Oh, dear.

The thin line of her lips curls upwards into something approaching a sneer as she studies the younger woman, her own hands claspedw together serenely within the folds of her kimono. She isn't one for overt displays of passion, and this one drips with it, expels her anger through each exhale, each twitch of her muscles. A righteous sort of anger, she would expect. That's entirely reasonable, after all.

--There's no place on this earth for a group like Team Rocket, after all.

She's heard of their brutality, too, of course, and seen it now firsthand with her arrival at Petalburg. And yet, it doesn't bother her, not particularly. That's just how she is, she supposes. If something still has use to her, she can look past its flaws. It's very high-minded, when she puts like that. Very utilitarian.

Call it the wisdom of a life lost, or simple amorality. She doesn't much care, either way. Still, there are practices that must be observed.

"...Very well, then. I'll withhold my name, but I accept your challenge. I was trained in battle at the Ecruteak Theater, and I am carrying six battle-capable Pokemon. I am honored to be your opponent today."

She bows in a way that might be mistaken for reverence, were it not for the way her eyes did not change an inch in the course of introduciton. Always fixated on her foe, as any warrior must. Then, she draws herself up, and her eyes finally narrow, just a little.

--Who is the hunter, and who is the prey? The answer is lost in the silence of the battlefield.


"...Golurk, I choose you."

The Poke Ball is tossed with a cold sort of grace from her sleeve, and a moment later the silence is broken by a shudder that shakes the earth as the giant of stone and shadow falls upon it.

MAISIE MAUDLIN

☉

[attr="class","charicon"]

the ground quakes under her feet as the golurk appears, standing tall. maisie remains where she is, only selecting a pokeball of her own. her mandibuzz takes the stage, immediately recognizing that it's been called into battle, its stance changing. its wings open, and with a few mighty beats, it takes to the air, circling the golurk. from there, it won't be affected by any ground type attacks, making it ideal for doing battle with the partial ground type.[break][break]

maisie assesses the situation. "...use flatter." the mandibuzz lands in a nearby tree, facing the golurk. elvira proceeds to fluff her feathers up, doing a little dance in front of her opponent, almost as if she's encouraging it. used properly, this will confuse the golurk and raise its special attack. the effect maisie is mostly looking for is the confusion, though. it could allow her the proper opening to strike, if she's lucky.

[attr="class","bottom"]i'll gouge you out with my fangs.[break]
[break]Yotsukura Yotsugami
[break]
[break]

[attr="class","credit"] [attr="class","fas fa-cloud-moon"]

"--Not one for the formalities? Oh, dear. What are they teaching you children, nowadays?"

She won't be so arrogant as to dismiss her battling capabilities for her lack of a proper education, but it is disappointing. She expects this curtness from the dregs that make up most of Rocket, of course, but she had perhaps foolishly hoped that a League trainer would be more to her standards as a battle partner. But, she supposes that her foe is thinking of this as a war first and foremost, and there's no place for pleasantries in war.

--A foolish notion. A battle is a dance before anything else. They are partners before they are enemies.

"Hm."

Golurk's movements become jerky, the animating light that runs through it like blood flashing erratically as its artificial thought processes are momentarily scrambled by the opposing move. Confusion is a reasonable tactic when facing a hard-hitting Pokémon like Golurk, and using a flying type even moreso. But, that's fine. She needn't rely on any complicated technique with a Pokémon like this.

"Golurk, use Heavy Slam."

In an instant, the Golem Pokémon's legs retract and propulsive force erupts from its newly-opened bottom half as it launches itself directly at the Mandibuzz, putting all of its massive weight into an attack that's as simple as just throwing its body at the opponent. Golurk should be heavy enough to shatter a tree easily without seriously injuring itself even if it smashes into it in its confusion, whereas the solid ground might be more of a threat.

"--Did you know? Bird Pokémon tend to be on the lighter side. Their bones are hollow, you see, to make flying easier. How unfortunate."

MAISIE MAUDLIN

☉

[attr="class","charicon"]

the confusion doesn't stop the golurk from launching itself at her mandibuzz. there's a squawk as elvira wheels around, trying to avoid the attack... and she does manage to dodge the worst of it, but the golurk clips her wing and causes her to fall, just barely managing to catch herself on her two legs. from the way she's moving her wing, maisie can tell she won't be getting back in the air any time soon.[break][break]

"...i won't waste my time on formalities with someone who isn't deservin' of them," comes maisie's response, her tone clipped like her mandibuzz's wings currently. her mouth curves up into a smile. "punishment."[break][break]

an attack that does extra damage depending on how many stages the opponent's stats have been raised. yotsukura's golurk was not only confused, but its special attack had gone up, meaning if this lands, it will do more damage than usual. elvira isn't defeated, and though she can't fly, she can certainly run surprisingly fast on those talons of hers. so, once the golurk has landed, she rushes at the ghost-type, intent on beating it down. revenge, maisie thinks, it always tastes pretty sweet... at least in the moment.

[attr="class","bottom"]i'll gouge you out with my fangs.[break]
[break]Yotsukura Yotsugami
[break]50 mp, antagonistic exchange of dialogue, 50mp attempting or taking revenge in some form,
[break]
[break]

[attr="class","credit"] [attr="class","fas fa-cloud-moon"]

"That is a perspective you could take, I suppose. I wasn't aware you had such a thorough understanding of my life to make that judgement for me."

A short-sided one, as far she's concerned. It is a kind of self-righteousness she cannot abide, a certainty in one's own goodness that lights a spark of cold contempt within her. It is a grotesque luxury to imagine yourself the only one with a pure heart. She thinks of what she said to howard slayte, not so long ago. Even the clearest water, if deep enough, can drown.

Just how clear is the lake of this girl's heart? Just how far does the light reach before it finds the silt and the mud, the accumulated sediment of a human life?

"I will not be so impolite. In battle, I will treat you as an equal. No matter your past, or your future."

--Golurk is not agile enough to dodge, and complicated maneuvers will only exacerbate the chance it injures itself in its confusion. And, with an attack like that coming on, every scrap of vitality it has in it is a precious research, not to be squandered. So, she trusts in the strength of its body.


The attack strikes the Automaton Pokemon, and she shouts her command at the same moment.

"Heavy Slam, again."

It's a powerful assault, but Golurk does not flinch. It's not out of any stoicism-- rather, it's as if the confusion has lessened Golurk's cognitive capabilities, the artificial intelligence that animates the hulk receding to minimize any further strain on processing capabilities already strained by the bird's weaponized dance. Without it, stone doesn't know it should flinch from harm.

--Still, the damage is severe. It won't take another attack. But, it doesn't need to. It doesn't even need to strain its thought patterns. After all, executing her command is as simple as toppling over-- directly on top of the grounded Mandibuzz.

MAISIE MAUDLIN

☉

[attr="class","charicon"]

if maisie were privy to yotsukura's internal thoughts, she'd let out a barking laugh. goodness? me? she'd question. more than anyone else, she knows there isn't a drop of genuine 'goodness' in her body. she's always been a problem child, picking fights and pushing people around when it suited her. she's not fighting for justice, but to take her anger out on someone she can be at least somewhat sure deserves it. that rage is always there, making her blood sing and her heart pound, even when she tries to suffocate it with alcohol or various other vices. she's doing this for herself. she knows that now.[break][break]

the badly injured golurk topples over onto elvira. maisie winces, and calls the bird pokemon back. she needs to hit hard and fast to finish her opponent off, and so she tosses another ball out, throwing it like a pitcher might. it sails through the air and then releases her dragapult before returning to her hand. it shouldn't take much to tip the balance... "astonish!"[break][break]

kyra launches herself at the toppled golurk, slapping it with a super effective attack. it's not a particularly powerful one, but it should be enough with the extra boost given by the type advantage.

[attr="class","bottom"]i'll gouge you out with my fangs.[break]
[break]Yotsukura Yotsugami
[break]50 mp pokemon knocked out, 50mp reflect on why she's fighting, 50mp describe pokeball throwing style
[break]
[break]

[attr="class","credit"] [attr="class","fas fa-cloud-moon"]

--The attack is almost meaningless. Golurk has no chance of getting up, its scrambled thought patterns causing his arms to buckle and seize with every attempt. Still, they finally render it unconscious, and she recalls her defeated Pokemon accordingly. She holds the Poke Ball carefully for a moment, peering into her reflection in the polished casing.

"Thank you for your efforts." 

with a small incline of her head, the ball vanishes into her sleeve, and a second ball rolls out into her open palm. She takes a moment to consider it before her hand closes around it, fingers wrapped tightly around the sphere as if it might escape her entirely should she let it fly. She looks at her opponent through the small gaps between her pale fingers and the surface of the ball, and there is something cold and contemptuous in her eyes. There is no anger in the older woman, not really. They are not alike in that manner. For all her high-minded tradition, she considers her foe barely human for the vulnerability of her rage, for a a passion she judges misplaced-- barely capable of higher thought at all. It's a disdain she's worn before.

"Do you suppose you might correct every injustice done to you, if you only defeat me? Do you suppose i am an avatar of all Team Rocket's sin? I would hate for you to labour so fully under such delusion. I am merely a person, and we are merely in each other's way. That's war for you." 


This phantasmal dragon isn't of a species she's familiar with, but she can imagine its capabilities from its sleek form and the openings in its horns-- it reminds her a little of the cannons on a Blastoise's back. Fast and strong, she supposes. In which case, she might as well take a little of that strength for herself. She tosses the Poke Ball  with a single flick of her wrist and no greater flourish, her hands retreating into her sleeves almost the moment her Pokemon is release. She gives her first order the moment the ominous shape of a many-handed sarcophagus emerges from the twisting red light. 

"Power Split, Cofagrigus." 

The Coffin Pokemon swings open at her command, revealing only pitch-black nothingness within. That alone is enough to execute the attack-- the theft of Dragapult's power to fuel its own is a curse, transmitted merely by the sight of that squirming, writhing void at the Ghost-type's core. It's a nauseating sight even to trainer, never mind Pokemon, and yet--

--There's nothing at all within. Only the emptiness, and the fear of what ought to be there instead. 

MAISIE MAUDLIN

☉

[attr="class","charicon"]

yotsukura's coldness only infuriates maisie more, though she struggles to keep a lid on it. she knows that losing her head here will mean worse than a simple loss in this battle. her opponent's cofagrigus steals some of kyra's power for itself, and maisie grits her teeth. here and now, with their attack power even... it's speed more than anything that she needs, and thankfully that's something kyra's got in spades. "phantom force!"[break][break]

the dragapult disappears from view. she knows it's only lurking on the other side, ready to strike. for now, though, there's a hole, an opening where it cannot be struck, and a period of time in which there is nothing to do but wait. "...no," she replies. "i know bloody well nothing can change the past." under her hood, the upper half of her face wreathed in shadow, maisie smiles. "but hittin' things has always made me feel better."[break][break]

kyra reappears. she lashes out at the cofagrigus, slamming into it. the smile on maisie's face doesn't fade, as she shares the moment with her pokemon. if she's out for blood, so is her team. they share a goal, after all, even if that goal is simple; to win, no matter what.

[attr="class","bottom"]i'll gouge you out with my fangs.[break]
[break]Yotsukura Yotsugami
[break]50 mp pokemon symbolize character
[break]
[break]

[attr="class","credit"] [attr="class","fas fa-cloud-moon"]

Where do ghost Pokemon go when they disappear into the gaps of reality? Do they slip into the next world, the place they're meant to be? She's heard tales of distorted otherworlds and impossible skies-- perhaps they cross over into these strange planes, and they return because they cannot linger in such a hostile place. She supposes the answer is not one for the living to know. That's fair enough, she thinks. The dead deserve a secret place just for them, beyond all these cruel reminders of the world that was, the life that's now lost to them. She doesn't think she'd want to linger overlong in an existence like that.


"Hm. That's fair, I suppose. There's a pleasing simplicity to breaking something that's upset you. But, well-- take a look at yourself, maybe. Violence for the sake of self-gratification is the sort of thing I expect of Rocket's lowliest dogs, after all. I'd like to think you're a little above that, at least."


The draconic Pokémon emerges from that dismal land already attacking, wreathed in ephemera like some shrouded horror from a child's tale, and it's only down to their first move and the hardiness of the coffin that Cofagrigus takes for a body that it withstands that blow. It's a powerful Pokémon, to be sure, but she won't allow such a simple fact to determine her choices. There's no use in panicking in battle, after all-- the outcome is set from the moment you throw your first ball. You simply have to reach that result, for good or ill.

"Shadow Ball."

Her order is given quickly and sharply, without any pause to question herself or her Pokémon in the face of such an onslaught, and Cofagrigus does not hesitate even as it's still recoiling from the attack. Countless phantasmal limbs erupt from its body, like some profane mockery of the thousand-handed titan that supposedly built this world, and push it high into the air, the sarcophagus-bound spectre cackling madly as it grins down at it's foe before that lid opens wide once more and disgorges a black orb down at it, the sphere little more than a congealed mass of resentment and necrotic energy, a curse upon the living and the dead alike.

What will her foe do next? She has a suspicion, and an intention to follow through with should that suspicion be proved right.

MAISIE MAUDLIN

☉

[attr="class","charicon"]

the shadow ball slams into kyra, who reels, flailing. she manages to regain her ground, but maisie is left with a dilemma. another phantom force immediately will likely leave the dragapult exposed again, should it not knock out their opponent. but most of the dragapult's other attacks are normal type attacks, so they won't even do a lick of damage against the other ghost. the possibilities whirl quickly through her mind as she considers her options.[break][break]

well, then... why not ensure the next attack hits? it's a bit of a risk, but not as much as it would be to go immediately for another phantom force. "lock on!" maisie yells. strategy is the name of the game, after all, not brute force... as much as she wishes the latter would be the case, she learned in her previous life that sometimes you need to stop and think for a second.[break][break]

kyra focuses her gaze on the cofagrigus, ready to move if it should attack again. maisie, meanwhile, looks across the field. "if you know what rocket's like, what're you doin' with them?" she challenges yotsukura. "a real refined lady like you... wastin' your time on ugly brutes like me. is that really what ya wanna do with your life?"

[attr="class","bottom"]i'll gouge you out with my fangs.[break]
[break]Yotsukura Yotsugami
[break]50 mp showcase character's strengths, 50mp cast doubt on other
[break]
[break]

[attr="class","credit"] [attr="class","fas fa-cloud-moon"]

"Why am I here? Hm."

It's a curious question, really. The sort of thing that should be obvious at first blush, no? Only, peel it back a little, and the answer is far more complicated than the simplicity of the words spoken might suggest. There are a thousand reasons she's standing here, in this place, on this side, doing these things, and all of them matter so much-- and yet none of them matter at all.

--Shouting, in the trees, drawing her out of her reverie for just a moment. Coming closer. A little too uncouth to be upstanding League representatives, by her estimation. A shame. She's interested in seeing just how far she can push this girl.

"Curse."

Dragapult is primed to dodge another Shadow Ball, and its next attack will certainly knock Cofagrigus out. So, better to leave it with a parting gift, and go out on her own terms. Cofagrigus's lid swings open one last time, and this time countless hands pour out from the shadowy depths like lava cascading down the mountainside, creating a prison around the Dragapult that entirely blocks it from view. A moment later, the sinuous strands linking the hand to the coffin disconnect, and each phantom limb sinks into the ground around the seemingly unharmed dragon-- Cofagrigus falling from its place in the sky a moment later to be recalled in midair, the last of its will to battle drained by the effort of the curse.

--Each time the spectral drake goes to move, the lingering spectre of of those hands will emerge from the ground and tear another grasping handful of life from it. Such is the price of looking into that darkness.

"...It's simple, really. There's a place I have to reach, and a Pokemon I have to meet. There is nothing I will not do to attain that goal."

She denies her own logic and states her reasons plainly. There's no use in overthinking it-- questioning herself will only threaten to weaken her resolve when she needs the most.

"Hear that? Not long now. Go, Typhlosion."

She sends out her most reliable battler, the phantasmal flames emerging from her mane framing her Trainer's face in unearthly shades. She wonders what exactly is at stake in this moment.

MAISIE MAUDLIN

☉

[attr="class","charicon"]

the next phantom force does indeed hit, and kyra is left with a parting gift. the curse weighs her down, but does not fully extinguish her. she hangs on by a sliver, and while maisie applauds her for that, there's no point in keeping her on the battlefield. so she calls her back into her ball to rest, and instead sends out lilith.[break][break]

the lycanroc looks downright dastardly as she stares yotsukura's typhlosion down. as maisie's oldest partner, the two are completely in sync, so the canine immediately knows what's up. the shouts are getting closer, and maisie knows damn well what will happen if she's caught. "...i hope whatever it is you're lookin' for is worth sellin' your soul for," she says. ya better be damn sure of that. she sold her own soul long ago, not to rocket but to something even more insidious. karma has a way of evening things out. all the pain and suffering you put into the world eventually comes back, and it will show no mercy.[break][break]

but that's not important. what's important now is making her getaway. "lilith. let's go." the lycanroc jerks into action, taking up a combat stance, howling madly. in response to her cries, a massive monument of stone juts up from the earth underneath the typhlosion's feet. a wall is constructed between yotsu's side and maisie's side of the field, blocking the older woman's view of the detective.[break][break]

when the wall breaks down, maisie and her pokemon are gone. she's already made her escape, disappearing back the way she came.

[attr="class","bottom"]i'll gouge you out with my fangs.[break]
[break]Yotsukura Yotsugami
[break]70mp for posts, 25 mp for completion, 100 mp for "neutral" outcome, 150 mp for rocket v league, 400 mp for prompts = 745 total
[break]
[break]

[attr="class","credit"] [attr="class","fas fa-cloud-moon"]