"Not quite," she admitted, lowering the hood of her own cloak to better admire the view below. The shadowy figures struck her with a shuddering sense of repulsion, and her scowl deepened the longer she beheld them. "Usually, I find the DRK Triad ambushes us. Not the other way around."[break][break]

Glancing back at Cillian Quinn, she let an easy shrug roll across her shoulders.[break][break]

As much as their presence concerned her, for the most part Elisabeth had relegated the DRK Triad to the back of her thoughts. They'd not pursued her specifically, save for certain concerning events. Dionysus. The altercation in Littleroot. The RKS simulations, supposedly.[break][break]

None of Naomi Sato's warnings had quite been heeded, colored as they were by her dislike of the woman.[break][break]

No, it was BARNABY FINCH's concerns that had spurred her own. He was safe in his current state, but... if the birdwatching continued as she feared...[break][break]

"Have you fought them before?" she asked her fellow underboss suddenly. "You've been an Avatar longer than I. Do you know what to expect?"[break][break]

There was no mocking or derision in her tone this time. She was focused, revealing a resolve that had rarely characterized her in recent months. At least, it was unlikely that Cillian Quinn would recognize it in her.[break][break]

She cared about precious few things these days.[break][break]

1aT6PCq9

[attr="class","ooc"] Cillian Quinn

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"I'll admit to you that I've never been fond of the Unown," she said, grimacing. "The Head Scientist's fondness for the tools of our enemy has never sat right with me."[break][break]

Naomi Sato had seemed so baffled at the possibility that the Unown could have ill-intent towards her. That reaction might have amused Elisabeth, if the woman's inherent naivety hadn't incensed her so much.[break][break]

"I keep wondering if they'll betray her the way they betrayed Holo," she added quietly. He might interpret it as concern for the other woman, but it was more a deep-seated distrust of all things Divine.[break][break]

She simply knew better than to trust Avatarship didn't come with strings.[break][break]

Wo-chien slithered out of the darkness, ochre eyes glowing with ominous intent. It didn't hold the heaviness of the PRESSURE that lingered around Cillian Quinn's Lugia, but an insidious resentment seeped into the atmosphere with silent foreboding. It possessed the thickness of a fog, though it remained an intangible and invisible thing.[break][break]

"As the one with seniority between us, I'll follow your lead," she acknowledged, turning to him. "Wo-chien and I are at your disposal."[break][break]

This offer unknowingly masqueraded as an olive branch; to her, it seemed only sensible to defer to him. This was not her strength, and survival dictated she stand down for the more experienced party.[break][break]

aAhxrAPp

[attr="class","ooc"] Cillian Quinn

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"No," she agreed solemnly, "I don't think we ever can. No matter how hard our scientists try."[break][break]

Their understanding was so small and paltry in comparison to the cosmic designs of Legendaries like their own.[break][break]

Elisabeth's gaze unfocused as she stared down the chasm, the distant figures not human enough to feel like other living, breathing people and Pokemon. The empathy that so often shackled her had no place here.[break][break]

This was survival.[break][break]

"Heavy offense against Psychic-types? We can assist in that," she said, dipping her head in assent as Wo-chien approached the precipice. Foreboding clouds, pitch-black as night, gathered and crackled around the Ruinous Beast as its ochre eyes glowed with a hideous sheen.[break][break]

Those bolts of black energy stretched out towards the enemy down below, prepared to implode like a dome of darkened stained-glass on the encampment.[break][break]

"What else is Ruination for?"[break][break]

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[attr="class","ooc"] Cillian Quinn

[attr="class","pkmn"]

The powers of ruin and shadow strike their mark, incinerating the camp in blackened flame.[break][break]

Another Unown's HIDDEN POWER cut towards her, only to strike a wall of briars and thorns before it could reach her directly. It absorbed the piercing blow, the impact of its heat still blowing on her face through the withering plantlife.[break][break]

Elisabeth wiped the sweat from her brow, turning to see her fellow underboss standing similarly unscathed.[break][break]

What monsters they were, in the end. No wonder the DRK Triad ached to kill them so terribly.[break][break]

"Admin Bee thinks we should be looking for Maldacena," she offered suddenly, waiting for his reaction. "I'm curious your stance on the matter."[break][break]

It was a moment's respite from an inevitable return to battle, Wo-chien diving forward with a SHADOW SNEAK to strike at the next Unown that dared encroach on their territory.[break][break]

ewsnMAMo

[attr="class","ooc"] Cillian Quinn

[attr="class","pkmn"]

She inhaled deeply, eyes closing for a moment as she briefly recalled the Cloud and all the strangeness of that day. When she opened them, she saw Cillian Quinn outlined by distant THUNDER, and was reminded of what she'd always known: that he was a capable leader in Rocket, no matter the dynamics between them now.[break][break]

"I want to eliminate the DRK Triad," she said bluntly and simply. "So long as they want us dead, I want them dead in return. I don't know if Maldacena is the answer to that riddle, but..."[break][break]

The words drifted off, another RUINATION shuddering through the nearby encampment to eliminate any unwanted survivors.[break][break]

"I trust Admin Bee. If that is the path he believes we should follow, then I am willing to follow him there."[break][break]

Not just because the DRK Triad wanted her dead, or the man next to her, even. But because they wanted BARNABY FINCH dead now, too.[break][break]

She would not allow that.[break][break]

"If there's any support you require from me in that effort, know that I'll give it," she added suddenly, turning to him. There was a severity in her gaze as she did so, nothing that suggested at hidden motives or artifice.[break][break]

It was zeal, almost.[break][break]

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[attr="class","ooc"] Cillian Quinn

[attr="class","pkmn"]