they rest on shore. her dragons have a good section of the island cut off. salamence patrol under the supervision of a handful of rangers. all of them are familiar with the dragons in some capacity. though months have lapsed since the falling through of her deal with them, and freya hopes they'll listen while she's away. 

she worries her cheek.

lyune rests. even hyper potions can't heal the exhaustive drag of battle after battle and syncing with her sygna suit has drained him. he and several others on her team are on bedrest for the time being and she's forced to do more menial tasks to rest. 

and then she perks up. her earpiece crackles. some disturbance seen on the shore. melusine lumbers beside her as she grabs her bow and waves the others away, telling them she'll handle whatever has trespassed. 

fern delaney jayden cross

sygna

☉

the skies are filled with dragons. her salamence patrol the air, flamethrowers a beacon of victory for the league, an omen of death to rocket. lyune, guided by freya's hands, travels their stretch of the island, doubling back and forth to keep the rest of the horde in check. 

and any suicidal rockets subdued. 

but outside the fringes of her self-proclaimed territory, she spies a shadow over the water. someone else can handle them, she tries to tell herself, but lyune responds to her instinctual turning of the reins. her legs squeeze against the saddle and he claws through the air to chase the supposed trespasser. 

BARNABY FINCH

sygna

☉

the xatu falls out of the cloud and freya's gaze flickers away from it, attention turning back to the smokescreen. down below her dragonair wait. aeris' gaze, locked on the air, goes cross-eyed and blurry as a confusion blankets her mind. the concentration is broken and those spun ribbons of light fade. 

above, lyune loses his protective shield. 

but from under the surface of the water, dodging a lashing of her confused sister's tail, comes sypha. she breaches, maw frosted with ice, and a thin beam aims to clip the xatu's wings. 

and up above, as the ribbons unravel and half of lyune's side is exposed, the rider emerges. the charizard's dragon breath encroaches on them and lyune snarls. he tucks one wing and roll and the heat spreads over his back, swathing freya's cape in blue. 

the sync stone twined in a braid sparks and her sygna suit hums to life. RAGE knifes through her and she snarls as lyune's barrel roll turns into a tucked dive, claws outstretched to swipe at their attacker. 

Zev Harcourt

bye-bye light screen
dragonair (aeris) is confused
dragonair (sypha) uses ice beam on xatu
salamence hit by dragon breath
sygna suit active: rage 
↑ strength ↓ defense
salamence uses dragon claw on charizard/zev

☉

lyune rests on an outcropping of rocks. his side rises and falls in a steady rhythm, stomach swollen with felled enemy pokemon. the rest of her dragons had ripped apart what had fallen into the water. they swim about her now, warding away sharpedo, as freya cleans herself of blood and sweat. 

their battles had been hard-fought, but victorious nonetheless. salamence still circle the skies, warding away any who would attempt to enter from this side of the island. impressive spurts of flame show their dominance. 

Victoria Beckett

☉

the seas below them roil with blood, but no sharpedo circle its surface. scales shimmer and when the smokescreen rolls out, lyune's hiss makes waves roll. 

darkness wraps around them and freya reaches behind her, wrapping her cape around her mouth and her nose. her eyes sting, reddening, and without the means to see through the smoke, she flattens herself against lyune's neck and closes her eyes. 

a psychic attack meets resistance. xatu will no doubt feel the light screen fractals shivering over the dragon's large body, tethered by strings of light in the ocean. a dragonair crests the surf, her tail aglow.

she draws on the reins and lyune's wings thwump heavily, dragging them up and out of the cloud of smokescreen. he circles above and upon a scratchy growl from freya, blindly unleashes a pulse of draconic light below. 

Zev Harcourt

dragonair maintains light screen
salamence uses dragon pulse into the cloud of smoke

☉

he does not acquiesce. her blood is still singing, still craving the fight. everything she's wanted is here - to fight tooth and nail, fire and fury, and he is instead analyzing her and telling her she is not cut out for it. 

is there more there, to his musings? or is he just playing with her? 

"fuck you. you said you'd teach me. you said you'd help me." she takes a step closer. no running rage, no wild flailing. she stays on guard, hands raised, watching his gaze, memorizing in her peripheral the shape of his shoulder, the placement of his hands. his planted feet, rooting him to the ground. 

"i've given up too much al - " she starts, stops, teeth chattering as reflex shuts her up, as what's left in her system scrambles to string together what it can. reshaping. reconnecting. 

she fights it and tries to shove a palm into his shoulder. 

KING WAYLAND

☉

the memories are hazy. they always are, wrapped in pink smog and blurred with rewritten intent, so her brows furrow at lulu's concession. wrong about what? she almost asks, but this woman is dangerous. perhaps one of the most dangerous people in rocket. 

the poipole behind her gives a friendly wave and freya draws back on her reins. lyune's head lifts in response, tilted and untrusting. 

the first and last time she saw her...

"you're the one who shot me," she says. 

well, it's time to return the favor. her hand slides to her hip and in the span of two breaths, an arrow is nocked and loosed. one beep in the air, one by the time it lands a foot in front of her, kicking up a small spray of sand, and freya's lips curl into a grin. 

three more beeps in rapid succession and boom. 

Lulu Flint

self-destruct arrow
2/15 arrows used

☉

the bird breaks apart in lyune's grip. viscera rains down into the sea and bloodied feathers swirl around them in their whirling hellstorm. the rider tumbles into the air once again, its mount limp and useless in her dragon's claws. 

bones crunch as lyune snaps the avian's chest free, sanguine wine slaking his throat. freya shifts her reins and he stops his dizzying spin. below them, the rocket rises, this time on the back of a true dragon. a call from freya and lyune's neck cranes downward. 

empowered by his fresh kill, he bellows. bright light gathers in his mouth. she could call a protect instead, but she'd seen the way his dragon snapped at him. it is a beast wholly untamed; lyune has been in their family for generations. 

its dragon pulse blasts against his flank as the condensed ball of energy fires down on them, splitting into half a dozen meteors to shower over their adversary. 

Kouji Matsubara

sygna
salamence's moxie is active
salamence hit by dragon pulse (bloodied)
salamence uses draco meteor

☉

not anymore, he says and something tells her to stop remembering. picks up on the cadence of his words, that sad drawl, and she knows there is a line in the sand somewhere, smoothed over with the passage of rewritten time. they were friends once. this, she knows. 

and she knows, too, that they can never be friends again.

she does not prod the caution tape. instead she lets the memories slip through her fingers and follows in contemplative silence; his answer was answer enough for the both of them. 

a haze fogs the battlefield before them. aeris, a dragonair who typically relies on her mist to confuse her opponents, feels right at home swallowed in the suspended dew. the altaria is freya's pressing concern, though she knows better than to write off the pokemon's partner. what she doesn't know about zigzagoons could tip the scales of the battle. 

i can rely on temp to outweigh my shortcomings, murmurs a soft voice, rich with a timbre ten years her own age. 

a low growl of her own and aeris' tail sparks in response. ribbons of light wrap around herself and snake to her companion, swathing them both in a protective light screen. 

lam logan Tempest Quinn

dragonair uses light screen
dragonair is obscured by the haze

☉

his teeth are already stained with blood. it slakes his throat, running in rivulets down the front of his armored chest. tamer and dragon rest for some time, a protocol freya is begrudgingly practicing this time around. but she can't afford brazen anger to carry her through these long days. 

they failed last time. and if she'd played her cards differently, maybe she could have made more of a difference.

fingers slip under her pauldrons, rubbing thoughtfully against the knotted flesh just above her collarbone. are you sure you weren't meant to be a rocket? the rocket admin's words haunt her still, though for different reasons this time around. she knows her place. she tells herself that she knows her place. 

a representative of hoenn's people. this is where she belongs. 

the blood is a flaking copper stain when they rise again. his scales shimmer with the spray of a few hyper potions. rested and hungry for blood, they ascend towards their newest trespasser. 

Zev Harcourt

☉

a dark pulse laps feebly at lyune's armored chest. the heat spilling from his throat warms freya's cheeks even from where she's nestled on his back. pale eyes stare through the lapping flames, around the smoke as it singes metal, waiting for retaliation. 

only instead, a shape plummets from the mount's back. freya nocks an arrow and takes aim. one breath in, one breath out, and plex strings twang. the arrow arcs towards the target, zipping through the red light of a pokeball's recall. it sails harmlessly through the air as the rocket changes his trajectory, rising once again atop an angry bird. 

light gathers around the bird's form and freya's quick to deduce its next move, courtesy of her long-standing friendship with Alexei Ivanov. 

lyune does not flinch. claws burst with blue fire and when the bird's body collides with him, he sinks those claws into the mandibuzz's body, tucks one wing and sends them spinning. freya's arm is wrapped around the reins, body sinking into the dizzying maneuver. 

entangled as they are, she spares a pitying glaze towards the rocket rider. 

Kouji Matsubara

sygna
salamence is hit oof
salamence uses dragon claw

☉

the smile wanes. "i don't want a repeat of what happened in dewford. we can't let them win this time." 

she follows his gaze to the crudely drawn outline of the mist. the winds weren't that bad, but they have maybe an hour to mobilize an evacuation. which will be a waste of time. 

"then we'll have to overrun it with paradox pokemon." pokeballs sway at the turn of her hip, their dreamy blue capsules etched with the names of her roaring moons. "gear up, conners. the longer we dally, the closer they get. i'll follow you out."

Greyson Connors

☉

lyune is taking some time to rest. her eyes are light with her previous victories, her dragons exuberant after a chance to show their strength. echo crawls along beside her and trills lowly, signaling their approach. 

a familiar voice makes the draconic bat settle back down. it shuffles its wings in agitation and looks peculiarly at freya's partner. freya clicks her tongue and echo hops up onto a rock, head on the swivel, tail fanning teasingly in front of the other dragon. 

"don't cause trouble," freya chides and ducks into the tent. she smiles as greyson pushes brazenly through any pleasantries. 

"conners." she peers over the map and raises a hand, dragging her finger along their nearby coast. "this area's been removed of all rockets." her lips twinge. "they've shifted north to the north and south, but my dragons at least have this part of the island under control."

Greyson Connors

☉