The communal gardens in the submarine had the most peculiar artificial lights. It's as if you summoned more or less light by drawing blinds open or shut. It was like a psychological experiment, trying to stay in there for too long.

The steady drip of people into the room led to the recruiter catching wind of it. Months passed since his time in the lab. Since the already anemic looking man felt his stomach tie itself in knots under the Big Gun. That certainly weighed on his mind. His hair grew out between now and then.

He sat in a seat, trying to be front-row if possible, but not eager for attention. Then again... maybe he wanted to be singled out. In his white button-up and plum-colored slacks. After time and time again talking a big game and getting nothing done.

The meeting seemed to be already underway, lead by Chu-e Choi at a raised podium. Met by a throng of people, whom they both knew. Giona glanced around. Very briefly, he tried to meet the gaze of Cillian Quinn, whom he'd met briefly.

Enter scene.

Melody stopped in the hall. A big iron bead hit the ground, its barbs digging into the tiles. Overhead, a bug skittered around. Giona smiled, looking at it. He forgot for a minute that he spent too much time at work. That he was unintentionally growing his hair out.

Giona whistled a series of short, ascending notes. His Drakloak opened with Infestation on Ferroseed. A sudden rumbling under the tiles, more numerous but less intense than Ferroseed falling. Rotom opened with Confuse Ray on Joltik. A series of flashes of light.

"...You don’t need to be sorry. I’ll smooth it out with some sandpaper later. I appreciate the concern." He said, offering a grin to Melody. Though he had kind of a thin face, even looking a little anemic, this grin didn't move the skin around his eyes.

He then hastily shoved the pokeballs he’d used back into his pockets. Kohl-black like the Rocket uniform, but he’d taken pains to try to obscure the red R on their faces. Even under the fluorescent lights.

The battle slowly ground to a start. Giona reached a hand up to play with his earrings, and was stunned for a minute by the length of hair coming back in. A choice to either buzz it or not would have to come up. In all truth, he ran out of things to talk about right away.

There was no way that these things were simply out and about in this power plant. They had to be coming in from the outside.

It was good then that their conversation hadn't moved that far from the entrance. From the double-doors. Two much smaller pokemon tried to squeak by. Giona jabbed a thumb at the Bronzor as if making an aside to her, before descending on what he was actually interested in. Charjabug was a Bug type first, so it could certainly take an attempted whooping from his pet.

Pancham leapt at it, leading the two to take turns lunging at eachother. It was like the earlier scuffle, but much easier to make out.

He said, with a little cackle at the end. Pancham returned to him with a downed but still heaving with breath Charjabug. Giona handed a ball to the thing to play with, leading Pancham to immediately claim the downed bug.

The battle slowly ground to a start. Flickers of electricity lit up the near-pitch black room. Giona squinted as another Electro Ball came out, starting to regret the format he'd set up.

"...There's no way out then, unless you're separated from them for long enough to quit cold-turkey. But... I wouldn't wish that on anyone." He blurted out, forgetting about the battle right away. The Crunch barely missed. With Rotom on the field, it was time to capitalize on its speed advantage by using Thunder Wave against Tyrannitar. M9Bs5Z8L

Melody went down a series of tiled halls, glared at by lightbulbs with indigo filters over them. The floor was tiled as well, and each surface had the telltale sheen of having been recently cleaned. The entire gym smelled of mint, meant to overlap with the cool, dry air circulating through the place.

The hall ended in a room. A large square shape, with pillars a few square feet inward from each corner, to make the room feel smaller than it was. Around the corner, Giona walked from the square room to meet her in the hall.

"...I'm so glad that you could make it. I can't imagine the kind of stress you've been under lately." He said, offering a grin to Melody. Though he had kind of a thin face, even looking a little anemic, this grin didn't move the skin around his eyes.

Sheepishly hiding the faces on his pokeballs with closed fists, he brought out a Drakloak and Rotom. A little crested lizard and a wisp. Both looked like they could be carried off by a stiff breeze.

Giona completely forgot that the much larger, square arena was behind him.

The gout of flame brought on the scent of burnt hair. It cut through the usual smell of the place, that being bleach, liberally applied to every tiled surface. Giona's eyes dilated. Even having quit drinking, he wasn't quite "healthy" yet. He suppressed a gag, and considered briefly the possibility of surrendering. After all, by every possible measure, Zac had met the learning objectives for the gym.

Chandelure was itself a beacon of light in the pitch-black room. A projectile sailed overhead, in all manner of dark and muted colors, like a child excitedly mixing all their paints together. Though Shadow Ball didn't connect, it caused Chandelure to duck, bringing it right into the attack from below. The thing was more used to trading projectiles, so even not counting the Dunsparce's survivability and sudden explosive power, it wouldn't have fared well.

A white flash withdrew the downed Chandelure. Giona called out his Sableye. The thing had eyes suited to these conditions. In a desperate bid to not have the poor thing rolled over right away, Giona clicked the pendant of his earring. Sableye's chest gem expanded and took the shape of a tower-shield. It'd open with Zen Headbutt on that Dunsparce. elykjeuU

Meanwhile, his Rotom was attempting to use Thunder Wave on Spectrier.

chandelure down

sableye up

sableye used mega stone

sableye used zen headbutt

rotom used thunder wave

A little on the thin side. Funny. If he still had that spark they were looking for, he might've even had the tenacity to push back on that. Fire in his veins, and all that. "...I take it that your assessment is done, then."

He then tilted his head to the side, looking to Lulu. An eyebrow arched, and he unfolded his arms. He dug out a parcel of smoked meat for his Zangoose to gnaw on, as he talked.

Enter scene.

It wouldn't save him from the sudden pincer. He wished he had his boys with him. Nonetheless, he decided to push the conversation forward. "You can interpret that however you'd like. ...Anyways! I presume... you have some way to test for the residue of this power. Some kind of big gun to point at me, maybe a tube to stick me in?"

If only he knew about the big laser. He hadn't been feeling sick because of Groudon. An important distinction to make. He'd been swamped with work and worn out. Either way, he shrugged at Raphael's leading question.

Enter scene.

The room was briefly lit by any flashes of light from either side. The room was so quiet that Zac speaking rung out. Whether or not he used his "inside voice", they'd both hear it. Well, it was either that, or the cavernous gym itself.

"...Hah?" He said, looking to the taller man. It hadn't dawned on him that he was talking to the horse. Furthermore, even his confused grunt rung out throughout the room. It was tiled all over, and quite dry. Unlike other competitors using Surf, Zac had the respect for the space to keep the humidity down.

Giona whistled, trying to take the initiative. His Rotom picked up on this, and tried to use Ominous Wind on Spectrier. A blast of wind slightly sharper than Gust, that'd feel like a ghost walking through whatever it struck. The sound of the wind rung throughout the room. BZe1LiiP

Meanwhile, his Mimikyuu was knocked out altogether, and replaced with Chandelure. The white flash of a pokeball made that abundantly clear to Zac. Chandelure tried to clip both opponents with Flame Burst.

"...It doesn't take too long to fly there. I'll look into it." He said, looking to the taller man. Chandelure was knocked out. Sableye took its place. Desperate, Giona put a stone into his bracelet. Sableye's chest-stone expanded so much that it popped out of its socket, forming a tower-shield. Sableye opened with Confuse Ray on Snorlax. vTtiApPe

Rotom used Electro Ball against Snorlax, trying to capitalize on its speed advantage, that being the only advantage that it had.

The battle slowly ground to a start. The prospect of carrying on like this... Giona was close to just flat out surrendering.

"...The dreams they give you are fucking awful! So you gotta take it off at night, and that's when I wanna have a cigarette the most! ...Start with a large?" He blurted out, forgetting about the battle right away. The Rock Slide barely missed. With Rotom on the field, it was time to capitalize on its speed advantage by using Electro Ball against Tyrannitar. C3DQ_R04