she has barely slept. she has eaten because tsubaki ensures she has eaten. with kyle gone, the threat of an attack from rocket is imminent. there are too many cities to fortify, too many people to protect, and too many duties that need to be carried out. and she is but one of a handful trying to keep ever grande together. 

there is a somber air surrounding ever grande. freya had almost called off the training session with desiree, but now more than ever do they need trainers fit for the fight ahead.

running several minutes late after their latest council meeting, freya has a cold cup of coffee in hand by the time she finally rounds the corner. she blinks when she sees desiree, checks her watch, grimaces, and apologizes as she approaches. 

"hope you weren't waiting long. let's get started." pleasantries are not top of mind as she opens the door to the training room that currently houses diancie. 

DESIREE BLOOMS

☉

once they're through the door, she raises her coffee to her lips and assesses desiree's pokemon, noting with some interest a tucking of something in the teravolt artist's purse. she doesn't dwell on it, thinking it a mega stone or some other combat device to help against the rock princess that awaits them at the far end of the room.

the legendary (thankfully) waits where it usually stays, lifting itself up into the air at the sight of the two trainers. it cocks its head at desiree and then giggles amicably, waving a small gray hand in greeting. 

the pokemon taking an offensive stance in front of it makes it twirl in a circle; the brilliant diamond glittering on its crown glows and fractures of light glance off of it, spinning around it in a diamond storm.

"what legendaries have you found yourself up against, desiree?" she says, cutting her gaze away from the pokemon and to the other woman. 

DESIREE BLOOMS

☉

"it's still more than most people have claimed in their lives," she says after desiree rattles off her list. at this point, freya doesn't know how many battles she's walked away from, but the statement makes her think back to tapu fini's open palm, promising a chance of destruction. wo-chien, considering her with drool draped down its sides. 

psychic energy combats the fae and those diamond bullets, while unable to be cut through by the leaves, are sent askew. freya raises an arm reflexively and steps neatly to the side to ensure she doesn't catch any strays as they spray the field around her. 

diancie, seeings its attack had been deflected, blinks curiously and bursts out in a fit of giggles. it then curtsies as though gesturing for the follow-up. 

"humans are predictable. they, to a certain extent, are not. so yes, i think they're fearful," she says. 

"we trust them too easily, i think."

DESIREE BLOOMS

☉

diancie grins widely and swings her mineral dress from side to side as though to say i would never dare underestimate you! the field warbles and freya's hairs stand on end; psychic energy radiates first from desiree's pokemon and then from the diancie. sparks fly from the tumbled stones on her side as she meets the psychic with a fervent psyshock of her own.

"maybe there is a universe like that out there," she says. would it bring them solace to know that? or would it just make it all the worse that they aren't that universe? doomed to struggle on. 

at the question, her lip curls. she thinks immediately to the offered hand of tapu fini, mist coiling around her, a blessing waiting to be drunk greedily from her palm. she scorned her that day and the power that could have been hers was used against her. 

half a dozen of her dragons' bones rest at the bottom of the sea because of it.

her first impulse almost escapes her, but she recalls the day rayquaza came unto her, freezing human in their arms and a look that said help. they bow upon the woman she adores loves, but they try their best not to break her. there is a tenderness there, so unlike a god. latios and latias were much the same around angelo - playful, mirthful spirits, wanting only their freedoms.

"some," she says tightly. "some i would trust, but i've seen the way it changes people. undoes them." makes them want and hunger and lose sight of themselves and think only more, more, more. her tongue feels thick. she blinks away the memory of her teeth pressed into fernando's palm, pink haze around her. 

"your hatterene is winning," she says, awkwardly shifting the conversation.

DESIREE BLOOMS

☉

a couple of quick blinks bat away the rest of the feelings curdling in her belly; remnants of resentment skitter back into their cracks. there is raw power in the diance, there's no denying that, but it lacks direction. it lacks the tutelage of a guiding hand, a veritable trainer to filter directionless aims. 

and this battle is proof of that. desiree's hatterene is a worthy opponent, there's no doubt about that, but with strategic precision the diancie's defenses have already been burrowed through.

her nose twitches. 

"it's unusual. one of our previous scientists grew it in a garden." it had used some of the blue mulch scattered around the dyna tree, but that's as much as she knows off the top of her head. "and chose him as its avatar."

and now he's gone. like everyone else.

the psychic battle is won. diancie's starry display fizzles out and it lowers back to the ground, sweeping an arm graciously in front of itself as though bowing towards des and her pokemon.

DESIREE BLOOMS

☉