It’s a case of wrong place, wrong time. Michael Navidson is breathless and bloody. He’s been here for long enough for exhaustion to set in, but he can’t stop. Not yet. It’s pure adrenaline keeping him going. He happens to be standing in the wrong place. This would be champion turns to look at the rocket, for he very much doubts the man is a ranger, given his words.[break][break]
Navy doesn’t have any fancy suit. The Pokemon for whom he has a mega-stone frightens him so much that he all but refuses to let it out of its ball, much less go on a rampage in a superpowered state. Frankly, he shouldn’t be here.[break][break]
Regardless of what he wants or how he feels, he is here. He has to make his stand. Turning towards the Rocket, he places his hand on a pokeball. The message is clear. If the Rocket wants to force the issue, even if he’s exhausted and exasperated, he’ll soldier on and put up a fight. He won’t make this easy for the man.[break][break]
“We both know that’s not gonna happen.” He doesn’t send the Pokemon out. Not yet. There’s a moment to talk.[break][break]
“You can just turn around and leave. I won’t tell the rangers I saw you.” It’s just courtesy, really. The guy offered him the chance to step aside, Navy can offer him the chance to leave.

[break][break]

+ 10 MP

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

“Oh, trust me, if you want a fight, you’ve got one.” He’ll rest when he’s dead. This man isn’t the man who killed his brother in Sootopolis. He isn’t the ultra beast that crushed his brother’s ace.[break][break]
But what he is, unfortunately for him, is a rocket who can take a punch.[break][break]
Navy throws out a ball. From its red depths emerges Old Ironsides, a Skarmory that’s middle aged at best. His old ace, before Vortigern clawed its way into his life. The bird screeches and spreads its wings as it flies along the roof above them.[break][break]
“Manuever three.” The trainer who aspires to be the best in the region orders.[break][break]
Rocks rain down, dotting the battlefield. They’re insidious little things, razor sharp rocks that blend into the terrain as soon as they land. It’ll be dangerous for both the rocket and his Pokémon to move.
[break][break]

+ 20 MP, Skarmory used stealth rock!

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Navy feels like some Viking warrior holding a bridge. The league isn’t paying him to be here. It’s just a grudge match with someone he doesn’t even know, as if all these Rockets can somehow equal the lump sum of the crooked organization they serve.[break][break]
At least this guy seems like a big deal. He has one of those fancy suits. Navy resolves to look the guy up, assuming he makes it out of here alive. He wonders what truths he will uncover when he does.[break][break]
“Lose some weight!” Navy implores.[break][break]
What a dumb thing to say, right? With Skarmory in a confined place, trying to use height as much as he could to his advantage. There’s still room to maneuver, but it’d take a real speed freak to take advantage of that.[break][break]
It’d be dumb if Ironsides wasn’t a bird made of steel. The command is met by the bird’s organs shrinking, like it is some machine. Ironsides himself seems to shrink. Loose steel feathers drop off and he soars across the battlefield. Trainer and Pokemon both jump out of the way.[break][break]
Navy didn’t need to, but he knows a powerful blast when he sees one. Better he’s in motion when that blast hits something so it can hit the ground on his own terms.[break][break]
Ironsides is huffing, trying desperately to maneuver about. Despite his speed, he’s no closer to his opponent. It’s a stalemate for the moment.[break][break]
“Come on, we’ve gotta close the gap if they’re not gonna come to us!” Navy shouts another command, but how Ironsides acts on it remains to be seen.


[break][break]

+ 30 MP, Ironsides used Autotomize priam conrad

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

“Yeah, yeah.” Navy grumbles, feeling like the straight man in a comedy duo more than a man engaged in a life or death battle. “Laugh it up, wise guy.” [break][break]

He reflexively grips at his stomach. There’s the tiniest dollop of something to grip onto. That beer he’s started drinking makes his stomach less taut. Navy swears, if he makes it out of this alive, he’s going to the gym. Getting back in shape. Pumping some iron. Maybe watching his diet. [break][break]
But first, he’s gotta make it through this fight. It’s a tall order. [break][break]

“Alright!” He brings his hands up to defend his eyes from the dust cloud. “Try maneuver two on for size.” Ironsides rolls his eyes. The logic is sound. Their opponent isn’t moving. [break][break]

Ironsides charges through the dust cloud, swooping down like a proper bird of prey. It’s a reckless, direct attack. A steel rain, a shot in the dark. It’d take a real brave bird to do that.
[break][break]

+ Ironsides uses Brave Bird!

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Ironsides is in pain. He’s not expressive. No, he’s too much of an old man for that. But the flames scorch him. They melt the steel along his body. Between that, the chase he endured before this match, and his own reckless full throttle battle, he is fatigued. It’s a miracle that he managed to hold out before the—[break][break]
The white weasel creature? Even in its state, he has a hard time processing what exactly he’s looking at. It’s not something a Pokemon will normally see, whether in the world or in the real world. Ironsides grunts, just happy that the fight is done.[break][break]
And what does he do next, while the trainers are chewing the fat?[break][break]
He falls asleep.[break][break]
Right then. Right there. On the ground. It is distinct from passing out. He does not fall over or faint. His eyes close. He snores. Like an old man remembering it’s time for his afternoon nap, he simply clocks out.[break][break]
“Hey, wise guy!” Navy shouts in anger and indignation. “What’s the wise idea! He’s right there!” He looks to his opponent. Even if he’s a Rocket, the detective can’t help but want to apologize to the man.[break][break]
“…sorry, I think Ole Ironsides broke.”[break][break]
Ironsides grunts in its sleep.


[break][break]

+ Boomer uses Roost

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

All Navy can do is watch as the real Samurott comes out. He marvels at the power of the Rocket’s suit. Hearing about something and seeing something in action are two entirely different affairs. A suit that synergizes man and their Pokemon. Sculpts you both into something greater, both fully capable of understanding one another. A partnership deeper than one ever thought possible before…[break][break]
It's a thought that unnerves and terrifies Navy. There is but one Pokemon he has suitable for such a thing, and it is not Ironsides. A dragon snores on his belt, not even caring to watch the fight play out now that his stomach is full. The thought of understanding that beast really, truly terrifies Navy.[break][break]
A loud bang pulls him back to reality. He covers his eyes. His ears ring. Ironsides wakes up with a start, looking around like an old man trying to find his glasses after a nap.[break][break]
“Hmm? Hrm? HRM?!” The steel bird hums as he wakes up just in time to have the almighty force of this monster slam into him. He’s pushed back. Slamming into a wall. His power nap gives him a tiny bit more pep in his step, but Navy knows Ironsides won’t last long before a Pokemon enhanced by such a suit’s power, especially with how long he’s been fighting on other fronts of this grand war.[break][break]
“Get back here! I see that look in your eyes! No maneuver twos from you!” Ironsides decides it isn’t the time to be wise. He goes on the offensive with his steel wings extended.[break][break]
“Tch. Man, I really am out of practice…” Navy bemoans the fact that he’s hardly trained his Pokemon for almost half a year. He’s merely reaping what he’s sowed.


[break][break]

+ Steel Wing! priam conrad

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Michael Navidson is a man with a dream.[break][break]
He promised his brother that he would climb to the top. He’d train. He’d be relentless. That he’d never, ever give up.[break][break]
Gosh, he really has made a mess of it, hasn’t he? One loss. One battle. One mistake and he’s given up.[break][break]
He was supposed to duel in sold out arenas. He wants to hear the roar of the crowd. He wants, more than anything, to honor his brother’s memory by vanquishing all comers. Whatever this is, this war in the cave, it isn’t that. It’s hell.[break][break]
He’s walked past the bodies of the dead. Human and Pokemon. League and Rocket. War. Actual, legitimate war, doesn’t care. The battlefields Gabriel Navidson imagined when he set out on his journey to collect all 8 gym badges were nothing but an idle fantasy.[break][break]
These battlefields are the reality of Michael Navidson, who would defend the region his brother loved.[break][break]
And he realizes he can’t back down. Not from someone like this, who doesn’t seem like a bad person. Not from the vilest of the Rockets.[break][break]
When he finally speaks, he manages a smile. He can’t get beaten down. He has to see this through. His mind is addled by loss and months of alcohol abuse. That doesn’t matter.[break][break]
He has to be a trainer his brother can be proud of. That remains true whether he’s fighting the Elite 4 themselves or a duel like this, down deep in the caves.[break][break]
When he finally speaks again, it’s with a smile. A gambler’s grin. Wide. Sharp eyes determined.[break][break]
“Yeah. Guess I am. But good time doesn’t always mean long time.”[break][break]
He looks to Ironsides, who is injured. His steel armor is dented. But he’s still in this. Even if the odds aren’t good against a Pokemon boosted by a fancy suit, they can’t give up. They fight on until the curtain call.[break][break]
“Ironsides, let’s make this field really suck for these guys!’ Ironsides nods. He spreads tailfeathers around him, which take the form of Iron Spikes. They shogun Pokemon may be faster than him, weaving in and out, but he doesn’t seem to hit as hard as he should.[break][break]
Let every inch be a pain, then. Between the rocks and his steel feathers.[break][break]
They’re only getting started.


[break][break]

+ Ironsides used Spikes! Navy used determination! 70 MP

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