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 Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2025 9:22 pm
Aile remained silent on the flight back to the temporary HQ, only getting up briefly to recall all of the Pokémon of hers that were out. She would also be the last one off the jet when they landed, her thoughts drifting back to the stands of skeletons. People she knew had been in there, and she wouldn’t have let any of them rot in there, despite any potential negative relationship to some of them. And Robert? There would have been no way, she’d fight to take his place instead at least. She owed him so much, getting her out of the desert and giving her a place to land. Was Pyrite Town the nicest place? Hell no, but it was a place. She had received a second chance there, and there was no way she would have spit in that. When you owe a person something like that, you would never betray the person with death. Especially with a death like that. When she finally did leave, she would find herself fighting to stay composed. Immediately, her reaction was to head to the roof, to look at the desert and the raging sandstorm. Watching it mirrored her own raging emotions, something that she was desperately trying to keep tamped down during all this. She couldn’t afford to grieve right now, not when they were all still being hunted. She needed to either sleep the rest of the day away, or find something to keep herself busy. Looking down at the plots of dirt, she figured helping keep it tidy couldn’t hurt, so the woman would set about making sure the area got cleaned up wherever it was needed. Just anything to keep that image out of her head.
Eventually, she would tire herself out enough to pass out, though her dreams kept her sleep from being restful. More light nightmares, if she was honest. The friends and acquaintances she made in Pyrite looked at her from those chairs, begging for help, wondering why she wasn’t coming to let them out. Robert’s face in particular haunted her, wondering what he had done to deserve his fate. The worst part about that all was that she clearly remembered setting him free; once they had dealt with S-22, Aile was extremely confident she had gone straight to him to get him out. But every seat was filled. There was no denying it. Robert had died there. Betrayed by one of the people meant to save them. Again, another betrayal.
Thanks to her restlessness and poor sleep, she would wind up sleeping much later than she had anticipated, only really waking with a start when Sub shouted. She would look around for a few seconds, trying to figure out what was going on, only seeing the leader storm out. “I… Huh? Sure, sure…” The groggy woman would get out of the cot, eschewing shoes for the moment and briefly detoured to the kitchen to grab herself some water, before deciding to sit on one of the tables left in the lobby. Maybe what Sub had to say could shove some of those thoughts away, if at least briefly.
—---
Crystal would return to her journaling after they got back, chronicling the events of the mission from her point of view. While she wasn’t using one of the cots to sleep, she would use an empty one to hold her stuff while she wrote. There would be a few things she would make a point to emphasize in her writing, that Ein seemed to know enough about Ultra Space denizens to create an AI and room inspired by one of them, that she could sense Darts as a shadow of her in Ultra Space, and then a note that she sensed Aden for the first time in a year. Once she was satisfied with everything, she went walking around their temporary HQ, looking for people. The first one she came across, rather quickly, was Darts, but with Ogerpon in the state she was in, and the concern he was showing for her, that alone told her to not bother talking to him. Anything could probably wait until his partner was better. Not to mention, she still didn’t know where she stood with him, and really didn’t know how to ask. So, yeah, best to leave that potential land mine alone, as much as she wanted an answer to a personal question.
Next on her list, she would go hunt down Reno, wanting to confer with him about what she picked up on right before they left. Thankfully, he wasn’t nearly as preoccupied with taking care of someone as Darts was, so they got to knocking heads. Turns out, they both picked up on the same thing; Aden had shown up for a moment. Why there, and why he didn’t return with them wound up being the talk, along with catching up on what happened in the tower with their groups. That almost certainly went on for quite a while, along with anyone else who wanted to join in.
The next day, Crystal would write down what she spoke about with Reno and the others, before Sub interrupted with his sudden exclamation. Crystal blinked, standing up and stretching while watching the form of Aile practically jumping out of her cot. Once she had regained an amount of composure, the galactic catwoman would go ahead and head out to the lobby, leaning against the wall. She would keep an eye on Aile as she entered, noting that for only staying with the jet yesterday, she did not look exactly great. Hopefully she wasn’t getting ill. That’s not what they needed, yet another teammate going down in some way. And no, she was not going to pry into her head. Unwanted mental visitors rarely made anyone feel great afterwards. Rarely.
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Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2025 12:35 pm
Ulla was barely able to sleep ever since they got back from Ein's torture house. The Fairy Child was fighting her own emotions; breaking down in tears. She tried her best to stay calm. She was curled up in her bed, hugging onto her Mimikyu and Hisuian Zorua. "....Why did they have to be there...I was okay not ever knowing them...just hearing stories of them...them being basically a stranger...But, now knowing what they really are like. I'm so confused..." She spoke to her Pokemon. Mimikyu wrapped there ghost arm around their Trainer into a hug. She looked at her father's Megastone. Questioning everything.
Master. Sub is calling everyone for a meeting. It's time we go.
Thank you Lucario...
...Master. I can't imagine what you are going through. But, isn't it good to know. Even in another universe. Your parent's love and dreams live in you?
Ulla paused for a moment, and smiled slightly. "Youre right. Mother fought to breathe life into me. And Father always held me dear...." She said as she started to perk up. Her will wasn't fully broken yet. She picked herself up and ran out to meet with all the other Snagems. She looked around and spotted Ter. But no Keiko. She was probably resting most likely. The Fairy Child needed some sleep herself, but she could rest whenever. She walked over to Ter and tugged on his shirt. "Can I talk to you when this is over?" She asked, wanting to tell him about all that happened regarding her biological parents.
The Fairy Child then turned back to Sub, probably his group found something while in the Tower. "I'm guessing you found something while we were all in the Tower?"
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Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2025 8:06 pm
The return from Realgam Fortress had been hectic, at best, but between Darts and Blizzard collecting those injured or simply in shock from the discovery atop the tower, it seemed everyone had escaped in one piece, barring Wren’s unfortunate Shiinotic. Upon their return, he had immediately gone up to the roof in search of a place to plant the Illuminating Pokemon. He was pleasantly surprised to learn of the rooftop garden and quickly found a spot to plant his Shiinotic’s top half before pulling some supplies from his bag to make a simple sun shade for the mushroom Pokemon. Afterward, he promptly leaned against the railing of the roof and fell asleep nearby, so he would be there if Destro woke up needing anything. He had woken up not long ago and after ensuring Destro was comfortable, he headed downstairs to find out what the current food situation looked like. As it happened, Sub called for everyone to join him before he got there, redirecting him to join the leader.
Odd had just finished collecting some water for Lykas, leaving the small kitchen with the small bucket in hand just before Blizzard entered. He returned to the barracks room with a bit of help from A’Capella at his heels to guide him and gently placed the ends of Lykas’ ponytails into the bucket. The hybrid’s hands were draped from his cot into two additional buckets that had been dug up while everyone was away. Lykas’ body had been absorbing water practically nonstop since he had gone into this coma but he still hadn’t woken up. About the time he moved to sit down, he sensed Blizzard coming into the room to check up on Freth. He kept his mouth shut for the time being, allowing the pair the time they needed for the moment. Upon hearing Sub’s call for a meeting, he stood and stretched, waiting a moment for Blizzard to leave ahead of him before turning to Freth for just a moment. “When he wakes up… I don’t know what he’ll say but… He blames himself for you getting hurt.” He informed the woman, his tone somber. “I don’t know what your thoughts on that are but you two should probably talk at some point. I think he needs it. We have no idea when he’ll wake up, yet, so that’s a worry for another time.” He added, clearly worried about his partner but concerned for his friend and ally as well. “Focus on yourself right now, ok? You got hurt pretty badly, it sounds like.” Her soul felt stronger today, that was certain, but he could still sense how much it had weakened during the team’s flight here.
He would make his way toward where he could sense Sub and the others gathering, being one of the last to arrive. “I assume you guys found something?” He asked as he came to a stop near the edge of the gathered Snagems.
“We better have or that was a vacation to Hell for nothing.” Wren remarked snarkily.
“You have no idea what the Otherworld is like but knowing Ein, I’m fairly sure that’s right.” Odd replied without looking at him. His attention was on Sub right now for a reason. He needed there to be good news.
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Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2025 9:18 pm
As everyone gathered Sub would tinker with a small hard light projector he had found in the supply closet on the Battle Sim floor, one of a few spare parts laying around just in case the Battle Sim needed any emergency maintenance. With GRAY's assistance he attempted to get it to link to his SNAG and display things other than what was on a Battle CD, however he was unsuccessful and ended up calling Reno over to give him a hand. For Reno it wouldn't take long as a test holographic image would soon materialize above the device's lens, Team Snagem's emblem. Seeing this he smiled. "Thanks, Reno. I can rig some things but I'm no tech wiz like you or Issac." He said as he stood up and brushed the dirt off his knees. By the time they were done he noticed the room had filled up and nodded to himself, deciding it was now time to begin.
"We survived Realgam Fortress yesterday, for some of us our second time escaping that hell, others were first acquainted with the place then. I'm sure we can all now agree that we never want to pay that place another visit." He said, taking out his SNAG and tapping on the screen a bit as he spoke. "We were able to acquire several files from the tower, data that once belonged to the author of all the horrors that tower holds, Ein. For years our team fought that man and his abominations the best we could, working to destroy anything and everything that came from his factories of evil. I think I can speak for us all that we would have never imagined that something created by Ein would be the key to our salvation. That's what I believe I found in the files my group discovered on that computer we came across, salvation. But first we have a lot of other things to discuss..."
With that said the projector would create a hologram of Amaranth, however in her Ho-oh. Only a few here would recognize her, others only knowing her human self. "We discovered a lot of other interesting data among the files we all gathered and compiled and this is one of them; Project Resilience. This was of course Ein's project that led to the hybridization of our own Amaranth, using Sol's DNA of course. According to his records the project's goal was not to just create a clone of Sol or a Ho-oh hybrid specifically but to create resilient subjects which he planned on using for another project, one we'll talk about a little later. Why Amaranth was chosen for Project Resilience is because Ein noted she possessed a particularly adaptable genetic code that readily accepted hybridization and other modifications. He tested this by hybridizing her with Sol's DNA to create an even more resilient subject for his second phase project however Amaranth was deemed a failure for this second phase. Ein noting while she was highly adaptable that his modifications just wouldn't stick and her spirit too strong. He'd put her in his cache after that. She'd later be brought out by Ein's clone as a weapon to turn on us, however the real Ein would be proven right as her hybridization ended up failing and reverting her into the Amaranth we know."
With that the hologram changed to show an unfamiliar man, bald and unassuming. "She was not the only subject of Project Resilience however, in fact there was twenty-one others, all failures in their own way, nineteen of them marked in his files as 'disposed'. This man is one of the three survivors, his birth name unknown to even Ein with him simply labeling him as Subject 17. What Ein does note about this man is his genetic code is the most 'beautiful' he has ever seen. That his adaptability was beyond anything he had ever seen with him also noting that he and Amaranth appeared to show some sort of ancestry, however this Subject 17's genetic code was far superior not only in capacity for adaptation but also with its stability. However Ein would learn there was one major flaw with him, that being in the heart. Project 17 displayed tremendous capacity for bonding with the hearts of Pokemon, Ein noting his heart was 'disgustingly pure and incorruptible'. It was by studying both 17 and Amaranth he realized their capacity for adaptability lied not just in their genetic code but also in the bonds they could establish with Pokemon, something that would be of no use for the creator of the Shadow virus. But that's not the only information Ein has about Subject 17..." With that he turned back to his teammates.
"Ein sold Subject 17 to an unrecorded party instead of 'disposing' him, even Ein realizing how much of a waste it would be, even though his purity disgusted him. Ein would keep tabs on 17, just in case someone managed to do something with him while he could not. Just days before Ein's defeat he recorded that Subject 17 was now in the hands of a joint venture between the Aether Foundation and Macro Cosmos, funded and spearheaded by an unknown third party to create what appears to be a warrior trainer without rival, one who could take the bonds of people and Pokemon to heights never seen before, beyond what Hybrids and Channelers are capable of. This project was Project WHITE." He said, the word 'white' lingering in the air.
"WHITE stands for Worldwide Human Inhuman Threat Engagement with Subject 17, or as we know him now as Agent WHITE, being the weapon that they would wield to confront threats to the world. The project began awhile back as the threats to the world kept getting more and more deadly with Ein's war driving them to create a hero the regions of the world could control instead of relying on Team Snagem. Ein mocked the very idea of them trying to create, in his words, a 'messiah'. Besides that even Ein was limited in knowledge of what else they were doing with WHITE or how they even made him." The hologram of Agent WHITE would disappear as Sub turned his attention to Ulla.
"Ulla, those people you saw in the tower, you said they appeared to be your parents, right? Are you sure? Of at least your mother." He asked the girl, the hologram changing to show the two scientists. "Because if you are certain they are then I may have some unsettling news for you...Ein has record of your mother's disposal."
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Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2025 9:40 pm
Monique listened intently to Sub's presentation. This definitely wasn't in her history books, though given what had happened to her world, that wasn't in the least surprising.
Her head tilted at the mention of the Aether Foundation, though the name Macro Cosmos was unfamiliar to her. Yet it made sense. They—for some reason that wasn't exactly hard to deduce—wanted heroes they could control. Sanitized, clear of the impurities that in many ways were defining to Snagem. The thought sickened her. She knew well from having to be around Flower City and King Faba's rule that "heroes" in the employ of corrupt people were scarcely heroes at all. She wrinkled her muzzle at the thought. Those are the people I can't stand.
Then came the bombshell that Sub hurled at Ulla, startling enough to make her flinch. She'd been in the room. She'd seen them. She'd barely interacted, but that was kind of the point. She couldn't trust them.
"No... Don't tell me..." Her brain went back to yesterday. The Trick Room-tainted illusion created by two Pokémon under control collars. "Might they..." Her brain had another thought, thinking along technological lines. Flower City had holomed rooms that you could rent to relive scenes of life in the past or that were used to "treat" those in mental distress with simulated scenes like flowery fields and sandy beaches. She'd never been, of course, but she'd heard about them in her duties at Sub Rosa. The general consensus was that they were okay but not great, that more compute power was necessary for that but it wasn't exactly available to them.
But this wasn't 2071. It was 2025. Ein had an army of technicians at his cruel disposal, as the traps and rooms of Realgam Fortress made abundantly clear. "...Hologram... people?" she asked out loud. It made her rethink everything. What about Lovrina? She'd had such a strange interaction with Keiko. Or that Cynthia? "Were any of the people we met real?" The thought terrified her. Every time she heard of Cipher technology in use, it just made her think of her world, where it had run amok—and left most of the world to be run by Muk.
There were more questions for her to share at some point. But right now, it fell to Ulla to answer for the team. And to her to be there for her fellow Snagem. She looked at the fairy child, offering a sympathetic glance. She wanted to give her a hug so badly.
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Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2025 9:57 pm
"Of course," I said to Ulla just before Sub started talking. I couldn't help but feel a pang of impatience as the man went on about some project of Ein's that Amaranth was involved in. I knew Ein was responsible for her hybridization, but I wasn't privy to her Ho-oh form as he suspected. Nothing he said really seemed to matter until he brought up that this Subject 17 was actually Agent WHITE. I could barely contain my humor at the hypocrisy - SWIPE blames us for working for Ein, yet they use on of his failed projects to fit their own ends.
Still, none of this brought us any closer to clearing our name, unless SWIPE was attempting to cover up their relation to Ein by framing us for it. I was about to say as such - until Sub mentioned Ulla seeing her biological parents at that tower. Keiko had briefly mentioned things 'not making sense' in that tower, and I had to wonder if this was what she was referring to. It was little wonder Ulla wanted to talk to me after this meeting. To be honest, I wanted to ask keiko more about that tower, but waking her up now was a bad idea.
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Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2025 3:17 pm
As everyone gathered, I eagerly awaited for good news. Anything. Something that could give a ray of hope to the entire situation. I crossed my arms, standing there nearby as I watched Sub tried to fashion together some sort of means for everyone to see this impromptu presentation that he called a meeting for. I sighed a bit, trying to calm my admittedly frayed nerves, considering that what has happened over this past short bit. Then finally, Sub finally calls for attention.
Sub first lead off with the information that some of us managed to get a hold of. It was honestly crazy to the machinations that Ein had, and now we were seeing more in depth of them with all of this. I was aware of Amaranth being one such project, but I had the assumption that she was some sort of other project as opposed to being under this entire ‘Project: Resilience’. I had to take a deep breath for a second to just fathom the whole scope of that. That each of these people that Ein selected had particular traits he needed to exploit. And the one that actually panned out was S22. But worse, there was S17…the one we got to know as Agent WHITE. Crazier, WHITE in particular was actually sold to someone else to work whatever they wanted to? Did these people know who Ein was? Worse, he was sold because…he was effectively a paragon? Are you absolutely serious!? Boy, that rubbed me the absolute wrong way on so many levels. Whatever the case, apparently this Aether Foundation and Macro Cosmos didn’t really do…anything much with this guy, by my stance. Especially if Tristen was able to flatten this guy and run off with one of his Type: Null.
“Tch…probably one of the only things that Ein was right about…” I said to his ‘messiah’ comment. “Though probably not for the reasons he was probably thinking though. Unfortunately, I can’t help but to find myself with a previous thought I once had a while back ago. The team ended up getting cobbled together nearly a decade ago in response to the Rangers’ corruption, as they too were basically pulling crap not too dissimilar to what SWIPE is doing to us now, only they were doing it to the world at large to keep people rather ignorant about what was going on behind the scenes. Once the rangers were wrecked at its foundations, namely by us taking out their leader at the time, that created a vacuum that gave every last other criminal group to make their move in some capacity since…well, no Rangers and their oppressive hold, never mind the Ein clone at points here and there. All the way off into even the Unova region. Thinking back, it probably should have stopped by the time we managed to resolve Unova…but then Sub, you ended up getting a little proactive in Kalos, which left the door open to Lysandre, almost getting us to effectively handed the region to him. But before we could even think about cleaning up that mess, Ein made his move leading us to juggle major incidents on two fronts.”
I sighed for a bit. “Unfortunately, if we had stopped at Unova, then Lysandre probably would have waited until later to make his move in Kalos, but still would have collected anyways, and it would have been a lot harder to get in on the b*****d and deal with what craziness he had cooked up, and Ein…well, probably still would have unleashed the Shadow Virus, only to worse effect. And worse still to all of this, now that I am catching myself rambling here, I am starting to note a trend in all of this is that there is usually another party in all of this for some reason to deal with us. That in spite of all the work we try to put in to protect who we care about, and those we don’t even know the first name to, many still don’t trust us, regardless of our backgrounds and such and in spite of our intentions. The lot of us nearly died for complete strangers and…this is where we’re at. So much so that short of our closest allies, they are willing to believe whatever that crap that SWIPE got, like the stuff we saw back in Devon Corp., before us. The fact that people were trying to make one of Ein’s projects into this ‘messiah’, this super hero thing, whatever…is just another thing they’re willing to try to throw at us. And think, SWIPE wasn’t the first ‘law abiding’…allegedly…group that first took a swing at us. I’d like to remind quite a few here about HAZARD…”
I then looked over towards Ulla, now that it came up. I recalled how Ulla briefly reacted to when she was told her parents were in that tower for the excavation and how she was fairly unsettled by it. Though Ein having records of her parents’ disposal couldn’t possibly make anything any better at this rate. This whole presentation was going to throw everyone in a state of mental disrepair, isn’t it?
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Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2025 6:29 pm
SubonicXP Now feeling less queasy Sub grabbed his SNAG again and got back to looking over the files. He would only look over them for a few minutes before jumping to his feet in surprise, staring at the device's screen with his mouth slightly opened. After several seconds of staring he finally looked up, scanned the area for the rest of his teammates, and then shouted. "Meeting in the lobby! Right now! Everyone!" He said, shoving the device in his pocket and ran out of the makeshift bedroom. Darts had been in a similar position to Blizz, on the other side of their ramshackle infirmary, taking care of Ogerpon. He refused to return the Pokemon to its ball, in accordance with what he knew her beliefs were. Near the bed where she was resting, her four masks are assembled in a delicately-stacked clutter close to hand for when she was back up. Unlike Tristen, she wasn't suffering from poisoning. She had suffered a wound to her abdomen and while it wasn't probably life threatening the fight had exhausted her and, from what little Darts had talked to his young disciple when she had been awake, embarrassed her. Sub's clarion call to summon everyone got the Giratina hybrid to leave his apprentice's side, begrudgingly, to listen to the revelation. As he tracks through 'S-17's' revelation and Amaranth's connection, he tilts his head back and forth trying to make heads or tails of where this is going. When Ulla's name is brought up he cocks an eyebrow beneath his crest, if there was still one, his red eye widening as he eyes the younger Snagem. Where was this going?
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Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2025 10:20 pm
After getting back from the team's hellish trip to Realgam Fortress and yet another narrow (albeit festive) escape from SWIPE, none of the trio would get much of a chance to rest. Not long after Reno had been hunted down saw Sol being the next mark, with Cera catching wind almost as quickly and finding herself involved immediately.
With two that could tell beyond any doubts and a third having suspicions confirmed, there was little denying that after a long year of little to no information, Aden had finally been sighted. But it was of little solace, what with there being someone else and some sort of sinister energy in use. Sol would be beside himself as the four talked, comparing notes on that and anything else they'd seen in the tower. He certainly didn't get much sleep that night, let alone Cera between that and past trauma staring her in the face for a while.
Amaranth didn't escape such a fate either. Shortly after handing off the disc with the info she'd copied earlier to Sub, she'd spend a lot of the night unable to get her mind off the events and trying to ease Flaaffy to her new- though less than ideal- surroundings. Sass about the conditions besides, she didn't stray far from the woman's side as the one definitive place she knew she'd be safe at. At the very least, the sheep would find her way to sleep.
---
Sleep or no sleep, they'd each end up joining in for the sudden meeting, listening to Sub. Each of them would be taken aback when the hologram showed appeared, Amaranth looking off to the side for a second. She certainly remembered that form more than anyone. How the Elektross hybrid calling himself Ein used her as sustenance, the pain of being drained of your energy and life, only to come back and have it all happen again. The time during and after all of that where, in the absence of a past life or its memories, she wondered what being a clone meant. The day that saw the death and resurrection that brought her humanity back in full had its own questions, but above anything, it was one of the first times she felt true relief. She wasn't under anyone's shadow anymore, aside from the specter of Ein.
"That's a form I don't miss... or what being around him was like," she remarked. Flaaffy, still rubbing sleep from her eyes, could only look at the form in confusion, looking back at the human that apparently was some sort of hybrid before? Aside from this, she'd practically hug Amaranth's leg, seeing all too many unfamiliar people at once for her to feel at ease.
"With this revelation, this explains a lot," Sol added. "That was the one piece of the puzzle I couldn't figure out. I'll explain after the meeting, but I think I finally have an answer to why we found you as a human again. Beyond Ein's findings, that is."
"Of course Project Genesis wasn't good enough for him, it never was," Cera spat, having little else to add to what Sub explained and watching as the hologram changed.
Amaranth perked up the instant it changed, staring at the man's visage and feeling something about it that she didn't have the luxury to pick up on back in Realgam Fortress. He looked like nobody she knew or recognized, certainly not beyond what she saw within the last week, but something was telling her that she should. She looked down at her hand for a second, feeling like something had suddenly tugged at it.
"Three survivors... S-22 as the successful end result, Amaranth as- I'd presume- one of the earlier subjects if not the earliest for her to lack a number, and now Agent WHITE as-"
Before Sol had finished his musing, Amaranth stepped towards the hologram as Sub's recent words echoed in her mind like a key finally finding the door it was meant to unlock. Flaaffy gave out a bleat as she tried to pull her back, being dragged along with each step until she got an uncomfortably close sight of the hologram and finding herself going silent. The channeler would reach out towards the hologram despite knowing there'd be nothing to come of it, resting close to the hologram's shoulder as she blinked tears from her eyes and a single word escaped her lips.
"...brother?"
The whole time, Sol and Cera had looked towards her, both struck silent by the sudden step forward and quiet declaration.
"Ammy, are... are you sure? I mean, I guess if there's ancestry it'd be a safe assumption but..."
"No- I mean, yes- I don't know- I mean..." Stepping back, she'd close her eyes and take a deep breath. "I think I remember having a brother...?" Even as she said that word again, she wasn't sure if it was right. She was also sure it was. "No name or anything, though."
"Still, a... messiah? Ein had delusions of grandeaur but I'd argue that project sounds even worse than anything from him."
"A hero the regions could control... if I had to hazard a guess, they would've made sure the Indigo Alliance and our standing was never going to last if SWIPE's whole deal wasn't their doing and beat them to it," Sol remarked. "After all, why deal with a group for hire and all the liability that brings when you can have someone who won't deviate at all and has their thinking done for them?"
Finally, with the revelation of Ulla's bad news, he gave a grim look but otherwise said nothing of it, looking towards her. He knew what he saw earlier, but what one saw and heard was harder to trust than he'd like to admit right now.
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Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2025 8:00 am
Ulla listened carefully to Sub as he explained Amarath, Agent WHITE, and much more. "No wonder anytime I looked into Agent WHITE, he was the 'perfect soldier'...just not to Ein." She said mainly to herself. Seeing Agent WHITE when they took them hostage. It was hard to determine what his emotions were.
Right when she heard her name being called, her body froze.
"Ulla, those people you saw in the tower, you said they appeared to be your parents, right? Are you sure? Of at least your mother..Because if you are certain they are then I may have some unsettling news for you...Ein has record of your mother's disposal."
She glanced around at the other Snagems, all eyes were on her. As they were waiting on her answer. All questioning, why such a small child was mentioned? "...Please tell us...." She said clenching her fist. "I don't know anything about my mother. That was my first time meeting her ever. I was only a few months old when she passed....But, she felt real Sub. I felt her warm hand. Her sincere care emotion." She said ready to hear the news Sub was withholding. She looked at the hologram of her parents. Her stomach started to turn. "...Project Reseliance...were they part of the twenty-one?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2025 12:13 pm
It taken a moment for Reno to jump to action when Sub had made the call for a meeting, half-buried in his own attempts to create yet another vision board for what he could determine from his own observations and mental checks. Especially after spotting Aden and who he now knew to be Volo. That had led to some uncomfortable ruminating while he waited to see what the other information that had been gathered was and what revelations that might bring. But before he could grab his own look at the files, once he had noticed they had actually been delivered, there would be Sub. Presumably he had been watching and waiting for the exact second he could analyze everything personally.
Following along with his Reuniclus and Wynaut, Reno would quickly set to work on hotwiring the Battle Sim display to work. It wasnt the hardest thing he had ever had to do, given how something similar was integrated into his prosthetic from Devon Corp. And with how many prosthetics he broke in the line of duty, he had made sure to get all the technical manuals and things he could from Isaac. Speaking of, he needed to stop by there and see if he could get a fresh prosthetic arm. Sure, the slime arm worked just as well, but there was a certain comfort to a physical thing being there.
And so he stood back, not wanting to interrupt as the other Snagems gathered together and Sub began his presentation on what exactly they had found from the data specifically. Okay, so we were avoiding the other painful revelation for this moment.
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Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2025 12:26 pm
Wren listened to Sub’s explanation of what had been found, watching as the holograms changed at various points. Once it was all done, he took a moment to think about it all. Something about what Sub had said struck him as strange but what was it? For some reason, he couldn’t pin down exactly what it was. After a moment, he realized it was more what wasn’t said that was getting to him for now. He’d seen something out there, he was sure. Wren had spotted something out over the dunes as they escaped but hadn’t been able to identify it, assuming it had been just a trick of the desert’s environment. However, Sub appeared to have seen it as well, proving the Channeler wasn’t just seeing things. Was the leader going to bring that up or had he been unable to tell what they were booking at as well? Did it even matter?
Odd spoke up as Sub finished, trying to follow along without seeing the holograms. “So… Amaranth was part of the S-series that ended up with S-22?” He asked, confused at first. “And she has a sort of ‘brother’ in that project that Ein sold off to an unknown party that has been turned into a human bioweapon that’s been an “anti-Snagem” weapon in development for what sounds like years.” He listed off. “Ein, himself, not knowing the exact mechanics behind how WHITE was created is a bit worrying, though… Ein always seemed to know what everyone was up to…”
The final question had both of the pair looking confused. “How… could that be possible?” Wren asked.
“Good question but… I might be able to help with determining the reality of that if I had a reference source for her other’s soul. As things are, though, I doubt there’s any possibility of that.” odd remarked, rubbing his chin as he thought about everything Sub had brought up so far. “As concerning as that is, though, I’m left to wonder exactly how so much of the world has been convinced we’re these monsters that dwarf even the madman himself.” He admitted. “I’d like to hope you guys found something to explain that but I can’t help doubting Ein had that kind of foresight to be behind whatever’s going on now, years after we beat him. At least not directly. He’d never have planned for his own defeat, after all. He was too much of a narcissist to believe himself beatable by anyone.” The Ghost Channeler finished, trailing off a bit at that point.
The pair stood in silence after that, sure there had to be more coming. Sub wouldn’t have called a meeting like this just to say “we met people who are supposed to be dead”. That information, while concerning, didn’t ultimately answer any questions and it had sounded like he found something truly relevant.
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Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2025 3:31 pm
The man listened to Blizzard as the Cold One verbally drew out a road map of how they got to this point in time. The man was right, he was right about everything. No matter what they did, no matter who they defeated, heck no matter how 'proactive' they were everything that happened would have still came to pass, just in a different manner, some times worse. The comparison between HAZARD and SWIPE wasn't lost on him either, it was kind of funny to see the powers that be continuously try and find a way to not need Snagem and keep failing. They'd never truly accept Team Snagem, regardless of any weirdness like what is currently going on. Looking to Blizzard he gave a weak smile. "The road to hell, am I right?" Sub would look towards Amaranth as she called the image of S-17, the one day Agent WHITE, 'brother'. The man would frown as he looked from the hologram to Amaranth before responding. "I suppose it's possible. Ein did after all alter or completely wipe the memories of his subjects so any uncertainty you have in whether or not he's your sibling is understandable. Not even Ein can fully break the heart, one of his personal greatest failures." The man commented Looking down at Ulla he sighed, nodding in a manner indicating he did not want this confirmation from the Fairy Channeler, that he was hoping for more doubt from the girl when it came to her alleged mother. "I was afraid you'd say that..." He said, looking down at his SNAG as it displayed the text of her mother's file. 'Disposed', that's what Ein's file said under her status. Ein wasn't the type of person to assume someone is dead, her made sure of it. "I trust your senses, Ulla. I told you a long time ago you were to be the most talented of us and I still believe that. As a Fairy Channeler and her daughter you would know your real mother anywhere, I have zero doubt about that. Unfortunately that gives us more questions. But no, they were not part of the twenty-one. Your parents word under Project Genesis, which ended up creating Shadow Mewtwo. He wanted access to the Fairy Realm as well and we already know why. When your parents were no longer useful or cooperative in those endeavors...well, you know." Sub would then address the team at large again. "With Ulla's mother being real and in the flesh but Ein's files saying she is dead, like Ulla remembers before yesterday, that adds another layer of confusion as to what is going on. So far all of Ein's data of things we already knew perfectly lines up with how we recall the same events however we can clearly see with what we have experienced these past few weeks that things longer lines up with what we remember, like Ulla's mother being alive. It's not just people's memories or anything like that being altered, but reality as well in some way. First Bulder is alive and now Ulla's mother, something is very wrong. And that's not even getting into Lovrina being a respectable doctor now. Still can't get over that..." Holding up his SNAG he'd beckon the hologram to alter again, now showing an image of a pointy symbol reminiscent of a trident. "Following up on the Aether Foundation mention earlier, an interesting excerpt I found that might be of interest to you, Monique, is that Ein had plenty of contacts with the Aether Foundation, albeit off the books, through a certain individual named 'F'. Ein notes that while he possessed an above average intellect this 'F', who Ein knew to really be named 'Faba'. To him Faba was one of the most distasteful individuals he ever had ever communicated with, in spite of how much said person appeared to fawn over Ein himself. In fact he called him both a bumptious and cowardly sycophant, a sophist and a reprobate, the absolute lowest trash devoid of any sort of convictions, more fickle than the sea itself. Ein likened giving him samples of Cipher's technology to giving a child a magnifying glass, admitting he did it for his own amusement." Sub would make the hologram change again, this time showing an image of Blizzard himself, the man glancing at it in surprise for a bit before chuckling. "Whoops, I was going to show you that in private, Blizz. Eh, what the heck, y'all don't want me to hide stuff from ya anymore, right?" He said with a devious grin as he looked at Blizzard. "Like he did for all of us when he was active Ein had a file on you, Blizz, a very...interesting...file. Let me read an excerpt from your file, Blizz...ahem..." "Blizzard - this specimen's untapped potential is boundless. Possessing a cryokinetic skillset whose upper bounds of power have yet to be studied and adequately measured, this 'Cold One's' ability to inhibit and impede molecular movement could provide breakthroughs in thermodynamics, quantum simulation and mechanics, and astrochemistry amongst many others. In addition to research and development applications, the specimen himself seems to possess a keen mind for battle tactics, strength and conditioning, and prides themselves on their ability within combat both with themselves and their Pokémon. Unfortunately, overexposure to Team Snagem's weak ethos and an innate pity for 'the innocent' holds back his ability to flourish and ascend to his true cryoseismic throne on the world stage. A pity Sub got his hands on this one first, as there is no telling what kind of ice age this one could have brought about under my guidance..." Looking up from the screen he locked eyes with Blizzard for a bit to see his reaction to that, afterwards he'd move on. "So yeah...there is one more thing before I get to what instigated this meeting so quickly..." With that the hologram changed again to show another symbol, a sigil . "Ein once saw this sigil on a mysterious person shortly before his defeat and was so intrigued by the individual's presence that me made record of it. At this moment he was convinced he had won the war so he wasn't doing too much digging into the person nor the sigil but this is interesting to me and relevant to all of us because this very same sigil was spotted on the garments Volo and Aden were wearing when they showed up yesterday."
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Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2025 4:29 pm
‘The Road to Hell’, as Sub aptly stated. Yea, he wasn’t kidding about that one. And the road, never mind the hell itself, is of our own making. The proverbial grenade that many of us jumped on. I had been asked constantly about the faith I had in others to step up when need be and what it would honestly take for me to actually hang everything up. Go back to the gym like I’ve been wanting to. This sort of thing that we’re dealing with now…just left me only slightly convinced that no one was ready for what we see…or have any way to contend with things similarly to what we dealt with. People can boast having groups like HAZARD and SWIPE being the reliable ones they can call upon and yet as I see it, if they can’t actually pin us down, to actually undisputedly beat us, then they have no chance. And what’s even sadder about the situation? I can’t see myself leaving the safety of my closest friends and family to the likes of them. I don’t think I have any faith in them, the more I dwell on it now. Is that self-righteous of me to even say? Probably, I have to admit. But so far, I’m not being impressed.
It was thoughts that I dwelled on all the while trying to stay attentive to the conversation between Ulla and Sub. Her parents just appearing out of nowhere was just uncanny for all involved. Ulla was fine physically. Mentally, she was going to need some help, that much I could tell. Her whole world was upheaved with the opposing information that she first hand is experiencing. One says they’re dead, her very eyes and senses tells her they’re alive in the flesh. Hopefully she can hold out until we get some of this resolved. Regardless, that’s another person that seems to be back from the dead, Bulder being the first. Never mind other contradictions like Lovrina. It threw some things back into question, like the evidence in Devon Co. or the fact that I had gotten grilled over my fight with Malva back in Black City. Part of me felt like leaving now just to make sure that she was still in prison right now.
The Aether Foundation mention was honestly interesting, and part of me actually wondered if this group was worth investigating. But then, the more I thought about it, what would be the point? Ein was gone. The most they’re guilty of is perhaps supporting SWIPE, specifically Agent WHITE and assumedly the Type: Nulls, because I honestly couldn’t think where else they could have came from. Maybe Macro Cosmos? They’re out of Galar, right? Eh, it doesn’t matter. Going after any one of them is effectively kicking the SWIPE hornets’ nest. I would rather not without good reason. Though it was odd that there was someone that even Ein detested more than his sworn enemies. Even evil tends to have standards, I guess…
Suddenly, I was left in confusion when the image started to shift to me, more so that I missed Sub’s wry grin, dumbfounded. My initial guess was that it was just mere data on us so he had the means to assemble his small team to effectively counter each of the team. Kess, notably, being a foil to me and a few others here, incidentally. Though as Sub started to read Ein’s file, I felt almost violated. Ein had a whole run down on me, and worst, this crap that he was saying…started to sound vaguely similar to what Freth ended up telling me. Nearly two years ago. This blasted stuff was the sort of reasoning Eris came after me to end me. My heart fell to the pit of my stomach. Ein’s note about how he lamented not getting me before Sub did fell on deaf ears…my mind was in a whole other world trying to wrap my mind around it. I crossed my arms a little tighter in front of me, disturbed by the entire prospect. “Ugh…that b*****d…” I muttered.
Sub would move on to the next topic, showing off a sigil. I heard after we managed to escape that a few had seen Aden and this Volo guy. I didn’t notice myself, being too distracted with trying to make sure everyone got on the jet and making pot shots at SWIPE to back off when we were making our escape. I almost didn’t really want to believe Aden would have came out of nowhere like that, but then something left me wondering. Part of me wanted to ask Sol if Aden had the capability to go that far back to put the people back in their seats to die, but then I quickly dismissed it. Even taking into consideration when the last time anyone heard the last out of Aden, it would have been too far back. It wasn’t like he was a full Celebi hybrid. He’s barely a quarter one because genetics is a hell of a thing. But then I remembered...he mentioned, in fact showed it, shortly after our final fight with Ein. He has a Celebi altogether. He could have used the Celebi to do that. And it wasn’t as if he needed to go about doing that all at once. Its time that he’s messing with. He had all the time in the world for he and Celebi to recuperate. Very much literally. But then why would Aden even do this? Was he forced to do it? How and to what ends? This Volo guy? Why did he instigate us being thrown under the proverbial bus? And the fact that Ein saw this sigil just before his defeat? Could it have been possible that he had a run in with this Volo guy or Aden? For what? So many questions that it begged the one now that this isn’t the thing that got Sub to call us in here so quickly? Then what the hell is it? I started to fear the worst out of this…
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