Malcedena? No, she hadn't heard of it. And did he say witnessed creation? Her suspension of disbelief could only extend so far. For all the craziness the region held and for all the desensitization Hoenn residents had towards the most groundbreaking experiences, this was just too far. "You expect me to believe you witnessed creation?" He had been rather reliable so far, and he had never needed to artificially inflate his accomplishments to earn her respect. [break][break]

"Has anyone seen this fourth creature before? Outside of this 'parallel universe?'" Forget the fifth, forget the UDS. She couldn't dedicate more time to discovering what it was if Rocket couldn't prioritize it, and she was more floored at the concept of a fourth unnamed deity. Further, could the parallel universe have been a dream realm? How could he have determined twenty years passing? Who else was there that could corroborate the experience? [break][break]

Space-time distortions were real. Hell, she had experienced one in area zero. It was possible to lose time or end up in a pocket, but twenty years? And in a universe fighting against an unknown deity? "What other realm is there for a deity to reign over?" It didn't make sense. She couldn't wrap her head around any of it being true.

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

[attr="class","pkmn"]

He stood as a peer to avatars. It warranted a long string of questions, particularly because Ameena understood this avatarship very little. "Big shoes to fill when it comes to head scientists," she murmured. Indeed, she was feeling confident about not pursuing such a career path. She couldn't help but smile at his comment about Lulu; even she felt second to the other scientist, though Lulu had never gone out of her way to flex accomplishments or criticize the dead ends Ameena's reached in her research. [break][break]

"A tour would be excellent. Teleportation is not a problem." Her reliance on psychic types had left her building a quick tolerance to the disorienting impact of such moves. "I am so curious to see what you get up to. I could tell you have witnessed a lot of danger given your minute reactions to the upsetting visuals of the Ultra Deep Sea." [break][break]

The more she learned, the more she realized how chaotic things were in Hoenn and how quickly the people here got desensitized to it. "I am eager for you to bend my ear. I hope you will not expand your ventures into tall tales." She didn't take him for much of a liar, but it was helpful to gauge how he would react to such a comment. Though, based on his time in Hoenn, she suspected he had done all but arm-wrestle Arceus.

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

[attr="class","pkmn"]

She held her breath as Zev's hand landed on Kaur's shoulder. The duo disappeared, and Ameena's eyes flickered over the monitors until they fell on Zev in the kitchen. The sight of the blade biting into the man's neck was instantly burned into her memory; she wet her lips as if she could taste the blood that surged outwards. [break][break]

The chefs scurried out. She paid them no mind, except a figure came from the direction everyone was fleeing, and Zev should have had more time before a guard response- [break][break]

"Four o'clock!" She called into the mic, summoning her Kirlia from her pokeball as the Zoroark charged at Zev with Night Slash. Ameena scrambled for the words to instruct Kirlia on what to do and where to teleport to, but her voice tipped into a scream instead as a bullet ripped through her shoulder. One of the crumpled guards had woken and pulled his firearm without her notice. [break][break]

She clutched at her bleeding shoulder as Kirlia turned to the guard with mystical fire instinctively, though having a conscious and unconscious guard on fire drastically shortened Ameena's ability to stay in the closed room for long. "Keep them back," she ordered Kirlia, turning her face back to the screen. She would need Kirlia to teleport him out for exfil or remove the Zoroark if it was too much; regardless, the window to act and leave without being apprehended was closing.

TAGS – Zev Harcourt [break]
NOTES – [break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Ameena had, indeed, been making the rounds. "Slayte is another archeologist? I cannot stop running into them..." At least if she pursued ruins for her research, she had several experts to assist. She would prefer more scientists into energy readings and other studies closer to her own, but the diversity amongst Rocket offered its benefits, just not immediately. [break][break]

"A terrible ending?" She did not, in fact, brace herself.[break][break]

Regirock, as it was called, was a being of massive strength. Its odd and unusual eyes flickered as it wielded its strength. It picked Ameena up, and she screamed as she felt the crushing weight of its rock hands. She did not attempt to reach for her pokeballs. It would do her no good. Her mind fell into its animalistic, rudimentary survival-mode setting and did not remind her this was simply a simulation. Her fear was real as the Regirock crushed her completely.

TAGS – Lulu Flint [break]
NOTES – [break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Ameena was admittedly uninterested in the performance of her devices. She had a well-staffed R&D team to stress-test tech. She was watching Gwen rather closely, however, as the girl used her Magneton to impact the device's readings. In the blink of an eye, she and the Magneton were flying. Ameena's Musharna uses psychic to pull the girl from the pillar, leaving the Mageneton to crash into it and jolt the area into darkness. [break][break]

Instead of having the flickering of electricity above to give some lighting as they finished through the canyon, they had a dark sky and a stuck Magneton. Ameena released Kirlia who teleported to the Magneton and unstuck him from the pillar with further use of her psychic abilities. "Perhaps, we will leave the intervention of pokemon to me." [break][break]

The girl's vivacity and mind made her a tantalizing subject for study. Ameena desperately wanted to bring the girl to her lab and inspect her psyche further. "We are finally at the dead city," Ameena announced as several city blocks sprawled out ahead of them. The city flickered frequently with lights. Ameena got the impression there were infestations of bugs and electric pokemon abound.[break][break]

"Stay alert and detect what you can of wild pokemon. We are aptly positioned for an ambush." Such an observation didn't require military training, but Ameena's background in the service helped her stay alert for such poor positioning, always.

TAGS – Gwendolyn Conway [break]
NOTES – 04 experience a temporary, but devastating mass blackout.[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Ameena's two cell mates bear the same masks. She understands the other woman's confusion, though the boy speaks with some knowledge. "All over Hoenn?" Ameena tugs on her chain lightly. What interesting world building for a dream. Usually, they are more abstract and nonsensical. [break][break]

The bird pokemon is treated like royalty, Ameena observes as she stares through the bars. It is sleek and beautiful. It makes her think of her Espathra. The Megalopolan guards speak of wrong-doing, though Ameena took no part in any three day war. "Group punishment, hm?" Her amused tone comes to end as the guards come around with Mochi. The violence against the unknown prisoner doesn't phase her; she's dreaming of imprisonment, so it clearly won't be a fun time, though she can't determine what her subconscious wants to say. Having no prior experience with the mochi given how she was all but locked in her lab last month, she reaches for the purple treat with little hesitation and takes a bite. [break][break]

"It is pecha flavored." Her dreams are not normally so vivid. "It is not bad, Luka. And you, you should try it," she says to the other woman. [break][break]

The toxic chains change into more of a leash as tera shards fill their space. Ameena plucks one and inspects it. She last saw tera in area zero. "What use would tera be now?" She wipes the dirt off of it with her prison clothing. The fact that she had just witnessed some tera crystals, and just learned about living Megalopolans, makes her confident in the dream state theory, but everything feels so real. "Either of you recognize that bird?"

TAGS – Diana Cavendish luka chêne [break]
NOTES – 1) eats mochi and 2) cleans some shards[break]Rp5Euf4R[break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

The Megalopolan prisoners were news to her. As much as she instinctively wanted to jump on it, the way he had said it suggested they'd been in Rocket custody for a while. There was no way she would outperform the interrogators that must have already been loosed on them. She shook her head. No, it was a dead end. [break][break]

She agreed with his assessment of the threat. "Could only delay the inevitable..." If the threat was totally real, she would insist Rocket pause all research outside that regarding the dream-realm and space distortions; they needed to produce a way to escape this world, as it would be totally doomed if this gigantic pokemon rose. [break][break]

"What four creatures?" She didn't study religious pursuits, and so there were many deities she was unfamiliar with... Though, she kept hearing about different ones showing their faces in Hoenn, and it was soon becoming time to no longer tie such figures to myth when they were frequently in the flesh. "What are we facing? Is it related to... to what was in the Deep Sea?"

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

[attr="class","pkmn"]

When the door opened, Ameena was taken aback. It was still strange to see him so laid back, but even more... something about him seemed tender, perhaps. "Still at the 'Miss' stage, are we?" She arched a brow as she walked in. He seemed allergic to using her title of Doctor, but she had spent enough time to get the impression that this had everything to do with him and not much at all with her. [break][break]

"I was hoping to see more about what makes a Head Scientist worthy. I know you said the day-to-day is rather boring, but surely you have had some excitement lately?" If he only got out enough for some trips to the wilds, she had to wonder what he did about his personal projects. "Maybe even time for a social call. Some of you upper-echelon Rockets get a little strange around other people," she teased.[break][break]

The organization attracted just about everyone who had a goal that couldn't be achieved under the eyes of the law, and that included some extreme and unsociable personalities.

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

[attr="class","pkmn"]

The distraction goes off perfectly, though the older woman's flustered reaction to the escaped Dachsbun has her turning her face in the direction of Ameena's cam. "Arceus, that woman is his mum." Her surprise quickly transitions to bitterness; how nice for him to get to keep his family close. "Should put her out of her misery while we are here." But the indulgence of dark fantasies only lasts a moment. She pulls herself together and scans the scene. [break][break]

Kaur is alone, but there's no guarantee the scene with the Dachsbun will last long enough. She isn't sure he can escort the general out of there fast enough, regardless of if he maintains his disguise. "Kirlia can teleport in and cause a greater scene," she offers, knowing the psychic won't have the same protection as Kaur's mother's pokemon and that it spells out execution. But it would make all guards draw their guns, and if Zev gets Kaur away, his window of time is far slimmer due to their high alert.[break][break]

As she thinks of an alternative to secure his window of opportunity, Kaur's mum picks up her pokemon and refuses to give way to the security guards trying to pull it out of her hands. "Unhand me, you fiends! Leave 'im alone!" She fought to twist out of the guards' grips as they swarmed her. The other visitors were eating the drama up like the hors d'oeuvres.[break][break]

"Might be the best window," she commentated. She viewed the other monitors. A closet was closest, but it wouldn't have a camera inside for her viewing. "The door at your 8'oclock will lead you to a hallway for the help. You can get into one of the kitchens from that hall." The catering staff should mostly be out and about serving the food, but there might be a chef or two. Then again, the cooks were long-term staff of Raju Kaur for his safety, so she was confident they held no warm feelings for the insufferable man.

TAGS – Zev Harcourt [break]
NOTES – [break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"Only pokemon that can tolerate these extreme elements will be here. Think Aggron and -" A voltorb rolls into their path, angrily buzzing at their presence. Ameena sees it summon all of its energy in order to explode and rapidly releases her Musharna who uses moon blast to launch it into the air above where it explodes into a glorious but brief electrical catastrophe. The voltorb falls limply to the ground, and Ameena cautiously takes further steps forward before nodding approval to Gwen to continue walking. [break][break]

She waves off Gwen's question. "The entire area is volatile with the energy and magnetic fields out here. I think we should focus on its longevity in this environment. If it survives an hour, it will last anywhere." Which, of course, would be a nice feather in the cap of her development team, but she also already knew her technology could survive extreme scenarios. The Ultra Deep Sea had been particularly jarring, though this area was more surface-level about its danger. [break][break]

"If you brought your Magneton with you, it might be able to manipulate the magnetic fields and focus more energy on your device, if you want to stress test it." Regardless, Ameena continued moving forward. They would get into the abandoned city area in no time, and she was curious to see the electrical ultra beasts that wandered the city.

TAGS – Gwendolyn Conway [break]
NOTES – 06 involve the detonation of voltorb or electrode in some way.[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Ameena stared at the multi-monitor set up she had lovingly co-opted from the two guards currently unconscious in a puddle by the door. As a scientist, observation came naturally, but she found herself teasing a nail with her teeth as she followed Zev's movements. The manor wasn't excessively kitted-out with cameras, so she had a few moments of blindness. [break][break]

She followed Zev's eyeline as he reported Kaur was surrounded. Unfortunately, it was true. "He loves to talk about himself, so that must really be him. He is either separated from his Zoroark or it is near him on the floor." She looks over the people, but she doesn't have multiple angles of the center of the room; there are too many faces she can't assess. She can't tell if someone's expression isn't matching their body language or even the tone of the conversation. [break][break]

Kaur laughs, and the crowd around him follows suit. Her lip curls at the sight of him enjoying herself, but she forces herself to focus. "If we cannot locate his pokemon and separate it, it might be best to create a reason for the crowd to split. The older woman in the pearls has snuck a Dachsbun in her bag, there on the peripheral of the circle. No one is supposed to bring pokemon inside the manor, so enticing the pup out could cause a scene."

It was a security risk to have others' pokemon there, but whether the guards would accost the woman before the Zoroark reacted territorially was uncertain. Whatever the outcome, it would narrow down where Kaur's support was.

TAGS – Zev Harcourt [break]
NOTES – [break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]