The sound of a foreign voice immediately puts her on guard, a knife slides out from her sleeve and she spins around to toss the blade straight through Dorian's head. It's good that she's so quick to recognize the Rocket member when she does, stopping her swing just a nanosecond before the knife would have left her fingers and planted itself straight in the man's grey matter. Though she seems almost annoyed that she did stop herself now that she's processed exactly what he said, being even reminded of where she was has already put her in a bad mood.
[break][break]
"If something old shows up then I'll rip it apart. And as soon as I find what I'm looking for, I'll do the same thing to these shitty ruins." The knife slides back into her sleeve and she crosses her arms behind her head, turning away from Dorian and walking deeper inside in search of the mist. "So what, you followed me in here just to get a nice look at my ass? It's great yeah, but a look is all you're getting." The ultramodernist remarks as her Scolipede slices a notch into the wall with her tail, a visual guide for the Pokemon to remember even if her owner would never acknowledge it herself.
[break][break]
But she does seem to take just a bit more care around the pressure plates and traps in the halls now that she's actually got someone watching her, even if she's trying her hardest to look like she doesn't care as she looks up at the ceiling and smoothly steps around the oddly colored tiles and barely visible tripwires.
[break][break]

+dorian westcliff

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Gah, he's enjoying her annoyance too much. "I don't have a past to repeat old man. And that saying only applies to failures and idiots like yourself. I'm built different." Seriously, imagine being so pathetic that you'd have to learn something about something as worthless as the past lest you be doomed to failure over and over. Xenon would simply not fail in the first place.
[break][break]
Ooh, looks like that one struck a nerve a little. "It's okay to just admit I'm a hot piece of ass. God knows 75% of you Rocket boys only know how to think with your dick, just be glad your dick is keeping you pointed in my direction. Following me is always the way to go if you're looking for excitement~" The ultramodernist's smug aura is simply overwhelming as she traces her fingers along the wall and pushes in a hidden panel, a secret passage opening to the side and emitting more of that pink Dream Mist that Xenon was chasing after. "And don't bother making a map. You're not gonna have time to review it if we're fighting the League through every god forsaken inch of this place, better to just operate on instinct. I know mine will carry me through this shithole."
[break][break]
It was hard to argue against that as Xenon reaches up and plucks an unlit torch off the wall, rearing her arm back and throwing it forwards into the empty hall and watching it get immediately torched by a gout of flame, only the slightest hint of sulfur alerting her of the threat before she blindly waltzed into danger. It was almost like she had already seen the exact path she needed to take, a clear vision of her future that her gaze never wavered from. The only thing breaking the illusion was just how closely her Scolipede stuck to her at every moment, an obvious fallback plan for if her vaunted instincts ever failed for even the briefest moment. But then again, maybe that was the Pokemon insisting on it rather than her. One could never really tell with this girl.
[break][break]

+dorian westcliff

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

"I pity the poor woman who took you. She must have had some sort of fit of madness that she can no longer take back." Xenon remarks dryly as Dorian bursts out into laughter, content to leave the exchange there as she turns back to the hallways and stops. Something was changing in the air, and this time it wouldn't be nearly so easy to ignore as a little bit of sulfur and a tripwire.
[break][break]
The Interdream Mist was thickening once again, but the smell of it now was... musty. Damp in all the wrong ways, sweat and flesh, the smell of an ancient jungle encroaching upon the present day. Dorian and Xenon act in tandem as she ducks down to let the man release his Raboot, she in turn unclips a Pokeball from her belt and whips out a Slowbro across the ground to intercept an incoming Flutter Mane. The poor thing didn't stand a chance against the Paradox Pokemon as the ghost latches onto the thing and utterly drains it of its life in a matter of seconds. Yet the scientist doesn't even blink as she steps to the side and snaps her fingers, Radon's tail whipping out and slamming the Pokemon of the past into the stone wall, she leans down and presses against a pressure plate on the floor and a row of spears eject from the wall and utterly skewer the ghost in one move.
[break][break]

+dorian westcliff

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

"Hell yeah I just impaled a ghost, why the hell wouldn't I be able to? Stop using that bullshit common sense and you can do anything you can imagine." And wasn't that just the perfect summary of Xenon's life? A woman who stopped believing in common sense and practicality, a woman who truly believed in herself more than any other, a woman who was assured of her future and never stumbled or looked back.
[break][break]
The Interdream Mist begins to dissipate and she scoffs, it seems the Ultramodern Paradox she was searching for had disappeared into the ether for now, leaving behind only these worthless carcasses in their place. "Radon, pick up the malformed Volcarona reject. I think Tempest Quinn was interested in studying these things for some reason, might as well earn some brownie points with the guy who decides my budget." Xenon shakes her head and turns around as her Scolipede lowers her tail to scoop up the corpse of the Slither Wing, only a passing glance thrown at Dorian and Infernape as she walks behind her partner.
[break][break]
"Well I'd say it's been fun, but I'm not one for ooey gooey talk about wives and how much you love them. But if you ever find a sick Ultramodern Paradox I haven't seen before, feel free to swing by the lab, I've got a project going that I'm sure you'd want first dibs on." She says as she throws the briefest of looks over at Dorian, reaching out an arm and flicking his hat off his head as he stands there in shock. "Your hat sucks by the way, total old man fashion. Sunglasses indoors are kickass though, so you're not the worst."
[break][break]

+dorian westcliff

[attr="class","pokeclass"]