She drowns in the silence amidst the gleaming strands of orange, yellow, and purple of twilight painting the route in a particularly beautiful evening hue. The glow of her holographic map stains the otherwise beautiful scene with stark white and blue. Little dots of red slowly blink the location of known patrols currently out and about. She was nothing but a lone dot amidst a slate gray background. The loneliness is unsettling, reminding her too much of her brief coma in a vast void of nothing.

Needless to say, she’s on edge. The stranger's voice that breaks the silence makes her jump, snapping shut the device and leaving her in the golden light of the setting sun. She spins around with a tight lipped, neutral expression. No hostility . . . yet.

But they do know how to push the right buttons.

“It’s not my place to interpret the will of the gods for you,” is what she offers as a response to their question. Vague, not a yes, nor is it a no. They won’t extract information from her that easily.

She slides back into the center of the route, standing between the adversary and Oldale, an indomitable defender of the innocent.

---

BARNABY FINCH

SPOILER: Click to show

+10MP per IC post (x1)
+50MP have an antagonistic exchange of dialogue between your character and another writer's character

Total: 60 MP

If this Rocket thought they could shake her faith, they would be sorely mistaken. No one held more steadfast to their beliefs than Eva Morales.

Hope. Light. Life.

Eva may not be physically menacing or even intimidating with battle prowess, especially now without her god or powers, but her ideals are notions that would never die. That would continue to inspire and bite back against their hateful organization.

She’s Rocket’s worst nightmare, an unsuspected wildcard, a beacon of hope and light and life that shines brighter when the darkness tries to consume her. It does so now, an uneasy sort of night coming too quickly, blotting out the colors from the sky.

“If being omnipotent is what makes a god then your logic is flawed,” she hums through the encroaching shadows, squinting as the shape of the stranger melts into the dark, “All gods bleed. No god is truly immortal.”

It feels heavier than it should; this strange darkness. Fatiguing, like she is swimming through water rather than moving effortlessly through air as her arm sinks down to the Pokeballs at her waist, “It’s their legacy that is immortal - and that’s something even you can’t kill.”

Eva smiles to herself, “I already am,” a pokeball breaks off from her belt with a faint click.

“What makes you so certain you’re the winning side?”

---

BARNABY FINCH

SPOILER: Click to show

+10MP per IC post (x2)
+50MP have an antagonistic exchange of dialogue between your character and another writer's character
+50MP showcase your own character's strength(s) meaningfully.
+50MP have your character self-doubt or cast doubt on another's confidence/allegiances/beliefs, etc.

Total: 170MP

There’s an eerie feeling to the overwhelming darkness. It’s unnatural, unpredictable. She can hear his voice, sense his presence near. Then, there’s something else more ominous. A monstrous presence snapping trees like twigs. An involuntary rush of adrenaline flares inside her, sending her heart racing and breaths coming shallow and fast. Her emerald eyes scan the darkness to no avail. It’s not until it wants its presence to be known that it materialized against the vast void of black.

It’s a familiar silhouette, a dark sibling of the phoenix from Kanto. On she had never seen with her own eyes before. Where Moltres represents rebirth and hope, this shadow of it manifests darkness, death, and hopelessness.

That’s how she feels standing there in nothingness with the magenta eyes of the malevolent pokemon burning into her. At that moment, she had never felt so . . . alone. So . . . Helpless. Hoenn really is a dangerous place for those without gifts.

“Ah!” she gasps in surprise as invisible fire licks at her bare skin. A heat quickly builds, burning and burning and burning until it forces her to her knees. She screams a groan of agony and defiance. It’s not until she squeezes her fists that she remembers she has a pokeball clutched in her hand. All she has to do is drop it.

Even the light from the HEAL BALL doesn’t penetrate the darkness, but a Gallade manifests beside her, nonetheless. He too feels the ethereal dark fire, the burning against his limbs. He acts without order, reading the dire nature of the situation and the legendary beast its master that oppresses them.

Blade’s arms cross, bathed in a pulsing energy, then swoop down to manifest a protective dome. The z-move builds and expands from its master to encompass the duo briefly.

SANCTUARY: a temporary, protective dome rises around all creatures within the vicinity of the user, protecting against all attacks including z-moves. within the dome, ongoing attacks and status conditions are neutralized briefly.

Light rips at the darkness, pushing it back enough to give her a sense of relief. He wouldn’t be able to hold it forever against the combined power of the two of them, but he didn’t need forever, just long enough to get her back on her feet.

---

BARNABY FINCH

SPOILER: Click to show

+10MP per IC post (x3)
+50MP have an antagonistic exchange of dialogue between your character and another writer's character
+50MP showcase your own character's strength(s) meaningfully.
+50MP have your character self-doubt or cast doubt on another's confidence/allegiances/beliefs, etc.
+50MP have your character "hit rock bottom" (their lowest point)
+50MP have your character be injured by another's pokemon directly or indirectly.
+50MP have your character learn something from the other character
+50MP involve the pokeballs of your pokemon in a meaningful way (e.g. type of pokeball described to reflect the pokemon or character, damaging them, seizing them)
+10 have your own pokemon use a z-move in your thread

Total: 390MP

Despite the powerful z-move, a mere Gallade’s might is no match for a legendary beast’s. As hard as the knight pushes against the darkness, the darkness wins. It eats away at the protective barrier, pushing him to his limits as he struggles to keep it raised. Eventually, the obscure darkness burns around them again and they face a beautiful monster.

Helpless as the situation may be, Blade has the same obnoxious resilience and his trainer. He’d be damned if this bird blew them away with a powerful HURRICANE. As the z-move’s energy dissipates, he calls upon another kind of energy. He does so without instruction, because it’s the only chance they have.

His form breaks and bends, growing in size and strength. The Gallade MEGA EVOLVES and pushes himself between the demon and saint. A fae wind rises at his command to buffet that of the tera-powered Hurricane. The SPRINGTIDE STORM is not nearly as effective, a gentle breeze in comparison. Eva braces herself, digging her fingers into the moist ground, planting her boots in the shifting mud. Her eyes burn from the sharp winds, and her voice is lost in the roar of battle, “GET READY,” she screams anyway, hoping Blade can here her as she struggles to reach for another pokeball - a last ditch effort to escape a losing battle.

---

BARNABY FINCH

SPOILER: Click to show

+10MP per IC post (x4)
+50MP have an antagonistic exchange of dialogue between your character and another writer's character
+50MP showcase your own character's strength(s) meaningfully.
+50MP have your character self-doubt or cast doubt on another's confidence/allegiances/beliefs, etc.
+50MP have your character "hit rock bottom" (their lowest point)
+50MP have your character be injured by another's pokemon directly or indirectly.
+50MP have your character learn something from the other character
+50MP involve the pokeballs of your pokemon in a meaningful way (e.g. type of pokeball described to reflect the pokemon or character, damaging them, seizing them)
+10MP have your own pokemon use a z-move in your thread
+10MP mega evolve your own pokemon
+150MP for having Rocket and League characters and faction-based conflict in the thread (no NPCs)
+50MP have your character's Pokemon symbolize or represent in some way, the condition of your character.

Total: 610MP

She sucks in a breath as the abomination looms closer. The fear is paralyzing. She hasn’t felt this way in a long, long time. It’s Blade’s stark determination and gentle nudge against her stalled mind that brings her back to the moment. There’s no winning this, there’s only escape.

“MIND BLOWN!” she hopes the command is loud enough to clear the vicious roar of the HURRICANE. The lanky clown leaps from the pokeball, head bouncing off its slender shoulders and into its waiting hands.

Despite the winds, the loose appendage seems weighted, heavy. It bounces off the ground and into an arc that sails up towards the Galaraian Moltres and BARNABY FINCH, all the while expanding. At its peak, it explodes, a loud, echoing BOOM that mercilessly bathes the darkened forest in unforgiving flames.

The falling body of the Blacephalon is sucked back into its pokeball and Eva reaches for Blade. She prays the powerful explosion was enough to mask their escape back towards League reinforcements.

---

BARNABY FINCH

SPOILER: Click to show

+10MP per IC post (x5)
+50MP have an antagonistic exchange of dialogue between your character and another writer's character
+50MP showcase your own character's strength(s) meaningfully.
+50MP have your character self-doubt or cast doubt on another's confidence/allegiances/beliefs, etc.
+50MP have your character "hit rock bottom" (their lowest point)
+50MP have your character be injured by another's pokemon directly or indirectly.
+50MP have your character learn something from the other character
+50MP involve the pokeballs of your pokemon in a meaningful way (e.g. type of pokeball described to reflect the pokemon or character, damaging them, seizing them)
+10MP have your own pokemon use a z-move in your thread
+10MP mega evolve your own pokemon
+150MP for having Rocket and League characters and faction-based conflict in the thread (no NPCs)
+50MP have your character's Pokemon symbolize or represent in some way, the condition of your character.
+50MP use a legendary, mythical, ultra beast, paradox pokemon in a way that reflects your character or highlights another character
+150MP for "losing" or having a "negative" outcome for your character and their Skirmish thread
+25MP for completing your skirmish thread

Total: 845MP