his gaze wanders over the pier. it's absent of dockhands or security; the former are conveniently not scheduled and the latter have been paid off. careful steps take him down from the ramp of the cargo ship. he weaves around the efficient line of workers that carry out his orders, and their cargo. 

the hoennian arm of the organization melds with his own crew. he withdraws a folder, checking the shipping manifest while gulls circle overhead. something cackles at his back and golden eyes flick upward. 

he tucks the manifest back into his coat pocket and pauses as he passes by a grunt. "you're welcome to come with me if you've had your fill of this," he offers plainly. another cackle and he turns his head, eyes narrowing. 

a creature crawls out from within his shadow. claws scrabble against the hardy wood of the dock. she flashes brilliant teeth and cocks her head.

"your swanna," he says with a nod in its direction, "can it give us some rain? alecto smells trouble."

Leonicio Marceliño Thomas Benoit

☉

The senior Rocket member took the whiny grunt under his wing, instructing him to deploy Swanna's Rain Dance as a form of obfuscation against potential surveillance. "That it can do. Leda!" The young man snapped his fingers, prompting the white bird to flap her majestic wings, summoning a sprinkle of rain within seconds.

However, a sneaky Thunderbolt rained on their parade, giving the Water/Flying type quite the devastating shock. Forced back on land, Leda tried to Roost the damage away. Her charred feathers and smoke coming off her body made the Swanna look more like a holiday turkey fresh out of the oven.

"Who's responsible for this?!" The spoiled Marceliño heir spat, visibly incensed. He sent out Narcissus, his trusty Gardevoir, who Calmed his Mind in preparation of dealing with whoever this interloper was. "Show yourself, twerp!" The dark-skinned youth demanded.

Thomas Benoit, nikkari hect //mission

☉

alecto chuckles again and dives to safety, forcing nikkari to turn. he shields himself right as the rocket grunt's swanna is struck by a shock of electricity. the air cracks and pops; nikkari whistles. the little gremlin emerges from her pocket of shadow and nikkari is about to follow up with a verbal command when the swanna's master gets testy.

above, in the skyline, an owl is responding to nikkari's whistle. avian eyes scan the docks for the vigilante. he isn't hard to spot, given the bursts of light coming from the other two pokemon he releases.

the decidueye circles and then draws his bow. shadows arc down from the air in an attempt to pin the man's shadow down with a spirit shackle. 

they still need to be covert, but the galarian rockets aren't going to roll over and take it. nikkari steps away, slinking into the shadows after alecto, and waits for the sounds of battle as his security teams make for the intruder.

Leonicio Marceliño Thomas Benoit

decidueye attempts to spirit shackle thomas' shadow
rocket grunts pour out of the ship towards thomas
nikkari yeets from the Loud One (ily)

☉

The second Thunderbolt proved more than enough to knock out the Swanna. Leo switched the fried bird out in favor of his Galarian Rapidash. "Llamrei, they're over there!" He pointed at the direction that electrical attack had come from, prompting the majestic unicorn to fire a Psybeam towards the attacker.

Narcissus was nearly knocked off balance by a lightning-fast Lucario. Righting himself on his pointy heels, the male Gardevoir retaliated with a point-blank Psychic against the jackal. However, the hellish rain of gunfire that ensued forced him to shift focus, attempting to redirect those projectiles with his psionic powers.

"Guns?! Who uses guns in this day and age?!" Leonicio spat, ducking for cover behind a large crate. Luckily, the security team served as great meat shields. "I'm counting four hostile Pokémon, and a fifth one that could be an Electric type!" He tried to warn his superior, only to realize that they'd already vanished into the shadows. "Great, he left." The young grunt rolled his eyes.

Thomas Benoit, nikkari hect //mission

☉

the ghostly chains on palamedes' arrows snap and dissipate as the zoroark's night daze intercepts him. the owl turns on his wing now that his cover has been blown, gaining altitude to put him out of range from the zoroark. he circles overhead, ever-watchful and now acting as a sentry to give warning if and when the authorities arrive.

on the ground is a bloodbath. nikkari ducks down behind one of the shipping crates right as bullets rip overhead. strangled screams are cut off with wet choking gurgles. he pokes a head around the corner, dismayed to find a hardened team of pokemon following the commands of the deranged shooter. 

nikkari's earpiece crackles with gunshots and his men dying. he drops another pokeball to the ground. the wide-brimmed hat of his crow tilts as she looks up at him, a tilt to her head when the sounds reach her ears. 

"harrow, give us some cover please," he murmurs. the murkrow flutters up into the air as thick fog rolls out from under her wings, blanketing the field in a haze. 

"all units find cover. protect yourselves; they're not after the cargo."

then, to his companion: "alecto, find that grunt. be their eyes." and so she slinks into the shadows, rematerializing impishly a foot away from leonicio and his rapidash. her eyes gleam and she chitters to the horse, lending her insight on enemy whereabouts with her detect. 

Leonicio Marceliño Thomas Benoit

decidueye backs off
murkrow is above using haze & providing cover
the grunts shift away from a hands-on approach
sableye lends her eyes to g!rapidash

☉

Murkrow’s Haze provided some cover for the few Rockets that hadn’t been filled with lead yet to make their escape, while Sableye used its inhuman eyesight to alert them of incoming projectiles. The pier had quickly turned into a warzone with dead bodies left and right. This was NOT what the young front had signed up for!

The Galarian Rapidash guarded against the Night Slash, countering with a Fairy Wind. Meanwhile, Gardevoir was able to evade the Meteor Mash at the last second by Teleporting out of the way.

As a barrage of grenades turned things even more chaotic, the graceful Psychic-type teleported again, attempting to transport its trainer safely into the boat. Little did they know that the enemy had already boarded the vessel they were planning to flee on.

Thomas Benoit, nikkari hect //mission

☉

nikkari is all for poetry and metaphors and that a captain must go down with his ship, but 1. they're at port and 2. he's fairly certain the captain has a bullet in his brain right now. it won't be long before this region's law enforcement swarms them. he can already hear sirens in the distance. 

whether it's some crazed maniac or someone with a personal vendetta, nikkari doesn't want to stay to find out. from his purview, he's able to skulk about and get a lay of the land. and it doesn't look good.

when alecto's charge disappears out from under her nose, she spins around in a circle, clicking in confusion. but then a grenade goes off too close to comfort and she slinks back to the shadows; she slithers her way back to nikkari.

"what happened?" he asks her. 

she points with one clawed hand at the boat, where screams have started. nikkari frowns. more screams on the ground. though harrow's haze hasn't let up, it doesn't seem to be impeding him in the least. he looks down at alecto and she frames her face with her long, spidery fingers.

"a mask? disable it." her grin is all teeth, sapphire eyes gleaming with energy as she zeroes in on the circuitry in the man's mask.

"those on the boat will have to fend for themselves," he murmurs. 

Leonicio Marceliño Thomas Benoit

alecto uses disable on the mask

☉

By the time Leonicio and his Gardevoir made it to the boat, the enemy had already fled, but not before leaving a trail of blood and destruction in their wake. With the area still covered in a layer of fog, the Galarian youth stumbled about in order to get a feel of his surroundings. That was when he stepped on the body of a dead grunt, its lifeless eyes staring back at him.

“Hrk--” The male model leaned over the ship’s railing, and promptly emptied the contents of his stomach. He may have been a heartless bastard, but the horrors of war were far too gruesome for someone born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

“I won’t die here…” Leo muttered, wiping his mouth. He scurried to the helm of the ship like a man possessed, kicking a bunch of limp bodies that were in his way. “I won’t die! I won’t die! I won’t die!” He snarled, grabbing the wheel and trying to start the engine, only to find out that it had been damaged beyond repair.

He sent out his Quaxly, Rio, pointing at the back of the ship. The pompadour-sporting duckling understood the assignment, jumping into the water and using its Aqua Jet to propel the engine-less vessel forward.

“Hahahaha! So long, suckers!” The Marceliño heir laughed like a madman as the ship set sail with a fair amount of Rockets still stranded on the pier. He had officially lost his marbles.

Thomas Benoit, nikkari hect //mission

☉

nikkari is not one for vengeance and he's rather slow to anger. frustration, though, sits nastily in the back of his mind as he watches the masked vigilante explode from harrowhark's fog and retreat into the sky. palamedes makes a move to give chase, but nikkari whistles and calls him back down. 

sirens are getting ever-closer. the wails of the damned echo on the docks. his duty, first and foremost, is to rocket. 

so when he looks down at his gremlin, she dances with utter joy. "silence them." they will not be given quarter to turn rocket's secrets over to their saviors, and nikkari is not equipped to rescue them with what little time remains. 

one by one, the wounded's screams fall silent. alecto returns from the shadows, claws glistening with scarlet gore. nikkari grimaces; harrowhark flies back down to perch on his shoulder. the haze she'd left still lingers.

"palamedes, if you would take care of those on the -" but before he can finish, the boat takes off. water spouts from the blasted end of the stern, sending it careening down and out of the marina. 

"let's hurry," he murmurs and flees the scene.

Leonicio Marceliño Thomas Benoit

alecto kills the remaining survivors on the docks
nikkari pepecringe as the boat leaves
nikkari makes his exit

☉