king steps into the ruins of morningstar manor. his hands sit listlessly in his pockets, expression complicated.
[break][break]
where freya seethes in anger, king's emotions are as cold, and placid as a lake in winter.
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her question forces him to reevaluate his surroundings.
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he..
[break][break]
"i do, ye. like static er somethin'."

[attr="class","notes"]freya morningstar[break]

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉

that tingling feeling is replaced with a sickening, clammy cold. her nostrils flare. she considers reality and whether or not this is a dormant trauma response surfacing in her waking hours, something that hasn't happened since littleroot.

but the rocky battlefield before them ripples. her jaw sets and she startles, reaching a stiff hand to king's arm, fingers digging because the mist coiling up from the ground is pink. 

it convulses, collapses in on itself and then with one final shiver, explodes, engulfing them whole. she doesn't even have time to scream. just cling to king while the world spins around them. 

head pounding, senses jumbled, she's disoriented when it leaves as soon as it came upon them. and they're left standing somewhere she's far too familiar with. 

the ultra deep sea.

KING WAYLAND

☉

there's little that can put king truly on edge.
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a portal exploding in the middle of what was once a living room? yeah, that'll do it.
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he instantly reaches for a ball at his waist, only to find it missing. fuck. he'd left his lucario and urshifu back in the warehouse. both of his powerhouses - gone.
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he clenches his jaw, baring teeth.
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"i take it that wasn't s'posed ta happen." humor in a situation like this grounded him.
[break][break]
"we of the same mind then? fuck 'round 'n find out?"

[attr="class","notes"]freya morningstar[break]

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉

unlike king, she's a paranoid little thing now. and very rarely does she go anywhere without the choker around her neck. she doesn't reach for lyune's ball though, no. he can't maneuver easily in the low-grav space. 

so her dragapult emerges and takes stock of the situation with a gleaming yellow eye. freya turns, looking past king, but she's not really disappointed, per se, when the battlegrounds aren't waiting for her. 

this time, the rifts have closed on us. we're trapped. i'm trapped again.

she starts their trek. 

"no, it wasn't. i've..." she hesitates. "been here before. on expeditions. be wary of illusions." 

an awful roar shakes the broken earth around them. freya swallows. 

KING WAYLAND

+ 10 MP for incorporating the realm's mutations or feelings of paranoia in a thread.

☉

"i've 'eard rumors about this shit, these past few months." king looks around, an uneasy weight settling upon him. it was.. indescribable, and uncomfortable.
[break][break]
it put him on edge.
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"anythin' else besides illusions?" whatever sounded that roar didn't exactly give him good vibes. he reaches for a different orb this time.
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the swampert that appears is a scarred, and marred creature unlike any king's revealed. half of it's face had been torn off, all the way down to the bone, and traces of that pearl white bone still remain visible in some areas. had nina larson apologized for nearly turning his pokemon into mist?
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he tosses the thought aside, giving the swampert a glance. vash gives king an impossible-to-read expression, and simply falls in step.
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"feels like we're gonna have ta fight."
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but fight what?

[attr="class","notes"]freya morningstar[break]

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉

and that's always what it comes down to, isn't it? violence. the world is a cruel and unrelenting place. it's a mentality she's carried with her a long time now and it hasn't softened since finding king. but most importantly, he makes it bearable.

"zombified megalopolans puppeted by ultra beasts. rabid veluza." she grimaces. "just stay on - " she starts, but that roar comes again. 

and she stops, realization trickling through her. she scratches at the side of her neck, the warped scar twinging under her fingers. it doesn't want you, freya. it doesn't need you, freya. 

"phantom, go." the dragapult snakes forward, eyes glowing. and the air gets darker and colder. her heartbeat thrums in her ears. they reach a cliffside; trees float in suspended dirt. phantom drifts over the trench and then glances back at them.

it's silent until it's not. it happens quickly, though not painlessly. a blue maw snaps up from the darkness, brilliant white teeth snapping the unsuspecting dragapult in two.

the arrow she'd nocked clatters to the ground, scream strangled in her throat. the salamence (is it a salamence?) roars blood and spittle. phantom's head hangs from its maw. 

freya stares, unmoving.

KING WAYLAND

+200 MP for pokemon death

☉

whatever joke he's prepared dies in his throat. like freya's sentence, the roar of this unknown creature rattles his bone, and his nerves, and all mirth and humor leave him.
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king keeps his own pokemon near him, lest they be unprotected.
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he's thankful for that decision.
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the dragapult's death is anti-climatic, as nearly all deaths are. he's seen enough by now to know that it was never pretty, or heroic. it was simply the end. an end he, and his swampert, did not wish to meet.
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"wake up!" he roars to freya morningstar, shouldering past her to act as an extra layer of defense. swampert exerts its will into the surrounding water, and dirt, as visibility reduces beneath the MUDDY WATER.
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"we need ta kite it, lure it somewhere disadvantageous. so wake yer ass up woman!"

[attr="class","notes"]freya morningstar[break]'help pokemon 10'

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉

his eyes still glow. body severed, whatever ghostly part of him remained is fixed there, staring uncomprehending at his master. and then those lights in his eyes dim and king is screaming in her ear and she is stumbling, retrieving the arrow she dropped on the ground. 

her nerves freeze over. she rips lyune's pokeball from her neck and throws his and ori's out before her. the former tastes the blood immediately and lets out an enraged snarl.

"i can do that," she says stonily. after all this, after all of this, this is not how it will end. 

she will not have dragged king into this place so they can die between the teeth of a fucked up salamence. that would be too cruel. 

so she nimbly mounts lyune and urges him upward before king can say otherwise. ori stays on the ground beside him, back exposed, shuddering at the pressure of the beast before them. but he is there because freya commands it. he's not there for her; he's there for king.

the 'salamence' screeches and slams a heavy paw down towards them. 

ori takes the brunt of the hit and goes flying, skull cracking against a floating rock. he drops, unconscious, onto the ground.

freya's mouth twists. the frozen over shock has now melted, evaporated from the heat of her fury. lyune dives to the side and one of her arrows pierces the monster's hide, sending shockwaves through its muscles.

KING WAYLAND

+ 50 MP for getting your Pokemon knocked out.

+10 MP for assisting another character and/or their Pokemon.

☉

another swipe of the creature's paw has vash slumped with a gurgled yell. king returns him before the blood can muddy these waters further.
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he replaces the water-type with something more suited for this task.
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kommo-o's scales ring like a bell as it settles onto the compacted earth. a roar (CLANGEROUS SCALES) calls a challenge that will be answeerd.
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king was an idiot, but even he knew sound travelled through water more impactfully. so, he commands the dragon to do just that. a roa
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the next roar that comes is tinged azure, the sound of CLANGING SCALES echoing. it meets the 'salamence' head-on, and its cries of pain were pure. fucking. delight.

[attr="class","notes"]freya morningstar[break]+50 participation[break]
+50 IC-post[break]
+50 Unconscious Pokemon[break]
+10 Help another pokemon[break]

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉

its shuddering roars are curdled with blood. the tossing of its head in anger dislodges phantom's head from its maw. it tumbles down into the trench, swallowed by the inky black water. the surface of it shakes from king's pokemon. 

with the help of its draconic companion, lyune is able to find an opening. freya wrenches a hand up as he dives. the wind tears at her face. the z-crystal twined in her hair is grasped; purple-blue light spills over her and wraps around lyune's body. 

his muscles swell, eyes burn, and a supernova gathers in his mouth. fury folds over him and a beam of brilliant purple light sears the angry pokemon's side. the feathers of its odd crescent wings are singed and still it finds the strength to wheel about and set its sights on king.

KING WAYLAND

+10 MP for using a z-move.

☉