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Unlike prior trips to the Safari Zone, today BARNABY FINCH had a more pressing purpose than just simply catching Pokémon.[break][break]

Joining him was his newly-created TYPE: NULL, courtesy of Naomi Sato's hard work in deciphering and crafting the android from documents obtained in the Ultra Wilds. The beast was an unusual thing. Barnaby hadn't spent much time with it yet, but what they had shared was... telling.[break][break]

It was such an anomaly. So different from how most captured Pokémon acted. Hostile, apprehensive, cautious to a fault.[break][break]

The thing would need to be heavily trained if it were to be of any use.

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BARNABY FINCH was a man who valued control.[break][break]

He'd worked his entire life to ascertain it. Risen through ROCKET's ranks to guarantee it.[break][break]

So when confronted with the idea of others toying with him — in a literal toy room, no less — the lack of control he had here did not sit well. [break][break]

However, he cared little of what Naomi Sato thought of him in that moment; in the end, the DITTO was discovered, and their way forward revealed.[break][break]

There was no use in hesitating.[break][break]

"Let's go." [break][break]

Down, down, down. Into the rabbit hole.

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The kindlers were swiftly dealt with.[break][break]

Despite the impending eruption, Barnaby appeared rather insouciant about the entire scenario, perhaps due in part to Cillian Quinn's quip about violating Farhan's mountain.[break][break]

It was hard to take volcanic disaster seriously when one knew that it was a simple pixelated projection. Still, it raised the question — why would, presumably TEAM ROCKET, want to incite an eruption at Mt. Chimney?[break][break]

Barnaby shared his thoughts with Cillian.[break][break]

"What do you think this means? Why target Mt. Chimney?"

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MOLTRES' cousin. Perhaps it had been searching for family, as Zev Harcourt had once proposed.[break][break]

"Caught that, did you?" And with Farhan here, it meant that this wasn't in the past. So, how far into the future did this particular scene take place? [break][break]

"Perhaps we're due for a windfall here soon."[break][break]

It was something BARNABY FINCH would keep in mind, even as the digital landscape pixelated around them.

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Oddly enough, the vision brought on by XATU's influence didn't seem to be Barnaby's future (he'd never step foot in a shabby Slateport apartment like the one shown).[break][break]

So that left...[break][break]

"You tell me." He replied, shaking his head of the strange, penetrating feeling permeating his mind.[break][break]

"Wasn't that your Lycanroc?"

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As Marza Volchitsa cleared the rest of the floor and Zev Harcourt inspected the separate enclosed offices lining the walls, Barnaby spent some time going through the bullpens in the main area. There were documents strewn about, though most had rotted with time, making the text illegible. Even if it wasn't, he wasn't sure if ROCKET or humanity in general had transcribed the Megalopolan language yet.[break][break]

Images faired a bit better. He saw traces of diagrams, graphs, charts, hinting at but not revealing the purpose of the building they found themselves in. Nothing on paper seemed salvageable enough, so the admin settled on dismantling a few of the computers using a compact screwdriver he'd brought with him. With any luck, the technology he plucked from within held recoverable data.[break][break]

Zev's beckoning drew his attention to the next flight of stairs.[break][break]

"Coming." Barnaby replied, pocketing the (what he hoped were) hard drives into his bag.[break][break]

The fourth floor, for whatever reason, was in a bit better shape than the ones below it. Here, the papers throughout the office had fared better. There was actual discernable text on many of the documents, and clear images showing...[break][break]

Were those Ultra Beasts?[break][break]

"Take a look at this." He called out to his team, gesturing to the paper in his hand. Though he couldn't translate the text, the picture showed BLACEPHALON growing in size over, what Barnaby assumed, was a fixed amount of time.[break][break]

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• 31 in lesser megalo tower or anywhere else in the city, encounter documentation, notes, or stories describing or illustrating how ultra beasts were smaller beings many centuries ago

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Nursing his own tumbler of whiskey, Barnaby mused over Bryan's words for quite some time. [break][break]

It was a comfortable silence between two ROCKETs. They were sat on a few flat boulders away from the lip of the volcano. Close enough to feel the heat, but far enough away for it to simply be a cozy sensation.[break][break]

"A means to an end..." He echoed the words into his glass, contemplating their implication. [break][break]

He wasn't convinced. Not yet. Far too much had occurred at Mt. Chimney for its significance to be inconsequential. [break][break]

"If the place isn't special, then is there no connection between Xerneas and the Tree of Life? Do the two not depend upon one another?" Admittedly, Barnaby wasn't well-versed in these sorts of things, hence why he'd called on bryan delarosa.

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