Gavin has regular business on Mt. Pyre. Tonight, he'd be here either way.

Corviknight cuts through the skies on silent, shadowed wings. Miasma sees it blend against the night — not invisible, but camouflaged. The effect fades as the corrupt creature swoops down with its master borne upon its back, wind from its landing scattering Pyre's fog. Gavin dismounts smoothly onto swaying grass.

Nearby, a well-tended garden plot rests, but Gavin's attention is on a woman silhouetted against the stars.

"Abiatti." His deep voice carries a soothing cadence. He dips his head in greeting. "Celeste. I assume this meeting is of great importance."

They had, after all, arranged it outside of Rocket's sphere.

"I have my suspicions," Gavin confirms.

Celeste Abbiati had been one of the first to approach him when Walsh had entrusted the corrupted Lugia to his care. She had not been alone in her curiosity, but she held more of the more intriguing reasons for it.

Now, with Gavin's ascension to avatarship...?

She confirms it with words, and he nods along. There's an intensity to her that isn't lost in him, in spite of her stony expression.

As they speak, Mt. Pyre's eerie mist is overtaken by a swirl of darkening shadows. The miasma curls around gravestones as if beholden to an intangible wind, pools at Gavin's feet. The spike to his adrenaline upon breathing it in becomes more familiar each time he samples his patron's power, and at last, he tucks a hand inside of his blazer. Shadows form the shape of broad wings, and Lugia's holds them within its ruby stare.

There is an intelligence to the corrupt legend that had not been present during their last encounter. Though it does not speak, it regards Celeste without animosity.

"We accept."

While Gavin considers her request, Lugia speaks to her mind.

Protect him.

Its deep, soothing voice is warped by the corruption that runs through its veins. Gavin, for his part, does not seem to have heard. Celeste's reverence and excitement are balanced by his unwavering calm.

He cants his head and chooses his words carefully.

"My loyalty to Rocket is unwavering. To protect them, to further their goals, to see Hoenn bend beneath our power — that is my will." Gavin's voice mirrors that of the legend who watches over them: deep, soothing, with the taint of a smoke-scarred throat in place of an Ultra Beast's poison. "I ask only that you lend your strength to that same goal."

For she may have been weak of body, but Celeste Abiatti had the strength of mind, willpower, determination. He saw what others might overlook.

Gavin does not miss the way she dips her head to Lugia.

Did you say something to her?

He receives no reply. Lugia would keep its secrets.

He will not insult the decision of his patron by asking Celeste herself; he nods in response to her words, instead, shelving his momentary curiosity.

"What sort of things do you enjoy doing, relative to Rocket?"

It wouldn't be the first time he'd poached a member of Rocket for his own team, though it was rarely on the request of the individual.

Patience. Hm.

Something shifts in Gavin's expression, slow. Others often made the mistake of overlooking the weak, frail Celeste Abbiati. Little more than a wraith that wanders their halls, important only in name, but... that had its own advantages.

"I need information."

Nearby, Lugia shifts, but it's only to stretch her wings and ruffle her feathers. It's rare to see such a corrupt creature preening itself, but the shadowed legend clearly felt comfortable enough in their presence.

"My reputation within Rocket has struggled with some of our... inexperienced members. Those who didn't witness the brutality of Kanto, or of Hoenn under Silas' charge." Simply put, they were afraid of him. "I need someone to be my eyes and ears. If there's ever a plan that endangers my life, I'd like to know before the knife is in my back."

"To their own detriment."

It was a mistake to ignore or underestimate anyone.

Gavin waves a dismissive hand, the motion causing the miasma to swirl and dance as if in an intangible breeze.

"Never worry about being presumptuous with me; I'd much rather you speak your mind. I had the same thought. We'll be clandestine in our meetings and communicate mostly through our tech. So far as I'm aware, not even Killian Decker has access to my channels."

Paranoia ran deep for Gavin, especially since he'd been hiding an entire identity for years.

A dangerous thrill of power, a hum through his veins.

Don't let it get to your head.

He has been so patient to come so far; he can bide his time as long as it takes.

"You can go. I'll be in touch."

A look is exchanged between avatar and legend before Gavin recalls Lugia to the beast ball that had been its prison for so long. Heavy with the weight of the burden inside of it. I won't keep you for long.

Just until they were out of sight.

Celeste Abbiati