What did Elisabeth know of gods, in truth?[break][break]

Only that they hungered.[break][break]

As the underboss watched jayden cross beat and bloody himself against the pristine white snow, she wondered what pound of flesh Chien-Pao had exacted from its Avatar. The Ruinous Beasts were different than other patrons, that much she understood. Even Tapu Fini held her at a further distance, one that didn't fully abate even when Wo-chien's influence lessened over her.[break][break]

She'd quietly observed others existed with far more harmonious bonds than their own. Lugia and Cillian Quinn. Xerneas and bryan delarosa. Even declan walsh and Darkrai. Rare was the Avatar burdened with such an exacting toll on their psyche; she could only count MATIAS SILPH among their number, and even then, it was the Primal Energy that consumed him so thoroughly, not Groudon.[break][break]

Or so she assumed. And it was dangerous to assume anything of the divine, as she was quickly learning.[break][break]

"Adequate," she said in response to his question. Her tone came out clipped and stern, exhaled with a frosty puff of air. "And how do you feel, Cross?"[break][break]

She examined him warily, expecting something to be amiss. What that 'something' was, however, she still wasn't sure.

[attr="class","ooc"] jayden cross PENELOPE LIVY[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Elisabeth stared at the welling red droplets that wept in jayden cross's wake, but said nothing.[break][break]

"You're tense," she commented instead, emerald eyes flitting over him as he panted. "If you need to release a wider range of attack, there's nothing here to stop you." She idly gestured a hand to the wide open expanse of white. "Do as you need."[break][break]

No one had looked over her during that first act of her Avatarship. Not that she'd have listened or welcomed such mentorship, but Elisabeth still remembered the loneliness of that time acutely, and how that loneliness had been answered for by a voice that grew louder and louder in her own head by the day.[break][break]

The faintest hint of concern colored her final words. "You have shown admirable restraint, but you can let go now."[break][break]

Overhead, her Mandibuzz kept silent watch from the barren treetops for intruders. The vulture's eyes narrowed at the sight of the distant redhead, feathers bristling at the sense of foreboding danger, and it released an ugly cawing sound in warning.[break][break]

Elisabeth froze in place, glancing over her shoulder to see the advancing figure.[break][break]

"Cross," she warned, and this time his name rang with the sharp whip of a command as she reached for a Pokeball at her belt. "We have company."

[attr="class","ooc"] jayden cross PENELOPE LIVY[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

The snowstorm surrounding jayden cross sprawled out to terrifying proportions, and though it should have concerned Elisabeth most, the reaction of the redhead approaching them concerned her far more.[break][break]

All sanity seemed to have fled the councilwoman at the sight of her chosen nemesis. If anything, PENELOPE LIVY seemed to relish the idea of challenging Elisabeth in such unfavorable conditions.[break][break]

How quickly had Chi-yu turned Penelope mad? Had the League noticed it as quickly as Rocket had noticed it in Elisabeth? That question went unanswered as magma bubbled up at the base of the wintry tornado, casting frozen debris about.[break][break]

A GUST from Elisabeth's Mandibuzz sought to mitigate the damage, though the arrival of the Talonflame soon drew the avian's attention, turning the blustering winds its way to hopefully deflect the impact of the HEATWAVE.[break][break]

Emerald eyes glanced back to her fellow admin, to the red droplets that stained the ground beneath his feet. A moment's calculation preceded the Pokeball that she released next, an Aromatisse arriving at her side. Without a word, MISTY TERRAIN blanketed their surroundings, reminiscent of the BERSERK FOG that she'd wielded to escape the councilwoman on Mirage Island.[break][break]

"You're alone, Livy, and there are two of us. You're outnumbered. Desist now before you get outclassed."[break][break]

She kept her voice calm and level, silently panicked about the state of the man next to her. How viable was he in real battle? How much had Penelope advanced in power since Elisabeth had last fought her?[break][break]

The lack of Wo-chien and the frustrating unpredictability of Tapu Fini left her more reliant on her companion than she'd like.

[attr="class","ooc"] jayden cross PENELOPE LIVY[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Elisabeth's eyes flickered for a moment with an ochre hue, irritated despite herself at the other woman's taunts. "I knew you were overconfident, but I didn't realize you were so short-sighted."[break][break]

She resisted the impulse to summon her own Ruinous patron over such petty reasoning, though. She wouldn't succumb to that mental degradation for PENELOPE LIVY, of all people. She refused.[break][break]

Her Aromatisse acted first as the wall of stone barreled her way, retaliating with a MOONBLAST that sought to break apart the rock into smithereens. The MISTY TERRAIN bolstered the strength of the already impressive strike, making for a decisive lunar implosion that sent tremors out in all directions.[break][break]

Without realizing it, Elisabeth found herself stepping closer to jayden cross, her role as mentor becoming far more intimate and urgent than she'd anticipated. If he'd allow it, she'd briefly let a hand alight on his shoulder, squeezing it with reassurance.[break][break]

The irony of her guiding a man like this, Rocket-bred and Kanto-trained, wasn't lost on her. She had no formal training in combat until joining Rocket two years ago.[break][break]

But surviving a gradual loss of sanity was something she'd practiced at for a decade.[break][break]

"You play at offense," she murmured to him, her words a whisper on the air, "and I will support you however you need. Say the word, and I will grant it."[break][break]

Then as she abruptly built distance between them again, her Mandibuzz dived towards the Talonflame with BRAVE BIRD, shrieking as it dove before the piercing sunlight with beak and talons bared.[break][break]

"You should listen to my companion," Elisabeth said then, raising her voice so the councilwoman could hear her. "You picked your timing poorly. Leave, Livy."[break][break]

We can kill each other another day.

[attr="class","ooc"] jayden cross PENELOPE LIVY[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"White Knight?" Elisabeth repeated, choking back an incredulous laugh. If anything, the man in front of them right now was a white wolf, and she was tasked to be his ill-equipped handler.[break][break]

She understood the nature of their patrons enough to know only a thin line of restraint prevented him from turning on her as readily as he did PENELOPE LIVY.[break][break]

Wincing, she glanced down at the frostbite that still stung her fingertips, curiously leaving behind a faint white scar in the stellar dendrite design of a snowflake. She buried her hand in her jacket for warmth, turning to glimpse jayden cross out of the corner of her eye.[break][break]

A manic look had entered his flecked blue eyes, crazed in its bloodlust and HATRED as his hair became blinding snow-white. She recalled the blood in the snow, and immediately gestured to her Aromatisse.[break][break]

The HEAL PULSE from her Fairy-type abruptly manifested, not around Elisabeth, but instead around the Rocket admin as he faced down the councilwoman with all the fury of a raging blizzard. He needed to remain strong, upright, and fighting.[break][break]

He didn't understand his limits yet.[break][break]

Her Mandibuzz swooped low, a DARK PULSE rippling out in black energies to strike towards the Talonflame with a shrill cry.

[attr="class","ooc"] jayden cross PENELOPE LIVY[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]