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His vision is blurring. He feels himself choking. He can't tell if it's because he's stuck floating mid air, desperately trying to right himself but still held in the dragon's grasp. "Your bitch dragon's ideals mean shit!" he screamed, despite how panicked he was in his struggling. [break][break]

"You're just an insecure rich kid with something to pro-" [break][break]

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Neon stopped breathing, impact reverberating every sense he had. His bones rattle, his body crumples. Body armor can only do so much. Adrenaline can only push him for so long. He doesn't know if its his body that cracks of the bark of the Dynatree. He can't move, seized in a sudden overwhelming pain. Tears fall without control from the lone visible eye he has as he focuses on nothing. The Beast shook, spasming in what looked like the slightest attempt to breathe. A gasp that couldn't quite finish. Air that could not flow for pain was locking it out of Neon's lungs. [break][break]

All air had been harshly smashed out of it. Flesh bruises, it has to at this point. He's dented the tree. He feels tingles racing up and down his limbs. His spine- his- was his spine ok? Could he not walk because he was busy suffocating?? Or because The Exacting has paralyzed him? [break][break]

He dodesn't know. He cna't think. Neon had never been much of a fighter. Subterfuge. Guerilla. Underhanded. That was Neon. He was strong becuase that was his job, but before he had been an indirect fighter. His bones still fresh, unbroken from a cushy life. His skin still porcelain, unmarred by a past life- [break][break]



His forearms itch. A sudden flare up under his protective sleeves. The feeling of wetness. Had those old wounds opened up too? Had he been thrown so hard he was starting to be unmade? [break][break]

The LIGHTNING STILETTO lands and explode just above his head as he tries move. Instinct screams to run, to dive into the Dynatree and get enough time to TELEPORT. But flesh can only push past its own limitations for so long. Neon is battered, and broken. Threads mental and physical are unraveling. Transmissions haven't been cutting in. He's alone. He's going to die. [break][break]


All over a stupid bird he had yet to catch. He can't even look up at the branches of the Dynatree above. The beeping inside his helmet rapid fire denoting his closeness to the signal. He wonders if his Genesect had managed to spit out those coordinates to jayden cross and fern delaney. [break][break]

Surely...out of everyone in Rocket, they'd show up. They had to. He's not sure how much more he can hold out. He wouldn't stop, even if his eyes droop slightly in the brief calm. [break][break]

Neon is a limp animal, unable to right himself before Remiel does it for him. He hangs from one hand, and he wheezes still catching his breath. The smell of fear cloaks him like a thick smog. The LED screen is a mess, fractures and broken through, flickering wildly unable to show an expression. [break][break]

mint frost will die tonight, with all members of his past life watching. No friends to find what remains of him. No priest to hand him his last rights. [break][break]

It was no better than being put down like a dog. [break][break]

He managed to lean back his head, lone exposed eye wide and straining to focus. [break][break]

"Choke."

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His bloodied right hand moves upwards in ta final burst of energy nails going to dig into the noble's voice box. He'd die before he gave up on the Galarian Articuno. It'd toyed with him enough. If it weren't for these fucking interruptions- these stupid fucking voices-!

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it's a highway, highway to the dark [break]
and a neon medusa's got your heart .

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It'd been a while since he'd managed to get some alone time with his fellow Beast. He'd had the occasional mission as well as unwilling tag along. For Zev anyway. Mint had stayed curious of the man, ex combat mercenary milling aorund in Rocket training others. He didn't emote too much, and Mint, as he did with all his friends, seemed to have to lead the conversation for them. It never occurred to him that perhaps Zev didn't want to speak. Of course not. He was cute, charming. Everyone wanted to speak with him. [break][break]

But with the development of Zev Harcourt's avatarship, it seemed was keen on investigating himself. Which was good. Mint was curious of the rock parasite as well. The fear reported by the megalopolans in that strange prison mishap. The changes Zev seemed to be undergoing. Though, mentally, he's unclear of the more serious changes. Mainly because he didn't have a good baseline prior. All the same, when Zev inquires about his data on Necrozma, and even schedules a time for them to link up, Mint is more than happy to accommodate. [break][break]

He can go over his field data anywhere, carrying with him a table and his trusty detector. To avoid any possible, unforeseen consequences of poking the Beast, Mint arranges a meeting early evening in the desert. The temperature was dropping, and a cool wind buffeted his clothes. Thankfully, no sandstorm in sight. He opens his tablet, sending a quick message as he got comfortable on a rock and waited. [break][break]

"Can't wait to see if there's been any avatar development. Maybe I should check the blood too." he murmured to himself.

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it's a highway, highway to the dark [break]
and a neon medusa's got your heart .

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"I know that you lack conviction. That you'd abandon your cause if it meant saving your own ass! Your patron is an overgrown electric eel that believes in NOTHING!" Mint hissed, voice rough as his voice box fails, static layering roughly over his own words. luciano fisk 's face fades momentarily as he blinks and Remiel's face comes to the forefront, glowing eyes bright, almost blinding. He feels like a raw nerve. His insecurities out the open for anybody to hurt him with. "Not. Praise." He spat back. "This is what duty looks like." jayden cross would've been proud of him. THEO BECKETT would've approved. Surely even declan walsh would. After all, he was a Beast. A murderer. A collector. A show of Rocket's strength, accomplishing the impossible every single time. [break][break]

"I never asked for pity, you waste of space-" He looks ahead, moving to his true goal. The path to the Dynatree is clear. Their fighting had pushed up and out swathes of mist and fog. And while he doesn't see the bird he's looking for, he knows they're close. All throughout this, an incessant beeping had not let him forget his true target. Even hurting, aching. His breathing is labored, interrupting his words with harsh gasps as strength leaks away from him. annalise henderson would be pleased she had hurt him so. Maybe he should have killed her.[break][break]

The thought numbs him, blood and adrenaline running cold. She'd risked his mission, his life. Next time. [break][break]

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Wild eyes focus on the tree, despite the spike of fury. His head craned backwards just in time to watch his Genesect crushed. The pressure on already weak joints and the sudden electrical surge breaking down the beetle bot and forcing it to crumple on the ground. "NO!" But despite his protests, his dutiful guard had crushed, systems forced offline. [break][break]

His vision swam, shifting and moving as the Zekrom's PSYCHIC lifts him up. He can't control his movement, and his stomach flips inside him as the ground grows further and further away. "I'm not done." but his panic is obvious in the way he desperately pats himself down for his Genesect pokeball. [break][break]

"I've come this far-" he snapped as his voice cracked. Frustration gripping his throat as he managed to return his defeated battle bot, clutching the green-blue pokeball to his chest. [break][break]

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it's a highway, highway to the dark [break]
and a neon medusa's got your heart .

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In truth, Neon hadn't thought of the consequences of his capture. Acquiring Galarian Articuno for Rocket had been his mission and he'd been so enraptured in the chase of it all that he hadn't thought what might happen after. Maybe it was an avatars intuition, which Neon had no idea of. [break][break]

After all hadn't every avatar gone through a time of trial? Shown some sort of ideal or action that aligned with a pokemon? The Galarian birds, as far as he was concerned, had simply been born out of a book and fucked off. They had no alignment. And now they had shown themselves again, elusive and hungry for dynafruit. This talk of ideals doesn't apply to Neon. He's a Beast, one of Rocket's best. Of course he was chasing a bird. He was one of the few people qualified to wrangle it back for declan walsh . Then again, maybe Remiel Calcifet was underestimating him. The thought made him bristle. The realization brings forth cackles from his sisters, snorts from his brothers. [break][break]

"And the League isn't?! Isn't that why you're here?!" But he shouldn't fall to Remiel's goading, for it slows his already weakened body, detracts his attention from his real goal. [break][break]

Mist is blasted away revealing a dark expanse as Zekrom's lightning land and explodes the ground, pock marking the earth around the Dynatree. The explosions set his ears ringing, even with the helmet. His vision goes dark as he's suddenly thrown off balance, just barely kept from flying away by his Genesect. But its clear by now, both trainer and machine are on their last legs. Neon, shaking and coughing, nausea and chill settling as he grips tight on his stomach. His partner, moving and twitching erratically, spark flying off it and wires dangling haphazardly through the joints of its armor. [break][break]

Neon sputters, trying to figure out the easiest, fastest way through no man's land and the black dragon before jolting painfully as Remiel appeared behind him. A lone, tired eye stared up through the hole in his helmet. The other is busy reading thing his systems attempting to track the spike in infinity energy pouring off Remiel and his patron. [break][break]

"You don't HAVE ideals! You've fucked off on your duties more than once!" Neon snapped. "Galar. Rocket. Our research-" His voice cracks, strained as he gasps for breath. The hand clutching at his side tensed, sticky with blood that was slowly seeping through his clothes. [break][break]

All around him, family and spectators alike clamor at the feet of Zekrom and Remiel like a fucked up coliseum of shadows. Hands touch and pet his opponents. Eyes narrow and mouth smirk and grin. It's all the shadowy jumble, oil slick. Voices layer over one another. [break][break]



Despite trying to stay focused on Remiel, like with annalise henderson , his eyes dart around. Angrily at first but after hours of enduring ever increasing abuse, weak and sleep deprived, Neon begins to crack. His defiance falters, his posture crumples under the weight of his world. [break][break]

"I'm sick of you!!" he snapped, though the glare he lands on Remiel lacks the usual bite. "I'm sick of your condescesion! I'm sick your reminders! I'm so, so sick of your fucking elitism!" he shouts. The pressure mounts, years of internalized pain hidden and stashed away rising to the surface. He stumbles, but one lone, wide eye is on Remiel. [break][break]

"Perfection, beauty, optics- the TRUTH here, is it doesn't mean anything!" he screams, words accentuated by a strange static as his Genesect began to move once more. Here's a pounding in his head, and in his stomach. It sounds pathetic because it is. Lofty ideals had been his cage, his hell. Michaelis had done everything in his power to uphold them and look where it got him. [break][break]

"Of course I'd die. I'd kill myself all over again just to never have to think about your shitty IDEALS!" They weren't worth it. They never had been. Every tentative relationship he'd ever had with his family, his siblings: luciano fisk , Ciprina Fisk , Violetta Fisk . Every single one of them hadn't truly helped him. They'd tried to break him into a mold he was destined to never fit into. Because this wasn't him. [break][break]

The eccentric painted wasn't him. The dreams landscapes and sunflowers had never been him. The joy out of painting had been stolen from him, and without that how was he supposed to uphold the Fisk ideals? So no. Whatever his ideals are, he definitely wouldn't abide by theirs. [break][break]

"Get the fuck away form me!!" His Genesect lunges for the avatar with an X SCISSOR, and Neon pulls back.

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it's a highway, highway to the dark [break]
and a neon medusa's got your heart .

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annalise henderson 's divine intervention cuts through the mist, blowing them apart. Chunks of earth spit up and the grass under that survives is burnt. His Genesect is at his side beeping and twitching, systems damaged from the morning of skirmishes behind them. Neon is on his feet, shaking as he tries to stabilize despite the ringing in his ears. He wants to stop. He wants to rest. [break][break]

luciano fisk crawls away from him, summoning a ceruledge to flee. Neon watches, catching the briefest of looks between him and his older brother. His stomach knots. [break][break]

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Distress makes his eyes water and widen before a voice begins to cut through the ringing. Shadows loom over the avatar, glinting vicious blue. Remiel Calcifet accuses him of fighting for a contract and Neon spits back as the image of Luciano superimposes over the exiled prince. [break][break]

“You're fucking stupider than I thought if you think anyone can force a pact.” Neon spat out, voice garbled by a glitching voice changer. That wasn't his goal. Capture the galarian birds as allies, weapons against the League. At the very least, chase them out of Hoenn so the League couldn't use them. That's what declan walsh would've preferred. [break][break]

He hears something akin to what sounded like a great bird laughing. It activates a sharp pain in the back of his brain. The double vision he was fighting, Remiel's scowl- it all morphs together and snaps into place like a rubber band. [break][break]

Zekrom's whirring, and the traitor's voice join a cacophony of whispers and laughter and insults. All obstacles in the way of achieving his goal. Through the haze he swears he sees the glint of the bird's eyes watching. Neon murmurs something to himself as melted shadow clouds his vision. [break][break]

“Its-...” Neon began as the sparking of his partner grew louder in his ears. Under all circumstances he should quit, but the visions of them, of Remiel, of his own death incense him. It's all noise cluttering his mind, rotting him from the inside out. That didn't matter. He didn't want it to matter. He would do anything to finish this mission. Whatever it takes. [break][break]

“It's up yours, you snob!” He shouted as he sprinted forward towards Remiel, towards the tree. The robot next to him launches cover fire with a harshly made TECHNO BLAST.

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it's a highway, highway to the dark [break]
and a neon medusa's got your heart .

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His breathing is ragged, angry against the pain and the blood seeping out of his wounds. He tucked in that arm, putting pressure on his side. Annalise moves back, narrowly dodging a wide kick Neon throws.[break][break]

"I don't think so, Henderson." he said roughly as he let out a strangled noise of pain. He could fix this. He could heal. After Annalise was downed, or dead. Like ollie morales , he didn't want to kill her. Especially when his real target is behind her. For a moment, he looks past the fog and the writhing mass of eyes, up into the Dynatree. In the distant branches he swears he sees the reflection of two, large expectant eyes. He doesn't even need to hear the screech, but the Galarian Articuno gives one anyway. [break][break]

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Annalise looks at him, then down, and he knows what she's going to try. Neon sneers moving to intercept Annalise's lunge the the blade of his own dagger, gifted by jayden cross , crafter by Aurelie Lefevre . [break][break]

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Annalise jerks forward, down. He pulls the dagger out of reach. Her hands are him. He can't let her stand. One hand grabs at her hair as her eyes follow the blade. She's distracted. Neon doesn't need a dagger to hurt her. A curse is choke out as she's yanked backwards. Like instinct, he brings the blade down ready to slit her. But annalise henderson has been through so much. [break][break]

Annalise has trained for this. Annalise has been waiting. Annalise is ready. He doesn't get it. He doesn't see the danger, clouded by his own desire. She moves and screams as the blade meant for her throat instead lands in her arm, reaching ever upward to show a hand through the hole in his mask. Blood steams against the fog as it colors her arm crimson and Neon panicked at the finger attempting to claw his eye out. He falls backwards and her on top. [break][break]

He digs the blade in further, carving down a harsh, jagged line through muscle and sinew as she tries even more desperately to blind him. No longer cursing, the pair scream before he finally manages to slam an elbow into her chest and knock her off. [break][break]

"GET THE HELL OFF ME YOU PSYCHO!"

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His one eye is closed as he struggles to get to his feet and shoves the toe of his boot into her stomach, further pushing the little bit of air left out of Annalise. "I don't have time for this!" Again, ever aware of the eyes, the laughter, the boos as he overcomes their champion. Their little hero. The reforged heroine back from the dead to exact her revenge. All Neon had ever wanted was answers. He'd never gotten them. It's frustrating. Annalise reaches for his legs to try to bring him down with her. [break][break]

He shoves her away but she's persistent. And there, in crystalline blue eyes he sees a determined hatred. Dogged, begrudging, and furious. And his blood runs cold. He can't get out of this one. And Neon laughs having spent so long trying to spare her. It hurts. It'll hurt tomorrow even more. But Rocket came first. They would always come first. She’s heaving, wheezing, and Neon flips the dagger once, twice and then lunges. [break][break]

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it's a highway, highway to the dark [break]
and a neon medusa's got your heart .