The pit began to crumble under the weight of the battle waged in Grigori Sokolov's heart.

"YOU...!" Howard snarled as he pushed the older grunt down into the crumbling stone. The battle with Ogerpon was forgotten about. No time to perceive it. No time to remember it. No time to focus on it. He pushed the older man deeper into crumbling infrastructure. Grigori was strong. Inhumanly so. He could throw Howard like a rag doll if he wanted to, but he did not. "YOU FORGET YOURSELF. REMEMBER YOUR VOW, OLD MAN."

Grigori had promised to grow wings one day. Howard had too, once. Those dreams had been forgotten as they realized that their circumstances in life could not change. A vision flashed in his mind as he imagined his body dashed against the stone. Something that was bound to come true if he didn't.

This was one path that they'd walk. Together. Their wings had been clipped. Grigori's had been clipped thirty years ago. Howard never had wings to fly away with.

"You promised me..." Him. Poison coursed through his system like a plague. "...wake up. FLY."

The floor collapsed.

howard slayte and Grigori Sokolov flew.

When Howard hit the ground, he felt his back pop as something dislocated. When he attempted to move his left shoulder, he realized that was it. His fingers could move, but it was painful. Miserable. It reminded him of getting thrashed by jayden cross at the gym.

Pain. He could live with pain. Pain was the essence of life. It was proof that his heart was still beating.

He saw Eris Halla , Hideo Kino , and Cassandra Kubrick congregate around the sprite. He would've pointed and whooped if possible, but there was too much to do. Too many things to accomplish. Howard's gaze landed on a specific tube. His eye widened from beneath the mask. His soul curdled, died, and revived within the span of moments.

"Doug?" Howard's voice was a whisper. "Is that you?"

He did not dare to dream, but he did not dare look away. Slowly, he stumbled forward.

Past Azelf.

Past those reuniting with their Pokémon.

Past Laurence Whateley and Tempest Quinn . Past Shred and his mark.

Past Andrea Vaneau and Ogerpon. He stopped.

"Show them your toukon, Andrea." There were no other words to be shared.

He walked past them all. They did not matter in this precise moments. The context of their struggle were forgotten in favor of this particular moment. He did not care about the completion of a foretold prophecy. He did not care about the freedom of a deity.

All that mattered was a Bloodmoon Ursaluna sitting in front of him.

He felt his Toxic Chain begin to curdle and wilt under the effects of Azelf's power. His vision began to flicker and die out as he approached the Bloodmoon Ursaluna. His blessing was gone, and so soon? He should've been enraged. He wouldn't be able to foretell if Doug was a trap or a fake.

He did not care.

"Doug." The Toxic Chain wilted. "DOUG!"

"Grrr?"" The Bloodmoon Ursaluna yawned and gave him a side-eye. "Grrrr."

The Toxic Chain snapped as the Bloodmoon Ursaluna licked him.

"Hey, buddy." Howard gave the bear a hug as he felt his mask loosen. "Missed you."

---

DOUG IS BACK BABY
GRIGORI AND HOWARD FALL HARD
NICE WORK ANDREA
BEAR
BEAR
BEAR
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[attr="class","emapokemonteam"][attr="class","emapokemonteam"][attr="class","emapokemonteam"][attr="class","emapokemonteam"][attr="class","emapokemonteam"][attr="class","emapokemonteam"][newclass=".emapokemonteam"]height:40px;width:40px;background:#2b2b2b;border-radius:100%;margin:0 5px;[/newclass]

"Uh, I think that's- uh, don't sweat it," Cass replies to Ettie remarks her smell, not connecting it to her purple-ing skin, but the fact that she still sniffs garbage smell coming from her, given the ability her toxic chain granted her.

She is surprised that the other teen actually joins with her, but nods - in absence of her dearest friends, she does value some company as she rushes towards the most disgusting water slide of her life time. And while she can avoid any injuries from the stealth rock due to her ability's clarity, she can only barely dodge Nihilego that suddenly appeared next to her, brushing her arms, leaving them with burning sensations.

The fleshy feeling around her as she descends after Ettie's O.K. is ... truly an experience that she'll have a hard time forgetting. The "dark slide" of the water park is definitely off-limits forever now, as well. Shortly after Ettie, she lands in the pool of cold, green liquid - and frowns, but doesn't dare opening her mouth until she's escaped it, following after Ettie and following that pull. It's softened now that she's down, leaving room in her headspace to make use of the other part of the clarity that poison gives her.

The sight of the breeding pit is ... unnerving. And confirming. Suspicions that have lingered in the back of her mind are now made manifest, and she feels a bit of a relief about that. Now, the threat is imminent. Now, the threat feels real. The pokémon here are ... duplicated. The Toxic Chains just like the ones she's seen outside of these green-liquid confinements ... and she swallows, her throat dry.

Who ... was freed from the toxic chains?

But she has no way of telling if the breakable toxic chains back then are the same as here. Or if maybe, the ones here are made to last. Like they simply did trial runs before. Would you still love me if I was a clone?

She focuses up at Ettie's call, and sees her depart in the direction of a Lycanroc. Right, she's so close- she can't let herself be distracted. She now finally takes off the loosely hanging mask, but still holds onto it. Her finger presses into the spot where she's collected her tears before, and she runs. The pull is still here, even if it is frayed now - maybe one of them is poison-tinged, but ... she moves onward, soon finding herself running into the same direction as Hideo Kino and Eris Halla . And there they are.

Azelf.

She feels like she's left all alone with her thoughts now, without the delirious singsong in her mind now that she's reached her goal - a goal. But she feels it connected to her pokémon, too, who are, somewhere, trapped. Her eyes are then drawn to the two younger teens with her, who both display a glowing mark all of a sudden - there's something going on, and Cass feels incredibly confused by everything. Nonetheless, she'd hover with her hands over Eris, wondering if it'd be good to touch her. "Hey, it'll be alright," she whispers this and other sweet nonsense, trying to calm her down.

And then. A voice. In her mind.

"WILL AWAKENS TO CURE THE SICKNESS, WHEN ALL ARE KNOWN. WITNESS THE WILL OF THE WEAK. THE WILL OF THE RIDICULED. THE WILL OF THE UNLOVED."

Her hands are balled to fists so tight that her knuckles turn white, as she stands rigid - only for a moment more. Green goo is blasted in her face as Azelf bursts the tube with all the will they mustered, and she quickly turns away, using the mask in her hand as a way to "shield" herself. And there, glancing at her hands holding the mask, she notices it. Light skin met with where she, indeed, actually, has turned purple. So no hallucination.

"You're purple and covered in green goo. Bad combination."

As the poison is purged from their systems, as they all are now truly freed from the Toxic Chains, she sees it flicker for a moment. A painful fantasy echoing within her. It's what she dreams of, wakes from with tears in her eyes. What would you do? And then it's gone, like such a dream.

Azelf's fall distracts Cass from how not all of the purple fades from her. Seeing that Eris got Azelf caught, she looks around. Pokémon start emerging from their tubes, but curiously, the toxic chained versions do not move ... She thinks of Trubbish eyes. Her Jon's eyes. Hostile towards her. She still feels affection like sorrow, deeply carved into her brain.

"Yes," she agrees with Eris, snap back - but ... there's nothing she could do. She doesn't let it show, however, giving Eris and Hideo a thumbs-up in the most dire times, "We'll make it." Even with the poison washed away from her, her mind feels clear. She's about to continue speaking some nonsense to sound she has a plan as two things happen at once.

Mesprit appears and uses Wish.

Pit, pat, pitter, patter ... She almost collapses into tears on the spot as her eyes finally land on the trash bag she's been looking for for weeks it feels like, looking disoriented and determined as ever. He's soon picked up by friendly claws, as her Fletchinder Effie helps to get him to Cass faster. Cass only sees the yellow shadow of her Emolga Saude briefly, exchanging information with Effie before hurrying elsewhere. They probably broke out amongst the first, she thinks before fully weeping as she buries her face in plastic, warm, stinky and alive. And she feels him wiggling in her arms. Small, determined creature. "I can't ... you can't Pain Split with me, silly," she laughs and sobs, seeing as he seems to try his damnest. Never in her life has anything felt so right.

Unbeknowst to her, her Charcadet Delilah and Tinkatuff Sona have answered Ettie 's and Anne's Call of the Pack, followed by her Comfey Martin. The trio has no idea what happened, but Saude has briefly stopped by them to fill them in on some details, and they quickly go to find Thea Naito and Knight Naito 's pokémon. They'd try to quickly explain, but frankly, both Del and Sona suck at it and just keep pointing upwards. Martin's doing a slightly better job, but even he is a bit at a loss. Admittedly, Saude, in the first place, hasn't been too detailed before rushing off back to Effie.

She smiles as Ettie stops nearby, too, reaching out a hand to her. She's relieved to see that her other pokémon are with them, too, feeling the last bits of tension finally fade from her body. "Uh, yeah, back to the pack." She lingers a bit awkwardly around Azelf, Eris and Hideo, pointing at Ettie, "Oh, uh, do you wanna come with?" she asks, but also looks at Ettie if she'd allow that. She still isn't sure what happened, but the words linger in her mind.

She can't stay for much longer here, even if her eyes are also drawn towards where Jon has emerged. (A Toxic Chained Trubbish, just like Jon.) However, she has to see if her friends are safe. ... that is until something unexpected happens. She sees jayden cross in the distance, as he seems to move to attack - Eris?! She squeezes Jon in her arms tighter, her head whipping around to see the child and Azelf, unconscious-

"EFFIE!" she shouts, bewildered still, but determined. "-Tailwind!" And the Fletchinder leaps into action, as agile and quick as ever. Her Gale Wing beat creating the Tailwind is like a hurried heart beat, pumping adrenaline through the body - empowering, bordering on dizzying as she flies to soften the blow, divert it, disperse it.

IhFGGkLG

tl;dr flesh tube > breeding pit
- enters the flesh tube after ettie
- parts with ettie, makes her way towards azelf and joins up with hideo and eris
-- ponders the nature of clones, wondering if chained mons from before/pp threads were clones or original
- confused what's happening with azelf/eris/hideo, gets blasted by goo as azelf frees itself
-- impacted by azelf's words & peaceful hoenn vision, clenches fist
- pretends to have a plan (lying), then fully collapses as she sees jon as mesprit shows up
- effie delivers jon to cass, who weeps and hugs him tight
- del, sona & martin are briefed by saude and start gathering thea and knight's pokémon, join up with ettie and her pack
- as ettie shows up, saddles up as well, extending the offer to eris/hideo/azelf if allowed by ettie
- sees jayden going for an attack
- MAIN ACTION effie uses tailwind (empowered by gale wings?) to try and thwart jayden's attack

toxic chain ability: with you to

SPOILER: Click to show

toxic chain ability: with you to cass smells like a trash bag (lol) close-up and floral hues farther away. there's faint, flickering illusions around her, mirroring her team before this happened. while still fighting against physical and mental exhaustion and despair, persevering's a tad bit easier on herself at the moment as she has a smelly reminder of herself and who she still is missing, giving her a clear goal. she is more nimble and speedier, allowing her to progress faster.
if allowed, she feels a pull into "the right direction" - either to azelf to help (or even her pokémon).

[googlefont=Rubik Burned]In hindsight, maybe throwing yourself down the mysterious flesh tube wasn't your brightest idea. As you splash and sink into the vat, the change from burning heat to chilling cold delivers and unpleasant shock to your body, forcing a gasp of pain out of you. Immediately, the strange green fluid rushes through your open mouth and into your throat, and that gasp is soon followed by a choke.

You struggle. You thrash and flail in an attempt to swim back to the surface, to no avail. Oh, God... This is it, isn't it? You're gonna die. All that struggle and survival and humiliation and heroism and endurance and escape, only to drown in a few feet of fluid mere moments before you can claim your freedom? Is this really how it ends?!

No. Thankfully.

But, eventually, after the most torturous minute of your life, you stop trying to move up and instead move down. You push your way through the membrane, like a larvae ripping through its egg, and spill out onto the floor. "Birthed". Or, maybe "discharged"?

Whatever the case, you're cold and miserable and tired and hurt and your wounds are drenched in some kind of horrid amniotic fluid. But, you're not dead. Yet.

To that end, you spend the next few minutes retching and hacking and coughing. Bile, blood, and green goo alike are dredged from your body and pour out on the floor. All your injuries are finally catching up to you. Even if you aren't dying, it feels like you are. As the last gout of sick bursts from your mouth, you slump down to the ground and lay there for a moment...

...You think... You're going to pass out now...

...

...

...

"omg (°ロ°) mr shred!!!"

...

...

...Or maybe you can keep going, just a little longer.

"...Meltan?"

"youre hurt (º □ º l|l) we need to go find mr slowbro and--"

You interrupt the hex nut as you pull him into the most sincere hug you've ever given in forty-one years.

"m-mr shred (¯ . ¯;) are you crying?"

"No... J-jus got some stuff in my eyes, is all..."

It's the ugliest you've ever cried. Perhaps the ugliest that anyone has ever cried. As the tears fall down your burnt face, they wash away what little mystique you might have had. It certainly isn't a sight that's becoming of a Rocket Beast. But, fuck it. Just this once, just for a few seconds, you don't have to be Shred Zeppelin. You can just be you.

But eventually, the time for you passes, and as the Toxic Chain fades from your neck, you pull yourself to your feet. Something malicious burns in your eyes. The same look that annalise henderson and june sleigh saw back in the Great Chasm.

You step into the dark room full of Megalopolans barren, and step out fully armed. Bandages crudely wrapped around you skin, Pokeballs by your waist, Mega Medallion around your neck and Tera Orb in hand, with Meltan on your shoulder and Walking Wake by your side. Emboldened by the sight of one of its oh-so-distant cousins Dynamaxing, the Paradox Pokemon lets out a raccuous Dragon Cheer, stoking the dragonfire of those that share its mythic ancestry. And though you are no dragon, it stokes the fire within you, too.

You raise an orichalchum-marked arm up to the crumbling ceiling. Funny - Even though several floors and a thousand feet separate you from the false sun, it still feels so close. As though it's still shining above you, even now. The mere thought of it makes your bronze-burnt fingers twitch.

It's time--

"CYLLORA!"

You clench your hand into a fist, and imagine the shadow of the Toxic Chain being burnt away by the shining heat of an apex star.

"COME DOWN HERE AND MEET YOUR MAKER!"

--TO FINISH WHAT YOU STARTED.

---

TL;DR - Shred reunites with his Meltan, has an :ureshii: moment, gears up, preps for the oncoming raid boss fight with a Walking Wake Dragon Cheer, and does something unique and intriguing :salmonsmirk:
Lulu Flint
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