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Kouji chuckled as Hitoshi kicked the boulder over, his eyebrow rose at the man who thought it was smart to sneak up on a warrior, and suffered a fool’s death for it. But what came out before them was a monstrosity, Kouji went straight into his pocket to bring out his pokemon; his hand first went for Absol before he shook his head and shot for Meowscarada and Samurott, a newcomer but one he could deal with comfortably.
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”Grassy pledge, water pledge, swamp him out, we gotta…Run?” Kouji considered it, but it felt like another call, was it is own decision? Or was it the smart one? There was nothing to gain from a fight to the death in a simulation, they’d move onto the next one in a moment.
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Still, watery ribbons met grass and together they formed a swamp, one that would slow pokemon down, and hit with great impact even as the earth began to rumble, just what the hell was this thing anyway?
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And why wasn’t the swamp slowing it as much as it should have?

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[attr="class","itemcolname"]eternatus event

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[attr="class","itemcoltexttit"]WISHING STAR 1-B

[attr="class","itemcoltext"]You disturb the boulders in some way...[break][break]

"stop!" A sharp cry alerts you to a worker who rushes in with shaking hands.[break][break]

The mysterious material pulses and the boulders begin to meld into each other. Life begins to course through the stacked stones. Stony limbs rise and push its heavy monolith of a torso from the ground. It begins to expand in size continuously and pulses with a powerful energy that begins to metamorphose the surrounding rocks and sediment...[break][break]

Before you can witness any more, you must evacuate. A bastardized REGIROCK has been born and is tearing the tomb down with all of you inside of it.

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As Kouji walked forward he nodded at what Hitoshi was telling him, it seemed that this rock they liked so much was a pain in the butt. For a simulation, it sure did include a lot of their enemies, didn’t it?
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”Let’s avoid touching the stone itself then.” He guessed at, he didn’t want to see that strange creature again if he could help it, the wounds from Galar were still fresh in his mind, and yet they had the audacity to try and grow faint.
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”Wonder what these boulders are for.” He looked around and took a glance at them, it almost felt like a voice was calling him to do it, but he couldn’t put his finger on just what or where he’d heard it. Yet, it felt trustworthy enough.

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Kouji stared at the executive across from him, it was a stareoff that lasted for a few seconds before the grunt flashed his almost signature smirk. ”You’ve sure been living the comfy life, even using one of our lockbox bases, huh? Smart, hide in plain sight or some bullcrap like that.” His voice sounded casual even with the unstated accusation that lingered in it.
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”Aye, so, what’s it gonna be? Gonna really battle me, grunt even after I picked the easy option?” It was a question that Kouji would have to answer, it was someone who was his superior once upon a time, they weren’t of the truly big ranks, but then again, he was a newbie.
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His golden eyes stared, he thought about it. If it came to a battle, he was sure he could pull something out, he had fought with strong people. But he didn’t know what to expect, what would come from this, and rea-
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When had he started thinking so deeply? Was it because Eris wasn’t here to dig him out? Was it that time spent in a dream as leading the city guards? No, it was the man behind him, who had called him boss, and had followed his lead. If he failed, he’d leave that almost incapable man on his own, to deal with it.
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He shook his head.
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”Wanted a cut, and some help. Things are getting really tough here, and I can’t really deal with it myself. I can’t sleep most nights…Trust me, I ain’t here for a fight.” Absol growled behind him, and Kouji gave his pokemon a slow nod which calmed it for a moment, he took a step back, head faced down, yet there was a subtle glow to his eyes.
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He undid the buckle that held his pokeballs and allowed it to drop, arms raised into the air, and his feet took him forward, slow steps. ”Feel free to pat me down or whatever else, I ain’t here for no battle, I just dropped my balls.” He had indeed, they laid by his feet, and he arrived infront of the man.
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”They sure do train grunts dumb, huh? No po-” It was Absol that had replied with speed as the man reached for his own balls, a slash of pink that cut through the ground and caused it to shake, but Kouji had prepared, detect and psycho-cut, his pokemon knew what to do.
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The Grunt charged forward, his leg slid inbetween that of his opponent forcing it apart, and causing him to fall into the upwards palm strike that Kouji had aimed at his chin, jerking his head upwards, and the follow-through of the movement struck his skull off the wall.
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Kouji clicked his teeth however.
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It seemed that as much as he had tried to deny it, after that brush with hell, and his string of failures before that Eris Halla had dug him out of…That Zev Harcourt was indeed right, he had to begin using his brains, and much more. There were too many things he didn't know, and a lot of things he still had to learn.
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Who knew having someone counting on him would lead to him realizing that. ”You can come out now, let’s tie him up, wait for our guys to pick him. We can’t let deserters roam free, and guys like this might spill info. Maybe he’ll have something good to drink at his.” A soft enough smile on his face as he looked over his shoulder at Dirk, and his bike, how’d a guy like that get into rocket in the first place?

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”The Truth, ain’t no reason to beat around the bush, we fucked up. Maybe those scientist guys can make something to fix this for future missions.” He said with a shrug, attempting to wave off the discomfort that continued to linger even after they all lied dead.
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”Let’s hope that these other prices keep our heads on.” He looked at the pokeballs they had gathered, it was a good haul, a full haul, but at the same time it wasn’t their objective.
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”Tch, let’s cut our losses and leave.”
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He didn’t want to be here a second longer.

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Kouji laughed.
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”Something like that, didn’t think anyone actually collected that crap.” There was some surprise apparent in his tone as he looked over Desiree, the smell of the cigarette was building. Quitting was hard, doubly hard when you’ve smoked twenty years of cigarettes in the matter of seconds. But he shook his head to clear his mind regardless.
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”Nah, ain’t ever touched, nor seen it; but then again I ain’t really the kinda guy who is into stuff like that.” He said as he shook his head slowly, the smirk did fall away just a little bit as his eyes rolled upwards in thoughts.
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”I’d hope so, ain’t no-one gonna be this chipper working some dead end boring job, guess you’re tackling something exciting huh? Not gonna tell me you’re actually an assassin or something.”
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He’d run into stranger
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In his own case, well, he didn’t grow up in the best place, but he’d found himself weirdly detached from how he had been raised. As he thought about it, he could have sworn he felt his hairs stand up, was that static?
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Most likely some electric pokemon.
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”Nothing that special here, my pops owned a couple shops, but I just work security, usually some shady store, or some random movie set somewhere.” He said as he explained his own job. ”It sure pays well, but it’s killer on your feet.” Which was true for both of his jobs, even the less reputable one had a grunt like him on his feet the whole time.
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”You’re sure packing them strawberries, between that and them cigarettes, that’s a quick ticket to being stuck on a chair.” He had tried, but he had a big appreciation for his own body.

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Time, time was a fickle thing.
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It marched on without the slightest concern for those around it, Kouji had come to grips with that a long time ago but this isn’t about now, and it isn’t about a false world with false time. It’s about a region during a time it was still locked in war, and the boy who had joined his father on a routine sail, a simple summer vacation to a region that was suffering, bleeding, one where the people were struggling to simply live.
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Yet, in this corner, blood had yet to be spilled on this day, calling this a simple ‘small town’ was a lie, it was the port town that kept the lifeblood pumping through the region, he looked at Vermillion city, his eyes were bright even in this moment as he had finally completed helping to move stuff, he had time on his own to explore, and help.
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Help the goals of rocket, the enigmatic organisation that he had been born for, raised for; his whole life revolved around Rocket, and here he could help them in their victory. He had offered, to do whatever, made himself a nuisance, and with a crooked smirk; he had been given a very important role.
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Pack Mule.
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He looked over at the other person he had been tasked to work with, hood drawn over his head, his eyes were focused on the floor, the realisation that this job might not have been that important. Still, he had instructions, not to let his bag get close to flames nor water, and to deliver it to that warehouse.
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”Hey, what’s your name? I’m Kouji.” He spoke aloud, not too concerned about being overheard even as this town was on high alert, lights shone over the town, illuminating every corner.
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So if this was his job, what was hers.

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Kouji seemed to jump forward just as Dirk had rushed ahead, his feet kicked off the floor, his mind not really paying attention to his ace which rode up beside him. His eyes dashed side to side, eyeing any potential enemies, it was a tense moment, he felt his throat growing hoarse.
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He didn’t expect so-
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What the hell was this about logs? He attempted to stop his forward moment and found himself skidding across the ground, he kicked up a small cloud of dust that hung in the air for a moment. He looked at the cabin, yeah, as he had thought; this was something around project lockbox, but it had been fixed up to be even better.
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”Not like you got a choice, it’s either this or bamboo…Probably.” He looked over his shoulder for a moment before giving a long sigh, his breath fully aired out from the depths of his lungs, his eyes aimed forward again.
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”Get yourself up, ain’t nothing special about this cabin. We’ll check insi-”
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It was that moment in which the Cabin door opened, a man walked out hauling a large hay bale over his shoulder, eyes locked onto Kouji and reverse.
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”Yo boss, you ain’t been seen in a while. Easy, or hard?”
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”Easy.”

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Kouji stared at the machine that surrounded them, and the changing world; it was like this again, this time though he was with Hitoshi, he didn’t know the man really, nothing beyond the surface and in a way, a fake world brought out the true parts of another.
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Or Obfuscated it even further.
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The world that unveiled was one that was busy, the air was dry, the people moved, a tomb was being made, or was it a temple? ”We’ll take a look.” Kouji said as he looked over his shoulder at Hitoshi.
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”You’ve seen this one before, haven’t ya? Do they ever change, it’s my third time in here.” He asked the question, wondering what the simulation’s purpose was, and the ones that had made it.

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[attr="class","itemcolname"]eternatus event

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[attr="class","itemcoltexttit"]WISHING STAR 1

[attr="class","itemcoltext"]You find yourselves in the Hoenn desert. However, upon scrutinizing the area, you realize this is not the Hoenn of modern day. The people around you look like they belong to an old civilization. Busily, they work at constructing what appears to be a temple or tomb among the great dunes of this place.[break][break]

When asked, a worker says, "We are creating a great protector. Eons ago, a great star fell from the heavens and landed here. We are finally able to harness its power. Go. Take a look!"[break][break]

You enter the incomplete tomb to see a large chunk of some unknown purple material. Red veins pulse throughout it like blood—or poison. It emanates a great power. Before it, several boulders are set against each other.

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Kouji smirked, a Cinderace huh? It was a pretty strong pokemon, he’d only seen one before, but it seemed interesting enough. ”Didn’t think kids were packing fully evolved pokemon.” Then again, maybe it was his problem for considering Eris Halla to be an exception.
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”I’m up for a battle, you’re up Scrafty.” He threw out the pokeball, his eyes glancing at the back of his pokemon who gave him a wave before bouncing on his feet. Scrafty seemed ready to go, arms held up in a stance, his eyes facing forward.
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”You doing the gym challenge or something?”

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The rocket break room, it was a place to connect with one’s fellow rockets, but he could hear a song blaring in the background, wasn’t this DESIREE BLOOMS? He couldn’t believe he had met her and didn’t realise how he could call himself a proper idol fan.
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But he threw it in, tomato hit the bottom of the blender, then his cooked sausages and bacon, then toasted bread, and finally he put the eggs in there before he turned the blender on high. Eating his meals like this might have seemed insane, and it probably was, but it was just another Kouji Matsubara timesaver.
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He didn’t care about the taste of food to begin with, as long as it provided him nutrients, his tastebuds had been ruined by years of eating like this to begin with.
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Still, the loud whirring brought some simple comfort, his hand hovered over the button, the contents mixing, the sound changing from a struggling cut, to that of liquid being mixed up, slowly becoming more and more mixed together into a singular slush.
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Dinner was served.

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