[attr="class","postbody"]
Fingers tightened around his throat, pressing with lethal intent. Agony surged in the admin's chest, overwhelming not only with the suffocating realization of being choked, but by who.

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

[break][break] Breath hissed through his lungs, fracturing his splintered heart.

[break][break] "You don't ..."

[break][break] Resentment snaked viciously through the open cracks as venom coursed through his veins. How dare she do this? How dare she tried to kill him, when all he had done — all he had ever done — was try to get to know her? To love her? To treat her the same way that Cillian Quinn had taught him to, that family should be treated?

[break][break] Not the family that they knew, but the family that they deserved.

[break][break] "You don't know what you're talking about!" he snarled. In an instant, frost encased Jayden's arms as he seized the hands constricting his throat. HATEFUL ice crystallized in his palms, linking to the other Rocket's like a spreading toxin.

[break][break] Yet, before it could engulf them entirely, the earth convulsed, and a portal materialized between them, forcefully separating both. The DISTORTION WORLD glittered back at them, the semblance of something sinister, as though it were Katherine Fairburne coming back from the dead set to haunt them still — only for it to vanish in a glimmer of light.

[break][break] Jayden stood above Lulu Flint, gasping, the bruising marks around his pale throat brightly visible in the hollow landscape.

[break][break]

[attr="class","milkycred"]
MILKY

[attr="class","postbody"]
"I understand," he agrees. Jayden may not have a Scizor, but he has his own ghosts — both literal and figurative that have bonded to him and provided him companionship over the years. For better or for worse, it is yet another thing he shares in common with Grigori Sokolov.

[break][break] He contemplates the grunt's question.

[break][break] "No," he decides on. "I would rather to see you live than die."

[break][break] Beside him, CHIEN PAO opens it's maw, breathing in the frustration that leaks from the other man, like a broken seam.

[break][break] Jayden's gaze flickered, glancing behind him, but he saw nothing.

[break][break] "Do you see something, Sokolov?"

[break][break] Once again, HATRED peeled off him in waves — threatening to overwhelm whoever it was that dared approach.

[break]

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Grigori Sokolov [break]
gc explore #1

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his brow furrows.

[break][break] he does not understand.

[break][break] "how else should i look at you, lyubimiy?" he asks. "other than as the love of my life."

[break][break] he smiles, as much as jayden has ever known to smile — the same kind, sweet, adoring expression that he always wears for them.

[break][break] it only persists with the way that they touch him, sweeping a thumb beneath his eyes, and he leans forward for a kiss.

[break][break] "do not worry. i will never leave you," he murmurs. "never again."

[break][break]

[attr="class","symbol"]
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fern delaney [break]
az cull the horde #2

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[attr="class","postbody"]
Jayden is not losing his mind.

[break][break] At least not within these walls of Rocket, when there are anchors such as THEO BECKETT or Elisabeth Fiorelli or — in this case, howard slayte, to ground him. Regardless of whether or not they know it, it is howard slayte that this RUINOUS BEAST enjoys best of all, especially compared to the other admins that fall within the CURSED's rank.

[break][break] More than the one who always caused an outburst of love and affection to be born within his chest, the one who inherited such a FICKLE guardianship. More than the one who could not be trusted, who's natural tendency to love himself most of all erected barriers that could not be broken, could not be WEAKENED through powers of harm or hatred.

[break][break] This one who's heart was a breeding ground for his own resentment and vitriol, poisoned beneath a veneer of optimism and knowledge.

[break][break] CHIEN PAO purred, strolling forward as the two admins inspected the earth. It rubbed it's snowy fur against the bespectacled man's ankles, leaving a similarly-shaped pawprint in the earth beneath those two hoofprints.

[break][break] Jayden blinked, turning to the archeologist.

[break][break] "No," he frowned. "I do not."

[break][break]

[attr="class","symbol"]
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howard slayte[break]
monster hunter #1

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Conversation is cut off at the sound of enemies approaching and Jayden nods imperceptibly as his fellow admin vanishes to a more tactical location. While the propaganda admin disappears to the shadows, Rocket's admin of offense does not move. He is not budge from his location, simply drawing on the HATEFUL power within him as THEO BECKETT and Elisabeth Fiorelli had taught him how to do.

[break][break] Though the sudden DROUGHT that appeared in the area drew SUNSHINE through the caverns, the sudden heat did not extinguish the fiery hot feeling of HATRED that burned a hole in his heart. That always persisted, ever since that day in that frosty cave.

[break][break] If anything, the heat only furthered his reminder of MATIAS SILPH and PENELOPE LIVY, thus increasing his resentment.

[break][break] CHIEN PAO appeared, leaping off cliffs and walls with it's ACROBATICS attack. A snarl echoes as knife-teeth punctures the incoming IRON HANDS, some of which who are impaled by their fellow admin's HYPER BEAM.

[break][break] One of the PARADOX POKEMON escapes, lumbering forward as its colossal hands reach out to ensnare Jayden in a suffocating grip. The admin's eyes widen, reminded of Lulu Flint, before vitriol snakes it's way into his heart.

[break][break] Then, suddenly, in a flash — Jayden plunges a sword between the beast's armor, metallic slicing away to splintered ice.

[break][break] The large pokemon falls to the ground with a massive thud.

[attr="class","symbol"]
[attr="class,"cp cp-skull"]

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BARNABY FINCH[break]
az cull the horde

[attr="class","postbody"]
As the pair race down the hallway, they would find the rest of the base eerily empty. There is nothing to greet them — nothing living, nothing dead — save for the sight of SLASHES against the hard metal exterior of the floor and walls. Almost as if something terrifying has carved into the space before them, littered amongst a collection of blood and ice.

[break][break] At the end of the hallway, what greeted the blacksmith would be a ghastly sight. Blood dripping from the admin's person, his body cut into a thousand pieces, a fierce gust that swelled and then only dimmed as she neared. The icy tornado vanished like mist, only for the Cursed to twin.

[break][break] His eyes, of the fiercest winter, pierced for a mere moment — filled of nothing but absolute HATRED.

[break][break] Then she spoke, and it was as if a key unlocked some invisible lock, and the expression dulled to that of affection, smoothing over as the possessed state suddenly cleared. His knees crumpled, as fatigue suddenly filled him.

[break][break] He braced himself, breathing ice.

[break][break] "Aurelie," he murmured. "I was worried for you."

[break][break] Beside him, despite the human's feverish state, Chien Pao emanated a pristine power, almost glowing with its intensity. Blood dripping from it's fangs, it stared unflinchingly at Aurelie Lefevre — almost as if it planned to impale her too.

[break][break]

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Aurelie Lefevre [break]
gc explore #1

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Those glowing eyes burned like EMBERS, echoing endlessly in the dark chamber that Aurelie Lefevre was locked in.

[break][break] The flicker of the Duskull appeared then, though for a moment there was nothing to answer the blacksmith's question except silence. There was nothing to answer whether it belonged to Rocket's admin or the DRK Triad, and there was a single, nearly terrifying moment in which the ghost-type could've attacked.

[break][break] But then flames flickered before the ghost-type in the shape of a WILL-O-WISP. However rather than flying out to attack, they merely floated in front of the reaper, shaping into the vague rendition of a tiny cat and jayden cross.

[break][break] The pokemon blinked humorlessly before then floating down a nearby hallway, pausing briefly only to make sure that the blacksmith followed.

[break][break]

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Aurelie Lefevre [break]
gc explore #1

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'Thank you?'

[break][break] It felt uncomfortable. Unnatural, for THEO BECKETT of all people to say that to him. THEO BECKETT who had been his mentor, but who had also tried to kill him on one more than occasion. THEO BECKETT who had tried to make him bleed, but who he would - undoubtedly - bleed for.

[break][break] "I..."

[break][break] Jayden pressed his lips together.

[break][break] "You don't have to thank me. That's not - " He bit his lip. "I don't hate you," he said again. "But I hate this. What we've become, what we've forced to become."

[break][break] 'I hate him.'

[break][break] "Do you not hate it too?"

[break][break]

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[attr="class,"cp cp-skull"]

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THEO BECKETT [break]
AZ CULL THE HORDE

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He's flying when he sees the EXPLOSIONS rock the air. For a moment, HATRED surges inexplicably as he pivots towards MT. CHIMNEY, wondering if it's something to do with PENELOPE LIVY or MATIAS SILPH. However, upon nearing, he realizes the clouds of smog are not smog but rather pollen.

[break][break] DRAGON DARTS scour the air, smashing against the imposing dynamax barriers.

[break][break] He nears the ground just as several trainers speed past him to attempt to fight the gargantuan beasts that have taken over the mountainous area. However, what draws THE CURSED to the floor is the appearance of two DOG-LIKE paw prints. His brow furrows and he takes a picture, before sending it to both howard slayte and Naomi Sato.

[break][break] Jayden considered joining the raid, but when his stomach turns with discomfort upon viewing those TOXIC CHAINS he disappears in a collection of shadow atop his DRAGAPULT.

[break]

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[attr="class,"cp cp-skull"]

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jayden cross
[break] PP2: VENUSAUR [break][break]

[break]