a scizor was a formidable foe from John Sullivan whenever it came to battling. glitch wouldn't be able to let his guard down he knew that much. so choosing one of his pokeballs he sent out jerky, the dracozolt first. this would be a rough match up no matter which of his two pokemon he sent out. but he wasn't really worried. it was gym leader versus gym leader after all. meaning that he would have plenty of work to do in this fight.

"let's have a good clean fight, alright?" although he really didn't care one way or the other when it came down to it.

jerky roared being on the stage, the goofy ass looking fossil ready to put up a fight since it was finally out here to fight. it had been a long time since it had to battle and it was ready.

"hope you don't mind if i go ahead and get started! jerky, haul ass!"

the pokemon dashed forward, mouth crackling with electricity as it charged up its bolt beak attack. being the first one to move usually took the opponent off guard, especially since they didn't expect such a huge dinosaur to move so fucking fast. if worst came to worse there was hopefully some paralysis that could get going. if worse came to worse then dragon tail was always an option as well.

- jerky started the fight with bolt beak
jerky's moveset: dragon tail, charge, discharge, bolt beak, ancient power, dragon rush

this was going to be so much fun, he already knew it. of course it was just a matter of time before they got into the nitty gritty of it all and it seemed like Ezra Zeke wanted to get into that right away. he would be happy to oblige him of course. "just step up here on the stage and let your first pokemon out! then i'll let my first pokemon out and we'll beat the shit out of each other until our pokemon faint or someone gives up!" and that was that. just a simple and regular pokemon battle from what he could tell. just with the added benefit that someone might be getting a gym badge out of it. he wasn't really too fussed about if he won or lost but at the moment he was extremely excited to get it going. so he took his own spot on the stage and stood proudly. "no need to be shy, let's get this show on the road!" after all, that's what he was here for.

he had, a lot of shit he needed to catch up on with Miles Sharp since the last time he had seen him. after all the last time he hadn't been a gym leader. so really it felt like everything was different. especially since he had apparently found something that would be fun and useful for his gym. even if glitch was a bit doubtful. "that seems really strange that a weird fossil thing would just be hanging out here. i'm always here and i've never seen a fossil... and i've been looking a lot." but if miles said he saw it then he wasn't going to argue with it. not when he needed it. plus some bonding time would be fun. he liked hanging out with his fellow rockets for a good time. at least some of them. and he really wanted to introduce miles to Chu-e Choi at some point.

"well! i have a fun announcement!" he clapped his hands together nicely as he still looked around, poking at a bush that might have had a pokemon in it. of course it came up with nothing. a fossil wasn't going to be hanging out in a bush or whatever. "you know how there was a gym vacancy? well, i applied... and got accepted!" he'd only shared the news with a couple people so far. and now he was scrambling to get more pokemon that could be viable for his gym theme of ancient beasts. he had a few but more was always better. absolutely more was always better.

the plan was absolutely to cling to Zac Ramsay during the duration of this entire thing. after all he was big and beefy and absolutely able to handle doing this! "i trust you, after all you're not a gym leader for nothing!" so as soon as they started he clung tightly to the other man to try and keep his balance. obviously zac had bigger strides than he did. and a lot more energy that glitch. but that was probably in part due to the fact that he had been sucking down the equivalent of the energy a voltorb put off when startled.

he thought there would be more of a warning for the start and he felt himself stumble a little bit as he tried to keep up. if you thought about it the size difference between the two of them made for this to be a strange sight for others for sure. at least it would if everyone else wasn't struggling to get to the starting line too. he didn't feel so bad seeing other people trip a little bit as he simply hung on for the ride.

uJKprnH7 + 10

blue raspberry
slush rush // ---

----	powder snow
bolt beak	discharge
echoed voice	----

kisses
sturdy // male

shell smash	hydro pump
rain dance	wide guard
protect	aqua jet

kisses
overcoat // female

protect	icicle spear
razor shell	hydro pump
life dew	----

kisses
shell armor // male

withdraw	ancient power
shell smash	hydro pump
protect	surf

kisses
swift swim // male

aqua jet	leer
scratch	sand attack
---	---

kisses
defeatist // male

ancient power	dragon breath
tail wind	endeavor
u turn	dragon claw

now came the part that for some reason he wasn't really looking forward to. explaining himself through this entire process and trying to figure out what to say that could possibly win over the judges hearts enough that he'll win. he wanted to win. which was strange because coming into this he had sort of been doing it as a joke. but now the drive and urge to beat the rest of the competitors had taken over and he wanted nothing more than to lord it over them that he had won his first try ever.

walking up to the now destroyed judges table he set his components on the table, avoiding the soggy paperwork that seemed to be strewn all over the place thanks to one of the contestants. he liked the yellow gem the most really and hoped that he'd be able to keep it even if he didn't win. hell, he'd probably keep it anyways even if they said he couldn't. taking a deep breath he decided it was time to start. "my unique component is the limestone that twizzler found... sure you can find limestone in a lot of caves but this limestone could have only been made here. no matter where you go no other limestone is going to be exactly like this one. no other limestone will be made up of the same components because they're unique to this cave. anything that died or lived here would have only died or lived in this cavern meaning those individual creatures that made up this rock will never be found anywhere else. pokemon like them will, but only those specific ones will have their remains here."

it was a little bit sappy bug zac seemed like a guy who would like sappy. and maybe the other judges would too. it was hard to tell really. "i think i used it to the fullest i could and tried to use it in a unique way." especially since everyone had just used the stalagmites on the ceiling or freeze out the rest of the competitors with ice. he didn't know that everyone and their mom was going to bring ice types into a cave like this. otherwise he wouldn't have brought twizzler. "i learned that there's a lot more to caves than just rock walls. they hide all sorts of things in them and when you change one part of it you change a lot of it... to be honest we probably wrecked a lot of pokemon's houses with all that ice and stuff." and with the flood. but he was sure they would bounce back. "we need to be careful with what we do to nature." it was a reluctant revelation internally at least.

"i did have fun! and i came here to have fun don't get me wrong but i'm surprised by how much fun i had... and that i learned something new about myself and places like this." and maybe about what he wanted to do in the future. all he could do was hope that his answers and finds were good enough.

- explaining his finds

- glitch found a bright yellow gem, found metal from the sunken ship, twizzler gathered limestone as the something unique 3/3 acquired

taunting Ezra Zeke was becoming one of his lifelong passions and day to day joys whenever he saw him. that meant whenever the rocket grunt showed up to his gym he was absolutely ecstatic. especially since he had previously teased him about getting a free badge off of him. he waited, excited on the stage for the other rocket to show up. ready to give him a fun battle at the very least. and get in his daily dose of teasing the hell out of him. "helloooooooooo ezra! welcome on in." he wondered if ezra knew this was his gym or if he had chosen one at random. he desperately hoped he didn't know. it would make it all the more entertaining.

oh, he guessed they were actually going to have to have a fight at some point, weren't they? that was what this guy was here for after all. "go ahead and take notes, i'll be excited to see what you do when i get around to challenging you." gym leader versus gym leader was sure to be at least a little bit fun. but he mostly just wanted to feel out the waters. if he ended up handing over a gym badge here he wasn't that worried about it. after all eventually everyone won at a gym if they tried hard enough. and John Sullivan looked like he was definitely a try hard.

stepping up onto his stage for the first time he juggled his two pokeballs. "we might as well get this show on the road!" he was excited to see what his challenger would throw out. after all, guests went first. "after you." with a grin he held a pokeball in each hand, waiting for his opponent to release a pokemon first.

it was one thing that he had to deal with the fact that he was grieving over his cousins loss. it was another thing that he had to deal with the fact that he was now doing mass amounts of paperwork and working an actual job. but the straw that was breaking the camperupts back was someone fucking signing up to his gym challenge using his dead cousin's name. if he didn't know any better he would have thought it was a cruel prank by that dumb bitch emma. they might have both been rocket but that didn't mean he had to like her in an capacity. it also didn't mean he had to tolerate her bullshit either.

so when it was the appointed time for his challenger to show up he wasn't sure if he was going to break her kneecaps or her hands first. what he wasn't expecting was the sound of Melody Miro 's voice ringing through the hallway of his gym or the bounce of pink hair to appear down below his balcony where his desk stood. "melody?" it couldn't actually be her, right? he knew she was dead. everyone there knew she was dead... if she wasn't then why would angelo say she had fucking... died? none of it made sense. he had to be mistaken. this had to be some sort of sick joke.

climbing down his ladder he felt his heart beating and his throat closing just a bit. he was mad and anxious all at once. but he couldn't show it right now. not when he didn't know what was going on. "what are you... doing here?" was his gym already fucking haunted or something?