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There had been so much to take in. The voice in the back of their head was a constant presence, of course, but there were so many other qualities of the statue that deserved exploration. The touch of the statue, for example, was a special kind of unevenness that Quinn had just gotten used to while on her circumnavigatory journey, and the young ghost could not help but wonder what the stone tasted like. All of that was lost, gone completely from Quinn’s memory, when the Malamar appeared. He had gotten about three-quarters of the way around the statue by that point, and Quinn rushed around the last portion to reunite with Nathaniel. This was on instinct. Fae knew it needed help with this one. That only required one of the six senses to tell. “Cassiopeia, forgive me,” Quinn whispered to her Pokéball. “You are going to have to bear this for just a moment. Please, come to me in this time of need.” It was a request Cassiopeia was all too willing to oblige. Even with the ominous aura and incomprehensible static, with her trainer in danger, Cassiopeia came out of her Pokéball charging forward, an Astonish at the ready for the approaching Malamar. “Drif!” the balloon shouted as soon as she was close enough, and a Gust to blow the Malamar back the second the wild Pokémon flinched. Even as Quinn instructed her Pokémon on the specifics of the strategy, she recognized it as Cassiopeia’s tried and true. Next would probably be a Minimize, to take advantage of the ensuing chase, and then- Whatever further battle strategy either Quinn or Cassiopeia had developed was cut short when the Malamar recovered from its shock quicker than they had anticipated. Instead of giving a direct chase, the Malamar simply stared at the retreating Drifloon, and its eyes glowed. The space around the Malamar distorted and shifted colors, which grew brighter in intensity until the colors shot out as a psychic beam that struck Cassiopeia dead-on. Quinn could not help but call out, “Cassiopeia!” as her Pokémon shuddered against the attack. Quinn could even see her eyes unfocus for a moment there, though thankfully it was just for a moment. “Well, if that is how you would like to play,” Quinn said. “Cassiopeia, get back here. Go, Normandie!” The swap had the misfortune of placing Normandie right in the middle of another of the Malamar’s Psybeams, but she took the attack much better than Cassiopeia had. In fact, she charged right through it with barely a misstep, that tell-tale ferocity in her eye. Perhaps the purple glow of her Pursuit protected her, an idea that flickered into Quinn’s head even as it dismissed the idea as making no sense -- the planes of interaction simply did not line up. Normandie’s attack landed, and, taking advantage of her close proximity to the Malamar, the Ratffian started lashing the squid with its tail. Quinn hadn’t told her to do this, but it made sense. Both ey and Normandie wanted her to hit as hard as possible, and Normandie had been brushing off the attacks so far. That changed, though, when the Malamar battered itself into Normandie, an attack that sent her back aways, and it started to glow purple, matching Normandie’s Pursuit from before. No, that was not quite right. Quinn realized with dawning horror that only parts of the Malamar were glowing purple: the parts Normandie had struck with her tail. And even from her vantage point, Quinn could tell those parts had not only recovered from their thrashing, they had tightened up, and gotten even harder, more resistant. Normandie did not seem to care, launching herself into another attack, and sure enough, a Tackle did not do nearly as much damage as expected. She went for another one, but Quinn put a stop to that. “Normandie, get back here!” she said, “Cassiopeia, let us try not to get hit this time.”

I will add one last one, Final Fantasy VI since I noticed there weren't any FF games nominated, and will cut it off at 32 then. Will gather up images and randomize and put up first wave sometime this week