Rocket offered her opportunity she would have never had. Beyond the research capacity, she really did enjoy her collaborations with all kinds of characters within the organization. No one was boring. [break][break]

"Five things?" What the hell was he doing now? [break][break]

She gestured to the room at his question. "I could do it here, if you had June. But yes, my lab is set up." She had revisited the sleep study dreams enough times now, with MATIAS SILPH, Cillian Quinn, and @tempest, that she knew her way around navigating the semi-waking dreamscape. She could put to rest the unease that had undoubtedly plagued Howard, though it wouldn't be as bad as June for having forgotten it altogether. [break][break]

"Say the word and I can make it happen." Nothing had changed from last time - she would wait for his call to execute the waking dream zone. "Are we still moving forward with doing together? I can bring you into the 'scape and not June, if she is unwilling." She certainly wasn't sitting with them at the bar. Was she sitting on her hands, waiting for this opportunity? Was Howard keeping her from knowing about it at all until he was ready to spring it on her?

TAGS – howard slayte [break]

NOTES – [break]

She had her own choice words for Amor given his abrupt absence. She respected his rationale, but the timing had been unfortunate. They had shared the terrible burden of knowledge of Eternatus and the shared capacity to chip away at understanding and defending against it. But no matter. [break][break]

"You have me," she said earnestly. It was less about feeling like she owed him for the invasion of his mind and more about the fact that he had always been an outlier in the upper brass of Rocket. She would much rather stay in his inner circle and get a first glance at the trouble he was getting into. She was convinced he would always be entangled in the most interesting of projects and problems alike, and those were the ones with the most promise for her research. [break][break]

She debated how much honesty to offer his question. "A life," she answered. "A life that this world does not have anymore." Her sacrifices were all in pursuit of that one ambition, goal, dream: to see Mum again. To live with her. To live in a world that still held her. [break][break]

"There is a world out there where she lives. Infinite, if you subscribe to the full multiverse theory. I only need one."

TAGS – howard slayte [break]

NOTES – [break]

"It will be an easier dissection if it does short-circuit," she offered. It didn't need to live for energy readings given its otherworldly nature. There were quite a few paradox pokemon that had already been dissected by various Rocket scientists, but with those golden beasts filling Hoenn lately, it was time to re-evaluate them to see if anything about them had changed. [break][break]

The Mimikyu held it still on its ice platform. The Paradox pokemon opened its mouth to reveal a hydro pump, but Lucario ducked out of the way and charged forward to punch it in close combat. The giant's head twitched backwards. Electrical charges flickered off of its body. [break][break]

"I wish I had Musharna; despite the appearance of these pokemon, they are susceptible to yawn. It would be easier to incapacitate and transport in that scenario." Letting it drown was looking better and better in her eyes.

TAGS – Rose Soleil [break]

NOTES – (Golden beasts refers to the noble phantoms pokemon!)[break]

"She is my greatest colleague," Ameena confirmed. No one understood dreams like their head scientist. "So, I take it that she is taking point on this mission? I will reach out." She had nothing to lose, though space travel made her feel queasy. It could not be more dangerous than Sootopolis, or the Penitentiary, or any other day in Hoenn. [break][break]

Her brow furrowed at the invitation. "Are you talking about Nebula? He mentioned it." He'd implied she would be welcome there, but they had been barely scratching the surface in unpacking Eternatus, and there hadn't been enough time to capitalize on any growing momentum before he took his leave. [break][break]

Howard trusting her in such a taskforce was a leap. Had he forgotten her prior transgressions? It made her wonder if he was desperate, or if the project as a whole was actually a death wish. [break][break]

The question felt like a trap. "I want to access alternate realities through dreams." The truth, but not all of it. Bars were a common spot for spilling your guts and unleashing your childhood trauma, but she didn't think he was reaching for that information.

TAGS – howard slayte [break]

NOTES – [break]

She had written Cresselia off. The divine, the legendary, they were all disappointments, ultimately. Kyogre had been reduced to a helpless, thrashing, terrified beast. All pokemon could be rendered as such. While legendary pokemon may - may - have higher intelligence than other pokemon, it didn't change the fact that they were all beasts. She didn't put much faith in Cresselia's capacity to really, truly access the dream realm on an intentional level or at a depth that she and Lulu had traversed for. [break][break]

Cresselia used dreams, but she didn't own the domain, or master it, as far as Ameena was concerned. The legend would have done so much more with herself and with their world if it was true. [break][break]

"Wrangling Cresselia is quite the task." She wasn't sure what to make of Howard's involvement just yet. But if he had an ask, she had to answer; her failings in Rocket this year required her to jump when asked, and do it well. "How can I help?"

TAGS – howard slayte [break]

NOTES – [break]

She hid her smirk by resting her head on her hand, though she found his statement amusing. Only two months ago, she'd been telling THEO BECKETT that she thought it was odd that she had heard no Rocket plans to claim Mauville despite the value she saw in it. Her company was there, sure, but the city seemed like such a status symbol to the League, and it certainly had plenty of resources on its own. [break][break]

She did have questions about the ruins, but she withheld them for the time being. [break][break]

"The - literally, the moon?" She pulled from the bar counter and leaned towards him on her stool instead, fixated. "What is waiting there for her?" She considered the possibilities, but they were limited in truth because Howard was talking to her about Lulu, which could only mean that it pertained to the dream realm. Her last update on Lulu's own progress related to some sort of energy battery like Celebi, but they all knew the sprite was not on the moon.

TAGS – howard slayte [break]

NOTES – [break]

Pacifidlog was not the easiest town to navigate, and it had a fairly sensitive (but flourishing) ecosystem. In other words, the rampaging Iron Bundle was an outlier even more than usual as a paradox pokemon. [break][break]

"Extreme speed," she ordered, and Lucario obeyed, moving too fast for the human eye to track in order to knock the Iron Bundle into the water. It's ice beam struck the air as it fell. It struggled to get its bearings in the water and summoned a blizzard out of frustration, creating a film of ice on the water-bound logs she and Lucario stood on.[break][break]

If they didn't tackle the problem soon, the authorities would get here before any energy readings could be effectively gathered from the paradox pokemon.

TAGS – Rose Soleil [break]

NOTES – Paradox Problem[break]

Bars were decent in service of a private conversation, but she much preferred a coffee shop which filled the same niche. She sat without hesitation, though her reservations were clear upon her face. Meeting here of all places seemed to be indicative of Howard's current emotional state. [break][break]

"You're looking to cause trouble in New Mauville?" She arched a brow, though her gaze fell from his face and to his glass. He'd been through plenty recently, but Petalburg was also chalked up as a clear victory. This didn't look like a celebration.[break][break]

She shook her head. "No drinks. I am visiting the RKS soon, and I need a good head on my shoulders." The simulation was unforgiving sober, but she couldn't imagine how much more horrific it would be to navigate with a stuffy, unclear mind. Not that she wouldn't rather forget much of what she's witnessed inside. [break][break]

"What are we doing here?"

TAGS – howard slayte [break]

NOTES – [break]

The botanist is transfixed in the project, and Ameena realizes that the creation of terrariums can be very meditative. She approves of the choices, and she likes the look of the river pebbles. [break][break]

"They're like little worlds all of their own." Ameena gets it. More than before, that is. Her fascination with dreams started at such a young age, wondering if her day dreams were little worlds that she was accessing. As she grew, and as she studied, she found that it was totally possible that these were alternate realities accessed by the subconscious - a belief supported by some of the odd interactions between human minds and psychic pokemon. Something furthered by tera crystals and their ability to make one's imagination manifest in reality, though only temporarily. [break][break]

Crafting little worlds and visiting them stemmed from the same fascination. For some, it may feed or initiate a god complex, but for Ameena, and she suspected for Rosemary too, this was more of a pure satisfaction about creation. [break][break]

"It looks lovely." She knows exactly where to put it. More than that, she finds she wants more. "My company's got an open floor plan and a high ceiling and... well, little to look at besides the painful minimalistic all-white aesthetic that suits tech companies like my own. If you had the time, and the commission up front, could you make a terrarium that's, say, twenty feet tall?"

TAGS – Rosemary Lovelace [break]

NOTES – [break][break]

He didn't seem to think too highly of himself. [break][break]

"Young minds have experienced less. I find that more seasoned subjects have more to offer, but fret not. I have no shortage of subjects, so your mind is yours alone." She smiled. Her real reasoning was more about not wanting to burn bridges with her colleagues, especially given the unintentional abduction for her last sleep study, but it didn't serve their conversation to dive into that. [break][break]

He had quite a few questions for her, which made her wonder if he did want to dabble in the sciences more. "You missed your calling as an interrogator," she stated with unveiled amusement. "The content of the dreams do not interest me. I leave that to psychology students and those obsessed with good vibes or manifestation or whatever kids these days are saying."[break][break]

She waved her hand dismissively. "I care more for possibilities of what the mind is accessing when it dreams. Some people look to ultra space or the megalopolans for opportunities to jump realities. I think our dreams access them. Much like how our imagination can feed tera crystals and make temporary realities, I believe we can find a way to enter the alternate realities our minds perceive." It was difficult to explain without getting into the full analogy of her theory, with a house and doors and all, but it was far-fetched regardless. She didn't tend to defend her research to anyone, these days. But there was an easy hook for outsiders to her research.[break][break]

"If you could enter an alternate reality at will, as different or as similar to this one as you desired, wouldn't you do it?"

TAGS – Grigori Sokolov [break]

NOTES – [break][break]

Yuina Higashi, Ameena committed to memory from Lulu's callout. That was the name of the twerp that had been a thorn in her side. But without Gardevoir, much of the animosity was lessened; she didn't feel the urge to strangle the girl so much as smack her, though she would use any means necessary to secure her for their experiments. Celebi could change everything as far as the dream realm was concerned, and that was her highest priority. [break][break]

The girl had to be kept alive; the Champion... well, Ameena wasn't so bold as to think she could kill one of the League's strongest, but cutting the song bird's throat would be a win for Rocket. [break][break]

Mist filled the environment, though Ameena saw a shot of the Sygna suit (damn these Sygna users... she had not yet compiled the final material for her own) and the successful parry of her Inteleon's attack. She'd have to work smart to overpower Yuina. The two of them were brilliant enough to alter the environment and avoid half-measures, bringing out Avatar powers and a Sygna suit right off the bat. "Keep them back," she ordered, and Inteleon used a wide hydro pump to prevent either Melody or Yuina from closing distance - though the attack was impossible to direct accurately in the atmosphere. [break][break]

Into her comms, she asked Lulu, "Do you have any means to disrupt the mist?" The question turned into a hiss as a musical note struck her rib, the same spot she'd broken it against one of those glowing yellow beasts. Fuck, she really didn't want to fight an Avatar and a Sygna user at the same time. How best to distract them and make a move to abduct Yuina...

TAGS – Yuina Higashi Lulu Flint Melody Miro [break]

NOTES – INTELEON uses SNIPE SHOT at YUINA. [break]
50 MP have your character be injured by another's pokemon directly or indirectly.[break]
50 MP have your character learn something from the other character.[break]
50 MP have your character directly or indirectly spotlight another writer's character's strengths.[break] (220)[break]

It's not the overwhelming display of strategy one could have hoped for, but Kasper has good bones as an operative - a team they can trust, quick reactivity, and the obedience of following instructions despite any feelings of unpreparedness. Ameena didn't expect Kasper to hold up even a second against her Gardevoir, but she likes what she sees. Archeops strikes back at Gardevoir who hisses at the jagged sensation of claws in her arm, and Ameena calls it there. [break][break]

"That is enough."[break][break]

But Gardevoir's too prideful to let a twerp pokemon land a strike like that, and she prepares a giant mystical fire to bring down on Kasper and their pokemon alike -- [break][break]

Ameena's quick on the draw with her pokeball, returning Gardevoir. [break][break]

She takes a breath, pretends this was intentional instead of another episode of Gardevoir doing as she wished. She clears her throat. "Faced against a powerful single pokemon, what might you do next time to defend yourself?"

TAGS – kasper thaler [break]

NOTES – dauntless shield[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Gwen's magneton forced the Inteleon free of the Guzzlord. "Yes, we can leave this thing behind." She fled alongside Gwen, letting her Lucario leave the Guzzlord with a dragon pulse as a parting gift. [break][break]

Shattered glass painted the floor. She stepped on an unfortunate piece and sucked in a breath. She didn't want to disturb Gwen's reading - she wanted Gwen to connect the dots here on her own. It would reward the young scientist and help her feel more confident in her abilities to assess situations. Confidence would get the girl to leave the crutch of those Rangers and set off on her own for once. It would bring her into Ameena's grasp. [break][break]

So she easily worked a shard of glass out from her boot, letting Lucario hit a heal pulse on her foot to close the bleeding wound. She straightened up and turned to Gwen lightly. "What have you found?"

TAGS – Gwendolyn Conway [break]

NOTES – [break][break]