The next Pokémon that would appear—well, this would definitely either warrant a second trip out to the Safari Zone, or something like that.

A Scyther of all things came zipping out of the undergrowth, blade-arms ready for blood among other things as it clashed with the Doublade in a powerful exchange of blows that started with a Double Hit—which hilariously did almost nothing to the spectral pair of swords, all things considered.

Aerial Ace would lash out from the twin blades; surprisingly knocking back the Scyther several paces; before the Doublade came charging in once more, chaining straight into a Night Slash attack while the Scyther retaliated with an Air Slash, a paltry attempt to knock the sentient Sword Pokémon away.

“Interesting,” he would remark.

Going over the mental shopping list while the two Pokémon slugged it out, he realized that the Scyther could fit into one of at least two categories, however he would have to make that decision much later once the Doublade came back a few minutes later, triumphantly grating their blades against each other before he threw the third Safari Ball at the downed Pokémon.

---

catch attempt on Scyther!

It was a good thing he always traveled around with at least one Ghost-type Pokémon hidden in his shadow at all times; although today it would’ve been a tight fit since he had to reconfigure his team somewhat to make up for changes.

He was… he was so fucking tempted to release his living jungle of wire, however he knew that would get the squad he was working with embroiled in the crossfire—so he held off, for now.

Another whistle would have a second pair of eyes emerge from his shadow; and the Doublade would emerge, blades screaming bloody murder at the Marshadow as it attempted to deck the Dragapult with an Ice-type attack.

The sentient blades would meet the Marshadow in mid-air with a close-range Aerial Ace; attempting to stave off the attack from the other spectral Pokémon.

Back to where the Dragapult and Hydreigon were in the middle of battle, the spectral dragon would bellow their challenge at its fellow Dragon-type, before another massive Dart barrage of miniature Dreepy Dragon missiles would come screaming after the other dual-type on the field.

“Little princess overstepping her boundaries, eh? Shouldn’t you be protecting her right now? Or are you too preoccupied to keep your attention on one thing at a time?!” he would taunt her; shifting targets—he would change direction in mid-air and use the force of gravity to rush towards her instead; intending to get a rise out of the other.

“What’s the matter, little miss medic? Afraid to fight? Afraid to get your hands stained with the blood of the innocents you’re trying to protect?” he would goad her on.

---

30 for: IC post
50 for: have an antagonistic exchange of dialogue between your character and another writer's character or NPC.

total so far: 180 MP

↠ roll is for determining the impact of the 1v1 attack against Elise!

Doublade used Aerial Ace on Marshadow!
Dragapult used another Dragon Darts barrage on Hydreigon!

Good thing was that the entire squad that was traveling with him were wearing reinforced protection that offered protection from blast and fire damage in particular—some of the associates had already joined in battle and were in the midst of repelling the other League forces that were sprinting to the aid of the civilians that were in the middle of being evacuated.

The loud roar would be the warning—a singular sharp whistling note had an equally-loud roaring Dragapult emerging from his own shadow.

The Dragapult would then be meeting the incoming Hydreigon with a sudden swarming, pelting storm of Dragon Darts that came screaming from the Dragapult’s exhaust ports in an effort to repel the incoming attack.

Turning his attention towards where the Hydreigon had come from, he would quickly reach behind him and pull out two reinforced blades—while longer than the standard knife-length blade (but still shorter than a standard wakizashi blade length), these weapons were sturdy enough for a one-on-one clash without shattering on repeated impact.

“Get out of the way, if you know what’s good for you.”

He’d deliberately changed the pitch of his voice to a lower tone of voice than normal; his stare unwavering as he glared down the redhead that had dared attack him—

And he himself would join the battle, propelling himself towards the male!

It was time for him to show the fruits of his extended absence from the Hoennite warfront—having picked up several more fighting styles adjacent to his main preferred style with his katana; complementing battle styles he could pull out at the drop of a hat without having to rely on just one weapon so much.

The Dragapult, on the other hand, would vanish in the beginnings of a Phantom Force once they’d managed to throw the Hydreigon off-guard—only to emerge behind the three-headed dragon and to force the battle away from where the two humans were fighting!

---

20 for: IC post
50 for: showcase your own character's strength(s) meaningfully.

total so far: 120 MP

↠ roll is for determining the impact of the 1v1 attack against Cadeyrn!

Just… just how long was the extensive shopping list?!

He knew he had… four Pokémon so far ready to throw into the incinerator machine to get that very shiny, expensive thing however the rest of them were going to be a chore and a half to obtain.

So what luck did he have when he came poking around New Mauville? He had to be careful, of course—should he come into contact with anyone not affiliated with Team Rocket he would have to flee as quickly as possible; all things considered.

Once the funny-looking Qwilfish had been sucked into the Safari Ball’s red beam of light, he would pick it up and proceed to the next area.

What else was he going to find out here? Maybe he’d have to make a second trip back here considering that he needed… a lot of parts to construct that very expensive item he had his eye on.

The next Pokémon that would come across his path—he already had one of his own; so he would leave the little Gible alone and let them go on their way.

Besides, there were bigger fish to fry.

---

skipping Gible

[attr="class","itemcolstr"]

[attr="class","shcontent"]

It was, as the kids said, ‘go time’.

He idly wondered where Fenelle Miller had been deployed, he knew that der strength with analyzing situations from multiple angles to determine the best possible outcome would come in handy in cases like this—he was on his own now, though.

Hopefully him dwelling on their shared trauma experiences would be enough to empower him to follow through with the situation.

Turning to the small platoon of Rocket associates that had been placed under his command, he would point towards their objective.

“We are here to seize assets that we can make use of. Try to minimize the collateral damage as much as you can, because I know some of you are prone to going berserk in the heat of battle. However. If the destruction is unavoidable, that is the only time you will be allowed to use your best judgment to abscond with what you can and leave the rest behind.”

Hopefully, the group of companions would understand the message—he knew that they were aware he’d been personally trained by THEO BECKETT and expected nothing less.

“Another reminder: when you meet Rocket-aligned medics, leave them alone—anyone else is fair game. Keep your communication lines open at all times. Move out.”

The assembled associates would nod, before slipping on their respective masks and slipping out towards their target—Petalburg General Hospital and the outlying medical encampments that had been set up around the perimeter.

---

10 for: IC post
50 for: have your character directly or indirectly spotlight another writer's character's strengths.

total so far: 60 MP

[attr="class","shcontent"]

“You’re thinking too far ahead,” he would reassure her.

“We’ll be charging the batteries using my other Electric-types first, without their interference,” he would clarify as he urged the Lanturn and the Luxio closer to the connector wires.

“Knowing how much natural electricity our living wire cables pack, it’s very possible that they might die from the overload if we used them as connectors this early,” he added as the two Pokémon approached.

“Because who knows? Maybe we can use them for charging bigger energy sources if these batteries capacity is too small to safely take their electrical charge,” he went on as he tilted his head towards where their two Xurkitree were currently… humming. Or at the very least his was, he had no idea what hers was doing.

The moment the first Safari Ball clicked and he’d confirmed the Dhelmise had been caught, another Pokémon would show up!

(And hilariously, this one was also on the ‘shopping list’, yet he didn’t realize it until one of the attacks would come screaming at the Doublade.)

A surprise Fell Stinger would come popping from the strange-looking Qwilfish, and the belated realization would sink in a few seconds later—didn’t he need a Pokémon that knew Fell Stinger for that very expensive item he was in the market for?

“Perfect,” he would mutter to himself; before a sharp whistle would cut through the silence; as his Doublade switched from offense to defense with a singular Iron Defense, the blades becoming shinier than they already were.

The attack would bounce off harmlessly against the shimmering blades; that then chained into a Swords Dance attack—oh, Yamato was getting serious!

The strange-looking Qwilfish then fired off a Barrage of Barbs aimed towards the blade; only for the shimmering ‘aura’ of the sword to cut them down as the ghostly blades came in close for the jugular one-strike attack; cutting the funny-looking Qwilfish down with a Night Slash attack!

Before he threw the Safari Ball, he would make a mental note to ask THEO BECKETT about the funny Qwilfish when he got back to Sootopolis.

---

catch attempt on h!qwilfish!

His own Xurkitree would lumber off somewhere, the stench of electrical burns making them a little antsy—however they couldn’t take their attention off from the other fellow Xurkitree that was also present.

Two amalgamations of wires that literally were living electricity with every step that they took.

(And threatened to cause more than just a localized blackout when pushed too far.)

“…we’d need a Rhyhorn if we’re going to go into extended testing, I know that Pokémon line has Lightning Rod as their ability plus they’re also Ground-type so they’re safe from whatever… whatever electrical explosions they’d cause,” he would tilt his head in their Xurkitree’s direction.

He would then remember something else—something very important.

“Do you have any rubber gloves with you?”

“Thankfully, I brought along other Electric-type Pokémon I have lying around, so we can safely test just how much these batteries can take before they start smelling like burned rubber.”

With that, he would produce a Lanturn and a Luxio; the electric charge on their respective scales and fur crackling off them the moment they emerged from their respective beams of red light.

“And just in case, as a safety precaution I also have a Ground-type with me in case things go south when it gets out of hand.”

A Larvitar would appear after that statement.

“Admittedly, a little flawed since I had the belated realization that we need the Lightning Rod ability, but beggars can’t be choosers.”