and what he finds is tremendous improvement. exhaustion still drags at her bones. her skin has healed, but more than that - her cheeks are fuller, a sign she's been consuming more than black coffee; there is a lightness in her eyes that wasn't there before. she stands taller, more sure of herself, and there is a clarity that comes from purpose. 

but she's always been good at hiding her pain.

"much better," she says good-naturedly. "except, you know, just another worry to pile on top of everything else." she gestures to the caverns all around them. 

"i was just headed out to do a perimeter sweep. care to join? you can tell me how you've been."

Isaac Merlo

☉

protocol dictates all league personnel leave in at least teams of two, but she's always been queen of do as i say, not as i do. most of her forays into the cavern have been short trips, excuses to clear her head, with the occasional skirmish against paradox pokemon.

"and it'd be well-deserved. she can have a national holiday week if she can do that." it reminds her she's yet to touch base with the scientist since she's come into her avatarship. 

too many duties with not enough time. 

"and this isn't even counting area zero," she sighs. they're on relatively flat ground for now so they don't need to mount up to traverse; calcifer still stretches his wings and flies overhead to provide as a lookout. 

"and quite frankly, you might be one of the few to see it as an honor right now." Alexei Ivanov and Hideo Kino would certainly not appreciate being 'hand-picked' by the councilwoman for anything. 

"has illeana reyes reached out to you yet?" she asks, curious. 

Isaac Merlo

☉

"yeah, well - you catch me on my good days." which is a funny enough thought. she'd nearly died when he had stumbled upon her, but she had been glowing in triumph. their hours on the shore had been cathartic, with highs and lows, but the thrill of the hunt had run through her veins. 

he's yet to witness her fury in all its glory.

"i hope it doesn't change her," she says before she can stop herself. "the avatarship. i hope it doesn't change her like the others." or take too much. 

she sees the cracks in eva's solid foundation, the pressure of a god weighing on body and soul and mind.

"that's classified information," she jests, but it's not. she's seen his signature. "seems we're getting less and less time to lick our wounds. new avatars, new legendaries, new ways in which our own people turn against each other." 

she blinks as the gym leader summit runs through her mind. "shot in the dark, but you don't know where Eris Halla is, do you?"

Isaac Merlo

☉

all they can do is be there for her. her shoulders relax. isaac is the voice of reason in her ear, reminding her time and time again that strength is just as she says: forming bonds and allowing others to share your burdens. there is a part of her, smaller with each passing week but there nonetheless, that has its doubts. 

she fears pulling them in so close will only get them burned. 

"do you think you've changed much?" she asks. "since they chose you?" she's so used to seeing the parasitic nature of avatarship. even eva has expressed her exhaustion, how the weight of rayquaza's worries sometimes threaten to smother her. she ignores the pang in her chest. 

calcifer flutters closer to them and lands. he rumbles and points upward. she doesn't spy anything out of the ordinary at first glance, save for the red cluster of crystals around a cavern wall. and then distantly she realizes that the red isn't part of the crystal at all. 

"careful," she warns.

"and that's one less thing for me to worry about. eris, i mean. i heard she's been a...well, difficult to manage for the league." she frowns. "it's just, with uxie's reveal, i worry. i worry about what something like a mesprit could possibly want out of a child."

how much will it take from her? how much does she think the league will demand she give?

Isaac Merlo

☉

it's a proverbial question, but she's not so sure the answer is as cut and dry. from her experiences with avatars, their patrons have their own agendas. but she wants to trust him. she wants to trust that, more than anything, he won't be fooled by these higher powers. 

she'll take him feeling calmer and having developed claustrophobia to wanting to go on murderous rampages and break the earth and everything on it. 

"good," is all she says in response, not trusting her own pessimism. 

irritation comes her way and she glances to the side, too late realizing she hadn't expressed her own sentiments correctly, but he rights the ship regardless. and it's true. it's all so true. even if part of her, that ever-prideful part of her wants to snap and say it wasn't her, she wasn't there to make those decisions, that in itself is a weight. 

"i know we did," she says. "and we're still failing so many others, but i like to think that we're doing better. that the amnesty program can help." 

but she bites her lip. "we're revitalizing another branch similar to aqua. sapphire? to help manage that. i want her there, not with aqua. but i can't get to her. we can't get to her. i promise i'll - " 

and a horrible, terrible shriek resonates from the tera crystals above them. calcifer swoops down and bares his back to her; she stretches a hand and crimson drips down onto her gauntlets. she startles. neon blue eyes peer out from the dark. gore hangs from the needle-like fingers of the poisonous dragon that emerges. 

"they're down here too?" she breathes out, not making any sudden movements as it considers them. 

Isaac Merlo

☉

calcifer can't activate her sygna suit, but she can't worry about that right now. she's seen how fast these creatures are and besides, isaac is already leaping into action like some sun-blessed paladin. 

awe skitters over her as he sails, impossibly so, up and to the waiting beast. its eyes flash, head tilted, and when it slashes at the air where it expected isaac to be, she realizes it's not looking at him at all. 

it's looking at her. poison sprays towards her just as zephyrus' draco meteor rocks into its side. she fingers her cape, dragging it in front of her, but is spared the worst of the spray by calcifer. the charizard swoops down to take the brunt of the attack, maw dripping with angry fire. 

he spits back and the air turns smoky and sour. 

"this doesn't make sense," she seethes. "there are paradox pokemon, but i haven't seen any wormholes. they're - " how did it get here? recovering quickly, the ultra beast shakes its head and looses a thick, pulsing beam of draconic energy in a wide sweep. 

"isaac, watch out! cal, knock it down!" 

Isaac Merlo

☉