Like many in Rocket, greed and ambition flow thick through Gavin's veins... but he is a man of reason, as well, and inclines his head in quiet acknowledgement of Chu-e Choi's own. Though caution made him wary of trusting the untested, there was truth in the idea that much of their new blood needed fuel to fund the fires of their worth.

Thus, when he is passed over in favour of their young blood, he is not unhappy. He nods to Lulu Flint, Alexandra Briarwood, Serena Malcolm, oscar clayton, and bryan delarosa in turn. The ghost of a smirk plays across his lips at Declan's warning.

"Do not be afraid to reach out," says Gavin, raising his voice so that it carries over the wind. "Though I expect to be very busy with Rocket's endeavours," and he gives Declan a conspiratorial glance, "I will make time for those of you that wish to better understand their new charges."

Declan's Darkrai looms from the shadows, and Gavin's focus shifts.

Given its partnership with Dominic, and the animosity that had existed between the two underbosses when Sinclair had remained in Hoenn, Gavin had once viewed Rocket's spectral ally with a degree of wariness. Now, his amber eyes gleam at the invitation to battle.

Pushing up his sleeves, the underboss steps forward.

"I have the only partner I need," and he looks to Lugia, whose powerful wings occasionally beat to allow the corrupted legendary to remain airborne, before shifting his gaze back to Declan, to Darkrai. "But how could we resist a chance to test our mettle against a might such as yours?"

He grins, and the crowd is buffeted by a strong sea breeze as Lugia swoops overhead. As it comes to a halt above Gavin and the makeshift battlefield, he once again hears its reassuring telepathic timbre echo through his thoughts.

I HAVE GRANTED YOU MY POWER; YOU MUST LEARN TO USE IT.

The dark fog that had pooled around Gavin swirls to life, spreads around them in a dark haze that partially obscures them from view. Within it, Gavin feels strangely invigorated — his heart pounds faster, reflexes balanced on a razor's edge. It fills him with a nervous euphoria, unknown energy thrumming at his fingertips. He does not yet understand the effects, but Lugia does.

When inevitably a dark void is sent their way, Lugia feints sideways to dodge its path. RAIN begins to fall, summoned by a flap of the diver's wings, before a rumble of THUNDER herald's lightning's strike.

Gavin chuckles, delighted, even as the downpour peppers his skin.

notes:
gavin is extra and i'm sorry :XD: he's doing this for fun

so what if he showed up a little bit on the late side? and so what if there was a bunch of shit going on that involved some people that weren't him getting rewards or whatever. if you needed to have a shadow pokemon to kick ass then how strong could you really be? how strong could you like... actually be? it didn't add up. it didn't make sense. if you were already a badass why did you need some hyper ass freak pokemon to be even stronger? it was fucking stupid. but whatever. he was supposed to be on 'good behavior' whatever the hell that meant.

but how good could his behavior be when the snacks sucked and he wasn't allowed to rob people blind at a rocket event? he was bored and hungry and really that was probably the worst combination of things. until of course darkrai showed up. that was at least a little bit interesting. climbing up on top of bug-juice to get a better look he couldn't suppress one of his nearly manic giggles at the idea of fighting whatever the fuck that thing was.

tapping the goliospod on the top of his shell he urged it a little bit. "fuck that thing up bug-juice!" this was more exciting than anything he was expecting really. "fuck it up!" bug-juice reciprocates the request by sending a pin missile at the dark type legendary.

glitch is just, chilling and not wanting to ruin his boots with this bullshit tbh, he wants to drop kick darkrai with his gucci boots settles on using pin missile instead

[nospaces][googlefont=Open+Sans:400,700,700i|Oswald:300,600]




[newclass=".punkianger-em .accentbg"]background: #313131;[/newclass]

[newclass=".punkianger-em .accentborder"]border-color: #313131;[/newclass]

[newclass=".punkianger-em .tagline a, .punkianger-em .bulk b, .punkianger-em .bulk i, .punkianger-emcredit a"]color: #716075;[/newclass]

[newclass=".punkianger-em .image"]background-image: url('https://i.ibb.co/CKsGxpR/emma1.png');[/newclass]

[newclass=".punkianger-em"]width: 500px; min-height: 100px; padding-top: 300px; background: #313131; margin: auto; filter: drop-shadow(0 0 1px rgba(100,100,100,0.6));[/newclass]

[newclass=".punkianger-em .absolute-holder"]position: absolute; overflow: hidden; margin-top: -300px; width: 500px; height: 300px;[/newclass]

[newclass=".punkianger-em .image-back"]position: absolute; width: 170px; height: 300px; opacity: 0.8; border-left: 330px solid #323232;[/newclass]

[newclass=".punkianger-em .image-back div"]position: absolute; left: 3px; width: 5px; height: inherit; background: #323232;[/newclass]

[newclass=".punkianger-em .image"]position: absolute; width: inherit; height: inherit; mix-blend-mode: lighten;[/newclass]

[newclass=".punkianger-em .line1"]position: absolute; width: 600px; height: 1px; background: #999999; transform: rotate(15deg); top: 105px; left: -30px; mix-blend-mode: overlay;[/newclass]

[newclass=".punkianger-em .line2"]position: absolute; width: 600px; height: 1px; background: #999999; transform: rotate(-75deg); top: 50px; left: -150px; mix-blend-mode: overlay;[/newclass]

[newclass=".punkianger-em .wordcount"]position: absolute; background: rgba(113,96,117,0.8); bottom: 100px; left: 40px; color: #fff; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 9px; line-height: 9px; padding: 6px 8px; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 2px;[/newclass]

[newclass=".punkianger-em .lyric1"]position: absolute; bottom: 80px; left: 43px; filter: drop-shadow(0 0 2px rgba(0,0,0,0.4)); color: #fff; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 11px; line-height: 11px; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 2px; font-weight: bold;[/newclass]

[newclass=".punkianger-em .lyric2"]position: absolute; bottom: 40px; left: 40px; filter: drop-shadow(0 0 2px rgba(0,0,0,0.4)); font-family: 'Oswald'; color: #fff; font-size: 40px; line-height: 40px; text-transform: uppercase; font-weight: 300; word-spacing: -8px;[/newclass]

[newclass=".punkianger-em .lyric2 b"]font-weight: 600; mix-blend-mode: overlay; position: absolute; white-space: nowrap;[/newclass]

[newclass=".punkianger-em .tagline"]float: left; margin-top: -6px; margin-left: -40px; margin-right: 10px; background: #716075; font-family: 'Open Sans'; color: #999999; font-size: 10px; line-height: 10px; padding: 9px 11px; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 2px;[/newclass]

[newclass=".punkianger-em .tagline a"]font: inherit; text-decoration: none; filter: brightness(120%); font-weight: bold; transition: all 0.3s ease;[/newclass]

[newclass=".punkianger-em .tagline a:hover"]color: #fff;[/newclass]

[newclass=".punkianger-em .bulk"]padding: 30px 40px; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; color: rgba(9,9,9,9,9,9); text-align: justify;[/newclass]

[newclass=".punkianger-em .bulk i"]font-weight: bold;[/newclass]

[newclass=".punkianger-em .ooc-notes"]padding: 6px 40px; background: #272727; min-height: 31px; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 8px; line-height: 31px; text-align: justified; color: rgba(9,9,9,9,9,9);[/newclass]

[newclass=".punkianger-emcredit"]width: 500px; margin: auto; text-align: right; font-family: 'Oswald'; font-size: 11px; line-height: 20px; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 1px;[/newclass]

[newclass=".punkianger-emcredit a"]font: inherit;[/newclass]

As Oscar's name was called, he squealed a bit with joy. Sure it betrayed the gravitas of his speech, but he could not possibly hold in his excitement. He stormed to the front, giddily awaiting his turn. One by one the shadow pokemon here given out, and Oscar marveled at his own as its ball was placed in his hand. Another step toward becoming stronger, Oscar fully intended to keep his word and strive toward dominance for Rocket. Though first he'd like to go find a dodrio saddle. Would it still let him ride it? Eh, he'll just have to try it out.

Oscar remained on the stage as Walsh continued, standing to the side as not to disturb his spotlight. He just wanted a moment outside of the crowd, the chance to breathe without being packed in by all sides by bodies. His attention was pulled from his new pokeball to the sudden appearance of Darkrai. It would seem that the lord of nightmares sought a new companion, and was challenging the members of Rocket in battle. Oscar's eyes widened, his muscles nearly slacking to the point of collapse. Should he push his luck?

It might be seen as an attempt to have his cake and eat it too, but Oscar could not allow this opportunity to go to waste. His greed for strength was all consuming, he had to make an attempt even if he felt he wasn't yet worthy. But as he moved to pull out a pokeball, he saw Emma Wolfe step forth. In her visage Oscar saw pure power, a steely determination that he yet lacked. Oscar's shoulders slumped, he was not ready to wield Darkrai--but Emma was.

He has struggled to get close to his pseudo-mentor, her harsh exterior pushing back against his attempts to connect. Yet he felt a kinship with his fellow beast, and he would not hesitate to support her attempt. As spiders appeared beside her, Oscar would snap his fingers. One more spider would appear at Emma's side, a discolored Ariados that had up to this point stayed invisible. The shadow spider looked up at the woman that shared her name, nodding silently with respect and understanding. She then sprang forth toward the Darkrai, showing no fear toward the mythical nightmare.

Emma the ariados tore through the Darkrai's shadows, his Dark Void meaning nothing against her Insomnia. As she neared the god she would strike decisively, attempting to deliver her venom with a cruel slash of her legs Cross Poison. Oscar looked on, hoping that Emma joining in with the other spiders would help the beast's case.

The shadow pokemon were handed out and Chu-e noted the choices keenly; he would need to keep an eye on these; oscar clayton had already proved to be reliable enough but he didn't know the other four as well. He was eager to see what they did with these scraps of power they had been given, if they could leverage it into more or would end with it ripped from their hands.

Then there was Darkrai. Chu-e had known, of course, but knowing was different than seeing. Even the brief demonstration of those powers during Walsh's not-birthday hadn't really been enough. It made him feel... something. Darkrai was a creature that was mostly relegated to fonder memories, of childhood fears hiding under the covers with his brother as they whispered prayers to Cresselia in the dark. Just another monster to hide under the bed. Seeing it in the flesh was.... different. Similar to when he had seen Lugia for the first time with Cillian Quinn, before his promotion. Simialr to two years ago when he had seen an Articuno interrupt a winter ball. Similar to Tapu Bulu at the festival, to the fever dreams of a god from back in October. You always felt something when you saw divinity. Only, Chu-e had never believed in Lugia or the Tapus or Articuno or even the Creation Trio; but he had always believed in Darkrai and Cresselia.

This made him feel want. Not in the same way that Lulu Flint wanted Darkrai. No, it made him want to push himself. To throw himself at the pokemon like he would have done in year's past. People who knew Chu-e personally when he was a Beast, when he was a younger man, would be correct if they assumed he had lost a certain spark. In Kanto he had been violent and wild and it had cost him everything. He scraped from the bottom when he first came to Hoenn, building himself back up only to have it all slapped from his hands. This was his third time working himself from nothing but the first time he had felt like before. Like he wasn't on a timer that was ticking closer to an end every day with a crumbling body.

Chu-e wanted to fight it. Not to try and coax it into partnership, either, but just because he could. He just wanted to fight it, see what he could do against it, if he could even leave a dent. Plus, everyone was watching. What kind of Underboss would he be if he didn't at least put on a show? It was only a shame he had to share the spotlight.

A savage grin split across his face and a more unhinged light in his eye, Chu-e pushed forward and only paused for a moment. What did he remember about Darkrai, from the stories his mother told him as a kid....

The first pokemon he tossed out was a Slurpuff. Not for his fighting prowess, that wasn't really what Snacks was built for, but for his Sweet Veil. It would keep his pokemon awake.

Next he called out a shiny Lopunny. Really, he thought the people throwing multiple pokemon at the legendary had the right idea. But, he didn't want that right now. Creams squared up anyway, eyes wide but determined, taking a fighting stance and raising her fists up.

Desire made him want to hit Darkrai as hard as the others, with all that he had. Curiosity made him wait.

"Copycat."

The Lopunny took in the Dark Void, eyes starting to glow as she did- and she tried to use Darkrai's own attack against it. Just to see if it would work. Just to see what would happen.

---

- Choi... joins the fight? Kinda?
- Has Sweet Veil Slurpuff out to prevent sleepy times
- Has Lopunny attempt Copycat on Dark Void just to see what the fuck will happen

The weight of the pokeball felt heavy in her hand. It was unlikely physically heavier than any other, perhaps it was the weight of the responsibility she felt now that she owned one of these corrupted beasts. She’d happily take Cillian Quinn up on his offer to work with him and her new partner. The one things Lex hated was unpredictability. It would take time to trust the Gardevoir but she had faith she had found a worthy partner.

Darkrai’s sudden appearance paralyzed Lex. She tensed, her heart racing as the shadow grew and expanded into the legendary. There was a sense of admiration within the fear. Darkrai was a shadow, a stealthy dark-type that valued the same strategies as the thief. Although a powerful alley, Lex had no interest in becoming the thing’s puppet; She was a puppet under Kaito for too long.

Everything happened to fast. Having literally just been called forward to receive the Gardevoir, she was right in front of the damn thing. These savages were quick to act and Lex found herself in the line of fire, “Oh for fuck’s sake,” she growled, gripping the pokeball tightly as she spun around to see what she was up against.

These fuckers didn’t even give her time to get out of the way.

Typical Rocket.

The Dark Void crept closer from behind and a plethora of pokemon lined up as they readied attacks, Killian Decker included with his Hatterene. A survival instinct kicked in. Aubie’s ear piercing screech could be heard from above. The Braviary was in a panic, his KEEN EYES always watching his trainer. He dove down to scoop up Lex but a wave of her hand dismissed him, much to his frustration. Aubie would be too late, anyway.

Instead, a flash of light brought out a large, sturdy Electivire. The beast roared in frustration upon the sight of opposition by Rockets’ pokemon. What had Lex released him into?

“Protect!” she commanded, burying herself in the electric-type’s chest. His hands rose, palms facing forward, as a series of attacks began to barrage the Darkrai. Rain began to trickle from the sky but the drops splattered against the glimmer of the sparkling PROTECT. The attack deflected some attacks while other rushed past to attempt to strike the Darkrai, “Get me the fuck out of here,” Balthazar shifted, wrapping an arm around her while the other held the Protect steady. He'd find them a moment to run.

Notes: Lex joins the fight, mostly out of necessity to have to Protect herself because y’all are savages



Balthazar the Electivire uses PROTECT to protect himself and Lex because she didn’t have time to get out of the way. It may look like she’s Protecting the Darkrai

[newclass=.sunshine]text-align: justify;font-family:calibri;font-size:14px; margin: 0 auto; width: 300px;[/newclass]
[newclass=.sunshine b]color: #f9993d[/newclass]