this is the man who ruined her partner's life. this is the man that keeps him in the shadows. this is the man who robbed him of fatherhood. she has come to terms with what fernando did to her. she has come as close to forgiveness as possible. but him?

she would still be satisfied, seeing him burn.

rock explodes and a low rumble in her own throat has echo rolling away, palm flung out, crashing earth to earth. tectonic plates shaking and shuddering, the only world that matters now is here of their own making. what will they have made, by the time this is finished?

he surprises her by talking first, words lacking the stringent bite she's come accustomed to. 

they haven't shared words since aqua.

"always enjoyed the circuit," she answers amicably, gaze darting to the cameras recording their battle. "it's been a long road. i'm happy to be here."

her words are sweet, but she is stone-faced, lips thin and brows drawn in concentration.

MATIAS SILPH

☉

it gets the better of her, in the end. electric shadows arc out from the lucario's palms and freya grits her teeth, realizing too late that their opponent is afflicted much the same way as one of her salamence is. 

she withdraws echo and replaces her with miirym. each strike the lucario lands will strip it of more of its power and miirym knows just when to surface, just how much pain to take, before lashing out in full force against her opponent. 

he echoes the same question Melody Miro asked her during her interview. it doesn't surprise her to learn he hadn't watched it. 

an infestation festers in the shadows.

"there's no better time than the present."

MATIAS SILPH

☉

brute strength can find no purchase on whispers and shadows. leering swings are marked, outlined on brief flashes of white, as miirym dismantles the twisted creature and its false claim to her dominion.

glowing yellow eyes emerge from the shade, jaw parting, a phantom come to devour its offering.

freya's hands curl to fist. every run-in, he has proven brash and tactless. this is out of left field. his anger is not the wildfire she's become accustomed to. what's changed?

she hates this man. she hates what he's done, what she knows he's willing to do again. and she hates that, in this moment, she sees herself in him. that fragile, unkillable self that tells her you will never find redemption.

"only if you let it be," she says, lips curled in a half-snarl. "focus on the match. your lucario's fumbling."

MATIAS SILPH

☉

fists fly in frustration against a ghastly whisper. there's a glint of cerulean scales, shadows struggling against each other, and freya runs her tongue along her teeth. a sharp snarl from behind her teeth and miirym is granted her window. 

he ignores her in favor of his own desires - an answer, in all honesty, to her question or a misguided attempt at misleading her, she isn't sure.

"you could start by not killing your colleagues' pokemon."

miirym burrows her fangs through steel.

"or cheating on your partners."

the infestation swarms.

"or listening when someone tells you to pay attention to your match."

MATIAS SILPH

☉

vines spread in a tangle as soon as the new pokemon hits the battlefield. miirym is choked in the undergrowth as weeds take root. her body flits, transparency rippling down her shape as she shrugs her corpus through the briars.

onto the field. exposed. she has an out if she needs it, but she takes the offensive, fueled by her mistress' growling laughter.

"thats the thing, matias. we don't. no one owes you anything. you want respect? you want trust?

quit demanding the world cater to you and earn it."

MATIAS SILPH

☉

"does it not matter to you?" she asks, perplexed. he's come to remind her of a toddler - pulling hair and poking fun for attention, no matter the kind. she doesn't believe in evil for the sake of evil. not really. not anymore. 

she laughs churlishly when he insists his audience still play nice, despite his pinching. 

"and what are you trying? i've been perfectly civil. i've kept to my work. i've left you to yours. what more could you want?"

the vines ensnare miirym's more corporeal part of her body, dragging her down into the writhing nest of briars. she twists and her infestation cascades off of her scales, worming into the soil, working its way to the source. her cursed body poisons the earth that's become an extension of the tangrowth.

MATIAS SILPH

☉