The sickening crunch-snap of bone is an all too familiar sound for one who has stood against the Light Devourer and survived. So too is the sight of the crystalline growth that spreads across Chu-e's flesh hauntingly reminiscent of the afflictions Gavin's surviving Pokemon have been left with.
It all happens in the span of a heartbeat, and Gavin's instinct is to go to Chu-e Choi's side.

"All right, Choi?" In his distress, the barest hint of his native Galarian accent colours the words of concern. He can't look away from his counterpart's neck, smooth flesh where he's certain he'd seen death staring back at him. "Thought we'd lost you for a minute."

A pitiful mewl finally pulls Gavin's gaze, the Zeraora who'd sacrificed itself for the good of Rocket miraculously having survived being thrown into the unforgiving metal of the submarine's wall. Gavin's intense expression falters, momentarily betraying horror before the underboss composes himself and crouches down next to his injured charge. Its spine is twisted at an odd angle, back legs laying useless as the thunder cat attempts to right itself with its front paws.

Gavin crouches down and cards his fingers through Zeraora's white fur, mumbling something unintelligible before pressing the button on the feline's ball. When the submarine is stabilized and Genesect is pacified, and not before, he will seek medical aid.

His hopes are not high.

Straightening up, he turns calmly to the group. "We need to stop Genesect before more harm is done." It's phrased as an order, not a request.

[attr="class","pokesprite pokemon zeraora shiny"]

notes
Gavin's Zeraora SURVIVES but is crippled.

Cipher roars, pierced through with the Fell Stinger. At the Delphox takes his last breaths, he gasps wetly, blood dripping down his muzzle. He gropes for the Genesect, psychic energy shorting out as he bleeds. He gives one last snarl, full of all his raw fury and anger, seizes, then he falls limp, eyes glazed over. His mangled corpse hits the ground with a wet 'thump', red pooling around him.

Prince is more lucky but only marginally so. He reaches out, desperate, finds that his hand gets in the way of the slice- and it's a clean cut, at an angle, slicing one and a half of his fingers clean off his hand. The Gardevoir pauses in shock, eyes well up with tears, and then shrieks and falls to his knees, clutching at his injured hand, pulling it close to his chest.

Chu-e registers this only briefly. They say your final moments are filled with your life flashing before your eyes, regret- Chu-e feels none of this, only stares the Genesect down and feels the force of the attack. A creeping, tingling sensation and-

.........

.....

...

.

He's on his back from the hit but all that he feels is the pain of his neck. Ragged breaths leave him as he lifts a shaky hand, touches his neck that is not rolling around detached from his body, feels his spine tingling with pinpricks of sensations he can't explain.

A deep sharp gasp leaves him, eyes wide, staring at the ceiling, sirens blaring, his Gardevoir screaming, trying to process what the fuck just happened.

Emma watched the events in the room unfold. From the dorm filling up like a taco stand on Tuesday, to the being's strange reaction to the appearance of Chu-e Choi . Emma flinched as the 'genesect' attacked Chu-e, only for multiple barriers appearing to take on the blow. And Chu-e itself? Something mysterious happened to his skin that saved him from harm. Interesting, too bad she cannot talk to report all this back to her master.

Genesect then flew through the ceiling, not too far from where Emma was hanging. She decided to continue the hunt, crawling into the ceiling to follow it to its next destination. Perhaps this time she shall not be so idle.

Meanwhile Oscar had picked up a sleeping Plagueis and followed a loud commotion to the dorms. He slid into the doorway of Serena Malcolm's dorm, immediatly overwhelmed by the chaotic scene he was beholding. Did a fucking bomb go off? There was no sign of Genesect or Emma, had they gone elsewhere? He decided to worry about the task at hand.

"What the fuck happened?"

The entire scene unfolded in a flash. Act one included the set up; the purple ant blaring it’s commands (?), the female rocket screaming at it to protect, and it’s eventual proclamation to attack. The second Act was faster and packed with more thrills than Ezra could reasonably take. Within the same time he uttered out an audible “holy shit” everything had erupted into flames. The ant, which appeared angered by one of their presence, had shot out an electrifying beam at one of them. Yet, despite its lethality, its victim had come out unscathed.

Blinking, Ezra had to drag himself out of the state of trance everything had left in him. He had almost forgotten that he was an actor in this play too. The tallest of the group, a blonde, had turned to them and barked out death warrant for...the ant? Ezra wasn’t quite sure. But those details weren’t necessary right now. “Excuse me, sorry.” He pushed himself forward and into the room. The idea of loyalty towards an organization like Team Rocket was still an absolute joke to him. He didn’t care what happened to this submarine or if the organization evaporated after the dust settles. That didn’t mean he could stand by and let others potentially get hurt by that thing. ”What’s the plan...sir?” His eyes glanced towards the injured Pokémon. Fuck. “I, uh, I can maybe help transport any of the injured.”

Gavin turns a sharp amber gaze to the interloper (Ezra Zeke), not recognizing him. Much as he tried to remain well-acquainted with the goings-on of Rocket, the faction was full of new hires.

"We secure Genesect and stop the sub from sinking." He says it as if it's the simplest thing in the world; there is no room for hesitation. "The breach is in the medical bay. We can't take them there." Even if they managed to secure the breach, salt water pouring into the medical bay meant its sterile environment would be compromised. "We can evac our wounded to a land-based safehouse and provide medical aid there. Pokémon Centers are out of the question. Do you have any Pokémon capable of teleportation?"

Before Ezra can answer, Gavin is already turning back to Chu-e, who had yet to answer him. He extends a hand toward his counterpart in a silent offer to help him to his feet. Should Chu-e grasp Gavin's hand, he would feel the subtle tremors of suppressed fear.

To oscar clayton, Gavin says grimly, "Genesect attacked. I need to get back to the medical bay ASAP; you're in charge of pursuit."

He gestures to the Genesect-sized hole in the ceiling, this one thankfully not torn straight through to the ocean. He places a pokeball belonging to his shadow Aerodactyl in the hand of the Beast. "This is my best hunter."

Though he cannot find the proper words, his gaze falls upon Lulu Flint and holds there for a moment before it passes on to a cowering Serena Malcolm. Gavin does not know how to deal with trauma nor tears.

"Someone look after her," he adds, for it won't be him.

notes
there is SO MUCH GOING ON i'm sorry if i missed something

Chu-e knows he takes Cillian Quinn's hand but he doesn't feel it. He sees the action, the shift in scenery as he's lifted up, and he none too gently has to slump against the other man to keep his balance. Gavin isn't the only one trembling and Chu-e is pretty sure he's going into shock. Black dots dance in his vision and he gets the familiar sensation of the world dropping out from under his feet.

"I'm going to have a seizure." He bites out, rough, slurred, and then it's like a puppet with his strings cut. Only he doesn't fall, jerked away from Gavin and held in place with psychic energy. It isn't pretty to watch. If it was some after effect of... whatever the fuck just happened or due to stress is hard to guess.

Prince had finally stopped his wailing, the Gardevoir's face ragged and tear stained, blood staining down his front. He is the one holding Chu-e up but- he does not go to his Trainer right away, instead standing over the body Cipher, feet edging the pool of blood. A pokeball flies from Chu-e and recovers the body before being tucked away.

Then they're both gone. Both pokemon and trainer leaving the scene behind in a Teleport.

Since Prince didn't know about the status of the Infirmary, though, little does he know they're still all heading for the same place.

---

- chu-e exits this thread

Firmly nodding along to the blonde's strict orders, the young reporter adamantly refused to take his attention away from him, as the room itself was filled to the brim with horrors he couldn't fully digest just yet. Just that previous glance at the debilitated Pokémon was enough to make his heart drop, much more would've left him out of commission. Just like that trembling girl.



This was just all so fucked up. Every fucking bit of it was fucked up. His heart beat quickened. He could feel the effects of watching the world's absolute cruelty unfold come into fruition, as his body began to melt and bend to the will of his crippled mind. 'Don't think. Don't think.' His thoughts were as ragged as his breaths.



"Yes sir." He uttered out without delay. While he didn't quite have a Pokémon with teleportation, his Espeon and him could help carry out some of the wounded causalities. It's certainly something. Ezra's eyes fluttered to the whimpering girl and the feeling of pity began to coarse through his veins. "Stay safe." Is all he could muster out before turning to exit the dorm. Any additional time spent there would've brought him closer to the brink of insanity.

---

Exiting the thread