Ameena came to with a pounding headache. She immediately realized she was not in her robes, and her second realization was that she was somewhere strange. Her third is heat on her face from the confines of a mask. Her hands jolt up to her face, touching it and then the chain that keeps it there. The chain and mask do not budge. [break][break]

"I must be dreaming," she says breathily. She moves immediately to the edge of the cell to overlook the wide circular area before her. There is no doubt in her mind this is a prison. It's circular shape screams Panopticon, but she knows of no structure in Hoenn built in this manner. [break][break]

A guard walks by. It takes her confused mind a sluggish moment to place why they look so strange. [break][break]

Megalopolans.[break][break]

Her time in the Ultra Deep Sea might not prove advantageous. She has never encountered one herself, though she knew what they looked like after Amor Rose and Aurelie Lefevre talked about the Megalopolans. Ameena turns to see two other figures in her cell baring masks that must be like her own. The mixture of known and unknown makes her confident this is a dream. As such, she needs to explore it fully for her research. "I am Ameena. Are either of you familiar with this?" She tugs on the toxic chain keeping her mask affixed.

TAGS – Diana Cavendish luka chêne[break]
NOTES – [break][break]

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Entering his space was an opportunity to understand him better. He had held his own well over their UDS visits, though she had been concerned about his stoicism in the beginning of the horrors they witnessed as she feared it meant Hoenn held nightmarish events for everyone who dared to look with open eyes. The RKS simulation had already soured her taste for blind exploration. [break][break]

She had been stuck in her thoughts in his absence, nearly flinching as he re-entered. She wasn't sure he was more approaching with the suit off, but the invitation to this space was as good as she was going to get, she was sure. [break][break]

She sat. His observation made sense, as she had certainly be unprepared for UDS and had found no readings for it. "I am still stuck on the evidence that that is... that there is something living in there." Or rather, that they were in something living. Pokemon could not be that massive. It would have been discovered by now, absolutely. [break][break]

Still, his wisdom about believing the impossible rang in her ears. "What do you make of what we saw?" Maybe he had processed it more thoroughly than she had.

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

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Ameena followed based on Seraphim's voice, but once the figure was pinched, the mask slipped. Ameena took a long look at the pokemon, studying its features. She did not have a photographic memory of all pokemon, but she was so sure this one wasn't real. She had never seen it or anything like it. Humanoid pokemon were of special interest to her, so missing one like this... [break][break]

The scene descending into chaos. Everyone wanted this pokemon's head on the wall. [break][break]

"Enough!" She cried, throwing her pokeballs out on the scene to allow her Espathra to attack and Munna to put the angry crowd to sleep. The two of them kept the crowd mostly at bay. "This simulation is either engaging in a creative exercise or it knows something we have no scholarship of," she explained hurriedly as she committed the unmasked pokemon to memory. She wanted Seraphim to also take the opportunity to take the potentially real pokemon in before the simulation closed.

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[attr="class","itemcolname"]legendary event

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[attr="class","itemcoltexttit"]OGERPON 1-A

[attr="class","itemcoltext"]The figure seems too scared to move as you unmask it. The mask itself is heavy and crystalline. Instead of a human, you see a humanoid Pokemon. Its eyes are bright yellow with white stars for pupils. A leafy cloak frames its cute face, and its smile is fanged.[break][break]

Suddenly, the festival erupts into chaos. The crowds scream and point at the creature. Horrified at its appearance, the festival-goers call for its removal—and death.[break][break]

The crowd descends upon the Pokemon, calling it a brute, an ogre while you watch or attempt to stop them.

It is gentle, the return to her current mind. She has further questions about the scene, about the simulation using visions and the mental investment of psychic types despite it itself being simulated -- why go through the extra step of a psychic type as a device? -- but none were vocalized. [break][break]

She was struck by Makoto's expression. They looked... well, it reminded Ameena of one of her last memories with her mum. That kind of reminscience that was so far out of reach but so close to the heart. No time or space could create enough distance to make it untouchable. [break][break]

Gently, she said, "I think we have a learned a lot from this run. Are you ready to wake up?"

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[attr="class","itemcolname"]divination event

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[attr="class","itemcoltexttit"]MYSTIC POKEMON 1-A

[attr="class","itemcoltext"]A meaningful memory pulled from your past is played out in your head. It's vivid and real feeling as if it were in ULTRA HD 4K. You take some time to catalog every detail and every scent as if it they were new discoveries. Like the forgotten voice of a lost loved one, the scent of an old childhood bakery... all epiphanies of specifics.[break][break]

However, you're still uncertain whether this is an accurate snapshot of your past...

She gave the DRK triad more weight at Lulu's response. Ameena was not an expert on them, but she did think anyone with the means to alter space and time -- and inevitably, there would be more forces capable of this than they knew of, as was the natural course of things in the eccentric region of Hoenn -- would be interested in abusing something like the RKS simulations. As it was, she had heard there were some DRK triad groupings in Area Zero, though she had not encountered any. The next time she caught wind of them, she would need to see if her colleague was available to investigate.[break][break]

The concept of expansion was... interesting. What could be gained for expanding the universe? She suddenly itched for notes on Giratina and Avatarship related to the deity. [break][break]

"With how things are developing every day, it will not be long before we gather more evidence about what is happening. The consequences keep making themselves known. Area Zero and the tumorous Tera growth is just one recent mystery that we get closer to understanding. It could be a piece in a larger scheme, or a separate one altogether." Indeed, Ameena could not get over how stretched thin the research community felt despite their massive size here in Hoenn. There were too many questions. [break][break]

"If everything is about power, I can only hope we understand what power is derived from an expansion before it reaches a boiling point." She did not fear the unknown, as a scientist, but being unprepared? The thing of nightmares.

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

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[attr="class","itemcolname"]historical event

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[attr="class","itemcoltexttit"]SLATEPORT INVASION 1-A

[attr="class","itemcoltext"]You join the blitzkrieg. Regardless of whether you are actively participating in the invasion or pretending to be a Rocket, you discover how aggressive this iteration of the Hoennian branch is. However, you notice how tame the conflict is compared to modern times.[break][break]



There is no mega evolution. No Z-moves. No Illumina or Shadow Pokemon running rampant across the battlefield. Slateport City descends into chaos as evacuations and retreat are ordered.[break][break]



Silas Blackwell, the old Rocket Boss can be seen leaving the shipyard, his presence still intimidating in its simulation.[break][break]

The scene fades to a busy, chaotic Slateport. Classic simulation, giving a mundane scene and immediately following up with something vicious. She was becoming numb to the tone shifts, even if she couldn't stop the biological reaction of adrenaline as fighting broke out around her. "Ah, a little war for us researchers, how kind. It makes me wonder how similarly Kanto went down." Honedge comes to her side and she wields the blade with ease, jumping into battle with the training of the Brigadier she used to be. [break][break]

It is a little charming to revisit this aspect of her life in the simulation's isolated environments. She was a hell of a soldier, but she always had to work four times as hard because of the nepotism claims, even if being the first woman general in her family made her relatives hesitant to accept her promotions to begin with. She would never return to serve in Galar, but dabbling in warfare after studying it for so long as just as rewarding as seeing statistics of a study that had once only been theoretical.[break][break]

"How do you feel about this being a pocket universe?" She wonders if Lulu is charmed at the prospect of them being sent to other realms in times of catalyst and crisis, or if the repercussions of it outweighed the novelty.

TAGS – Lulu Flint [break]
NOTES – join the invasion[break][break]

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The way he carried himself confirmed what he was saying. Coming from the military, she largely knew killers to either express excitement over the prospect or a sense of duty and inevitability. People who had enough years under their belt and enough exposure were more likely to treat death like a coffee run. It was unordinary but still a skill so honed it could almost be automatic or habitual if the individual had lost their sense over time, though Ameena knew only a small amount of killers who could maintain such cool without rendering murder an act without nuance and thought. [break][break]

And while she would want to put him in this category based on his tone and ease of conversation, she felt there was another layer there, something she could not name and could not even recognize. Something existing in the negative space of him, or perhaps something more abstract that could not be looked at exactly but could be observed in the peripheral if it could be observed at all. [break][break]

She was not a woman of conjecture, however. Evidence displayed time and time again that Rocket collaborations were fruitful, and Rockets only offered their talents when they were truly in possession of them. "I believe you," she said confidently. She knew better than to ask about that Kantonian service, as she'd yet to meet anyone who served in Kanto that hadn't had a horrific experience, but the curiosity almost beat out her manners. [break][break]

"It would be a privilege to see your work. Do you prefer encrypted data or physical intel?" Her company made the encryption easy, but she would be equally thrilled to look over what she had on Kaur and collect its physical weight in her hands.

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

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"That rod just needs to be planted on a surface of the chasm that connects to the ground. It will emit a sound related to the seismic activity it is detecting. When the pitch is high and the beeping is frequent, an earthquake is about to occur, and that is how we will know the unusual deity-looking pokemon in the chasm are coming." Because earthquakes predated their arrival, seismic sensors were the only way to guarantee some sort of warning to their arrival. [break][break]

It was perfect for establishing a trap, though Ameena had no interest in catching volatile pokemon even if Kazuya was confident they could be trained. She had no further time for domesticating truly wild creatures. [break][break]

"The gloves, however, will read energy instead of seismic activity and tell us if the paradox pokemon are sapping or generating more tera crystals." She put her glove on the glowing crystal beside her, one that was emitting a brighter light than the others in the area. The second she touched it, the glass reader on the back of her glove shattered. [break][break]

This tera crystal was dangerous. If the theory about the paradoxes being attracted to tera was true, there could be a horde on the way already. "It is in our best interest to leave. Now." She was not going to be taken out by a stampede of all things.

TAGS – Kazuya Yoshida [break]
NOTES – [break]SM9LsTSR[break][break]

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