For his purposes, Gavin has cleared out all of the workstations in this particular laboratory. What's left is a wide space in which his Stakataka has arranged itself, albeit somewhat uncomfortably thanks to the height of the ceiling, into a vaguely rectangular shape.

He's studying the composition of its bricks; the Beast was docile, around him, until—

"Woah, all right. What's gotten into you?"

The blues of its many eyes flash red as it suddenly retracts, bricks arranging themselves in a tight, defensive formation. It closes all of its eyes and looks for all the world to be a strange pile of bricks in the middle of the lab.

Then the door opens, and Gavin turns.

"Oh, hey Chu-e — is that a Poipole?"

It looked like one, albeit a strangely coloured one.

"What's a 'poy pole'?" Was asked, right as the Poipole sighed and tried to settle on top of Chu-e's head. He brushed the pokemon away, which giggled, before it floated idly over to inspect Cillian Quinn and his own Ultra Beast with curiosity.

"This thing has been following me around all day. Is that a load of stone?" Why would Gavin be in here playing with rocks.

"Ultra Beast," Gavin explains, then looks over to the 'load of stone'. "So's that, if you can believe it. Never seen it act like this before."

He reaches over to give the Stakataka a pat on its stony side, but the Beast offers no reaction. It might've been funnier if it wasn't for Gavin's knowledge of the thing that lurked inside Chu-e. Could Stakataka sense it, too? They'd fought together against it.

He dismisses the thought, for now.

"They evolve into Naganadel; ask Theo to show you his some time. It was mine, but I gave it to him."

"Big purple mosquito thing? He used ot to help me train the other day." It, too, had sort of hovered closer and closer for a bit. Fixated. He just hadn't thought anything of it.

The Piopole fluttered before landing on top of the stony Ultra Beast. Why it sad? It asked in a chartering set of clicks. Was it not happy to see their creator?

But this one was young.

"That's the one," Gavin confirms. Then, curious, "What were you training?"

Gavin doesn't understand the Poipole's chattering, but Stakataka does. The pile of stone stirs slightly as two of its 'eyes' open, glaring red.

"Oh, it hates when anything's on top of it, bud."

Gavin addresses the Poipole, concerned, but is surprised when Stakataka doesn't immediately fling the poor creature into a wall. It had nearly broken Gavin's neck once or twice when they'd been getting to know one another.

'Danger,' is all it gets in response.

"Just endurance on a few of my weaker pokemon." Nothing too special. They were trainers, after all. Yet, he tries to put to sudden bout of anger, the nosebleed, the fuzzy gap in his memory out of mind. Another time.

The Poipole does have the sense to 'roll' off the top of the Stakata, sliding down the side until it's leaning against it. This one is annoying for a child.

"If the Poipole is safe I guess I don't need to bother you."

Chu-e feels... awkward. It's not something he's used to feeling much of anymore, inhibitions mostly gone. Yet it lurks, in how he folds his hands, as if for some reason he doesn't know where he stands with Cillian Quinn. The worst is that he knows it's all himself.

"Heh, hope my Naga did Theo proud."

There's a fondness to his tone, though it's unclear whether it's directed toward the Ultra Beast or their former mentor. The ghost of a smirk upon his lips fades with Chu-e's next comment.

Gavin cants his head, brow furrowing.

"Bother me? Chu-e, I'm studying rocks." He laughs. "Besides, your company's always welcome."

But he notes the fold of Choi's hands, worries.

"Everything OK?"

The question doesn't startle him but it causes a flush of something similar to panic to unfold inside him. Floodgates open, a thousand questions bounce around before settling. The emotion morphs, and It is leaking into him again, even if he doesn't feel it, isn't aware, as they bleed together.

"Why did...." He falters a moment, the feeling is morphed, fueled by resentment not his own and shaped into sharp anger. "Why was Beckett made Admin?"

It was accusatory and filled with emotion, sudden and sharp as he did an unexpected 180. Yet, yet, something was off about it, wasn't it?

The Poipole sits up, eyes gleaming, sensing, as the Stakataka would, their creator shift.

Gavin blinks, caught off guard by Chu-e's sudden shift.

His relaxed demeanour shifts to accommodate; there's something defensive in the way his muscles tense that the underboss isn't wholly aware of, some primal instinct that kicks in with the sharpness in his colleague's tone.

"You know why," Gavin insists, shaking his head. "He was the best one for the job. Are you second-guessing the choice? Did he do something wrong?"

In spite of his bias toward the admin, Gavin does his best to remain neutral.

Something like indignance settles in him, overshadowed by the heat of the anger inside him. It's like he's twenty again and all he felt was that rage, boiling and tearing him up inside. It's something he thought he was past but, God, things had a way of surprising you, didn't they?

A step forward, hands at his sides, coiled into fists.

"I don't, Gavin! I don't know why! I didn't make a choice!" He snarls, the echo of the man he used to be showing in his stance, in his face, in how his eyes burn.

Cillian Quinn

Gavin takes an involuntary step back when Chu-e steps forward.

It could almost be considered comical; Gavin had the advantage of height, weight, avatarship — of the fact that Choi was dying, regardless of whatever inside of him was trying to halt the process, and that any fight between them would be laughably one-sided.

But the back of his neck prickles, nevertheless, a reminder of Kanto.

Gavin lifts his hands in a bracing, placating gesture.

"You don't remember talking about it?" Where Chu-e is angry, Gavin sounds concerned — not for the threat of Choi's anger, but for his health. His mental state. "We both agreed there wasn't a better option."

Stakataka's red eyes shift blue before it retracts into itself once more.

"We didn't-" A few more steps forward. Something shifts again, like nerves coming alive, only worse.

"We didn't talk about anything!"

The gap is crossed. Any steps Cillian Quinn might take back are followed.

He opens his mouth to say more when they're almost chest to chest. Instead his nose pops, blood suddenly spilling out and down his lip and chin.

Poipole chatters excitedly again, trying to get the pile of bricks as eager for their creator as it was.

Gavin continues to retreat until his back hits the wall.

It's not fear that reflects in his gaze, but wariness. Uncertainty. He hasn't seen Chu-e like this before and he struggles to reconcile colleague and friend with the furious snarl of a Kanto Beast.

"Back off, Chu-e, I'm not looking to fight."

He could, he knows it, but he also knows that this isn't normal.

Muscles tense in preparation as the gap is firmly closed. He braces himself in case he needs to restrain the other from physical violence.

Then Chu-e's nose starts pouring blood, and Gavin's entire demeanour shifts again.

"Holy fuck."

He reaches out as if to put a hand on the other's shoulder.

"Maybe you should sit down, you're freaking me out..."

Stakataka, too, exhibits anxiety; it does not shift from its defensive position even as Poipole chatters excitedly.