wren's right. a salazzle would not have been able to decimate the foliage in this manner, not by its usual mechanisms of flame and poison. as a blunt thumb tip scratches his chin, elijah wonders if this destruction had been committed by the natural elements at all.[break][break]

"sure." elijah snorts. a small smile creeps onto his lips. "you scared?"[break][break]

his gogoat keeps its head high, fighting the instinct to graze.[break][break]

"could be signs of the end times!"

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]

wren rourke[break]
mission

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-victreebel"]

and elijah would say the same, if it weren't for the way he grumbled his words into cud. swallowed personal detail in favor for stoic or stern expression.[break][break]

"actually, i did." elijah says. "slateport's beachside market. what?" [break][break]

he slaps his hand on his neck as if striking a mosquito. grumbling, he asks:[break][break]

"think it's ugly? think that affects the reading?"

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]

Inaya Toussaint

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-gogoat"]

elijah is quick to notice how chapfallen wren is. how he adopts the dull hues of the blighted world around him in simultaneous contrast. how the pigment of tragedy weighs wren down—at least, to elijah's eyes.[break][break]

the apothecary is on his nervous gogoat. he struggles to encourage it. a hand brushes against the gogoat's neck and finally, after much prodding, they pass the threshold of death to trod on dead grass.[break][break]

"think it's a disease?" elijah asks. "maybe a salazzle's CORROSION?"[break][break]

elijah grumbles as he cranes his neck toward wren.[break][break]

"hate to see it either way."

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]

wren rourke[break]
mission

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-victreebel"]

elijah has set up small ramshackle camp on the outskirts of petalburg woods. a small tent. picnic blanket. a campfire pit dug out by hooves. his gogoat feeds clumsily from an old metal pot, its bottom blackened by fire and stubbornness.[break][break]

ever since the sudden appearance of a blighted area and his work with wren rourke and wolfgang volkov, the apothecary has set down temporary roots here.[break][break]

he sits across from Inaya Toussaint: a fortune teller he met within the ranks of rocket. cross-legged with his cheek nestled against a wrinkled palm, elijah swirls a tea cup by the tips of his fingers. the shallow liquid sloshes about. between them, a tea set and other accessories of divination lay.[break][break]

"so, didja predict you'd be a part of team rocket?" elijah says. "or was that a pleasant surprise?"

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]

Inaya Toussaint

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-gogoat"]

and so a message arrives, finally. it's curt. no embellishment. just the day of the week, time, and location. despite the lack of tonal flair, it is quite possible wren rourke would be able to hear elijah gardner's voice from the sparse syntax:

tuesday. 730AM. petalburg woods.

elijah's already there an hour earlier. in the morning, the wood is alive. taillow croon to choruses awaiting their turn on the other boughs. the composition of their choir shifts by the waking minute.[break][break]

should wren rourke find him, earlier, on time, or late, elijah does not seem offended.[break][break]

instead, he directs his offense to the blighted crop circle. a creation of Elisabeth Fiorelli's unbeknownst to him. all the dead plants stand in shocked death like morbid statues.[break][break]

"morning. like what you see?" his gogoat trods backward and away from dead grass.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]

wren rourke[break]
mission

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-victreebel"]

elijah hears the mechanic, ana fell, select the same answer he's prepared to input. though, he selects OPTION A for other reasons.[break][break]

the apothecary knows the syndicate has limited resources. sootopolis, after all, can only provide so much in the end without expansion.[break][break]

"a for ashley." elijah says.[break][break]

why waste resources on the unknown, when they can direct precious time and energy on threats they know will up against them? his victreebel shrieks approvingly, as if it had read his mind.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]

SPECTRA TRIALS - PICKS A. THE THREATS WE KNOW

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-victreebel"]

elijah leans against the tough, speckled hide of his victreebel's tummy. his eyes are closed, tired slits above hardened crossed arms. there is no use. the barking and clamor is too loud, too proud to ignore. he understands their zeal, however. he's here to prove himself too. [break][break]

to bryan delarosa. to priam conrad. to jayden cross and anyone else watching. but he is unaware of his own gaze turned darkly inward.[break][break]

"the musclehead's right." elijah says after Kouji Matsubara. "rocket likes putting people in their place more than anything else."[break][break]

he cracks an eye open. his arched brow cinches his critical stare in place.[break][break]

"better be able to back your shit up." his victreebel shrieks and shakes its vines.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]

SPECTRA TRIALS

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-victreebel"]

elijah does not look back. he's no front line soldier, but like a frustrating patch of branded skin, bryan delarosa's words burn into him.[break][break]

he is not some lowly grunt. not a man hiding away in some metal cage.[break][break]

still, elijah confesses to himself. still, it would be nice if he could be.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]

Josh Devlin alec foster[break]

SPOILER: Click to show

+10 MP (IC POST)[break]
+10 MP (IC POST)[break]
+10 MP (IC POST)[break]
+10 MP (IC POST)[break]
+10 MP (IC POST)[break]
+10 MP (IC POST)[break]
+10 MP (IC POST)[break]
+10 MP (IC POST)[break]
+10 MP (MYSTERIOUS ORB [1/3])[break]
+10 MP (KO MANECTRIC)[break]
+10 MP (KO DRAGONITE)[break]
+50 MP (FROGADIER "KO")[break]
+50 MP (TANGROWTH "KO")[break]
+50 MP (PARTICIPATION)[break]
+150 MP (COMPLETING BRACKETED BATTLE)[break]
+200 MP (WIN?)[break]
+10 MP (STICKY GLOB [1/3])[break]
TOTAL: 620 MP

[break][break]

TL;DR: elijah uses mysterious ore to try and escape.

elijah is jostled about atop his mount. his gogoat struggles to escape. the sheer speed of a zeraora and mega evolved charizard forces the gogoat's hooves to clash desperately upon the stone like a matchstick struggling to catch.[break][break]

"fuck." [break][break]

elijah struggles to hold on to his gogoat's horns, but he braves letting go of one. from his pocket, a mysterious ore encrusted with red chunks is scooped by his hand.[break][break]

"hope this... works. agh." he flings the ore onto the ground behind him. [break][break]

suddenly, an eruption of red crystal extends forth like a petrified wave. the ground is smothered in crystalline cardinal as elijah rips away.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]

Josh Devlin alec foster[break]

SPOILER: Click to show

+10 MP (IC POST)[break]
+10 MP (IC POST)[break]
+10 MP (IC POST)[break]
+10 MP (IC POST)[break]
+10 MP (IC POST)[break]
+10 MP (IC POST)[break]
+10 MP (IC POST)[break]
+10 MP (MYSTERIOUS ORB [1/3])[break]
+10 MP (KO MANECTRIC)[break]
+10 MP (KO DRAGONITE)[break]
+50 MP (FROGADIER "KO")[break]
+50 MP (TANGROWTH "KO")[break]
+50 MP (PARTICIPATION)[break]
+10 MP (STICKY GLOB [1/3])

[break][break]

TL;DR: elijah uses mysterious ore to try and escape.

"naw, i'm not forgetting." [break][break]

elijah rallies back. his TANGROWTH faints, vines stiffening from crawling scales of ice.[break][break]

"you're unhinged. cuckoo. your friend's struggling and you're smiling. look at yourself."[break][break]

after recalling his fainted pokemon, the apothecary leaps onto his GOGOAT.[break][break]

"so i'll give you a choice!" elijah says before leaning toward his ride's ear. "EARTHQUAKE."[break][break]

the gogoat reels back and slams its hooves onto the cavern floor. although alec foster may believe the upheaved earth is for his DRAGONITE—and it part, it is. however, the rest of the fissure snakes toward a suffering, steaming sygna suit and its wearer, Josh Devlin.[break][break]

the fallarbor gym leader must make a choice: protect his compromised ally, or land another shot on elijah and his pokemon.[break][break]

regardless, elijah turns swift on his gogoat and begins to ride away, a pulse of GRASSY TERRAIN left in the beginnings of his wake.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]

Josh Devlin alec foster[break]

SPOILER: Click to show

+10 MP (IC POST)[break]
+10 MP (IC POST)[break]
+10 MP (IC POST)[break]
+10 MP (IC POST)[break]
+10 MP (IC POST)[break]
+10 MP (IC POST)[break]
+10 MP (KO MANECTRIC)[break]
+50 MP (FROGADIER "KO")[break]
+50 MP (TANGROWTH "KO")[break]
+50 MP (PARTICIPATION)[break]
+10 MP (STICKY GLOB [1/3])

[break][break]

TL;DR: elijah's tangrowth faints; elijah rides his gogoat and earthquakes, aiming it at dragonite + josh before attempting to leave.