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[attr="class","wiingtop3"]TEAM ROCKET

[attr="class","wiingtop4"]WE APPRECIATE POWER

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They'd been transferred to Hoenn following the conquest of Kanto and, as if that wasn't bad enough, she thought she'd felt a small raindrop on her bare forearm. She turned her eyes to the sky, suspicious of the clouds that loomed above her. Just her luck, not only had she been sent to the middle of buttfuck nowhere by her superiors but also she was about to find herself caught in a torrential downpour. Welcome to Hoenn, she thought rolling her eyes. As if to say "Enjoy your stay," the rain began pelting down. The feeling's mutual, she sighed through gritted teeth and cast a final glare at the swelling storm before pulling her cloak over her head.[break][break]

It took Isla the greater part of the day to make it to her and Dallas' rendezvous point. The storm hadn't let up and, by now, she shared an uncanny resemblance to a wet litten—she looked miserable at best in her soaked through clothes and ready to lash out against the next person (or pokemon) unlucky enough to cross her path.[break][break]

The shape of a man shifted beyond the mist. Instinctively, she drew her honedge. It apparated from the scabbard around her waist to in front of her, poised inches away from her clenched fist. That's when she heard it—a familiar voice called out to her and Dallas Mc'Rebus—the man, the myth, the legend—stepped out from behind the curtain of rain. She heaved a sigh of relief, her arm falling to her side. Her honedge moved in synchrony with it, disappearing out of thin air only to sheath itself.[break][break]

Tch![break][break]

She shot him a disapproving look before turning on her heel and walking away in the direction of the archaelogical site they'd been tasked with seizing for the glory of Team Rocket or whatever. There was a pause. She waited for him to catch up before admitting, "So, I kind of...didn't pay attention during the debriefing. What's the deal with the rocks and do you know what we're in for when we get there?" What were the odds that Dallas had listened during the meeting, though? Shit. Fuck. Isla hated surprises.

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∞ words

[attr="class","wiingbot2"]for @mootu

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attempting archaeological avalanche mission (gg)

[attr="class","wiingtop"]

[attr="class","wiingtop3"]TEAM ROCKET

[attr="class","wiingtop4"]WE APPRECIATE POWER

[attr="class","wiingpost"]


Dallas appeared to be a wealth of knowledge on the mission at hand. Isla raised an eyebrow at him, shocked. She'd read things about people recalling words they'd heard while sleeping. Were those studies being proven right here, right now? Or had Dallas actually been awake for the mission debrief? Whatever the case, the mission sounded right up their alley: find the site, secure the goods (in this case, fossils), and transport them safely to Team Rocket headquarters in Slateport City. Dallas and her had built quite the reputation for this line of work back in Kanto—acquiring items, people, or pokemon of interest and delivering them to their superiors with few, if any, hiccups.[break][break]

"Just another day at the office," she quipped. For a brief second, her teeth chattered. What was once rain had quickly developed into sleet. Each pellet bounced off her bare skin with a subtle sting that left her itching to take shelter and put on one of the (hopefully) dry cloaks Dallas had packed for them in preparation for the cold.[break][break]

"Alright, let's not waste any time. We can figure out our gameplan when we get to the Pokemon Center." Speak of the Devil—shortly after cresting a small hill, the Pokemon Center faded into view. Isla put a hand on Dallas' shoulder and squeezed. "See you inside," she said before taking off in the direction of the building. The sooner she got out of that brewing snowstorm, the better.[break][break]

Following Dallas' advice, she handed her party—Arcanine, Zorua, Gible, and Honedge—over to the woman at the service desk. A few moments later, they were returned battle-ready with maxed out health and stamina. There was no telling what sort of resistance they'd face but with a refresh they'd be as ready as ever. She found a seat at an empty table in the corner and, with the flick of her wrist, released her Zorua from its pokeball. It yipped and curled up in her lap where she started to braid the fur on its head. When Dallas joined her, they'd discuss their strategy for the potential battle(s) ahead and get changed into warmer gear.[break][break]

"So," she began when Dallas took his seat across from her, keeping her voice low so as to not raise suspicion in the public place, "if we do encounter 'poochyenas', I suggest we don't make a mess." Stealing was bad for publicity but bloodshed was even worse. "I don't know if they'd buy it, but my Zorua could use its abilities to play tricks on their minds and make them flee. I've heard superstition is in right now. If we're lucky, we could avoid fighting altogether. At the very least, it might scare a few of them away so we aren't severely out-numbered. What do you think?"

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∞ words

[attr="class","wiingbot2"]for @mootu

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'poochyenas' more like poachyenas

[attr="class","wiingtop"]

[attr="class","wiingtop3"]TEAM ROCKET

[attr="class","wiingtop4"]WE APPRECIATE POWER

[attr="class","wiingpost"]


Though he wasn't much older than she was, Dallas had become her de facto father figure after so many months of being teamed up together. In more ways than one, she had grown to rely on him—he was one of the few people who could hold her back from any rash decisions or unnecessary cruelty and his pokemon have covered her ass in battle more times than she cared to admit. Dallas nurtured a gentleness that stirred inside her. He was the voice in the back of her head telling her to let it go...let them go. But what happens when he isn't there to talk her down? What happens when there's nothing standing between them and her and they won't submit? That's the darkest timeline, isn't it?[break][break]

She snapped out of it and looked up at the room full of people side-eyeing Dallas. Isla might have been lost in her own thoughts but Zorua didn't miss the mention of its past trickery. The small wolf-like pokemon puffed its chest out, its ego inflating twofold.[break][break]

Tch![break][break]

That familiar exasperated sound slipped through her teeth. "It's like they've never seen an ankle before," she said staring them down while Dallas removed his shoes and put on a dry pair of wool socks. Fuck 'bad ettiquette,' she thought, we just spent the last couple of hours walking through someone's broken sprinkler system. "Thanks," she said, throwing the cloak over her shoulders. This would have to do.[break][break]

Dallas wanted to avoid conflict outright. "Yeah, yeah, but where's the fun in that?" She poopooed his idea. He was right—they were called on to retrieve the fossils and then get the hell out of dodge—but she liked to play, too. She continued to braid her zorua's fur and scratch behind its ears. Zorua, naturally skittish in dangerous encounters, was prone to casting abilities that inflicted its opponents with horrible visions that more often than not drove them mad and caused them to flee or whimper at her feet. The sound of someone begging for mercy—no, holding someone's life in her hands got her rocks off. It was then, and only then, that she felt powerful. Indomitable even.[break][break]

Submit.[break][break]
Submit.[break][break]
Submit.[break][break]

Isla caught Dallas' eyes bouncing back and forth between a couple of (for lack of a better term) thugs seated across the room. They looked like a bunch of budget Team Rocket grunts. Were these the Poachyenas they'd been warned about? "Do they know?" she whispered, her hand hovering restlessly over the belt of pokeballs around her waist. Were they tipped off that Team Rocket would be attempting to seize the fossils for themselves, or was that just a given because of Team Rocket's obvious presence in Hoenn? Did they know that Dallas and her worked for them, or did they just look at everybody like that? All kinds of thoughts raced through her mind before the ground beneath their feet started to rumble.[break][break]

"You'd better catch up," she barked at Dallas, her zorua growling at her feet, eyes trained on the three thugs shoving their chairs away from the table and jumping to their feet. Not so fast, she thought as they made their great escape out the Pokemon Center's main doors. With her zorua hot on her heels, she took off in pursuit of the no-good trio. Bits and pieces of the Pokemon Center came falling down all around her, a ceiling tile nearly collapsing on top of her zorua who had rushed ahead. It knew all too well that she didn't want the attackers getting away scot-free, especially if they were trying to sabotage Dallas and her plans and make off with the fossils themselves. Isla stumbled backwards, narrowly avoiding the ceiling tile. Ugh! "Scary Face!" she commanded her Zorua, honing in on the (presumably) Poachyena grunt that took up the rear.[break][break]

Zorua gave out a sharp yip of compliance before taking off after the grunt at the back of the pack that Isla had singled out. Isla caught up to her quick-footed pokemon just in time to see it happen—her favourite part of the show. A devilish face apparated in front of the grunt, its pulsating red eyes hypnotizing to watch. As much as the grunt wanted to, she couldn't look away. As the face's mouth pulled up into a crooked smile akin to the Cheshire cat, hideous laughter rang through the grunt's ears. "No, no, no....Stop! Please! Oh, god...!" the grunt pleaded on her knees, desperately covering her ears in a feeble attempt to release her from her affliction.[break][break]

The other Poachyena grunts looked over their shoulders but didn't stop. Perhaps they had a greater goal? Isla's pace quickened and she reached for a pokeball on her belt. With the deft swing of her arm, arcanine blinked into existence. It stood over the grunt, lips unfurled to reveal teeth that could snap her in half if it had the mind to. She had chased them a good piece away from the Pokemon Center by now and there was no way in hell anyone was nosy enough to get up from under their tables and brave the storm to see her sic her pokemon on a human.[break][break]

"I think you're right about this being more than we signed up for. You could try questioning her but she might still be mad. Just leave her here. We can probably catch up to them if we go now." Isla stood with her back to Dallas and her pokemon, looking hungrily into the distance they'd disappeared into, chest heaving from giving chase to them. She clenched her fist, her body reeling with a mix of adrenaline and disappointment. We can't let them get away, she thought, unable to accept the reality that she'd let them slip through her fingers.

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∞ words

[attr="class","wiingbot2"]for @mootu

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they do the big scare but it wasn't spooky enough and also what's with that earthquake amirite