Since Chu-e Choi had attacked him in the laboratory—

His voice raw and rough and almost not his own, growling as he advances on Gavin and demands for him to GIVE IT BACK.

—Gavin has endeavoured to find out more about the mysterious dark fragment procured from the wormhole. He is rusty, having spent less and less time in the labs since Silas had brought him to Hoenn against his will, but this is not the sort of task he could entrust to anyone else. After seeing what had happened to Chu-e because of the fragment, well...

He couldn't risk it in the hands of anyone else.

'Gav?'

Gavin turns, spine prickling at the gravel in Chu-e's voice.

But his eyes are soft, tone level as he greets, "Hey, Chu-e — you good?"

He doesn't look as if he should be out of bed.

Fingers curl protectively around the shard, tucking it against his palm.

He pads a bit closer, the door closing behind him with a soft click. He glances around but still offers Cillian Quinn a small smile as he does so.

"I've been better." He clears his throat, some of the roughness fading out the more he speaks.

Gavin isn't fast enough to fully conceal the shard. He catches a glimpse of it right as it vanishes. And the other would be able to notice the sudden stillness. Where before he had sagged from pain and exhaustion, Chu-e's shoulders and spine were straight. A moment where Chu-e was staring, smile wiped clean, a predator assessing it's prey rather than his friend.

So quick this time.

All Chu-e felt was hunger. It was so raw and inescapable it was like he was starving. Ever since he had gotten sick, hunger hadn't really plagued him; now it was all he could think about, all he could grasp onto, something to be lost in.

It just wasn't Chu-e anymore.

While not inhuman, he moves faster than someone in his state should, steel glinting in his palm; the Underboss always had at least one knife on him, after all.

Something's wrong.

That's not Chu-e.

It's the only thought quick enough to cross Gavin's mind before Chu-e Choi has crossed the room.

Gavin remembers that feeling of being prey, Chu-e's hand at his throat on the submarine but also his arm around Gavin's neck in a different HQ, smile as sharp as the steel that glints against his palm now as it had then.

But it had been Chu-e then. Not now.

As Chu-e prowls forward, Gavin steps back in a cautious retreat. The dark fragment digs uncomfortably against his palm as his grip tightens around it. He's reaching for something with his other hand. Quick, but quick enough...?

The knife flies from deft fingers.

An old tree in Sinnoh bared the scars of a teenage boy who practiced throwing knives all day in some futile attempt to feel stronger than his demons. In the end, it was a rarely used skill that only helped him throw pokeballs with more accuracy.

The blade might slice if it hits but it won't stick, just meant to make Cillian Quinn drop his grip on the ball.

The full weight of Chu-e's one-hundred and twelve pounds slamming into Gavin is what matters, intent on knocking him off his feet. Gavin was taller and stronger and he would need any advantage he could get.

He's expecting an attempted stabbing.

He's not expecting the knife to be thrown at him.

Pain lances through his wrist, blood dripping hot. The intended effect is achieved; he instinctively releases his grip on the pokeball and curses as it hits the ground and rolls out of reach.

He's more prepared, at least, for the impact.

He shifts his foot back and plants his weight, holding firm as Chu-e Choi slams into him with all his force. Already he's moving, trying to wrestle the other into a restraining headlock.

Frustration bubbles inside of Chu-e. Unlike last time, most times, some barest thread of himself lingers. Maybe it's too weak after it's conflict with Genesect the second time.

"Why?" His voice is raw and angry and Cillian Quinn would hear the genuine confusion and hurt there. There isn't logic, just hunger that is all consuming. All he knows is that his friend is starving him and he thought he trusted him, wonders why he would do this. All Chu-e wants is to eat.

He tries to dig his teeth into whatever he can get close enough to, draw blood if he can get it. His hand goes for the bend of Gavin's elbow, tries to force his hand through to break the hold. The other goes for Gavin's belt, feeling for one of the man's concealed weapons.

'Why?'

It's not the same as it was before, not the guttural snarl. It sounds like Chu-e Choi, broken and confused, and Gavin's gut twists as they grapple.

"Get a hold of yourself, Chu-e!" Gavin's practically begging what remains of his friend to overpower the beast. "You fucking attacked me!"

Blood slides down his wrist, coats his hand, makes his grip tenuous at best. He can't risk releasing the fragment in his other hand in order to gain more control and a sharp hiss of pain escapes him as Chu-e sinks in his teeth. Gavin twists his left arm away from the other's grip, tightening his hold on the fragment. He doesn't know what will happen if that thing gets a hold of it, what might become of his friend—

At Gavin's belt, Chu-e's fingers would close around a familiar switchblade.

"I'm-

The knife in his grip is firm.

"STARVING"

That last tether snaps when Chu-e slams the blade with all his strength. Above the hip, twisted, and he is trying to drag it closer, quite literally spill the other's guts.

Yet his grip slackens before he can do too much damage, body sagging for just a moment. Blood seeps down his upper lip and dots on the floor. It sparkles, faintly, in the light.

It only lasts a second. Then Chu-e is moving again, trying to push closer to Cillian Quinn, wrap arms around him to hug him close. Press his body against the other man's at any point of contact he can.

Needles rip through skin and fabric alike to feed.

Adrenaline spikes; it feels like Chu-e's punched him in the side, but the spread of heat that follows tells a different story. His own knife twists, drags, tears, and Gavin's panicked, because if he doesn't restrain him Chu-e's going to gut him—

Chu-e lets go, inexplicable until blood drips from his nose.

Gavin remembers this from last time.

Having reached with both hands to grip and restrain, he's dragged Chu-e more than close enough. Now he tries to do the opposite, to pull him off and throw him down, self-preservation overriding the reluctance to hurt his friend in the process. But it's too late; Chu-e's desperate, starving grip proves a suitable anchor.

It's not like the last time.

Last time, it had been almost exploratory in its efforts. Last time, Gavin hadn't been losing a large amount of blood.

This time, the parasite inside of Chu-e Choi is ravenous.

Between blood loss and needles that burrow into his skin, draining, Gavin weakens. Collapses, grip going slack and sending the dark fragment skittering across the lab floor. Gavin rolls onto his side, reaching for it, but it's too far and he's too weak and Lugia's presence in his mind is furious, screaming, but the shadowed legend cannot intervene in its avatars fate. Gavin goes for a pokeball instead.

Ravenous doesn't even begin to describe what it feels. How can a human describe hunger in such baseless terms? When a human can die from hunger but it can't? Hunger doesn't end when a body ceases to be. Hunger is forever.

And Cillian Quinn will be drained of every drop of life that it can get. When he's nothing but a husk, Lugia would be the next suitable thing to consume. Over and over until the hunger is sated.

Chu-e only pulls away when the 'clink' of the crystal hits the floor. Gavin is shoved away with something like disgust, a bit of gravy and a few mushy peas left on a plate. It doesn't want him anymore.

He's pricked like a rash anywhere Chu-e had touched him, blood seeping slowly.

Gavin is weak and this body is faster. The crystal snatched before he can reach. Hunched over and squatting, Chu-e was close enough for Gavin to see what was going to happen.

Mouth open wide, black crystal growths shine over once-white teeth and down his throat. A crystal corrosion that wasn't there before.

There is the horrible grating of crystal on crystal as he sinks his teeth into the crystal piece. The sound of it grinding in Chu-e's mouth, the clink of swallowing it down, Gavin has the full show.

This thing stronger than almost anything on the planet now has the perfect imprint of his friend's teeth.

At least the feasting means that, for the moment, it is oblivious.

Gavin's limbs feel heavy; it's as if there's lead in his veins replacing the blood that seeps from his wrist, his side, the tiny pinprick holes left by Necrozma's feast. It takes a concentrated and exhausting effort to curl blood-slick fingers around a pokeball at his belt.

He fumbles it, nearly drops it, but his finger catches hard against the release.

The signature sound of an opened capsule seems deafening in the quiet and Gavin's muscles tense, wide and unfocused eyes shifting toward not-Chu-e-anymore as if expecting the parasite to return and finish him off.

He's horrified by what he sees. Crystal in place of flesh, teeth.

He'll never forget the sound.

He's too weak to manage a whistle, unable to draw a deep enough breath, but the Lucario that's been sent out does not need command to realize the danger its master is in. Though the canine has always disliked him, made uncomfortable by his corrupted aura, its ears pull back as it snarls at Chu-e Choi instead. Gavin was corrupted, but Chu-e was corruption.

A weak gesture of Gavin's hand is pleading. Help.

He's so, so tired. Can barely keep his eyes open, nearly blacks out and misses the way Lucario takes Chu-e down with a single, well-aimed punch to the throat.

It turns to him immediately, attentive where it was ordinarily uncomfortable, but its HEALING PULSES can only do so much. Gavin's already lost a lot of blood, and LIFE DEW is no substitute.

A sharp bark assaults his ears, forcing him to sustain consciousness.