As a scholar of dreams, she understands the mind to be more important than the body, to be one with the soul, to be the only constant. If she can enter an alternate reality through the dream realm, she is putting her mind in an alternate body. This means reality is inherently changeable by the placement of consciousness. This means that the reality around her is only one of many. And it means, in reality, seeing Montgomery before she was able to slowly reveal her Rocket status on her own terms, after pulling him from his pursuit of justice, is the worst possible outcome in terms of League intervention. [break][break]

But reality is changeable. It is not as important as the mind. So when she whips her head around to see him, her visible mouth opens briefly in shock, twists to a smile that utterly betrays her, and finally lands on forced displeasure. She drops the body instinctively. Her mind does not care for this reality; it does not care for the political game she has spent countless days agonizing over. It cares for him, and unfortunately, reality dictates that if Montgomery insists on stopping her, he has to be put down. [break][break]

She cannot access the dream realm without Rocket's aid. She cannot have Rocket's aid while allowing a Leaguer to continue to foil her. [break][break]

It's not the right move, but she must play things coy, to have one final taste of their game before it is over. "Oh, was I loitering, Deputy?" She regrets it immediately. [break][break]

The tone isn't quite right. It isn't light enough. The moment isn't light enough. War is a wet blanket, after all. And it is one that extinguishes the illusory flames of her civilian persona. She has no choice but to render him unconscious and hope he cannot remember her part in this Rocket invasion. She should have asked for an opportunity to explain, but her opening gambit is chosen. And it carries none of the sweet reward of their usual song and dance.[break][break]

TAGS – Montgomery James [break]

NOTES – Ameena drops the body of the officer she was dragging and regrets what she says immediately.[break][break]
10 MP per IC post in your prelude thread.[break]
50 MP have your character reflect on why they're fighting/reflect on their loyalties.[break]
50 MP have your character make a regrettable decision.[break]
[ incorporate the tension of identity in your thread ]

Her instructions were clear. Insert herself from the west and incapacitate as many people as possible to ensure the League cannot mobilize forces to swarm the observatory. [break][break]

Some could criticize her non-lethal approach, but dead were dead. It was far more effective to poison or sleep League soldiers, as their collective delicate morality would force them to triage their troops and waste precious time and resource. She had done plenty of work in addressing her weaknesses like becoming a better battler through spars with both Amor and Zev, but her strengths had only grown. Tactics and warfare were bread and butter to a veteran commander like herself. So she readily decided on the strategy of dreams to hold down her area of Mossdeep, and she had readily assured her superiors that she could defend it without any allies. Put bodies elsewhere. We have less of them than the League, she had insisted.[break][break]

Frankly, it would be a waste to have someone so versed in sleep, dreams, and the effects of psychic-moves on people and pokemon do anything but render masses unconscious. And her counterpart, the brilliant Lulu Flint , was the one who encouraged her not to doubt her path of dream researcher despite the millions of other avenues demanding attention in Hoenn. When Ameena had feared Eternatus so much she was willing to put her own research down, Lulu had talked her off the ledge. Lulu, who had invited her into Rocket and graciously connected her to their resources, was the very driving force that had kept her from turning her back on her life's work.[break][break]

It was easy work, then, to peer behind the edge of an evacuated home and release Musharna to put to sleep two League Officers and their respective Arcanines with yawn. The Musharna's dream mist traveled slow but was remarkably effective after years of training, and it took only moments for all four of her targets to fall to the ground.[break][break]

She wished she could spare the time for Musharna to eat those dreams, but they have far too many bodies to take down. She broke from her cover to begin dragging the Officers from the road and to the back of the house properly, as the roads were too visible and would make it easy for Leaguers to follow her war path in knocking out the island.

TAGS – Montgomery James [break]

NOTES – Musharna put two NPC Officers and their two Arcanines to sleep. Ameena began to drag their unconscious bodies to the backyard of a house bordering the path.[break][break]
10 MP per IC post in your prelude thread.[break]
50 MP have your character become inspired or consoled by another writer's character (tag them).[break]
50 MP have your character recall a past thread or event that they have participated in or not (link the thread).[break]

Rubber gloves? [break][break]

It was a saving grace she had brought them in light of the activities planned for tonight. She was a risk-taker when it came to her pokemon, sure, but she wasn't going to handle Xurkitree-charged batteries without any PPE. "I am not sure I like where this going," she said with more amusement than hesitation. She put the gloves on. [break][break]

"So, you do want to use the Xurkitree? As connectors?" Had he come to the same conclusion?

TAGS – Kenjiro Yamada [break]

NOTES – HAYWIRE GENERATOR (COC)[break][break]

He came prepared. "What a good crew you have there." She liked his idea about the lightning rod ability. She supposed they could use Xurkitree and its wire body to more easily transmit electricity from the pokemon to the batteries without worrying about accuracy or about the impact of the attack damaging the battery before it can absorb the electricity, but she also wanted to see what conclusion Jiro would draw. "I guess we will have to see how the batteries fare, hm?" She was certainly interested. [break][break]

Since she had little to offer with her too-powerful pokemon, she'd have to settle the score by taking him and his pokemon out for dinner. Well, if he was successful.

TAGS – Kenjiro Yamada [break]

NOTES – HAYWIRE GENERATOR (COC)[break][break]

Ameena couldn't fight the laugh at his imagery. A flash bang would be something. But she had no emotional attachment to her pitch, so she was open to other ideas. "What is your plan, then?" She was happy to pursue something else, but she had only brought Xurkitree for the deed. She had many pokemon, but electric ones were in short supply. She preferred to attack at a distance with a psychic type and hadn't had enough time to stock up on pokemon that cover other typings.

TAGS – Kenjiro Yamada [break]

NOTES – HAYWIRE GENERATOR (COC)[break][break]

She couldn't help but the smile of amusement at the sight of a second Xurkitree. They'd had the same idea, it seemed.[break][break]

"I have come to the same conclusion." She was less excited about that aspect. It was a good thing to have powerful pokemon like Xurkitree, but it seemed to be hindering them. "Perhaps, if we load all of the batteries up, the electrical charge will split. There's plenty of conductive wire here." Electric energy and related physics were not her field of study, but she suspected that putting them together and linking them would create a larger capacity which could, in turn, take the higher immediate charge.

TAGS – Kenjiro Yamada[break]

NOTES – HAYWIRE GENERATOR (COC)[break][break]

Hmm. It seemed she should not have left the excessive vetting service to only tech employees. Clearly, the support staff like cleaners as himself were in need of a thorough background check. It left her wondering if she needed to up the surveillance - which felt like a waste of resources - or employ more pokemon to monitor the site. [break][break]

In any case, the problem at hand was mostly solved with Mark's quick help. She would only have the extermination left. [break][break]

"I insist on payment," she assured, "and no need to flatter me. But if you are really interested, I would be happy to put you down for a sleep study." She preferred willing volunteers over the ones abducted, but with the coming war, it would be easy to do so without risking a lot of heat. "You could see how my Porygon manages the dream data, if that is what interests you. I like to share." She preferred to have fellow Rockets involved for preventing this kind of leak scenario, among other reasons. [break][break]

"I appreciate your work today. Please do reach out if you ever need my assistance." She couldn't say if he would need research assistance, combat aid, or the financial support of a CEO first, but she owed him, so anything he needed would be his.

TAGS – Mark Cunningham [break]

NOTES – bond bridge[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Good. Ameena didn't want bloodshed on their side. In-fighting would hinder the war effort, and the last thing she wanted was for it to drag out. War was a tiresome marathon. It would only drain Rocket resources and, consequently, those she could contribute to her research. It was a distraction. [break][break]

"Nice work," she praised as they left Jayden Cross' sight and were officially free of their tasks. "I have to ask, though. If I had chosen a full-on attack on those guys, would you have had my back?" He seemed resistant to battling, though in the scenario she offered, she couldn't imagine she would need help with those fools.

TAGS – Yuan Wright [break]

NOTES – [break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

The combat application of knowing such things at a glance wasn't perfect, but she could see now that he had really meant it when he said some folks weren't meant for combat and could contribute in other ways. Still, she had meant it when she said all Rockets had to be able to defend themselves. The organization was unlikely to summon soldiers to the labs, but it would summon scientists to the battlefield. War was like that. [break][break]

"Well, I would be lying if I said I did not find it amusing. An application of your engineering knowledge, hm? You are quite unexpected." Really, she found him hard to predict in many ways. "I think that is a good strength."

TAGS – Yuan Wright [break]

NOTES – [break]Bf_Foxqq[break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"Thanks." She accepted the kit and got to work, holding a bandage to the wound to stop the bleeding. Their pokemon continued to wail on the car as Ameena waited for her blood to coagulate. She was grateful to not have blood as thin as her father's, who struggled with any kind of wound. With the blood slowed, she used first aid spray to clear the wound of any potential harmful bacteria. Then, she wrapped her arm with a new bandage. "No need for the healing wish. Some old fashioned triage should do the trick. Sometimes, people react poorly to a pokemon's effects." She had received many headaches from her psychics and their movesets.

TAGS – [break]

NOTES – ghost fireheart | mission[break]nSSi3SHl[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Ameena came to a sharp stop before some spikes. They would've punctured her boots and forced her to leave the safari early. She hissed with distaste as magearna came close and started to investigate. The steel pokemon had paid no attention to ground hazards. "Take it out, whatever it is." Ameena stood still before the spikes and waited. The Mageanra went off into the bushes and a quick scuffle was heard. Magearna floated out of the bushes, victorious, only a few moments later. A Qwilfish hung from her hands.

TAGS – [break]

NOTES – prem safari | catch![break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"Oh," she said breathlessly as the world blurred into place around her, "this one is new." The dune sprawled around them as far as the eye could see. She was confident it was no place on their planet, though it was a pleasant sight. The simulation gave the benefit of no real sand getting tracked on the way out, which she could appreciate. [break][break]

There was a troop on their side and one coming their way. Interesting. The simulation enjoyed war settings, it seemed. She didn't hate them, though this one was less indulgent than some of the others. She turned to Jayden with curiosity. "Have you used an Iron Treads? I have not tried to use these paradox pokemon just yet." They were odd and unnatural, but she suspected they were plenty powerful. She had not seen them in combat much at all, so it wasn't a priority for her to claim one for her own use.

TAGS – jayden cross [break]

NOTES – Let the enemy come to you.[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]