Ameena's heart raced as he mentioned taking down the Ugly ward. She considered what to say, but then he mentioned rooming with someone who had tried to kill him before he defected. "It is hard to imagine you defecting into Rocket; you are so unhindered by unnecessary ethical dilemmas that I always pictured you as being born right in the break room." She smiled with teeth at the visual image of baby Amor in Rocket HQ. [break][break]

Really, he did seem emblematic of the scientific drive and accomplishments possible when one ignored useless sentiments. [break][break]

He rotated back to the condemning, and she swallowed before speaking. "Condemn is such a strong word," she began, waving her hand in the air dismissively. "But I did believe this was all dream given its absurdity, so please do not take it personal. As for myself, I am a little offended I was sorted into the Ugly ward without you." For obvious reasons. She found herself in a good mood with a familiar face and competent partner in crime for unravelling the hellish confusion of the penitentiary. [break][break]

She looked around as he offered sightseeing. "Of course. There is much to learn about the Megalopolans that I could not gather from their battered ship." A stroll offered more normalcy than she'd felt recently, and it was ideal to smooth things over in case Amor did hold the condemnation over her.

TAGS – Amor Rose [break]
NOTES – [break][break]

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"No need to wait," Ameena said as the Ranger suggested being a professor when she's older, "as you should put yourself on the path of professorship as soon as possible. What would you study?" More tech? Dragons like her Gishath she favored? Professors were a backbone of the world. Their mentorship crafted many great minds and started the paths of many trainers like the Elites and gym leaders. [break][break]

She wanted to study Gwen's mind sooner rather than later. She felt the young woman's ambition wasn't completely fostered yet, that the girl was holding back. It was most likely low self-esteem; this plagued many young women, and Gwen didn't have the discipline of the military to correct it. [break][break]

"I am surprised you do not have many friends. Is it possible you get by with just a special one?" For Gwen to be confident enough to take on such an adventure despite insecurity, she must have been encouraged by another party, or at least inspired by one. Ameena's hypothesis was working on several assumptions, but her knowledge of psychology was sufficient enough to warrant the guesswork. [break][break]

The machine buzzed with electricity. Presumably, power reached the outpost above. "We should return and secure the outpost as a camp for future visits. If, that is, you are interested in seeing a Xurkitree more safely. I am working on a strategy for a safe approach." And another visit with Gwen might cement the Ranger's trust in Ameena, giving her an opportunity to explore the Ranger's psyche.

TAGS – Gwendolyn Conway [break]
NOTES – [break][break]

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This region does not guarantee safety. No, nothing did. [break][break]

Even the most prepared can be overwhelmed, the most suspicious tricked, the most giving taken. There is no trait or combination of traits to guarantee safety. There are no guarantees besides death. Zev transforms, and Necrozma transforms, and the laboratory is suddenly a coffin. [break][break]

But she has Erebus, and she little interest in disappointing someone whose help she may need again. The Deoxys rapidly moves her from the Groundon's attack and launches a follow-up attack of ice beam. Ameena tightened her grip on Hanya's hilt and tossed her at Zev for the use of sacred sword. She focused on the appearance of another of her team, summoning Koffing. The gas pokemon prepares for the only move its ever been asked to use. [break][break]

She wasn't satisfied with survival being the benchmark. "Survival and victory are not always the same thing." She would never forget her lieutenant who made a suicidal play to buy her time. She had to fight to win; anything less was unfitting of an Abadi, and unfitting of the woman she wanted her mum to know. The Koffing used explosion.

TAGS – Zev Harcourt [break]
NOTES –

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Someone had foolishly scheduled the transport of poached Zangoose at the same time as the relocation of a batch of eggs. There were dozens of eggs surrounding HQ, but Ameena had centered her search in the courtyard, as she felt Zangoose would prefer natural hiding places over the more technical and inorganic spots found inside headquarters. [break][break]

"Not how you expected to spend a Tuesday morning, hm?" She picked up an egg with pink stripes and looked over to howard slayte, who had been roped into this search the second Ameena saw him walking by. "Might even find a valuable pokemon for yourself... though I cannot say I have any talent in identifying pokemon by their egg." [break][break]

She felt the pink and purple tones were most likely psychics, however, so she hoped to find more within the bushes and trees and benches.

TAGS – howard slayte [break]
NOTES – [break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Sure, yeah, there were gods running around all over the region. But not all of them bore such malice as this one, and she found it hard to believe any amount of training could prepare one person to defeat a deity. She could only hope to buy time. His question was interesting, though, and she was happy to share. She hadn't realized it was so secret, that Amor wouldn't show it off to just any scientist he collaborated with. [break][break]

"My collaboration with Lulu is obvious, but I have worked with Amor almost more than I have with her. He has caught me up to speed with many otherworldly threats, and I did indeed meet Erebus." She considered that perhaps the scientists of Rocket were not as open with the non-researcher members of the organization as they were with fellow scientists. She ought to record more of her shared work for Rocket files, as the interdisciplinary approach of combining her expertise with Amor's studies of space or Cillian's archeological background could be grounds for a breakthrough for some third scientist.[break][break]

The world shifted, putting them in her underground laboratory. She really, really didn't like the sight of Necrozma in her sanctuary. "It is not always obvious where research connects, but we can find a nexus of new information if we try." Deoxys flittered around Necrozma with unreasonable agility, but the otherworldly monster turned focus from it to the Corviknight, which it struck down with a powerful claw. [break][break]

She was being a bit hypocritical about not caring to fight Necrozma and learn. "I just think there are more interesting ways to interact with the gods than to fight them. The combat data... I just think it is less important than understanding what makes a legendary pokemon legendary. I am more interested on what is inside of them than what force they can exert."

TAGS – Zev Harcourt [break]
NOTES –

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His apathy, she wants to tell herself, is just part of Darkrai's influence on this simulation. That he isn't even here at all, and it's all a result of her own psyche fighting Musharna and Darkrai mist. But it doesn't matter. All that matters is the battle before her; how it got to be here is irrelevant. [break][break]

"Training," she repeats, "not a suicide mission." No single person could hold off a legendary, let alone defeat it. The haze around her shifts and distorts. Her Honedge appears by her side, ever loyal. She wraps a hand around her hilt, feeling much like a durant beneath a regirock. Her Corviknight appears in front of her. "What can I do to a god but taunt it?" Cora takes the cue and flies up, using taunt on the otherworldly intruder. [break][break]

"I escape the nightmare by waking up. Or killing myself. I am not made of the same stuff as this thing..." She thinks to what Amor Rose has said about this very line of thinking: that some of these otherworldly creatures might need something cut from the same cloth to be defeated. She thinks of his Erebus. "...But something is."[break][break]

And the Deoxys forms before her. Of course, she doesn't know what it can do beyond exert PRESSURE, which it does. And unlike Necrozma's sky-splitting beam, the Deoxys bears its chest to unleash a more reasonable flash cannon.

TAGS – Zev Harcourt [break]
NOTES –

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The sky yawns open, and she finds herself unable to fight a shiver. "Eternatus..?" She begins quietly, but no -- the demon that emerges is black, sharp edges, and looks so artificially inorganic that it sets off the prey instinct in her. No, this thing was not the large snake-like Eternatus but something wholly possessed of darkness. [break][break]

"Why?" She had not thought of Necrozma in years. Her time in Alola had protected her from the Sootopolis attack. Still, the symphony of terrified screams among the battlefield rival the worst nightmares she's ever experienced. This horror is too singular to stem from war, which encompassed one in a hopelessness that you could at least take some comfort in sharing with other survivors, that you at least trauma bonded with the debris of your community. [break][break]

His expression is burned into her mind. "Take it back," she demands, "put it back!" She wants to see the distortion close. She wants to see it close. She wants to see it close. Her mind, her psyche, it resists her urges. She knows, then feels, the absence of the gun in her hands. She has no sword on her hip. She was defenseless before the robbery, but it makes her feel smaller than ever.

TAGS – Zev Harcourt [break]
NOTES –

[attr="class","pkmn"]

The city had an abundance of light, people, and energy; it was a contrast to the isolation of the cells. The architecture reminded her of -[break][break]

"Oh?" She turned to see the one and only Amor, but she couldn't fight the sigh that escaped her as he confirmed her suspicion: that the prison was real. "I had hoped it was a dream," she muttered with little amusement. "Those creatures running the jail, I've never seen them. It is much like seeing that little green pokemon with the mask in RKS. I thought... this had seemed like that situation all over again."[break][break]

Indeed, it seemed like they were witnessing never-before-seen pokemon in the jail, much as RKS had given that masked one an appearance. For all the RKS had shown, it had seemed to be a reliable narrator of different multiverses - or something along those lines. She had many serious thoughts and hypotheses to share, but Amor had approached her light-heartedly, so she bit down the darker thoughts and aimed for levity: "How is prison treating you?"

TAGS – Amor Rose [break]
NOTES – [break][break]

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She took a long second before following him. Was he taking the slight so personal he would lead her into some trap? She had tried to persuade him she would not make him a lab rat, but would he extend the same courtesy? [break][break]

But the kitchen seemed safe enough. "Prodding feels a little heavy-handed," she rejected easily. She appreciated the fine collection of teas, but it seemed he had really extended an effort to cover his bases. It was amusing, then, to select the most basic black tea she saw. "I feel you might be reducing my countrymen to a flat caricature," she said as she pulled the box of tea out, "but I hope you think more highly of me than that." [break][break]

She started the kettle. "Cream and sugar will make it more palatable to you, but I think bitter makes an honest tea. It has a poor reputation, but bitter is what makes dark chocolate so spectacular. And dark chocolate is the superior chocolate, I assure you." Her current secretary shared the passion for it, so Ameena often found dark chocolate filled pastries or truffles by her desk.

TAGS – Amor Rose [break]
NOTES – [break][break]

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It was too early to call for success. [break][break]

Ameena had been too invested in the easy, fun mission and didn't hear the man until he spoke. She turned immediately, but it barely gave her time to school her expression. She went for something almost-confused, but pleading, like she needed him to help them desperately -- despite the visual evidence that they had literally netted up Yamask for air-transport. [break][break]

"Why, yes, Sir. We were minding our business and all of these ghosts began spooking us and our pokemon. They are just haunting the place," she said, clutching at her chest. "It has been dreadful." She hoped, as she spoke, Leilani would try to angle herself behind the man and hit him with the heavy net gun.

TAGS – Leilani Kalawai'a Montgomery James [break]
NOTES – [break][break]

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The girl bounced back from her prior apprehension to cheerfulness. It was endearing. "I suspect we may find a power source at the end of the tunnel," she explained. It was merely a hypothesis, but the folks running the station would need a consistent power source in the face of such erratic natural phenomena. [break][break]

It was the perfect opportunity to pick the Ranger's brain and understand her better. Whatever she found out, Ameena could use it for her studies. "So, what have you been up to? I appreciate your willingness to stress test the technology with me, but I am a little surprised you agreed. This kind of place seems like the kind of adventure you reserve for a fellow Ranger. And you strike me as a brilliant young woman, so I suspect you have no shortage of friends." [break][break]

The tunnel led to a white box with a pole that shot up through the earth, presumably to some location aboveground that then wired into the outpost. It had a switch, flipped to the off position.

TAGS – Gwendolyn Conway [break]
NOTES – [break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]