[attr="class","text"] Jayden stared at the matching pair of tombstones in front of him. On it scrawled the names of his father, mother and brother. Identical, inscribed.

[break][break] It feels a lifetime ago that he was here, still. It feels like a lifetime ago that their lives were claws away from the living and instead prescribed to the dead.

[break][break] Years ago, he would have felt anxiety at seeing them there like that. He would have never believed, not once, that there would be a time of his life where he could feel content at looking at their gravestones — and truly believing that it was there.

[break][break] People like Dmitri Volkov simply did not just die. His influence superseded death. And in his death, he had given his only living son his final birthright.

[break][break] 'Rocket.'

[break][break] "Mischa? Are you alright?"

[break][break] Jayden turned to look at his partner as they walked towards him, concerned expression on their face. Immediately, Jayden's anxieties quelled at the sight of them, and the silver ring worn upon their ring finger.

[break][break] He reaches a hand open for them, squeezing lightly.

[break][break] "I just wanted to visit them first. Before we left. Is everything prepared? Is Da ready now?"

[break][break] "Let's bring him home."

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[attr="class","text"] It is a matter of ease. To take control of a region that was already in his father's hands.

[break][break] The way that the region is set up, it is only easy to take claim to the region. First is Spikemuth, then is Stow-on-Side. Felix Gallagher is an easy choice for the former, where nikkari hect is the only sensical answer for the latter. Circhester goes to mint frost and Hammerlocke to Remiel Calcifet.

[break][break] "I'm glad you stayed," he says one day to his friend on a cold afternoon. He meets the Galarian Prince - soon to be King - in his castle, pushing the door open into the garden. A line of CRYSTABLOOM blossoms flower along the edge of the stone path as a wintry breeze blow past, eliciting a brief shiver. "Your influence is irreplaceable, Remiel. "

[break][break] Brushing back a lock of hair, the prince laughs.

[break][break] "You flatter me, Jayden."

[break][break] The Rocket symbol is stitched along his family's crest, matching that of Jayden's.

[break][break] "Do you ever think of being king?"

[break][break] He thinks on it. Once upon a time, he might have said never. But these days, his feelings seemed to be shifting.

[break][break] "Maybe," he said, honestly, pouring tea for the both of them. "But not really."

[break][break] "I'm better suited as Underboss, after all."

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[attr="class","text"] "What should we do with him, boss?"

[break][break] From the shadows, his people parted. Violet eyes gleamed menacingly as the Underboss parted the crowd, eyes pinned on the traitors that were shackled in a pile on the ground.

[break][break] Ice did not gather around the Underboss' skin in disarray — in fact his body was smooth and pearly white, the expression on his face sharp and clear as the midnight sky that gleamed behind him. Behind him, a beast prowled. But it was not Chien Pao. Malice leaks into the ground beneath it's feet, that giant sword from it's mouth cracked with black and scarlet red. Black shards spill across the floor, crimson eyes meeting that of their capture.

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[break] Greyson Connors stands, hands tied up, as he glares up at the Underboss.

[break][break] "Did they only send you here to kill me? Not even MATIAS SILPH?"

[break][break] "jayden cross. You're the same as you were back then. A dog for Rocket, nothing more."

[break][break] Jayden growled. His hand flashed out, that dog's gleaming blade slicing into his hand. Shadow surrounded the broadsword with heat, darkness spreading along his skin.

[break][break] "A dog? You are just as foolish as you were back then. As powerless. You couldn't save annalise henderson or illeana reyes. You won't be able to even save yourself."

[break][break] He towered over him, eyes full of unspeakable malice. Shadows clung to his form, manifesting the Avatar in his former mentor's likeliness.

[break][break] "Let me show you the power of Rocket, Greyson Connors."

[break][break] "I said it back then, and I'll say it today."

[break][break] "I will be Rocket's sword until my dying breath."

[break][break] "And today will be yours."

[break][break] Without a moment's hesitation, he swung.

[break][break] Slash!

[break][break] The blade sliced through cold air, crimson splattered upon the snowy grass.

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[attr="class","text"] 'Mine and Yours. Forever and always.'

[break][break] They get married on a cool august evening, underneath the glowing tops of Balloonea's shrooms. Color splashes with light as Rocket's two Underbosses engage in marital union, in front of all their family and friends.

[break][break] "Mischa!"

[break][break] Sprinting across the floor is — of course — his own best man, mint frost. The teal-haired boy is grinning ear to ear, tipsy after being handed his third drink courtesy of his date oscar clayton. He hangs off of the Rocket Boss, clingy and drunk, giggling in Jayden's ear all the while. Normally, no one would ever think of getting close to the cold man, especially not with his husband within earshot. Underboss Delaney, while friendly enough, had a reputation of burning jealousy.

[break][break] But fern delaney's own person of honor, fearsome Beast Marza Volchitsa, had accompanied Mint to the dancefloor alongside Mei Liu. Fern had their hands full watching all the different ways she made Marza blush, and thinking of all the different ways she could slide suggestions of a future Galarian wedding on the horizon too.

[break][break] On the dance floor, plenty of other Rockets engaged in celebration too. Hoenn's Boss Cillian Quinn and his husband, Tempest Quinn. Kalos' pair, Elisabeth Fiorelli and BARNABY FINCH.

[break][break] The list went on and on and on.

[break][break] Eventually, though, the night wears on and Jayden wants to have his own time with his newly-wed husband. He drags them over to the center of the dancefloor, twirling them beneath those twinkling light, and holding them close by their waist.

[break][break] He breathes promises of forever and ever, of a future without compromise.

[break][break] 'Duck,' they say, hands tangled affectionately in his hair. 'Are you happy?'

[break][break] Jayden's smile is broad and uninhibited, pure happiness making his face glow in a way that it never has before.

[break][break] 'Solnyshka,' he says, pressing his mouth to theirs. 'I could not be happier.'

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[attr="class","omacceptedtop"]THREAD COMPLETE!

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jayden cross

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SCENARIO i.

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'A Dream Ball?'

[break][break] He clutches the KING'S GIFT in his hand, intent on inspecting it, but there's no time to do so. Ferocious howls echo in from the outside, glitched scars cutting through the space in front of them.

[break][break] With the rest of them, Jayden finds himself sprinting outside. There is an aching in his chest — one that he can't quite explain. Is it because of SYLVIS CASTLE? Is it because Astlike is nowhere to be found?

[break][break] He searches through the dark forest with hopeless abandon, eyes widening as something leaps for him. Fangs sink into his arm, and he expects ice to crystallize the beast into place. But instead, he finds nothing. There is no coldness, no ice, no frost.

[break][break] 'What?'

[break][break] Gritting his teeth, he grips the scruff of the Mightyena and then flings it across the forest floor, away from him. He places his palm outwards, aiming for his swords, but instead finds nothing. With blood-red eyes, the pokemon snarls and then lunges for him again.

[break][break] !


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[break][break] Suddenly, dark wings flash out from behind him. They cut through skin and bone, slicing painfully, when he suddenly pulls into air, just barely escaping the bloodthirsty jaws of the beast.

[break][break] It's then that he spots her. Astlik. That dream ball is flung, capturing her. When he flies back down to grasp it, a dialogue box appears:



[break][break] For Jayden, there is no other option. CONTINUE.

[break][break] Immediately, his legs swap to the ghost-type's teal-colored hues. His form sheens briefly with the same translucent tones of his Dragapult, but most of all, his eyes warp to the angled blood-red gaze.

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SCENARIO ii.

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She comes home. It may just be part of a dream, a part of his inner consciousness that he desperately wants, but at least for that night it feels more real than anything else.

[break][break] Together with Astlik, he and illeana reyes gather in front of the dungeon with the others that they're able to round up. Their shapes are blurry at best, and the only thing that he can see truly is their hearts that beat alongside his. If he had to guess, it would have been mint frost, fern delaney, and bryan delarosa at his side. People that he can trust, beyond a shadow of a doubt.

[break][break] The dungeon shares the same luminescent colors of the Tangled Woods that he knows so well, and it with Astlik's help that they're able to get through it without issue. As she cuts down the last of the beasts and returns to him, Jayden has no choice but to smile. Shadows leak at their feet, growing steadily stronger, like poison meant to swallow them whole.

[break][break] "Quick!" he directs the others into the next room. "Close the door!"

[break][break] In front of the dungeon is a DYNAMAXED amalgamation of nothing else but a three-headed Umbreon. It's jaws gape wide and gnash against the floor, threatening to crush anyone within a close proximity.

[break][break] Jayden stares down at the cards in his arms, given to him by the power of a dream.



[break][break] With the help of his comrades, and those special items, they're able to escape by the skin of their teeth. The last door of the dungeon closes behind them with a sickening thud.

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SCENARIO iii.

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His fingers tighten around the prize from the last dungeon, the card's red edges digging into his palm like blood.

[break][break] The pathway opens to him with ease and they are sucked into a portal. Static fizzes behind his eyes like the broken puzzle pieces of a distant realm and Jayden finds himself stranded in a pitch-black room.

[break][break] There is nothing, absolutely nothing, before there it is. The sound of his nightmares, like nails grating on a chalkboard.

[break][break] 'Mischa, you've returned.'

[break][break] He would recognize those crimson red eyes anywhere.

[break][break] The wings sprout from his back as a defensive measure, an attempt to fly away, but Astlik knows better. Unlike the version of her in the Ultra Deep Sea, the one that had easily been claimed by the Interdream Mist, this shadowified version of herself is compelled to do better. Be stronger. Be faster. Be more vicious.

[break][break] Bright blue THUNDER snaps in the air towards that face, just as another pokemon flashes into view. His father's Shadow Dusknoir, no doubt, just another imagination of this fractured past.

[break][break] The two ghost-types snap towards each other with a ferocity that is untamed. PHANTOM FORCE blitzing past turning into SURF and FIRE BLASTS. Explosions sound in the background as his father darts forward, crescent-moon smile carved into his face like a nightmarish daydream.

[break][break] Jayden gasps. His wings catch him, black feathers spilling onto the earth just as he avoids a sharp stab to the chest. The same place that Ashley Shepard had stabbed. The same place that Isaac Merlo had stabbed.

[break][break] 'Mischa. Is that the best you can do?'

[break][break] But it isn't. He knows it isn't.

[break][break] Jayden's fist tighten around a metallic sword. It is not the same icy weapons he has learned to claim so well — but it will do just fine. The metallic edge gleams as THUNDER strikes in the sky, and he plunges it deep into flesh.

[break][break] Blood spills from his father's chest, eyes growing dark.

[break][break] A smile, just then, curves the corner of that demon's mouth.

[break][break] 'Good job, Mischa.'

[break][break] The room fades, darkness exploding into light.

[break][break] The deed done.

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SCENARIO iv.

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He still feels the blood on his hands when they enter back into the castle, data strings sprawling into forms of light behind his eyes. He can still feel it, the sight of his father's smile, the pride in his father's eyes as he plunged a sword through him.

[break][break] But pride? Why pride?

[break][break] Jayden doesn't have a moment to think about it. Because they are given their next task. He pulls away at the strings of the present, feeling the familiar sensation rip through him as they portaled into a portion of their past.

[break][break] He doesn't know what he's expecting.

[break][break] Doesn't know if he's imagining that diner with Ashley Shepard, sharing ice cream shakes after a hard day. Doesn't know if he's expecting the sweet way that Chu-e Choi used to look at him, over a lakeside view. Doesn't know if he's expecting the burning buildings of Cinnebar Island, as he turns the city to ash in THEO BECKETT's namesake.

[break][break] His past is not kind to him, and this is no exception.

[break][break] What he doesn't expect is the sight of an shiny EEVEE staring back at him, as wide-eyed and innocent as it was in those days.

[break][break] They're staying a tea-table. One that probably is reminiscent of illeana reyes' family estate. A tea cookie is placed at the small Eevee's mouth, who nibbles on it innocently — as if it cannot remember a single thing past this moment. As if it is a thing that it has always done, as if there is no reason why they should doubt him.

[break][break] His throat thickens.

[break][break] 'The sight of THEO BECKETT standing over him, a weapon placed into his hand. Knife plugned into flesh. Blood splattering across his face. A childhood trauma.'

[break][break] The cookie breaks.

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