There silence.

Then the drumbeat of many paws on the ground.

Sailing past Mercutio Kyle was an army of felines. An Alolan Persian, a Delcatty, a Purugly, two Skitty, a Purrloin, Kantonian Meowth, a Litten, and finally a Shinx. They all barreled past and onto the route, which was quickly followed by the squeaking of startled Pikachu as they were systematically chased down.

Who better to call to chase down a bunch of rat pokemon than the Rocket who was famous for felines?

Or... famous for more than that. But, also felines!

Chu-e followed a little bit later, his own Inciniroar next to him. Puff winked at the other fire type and shot him some finger guns. Chu-e was a waif of a man, short and skinny with the kind of sickly appearance of someone who wouldn't get better. He still have a small smile to the other, unafraid or wary. "Are you Mercutio? I'm your partner today!" He offered his hand to shake.

The sudden charge of felines made Mercutio raise a brow and he glanced slowly to Magnus; whom of which was just as confused. That was...a sudden wave of felines...weird...too weird. Maybe they weren't going to be needed for this after all? That's when a voice reached his ears and he looked, spotting the frailer trainer. For a moment, he struggled to tell if they were a woman or not but he figured it out after thinking on it for a moment or two. He'd reach his large hand out and carefully shake the other rocket member's hand.

"Yes I'm Mercutio, this is Magnus." he introduced, letting go of the hand and gesturing to his incineroar.

Magnus was confused by what the other incineroar did when they approached. Tilting their head as they raised a brow. Truthfully, he wasn't used to being around others of his exact species so the mannerisms were different; plus being raised in the enviroment he was didn't help.

"So shall ew start? I don't wish for your pokemon to get overwhelmed, there's supposively a lot of em." Mercutio asked.

Chu-e Choi

"Eh, I'm sure my guys will be fine." As if to prove what Chu-e was saying, there was a loud squeal. It was followed by the Persian trotting back over, tail in the air, proud of her catch. A pikachu was between her teeth, a thin trickle of blood dripping down onto the ground in occasional drips. The yellow rodent was still alive, just unconscious from the rough treatment. Chu-e laughed and took out a pokeball, one of the ones given to him specifically for this mission, and captured it. "One down!" He offered a handful of the empty pokeballs to Mercutio Kyle. They wouldn't be able to keep anything they caught today but at least the pokeballs also weren't coming out of their own pockets!

"Oh! I'm Choi, this is Puff." Because he figured it would be better to introduce himself and his pokemon. Puff seemed to preen at the attention; even if the other of his species didn't understand it. That was okay, since Puff was mostly just a show off. He started to walk further onto the route, where all the pikachu were at. "If you see me outside of missions, call me Ki! It's my public name." He explained briefly.

But then Chu-e paused. "Ah. Maybe they will need that help...." While, for the most part, Chu-e's felines were running wild and successfully scaring or catching the Pikachu. It looked like there were just too many of them to handle on their own; especially since the smaller cats were having to team up to take down one Pikachu. A group of five or six Pikachu in the middle of the route were frantically beating on the ground with Iron Tails, making good progress on cracking into the packed dirt and hard stone.

"Not usually. I'm kind of a special case." Chu-e did not elaborate further. He was one of the men from old Rocket who helped raze Kanto to the ground, after all. He might not be a Beast any longer but his name still held weight to those he had hurt.

Chu-e didn't offer his own Incineroar to help, simply watched as Mercutio Kyle's did most of the heavy lifting. He did, at least, toss out a handful of the borrowed balls to snag the Pikachu who flew in the air. Most of the sideline Pikachu had also been taken care of, dragged over by excited felines. He was careful to reward each of then with a pat before he captured the pikachu and returned his own pokemon, leaving just Puff out of his pokeball.

It seemed that despite the attack from the cats and from Magnus scattering them all, one Pikachu hadn't given up. There was the slam of an Iron Tail, followed by a blinding white light. One of them had succeeded, transforming into a Raichu. And it looked pissed.

The electric type, wanting to throw it's new weight around, charged for Magnus with a Volt Tackle. She would show these guys to come in and mess with them!

One thing that Wild pokemon would never be able to compare to was a trainer raised one. Raichu did her best to duck out of the way but was just a bit too slow. The attack landed, mostly crushing her hind right leg and tail. She cried out and let out one final Discharge on her attacker, which may not even hit if Magnus was quick enough to pull away from her.

While still full of energy, she was defeated because of her now broken leg.

"Well damn, you're pretty good, my dude." Chu-e huffed out a laugh, walking towards the Raichu. She hissed at him and snapped at him when he got too close- which seemed to just make him laugh as he tossed one last pokeball at her.

"We might get a bonus for this one." Approaching Mercutio Kyle again, Chu-e raised up a hand to offer the other a high five.

Magnus was ready this time, just seconds after the move making contact, the fire pokemon thrust itself backwards with a jump. Pulling their paw close at the same time. This the discharge harmlessly went off into the air, the electricity sparked and danced in the air with vigor. Going well with the newly evolved rodent’s fury and pain.

”Thank you, Magnus works very hard.” Mercutio replied, watching the other approach.

the butler didn’t see a reason to worry for Chu-e Choi safety, they carried themself in a way that spoke experience to him. The pikachu nearby moved further up the route, search for more stones but now being wary of the two trainers and thier pokemon. It was safe to say, the electric mice were on edge. With the other’s remark of a bonus, he shrugged lightly. It was the raised hand for a high five he didn’t expect.

Not once did they stare at his face for long nor had the mentioned the... teeth sticking out of his mouth due to his issue. A faint smile appeared and he held out his larger hand to accept the high five. This felt...different. In a good sort of way. With the gesture received the faint smile lingered.

”Let’s try to make sure we don’t get a raunchy swarm.” He remarked lightly and went over to Magnus, inspecting his incineroar before giving them a silent Bill of health.

Why would Chu-e have stared? If was ear something was wrong with him, too. You could tell with one look that sickness was eating him from the inside out. That, plus his own experience in dealing with commonly scared of disfigured people, meant he didn't really care what Mercutio Kyle looked like. He just knew the guy had done a good job, kept calm, and that was all that mattered right now.

"They're kind of worked up. I'm not sure we can get many more... wanna head back into town and grab something to eat? My treat." He grinned again, pulling out all the pokeballs they had used and taking count. Not counting the Raichu, he had gotten about nine Pikachu... plus however many that Mercutio got meant they had done quite the good job today. It wasn't usual that he saw competence and was quiet pleased all the way around.

"They are..." Mercutio agreed with Chu-e Choi 's words.

The electric rodents were indeed worked up. At the next words, Mercutio was surprised and turned his attention to the thinner man beside him. That was enough? Sure if they stayed and tried to get more, there was a good chance that they'd push their luck and run into something that they'd struggle with. Making the whole thing not worth it in the end potentially. Well...a small shrug left him as he stood there.

"Why not, everyone deserves a treat for their hard work as well." Mercutio replied, refering to the pokemon that both trainers had.

Magnus's ears perked and they looked excited, seeming to ask a question as their tail flicked behind them before it started to wag like that of a dog. Something he had picked up from Maybelle; sometimes Mercutio wondered if he should've gotten another cat like pokemon when he first gotten Magnus, save the feline of the canine esq behavior. But it made Magnus more unique to him, made him love the feline more. A big hand rested on the cat's head.

"Yes I'm refering to you and our companion's pokemon. I suppose you already know what you want?" Mercutio asked as gently ruffled the fur on their head, only for the incineroar to pull back slightly so they could nod. "Alright then, let's all go grab something."