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The imitation of Caleb Harcourt sunk into the gloom, killed and discarded for a love that could never truly be reciprocated.[break][break]

Once it's body had succumbed to the darkness, all that was left of the creature was the stark redness of it's blood splattered on BARNABY FINCH's hand. But it did not simply stain his flesh; instead, every drop suddenly morphed into inky tendrils of shadow that burrowed and phased into him.[break][break]



It felt as if his arm had ignited. Groaning in pain, Barnaby clutched his wrist in the other hand and grit his teeth against the escalating agony. He could almost feel the tendrils moving beneath the skin, wriggling higher and higher until...[break][break]

They reached his chest. All at once, the pain subsided.[break][break]

From above, a crooning call rang out, snapping his attention back up to MOLTRES.[break][break]

When their eyes met, swathes of magenta flames bloomed all around BARNABY FINCH, ringing him in a hellish light.[break][break]

From the fire came the next shade to challenge him.

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"You're so full of it, you know that—" BARNABY FINCH interjected, but cut himself off at the same time as Caleb Harcourt.[break][break]

The tear into the Distortion World was the least of their worries right now. All around, stone and rock shuddered, telltale bits of earth fell from the ceiling, and the cavern boomed with the sound of impending peril. They needed to get out of here.[break][break]

"You better keep Connors in line. Oh, and..."[break][break]

Gripping Caleb's collar tight in one fist, Barnaby curled the other and swung for the ranger's jaw. The punch would hit hard, but wouldn't be enough to incapacitate. It'd leave a nice shiner, though.[break][break]

"We've gotta keep up appearances, hm?" The admin added with a dark chuckle.[break][break]

With that, he'd release Caleb Harcourt and sprint out of the alcove, shaking off the pain in his hand as he returned to where Lulu Flint was still battling Greyson Connors.[break][break]

"This branch of the cavern is collapsing. We need to get out. Now." He relayed to his partner over comms. He could only hope that she'd managed to take down the Elite Four member.[break][break]













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"Do I?"[break][break]

Again, he smiled behind his mask. Elisabeth Fiorelli was one of the few who could coax a genuine one from him.[break][break]

"It's reassuring to know that I sound like I know what I'm doing." A soft, distorted chuckle left his lips. [break][break]

"Unfortunately, I have nothing concrete in mind. They always seem to be a step ahead. We're left to run damage control, in most cases."[break][break]

BARNABY FINCH stopped near the edge of a cliff, appreciating the grandeur of the chasm before him.[break][break]

"To lure them out would require knowledge on a broader scale..." And who had they encountered with that access? That had left hints for them to piece together?[break][break]

"I still think Maldacena is the key. But our efforts to try and contact him have been fruitless thus far. I even asked Father Winter to give him to me as my Wintertide present..." [break][break]

"...well, we know how that went."[break][break]









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Of all the men MOLTRES could have summoned from his subconscious, BARNABY FINCH was unsurprised to see Caleb Harcourt make an appearance here, juxtaposed so fittingly against Elisabeth Fiorelli. The ranger tested his resolve in the outside world on a near daily basis — so why not in this shadowed realm as well?[break][break]

Umbral hands clutched at the most sensitive parts of his body, possessive, seductive. Barnaby could feel his energy being siphoned from within him wherever shadow touched flesh; weariness and fatigue threatened to buckle his knees, to have him succumb to this dark shade of Caleb Harcourt.[break][break]

His words were cloyingly persuasive, evocative of a bygone time. They wished to touch upon a feeling long forgotten — long suppressed. But from somewhere deep in the recesses of BARNABY FINCH's memory, pieces of a ruined GALAR began materializing to the forefront of his mind.[break][break]

He'd festered there in that poisoned place for twenty years. Let the filth drag him down to the basest level. And, as this Caleb so rightly, insufferably claimed, allowed a noxious emotion to sneak its way into his heart. [break][break]

Remembering it now was a revolting reminiscence. [break][break]

After all, love made one vulnerable.[break][break]

Love was a liability. A crutch for the weak.[break][break]

But most of all, love was a means to an end.[break][break]

It was not something Universe 820's BARNABY FINCH would ever allow someone to hold over him.[break][break]

"Whatever I felt for that man should have died in Galar. Dredging up a nightmare serves no purpose now."[break][break]

His voice was low and venomous, and as he spoke the shadows flamed around them, as if reacting to his disgust and animosity. In fact, every defiant word that left Barnaby's lips returned a modicum of strength to his body, until he was eventually able to break free of the shade's grasp.[break][break]

"He can languish with that love for all eternity. He means nothing to me."[break][break]

And here, in MOLTRES' theater, no truer words had been spoken.[break][break]

"His feelings? I'd rather burn them away. Cut them out of me and be done with it."[break][break]

The shadow of Caleb Harcourt balked at the assertion. Magenta flames flickered inside of its open mouth, as if it was preparing some sort of rebuttal, but the words died in its throat.[break][break]

At the crescendo of their argument, MOLTRES' spectral DAGGER found itself plunged in the space where the shade's heart would have been. It was a familiar sight, as if prophesized by FATHER WINTER's recent visit.[break][break]

"...I refuse to be controlled by something as insignificant as love."

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"Turn off the power. Now. Unplug as many machines as you can." The admin urged over comms.[break][break]

BARNABY FINCH wasted no time in following Grigori Sokolov's directive. Whatever he had in mind, it was likely something that would turn the tide of battle. That hunch was all but assured when XURKITREE appeared on the field.[break][break]

With a sharp whistle, Barnaby called his GENESECT back and stepped behind where Grigori stood directing his ULTRA BEAST. He had half a mind to order GENESECT to attack with its own ZAP CANNON, but resisted the urge, considering XURKITREE's hunger for energy. He doubted it would be very discerning between friend and foe.[break][break]

Besides, reinforcements were seconds away. Overhead, a squad of GENESECT finally appeared over the lip of the chasm. They flew downward, honing in on their position.[break][break]

HYPER BEAMS rained down from above on the horde of IRON BUNDLE.[break][break]











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"Who knows? It could be anything." Mother Nature screaming into the void, the ephemeral birds conjured by THE VIOLET BOOK, even KYUREM itself. [break][break]

For now, all they could do was speculate and wait to see what happened. Especially after a mountain of snow came barreling down the cliff above them, blocking the entrance to the cave they sheltered within.[break][break]

All went dark.[break][break]

"Yeah, I'm alright. You?" Instinctively, he moved forward to try and get closer to mint frost in the gloom.[break][break]

When embers from both of their Pokémon lit up the small space, the two men were now mere inches apart.











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BARNABY FINCH appreciated Lulu Flint's warning. He'd just been able to clasp his palms over his ears when the BOOMBURST rang out, causing stalactites to shudder above them. Inevitably they came crashing down as well, along with sizeable chunks of earth and stone, given Greyson Connors's attack on the ceiling.[break][break]

BARNABY FINCH sprinted out of the way as best he could, dodging the largest of the rocks, but it left him cut off from Lulu Flint.[break][break]

"You focus on Connors. I'll take care of the other one." He communicated over comms, leaving behind his PORYGON-Z to fight before running further into the cavern's intricate tunnels. [break][break]

Soon enough he found an adequate alcove and hid in its shadows, turning off his earpiece while he waited.[break][break]

When Caleb Harcourt eventually came along, he'd grab the other man by the collar and drag him closer, away from prying eyes.[break][break]

"You have the worst timing I've ever seen, you know that?"[break][break]













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A set.[break][break]

Of course. Naomi Sato's logic was sound, as was howard slayte's topical allegory.[break][break][break]

"These events are not happenstance."[break][break]

The anomalies that plagued Hoenn were rooted in its status as the Origin Point. A red thread weaved through every single one, connecting them to a grim reality.[break][break]

"If we have the Violet Book, then..."[break][break]

BARNABY FINCH smiled back at his fellow ROCKETs.[break][break]

"Perhaps the League has its counterpart."[break][break]

If that was the case, they needed to get their hands on it. If THE VIOLET BOOK could conjure the likes of GALARIAN MOLTRES, ARTICUNO, ZAPDOS — what of this other tome? No one else could be allowed that kind of power.

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"In some ways, yes."[break][break]

The image of THEO BECKETT, holding him down by the back of his neck, blossomed in BARNABY FINCH's memory.[break][break]

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He'd taken that lesson to heart, applying it here in Hoenn. Now, BARNABY FINCH was the same rank that THEO BECKETT had been in that memory.[break][break]

"In others... no." He shook his head before continuing, "Our organization has high expectations no matter the region."

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A pickle?[break][break]

"What's all the buzz about, Fox?"[break][break]

From where BARNABY FINCH sat — heels propped up on the table and swivel chair arched back to its maximum angle — he craned his neck to get a better view of the newspaper's headline.[break][break]

It was a welcome distraction from jayden cross's insufferable puppy-like behavior, following fern delaney around as he did. Wasn't he supposed to be the embodiment of hatred? Of cold, felid rage?[break][break]

Barnaby almost wished for a repeat of the events that led to jayden cross's Avatarship in that moment.[break][break]

"Mmm. It doesn't bode well for the future." Anytime something fantastical happened near-calamity almost always followed. There were bound to be losses on their side of things.[break][break]

To Jayden's question, Barnaby posed, "If Calyrex is involved... Necrozma? Eternatus?"[break][break]

Or both. A repeat of the events that happened in that poisoned Galar?[break][break]

The admin nearly shuddered at the thought.

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Her callback to a bygone time is acknowledged only by a gentle, affectionate squeeze of his hand before BARNABY FINCH releases her to continue their exploration of the chasm. [break][break]

"Though I don't always agree with Head Scientist Sato..." He deigns to her disdain, feeding it to appear commiserative. "In this her concerns are well-placed."[break][break]

Hearing Elisabeth Fiorelli's experiences, BARNABY FINCH tilts his head thoughtfully and takes a moment in silence to consider his response. [break][break]

"As have I," He finally replied, referring to Father Winter and his iteration, Dionysus. [break][break]

"It's their knowledge and scope of power that worries me. Dionysus has control of time, likely through Dialga. Maldacena wielded Cyberspace as his own domain. Even the RKS System... if I had to guess, they're able to record our every decision while our consciousness is connected to it."[break][break]

But the most daunting thing of all?[break][break]

"If we are to save ourselves — our universe — then the DRK Triad must fall."[break][break]

And that was much easier said than done.[break][break]









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