Her Centiskorch blinked up in a daze as the rain halted before the DESOLATE LAND. Steam coalesced as the water evaporated, filling the area with a low-lying fog.[break][break]

She should know better than to confide such a weakness in a man like him. The stabs of self-rebuke came too late, only for his reply to confuse her for its calm nonchalance. Did he not think himself capable of being discarded in the same way?[break][break]

He truly believed himself invincible, she realized. Despite herself, she pitied him for how wrong he was.[break][break]

"Don't say things like that," she deflected instead, turning her back on him. "You shouldn't give anyone the power to take your life from you. Not me, and not anyone else."[break][break]

That didn't change the reality of the Red Shard in her pocket, and the downfall it promised for the man in front of her.[break][break]

"Never trust anyone else with your own survival."

[attr="class","ooc"] MATIAS SILPH

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"You want to concede to me?" she repeated, an eyebrow arched in disbelief. "Why on earth would you want that?"[break][break]

The strength of DYNAMAX came with disadvantages; an inability to avoid incoming attacks sat first and foremost at the front of those concessions. His Zoroark's NIGHT SHADE landed a decisive blow; smoke billowed out from the Centiskorch's nostrils in anger as it retaliated with a SLAM of its enormous body into the smaller Pokemon.[break][break]

She could feel his gaze on her, but part of her didn't feel comfortable facing him. The longer they spent in one another's company, the easier it got to be with him like this.[break][break]

Proximity breeds familiarity and contempt, she remembered hearing once, and she wondered how far they'd each ventured into the realm of either.[break][break]

A hand lost itself in her golden hair, fidgeting.[break][break]

"I don't even know what the middle ground looks like."

[attr="class","ooc"] MATIAS SILPH

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"I'm not sure I've ever heard you apologize," she realized aloud, and for some reason that brought a smirk to her lips. He certainly had plenty of things he could apologize to her for. Starting, perhaps, with his behavior that first day on Mt. Chimney that had continued on Mirage Island, later.[break][break]

How much of his violent outbursts could be attributed to the madness in his head? She didn't even know how to answer that question for herself and her own misdeeds.[break][break]

Pinned beneath the Centiskorch's coils, MATIAS SILPH's Zoroark was rendered unexpectedly prone: vulnerable to the vicious strike of a final blow. Elisabeth had been so distracted by their conversation, she was startled to find herself standing on the precipice of victory.[break][break]

As if afraid the moment would vanish far too quickly, she gestured at the Centiskorch to act; a definitive BITE moved to sink its unhinged jaw into the Zoroark's flesh.[break][break]

"Is there something you want from me?" she asked him suddenly. "Something you don't already have."[break][break]

It was a dangerous question, but concessions never came without strings.

[attr="class","ooc"] MATIAS SILPH

[attr="class","pkmn"]

The urge to correct him overwhelmed her, but she bit back her tongue, even though all of her burned with silent indignation: You have no idea how difficult my love is to earn.[break][break]

Love rendered you defenseless and weak to manipulation. To be in love with MATIAS SILPH would be a terrifying and unwanted fate.[break][break]

Which was why he'd never know that vulnerable part of her. She vowed it.[break][break]

Distance built between the Centiskorch and the Zoroark as the latter pushed back with a PSYCHIC burst, and in that sliver of time, the large centipede began to diminish in size. The Bug-type's segmented body dwindled back to its previous height, no longer towering above them like some monstrous calamity as it SLAMMED back into its opponent.[break][break]

"What do you mean by a date? Isn't something like this sufficient enough?"

[attr="class","ooc"] MATIAS SILPH

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"I'm almost afraid to ask what you think is romantic."[break][break]

The FLAMETHROWER was absorbed into the Centiskorch's FLASH FIRE, feeding into the INFERNO that hissed out from its clicking mandibles towards the giggling Ghost-type.[break][break]

Both Pokemon seemed worn to their final breaking points, but exhilarated by the battle. If this was how Matias fought without putting as much effort forward, it didn't bode well to imagine what a fight against one of his actual military-trained Pokemon might be like.[break][break]

She bit her lip, considering that and countless other concerns before she regarded him again.[break][break]

"And how would you even manage something like that, considering our respective infamy?"

[attr="class","ooc"] MATIAS SILPH

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"Your sarcasm is noted," she answered him flatly, almost missing the moment that her Centiskorch emerged the decisive victor. When she withdrew it back into the Pokeball, she couldn't help but wonder how much of their little duel had been him humoring her, or him trying to actually test her ability. "You could always be the disguised party, you know. I'm influential in Sootopolis."[break][break]

She mulled over his request, shuffling her feet uneasily. In the distance, she could see flares of electricity crackle in the air, likely the result of all the Dynamaxed Pokeon at the Vital City Tournament. An event like that felt far away to her, as impossible to enjoy as it might have been several years ago, albeit for different reasons.[break][break]

"I don't really do dates," she began, gaze sliding back to the ground.[break][break]

She hadn't at least in some time. And when she'd done so in Hoenn, they'd always been a lie. She'd played the part of a mild-mannered florist and fresh young widow, determined not to expose the miserable and cruel person lurking underneath that persona.[break][break]

To some degree, this date would be a lie too, just like it had ultimately been with FERNANDO SILPH and GIDEON GRAVES -- a crueler lie even, because she intended to actively cause MATIAS SILPH harm.[break][break]

"What are you asking for, exactly? To take me to dinner?"[break][break]

She genuinely couldn't picture what he wanted from her. He frankly didn't seem the type to care about things like this.

[attr="class","ooc"] MATIAS SILPH

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"Where would we even go? You're under surveillance," she reminded him. "Won't someone notice the company you're keeping?"[break][break]

Once more they were caught in the rain, and she sighed out the last of her protests as she pulled her wet hair out of her face. A shiver passed through her, and she cursed under her breath at the lack of shelter around them. All these wide open spaces left nowhere to hide from the storm.[break][break]

"To be honest, I wasn't sure what someone like you even considers a date. Dinner is surprisingly normal."[break][break]

Though come to think of it, they'd never actually dined with one another. That strange picnic on Mt. Chimney felt like a lifetime ago, and it had ended in them trying to kill one another. Drinking wine on his couch wasn't exactly a proper meal either.[break][break]

She pulled her jacket over herself as a makeshift umbrella, peering up at him from under it.[break][break]

"Though it'd have been strange if you asked me out dancing or something, I suppose."

[attr="class","ooc"] MATIAS SILPH

[attr="class","pkmn"]