The question feels like a trap. Still, Theo's been amenable all day, so she takes a moment to consider the question fully before giving out an answer. She didn't want to seem defensive, nor like she was just throwing him a line. [break][break]

"My research has taken a backseat in favor of gathering more pokemon and training those I have. Since shadow pokemon are more ferocious, I worked with Cillian to change my Unown, and I have been looking into finding pokemon with those toxic chains." She shook her head a little; he didn't seem to be asking for that information. [break][break]

"I do not feel prepared. But if I did feel prepared, that comfort would be a weakness. I am no stranger to war, as a veteran, but I have yet to experience it in Hoenn. And it is ever clear to me that Hoenn is not like the rest of the world." In more ways than one.

TAGS – THEO BECKETT [break]

NOTES – dw / completely randomized types [break][break]

[attr="class","itemcolicon"]

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

[attr="class","lgdcol"]

[attr="class","itemcoltexttit"]VERDANTURF 1

[attr="class","itemcoltext"]After Slateport, Silas Blackwell's Rocket attempts to invade Fallarbor and Verdanturf. However, it is in Verdanturf where the first iteration of Team Rocket's Hoenn branch falls. By Evelyn Silph, Fernando Silph, and Kyle Lopez's intervention, SILAS BLACKWELL falls.[break][break]

But not yet. In this simulated universe, you encounter the final face-off in the battle-torn town. In Fernando's hands, he holds a JIRACHI WISH TAG.[break][break]

What do you do?[break][break]

Hawkins' interpretation was interesting. So far, she had visited the simulations with fellow scientists of the opinion that the simulation taught them something about the multiverse. That the Triad had some hand in it and there was some way to extract intel about them through visiting the simulation. That the simulation held secrets they were still discovering, so the creators of it knew something the rest of the world did not. The green masked pokemon in the simulation that wasn't seen until the Penitentiary, for one.[break][break]

"Meaningless in the sense that we cannot change the simulation? Or in a broader sense?" [break][break]

The world blended into another scenario.

TAGS – Hawkins [break]

NOTES – Stage 2[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

The sleeping, mold-colored Trapinch was easy to walk past. She had little interest in such a weak pokemon. They transformed into something decent, but she had little time for raising something. It might be worth something on the black market, but there were more valuable pokemon in the safari. She hoped to see a Popplio. Those had a better value on the market because they were such natural performing pokemon.

TAGS – [break]

NOTES – warden sz | skip[break][break]

The Penitentiary unfolds around her, the universe seemingly filled with creases until it flattens. She feels far too heavy in a paper world and far too contained by paper cages. The prison is fickle, thin. She reaches out to her bars and tears. [break][break]

The bars yield beneath her warm hands. [break][break]

Her cellies are not here. The others in the prison are not here, either, yet she feels a distinct presence. The warden of their segment stands behind her, in her cell, but it is not the god she met that day. It's Espathra. [break][break]

Despite being identical, she knows this is her first partner, not her current. [break][break]

The toxic chain around it looks heavy. It has the stance and stature of a deity but the chain weighs it down, brings it back to earth. She wants to hold her partner again, but just as the thought to reach out comes to her, the bird's neck snaps from the weight of the chain. Limp.[break][break]

d r e a m – G 25[break][break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

It hadn't occurred to her to call in the calvary. But Kanto had always seemed so... disconnected. Another world, too distant from their own. [break][break]

Sigilyph used gravity to tap on the Unown and garner its attention. It barely moved, then disappeared. [break][break]

It reappeared at her side, and behind it rested a Lunatone of distinctly different coloring. "Were you hunting?" Perhaps it gravitated towards abnormalities like itself. She would have to test it several more times before solidifying the conclusion, but it might be something of interest to Cillian. She centered her attention back on Theo. "I appreciate your insight. And I appreciate you humoring me on this search. It appears Unown was hard at work."[break][break]

Though she'd have preferred its presence over the sudden disappearance. Communication was lacking, unironically, from her member of the divine alphabet.

TAGS – THEO BECKETT [break]

NOTES – dw / completely randomized types / catching lunatone[break][break]

Her office has felt charged lately. [break][break]

It isn't the most protected space nor the most strategic to be holed up in. In fact, she feels like a sitting ducklett. Her office at the top of AbCon was a microcosm of her public-facing identity, filled with overflowing bookshelves, framed newspaper clippings of her company's charitable actions, and display cases of gadgets her team had developed and other small idiosyncrasies to sell the image of a tech CEO with a background in unrelated scholarship, that of dreams. Someone who came from passion projects to projects to serve society as a whole.[break][break]

It used to feel like playing pretend, and now it felt like a prison of her own design. She had sat where she was sitting now to meet @tempest and discuss the dream study, and now she was here again with another of her victims. Who knew how we would react? How much he had figured out? And the optics of it... would this appear to be just another betrayal to Rocket, meeting with Matias? [break][break]

Yet again, she could not reveal her cards. She leaned against her seat and waited. He would have to set the tone. And as she felt her secretary's knock, she pulled herself together as best she could. "Let him in."

TAGS – MATIAS SILPH [break]

NOTES – [break][break]

She had been so focused on leaving that she hadn't noticed it. [break][break]

Sigilyph dropped a reflect only moments before the explosion went off. The psychic screen blocked the debris and much of the force of it. Ameena could sense from Sigilyph that this wasn't a planned attack or an ambush. As the dust cleared, it was obvious that the Minior on the ground had just been trying to defend its territory. She had no pokemon like it, and it looked far too interesting to pass up. Ameena plucked it from the ground, a new addition to her collection.

TAGS – [break]

NOTES – warden sz | catch[break][break]

Anticipation is the word of the day. Ameena's been dying to see the one and only Naomi Sato about her Unown. This was overdue; the Unown had come across her path as an unusual palette, which was intriguing enough. Then, she had successfully rendered it shadow with Cillian Quinn 's experiment. While it hadn't been a smooth process, she was excited about the result. The behavior of the Unown needed to be studied further, but she wanted to learn from the expert. [break][break]

"Dr. Sato?" She knocked on the office door, sparing a glance at her odd Unown.

TAGS – Naomi Sato [break]

NOTES – canon connections[break][break]

Ameena was running out of time. So much for savoring the moment. [break][break]

"Kill it," she instructed as she stepped past the water type. Her phone was pinging her about some update in the lab. She had but a few minutes before she needed to take her leave. Sigilyph used air slash to knock the Horsea in the distance. "We need to be quick." Sigilyph hovered close.

TAGS – [break]

NOTES – warden sz | skip[break][break]