So, this is one of the big dogs. The beasts. Rocket's best muscle. Hitoshi eyes her up and down. Mostly up. Huffing, he turns his attention to the rolling pink mist around him. This beast doesn't have to tell him twice. Sooner or later, something's gonna come out. It's going to try and kill them. He's heard the other grunts whisper. The things in here...they're terrifying. Like Pokemon anybody with an education would know about, but...different.[break]
The dog doesn't care. Doesn't matter how different they are. What form or shapes these creatures take. They've still got a heart, somewhere in their body. There's still a brain running everything. If the beast can't control them, the dog and his Pokemon will kill them. Jubei, his Ceruledge is out and moving alongside him. The knight's plume of blue flames gives the illusion that he is taller than his master.[break]
"Whaddya think we're gonna run into? Pokemon the size of mountains? Crazy mushrooms that look like pokeballs? A trubbish that doesn't look like Arceus made a mistake?"[break]
The mists answer before the beast can. An iron knight of gray and chrome lunges out at them. Perhaps it sees them as intruders. Jubei is there to defend the humans, his blade extended. It skids against the creature's glaive.[break]
"Yoooooooo!" Hitoshi exclaims, jumping like an excited kid. "That's so cool!"

If the strange nature of this predicament phases him, the grunt does not let it show. The appearance of the Gardevoir with a bloodstained dress provokes fascination rather than terror. He looks at the creature and the battle that plays out like a kid watching a stage play. He forgets he's supposed to be an active participant, what with how quickly this all plays out. Watching this maiden in her bloodstained dress hold the creature in place with raw psychic power...[break]
Man, it's so cool![break]
Hitoshi follows the tall woman as she moves closer to inspect the creature. Jubei is quick to follow. He leans down when she asks the question and looks at the pink core.[break]
There's a logical answer there, probably. It's right where the heart is on a Gardevoir or a Gallade. That elongated red piece that sticks out of them like a sore thumb. Cold logic would dictate that there's got to be something there.[break][break]
Obviously, a normal person would simply say that.[break]
"I'unno. Let's find out!" Hitoshi and his Pokemon both, simultaneously, jab their blades into the core. If they want to get a closer look, they've gotta dissect the thing, right?

"Hmm..." The black dog shows the single area of overlap he has with a scientist. He is insatiably curious. Murder is his craft. To better know how to murder for himself, for Yumi, and his employers, he squats by the dead machine, flicking his blade but once to clear it of viscous fluid. The oil stains the watery ground beneath them. He pays no mind to their surroundings, even as strange machines seem to walk out of the mist.[break]
Two of them, to be exact. In the days that come, these rotund specimens will come to be called Iron Hands. Whether it is the League or Rockets that name them is of little ultimate consequence. The name spreads like wildfire and eventually sticks. They show that they well deserve the name. They charge the two humans and Pokemon, not caring for the fate of their fallen machine. One extends their hand and the whole area seems to glow, static electricity crackling through the air. The little hairs on the back of Hitoshi's neck stand up. They now battle within electric terrain.[break][break]
He's studying the innards of this creature with abject fascination. Seeing the turning cores. His mind too small to comprehend the nonsensical nature of what he sees inside. All he knows is that he studied the exact moment when the light faded. He traces the path in his mind and finds the exact part of the core he and his Pokemon pierced at that moment. He notes it down for later.[break]
"This is the part you gotta strike to kill it." He says, whether or not the beast cares to hear the assessment. A dog's words can be acknowledged or ignored by humans at their leisure.[break]
Jubei fights the battle on his own, without orders. The remaining Iron Hand seems to focus on him. It rushes in, slamming a fist into his armor. Like the martial artist Pokemon he is based on, the creature is a master of close combat. Unfortunately for him, Jubei is a fixture of the next world as well as this one. He phases through the hit and levels a crescent killing arc of his bitter blade where the creature's neck should be. More of the viscous fluid shoots across Jubei's armor. The creature stumbles back.[break]
Even if the dog himself is all bark, his Pokemon has some bite.

The past in all its terrible fury rolls towards him. Whispers of a voice long gone from his life come with it, rolling off the mist in a sigh. He snaps up. Frozen at the sound.[break]
Jubei saves him while he plays with his toys, as he so often does. He rushes in, both blades crossed. He stops the beast in its roll, forcing it back with a wide-arcing night slash. It bleats its horn. Hitoshi snaps back to reality, looking the living paradox over. Calculating methods of murder, he voices an order to his Pokemon.[break]
“Oi, Jubei. Check to see if its heart is in the same place as a regular Donphan.” The black knight needs no more instruction than that. He skids to the side, searching out a place to strike. His bitter blade pierces the skin. Pragmatic knowledge of anatomy leads this thing to an unassuming end.[break]
“Man, the past ones are boring.” The chatty grunt chimes to his disinterested boss.

“Yes ma’am.” The grunt agrees, waving his hand at the Ceruledge. Jubei floats close by, following him out of the mist. His voice drips with something that treads dangerously close to sarcasm. A quick in and out skirmish. A bit of bloodshed. Discovering a new kind of murder. Quick. Simple. Easy. Just like he likes it.[break]
“Yer the boss, Ma’am.” And through the mist they walk, back to the waking world.