nikola grinds their teeth, resenting the fact that they're being treated like nothing more than an errand lackey at the moment. sure, someone has to come collect the data from other labs-- it's not safe to send it any other way-- but why does it have to be them? they'd rather be hard at work, not showing their face to any shmuck who happens to see them running around, collecting files.

as nikola is grouching, another research assistant here is returning from the makeshift bathroom in the back. she happens to pass by a window, and she sees an unfamiliar face there... hurriedly, she runs off, trying to find the nearest alarm to smash, aware she'll likely be pursued.

she rushes past nikola, who has their mask on, a hood up, and is otherwise indistinguishable from the other assistants here. they turn, curious, toward the hallway the woman just ran from...

[ Josh Devlin ]

It seemed though the researchers inside the lab were on edge. Had he already been spotted? The longer he observed, the more it appeared to be the case. He was running out of time to catch the lab staff before they packed up, the requested evidence disappearing with them.

Sighing as Janus gently lowered him back into the psychic-type's saddle, Josh clicked the switch on his Cherish Ball. From it emerged a Gouging Fire, small for its kind but not petite. "Entei, we gotta make an entrance. Break in with your BURNING BULWARK." Radiating enough heat to make Josh sweat, the fire-type dragon lowered his crest and galloped toward the large garage door with the speed his trainer was well-known for. The first impact left a huge dent, its metal heating up quite a bit. The second knocked the door off one of its tracks, its metal twisting in a loud, distinct crash.

"Mauville Leader Devlin!" Josh called out from his Espeon's back, flashing his Gym Leader credentials. "We can make this easy, or we can make this hard. Law Enforcement is already on the way. Stand down now, or I can't guarantee Entei will play nice with you!" The Gouging Fire was no Entei, but he mirrored many physical details of Kyle's Beast.

by the time josh comes crashing in, the alarm has already been sounded. the researchers are scurrying around, frantically trying to collect what they can before they make their escape. when the gouging fire makes its appearance, though, everyone pauses, in awe of the beast. then they flee towards the back door, prioritizing their life over their research.

it's nikola, or rather "samsa" who stands alone. their heart sinks in their chest. somehow they knew it would come to this eventually, but why did it have to be so soon? should they run as well, or will they stand their ground so the others can make their escape, hopefully preserving at least some of the data they've collected?

they make a decision, even if it's a stupid one. they always thought they'd challenge josh at the gym, so they'd made notes on his battle style and strategies. reaching into a pocket, they withdraw a pokeball, and click the button. in a flash of light, a garchomp appears, standing between them and the paradox entei.

"sandstorm." they disguise their voice as well as they can, making it go deeper, and then... in a whirl of sand, their figure becomes obscured as well. i don't need to beat him. i just need to buy some time.

[ Josh Devlin ]

Nikola may have taken notes on Josh's battle strategy as it was, but his Champion Assessment had forced that to change for the better. Though speed was still his forte, Josh had some new tricks up his sleeve. Smokescreen and Sandstorm were common moves that the unscrupulous used to mask their getaways. Depriving them of that tool would make it easier for the Champion to use his extreme speed to chase them down.

"Entei, SUNNY DAY!" Josh cried over the swirling sands. Entei's tall crest glowed bright reds, yellows, and oranges, the sandstorm giving way to borderline hazardous heat. Perhaps the only flaw in Josh's plan was the haze forming from the excessive heat, making the entire lab area waver like a desert mirage. PROTOSYNTHESIZING in the bright sunlight coming in through the front door, the already fast Gouging Fire could dash just as fast as his legendary counterpart.

Under his watch, NIKOLA SAMSA would not be escaping so easily.

nikola grits their teeth as the interior of the building is lit up by a faux sun. sand veil will now be useless, and their cover is blown. the only thing to do is stand and fight, and hope to find a way to weasel out before they're defeated. they have no delusions that they might be able to defeat josh at full power, after all, despite their training.

"...fine." the only part of their face visible is their eyes, which they fixate on their opponent. it's an expression josh will never have seen on nikola, and yet there might still be something familiar here... "use bulldoze, then." they can't use dig if they're not on the ground level, which is a shame.

terra rushes forward, incredibly fast despite her bulk. head and shoulders down, she charges toward josh's gouging fire.

[ Josh Devlin ]

Josh smirked; he had NIKOLA SAMSA exactly where he wanted them. The heat surrounding Entei had risen to uncomfortable levels. The ancient Beast's presence may have been overwhelming for the researcher, his crown glowing a brilliant red. "Now Entei, RAGING FURY!" the Champion ordered, the facsimile of the Beast of Fire zooming headlong toward the Gabite with not one shred of fear.

Were their reckless charges to collide with one another. the incredible force would not only cause the briefly stunned Entei to shake his head, but Josh himself to be thrown backward in Janus' saddle. It was only the Espeon's psychic hold over the ailing Gym Leader that kept him from falling and banging his arm up even more. Were the Gabite to remain in melee range, Entei would continue his RAGING FURY, bucking, kicking, and writhing to crush the smaller dragon under its weight.

they're being met head-on. this does not make them happy, as the gouging fire's raging fury bears down upon their garchomp. even with damage being halved thanks to the type advantage, they can tell their pokemon won't last long. even so, they're not going to give in. around them the lab is still in a frenzy, with some of the more pragmatic researchers backing up and saving their data so they can escape with it. nikola is the only thing standing between salvation and the data being lost forever. data people and pokemon had already suffered for, data they could use if they can just manage to distract josh long enough for most of the researchers to escape.

for all intents and purposes, they have to appear as if they're trying to beat him, rather than stall for time.

terra gets knocked back by the entei's assault, but she stands her ground. "dragon rush!" we'll just have to fight fire with fire. their garchomp begins a headlong rush, thrashing everything in her way, putting out a few small fires left by the entei as she goes.

[ Josh Devlin ]

If Josh couldn't recover the Rocket's experiential data, then he could at least make sure no one had it. With how trashed the lab was at this point, it was his best hope; he couldn't get in a prolonged conflict with NIKOLA SAMSA due to his arm still being on the mend.

The Gabite's DRAGON RUSH was met with a DRAGON RUSH of Entei's own. The holy energy traveled down the Gouging Fire's crown, the Beast-like paradox writhing in pain and collapsing shortly after. "Entei, you did an amazing job. Come back," Josh complimented the fire-type, returning him to his Ball.

their garchomp falls to the ground with a massive thump. nikola swears as they withdraw her. they have something of a plan, but it requires getting close enough to josh to surprise him... for now, they'll call on their scizor, the steel type appearing with a flash of light in front of them. "iron defense!" they command, and incisus hardens his outer shell. he stands between josh and nikola, not making a move but glaring at their opponent.

and nikola takes a step forward. "the data already exists!" they cry out. "look around you! the pain and suffering that was endured here... i can make something of it! i can turn it back around into a net positive!" they throw their arms out, gesturing to the lab as it burns. a bead of sweat rolls down their forehead. "do you want it to be for nothing!? everything that happened, you're just throwing it away like it doesn't even matter!"

their voice is hoarse. they didn't realize how much they cared about this until they said it out loud. they take another cautious step, hands still out, not issuing a command for battle yet.

[ Josh Devlin ]

There was something about NIKOLA SAMSA 's voice that made the Rocket sound... familiar. He couldn't quite put his finger on it in the heat of the moment, but it would bother him after he had left, and for his whole trip back to Mauville. Josh and the Espeon he was seated on looked equally imposing, perhaps more so from being tall himself. "I feel all your team's hard work... but it's not my call to make. We would have much preferred to just seize this operation, but that's clearly no longer possible."

Perhaps people like Josh Devlin were one of the reasons the League-Rocket conflict existed: a blindly loyal dog that followed orders without question. No matter the atrocities he thought he was committing in the name of his missions, he could justify it in the name of the League. Perhaps from Rocket's perspective, this is what made him so dangerous... and on a twisted level, no different than them, just on the opposite side of the political aisle.

Plucking the RAINBOW FEATHER from his vest, the Gym Leader's glove reflected its scintillating glow. "I implore you. Back down. Please, don't make me use this."

the situation is getting out of hand. smoke fills the room, and if not for their mask, nikola would likely be having a coughing fit by now. something behind them can't take the heat and explodes, though thankfully it's a small enough explosion that it doesn't reach the two locked in battle. it'll get worse, soon enough. the equipment here wasn't made to withstand this sort of environment.

nikola takes another couple of steps forward. "at least tell me your name," they implore, as if they don't already know it. their fingers itch to grab their shiinotic's pokeball, but they don't like the look on josh's face. whatever that thing is that he holds in his hand... how dangerous could it be? one wrong move and they could get busted, here and now, before they've even had a chance to make progress.

another plan forms in their mind, one much safer than their previous one. they just have to wait for a bit of a distraction...

[ Josh Devlin ]

It didn't look like Nikola would back down, their two steps forward implying they still had plenty of fight and willpower in them. They even demanded his name. And his name they would get as he began to draw the Sign with the RAINBOW FEATHER's quill.

"Josh Devlin..."

Penning the Sign's first two strokes, the trail of ash the Feather left sparked white and yellow, as though it were being held in the air by static alone. Static that NIKOLA SAMSA may have been able to feel.

"Mauville Gym Leader, Master of Faster, and..."

Crossing over the top of the Sign with an extra long stroke, Josh finished drawing the Sign. A deafening, thunderous crash accompanied a bright flash of lightning, the silhouette of the tiger-Beast forming the only shelter from its brilliance. The light faded to reveal a snarling, monochrome Beast whose thundercloud was laced with high voltage.

"the Knight of Thunder."

now they draw back, the static in the air prickling on their skin. what have you done, josh? they wonder, horrified, watching in shock as he summons the beast. what have you become? he is now the ideal their research has been searching for all this time; a human, granted the powers of a pokemon. yet when confronted with it firsthand, they don't find themself marvelling as they thought they would. instead they're rooted in place, anxiety bubbling in their throat as they gaze at the person they once called a friend.

they snap themself out of it. "...very melodramatic," they comment acerbically. "and if you must call me anything, you may call me... kafka." but i'm not the only one who's changed here.

then it happens: they finally get the distraction they need. raikou's arrival delivers a burst of electricity that shorts out the remaining bulbs in the area. one by one, they shatter from the combination of heat and extra power coursing through them. quickly, nikola's hand finds a pokeball, pressing it with haste, releasing their typhlosion into the area.

a typhlosion josh would no doubt find familiar, given their rarity, but nikola doesn't have a choice.

"shadow sneak!" flammula's arms encircle them, and the two melt into the shadows, making their escape. i'll have to go through with changing my hair then, nikola thinks as they exit. it's too early yet for him to find me. when their work is done... they don't care what happens after that. whether they fall by rocket's hands, or the league's, it doesn't matter. just so long as they can finally see this project through, the thing they've suffered over for so long...

josh is left with only a trashed lab to look at.

[ Josh Devlin ]