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[attr="class","textbody"] Her touch was warm.

[break][break] Warm enough to freeze through the frosted flesh, the bonds of family and love strong enough to cut through and sever the immediate hatred that had flowed through his veins as he'd replayed the events of that day over and over in his mind.

[break][break] It was torture, in another form, and only family like Naomi Sato could possibly begin to heal it.

[break][break] "Thank you," he breathed with relief, as he felt sudden fatigue sweep through him in tandem. His body leaned towards her, eyes closing, so that he didn't even notice the lurching of his chest as they swapped from one realm to the next.

[break][break] Back in the hospital bed, his hand in hers, it felt like it was where he was meant to be in the first place.

[break][break] Where he belonged.

[break][break] "Good. Don't leave."

[break][break] You can't.

[break][break] No one else can.

[break]

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MILKY

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from project tower (x) [break]
— ultra beast (guzzlord gacha)

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When it is all over, blood stains the floor red. Rocket's custodians will have to do extra work that evening — or maybe even one of the grunts themselves, if they can't find the extra hands.

[break][break] "That's right," he says, nodding to Zev Harcourt before his eyes gleam an icy, HATEFUL hue. "No matter the cause, disloyalty means death."

[break][break] "Good job."

[break][break] At her words, he took his dagger back into his own hand.

[break][break] "I'll be sure to, Crowley. Now, come on, let us go to the next training simulation."

[break][break] "There's no time to waste with war on the horizon."
[break]

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the cursed is destined to hate.

[break][break] he hates and hates and hates, with every bone in his body, with every heartbeat that reverberates through him, from head to toe. the irony of fate, to bring him into a loveless world and then subject him to years of endless torment, was nearly too cruel to bear.

[break][break] his body burns with the unfairness of it all —

[break][break] but how much more unfair it is to know that the ones around him, the ones who love him, the pokemon that he holds so precious-dear, would have to suffer that same exact fate.

[break][break]

[break]

'i know i'm not supposed to,' he'd confessed once to Asriel Pryde and Raziel Beckett both. 'but i care for them.'

[break][break] 'they're not weapons to me.'

[break][break]

[break]

weak boy. fragile child. foolish soul.

[break][break] even Chu-e Choi had seen the weakness in him.

[break][break] "you've been broken to pieces, haven't you? then those pieces forced back into a new shape."

[break][break] "you're useless to rocket."

[break][break] how ironic that the very thing that howard slayte hated Chu-e Choi for was the very thing that they had seen in him.

[break][break]

[break]

with a fierceness devoid of humanity, fern delaney's gifted milotic emerges from the churning waves, determined to obliterate that which caused his human so much anguish. human or machine. man or monster. it didn't matter. if he could destroy ana fell here and now, he might finally put an end to the piercing torment of the icy winds that raged around them.

[break][break] each of those dying souls echoed a reminder, cutting their way into his fraying scales.

[break][break] KILL HER. KILL HER. KILL HER.

[break][break] SACRIFICE YOURSELF.

[break][break] and sacrifice himself he would.

[break][break] his mouth yawns with the power of his TERA BLAST, a blinding hue, intent on engorging upon the fragile human in his grasp. however, before he can blow a crater in the side of ana fell's face —

[break][break] a scream is ripped out of his throat. white-hot pain burns his scales as that mutated hand crunches around his slithering throat, as she blasts him. again and again. without remorse. without concern. without care.

[break][break] "NO! RAI!"

[break][break] the mangled shout of his master bleeds through, but it is not enough.

[break][break] his gaze blurs. agony rips through him again. he stares down at her, trembling.

[break][break] this human... no. she wasn't a human. not anymore.

[break][break] his tailfin thrashes against the force of the attack, struggling to tear free in time, but a gaping wound the size of a crater has already torn through him. there's no escape — not from this.

[break][break] the hollow winds of dying souls converge on him, achingly close.

[break][break] they come to gather his spirit in their whispering embrace, just as the remains of his flesh are swallowed by the raging sea.

[break][break] plip-plop-PLOP!

[break][break] and so it arrives:

[break][break] sweet, sweet surrender.

[break][break]

[break]

standing atop his ruinous beast, jayden stares down what has happened.

[break][break] his fingers grip tightly the edge of the feline's scruff, as though immobilized into place by sightless chains. regret and pain and HATRED surges through him, eyes snapping immediately towards the weakened girl crumpled atop her dying machine.

[break][break] the feeling that runs through him is so immediate - so visceral - that he nearly doesn't notice the sky's jaws open with flaming fire, and the world turning into a bloody sea.

[break][break] meteors plummet into the crashing waves without an ounce of remorse. one nearly collides with him — except —

[break][break] 'JAYDEN!'

[break][break] the words of his fellow admin inspire him into action, jerking the beast below him into movement, the waves freezing beneath his paws as it redirects both him and jayden into safety. mist rolls through the air just in time, as he searches the sky for his fiery brethren, just as he witnesses a sudden BLAST from kyogre into sootopolis' crater. it rocks the ocean with purpose, followed shortly by the glimmering verdant scales of something godly.

[break][break] is that...?

[break][break] freezing ice blades streak the burnt orange sky like a legion of arrows, an attempt to strike the trio in it's tracks, but it's a moment too late.

[break][break] bitterness rolls along the roof of his mouth, twisted with iron-blood, as he witnesses freya morningstar and ana fell's miserly escape.

[break][break] COWARDS.

[break][break] every bone in his body aches him to follow. to fight, against his best instincts.

[break][break] but BARNABY FINCH's words empower him, anchor him into reality, and he thinks about THEO BECKETT's words not too long ago.

[break][break] keep your head clear and your will your own.

[break][break] there was too much at stake not to.

[break][break]

[break]

a hand lifts to the sky, calling his dragon back towards him.

[break][break] vodnik obeys — bound by the sinister force tethered to his master's fate — and lifts jayden back into the sky, soaring alongside BARNABY FINCH. yet, even as his hands lightly brush over familiar scales, jayden feels it too — the sharp sting of regret, the bitter taste of failure.

[break][break] i'm sorry.

[break][break] vodnik's sorrow mirrors his own. the winds have calmed, no longer wild with fury, and his eyes have returned to flaxen gold.

[break][break] how cruel the world is, to bind them to such a fate.

[break][break] how much simpler it seemed before, the fragments of a dream that were unbound by such burdensome emotion.

[break][break]


[break] he touches his ear, reaching out to the channels where he knows those like Cillian Quinn and fern delaney are assuredly listening.

[break][break] "admin cross and bee here — alive and enroute to the city. stay on high alert; we've injured morningstar, but she's fled and is headed your way."

[break][break] his expression grows steely cold as they make a beeline for the city's crater.

[break][break] "and prepare for impact.

[break][break] "it seems rayquaza is descending too."

[break][break] no doubt to join the fray alongside it's primordial kin.

[break]






[break]



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Good.

[break][break] Tori doesn't waste anytime, pulled taught by the weight of a superior's command. Whether it's because of the sharpness of Jayden's words or because the urgency of the situation, it doesn't matter.

[break][break] They slip through the exit without preamble, and back to the cover of darkness.

[break][break] However, before they can manage a proper escape, the sight of someone unfamiliar appears. Unfamiliar, that is, until the memory of the Megalopolan ship they were all trapped on resurfaces.

[break][break] "It's none of your business," he growls, hand flashing out in warning. The ground moans with effort as an icy barrier is erected between them both, severing the connection between that childish Gym Leader and her companion. The memory of that OGERPON in that broken nightmare, the heat of it's flaming mask burning his memories alight.

[break][break] "Quickly!" he commands to the rest of the group, directing them into the PHANTOM FORCE barriers his legion of ghosts erect. He nods quickly at THEO BECKETT, glad to receive his mentor's aid.

[break][break]



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[attr="class","ptower-choice"]RETURN TO HQ

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[player]https://file.garden/ZYU948Fgsgr29bBw/music/CasualtySong.mp3[/player] [break][break]

resentment burns - always - like golden ichor through his veins. but not for mint frost. never for mint, who had become like something more than a best friend to him. somewhere along the line — between the days of transferring forbidden pokemon together, to the awkward meet-cutes in saunas, to the wintry cold of a baby's first kill — he had become something more. he had become family.

[break][break] hatred holds no home here. there's no room for chien pao, not between the feeling of his arm pressed against the side of the other's head, bringing him close to him.

[break][break] soft, comforting strokes of his hair.

[break][break] unlike their first encounter like this, there was an ease - a comfort - to doing so.

[break][break] jayden wasn't the one bleeding here. mint was.

[break][break] "shh, shh," he soothes. "you aren't trapped anymore."

[break][break] like i am.

[break][break] a hand streaks against his wet cheek, brushing against those unnatural feathers, wiping away those foolish tears. those teardrops go crystal-cold against his hand, flaking away like a snow's first frost against his fingertips.

[break][break] "mint," he murmurs. "you broke free."

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A formidable effort from the elder Grunt. A logical one, which was to be expected for someone with as much experience as Grigori Sokolov.

[break][break] Yet, even the most meticulous logic and planning cannot outmatch the strength of passion.

[break][break] Icy winds whip around the Grunt immediately, slowing the momentum of his movement as he lashes out suddenly, aiming to bash the Admin's head in. But winter makes the body slower than one can even imagine, and there is not enough time or effort or experience to fight against the rage of HATRED that suddenly floods through the room.

[break][break] Jayden ducks, a glimmering sword flashing into his hand. It aches with the pain and a reminder of a thousand dead, the blunt of it's hilt snapping fast against the edge of that frozen shield.

[break][break] And just like that, Grigori Sokolov's defenses, shatter into a million diamonds.

[break][break] A heavy silence blanketed the room, his hair a radiant, blinding white. In his piercing blue eyes, the daunting image of Grigori Sokolov's expression is reflected back at the other. Unfeeling, apathetic in all it's regards — [break][break]

"In the end, it doesn't matter what they do. Do not fret, Grigori." [break][break]

"Because we will have each other." [break][break]

— how different this moment was from that. How different this world was from that dream-like realm.

[break][break] "You have disappointed me, Grigori."

[break][break] His eyes shift slightly, glancing towards his scorned lover fern delaney who appears at the corner of the room to take the grunts to their next session.

[break][break] "Next time, do better."

[break][break]

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[attr="class","ptower-choice"]RETURN TO HQ

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Was he testing her, or was it just the desire of an old friend wanting to spend time with another?

[break][break] Was it true devotion? Or one built upon the bricks of mortal sin, greed, and guilt?

[break][break] No one would never know, perhaps, considering their difference in rank now.

[break][break] And jayden cross had never been a talkative person to begin with.

[break][break] They make it quickly to the city's pillar in no time at all, staking to the shadows before slinking in through a side entrance. HATRED and disdain leaks through the Rocket Admin as he realizes that the incompetent League have left the area defenseless and open for attack*. How foolish could they be? he thought.

[break][break] Examining their surroundings, Jayden nods at the other grunts along Victoria Beckett who sneak through the entrance alongside him. They ought to take advantage of the momentum while they can, taking valuable materials and research with them.

[break][break] However, they are cursed with bad timing. Sure enough, alarm bells ring, causing the admin's head to jerk up.

[break][break] "Quickly," he hissed. "Let's go."

[break][break] He nods towards Alba Evovae who holds a nearby window open.

[break][break] His icy gaze sweeps through all the grunts he brought alongside him, pausing as he witnesses Victoria Beckett's hesitation.

[break][break] "Tori," he snaps. "What are you waiting for?"

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