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tentacruel points a single tentacle in the direction of the source of the noise: a wild archeops, fluttering over the water, reaching its talons into the water to snatch up tiny magikarps. [break][break]

mika glances at chiyo who seems to look at her curiously, as though to ask her trainer: do we want to bring this one home with us? [break][break]

and the ranger considers. she has no shortage of flying-type pokemon, but... this one is a fossil pokemon, isn't it? these ones have a certainty rarity among them, even if they're not that rare in retrospect. still, seeing a pokemon like that all the way out here in the water routes must mean something. it means that this isn't a chance that comes along often in life. [break][break]

mika has learned to capitalize on such moments, slowly and gradually. she nods at her empoleon, and the empoleon signals to the other water-types around mika, as well. [break][break]

in a beautiful deluge of water attacks, mika's pokemon corner the archeops, and send the wild pokemon falling into the ocean. before it can reach the treacherous waves, however, mika tosses a poke ball in its direction, and swims out to retrieve it after it snaps close without resistance. "okay," she says to her other pokemon. "let's head back now." [break][break]

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the moment the dream continues into something resembling a game, mika knows she's out of her own depth. she's experienced some of this strangeness in dreams and distortions before, and has always tolerated it because it's easier to do that than to fight against her fate. [break][break]

but it feels different when she's no longer in control of said dream. before, mika's dreams seemed to bend to her will, and she lived out her fantasies for only a moment, facing the one she loves and telling her all the things she could never say. now? now, every scene in this dream world shifts with uncontrollable speed, colors and sensations blurring together imperceptibly so. one moment, the king tells a tale of conquest and fates, the next, a loud cry from outside draws the attention of her annihilape, the creature bounding out the door before mika can stop it. [break][break]

the king bestows upon her, and the other players in the hall, a strange dream ball each, telling them to take it with them on their journey. [break][break]

take this with me? she holds the pink capture capsule in one hand, blinking slowly. something this cute would better suit someone else, but... mika remembers that there's no time to waste, as the countdown has already started. a loud, blaring sound catches her off guard, and new information presents itself in a flurry of light and lines. it reads: [break][break]


[newclass=.rbynote]border-width: 9px 9px 9px 9px;border-style:solid;border-image: url('https://i.imgur.com/UUqNs3l.png') 9 9 9 9 repeat repeat;padding:6px 8px;color:#232323;text-align:justify;font:11px Calibri;letter-spacing:1px; margin-top:20px;background:#aaa;background-clip: padding-box;[/newclass] [break][break]

at that moment, mika's vision changes, and every object and value darkens around her, as though her eyes have become radars, instead. almost everything from the castle walls to the tall trees to the dirt roads are highlighted a bright red color, straining against her sight. however, she spots a few blue spots, instead, and looks down to see that the dream ball in her hand is also highlighted in blue. [break][break]

a distant cry shatters the sky and garners mika's attention. outside of the castle, into the depths of this kingdom, mika runs towards a forest, whose trees are spindly and leaf-less, more like bones sticking out of the ground than any plant life. among these skeletal groves, she follows a trail of footsteps dyed in helpful blue, ignoring anything else that even gleams of red. [break][break]

eventually, she finds a familiar face. it's kirai, her annihilape, who'd run out on her before. "what are you doing here?" she asks. "let's go back..." [break][break]

the annihilape stands still for a time. it doesn't move an inch, not even at mika's insistence. a deep black and purple miasma surrounds its body, eyes unblinking and hands curled up into fists. mika's breath catches in her throat. [break][break]

something's wrong. before she can react, kirai leaps onto his trainer, fists baring down on her. mika doesn't scream, only puts up her arms to block her face, the dream ball clicking open in the midst of their physical altercation. in a flash of light, the dream ball captures kirai the annihilape, and his weight disappears from this (dream) reality. [break][break]

mika falls to the ground, no longer being assaulted by her own pokemon, but not understanding what had just happened, either. she doesn't realize that the wind stops blowing and the sun stops shining, everything held in breathless suspension as a pop-up displays in her radar-vision. [break][break]


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and:


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mika stares at the words floating in front of her. these messages are talking about kirai, aren't they? her gaze shifts to the dream ball in her hands. it feels heavy with her pokemon's weight. sure, it had attacked her just now, but she senses there's more to its behavior than its typical latent aggression. perhaps kirai had been scared, confused, or hurt by something in his time out here alone. mika wouldn't try to "fix" something about her pokemon without yet ascertaining if it had even been broken in the first place. [break][break]

she decides to keep kirai the way he is, selecting the second option. the moment she does, the world lulls back into motion, and mika exhales. [break][break]

she certainly had her work cut out for her.

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mika blinked, surprised that her guess had been anywhere near accurate. "oh, that's amazing. i can't imagine living such an exciting lifestyle, but i'm guessing you must've seen the most incredible sights, in that case." there were certainly many treasures in the hoenn region, between all the strange occurrences and land shifting, no doubt endless riches awaited the bold and brave. [break][break]

"as for me, i love nature, so i'm often exploring the wilds, anyway. and i've had a few 'treasure hunts,' if you can call it that." mostly it had been excursions with other rangers and trainers, like Shalin Nariya or Noel Parker, mika surprisingly enjoying herself each time. puzzles, dungeons, treasure maps, wild pokemon, traps... it was all very fun and exciting, that's for sure. [break][break]

"ha, you've got a point. some pokemon are weaker. now i can't help but wonder about treasure, though... maybe we'll find something here, after all." she gave a thumbs-up when it seemed that mar's clobbopus had bested the wild perrserker, at least enough for mar to throw a poke ball in its direction. after a satisfying snap, mika realized they hadn't been paying much attention, and a scared toedscool in the background ran far away from where the two women were. no matter — onward they went, deeper into the tunnel! [break][break]

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"better late than never!" mika retorts, face flushed with excitement and nervousness, both. but xenon raises a fair question: why should she give up the freedom she has to join the league that has, objectively, more constraints than team rocket? mika thinks about her own sense of freedom, then says, "not many can claim they've made waves in both rocket and league. and those that do are always hounded by their past affairs. you look like you're above all that, so you could do great things there," which is an astute claim, but not one rooted in sincerity. mika just wants to survive this encounter, and if exchanging barbs helps keep her and her pokemon alive for even a second more, she'll do it. [break][break]

but her opponent doesn't let up. the iron jugulis seems to thrive in these dire conditions, and electricity from its futuristic body begins to emanate, moving with increased speed and power. naturally, mika's hydreigon will only get more tired as the battle goes on. [break][break]

so when the barrage of flash cannons come hurtling their way, mika holds on tightly, yelping as the movement of a blast of steel-imbued power strikes her hydreigon straight on — the dragon staggering in the air, screeching out of pain. in a last bid to keep themselves in the game, mika silently grits her teeth, and hydreigon lets out a hyper voice, sound waves blasting from the triple heads, air rippling with static all around them. [break][break]

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