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Rhys nodded gratefully at the other man - 'good job' might have been the highest praise he'd gotten since enlisting, and even if it was for braining a collection of ones and zeroes in the shape of a man, he'd take it.
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Megalopolans? He'd heard of the term, and his excursions into Lesser Megalopolis had provided him with some vestigial knowledge, at least. "What would the Megalopolans want with an AI slowpoke tail hawker, though?" he voiced. A fair question, surely.
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As the surroundings changed and shifted, Rhys found that the phenomenon was not nearly as disorienting as his initial entrance into the simulation, though the area being built around them was utterly foreign to him. The man that accosted them at its completion, however, was not - even if he'd only seen him in photos.
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"Hell no," Rhys pronounced eloquently.
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He released his Reuniclus as a precaution to ward off the Nidoking if it lunged. "Not the Boss, not his creepy shadows, not this samurai-looking funhouse, no. I refuse to believe there is any worthwhile information to be gleaned from this other than seeing how badly I can get my butt handed to me."
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Turning in place, he raised his hands and felt the invisible walls around him as he made his way to the door, crouching slightly as a bright flash of pink light behind him signified Oz's attempt at parrying a MEGAHORN from Walsh's Nidoking. "You can take him, and I can support you, but surely there are other options, yeah?"
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A pensive frown furrowed his brow as Rhys listened to Aurelie's thoughts, shaking his head slowly at the sight of the fallen man before them. "This is one of the most violent deaths I think I've ever seen, and I've seen a few," he agreed. "We have to be on the lookout for-"
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His train of thought was interrupted by a bellowing roar, and he snapped his head reflexively to look at its source - a hulking pokemon glaring at the duo with murder in its eyes. As the beast reared back to charge, Rhys thought furiously, Move. Move. Get out of the way. You're going to be the next fucking body on the ground. MOVE.
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He couldn't. Despite his racing mind, his limbs refused to respond, so fixated was he on the force now barreling toward him. This could be it. He'd come far in the past few months, but was he really capable of facing down a wild pokemon that would gore him as much as look at him? He could leap left. He could dive right. He could try to climb the nearby outcropping to avoid it. The options were endless, and he turned each over in his head one after the other, for the wrong one would mean his certain demise.
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Fortunately, the decision was made for him as Aurelie's hand on his sleeve hauled him directly out of the path of the charging pokémon, and he landed on his side with an impact that briefly dazed him.
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The fall shook his thoughts loose from their loop, and he quickly recalled Althea, the Audino vanishing in a narrow beam of light. "I owe you one," he grunted to Aurelie, coming to his feet and locking his gaze on the Great Tusk, who'd slammed into the rock wall just beyond them and seemed momentarily disoriented. Reaching for his satchel, he released Oz the Reuniclus, materializing with a harmonic trill.
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"Put that thing to work, yeah?" he asked Aurelie, nodding his head to indicate the Iron Crown. "We've got to try and incapacitate this thing, or if it's not us, it'll be the next explorers." He gestured to Oz, who surged forward in the air to circle the Great Tusk just out of reach of its horns, the vibrant pink energies of a PSYSHOCK peppering its leathery hide and causing it to roar in consternation.
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The battle was joined.

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Ambling over to Althea's work area with a skewer of dango held in each hand, Rhys paused as he noted the Audino's efforts to combine her snowboy had, if nothing else, intensified in his absence. The pink pokemon had maneuvered three increasingly enormous spheres of snow near to one another, but hadn't quite obtained the height or reach needed to begin stacking them.
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"Here, now, let me help," Rhys grinned warmly, leaning down to hand Althea the treats he held - with a playfully admonishing "One of those is mine!" - before setting to work, heaving the body of the snowboy atop the base. Glancing about, he caught sight of the head and carefully lifted it to place it atop the now-complete figure, turning it slightly to adjust the angle of its hat.
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Althea cooed in delight as she danced about in front of the completed snowboy, and Rhys ruffled the top of her head affectionately. Beaming brightly, the Audino stretched up to offer Rhys the extra dango, which he took with a ceremonial flourish. The pair popped the treats into their mouths simultaneously, and almost as though in celebration of their accomplishment, the first fireworks burst into life in the sky above.
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Althea's wide eyes lifted upward in wonderment, and Rhys grinned softly to himself. He hadn't looked forward to making an appearance, but he had to say that it had been worth the time of an evening. He'd take the calm moments where he could get them, after all.

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Rhys felt his blow hit its mark, allowing the autoinjector to drop from his hand as he shoved hard against the other man, putting enough space between him and his opponent that the knife arcing toward his side scored another line against his abdomen, almost parallel with the one on his chest.
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Oz wasn't faring much better, the Reuniclus only able to gape - if the limited movement of his features could allow such an expression - at the unlikely acrobatics of the opposing Stunfisk before the SUCKER PUNCH caught him clear across the face, sending him spinning around and collapsing in a loose mass of green goo.
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Panting from the exertion, Rhys recalled the insensate cellular pokemon, flipping his wrist to call out Owain next, the Lucario materializing in a spray of red light and, sharp eyes fixating quickly on the Stunfisk, launching a spinning blue AURA SPHERE at the smaller pokemon with a growl.
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"I am a good doctor," Rhys grinned at Tavish, though the expression consisted more of baring his teeth than any real warmth, "But that's not medicine, my friend. You've got maybe three minutes if you're lucky. Do you want to risk that in the middle of Sootopolis?"
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The substance in his injector was a pet project, a hallucinogenic toxin he'd been refining from the spores of Bole, his Paras. Not fatal, not yet anyway, but debilitating if left unchecked. The timing? Probably a crapshoot, it could just as easily be one minute or fifteen, but he had to bluff this man out of his face if the cavalry wasn't showing yet.
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He allowed a sneer to curl at the corner of his mouth, one arm going to cradle the cut along his abdomen as the other hand lifted a single finger, wagging back and forth tauntingly. "Tick tock."

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Nearing the entrance after his extended lap of the Safari, Rhys found his progress obstructed by another patch of rustling grass. Next to him, Owain tensed into readiness, and as the wild pokémon leapt out to attack, the Lucario lunged forward to trade blows with...himself.
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An identical Lucario, down to the slight nick on one ear, had appeared to do battle. Blinking in bewilderment, Owain found each of his punches and kicks matched by his opponent, and scarcely moments later the pair separated, flying in opposite directions to land back in the grass, staring each other down. "Fake it out!" Rhys called, and the Lucario shook his head as though dismissive of the notion.
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The pair of pokemon launched at each other once more, twin METEOR MASHES set to collide, but at the last moment Owain skidded to a halt mid-charge, thrust his paws out, and unleashed an AURA SPHERE that slammed into the opposing Lucario, catching it off-guard. It spun into the grass amid a splatter of lilac goo, and Rhys's face lit up in recognition.
"A Ditto! I -knew- it!" He whooped, tossing his last Safari Ball at the disoriented pokemon before jogging over to Owain and offering him an encouraging clap on the shoulder. "Well done, that's what strategy over brute force can get you, eh?!"
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The Lucario did not seem enthused, but a pleased twitch of his ears was feedback enough for his Trainer, who grinned smugly. "Well, let's find something a little more your speed, then. On to the next place, shall we?"

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"Nice one," Rhys gasped as the Phanpy managed, despite its size, to mostly obliterate the door barring their access to the schoolhouse. Clutching his arm, he darted around a ruined desk set near the doorway and, in the absence of being able to use his own arms for the job, leaned his weight on it, sliding it slowly across the aperture to block the entryway to the building. With a squeak, the Audino joined in his efforts, pushing with all her might, until the heavy furniture covered the lower half of the door.
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"Not enough, not enough," he muttered to himself. His vision was starting to swim, not helped the least bit by the curls of softly-curling pink mist that kept whatever substance that tainted his wound from spreading. Reaching blindly to his belt, he fumbled a toss of a pokéball. a pale Zorua materializing with a curious tilt of his head. "Ev, cover that," Rhys bit out, jerking his head toward the partially-sealed doorway.
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The Zorua nodded, brow furrowing in focus. The air around the doorway shimmered and distorted before the entrance simply seemed to blink out of existence, a stretch of unblemished wall replacing the hastily-moved barricade. Sighing in relief, Rhys sagged to the floor, his back against the wall just to one side of the illusory cover. Grimacing in pain, he shrugged out of his jacket and rummaged in his satchel, withdrawing a bright scalpel that made quick work of the shirtsleeve obstructing his injured arm, the tube of fabric tugged off and tossed aside unceremoniously.
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With the wound exposed, Rhys could see clearly the jagged laceration marring the skin of his arm, as well as the tendrils of black infection darkening the edges of the incision, almost seeming to squirm in place as though they wished to spread further but were prevented from doing so. He glanced at the scalpel in his hand, then to the wound again, and finally up to Althea, the Audino's features darkened with concern.
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Rhys winced, offering a grimace to Althea. "Ready, please." He looked around, searching for Marianne, and grinned apologetically, face tight with pain. "Might want to turn around, miss Marianne. This won't...be pleasant." His attention turned back to his injured arm, and without any further preamble his scalpel darted down in three quick motions - left, right, forward, and the entire segment of wounded skin flipped forward, neatly separated from his arm, and landed on the ground as he yowled in pain.
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True to her word, Althea was ready, offering a steady stream of LIFE DEW that trickled onto the angry red oblong of exposed muscle on Rhys's arm, and already his skin began to knit together, slowly but surely. The danger of infection passed, Althea allowed the MISTY TERRAIN to dissipate, and almost immediately the discarded segment of skin utterly blackened, sloughing into an unidentifiable lump of necrosis.
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Panting, Rhys allowed himself to drop the scalpel, head lolling slightly as he looked toward his companion. "Sorry for that, but I thought it best I made it out of here in one piece," he grunted. "What about you? Can you see if there's something we can use to bar the rest of the doorway? The illusion's good enough, but it's not solid if these things can smell their way through it."

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After a moment, Rhys stretched and stood from the rock, nodding to Owain. "Let's go on, then, I don't think we have much time left to look around, and I'd like to see if we find any rare pokémon. It pays to have options, after all.
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The Lucario nodded his assent, and the pair began wandering once more. After a short distance, Rhys spotted an apple lying to one side of the path. "Hmm, I suppose I am a little peckish," he mused, reaching down to pick it up. As his fingers brushed it, twin eyeflaps flipped up from the top of the fruit, and it skittered away from him anxiously, causing him to blink.
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"Oh, an Applin," he remarked, standing up. "I've heard of these. Owain, gentle again, alright?"
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The Lucario cast a sidelong glance to Rhys as though he might disagree, but thrust a paw out regardless. A few tiny motes of energy coalesced into an AURA SPHERE no bigger than a marble, and the small projectile launched forward to send the Applin spinning tail over teakettle onto its side.
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Rhys grinned approvingly and tossed a Safari Ball at the fallen Applin. "Well done!"

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Alien shits? Rhys mouthed the words, repeating the butcher silently as he furrowed his brow, almost catching himself by surprise when the man launched himself at Zev. Maneuvering carefully backward, Rhys began sidestepping around the two other men, now grappling far too nearby for him to be comfortable with not being noticed by the angry chef.
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At Zev's shout, Rhys didn't even waste breath to respond, raking his gaze quickly across the countertops and stove until he spotted the skillet in question set above a low flame. Diving for it as Zev punched the other man in the ribs, Rhys grabbed the handle of the iron implement.
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Lifting it with both hands, he pulled the skillet back over his shoulder, took aim at the butcher - too involved with trying to slice Zev open to notice the rearward attack - and swung with everything he had. The blow impacted with a sound like Rhys had smashed a melon rather than a man's head, and the butcher instantly went slack, crumpling to the floor.
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He stood above the fallen simulation, chest heaving, gripping the skillet tightly in one hand in case once hadn't been enough. It had, he could tell from the angle of the man's neck it had, but...
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Oh, huh. It actually looked like Oz wasn't doing too badly over there. Rhys caught a flash of light from the corner of his eye and turned his head just in time to witness the Toxicroak absolutely crumple against the Reuniclus's attack.
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He gave a little whoop, forgetting his own struggle for a split second, and that second was enough for Tavish to score a glancing blow across Rhys's chest with the knife he now wielded. He lurched backward instinctively, because that hurt, and a quick glance downward confirmed, yes, there was a line of bright red visible through the now-perforated shirt he wore.
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Anxiety welled inside him - he was supposed to be a researcher, an observer, and if direct intervention on his behalf was required, a pokémon trainer. Fighting man-to-man had never been one of his stronger points, but if he didn't manage to at least hold his own right now, he'd end up sliced and diced due to the maniac that had decided to launch a one-man offensive against the Dyna Tree. Where the hell was everyone else?
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His hand closed around a familiar cylindrical object and he pulled it from his hip pouch, spitting a curse under his breath. "The doctor's in, asshole," he growled, ducking under the swinging knife and jabbing toward Tavish's midsection with the autoinjector he'd managed to procure from his stash.
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Oz the Reuniclus, for his part, was faring significantly better than his trainer - or he was until the Stunfisk managed to, against all laws of physics, launch himself into the air. Before the larger pokémon could react, the jaws of the Stunfisk latched onto the jelly directly above his abdomen, and he let out a screeching trill, gobs of his own body dislodged by the attack. Flailing wildly, he directed a HAMMER ARM at his latched-on opponent, though by the positioning the attack might do as much damage to himself as it would to the Stunfisk.

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