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her swanna

is the last to land. while still on air, she'd been trying to get a feel for the wind's direction for a safer landing; a

tailwind

. once she finds it, one more flap of her wings would make it easier for the rest of the party to move forward.

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rhian actually ventures a glance after the

metal sound

and is immediately blinded by the light of a thousand suns—worse, by that of the beast's

flash cannon

. "it's pointing its combustion chamber at us," she'd warn leo, excited and terrified at the same time.

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their pokémon are quicker to react than she is. with reason, too. all she can see is white. if not for the fact she's still sitting atop leo's metagross, she probably wouldn't have made it in time.

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wherever 'down' is, it's cold. maybe it's been cold for a while and she only notices it now that her vision's failing and her other senses are heightened. she trembles. instinctively, she leans into leo's hold.

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"leo, sleeping beauty must be really mad. maybe she needs her beauty sleep." the problem with that would be, of course, finding a way to amplify her pokémon's lullabies so that they could reach the huge metallic princess.

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the swanna can't simply stand by looking at her shivering trainer. the space is cramped, so she opts to execute a less grandiose version of the

defog

from way earlier.

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light-colored wisps form on the tips of her feathers. almost like sound waves, they spread. the

aqua ring

still surrounding her expands and, on the way, catches the little droplets that her wave-like wisps managed to condense on their path.

[break][break]

water may not be the best shield, but they do have the alakazam's

reflect

and metagross'

protect

. now they'd also be saved from a cold.

[break][break]

"i hope grandt is okay." it's only a whisper, but she swears she can hear another softer

metal sound

nearby that is so perfectly timed it feels like an answer.

[break][break]

somewhere out there, rhian's klefki renews his

crafty shield

at the same time he pushes ALEXANDER STONE towards the hole digged up by Dallas Rhodes's sandslash. despite his looks, the klefki turns out to be rather strong. probably the results from carrying the keys of entire generations in rhian's family.

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the movement doesn't go unnoticed by ALEXANDER STONE's gallade, who then closes the gap. a couple steps back and he jumps down, its

wide guard

still aimed towards the incoming attack.

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gifting

a gacha skrelp to kyle lopez.

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gifting

a gacha archen to Alexei Ivanov.

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skrelp

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archen

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her studies

don't cover the makings of a bomb, so when she sees the smoke rhian starts to fear the worst. her eyes grow big, confused at... a lot of what's going on, actually. first and foremost, the bomb. the smoke trickles out slowly, which she assumes to mean they would have a bit of time before it triggers. probably not enough to warn anyone else.

[break][break]

second: roto loto took refuge in her bag a while ago now. she doesn't doubt it was to call for help, but so far none has arrived. she fears they'll be too late.

[break][break]

what would linger on her mind the most, though, is this realization: people could derive fun from ruining others'. it's true that the boy seems excited. rhian attributed it to his personality at first, his way of coping with a life of forced crime even. this illusion is broken by the older man's words and she's left unsure of what to believe in anymore.

[break][break]

she's carried from arcanine to noivern, but she doesn't seem to notice it. rhian remains silent, staring blankly at the small device planted on the generator. all might be lost but she's still scraping the depths of her mind for a way to save everyone.

[break][break]

even when her bag is being ransacked, she doesn't answer. the rocket would only find notebooks, a box of poké puffs, a small clefairy-shaped coin purse and a turned off pokénav. her rotom hides inside, only making it appear like it's out of battery.

[break][break]

when reinforcements finally arrive, she's sobbing on a particularly soft patch of grass near the entrance to new mauville. three beeps rang but the explosion never came.

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they're in petalburg

on a leisure trip, but she supposes league officer isn't a position she can ease herself out from at will. that goes for both of them, actually. when the old lady asks them for help, rhian can't find it in her to say no.

[break][break]

even when the old lady gives them a smile and simply leaves. just up and leaves them to it. off to who knows where. her smile falters.

[break][break]

she turns to leo. he's giving her the lead, it seems.

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"well, these ponds are really big. i don't know how we could cover them all." her eyes scan the ponds' rather large perimeters as she speaks. "maybe we should lure the thief somewhere?"

[break][break]

rhian begins pacing around the pond, trying to find anything else they could use to find and capture the magikarp thief.

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landon gray & Rhian McArthur

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yes to all of the above!! rhian has this thing where she'll fervently believe in her friends and their capabilities, but not enough in herself, so i can definitely see her trying to give landon pep talks and cheering him up and sometimes probably motivating him to make bad decisions. like going on dangerous missions with her. i'm totes looking forward to these two being friends!

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i was gonna suggest that, since they're pretty close in age, they could have been friends a long, long time ago in the "i'm four years old and we're playing together so you're my best friend now" kind of way because i swear i thought landon was around rhian's age. maybe i'm going insane. but that's okay, i just had another idea:

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i couldn't help noticing that landon's from vermilion city and guess who (i assume) is also from there? @leonardo.

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you know how sometimes you're in a group of friends who are all in the same career or business and they start talking in their profession's lingo, accidentally making you feel left out? i imagine that may happen a bit, but at least rhian will always come around to try and bring him into the conversation. i won't speak for leo's attitude, but i think leo could have been the one who used to know landon from kanto, and also the one who introduces him to rhian, and they could all have a very wholesome friendship.

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if leo isn't from vermilion city i'm sueing.

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rhian laughs

. "not really," she admits. rhian still doesn't do too well with ghosts, and the only reason there's one in her team is because at the time she didn't realize the mimikyu was one—for sure, she thought hero was a fairy. "it helps that both times i was accompanied by the same person, though."

[break][break]

a special circumstance? rhian wants to ask more, but it seems she doesn't need to. her feet go still as she smiles and nods along to isra's explanation. the blonde may not be the most patient of listeners, but she does her best to wait until she feels she's done to speak up.

[break][break]

"that's so admirable!" she exclaims at last. if humanly possible, her irises would be shaped like stars.

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rhian is moved by the woman's strength. it's no easy feat, to escape from that type of boundaries out of one's own volition. in rhian's case, it took her aunt denouncing her dad for child neglect, until she got custody and brought her to hoenn.

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"you're truly amazing, isra. i don't know if i could have done what you're doing. surely you're doing better? i wouldn't have guessed you were sickly as a child, looking at you now. how did you get o—"

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isra would be saved from rhian's further questioning. she stops because a thought occurred to her. one that she can't conceive possible. "does that mean you've never had a sleepover?"

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rhian takes in

his words slowly, as if picking them out with tweezers. until this moment, the tragedy in kanto had always been distant: word of mouth, contemporary history, the news. despite hailing from a city bordering kanto, her family managed to keep her sheltered enough and shipped off all the way to hoenn before the rocket takeover.

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"you've been there," she breathes out, awestruck.

[break][break]

with the emergency case tended to, the queue returns to its first-come, first-serve basis. the man's pokémon disperse, but rhian only has the one. the blissey follows his lead towards a group of ailing psychic types.

[break][break]

out comes the smallest of giggles, equal parts nervous laughter and honored smile. "oh, i'm not— i'm not in the force." the smile falters for only a second as self-consciousness takes over her features. most people here would have been league officers, wouldn't they? "not yet, anyways!"

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a gardevoir is in the middle of removing the coagulating blood from a duosion with

telekinesis

when they get to the scene. the sight of a duosion bleeding internally is one rhian's sure she won't forget, maybe as much as the boy and his pikachu. she can literally see the blood expanding inside the translucent green. a moment passes before they can

heal pulse

.

[break][break]

"how was it like? kanto."

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the gruesome setting doesn't discourage her. she may not feel like smiling, but looking as grim as the patients surely felt would only lead to excessive worry on their part—which in turn could result in their situation worsening.

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what could

all this commotion be? that is what rhian wonders as she tries to make way between rows and rows of bystanders. being rather petite, her attempts end up being just that: attempts. she's about to give up when suddenly the sea of people opens up.

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"huh?" is her natural first reaction. from drowning in the midst of a horde to being the last one standing, rhian looks up in confusion. somehow, she's found herself in the spotlight.

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oh no, how embarrassing!

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she tries to scuttle back into the crowd, but a man on a director's seat calls her. the only way she knows it's a director's seat is because it's literally labeled that, word for word on the back. "i-i'm sorry!"

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the stutters begin and don't stop. she feels like a kid caught stealing cookies before lunch. slowly, she answers the man's call. left foot, right foot. with every step, the attention she's being given grows more overwhelming.

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"w-what, me? b-but you already have that pretty lady over there, don't you?" the woman in question looks like an older, prettier and more mature version of rhian. she can't begin to understand why they'd want her too.

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things start looking steep when she's told they would be using both of them in their music video. rhian realizes seconds too late that, despite being so close to the scene, the woman had until then been only an spectator, like she hoped she could be again.

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sparking for that ssr @leonardo

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they're falling

. it doesn't take a genius to realize that. meteoro's erratic flight pattern has her heart thumping in her chest—and then she sees those

leech seeds

again! "odette, we need another

hurricane

! leo, can you guide her?"

[break][break]

keeping them out had been simple enough when they were in a static position. they aren't anymore. if they wanted the

hurricane

to coincide with their flight path, they needed the physician's guidance.

[break][break]

she's afraid they would need to keep renewing the

hurricane

to keep those strange

seeds

away, but when she and leo make it to the top of the dome, the existing ones all fall around them and their pokémon in a neat circle. no more seem to be thrown their way, at least for now.

[break][break]

"is everybody out?" rhian shouts at the group below.

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she remembers the politoed, trapped in the center of the dome, and releases her klefki. "grandt, i think there's someone inside, go help them. please hurry, and be careful."

[break][break]

the klefki follows his trainer's instructions without delay. he sees more than one 'someone', however, which would make things confusing if not for the fact one of them seems to be staying behind. the jangling sound of keys prelude a

crafty shield

around ALEXANDER STONE, his pokémon, and of course the klefki himself. until they made it back outside, the klefki would stay by the gym leader's side.

[break][break]

if there was anyone else in their close vicinity, they'd find themselves surrounded by a fuchsia shield as well.

[break][break]

with that out of the way, the klefki summons a semicircle of

spikes

wherever he sees vines. the entrance created by another's

eruption

remains free for their escape, but the still growing vines would have to get through additional obstacles if they wanted to keep growing.

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leo has

different plans for them, it seems. rhian is reluctant to leave the group behind, in good part because one of their pokémon seems to be in not immediate but at least eventual danger. "we'll try to figure something out for your politoed," she reassures its trainer as she's hoisted up and onto the metagross.

[break][break]

with some luck, they'd be able to inspect the vines more closely from the air without fear of getting hurt.

[break][break]

first, though, she should help leo's alakazam deal with those vines. her swanna goes at them with a series of

air slashes

.

[break][break]

perhaps as an after effect of the

gravity

field, meteoro has trouble rising up into the air at first. she looks down at the metagross, worried, and calls for her sylveon's help. "princess?"

[break][break]

the sylveon concentrates again. she doesn't have to focus on figuring out what exactly it is the metagross is trying to do. lending a

helping hand

is easy enough this time—the metagross just needs a light push. it moves.

[break][break]

"thank you; you can come back now." though, rather than only her, rhian recalls both the blissey and sylveon to their respective pokéballs.

[break][break]

---

[break]

if they manage to fly away:

[break][break]

her swanna and leo's alakazam take off right after them.

[break][break]

the goal was to get far away enough to be out of harm's way and get a good sight of where they stood versus the sleeping beauty that apparently wasn't so asleep. at least that's what rhian thinks. when they almost fall back down due to the effects of

gravity

returning, however, they're forced back.

[break][break]

"wha-what was that?

gravity

again? meteoro, are you alright?" rhian brings a hand to leo's elbow, trying to steady themselves.

[break][break]

when the metagross makes a u-turn and manages to get back on track, it becomes apparent that the effects of

gravity

were only

disabled

in a small area. their next objective is set. "can you bring us closer to the top of the dome?"

[break][break]

she knows it may be dangerous, but rhian wants to have a closer look at the vines. if anything, she trusts the metagross to

agility

them away.