a few steps and out onto the path wandered a kecleon. mohs, with nerves lingering from having just nearly been eaten, became standoffish. maddonis, lacking interest, continued past without a second glance. mohs gave the kecleon a wide birth and eventually followed, floating along quicker to catch up.

while maddonis was not yet the most versed on pokemon, it didn't take trivia knowledge to point out that despite its colorful frill, kecleon was kind of dumb looking in the face. it just didn't suit the party.

a few minutes into the rest of their stroll, maddonis noticed a light illuminating an alleyway. it moved organically, and was clearly coming from something alive. the duo proceeded to investigate, mohs trailing timidly at the rear.

sashaying around the corner, the edges of his coat briefly lifting in the breeze of his movements, maddonis came upon a lone lampent. “hello.” his was soft, but low and predatory. “you’re interesting.” it was a fire pokemon, but there was something alluringly dark about it.

“mohs..” he stopped mid-command, suddenly realizing the carbink wasn’t beside him. looking back, he noticed that instead it was hiding directly behind his head. maddonis’ eyes narrowed coldly. “perhaps i should feed you to the sableye. you’re becoming more worthless by the day.” he whipped back around and retreived a pokeball from his coat’s pocket — bitxilore’s ball.

the sableye was beamed into the alleyway in a bright red light, and immediately lunged for the carbink, causing chaos amongst the two. “FOOLS.” his voice suddenly broke in exasperation. his glare was now as fiery as the lampent’s core. bitxilore froze and looked up at him, only then noticing the lampent who was paralyzed by either confusion or fear, or maybe a mixture of both.

“bitxilore,” maddonis took a heavy, calming breath, “quit thinking with your stomach and get that.” he pointed a slender finger at the trembling lamp pokemon.

bitxilore took one last look at the carbink longingly, before suddenly springing to action on the lampent in a FAKE OUT before it could act to defend itself. the lampent fell to the ground after a brief struggle. maddonis neared it, towering over and tossing a pokeball at its limp body rather unceremoniously. bitxilore was also returned to her pokeball before she could cause mohs any further distress. “good job. at least one of you is worth a damn.” he raised an eyebrow at mohs, who looked pitifully ashamed.