"Note: The subject appears to understand human speech in much the same manner as a regular pokemon would, yet it communicates solely in high pitched computer sounds rather than responding with the human language. I speculate that the subject's language has evolved past human language, thus it sees no need to communicate with us in such a primitive tongue. Absolutely fascinating!" Xenon almost squeals as she quickly turns back to her recorder.

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"As for you! You obviously have no mind for the scientific process, so I'll explain this in the same way that I would explain to a small prepubescent child." She pushes her glasses up onto the bridge of her nose and pushes against Gerald a little harder, still trying to get him to touch the Iron Moth even as she spoke. Her body belied a surprising amount of strength for someone who claimed to be a researcher, he might even find himself struggling to hold her back as she pushed him closer and closer to the Iron Moth.

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"If you've ever touched a water type pokemon, it was probably wet right? And when you touch a fire type pokemon, it would feel pretty got to the touch? An electric type might shock you a little, a rock type feels hard like a rock, etc etc. You get where I'm going here?" It feels so simple that an elementary schooler could understand it without needing it to be explained, but some people just didn't get it apparently, so Xenon would do her best to dumb it down for their primitive little brains. "So hopefully now that you understand what I'm getting at, TOUCH THE DAMN MOTH ALREADY!" And with one hard shove, Gerald's body would go tumbling right into his pokemon to test just what kind of type of being of the future this was!

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The girl stumbles through the winding pathways of the Ultra Deep, bloodied, bruised, barely clinging to life, yet somehow more alive then ever before. The future everyone had mocked her for, the hopes and dreams she carried on her back, it had all been validated now. She knew for a fact that everything she did had a purpose, every step she had taken had mattered in a way that was irrefutable, all thanks to the impossible Paradox she carried on her belt.

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Ah, but none of that past stuff mattered. She barely even thought about those people really. All that mattered now was what was to come. She carried a fragment of the future now, a fractal that could surely be rebuilt into its whole given enough time. The madwoman lets out a gurgling giggle as blood drips from her lips and she stumbles another step forwards, she had made it back to base camp somehow, there were medical personnel rushing her and dragging her onto a stretcher of some sort. She cradles the handmade pokeball to her chest tightly as she caresses the beautiful scar along its top, the future was coming.

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"The future is coming, whether you like it or not. So get ready, because I'm gonna blow this ship wide open~"

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The disappointment on the girl's face is absolutely palpable as she stares at Gerald with the blankest of expressions, before turning her attention back to the Paradox Pokemon and continuing her observations. "Tentative designation will be Iron Moth." Xenon states flatly into her phone as she sets it down on a nearby lab tray. "You are absolutely its slave, you a human so pitifully grounded in the past could be nothing but a slave to such an ultramodern manifestation of the future. But that's a lecture for another time, note to self, edit out the past ten seconds before filing report."

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Once more she reaches out for the Iron Moth with purpose, but once again she doesn't directly contact it as she instead observes its reaction to her presence, smirking at the notable discharge from its wings as their color brightens and dulls in accordance to her proximity. "The subject shows noticeable apprehension upon my approach, it appears to be tracking me with its 'eyes' as I walk around it, LED lights on its monitor actively moving around to keep me within its field of vision. Judging from my research on subject Iron Jugulis, I suspect that its sensory arrays are behind these LEDs, but I cannot confirm until I have a spare subject to dissect." Her fingers reach down and trace along a medical buzz saw kept nearby, and it wouldn't take much looking to see a toolbox filled with various screwdrivers and other assorted implements for dismantling machines in the corner of the lab.

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"But not this one, this one is the first of its kind, much too valuable for something barbaric like that." And just like that her attention bounces back to Gerald as she invades his personal space again, circling around behind him and pushing him towards the Iron Moth. "Alright, go try and touch it now, see if it'll shock you or burn you or something. We need to find out what type of Pokemon this is, if these Pokemon even follow the classical typing schemata we use for regular Pokemon in the first place."

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"Ah, what a cute baby! Look at it look at it look at it!!!" A feminine voice cries out from behind the duo, seemingly materializing out of thin air as she appears within the lab without the door opening even a crack. The owner of said voice would be revealed to be a strange looking woman in standard Rocket grunt attire, though with a white lab coat layered over her clothes as she comes within inches of just grabbing the thing to examine it.

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But she has a little bit of sense it seems as she restrains herself, instead moving into Gerald's personal space with a disturbing grin. "Which would have to make you, its proud slave! Good to see that some of you grunts can follow proper orders, it's so bothersome when idiots are late to appointments." And then just like that she's back to studying the Paradox, producing a phone from within one of her lab coat's pockets and clicking open a recording app to begin. "Session one with newly designated Paradox Pokemon... you, grunt, what designation did you assign to this one?" Her eyes flicker back to Gerald with a tinge of annoyance, as if she expected him to finish her sentence the moment she started recording and was sorely disappointed by his inability to read her chaotic mind on the fly. Well no, not as if, that's exactly what's happening here as she impatiently taps her foot and waits for an answer.

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"Yeah, one heading your way in twenty seconds, blondie with maybe five centimeters on you, get the jump on him and it shouldn't be a problem." Xenon doesn't even miss a beat as she weaves her way through the crowd of the casino, briefly pausing by a couple of inebriated men watching a League match at one of the large TVs scattered through the main floor. Druddigon and a Klinklang, she knew which one she was rooting for at a glance.

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And just like she had said, a blonde man in an official looking security uniform was walking Kouji's way as he scrubs away at the lapel of his suit with an annoyed look, she had spilled vodka on his chest and forced him to go to his car to grab a spare shirt, or at least that's what she had bet on him doing instead of continuing his shift smelling of high proof alcohol drifting right into his nose. She knew humans too well, creatures of habit who relied on past behaviors even to their own detriment. "Ten seconds, finish it within thirty and I'll have a treat for you by the time you make it inside." Xenon giggles as she skillfully unhooks one of the better's watches from his wrist, she's gone before he ever even realizes she was around in the first place.

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"Session 1 with newly designated Paradox Pokemon, Iron Jugulis. For the record, I put forwards the name Iron Brutal, a designation that would have been much more fitting for such a creature with such a brutish disposition." Xenon sets her phone down on a nearby tray in the lab as she turns back to "Rhodium", the personal name she had given Iron Jugulis upon capturing it within the Ultra Deep Sea.
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"The subject in question appears to be descended in origin from the pokemon species Hydreigon, sharing many characteristics with the inferior dragon. The most obvious one would most obviously be the three heads that stretch out from its body, but what is less immediately obvious is the vicious ferocity that the two pokemon share in nature, only amplified by the ruthless efficiency of a machine of the future." Rhodium was asleep right now, or to be more accurate, in a medically induced "sleep mode" so Xenon could better study the machine without needing to concern herself with the behaviors of a relatively unknown machine lifeform.
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"Ah, I should note that too. I currently have the subject in an artificially induced sleep mode. One could hardly even tell this is a living breathing creature in the state it's in now, its heads have completely lost their faces as their LED screens have gone completely blank to conserve energy." She opens the main head's mouth to peer inside, though her eyes can only see so far into the darkness even with a flashlight. "Note for next session, bring endoscopic camera to try and observe what the creature's insides look like."

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The hand of the clock ticks by steadily in the guard room of the casino, counting down the minutes until Amalie's shift is over. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. She takes her job very seriously, but she knows that she can't stop every little thing in this casino from this lonely camera room, this is the heart of sin within Sootopolis after all. She counts herself lucky that she can make it to her family in the morning when she clocks out, a lot of people in her position have to do some shady work just to keep food on the table. Tonight, all she has to do is insert a little flash drive into her computer, then turn a blind eye for ten minutes. Her heartbeat picks up as she stares at the flash drive in her hand, why did she have to live in Sootopolis of all places? Any other city and she could feel comfortable just calling the police, she knew who was threatening her, she knew their face and who they worked for.
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But there's no point pondering on useless if onlys and what ifs, her family's lives were in her hands now. With a grimace she clicks the flash drive into her computer and turns her attention to her phone. Ten minutes, no more, no less.
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Xenon smiles as the light on her phone turns green, she takes both halves of the cheap disposable and cracks it in half with a sharp snap as the plan is set into motion. "Operation Shiny Hunt is a go bone brains, lets make some waves." She mutters under her breath as she gets up from her seat at the bar and begins moving, her wireless earpiece perfectly picking up what she had to say and transmitting it to Kouji. The plan was simplicity at its finest, Kouji would dispose of a guard somewhere and take their credentials and uniform, meet her at the service door by the one armed bandits, and after that they'd walk into the back areas of the casino to find their prize.
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It was hardly a plan, but Xenon never liked making complicated schemes that were set in stone. Things made in the past were pretty worthless after all.

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So it truly is a ghost then, formless and immune to the forces of nature made physical. How amusing, it only made sense that such a worthless past would be just as unsubstantial as a vague fog covering her sight. Even her attempts to blow away that fog with a gust of wind amounted to little in the end, it needed more of an edge to, a bite that only she could provide.

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One might wonder about what could possibly lead a girl to such a mindset, how one could truly believe that love was worthless, how one could fall so deeply in love with the neon lights that they would rather see the world burn than ever acknowledge the lessons of the past. What kind of life did the woman known as Xenon Civitas Antheil live, what kinds of things did she experience that could warp a human being into such a twisted mockery of humanity?

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Hah. Fool. Have you not been listening for even a second of this horrid night? The past never mattered in the first place, it's long forgotten, nay, purposefully carved away from her being. It doesn't matter what kind of past would make her this way, for she never had a past to begin with. All she has is the future.

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"You haven't been listening for a single second you arrogant whelp! There's nothing for you to cleave!"

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Once again a trio of elemental energies crashes into the beam of moonlight, dual beams warping and distorting one another as they bend around each other into a singularity of light and fae energies. But this time, the environment is suited to her advantage. She has made a world nearing the future for just a moment as electricity sparks beneath their feet, lightning invading Rhodium's attack and bending it ever closer to the aspect of Electricity than before. Fire and ice are snuffed in the cradle as what was once a Tri-Attack is warped into a Thunderbolt, breaking through the Moonbeam and striking that ghost with the raw power of the future behind it.

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Even if the future stands without the grounding of the past, that does not mean it is unsteady. It only means it can fly without restriction, unbound by the rules and logic set by others.

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"Take it if you can. Let it cut open your stomach as you try to swallow it whole."

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Darkness crashes against the light of the moon, scattering and dispersing as that brilliant beam flies towards Rhodium to cut it in twain. But the future is unpredictable, one never knows what's to come, just as the roulette spins and a trifecta of elemental energy bursts forth from the mechanical dragon's maw clashes with that moonlight beam to halt it in its tracks. Finally the girl has the foresight to step away and behind her future to let it best work, a gentle hand brushing against its metal body and shivering as she embraces it wholly.

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"Come now Rhodium, you know you can do better. Let our world become neon lit as we rise to our fullest potential."

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The girl hardly even exists in her mind anymore as a drop of lightning hits the ground, electrifying the terrain and boosting Rhodium's might as the world bends to its most ideal environment, an electric terrain fueling its wings as it releases blades of air to rip away at the fluttering mane and tear it into so many little pieces.

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