She's gone quiet, and that's good. The less she questions, the less she snaps, the easier she'll survive among the den of wolves that was Team Rocket.

Lips press together as Pelipper dodges the attack, but his dissatisfaction is only instinctual, brief. It's outweighed by a pride that he feels, but not does openly express. Water cascades over his snarling Pokémon.

Gavin clicks his tongue, lets out a low whistle. If she's paying attention, she'll realise she's heard this command before.

Once more, a blizzard takes shape in the confined space. It whirls in the wind, dangerous despite the loss of the hail's advantage.

---

[attr="class","pokesprite pokemon sandslash-alola"]
Safeguard is in effect. [3/5]
Sandslash uses Blizzard.
Lugia is exerting its Pressure.

He can feel the swell of her ego in the cramped cavern, recognizes her reckless adrenaline. It reminds him of the unchecked enthusiasm he'd possessed before THEO BECKETT had refined his technique to a finer point.

Wind howls as a hurricane stirs, and Lugia's red eyes reflect violent fervor. The Diving Pokémon was rumored to appear on the night of a storm; it seems drawn to this one, tracking movements with the sway of its long neck. Their storms clash in the battlefield's center, whipping winds absorbing snow and chunks of ice that clatter from the ceiling high above. Gavin can barely hear over the snarling gale, but the wild excitement of his legendary patron reflects in his eyes.

Where the wind threatens to cut too close to its avatar, the storm bends to Lugia's will.

"You have faced greater storms than this!" Gavin's deep voice pierces the din.

Sandslash has trained against Lugia's own hurricane, refuses to bend to this lesser storm so soon. Frost radiates from the shadow Pokémon in a misty cloud, crystallizing the rain back to a solid hail. Within a cloak of snow, the Sandslash hides.

"Without the rain, you lose the advantage. What now?"

---

[attr="class","pokesprite pokemon sandslash-alola"]
Safeguard is in effect. [4/5]
Sandslash is hit by Hurricane. NVE.
Sandslash uses Hail.
Snow Cloak ups evasion in the hail!
Lugia is exerting its Pressure.

Though Gavin can barely see Sandslash through the white-out, he doesn't need to. Gavin offers a peculiar whistle, one different to the commands he's used thus far. The shadow Pokémon retreats into the swirling snowstorm, which only seems to intensify as it calls upon its signature blizzard.

No matter how many times the Pelipper slashes at the air, no target would be found, for Sandslash has burrowed beneath the ice.

It erupts suddenly not next to Pelipper, but next to its trainer.

A violent slash of its metal claws aims right for Plank's thigh.

---

[attr="class","pokesprite pokemon sandslash-alola"]
Safeguard is in effect. [5/5]
Sandslash dodges Air Slash.
Sandslash uses Blizzard.
Snow Cloak ups evasion in the hail.
Sandslash attacks Plank with Metal Claw.
Lugia is exerting its Pressure.

Gavin knows the pain of Sandslash's fearsome claws; along his ribs, a set of scars that could have killed him speak plainly of such knowledge. They tear through flesh with ease and scatter blood onto ice and snow, and he watches without flinching.

It does not attack again, swings its head around to look at Gavin for command.

When Vaporeon is released, an unforgiving peal of thunder crashes through the cavern, Lugia's ire finally known. The whistling winds that pass through Shoal Cave fall quiet at the legend's command, allowing Gavin's voice to carry easily in their wake.

"I have warned you more than once to show respect."

He palms a pokeball, sends out a Lucario whose heal pulse would close the wound — but nothing more. Gavin lifts a hand to stop it from providing further aid, and the aura Pokémon seems to shift uncomfortably in response to Plank's radiating pain.

"You will get no further warnings."

---

[attr="class","pokesprite pokemon sandslash-alola"]
Safeguard has worn off.
Sandslash uses Protect against Water Pulse.
Lugia is exerting its Pressure.
Lugia uses Thunder against Vaporeon.
Lucario uses Heal Pulse on Plank.

"Are you a Houndour?" Gavin sneers. "Must I rub your nose in your mistakes?"

She's crying, but he forces down the part of him that wants to feel remorse. Disgust rises in its place, a relic of his past. He embraces it, allows it to saturate his emotions until little else remains.

The air smells of ice and ozone. Gavin's nostrils itch, and he craves a cigarette.

"I am not only your mentor, I am your underboss. I was lenient when you were not aware; I will not be so lenient now. Do we have an understanding?"

He thinks of THEO BECKETT in moments like these; how the admin would kick him while he was already down. He remembers when he'd spit venom only to have a knife plunged into his thigh, teeth marks in his arm to block the screams.

This, he thinks, is a mercy. "Good."

And just as he was given no time to adjust, no aftercare beyond a wound's shoddy closure, so too will Plank be left to pick up her own shattered pieces.

"Your strategy with the weather was good, but you had no answer for us when it turned."

Sandslash is recalled to its pokeball, but Lugia and Lucario remain. The latter eyes Plank with more concern than its cold-eyed master.

"Watch your tone."

Like a dog, trained to bark on command — but the roles are reversed now, his bark a growl meant as warning. He stares, unyielding.

"What do you think you should do?"