[attr="class","charicon"]

she's driven robin past her limit. she realizes this, but has no desire to stop it. trapped...? the word hangs heavy in her head, for whatever reason. she's not trapped, but she doesn't have any other choice, either. to do anything other than what is expected of her would be a betrayal of the highest degree. no. not trapped. i choose this. there may be no other option available, but that doesn't mean she's... trapped. she can't yearn for a life that was never offered to her, one that will never exist.[break][break]

the gravity presses down on her and her honchkrow. thanks to maki's needling, robin seems to have snapped. against the weight of the world, maki strains to reach her next pokeball. her fingers close around it. she calls forth the pokemon contained within, and her houndoom appears, toxic chains wrapped around its body. her honchkrow, meanwhile, tries to beat robin's duskull back with its wings, hoping to stop the gravity being intensified. there's only so much maki's body can take.[break][break]

maki's hand reaches to her necklace. "...you would make a good rocket," she tells robin quietly.[break][break]

then the stone in her hand starts flashing, as does the stone in her houndoom's collar. she hasn't done this since her houndoom's change occurred. as the canine grows stronger, the horns on its head elongating, its toxic chains, too, grow in size and strength. but then... it stops. it shifts back, as if constrained by the very toxic chains that have given it its power. the devilish hound lets out a howl that's more of a roar, and without waiting for a command... sets the field with toxic terrain. the poison grows to cover the ground, and it splashes up at both maki and robin.[break][break]

"what are you...?" robin is now not the only one on stage who's gone into a frenzy. houndoom snarls, and launches itself at robin's dhelmise, fangs trying to close around it. any contact could potentially badly poison the other, thanks to the houndoom's shifted ability. "houndoom!" maki curses. is it the toxic chains? are they interacting poorly with the mega stone, and causing it to go berserk instead of mega evolving...?

[attr="class","bottom"]once again, i have a foolish nightmare.[break]
[break]robin coello
[break]
[break]

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

[attr="class","charicon"]

her hands shake. there's a fracture, a crack in her composure, finally. it's the sight of her houndoom-- her houndoom, the one that pressed itself against her legs to try and comfort her during the worst days of her life-- losing itself that does it, that finally breaks through. the hellhound is snarling, poison foaming at its lips, as it bites and bites and bites the dhelmise. this is no mere sport; this is killing instinct, a food-aggressive dog with a delicious bone in its mouth.[break][break]

no longer is she concerned about winning the battle. she tries to call the pokemon back, but it resists. robin is getting up close and personal, and her reward is the houndoom's fangs finding her hand, slashing through flesh and rending almost to the bone in its frenzy. "HOUNDOOM!" maki screams, to no avail. she can't call it back into its ball, so the logical thing to do would be to leave robin, her pokemon, and maki's houndoom to their fates while maki makes her escape.[break][break]

she refuses. perhaps for the first time in her life, she makes a decision that her parents would frown upon. you can always get a new pet, they'd say. we have a number of pokemon ready to stand by your side.[break][break]

maki rushes robin. but this is not an attack on robin. though she shoves the other girl with all her strength, it's only to get her away from the action. she tries to pry the canine's jaws away, and winces as she feels its teeth dig into her skin as well. "houndoom! enough!" she shouts, pulling. "HOUNDOOM!" she wraps her arms around the dog's neck, grounding her feet, ignoring the pain and creeping sense of illness that's already invading her bloodstream. all she cares about is stopping the assault, bringing her pokemon back to her, and escaping from this battle together.[break][break]

finally... her guard dog comes to its senses, and releases the dhelmise. with a low whine, it lowers itself to the ground. maki's panting, still holding onto it. her honchkrow has been knocked out, and she's bleeding freely from her hands and arms. why did i...? she stares at her bloodied, torn palms.[break][break]

all she can manage to say is one word. "...poison." there's a time limit, now. if they don't both get help soon, then they're both doomed.

[attr="class","bottom"]once again, i have a foolish nightmare.[break]
[break]robin coello
[break]50mp, involve pokeball in some way (refusal to return)
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[attr="class","credit"] [attr="class","fas fa-cloud-moon"]

[attr="class","charicon"]

robin releases a creature maki has only ever seen once in a report. the rocket's response is to stare, dumbfounded, as it begins to juggle its head. if instinct didn't kick in, she'd have remained there, frozen in that spot... but thankfully, her training takes over. she recognizes a bad situation when she sees one, and so she recalls her pokemon from the field. somehow poison has become the least of her concerns, as she gets to her feet and wobbles backward.[break][break]

then she breaks into a run. the blast picks her up off her feet, throwing her further into the underbrush. branches scratch her face and arms as she tries to shield herself.[break][break]

this battle is over. she's conceding the victory to robin. their lives have become a race against the clock-- they need to be treated for poison, and fast. maki doesn't spare a backwards glance, not caring what happens to robin after this. she runs like her life depends on it, because it does. she has to put as much distance between the site of the conflict as possible. the blast works well enough to conceal her escape.[break][break]

fifteen minutes later, she's discovered by a fellow rocket collapsed outside petalburg. bleeding heavily and breathing hard, she's still determinedly clinging to consciousness. once she's found, though, everything goes dark.

[attr="class","bottom"]once again, i have a foolish nightmare.[break]
[break]robin coello
[break]+25 mp for completing thread, +150 for losing, +150 for rocket vs league
[break]total: 735 for previous prompts and posts, 325 for prompts above
[break]1060 mp overall
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[attr="class","credit"] [attr="class","fas fa-cloud-moon"]