[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]even barriers cannot stall the inevitable - it comes as it always does... with bloody teeth and a foreboding shriek. her expression twists further into rage, ugly and ravenous like a starved dog.

"only one of us will die," she hisses into a pause, eyes narrowed as they dart between howard slayte and Shred Zeppelin. "and it will not be on this side."

they can't... not yet.

there is still work to be done. they must persist even through death.

with this concept in mind, she begins the art of pulling the fabric of reality apart. it makes a sort of half-shattering sound, as if a window has broken and glass begins to spray outward from the impact.

and her hand goes in first, seeking to intercept and pull PENELOPE LIVY in a different direction - out of the way of fists and into the in-between existence of space. a moment later, illeana steps fully into the rippling rift and she all but pushes PENELOPE LIVY through the other side. a bright blue sky and rolling clouds greet them overhead, though the depths of area zero still screech below them.

"sorry."

her tone is loose, not entirely apologetic but enough to pass.

"they're up here somewhere - i can still feel them a little."

their ripples in space... do they know she can see it?

despite herself and screaming for control, she gives into the urge to call out to howard slayte again.

"don't forget this."

and control snaps with another ball of pink energy being tossed toward the ripples. if it's actually them, she can't fully tell, but the attack still goes arcing forward all the same.

oxlyan|P
howard slayte Shred Zeppelin PENELOPE LIVY
az excursion: confrontation.

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]regirock basically slinks out of the depths of earth and she tenses at the mere sight of it.

a titan... tightly bound to that which dwells in the darkness of snowpoint temple. the stories from childhood still feel familiar, even after being eroded slowly by time.

"um."

why is it coming out now, though?

despite herself, she feels a little safer once palkia is released from the confines of a pokeball and unfurling its wings at her side.

"do we... turn back?"

it hasn't attacked yet, but she fears the worst will come to fruition all the same.

olcRi_5z
CIAN MAHER
gc excursion: research station.

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]she bristles slightly at the concept, shoulders tensing immediately.

"is that not what you're trying to do right now?"

her eyes cut into him, sharp ruby edges seeking skin.

"some things are better left dead, but not all of them - not that one."

ALEXANDER STONE, for example, is better alive. the tension between matias and herself, though, exists as a different beast entirely.

f80fyp1K
MATIAS SILPH
az excursion: cull the herd.

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]she blinks, repeating the name he drops in her mind until it sticks in barely there familiarity.

"i'll have to reach out and ask to see those results, then."

perhaps between GIDEON GRAVES and herself, they could put their minds together to find a probable theory...

he mentions an iron thorns and despite herself, her nose scrunches slightly in analysis.

"iron, you said?"

like, made of metal?

"it might be a different kind of... substance, maybe - not like a pokemon's fluids, but more like a machine's."

AH4Z693D
ollie morales
az excursion: geological survey.

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]"kinda wild and crazy..."

why do they all have these chains on them? do they feel suffocated, like they're slowly slithering toward an early death?

the head scientist and her eevee are careful to tread lightly around league headquarters, eyes darting around to keep from being caught off guard.

and when an arbok comes too close, the shiny eevee lurches forward to bite it before it has the chance to strike. the arbok hisses and tries to move, but it flinches into a stillness.

"gotcha!"

illeana draws four small translucent barriers into place, the spatial confines forming a makeshift cage for the arbok to rest in...

pp: reputation snake

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class",”illeana i”]ugh, she hates bugs…

the ultra beast ones, however, seem to be in a tier higher than normal creepy crawlies. the spatial dragon by her side seems to agree, somehow, as its tail flicks in irritation.

together, the duo cut through the horde as the bugs look to overwhelm the city of petalburg. she grimaces through it all, trying and failing to ignore the way they hiss as pink energy rips them away. reality distorts slightly, but otherwise, the spatial pair seem to make some progress…

at least, it feels like it, but by the time she cuts down a few more bugs, she’s ready to call it quits because she swears she just saw one of their lifeless bodies still moving…

pp head

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]her expression twists into something ugly, something grotesque and unbecoming and divine. the old gods grow angry, restless, and she feels the turmoil as easily as breathing.

control... it's flimsy, nothing more than a gossamer barrier against primordial, archaic existence. she can't hold back the inevitable - she can't stop the water once the dam breaks.

and yet, she still bristles at the concept of losing the control she's never had. she still looks like a snarling beast all the same, staring at howard slayte as if her sole existence is an entity of rage.

"don't speak on things you couldn't even begin to fathom."

around them, the earth shudders its way into an early death. palkia finally releases itself from the spatial confines of its pokeball to block a stray rock from crushing its avatar. and when the dragon comes, she visibly relaxes as if the weight on her mind, on her shoulders, is a little less when shared with her deity.

PENELOPE LIVY's voice brings her snapping back into the moment, then, and she takes a quick step back. her arms fly out and a translucent pink barrier forms. it slowly snakes its way across their side of the battlefield, stretching and winding until it's a makeshift spatial dome to protect both women from the crumbling earth.

"watch yourselves," she calls to them as she begins to track her way back toward PENELOPE LIVY. "i'm coming for all of you."

a threat to the region is a threat to the universe is a threat to her. and she might not have any semblance of control, but spite and bitterness still holds enough to override what she lacks.

"let's go."

she's unable to transport them without the full spatial dragon, surely, but the protective spatial barriers now in place will provide a safe enough cover to escape unscathed.

8m8P1Wtb
howard slayte Shred Zeppelin PENELOPE LIVY
az excursion: confrontation.

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]while he can't say for certain, there's still something useful to come out of this...

for he guides them toward another area a little bit away all the same.

"okay."

she follows his instruction and begins to take a few steps toward the direction he points.

somewhere beyond, a deep rumbling echoes throughout the chasm. it causes her to stumble slightly, eyes widening.

"what was that?"

8pi9TE1|
CIAN MAHER
gc excursion: research station.

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]thankfully, his blissey assists in placing the sample into the container without difficulty or spillage. she grimaces slightly during the process, but otherwise offers his blissey a grateful smile once finished.

"i'm not sure - maybe identification of which species it came from?"

or...

"or where the species came from, perhaps."

the paradox pokemon that call this place home are still an enigma, existing in realms of possibilities they don't quite understand yet. in time, she believes they will. this sample should help, at the very least.

TqUccI0R
ollie morales
az excursion: geological survey.

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]"you're being influenced by something that isn't real."

her eyes almost look angry in their pleading search, imploring him to see reason.

"that timeline isn't the same as ours. you would never receive the same result as you did."

stubbornly, she folds her arms over her chest.

"to see that same result, you'd need to change the past and unless you're hiding time powers, it's impossible."

MATIAS SILPH

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]her expression crinkles slightly in contemplation.

the past is a tool to be better in the future, sure, but the allure of going back, of changing it still persists throughlut the entirety of humanity. she wonders if it’d ever cease.

”we’ve learned enough lessons from the past to let it rest.”

forge a new path forward instead, perhaps. dwelling too much on unchangeable instances lost to the passage of time would never bode well.

”better to focus on the future, i think.”

iCeV3r0y
MATIAS SILPH
az excursion: cull the herd.

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]megalopolan… would they ever stop finding evidence of the ultra space explorers in every rift? is there a corner of this world they haven’t touched?

she takes a few tentative steps forward, fingertips beginning to spark with pink.

”do you think it crashed?”

brought down by something in this environment, maybe?

she turns her head to steal another glance of alex, hoping he has some sort of answer though she knows he won’t have more than speculation.

ALEXANDER STONE