SHOOT THE MESSENGER

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WITH AGE COMES EXPERIENCE. and, with his infinite wisdom, fernando has learned that there is no level of precaution that can account for infinite possibilities. it is the burden of the king to remain vigilant against would-be conquerors. for they only need to succeed once. impossible odds for anyone remotely human.

“…”

his body stills despite his attempt to move. a flex of his hamstrings, digging his heel into place, elicits a twitch at best. grinding teeth lock his jaw in place, open enough to breath, and murmur.

a surprise DISABLE proves too potent for him to ward off alone. once upon a time, it was one of his textbook plays. on the surface, he seems to surrender, pronounce veins burying themselves beneath pale, flushed skin.

“and what sin is that?”

[attr="class","spiralpee"]
cassidy
MAKE IT DOUBLE

her heart beats quickly and loud in her ears as she inches closer to the silph ceo. this felt too easy; fernando had walked into her trap, and cassidy had caught him. the possibility that he may somehow win this situation was not lost on her, superior in his vast experience and age.

admittedly, she was deeply afraid. her heart raced and she felt cold dread take hold of her feet, anticipatory. but despite that, her hands did not shake, and her breaths remained calm.

out of all the sins she could commit, this could be rather minor in the eyes of a god. but does the offense matter more of who she committed it against, rather than what? in this world, fernando silph was as venerated as a god could be, and elisabeth his underworld counterpart. he had the power to smite her if he wanted. but she still takes, doing as elisabeth had willed. her hands grab the minimized balls one by one. she wondered what pokemon were in them; it was rumoured that silph had pokemon trained by the league themselves, and she could not think of possibly controlling them if they were to be let out on accident.

silence stretches out before them before she decides to respond truthfully, despite the possibility of self incrimination. "larceny, mr. silph."

[attr="class","poketeam"]

FERNANDO SILPH

SHOOT THE MESSENGER

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“IN ANOTHER ERA–”

there is no fight. there is no resistance. despite the rationality of her fear, cassidy has laid down the perfect hook. and, on the other end, is a reeled up councilman, unable to flounder as he is picked clean like the prized trophy team rocket makes him out to be.

as she removes the last pokeball, she’ll notice the disparity in its weight. would fernando carry a spare ball on him during his travels?

the answer to her question echoes quietly in the alleyway. the sudden sound of soft, plopping steps grows louder as it approaches. years of training in saffron’s dojo renders the miniscule red strip almost impossible to perceive.

right on cue.

“–i would have your hands for that.”

[attr="class","spiralpee"]
cassidy
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she picks fernando silph of his pokeballs, dropping them one by one into her bag. but the last one was lighter than the others, without the heft of a pokeball inside its interior. she stares at it quietly, puzzled as she holds the final one in her hand.

and then she hears steps behind her.

cassidy inhales sharply. she looks behind her, but she could see nothing in the darkness, either too quick or invisible to the human eye. this was a situation she could not account for, a contingency with no backup plan.

she's left with a decision, one pokemon and two liabilities: the silph ceo and this unknown pokemon. and she needs to make one quickly. "vidya—DAZZLING GLEAM. behind us." she orders. she makes a hasty retreat and steps back, putting distance between them before the IMPRISON breaks from her ninetail's hold.

dazzling gleam is a net wide cast—was this pokemon quick enough to evade it?

[attr="class","poketeam"]

FERNANDO SILPH

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A DAZZLING GLEAM ILLUMINATES THE NIGHT. the KECLEON is revealed, thrown back by the sudden blast, burning across its scales as its pigmentation returns to a more suitable green. however, the pokemon struggles through, maw wide as its long tongue extends with a whip-like lash.

it aims straight for the bag. to dearm and disrobe. all it needs is to rustle it enough for any of them to activate.

and from the reaction, it does well enough, sidelined as it crashes into a nearby wall and into an open dumpster.

but at cassidy’s feet now serves fernando’s most trusted shield: his GLALIE. it spins upon being summoned, erecting a PROTECT out of habit, unaware of the situation but creating space as it always has.

fernando raises his arm.

“battle routine set!”

[attr="class","spiralpee"]
cassidy
MAKE IT DOUBLE

so it was a KECLEON after all. she should know better than to be caught off guard by the likes of such a devious pokemon, but even she could not account for everything. fortunately, dazzling gleam is enough to incapacitate it for now, as it lands itself into an open dumpster.

but now plans have entirely changed course, and she hears the signature click of a pokeball being opened.

cassidy turns right into a PROTECT—a spinning mass of ice and rock; she's lucky she didn't get caught in its teeth. dangerous nonetheless, it throws her body away from fernando and into the ground, her back crashing against cold concrete. she gasps as her breath is knocked out of her, fernando's stolen balls bouncing on the ground around her.

she hopes to the gods that they don't open.

there's no breath she can pull from; her voice becoming temporarily mute. if she were a better trainer, perhaps her pokemon would've exited their balls as easily as silph's. but loyalty came at a cost she wasn't willing to pay, her only true companion the ninetails at her side. vidya steps forward, deflecting away from the protect to cast a white MIST in the air, obscuring her from fernando's view.

buying time, it seemed, for the inevitable fight.

[attr="class","poketeam"]

FERNANDO SILPH

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“EXECUTE!”

now that his GLALIE is on the field, all it takes is the slightest tug of his sleeve to activate his SYGNA SUIT. the glow of his SYNC STONE bleeds out from underneath his clothing, contaminated by the transformation's light. the form of his business attire barely changes but the color schema dyes into an inverse of white and black.

together, they glare down their opponent’s last known location with cold impunity. his GLALIE floats backwards, staying close to fernando, as it releases a FREEZE-DRY to both solidify and trap whatever lay within the thick condensation.

[attr="class","spiralpee"]
cassidy
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time is of essence; the mist only grants them so much protection. she crawls backwards, quietly as not to divulge her location by sound. but in the time that she's moved, instead of an attack like she expects, silph emits a bright light, the only thing she can see in the white obscurant. she doesn't know what's changed, but she can sense that he's more dangerous than before, even with a single pokemon.

vidya moves. not to protect her trainer, but instead to finish the objective. she snatches an errant pokeball, shoving her snout into the bag for keepsaking. failure was not an option. both of them knew as such, and so safety was not a priority.

this of course, comes at a cost: the punishment in form of a freeze-dry. cassidy gasps as it crashes and freezes her foot into the ground. and then she coughs; the mist had frozen into thousands of ice crystals, shards embedding itself into her throat.

she curses under her breath. now exposed, she pivots to battle instead. cassidy throws a pokeball from her own personal belt; a PAWNIARD. it was inexperienced and had pitying odds against the glalie, but it would do as bait.

lithe and small, it drops in from above, the blade on its head headed straight for the glalie.

"IRON HEAD."

[attr="class","poketeam"]

FERNANDO SILPH

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NEUTRALIZING THE NEARBY MIST does not dispel its overall cover. the addition of the PAWNIARD proves an effective sleight of hand until it juts through the haze with a burst of agility. yet, despite this, the GLALIE does not falter or panic. it remains ice cold.

even when the opponent’s spine make a clean incision into its rock hard body. all that force embeds deep. a CRITICAL HIT. but none of that matters now that the pokemon is within physical reach. for GLALIE’S SHEER COLD is slow and hard to aim. that’s why it tethers the technique to its own body, ever frost threatening to swallow them both.

[attr="class","spiralpee"]
cassidy
MAKE IT DOUBLE

the impact of the pawniard's metal spine against rock and ice means that it's made an impact; she wonders how effective it really was for the young pokemon. but then the air drops a few more degrees, raising the bumps on her arms from the chill.

the mist that gathered in the far off distance must be the glalie's body. the pawniard attempts to dislodge itself, but the critical hit was both a blessing and a curse; now trapped, it was only a matter of time before the sheer cold took effect. too cold to move and function, it causes the pokemon to FAINT, its body dropping from the glalie, pale and frozen.

in that time, cassidy manages to pull her foot free from the ice, teeth chattering from the chill.

the mist begins to clear, and she gazes at the downed pokemon coldly, thinking its limp body too still to be alive. but upon closer inspection, she can see that it's still breathing, only barely. she was surprised. weak pokemon will naturally be culled, but this one had survived. so be it then. she leaves it on the floor regardless, mind pivoting to more pressing matters.

standing from her place, she decides to bring out her ZWEILOUS, not quite down for the count. the glalie's moves seemed to take advantage of close combat. "keep your distance." she mutters.

and she reasons, with two heads instead of one, shouldn't a HYPER VOICE be twice as loud?

[attr="class","poketeam"]

FERNANDO SILPH