all hope of recovering breakfast has been lost. that's not even the worst of it. as soon as the pink-haired scientist had brought her to the portal and they'd parted their stupid awkward ways, with parker thinking she'd really, finally fucked up big time, she'd been thrown out to the wolves at sea. 

and then promptly spit right back up. 

she's worse off than when she first ended up here, which is saying something, but all able-bodied rockets sure as fuck aren't able to leave while they can still do some damage. so she gets shifted, moved around, and stuck on guard duty at an outpost.

she'd been moody. threatened to knock teeth out when some of the men told her to smile. and eventually she'd wandered off to piss. 

lucky her. 

she hopes she doesn't get any weird bioluminescent diseases from putting the bright pink leaves on her hooha. she also hopes she can scrounge around and find some granola bars because she's fucking starving. all those stupid little thoughts leave her when she realizes the camp is dead quiet.

she spies someone scrounging around, back to her. and she hesitates, reaching for a pokeball, but that'll give away the element of surprise. so she shrugs to herself, pats her ribs and silently tells them to get their cracked-ass shit together, and bounds forward to tackle the scavenger.

angelo vestri

☉

the wood crunches and groans under their combined weight and parker thinks that shit's gonna bruise but he seems to be taking it in stride, which is never a good sign. worse is the scathing tongue that survives being smacked around out of nowhere and she has the foresight to know something's coming. 

but he's a spry fucker. the elbow doesn't smash into her jaw like it might have if she were one of the other idiots lolling about on the ground with drool spilling out of their mouths. but it does clip her good on the chin and make her bite her tongue. that puts her in a right foul mood. 

she does not give ground. she comes right back in and tries to clip him while he tries to slink out from under her.

"why, y'afraid of a little piss?" she growls out and instantly thinks of three other, cooler things she could have said. 

besides, her hands are clean (of pee, at least). she thought about dunking them in some floating bubbles of water by her head, but then decided against it. that didn't seem safe.

"c'mere, you little rat."

angelo vestri

☉

anything but that. anything but piss girl. fuck, she'd take skyler dross 's pinkie over piss girl. he's goading her and she knows it, but she hates it because of course she's going to do anything in her power to punch that smug grin off his face. fists curl. the rags on her hands, placed tenderly there by nomi, are still a little damp with salt water from her impromptu swim. 

it prickles at her split knuckles and brings her a sense of clarity, much to his strategy to taunt a raging bull.

her jaw tightens at his jabs. she doesn't offer her fallen comrades a second glance. her gaze does cut to the pokeball he fingers and she reaches for her own, mean grin crawling over her lips. 

"you think i don't fuckin' know that?" she bites out. all the pokemon at her hip are devastating and cruel, too much for the close quarters combat by her allies. even amulius can get too much with his fire if he's not careful. 

"i didn't ask to be here, bitch." she rips remus' ball from her side and throws it as she stops their circling, charging forward with another heavy swing. "i just want a fucking bagel."

angelo vestri

☉

defection is a steep price to pay for a bagel. if it were that easy, she'd have done it already. if it were that easy to walk away, she would have done it a thousand and one times. but here's the thing about someone like her: she's small fish. people like admin fox defecting? he's gonna be protected by the league 'cause he's important. 

but what's she got to offer but blood on her knuckles and anger issues?

"but y'are," she bites out. "that's what they'd pay me for kickin' your ass. a bagel." what a zinger. 

remus readies into a fighting stance and doesn't have to wait long for - what the fuuuuuuck? darkness collapses over parker and she stumbles on a stray broken plank, landing right into angelo's tight fist. remus' appendages rise and he understands the danger he's in immediately as he reads the aura of the battlefield.

parker's brain short-circuits as lightning zig-zags all around her midsection. she probably would have wet herself if she hadn't just emptied the tank. as it stands, she surrenders to instinct and finally, rage. 

tears smart in her eyes as she reaches blindly for his shoulders in an attempt to bring him to the ground with her. 

remus arcs above them with a powerful leap, striking at the altaria with a power-up punch.

angelo vestri

☉

uh-oh. they're most certainly going to lose this one. not that parker really knows that yet. if she weren't too busy squabbling with the piss-obsessed manchild in front of her, she maybe would have noticed that remus is in some deep, deep shit. because his punch connects and energy ripples through him, but the altaria brushes it off like he'd just kissed her instead.

still in the air, the pink-petaled storm hits remus square in the chest. he plummets down, shoulder blades hitting the earth with a loud crack. the rest of him follows quickly after. he grunts, weakened aura flickering as he goes to gather it in his palms.

parker wrestles and she thinks, for a moment, that she might actually get the upper hand. but then in the darkness something glints and she realizes too late that he's pulled a knife on her. 

she's had knives drawn on her before. hell, she's had guns squared off on her chest. she's not a pizza man. no one's happy to see her when she opens the door. but this is different and she's too tired and hurt to deflect it properly. 

so steel sinks into flesh and this is a whole new ballgame of pain. he doesn't have to twist; she gives up the fight then and there because this is a losing battle. if he wants to go, he can go. but she reaches for his wrist to stop him from pulling it out, only she's not fast enough for that either. 

so he rips through flesh and backs away, and she can't follow because she has a new problem to deal with. 

she swears under her breath, calling raggedly for remus to get up. the magical darkness dissipates and the local flora makes her gushing blood look almost green. her lucario is efficient, laying on hands to at least stay the worst of the bleeding with a heal pulse. 

"see if you can find a medkit," she says through gritted teeth. he gets up to rummage around in the boxes. to her left, something shiny catches her eye. she reaches for it. it's a torn wrapper, leftover from their scuffle. he'd been digging around in the box this had come from.

remus returns suddenly, not because he found a medkit, but because parker has started laughing wildly. "that fucker. that motherfucker! that goddamned stupid fucking rat stole granola bars!"

angelo vestri

☉