For Arceus’s sake, she suddenly felt smothered by oscar clayton’s concern. Beneath the black mask her cheeks were flush with embarrassment. How could she be so stupid? “I’m fine,” she reassured the Beast, rolling her shoulders against the growing ache in her back. Lex always finished the job, and a little bubble wasn’t going to stop her.

It wasn’t surprising the ruckus attracted an unwelcome party. The attack on the Gardevoir came fast and hard. Lex snapped her attention back to the dual-type as she went spinning through the air. It as quickly followed by a warning from the shadows, a masculine voice she didn’t recognize. The phantom gained control rather quickly, crimson eye glowing bright with a primal fury. Without instruction, there was no telling what the shadow might do. Lex’s hand raised, drawing the attention of the Gardevoir to indicate a command was coming.

Lex’s own furious gaze pierced through the darkness. Brows furrowed angrily over amber eyes, tracing the darkness that she claimed as her own with a piercing gaze. Was this rat the one who laid this trap? This made her extremely suspicious that these bubbles weren’t a natural occurrence as a result of the Primal energy.

“Give them back their bubbles” she hissed between clenched teeth as Oscar finished his own warning. No prisoners.

Gardevoir gladly obliged, whipping up a furious PSYCHIC. The amethyst energy was intensified ever so slightly by the residual pulse of Primal Energy resonating through the cave. A subtle ruby tinted energy grabbed the bubbles and furiously pushed them forward. The barrage of Dark Bubbles rushed towards the shadows in an effort to return the favor to their creator.

“We’ll continue towards the source while you deal with these pests,” she wasn’t asking for permission from Oscar, she assumed he wouldn’t have a problem with her retrieving whatever it was that they were after. Lex grasped the Gardevoir’s spidery hand, “Take us as far as you can see,” with that, the duo vanished in a flash of light, only to reappear in darkness as far down the cave and she could see.

“Wait for further instructions,” a wave of Lex’s hand dismissed the specter back to the phantom plane. Lex rolled her shoulders again in an attempt to shed the weight that pressed down on her, “More bubbles,” the words dripped with annoyance as a few floating orbs drifted into sight. Falling back into the shadows Lex continued further into the cave, the strange energy growing stronger and stronger as she moved closer to the source.

tl;dr: S!Gardevoir is hit with Feint Attack, taking considerable damage. The pissed off Shadow Pokemon uses PSYCHIC, with a mild boost from Primal Energy, again and sends the bubbles back towards Razz in an attempt to give him a taste of his own medicine and distract from their departure. S!Gardevoir TELEPORTS her and Lex as far down the tunnel as she can see and Lex continues to pursue their objective of acquiring the source of the Primal Energy, no doubt going to come across zenji jabami in the process.

The steps grew closer, and closer. But before the source of them came into view, Gwyar made his move.

Without warning and seemingly coming from nowhere, something clamped firmly unto the youngest Rocket mass of hair, yanking back before clamping the back of his neck and seizing the youth's pants before deaflifting him off the floor and above a large silhouette's head- throwing him hard at Oscar's back like a sack of potatoes.

That would be the signal for Laurence Anderson' Gallade to initiative engagement with the enemy's Bisharp. He would trust Raziel Beckett to make the best of the new circumstances.

Adjusting his gloves with a conspicuous iron click, Gwyar gave his Gallade a single glance, the psychic pokemon nodding in response before teleporting after Alexandra Briarwood and her Gardevoir.

The INTERPOL Officer then moved without a word, utilizing whatever opening throwing the young Rowan Wrynn upon oscar clayton might have given him to get into his preferred range.

---

Lex and Gardevoir followed after zenji jabami silently... And Gawain followed them silently, forming a bizarre, overextended konga line.

---

-YeETed Rowan at Oscar's back, letting Gareth the Gallade know to engage King the Bisharp.
-Gawain the Shiny Gallade is following after Zenji, Lex and Gardevoir.

Darkness shrouds her. She’s accustomed to it. It’s what she prefers. As battle raged behind her, Lex happily moved forward, letting the violence fade into whispers echoing across the cave’s walls. ”Men” she couldn’t roll her eyes sarcastically enough at the thought. Always swinging their junk around, picking fights, and flexing to see just who was bigger. Whoever that was in the shadows she saw rushing at them before the Teleport was the one who started it. A kid who didn’t know any better. Hopefully, oscar clayton and Rowan Wrynn could teach him a lesson.

Lex’s focus was now the main objective. A deep, masculine voice grew in intensity as she approached. A man was soon visible, straining over a computer and gadgets with a Porygon hovering near. He spewed nonsense she didn’t understand. Hell, she didn’t understand any of this. The only thing Lex understood was the objective. Brows furrowed when she realized even that was a lie. They knew nothing about this Primal Energy nonsense. What if the source wasn’t something they couldn’t easily steal? Guess she’d have to get creative.

For now, she’d watch. Amber eyes peering out from the darkness, a shadow amongst shadows.

---

The Phantom Plane was a strange place. It existed between realities, a distorted reflection of the reality from which you came. It was here a privy few experienced true emptiness, ghosts mostly. It’s where they came when they faded out of sight. The world remained the same, but it was entirely different. Everything was a shell of what it truly was. There was only numbing silence and the occasional specter that may find your presence intriguing.

Here it was different.

The crimson energy that filled the cave leaked into this place. The Shadow Pokemon found it intriguing. The energy’s tendrils rooted themselves in both worlds, fading in and out of existence equally. As she followed the hazy figure of her master in the real world deeper into the cave, the energy only grew more powerful. It was familiar. Something unnatural like her own corrupted power.

With the increased energy came increasingly curious intruders. The Gardevoir hissed violently when a curious Sableye ventured too close to its master. The skittish ghost immediately fled, wanting no part of the corrupted energy the Shadow Gardevoir radiated.

Gardevoir peered into reality through hazy goggles, the Gallade’s presence stealing her attention away from her prey. So this fool thought he could sneak up on a Shadow Pokemon? He must have an impressive set of cajones or he was incredibly stupid to think he’d get away with it for long.

Lex moved forward, Gardevoir remained. Gawain came into sight. PHANTOM FORCE teleported her from the Phantom Plane back into reality mere inches from the Gallade’s face. Tendrils of crimson Primal Energy highlight the dull, dead colors of the strange Gardevoir with bright red. He would find himself immediately victim to a sinister, unseen force. The Gardevoir pressed down upon him a Primal Energy Fueled HYPNOSIS like the weight of 100 Snorlax in an attempt to crush him beneath the powerfully suggestive force of sleep. He would not touch Lex.

tl;dr: Lex is intrigued by zenji jabami and chooses to wait and see what he does and follow him deeper into the cave. She doesn’t know shit about this stuff anyway. S!Gardevoir emerges from the Phantom Realm, surprising Gawain (Gwyar Wledig) with a Primal Energy Fueled HYPNOSIS. Can’t sneak up on a Primal Energy yielding Shadow Pokemon. Tsk tsk.

Crack and swoosh; the ceiling above gave way for a torrent of water, and a young man was bodily thrown back at him in retaliation.

Having waited until Oscar had raised the youth to throw him, Gwyar finally and suddenly sprang to action.

"Galarian as well, eh?" Gwyar said simply in response to Rowan Wrynn's abrasive demand, flowing around the flying youth with wide, well practiced steps, his shadow shimmering under him as he brought his elbow to bear, it flying with intent of smashing into oscar clayton's temple.

He would trust his companions, the weird, awkward, Hermit in that apartment with the scar on his face to not let things get out of hand with the youth behind him, and the Head Ranger's Gallade to handle the Bisharp in front.

---

Sneaking was a coward's methods; it wouldn't have been a stretch to say the Gallade had been phoning it in the entire time- almost literally. Whether his opponent was a Shadow Pokemon or not mattered little, as far as he was concerned; there were precious few ways to sneak up on a Gardevoir beyond being utterly devoid of all emotion.

For that matter, much the same applied for a Gallade, ghost or not.

He had never fought, nor even met, a Gardevoir who could be qualified as a ghost-type. It was a bizarre and discomforting experience, for kin to feel so unfamiliar and unnatural.

But regardless, kin was kin, and Gardevoir and Gallade were not known for brutalizing one another, regardless of circumstance. Even if the emotions he could feel coming from her were... of unfamiliar disdain, he would do his best to solve things peacefully.

So he liked to think, at any rate.

Alexandra Briarwood's shadow Gardevoir suddenly popped into his sight, and the sight was so jarring and discomforting the Gallade almost reeled back and swung violently. Almost. His nature beat his reflexes, his own eyes shifting from orange to a shining, cool blue as he met her gaze, attempting to hypnotize her.

Only, she was doing that too.

And she was on Primal steroids.

'Should not have done that', was somewhere along his line of thought as he felt his lids grow heavy, his limbs suddenly akin to sacks of sand, heavy and unwieldy.

---

Tags: Raziel Beckett Laurence Anderson zenji jabami