Usually when people tell you to follow your dreams, they don't mean it quite this literally.

In this instance, it is less her dreams that Skyler's following and more of an internal compass that somehow always manages to steer her into stormy waters.

That doesn't mean it steers her wrong.

When she catches sight of the dark-haired figure, alarm bells go off in her head. Behind, the sounds of battle rage on as the captain hugs the shadows as best she can - which is to say, not well at all. Skyler hadn't been built with stealth in mind.

But the figure has her back to her, seemingly fascinated by the threads of unraveling mist ahead. They drift just enough to expose the ominous revenant by her side. One which has featured often enough in Skyler's nightmares.

Recognition immediately jolts through her at the sight, quickly followed by a pang of predatory, well-worn satisfaction.

The captain casually peels off the rocky formation, making no effort to muffle the steps of her approach. This was an enemy she'd rather face head on.

"Lu." The nickname cuts through the silence, dancing on the tip of Skyler's tongue like a loose grenade. Prepped for destruction. "Thought I'd find you 'round here."

A deep, bass-like wail trembles through the rock under their feet. 

Lulu Flint

☉

they turned in unison at steps behind them. while darkrai stared, majestic and cold, lulu looked bewildered. her face scrunched a bit, and she crossed her arms.[break][break]

it was jarring to see the captain there in the rift, because she presumably had no part in the conflict unfolding—unless a) she’d finally become one of dahlia’s dogs or b) the primal energy was getting to her head. more recent interactions suggested the latter.[break][break]

briefly, for effect, lulu looked around them at their ocean-like environment.[break][break]

”really? seems more your flavor.”[break][break]

she paused, then. on second thought, it made a lot of sense seeing skyler there. it wasn’t because of the league, and it wasn’t because of team rocket, surely.[break][break]
if anything, the chaos between them had created the perfect opportunity.[break][break]

”you were looking for me, or a seal stone?”

[attr="class","ooc"]+10 MP per ic post[break]
THREAD TOTAL: 95 MP[break][break]

postdormitum: clash mission[break]
skyler dross [break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-darkrai"]

That Lulu was part of Team Rocket's roster was old enough knowledge that it didn't affect Skyler. It seemed, however, that Skyler's new stance on the Rocket/League conflict wasn't as widespread as she'd initially thought.

Interesting.

And while her presence here might be League-inclined, or at the very least a threat to Rocket, standing under the weight of Lulu's regard drags the captain all the way back to familiar territory. 

"Whichever brings me the most enjoyment." The words spill out before Skyler can think to catch them. She takes a step forward, two. Little hairs stand on end under the frigid touch of Darkrai's notice, but hardly make for an effective deterrent. 

Skyler feels the rapid thrum of her heartbeat pushing against the walls of her throat in response. Adrenaline pumps into her veins. Falling into it is as natural as coming home.

A string of dream-like mist curls around her heel, strangely warm. 

"No rocket ships this time?" Skyler peeks around the woman, but any big red buttons are notoriously (and unfortunately) absent. When she drags her gaze back to Lulu, it has carnivorous intent. 

Her next words die a swift death on her parted lips when the floor tilts with unseen tides. Mist coalesces into nighttime docks and the distant calls of seaside Wingull. She tastes tequila on her lips.

Warmth comes in the shape of two arms wrapping around the captain, and Skyler immediately jumps back with a blade in her hands.

"What the fuck, Lu."

Lulu Flint

☉

she hadn’t known about what happened to the boat, because no one had been aware that lulu and skyler knew each other. there had been no reason to tell her, really.[break][break]

however, it was no surprise that the tempest gave her no clear answer.[break][break]

”not today. sorry to disappoint.” she would do her best to keep all technology as far away from skyler as possible.[break][break]

as the captain began to suffer from visions, lulu began to feel things as well. she could taste salt in the air, as though the ocean were nearby. she could feel the midnight breeze.

her heartbeat rose with the waves.[break][break]

whose desires were these? or were they memories? perhaps a mixture of both?[break][break]

”sky—“[break][break]

black shadow and pink pscyhic energy suddenly surged outward from the claws of darkrai, ripping the blade from the captain’s hand. it was enough to snap lulu out of her reverie, with a slightly flushed face. it twisted at the sight of the knife.[break][break]

”bitch!” she lunged, back into a timeless game, unaware of how the stakes had changed.

[attr="class","ooc"]+10 MP per ic post[break]
THREAD TOTAL: 105 MP[break][break]

postdormitum: clash mission[break]
skyler dross [break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-darkrai"]

Somewhere in the distance she hears a gunshot(?), and the knife is ripped from her hands. It clatters along the floor, disappearing somewhere within the rapidly expanding fog.

Fuck.

Skyler's pulse thunders to the surface, a rapid staccato of adrenaline and primal intent. It drowns out rationality, makes way for battle-worn instinct. Was she on a ship? In the Ultra Sea? Were those lights in the distance the Lilycove docks - or a place far more ominous?

Before the captain's given a chance to gather her bearings, she gets slammed against the nearby rocks. It forces the air out of lungs, and she takes a moment to force it back - then turns to her assailant and with a snarl.

Recognition only comes afterwards, when Lulu's back is pushed into a rough outcropping and Skyler looms over, face twisted into a picture of untempered savagery. 

"What did you do, Lu?" The words tremble under a wrathful accusation, nearly enough to disguise the undercurrent of confusion. Images of nightmares flutter at the edges of her vision, at once too strange and familiar.

There, a collection of graves at the foot of a cracked throne. Briefly, the sharp tang of rum and tequila. The intoxicating feeling of flames licking at her fingertips. And a voice, worn soft by the passage of years and unspooled history.

“keep your harpoon, capt’n.”

Skyler shakes her head, grip slacking for a second, teetering at the edge of a leap she isn't sure she'll make. Has made? Never did?

A high-pitched shriek cuts through the fog, alongside a blue beam of energy that sunders part of the rocky outcroppings. The resulting dust parts away to reveal the swivelling eye of a behemoth, pupils contracting with predatory focus.

Lulu Flint

☉

the screech of the sea basin god echoed through the chasm, and darkrai spun towards it, hovering higher to meet it head on, cool stare carving sharply across the distance. its avatar’s rivalry had now become its own.[break][break]

would kyogre have some sort of advantage here?[break][break]

meanwhile, from lulu, this time there was no punch. no slap in the face. no stabbing with glass broken from the tempest’s thrill-seeking destruction.[break][break]

she reached to her side, and what she she pulled was a poison barb, native to the alien realm, and with surely its own mysterious effects. she attempted to jab it into the captain’s side with no hesitation.[break][break]

her fingers loosened immediately, however, eyes wide.

”what did you do, lu?”[break][break]

a boat shifted underneath her feet and she stumbled back to see stars all around.[break][break]

”what..?!”

[attr="class","ooc"]+10 MP per ic post[break]
+10 MP use of poison barb (1/3)[break]
THREAD TOTAL: 125 MP[break][break]

postdormitum: clash mission[break]
skyler dross [break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-darkrai"]

Skyler falters, the strength of her grip trickling out with the expanding stain of red. Violence isn't a foreign concept to the captain, and she's long made peace with its existence in her life, in her veins.

Heedlessly embraced it, even.

Her gaze doesn't pull away from Lulu Flint's when she rips the dart from her flesh. It comes away with a wet sucking sound, clattering to the ground. And that would've been that-

-except that Skyler finds her hands shaking.

"Lu...?" 

Is that a hitch in the captain's voice? No, it can't be.

It starts with the encroaching dark of pupils blown wide, with a cold shiver that tracks goosebumps across her flesh. Skyler takes a confused step back on ground that should've been rocky but that somehow reminds her of dockside tides. Then another.

On the third, her knee buckles and she collapses onto the ground. 

When a glare of finely-whetted silver finds Lulu, it's tainted with a faint feverish sheen. Skyler's lips pull back, animalistic, then disappear under a violent bout of coughing that splatters blood onto the ground.

Beyond the two avatars, an unearthly wail trembles through the rockbed, Kyogre's shadow vanishing. 

The sound of distant battle spills into the enclosed space, growing ever nearer. 

Skyler's breath rattles through her throat in wheezy laughter, soon accompanied by a globule of some dark substance.

And an Origin Pulse crashes through the rockbed, laying waste to everything in its path. 

Them included.

Lulu Flint

☉

her balance wavered and she looked down at the weapon she’d stabbed into skyler’s side, dripping blood. a black handle with serrated edge. and then it wasn’t. it was the barb.[break][break]

with another gasp, she looked up to see skyler there, pupils wide like saucers as the poison began to take a over. it was enough to bring lulu back to the present. the stars faded, and what was left was that dimly lit, alien realm. only, now, the rage had been drained out of her, like blood from a wound.[break][break]

she was curious about the effects of the toxin, but it wasn’t enough to neutralize the wave of regret. it hit only a short moment before the origin pulse that swept through the open caves, pulling everything up in its path.[break][break]

lulu was launched violently, rocks around her cutting and bruising, fracturing even. darkrai was blown away as well, too far to offer any protection.[break][break]

lulu slowed some distance away, floating, watching the shimmer of some undiscovered light above. everything went dark, then. darkrai’s z-move pulled all the light from the vicinity, to coax out the most horrific nightmares and corrupt dreams already running rampant.[break][break]

within the darkness, it went to retrieve its avatar and slip away to safety. their mission would not end here, over human rivalry.

[attr="class","ooc"]+10 ic post
THREAD TOTAL: 135 MP[break][break]

postdormitum: clash mission[break]
skyler dross [break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-darkrai"]

Skyler and Lulu Flint had held each other's deaths under the soft pad of their fingertips, pushed and pushed until they could no more, until they stood at the very edge of that last precipice and turned back. Or would they? Skyler had, but the question remains: if not for Kyogre's timely intervention, would Lulu have stopped - or would she have watched?

Skyler doesn't look up in time to see the flash of regret in the scientist's eyes.

When you stripped away all the pleasantries, what remained of them? If anything at all.

Stars fade away, and the ocean is stolen from under their feet. Blueprints of a place and time left behind, gnashed to shreds under violence and pain.

Lulu is thrown back in the explosion, and so is Skyler. The ocean deity doesn't discriminate between ally or enemy in the path of its wanton destruction, not even its own chosen human vessel.

The ceiling cracks and caves in, unable to be supported by what remains of the walls. All the equipment in the room that Lulu isn't able to salvage is rendered unusable, and the room itself sundered until nothing remains but piles of shattered rocks.

Darkrai and its avatar run away, leaving behind shadows and nightmares. 

Kyogre cares not for those things.

A gasp echoes amid the rubble. The legendary's shadow looms over crimson-stained rubble until Skyler crawls out of the debris and collapses against a bigger chunk of rock, spearing through the now-empty space.

No help is forthcoming from the alien, primordial regard of an ancient being. It waits, and it watches.

Skyler knew better than to ask the ocean for mercy. Blood rattles through her lungs and she leans her head back, dizzy, black eating at the edges of her vision. 

And then she begins the slow, painstaking process of patching herself back together. Ribs crack back into place and flesh stitches itself together. Gasps and groans of agony ripple through her, every inch rebelling against the embrace of death, every inch rebelling against the pain that her body has to drag itself through to be whole.

The ocean isn't kind, it cares not for human life. Why should its legendary be otherwise?

Skyler has always loved it regardless.

Lulu Flint

☉