He'd been at this a whole week now and only landed one successful move.



Time to try for another STARMIE 720.

Angelo's not sure if he believes skyler dross, not when she had become lost so, eyes glassy in that way he'd oft caught her entranced by the Blue Orb when he wasn't meant to notice.

When he catches her slip away, while beside him still.

Now wasn't the time to focus on calling bluffs or to act on the cold pool in the pit of his stomach, however. Not when an army of shadows was beginning to raise...

“Good,” he says simply, fingers squeezing his wife briefly, saying much with little. “We need you here.”

Necrozma is but a cornered animal, on its last legs.

But it's when wild pokémon are pushed to their limits, when the desperate howl to survive rips from their throats, that they're at their most dangerous.

So close. They were so close.

Only the invaders from the alternate world would soon learn, that humanity is very much the same.

But they're not done yet.

“This is it, don't give these fuckers an inch.”

Glow of his soul retracting back within his body, thousands of wisps that house their ancestors fading like stars in the dawn, Latios swoops back into motion. His mission to protect Hoenn is not yet at an end.

Dragon fire furls from his maw towards the Necrozma that attempts to claw out of the tear in space, DRAGON PULSE roaring.

He's not alone. Angelo releases his Noivern again, both it and his Gyarados taking to the air to aid the legendary.

A HYDRO PUMP and WHIRLWIND whip together in a howling, vicious storm, attempting to eject the invader from their world with a lashing squall.


tldr;
 
- latios is MEGA EVOLVED (3/3)
- latios uses DRAGON PULSE on US NECROZMA
- gyarados uses HYDRO PUMP on US NECTROZMA
- noivern uses WHIRLWIND on US NECROZMA
- begon, thot

Yesterday, for the first time since Splashfest had started, he'd actually landed a trick.

About fucking time.

“You're doing great, Nereid.” He praises his Mantine, smoothing her back in the encouragement the way she likes while they wait for the next wave. “Let's keep up the momentum while we're having some luck, huh? Give Starmie 720 another go.”

Ah, optimistic fool.

Angelo breaks through the surface of the water, frustration crackling across his skin. He'd felt something brush his fingertips down there, teasingly tickling and imploring him to take it.

Only for a scuttling, wide-eyed Krabby grab him first.

"Pain in the ass," he grumbles without any real venom as the pinched finger is shaken. Less annoyed about the snapping pincer as he was frustrated about the prize being lost.

Again.

“Hey, sunshine.” Comes a voice from the crowd as soon as skyler dross plonks her amazing ass in the dunk tank seat. His smile could be heard from all the way on the ground, roguishly hungry.

Angelo scoops up the golden opportunity to dunk his wife as he does the ball.

“You're looking a little dehydrated. Let me help you with that.”

He wonders, as he pitches the ball with wicked intent, if her powers can reach him all the way over here?

Angelo shamelessly flashes a somewhat dorky smile and a 'v' shape with his fingers as the camera snaps. You're welcome, Locke Jamison.

Angelo is no stranger to fickle winds.

Standing, the pilot shields his eyes with a hand, watching as the petals become swept up in the wild breeze. Swept up in a sweet summer storm, he takes a moment to bask.

“It's more than fine. It's fucking amazing,” he adds onto Locke's comment, wonderment sneaking into voice as he and the Eon Duo's gaze ascends. All three of them don't look worried in the slightest.  

He flashes the more anxious member of the group a devil-may-care smile. Confident.

Hungry for more than just the picnic.

“C'mon, Locke. Nothin' like a little adventure to strike up an appetite.”

And if there was a little danger? Well, then that's part of the journey, right?

Jumping astride Latios's back, they depart towards a brige of petals leading to the clouds, a TAILWIND from his sister enabling them to chase flowers like stardust caught on the breeze.

Excitement thunders innocent in Angelo's heart at the idea of unexplored worlds, at the thought of them awaiting him still in beloved skies...

Divisions hide beneath the surface, falling silently between ▇▇▇▇, Cillian Quinn, Martín del Mar and Eris Halla like a broadening river that he can't quite see.

Angelo's not sure why. Not sure why he can't remember ▇▇▇▇'s name, either, but he stands by his side none the less.

Name fading from his grasp like smoke on the wind or not he knows their bond is real.

“He told me he was allergic to dog pokémon once, but I think he just doesn't like them.”

Angelo bullshits without missing a beat.

It's just how he and Martín del Mar were.

And he enjoyed it like that.

“Can't trust a guy who doesn't like dogs.”

notes;

- TERMINAL 01
- extra interaction with ol' whats-his-name

- dragapult forgets: hex, will-o-wisp, spotlight
- gyarados forgets: taunt, payback, whirlpool
- ribombee forgets: thief, dazzling gleam, telekinesis

Angelo wets his lips slowly, resisting the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose, laugh or snatch the bottle for himself and achieve reprieve behind the veil of an unconcerned tequila cloud.

Vigilante justice was not what he had been suggesting. It had been but a curious attempt to dig into what motivated Cobalion. Why Melody thought to leave the League would see the legendary that had chosen her, desert her in turn.

Instead, skyler dross receives a sarcastically slow clap.

He at least got somewhat of a peek into the answer.

“Brilliant. Hope dahlia goode has been keeping up with her ancient, legendary language lessons.”

Angelo does end up prying the tequila bottle from the small group while Melody talks, taking a swig as her worries settle over the boat like heavy air.

I'm not used to not being told what I need to do..

“Then it sounds to me that it's time you start thinking about what's important to you, Mels. Especially with this... justice stuff.”

Wiping a tequila drop from his mouth with the back of his hand, Angelo's voice is even, calm like Alto Marean waters, as he suggests doing exactly what Melody says she can't.

He'd been there before. In a place where he put other people's needs and wellbeing above his own. Had forced himself into a box he didn't fit for them, always for them. Letting dreams slip through outstretched fingers with heart breaking willingness.

It had taken a lot of time, after experiencing life in Hoenn and meeting certain people in his life, to make him realise he could still care about those he loved without sacrificing himself.

“Cobalion picked you because you're you. Try not to forget that.”

It's hard. He knows. It's hard.

But the freedom to live as yourself is worth it.

Gentle prompts implore him to share more, Skyler unravelling the tension of his tongue with attentive nudges. Wordlessly convincing a man who hides vulnerability behind sharp roguery with presses of her lips to his skin and comments that are so easy to drift along to. 

Swayed by how silver eyes, although heavy still with lingering sleep, are full to the brim with hunger for more.

More of him.

Fingers frame Skyler's face, his lips softly bumping against her forehead in silent appreciation.

Angelo hopes she's never sated. Always greedy.

"As it turns out, it wasn't a friendly chap."

Who'd have thought, right? His tone seems to sarcastically say, rough pads of his digits still lingering on his wife's face.

"We had a short, telepathic chat about why it was there on the island, then it started shooting demands. Telling me it wanted to see my pokémon."

Like how he snatched his promise away from the strange creature, Angelo dares to caress her bottom lip with his thumb. Lazily smiling as he readies to pull back at potential flash of teeth.

As much revealing in the playful game of teasing they so often fall into, as Skyler's lips were a distraction.

"It didn't like my answer very much."

Mimicking Wooloo set loose, everyone scatters. Clumping together in groups of the weird and wonderful, familiar and unexpected.

Free from the indiscriminate lasers of the Porygon and the strange copies, Hoenn's most misfortunate postman is released after having his path decided by a pain in the ass pilot and a scrappy sailor.

Hope Locke Jamison doesn't mind being in a group with a renowned criminal, Mr POG Bank and half the Elite Four.

“Y'sure know how to pick them,” he comments to skyler dross, intentionally bumping her shoulder with his as they move towards the next riddle. If the small smirk on his lips is any indication, it's that he isn't concerned - this group will at least be interesting.

Until he notices the pointed focus in Cillian Quinn's expression.

Angelo curiously traces the line that cuts from the notorious Rocket Underboss through the crowd, following it like a direction arrow across a map subtly from the corner of his gaze.

▇▇▇▇ doesn't seem to notice the look shot his way.

...?

Instantly the suspicious, concerned hardening within Angelo's chest crumbles like a wave eating away at the cliff edge. Recognition only resulting in static crackling between his ears.

Footsteps stilling, gaze distant, Angelo slides his hands into his pockets as if in thought about the riddle that everyone chatters about like a hive of Beedrill. 

Within his brain, threads of memories are hurriedly pulled, only to find their ends severed in his grasp.

▇▇▇▇'s name is nowhere to be found.

Angelo wets his lips, rolls his shoulder with a crack and tells himself the dimension hop must've hit him harder than he initially thought.

“Guess Reshiram must be a fire type then, by process of elimination.” Stepping up towards the riddle, Angelo casually lies through his teeth. Hiding both his knowledge of the legendary dragon and the confusion of loss over a dear friend's name both. “If it goes wrong, we'll blame Martín del Mar and his Unown friends.”  

He taps the image of RESHIRAM.




notes;

- TERMINAL 01
- angelo forgets Razz Kingsman 's name
- sees Cillian Quinn looking at ol' whats-his-name
- shook
- picks RESHIRAM

- dragapult forgets: hex, will-o-wisp, spotlight
- gyarados forgets: taunt, payback, whirlpool
- ribombee forgets: thief, dazzling gleam, telekinesis

Okay, CIAN MAHER had survived his three dunk attempts in a row. It was time for him to fall.

“Hope you’re ready for a dip!” Angelo calls with a grin towards the survivor before taking aim.

Does this count? Surely it does.

Angelo’s busy with work today but the Floatzel that’s accompanied him so far has, admittedly, been bitten by the treasure hunting bug. A foxy face follows skyler dross out to sea, propeller tails easily allowing him to keep pace with the expert and her Lapras.

He watches her dive once or twice, observing, before slipping beneath the waves himself. Nosing around in the sand of the sea floor for treats.

The day goes by in a blur of flying from Mossdeep to Dewford with cargo to the remote island, leaving no time in the morning for his now routine date with the waves. Such is the life of the sky bound. He wouldn’t trade it.

Angelo squeezes a little dip in during the evening, instead. Splashfest still humming with life behind him, sunshine sparkling on the ocean surface traded for the artificial glow of string lights along their docks.

As an event organiser starts to set up their nightly fireworks display, Angelo sets up a PRIMARINA TWIST.