he laughed a little bit when Ezra Zeke tensed up, even though he knew he shouldn't have. "you're so cute ezra." and he meant it. if he wasn't hopelessly head over heels for another guy he might have even tried pushing his luck. but for now ezra would be safe from that sort of admiration from the new gym leader. "an interview would be fun! i've never been interviewed before. and the further along we can get your career in reporterhood the better it is for all of us." after all having a rocket work in the media would be a good thing. especially if he and Chu-e Choi got their plans under way. he'd have to ask the underboss about it though. after all they were supposed to be playing it safe.

the final pokemon before he decided to reign it in was one he could use. not in his gym but... pokemon that were weird colored like that ended up going for a lot of money or for even rarer trades. he could definitely use something like that. but first he would have to beat the shit out of this guy to get the trade going. grabbing one of his pokeballs he released one of the newer pokemon he had received. after all he needed to be able to function with new pokemon rather than just falling back on his old ones. jawbreaker was up on the docket for now. "iron defense and mud-slap." jawbreaker's rocky surface shimmered for a moment as it's defense rose and mud barreled towards the unsuspecting mawile. with any luck it would be mostly buried, unable to fight against an attack it didn't see coming. after all it was weak to that sort of attack as far as glitch knew. with a swift throw he let the pokeball fly in the confusion of mud and cries of pain from the mawile. meaning that soon it would be in his inventory.

- searching for fossils / considered ancient pokemon

- catching mawile

it could not hear it could not see but it could feel. the cave felt writhing from within. it's already icey walls having more and more formation. increasing and decreasing. its temperature changing rapidly from cold to hot to cold to hot, trying to adjust itself with its icy winds that came through the hollow walls. somehow, it shook some of the extra dangerous ice from its walls. it didn't need this new weight as the water swelled inside. it's levels changing and disrupting. through holes and tunnels it crept into pokemon's homes. an unwelcome development. the cave needed those pokemon as they needed the cave. for safety. for growth. feet scrambled through its tunnels as pokemon evacuated. though through the flooding and water moving it dug out even more than just pokemon for pokemon sake. buried treasures came forward, dislodged from walls and hiding places. from pokemon's hoards that had been hidden away. most of it being sticks and useless rocks. bits of fluff from nests and the like. but one thing, particularly useful to a competitor, a shining blue gem that was dislodged from its hiding place. the cave felt it flow free from the hold it had on it. out of its cavern walls and to the shore of the lake.

UFZ9TQPT + 25

- dangerous ice prompt
- shadows on the wall prompt

- glitch found some metal from the sunken ship, twizzler gathered limestone as the something unique 2/3 acquired

ezra was fun to stress out, even if it wasn't that big of a deal or that much just the littlest hint of being on the edge was funny. at least to glitch. yeah he was kind of a terrible person sometimes, so what. he was nice enough to get by with it most of the time. gently he patted the little egg on what he assumed was the top since it was facing up. the pointy bit of the egg was the top, right? maybe. he couldn't ever tell. "mhm! the illustrious new leader of the mossdeep gym for the precision badge. ready to fuck things up for everyone." as far as he knew he was the only rocket gym leader at the moment which was a huge shame. more than anything he wanted to be able to fuck around and talk to people about it. but of course he couldn't. that was fine though. he had rocket friends to talk to about it. "are you looking to get a free badge?" he teased Ezra Zeke, knowing he was too good of a guy to actually want that.

for a pokemon that was supposed to be the "skyscrapper" pokemon, a duraludon wasn't all that tall and wasn't all that impressive. which surprised him to be thinking that considering before all he'd wanted was the biggest pokemon he could find. now size was secondary to anything else. size was a nice bonus but it wasn't the end goal to this. plus it got a little damp in caves sometimes and he didn't need the big lug rusting on him constantly or whatever. that would be even more work to deal with on top of everything else.

- searching for fossils / considered ancient pokemon

- skipping duraludon

checking a list he wrinkled his nose. his next gym challenger was apparently a member of rocket. though he only knew that because he recognized the name of newcomers that were in around the same time he was on the sub. apparently this guy had been a recruit... Rowan Wrynn was his name. interesting. it would be fun to battle against someone else who was in rocket. it meant there was less to hide and less to worry about. when he heard his name he peered over the edge of the railing on the upper level. it was where he sat and did... paperwork. ew. and waiting for competitors on the days his gym was open. "up here, i'll be down in a moment." gathering up the pages he tucked them into the desk they had given him and grabbed his pokeballs. down the hidden ladder he went and found himself walking to the arena. "welcome, hope you're ready to battle!" he personally wasn't but apparently this was his life now. but that was fine. this was all fine.