Lusamine walked slightly behind as Anabel took the lead through the dense undergrowth. The prehistoric jungle was sweltering, the air thick with humidity and the scent of crushed moss. Neither of the women had heard any of the commotion Landon and Iono had caused near the drop point, primarily because Iono had deployed her Magnemite cameras to project a localized sound-dampening field around them.

  "What do you actually think of Landon?" Anabel asked abruptly. They had been navigating the perimeter for several minutes in complete silence.

  Lusamine didn't answer immediately. The silence stretched out for so long that Anabel assumed she was going to ignore the question entirely. It was a sore subject for Lusamine, a complex web of shifting allegiances and forced circumstances that had only recently mended into genuine affection. Lusamine was sharp enough to know the Interpol agent was likely probing for a weakness, trying to work some angle against Landon, but she wasn't sure what it was yet.

  "I like him," Lusamine finally answered, her voice calm and measured as she stepped over a massive, decaying log. "While I certainly had a hard time coming to terms with the initial shock of the System, I will not deny that I love him now. Through him, I have gained abilities that no other normal human—and very few legendary Pokémon—could ever hope to match. I have a beautiful, secure home inside Prisma, and I am given the freedom to study the incredible Pokémon he catches. I will admit, things were rocky at first. I really wasn't sure if I was going to be able to accept the reality of my situation, much less thrive in it. But I have."

  Anabel frowned, her sharp eyes scanning the tree line. She didn't offer a rebuttal as Lusamine suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, her head tilting slightly to the side.

  "Do you hear something?" Anabel asked, her voice dropping to a whisper.

  "I am not a Pokémon," Lusamine replied ftly, throwing the earlier joke back at her.

  "Not completely," Anabel countered, her tone serious but not unkind. "You said it yourself just a moment ago; you have physical abilities no other normal human could match. If you are linked to Landon's System, then your biology is at least partially shifted. I am just a standard human. I assumed that you heard something in the brush, because my ears are picking up absolutely nothing."

  Lusamine wanted to roll her eyes at the agent's rigid logic, but the sudden shift in the jungle's ambient noise killed her annoyance. Whatever creatures she had sensed moving in the distance had just locked onto their position. And they were closing the distance incredibly fast.

  "There is something coming," Lusamine warned, her posture shifting into a defensive stance. "They are moving fast. Fnking us."

  Without hesitation, Lusamine pulled her smartphone from her pocket, her fingers flying across the screen to dial Nemona's internal network number. The phone barely rang a single time before the battle-hungry champion picked up.

  "Already on our way!" Nemona's voice crackled through the speaker, vibrating with excitement. "Just keep whatever it is tied down! We will be there in two minutes to deal with them! Click."

  Lusamine sighed, the phone vanishing from her hand and returning directly to her localized inventory space—another massive perk of being tethered to Landon's System. She rolled her shoulders, closed her eyes, and mentally activated her transformation sequence.

  Wind Fairy Garden Skin: Active.

  Anabel stepped back in genuine shock as a violent burst of vibrant green vines and broad leaves erupted from the dirt beneath Lusamine’s boots. The vegetation spiraled rapidly upward, wrapping around Lusamine in a tight, protective cocoon. A split second ter, the cocoon burst open.

  Lusamine stepped forward, entirely transformed. She was cd in an elegant, sweeping green fairy dress woven from magical foliage. Her blonde hair had shifted to a vibrant, luminous green to match. Sprouting from her back was a pair of translucent, glowing pink wings that beat softly against the humid air, keeping her hovering an inch off the ground. She looked entirely ethereal, radiating a soft, mystical light into the dark jungle.

  "What just happened?" Anabel demanded, her hand instinctively dropping to her belt where her standard Pokéballs rested.

  Lusamine looked down at her, a confident smile gracing her lips. "This is the result of what you call 'becoming a Pokémon.' Stay behind me."

  A second ter, the underbrush violently exploded.

  Three massive, raptor-like creatures burst into the clearing. They stood nearly five feet tall, their bodies covered in thick, leathery red skin instead of feathers. A striking teal stripe ran down the length of their spines, ending at the tips of their long, whip-like tails. They possessed razor-sharp cws and jaws lined with serrated teeth. They immediately fanned out, beginning to circle the two women with terrifying, predatory coordination.

  Anabel didn't hesitate. She stepped firmly behind Lusamine’s hovering form and unclipped a Pokéball.

  "Don't send your Pokémon out here!" Lusamine ordered sharply, her pink wings beating faster to lift her higher into the air. "I don't think standard modern Pokémon can withstand a physical hit from these things. They will get seriously hurt!"

  "These creatures look like the fossil Pokémon, Archeops," Anabel noted, her tactical mind racing as she kept her hand on the release button. "Except they are entirely featherless and much rger. Are you absolutely sure that you can handle three prehistoric apex predators at once?"

  "I will try. Just stay back and stay safe!" Lusamine commanded. She shot ten feet straight up into the air, drawing the aggro of the pack.

  Anabel wasn't happy about being sidelined, but she was a pragmatist. She knew that if she threw a modern Pokémon into a prehistoric meat grinder, she would likely only make the situation worse.

  Seeing their primary target lift out of striking range, the three raptors instantly pivoted their attention to the grounded Anabel. They shrieked and lunged forward as a coordinated unit.

  The moment their cwed feet hit the center of the clearing, thick, thorn-covered vines shot up from the soil. The pnts acted like living whips, wrapping viciously around the ankles of the five-foot-tall creatures.

  The raptor in the center roared in fury, sshing wildly at the bindings with its razor-sharp cws. One of the two thick vines holding its left leg snapped under the assault. The creature broke free, abandoning Anabel to leap an incredible fifteen feet straight up into the air, its jaws snapping wildly at Lusamine’s glowing wings.

  Lusamine banked sharply, flying higher toward the canopy to avoid the lethal bite. The raptor crashed back down to the dirt, immediately spinning around to charge at Anabel.

  Anabel backed up slowly, pulling out her Interpol-issued Pokédex as another thick vine shot from the earth to trip the charging beast. She pointed the scanner at the thrashing creatures.

  "Archeops. The First Bird Pokémon," the mechanical voice of the Pokédex chimed out. "These Pokémon lived in groups during ancient times and were highly intelligent. They were known for being a violent and fierce species."

  "This creature is what the Archeops originally looked like before fossilization?" Anabel muttered, her eyes wide as she watched the creatures tear at the magical vines. "No wonder the Pokédex can barely identify them. There is almost no biological data on the modern internet about their true ancient forms."

  Anabel looked up at the hovering fairy. "What should I do?"

  "Stay safe! I will be right back!" Lusamine shouted down.

  She suddenly took off, flying in a rapid, tight circle around the perimeter of the clearing. Her glowing pink wings generated a massive, localized gale. The wind pressure smmed downward, physically forcing the thrashing raptors back into the dirt, pinning them long enough for more enchanted vines to erupt and bind their arms and jaws.

  Anabel watched the dispy in awe. She wasn't entirely sure if Lusamine was directly controlling the pnts or if it was an automated defense system from the System Skin, but the tactical timing was fwless. Once all three raptors were securely restrained against the forest floor, Lusamine broke her flight pattern and floated back down to nd beside Anabel.

  "We don't have much time. We need to move right now," Lusamine said, her breathing heavy. "There is something else coming this way. Something much, much bigger. My vines won't be able to hold these raptors for very long."

  As she spoke, her ethereal fairy form flickered violently. With a sound like shattering gss, the green dress and glowing wings dissolved into motes of light. Lusamine stumbled forward, returning to her normal blonde hair and standard clothes. She looked entirely drained.

  "Sorry," Lusamine panted, leaning heavily against a tree trunk. "I am still getting used to channeling this specific power, and it takes a massive amount of internal stamina to maintain it outside of the Prisma sanctuary."

  Anabel nodded, immediately grabbing Lusamine by the arm to support her weight. "Where are we going?"

  Lusamine pointed a shaky finger toward a dense patch of tall ferns. "That is the direction Nemona and Grusha are coming from. All we have to do is close the distance and meet up with the girls, and everything will be fine. Both of them are absolute battle junkies. They are far stronger than I am."

  Anabel wasn't entirely convinced. She wanted to tell Lusamine not to push herself to the point of colpse, but before she could speak, a deafening, earth-shattering roar echoed through the jungle. The sheer volume of the sound rattled Anabel's teeth.

  Lusamine pointed a trembling finger behind them. "That way. Go! I absolutely cannot hold off the creature that is coming."

  Anabel didn't argue. She tightened her grip on Lusamine's arm and pulled her forward, breaking into a dead sprint through the dense foliage. The terrifying sound of massive trees snapping like twigs directly behind them spurred them on. Anabel wasn't sure if they were fast enough to escape, or if the prehistoric monster would simply run them down.

  A few agonizing moments ter, the tree line exploded outward.

  A colossal dinosaur crashed into the clearing they had just vacated. It was covered in thick, dark red scales, accented by heavily armored, bright orange pting and jagged spikes running down the back of its neck and spine. Both women instantly recognized the species, but neither of them was prepared for the sheer, terrifying scale of the beast.

  It was a Tyrantrum. But this ancient apex predator was easily three times the size of the one that had breached the containment unit back in the modern era. Anabel honestly didn't think this monster could even fit through the Ultra Wormhole if it tried. Its massive footfalls literally shook the ground beneath their running feet.

  "Lusamine!" Anabel yelled over the sounds of the crushing jungle. "Is there any way you can use your magic to hold it back?!"

  "No!" Lusamine gasped, her lungs burning. "I need to consume an energy item to transform again, but even if I did, my vines would just make it angry! We have to keep moving!"

  Anabel nodded, pure, unadulterated fear flooding her nervous system. She pushed her legs to move faster, dragging Lusamine along. "Why in the world isn't Landon here right now?!"

  "Because we don't need him!" Lusamine snapped back, her pride fring despite her exhaustion. "Just keep moving!"

  "Okay!" Anabel shouted, her voice shaking with uncertainty. As the massive, thundering footsteps closed in behind them, she seriously started to regret her decision to split the party. She should have stayed firmly behind Landon's shield.

  Lusamine gritted her teeth, ignoring the burning ache in her muscles. Her stamina was completely bottomed out, and she didn't have any of Nemona's meal bars stored in her inventory. If the vanguard didn't arrive in the next ten seconds, Landon really would have to teleport in and save them. But Lusamine refused to let that happen. Even though she wasn't a frontline brawler like the others, she refused to be reduced to calling for a rescue every time she faced a threat. She knew the Endbringers were coming to destroy their reality. Landon would need all of them to be strong enough to stand by his side. She desperately wanted him to rely on her, and the absolute st thing she wanted to be was a burden.

  "There!" Lusamine suddenly shouted, pointing ahead.

  "Where?!" Anabel gasped, her vision blurring from the exertion.

  Through a break in the trees, Anabel finally saw them. Nemona was riding piggyback on Grusha. The stoic, blue-haired woman was exhaling a massive, continuous path of solid ice across the jungle floor, literally surfing over the uneven terrain on a snowboard manifested entirely from frozen moisture.

  "Look at the absolute size of that thing!" Nemona shouted, her eyes locking onto the towering, three-story-tall Tyrantrum charging behind them.

  Without breaking momentum, Nemona vaulted off Grusha's back. As she hit the apex of her jump, her body violently erupted into cosmic fmes. The fire burned away to reveal a breathtaking coating that mirrored the deep night sky. Twelve glowing, miniature suns materialized, orbiting her body like a divine halo. She shot straight up into the air, hovering high above the canopy as the massive dinosaur charged closer.

  "What is she waiting for?!" Anabel screamed, terrified as the Tyrantrum closed the gap to less than fifty feet. "Why did she just fly out of the way?!"

  Grusha slid to a halt, the ice snowboard shattering beneath her boots. She turned toward the oncoming monster, her face a mask of absolute, chilling seriousness. She clenched her thick blue mitts into fists.

  "Grusha, Grusha, Grusha!" she decred loudly.

  Lusamine spped a hand over her face with a groan. Anabel looked at the snowboarder as if she had lost her mind.

  "She gets like this whenever we enter a major fight," Lusamine expined tiredly.

  Grusha ignored them entirely. She squared her shoulders toward the charging Tyrantrum and the three raptors that had finally broken free and were racing behind it. She waited until the massive dinosaur was only thirty feet away.

  Grusha violently smmed both of her mitt-covered hands directly into the dirt.

  The earth violently shuddered. The temperature in the sweltering jungle plummeted to sub-zero in a fraction of a second. A massive, jagged wall of pure, indestructible ice erupted from the ground in a perfect circle, shooting a hundred feet into the air. The gcier ringed the entire clearing, violently smming shut and completely sealing the area off from the rest of the jungle.

  "Um," Anabel stammered, her breath pluming in the suddenly freezing air. "Are we supposed to be trapped on the exact same side of the wall as the giant, vicious Pokémon? Weren't we actively trying to get away?!"

  Before Lusamine could answer, Grusha’s body began to glow. Her heavy winter bodysuit shattered into shards of light, revealing a simple white tank top and jean shorts underneath.

  "My job here is done," Grusha stated ftly. She immediately sank to the frozen ground, letting out a long, exhausted sigh.

  "What do you mean your job is done?!" Anabel shrieked, her Interpol composure completely shattering as the Tyrantrum let out a deafening roar, trapped inside the ice arena with them. "We are literally locked inside a cage with the monsters we were running from!"

  Suddenly, a blinding, intense light radiated from the sky above them, forcing Anabel to look up.

  "It's always go time!" Nemona’s voice boomed from the heavens, echoing with cosmic power.

  She dove toward the ground like a meteor. As she fell, the air above the clearing warped and fractured. A massive, fully-constructed, ethereal Pokémon Stadium materialized out of thin air, falling directly alongside her. To Anabel’s horrified eyes, the thousands of tons of concrete and steel looked like they were going to crush everything inside the ice ring ft.

  "What is she doing?!" Anabel screamed, throwing her arms over her head. "She is going to kill us all!"

  Lusamine didn't flinch. Even Grusha didn't bother to look up from her spot on the ice as the massive structure plummeted toward their heads.

  "We aren't going to die, Anabel," Lusamine said calmly over the roar of the falling stadium. "This is just Nemona's ability."

  Anabel screamed anyway as the stadium crashed down over them.