Welcome to Gaia! ::

As soon as everything seemed to be breaking up, Crystal was ready to bail and find herself a quiet area. Her thoughts were a roiling sea of frustration and anger, thoughts that she had intended to sort out on her own. The hybrid paused when Sol called for her though, trying her best to not look like she had just had her tail stopped on by something sharp. Trying being the operative word. Taking a deep breath as Sol passed her on his way to the stairs, she would silently follow, crossing her arms and wondering just what her teammate had to talk about.



Aile would also want to find some amount of solitude after everything, just to try and decompress. Watching everyone else go their separate ways, she would think for a moment before turning to Kayvaan. “...Hey, Kay. Go to the battle room floor. I’ll meet you there, just give me a moment. Poggle, you go with him.” The Nincada looked over his trainer’s shoulder before flying over to the Greninja’s back, who would jump and flail trying to get him off. After a minute of the bug clinging and refusing to get off, Kayvaan would begrudgingly relent and head up to the battle room, with Poggle riding on his back now. Maybe ten minutes later, Aile would arrive at the room in her usual clothes, motioning to follow her down the stairs. And as soon as the trio made it down, the ninja frog had a look of surprise on his face, staring at the surprise birthday Rayquaza jet..

“...Gre?”

“Yeah, I want to find the manual for this thing, and see if the guy who built this put in maintenance instructions. Considering we’re still not legitimate, we may still need this thing and I would like to attempt to keep it from exploding on us. Arceus, where the hell is Isaac when you’d need him…”

“Gre nin nin greja!”

“...Yeah, I flew it.” Aile shrugged, giving her ninja Pokémon a blank look. “Darts helped. But I was main pilot.”

“...Gre ja ni nin gre nin?”

“Screw you! It’s not like it was falling apart completely at the seams! And I flew it well enough, merci beaucoup!” Aile threw her nose in the air and crossed her arms, huffing. After a minute, she would relax again, shaking her head with a small grin. “Seriously, though, I want to see about getting this thing taken care of. Just in case. It gives me something to work on, too.”

Kayvaan, and to a lesser extent Poggle, would look at Aile with a good amount of concern. “...Gre,” he’d ask, softer than he normally would sound. The fact that his trainer wasn’t wanting to slow down started to concern him.

“It’s fine. I’m fine. We just need to get through this, one step at a time. Come on.” The woman would walk onto the jet to find the manual, Kayvaan and Poggle looking at each other for a moment before following her on.

"It is," Sol answered, pausing briefly to glance over at Reno. His trip up the flights of stairs wouldn't see further disruption. "Aden's explanation of the events were kept short and after things cooled down, let alone our time in Paldea, I didn't see much reason to inquire further. No point in causing a team-wide panic if there wasn't signs of anything to worry about, after all. Be it interdimensional dealings near impossible to wrap the mind around or finding out the goings-on of a mechanized hybrid with newfound freedom."

Getting to the door of the dining room, he'd open the door to immediately greet the trio with a sudden light from the windows on the far end, looking out into the rest of Route 111. The constant sandstorm of the nearby desert meant the sight left a bit to be desired, at least while there was still daylight. While some of the chairs were on top of the tables, a clear sign of their lack of use, some of them were around a few of the tables. Maybe some of the others had used the room a little in the meantime prior to the trial. Of any room in the building, it was perhaps the least touched by time or criminals aside from the ever-present foe known as dust.

Walking to one of the few tables that might've seen some modicum of use, he'd seat himself across from Reno, thankful that the Trick Master had apparently kept (most) hybrids and differing weights in mind when it didn't immediately give way. "Unfortunately, we just had visitors barge in, give little regard to raising those alarms themselves- though I suppose a reality being unstable would be good reason to raise one- and suggest that the adventure you three went on might have relevance. I'd like to hear your accounts of it, in as much detail as you can remember."

“Sub, it’s more than just the apparent coming off of lacking faith in someone else, though honestly, that honestly hurt quite a lot. Especially being around here shy of a decade under your lead. You, if I need to remind you, are the leader of this team. While each one of these people in this building have their own independent thoughts…allegedly...they still look at you to assess things in a clear and final fashion to the utmost best of your ability and they need that to assess their own next actions. When you suddenly start asking effective strangers who supposedly have the knowledge of the cosmos bearing bad news about any one of your team members the information to keep aforementioned member in line, what is that going to look like to everyone else in the team? You hadn’t noticed a few downstairs, have you? Even before you asked them, a good number of the team’s complexions went completely flush at the thought of me icing everything to oblivion. And then you asked the Recon Squad for the information…and doing so, just like that, you gave a notion to your collective team members to actually be worried. That at any time, I could just go off like an explosive and just end everything. Any and all good faith that I tried to press forward in the time I’ve stuck by you evaporated in an instant the moment you asked those Recon Squad members. And I have doubts that its going to be fixed anytime soon now, especially with how I ended up calling out Deo just before they came in, never mind how already frayed tempers have been between everyone here because of the constant fights with SWIPE, this Volo guy for as all we know who is playing everyone like a harp, and then now this other world Cyrus packing another reality’s Dialga for reasons. They now have another thing to worry about; one they shouldn’t have to begin with, and probably wouldn’t have that much even after Phyco’s entrance because it was his apparent word against what they all knew. But you acted on it, and now, here I am, trying to figure out if I can truly walk on even finer eggshells than what I had already done or if I should just…”

I sighed out, trying to catch a calming breath which wasn’t coming that well. Hands were shaking a bit out of sheer agitation. Or maybe it was the pain still trying to set in from the Dialga fight from earlier. I couldn’t tell. My mind was still all over the place, still. I still needed to get more written out on that lone sheet of paper that I was writing on. Which as I take a glance back down at it, I was already running out of room in spite of my efforts to conserve it as I wrote. “…I don’t know. I would say leave, go out and try to figure this out myself, just go out and raise whatever hell I need to, investigate and interrogate whatever and whoever I need to, not unlike when Freth and I butted heads those years ago, but if I apparently have the means to end a world altogether, it isn’t like anyone got anywhere to go and hide and given now you more than likely got members giving me the wary side eye, its certainly not going to go over hot with all involved. Don’t need the ‘bomb’ going off.” I said, rather sarcastically towards the end. “And all of this isn’t even touching on the issues of them going after Darts and Crystal like they did when, to your admission, we’re needing every bit of strength we could get no thanks to this new Cyrus.” I said to him. “But nope! A bunch of people dressed in the most blinding of white comes out of literal nowhere and we had to all take their every word and whatever supposed evidence they had at face value! Didn’t know people were that religious around here.”

I would sit in relative silence for a moment as all of that sink in. Sub did bring up one point I hadn’t thought about in all of this; the Recon Squad did show up without any extra muscle. This entire team could have pounded the absolute hell out of them. They even reacted as such once they were under threat of an mere Ice Beam by me. Sub suggested they were perhaps under the assumption that I wasn’t around, but why wouldn’t they? Their hit-woman never came back from her wet job. Though, it was insinuated that she would have stayed here after she got done, that she wasn’t going back. Though that raises a question in itself; recalling a conversation I had with Freth some time ago where Eris was supposed to report in after her job was done. I don’t know. Whatever the case, Phyco coming at me and the rest here generally unarmed? Even if they haven’t had to deal with me, there was effectively everyone else here. They needed some extra muscle and they didn’t seem to be prepared for it. Certainly, Crystal had a notion to cause a scene given her apparent temperament to them.

“God, this is all wrong. This is all so blasted wrong. This is worse than Lysandre and Ein. I am about to lose it and I don’t know where to start.”

Reno would keep himself still as he listened to Crystal give the general outline for their more relevant journey into an Ultra Space dimension for what Sol was looking for. And while it definitely touched on a lot of the relevant points, Reno would find himself very pointedly remembering how he had to play the voice of reason between Aden's fear and Crystal's....fighting fervor. "There was our first little stop-off after I almost got sideswiped by that little paper thing. Got to see where reality spit you out to retry the whole growing up deal and got your journals. But...." Reno would make sure he was facing Sol directly as he spoke. "I think what Sol is looking for might be some of the whys for the Blizzard commentary that they were throwing around. And I definitely remember some of those details."

Making sure he had his thoughts lined up on what exactly it was that had gone down and he had managed to pick up, he would eventually speak up again. "That reality...near as I can tell, it was halfway close to what happened for us, except that Snagem had a lot less success. Enough so that I'm....almost certain he left to succeed Pryce as Gym Leader after Tristen and Freth didn't make it back." Biting his lip and looking over towards the desert as he let it sink in, he kept speaking. "When we got there, it was a year or so after he took over, he looked like absolute misery, and conversation with him was basically a minefield due to not knowing that history initially. I can speculate some more about that version of things and basically cover how Crystal had it end again, but I think that covers what is actually valuable for the most part." Laying his hands flat on the table, Reno would turn from his gazing out over the sandstorm-covered desert back to Sol. "Any other questions about what happened out there?"

Sub would listen to Blizzard go on in silence and while he disagreed with him on some parts, agreed on others, and wanted to correct a few points he knew now wasn't the time for debate or a difference of opinion. His friend was going through it at the moment, as they all were, and didn't need himself to make the situation worse for him personally so instead he chose to just silently listen. Once Blizzard was finished Sub nodded along with a frown, breaking eye contact and looking down at his hands on the table as he twiddled his thumbs, unsure of what else to do. "Yeah, it's wrong alright."

They would sit in silence together awhile longer before would break the silence, looking at Blizzard for a second before deciding to speak again. "I'm going to leave and give you your space but there is one thing I'd like to say before I do. That data on your variants? I want you to tell me what to do with it. Not right now, not in an hour or even tomorrow, whenever you're ready I want you to come see me to talk about it. If you want me to delete it it'll delete it right in front of you. Otherwise I want us to go over it together and maybe see if we can't find something useful in it. Until then I won't look at it, GRAY can even show proof that I haven't accessed it. Just so, at the very least, you know I do not intend to use it against you at some point." With that he slapped the table a few times and rose up to his feet.

"For now I'm going to go see what GRAY can't come up with on combating Dialga. That's certainly not the last we'll see of it. Also need to speak to Cyrus some more on that front. There are battles ahead of us that we aren't ready for currently but I'll do my best to prepare us for them. For now though, try to relax, Blizz. And just know I appreciate you and you're not broken. You're a good man." He would give Blizzard a thumbs up and a goofy smile before turning around to walk back through the hidden door he entered from, leaving Blizzard to his own devices once more.

Sol leaned forward as Crystal and Reno gave their accounts, alongside their assessments on why he'd suddenly want to know more about that joyride now. He couldn't blame Crystal for thinking it might've been related to Aden, and truthfully he'd be lying to himself if some part of him wasn't at least a little curious if it might. But with no mentions of the Ziton or Volo to be had, it didn't exactly take one of the team's more empathetic psychics to read into the real reason for asking. That it was confirmation towards what he got out of Aden at the time was a welcome extra.

Hands resting underneath his chin, he contemplated for a few seconds to let everything sink in. "...you know, he said about getting kicked into another reality after the first one, but I didn't think he meant it literally," he said, barely holding back a chuckle at that revelation. "Always been a magnet for things almost no one would believe, not that either of you'd need any introduction. Anyways... I was so caught up in my own concerns that I can't say I had the chance to check the report from the trip with Monique. Reno has the right of it at any rate, Aden wasn't my reason for asking. Whatever doubts I had about the events are well and truly quelled, thank you. But it's about Blizzard."

His eyes closed for a few seconds as he thought about how to best word what he said next. "Truthfully, if it wasn't for knowing about that bounty hunter in Freth's head- Eris, I think her name is? That or being aware of someone who has encountered another version of him, let alone a certain off-handed remark about my Pressure compared to that one's, I'd think the Recon Squad's remarks were awful outlandish. Especially for someone to talk about kill-on-sight orders while both being ill-equipped to the task and doing little to act on them. And above all, he's one of us. To suddenly turn on him would be a slap in the face. But, with those events in mind..."

He sighed, conceding with himself that he wouldn't like the conclusions he reached. "And your accounts, I could see where a concern would arise. Without being there to witness it myself, it'd sound like whatever control he had was waning with little left to lose. A dark, dangerous place for anyone to be, let alone a hybrid and the powers we wield... did he give any other information about how events played out there? Reason I ask is... well, suppose they're right."

By now, he stood up to look out the window, the swirling sands providing an apt imagery of the thoughts swirling and racing through his mind. "Suppose, loathe as I am to consider it, that he very well could be the threat they claim and he could snap in whatever way other Blizzards seemingly have. There has to be a reason for it, and why ours hasn't. And I'm sure I'm not the only one that'd want to help a friend and an ally, even if that help's simply to keep to business as usual. I have a hard time believing he's uniquely broken or whatever. Apart from that, Crystal, I doubt you still have those notes of yours, what with SWIPE ransacking our HQ, but how much of them do you remember? I doubt they'll have much bearing, but it might be useful with our apparent matters at hand."

Crystal frowned when she heard Sol’s concern was less about Aden and more about Blizzard. Of course it would have been about him. Thanks, Ultra Recon. Light, all they did was compound the team’s issues. She couldn’t access some of her abilities, Darts was on the good faith system to keep from excessively using Shadow Force, and now people were beginning to have the worry of Blizz causing the next Ice Age. Add that to the threat of an alternate universe Cyrus and Dialga and their current issue of their history being rewritten, and it just felt like the team couldn’t get any sort of win. Worse yet, this felt like it had the possibility to tear the team apart. Fractures had started to appear earlier; this only had the potential to make it worse.

Leaning forward in her chair, Crystal closed her eyes and thought back, attempting to dredge up a multitude of old memories. After a couple of minutes, including listening to Reno, her hands would ball up into fists, slamming one of them hard into the table. “Light burn it all,” she growled, once Reno suggested using that information the team received. “Why did they have to bring that up? Why?!” She would push herself up from the chair and begin pacing, flexing her hands open and shut in front of her. After maybe half a minute of this, Crystal would put her hands on her face and rub her eyes. “We’re assuming you want information on Blizz, you mean. There have been a few. Most were equal to our Blizzard if not further on. And usually, some sort of event triggered that need to rapidly grow in power. They’re never the same, but something happens to the team to cause that need…” Her pacing would resume, balling her hands into fists again.

After a couple minutes more of said pacing, Crystal would turn to a nearby table and punch it with all of her force, shattering it into pieces. “Burn them all! They come in, decide to punish Darts and ourselves, but refuse to do anything about the other assholes pulling s**t that would tear this reality apart. Talk about not stepping in when a reality ends, but then what the hell are they doing when they decided to step in here?! And then deciding to divulge to the group that every Blizzard is a kill on sight to the rest of the team! At this point, they might as well be fighting to end the team, as much as they say this is to protect and let heal this timeline! We hope they get lost in Ultra Space, and that Zossie gets eaten by a Guzzlord in the process!” At this point, the hybrid was shaking with fury, more than ready to throw another punch. Maybe she would. Just depended on what happened next.

Watching as the holographic display turned itself on when he gave a slight flex of the hand, Reno would make a mental note that this new arm needed a lot less force to get some of the features to turn on. Especially with how much free range access it could potentially allow if he wasnt paying attention. It wasnt hard to identify what had been added since the last time he had been perusing the files inside GRAY'S server, clearly labeled and everything. And it couldn't hurt to at least see how many files were in the folder, just to give a baseline for what the Ultra Recon Squad termed important enough. Cracking it open, Reno would find himself staring at approximately 200 files all with similar names to the weird file code they assigned to everyone here. And while 200 seemed like a large number, this was effectively from a group observing some level of infinity. This cpuld effectively be a rounding error someone decided to make a bigger production of than necessary.

Just as he was about to speak up, Crystal decided that one of the tables looked better as a gas than a solid. Jumping with a small yelp at the sudden deconstruction of the table, Reno would see that he had now opened one of the files. We'll....in for a penny. Quickly giving the file a browse, Reno would have even more questions about this order. "Uh....I didnt intend to just immediately read a file but...this 'icing over the world' thing looks like it was just Blizz pulling a from hells heart I stab at thee to a literal swarm of Guzzlords. Not sure this warrants some special reaction." Reno continued to stare at the file as he twisted his head left and right, trying to see if he was missing something here. Eventually reaching the conclusion that, no. It was in fact just last ditch response, Reno would give the other two a chance to look at the file themselves as he moved that particular display to point towards them while he was back in the file collection.

And, figuring he at least needed some additional data for figuring out what exactly this all might really indicate, Reno would go a few files into the folder and open a second one. Its not like he would make Blizz any more mad at him, especially since Reno's last trip into Ultra Space had been over this exact subject in part.