when she reaches thomas, she extends the ball. [break][break]

"i hope you can save them, thomas. i hope you do."

Thomas Benoit can now add TAPU KOKO to his party; choose the moveset like a gachapon pkmn.

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the brilliance of mega evolution scatters across the battlefield that thomas' scizor cleaves through with astonishing speed. the pincir descends darkly. and the tapu koko reels backward, its shell dancing in frustrated intervals.[break][break]

"i just don't want this to become an excuse for you to get hurt." dahlia says. [break][break]

with a shrill crowing, the island guardian summons the force of nature. an aura spreads beneath its orange spines as a NATURE'S MADNESS begins to manifest.[break][break]

the commissioner's eyes widen. she takes a step forward—and practices patience. nervous patience, but patience nonetheless.

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the man has survived through much. forced to live through too much. in spite of everything, thomas is still here.[break][break]

she wonders who will remain by the very end.[break][break]

thomas and his scizor's gamble succeeds. the tapu koko is flung backward from the second strike, but a backflip grants a midair reset.[break][break]

"do you desire to be hurt, thomas?" the commissioner asks with a frown. "is this an exercise in self-flagellation?"[break][break]

vermillion energy consecrates the deity's totemic form.[break][break]

encased in the electricity of war, the tapu koko's dives as a voltaic lance. with crackling speed, a WILD CHARGE threatens to spear through thomas' scizor.

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"the regular response would be, 'oh, you're not so bad. practice makes perfect! you can do it'!" [break][break]

an eye tracks his luxio's advance, her chikorita's obliviousness in stillness. [break][break]

she repositions herself. the heart remembers the shape, but the body does not follow.[break][break]

"hey!" she lowers a leg as she chirps at the hunting feline on the bench.

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"of course, yes. respect by disrobing..." the commissioner comprehends little, but little is enough for the conflict to resume.[break][break]

the BULLET PUNCHES clash against the TAPU KOKO, its shell shutting and opening like castanets in beat with each steel claw.[break][break]

inwardly, the commissioner is impressed with herself. though she is no battler—and though this may largely be tapu koko's own prowess, she can not help but picture herself third-person, standing across a former elite four, "battling" toe-to-toe.[break][break]

a clang marks the final fist. the island deity soars into the air before diving toward thomas' SCIZOR in a winged-ball for BRAVE BIRD.[break][break]

the winds storm past the field and toward thomas' side.

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”thomas, is this your idea of maintaining composure?”[break][break]

the tapu koko withdraws its shell ever so slightly. around its totem-torso, the electrical currents slow as if to take survey.[break][break]

”make sure you remember the brief!” the commissioner says.[break][break]

another THUNDER SHOCK is loosed, casting across the battlefield toward benoit’s scizor before exploding into a burst of scattering sparks.

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"the inland cities will be the most difficult to contest for rocket." [break][break]

the commissioner taps several keys on her open laptop. above, the holographic screen wakes up. after a flash of the league's symbol, a map of hoenn loads in.

CLICK HERE

"i fear for pacifidlog town and its neighboring islands. we can not afford to lose mossdeep, should they attempt to pincer evergrande."[break][break]

on the screen, she zooms in on sootopolis.[break][break]

"sootopolis was once your home, councilwoman morningstar." the commissioner says. there is an idea she holds underwater and she wonders whether it is appropriate to draw. "will your heart be sound as we seek to take it back?"

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the tapu koko crows. its warcry is emblazoned with the crackling of electricity as it marches forward.[break][break]

"i sure hope so." [break][break]

the commissioner's voice is barely audible above the ruckus of the tapu's electricity.[break][break]

but she the wish is whispered more for herself.[break][break]

an ELECTRIC TERRAIN is immediately established. a sparking sea cascades across the green of the island.[break][break]

"THUNDER SHOCK, tapu koko!" the commisioner commands.[break][break]

and the deity complies. a jolt of electricity is hurled toward the scizor; however, several stray bolts lash close to thomas' feet...