greyson comes to, surrounded by the ruined landscape created in the wake of a PRISMATIC BEAM. his body hurt, and unintentionally, he groans out the pain. adrenaline floods through him, but still it feels weak, and slow when compared to usual. gaining coherency quickly, his eyes turn towards where rose and ziel had been.
[break][break]
there was nothing left.
[break][break]
greyson chokes back a sob at the death of his two friends. they'd placed their trust in him, and in-doing so, had lost their lives. the grief that touches upon his soul is more painful than the myriad of flesh wounds.
[break][break]
pressure mounts on his shoulders, MATIAS SILPH hauling him up to his feet and urging him onwards. even in the chaos he doesn't miss the lack of a comfey around the man's wrist. that was three. in the time span of mere minutes, he'd let three of his pokemon die.
[break][break]
then something rises in him.
[break][break]
the flood of grief slams into a massive wall — anger. it was directionless, at first. his hand slaps away matias's numbly, heat rising to his cheeks and teeth grinding audibly. some might argue that his comfey had served his purpose — to protect the lives of those under his charge. but did he have to die to accomplish that? greyson knew his anger at matias was unfounded, that he was no less a victim than the three dead pokemon. if it wasn't for the fact a giant made of obsidian and death stood before him, greyson might've focused his attention elsewhere.
[break][break]
so, in retrospect, he was glad that it was.
[break][break]
illeana reyes and MATIAS SILPH set off without him as he stands there for a moment, then two. violet eyes lift take in the entirity of death's incarnation, and behind that veil, hatred stirs. reaching for a pokeball at his waist, he releases the pokemon inside. a behemoth of steel curls around him, her own expression as sullen as greyson had ever seen it.
[break][break]
for a moment he mourns with her, placing a palm against her steel plates. the metal was hard, and cold, sending a shiver down his spine. in an hour, maybe two, and provided he survived, all of this would come crashing back onto him.
[break][break]
but that wasn't his problem now.
[break][break]
mounting the steelix, greyson turns to chase after his friends, and to stand in the presence of KYOGRE. only by the grace of MAGNET RISE does he cross the battlefield quickly enough, wind whipping at his hair and clothes. greyson recognizes faces here, some that had (probably due to in no small part of matias's) tried to kill him moments before. that resentment was buried deep, far enough that he'd remember it only days later.
[break][break]
MEGA EVOLUTION comes the duo in an orb of light, but it's quickly dispersed as the empowered steelix approaches. it elicits no response from the gym leader, nor do the many faces around him.
[break][break]
hovering a few feet off the ground, the duo turn to stare down the great creature of destruction. greyson stands at the apex and atop the steelix's head, fists balled so tightly that his fingernails dig into his skin. resolve settled onto him like a blanket. a situation like this didn't call for a shield, no.
[break][break]
what it needed was a sword.

[attr="class","notes"]@dd

[break][break]

⤷ espeon and tyranitar DIE.[break]
⤷ comfey on matias's wrist DIES.[break]
⤷ greyson has minor physical injuries, deep emotional ones.[break]
⤷ he gets angry as fuck, hatred coursing through him at the NECROZMA.[break]
⤷ summons STEELIX who MEGA EVOLVES and uses MAGNET RISE to join KYOGRE.[break]
⤷ stands atop the floating steelix's head, STARING DOWN DEATH.

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉

Cillian Quinn was gone. Rowan Wrynn was nowhere in sight, even as thunder and lightning cracked overhead and filled the vicinity with blinding light.[break][break]

where was THEO BECKETT ? were her dogs dead?[break][break]

i’m going to die, she told herself. i’m going to die and it was it was all for nothing. the bloodshed, the hatred, the loneliness. she would never make it off this world, never see all of the other possibilities she had almost been able to taste. they’d been so close.[break][break]

she could feel her power dwindling, suppressed by solgaleo, until it felt practically… gone. the feeling was eerily similar to that which she’d felt the day walsh had ordered the eldest quinn siblings to submit to magma experimentation. she felt so very tired, and impossibly empty.[break][break]

as darkrai’s thorned shadow crashed into the ground beside her, necrozma’s PRISMATIC LASER exploded towards the field. when it cleared, noctowl and her unown were nowhere to be found. left in their wake were ashes. she felt burns and cuts from flying debris, only agitating her bonds. powerless and without the hope of unown’s portal, she stared peril in its terrifying, chromatic eyes. [break][break]

then, hope—or at least, light. it glistened runic gold. the lake guardians rose, though unidentifiable from their distance. she was far from all three.[break][break]

take your pokémon… and make the correct choice. the words breathed into her mind. [break][break]

”my pokémon are dead,” she choked to no one. [break][break]

too bound to reach for another pokéball, she was surprised when a second noctowl appeared from a glow next to her, released by the darkrai grounded at her side. with effort, the weakened legendary maneuvered its avatar onto her escape. [break][break]

’go,’ it growled, its shadowy arm reaching in the direction of xerneas. [break][break]

they were off. darkrai followed at the rear, slower than the bird that rushed overhead. loose feathers floated down over the fallen in their wake.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]

tldr:[break]
• darkrai crashes into ground[break]
• noctowl, unown die from prismatic laser[break]
• lulu retains burns, cuts, still struggling from spore growths[break]
• darkrai releases 2nd noctowl, sends lulu on it towards xerneas[break]
• weakened darkrai follows behind[break][break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-darkrai"]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-noctowl"]

Before the darkness descended upon them once again, Barnaby took in the raging battlefield: its devastating thunder and sudden downpour of rain, the many combatants slogging through the mud to fight against NECROZMA, and the Legendary Pokémon all around struggling to contain their common enemy.

A foreign voice cuts through Barnaby's mind, uttering only three words:

REQUIRING

GATHERING

YOU

His head snapped to the left, to the right. ... gather where? Were they not already gathered around the runic circles?

Then, the curtain fell.

Darkness engulfed the the city, cutting off sight; Barnaby was only able to see those around him... until the lasers hit. Flashes of light momentarily revealed the carnage, which unbeknownst to him included the death of his dear Celeste.

A bright beam then struck close to their group, sending rocks and debris high into the air. The impact nearly sent Barnaby to the ground, if not for the protective force of his GURDURR's WIDE GUARD. Unfortunately, the Pokémon sacrificed himself in the process. A bloodied, unrecognizable corpse lay beside the body of a deceased SHELLDER, what was left of Mars' Claudius.

Fabric along his arms and legs had torn in the blast, revealing lacerations of varying severity. Some were small cuts, others were actively bleeding gashes. "I'm fine!" Barnaby called back to Martín del Mar, whom he was partially leaning on, adrenaline overshadowing any pain he might have felt. There was no time to worry about his injuries anyway, not when the circles below their feet began to glow once again.

Suddenly, from below the earth three glistening bubbles rose - each containing what had to be the Lake Guardians. Pink, yellow, blue. They looked just like the depictions Barnaby had seen in his college textbooks. He never thought he'd actually experience them in-person, however.

TAKE YOUR POKEMON...

... AND MAKE THE CORRECT CHOICE

There was no time for anything else. He had to make his choice NOW. It appeared the Guardians were siphoning some of their power to the other Legendaries on the field - which would Barnaby choose to defend?

"Alakazam," He started, turning to his one Pokémon that had survived the PRISMATIC LASER. "Follow the Metagross. Go to Kyogre!"

• hidden identity (masked)
• standing beside mars & elisa at the western point
• pressure from first DE event
• reacts to lake guardians' appearance
• GURDURR & LIEPARD die
• ALAKAZAM (can mega evolve) goes to KYOGRE

☉