"Ah. You're here."[break][break]

An eerily calm demeanor from Rocket's most volatile underboss greeted the three Rocket underlings that had been summoned for this particular mission. The blonde woman offered them a thin smile that didn't quite touch her eyes as she assessed them each silently for their value.[break][break]

She recognized some from the S.P.E.C.T.R.A. Trinity Trials; their files flipped through her mind, casually recalled, before she continued.[break][break]

"Doubtless, you are wondering what brings you here to the communal baths. Behind me are the closed-off baths that only Rocket's higher echelon are privy to." Her smile widened somewhat, as if amused at the knowledge of some unspoken secret. "Today being an exception, of course."[break][break]

Behind the door, an ominous sound much like the shuddering and shattering of something heavy could be heard.[break][break]

Peculiarly, Elisabeth ignored this.[break][break]

"A rather irritating Pokemon has been rampaging here, however, as you can tell. Hence the need for your janitorial services. You aren't expected to kill the creature, but to mitigate the damage instead."[break][break]

A hand gestured towards them benevolently, opening the floor for them to speak.[break][break]

"Do you have any questions before you proceed?"

[attr="class","ooc"]Shred Zeppelin Grigori Sokolov howard slayte[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

The rise and fall of the tides on the mysterious island fell into a predictable rhythm, driftwood and shards of debris cast onto the beach as battles raged on.[break][break]

Corpses sometimes landed here, too.[break][break]

It wouldn't be the first time a body had been abandoned on these golden sands, staining them red with blood. The way this one arrived, however, was subtly different. The waves shifted and moved, as if ferrying the dark silhouette beneath their surface with careful hands to land on the shore.[break][break]

Seaweed tangled in her long blonde hair, her uniform damp and allegiance unrecognizable with the bloodstains that bloomed across tattered fabric. The partial view of an arrow was visible, courtesy of freya morningstar, its mark just shy of landing a fatal blow.[break][break]

Nothing about this woman suggested she might be one of the survivors of these past few days of merciless combat, still and seemingly lifeless in the way she didn't resist how the ocean pushed her back to land.[break][break]

Until the bracing scent of the sea caused her to stir.

[attr="class","ooc"] Michael Navidson[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"I love you." Why did he keep saying that?[break][break]

She flinched despite herself, unable to hide how much those three words caused her to recoil. She hoped he mistook it as a shiver, or anything except the panic that flooded her to hear those shackles spoken aloud.[break][break]

Some costs were too high.[break][break]

"Of course," she echoed instead of acknowledging the absurdity of this claim, drawing away this time. Each step moved backward, unwilling to turn her back to him as she departed his company. She didn't know if her reluctance to reciprocate what he wanted from her would change his mood, again.[break][break]

It was getting increasingly difficult to predict him, the longer this tenuous alliance went on.[break][break]

And increasingly dangerous.

[attr="class","ooc"] MATIAS SILPH[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

SPOILER: Click to show

- 10 MP per IC post in a RT Battle/Mission.(x33)[break]
- 50 MP for participation in a RT Battle/Mission.[break]
- 100 MP for supply mission completion (2/2).[break]
- 10 MP for assisting another character and/or their Pokemon.[break]
- 10 MP for knocking out/killing another character and/or their Pokemon.[break]
- 200 MP for "winning" a RT Battle/Mission.[break]
TOTAL: 700 MP

Elisabeth burst through the waves again, breathing in the fresh night air as a THUNDERBOLT struck her Nihilego. It waved uncertainly to and fro, still dizzied by the PARALYSIS, while her Overqwil focused itself on other matters.[break][break]

Such as their rapidly fleeing prey.[break][break]

A BARB BARRAGE chased after the trainer and her Camerupt, followed by the reanimated seaweed snaking across the sand to grab for the woman who had escaped its hold.[break][break]

If it couldn't seize her, it would settle for her Pokemon, instead.

[attr="class","ooc"] Yuina Higashi[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

SPOILER: Click to show

- 10 MP per IC post in a RT Battle/Mission. (x4)[break]
- 50 MP for participation in a RT Battle/Mission.

Our future. What did that look like, exactly? It was difficult to imagine the utopia he'd shown her, of him and Groudon ruling a universe that neither Rayquaza nor Kyogre held sway over.[break][break]

The sight of Groudon from behind him, glaring down from high above, strangely made such a thing feel possible. It exuded so much power, she could see why Matias believed such a thing.[break][break]

"I'll help you find them," she heard herself say aloud, the promise given more quickly than it should have been. Maybe it was due to being in his arms; maybe it was due to the supernatural influence of being in this place, in this Divine presence. "The Red Shards. When all this ends, when my mission is done, we'll find one another to begin our search."[break][break]

Oddly, it felt like a quest her superiors would approve of. To empower Groudon didn't necessarily mean empowering the League. To increase the primal energy that Matias possessed, arguably, was to potentially hasten his own death.[break][break]

But he didn't seem to think so. She didn't think so either, she slowly realized.[break][break]

"Thank you for trusting me," she said again, another brief, but soft kiss silencing his concerns as she leaned into him. "And for everything you've done here for me."[break][break]

He'd killed for her, regardless of his reasons. How many men could she say had done the same?

[attr="class","ooc"] MATIAS SILPH[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

SPOILER: Click to show

- 10 MP per IC post in a RT Battle/Mission.(x32)[break]
- 50 MP for participation in a RT Battle/Mission.

She hadn't returned to Sootopolis after the events with FERNANDO SILPH, not right away at least.[break][break]

The woman who looked both nothing like and everything like Elisabeth Fiorelli stole away to a Mauville Hills penthouse where she'd spent many days and nights before. A small Eevee had greeted her, its beloved master absent, as she withdrew to wash away all the confusion of the past day -- no, wasn't it days?[break][break]

Months, she realized belatedly. The darkness of that lost time circled the drain like black tar, leaving only the golden moments of the here and now behind.[break][break]

Taking to his bed, she'd dressed herself in a loose button-down blouse she'd thieved from his wardrobe, then wrapped herself in the comfort of familiar blankets. When the night passed into day, no one had returned home to see the woman who had taken refuge here; when she finally awakened, dawn breaking through the curtains, it was again the small Eevee that licked her awake.[break][break]

"Is he always out late like this, Pepin?" she asked the tiny Pokemon, laughing. The sound of her own voice surprised her, for some reason.[break][break]

When was the last time she could remember laughing like that? There was a lightness to it that felt new.[break][break]

An impulsive desire took hold of her suddenly, and she lifted the Eevee as she arose from bed, letting it snuggle up on her shoulder as she did so. "Does he like breakfast, do you know?" she asked conversationally, as if the Pokemon could answer her. Undeterred, she brought them both to the kitchen, where she continued chattering, "I used to make crepes with my mother as a girl. I wonder if I still remember how..."[break][break]

Pleasant minutes passed as sunlight streamed through the window, the humming of an old Kalosian song filtering through the otherwise empty penthouse as Pepin leapt from her shoulder to scrabble eagerly towards the front door.[break][break]

It was time to welcome him home.

[attr="class","ooc"] BARNABY FINCH[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

She'd resisted entering these offices for as long as she could remember.[break][break]

Encounters with the Rocket Boss had been fleeting, in her experience. When brought to a summit discussing the affairs of METENO, she'd been one of the few higher-ups in Rocket to remain silent and composed in the presence of open disagreement. Powerful men didn't care to be argued with; she'd known that truth better than most.[break][break]

She believed, even now, that her obedience was part of what had escalated her from admin of intelligence to underboss.[break][break]

But who could have foreseen how swiftly she'd change? Who could have predicted the way that Ruinous Beast would have ravaged her psyche, and with it, given her a power and boldness that had pushed the boundaries of what her office allowed her?[break][break]

Whatever uncertainty she possessed in this meeting, Elisabeth banished it from her mind with single-minded purpose. High heels clacked against the floor, perfectly manicured nails turning the door knob to enter Walsh's private office.[break][break]

When she smiled at him, it felt like facing her executioner.[break][break]

"Walsh," she began, her voice a low purr as she took her seat opposite him. "Thank you for granting me this audience on such short notice."[break][break]

Or late notice, depending on how one chose to look at it.

[attr="class","ooc"] declan walsh[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

BARNABY FINCH

As freya morningstar's blade glittered like a guillotine overhead, a sobering and chilling thought crystallized in Elisabeth's mind: It would make sense for me to die here.[break][break]

She'd understood her pact with Wo-chien, warped and twisted as it had been. She'd known it desired her for her suffering, that it had understood her pain as its own. They were to ruin the world, as it had ruined them both.[break][break]

She'd always known it would be a monster that would curse her. She'd always understood herself to be the Scorned.[break][break]

But she had fulfilled her bargain with Tapu Fini, now¹. She had brought it to where it desired to be, to whom it desired to own once more. Her errand as the Vindictive had been completed.[break][break]

Her life should hold no meaning for that deity any longer.[break][break]

And yet.[break][break]

Be not afraid, for I am here.

[break]

Why? Elisabeth found herself asking that creature desperately, unable to make sense of the shield that enfolded her like a chrysalis, protecting her with a carapace that promised it was not a prison. What use am I still to you?[break][break]

When was the last time she'd been truly cradled in another's arms?[break][break]

Not out of pity. Not out of misplaced need, or selfish affections. But out of love, something earnest and selfless and unconditional in its embrace. She'd searched for it so many times despite herself, but she could hardly remember knowing it now, save for whispers of a Kalosian lullaby and the touch of a mother's hands gently caressing her crown of golden hair.[break][break]

Elisabeth could swear she could even hear that song now, echoing softly as if murmured undersea, currents winding through long blonde curls that danced teasingly just out of sight.[break][break]

Part of her hated how easily this manipulation worked upon her. How tempting it had been to listen to Celebi², when it had lured her in with the voice of someone beloved and long-dead. How much she yearned to sink into Tapu Fini's sea of pink mist now, letting it defend her with soothing waters that purged such hateful fire.[break][break]

"Why do you fight it? Open your heart, Elisa."

[break]

[break]

"You are her conduit. Let them in."

[break]

And without thinking, she breathed in that sublime mist, too. Let it overwhelm her with its sweet-scented lies.[break][break]

Allowed herself to think she was something more significant to this goddess than she had any right to be.[break][break]

Metal glinted off sturdy carapace as an inhuman scream tore out from the rising sea. Blurred silhouettes moved, pieces on the gameboard acting in ways that felt inexplainable to her. Unearned devotion -- which she'd never had from him, not even when intertwined in one another's arms while protected by little white lies -- exuded from every fiber of that man's being as he threw himself in her line of fire.[break][break]

Confusion and panic flooded up inside of her, visible in the way her green eyes darted from him to the woman that looked at her with so much loathing, Elisabeth understood it immediately: You hate me, because you hate yourself.[break][break]

She opened her mouth to speak, though she wasn't sure what she intended to say, or to whom. The perplexing images vanished as Tapu Fini's shell closed around her, whirling her away for reasons she still didn't quite comprehend.[break][break]

The woman who vanished from the battlefield was not the same one who'd arrived, just as the man who had entered here was not the man who defended her now.[break][break]

The sea had made everyone a stranger to themselves.[break][break]

---

[break]

[break]

Ah. So this was the sort of being that Tapu Fini was.[break][break]

Ochre eyes watched the receding form of the piscine deity, their ominous glow revealing where the Ruinous Beast lurked in the shadows. It did not see a nurturing maternal presence, nor did it see a selfless being protecting her treasured chosen.[break][break]

It saw another selfish god, determined to jealously hoard its possessions by any means necessary. Were they not the same, in that way?[break][break]

Hadn't this Guardian of the Sea brazenly stolen its own methods of manipulation, borrowing puppet strings for its own conniving ends?[break][break]

For FERNANDO SILPH was not Édouard Bortiforte, no more than Elisabeth Fiorelli was Elysia Amavi.[break][break]

But ultimately, mortals were such foolish, delusional creatures. Useless packages of flesh, blood, and bone. The only thing that differentiated them, that attracted them to beings like Wo-chien, were the vast array of complex emotions they harbored. It was their greed, their ambition, their endless wanting that made them worthy of Divine consideration.[break][break]

For a brief instant, it considered the white-haired woman before it, remembering the delectable scent of her own misery.[break][break]

"No," it decided, slithering away into the encroaching darkness. "We will bide our time. We will wait."[break][break]

It would thieve back full reign over its Avatar's psyche, just as Tapu Fini had thieved back her former Avatar's mind.[break][break]

"We will not let you have both."

[attr="class","ooc"] FERNANDO SILPH freya morningstar[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

¹"Plenilune" ft. Cait Alfric[break]
²"We Who Curse the Earth" ft. Barnaby Finch[break][break]

SPOILER: Click to show

- 10 MP per IC post in a RT Battle/Mission. (x23)[break]
- 50 MP for participation in a RT Battle/Mission.[break]
- 100 for Mission Completion (2/2 Smog).[break]
- 10 MP use mega evolution in your thread.[break]
- 10 MP use terastallization in your thread.[break]
- 10 MP for incorporating INTERDREAM MIST or spawning PARADOX POKEMON.[break]
- 200 MP for pokemon death (does not stack with KO).[break]
- 200 MP for "winning" a RT Battle/Mission.[break]
TOTAL: 810 MP.

The dragons tore and clawed at her Venusaur like vicious harpies. They dove and bit and scratched at the large creature of ivy and vines, picking at its flesh to blossom like dozens of crimson flowers on its bluish, bark-like skin.[break][break]

Elisabeth's Venusaur roared valiantly, shaking to and fro as a FRENZY PLANT whipped about with hissing vines, throttling each draconic silhouette that might venture too close. No matter how many it slung to the ground, it was never enough.[break][break]

The Ultra Beast's stinger buried itself into the large rafflesia flower, pumping an unbearable amount of venom into the Venusaur's bloodstream. It would have killed -- and should have killed -- a being of such mortality, Mega-Evolution or no.[break][break]

It was only the power that Wo-chien bestowed to Elisabeth, even now, that spared her Pokemon such a grisly fate. Yet it did not stop it from falling to the violent throes of defeat, rampaging and thrashing as it withstood as much pain as it could bear in defending its mistress and her Guardian.[break][break]

But that was the point of sacrificing a pawn, wasn't it? To defend the larger pieces on the chessboard.[break][break]

"She's going to kill us," Elisabeth whispered to Tapu Fini, though that had seemed obvious from the beginning, hadn't it? No, she thought then, a knot coiling in her stomach as she watched Freya's expression darken. Something's changed.[break][break]

What Elisabeth and Tapu Fini had done to FERNANDO SILPH was a point of no return, an unforgivable reliving of freya morningstar's own pain. The councilwoman had already refused her karmic justice before the Sky Pillar; it shouldn't surprise Elisabeth that she refused it now.[break][break]

Despite herself, she let her gaze slide to the torturous cries of the man she'd once treated as her one solace in the world, and then abruptly treated as its greatest scourge. He'd always possessed tremendous willpower; that much she'd expected of him.[break][break]

As the pink mist rose up to swallow and flood them in its chokehold, what she didn't expect was the faintest stirring of pity to see him in such a state.[break][break]

Hadn't she fallen to her knees not so long ago, begging for mercy and unwilling to yield to a deity's demands?[break][break]

It was this empathy that, as ever, proved her greatest weakness.[break][break]

When freya morningstar's blade came down to strike Elisabeth Fiorelli, she was entirely unguarded. A flash of metal and a whirl of golden-flecked tresses were all she registered before the attack came, rushing towards her like divine justice from the heavens.

[attr="class","ooc"] FERNANDO SILPH freya morningstar[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

SPOILER: Click to show

- 10 MP per IC post in a RT Battle/Mission. (x22)[break]
- 50 MP for participation in a RT Battle/Mission.

"I like to remain vigilant," she countered, though she didn't yet speak to his second point. It did exhaust her; existing by itself, these days, exhausted her.[break][break]

She gathered her arms around herself rather than saying so, following the dim light of his flashlight into the strange world ahead.[break][break]

The shadowy figure of Stakatakas standing vigil could be seen around them: inanimate so long as they stayed far enough away to avoid their ire. Every so often the flashlight reflected on one, and Elisabeth would hold her breath, preparing for a fight that didn't come.[break][break]

After releasing one such breath, she admitted, "But you're right. It's a tiring way to live."

[attr="class","ooc"] THEO BECKETT[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Everything about this place put Elisabeth on edge. The mechanical nature of the Ultra Plant unmoored her, keeping her natural ties to the earth through Wo-chien locked behind metal and circuitry.[break][break]

Even resting her hand on a nearby fence supporting their travel rewarded her with a jolt that fleetingly shocked through her, courtesy of a cord that dangled from its heights.[break][break]

"I think this is my least favorite place in the Wilds, of all I've ventured to," she muttered as she yanked her hand away, keeping in the other underboss's shadow. Her long mane of curly black hair had been untied behind her; a mistake, she decided, as it reacted to the static cling of all the electricity buzzing around her.[break][break]

Nonetheless, when THEO BECKETT's hand reached to smooth it, she flinched despite herself.[break][break]

"What was that for?" she asked him suspiciously. "You don't seem the considerate type."

[attr="class","ooc"] THEO BECKETT[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

01 become electrocuted by lightning, the cords, etc.

The specter of FERNANDO SILPH rose up like a ghost from the sea, pale and foreboding as its single eye fixed itself on the woman who deserved his ire.[break][break]

A disappointment. A being that had let him down, over and over, despite all the trust he'd placed in her. A woman who believed so little in her own self-worth that she was quick to abandon any argument that expressed otherwise.[break][break]

How cruel fate was, to place this mirror of Elisabeth Fiorelli opposite her, and punish her for the other's sins.[break][break]

In this cosmic play they'd been cast in, Elisabeth distantly recalled the promise she'd made Tapu Fini, and the possessiveness with which that being had exuded ownership over her former Avatar. A sliver of lucidity cut through the pink haze, a treacherous thought echoing in her mind: Do they think we belong to them, these gods that play with mortal vessels? Are we but toys they can wield and discard at will?[break][break]

Hadn't Wo-chien discarded her for less than the abandonment that Tapu Fini had felt, severed from its former Avatar?[break][break]

She could almost see the pink shackles that bound him to the Guardian's will -- ironic given how vehemently he'd denied the manipulative power that god possessed at his command.[break][break]

This was not the same man she'd fought in the Ultra Deep Sea alongside Zev Harcourt. He'd transformed into someone unknown to her.[break][break]

Suddenly Elisabeth was back in her old bedroom, staring down at the screen of a tiny phone in her hands¹. Tears had blurred her vision as she angrily fought a man who she wasn't brave enough to confront in person, typing words she had yearned to say aloud in a hospital, and then in a ballroom, and then on the field of battle -- only to retreat from him, every time, instead.[break][break]

"The best manipulators know how to make the puppets think they are holding their own strings."

[break]

The ownership of the Steelix now revealed, a Wigglypuff soon joins it in the field of battle. They seemed to operate of their own accord, even if answering to a master whose mind did not seem fully his own. Moonlight cascaded towards the dragons that swarmed overhead, outshining sunlight in its blinding power.[break][break]

"'Brainwashing' is semantics. 'Free will' is in itself a debatable concept, as determinism suggests we are all shaped by the circumstances around us."

[break]

A rosy TERA BLAST burst forth from her glittering Tsareena to join in the Wigglytuff's attack, her FAIRY-TYPE TERASTALLIZATION still in effect. Joining her was the Nihilego's THUNDER as it moved to strike down these airborne foes from the sky.[break][break]

Sensing the way all these attacks sought to converge on the deity that defended her now, Elisabeth's fingers curled around another Pokeball, confident as she summoned a VENUSAUR, one that quickly MEGA-EVOLVED to weather as many of the blows as its size could allow. The massive Grass-type let out a low groan of dismay as it shook itself back and forth, dizzy with the impact.[break][break]

"I believe the change you gave her favored your wants over hers, whether or not she realized it at the time. But she knows you wronged her, now."

[break]

She didn't focus on defending Fernando. The power of this mist, she'd learned, was short-lived. She'd seen it firsthand with Zev Harcourt, the first day she'd breathed it out to discover what its purpose was.[break][break]

She'd seen it with annalise henderson, her little pet rat in the dungeons of the Rocket submarine. She'd seen it with ALEXANDER STONE, tempting him to assist her in taking down the man he'd considered both his greatest friend and enemy. She'd seen it with the girl that KING WAYLAND had foolishly brought into her presence. She'd seen it with kyle lopez and MATIAS SILPH on this very island, watching them each succumb to madness and ruin.[break][break]

"You cannot beg a puppet to think for itself," she said to freya morningstar, eyes still shining that bright and startling green. "You should know better."[break][break]

"When the puppeteer releases his hold, the puppets can see and feel where the strings bound them."

[break]

Whatever miracle she'd earned was on borrowed time, or so Elisabeth presently believed.

[attr="class","ooc"] FERNANDO SILPH freya morningstar[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

¹"Fernando Silph Secret Route: Second Date (RVL)" ft. Fernando Silph[break][break]

SPOILER: Click to show

- 10 MP per IC post in a RT Battle/Mission. (x21)[break]
- 50 MP for participation in a RT Battle/Mission.