"Mm?" Gavin looks up from his phone — the signal in the tunnel was terrible, naturally — and his neutral expression softens into something friendlier. "Oh, hey Priam, didn't see you there."

He rarely sees the other outside of work, and then it's in the company of others; perhaps that's why there's never been a chance to ask the burning question on Priam's mind. Gavin doesn't hesitate in his answer.

"Yeah, sure you can. You've known me long enough." His teeth flash in a grin. "What're you doing out here?"

priam conrad

"Your Espeon seems capable enough, but variety is useful."

It's a little rich, coming from a type specialist like himself, but Gavin doesn't wholly discount other Pokemon. Like the Nincada, who seems to almost read his Cradily's mind when he sends the fossil out, catching it off guard with a false swipe before scoring metal claws across its eerie maw. Gavin chuckles, then turns his attention back to Priam.

"Sounds about right," he agrees. "I'm on my way to Mauville, but I'm in no rush. The war's done a number on my supplies, so I figured I'd stop here and catch a few things."

Cradily spits a gob of gastric acid on Nincada, stopping it from running away and giving Gavin time to throw a ball.

"I hear you and Oscar pulled a lot of weight in Lilycove."

priam conrad // CATCH NINCADA

Priam's excitement is met with fond amusement. He observes the youth as his Cradily contends with a wild Dugtrio, draining the life from all three of its heads when it makes the mistake of popping up unannounced.

"Velmos, yes," Gavin confirms, then listens. It's when Priam brings up the Naganadel that his interest turns more personal. "Really? That's fascinating. I'll admit in all the tests I've done on my own, decapitation was not one of them."

He wanted the Naganadel alive, after all, and now it seemed it could survive such a procedure. "Did you see how long it lived past the, ah, mutilation? I know there was a battle going on, so it's understandable if you lost sight of it."

A fainted Dugtrio is deposited unceremoniously at Gavin's feet by his irate Cradily, and the Rocket taps it with a pokeball.

priam conrad // CATCH DUGTRIO

Gavin thinks on Priam's findings for a moment before nodding to himself, letting out a sharp laugh at the other's concern.

"Goodness, no, they're incredibly valuable. I wouldn't waste it on an experiment."

Mostly, he's been testing its capabilities and strengths through his various tests. It seems to lack the aggression it possessed prior to administration of the antidote, and so far he'd not been able to recreate the shadowification process with its poisons.

"It's a Naganadel now, besides." The magnet pull of a nearby Probopass fails to draw in Cradily; the fossil looks utterly unimpressed as Gavin chats with Priam, watching them. "Did you manage to get one?"

Probopass makes the mistake of straying too close to the lurking predator that is Cradily. Like a Carnivine, the fossil Pokemon lashes out and latches onto its prey to drain its vitality. Rock crumbles, and Gavin tosses a ball.

priam conrad // CATCH PROBOPASS

Though uncertain of what Priam means by legitimately, Gavin is proud of him; it had been no inconsiderable effort to acquire enough antidote to pacify the Beasts. He seems interested at mention of a shiny Poipole, inquiring, "What colour is yours, then?"

He collects off-color Pokemon, himself. Those that suited his collection were kept, and others were sold for profit into the Black Market. He could only imagine how much a shiny Naganadel would be worth... not that he'd sell his own, even if it were.

He recognizes the Sandygast to be a so-called 'shiny', but leaves it to Priam. His attention is trained on a Swampert minding its own businesses on the fringes of his vision, shifting toward it and directing Cradily to its new prey. Once again, giga drain proves effective in neutralizing the not-quite-threat. Swampert were popular in Hoenn. It would be worth something if he couldn't find use for it personally.

priam conrad // CATCH SWAMPERT