fat drops of rain cling to her lashes and she swipes at her eyes with the pad of her thumb, squinting through the storm. water cascades off of them and the sea rolls, grasping for lyune's shape in an attempt to drag him under. 

and then the skies part. 

lyune banks, shaking water off of velvet wings, and soars above the emerald serpent in the water. a shimmering hexagonal barrier stretches from his outstretched claws, expanding with every thrumming roar in his throat, folding over lord and rider so that they may be defended from their rampaging sibling. 

PENELOPE LIVY Eva Morales

☉

it was somewhere in the middle where it became too much. it was when the cold had already reached her bones. it was when the battle had yet to be won. and then it wasn't too much - despite the destruction, the losses, the inevitable clashing of wayward friends; brothers, sisters. 

when they flew in tandem, synchronous, she forgot who she was. she remembered who she was, and what she lost, and she ached for it. and aches for it even now. 

her heart belongs to another, and he has a home in her, but her soul can't forget what it lost. the distance, she has come to realize, has been making her miserable. even if she can't be eva's everything, she can be eva's something. 

so she toes open the half-cracked office door with her boot, two coffees in hand.

"got a minute?"

Eva Morales

☉

there's a light dusting still on the ground, dew freshly frozen. it gathers on the soles of her boots and more than once, she nearly trips, but the charmander leads her away from some of the more slippery areas. she thanks it with a pat on the head. 

and they quickly come upon the shore, not yet frozen over, where the tatsugiri lay. after nosing around for a bit, the charmander uncovers one and gives it a shake, throwing the helpless thing at freya's feet. 

WARDEN - SAFARI ZONE
catching tatsugiri!

☉

lyune persists, muscles still rolling, pride and fury all that's holding him aloft. but freya withdraws his ball as he staggers back to a stand with fire in his eyes. she doesn't press the capsule, however. kama limps away, looking worse for wear (though still far better than him) and once her back is turned, he relaxes.

it would be beneath him, attacking then.

as doug nears, lyune eyes him warily, gaze flicking from the man over to his mistress. she pats his side and holds out her hands. he unfurls the one wing; the silver exoskeleton is a bit banged up, but not irreparable. 

"it's alright," she says with a smile, to the both of them. and to doug, "his wing's been this way since the first ultra beast invasion. we got caught in mossdeep and - well, alex helped him fly again with this." she gestures to the wire framing, the fitted pedals on his saddle. 

[attr="class","heroesgymbar"]

John Sullivan

☉

[newclass=.heroesgymbar]background-color:#333333;padding:5px;height:5px;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px;[/newclass]

these loathsome fae keep finding him. lyune snorts in surprise and the briars bristle around him, frenzied plants bulking. irritation follows swiftly after and he shakes off the numbing foreleg, ignoring the clenching in his muscles. his teeth come down, ripping through ethereal leaves to tussle with the hound. 

freya runs her tongue along her teeth and watches the trainer behind the match. silent and observant, absorbed in the dogfight just like she is. 

[attr="class","heroesgymbar"]

blue murtagh
ll4_YScM +15

Terastal Pokémon receive a +15 modifier on every roll that's an even number.

☉

[newclass=.heroesgymbar]background-color:#333333;padding:5px;height:5px;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px;[/newclass]

stars can fall just like the rest of them. his bulk means little in the face of time and corrosion. the fangs shove their way through his weathered hide and sink into the flesh of his foreleg. rather than back away from the attack, he leans into it, bearing his chest down on the beast that dare get close to him. 

his frills shake as draconic energy pulses through him, but rather than expel soulflame past his teeth, he summons a phantasmal vegetation to ensnare the mightyena. 

[attr="class","heroesgymbar"]

blue murtagh
or2|VWMB +15

Terastal Pokémon receive a +15 modifier on every roll that's an even number.

☉

[newclass=.heroesgymbar]background-color:#333333;padding:5px;height:5px;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px;[/newclass]

kama digs deep and summons a catastrophic amount of power. lyune, maw contorted in pain and indignation, matches the insect in her fervor. the air around them is lashed with flame-like tongues of energy, swirling up lyune's sides in a desperate attempt to give him the defense he needs to weather the blow. 

supernova flames spurt from his maw, dripping like magma, over claws as they come up to shove the impossibly strong blow to the side.

[attr="class","heroesgymbar"]

John Sullivan
lyune uses dragon's fury / loss!
AWVIhdZ8 +50

z-move: dragon's fury
salamence pushes itself to its max potential

☉

[newclass=.heroesgymbar]background-color:#333333;padding:5px;height:5px;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px;[/newclass]

and thus they reach the end of the match. lyune sheds the extra muscle and shakes out his wings, lumbering back to his mistress' side of the field. she withdraws his ball and gives him a well earned rest (though she could have done with a bit more humility). 

it's why she feels somewhat responsible for the young girl's tantrum, though that doesn't mean she knows what to do about it. 

"hey, you did great, kid. not many trainers can stand up to lyune like that. you and your dunsparce are already way ahead of the game."

[attr="class","heroesgymbar"]

Lucia Aldrete

☉

[newclass=.heroesgymbar]background-color:#333333;padding:5px;height:5px;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px;[/newclass]

her expression is drawn from confusion and then a slow inkling of understanding. melody is a performer, even to the bitter end, but only when the pollen dust settles and freya can see that the red light on the camera has winked off does she truly relax. 

"thanks."

she leans back in her chair and exhales, shaking out her hands. loosened up just a bit, she reaches again for her tea. it's cold after all this time, but she doesn't complain. 

"yeah," she says quietly and looks down into the translucent water. "i don't think they'll leave either. but there's more to it than that, i think. from what i understand," from what Elisabeth Fiorelli told me, all those months ago - "life's much the same. and the threat of conflict? homes and loved ones caught in a crossfire? how could they want that?"

would she make a difference? could she make a difference?

"do you miss home?"

Melody Miro

☉

it's no secret that these interviews are recorded. sometimes they end up on broadcasts, if they have gravitas. she doesn't imagine she's put on a very good show - sweaty palms, a mania in her eyes - but nonetheless, she looks nervously at melody, conflicted. 

"handle it? carefully. we won't risk our citizens getting caught in the crossfire." she runs her tongue along her teeth. "that's the only reason they've occupied it for so long. they use our people as protection."

and unlike matias, i won't see my people burn to save my city. 

it's a meticulous answer - vague enough to inspire without giving away any stratagem, with just enough fire to ridicule sootopolis' occupiers. 

"you'd feel similarly, no?"

Melody Miro

☉

the glalie's teeth sink in without mercy. no matter how intense the fire that burns away from him, he cannot shake the tenacious creature loose. the screech of pain, followed by his desperate careen back to the earth, makes freya rip his pokeball back from her choker. 

but she does not withdraw him. she would not do that disservice to him. 

more angry, sputtering flames fan his descent, blistering against the pitch as he slams his side - and the glalie - onto the battlefield. his sides heave and he winces at the ice in his veins, limbs seizing. 

dark eyes stare daggers at the trainer responsible for felling him as he's frozen solid.

the rest of her losses, she had handled with dignity, but this one makes her blood curdle. she withdraws him with a snap of her wrist and her patient, congratulatory tone is forced. 

"match to you, councilman." 

[attr="class","heroesgymbar"]

FERNANDO SILPH

☉

[newclass=.heroesgymbar]background-color:#333333;padding:5px;height:5px;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px;[/newclass]

they have to get near to bring the worst of the heat and so the glalie's unhinged jaw, swallowing embers as it goes, manages to grab onto lyune's foreleg. he bellows as pain lances down his side, ice crawling up his veins, and he ducks his wings in. 

bright green flames lick at his sides. while the glalie holds on like a rabid dog, he flares his wings back open and soars upward with dragon ascent. 

[attr="class","heroesgymbar"]

FERNANDO SILPH
dCzyqtbu

☉

[newclass=.heroesgymbar]background-color:#333333;padding:5px;height:5px;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px;[/newclass]