[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]oh... right. they haven't discussed much since that night on cornelia street, huh?

she flushes slightly, head turning to steal a glance.

"yeah," she murmurs. the topic makes her a little nervous, truthfully. will it ruin the friendship? will it be better after? there's no way to know.

"do you, um, want to talk about it now? or later, maybe?"

Greyson Connors
mission

he gives it a considerable amount of thought, in those next few seconds. they were of course, all the same trains of thought he'd been juggling with since then.
[break][break]
a normally up-front kind-of guy, he makes the decision he rarely does.
[break][break]
to table it.
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"maybe later." his nervous laugh seemed odd, since he was the one who broached this subject. "maybe we can finish this and see what time we have."
[break][break]
after all a comet took priority.

[attr="class","notes"]illeana reyes

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]a smile rises soon after his answer. it's soft, a little anxious, and warm.

later... after they're done here. this is, perhaps, assuming they're still in the same place after her plan commences.

"okay," she murmurs. the smile widens. "food after, maybe?"

the offer hangs between them for a moment before they approach the designated spot. and then, her face changes. it morphs, shifting into a serious nature. there's a laser focus to her eyes. red simmering into concentration, surprisingly not dyed green from greed.

"right here, please," she turns her head to look at greyson fully. a hand waves him forward, directing him into spot. and when he settles, her golurk steps forward to take the crystal from his hands. in front of them lies a multicolored pillar. somehow, the crystal seems to shine a little brighter with each movement bringing it closer to the nodule.

Greyson Connors
mission

"yeah, sure. food after." he echoes with a slight smile, trying to put the conversation ahead of him, behind him.
[break][break]
when they arrive, greyson hands the crystal off to the behemoth. his gaze inevitably falls to the pillar, taking it in slightly slack jawed.
[break][break]
"it's.. captivating at least."

[attr="class","notes"]illeana reyes

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]she grins.

"extremely," comes softly, far away and distant. there's a look to her features, as if she's half here and half in another dimension. perhaps, in some way, she's on another plane of existence. or... well, she hopes to be.

another pokeball is pulled from her belt and released. a snickering gengar joins the party, then, and she's stepping away from greyson without hesitation. the bracelet on her wrist shines brighter with the gengar's presence and the purple gem set in old silver vibrates against her skin.

the last time had been a failure but perhaps right now... maybe, just maybe, she'll succeed.

"gengar," she finally murmurs. her eyes drift toward the ghost. when their eyes meet, an understanding passes. the purple mega stone begins to glow and in a quick mirrored fashion, so does her gengar. the gengar mega evolves and stands at the ready. her eyes drift to the golurk as it holds the crystal.

"deus, place the crystal on the ground please." and the golurk obeys. she hears a clink from the crystal's hard surface meeting the ground before the golurk, too, joins her.

united... they test another scientific theory that could amount in nothing but failure. somehow... she hopes for a spark.

"dark pulse," to her gengar and "neverending nightmare" to her golurk echo. shadows stretch, form, and both attacks aim for the crystal. will they be absorbed again, lost in safety measures?

Greyson Connors
mission

there's a satisfaction from a job well done, even if it had been, for a second, a little awkward.
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standing back, admiring the tower and crystal, he starts to ask her about the dinner plans, but—
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"—what're you doing?" he asks with genuine curiosity, only a sliver of concern notable. "illeana." he calls, though it goes unanswered; her focus seemed only on the crystal.
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then the portal opens and hell breaks loose.
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instincts force him to his back foot, nearly stumbling as he avoids a SNIPE SHOT from an inteleon at close range. his hand reaches for a pokeball and autumn, his delphox, immediately takes center stage. a barrage of attacks assault her, from her LIGHT SCREEN keeps them at bay.
[break][break]
for now.
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"get out of here," he urges illeana, "you don't want to be here for this. go. NOW."
[break][break]
a violet fog escapes from around the delphox, blanketing the area. horrific specters rise from the smoke and an intense pain throbs at the minds of all those inside. all those except autumn, that is.
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the sound of a clocktower bell chimes and the world begins to darken. greyson knew this could be only one thing.
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the WITCHING HOUR.
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and then the nightmares begin.
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WITCHING HOUR: a violet fog that inflicts CONFUSION and continual damage to anyone that is not the user in a limited area.

[attr="class","notes"]illeana reyes

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]everything that could go wrong... does.

she recognizes faintly, on some subconscious level, that she's playing with powers greater than she understands. self-serving actions are becoming her undoing, painting her scarlet, painting her a witch.

and in the glow of the rift tearing itself into existence, a single expression rises: a smile.

she expects to see herself, to see the same bloody saw that split her open from behind. and yet, there's no white hair among the clamoring soilders... somehow, it's disappointing.

greyson tries, in vain, to get her out of here before the consequences of her own actions can snuff out life. she appreciates the effort but god, she's so fucking tired of running away. her golurk rumbles a warning, a clay hand reaching to tug her away. she shifts away, expression slipping into a scowl.

"no." it's firm, unwavering. and as the crystal shimmers, bathing the scene in a plethora of colors, illeana reyes looks... bloodthirsty.

revenge isn't as sweet when it's a different party but she thinks of the look on her counterpart's face when the soldiers are returned in body bags. and somehow, that's enough to propel her into action.

"hammer arm," she barks as a hydro pump from a soldier's blastoise fires toward their side of the field. her golurk shifts, one clay arm swinging violently at the attacking blastoise. her gengar snickers, waiting for the command. it knows, perhaps, where her line of thinking is going. she holds off on the other move, instead ordering for shadow ball to distract the rest of the soldiers.

actions have consequences and hers will be bloody.

Greyson Connors
mission

his anger blends with the murkiness of CONFUSION as the WITCHING HOUR suffuses the battlefield.
[break][break]
one-by-one, to include illeana reyes and her pokemon, the ghastly visions of delphox's Z-MOVE collapse on them.
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the resulting pain is enough to make greyson want to split his own head open; to stop the visions, the voices, and the ghastly hands that claw at the insides of his eyelids.
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unaffected, delphox releases torrent of MYSTICAL FIRE. her opponents were weakened and with many on their knees, disillusioned of their choice to invade this realm so haphazardly.
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in seconds this battle would be over, though greyson nor his pokemon took any lives.
[break][break]
illeana reyes though?
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well...

[attr="class","notes"]illeana reyes

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]the differences between them continue to fester, to grow.

he handles the soldiers without dirtying his hands, bringing them to their knees with the power of his delphox's z-move. she, on the other hand?

she... goes for blood.

even as the pressure on her body from the surrounding z-move hammers down, she takes steps forward. there's a will to her movements, a power she finds in the allure of revenge. she bleeds healing mist in an attempt to combat the effects of the z-move. and for a moment, it does work... the headache continues to ebb and flow between existing and fading. it leaves her features contorted in pain.

somehow, it's not worse than what she's been through. she hears the voices of the lost, the dearly departed, the forgotten. and as she's quickly finding out, being haunted won't stop her from what she desires.

"again," she snarls. her golurk unleashes another hammer arm, battering down on the incapacitated soldiers until blood splatters. it paints her clothes, face, hair scarlet.

behind her, the ghastly form of her gengar laughs until it echoes into nightmares.

Greyson Connors
mission

while greyson pushes back from the brink, illeana lets loose. anger bubbles to the surface, scalding hot, as greyson pulls himself to his feet and surveys the carnage. rivers of scarlet ran and bile rose in greyson's throat, but he pushes it down with pure willpower.
[break][break]
"ENOUGH."
[break][break]
his voice is loud enough to echo, pulling his delphox's attention from her assault. all around her the smoke begins to recede and dissipate, the effects of her WITCHING HOUR tapering off until only the the headache, and nightmares, linger.
[break][break]
turning his entire focus onto illeana reyes and her pokemon, his delphox reads the intention, a wave of PSYCHIC lancing out to hold golurk's arm at bay. greyson rounds on his friend, visage twisted in disgust, concern, and seething anger.
[break][break]
"what the FUCK is your problem illeana?"

[attr="class","notes"]illeana reyes

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]after the dust settles beneath the sharpness of his voice… illeana is left at center stage.

she looks lost, dazed beneath splatters of blood.

and when he starts yelling at her, she doesn’t respond at first. her focus is on the carnage she spearheaded, on the blood dripping from her golurk’s fist.

she had believed revenge would make her feel better, that it would stitch up her wounds and trauma and make her whole. it doesn’t. she still feels angry, numb, hollow.

”they attacked us.”

and she killed them for that choice. who’s the villain now?

Greyson Connors
mission

"they attacked us because you brought them here!" this was an anger that cracked his voice and flushed his cheeks, that, with the adrenaline's help, rattled his hands at his side. when was the last time he'd been this angry?
[break][break]
"you don't attack an interdimensional crystal without talking to the person standing next to you." his delphox looked equally ready to lose her shit, sizing up both of illeana reyes 's pokemon equally.
[break][break]
she was confident she could take them.
[break][break]
"explain yourself. or i will drag you to stand before dahlia goode myself."

[attr="class","notes"]illeana reyes

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉