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jack wainwright was not here to greet Neffatari Nzingha, though he'd soon suffer a similar fate as his friend.[break][break]

No, unfortunately for her, she'd found herself vulnerable and alone while a ROCKET skulked in the shadows.[break][break]

When she called out, an enormous Mega Evolved HOUNDOOM padded from the vegetation — alone. Fire crackled in the beast's gaping maw, barely contained by gnashing teeth, threatening to spill over if she or her HATTERENE were to move in any way.[break][break]

A huge distraction, hopefully taking Nenet's attention away from BARNABY FINCH, who'd scaled the rocky mountainside above her in anticipation for this moment. When the opportunity seemed right, he'd vault down and land beside her.[break][break]

Combat knife already in hand, he'd attempt to span the space between them with his weapon extended.[break][break]

"Don't move."[break][break]

If she complied, he'd continue his instructions, his voice digitally distorted by the mask her wore.[break][break]

"Recall your Pokémon and I won't hurt you. I just want access to this cave."[break][break]

There'd been leaked intel about alternate ways to enter the mountain. Something about pressure plates opening hidden passages. Barnaby wondered if perhaps this entrance guarded by Neffatari Nzingha was an easier in than that.

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[break]

TOTAL: 180 MP[break]
+ 100 MP for shore mission[break]
+ 50 MP for participation in an RT battle/mission[break]
+ 10 MP use mega evolution in your thread[break]
+ 10 MP for incorporating faction race obstacles[break]
+ 10 MP per IC post in an RT battle/mission

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The Houndoom works as intended.
[break][break]
Distracted by the unattended pokemon, she jolts at the movement to her side, stumbling several steps back at the sight of the weapon now brandished in her face. She can't make anything out of the figure before her between the mask and altered voice, and a bone-deep certainty danger is just around the corner.
[break][break]
Looking from the knife to her masked assailant, Nenet spreads her hands to show she's unarmed as she suggests in turn, "Put the knife down and I'll recall her."
[break][break]
Nenet's gaze cuts over to her Hatterene, the pokemon bristling as it eyes both Barnaby and the Houndoom. Unspent energy crackles around the Hatterene, its tail-like appendage whipping through the air violently.
[break][break]
She silently hopes the pokemon holds its growing temper.

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He had no plans to put the knife down.[break][break]

Compromise was not something BARNABY FINCH cared to entertain. Not now, during wartime. And never because he truly wanted to. [break][break]

In all things, he demanded singular control.[break][break]

This encounter was no different, though Neffatari Nzingha may have thought otherwise, as Barnaby incrementally lowered his weapon — but did not drop it. Instead, he took another step forward, his proximity likely pressing her to the wall of the cavern.[break][break]

"She'll be dead before you can," He warned, his HOUNDOOM's guttural growl emphasizing the threat.

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[break]

TOTAL: 190 MP[break]
+ 100 MP for shore mission[break]
+ 50 MP for participation in an RT battle/mission[break]
+ 10 MP use mega evolution in your thread[break]
+ 10 MP for incorporating faction race obstacles[break]
+ 10 MP per IC post in an RT battle/mission[break]
+ 10 MP per IC post in an RT battle/mission

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A lowered weapon Nenet could handle; the pressure constricting her chest loosens just a bit. Maybe she could get out of this unscathed after all.

[break][break]
How wrong she would be.

[break][break]
"I really don't want to fight," Nenet promises, her hand inching towards her waist to retrieve her Hatterene's pokeball. She steps back as Barnaby steps forwards, her back hitting the rocky wall of the cavern's opening. In that instant though, her Hatterene makes up her own mind and there's a massive surge of energy as the Pokemon Mega-Evolves without direction.

[break][break]
"Hatterene," she bellows, momentarily distracted from the man threatening her. With a shrill shriek, Hatterene levels Brutal Swing towards the Houndoom, sealing Nenet's fate.

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Unlike Nenet's Pokémon (apparently), Barnaby's were rigorously trained for combat situations just like this one. [break][break]

So when the HATTERENE's temper peaked and it surged forward to strike, Bellona was prepared to retaliate. Mouth already agape with spilling flames, she met the BRUTAL SWING with a FIRE FANG of her own, clamping onto the limb and shaking vigorously.[break][break]

Meanwhile, BARNABY FINCH used the distraction to lunge forward, free hand open to clasp Neffatari Nzingha's arm and spin her around, pinning her to the cavern wall. [break][break]

"This is a battlefield," He replied lowly, leaning into the crook of her ear. Intimately, uncomfortably close.[break][break]

"You don't have a choice, I'm afraid." [break][break]

None of them did.[break][break]

He'd hold her if she struggled, tightening his grip on her arm. And after a moment, where he allowed her time to process her new reality, Barnaby brought the point of his knife to the side of her neck.[break][break]

"If you want to leave here alive," He continued, sounding almost pleasant in the way he threatened her. "Tell me any League intel you possess. How to enter the mountain, what's inside. Something valuable that's worth your life."

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[break]

TOTAL: 200 MP[break]
+ 100 MP for shore mission[break]
+ 50 MP for participation in an RT battle/mission[break]
+ 10 MP use mega evolution in your thread[break]
+ 10 MP for incorporating faction race obstacles[break]
+ 10 MP per IC post in an RT battle/mission[break]
+ 10 MP per IC post in an RT battle/mission[break]
+ 10 MP per IC post in an RT battle/mission

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Nenet could count on her fingers the number of times she found herself in a true pokemon battle, and this specific instance only ticked her over onto the second hand for counting. Regardless, despite the pain blossoming in her back and the knife pressing into her neck, her expression chilled. Yes, she was terrified, but she would neither shriek nor beg for mercy.

[break][break]
Instead her golden eyes levelled with her assailant, who stood only a bit taller than her, and she answers venomously, "I'm a scientist at the Mossdeep Observatory who picks up research for other Rangers when they're sick or otherwise indisposed. How much do you think I know?"

[break][break]
This was neither her circus nor her monkeys, but she doubted very much that this Rocket member would care.

[break][break]
Outside their mega-evolved pokemon clashed. She could hear the shriek of her Hatterene and feel the hellish flames brutally raising the temperature around them all. Her Hatterene desperately terastallised, sending crackles of brittle black light upon the air as her typing changed to Dark.

[break][break]
Hatterene sent off a Dark Pulse in Houndoom's direction, and the tunnel and rocks around them shuddered...

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As the cavern quaked, threatening collapse, BARNABY FINCH decided that he didn't quite have the time to play with Neffatari Nzingha as he normally would.[break][break]

A sharp whistle from him signaled to his HOUNDOOM that it need to start wrapping things up. To the giant canine, that meant taking the DARK PULSE head-on (which hurt, but not incredibly so considering its Dark-typing) and then returning the attack tenfold with an INFERNO.[break][break]

Meanwhile, Barnaby got down to business.[break][break]

"I think you know something, or you wouldn't be stationed here."[break][break]

With that, he abruptly pulled away, hold still tight on her arm, and thrust Nenet to the stony earth. He didn't leave her there to recover, however. Immediately, the admin made to straddle her, pinning one of her arms between her body and his leg.[break][break]

The other arm was allowed to be free, if only to be held down by his left hand. In his right hand the knife remained, though his grip had changed.[break][break]

Without warning Barnaby slammed the butt of his knife down onto the woman's wrist.[break][break]

"Tell me what you know," He warned, eerily calm. "Or this will get much, much worse."[break][break]

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[break]

TOTAL: 210 MP[break]
+ 100 MP for shore mission[break]
+ 50 MP for participation in an RT battle/mission[break]
+ 10 MP use mega evolution in your thread[break]
+ 10 MP for incorporating faction race obstacles[break]
+ 10 MP per IC post in an RT battle/mission[break]
+ 10 MP per IC post in an RT battle/mission[break]
+ 10 MP per IC post in an RT battle/mission[break]
+ 10 MP per IC post in an RT battle/mission

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Pain blossoms, and Nenet gasps a ragged breath as she finds herself slammed onto the ground, the air simmering around them with all of the rage of a wildfire. None of that matters as she finds herself staring up at her assailant, her stomach clenched and heart in her throat.
[break][break]
She chokes down her emotions, golden eyes sheened with tears from unspoken pain.
[break][break]
"Killing me is a net loss," Nenet assures Barnaby in a tight voice. "I don't know what's down there other than a door," she answers. A door which held multiple Heatrans that had tried their best to end jack wainwright and Nenet's existences with gouts of flame, but still, it wasn't a lie to say she hadn't a clue what laid beyond.
[break][break]
At present she rather hopes the man atop her finds himself in the middle of a solo-barbecue.
[break][break]
"Why would I risk my life for a door when I have all of my research, all of my work to continue with?"
[break][break]
Outside her Hatterene cries in pain, and after one more Brutal Swing, loses her momentum and fails to maintain her mega-evolution; a burst of energy spills out as Hatterene's form subtly lessens. Though the Hatterne's terrestrialisation remains, it does little good against Barnaby's Houndoom as her flesh scorches beneath the Inferno. The pokemon sways, and then ultimately swoons into a faint while disappearing into a burst of light.
[break][break]
Once more the tunnel rumbles, and not too far down the way the sound of rock dislodging and slamming into the ground can be heard.
[break][break]
"Stop," Nenet whispers as pain bleeds back into the cracks of her awareness. "I don't know what's down there. I was only told to stand here."

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Killing Neffatari Nzingha would be one less ranger to worry about in future, inevitable struggles like this one. It didn't seem like such a loss to him.[break][break]

BARNABY FINCH humored the idea as he observed the woman writhing in pain beneath him. The way her pupils dilated and sweat beaded along her dirt-smudged brow spoke of a swallowed, tangible fear. Of him. And what he could do to her.[break][break]

Luckily, some of the nonsense she squawked was of use.[break][break]

"A door?" That was news to him. "Tell me more—"[break][break]

Before Barnaby could continue, the cavern around them shuddered violently, cutting him off. Not too far away, the sound of crumbling rock echoed out, warning them of a possible cave in. [break][break]

Letting out an annoyed exhale of air, the ROCKET admin sprung up and off of Nenet. He wasn't about to get trapped under a pile of stone and earth. Neffatari Nzingha wasn't worth the risk.[break][break]

He didn't bother helping her to her feet. In fact, it was probably more advantageous for her to be trapped here... but she'd be allowed to live, for the time being. The crumb of information she'd given was enough to spare her life.[break][break]

She'd just have to be the one to save it now.[break][break]

"Here." Barnaby instructed his HOUNDOOM, who stood over the HATTERENE's unconscious body.[break][break]

The two soon faded into the mist as quickly as they'd come.

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TOTAL: 470 MP[break]
+ 100 MP for shore mission[break]
+ 50 MP for participation in an RT battle/mission[break]
+ 10 MP use mega evolution in your thread[break]
+ 10 MP for incorporating faction race obstacles[break]
+ 250 MP for "tying" an RT battle/mission[break]
+ 10 MP per IC post in an RT battle/mission[break]
+ 10 MP per IC post in an RT battle/mission[break]
+ 10 MP per IC post in an RT battle/mission[break]
+ 10 MP per IC post in an RT battle/mission[break]
+ 10 MP per IC post in an RT battle/mission

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Mercy was a commodity in short supply, much to Nenet's chagrin. Her assailant's demand was ultimately met with not her answer, but the rumble of the cavern around them.
[break][break]
Rocks slammed into the ground, sending waves of dust into the air while choking her lungs as she suddenly found herself alone. Fear momentarily seized her body, so much was happening in so little of time, and it's only when a rock strikes her head to split open the skin that she scrambles to her feet.
[break][break]
More rocks fall, battering Nenet's already bruised body as she limps from the tunnel. Dazed, she stares at her fallen Hatterene and barely has the cognizance to recall the pokemon. Sound echoes around her, scrambling her thoughts further as the world around her falls to pieces.
[break][break]
With a violent flash of light Pyroar pops from her pokeball and takes matters into her own paws; the lioness snarls in the direction the Rocket and his Houndoom fled as she ushers Nenet away from the tunnel entrance. Together, they also disappear into the cloaking interdream mists that shroud the area, one limping while the other paces with frenetic energy.
[break][break]
Nenet can feel her heartbeat thrum in tandem the surrounding haze.

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