The Dusknoir is relatively slow compared to the Heracross. Despite its ghost-typing, Lex always hated slow pokemon. She was fast, and agile and expected the same from her pokemon. Unfortunately, the Dusknoir does not display those abilities, but its bulk make it more of a tank.

Umbra is too slow to avoid the dark-type move. The Throat Chop strikes true, hitting her in the . . well . . . Throat I guess. An agonizing groan rumbles through the arena as she rights herself again after the blow of the attack. There’s a certain fury to seen in her single eye. One that flips a switch, as if now she isn’t messing around. Little too late.

Umbra retaliates by pressing her palms forward, unleashing a massive amount of spectral energy. HEX leeches on to the BURNED victim, seeking out its weakness with intent to exploit it.

Callan Young
FUTURE SIGHT strikes in 1 turn

Will-o-wisp sears into the bug-type’s carapace, leaving large hand prints where the Dusknoir held the Heracross in place. It didn’t seem to happy with being BURNED and retaliates with a well-placed SEISMIC TOSS.

The arena shudder beneath the weight of the Dusknoir. Lex grins, flinching slightly. That must’ve hurt.

Umbra does seem more affected this time, slower the phase out from the Heracross’s grip and turn upright to hover above the beetle. Energy hums around the ghost. A pink light stretches out from it’s core, the same light engulfing the Heracorss. Umbra peers into the future, marking the Heracross for destruction.

Callan Young
FUTURE SIGHT strikes in 2 turns

“Hm,” she lets a small, amused smile tug at her ruby red lips. Usually she got more push back from her opponents, especially the males. Rarely did that actually agree with her. Then again, most were here to win.

Why was he here then?

Umbra takes the Megahorn dead on, the weight of the Heracross and blow from the attack pushing her back. Her large arms move forward the wraps the bug in a tight hold. She uses the opportunity to FRISK her opponent to make sure he’s not hiding anything.

White hot flames bubble from her massive palms, seeking to bath the Heracross in a burning WILL-O-WISP.

Callan Young

Lex had grown to become a regular here, known for her ruthlessness and penchant for ghost-types. The dark, seedy underground I where she belongs when it came to battling. It’s where she started to make a name for herself after the events of the of the Cave of Origin. The Beast wouldn’t make it two feet into a Pokemon Gym without having security called.

She gently swirls a glass of dark amber liquid in the dark corner of one of the bars that line the cage. A security guard leans over to whisper something in her ear. She offers him a curt nod and quickly throws back the last of her whiskey, cringing at the sting of the cheap liquor, “I keep sayin it, you guys need to talk to virgil roach. Your whiskey sucks,” as always, the bartender offers a shrug of condolence. Nothing was ever going to change.

Lex enters the ring, seemingly with no pokemon, just a red head looking like she’s ready to fight. The crowd cheers enthusiastically as the air beside her seems to ripple. A dark mist forms as a Dusknoir peels through the phantom plane and into reality.

“Tch,” She looks over the Heracross with disappointment, “Should be quick,” she waves a hand for the Dusknoir to lurch forward towards the center of the cage.

Callan Young

The little Eevee, no longer the center of Lex’s attention, moved back towards her bed and stretched her small arms out. A small yawn finalized her curling up to sleep.

Different kind of pain? Lex never considered that. She felt that losing him would hurt all the same. Afterall, all paths led to her being alone. Could she find comfort in him at least being alive? She would be selfish not to. She responds to the statement with a soft grunt, considering it.

With a heavy sigh, she leans against the counter. As much as she doesn’t want to admit it, Gavin is right. But now that he has Deoxys, does he really need her anymore? He’d never be alone, and she’d never understand the symbiont on the level he will. She’ll forever be a third wheel.

Perhaps she’s just being selfish. Some Killian is better than no Killian.

“Thanks Gavin, I hope it sees it that way,” instead of a threat, someone that Killian needs more than Deoxys.

Cillian Quinn

The rats bleed from the shadow, a horde come to the rescue. What the Spectrier and Happiny cannot deflect, the Rattata dutifully take and their screams pierce through the night. The pungent smell of their sacrifice does make the thief gag, coughing as a result which creates a vicious cycle as she forced to inhale the fumes of the fire and flesh, “I’m fine,” she manages between gasps for air. She reaches for Killian Decker’s hand, accepting it as they both stand. Lex stays close to him, they’ve always been stronger together.

Amber eyes flash towards where the Spectrier and Happiny were once standing. War had faded into the phantom plane, reinvigorated by the Heal Pulse from THEO BECKETT’s pokemon. Happiny was curled into a small ball, clapping in delight at the light show that followed the draconic onslaught. Crazy ass baby.

Lex scrambles forward to scoop her up in her arms, “You’re a little psycho, you know that?” Baby coos happily as she retreats to stand beside Killian again, her ghosts lost in the chaos. They could handle themselves.

Gun shots ring out through the night, knocking the white-haired woman off her mount. It seems to condense the opposition as they all pool together, surrounded by a hazy LIFE DEW and illeana reyes’s HEALING MIST.

They’re cornered, Tapu Fini’s SURF keeping her pokemon at bay within a realm where they are utterly useless. Their hazy forms flash in and out of reality, crimson eyes brimming with hostility stare them down. The Gardevoir and Spectrier creep closer, an attempt to herd the small group back into a corner, watching closely for the move to escape.

Killian Decker & FERNANDO SILPH & illeana reyes & freya morningstar & THEO BECKETT & Lulu Flint

Baby’s FRIEND GUARD ability is activated! (-25% damage all allies)
Spectreir and S!Gardevoir don’t do much, just kind of stare at them and start getting closer in an attempt to ‘herd’ them into a corner and cut of escape routes

Suddenly, the kitchen is bathed in the sweet smell of freshly baked brownies. It would no doubt attract the hungry passerby. She slides the baking pan onto the top of the oven to cool and tosses the mitts aside while Gavin contemplates her rather simple response.

“Does it matter?” she looks back at him, “Either way I lose him,” And she’ll be left alone.

Cillian Quinn

Lex only hitched her step briefly to swoop down and scoop up the pokeball containing the Mismagius before they continued on their way. She flashed him a small smile of thanks as a response to his praise. She held out an arm for the Joltik to crawl back up and settle on her shoulder again. The Joltik was her preferred partner pokemon for trips such as this. She was quite good and incapacitating wild pokemon (and people) long enough for Lex to do what needed to be done. She has avoided evolving the bug for so long due to its small size: Perfect for infiltrating the small spaces she couldn’t reach.

“Great,” her response to his acceptance was quite monotone, hard to read. She doesn’t address him again until he spoke. Then, she looked at him again with another frown, this time a hint of amusement in it, “Kicking butts? Is that all you think I do?”

It’s part of the job, yes, but she’s a bit more specialized than that.

Electricity sparks near her ear, causing her to flinch away, “Off,” she growled, not wanting to accidently fall victim to the Joltik’s ELECTROWEB. June jumped off her shoulder again, her focus on a sahdows area beneath a small tree.

The sticky web shot into the shadows, exposing the hiding Lampent for Lex to see. Being a ghost, she didn’t pass up the opportunity. That’s why she took this walk in the first place. She tossed a pokeball out towards the ghost-type, “What do you do?”

kepler brueshaber
Catching Lampent!
-2 Pokeballs
Duo Wild (water/ghost)

He’s so close, yet the space between them seems infinite, too deep to cross. Each second feels like it brings them closer to something. Him leaving again? Deoxys stirring beneath the surface? Until he stays? It doesn’t matter, she hangs on to each desperately.

As if she knew he’s watching, she ran her tongue along her bottom lip to catch some of the amber liquid before it falls out of reach. It’s only then she caught the end of his focused gaze. She’s seen that look before, many times. It curled her lips into a knowing smile, beaming with satisfaction.

“Thanks,” she said, still smiling, “I think the whole . . . Golurk thing got to me,” she vaguely motioned to herself as a whole. It was strange being part pokemon, but also quite thrilling. It gave her a taste of what it must be like to be an avatar, what Cillian Quinn must feel when Miasma oozes from his palms.

Her brow rose slightly, giving him a playful look before taking a quick sip and offering the bottle again, “Hot, huh? Guess I’ll have to go find another giant snake for us to play with,” it’s an innuendo of course. Her gaze flashes down briefly before the smile grows a bit brighter, brimming with a giggle.

Killian Decker

• Lex
• Lex
• Lulu

It’s hard to say which Lycanroc is which. It made Lex nervous, knowing Nova was trapped somewhere amongst the pack where all the other pokemon were focusing their attacks. Her gaze quickly scanned the crowd. White and scarlet fur is blurred as it all tumbles together to maintain the semblance of a pack.

“Nova! Return!” taking her pokemon off the field doesn’t seem like the right thing to do, but she replaces the Lycanroc with something better.

A flash of light reveals the mythical stallion. The Spectreir whinnies, rearing up as a GRIM NEIGH echoes across the field. There’s the thunderous clatter of hooves as War takes off towards the pack, BULLDOZING its way through before pivoting to turn back for more.

A way out?

Lex frantically looks around, “These things are contained, we gotta find the edge,” A sharp whistle brings the stallion back to her. In one practiced move she’s up on his back. A hand reaches down to offer Summer assistance. War could outrun these fools.

Summer Atreides

With each passing second of relative normalcy, she began to get her hopes up. The threat still lingered, but it was being smothered by hope that she desperately clung to. Without an interruption and without a reason to run, she shifted rhythmically, scooting her body across the couch to shorten the distance between them.

“It’s definitely not your cooking,” nothing beat his homemade dinners. Lex accepted the bottle and gently squeezed his hand in return. She followed it with a healthy swig and a smooth swallow. Her lips smacked together, savoring the oaky taste that lingered there.

“Oh yeah, thanks,” she shrugged her shoulders, still unsure of what that title actual meant for her future with Rocket, “I think it was the whole Seviper head thing that did it,” Led to her promotion.

Killian Decker

Now that Lex has likely, fully, creeped out Nina, it’s time to get to the mission.

The piercing scream didn’t affect Lex in the way it did the grunt. In fact, it reminded her of the Shadow Gardvoir’s shriek but she knew the pokemon was safely tucked away in its pokeball clung to her hip . . . Right?

A gentle scan of the pokeballs with her fingertips confirmed the orb was still there and heavy with the pokemon’s presence. Did Morgana learn that from her phantom teammate? The Duskull rushed past, really paying the trainers no mind. Lex simply watched then let her gaze fall down on Nina who was recovering from the initial startle of the scream.

Shortly, Morgana faded into view also running from . . . something. The Misdreavus came to an abrupt halt after the phased through Lex’s chest to hide behind her trainer. The ghost peeked out from behind the woman’s broad shoulders only to be met by a scowl from the red head, “Really?” Lex rolled her eyes. Untrained and useless.

There was an eerie silence before air seemed to shift. Through a hazy fog a Mega-Banette emerged, sinister grin and all.

A Mega-Banette? How on earth was it mega-evolved without a trainer?

A WISP of fire builds around the Marionette’s dangling arms. It throws them with precision towards Lex and Nina. The thief is quick enough to hit the floor, ducking out of the way. Hopefully, Nina is quick enough to do the same.

Clearly, the ghost didn’t want them here.

nina larson