Thread Link: Question of Morals[break]
Thread Type: Social; 2 pages[break]
Berry: Oran[break]
Berry Effect: Evolves Stage 1->3[break]
Thread Summary: After the Cave of Origin excursion, Lex is captured and interrogated by Razz

Luckily, the move that Clefable is able to cook up is something useful. With Metronome, there is always the chance of the energy manifesting as a something, well, useless. It’s a risk Lex is willing to take in favor of busting out a big, powerful move. Slam is somewhere in between – not fantastic but not terrible. Clefable seems to enjoy it as she catapults forward with an enthusiastic squeal.

The Torkoal is knocked back while hidden in its shell. Clefable seems pleased with her attack. It doesn’t last long. The fire-type launches itself back at the fairy type in a RAPID SPIN. Clefable attempts to jump to the side again but she’s too slow to beat this attack. The edge of the Torkoal’s shell catches her side and she’s sent spinning off into the sand.

Planted face first into hot sand doesn’t feel too great. It take a beat for the Clefable to get back to her small feet. There’s an uncharacteristic scowl on her lips when she rises to face the Torkoal again. Vengeance, maybe? Lex is honestly surprised the little fairy type has it in her.

Clefable was planning on pulling out the big guns towards the end, but that smack pushed her there quicker than she thought. Both small hands rise to the sky as an eerie, extraterrestrial power gathers above them. The bright sun still burns through the vortex of dark energy, shining like stars, as threatens to tear down from the heavens onto her opponent.

jayden cross

Clefable is hit with RAPID SPIN!
She charges Meteor Beam

Prepared? Lex is always prepared. That’s why she’s never been caught. Well, almost never. Fucking Raziel Beckett.

Natalie moves past her and Lex side steps to allow the large serpent to follow its master. Lex has a degree of respect for serpents. They’re powerful, cunning, quick to a degree. There were always pokemon faster and that’s what kept her from collecting them. With her experience limited, she does find a certain intimidating quality to the pokemon as she watches it disappear into the room followed by the crash of glass.

Crimson eyes peaked out from the shadows to his trainer. Lex frowned along with the Gengar. She steps up behind Natalie, peering over her shoulder at the shattered glass, paralyzed man, and coffee spilt everywhere. Her shoulders shrug casually, “Not our problem,” she grins, slipping past Natalie and the Arbok.

A flash of light brings a Shiny Rotom forward. Digit cracks with lightning, naturally gravitating towards the main security feeds, “Alright,” Lex bends over and leans against the desk, “The vault we want is here,” a click of the screen brings the vault’s main feed into full screen. There’s a guard standing dutifully at the door, “There’s one more guard roaming around,” she takes the vault off full screen and glances through the different feeds, “Somewhere,” she couldn’t pinpoint him (or her), “Just keep your eye peeled.”

Lex stands, motioning vaguely towards the screens, “Infect ‘em” The Rotom takes that as its cue to slip into the mainframe. The live video feed flashes and shudders before being consumed by black screens with a red Rotom flashing across it. Digit exits the computer with a happy buss before being returned to its pokeball, “Grab his security card, we’ll need it,” That combined with the Head Security Officer’s fingerprint would get them to where they were going.

They just had to find him now.

natalie fairchild

As he peels back, so does she. She glances up to look at him while he explains his “why”. It makes sense, he always does. In return her shoulders shrug, sparing one last glance over towards the Captain and the Gardevoir, “Ok, then let’s just go home,” if things are finished, then that’s what she wants to do. Lex wants to run, run from the sight of the shattered glass and beaten man that acted as a painful reminder of her brief dip into darkness.

Her gaze turns back to Killian. At his word, she could collect her pokemon and Gardevoir could TELEPORT them home, simple as that.

Killian Decker

They really are lost. Whatever Hoenn has done to them hasn’t been for the better. The trauma has brought them closer, but it’s also driven them so far apart. It’s times like this she fears maybe it’s too far. He’s still able to pull her back, which means something.

He’s sorry, she’s sorry. It’s an all too familiar dance at this point. Lex doesn’t flinch this time. She needs him as much as he needs her. Melting into his embrace is easy, accepting her sins is more difficult. She doesn’t quite know what to say. A part of her is conflicted. There was a sense of power she relishes in, but Killian’s reaction of disgust and disapproval was heartbreaking.

A deep breath brings his scent when she lies her head on his chest, “Let’s just . . . finish this and go home,” she won’t step back or let go until he does, finding comfort in his embrace.

Killian Decker

Finding Lex beneath the fury would prove to be a difficult task. It’s consumed her at this point. Through his curt command, she’s been reduced to nothing more than a subordinate by the man she loves, she trusts. It hurts. She asks because that’s all she knows. It’s what she’s been taught: if she steps out of line, suffering is the consequence. Emotional, physical, it doesn’t matter. Suffering is one and the same. If she disobeyed Killian, what would he do?

He steps closer, she flinches at his touch. It’s an attempt to pull her hand away but he squeezes, and his grip is firm. It’s jarring, at first. She doesn’t want to be touched, trapped, she wants to be free. She takes a sharp breath, a step back, but she remains in his grip. The longer his warmth lingers on her hand, the harder it becomes to pull away. She stops and looks around like he asks.

She sees a man, bloodied, in pain, forcibly held up by the Gardevoir’s Psychic. There’s shattered glass, unnecessary violence. In Killian’s eyes she sees fear, pain, and perhaps a hint of desperation. She recognizes it as the look she’d given him when he was lost, “I – I-,” she stutters, shaking her head. Her amber eyes quickly leave his, she can’t look at him anymore. It’s a sudden, oppressive weight of shame that crushes her.

She tries one more time to pull her hand away. It’s for a different reason: she doesn’t deserve his comfort, “I’m sorry,” she exhales, quietly.

Killian Decker

They enter the security room, Lex before Killian. She pauses, taking a moment to glance at her surroundings, quickly count bodies, and make a mental note. By that time, Killian has already released Hijack. She smiles, happy to see the Rotom. She trusted it more than her own Rotom that is still learning the ropes. Hijack is far more experienced.

Lex leans over a set of monitors, glancing between the video feeds curiously. She doesn’t pull her gaze away, even as Killian begins to speak. Slowly, he catches she attention. Amber eyes move to meet him as she slowly stands up. She can tell he’s treading carefully. It’s advice he seeks to give, not criticism. There’s a part of her that appreciates it, but now? Really?

“It just-“ she pauses, searching for the right words, “Felt weird with you,” Ordering Killian, or anyone around, is not something she’s accustom to. Nor does she want to call all the shots on this heist. Science is Killian’s thing. She hesitates to respond, and a flash of the screen beside her and beeping captures her attention.

Hijack had found the elevator, “Where is this, Hijack?” she asks, peering at the video. A series of other feeds gives her directions, “Hm, looks like we’re gonna have to go through a lab, after all,” Killian would get his wish.

The elevator is located in the back of the largest lab on this floor. It’s located in the southwest corner, “Stay here and make sure they don’t wake up and no one comes in, alright?” she’s given the orders to the Gardevoir, “Find us when we get up there,” she’ll be able to see them on the camera, “Come on, Killian, let’s go,” she’s completely forgotten about the question now, and just simply begins to lead him in the direction of the lab.

Killian Decker

Alexandra. Lex whips around to face him with even more fury than before. He’s digging deeper, trying to poke the bear. Unfortunately, he knows all the right buttons to push to really tick her off. The order has her frozen in place. Her face twists into something unrecognizable. It’s a mixture of anger, disgust, and surprise, “What did you just say to me?” her words are slow again, deliberate. Lex heard him loud and clear. He ordered her to stop.

Killian could have just talked her down from the foreign high. A loving touch, a gentle voice. It could have reminded her this isn’t who she is, this is Rocket’s influence. But no, he chose anger and insult – salt rubbed into the wound torn open and stuffed with darkness. She hasn’t killed anyone, and she wasn’t planning on it. She’s not a monster.

He seems to think so, though.

Now she finds herself conflicted between the obedience beat into her and the defiance she’s always known. She’s torn between love and disgust. She’s submissive for Killian, that’s no secret, but pulling rank is a level she thought he’d never stoop to. It’s a new can of Wurmple he’s opened. She doesn’t question the task at hand anymore. It’s background noise compared to what the implication of him ordering her around means, “What’re you gonna do, Killian? Beat me into submission?” Like Gavin? Like Lulu? Like Kaito?

She’s getting real sick of being a puppet.

Killian Decker

An anger swells within her too. Eye narrows to meet his, resolute in their defiance. How dare he. How dare he compare her to Lulu. She at least gave the man a chance, a choice. It’s more than she ever got. It wasn’t long ago Killian had Lex pressed against the stone wall of a mausoleum with his fingers curled around her throat. This is a stranger, a means to an end, not someone either of them loved or cared for. Hypocrite, “I am nothing like her,” she speaks slowly, articulating her words and lacing them with a growl.

“Calling it off?!” she reels back in surprise and frustration, spinning on her heels while Killian whistled to call down his Staraptor. Aubie remains high above, waiting for Lex’s orders, “Fine. Leave. I’ll finish what we started,” Failure isn’t an option, it’s seared into her like a brand.

“Smoke, lock the crew in, make sure they can’t leave. Oh . . . and shut this ship down,” the Gengar disappears to cut the engines and go in search of where the crew lies hidden. He will keep them there, “Gardevoir, get him up,” The Shadow Pokemon phases back into view, extending a ghostly hand to wrap the Captain in PSYCHIC energy to stand him up onto his feet.

Killian Decker

It’s Killian’s sharp voice that snaps her out of whatever dark trance she’s in. It cuts her like a knife. It’s deep, she recognizes the anger in it. The amber eyes that flash towards him as he approaches are still wild, unpredictable. There’s a sharpness in her own gaze that attempts to communicate warning he doesn’t heed. She doesn’t even know it’s there, but Gardevoir does.

He knocks her foot off, and the shadow pokemon rushes between them. She floats slightly above him, peering down with cold red eyes. She’s close enough to let the cool ectoplasm of her ghostly form brush against his skin. She has no loyalty to Killian, just the order from Lex to never harm him. Even then, it’s just obedience, not loyalty, “Back off,” she commands before Smoke has the chance to rush forward and defend Killian. The last thing they needed is fighting among themselves.

Anger radiates off him, she can see it, feel it as the Gardevoir fades from sight to leave the space between them empty. She doesn’t seem to understand what’s wrong, “He tried to run,” she repeats, as if that would make it any better. Her gaze moves back down to the captain as he rolls over, groaning, “He’s not running anymore,” problem solved.

Killian Decker

As predicted, the assault proves too much for the Gengar. It’s returned after fainting beneath the Dusknoir’s attacks. The Dusknoir is not unscathed. Once her opponent is defeated, she slumps, exhaustion taking hold before she too is consumed by the crimson light of her pokeball, “Thank you,” Lex smiles, replacing the Dusknoir’s pokeballs and extracting another, “I’ve done quite a bit of training with her,” she hold out her hand, rolling the steel sphere in it with a grin, “Best two out of three?” he seems like the competitive type, she doubt’s he’ll say no.

Before his answer even comes, the sphere cracks open to reveal her next pokemon. A tall, sturdy, strong Blaziken takes the field. His flames burn bright, igniting across his wrists and ankles in preparation. His beak clicks loudly, impatient to get things started. The fire doesn’t just burn across his limbs, the fire for a challenge burns in his eyes. He’s a battle seasoned pokemon through and through.

Greyson Connors

Lex releases APOLLO the Blaziken

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