he does not keep her waiting long. the forest could swallow them whole. light continues to wane until nothing is left to filter between the leaves. it's a new moon tonight. there is an eerie silence to this sort of darkness.

calcifer growls lowly to signal the arrival of another. his tail whips around as the newcomer shoulders aside some trailing vines. embers give his face a cherry glow; both trainer and pokemon recognize him from the dossier photos. 

once upon a time, she would know his standings, his assets, his reputation, but he's just another face amidst the walking dead to her. 

"lance," she says, returning the greeting. calcifer ducks under her waiting arm. "two miles west of here is the warehouse. it's nestled in the shipping district, disguised as a poffin manufacturing center.

"i already have two pokemon inside. they'll be prepared to tell us where the cargo is by the time we arrive. extract covertly," she continues. calcifer swipes his tail. "and then we burn them down."

LANCE VOLLANS

☉

she doesn't need him. but there are some who consider her a liability right now. she can't fight them on that front. so she doesn't acknowledge his comment - which speaks for itself regardless. 

her smile is amused as he eyes the resting salamence. lyune picks up his head, blinks his reptilian eyes. not many can spot the gendered differences of dragons. lyune flutters his massive frills and rises slowly. 

he is weathered with battle scars, many before he'd been passed down to her. the claw wound over his dulled eye, the tattered wings like ripped sails, and the lacerations where scales no longer grow - all of it is unsettling to look at. the sight of a monster. but she figures he's asking about the contraption, his handicap. 

she turns her head, presses a palm to the side of his cheek. "war happened to him," she says softly. to us. 

she drops another pokeball to the ground and her flygon emerges, wings half-unfurled. she gives a stretch, exposing the sleek saddle strapped to her back. freya mounts. "would you prefer to go into the belly of the beast or wait for my command to finish it off?" she says.

LANCE VOLLANS

☉

she nods and turns to check the straps on echo's saddle. it's made for a single rider, but the complex is a short distance away. "you can handle that, right, girl?" freya says. the flygon flaps a couple of times in response and then hunkers down, baring her neck for boarding. 

while freya ensures that echo is prepared to carry the weight of two people on her back, lyune rises. the dragon's size is no joke; he lumbers to lance, tail trailing through the nettles on the forest floor. his forked tongue flicks in and out as he cocks his head. 

he pauses and freya watches out of the corner of her eye. and then he puffs smoke, almost decisively so. his muscles bunch, rippling, and then he unfurls his wings, snarling as he leaps into the air. his weight threatens to pull him back down the earth, but he nearly breached the tree line with his leap and a fleeting moment's struggle turns into ascension. 

freya smirks. "show-off." she mounts up and echo stretches herself as though trying to make her body look just as formidable. "come. i want to approach when it's darkest."

LANCE VOLLANS

☉

echo's muscles bunch as the riders board. she straightens her spine, tail swishing experimentally as she finds her balance. she stays tucked over, hind legs kicking out powerfully. freya leans forward, to the side of her neck, grasping her reins. 

she flits through the trees and half-unfurls her wings, gaining speed as she approaches a nearby clearing. once she breaches the fringes, she leaps and her wings catch the air like sails. 

she dips upward with a grace lyune will never have. but she's far more slippery than the salamence freya has grown accustomed to. freya squeezes her legs as echo's insect-like body shudders beneath her. 

the world turns and soon the warehouse comes into view. freya looks up at the moon and tugs on echo's reins. the flygon banks, circling wide, waiting for her next command. silver glints past the barbed-wire fence and freya spurs the dragon again.

there is a break in the watch; the flygon folds her wings, sailing like a silent dart through the air. the landing, however, is a bit hard. with all of the weight on her back, she stumbles, panting with exhaustion. she runs to slow herself down and when she finally stops, she takes a couple of steps and freya can feel her favoring her right side. 

she recalls her, despite her protests. calcifer and lyune will still be able to get the job done. 

the emergency exit door they'd landed beside groans. freya starts just as the door swings open, revealing one of her dragonair. she looks to lance. "let's go. sypha will take us to the cargo."

LANCE VOLLANS

☉

she brings her arm up to cover her nose. sypha leads them forward, through twisting corridors, around the patrols and guards as they make their rounds. the dragons have been here for hours - more than long enough to learn what they must to infiltrate. 

still, freya drops another pokeball to her side. her kingdra curls reflexively around her waist. its head pokes over her left shoulder and it balances with its fin, eyes waiting like a sentry for any sign of movement ahead. 

sypha pauses. freya strains her ears and can make out the sounds of scrapings and chittering. the dragoness moves forward, slowly this time, and they come upon a door left slightly ajar. 

inside, there are four men, sleeping hounds at their feet. smoke curls from the table where they play...chess? freya rolls her eyes. 

"you take out the two on the left. i got the right." sypha holds up her tail, pointing to the catwalk up in the rafters. "fuck. two more on lookout. sypha, go. we'll help dispatch them when we're through with the ones on the ground."

she grins at her partner. "ready?"

LANCE VOLLANS

☉

it's not very often that she's impressed. but she's caught off guard as lance quickly replies with no, he's got this. she emerges and sen takes aim, sniping both smugglers with a powerful blast of hydro pump, enough to knock them both back and unconscious onto the floor. she has to focus in order to hold her ground with both blasts, but she's free enough to watch as sypha twists to follow her orders, only to come slinking back to her as his pokemon dispatch the threat with ease. 

perhaps i'm the unnecessary one in the equation, she thinks. but it doesn't bother her. these missions are for one thing and one thing only: to build her reputation, to save face, and to establish her foothold in this region again.

another dragonair rustles into view, this time with a band of sickly-looking pokemon. freya approaches the guards' table and helps sen to a position attached to the bolted-down metal table. 

she unshoulders the small pack she's been carrying and opens it to reveal a plethora of pokeballs. "this should be enough for all of them. start extraction."

LANCE VOLLANS

☉