as sturdy as it'd been, the beast finally falls. calcifer hits the ground at a stumble, breathing hard. he falls to one knee as the magnezone totters and freya holds her breath. but the charizard still remains standing, albeit for a few more seconds, after the magnezone collapses and the match is called. calcifer pitches forward at the sound of the drill bell signifying their win. 

freya recalls him before his battered face can collide with the ground. she touches the pokeball to her lips and then looks nervously at the blissey that approaches. 

her instinct is to say no, but she has other pokeballs twined upon her person, her salamencite woven into her hair. calcifer will not be torn from her easily.

so she gives him, and killian, a well-deserved rest. 

"thanks," she says and lopes behind sullivan. her step isn't as rigid nor as polished as his own, but she keeps up with him quite well. she looks curiously at him. 

"you've any notes for me, captain?"

John Sullivan

☉

her face doesn't fall, per se, but his answer does leave her wanting. calcifer and killian hadn't been flawless in their execution - were this a life-or-death scenario, both very well may have ended up six feet under, killian especially. the lines blur between friendly battles and war - perhaps that's it. 

her gaze slides to the gym leader. "calcifer was angry," she says, as though that answers everything. the rage she'd felt has dulled, what with her dragons resting in their pokeballs. still, her veins hum with adrenaline after the rush of battle. 

"he evolved prematurely, you know. did so to follow some rocket agents who'd kidnapped me back when i was still a councilwoman." back when ALEXANDER STONE had been there to rescue her.

she licks her lips. "i owe him my life. seeing him hurting is...difficult."

John Sullivan

☉

what he doesn't know is that she has been changed. that she is inextricably tied to the rage of her dragons. that it only gives her/them strength. she has evolved and there is no disgrace in that. her head swims as these thoughts whisper about the crevices of her mind, tinged with pink. 

she admires the office and takes a seat when offered, only a bit confused before he speaks. ah. she's considered herself a relic for quite some time - living in self-isolation will do that to a person - and she's still not sure whether she wants the world to remember who she is, who she was. 

because, as she's told fernando several times over, the freya morningstar they both knew died months ago. 

"you know, you're not the first to ask me of something like this." she looks down at her hands. "it's been so long, oftentimes i forget i was on the council." she cocks her head. "or are you asking after my time on the field?"

John Sullivan

☉

first GABRIEL BLACK and now the prodigy gym leader of mauville. she wonders at his angle. black had sought her for purpose and she'd left him unsettled. how will this one be, when she takes her leave?

"please," she says, nodding toward the blissey. the battle still thrums through her veins, its heat chasing the bitter cold that threatens her edges. it will come quickly, as it always does, and she will want something warm in her hands. 

"i was never good at politicking. reminiscent of my field days, i suppose. never quite got used to all the caution tape." she flexes her fingers, looks down at her hands, nails sharpened to points and painted blue. "you must understand, my time was when avatarship was a new phenomenon.

"i wanted change faster than it came about. the a.q.u.a initiative was abbiati's idea, but one i discussed with her before she warped it to include avatars. i wanted a strike team. a black ops. i wanted to fight these monsters head-on with a group that understood loyalty. no more casualties on the battlefield."

she grimaces. mossdeep's carnage still lives in the corners of her mind.

John Sullivan

☉