[attr="class","juliaw"]

Slowing down earlier had absolutely been the right move. It gave Drake the brief moment he needed to prepare for the right-angle turn, allowing him to smoothly fly through it while picking up speed. He and his rider zoomed past oscar clayton and lam logan to take fifth place.

[break][break]"Whoo-hoo!" Julia cheered. Drake joined in with a delighted roar.

[break][break]It was far from over, though. Ahead lay a series of downhill 90-degree turns, one after the other. Julia was about to pump the metaphorical brakes again when Drake suddenly tensed beneath her. Julia looked ahead to see that Alexei Ivanov's Salamence had Mega Evolved, allowing his trainer to push into a close battle for first place. Julia didn't have to be a mind reader to know that Drake was envious.

[break][break]"We'll catch them!" she shouted, determined.

[break][break]

[attr="class","juliaw"]

"That sounds awesome! What do you say, Chester? You up for it?"

[break][break]The Dodrio's competitive side manifested itself in his right head, which turned to glare at Jett and Bubby with a "You're going down" look. The middle head added a friendlier look and a caw.

[break][break]"I think that's a yes," Julia said with a grin.

[break][break]Some guards flagged them down once they reached the outpost. "It's okay, he's with me," Julia said as she showed her Ranger ID. The guards still wanted to scan the two, but once that was done, they were on their way in.

[break][break]Julia wasn't surprised to hear that Rocket had been harassing more than just their supply run. "Well, I guess we'll just have to keep beating them," she said, ever the optimist.

[break][break]Depot D already had a team ready to deliver the supplies into the rift. Julia hopped off Chester and started unpacking both her backpack and the saddlebags to transfer the supplies over. "Good luck in there," she said to one of the other team members.

[break][break]"Heh, thanks," the man said with what looked like an unintentional smile. "We're probably gonna need it."

[break][break]Once everything was ready to go through the rift, Julia dusted off her hands and smiled at Jett. "Mission accomplished! Ready to race back for more?" She was still brimming with energy, feeling like she could tackle whatever today threw at her.

[break][break]If only she knew.

[attr="class","juliaw"]

This time, it was El's turn to go quiet as they mulled over the question posed to them. Julia glanced back at them; even she found it weird that they were hesitating on this question. This was someone they looked up to, so it shouldn't have been that tough to tell her what he was like, right? At last, El answered.

[break][break]Huh, what a funny coincidence; El's brother was named Isaac, too, like Blackjack! And he also had a buddy named... Watson. Huh.

[break][break]Either way, El really did look up to him. They talked about all the things the two had done together as kids and how they thought he was clever and strong, all with a smile that sometimes flickered into something more melancholic. A possibility began to swirl in Julia's head, but she refused to speak it aloud. Surely, it just had to be a coincidence. A really weirdly specific coincidence.

[break][break]"He sounds like a great guy," Julia said instead. "What's he doing now?" It was the best way she could probe at El's wistful tone without sounding worried.

[attr="class","juliaw"]

Too dizzy to prepare for the strikes, Spot was pummeled by the Air Slash flurry and the flash of Dazzling Gleam. He took one wobbling step forward, then another, and then collapsed face-first onto the ground. Julia quickly recalled him. This could be going better. Then again, it could also be going a lot worse, and that was the wave that Julia chose to ride forward.

[break][break]"Your turn, Lazuli!" Julia called before tossing out the Lapras's Dive Ball. The snow fell gracefully around her, silently boosting her Defense. "Sing that Ninetales to sleep!"

[break][break]That Dazzling Gleam being able to hit both of Julia's Pokémon at once was a recurring problem. Hopefully, Lazuli's gentle lullaby would put a stop to it.

[break][break]"And Momo, burn that Crobat!"

[break][break]The Aurora Veil still on the field may have protected Makoto's Pokémon from regular attacks, but it wouldn't be able to stop Nobusuma from dealing with a burn. At least, Julia was pretty sure it wouldn't. Momo aimed his head tuft at Nobusuma, and a Will-O-Wisp rose from it to dance around the Crobat. It was a two-for-one special: He'd take damage over time, and his physical attacks would be weaker. Burns were scary powerful.

[attr="class","juliaw"]

Blackjack began to rise again. Despite his weakened state, his movements and the blood pouring from what little could be seen of his face gave Julia chills that had nothing to do with Lazuli's Resonance. Still, she held firm, even when he began to laugh and his form began to dissolve, leaving one last message for Julia on the wind. She had one last message for him, too:

[break][break]"You're wrong. And now you're gone."

[break][break]Julia watched warily as Isaac crawled out of the rubble. He looked terrible, but he was alive... assuming he was the real Isaac this time. The way his posture sometimes echoed his doppelganger's had Julia worried that this was going to be another nightmare. Yet any thoughts of him crumbling to dust before her eyes were squashed when he reached out not to tear the life from Julia but to stabilize her. She, too, reached out to try to hold him up, and she knew he was the real thing the moment she touched him. He was worn, but he was still warm with that light that shone inside him despite his hardships.

[break][break]"I should be asking you that!" she said, relieved tears already welling in her eyes. "I thought... I thought you were...!"

[break][break]She crumpled to her knees, no longer able to hold herself up under the weight of everything that had happened today.

[break][break]"I'm just so glad you're okay."

[break][break]Lazuli smiled down at the two, then sang out a quiet, soothing note that summoned sparkling droplets of water above them. The refreshing Life Dew rained down on them, bringing back enough of Julia's energy for her to stand again. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying, and her face was paler than usual despite her exertion. Another note heralded the ringing of a Heal Bell that alleviated the effects of the poison in Julia's veins and brought some color back to her cheeks.

[break][break]Lazuli glowed white and shrank back down to her normal form. She closed her eyes and let her head fall to the cavern floor, having exhausted the last of her energy with those two moves.

[break][break]"Lazuli!" Julia gasped, stumbling over to the Lapras's head. She knelt down and held it tight. "Thank you. Rest now." With that, Lazuli disappeared into her Dive Ball, and Julia pulled herself back to her feet.

[break][break]"Hey, Isaac...?" Julia asked, her voice unusually soft. "Did you say you've got a camp set up somewhere...?"

[attr="class","juliaw"]

Only then did Julia realize where the Honedge's attack was aimed. "Wait!" she shouted. Luckily, Shizue's Goodra was able to protect its trainer before things could get ugly.

[break][break]She was relieved that the woman wasn't hurt, but that didn't stop her from getting angry at her next words. "Hey, I have great morals, and I'm always honest with myself!" That second point probably wasn't totally true, but it was hard to tell if you were lying to yourself when you did everything else so earnestly.

[break][break]Jett's take on morality was a lot more nuanced than Julia's, but not in a way that confused and frustrated her like this woman did. "Yeah!" she agreed. "Well, mostly. The point is, all you're doing is confusing the issue and trying to make me look bad! I'm not a scientist, but I know right from wrong, and that's enough for me. It doesn't take a genius to know that giving Team Rocket poison is bad news, even if you don't work for them."

[break][break]Snaily stayed near Julia, keeping an eye on the battle to make sure none of it came their way. If it did, she'd readily jump in to protect her precious trainer.

[attr="class","juliaw"]

Once they were back on the road again, Julia asked, "What's your brother like?" She couldn't remember if El had mentioned having a brother before, but that didn't really matter now. Julia didn't have any siblings, so she didn't have anyone to look up to or be a mentor for in that regard. Well, there was Ettie, and she'd taken El under her wing, too, but she figured that wasn't quite the same.

[attr="class","juliaw"]

Spot couldn't react fast enough to the Crobat's approach. He whined as the high-pitched noise assaulted his ears and scrambled his thoughts. The Dazzling Gleam that hit him and Momo didn't help, either.

[break][break]"Switch targets!" Julia called. "Spot, Aura Sphere! Momo, Rock Tomb!"

[break][break]Momo was quick to pivot over to Nobusuma and summon rocks above him. They fell toward the Crobat, aiming to clip his wings and slow him down. Spot, on the other hand, didn't have it as easy. Dazed, he tried to fire his next Aura Sphere at Tsukiko, only for his own power to backfire on him and send him stumbling back. Stars danced in his eyes as he tried to right himself. One more good hit, and he was done for.

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Julia hadn't realized that Bubby sounded different from other Cyclizar. Maybe she'd just thought the cave was distorting his voice. Either way, Jett's mention of his speaker caught Julia's attention. She didn't ask about it, though, knowing that asking about the origin of a disability was, to put it one way, rude as heck.

[break][break]Instead, she focused on their plan for getting through the caves. "Yeah, definitely! It'd just be more fun if we could race there or something." A childish wish, to be sure, but Julia needed that levity to shake off the remnants of her anxiety.

[break][break]Regardless of the cargo weighing them down, they found a good pace to go through the caverns at. Julia and Chester were both much more alert this time, three of their four combined heads looking out for any signs of Rocket activity while Chester's middle head focused on the road ahead.

[break][break]It was almost a shame that they didn't run into any more Rockets on the way to the rift. It would have been fun to see the looks on their faces when they realized they'd been spotted. Oh, well. Not running into Rockets was always a good thing.

[attr="class","juliaw"]

Julia's attempt to soothe Snaily was interrupted by a question: "Daffodils can make poison?" That was only part of the point, though. Even life-giving water could be used to hurt somebody in the wrong hands. Meanwhile, the poison glands of a Zubat could also be used to make an antidote. How was Julia supposed to tell who was collecting these things for the wrong reasons? Snaily, noticing Julia's confusion, squeaked questioningly. Julia didn't know how to answer it.

[break][break]Shizue made to leave, making sure to stand between Julia and the Electivire. "Wait, hold on!" Julia tried to call after them.

[break][break]A Honedge appeared at the forefront of the waning battlefield, and a familiar voice spoke up behind Julia.

[break][break]"Jett?" she asked, turning around. "I'm fine, but what are you doing here? And, wait, what'd you just say?" Surely she'd heard that backwards, right?

[attr="class","juliaw"]

Julia didn't feel the bite of the icy winds blowing through the cavern. Instead, they felt calming and refreshing to her. She only vaguely noticed the rocks shaking but attributed that to the wind shifting them. In her current state, she didn't realize how impossible that was. She at least had the strength to narrow her eyes at Blackjack in continued defiance as he blabbered on about how she'd die on her feet. Her glare wavered, however, when he mentioned that Isaac thought highly of her.

[break][break]That thought was pushed aside when Blackjack froze, the veins on his face pulsating. The mask tore itself from his face, and the world went black. For a moment, Julia worried that she'd fainted. Then she wondered if fainted people could even think about being fainted.

[break][break]When her vision returned, she was still standing, braced against Lazuli's shell. Blackjack was on his knees, looking so scrawny and feeble that he didn't even seem like the same person. His hands were pressed to his face, hiding whatever had been beneath his mask, and his Pokémon stood and hovered completely still around Julia. She looked around at all of them. What the heck had just happened...?

[break][break]A hand burst from the pile of rocks, clutching Blackjack's mask. A familiar voice made Julia's eyes widen in disbelief.

[break][break]"Isaac...? Isaac! Hang on, I'm—!"

[break][break]She didn't even make it one step forward before her legs gave out beneath her. She caught herself on Lazuli, who let out a concerned noise.

[break][break]"I'm okay," Julia said with heavy breaths. "Gotta help Isaac...!" With a grunt, she pulled herself back to her feet, but before she could try to take another step, Lazuli reached down to block her with her long neck. "Let me go, Lazuli! He needs my help!"

[break][break]Though Julia's plea was desperate, Lazuli refused to let up.