Brilliance and insanity lived at the same address. It was difficult to parse where he was leaning as he suggested death was a limitation to overcome. But if she was being totally fair, she herself was trying to overcome death by accessing alternate universes via the dream realm, so perhaps it was hypocritical to suggest he was any worse off than she was in terms of ambitious projects. [break][break]

"Fear exists for a reason. I get the impression you concern many of your colleagues." In fairness, again, she had also alarmed Makoto during their RKS visits. But she did find herself more grounded in reality than he was, at times. But he also seemed more willing to accept things at face value, and she still couldn't wrap her head around much they had witnessed together. [break][break]

She smiled at his final remark, though it wasn't necessarily kind. "Sane people tend to not announce it." They had no reason to defend their faculties, of course. But scientists were always pushing some sort of boundary. [break][break]

"So, how do you determine a project is worth your time?" If there was anything she wanted to learn from him, it was how his cost/benefit analysis worked for research. It would help her understand if it was worth it to try to collaborate with him on his own projects, or if she would ever be able to persuade him to assist with hers.

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

[attr="class","pkmn"]

The slow-building smoke and overwhelming scent of burning flesh flooded her senses as the door slammed open into the two guards. As she clutched her bleeding arm, she couldn't help the smile that crossed her face. For her professional demeanor all the way through promoting to brigadier, there was something dark and visceral and satisfying about a good fight. She hadn't wanted a face to face showdown with Kaur; for his cowardice, there was something far more satisfying about seeing him bleed out where he thought he was safe. [break][break]

She spared a glance at the screens beside her, seeing a swarm of activity in nearly every room. She wanted to relish in the panic and uncertainty, but their own fate was uncertain if they overstayed their welcome. She would have to see if the footage could be captured, if the remaining guards hosed down the burning shed and salvaged the data. She wanted to see Kaur's mother's reaction. It would be worth far more than any emblem or medallion marking her presence. [break][break]

The clock was ticking. "Exfil, Kirlia." She stepped closer to the door to be in effective range as Kirlia summoned the psychic energy necessary to teleport all of them out the shed and miles from the property.

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

[attr="class","pkmn"]

For all Lulu joked, Ameena really had been making the rounds with the upper echelons of Rocket. She knew the head scientists, had visited Area Zero with Cillian, and had even gotten someone knocked off her hit list with the help of Zev's expertise. Consequently, her right arm was visibly bandaged as the bullet wound healed, but it was a very minor setback. And here she was, about to seek out yet another big fish in the Rocket pond. [break][break]

She knocked on Elisabeth's office door, mindful of her racing heart. She was eager to discuss the memo she had gotten scraps of. The implications of dual avatarship were not a source of interest for Ameena, but the presence of Tapu Fini was too good an opportunity to pass up. While Ameena was owed no such information, her delivery of scientific data from excursions and her own sleep studies had shown competence and a willingness to deliver what Rocket asked for. [break][break]

She identified herself at the door: "Ameena Abadi," though she couldn't be sure Elisabeth would know her name if the woman hadn't been talking to Amor or Lulu lately, both of whom were Ameena's most frequent contacts.

TAGS – Elisabeth Fiorelli [break]
NOTES – [break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Ameena looked through the binoculars as a series of Galarian Yamasks floated through the city street in front of the morgue. They were captured pokemon, but the owner of the morgue left them out at night to discourage anyone who would try to rob the place, based on their intel. [break][break]

Dusk had fallen, and the duo's mission to capture Galarian form pokemon for the black market was approaching its deadline. "This is not my kind of work," Ameena confessed as she offered the binoculars to her colleague, "but it is more fun than I initially suspected." Black market dealings were a little interesting, as she got to see what was in demand, and the work tended to be easy. It grew her list of successes with the organization, which couldn't hurt. [break][break]

"They are very aimless spirits. I think we can approach now. No one appears to be around." [break][break]

She stepped out from the alley, signaling her Espathra, Edith, to swoop in from high ground and pluck one up in her beak. "Ripe for the picking..."

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

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Azelf.[break][break]

His resume grew by the minute. That he was so casual about all of it made his analysis of threat levels all the more daunting. "Unown did not strike me as significant combatants." They were like an alphabet if the alphabet was more runic and cryptic and otherworldly. "Good to know I should run for the hills if I see any of them with an Unown," she commented with mirth. [break][break]

His logic about people was sound. People were easier to kill than gods, by default. But there were more people than gods, and more diversity in skill and thought. People were predictable up until they weren't. "What do you mean by 'only certain creatures can kill it?' What do we know this being is weak to?" [break][break]

Really, every conversation with a head scientist left her with an acknowledgement of a new threat. They were on all fronts, and she had no idea where to put her priorities. She couldn't blame the upper ranks for disagreeing on what to treat as a top priority when there were so many moving parts and interested parties in Hoenn. It was like chess, if chess had countless players and no one knew exactly what each piece was capable of. "Knowledge is power. We should be interrogating Galarian royalty or finding DRK Triad bases for information on Eternatus." Indeed, she was ready to consider Eternatus as a real a threat as a gun to her head.

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

[attr="class","pkmn"]

She couldn't help the smile from imagining him as a grunt. This was evidence that he might be sentimental. More interestingly, his device for multiverse travel was not totally in pieces. His use of different sources of energy was intriguing. "Do you have a component that moderates the input of energy? I fear such a portal would be nearly impossible to sustain." The work was hypothetical - at least, it was to her, as she had never tried to put multiverse travel into action, unless the RKS simulation was tapping into the multiverse. [break][break]

She knew large bursts of energy could open space distortions, so it wasn't impossible, but keeping one open would require so much careful planning. She was happy that she only ever dipped her toes into the multiverse theories via the dream realm, which could be its very own thing depending on who you asked. [break][break]

"When you say false titan..." She had heard of Howard, knew Makoto, but had yet to meet Tempest. She wondered how many pour souls he normally looped into his experiments. Wait, was she one of them?[break][break]

"The more I learn about you," she said in a long-suffering tone after he non-chalantly discussed the summoning of gods, "the more concerned I become."

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

[attr="class","pkmn"]

The little Ranger was cute. Ameena really, really wanted to get inside her subconscious mind, but it would have to wait. [break][break]

She spent too much time walking herself through the kind of sleep study she could intrigue Gwen into accepting and missed the warning signs of her partner's interaction with the Charjabug. She bit back a sigh. The Ranger force was filled with young, young trainers who had more curiosity than sense. On one hand, it made her feel more confident about Rocket's plans to take over the region, but it also worried her about what it said about Hoenn that so much of their frontline was filled with near-children. [break][break]

In fairness, the youth would inherit the earth and all that. It was good for them to be so active and curious about the world. As a scientist, she couldn't critique them there, except when it got them in trouble. "Tell me, do you think-" The inquiry is cut off by the beeping of Gwen's device. [break][break]

Ameena looks up to see it: the gigantic Xurkitree looming over them. She can't imagine how it snuck up on them. Several sparks of electricity flicker off of it, high energy releases that fade out just before hitting the ground. Around them, Ameena realizes belatedly, are pokemon that appear to be dead. [break][break]

"Unfortunate."

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

[attr="class","pkmn"]

A deity without a domain? It was unprecedented. All gods held dominion over some aspect of the universe. "If Eternatus has no domain, where has it been?" The poison connection was interesting. "Do you believe it is a poison type?" It looked otherworldly. It was hard to determine from the sight of it out of a sketchbook. Deadly wasn't a type, but it looked like a harbinger of death. [break][break]

"What source? You speak with oracles?" The skepticism came out sharper than intended. She had, in all her time, had countless negative experiences with people who claimed some sort of psychic ability. It was her due diligence in her studies to seek them out until they proved themselves phony. But really, who else could craft such storytelling? The fourth? That seemed like the work of an oracle. [break][break]

He had yet to lie to her, but the way he was discussing things, it was possible he was viewing things with a confirmation bias. "You believe the DRK Triad is completely separate from this threat?" She knew little about them, all things considered, but their focus on space and time manipulation seemed in-line with a deity that wanted to claim their reality as its own. "I know Lulu is concerned about them..." Lulu was an especially trusted colleague. Ameena had started taking the Triad more seriously since Lulu last mentioned them.

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

[attr="class","pkmn"]

True, the truth she had been learning about Hoenn's odd proclivities had been much more extreme than she had imagined. Everywhere she turned, there was some other mystery. There was some other encounter with something mythological or reality-warping. [break][break]

Still, she hadn't expected his lab to look at it did. "Why the Vespiqueen?" She had gotten her hands on her own Porygon that might be helpful for future simulations, but she hadn't put it to work just yet. She wasn't terribly surprised by the screens, but the bugs? It wasn't what she expected him to study. [break][break]

"What kinds of things do you build?" She had a large space with the basement underneath her company. It was quiet enough she could conduct experiments without any distractions, and she had plenty of resources because of the company on top. She was considering using AbCon to scout potential sleep study participants, but it was a risky affair if she took the study too far.

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

[attr="class","pkmn"]

She hoped he was lying and appealing to some inflated sense of grandeur. Somehow, however, she doubted that was the case. She felt herself drawn in as he thumbed through his sketchbook. This Eternatus was too distinct to be some imagined flight of fancy. It struck some internal cord in her. She felt in her gut that this was real despite a lack of concrete proof. [break][break]

"I have never heard of it in all my time growing up in Galar," she said quietly, as if speaking loudly would summon it. "If information on it does indeed exist in the vaults of the reigning family, then we should make a trip." She was not afraid to return to Galar, though she had told herself she wouldn't unless she was knocking off her list. Too many men had to pay for their part in her mother's passing. [break][break]

She wanted his theories, and she wanted his assistance if a heist was the right move. "Tell me."

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

[attr="class","pkmn"]

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"]