Silver Bullet

[Undyne]

"Yes... yes, I recieved the updated files already. What I don't understand is why the Liberation Front is supposedly doing in- classified information? Must I remind you that on the subject of the Pokemon activity my clearance levels are 7 across the board?! You can consult the Vice-Admiral in person if you doubt my words. No? Good. Then send me what the Admiral has gathered and stop questioning my permissions!"

Sabrina tapped the touchscreen a bit harder than what was necessary, sighed as she put her Communicator back on the table and looked at the laptop on her desk. It didn't take long for a ding to announce that she was recieving an encrypted file. The encryption code confirmed it to be a file from the Navy. She hit Enter and watched the bar fill as the files were securely transmitted and the projector on the wall displayed a new batch of data. At least this looked like what she needed. She was tired of having to chase after every scrap of information because some overzealous worker thought that an ER&D member with such high security clearance for such a low amount of time could "only" mean that it must be someone who'd hacked the database to add themselves to the system to obtain sensitive data.

That aside, the information displayed on the screen was very interesting. Taking together the bits of information she could see that the Pokemon Liberation Front had attempted to conceal their movement patterns by launching fake guerilla attacks and split their forces to travel across multiple islands, but ultimately the pattern leaked through if one ignored the false information and dug through to the truth. Lunar Island was where the main force's next stop would be, no doubts about that. If she highlighted the routes of the primary suspect, of the force that she believed to be the "core" of the Pokemon Liberation Front led by Wartortle, they were the only force that had dodged direct engagements and that was moving in the straightest line. Plus, the secondary groups were regularly reconvening with this primary one. The problem was, Lunar Island could either be their destination or just a spot for them to refuel before comtinuing to the next hopping point. There was no way to ensure that without some first-hand information, and from the movement patterns she could not even take a solid guess.

On the plus side, she had some scrap of information. If she cross-examined this against what she currently had, with any luck she'd be able to provide a few very interesting future sights to the Imperial Navy in return for them providing their info to her. By making herself useful in that manner she would extend her network of trust and people would start to readily share their information with her, not because they had to as she had security clearance. She dug through the folders she had been given until she found Wartortle's file. What little the Empire had on him was unfortunately insufficient to establish a personality profile and compare it to the plans that her theory mapped out, but at least she could run a vague comparison. What made her wonder the most was that according to her data Wartortle liked to fight at the front line, and that it behaved very humanlike. Military-grade in fact... smoking a cigar, wielding akimbo guns, using intellect rather than brute force... the Squirtle family wasn't necessarily known for being subtle fighters, their durable shells and high-powered water attacks placed them into the squishy-sweeper category, transitioning into powerful-but-slow category as they advanced to Wartortle and eventually Blastoise. So either Wartortle had vastly changed after becoming a Prime, or his past had left a mark on him.

She pushed the documents aside and typed into her PC, pulling up the database. Why had Omni brought Wartortle here as a Prime anyway? Had he brought him from an alternate universe, just like her, or maybe he'd turned a Secondary into a Prime, if that was even possible? Native Primes... she mailed a specialist on the matter and quickly got an answer - according to the Empire's research, native Primes were possible but rare. So in other words it was possible but unlikely to have gone this way. She entered a search term and got the results - the words Omni told a new Prime upon their arrival. "My name is Omni, this is not the world you know", etcetera. She could only vaguely remember what she had been told, but the Empire kept very good database entries on the subject. Finally, the words she was searching flickered across the screen:

"You interest me, so I have made you part of it."

Why had Omni taken an interest in Wartortle, was the next question. What had gotten him so interested in the Pokemon that he had picked that one out of the thousands upon thousands of Wartortles, one among millions of Pokemon in the world, to be a Prime? With someone like Mewtwo she could understand. Mewtwo was a Pokemon of immense power and intellect, a being with none like it. She flicked through the rest of the database, trying to find any details but they eluded her. The Empire had nothing else on Wartortle. No information, no background, not the slightest snippet of story prior to his arrival in the Omniverse. Damn it!

With a sigh she got up from her chair, ensured that the windows were shut and the curtains were out, then she locked her computer and put a sweater on. She needed to take a break and get some fresh air... clear her mind out. She grabbed her keys and Communicator from the table and slid them both into her pocket on her way out, before exiting into the streets of Costa del Sol. Perhaps someone in Cinnabar would know more, but the Pokemon she had captured had burned that bridge, and she couldn't get any info out of them. No surprise there, the Darkballs wiped a Pokemon's mind after all. She doubted that they would know much anyway.

[Undyne]

Sabrina only noticed how far she had walked when she felt a splash of water against her cheek, and noticed that she was standing at the edge of Costa del Sol, on the seaside looking out into the endless oceans that spanned the verse. Out here there was less protection from the elements than further into the city, meaning that winds and waves battered against the dikes that kept the island from being eroded on this side. She'd never been here before... but now that she was, it reminded her of the area south of Vermillion City, with the big open shores. Just as bustling with activity, and with the same nice wind and rich salty scent in the air. The only thing missing were those benches along the dikes for strollers to sit- never mind. As if on queue she saw one of those benches, pointed at the sea, that'd been hidden behind a handful of people walking by when she had first looked in that direction. She moved over, sat down and tugged her sweater over her chin to guard herself from the wind.

Out here was a better place to think than in the apartment... haaah. Things weren't looking up right now. She couldn't send batches of incomplete data to the Navy, but she could not just hold her findings back either. The Navy would not be very happy if she sent them data that misled them, but on the other hand if she withheld something she would be asked why she hadn't sent anything. They had, after all, supplied her with a lot of data and she had access to the database, plus she'd proclaimed herself to be an expert on Pokemon matters. If she did not show up with some results soon things would not look up for her credibility.

The problem, the key figure, was Wartortle. Sabrina looked out into the sea, following the course of the waves as they advanced towards the shore and crashed against the dike. What events had shaped it to become the way it was? Why did it behave the way it did? And above all, why did it do what it did? According to the data records it waged a guerilla warfare with its faction against... well, almost everyone. The Navy most of all, but also Cinnabar and any other factions that were present in whatever verse they operated in, though that was primarily the Vasty Deep. They had groups operating in the other verses as well, it seemed, but the most threatening forces were right here, led by Wartortle. She wondered if it really was operating on its own, or if there was someone behind it all, the shadowy leader. Pokemon were animals, their behavior was animalistic and their habits and patterns were simple. The most that they would achieve were simple hierarchies and packs. Mewtwo was the exception: it wasn't just intelligent but also smart, able to make use of its knowledge as they had found out when it had carried out its ruthless plan. Back then Mewtwo had even gone as far as to establish a community of Pokemon that was organized in a complex yet functional society. A simple knockoff of human society, really... and since its arrival here in the Omniverse it had set up Cinnabar Island, which was a community as complex as a human one. In other words, it had gone beyond itself. Could it be that it was the mastermind behind the Liberation Front? A Wartortle, even one molded by its trainer, couldn't have the cunning to carry out plans as complex as this. She would hardly trust a Psychic Pokemon with being able to think of that, and even those would be a far stretch. On the other hand, the council members had displayed how cunning they themselves were... so it wasn't out of the question that they had somehow evolved to be smarter and more humanlike than their Pokemon World counterparts.

Could it be that Cinnabar was using the Liberation Front as a fictitious "common enemy" between the Empire and itself, a force that they could pretend was rebels without any affiliation to them when in reality it was to enhance Cinnabar's military power and to drive forward some hidden agenda of Mewtwo's? A force supposedly unrelated to Cinnabar would mean that Mewtwo couldn't be held responsible if the Liberation Front destroyed imperial settlements, attacked their ships or sabotaged their operations. They could act with relative impunity. But of course, they couldn't accuse Mewtwo without any solid proof - like a confession from Wartortle, maybe. Getting the bugger captured for questioning was a whole different story, of course.

Sabrina pushed herself to her feet and walked back towards her home. Speculating and making up wild theories wasn't gonna help her cause, and she had exploited every bit of information that she'd been able to get her hands on. If there was more she would have to earn it, if there wasn't she had done all she could. The only thing to do now was to send the results back to HQ and await their response... if they sent out a ship to intercept Wartortle she would probably be the first one to be approached about joining them. When she arrived at her apartment she printed out everything required and added a new section to the Liberation Front Folder in the far back, marked with her code and a date. She sent an encrypted digital copy to the Navy and packed the folders into her bag. It was time to head back to Coruscant for a visit. Let's just see here... Communicator, check. Keys for her Airbike, check. Keys for the apartment, check. Folders, check. Pokeballs, check... everything looked good. She put on her biker suit and helmet, locked the apartment down and headed downstairs to get on the Airbike. A few button presses on her helmet enabled the GPS and set the coordinates to her destination in Coruscant. And with the badge on her suit the troopers would let her pass without causing any hassle.

Fifteen minutes later Sabrina drove the bike through the gate to Coruscant, leaving Costa del Sol behind for now.

[Undyne]

Sabrina stepped through the portal from Coruscant back to Costa del Sol and took a deep breath of the salty seabreeze. She'd only spent a couple of hours in Coruscant, according to her time perception, but in retrospect she realized how much she had missed that smell. Coruscant was an industrial hole, the air was saturated with smog from the factories and the cars, with electrosmog from the various devices, and no real way for all that to escape and be recycled. It made her wonder how it hadn't run out of air yet, actually... she wondered if somewhere a group of Primes were constantly synthesizing Omnilium into oxygen and extracting Omnilium from the carbon dioxide. The thought amused her.

Because her badge was prominently displayed on her chest she expected the Stormtroopers to allow her to pass without further complications. However one of them, who had undoubtedly seen her badge, raised his voice. "Professor Sabrina! Could you come to the side please?"

"Hmm? Certainly, what's the matter? Something wrong with my badge?" she asked as she stepped away from the checkpoint and walked towards the Stormtrooper, who led her towards the guard hut. There was a small table in front of it, which the guards used for their lunchbreaks judging by the breadcrumbs lying around.

"Please wait a moment. We have a delivery for you." He headed into the hut and shortly after came back out with a small packet and a note. "We recieved word that you were in Coruscant. The guards were notified to hand this to you when you came back." He put both items on the table and pushed them towards Sabrina.

"Why did you not deliver it to my home address?" asked Sabrina as she took the note and read through it. A delivery from the military branch of the Imperial R&D department? But yes, it was addressed to her...

"We were specifically told to make sure that you recieve it personally. Since you were absent the risk of the package being stolen if we left it at your doorstep was too big."

"I see. Do you happen to have a cutter that I could borrow?" When the Stormtrooper didn't reply and looked at her with what she could only imagine to be an expectant look - he was wearing his helmet after all - she pointed at the box which was sealed with duct tape. He unfastened the combat knife from its holster and handed it to her, but Sabrina noted that his hands were gripping his laser rifle a bit tighter as she carefully cut the duct tape open. He was probably violating protocol with this. But she handed the knife back, holding it by its blade, right after finishing with it, and he relaxed again. As for the box, it contained a smaller strongbox that looked like a miniature safe, with a numberpad on the front. Sabrina lifted it out of the cardboard box and punched in a code holding the pad in such an angle that only she could see what she was typing in, namely the twelve-digit unique secret code that went along with her ID for security clearances. Indeed a green light and a beep confirmed the correct input and the box opened up, revealing a lengthy item that looked like a mix between a key and an USB stick. Sabrina took it out of the box and held it up. "Do you know what this is?"

"It's an electronic key, Professor. A combination of a physical and a digital key for a high-security lock."

"Right... so they want me to get something from a high-security safe, huh." She folded the note up and put the key away. "Thank you, officer. Please have that strongbox sent back to the return address. I need to go now."

"Yes, Professor. Have a good day."

As she passed the checkpoint and headed into Costa del Sol Sabrina read the note again. A safe in the Costa del Sol police precint, holding a "gift" for her. But what could the military branch be sending her that needed so many security precautions? Some weapon prototype for her to test? She would have to return home first though, whatever it was that was waiting for her in that safe was not going anywhere anyway. On the other hand she may have a ton of mail waiting for her. Possibly even some new orders... she had no idea how much time had passed between Sarah and her when they had been talking, but with the time distortion ever present in the Omniverse it could have been days, weeks, months in the rest of the world. The results of her research might already have been processed long ago. They might even be getting impatient because she hadn't replied in a while. The thought caused her to speed her pace up a little. And sure enough when she arrived at her apartment she was greeted with a stuffed-full mailbox and a notice that more mail as well as packets were waiting for her at the post office.

"Damnit..." She brought everything to her apartment, hid the key in her personal safe and hurried back with the notice in hand. It looked like this little absence had left her with a huge backlog of work. She could only hope that there was only a few more letters at the office. Otherwise she would be stuck in her apartment for weeks.

[Amber Veritz]

Dusk sneezed when the ocean air hit her fact. It was like Vale, horribly hot and humid. It had only been a few seconds and she already hated this place. The city was much bigger than she expected. Some had to have seen Amber around here right? It’s not like the filthy cat could ever blend in well. She was not able to in Remnant, and she would surely stick out like a sore thumb here. On the other hand, so will she. She does have a real pair of dog ears.

The people stared at her just like in Remnant. It seems like one can’t escape their heritage no matter where they go.

Although she was a stranger to this world and totally lost, it wont stop Dusk from finding that cat. She started asking around the city for anyone named Amber Veritz, and gave a pretty detailed description of her rival. Five feet tall, tiny cat girl with a huge sword, long brown hair and red eyes. It’s not like someone could miss that right? After an hour of searching, Dusk was starting to get pretty pissed. No one had seen this girl. She approached a man who seemed like he was in a hurry. She held out her hand gesturing him to stop for a moment.

“Excuse me sir, have you heard of a girl named Amber Veritz?” She asked quickly.

“I don’t have time for you kid, I’m running late.” He said moving past her. Dusk wasn’t going to lie down and take that shit. She’d been stepped on enough.

“Hey!” She screamed out running back in front of him. “I asked a simple question, I deserve an answer!”

“Leave me alone, Prime. I’m busy.” He tried to walk ast her again, but she gripped his shirt firmly and threw him on his behind.

“Don’t get rude with me!” She said drawing her katana. “Everyone deserves to be treated with equal respect, so if someone is polite enough to ask a simple question nicely, answer it. Don’t be a douche.” Her sword poked at the man’s face, but staying an inch or two away. His tone changed at the end of a blade, and a group of people had surrounded them. Dusk was fairly good at causing a scene.

“Alright, alright! I’m sorry, just don’t hurt me!” He pleaded to her with hands up in surrender. “I don’t know this girl you’re talking about.” The canine-girl gave him a skeptical glare before sheathing her sword and turning her back to him.

“Fine. You may go now.” The faunus walked off through the crowd while other citizens helped the helpless man up.

[Undyne]

Sabrina was halfway to the post office when a group of policemen crossed her path. They had left their vehicle and were going on foot, towards a crowd of people that obscured what was happening.

"What's wrong, officer?" asked Sabrina as she hurried along. This crowd was in her way anyway, she might help with dissipating it a little. Because she was still wearing her badge the policeman recognized her as a fellow official, and even if that hadn't been the case her date with Vi at the recent Gala had attracted a lot of attention from the civilians and imperial officials alike. They knew who she was.

"We got a call. Some Prime's disturbing the peace, threatening civilians with a sword. Probably a confused newcomer", the detective in charge of the group replied. They were readying their tasers.

"Allow me to defuse the situation. With someone like that uniforms and weapons are just going to fan the flames. I'm wearing my civilian clothing, it should be less threatening." The same clothes that she had worn when meeting Sarah, to be exact. They still smelled of Coruscant's recycled air, even. Her eyes lit up with psychic energy as she lifted herself off the ground, flew over the crowd of people and landed inside the circle that had formed around the girl in question and a woman in a business suit that she was aiming a sword at. The woman was up against a housewall and was paralyzed with fear as the girl was impatiently questioning her. No surprise really, seeing how the sword was only a few centimeters from her chest. One step forward from the girl and...

"Alright, that's quite enough there", she called out with a firm but calm voice and stepped forward, making sure that her Empire R&D Department badge was well visible. Sure it wasn't a police badge but it showed that she was an imperial official, and R&D members were given a certain amount of power over regular employees. The girl's pointed ears, which Sabrina had mistaken for an exotic form of fashion - cosplay or something - twitched and she turned her head to look at her without withdrawing her blade. Sabrina's body was still surrounded by her psychic glow, but she wasn't using it yet. She was just ready to do so at any given second. "Please lower your sword, miss. You don't want things to escalate."

"Are you threatening me?" the girl snarled back.

"Call it what you will, but I don't want Primes threatening our well-standing citizens for no appearant reason. I'm sure that this can be resolved peacefully."

"I'm just getting some information. I'm not hurting anyone." When Sabrina raised an eyebrow and looked at the sword she was threatening the woman with, she added: "That's just because people are ignoring me. I'm not letting anyone walk over me anymore."

Sabrina sighed and withdrew her psychic energy, which caused the glow to fade. "You have someone here who won't ignore you and who has more info than random civilians that you pull aside on the street. Please put the weapon away, and I promise you that there won't be any repercussions for your prior actions." To prove her point she signaled to the policemen who were still fighting their way through the crowd. "You can holster your guns, officer. The problem is resolved."

Though the girl seemed sceptic at first she eventually lowered her sword then sheathed it again. "If you so much as try to double-cross me..." she snarled.

"... I don't intend on finding out what you will do", Sabrina concluded for her. The crowd was still staring but when the officers got to the center of the group and told everyone to disperse while a female officer approached the woman that was still in shock, they began to calm down. Sabrina on the other hand approached the girl, now taking the time to look more closely. Those were indeed canine ears, and very much alive... just like the tail poking out of her trousers. It reminded her of a certain someone. And she wondered how she wasn't getting a heatstroke from wearing those thick clothes in the warm climate of Costa del Sol. Some Primes were more eccentric than others, she guessed. "What is it that you need to know, then?"

[Amber Veritz]

Dusk watched the crowd disperse. Many of the passersby had not lost interest so easily, which annoyed her. Although she wanted to pull her sword on all the idiots, she found the strength to restrain herself. The faunus slid her hand down into her pocket and pulled her flat-screened phone out. As she searched for a picture, she described her rival to the psychic.

“I'm looking for a teenage girl with undeniable features. Red-eyes, long brown hair, cat ears and a sword larger than her body. Her name is Amber Veritz.” She said, turning her scroll to face Sabrina. It flashed a picture of the cat-faunus from what looked like it was taken from a distance. Up close or not, it was definitely taken without Amber’s consent, as she was not looking at the camera or even doing a defining pose. “I seek revenge on this woman, as she deserves it.”

Sabrina stared at the picture of the first face she had seen in the Omniverse. Not easily forgotten, although is had felt like a century since she had seen her.

“Say I did know this woman: Why do you believe she deserves to be punished?” Sabrina asked, naturally curious.

“That’s my business, now tell me. Do you know her or not?” After that question, Dusk knew she had seen Amber. Anyone else would have simply said no. She would have the information, or force it out of the officer, or whatever she was considered.

“Alright, alright. Calm yourself. Yes, I do know her. As for where she is now, I'm not so certain. I can however assure you that she is somewhere in this giant universe.” Dusks eyes lit up instantly. Though it seemed impossible, she was still able to track down her mortal enemy, even to the edge of the universe, or in this case, a completely new one. Sabrina continued. “She got the better of me in a fight in the Nexus, but that was quite some time ago. I couldn't even begin to guess where she could be now.”

It was hardly good information, but it was extremely helpful compared to what she had been getting previously. Dusk deposited her scroll back into its resting place.

“Could you help me find her? Or, at the least, point me to someone who can?” Dusk asked. It was not until now that she started to feel slightly heated from the horrid weather that was considered good here. Atlas was so much cooler, literally and figuratively.

[Undyne]

"Well, let's see... someone with features as defining as her would have a record in the Coruscant Database. If you'll excuse me just a moment." She turned away from Dusk but didn't walk away. Instead she pulled out her own Communicator and punched in a number followed by her ID, which she didn't want the other girl - or anyone for that matter - to see. If they had they could impersonate her over the phone, after all.

"This is the Empire Peacekeeping Division, you're speaking to Julie Traszvag, how can I help you?"

"Good afternoon, this is Sabrina speaking here... I am searching for a suspect Prime and would like to know if they have been recorded in Coruscant or Costa del Sol checkpoints in the past month. Can you help me with that?"

"Certainly. Do you have any information to identify this suspect?"

"A female in her mid to late teens, with a very large sword as the key feature."

"We have a handful of records here."

"Anyone with brown hair and red eyes?"

"Just a moment... ah yes, two recordings, both for Coruscant. Uploading the images to your Communicator now. Both of someone who entered Coruscant, no records of them leaving again."

"Yes, I'm recieving them right now. I'll also need the date and timestamp, that will be all."

"It's included in the files. Can I help you with anything else?"

"That will be all. Many thanks and good day." She hung up and opened the files that had just arrived, then projected them in front of herself. While both matched Amber's appearance enough that a vague search like she had just done would not rule them out, she was able to see at first glance that neither were Amber. The swords were very different and neither had cat ears. Even so she turned to show them to Dusk.

"It looks like your 'friend' didn't pass the checkpoints. That's not to say that she's not in Coruscant or the Vasty Deep, but if she is she must have dodged the checkpoints, and that happens pretty rarely." She briefly scrolled through the bounty list of Coruscant that she always kept a local backup of and shrugged. "If she had done that she would have a bounty on her head, but I can't find her in the database either, so that narrows things down to the six remaining verses. The bad news is, none of the gates to those verses are as closely monitored as this one or the one in Coruscant. The good news is that she's not traveling alone, so you can maybe find her friend... Mural-something, I think. A guy about her age, I don't remember much more. If you have a picture I'll probably recognize him though."

[Amber Veritz]

“Murasaki is with Amber? Not surprising, she follows that boy like a lost puppy-or kitten, I guess. If he’s here that mean all of team AMBR is here, and they've surely gotten set up. Being here as long as they have, that is.” Dusk slid through more pictures on her phone, showing Sabrina as the two girls walked. Each a picture of team AMBR. First of Murasaki.


“Here’s the boy. I can’t lie, I hate Amber, but not him. Amber is a natural-born leader but Murasaki is the true decision maker of the group. The only one with a calm head between the four of them.” The picture jogged Sabrina’s memory. It was vague, but she did recall the boy’s appearance now.


“Yes, that is him. I vaguely remember him using some mysterious abilities that involved his a copy of himself.” She said looking at the picture after Dusk handed her scroll over to her, glancing up occasionally as to not run into any one walking ahead of them.


“Slide to the next picture and you'll see Bianca. She’s has a stick lodged up her ass all the time. One of the biggest prissy girls to exist, almost worse than Weiss Schnee.” Sabrina did flick the picture to the next one. The tall lovely woman in a white dress seemed rather decent in the picture.


“I see, and the last one?” She asked wiping her brow. She had been in Costa del Sol for a while, but still was having trouble with adjusting to its exceedingly warm and humid climate. Dusk was having an even worse time. The dark black and purple clothes she wore would nearly give her a heat stroke. The faunus slid her sweatshirt off and tied it around her waist, something she should have done as soon as she felt the heat. With all the anger and hurry to find Amber she was hardly paying attention to the heat.


“The last one is Rose Lanyi. Don't know much about her other than that she’s a heavy ranged user. Has a sniper rifle and devotes herself to target practice.” She explained. “You think you can help me find them? Even in all of these universes?”


“Well as I mentioned early. Amber hasn't passed through Imperial Security anywhere here or in Coruscant so my information is limited. Do you have any idea what kind of areas she would favor?” Sabrina asked giving the teenager her phone back.


“No where hot. She hated Vale just as much as I do, so I assumed I wouldn’t find much here. Never hurts to ask around though. She could have taken refuge here just to get away from me. It would probably be somewhere cold, just like our home country. She adores the snow. Anywhere around here that desolate and icy?”

[Undyne]

"Cold, eh? Well that's easy. If you retrace your steps through the Gate that leads you to the Nexus - the big white place that you probably woke up at - and from there find the Gate closest to your right hand when facing away from the Vasty Deep Gate, you'll end up there. It's widely considered one of the most dangerous verses in terms of environment - snow and ice everywhere, covering fissures and ravines and providing treacherous ground to stand on. I imagine that you are not new to that."

"I'm not. Definitely sounds like what I'm looking for though."

"You can recognize the entrance by that it's a frozen archway, if ever you lost your way in the Nexus. And you can also find another entrance here in the Vasty Deep, coincidentally... though you'll have to go out into the sea to find that one, on an island pretty far off the coast." She looked Dusk over. She didn't look like the type of girl who liked ships, and finding the way to the island then crossing the gate was far slower than just returning to the Nexus and then heading into the Frozen Fields. "The gates lead to different places though so if you use the one here in the Deeps, you'll end up further into the Frozen Fields."

"I'll use the main one, sounds like it's the faster route. What else can you tell me about this Frozen Fields place?"

"Well... I mentioned that it's desolate and frozen over. But it's not dead... there's a number of highly dangerous predator species which have adapted to the climate."

"Any Grimm?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Grimm. The black red-eyed animal-likes."

"... not that I know of, but maybe they are just called different here. You should rather watch out for Wampas, which are white-furred bipedal carnivores, to give an example. Then there's two factions which are waging a war over territory and such, the Dwarves and the Trolls. The Empire has no presence in the fields so unless you make friends with either of these two you'll be on your own."

Dusk bared some pointy fangs at Sabrina. "I don't need anyone's help, thank you very much."

"Fair enough. You seem well-prepared as is either way... there's more details about the Fields, but I don't mean to bore you. Any other questions?" She slowed her steps as they approached the Nexus Gate to lead Dusk back. "If not all that's left is for me to wish you good luck, and to extend an invitation of the Empire to you. We may be the currently strongest faction in the Omniverse but we can always use more strong Primes like yourself. You could give it some thought after you hunt Amber down, perhaps?"

[Amber Veritz]

Dusk collected all the information, making mental notes of the directions given to her. At the request for her to join the faction, the dog-girl rose an eyebrow.

“A rather honored invitation, but I’m going to have to pass on it for now, Sabrina. Amber is my main priority right now, I need to focus my efforts solely on her.” She responded stopping in front of the gate and turning to the psychic.

“Are you sure? You would do just fine in the ranks of the Empire and still have time to hunt down your rival.” Sabrina argued.

“I’m sure. Maybe after this whole Amber thing is resolved, I will return you to you with your offer. Good day to you.” The faunus turned to walk away, but was stopped by Sabrina.

“Allow me to keep in contact with you then, here’s my information for your communicator. When you need me, give me a call.” The former-gym leader slid a small slip of paper into the faunus’s palm.

“Thank you. I will keep you updated.” The two exchanged a nod as Dusk slid the paper into her pocket and passed through the gate back into the Nexus.

[Undyne]

Sabrina watched as Dusk left towards the Nexus Gate while people around her began to talk. Now that the troublemaker was gone they were taking notice of her. "Isn't that the girl from last month's Gala?" "Yeah, the one who danced with Officer Vi..." "Wow, she looks even greater in the real world." "Hey, you think we can get her autograph?" Sabrina grunted and stepped into a side alley, out of everyone's view, then leapt to the closest rooftop with a little psychic power support, and let the crowd pass. Being a celebrity wasn't easy, but at least in this world she was able to fly around.

Okay, next order of business... the packets from the post office. Her worries turned out to be untrue, much to her relief, as there were only two items waiting for her and neither came with any major workload for her. There was some materials she had requested as well as the chip with the simulation data that she had been told would be delivered in the days to come, a week ago. This would make her workload a lot easier, once she was able to calibrate the simulation to the Pokemon Liberation Front... for the way back she used a public bus and disguised her items with a plastic bag that was laying on one of the back seats, to pretend that they were groceries or some such. Twenty minutes later she was home again, and two hours after that the simulation was loading up. Three hours before the assets were updated and the code was ready to be applied... well, it looks like she would have some time until that was done. She checked the time. Five in the afternoon? Yeah, that was enough time left to hurry down to the precint. Luckily she lived very close to it. She took the key back out of the safe and headed to the street level, then towards the precint. With her badge being displayed she was simply waved through by security.

Now for the safe room... she checked the number on the key. "04"... that was one of the larger ones, down the corridor right next to the evidence safe. She stuck the key into the lock, watched the red light turn green, twisted the key and took a step back as the massive vault door swung open. What could the military branch possibly have for her that needed this much securing?

The answer revealed itself when she turned on the lights: four metal crates, each warning the carriers of dangerous contents and bearing the emblem of the R&D Department's military branch. One of them was upright and stood out more than the others.... Sabrina approached that one first and carefully opened the clasps on the side, then caught the lid as, without any hinges to fasten it, it fell forward. Behind that Sabrina found a mannequin wearing a suit of armor, with a letter attached to its chest. She leant the door against one of the available walls and ripped the letter off.

"Dear Ms. Sabrina,

Your services to the Empire and the Imperial Research and Development department have progressed the matter of the Liberation Front substantially. In preparation of the events that are soon to be expected and with the permission of your team leader, Professor Miller, we have decided to entrust you with the enclosed Avatar Armor, Model "Dreadnought" Mk II, as well as a set of heavy weaponry. Please find a full list attached to this letter and immediately inform us should any parts be missing or faulty.
The enclosed armaments are prototypes of our most recent technological research, and while security-tested are currently unsuited for mass production. After your great success with the Psi-Enhancer we believe you to be the best-suited candidate for testing these weapons. We look forward to hearing your report.

Best regards,
Adam Johanson (Head of R&D Group 41)"

She put the first page aside and found the document that indeed detailed what each of the crates contained. The armor, a deployable shield, a knife... and a chaingun and revolver? And apparently they'd sent those parts she had commissioned along with their order. Perfect. She slipped off one of the shoes from the mannequin and tested it, only to find that she could hardly lift her foot now. Dear lord, this thing was HEAVY! She could barely lift each piece by itself, let alone the whole thing, and they wanted her to wield a heavy weapon on top of that? Did they think her to be a Machamp or something? That was when she noticed the manual next to the head. Maybe it had some sort of countergravity generator built into the chestpiece or something.

As it turned out it did... in a way. A psi-energy rerouter, built into the helmet. So she should have put that one on first... indeed, the helmet absorbed a part of her latent psychic power produced by her subconsciousness and automatically rerouted it into the other pieces of the suit, which became activated. Several glowing lines lit up to indicate that. Her feet felt lighter, as did every subsequent piece that she put on. It was like walking around with waders and a thick overcoat. Slower than without armor, but she wasn't immobile. Her initial scepsis was soon lost as she found that, while she was unable to focus her psychic powers quite as much in this suit, she was still able to use them. She was able to lift one of the crates to put it on the ground with a fraction of the effort it would have taken her in the past. The lid came off even easier. Inside she found the knife, the revolver and the deployable shield, which at first struck her like a regular shield, if it wasn't for the stabilizers on the bottom side. For prototypes, these were really advanced! The knife fit into a holster on her waist and the revolver she could simply dematerialize like she did for her Pokeballs.

Next up was the chaingun, which costed Sabrina a little effort to heave out of the box. Oh boy... talk about a heavy weapon. Of course it wasn't loaded, but as her hands gripped the metal the suit's glowy lines extended onto the gun barrel, much to her surprise. When she let go the lights vanished again and she could see no trace of any bulbs or neon strips on the surface of the weapon. Had the suit done that automatically? She frowned as she picked the chaingun back up and dematerialized it, then did the same with the suit. She couldn't be bothered to transport all this on her back.

Finally, the manufactured parts that she had requested. Sure she could have summoned them with Omnilium but without having seen the inner working of those huge Bolters from the Space Marines in Coruscant she preferred to have them engineered for her instead. Those would go towards her Bolter Cannon... she hadn't taken into account that she would get some armor, but it fit surprisingly well into her plans. Luckily they were light and could be carried without taking up much space. She put the lid back on that last box and exited the safe, pulled the key and extracted the raw Omnilium from it while walking back home. With the vault door open the personnel would find the empty boxes and hopefully clean them out or send them back to R&D. She had no more use for them at any rate.

Time to go back home and start working. That armament would have to be put to the test at some later date.