"Sawyer."

Years apart from the organization that had once broken them both, Sawyer is bold in the way he drinks in Gavin's changed demeanour. Gavin doesn't rise to the bait, not even with the reminder of his own past.

"I'll bet you were." His voice is deep, rougher than Sawyer would remember thanks to a decade of cigarettes. His tone is unerringly calm. "I'd have killed you."

He takes a long drag of his cigarette, allowing the implication to settle between them. Theo was merciful. I wouldn't have been. That they'd fought and bled together in the ashes of Kanto mattered little. It wouldn't have been the first time he killed an old associate. It won't be the last.

"Why did you come back?"

mission: trick or treat

Theo.

Though slight, the mention of his former mentor's name elicits reaction — his eyes narrow in anger, brief, before stoicism settles. He knows how it feels to have your life unraveled by the return of a man you'd never thought to see again. Bile rises in his throat and he swallows it down.

Rocket is poison.

Yet it's a poison Gavin imbibes willingly, and it would seem Ashley, too, has not forgotten the taste.

"Why would that make me happy?"

He remembers Kanto. He can't forget.

He shakes his head.

"Rocket has changed." In leadership and method both. "But don't kid yourself, Sawyer; it'll never be a utopia. I've been underboss for long enough to figure that out."

There's a pack of cigarettes on the table next to his lighter.

"You smoke?"

mission: trick or treat

Why bother? Some might ask, but not Gavin. He knows all too well the struggle of trying to change something from within. There would always be resistance. Even if by some miracle he were to take the place of declan walsh, there was still Kanto to worry about.

There's always a bigger fish.

He huffs. "So have I."

He's managed three times, and never for more than a couple months. Something always came up. Last time, it'd been Theo's return to the region and a messy parting with Emma to kickstart the old habit.

The mission. Sawyer wasn't going to like this.

"He's a traitor." A long pause to let that sink in. "Sold info to the League for amnesty. Managed to stay under the radar for years, but he didn't move out of Sootopolis when we moved in." The last mistake he'd ever make. Gavin's amber eyes pierce into Ashley's. "You know what we're here to do."

mission: trick or treat

He's surprised at how readily Sawyer agrees to the mission. He'd expected some pushback. Perhaps hoped for it, as a sign that this one wasn't so far gone as himself. But what he gets is compliance, and he accepts the heavy weight of it.

Whatever it takes to survive.

He hadn't clawed his way through the ranks in Hoenn by keeping his hands clean.

"Could you live with it?"

It's not mocking. It's barely even a challenge. Gavin seems deadly serious as he meets those silver eyes with his gold.

mission: trick or treat

It gets easier. He'd told himself the same. In the end, he'd been right. He feels no empathy toward the man behind the counter of Trick or Sweet; he'd made his choice by betraying Rocket. Why should Gavin be hung up on the consequences of that action?

Sawyer, though...

All that's left is the guilt.

Gavin feels it, too, but only for some. Not for the traitors, but for innocent lives taken from those who'd done Rocket no wrong but for their inconvenient existence.

He would feel no guilt for this.

"Are you armed?"

They cross the street, approaching the cheerful storefront.

mission: trick or treat

Before reaching for the door, Gavin turns to his stoic companion. All that's left is the guilt.

"I'll handle it."

That had told him everything he needed to know. The guilt, the betrayal, the desire for change. This would haunt Ashley. Perhaps less, if Gavin pulled the trigger.

"Block the exits once we're inside."

The bell jingles cheerfully overhead, and the man behind the counter looks up with a smile that fades the moment he catches sight of an undisguised Gavin Merlino violating the threshold of his sanctuary.

Miasma floods the room, a swirling fog with Gavin at its epicenter.

The counter EXPLODES.

Chaos is fleeting but effective — staggered by the blast, ringing in his ears, Gavin catches himself against a display of Halloween-themed chocolates. Orange-flavoured pumpkins and white-chocolate ghosts scatter as the display rocks beneath the impact.

"Exits!" he snarls, regaining his footing and whipping a pokeball toward the fleeing target. A Dhelmise appears to block the man's path, its anchor rusted and its seaweed the colour of blood. Chains of SHADOW HOLD the target down, and Gavin turns to Ashley. His golden eyes are wide but sharp. It's as if they're in Kanto again. "You good?"

mission: trick or treat