growing up, she hadn't been told a whole lot (and much of what she had been told was straight up bullshit), but one thing's always certain: don't bite the hand that feeds you. she's starved and snarled over scraps and while she could give a rat's ass about rocket's need to harvest moon crystals or magic dirt, she does give a shit about maintaining loyalty. 

she's seen what happens when people turn their backs on this organization. fuck, she's one of the consequences of their actions. 

so as pissy as she looks, she's gonna watch her damn mouth around the woman who holds her life in the palm of her hands. it's an easy enough job - one amuluis will be able to handle with ease. she reaches for his ball for some company, but doesn't end up releasing him just yet. 

because her little gumdrop of a ward shows up and for a moment parker forgets to look pissed off. then she recovers and raises a brow. 

"yeah. protect ya from all the rabid beasties or crazy teeth people or some shit in there or whatever. you'll be fine. not gonna lie - i was expecting some old bag of bones to show up. like a dude who gets off on being called doctor but really he was just a vet or some shit when rocket picked him up."

Naomi Sato

☉

parker blinks owlishly. most other rockets (when she chooses to associate with them) are crass, for sure. some of them are stupid (KING WAYLAND ). some of them are viperous (Yumi Hasegawa ). some of them are downright terrifying (jayden cross & Alexandra Briarwood ). but parker always thought Lulu Flint had the crazy, crude corner of the rocket scientists title all to herself.

that's what she's heard, at least. 

but parker recovers. the smarmy mouth of this one only makes her wet her own lips and follow doggishly behind. 

"so if i call ya doctor out there, that gonna be distracting?" she says with a smirk.

she raises her hands up, fingers laced, and tucks them behind her head, leisurely strolling after nomi as they pass through the distortion. goosebumps raise on her skin and she makes a face. 

nothing mean pounces on them on the other side. in fact, it all looks fairly normal. just tinged with a blue and purple glow; every so often a patch of the ground glitches. or the corner of a house. y'know, normal things that happen in real life. 

rather than draw out amulius, she flicks off crux's ball from her hip. he sits down beside her and his red eyes glow eerily in the distorted darkness. 

"the hell are you even collecting?" she says while crux peers into the future. "how do you collect that?" she points to a patch of air. or smoke? that flickers in and out of existence, leaving a blank space behind it when it yeets away from reality.

Naomi Sato

☉

oop. naomi meets her tit for tit (wait, tat) and parker's feeling lighter on the balls of her feet. she's thinking this job might not actually suck literal balls and make her feel on edge the entire time. but, well, she can't say she's super jazzed about the scientist's rambling. science talk doesn't get her all hot and bothered. 

but it doesn't bother her either. really, she's just keen on listening to the sound of naomi's voice. makes her feel less crazy because aside from her, all around them is an incessant buzzing in her ears. and the distant, faraway sound of clocks ticking? 

oh. 'cause that place is nearby. or is it far away? or is it faraway and nearby at the same time?  science sucks and things don't make sense. 

another patch of grass glitches under her foot and she startles, staggering backwards. crux's eyes, half-closed in concentration, widen and he huffs once in warning. 

parker wheels, blue eyes sliding as she catches whatever's coming towards her in her peripheral. knees bend and she uses her whirling momentum to her advantage, planting one foot down and slamming a fist into the assailant. the pissed-off primeape is blown backward, stunned that a human had the gall to hit it. 

crux rushes past his master to send the pokemon packing. parker shakes out her hand with a snort and looks at naomi. 

distantly, there are cries out outrage. 

"sorry, doctor. looks like shit's hit the fan. get your shit done and we'll," she says while wrapping her hands nonchalantly with gauze, "hold 'em off."

Naomi Sato

☉

her hand is angled where naomi can't see the trickle of blood that has broken from her split knuckles. it's nothing to worry about. she can't remember a time in her life when her hands haven't looked like utter shit. she's so focused on the task at hand she misses the scientist giving her the once-over (which they should both be thankful for). 

the angry cries of the primeape turn to mangled screeches as crux silences it. parker flexes her beat up hand, admiring her handiwork, and then tosses another pokeball out. her hands then slip into her pockets, fists emerging with glinting metal.

the brass knuckles are a last resort. amulius and crux will be able to hold them off. if need be, she has a couple more tricks up her sleeve before she herself has to resort to more violence. 

a pack of scruffy demons with long black claws appear some ways away from them, yellow sclera glowing in the hazy realm. they advance immediately with cries of outrage. and from their left lumbers a couple of oversized houndoom. like, massive houndoom. 

"what the fuck." she rips another ball from its holster and throws it out, barking orders. 

"mul, burn those fucking cats. eldin, on the dogs. crux, get your ass back here!" 

they scramble to obey with fang and claw and fist. parker throws a look over her shoulder. 

"how we doin', sweetheart?"

Naomi Sato

☉

almost done. neat. she doesn't need nomi to give her the orders twice. with her reinforcements called out and crux back by her side, the pokemon are handling things well. blood sizzles and flesh cooks as amulius cleaves through one of the metallic cats. 

her dinosaur shakes the earth. parker sways and draws her center of gravity lower, fists clenching and unclenching as she calls shots to eldin and amulius at the same time. crux circles her and her ward and her ward's sylveon. 

the streak of blue distracts her for a moment, thinking the sylveon is an adversary. just long enough for her to not notice the mound of dirt rumbling from eldin's left. by the time she does notice, she swears and calls for the tyranitar to throw a wall up beside itself. 

but eldin is too slow. the jagged maw of an oversized, fucked-up looking ursaring (?) explodes from the earth and seizes him. the light screen around it cracks. the fist-sized teeth sink into his shoulder instead of his neck and clamp down hard. 

parker swears and squints through the storm as it presses down around them. she can't abandon naomi, but she certainly can't abandon her pokemon. for a few brief moments all she can see are their silhouettes and then nothing. 

she steps back, rips another pokeball from her side and throws it into the storm. 

she searches blindly until burning blue eyes near nomi, mouth twisted in a snarl. she grabs the scientist by her jacket and shoves her up and forward. 

"then let's fucking move. go!"

Naomi Sato

☉

she appreciates the mist getting burned away in front of them. her mind is wholeheartedly on the mission, iron grasp on her precious cargo. up ahead, she makes out the shape of the sylveon disappearing. at the edge she shoves nomi through and whips back around, hollering for her pokemon. 

there is a screeching in her ear, incessant and grating. she grits her teeth. dark shapes move in the fog and she prepares to dive away through the barrier, but crux emerges first. blood stains the front of his fluffy chest. behind him are her tyranitar and blaziken. 

her partner pokemon limps, thin arm strung around the hard green scales of his companion. parker's jaw tightens and she steps through the barrier; the three follow after. 

she gives them a once-over. crux's wound is shallow and most of the blood isn't his. amulius is her main concern, but he's not visibly dying. her priorities need to be for her charge.

so she squats down next to nomi and looks her over. 

"didn't mean to push ya there. you good, doc?"

Naomi Sato

☉