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We meet again, Visionary.[break][break]
That cruel, razor-edged voice that had held her fate between vengeful, flame-tipped fingers echoed in her mind, and Nomi almost lost her composure. The threads of trauma tightened around her psyche like a mental noose, and she whirled around, expecting to see
PENELOPE LIVY right behind her.[break][break]
Ms. Visionary! What’s with the new hair?![break][break]
Wait, no. It wasn't
that voice calling out her Avatar title: it was
Andrea Vaneau. Nomi snapped back to the present, heart hammering, realizing that she and Andrea - and many others, in fact - were locked in battle with the Ogerpon, attempting to free it...or injure it...or perhaps both.[break][break]
The sprinklers activated, dousing everyone in the vicinity in a frigid, cleansing shower. The cold water sharpened Nomi's senses, as if she were waking from a dream (within a dream within a dream), and she soon realized that the Ogerpon was no longer a threat. Andrea would be able to handle her going forward.[break][break]
"Be careful," Nomi called out to Andrea, separating herself from the cluster of trainers closest to the now-subdued ogre. She dashed away, catching sight of
Greyson Connors disappearing into a hole in the ground, but before she could decide whether or not she should follow him, the floor crumbled beneath her feet - making the decision for her.[break][break]
The first thing she noticed were the tubes. She blinked, seeing double. No...there
were duplicates: of Pokemon.
Their Pokemon. For she recognized familiar faces, instantly drawn to the suspended, sleeping forms of Valerian, Trillium, Ash, Mercury, Mîr, and - [break][break]
"Kallistatus!" She cried out for the shiny Unown-K, rushing forward to press her palms to the glass. There was a second, identical shiny Unown-K in the adjacent tube, which caused a shiver to run down Nomi's spine. She instantly understood what was going on here, for she was a scientist, and
this was obviously a laboratory.[break][break]
"Clones," she breathed, with a mix of horror and fascination.[break][break]
A sudden wave of energy, a massive
EXPANDING FORCE, knocked Nomi back a step. She coughed, wincing from a sudden pain in her chest. But then the most remarkable thing happened: the
TOXIC CHAIN that had been a blessing and curse, fell to the ground (beside the remnants of her mask), finally removed from her flesh.[break][break]
As soon as it was gone, Nomi felt them.
All of them. The Collective, humming with power, dancing within a hidden galaxy, singing for her to join them - innumerable and infinite, the language of God.[break][break]
Tears welled in her eyes as Kallistatus floated down to meet her. The real one, not the clone. Around her, Valerian and the others emerged, at her side in an instant.[break][break]
"Parker," she begged of the shiny Unown-K.
"I need to know if she's okay - "[break][break]
Her eyes rolled back - activating the familiar vertigo of switching her vision - and looked through the eye of one of the Unown she'd assigned to watch over Parker since Penelope's attack.[break][break]
[break][break]
Nomi gasped, eyes returning to their normal crimson. The tears that had welled upon seeing her Pokemon had made wet streaks along her cheeks. She was shaking, she realized. Hands balled into fists. Anger and sorrow and exhaustion and frustration and love threatened to overwhelm her. Too much emotion. She could feel reality beginning to fracture around her, tiny hairline cracks of glittering blue.[break][break]
Something tugged on her awareness. Kallistatus and Mîr had turned away, looking across the room towards a figure swathed in void-black crystal.
Zev Harcourt, she recognized. And beside him? Necrozma in all its sharpened, world-ending glory.[break][break]
"What will they do?" She wondered aloud, as if caught in a trance.
"When they see that their doom has returned?" The Megalopolians, where were they?[break][break]
Valerian nudged her arm. She let the Sylveon lead her to her things, stashed away in a small side chamber. She returned her Pokemon, save for Kallistatus, who continued to float beside her. She picked up her Tera Orb and sucked in a breath.[break][break]
She could go
now. She could teleport out of this horrible place, leave behind everyone else, find Parker and make things better again. She had her power back, it was within her right. It was
more than reasonable.[break][break]
The Tera Orb began to activate, and Kallistatus shimmered with the light of a thousand stars.[break][break]
"Not yet," she vowed to herself.
"We aren't leaving until we know if they're behind this."[break][break]
If the DRK Triad were here, she would make them pay.[break][break]
cnrfJypY[break]