With the taste of skyler dross's kiss on his lips and a thirst for the promise of adventure, Angelo steers his Gyarados towards the favoured whirlpool.

Within the back of his mind, a familiar sensation reminiscent of wind swaying through distant trees and slow river water drifts by, Latios's song calling out to him. Whispering a blessing of safe travels.  

I'll be back, he promises, before Navis slips beneath the ocean's hungry spiral.

“Hold on tight!” He calls back towards Locke Jamison .

What awaited them was not a display of familiar, dark currents nor aquatic life, however. Instead they're all spat out into a digital looking scene straight out of an 80's sci-fi film.

It remains even when the dizziness leaves, ruling out group hallucination.

“I feel like we're in kyle lopez's fantasy or something,” his voice is flat, despite the humour.

Underneath, distaste sits bitter on the roof of Angelo's mouth. When he'd thought about the Mirage Island's mysteries, walking upon their fickle sands, this wasn't exactly what he'd had in mind...

At least, as scientific terms and riddles are presented by a man with logic defying hair, this place wasn't boring.

He could do without the familiar logo, however.

Quickly, the pilot replaces his Gyarados. She'd be an easy target amongst the chaos with her large form.

Angelo steps until his back is to skyler dross's, standing beneath the protective shield. Leaving plenty of room for Locke Jamison.

“Midge, Pollen Puff!” From the safety of his shoulder, the tiny bug begins to throw projectiles at the swarming Porygon-Z with calculated aim.

Around them, the world echoes with laser fire and a single word that ripples through the crowd like a chant. “Data!” He joins in, continuing the flow.

“Six terminals to hunt down?” Angelo flashes a look towards his two companions, trust oozing from a devil-may-care smile. “We've got this.”

His eyes hone sharply beyond the barrier, already searching, a part of him itching to see what awaited them beyond.

And not just because they were being shot at.



notes;

- with skyler dross and Locke Jamison (?)
- swapping gyarados for ribombee.
- ribombee uses pollen puff.
- why not. data.
- a postman, a pilot and a sailor walk into a digital world....
- using 1 salac LMAO GOOD START

“Hey. Eva?”

A thump of a backpack being thrown into the hold of the seaplane punctuates his call. Thankfully, Angelo's equipment had long proven themselves durable.

After the Eva Morales 's successful catch, their remaining time on the Mirage Island before its scheduled disappearance had been short. He'd suggested they regroup back on the beach, their walk back filled with chatter about the Porygon and what they could discover from its data - bringing life to a lonely spot of land.

“I'm not much of a Porygon expert.” Angelo's lips crack into a small grin, as if to say something along the lines of surprising, I know. Casually his back leans against the heat of the plane metal, arms folded in thought.

“But d'you think we might be able to collect more data with some kind of pair set-up?”

He's pretty sure he has one collecting dust in a storage system, somewhere. Might as well make use of it for once, right?

Brutality leaks out in the form of two opposing Charizard, turning the grass between their claws to cinders and scarred earth.

Claws clip against the side of Strike's face, beading drops of red upon scales and ripping a pain jarred snarl from her throat. Furious, the white lizard COUNTERS with ego-inflamed retaliation, fangs snapping towards her counterpart's elongated throat.

Ravaging flames may be absent from the clash between men, but the feral drive to survive, protect and succeed, is a choking wildfire all the same.

Precious breath painfully wheezes out of Angelo's lungs as he's expertly kneed to the gut, his rapidly numbing legs beginning to buckle as agony ebbs away at the corners of his consciousness.

Time was not a luxury here.

And neither was mercy.

Fingers strike out, seeking to sink deep into the open wound of melted flesh. Seizing an opportunity to try and exploit the presented weakness with a cruel vice grip.

Through the swirling of his vision, sweat beading upon bloodied skin, he dares to lean in. “Bet this ain't going as you planned... huh, champ?” Comes the pain gravelled taunt on a mutinous flash of teeth.

Within the man's grip, Angelo twists his red slicked hand, slipping himself free with a firm pull and a wet squelch. It takes more strength than he realised. Stumbling back with weak legs, the knife is slashed with a lack of grace towards his attacker's stomach.

Whether it hits the man or encourages him to back off doesn't matter.

He's coming.

After all, attempting to keep a legendary from the one in which he'd entrusted his soul is a brave endeavour - but a foolish one, indeed.

Gardevoir's restraint is brushed off by the psychic deity in an explosion of speed, Latios flying towards his chosen partner with an acceleration that whips like a hurricane through the trees. Disappearing from sight.

Displaying just why many tales proclaim the Eon duo to be the fastest to take to the skies...

In his place, Ankaa swoops in with a slicing barrage of AIR SLASH towards the Gardevoir.

And it's when Angelo staggers back from slashing towards his adversary, poison and blood loss dragging him down with debilitating pants, that Latios reappears not a beat later in front of him.

Suddenly, where Angelo and Felix Gallagher had been alone just seconds prior, one of them isn't anymore...

A draconic roar, mirroring a crack of thunder in the storm, preludes the blinding light of a LUSTER PURGE as the legendary seeks to vanquish the one that threatens those he holds dear.  

notes;

- charizard is hit by dragon claw
- charizard uses counter
- angelo fights dirty
- latios pushes past the psychic
- togekiss uses air slash on gardevoir
- speedy boy blinks over
- latios uses luster purge on felix

Back and forth they sway, adoring contention stitching them together in a private language long established. "Prove it." Fingertips squeeze into the back of her thigh in retaliation, so generously presented.

After a pause that sits pleasantly tense, Skyler dips into her recounting of the day first. He grins, smug.

Listening, absentminded scratches resume against the warmth of her skin as he enjoys the simple normalcy that they make time for, even in the dead of night.

"Typical day in the world of Private Acquisitions, then. Least they paid you still."

Angelo doesn't bring up that he knows Pacifidlog and back was not an all day trip. Glossed over details were not a rarity these days, and yet each vague answer gnaws indentations into him like the last. 

"Went scouting for an island up north. Contractor is looking for a particular dig site location. Something about Anorith fossils." His turn drowns out the echo of absence, pushing it aside to cherish the now.

"Then I took a detour on the way home," Angelo adds, as nonchalant as if he'd stopped off to pick up a bottle of milk. Only for an exhale falling from his lips to catch on a unexplained, weary snag. "That was my bust of the day. Cost me a few hours."

His cheek presses against the top of Skyler's head, a far-off stare reserved only for the ceiling to witness.

While the Inteleon takes care of their pursuers with precise aim, Zulu 2 covers the advancement of Team Rocket's reinforcements. From her hollowed horns, four HYDRO CANNON rays shoot towards the grunts and their pokemon alike, sending them sprawling in an eruption of water. 

Happy with its full tank the seaplane coasts along the dock, propellor speed increasing with a roar as it prepares to coast along the ocean for take-off. As it approaches the end of the pier, a boot kicks open the passenger door of the cockpit, Angelo ushering Rowan Wrynn with a wave.

“Let's go, Rowan! Think we've outstayed our welcome!”

It's only when they're in the sky, leaving the angry group of Rockets treading water in the docks, that Angelo lets out a laugh through the coms. With a flash of teeth, knuckles reach over towards the Suicune chaser to smack his arm in a universal gesture of nice one.

“That went better than expected. How'd you like the Sevii Islands?”

It's a moot point. Somehow, Angelo doesn't think they'd be welcomed back.

Smothered beneath the suffocating film of heat, sharp fangs are revealed by a slow curling of her maw. Shrike snarls, feral and thriving, beneath the spitting embers of the charcoal Charizard's challenge.

Heading the call, frosty blue wings unfurl, lunging to strike the other lizard with AERIAL ACE, body stealthily swerving around the plume of inferno.  

It's brutal. It's survival. All of the pokemon on the field willingly throwing themselves at one another for the one in which their loyalties lie.

Ankaa sweeps in front of her trainer, wings stirring up a SPRINGTIDE STORM towards the opponents team, howling pink winds aiming to keep them at bay while Shrike rages.

And yet between Angelo and Latios, there is a moment of silence. Red eyes engulfed ethereal blue as they lean close to one another.

He's felt this sensation before. Seen the images in his head before. They're his recollections, observed through another's perspective. 

Angelo embracing Latias and his neck, their faces pressed to tear stained cheeks in jubilee.

Their shared joy of flying through the clouds.

Keeping a protective, proud eye on his sister as Latias fosters a budding friendship with Locke Jamison.

Watching a moment on a star speckled beach. Campfire glow illuminating the features of skyler dross, shouting and pointing a flustered confession while he stares back awestruck.

Memory after memory flickers within Angelo's mind and when the sight sharing ends, fingertips are clenched knuckle white in the legendary's feathers.

Angelo's not done relishing in adventure and freedom and love. Maybe he'd greedily cling to it, for eons to come.

Peeling himself away, Latios flies higher, a PSYCHIC shockwave pulsing towards the cluster of the enemies pokemon in response to the moonblast knocking into him.

Ink pools beneath Felix Gallagher, shadow rippling like dark sludge. Only whereas before tendrils may have shot out to bind the target, Decidueye's PHANTOM FORCE attempts to swallow instead.

Teleporting what it consumes in front of an awaiting, cold-eyed pilot. Decidueye's last act before the Shadow Sneak knocks him out.

Survival knife in a blood-stained hand, fuelled on cherished memories and dreams that he fiercely clings to, Angelo puts every ounce of himself into surging forward to try and grab him.

Wherein the silver of his blade descends, a cruel wish made on a falling star while his arms still obeys to reach for it.

He'd see to it that this man never threatens his family again.  

notes;

- charizard rival? charizard uses aerial ace
- togekiss uses springtide storm
- latios uses psychic
- latios hit by moonblast
- decidueye uses phantom force to teleport felix
- decidueye faints
- angelo attacks felix

“Give me a few minutes to get her ready, then she's all yours.” Comes the response, unabashed and mischievous in the face of a scrap.  

Boots thumping against the wood of the docks, Angelo's shoulder clips against one of the approaching Rocket grunts, sending them into the drink with a perfect Wilhelm scream.

“Zulu 2, start your engines, baby!” Comes the order on bared teeth, revelling in the pounding of thundering hearts and the race of the clock.

He'd always been a sucker for challenges with high stakes and a kick of adrenaline.

As Angelo clambers into the cockpit, having half shoved and half thrown the fee for the fuel into the attendants' hand, the hollows of the Dragapult's horns begin to glow...

And the engines begin to roar.

For someone who had been bold enough to meet up with a group of strangers from the internet, venturing into waters aboard a warship, Johanna Joy was incredibly awkward. Angelo half expected the young woman to Sandshrew curl up into her shirt at any minute now.

“Nothing wrong with going on solo trips.” Angelo does it all the time, after all. Not just for work but in pursuit of his passions, also. It's how they met and how he ended up here. “You're here for you. Enjoy it.”

Although a part of him laments the absence of skyler dross on this particular excursion. She would've like this. Campfires, mystery islands and all.

After listening to Johanna Joy do her best to broach the subject of bunkmates, Angelo's response is short, sweet and casual. Much like the smile on his lips. “Sure. Sounds good. I've already reserved one.”

He jabs a thumb towards the tent with the Wingull perched atop, its beak aggressively clicking together at any poor adventurer that attempts to enter.

“Don't worry, he won't be joining us. Snores like an Ursaring.”

notes: going to be bunking with Johanna Joy

"Okay," comes the response, nonchalantly obliging to her demand. Weightless with relief, he knows to be the work of his own troubled mind, inside. 

After too many late returns that sees him sooner face the road than bear the empty bed and clashing schedules marked by tequila-scented clothes, distance drifting in with invisible pressure, he wasn't going anywhere.

Even without the press of her butt backing up against him, sparking tempting considerations and a languid grin.

There's no hurry to disturb their moment by switching to the bedroom, Angelo only shifting into a more comfortable position to see the night through. If he had it his way, they'd be awake to welcome dawn light through the curtains.

With minimal adjustment he's on his back, encouraging Skyler to tuck herself close by whispering exploratory fingertips in sweet nothing touches between her shoulder blades.

Sighing softly, he basks in the quiet spell of languorous affection that drifts like intoxicating clouds through the room. Tension melting from hard-to-reach corners with but a soft caress of Skyler's lips to his neck.

He'd missed this. Them.

When words next whisper like secrets into the shared tranquillity, they're as one. "How was your day?"

Angelo pauses, a smile touching his lips. 

"I asked first."

For the first time in a while, his lips crack into a heartfelt smile without pretence. Free of the weight he'd taken to carrying and hiding, revealing softness in the dim of the moon-kissed room.

Skyler Dross could always be relied on to pull out his truth, even when unknowingly coaxed by sleep-drunk whispers and delicate embraces.

A danger to cradled secrets that, after tonight, Angelo willingly risks.

"Yeah," his hushed voice comes out strained with a low, breathy chuckle. Not wanting to shatter the tenderness of their moment, as much as he wished to avoid rousing a slumbering feline across the room. "It's still me, sunshine."

Shuffling closer so that his ass wasn't one inch away from hitting the floor, Angelo squeezes her warmth tight. Their bodies fitting against one another's shapes, intertwining as easily as taking to water. Even when something wet seeps into his shirt.

Hidden, his lips press into a thin line, stifling something between a laugh and a vocalisation of feigned aversion.

"My mistake. I can leave and come back later for breakfast, if you want?"

Beneath the cover of darkness, playful familiarity shields vulnerabilities, Angelo clings to the hope she holds onto him steadfast.

Screams, blood curling and visceral, interlace with glutaral chokes in the wake of cold steel and furious radiance. Angelo and Felix Gallagher both tainting the once peaceful edge of Meteor Falls with damned ruination.

Their own, more than anything else.

Crumbling to his knees, gravity mercilessly slamming his shoulder into the grass, a calloused hand automatically snatches towards the side of his neck between frantic wheezes. Digits become instantly slick from the path that had been carved from collarbone up towards his ear.

Tightly squeezing, blood squelches and seeps between the thin spaces of his fingers. Angelo's consciousness slowly leaking out between his desperate grip, too...

I can breathe. Breathe. He affirms like a mantra behind blue eyes, blown near inky black from the rapid racing of his pulse. Fuck. Get up. Get up.

To close his lids now, no matter how tempting through the dizziness, would be the last. And he had too much to live for, for this to be the end. 

Biting back the final stream of his Luster Purge, burning ruby eyes turn towards the pilot slumped on the ground as he struggles to his knees. Latios doesn't hesitate to press himself against Angelo, supporting his weight and helping him in his endeavour.

By his side the Eon pokémon would not waver, even when his sights are turned towards the scorched man and his Gardevoir. Retribution taking the form of a HEAL BLOCK on a dagger glare.

Angelo doesn't notice that he can't feel the warmth of Latios's feathers against him as they lean together, doesn't realise his fingers are reaching slow as he fumbles at his belt, knocking the capsules there.

Hope emerges in two forms, an old faithful companion and a fierce combatant.

Instantly the Togekiss flanks herself on Angelo's other side, LIFE DEW sparkling like stars in the sky, relieving his and the lurking Decidueye's wounds just so. Refreshed, within the darkness of the shadows it trains a LASER FOCUS on the enemy group.

Shrike takes the head. Fuelled by the other Charizard's fury, the pale lizard releases a burning, glutaral roar of her own. Twin plumes of INFERNO colliding into one another at the centre of the battlefield.  

Blurred vision catching the shapes emerging from the other end of the field, is proof enough that his attacker was willing to see his unknown motivation through to completion. No matter scorched or cost.

Either he escapes or kills him first.

It's then, when Angelo attempts to stand, that he notices. That beneath the agony, blurring the lines between awareness and nothingness, lies a lingering familiarity like a fever radiating beneath the skin.

But unlike on Mt Pyre when the poison had sunk into his system, his muscles feel unlike his own. Numb.

Denying him the ability to run.

The choice had been made for him.

notes;

- angelo is also HURT and POISONED
- togekiss uses life dew on decidueye + angelo
- charizard uses inferno 
- decidueye uses laser focus (next attack critical hit)
- latios uses heal block on gardevoir (spiteful bich)

Within the darkness of the void, destruction rains down upon those that still stand within Sootopolis's remains in a cruel facade of a million shooting stars.

There would be no chanting of hopeful wishes to chase after their blinding tails, however. Only pointless pleas for mercy and cries of suffering as they plummet, beyond their watchers' control, no matter how much or to whom they pray.

Harbingers of death were oft depicted as beautiful.

Prayers do not fill Angelo's head when he pulls skyler dross closer to him to give her more coverage within the Klefki's CRAFTY SHIELD, an empty Shedinja shell lifeless at his feet.

There's no time to mourn. Not when what fills his head is the observation of a dying world and the drive to do what he must, to ensure his family made it back home.

(And a glimmer of hope that remains burning deep within his chest that Locke Jamison and Latias, far out of sight, were keeping one another safe.)

“Go!” He encourages Skyler to go into the PHANTOM FORCE portal first, his voice barking above the chaos, even if he knew she'd never leave without him. “I'm right behind you!”

But that doesn't stop Angelo's feet from staggering, hesitating from joining his wife when his eyes catch sight of a blur of blue, plummeting from the skies from its wounds.

His heart falls, too...

He'd do whatever he must, to ensure his family made it back home.

Even if it means dooming another of his pokemon to see that Latios would never die twice.

His last sight before he's dragged into the darkness is of the Togekiss he'd sent to death, flying across no-man's land, LIFE DEW raining upon Latios.

Only for his hesitance to earn him the very same prismatic beam that engulfs his Togekiss. Heat ripping past his side, searing arm and leg.

Angelo staggers out of the portal under Kyogre's floating form, corner of his vision blurring with white hot pain as his flesh crackles and burns.

Yet as he half stumbles and half gravitates bloodied into Skyler's orbit, words strained through painfully clenched teeth, make clear his priorities. “Heal yourself first, 'm fine...”

Fingertips dig tightly into one another's arms, lifelines and lighthouse beacons in the storm.

Hollowness in his gut fades when a feeling of determination and reassurance brushes his mind. Angelo turning his head to watch the healed Latios beginning to climb higher and higher, scaling the colossal height of the titan before disappearing amongst the clouds...

Finding his footing through the pain, the pilot reaches for another pokeball - the fight wasn't over yet.

Beneath the shadow of Kyogre's DRIZZLE, the summoned red Gyarados coils around Angelo and Skyler, huge body shielding them from the wicked winds as a full powered HURRICANE howls towards Necrozma.

As razor sharp air storms out to envelop the dark creature, a blur of purple descends. MEGA LATIOS diving down with explosive speed, firing draconic power (DRAGON PULSE) atop the world ender.

tldr;

- latias is with Locke Jamison (pooka controlling)
- shedinja dies
- latios is wounded by a prismatic beam
- angelo sends togekiss to die for the soul bro
- togekiss uses life dew on latios then rip
- dragged around by sky. an every day occurance, really.
- teleported by kyogre
- injured, just a flesh wound
- mind if i share your aqua ring, bb?
- gyarados uses hurricane on necrozma (hurricane boosted from kyogre's drizzle/rain dance)
- latios mega evolves and uses dragon pulse