she hasn't seen DEREK HOFFMAN since their foray into the border together, but that makes sense. she doesn't see much of anyone these days. aside from the random odd jobs she does for the league, she could care less about keeping up appearances. 

the dragonair at her side rattles her tail in response to derek's question, jaw parting slightly to let loose an irritated hiss. freya frowns and squats down on the trail. their footprints are there, but they've only just come down this way...

when she presses a finger to the earth, pinkish dust lingers on her hand. that grimace turns to a scowl; anxiety flares in her stomach. 

"fairies, i think. look at this."

DEREK HOFFMAN

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"woahhh, what's your problem?" the dragonair's behavior arouses a little unease. hissing was a bit much, derek would like to think. but he quickly averts his attention to freya, whose narrowed things down already.
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"oh, nice catch! but why would fairies be so..."
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so troublesome. in his experience, fairy pokemon were usually lovely little things that made brilliant displays of power in a much more pleasant manner than this. but thinking again, there were others that also shared a dark side. like his grimmsnarl, for starters...
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"well, guess there's no point questioning it." a deft hand releases a shiny beldum, whose trainer is quick to give instruction. "hey buddy, can you do your special light thing for us real quick?" observing the two in understanding, derek's pokemon begins to illuminate the area. such brilliant rays cause the remnants of the fairy's magic to glow like germs under a blue light, allowing them to divulge a path of sorts.
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"alright! i wasn't actually sure that would work." an awkward, uncomfortable chuckle he'd made stopped soon after it started. gesturing for freya to follow a moment later, they're able to begin their search in earnest. although, a little conversation in the meantime couldn't hurt... right?
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"by the way, have you gone back to the border since we went?" derek hadn't, and so it would be nice to hear if she'd seen anything different from their time spent in that place.

"oh, don't mind her," freya says with a laugh. "she's just a bit on edge from the fae." as though to emphasize freya's point, aeris lashes her tail, but otherwise dips her head apologetically in derek's direction. she slinks off from them, investigating the path on her own. freya leaves her to her own devices. 

"that's incredible," freya breathes as derek's beldum illuminates the path around them. the only other time she'd witnessed a behavior from an illumina pokemon was that boy she'd met in meteor falls. the dragapult had been a beauty. 

aeris rattles her tail enthusiastically at the beldum and slithers forward, leaving freya to hold up the rear with them. 

"no," she says, growing somber. "i've been in other rifts, but i haven't been back to the border. it's...hard to wrap my head around, ye know? the line between the living and the dead feels so blurry there."

DEREK HOFFMAN

☉

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"ah. i understand." derek mentions before waving as the dragonair puts a little distance between them. it made sense that fairy types could ruffle their feathers the wrong way, so to speak. they were one of the few types of pokemon that could pose a problem to them.
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or to people, given the current scenario. but derek is much too focused on the conversation to be troubled by the little variations to their reality. the fact they could hardly tell where they were going, if not for the trail of fae powder they followed.
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"hm. i guess i get what you mean..." derek had his reasons to want to search the place. personal reasons. but he could easily get why freya might not want to return, especially since there were many others for one to preoccupy themselves with.
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"what were the other ones like?" once he learned and saw what he could in the border, derek would be moving onto the next portal. what freya knew might be of some help to him in the future.

none of them had talked about what they saw in that place between worlds. they weren't close. but there is some level of companionship between them, to have traveled there and back together. 

she makes a face. "honestly? they all have their different brand of awful." her hand goes to her neck, where just a week ago the ultra deep sea afflicted her with a hallucination of holes riddling their way through her skin.

"they're not for the faint of heart." a pause. "i think that's why i go back. and maybe why you do too. not everyone can do it. so we have to." 

DEREK HOFFMAN

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"hah, yeah..." her comment arouses a chuckle out of derek, even though he knows it to be no laughing matter. must be one of those coping mechanisms people talked about. "though i suspect we all have something we're looking for in there." whatever that was, it needn't be said. especially on freya's part. no reason to explain herself to what may as well be a stranger.
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"can't say i've had any luck with it, but i haven't seen everything yet to know if i will or won't." and there was no telling if he ever would. it took time to get a group together. especially a group ready for whatever trials awaited them, once on the other side. "but do let me know if your group is in need of one more." he couldn't make any promises, but derek would like to be able to help. where and when he could, of course.
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the sound of a wild pokemon being disturbed broke through this process of thought, however. "seems we might've finally found our mark." and it wasn't a vicious grimmsnarl like he assumed them to be. instead it was a pack of crazed clefairy, headed by a very large, very aggravated clefable.
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hopefully freya could make the first move, whilst derek searched his pockets for the right pokeball...

"i'll be sure to," she says and she means it. of all their companions during that trek through the border, she found his presence the most comforting. she knew little of the woman that came with them and her feelings on benoit have been mixed since her time on the council. 

the ruckus silences their discussion and she nods, moving ahead while he searches for a pokemon. aeris stands before the gaggle of rabid clefairy. they mill about the clefable in a trance-like state, turning all at once when they notice their adversary. 

aeris is quick to action when all point towards her and utter a motley cry of battle. the wings by her head fan as she tumbles through the air, slinking around blasts of moondust that scorch the grass and kick up dirt around her. 

"slow them down," freya calls. electricity sizzles at the base of her tail and all at once combusts, skittering over the cluster with a zing. the hair on freya's arms rises.

freya looks over her shoulder. "think there's a crystal or a rift somewhere making them like this?"

DEREK HOFFMAN

dragonair uses thunder wave!

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turns out she was right. given that her dragonair's attack afforded him some time to look around, derek finds that there is an unusual moonstone gathered among the rest of their mounding collection. "yeah! ...how'd you know?"
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the answer didn't matter so much as it was a curiosity. as such, he was quick to summon a pokemon to destroy it. the metagross' large claw came down upon the stone, the power of it's meteor mash enough to cause it to splinter into countless pieces. the energy-like miasma that leaked out was cause for some alarm, derek bring the collar of his jacket before his face in order to avoid breathing any of it in.
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it seemed the clefairy and their leader had stumbled onto a special mineral. one that had been causing them, particularly the big one, to act as if it were bewitched. though rather than be freed from their spell, it seemed this sent the pokemon into a frenzied state of sorts.
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"push back already, will ya?!" spoken to his metagross, who'd allowed the sluggish fairies to advance closer to the trainer. emitting a blast, it managed to knock out the vast majority. a few were left to scatter, picking up what moon stones their stubby little frames could carry.
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"well... it looks like we're done here." the sky gradually came to a standard hue, and the normal sense of time returned to his sense. "hopefully they don't find another one." but in the event that they did, it just meant derek would have another chance to make some more money.

while derek goes scrounging about after freya's hunch, she opts to keep the fairies occupied. they don't take too kindly to aeris' intrusion and, although slowed and still crackling with electricity, prepare moonblasts from their fingertips. 

the dragonair dances in the air, wrapping around herself to avoid the missiles. some of them leave scorching burn marks on her scales and she hisses with irritation. her wings flutter and she rises to her full height, but before she can summon a hyper beam, derek finds the source of the mania.

his metagross is quick to dispatch the rest of the little gremlins. aeris looks almost disappointed and flicks her tail rather decisively before taking post beside her tamer. 

"nice work," she says good-naturedly. "honestly, i'll take an easy win right now."

DEREK HOFFMAN

☉