[attr="class","ashley1body"]

Oh shit. He hates being right.[break][break]

The visage in front of him. This black-haired guy, he remembers from Meteor Falls. And though a mask adorns his face, he can feel sweat trickle down his neck. His face was, mostly, obscured, and his hair was different. Maybe his tired demeanor would leave him somewhat hard to read.[break][break]

Or maybe, Greyson here would read him right away. A slight panic in his gaze, as he attempts to hold some level of poker face. "Howdy, stranger." His voice is hopefully not too familiar. He just hopes that Greyson doesn't remember him.[break][break]

Because Ashley remembers. That's the cave he met Pluto. He can't forget the dead behind him now.[break][break]

Greyson should, in theory, know him only as Sawyer... if he remembers him despite the haircut, the black bags under his eyes, and the mask and hat obscuring his face. Fuck, he hoped he didn't. Just in case, he had a Pokeball in his sleeve at the ready. Sweat pouring down his neck. "Whatcha doin'?" Don't remember me don't remember me don't remember me.

[attr="class","ashley1credit"]

[attr="class","char-words"]"hm." the presence of the man isn't entirely unexpected; he was here to patrol these caves against the threat of rocket, after all. that doesn't mean it's not unnerving.
[break][break]
"nice mask - jester." her name is said with such a pointed conviction that she couldn't take it as anything but permission. the rabbit leaps with an incredibly speed, her feet primed for a DOUBLE-KICK in non-fatal areas.
[break][break]
in these situations of life and death - inaction was no different than offering ones neck for execution.[break]

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Shi-[break][break]

And now came the clap. The moment Greyson says Jester, the Lopunny comes to try and clap him with a Double Kick, and lo and behold, Ashley wasn't on his Pokeball in time, as he feels not one kick, but two into his shoulder, and with his wince, he slides back a few steps.[break][break]

"How... neighborly." A pained groan comes, as he rolls his shoulder, dropping the Pokeball.[break][break]

A Noivern blasts outwards, Bass shows the scene, the dragon with a singular eye watching the Lopunny and screaming at her, the hiss. He was exhausted from a previous bout with a Roaring Moon, but Bass was raring to go.[break][break]

"Get bent." He calls out to Greyson, as he throws a finger towards Jester. "Break her concentration." With the order, a white noise comes from the sound dragon's ears, attempting to confuse the Lopunny with a SUPERSONIC.[break][break]

He considers his gun 13 left... unlucky. Ash makes the decision to keep it stowed for now.

[attr="class","ashley1credit"]

[attr="class","char-words"]"someone with a creepy mask comes up to you out of no where, in a dark cave? not really a time to be neighborly."
[break][break]
even someone as easy-going as greyson knew better than to engage in conversation.
[break][break]
"counter it!" he yells back, hands covering his ears. the HYPER VOICE she releases echoes throughout the entire structure of the cave, and even through his make-shift ear muffs, it's painful.[break]

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Had him beat there. No way Ash could pass as a germaphobe, even if the idea of 'punch first, ask questions while punching. As the Hyper Voice booms through the space around them, it's like being punched in the head constantly. As he grabs at his head, he tries to cover them from the noise, and as Bass screams in pain. The little Noivern's ears bleed.[break][break]

Turning his head back to see Ash, Ash nods, and wordlessly, letting his ears suffer as he balls a hand into a fist to hit the palm of his other. Bass nods.[break][break]

DRACO METEOR. With a roar all his own, emitting ultrasonic waves from his ears, Bass summons forth a massive meteor, attempting to end the fight all at once as it moves its way towards the Lopunny and her trainer. The firey meteor blasts off into multiple smaller meteorites, a scatter spread to combat a simple dodge. Ashley biting his bottom lip as he hopes, just hopes, this ends the conflict quickly. He felt like his head was ripping itself apart.[break][break]

Agony. He'd remember this feeling if ever he faced Greyson again. Tired silver eyes watched on.

[attr="class","ashley1credit"]

[attr="class","char-words"]"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?" he screams, the ringing in his ears only part of the reason for his outburst. the other? well thats obvious.

[Break][break]
"jester! send it back!" this of course meant she'd be forced to take thr attack head-on. she steeled herself, even as greyson dove behind a rather impressive chain of stalagmites.
[Break][break]
the impact shook the cavern, billowing up clouds of smoke and debris, lighting the walls in a symphony of blues, greens, and reds.[break][break]

none of the previous colors could compare, however, to supernova of pink light.
[Break][break]
battered, bruised, and bleeding, lopunny stood against the noivern. that bright burst of rose-colored energy surrounded her. she smirked, grin lopsided, as a MIRRORED MOVE - the bat's own DRACO METEOR - was sent hurtling back in their direction.
[Break][break]
at double the strength, no less.

lopunny
[break]

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Overkill. That's the first regret that comes to mind. An echoed scream throughout the entire cave system, a voice of reason that deemed him insane. His response. "I could ask you the same thing for hitting an unarmed man with a mask. A fucking facemask. What if I had just been a germaphobe?" He's gritting his teeth, as Greyson makes the call.[break][break]

Send it back?[break][break]

Silver eye widen with a level of abject fear, as he watches the impact, the way the cave shakes, the smoke, the debris. Ash's hopes were dashed with the battered, bruised, bleeding Lopunny, and with it, the fear welled up, as the meteor would come back.[break][break]

Memories flash of Mt. Pyre. And Ashley's face is sitting in terror, as he feels himself yelling for Bass to not be a hero, to not come and take this head on. But, no matter how hard he screams, Bass lands on the ground with a ROOST, and roars out towards the bunny, a soundwave echoing out and bursting, at the ready.[break][break]

Five seconds until impact. Ashley grabs at Bass' wing, and tells him to fly. But Bass needed the strength to take this blast.[break][break]

Four seconds until impact. He turns back to look at Ashley with a smile on his maw, his one good eye closed.[break][break]

Three seconds until impact, he throws Ashley backwards, as he rolls onto his ass, and looks towards Bass in horror.[break][break]

Two seconds until impact, Bass cranes his head to the meteor.[break][break]

One second until impact. He closes his eye.[break][break]

Boom.[break][break]

Ashley is screaming, as the cave shakes. His silver eyes matted with tears as he roars of his own, attempting their best to shred his vocal cords, as he cries for the sound dragon, a requiem to the ending to protect his trainer.[break][break]

How many more was he going to lose?[break][break]

The dust settles. Bass is standing. A bloody heap, eye filled with anger, and hatred towards Jester and Greyson. Vision blurry, Bass stands tall, attempting to show that he can take the blast back, and stay strong. No matter what this bunny throws at him, neither of them... will hurt...[break][break]

Ashley takes a step forward, legs shaking, as he grips to the sound dragon's wing. "Bass... wake up." The dragon had fallen standing.[break][break]

No pulse. "Bass...?" Voice crack, mask pulled down. Identity possibly revealed, Ash shakes the dragon again. He grips the bat one more time. "Wake up. Please wake up."[break][break]

Bass was gone. Just like that. Ash's hands covered in the dragon's blood.[break][break]

Ashley turns back to Greyson.[break][break]

Red. A hand coated in blood, smearing a Pokeball.[break][break]

Sawyer the Rocket wasn't done.

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[attr="class","char-words"]when the dust settles, greyson surveys the carnage. large grooves were cleaved into the earth, and the structure of cave — at least, as far as he could see — was irrevocably changed.
[break][break]
at the epicenter of that explosion, only death waited.
[break][break]
"i- why? why do you force my hand?" had he made the first move? surely. but the result of their fight was inevitable; he simply cut steps out of the process.
[break][break]
his attention falls on the lopunny, her somber expression matching his own. she would need to live with the guilt that came after, he knew, but her attention was first and foremost needed here.
[break][break]
she sent a HEALING WISH into ether.
[break][break]
he turns his heavy gaze back onto the masked trainer.
[break][break]
"i didn't want any of this."


[break]

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"Tell me when I forced your hand." No. He doesn't get to justify it. He doesn't get to feel okay with what he did. Sawyer wouldn't let him. "When I said hello? When I defended myself with Bass?" The tears kept going down his face, as he got closer. Releasing from his ball, Bongo the Rillaboom. The gorilla looks at the body of the Noivern. His eyes water.[break][break]

Their anger is one.[break][break]

"Does it feel good to feign responsibility?" He pulls his own pistol out, and haphazardly moves it upwards, not aiming it to Greyson. Bongo holds a fist up, in respect, behind him, Ashley rubbing at his face.[break][break]

And he had the gall to say he wanted none of this.[break][break]

"You don't get to sit on your high horse." He scowls, his face exposed. His eyes showing fury. "You gave the order. You knew what it could lead to. At least she gets to live." But his eyes were filled with determination.[break][break]

He didn't order Bongo at all. Not yet. He just stood there, respecting a fallen brother.[break][break]

"Bongo." He made sure. Bongo could hear. "Bring the storm. Go easy on her." He placed his hands together, the gorilla throwing out a SPRINGTIDE STORM to encompass Jester if it could make it. Ash watches Greyson coldly.[break][break]

"Go ahead. Spout more of your bullshit. I'm listening." But it'll only fall on deaf ears.

[attr="class","ashley1credit"]

[attr="class","char-words"]greyson did feel guilty; it was an overwhelming pit in his stomach that made him want to throw up. he'd thrown the first punch, and his instincts had been correct.
[break][break]
that still didn't make him feel good.
[break][break]
"you're in an active warzone wearing a mask — that's reason enough to prioritize self-defense over any misunderstandings. but, germaphone? it's a weak lie and we both know it."
[break][break]
his eyes slip from Ashley Shepard and back to the corpse.
[break][break]
"i'm sorry about your pokemon — i really am — but you gave the order to blow this cavern to ultra-space. you simply didn't expect the tables to be turned on you." his jaw steels, and he swallows thickly. it wasn't the familiar face that now turned his expression icy, not entirely — the fool was brandishing a weapon.
[break][break]
the healing wish lands in concert with the springtime storm, wounds closing, just to re-open again. her form begins to glow with a slowly building light, and so too does the now exposed flower-band around his wrist.
[break][break]
MEGA EVOLUTION
[break][break]
greyson's voice takes on a dangerous edge.
[break][break]
"think very carefully on whether or not this a fight you want."

[break]

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[attr="class","ashley1body"]

The Healing Wish works, but the Springtime Storm does its best to counterbalance it. However, Greyson's usage of Mega Evolution has Ashley's silvers glare at him.[break][break]

Instead of attacking back at Greyson though, as his words only did more to piss off Ashley... Bongo's big hand moved to the man's shoulder, and turned back towards the fallen dragon. With a shake of the gorilla's head, he was grounded. Fury fades quietly, cracked embers of rage dying with him. He wanted to refute. He did. To dig the knife deeper.[break][break]

Even so, the blame isn't fully on Greyson, because he does agree. That part is the most bitter. He's partially to blame. He hit the button. Greyson retaliated. Even if it was Ash who responded in self-defense first.[break][break]

If he died, Bass died for nothing.[break][break]

"You're right. It isn't what he'd want." He let it go, turning back towards Bass, and gestures to Bongo to begin to dig a grave for the dragon. He would do his best, in the middle of a warzone, where anyone could attack him, even Greyson, to turn his back on it all to attend to him. He turns to look at the League member.[break][break]

No words, he gets to digging.

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[attr="class","char-words"]despite the validity of his explanations, greyson still felt like the villain here.
[Break][break]
with Ashley Shepard standing down, so too does he. Mega evolution tapers off while the duo watch the impromptu ceremony.
[Break][break]
only when satisfied the other man wasn't playing some trick, and tossing a silent prayer to the dead, he moves to leave.
[Break][break]
his ear piece buzzes to life, concern and question pinging to his safety. greyson clicks the device.
[Break][break]
"connors - nothing to report. moving to zone echo."

[break]

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