Shadow- I've figured that one more human companion will be enough. They're coming up shortly. The Legendary Deathclaw, that one was over in Dead Wind Cavern, northeast of Nipton I believe, I really did kill it with a fat man. You think I'm going to let that thing anywhere near me?

"I have to bring to your notice a terrifying reality: with the development of nuclear weapons. Man has acquired, for the first time in history, the technical means to destroy the whole of civilization in a single act."

Joseph Rotblat; Polish physicist and the only man to leave the Manhattan Project under grounds of conscience

Dateline: Mid-Afternoon

Location: Somewhere near the edge of the Pomace Mountains, outside of Big Mountain

As we had last seen in the previous act, Six had been pushed by the Think Tank, Dr. Mobius included, to explore the outer edges of the complex, considering his direction, our courier pointed himself towards the southwest, venturing through a nearly endless clump of low-hanging trees, eventually coming upon the very same field he had met those children, looking around the fields of flowers and swaths of grassland, it differed little from several days ago.

"Guess nature really doesn't change does it? You know William, back where I come from, there's barely any green soil painted on the land, most of it is just basically brown dust or dirt. I'm surprised we can even grow food with the stuff."

This was the first time William had ever heard his trainer talk about his home, he knew when he first laid eyes on the man that the courier wasn't from around here, this human had rougher, more detailed features about him than these humans, plus his companion cazador looked nothing like the pokemon around here, it was almost alien in a sense.

"Well, let's check the thing that Zero gave us, according to what the brains told us, the radar range at the complex is limited to around... only a mile and half I think."

Checking the LIMA, Six was greeted with a map that showed the complex and surrounding area, mainly forest with small circular meadows, his location was a different one, towards the south stood a vast hilly grassland, signaling that more than likely the area had been cleared, taking this as an initiative to continue south, Six moved along at a brisk pace, unknowingly coming upon Route 11 in mere miles.

Walking close to the same path as the courier, our three favorite wannabe Rockets had gotten lost in the forest, mainly due to the pack of chespin that actively attacked them, the cat pokemon was first to speak.

"First it was da fence, now it's tiny adorable chespin with Arceus-complexes, do we ever get a break?" James, in all his optimism, was next.

"Don't worry Meowth, Geosenge Town is about 12 miles down the road, we'll be there in no time at all, we can dig in to our hearts delight!" Jesse, tired, hungry and overall annoyed at life, offered her two cents.

"I just want to leave this place, I knew it was a bad idea to come here in the first place.."

"But Jess, ya know that if we come back here better prepared, we could be loaded!" This came from Meowth of course. with James hesitantly agreeing.

"He might be right you know, we honestly rushed into this one, we need to concoct a plan, anything else from the dustoxicopter Jesse?"

"Not a thing, it just went silent a day ago, as though it completely vanished, it's almost too strange to be true." All three tried to think about what caused a perfectly operating drone to go dark, usually the drone would have a homing beacon...but that was disabled too. Meowth got bored and then decided to speak.

"Well, at least we know where da joint is, we'll just bust into it at a later time."

And so, with this is mind, they continued along the road, eventually coming across a rather odd figure, one who clearly wasn't from Kalos, Kanto, or anywhere else they could think of really, upon closer inspection, he appeared to be someone akin to an outlaw, wearing a sleeveless trench-coat with two fighting type pokemon by his side, so it was only natural that the Rocket Trio felt threatened by his presence, and with good reason, this man was a former Frumentarius, yep, it was Ulysses.

Looking around the route, no doubt embracing the the beauty it held, the former Legionnaire noticed a trio of supposed locals trying to sneak past him, no doubt because they were scared of him, soon he spoke up, alerting them that he indeed noticed their movements, and soon looked at them with surveying eyes, a clear sign that he knew they were a tad too suspicious in his mind, well, he needed some sort of direction, he had no clue where he was and these three might be able to put him on the right track.

"Pardon me. I'm not familiar with this land, I look for a cave of mirrors. If you would so kind, could you point me along the way?" He spoke in a deep baritone, surprising the trio to the point that they were slightly shaking at the knees. James spoke first, thankful that this man hopefully wasn't a Team Flare mercenary hunting for Rockets.

"Y-yes sir, keep following the road north, it-it's called the re-reflection c-c-cave." Pointing his finger towards the direction behind Ulysses as a signaling showing which way north was.

"Much obliged, now if you must excuse me. I've duties to attend to." With his words finished, he wandered off to the north, with Sawk and Throh following at mid-distance, after he was out of earshot, Jesse offered a whisper with a new idea.

"We could steal those two when he isn't looking, they could be an easy catch.' At that moment James retorted immediately.

"There's no way I'm going near that, he looked like he could tear us apart, and judging by his mannerism Jesse. I doubt he gives the anti-violence law any mind."

Meowth agreed with James. "He's right y'know, dis one has two tough pokemon at his side, plus da guy looked strong enough to take us three AND our pokemon on just by himself."

Mumbling to herself, Jesse found she had to agree, this was one of her plans that definitely would've gone terribly wrong, many of their operations may have hurt people, but that guy...he looked like he could kill and there wouldn't be a single thought weighing on his conscience.

"Alright, I suppose you're right. I kind of prefer living anyway, let's just hope we don't run into anymore trouble."

...You jinxed it Jesse, you jinxed it!

Walking amongst the flowers of various colors in the meadow, Six felt peaceful, if he really was stuck here, at least he was stuck in his own heaven on earth...would this count as an earth? Bah, who cares, he was happy, and the brains appeared to enjoy their new lease on life, maybe in the future their services could be offered to the public...Wait, where was he coming from thinking like this? Is Six, the man who killed Caesar with the blade of one of his personal praetorians, finally going soft from the all the pretty colors and calming aura? Stuck in thought, Six continued forward, eventually reaching a road. He'd bother with philosophical questions later, he was hungry and had no idea where he was.

Checking his Pip-Boy, it showed his position as being about 5 to 6 miles south of the complex, checking the time at around 1'ish, Six figured a small break would do his group some good, settling for a small hill next to the road, he offered some pokechow to William, who more than happily accepted the food placed in a bowl. For Roxie, he figured one of the brahmin steaks would satisfy her hunger, with a set of five steaks in a large sealed container to prevent them from becoming rotten, he opened the container, and placed one raw in front of her, one that she happily devoured. Six simply settled on a desert salad, a personal specialty of his.

While enjoying their individual meals, Six noticed three figures walking along the route, incidentally going the same direction he was preparing to go toward, feeling that it might be a good idea to be friendly with the locals, he figured he could offer some water to the travelers in exchange for some assistance.

Upon closer inspection of the three, two of whom were human whereas one was a cat, he could tell instantly they had a rough time at some point, with this in mind, he hollered out to them. "Hey, you three! You wouldn't happen to be thirsty by any chance would you?"

Team Rocket was surprised, here they were, dressed in their full white uniform, neither this person or the stranger from before seemed afraid or cautious of them. They decided that maybe some water will help them carry along. James decided to speak first, as they were getting closer to the figure.

"I suppose so, we've been wandering all night with barely a bite to eat."

To Team Rocket, this man seemed to have the same expression of an elderly townsman, kind features yet signs of fatigue clearly lined his face, though his outfit resembled that of a member of some motorcycle gang.

"Well take a seat, you look hungry too, even Roxie looks like she doesn't want a bit of you because of how stringy you look." Before they could ask who Roxie was, they came face to face with what they could only describe as an unholy terror that could only be classified as a prehistoric Venemoth, only much bluer and with wings that clearly showed it to be a tough fighter, these eyes that "Roxie" had looked terrifying to them, thus, the trio all agreed not to get on this guys bad side, seems no poke-napping was in order today.

'I've got several things of a custom-made trail mix, how about that?"

Meowth was curious about the beef by Six's side. "How about da meat? Who's dat for?'

"Ah, Roxie loves her food raw, lets her get more minerals that way, keeps her fuller, longer." With that, they sat and enjoyed an actual meal, no garbage or the like.

James was soon curious as to why this stranger had offered three bottles of water and three packs of food to three people he didn't even know.

"Well it's simple, you three are heading south right?" They nodded. 'And I'm guessing you know the area pretty well, right?" Another nod. "Well. I'm new here, and I need someone who could direct me to the closest town. I took a gamble that perhaps you could offer some help to an old-timer whose mind wanders sometimes."

Six wasn't bending the truth, he was a man in his early forties, the average lifespan of a citizen in the wasteland was cited as close to the mid-fifties or the even the early sixties, very few went beyond 70 and above, though there were quite a few that Six knew personally, one Chief Hanlon of the NCR Rangers and the members of the Remnants of Navarro for example.

Reaching a conclusion amongst themselves, in exchange for three more bottles of water, they would offer their help to assist Six in reaching the closest town, which was, in our case, Geosenge Town.

"Glad to hear it. I'll give the bottles to you after we reach the town center, agreed?"

All three of the trio agreed. Jesse started talking to the other rockets "Sounds good to us." Moving closer to James and Meowth, she offered up a solid point about their careers. "James, Meowth, prepare yourselves for another mark on our list."

James asked simply. "What would that be?"

"Tour Guides!"

"Didn't we add that one at some point already?"

"Nope!"

Six was ready and prepared to leave, waiting for the three strangers who offered to help out.

"So, Geosenge Town huh? Know anything about it Will?"

The chespin simply shook his head, he lived his whole life in the forest, and never ventured out this far before.

"Well, maybe we'll ask those three..whenever they're done talking." Both the cazador and chespin agreed.

Dateline: Close to evening

Location: Big Mountain's X-42 Robotics Workshop

Dr. Mobius was hard at work, he finally re-engineered the roboscorpions with an actual IFF sensor module, with the modules classifying variables of posture, adjustment of facial expressions towards the scorpion, and level of violence towards the scorpion. Mobius added Team Flare grunts and the helicopter to the list of things that would need to be scared away, injured at the most, as he believed that killing them would do no good, it might in fact bring more attention to the complex than it already needs, he didn't want anyone dying under his watch, the good doctor was lucky he even caught the three trespassers last night. barely just in time to lower the voltage before they touched the barrier shield, otherwise they would have been fried beyond identification.

Checking his some of his outermost security cameras, Mobius noticed that the translators built by 8 and Zero were working relatively well, he noticed several dogs actually conversing with the animals on the other side! Content with the results of the new location so far, he knew that the miracles of nature weren't limited to this one area, there would always be room to improve, and in his mind, the tank was already on the right track.

Mobius had noticed an anomaly shortly after investigating the southernmost edge, something had entered Big Mountain! That was impossible though, the complex, as a whole, was surrounded by fencing and electronics jamming equipment that had been placed in strategic locations to disrupt any drone activity close by, it may have been a bird of some sort, but it was noted that this creature was walking on the ground, the sensors confirmed the closest comparison would be that of a large elk, checking his security camera's, he set sights on the last location to identify the target; the X-22 Botanical Building to the east. Eventually reaching the camera feed, the good doctor came upon a majestic, albeit fuzzy, image, a set of antlers glowing a brilliant light in the shadowed darkness of a nearby glade of trees that had mysteriously propped up seemingly overnight, a light that one could compare only to the brightest of pre-war Vegas, the figure glowed a heavenly hue filled with various colors, a sign that this creature was clearly one of nature, the antlers mounted on it rivaled those of both the greatest of moose and the largest and proudest of stags. It was evident that this creature was definitely long-lived, Mobius knew that he had to tell Six about this encounter! In hopes of making contact at some point.

As quickly as this creature appeared however, it just as immediately vanished back into the darkness, no doubt making its egress towards the forest, Mobius had only one thought on his mind.

"Exactly what miracles exist beyond our scope of logic I wonder? Oh, my mentats are ready!"