[attr="class","diana"]Even though Howard insisted that it was fine now, Diana still harbored some disbelief toward his statement. But, for both of their sakes if things turned drastically wrong, she hoped that he was right.

She also hoped that she wasn't sending them both into their doom with her incessant curiosity.

Her eyes followed the length of his finger as he pointed toward the stack of crystals awaiting their arrival. A feeling of greed and desire overcame her, as if she was a man starving for a meal after wandering the Mauville desert for days on end. It was finally in her grasp.

"Isn't that how all experiments are performed? We hope and pray for our results to end in our favor."

Diana's lips curled in a glimmer of a smile as she shared one last glance with Howard before releasing her WALKING WAKE. It, too, seemed drawn to the tera formation like its trainer. The crystals triggered a reaction, like it would any other Pokemon. It terastyllized, its skin turning crystalline in form as it roared.

She waited. Waited.

What?

That's all?

[attr="class","dianatag"]howard slayte | zero to one hundred

[attr="class","diana"]Everything began to grow blurry. It was as if Diana was being drawn into a slumber, being pulled away from this warm world. Her head swivelled between the two women, and finally, her blue gaze locked onto Remiel Calcifet’s. Instead of the ice she’d been carrying with her, he’d see something akin to the lake they would frequent together as children.

”No. I don’t want to leave. Please, wait-!”

---

Cold, hard floor was the first thing her senses recalled. The second was the ache in her body from sleeping on the concrete floor. And finally…

Tears. They were not like normal ones, thick and crystalline and oddly beautiful. They rolled down her face like a river, threatening to soak the previously clean outfit that had been provided to her. She touched her face, threatening to wipe them clean.

It was ameena abadi that made her stop. ameena abadi who spoke bravely to bring about hope in this nightmare. She wondered… how could she be so brave? Was she unfeeling, or was she just better at hiding these feelings than she was? Her glassy eyes trailed to luka chêne, wondering how she was faring.

”How can you be sure? How can Amor Rose be sure?” Diana asked quietly. But, even if she didn’t receive an answer, she decided to cooperate. There were other places she’d rather be than rotting in this prison, hoping for a wish she could barely taste and hold on to. She would have to trust Ameena.

---

As the week cycled by, Diana learned that the one spot she didn’t want to stand at was the LAUGHING HOUR. Laughter was pulled from her lips as each of her fellow ward members were yanked from their cells for humiliation. Her heart wretched, but she couldn’t stop the laughter. It was as if the toxins burned her from the inside if she didn’t, and the laughter was a source of relief for it.

More crystalline tears spewed from her eyes.

She could handle the pain and torture of work. Being struck by the equally terrified creature, clawing at the dark, was nothing compared to her turn at the LAUGHING HOUR.

Howls of laughter, fingers pointing at her, as Diana’s beautiful face was contorted into a series of outrageous figures and ridiculous masks. If she tried to lift her hands, they were pulled back to her sides as the laughter grew. She could hear her fellow cellmates laughing at her too.

”Look at her. She was royalty. Did you know that? She’s the ugliest princess I’ve ever seen.”

”No wonder she abandoned Galar. She could have burned it down with a face like that.”

”Do you think that’s why Remiel Calcifet left her?”

The crystal tears. They soaked her uniform as she sobbed, enduring the pain of humiliation and assumption for the hour. She attempted to scoop them into her hands, lifting them up as if her tears would be enough to become a sort of offering to FEZANDIPITI to make it end.

”Please, beautiful one. Make it stop. Look at the tears I’ve cried for you.”

In her heart, she desperately reminded herself of Ameena’s request: ”I need you to want to be free more than anything you have ever wanted.”

[attr="class","dianatag"]ameena abadi & luka chêne
- questions ameena's intentions but agrees to go along with it
- endures the LAUGHING HOUR (primary point)
- gathers her tears for FEZANDIPITI as an offering: "look at the tears i've cried for you"
- remembers what ameena's requested her to do

[attr="class","diana"]As she had neglected to predict, Zev's AMBIPOM launched its first attack toward her DRAGAPULT. The only means of protecting itself from attack would be to utilize its PHANTOM FORCE and pray that it disappeared before the claws raked down its side.

Her GALARIAN FARFETCH'D, on the other hand, decided to attack the ESPEON regardless of the REFLECT it put up. With his stalk in hand, he attacked with BRICK BREAK in an attempt to break past the psychic barrier the feline had set up to protect itself with.

The dragon reemerged, side oozing from the damage of claws from the attack prior to it vanishing. Though Jaffa used the rest of his PHANTOM FORCE to attack the ESPEON as well.

[attr="class","dianatag"]Zev Harcourt | super training

[attr="class","diana"]Theo's chiding is the first thing Diana hears as she awakens. However, she was quick to disregard him, stripping herself of the monitors despite the protests of the scientists in the room. Anyone who reached for her hand was met with a glare that harbored resentment and fury, as well as an iron grip on their wrist.

"Let me go."

She stood, dusting herself off as though the ashes and dust clung to her from her dream. She could still smell it. Her head turned to her underboss, her eyes ice.

"And what do you suggest I do, sir? Become an unfeeling beast?"

Diana would only give him little time to reply, her nerves set on edge.

[attr="class","dianatag"]THEO BECKETT | enter the nightmare

[attr="class","diana"]Of course, Diana had no idea what these paradox Pokemon had done to his beloved starter. Because the moment he appeared near her from the lair, his emotions were blanketed by professionalism that any admin should have.

So they continued onward.

"Are you bringing it?" she asked, referring to the REGICE he had brought along the first time they had explored Area Zero. She still found the walking shard of ice quite lackluster. "I hope it's recharged substantially since our last encounter with the wild WALKING WAKE."

It wasn't intended to be a jab. It was in both their best interests that REGICE be in top shape if things went wrong.

[attr="class","dianatag"]howard slayte | zero to one hundred

[attr="class","diana"]The information that Zev shared with her, specifically about underhanded tactics against her opponents, felt wrong. Diana had been raised that battling her opponent, if she ever engaged in such a thing, was supposed to take place on equal terms.

Hoenn has taught her that things changed. You adapt. You survive.

You cheat. You threaten to forfeit a life if it means saving your family's.

She's pulled back to the session as he pulls two Poke balls of his own. "ESPEON and AMBIPOM. A psychic type and a normal type," she announced as if she were reading from a text book.

Diana decided to put to use the lesson he'd taught her moments ago: type advantages. So, she released her own DRAGAPULT to handle the ESPEON, while decided to use her GALARIAN FARFETCH'D against his AMBIPOM.

Diana did not take into account that, perhaps, the Pokemon might switch attacks onto her own chosen pair.

[attr="class","dianatag"]Zev Harcourt | super training

[attr="class","diana"]There was a bolt of lightning, striking down not far from where Diana had taken a seat beside luka chêne. It jolted her from her muddled mind, the static crackling in the air. ”What was that?”

”Him. Him. Him. He is near. Galar is to be saved.” Her mind chanted, as if it was being pulled toward Remiel Calcifet like a magnet.

”Remiel.” Diana’s feet take her there before she can truly process it, her arms reaching for his neck and pulling her former fiance into an embrace. Whether their company found it friendly or more so was up to them. For her, she was happy he was okay.

The information he gave them was a vast world apart from the one she’d shared with her cellmate. The blessings of the Chamber of Desires and the hot shower, the exposure to brilliant tera shards… it seemed the Calcifets had endured much in their punishment with the Dummy Ward.

There was a twinge of guilt in her stomach, though relief was evident that they made the right choice. Right?

Diana shared a glance to luka chêne, wondering who would break the news of the vote to him and Elise Calcifet or share the information about the Chamber of Desires. ”We voted for the punishment. It added up to the Dummy Ward. I suppose it was the name and what we saw televised on the shards… the punishments.” She referenced Shred and Isaac Merlo.

”My only hope was you were safe.” She sighed, clasping her hands together in front of her. If she had the power to, the Weakling Ward would be protected.

”We… we went to a chamber. The Chamber of Desires. And it showed us our future… what we can achieve or what we want.” Diana did not speak further of her own, reserving to tell Remiel Calcifet about it when they were alone. Nevertheless, her eyes pierced him.

[attr="class","dianatag"]Remiel Calcifet & luka chêne & Elise Calcifet
- reunites with luka, remiel, and elise
- him xoxo
- exchange information
- has yet to tell what she's seen in the chamber

[attr="class","diana"]Diana followed the rest of her ward like pitiful dogs on a leash. However, instead of her mind being filled with plans to escape and what to do to catch these Megalopolans off guard, it was haunted with the memory she had seen moments before in the Chamber of Desires.

”Where is he… where is he…?” she muttered softly to herself. Though a sparkling gleam caught her eyes as they walked past working guards.

TERA SHARDS. Organised into piles of brilliant rainbows, they were stacked and polished to perfection. After time and time again with howard slayte, she had tested these shards with him. And with her desires shown, it seemed implanted in her mind that they were the key.

Diana Cavendish starved for the tera shards.

And yet, she’s pulled away from them as they were led back into their cells. Thankfully, the outfit was comfortable, since they were to either sleep on the floor or the hard bed. ”One of you may take the bed…” she murmured, almost falling to the ground in a heap of exhaustion.

Her mind could split apart from the images and the sounds she’d seen.

---

When Diana’s eyes open, she’s in a city. It’s not Hoenn, and it’s not Hammerlocke. It’s unfamiliar, but the Magalopolans there were friendly, giving her a wave and a greeting as she walked by. She tried to speak comprehensive sentences, but she couldn’t bring herself to.

Instead, she kept repeating: ”where is he?”

[attr="class","dianatag"]Diana Cavendish
- mind: scrambled
- yearning for tera shards
- offers the bed to luka chêne or ameena abadi
- lost in the dream world: where is he
- who is he?

[attr="class","diana"]Diana pulled her hair back into a high ponytail, any obscured strands pulled from her face as she regarded the beast with as steady a gaze as she could manage. Where Bryan had been calm and welcoming at the Dyna tree, Zev Harcourt gave off an aura of intimidation.

Perhaps that was just his face.

"I was informed that you were going to be evaluating my skills today. I was not told which skills, but I am assuming that they are combat skills since we've been assigned the training facility," she replied, holding her hands to her side as she held a pose like a cadet.

"Might I disclose that I have never truly fought in battle before."

[attr="class","dianatag"]Zev Harcourt | super training

[attr="class","diana"]"We both want to know more about them, don't we? We can help each other, Howard. I assure you, I won't go bothering you with my ideals again. You've made it clear that they appear fictitious."

Whether or not he'd buy that Diana was retreating away from the use of tera crystals to bring back her home was of no concern to her. It was true that she did want to find out how they worked and how they could interact with a Pokemon such as her WALKING WAKE, for other purposes.

Perhaps, for Rocket's sake.

"I'll meet you there." Diana recalled the paradox beast, grabbing her luxury ball and several things that could potentially be of use, going outside into the chasm to wait for the admin to join her.

[attr="class","dianatag"]howard slayte | zero to one hundred

[attr="class","diana"]She'd heard his voice, but she couldn't seem to spot Theo. Not until she located him dressed among the group of guards surrounding her family. There was sheer horror in her eyes.

There's no way he could- he wouldn't-

"He will." A voice spoke inside her head. The swords rose. They swung to the side, ready to cleave heads.

"I said stop!" A fiery inferno blasted the dreamscape, exploding what would have been bricks, wood, and glass. Intense heat boiled away the knights and vaporized the image of her family, leading her into darkness.

[attr="class","dianatag"]THEO BECKETT | enter the nightmare

[attr="class","diana"]She had left a note for Remiel Calcifet that she would be out today and may not be back until later. Her excuse was that she'd made a friend in Hoenn, and she was meeting up with said friend to explore the sights of the region to become more acquainted with the area.

What Diana had learned, from her few months tenure of living here with her former fiancé, was that lying to him on a daily basis was an awful feeling that slowly ate at her core. Her mission that jayden cross had given to her haunted her on a daily basis, and she felt guilty for using Remiel as a safe house.

But it was for the greater good.

Her true destination was to meet with another one of Rocket's beasts. She'd met one before, bryan delarosa. However, this one she hadn't. Zev Harcourt, if she recalled his name. He was to evaluate her skills, though she hoped that his definition of "evaluate" wasn't a dive into a nightmarish dreamscape like THEO BECKETT's had been.

Entering the training facilities, Diana took a sweeping look around, noticing a tall man inside. "Mr. Harcourt. Good afternoon," she greeted simply, politely.

[attr="class","dianatag"]Zev Harcourt | super training