This woman was a warrior. Ameena watched open-mouthed as the woman pulled a blade and drew the Vespiqueen's attention long enough for her pokemon to strike. The Vespiqueen was gravely injured, but she still commanded her army of combee to descend on all of them. "Imprison!" Ameena cried out, and her Gardevoir obeyed, imprisoning the Vespiqueen in a psychic cube. The imprisonment impaired her connection with the bees, leaving the angry combee to hum without attacking, buzzing in a staying pattern. [break][break]

Ameena sighed and stood, careful not to bump into a combee fluttering beside her. "That was brilliant," Ameena praised, gaze flickering between the Vespiqueen that was slowly losing consciousness under the stress of her wounds and the knight in shining armor who had quickly put the swarm down. "Are you apart of the spa package?" [break][break]

She smiled, only teasing. "I apologize for the trouble. I did not realize I would need a security team or a robust squad of pokemon just to enjoy some PTO." Gardevoir gave her a wary gaze, aware Ameena had a penchant for fraternizing that got her into trouble about half the time.

TAGS – Rhea Armistead [break]

NOTES – BEES![break][break]

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Ameena hurried away from the creature as Kepler's pokemon worked on destroying it. It was easy to choose to flee over staying any longer, evidence be damned. There would be more trips, more time, more stuff to snatch and grab and study. "We can return with better equipment to take some samples back. For now, our lives will suffice." As she spoke, more fused monsters started to come from the abyss. [break][break]

The abyss. This place was beyond cursed, and she didn't even believe in those. She felt better for coming here with a partner, as she had almost come on her own to avoid dealing with someone else's sensitivities to the deep sea. But even her prior experience hadn't prepared her for this. She felt nausea build at the sight of the creatures while they came closer. [break][break]

"Gardevoir, teleport us back to the rift," she demanded, letting Gardevoir take them all to the beginning of the deep sea as they could access. Dewford was on the other side. "I am glad you are competent outside of the laboratory. Once the area is more understood and tamed, we can approach it more effectively as scientists."

TAGS – kepler brueshaber [break]

NOTES – lessen the load[break][break]

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[attr="class","itemcolname"]ultra deep sea

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[attr="class","itemcoltexttit"]STAGE: CONTROLLING

[attr="class","itemcoltext"]The mental anguish rises to unbearable levels. As the Eternatus core whirs, the fleshy walls begin to swarm with pink eye-like shapes. Still, through these translucent barriers, you catch a glimpse of a nearby planet. One that looks suspiciously like the one you all live in—except that a large portion of it seems covered in land.[break][break]

You must escape with your gathered material. Your ally or allies may be incapacitated by the paranoia settling in their psyches, or perhaps, the eldritch mutations beginning to metamorphose their body or bodies.[break][break]

Depending on how much your characters have mined, you may need to lessen your extracted load to ensure successful escape from this wretched place. After all, the horrors that reside here may make chase.

A symbiotic relationship was a hell of a theory out the gate. She had figured the ultra beasts to be just tools. Hers was grown from an egg, so she thought it avoided Eternatus' influence for that reason. Perhaps, the UBs controlled their actions but were protecting Eternatus as an instinct for their own well-being and survival. Symbiotic... yes, it was a very intriguing theory. Gave both parties more autonomy, though just as she thought it, the UBs seemed to flee. [break][break]

"Do you hear that?" [break][break]

Something long, dark, and littered with masks she associated with the Yamask found in her homeland Galar. "What is that monstrosity?" Instinctively, she knew it was not a real pokemon in the sense that the imperfect forms Ditto took on were not real. These were constructions of the mind, or some sicker force at work. [break][break]

"Do not go near it," she warned hurriedly, keeping her distance as it started to move closer to them. Good ol' Ultra Deep Sea, keeping her nightmares alive and fueling further ones. She was distinctly unhappy to realize she would inevitably see this guy in her dreams and consequently her dream journal. Her telepathic communication with Gardevoir had the psychic using imprison to keep it in place. Still, the scientist in her wanted to get closer to examine it, and the soldier in her wanted a tactical retreat.

TAGS – kepler brueshaber [break]

NOTES – battle a fusion[break][break]

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[attr="class","itemcolname"]ultra deep sea

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[attr="class","itemcoltexttit"]STAGE: CONDEMNING

[attr="class","itemcoltext"]Eventually, the Eternatus core expels enough energy to cause the designated trainers experience extreme distress and fright. At first, they may point out things, Pokemon, or people that do not exist; however, over time, their hallucinations begin to manifest into reality.[break][break]

The Poison Tera Crystals glow bright as all manner of terrible things appear, drawn from the conscious of those affected by the Eternatus core. Eventually, these manifested figures will expire, disintegrating into nothing but residual Dynamax Energy.

She loved dark humor, but before she could respond to his own commentary, she found her head pounding. She rubbed at her temples as his pokemon generated protection. "Good call," she praised. The pressure of the environment was punishing. She also knew that the deep sea was prone to creating hallucinations, which she had been traumatized by too many times before. [break][break]

It was timely, too, as an onslaught of venoshock suddenly struck them from a blindspot. Nagandel and Nihilego then rushed them and surrounded them. Gardevoir escaped the protect and used mystical fire on the surrounding pokemon, the mystic nature of it pushing past the environment of the sea to burn them. One Nihilego got her with a power gem, though Gardevoir quickly returned to the protection of Kepler's pokemon and used healing pulse on herself. [break][break]

"Very aggressive," she observed. Nihilego didn't normally rely on a straightforward assault like that. Nagandel did it to protect their kin, but she didn't suspect there was a nest anywhere near where they were. "Eternatus influences their behavior in such odd ways. My own Nihilego is far more passive." She didn't study pokemon behaviorism, but for once, it seemed to be a substantive study. "We will need to work quickly to avoid further attacks. I suspect these swarms act as antibodies." Did Kepler know just what Eternatus was?

TAGS – kepler brueshaber [break]

NOTES – heal/support[break][break]

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[attr="class","itemcolname"]ultra deep sea

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[attr="class","itemcoltexttit"]STAGE: COMFORTING

[attr="class","itemcoltext"]As materials are mined and gathered, the designated trainer(s) will begin to experience heightened anxiety and fear. The walls around you are slightly translucent. They are fleshy and pink, pulsing with energy ever so often. Through them, you can view the great starry fields of space.[break][break]

Threats may begin to encroach upon this chamber. Nihilego, Poipole, Naganadel, and mutated Pokemon who have found themselves unluckily teleported here.[break][break]

The heightened mental anguish may also take a toll, requiring healing or barriers against assaults of the mind. However, there is limited time to mine. What will you do?

She had been to the ultra sea countless times. It was a source of wonder and a source of fear. Learning of Eternatus alongside Amor had been horrific. At first, they'd had no name for it, just the knowledge that the sea was actually contained within a living thing. Now, with time, distance, and knowledge, she held less fear for the sea but more apprehension than ever before. [break][break]

So, she was happy to have a partner. "How are you holding up?" She asked her fellow scientist, who she had yet to work with. Ameena's area was dream research, and she was under the impression he did something like physics? His expertise would be better applied, but her experience with the sea would help, too, she was sure. [break][break]

The poison tera was overwhelming as they moved closer. "We can handle it," she assured with utter confidence. If all she had faced had not killed her yet, this visit would not. "Are you good to continue?" She didn't want a negative answer, but it wasn't worth burning a bridge if the younger scientist was unable to continue. She liked networking with the Rocket scientific community, and one excursion wasn't worth a potential lab partner.

TAGS – kepler brueshaber [break]

NOTES – take the brunt equally [break][break]

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It's true. He has shown more interest in her dream research than she has in his shadow pokemon. Her smile comes easy as she accepts the implicit invitation to bug him about it. "So what is going on with that shadow collection of yours? Have you divined the secrets of the universe from them yet?" Light and barely teasing. She demands those secrets from her research, but his seems more practical in every way compared to her pursuit. [break][break]

"I have yet to find one in the wild." Her gaze falls on her Gardevoir who is letting a Pawmi poke her. Ameena has to imagine it reminds her of her Ralts kin, as the Gardevoir isn't one for soft spots. [break][break]

Ameena used to be able to say the same, but getting close to the likes of Amor and Lulu over time has made it harder to think of Rocket as anything other than... exactly what she wanted, in Hoenn. Researchers without worthless ethical quandaries and countless competent people. It was easy to ignore the ugly sides of the organization. "All I know is that they can sometimes result from Nihilego poison, though I cannot devise why. My own Nihilego's poison just seems to irritate and, well, poison its targets."

TAGS – Cillian Quinn [break]

NOTES – catching pawmi[break][break]

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Worry furrowed Ameena's brow at Gwen's confession about doing what felt right. "What you do, the Ranger work and the expeditions into the unknown and the caretaking at the Draciary, it does not resonate with you?" Purpose was a feeling, contrary to what most people felt. It was not a goal or a consequence. Ameena's desire for vengeance was a consequence of losing the most important person in her life unjustly, but it being a purpose was her reaction to it. Her interest in the dream realm was a consequence of it being the most likely solution to her problems, but it being purpose was because of her feelings about it. [break][break]

"You will feel purpose, not accomplish it. If the things you do now do not feel like purpose, you must change the way you think about them or change your choices until you are aligned with purpose." Those were the only two options. "I feel our trips to ultra space are a good choice to serve my goals. As a scientist, few explorations evade that feeling."[break][break]

She saw now just how lost Gwen felt. "If you want to take the stress of decision away, then do not make decisions yourself. I would be happy to employ you as a lab aid, where what you do with your time is assigned to you - and you do not need to stress making the wrong choice." Such freedom by restrain was a common feeling in the military. Even Ameena had enjoyed temporarily taking a backseat to making big choices in her life, until it became clear that she could leverage it for revenge. [break][break]

She put a hand on Gwen's shoulder. "I do not feel lost because the destination will always be there, even if I do not know that is where I am heading." Additionally, she felt none of her time was wasted because she would get a second chance at everything once she figured out the dream realm. She would enter a different reality with her living, breathing mother. "Take some time to think what I have said over." Rotom buzzed behind her, growing irritable with the lack of technology in the room for it to invade.

TAGS – Gwendolyn Conway [break]

NOTES – [break][break]

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