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 Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2026 10:06 am
Brian and Amber were toward the back of the group when Dark appeared and shot a Fire Blast at them. Brian's first instinct upon seeing the massive fire kanji coming straight at them was to use Chase to teleport him and Amber out of the way, but another Pokeball opened, releasing Ace, his Rapidash. Seeing the danger his trainer was in, the Fire-type horse ran straight at the incoming attack, his mane and tail flaring brightly as his ability, Flash Fire, kicked in. It wouldn't stop the entire attack, of course, but it would stop any embers from reaching anyone behind him.
When Amber saw the Fire Blast coming at her and the others, she froze. There was no way she would be able to get out of the way in time, and a move that powerful would certainly do a lot of damage, if not knocking her out in one hit. She saw a flash of fire from her left, and she stared in astonishment as Ace absorbed any stray embers near him with his ability. Bubbles, sensing her trainer's hesitation, burst from her ball, stepped up beside Ace and fired off a Hydro Pump, aiming to aid Reno's Nalu.
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Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2026 4:22 pm
SubonicXP He smiled wider than his face should allow, lips distorting unnaturally. “The punchline is: I’m going to melt your faces off!” He shouted before unleashing from his mouth a huge Fire Blast, the Fire attack exploding out with a thunderous boom, the fire kanji made up of literal fire big enough to take up the entire width of the middle pathway of the chamber. The Fire Blast would threaten them all standing on the pathway as it moved with surprising speed, Sub's eyes growing wide as he quickly jumped out of the way and behind one of the columns. The Fire Blast would explode with tremendous power upon connecting with something, causing the entire room to quake as embers rained down. Several embers would strike the previously unlit sconces on the wall, igniting enough of them to illuminate the entire room. "Won't someone rid us of this insane dog!?" Sub shouted out to his teammates. Reno Vantas And as they entered the library, Reno's potential paranoia over an odd sensation would be rewarded with the satisfaction that Dark was here. For all the reward that a half-crazed alternate reality hybrid was. Letting Sub take the lead on talking with the nutball, Reno would motion for his Raichu. And just as he saw the hybrid leaning forward, memories of what exactly a Houndoom like he had could do would guide his hand. "Nalu, Surf!" Reno shouted, watching as the massive wave of water quickly formed and launched itself down the aisle through where Sub had previously been to slam into the massive fiery conflagration. While it would keep the brunt of the flames from pouring onto everyone, the embers would erupt into the ceiling of the chamber from the power of the quaking blast, still bringing fire and pain onto the less attentive Snagems. MoniqueBrie And then he ended his "joke" with a blast of fire. Unlike the others, who ran to the side, Monique dropped to the floor, her whole body pressed against the stone floor of the chamber and low enough that the main column passed above her. Espeon_Commander And come to know his strength as well, having been the landing pad for an easily tossed Darts and Ogerpon. He wasn’t going to be anyone to take lightly. Darts doesn't move either as the Fire Blast goes through a bevy of other dispersion methods, from Surf mitigating the heat to Sol putting himself directly in the way, the kanji's intensity is heavily reduced by the time it reaches the pair, Ogerpon's gemstone tears flashing intensely blue as she's still wearing the Wellspring mask. Her Ivy Cudgel flashes out fiercely as she winds up and delivers a direct strike to the middle of the Fire Blast, like a homerun hitter intent on sending one over the fences, as the now Water-type attack slams the center of it with the intent to send it flying off back into the Houndoom's face. In the meantime, figuring his partner would have the initial oncoming missile handled, Darts' eyes narrow as the pair had an immense bone to pick with Dark, recognizing him as the one who manhandled them from invisibility in the courtroom. He stomps the bottom of a fallen pillar near himself with a burst of Outrage, one of the many enormous columns in the room now broken in two, and it flips into the air with the ease of a paperweight as the Giratina hybrid demonstrates some of his incredible strength. He winds back and throws a overhand punch into it as the massive stone object descends back to earth, another blue burst surging through his body as he sends the massive stone monolith off towards the opposing hybrid. It flips end over end as it goes, the gambler intending to obscure its trajectory with the Fire Blast. "Hey Dark!" He shouts, unable to resist running his mouth due to being pissed off from the earlier ambush. "Fetch!" -- Cyrus has seen all of the fracas going on with the newcomer, Dark, and the onslaught of attacks and seems nigh-disinterested. He slowly proceeds through the chamber as chaos erupts all around him, one foot in front of the other as he walks straight through, a few feet away from the Houndoom hybrid. He never once turns his head or even looks in the madman's direction, a course set for the door at the other end of the room.
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Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2026 6:36 pm
Near instinctively, Tristen and Freth moved off, pressing against the wall to avoid the oncoming Fire Blast from down the ways. However, the attack was dealt with, no dodging all that necessary after all. The two would look ahead, seeing Dark greet the likes of the Snagem bunch, feeling bold about where he stood in all of this. Something unnerved him. One of him against half the Snagem team? Some wielding legendary power in some capacity, rather it be in hybrid power, or in Sub’s case, a legendary itself in that of the Galarian Moltres? Tristen didn’t trust the situation at all, any more than Freth did.
As a few of the Snagems retaliated, Tristen perked up, seeing Cyrus start excusing himself, making his way through the chaos as casual as a walk in the park on a nice spring day. “Freth.” Tristen spoke up. Freth would then see Cyrus herself. “Ugh…what is that guy doing?” Freth muttered under her breath.
“Probably going to find the other Cyrus, if I had to guess.” Eris stated.
“And on his own? Why? What purpose? He didn’t seem too eager to see him. Never mind relish the idea of himself being unhinged in such a fashion.” Freth asked.
“Should I follow him?” Tristen asked Freth. The thought bothered Freth. Part of her didn’t think it was a good idea for Tristen to go like that. Though at the same time, frankly, it didn’t matter if he was deeper in the proverbial den of evil or just here trying to fight it out with Dark. The threat of that other reality’s Dialga was everywhere.
“Go.” Freth said. “If he does anything you don’t like, fry him, leave him to die if you got to. Remember, he’s still the leader of an organization. He potentially has his own agenda that he has not let on and he’s not the sort to let on much to anyone, even to his own closest subordinates.”
“Got it.” Tristen said, rushing off to follow Cyrus, trying to avoid the chaos as well, though unlike Cyrus, trying to be perceptive to it. Freth got ready to fight herself. She didn’t need to join the fray. Not yet, at least. She’d follow up when the moment was right. Right now, she waited for Cyrus and Tristen to get clear.
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Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2026 7:07 pm
Wren followed in silence, preparing himself mentally for what was to come. He’d only heard about the events in the courtroom, mentally beating himself all week for not joining the others, as if there would have been much of anything he could have contributed from what he’d been told. But this time, he felt sure, he would be able to provide some kind of support if something came up. Of course, almost as soon as Sub lead them inside the ruins and showed his distant memory of the puzzle key that opened up the door, they’d be, met with trouble. As he recalled, Cyrus had said he seemed to have a mental link with the other Cyrus -the one who had attacked his friends and allies- so it stood to reason in his mind that the other Cyrus could see through that link as well, if he was aware if it.
Lykas had followed behind everyone but Cyrus, choosing to keep the Galactic leader’s pace and continue accompanying him for the time. He had no idea if Cyrus had noticed him or even cared so far but at least he felt like. Just maybe, the man might take notice when and if it mattered. Giving a quiet whistle of appreciation at the hidden door when Sub revealed it, almost a bit jealous of how fancy it seemed compared to what he’d witnessed of the Kreek and Gyaan ruins he had visited in the past. If his so-called mother was truthful about them being descended from the last of the Gyaan, it almost felt like a slap in the face to have come from such closed-minded and uncreative people.
Following down the revealed passage into the deeper parts of the ruins, he listened as Sub warned of the presence of “eyes” all around the and commented on the towering columns afterward, snapping to attention when, only a moment later, a voice he swore he recognized began to echo up from the depths. He couldn’t recall exactly where he knew it from but when the owner appeared, his eyes narrowed. Dark. That name came to him unbidden. How did he know it, though? As the mad dog barked, however, he began to recall something half-forgotten. He’d once been in league with Varuna, hadn’t he? But why? And when?
No matter the reason, the hybrid had clearly lost his mind in much the same way as Dull had years ago. Perhaps Dark had been here for longer than Dull had? Was it for the same reason? Was he from another world? He felt he should know that by now but couldn’t remember why he felt that way, either. The mad dog’s “joke” made no sense to him and he felt like it wasn’t supposed to. Dark was laughing at a joke only he understood from a voice that apparently only he could hear. And the result was a Fire Blast sent flying to roast them all in the narrow space between the story columns. Fortunately, it seemed like several other Snagems had the fire under control as he saw Cyrus walking completely unfazed through the middle of the battlefield. Releasing Nacrearcus, his Castform as he stuck close to Cyrus, he called out to the man. “Cyrus! Be careful!” He urged, using his Acid Armor to liquefy himself as necessary to evade incoming embers. “Arcus, use Water Gun to put out any flames that get too close to him!” He urged the Castform. The little Weather Pokemon nodded and floated over to Cyrus, hovering directly over him and shooting Water Gun to extinguish any of the remaining embers from the others’ efforts to douse the fire that might still be flickering close by.
As the others took care of the flames, Wren thought how he might best stop the rabid hybrid. Unfortunately for him, he had few Pokemon that weren’t weak to the Fire-type. Fortunately, he’d been working with one of them not long before heading up to the roof and still had it on him. Was it the wisest choice? Not by a country mile. But it was the only one he had available at the moment. “Hellebore!” He called out as he tossed the Nest Ball forward that contained his Drampa. As the Dragon-type emerged and it’s shadowy aura flared around it, Lykas saw the threat shoved a Vivid Scent into his Snag Machin, activating the Immunizer and throwing it at Wren.
“Catch, idiot!” He shouted as the Shadow Drampa roared, throwing a steely Glare at the first thing he saw: Dark. Hellebore wanted to crush this creature right now and he wanted it to be unable to escape. Wren hadn’t let the Dragon out in a long time and that pent up rage and destructive energy needed to be let out. Thankfully, Wren managed to catch the thrown Snag Machine, allowing the soothing mist of Lykas’ Immunizer to wash over the Dragon from where he stood.
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Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2026 3:31 pm
"Heh? Well well well...look who has come to join the asy- oh? Ha!" Dark initially reacted to the approaching Cyrus only to burst out in laughter as Sol stalled his Fire Blast with himself and his Psychic abilities. The follow up would come with the Surf and Hydro Pump clashing with the Fire Blast in a brief power struggle only for Ogrepon to step up and sends his own Fire Blast flying back at him, however reduced. His laughter would leave him open for the Fire Blast that would slam into the cackling hound, causing him to stumble and leaving him open for the Boomburst that followed behind it and sent him flying off the ground and slamming into a wall. The moment he came to a stop a jolt of electricity would zap him along with a Glare paralyze him followed up by an Earth Power summoned beneath him to send him airborne once more. While in air Darts would use his Outrage empowered might to send a pillar flying and soon slamming into him, said pillar and Dark sent slamming into the wall again. Any leftover flames were put out by the Snagems.
Once the team combination assault was finished and the dust settled the chamber would be filled with an eerie quiet, nothing moving where Dark should be. Did they really defeat him that fast? Sub looked on and expected something, anything, but after a good minute still nothing happened. Looking at his teammates for a reaction he just shrugged. "I guess...that's it?" He said aloud before fully stepping out from behind the column and started to walk down the now wet pathway. Sub would make it almost three fourths of the way through the chamber before a fiery explosion would erupt from the pile of pillar pieces, the force of the explosion sending the pieces of pillar flying. Sub would winch and brace himself but none hit him allowing him to get a good view of the familiar image of a rainbow crystalline energy shattering among the fire. "Oh no..."
When this dust finally settled, Dark stood at the center of his own impact crater wrong in every possible way. His horns had grown longer, twisting upward like a jagged crown while a bony, armor-like plate had torn its way across his chest. His claws stretched into cruel crimson talons, sharpened to points that promised pain. Behind him, his long, double-forked tail flicked around, as if it had a mind of its own. Then he smiled, a toothy grin that spread too wide, too fast, stretching across his face as his eyes locked with Sub's. That reaction. Oh, he liked that.
A low chuckle bubbled up from his chest, followed by another and then another until it exploded into wild hyena-like laughter that echoed across the chamber. “Oooh, that hurt guys...” Dark whined, rolling his shoulders as if savoring the memory. “That really hurt. And you paralyzed me? Phew! What a number!” He said, his twisted smile never faltering in spite of it all. How did he survive such a beating? Sure he was scuffed up but he looked like he had plenty of gas in the tank. What gives? "But you know what they say!” His laughter spiked into something more unhinged than before. Another one of his 'jokes' maybe? “What doesn’t kill you just makes you wanna kill the other guy even more! HAHAHA!”
An explosion of flames would erupt from the soils of Dark's feet which would launch him up and arcing through the air, flying over Sub's head. The man would hit the ground running as he continued his Flame Charge, coming to a near instant stop right in front of Sol, almost touching nose to beak. "Hey you! I mean, me? Ha! Ultra Space is funny." He said smiling as he drove a Frustration empowered fist into Sol's gut, the appendage giving off a white glow. Dark would then kick off of Sol and send himself flying again with Flame Charge, kicking off of the columns one after the other in a zigzag pattern, spitting up large globs of poisonous goopy Sludge Bombs after each kick off to try and catch the Snagems in his explosive poison attacks, laughing all the while. He would kick the tops off of two different columns as well as he sent chunks of stone flying at Brian and Terashi respectively. After several column kick offs his body would seize up from the paralysis and the Mega Houndoom hybrid would fall to the ground, devoid of grace.
"Whoops! Hehehe!" He laughed upon hitting the ground, remaining on his back and kicking his legs like a child. "I got another joke!" He proclaimed upon sitting back up, finger pointed into the air as if he just solved a mathematical equation or something. Scanning the area quickly he'd lock his eyes onto Monique, giving her a little wave. "You know this joke! It's called Smog!" He declared with glee as he stretched his neck up and let out a very loud belch, a fast spreading stream of poisonous gas flowing from his mouth and threatening to fill the chamber. An eagle eyed Snagem would see the Smog was coming from two locations, Dark and the Salazzle that was clinging to the ceiling above him, his Pokemon perhaps? Either way it would get hard to breath very quickly if allowed to spread.
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Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2026 3:49 pm
Watching the barrage of attacks and other solid items smacking into Dark made Brian cringe slightly. Oh, that had to hurt. Amber, on the other hand, watched with interest, curious to see how much damage the Houndoom hybrid would be able to withstand. Would that knock him out? No such luck, it seemed, as he appeared standing in the crater, looking much different than he had before. The pair had known that hybrids could Mega evolve, had seen it with Tristen back in Paldea, but looking at the grotesque monster that was Dark was unsettling.
"Did he just Mega Evolve?!" Brian asked, before watching as the now Mega-evolved hybrid took off. He was fast, almost too fast for the eye to follow, and Brian found himself dodging frantically as pieces of a column were thrown at both him and Ter. What in the Reverse World was this monster up to? As he saw the Smog starting to pour into the area, he noticed something. It wasn't just Dark that was emitting the poisonous gas; it was coming from two different areas. Wait, what? Following the direction of the other stream, he spotted a Salazzle on the ceiling. Where had that come from? Did she belong to Dark?
Returning his attention to the problem at hand, he recalled Ace, now that his task was done, and released Chase, pointing toward the Salazzle. "Psybeam on the Salazzle!" he said. The Gallade took one look at the Poison/Fire-type and nodded, powering up a beam of psychic energy between his hands and releasing in a split second, aiming to give the dual-type opponent no chance to dodge. Amber, on the other hand, wasted no time in telling Bubbles to aim her next Hydro Pump directly at the downed canine hybrid. Bubbles, seeing the opportunity, gave a nod and fired a high-pressure geyser of water at the Mega Houndoom, hoping to knock him out, or at the very least, do a lot of damage in his paralyzed state.
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Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2026 4:56 pm
I was incredibly lucky that Rala was able to get out of her ball before those rocks got close enough to hit me. Unfortunately, the rock shard Dark ejected at me colided with her gut before she could get a Protect up to block it. It looked like it hurt like hell, though she didn't seem close to fainting. While Rala caught her breath, I let my Blaziken out of his ball "Angeal, I want you to focus on the Houndoom hybrid. Slow him down with Fighting-type moves - but stay defensively responsible if you can. He has quite a few poison-type moves in his arsenal and I doubt he'd be unhappy if you got a status effect from him. Rala, I want you to focus Psychics on the Salazzle on the ceiling. I don't have any solid evidence to confirm this, but my gut tells me it's taking the hybrid's orders," I told my two Pokemon friends.
Angeal offered no resistance - he just nodded and ran up to Dark with a Brick Break aimed at the hybrid's jaw. Rala wasn't as willing to accept orders at face value, though. "Fine, but protecting you is my main priority," she insisted. I shrugged. Between the fact that all Gardevoirs instinctively protected their trainers in ages past and how strong our bond was, I expected this move, and I wasn't about to argue it. "Fine," I responded simply. I felt Rala's emotions soften before she sent a Psychic at the enemy Salazzle. I just had to hope I wasn't needlessly assaulting an innnocent wild Pokemon and instead was attacking one of Dark's.
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Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2026 5:17 pm
Fortunately, she wouldn’t have to intervene in covering Tristen and Cyrus as they took their leave, Dark being distracted by the likes of the other Snagems that bombarded him with all manner of attacks from hybrid and Pokémon alike. One would think it dumb that he stood up against the entire onslaught. Not much would, after all. A very scant handful of hybrids in this world that Freth could think of could actually weather such a beating, or at the very least mitigate it to a extreme degree. However, once the dust was settled, and Dark made his way back forward, not only not all that worse for wear, but actually now Mega Evolved, her eyes narrowed, recalling something. This exact thing happened before with someone else.”
“Wait, what’s going on here?” Eris spoke up. “You’re getting…a sense of familiarity, disdain. What’s going on here?”
“Dull…” Freth uttered softly in the physical space.
A Gengar hybrid with unknown origins, who’s fortitude that was highly unnatural for who, let alone what he was. It was suggested, perhaps, that Dull himself was a faller perhaps, due to him stating that this world wasn’t real or things of that sort. Freth herself didn’t really have much dealings with Dull; most of her fights revolved around a bunch of Shadow Pokémon or at worse Kess in most cases during the longstanding war that was with Ein. She knew of him, based on files and testimonials from the other Snagems over the past years. That while on the surface, there didn’t appear to be anything special about him, that he was another face to punch if nothing else. But what made him stand out was his utter durability. That his absurd resilience so extreme to the point of absurdity, that it even got the attention of Ein, experimenting on him, wondering what allowed him to endure what was supposed to be excruciating, crippling, utterly devastating amounts of pain and damage and come out like he barely took anything. Freth wondered if Dark, here, too had that same kind of standing just as Dull did. That if this maybe was an effect of traversing Ultra Space, or perhaps, a testament to his origins elsewhere, wherever they may be. Whatever the case, this fight was going to be a lot more grueling than what was perhaps originally thought.
But then a new thought. Though the days as Snagem was trying to work through the trauma and clean up, trying to think back, wondering if there was maybe something different could have been done, maybe make things more effective so not as much damage would have been done. Because who knew? Maybe something like that could happen again. Maybe not then, or the next day, or the next year, but who knows. And it didn’t have exactly to be a for a corner case like Dull, or S22, or anything that extreme. But it was the experience that would have taught the Snagems, especially for those who were paying attention to everything, not to just their own individual battles.
Freth hovered back some to get a little distance, quickly taking out a Pokeball while Dark taunted and toyed with the others and gave it a toss. In a flash, Freth’s Alakazam would appear in the corridor. Someone would need to deal with the smog spewing Pokémon that apparently belonged to Dark, hopefully someone would. Freth had another agenda in mind. “Alakazam…Guard Swap.” Freth said, pointing towards Dull. The Alakazam would focus, set to exchange its defenses with itself. And as it went to complete its task, Freth would follow up, bolting forward with Agility herself. She didn’t have her Frustration attack anymore, nor did she have really any hybrid attacks that could extensively damage the likes of Dark. Not yet, anyways. She had to rely on what brute force she still had from the years of training and fighting alongside the Snagems and her immediate family. If the theory worked, Dark would have Alakazam’s paper-thin resilience, making Freth’s comparatively normal haymaker into a brutal, piercing blow instead, and not just for her attack, but any attack upon him thereafter.
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Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2026 10:17 pm
Lykas tried to keep an eye on Cyrus as the onslaught was unleashed upon Dark. The result, however, threw him back in time for a moment. "Not another one..." He muttered to himself. He recalled another enemy they had fought once upon a time who'd had durability like this. Of course, it was hard to say if it was the same until he saw how attacks might meet Dark's body head on but it reminded him of Dull right away. He couldn't say for certain but this talk of "Fallers" recently made him wonder if that's what Dull had been and, if so, if that meant the same applied to Dark, here? Moreso, it made him question if Dull and Dark had come from the same place and their durabiity was the result of the world they originated from or if it was purely a side effect of them having traversed Ultra Space to get here? All he knew for certain was it was a good thing Odd hadn't come along for this mission. The man had been traumatized by the recourse they'd been left with to deal with Dull. He didn't need to be faced with another enemy that left them with the same potential outcome.
However, this one seemed more physically durable than overall. Dull had had a barely-tangible body to begin with. This seemed proven as he not only emerged from the rubble of the attacks that had been piled onto him not only seemingly unfazed by the amount of damage he should have taken but Mega Evolved in response. The following series of attacks from him resulted in several Snagems being put on the defensive and, at the end of it, a psychological attack on Monique, in particular, and a cloud of Smog that was quickly filling the limited space in the cavern. "Take cover!" He called to the others, taking a deep breath of the limited fresh air around him before blowing an Icy Wind toward Dark that aimed to push the toxic fumes back toward him. He had no one on him at the moment that was capable of clearing the stuff away, unfortunately, and hoped someone else might have a plan for that.
Wren lost track of everything happening for a moment as so many attacks piled onto Dark all at once. Then the hybrid reappeared as a Mega-Evolved hybrid he didn't even realize was possible until fairly recently and proceeded to unleash his own barrage of attacks at a speed that was hard to follow. The Channeler tried to keep up with him but it wasn't until he fell to the ground and began to release the Smog that Wren was able to really keep up. It seemed no one else had any thoughts on dealing with the stuff, leaving him to use the only thing he could think of. ""What he said!" He announced as he released his Pumpkaboo. "Clove... Set that stuff off!" He told the Pumpkin Pokemon. "Use Mystical Fire!" He'd seen it a few times before when a piece of farm equipment ran out of fuel unexpectedly. Smog burned fairly close to diesel fuel when it was set ablaze. An explosive start and a long, slow burn after that. As Clove whipped up the magenta flames, the man released his Cacturne. "As soon as Clove sends that fire out, put up a Spiky Shield. Cover as much of this side of the room as you can, ok?" He instructed. "And then hide with me!" He added, keeping both Pokemon's Nest Balls in hand for a quick escape for the pair as he ducked behind one of the columns just in case. He felt it would be needed with Lykas' Icy Wind compressing the toxic gas the way it was. Fire-types or not, if that hybrid or any Pokemon he might have got caught in the blast, they were definitely going to be hurting. He was sure of that much.
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MoniqueBrie rolled 1 100-sided dice:
48
Total: 48 (1-100)
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Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2026 11:16 pm
The row of attacks that Dark took did a lot of damage... At least that's what it seemed. But there was one more act for Dark. He emerged somehow in a new form, even more menacing than the last. And he sounded almost all the same. Monique couldn't believe it. What is this guy made of? Then he ran around, interacted with Sol and—Did he say something about Ultra Space? The question rattled around for only the briefest moment before he started to hurl Sludge Bombs in every direction. Monique was able to duck, but Aniani was unlucky enough to take a super-effective hit, bringing the Water/Fairy-type to the brink of fainting. She barely could use her voice, not that it mattered as Monique and Aniani watched the Houndoom somehow make even more of a mess of the chamber.
He fell to the floor near her, waved, and offered a few words. "You know this joke! It's called Smog!" Suddenly, he began emitting a stream of purple gas. It took a second for Monique to process what he was doing. Oh no. She had to do whatever she could now and conserve her breath. She shakily recalled Aniani and brought out Kalama—a Ghost-type who didn't need to breathe.
"Psybeam on the Salazzle!" Brian's command turned Monique's attention to a Pokémon who had gone unnoticed. Not willing to succumb, she clapped, pointed at Kalama, and pointed into the air, hoping that Kalama might use an attack. Any attack. Shadow Bone, Bonemerang, Ice Beam, Flamethrower... They'd all hit.
Monique rolled over on her stomach, trying to breathe from the rocks instead of breathing the Smog. All she could do, until other Snagems hopefully cleared the Smog, was try to breathe and think about what had just happened. It was fitting that a Fire-type initiated, with his words as cryptic as they were, a general-alarm blaze in Monique's brain. But instead of serious traffic problems downtown, Dark had caused a wave of extreme suspicion. He'd revealed his Mega Evolved hand.
So far, this Houndoom hybrid had been an inconvenience with questionable mental faculties but unquestionable physical ones. But now, nearly face to face with him, waves of poisonous smog rolling through the chamber, there was a singular realization: He knew. About Ultra Space. About her past. About, maybe, everything.
As Monique's breaths became shallower, her brain lingered on that thought. Dark is dangerous.
{The dice roll: 1~40 poisons Monique, a multiple of 4 poisons Kalama.) The roll of 48 poisons Kalama but not Monique.
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Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2026 4:30 am
Deo was quick to dodge the fireball. However when it came to the smog, he could not handle it. The poison affected him slightly, but it was hard to breathe. Especially for a big hybrid like himself. The noxious fumes floored him, brought him to his knees even. His eyes burned, his lungs burned, it burned. He was coughing so bad he couldn't bring out his pokemon. As much as he wanted to counter and let alone say something, he could not. However, through the pain he heard all. He was saying that he and sol were the same... wait. He and Sol were the same?! This was impossible for Deo's ear to comprehend. Of course Deo saw the past, and he saw a different discord reality. What was new here? Little to nothing as a matter of fact. It was all a normal day in the life of the snagem operative.
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Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2026 5:42 am
"I'm... fine, but I think that little atrofiar'll need more work." Sol commented after a second, waving an arm as he slowly got to his feet. Despite the impact, it did offer just enough time for the attack to be sent back at Dark and the others to seemingly put the hybrid down. "I was hoping to hold it back more."
"Is that... it?" Amaranth asked as the dust settled, glancing towards Kindle. He seemed to manage too, getting to his feet shortly after Sol did. She was apprehensive that the fight was over as soon as it started, even after the long silence. "Thanks, Kindle, but you should probably come back and rest," she'd say when things seemed to be safe enough, recalling the Flareon before starting to walk.
Sol, however, barely got halfway down the chamber before he suddenly stopped, a surge of energy giving him a scant few seconds of warning and confirmed suspicions that this fight was only getting started. "No, he's not done." With his last word came the fiery explosion, bracing himself as a few pieces of formerly pillar struck him. A second surge of energy followed, and though he couldn't see the energy shattering in the moment, he practically didn't need to. The next glimpse he got showed Dark's Mega Evolution in full display, practically savoring the earlier pain. The air around his hands crackled as plasma sparked to life, ready to let a Thunderbolt loose as soon as an opening revealed itself.
"He's barely even scuffed up..." Amaranth uttered, Dark's maniacal laughs echoing as his demented smile etched itself into her mind. A hand was already on Spritz's ball to get her back out, but by then, Dark had already leapt into the air with a fire-charged jump. "Sub, watch- ...out...?" She was certain he was poised to attack Sub, and him sailing clear over him was confusing. Moreso was how he stopped right in front of Sol, but maybe he was simply seen as a bigger threat?
For all of Sol's alertness in the situation, Dark's approach was too rapid for him to line the shot up. By the time his hand was raised where he could, he'd stopped just short of his beak and gave him a full glimpse into the mad eyes of a mad dog, any hint of sanity long gone. Even then, he was ready for the impromptu shock therapy up to the point where the remark that followed made him falter.
"...me?"
"DSHH-NS-2004-59, self designated as Sol. Sentient admixture of homo sapien and feng phoenix. Ultra persistence, major."
"Your lot already eliminated one Faller, did you not? Why can't you do the same for another?"
“Ah, my chien de garde has showed up. I believe that means it’s time to take my leave, unfortunately.”
At the time, it was easy enough for him to take GRAY ignoring his passing curiosity as something irrelevant or avoiding a reason to think about someone that might be a restless spirit or something. Perhaps it still was and this was just another crazed remark. Something in Sol clicked in a way that sent his mind reeling, but not before his physical body joined in thanks to a Frustration-powered gut punch that took the wind out of him before Dark kicked off him and left him on his back.
"Aaagh! What do you mean, me? Is he...?" He remarked in a pained voice, groaning as attempts to get back up and catch his breath failed him, bound to only be harder with the Smog starting to fill the room.
Amaranth ultimately found her plans changing again, this time letting out Gale. "Gale, blow the Smog back! Whirlwind!" She called out, an arm covering her nose and mouth to keep from breathing in more of the Smog than she already was. Her Pidgeot would respond in kind with the winds she whipped up with her wings, trying to keep the Smog from encroaching further.
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Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2026 2:37 pm
The Sludge Bomb barrage wasn't difficult to evade for Reno and Nalu, the pair managing to keep themselves positioned out of the hybrid's lobbing range as he careened around the room. Having to keep his eyes moving to maintain a visual on the now-Mega hybrid did offer him an interesting sight of a small patch of purple in the roof. Was that always there or did the new occupants install something while they were squatting? Sliding to a stop as he saw Dark crash to the ground with a mad cackle, it would take only a moment before Reno would be forced to run through the math on what he had on hand to manage a sudden....dual torrent of Smog, one from where he had seen the purple patch.
Raising his gaze up, he would be able to identify the patch now that he was fully looking at it. There was a Salazzle up on the ceiling, adding its own torrent of Smog to the cloud of poison that was threatening the others. Clicking his tongue, he would point his left arm and aim for just in front of the Salazzle's mouth. "Fire in the hole!" Reno shouted, the palm of the arm glowing red for a moment before a blast of searing red light burst out to slam home directly into the Smog torrent of the Salazzle in front of its source and force a detonation of the poisonous gas. Along with the detonation of the now-superheated rock that had just been thermally expanded by the blast of energy.
Aria and her Noivern would be recovering from the blast wave of one of the Sludge Bombs when the Smog clouds began to kick up. And while there was some amount of effort to move the cloud along, she was already picking out that there was only so much the current winds could manage. Perhaps a little Tailwind to speed along everyone would also make sur the Smog was pushed away if there was anything else coming to clear it away. "Tailwind, Vibrato! Clear the Smog away and get everyone moving!" The wind that had already been picked up by the Icy Wind would become a small roaring gale, uplifting the Snagems moving in to intercept Dark while he was still down and moving the cloud of Smog out of their way to ease their attempts to fight him.
How this would interact with the laser blast that had likely just ignited the gas would be a sight to see but that was up to how physics decided to work today, not their whims.
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Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2026 4:41 pm
SubonicXP "Whoops! Hehehe!" He laughed upon hitting the ground, remaining on his back and kicking his legs like a child. "I got another joke!" He proclaimed upon sitting back up, finger pointed into the air as if he just solved a mathematical equation or something. Scanning the area quickly he'd lock his eyes onto Monique, giving her a little wave. "You know this joke! It's called Smog!" He declared with glee as he stretched his neck up and let out a very loud belch, a fast spreading stream of poisonous gas flowing from his mouth and threatening to fill the chamber. An eagle eyed Snagem would see the Smog was coming from two locations, Dark and the Salazzle that was clinging to the ceiling above him, his Pokemon perhaps? Either way it would get hard to breath very quickly if allowed to spread. The shroud of smog sweeps across the floor and Ogerpon leaps up to atop one of the pillars to clear the poison easily, bounding up and out of the way. Darts is less lucky, not being able to just bound up and out of the way without a good deal of effort compared to his student, and he catches a faceful of it. His eyes weep blood-red tears down the sides of his crest, spilling down his cheeks as he essentially gets gassed. Breathing wasn't the issue, but it irritated his eyes and skin as he forms and sweeps his wings and jacket around him in a circle, temporarily disabled as he tries to clear a little breathing room for himself, joining Aria and Gale's efforts to try and get the gas out of the room. Blizzard120 “Alakazam…Guard Swap.” Freth said, pointing towards Dull. The Alakazam would focus, set to exchange its defenses with itself. And as it went to complete its task, Freth would follow up, bolting forward with Agility herself. She didn’t have her Frustration attack anymore, nor did she have really any hybrid attacks that could extensively damage the likes of Dark. Not yet, anyways. She had to rely on what brute force she still had from the years of training and fighting alongside the Snagems and her immediate family. If the theory worked, Dark would have Alakazam’s paper-thin resilience, making Freth’s comparatively normal haymaker into a brutal, piercing blow instead, and not just for her attack, but any attack upon him thereafter. Ogerpon, meanwhile, was free to act post-bounding as she leaps, bouncing from pillar to pillar as her momentum takes her across the room. She hadn't been around for Dull and thus wasn't making any sort of analysis on Dark's defensive capabilities. She, however, was merely miffed that her Fire Blast had 'missed' in her mind. Freth's Alakazam would warp in and, analyzing the situation at a speed only she could, Ogerpon attempts to do her best to follow up. Firmly keeping the Wellspring affixed to her face as she was not unaccustomed to Fire-types with that being her main weakness, she tumbles forwards and unleashes a surprising choice of attack. The meaning of her words couldn't be more clear as she spins in and mid rotation brings her arm crashing across the Houndoom hybrid's windpipe with a Throat Chop. "Pyo. Pon." She says simply. Shut. Up. -- Blizzard120 “Got it.” Tristen said, rushing off to follow Cyrus, trying to avoid the chaos as well, though unlike Cyrus, trying to be perceptive to it. Freth got ready to fight herself. She didn’t need to join the fray. Not yet, at least. She’d follow up when the moment was right. Right now, she waited for Cyrus and Tristen to get clear. Cyrus and Tristen have made it clear of the melee in the last room, the Galactic boss' footsteps marching a steady beat as he proceeds down the next hallway and deeper into the ruins. It shouldn't surprise the younger Snagem that his tailing is noticed nigh-immediately. "Is there a reason you're following me?" He throws back over his shoulder without turning around. Judging by his tone, he's not annoyed that the hybrid is following him... yet.
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Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2026 10:22 pm
Ulla stayed by Cyrus's side. Somehow blocking out all the chaos and merely focusing on the two Cyrus's presence she was feeling. Trying to keep the two from noticing one another. She didn't even realize Tristen was also following them at the time. "You can trust Tristen. I trust them with my life." The fairy child said confidently as they made their way down the ruins.
The child then looked at Tristen with a thumbs up. "I'll be sure to stay close to Cyrus. I'll play as our defense if anything were to happen. Could you go on the offense if anything were to happen?"
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