don't you get it?

her knuckles hurt. pain blasts up the side of her arm. the gauze wrapped around her, cushioning her blows, is soaked through with blood. his face is a bloody mess. if she keeps going, if she keeps squinting, it'll be easier to think he's not a person at all. 

you stupid piece of shit, don't you get it?

he pleads up at her and she roars in frustration, knuckles squelching against the side of his cheek with enough force to send him to the ground. she releases her hold on the collar of his shirt and breathes haggardly down at him. 

it's either you or me.

a supervisor's cold glare settles on her. she goes in for a kick to his ribs. the look passes. 

and i'm always gonna pick me.

GIDEON GRAVES Gunner Graves

☉

a lot of things happen at once. the small group of rocket she'd blundered into give a few shouts. they are attacked, quite literally, from all sides. the warfront had come to them and they get rolled up in the skirmish, and all she can do is stare down at this man in her hands and keep punching. 

because she doesn't know what the fuck else to do. 

she gasps over him, spittle at the corner of her lips, cheeks flushed. her hood is up, hiding her mess of pink hair, but she doesn't even have a fucking mask on. 

she'd tripped into the arceus-damned rift on her way to getting a bagel. 

heat flares on her cheeks and she looks up, drawn from her haze, the pounding in her ears. it's like the world snaps back around her. the blaziken stands before her, flames licking at his sides, his right leg still emblazoned from knifing the lava plumes through the middle.

the adrenaline kicks back in, muting the pain in her split knuckles. amulius stares down the typhlosion in front of him, looking slightly unsettled. she doesn't think anything of it. let them fight fire with fire. 

"handle it," she snarls at him. he bounces from foot to foot and then snaps forward with a fiery fist cocked. her cold gaze flickers down to the broken man on the ground, steel-toed boots pressing down on his hands.

can't risk him pulling out a pokemon while her attention's split. 

GIDEON GRAVES Gunner Graves

☉

the yelping is lost to her. she doesn't hear it. doesn't hear his cries of pain or his pleas. you're not supposed to hear that. you can't hear that. she's too busy straining past it, trying to pick up sound 'cause her eyes are smarting from the smoke and her lungs are begging her to double over and start coughing. 

they're granted the doubling over part, at least. there's a whoof as the assailant rams right into parker's midsection, lifting her up and off of her victim. 

she responds in kind, swallowing the pain and telling her ribs, and by extension her lungs, to fucking chill while she takes care of business. he's going to take her down, with momentum like that, and she's ready. as soon as she hits the ground, she's gonna sock him right in his fucking face and bowl him over. 

Gunner Graves GIDEON GRAVES

☉

well, she manages to get one hit off at least. there is the satisfying and familiar thwack of her bloodied fists on his jawbone. she was hoping to hear a crunch of some kind, but she landed all fucked up and he's way heavier than she thought. it's part of the reason why she's so slow to grab at him. 

she fumbles at empty air, cursing, and goes from crouch to standing. 

amulius knows parker can handle herself. his priority is ensuring whatever pokemon might come her way are intercepted. so through the smog, when he sees the telltale light of a pokeball opening, he comes in swinging.

parker squares off, both fists raised. "come on, motherfucker. let's dance."

Gunner Graves GIDEON GRAVES

amulius attempts to use close combat on slowking

☉

too bad for amulius. out of the cover of smoke crawl nightmares that bleed over his feathers. he startles, skidding to a halt after his swinging leg goes wide. instead of finding purchase on a slowking, his attack ripples through ethereal flesh and finds no purchase. 

the pressure mounts in his skull and he claws at his face, stumbling back and away from the nightmares with a cry. the pressure builds until suddenly it's there no longer; in its place is a monster of unfathomable size. 

parker staggers back, arms wheeling from the force, but she grits her teeth and shoves her head down. center of gravity righted, bouncing on her toes, she grins wildly through the shrapnel pain in her midsection. 

"you hit like a bitch," she chokes out, and is about to follow up with a taunt when something that absolutely does not hit like a bitch slams into the ground beside them. the monstrosity opens its maw with a glint and parker startles, glancing wildly at her opponent, and then past him where amulius stands, looking wild-eyed at the beast himself. 

"what the fuck is that thing? is that yours?" her hands reach for two more pokeballs. 

GIDEON GRAVES Gunner Graves

☉