---

her visage appears more quickly than he expects it to, and it is younger than he would have liked it to have been. though age bears little dictation over experience, it certainly plays its part. he nods curtly. "unfortunately, i'm onus. my parents didn't care for me too much." it's a joke, despite being true, as he reads her mind. most people find his name stupid, himself included. parker appears ready to get down to it, so onus happily obliges with another nod and a turn on his heel toward the darkness enshrouded beyond the entrance. "let's do this." his voice is a smooth bass that hides his nerves well as he moves toward their shared goal.

"so the intel said they've seen at least 3 scientists coming in this way. i don't think they know exactly how far in the base of operations is, but i can't imagine it being incredibly far -- just well hidden. that's how i'd go about it, anyways..." his haunting past wells up in his mind once again, and he shoves it down promptly.

"oh, and uh, nice to meet you, by the way. sucky circumstances, but hey, what can you do?" he can't help that he is innately impolite, but the effort remains. he's never been one for pleasantries, as people usually knew who he was in his father's circle.

it doesn't matter. his eyes track down to the floor, searching for any signs of footprints.

---

---

a flash light and a flurry of feathers reveals a pidgeot, its graceful form enclosed by the cavern. "cool." he mutters, watching as the pidgeot flies a little ways ahead. the cufant, amaya, stays by her trainer's side as the trio walks together, small talk eluding them.

parker's mention of grabbing a drink afterwards goes unanswered -- a grin and a nod would suffice from onus.

the temperature rises as they go fartherin, no signs appearing to onus immediately. amaya's gaze shifts lazily, her intent on finding this hidden lab pretty lackadaisical at best. "shit, guess i was wrong about the early hideout...maybe they want to get into the hotter area?" his words are inquisitive, looking for guidance from parker.

it would make sense, considering they were hoarding fire-types. onus shrugs and continues to walk, a bead of sweat forming on his brow. aside from a couple of zubat, there aren't any pokemon around. as his brow furrows in suspicion, the bead of sweat rolls down the bridge of his nose and around his nares.

"where are all the pokemon?" he wonders aloud, looking over at parker this time. "seems weird, doesn't it?"

---

"or maybe they all scrambled for fear of being taken..." his words trail for a moment before the thought is broken by parker bolting off after her pidgeot. onus follows closely, allowing his counterpart to lead them wherever her trusty bird takes them. he doesn't mind; he has no better ideas.

he presses his hands up against the wall beside parker, his eyes reading the confusion in her face as amaya approaches beside them -- surely any element of surprise would be ruined by the cufant's stomping about. "i'm sure that there's some kind of hidden button, or code, or whatever...but I'm not really into that, ya know? so let's just....back up..."

one hand gently pulls parker away from the wall, allowing ample space for his cufant to lumber up to it. "i hope you two are ready because i don't expect things to be super easy from here on out."

he swallows. hard. he still can't figure out why he's as nervous as he is. is he scared of the recognition?

it doesn't matter. "amaya, iron head."

the sound shakes the entire cavern but the trouble is not for nothing. "excellent work, pidgeot." he smiles to the bird briefly before moving forward, motioning parker to follow.

---

parker is quick on the uptake, and, in that moment of their faceoff with the scientists, onus realized he likes working with her. her voice shakes the walls of the cave, the command in its voice that of a natural leader. he grins and nods, bolting off in the direction of some of the cages before tossing a pokeball back toward parker. "sina, do what parker says!" the kecleon emerges, her eyes locking with her temporary master's before facing back off with the scientists before her.

amaya is in tow, and onus scans the cave -- there have to be 20 cages in here, all filled with fire type pokemon. a growlithe sits in the cage before him, its eyes pleading and sad, the kind that might even make @sidonie feel some semblance of sympathy...well, maybe not. "we're getting you all out, don't worry." he backs away, allowing the cufant to get in close. "rip those bars out, amaya. but be careful." he looks over his shoulder, instinctively feeling as though he can trust parker, but logically covering his own ass. the scientists are well occupied for now.

within a minute, the growlithe is free, running off into the depths of the cavern. amaya movesonto the next cage, and then the next. they arre well on their way to succeeding, so long as parker can deal with the scientists.

---

the process becomes procedural for the group; amaya rips the cages apart, onus and parker direct the pokemon away from the base, and pidgeot creates absolute havoc amongst the scientists. they manage to get another pokemon out -- an abrok -- but it is nothing for sina and she takes care of it with ease with a few psybeams.

the ranger watches as his cufant rips away the gates of the cage containing the pyroar and litleo that were seen being carted in here by the scientists the other day, marking the last of the cages visible to them. onus' eyes search the deeper part of the cavern for any signs of another room siphoned off for more pokemon, but his scan comes up clean. he looks to parker, who is directing the pyroar and litleo out.

"i think that's all of them..." the scientists are corralled by the pidgeot and kecleon, cowering nervously at the majestic bird and the chameleon. there are three individuals, all wearing labcoats with their feeble lab sitting behind them. onus looks back to parker, ignoring the scientists, who have essentially admitted defeat. "so uh, what do we do with them? feed them to your pidgeot?" he grins as they squirm just a bit.

---

onus lets himself grin a bit at parker's joke, watching her silhouette as she saunters off to the entrance. onus is quick to find some rope in the cavern. "can you all just sit?" his voice doesn't have much command in it but they appease anyways, all allowing themselves to be tied up with little resistance at all. they know they've lost, and, with any luck, the league will recruit them as scientists for their own cause. onus knows that even without rocket openly running about, the league still needs all the help it can get.

with the scientists tied up, he chases parker off to the entrance, leaving behind his pokemon to watch them.

when he reaches her side, a sigh escapes his lips before they curl into a grin. his eyes lock with parker's for a second. "nice work. you're not so bad. i was worried to be paired up with another rookie, but we made a pretty good team back there."

"maybe we'll have to link up for that drink after all." he chuckles, half serious, but allowing for dismissal. "at the very least, we can team up again in the future, yeah?" he's confident enough in his own performance to offer up such a proposal, knowing that, if she's smart, she'll say yes. even if it is an empty promise.