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[attr="class","itemcolname"]significant figure event

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[attr="class","itemcoltexttit"]FARHAN 1-B

[attr="class","itemcoltext"]You decide to aid him. Farhan sighs in relief and his fellow Kindlers take the heavy device, ready to deploy it as a defensive mechanism against any intruding forces. As they haul it away, Farhan is quick to offer gratitude:[break][break]

"thank you... ever since our moltres' cousin sided with rocket, the volcano has been a site of great contention." Farhan wipes sweat off his brow.[break][break]

His Torkoal mews, alerting them to trouble ahead.[break][break]

"quick. we must set up defenses."[break][break]

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The change of scenery was jarring.[break][break]
Nomi reeled, still a little dizzy from their encounter with the Eternatus rock. She and Aurelie were outdoors now, bright light nearly blinding her after the darkness of the cave they had just been standing within. The sounds of battle could be heard below them, and Nomi peered over the edge of a cliff to see several groups of people clashing in the valley, their Pokémon viciously attacking one another. Cries of pain and rage mixed together to create a terrible cacophony. Nomi winced, recognizing this to be some intense conflict between the League and Rocket. But why? When?[break][break]
"I think we're at Mt. Chimney," she recognized, finally getting her bearings.[break][break]
A man's voice caught Nomi's attention, and she turned to look at the figure Aurelie had already noticed. A man who seemed vaguely familiar, dressed in some sort of ritual garb. A name on the tip of her tongue - from the Rondez-View of Luv game. Farhan?[break][break]
Before Nomi could speak to him, however, Aurelie whispered something under her breath. Nomi turned to the red-haired woman conspiratorially, intrigued by her suggestions.[break][break]
"Clever thinking," she remarked, nodding. "You're right - we should use this as an opportunity for valuable reconnaissance." It was somewhat comical that they were whispering, given that Farhan was part of a simulation. He likely could not hear them or respond to them.[break][break]
But someone else might, Nomi thought warily. Despite having been involved in the construction of the RKS machine, a device controlled by Rocket, Nomi could not shake the feeling that they were somehow being watched...[break][break]
"Very well, let's aid him."[break][break]

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[attr="class","itemcolname"]drk triad event

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[attr="class","itemcoltexttit"]FATHER WINTER 1-A

[attr="class","itemcoltext"]You call the coin toss. The coin flips in the air, its golden edge glinting by Mauville's troffer lights. When it lands, the dark-haired man slaps the coin onto the back of his hand.[break][break]

"it's your lucky day." He says. "every day is a lucky day for this region. it is a miracle that the original one hasn't seen perceived you yet."[break][break]

Suddenly, you think see a hovering UNOWN in the corner of your vision but before you can confirm its presence, it disappears. Turning back to the man, you notice that he too, has vanished... into a rift.

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"Perhaps," she answered Mint, tone a mix of thoughtful and troubled. She'd been trying to make sense of the cryptic message of the Unown for a few weeks now; it was always the same words, no matter how many times she entered the RKS machine and traveled this path through the Ruins of Alph. It could be a reference to their dimension, but...[break][break]
The scenery around them shifted, melting from cave interior to busy urban street. She recognized Mauville city in the background, a familiar sight.[break][break]
Father Winter? Nomi's gaze immediately flicked to Mint, curious how he would react to seeing his crush in the flesh. Er, well, something that resembled flesh she supposed. This was still a simulation, after all.[break][break]
He's swooning, she noticed, suppressing a giggle. Before she could say anything, however, her companion chose to call the coin flip. Nomi waited, content with Mint leading this stage in their journey. The real Father Winter was dead and gone after all; might as well let Mint have his fun.[break][break]
The body disappeared, she reminded herself. He might not actually be dead at all...

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Chaos.[break][break]
Nomi reeled, still grasping onto Jayden's hand, her fingers a vice grip. "What - ?" They were outdoors now, bright light nearly blinding her after the darkness of the Ruins of Alph. The sounds of battle could be heard below them, and Nomi peered over the edge of a cliff to see several groups of people clashing in the valley, their Pokemon viciously attacking one another. Cries of pain and rage mixed together to create a terrible cacophony. Nomi winced, recognizing this to be some intense conflict between the League and Rocket. But why? When?[break][break]
"This is Mt. Chimney," she recognized, finally getting her bearings.[break][break]
A man spoke, and Nomi thought perhaps she recognized the voice? It was familiar somehow, though she could not place it. He was a handsome, striking figure, but his expression was intensely troubled. He was dressed in some sort of ritual garb.[break][break]
"Do you recognize him?" She whispered to Jayden.[break][break]
She certainly had no reason to fight him...

[attr="class","ooc"][break]

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[attr="class","itemcolname"]drk triad event

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[attr="class","itemcoltexttit"]FATHER WINTER 1-A

[attr="class","itemcoltext"]You call the coin toss. The coin flips in the air, its golden edge glinting by Mauville's troffer lights. When it lands, the dark-haired man slaps the coin onto the back of his hand.[break][break]

"it's your lucky day." He says. "every day is a lucky day for this region. it is a miracle that the original one hasn't seen perceived you yet."[break][break]

Suddenly, you think see a hovering UNOWN in the corner of your vision but before you can confirm its presence, it disappears. Turning back to the man, you notice that he too, has vanished... into a rift.

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Isaac had a point. There were getting nowhere. Either this Father Winter (real or disguised) was committed to his harmless broken record act or they really were interacting with something pre-programmed.[break][break]
Nothing about this is harmless, Nomi thought warily.[break][break]
"Very well," she sighed. "We choose heads."[break][break]
At first, nothing happened. Father Winter's enigmatic white-blue eyes stared at them blankly, like portals into the silent icelands. Nomi felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up, her skin prickling with anticipation. Would he attack them? Her body tensed, and she slowly brought her hand to her waist, fingertips brushing a Pokeball.[break][break]
The flick of a wrist, a sudden movement, the glint of a coin as it flew into the air. Time seemed to stand still as it hung as if weightless: such a small thing - far from innocuous - capable of determining their fates.[break][break]
Nomi held her breath.[break][break]

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Despite the League's continued fascination with Granite Cave and the Ultra Deep Sea, Dewford town had, for the most part, returned to normal. Seaside summer festivals brought a vibrant, joyful energy to the island, a much-needed respite after what had been a stressful few months for the citizens of Dewford. Reports of dream mist and rampaging abominations had died down, replaced with the usual summer celebrity gossip and carnival chatter.[break][break]
All the same, the League government was up to something.[break][break]
The Seal Stone had been recovered by Rocket; what more was there to discover within the depths of the Ultra Deep Sea? This was the burning question eating at Nomi as she perused the sandy shores of Route 107, her Unown-A floating dutifully behind her. Above them, Petunia - Nomi's Pigeot - kept an eye out for any nearby wild Pokémon of interest. Nomi had specifically directed the bird to alert her if a Paradox Pokémon appeared. She had a feeling there were still some lurking about despite the overall decline in dream mist incidents.[break][break]
A sudden commotion caught her attention, and Nomi stopped to gaze across the beach. A boisterous musical performance of some kind - part of the TRAVELING FUNTASIA, she guessed - had started drawing a small crowd of people from the adjacent boardwalk. Nomi watched as a troop of colorfully-dressed musicians began to invite various children up onto the stage to join them in song and dance. It was a wholesome sight, which caused Nomi to smile, despite the serious nature of her thoughts concerning the League, the Ultra Deep Sea, and the fate of their region.[break][break]
"I guess it couldn't hurt to check out the carnival in a bit," she murmured to herself.

MADE BY GUNSMILE

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Lightening crackled, temporarily illuminating the chamber they'd entered. Nomi's crimson eyes travelled upwards, and she gasped when she saw the creature roosting atop a massive generator: needle-pointed golden feathers sharp enough to cut through steel, a long and graceful beak, two narrowed beady eyes staring directly at them. All around the bird, an electrical storm raged, sucking energy out of the generator and into the God's body.[break][break]
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"Zapdos," she breathed, awed.[break][break]
The humming whine of powerlines thrummed through Nomi, the entire space filled with a vibrating potential energy. The Head Scientist turned to Cillian and Temp, wondering vaguely if Zapdos really did recognize Oscar's name. Did it remember its former companion, a fledgling bond that might have formed into something more solid had Oscar not...? Well, there was no point in dwelling on that.[break][break]
"I think it's...charging," Nomi whispered with genuine fascination. "It's feeding on the electricity of the power plant. That generator is being drained, see?"[break][break]
Every scientist craved discovery; the "eureka moment" their drug of choice. Nomi had never encountered one of the legendary birds before: now was her chance to learn everything she could about it.

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Nomi found Mint's embarrassment endearing, but she had enough social tact not to push him further on his attraction to Father Winter. Nomi knew what it was like to have unrequited feelings for someone else: at best it wasn't easy, at worst it was a torment. So instead of continue to tease him, she focused on his final question, the one about the Unown.[break][break]
"Spend time with them? Why, every day," she answered with a delighted smile. "They are my primary companions these days, and I think I've finally begun to understand them. Their mannerisms, gestures, moods. They don't express quite the same way most Pokémon do, but they do have ways of communicating with us."[break][break]
If Mint's tone had taken on a measure of affection as he'd talked about Father Winter, Nomi's carried a similar fondness for the Unown.[break][break]
"They are dangerous, of course, but less so when they are alone. It is the collective that must be handled with caution." Her eyes found the Unown-D and she watched as it bobbed slowly up and down. Nervous energy. It was an outsider to Rocket's Unown.[break][break]
A sudden idea occurred to her.[break][break]"The Unown have their own dimension, you know. They can create portals to and from it. I wonder if Father Winter's Unown could be persuaded to take us there...find him by teleporting to his current location?"[break][break]
His body's current location, to be exact.

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Fingers traced invisible shapes across an already marked-up page as Nomi sat, dangling her bare legs over her chosen boulder, the tips of her toes touching the cool water of the lake in a teasing caress. The notebook lay open on her lap atop the revealing bottom of a bikini Nomi had promised to wear, turned to the section featuring precise, analytical drawings of a strange metallic wristband labeled DYNAMAX and a single separate sketch of a pair of tits, crude and a little pointy.[break][break]
Nomi snapped the notebook shut with a sigh, feeling the prickling prelude of a migraine should she choose to continue scrutinizing its secrets. She couldn't afford to feel ill now, not when parker jones ought to be arriving any second.[break][break]
"She was late to our first date too," Nomi commented idly to Valerian. Her tone was amusement laced with affection. Sunbathing in the last remnants of daylight, the Sylveon cracked one eye open in acknowledgement, then promptly resumed napping next to his mistress. Nomi turned away from him, staring out across the lake as the sun began to set.[break][break]
The urge to check her phone came and went. Pink hair fluttered in a lazy breeze, and she closed her eyes and breathed in deep, listening to the intonations of buzzing insects and talkative birds, a feathered medley bathed in warmth, typical of Summer's encore before the first notes of Autumn.[break][break]
This time, she wouldn't ask if it was a date. This time, she'd start by saying exactly what she wanted.

MADE BY GUNSMILE