He'd come when he heard the call.

A distress signal. RED ALERT. The Tree of Life under siege by some foreign threat.

As Barnaby approached the perimeter, donned in a stark white mask and cloak meant to hide his identity, he recognized the faces of comrades almost immediately. mint frost, Shizue Murasaki, Eris Halla, oscar clayton, and Underboss Cillian Quinn were all ROCKETs he'd either seen or interacted with before.

Upon noticing two other familiar faces, though, he found himself settling next to Elisabeth Fiorelli, Killian Decker, and the masked man beside them. Similar to Elisa, as soon as Barnaby heard the man's voice he was intimately aware of who it belonged to. Martín del Mar.

"I'm not sure what we're in for," He spoke loudly enough so that all three could hear while looking toward the distorted figure spawning dark crystals from the Tree's bark. "But I'm here to help."

• hidden identity (masked)
• standing beside mars, elisa, & killian
• ready to help when needed

☉

the blood of FERNANDO SILPH stained her hand, and there was a wild look in her eyes. while things had not gone entirely according to plan, she had never been quite so drunk on power. [break][break]

her brother had left to attend to matters at the tree of life. initially, she had not been in such a hurry. however, darkrai had gone to investigate, and quickly returned. they were going. rocket needed them. [break][break]

soon enough, their dark figures emerged from the shadow of the tree.[break][break]

”this is flint. i’m—“ at the tree. and so were several others. and there was... Chu-e Choi ? [break][break]

it all came rushing in a memor: the crystal, the look in his eyes, and the hunger he’d warned her about. that, and the horrible monster in his nightmare. the way it had seemed more real than anything. the way it had changed all that she had believed about dreams.[break][break]

the way he’d asked her to kill him.[break][break]

her warning came over comms, though some of them seemed to already have realized:[break][break]

”that’s not chu-e.” [break][break]

darkrai hovered close, rather than lurking in the shadows, alert not only to the monster in front of them, but also for the wrath of tapu fini under a full moon. [break][break]

she reached for a device in her pocket and pushed a button. inaudible soundwaves were sent into the air, and soon, the silhouettes of bats of all shapes and sizes were nearing, aglow by the light of the moon. [break][break]

eventually able to pull her eyes from chu-e’s reanimated, mutating body, lulu saw the tree’s condition. was he somehow draining the life of it? did it feed on infinity energy, and had it too been attracted to hoenn’s energy just as the megalopolans had?

[attr="class","ooc"]

tldr:[break]
- arrives at the tree with darkrai[break]
- undisguised with blood on her hand[break]
- speaking over rocket comms[break]
- lulu's bat horde is approaching

[break]


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

There was something about the Unovan and poorly timed strolls that kept repeating itself. Meteor Falls was one; a hike that ended up in her getting jumped by a gang of small pokémon, while another was at Mt. Chimney, where she ever so hopelessly got lost. In both occassions she was aided by a kind stranger frequenting the neighbourhood, but she wasn't expecting any of the sort this time around.

No, this time things were different. Both the vibe and general area; this was not some godforsaken wildland she wandered. This was Sootopolis, nigh a metropolis in its own right. A holiday destination to many, just like her. She'd come to perceive the wonders of this beautiful city, and like quite a few others had just been enjoying the starry skies until the darkness started clouding them. It wasn't like a sudden thunderstorm or anything, that much she could determine of the situation, and the way the people around her were reacting to the phenomenon made it even more certain that something was off. Horribly off.

She should've turned around, headed somewhere safe, or at the very least away from the center of this disturbance, yet Brynnhildr found herself moving towards it instead. Against the frantic scuttles of her Joltik Ari, who was all but calmly squeezed against her neck. Even Bell, otherwise the first to turn things upside down, kept himself glued to her side, wary of every stranger that passed her by. She wasn't the only one moving towards the Tree of Life, even though she's still quite the distance away. She hears shreds of conversations in passing, about the Blackout of Slateport, but knows too little about it to really worry. Maybe if she had known, she would've been more careful.

- Brynn's Joltik and Galarian Ponyta are glued to her side
- She honestly has no idea where she's going *thumbs up*

☉