The three-headed one apparently had to discuss these orders with itself first, at least for a bit. That was good, since it gave Electrivire time to put down the cargo, as it was evidently going to be attacked. Having been carrying a cumbersome crate, it could not easily get out of the way in time. But at least it could prepare itself, bracing for impact. That was a somewhat unusual move for a Pokemon like that to have and it definitely did hurt when it connected. The damage was certainly done.

But then the Static went into effect, paralyzing the bird and leaving it wide open to receiving a thunderbolt in return. That was a simple response. Shizue watched, somewhat dispassionately in that regard. Though she was slightly agitated overall. “I guess the certification requirements must be rather lax then. But it is just like a Ranger to believe that attacking Pokemon unprovoked is perfectly fine. Self-righteousness comes hand in hand with juvenile behaviour, I guess.” She shook her head. Meanwhile, Swalot obeyed as taught and released the poisonous gas. But it was trained well enough to do so in a rather targeted manner, not flooding the whole cave with it.
Because at least one of them was semi concerned with the likes of collateral damage. “And just for the record: this is very much throwing a tantrum. Just one using potentially deadly weapons.”


Julia Davis

“I have been rather straightforward. I just do not feel like simply giving a child what they want. Tantrum or not.” That was probably a bit rude, but the longer they conversed, the more she got that kind of impression of the other. This one was not just naïve. She had absolutely no clue what she was doing. It was annoying that people like that were given strong Pokemon to assault people they did not trust with. Granted, the way the Goodra seemed to want to play, rather than fight, it probably was not that much of a threat.

Pokemon knew better. Usually. Unless this one was as foolish as the trainer and just attacked people on a whim. Shizue shook her head. Then, she continued walking, positioned between the threats and her Electrivire. “So, assault it is. Guess I can’t stop an idiot like you from trying. Swalot, if she tries to have her Pokemon attack me, release the gas right at her. She probably thought she was fine because Zubats are immune.” But the girl herself was not. As things stood, she would have to use her own Pokemon to protect herself, or risk being poisoned.
Really, Shizue did not want to spell it out. But with this one, she probably just had to.


Julia Davis

Shizue groaned, unabashedly. This was getting slightly annoyed. “I am a scientist, young lady. I do not do blanket promises like that. Especially when you are casting such a wide net without proper definition. What does constitute ‘being used against the League’? A Zubat’s poison gland can be used in a number of ways. It can be used for poison but also for antidote. There is also a way to make a reasonably useful wound dressing. Poison is rather straightforward, but if I use it as an antidote and that counteracts poison utilized by a member of a League, does that stipulate a breech of the verbal contract you are proposing?”

She shook her head, half-saddened. “Of course you did not. You are a bright-eyed idealist type. I could just lie to you here as well. Only I do not care for it. The choice is yours. Turn this into an even worse situation for these Pokemon or just let me leave and help them. Your priorities. But know that if you assault me, I will hurt you to defend myself. That is not a threat. It is not a law of nature, either. But it will happen.” Shizue transfixed the girl’s eyes as if trying to stare her down, saying that. Because it was necessary.


Julia Davis

“If I was truly sure of anything, I would not use the word ‘apparently’. Language has to be precise to properly convey meaning,” she replied. It was always annoying to speak to non-scientists in that regard. And pretend scientists. And lazy scientists. Honestly, there were only few who truly care about precision of speech. She screwed up too, at times. But that was just human. Shizue tried, at the very least.

But she figured that this girl was not quite as abrasive as she acted, in a manner. “Observing these things is part of my research. Technically I am a toxicologist, not a psychiatrist, but this might be a biological reaction.” She did not go any further in-depth on that, instead pulling out a cable to connect the tablet. Fortunately, she was not one that carried Rocket paraphernalia on it or anything. There were some company-issue standard programs on it, but she doubted the other would notice. Besides, she pulled up E-Mails from her time at university up, including her old ID from there that she had to send for an internship.


Elinor Anderson

Rude. That was definitely the only way to describe this man. He simply shot at her, yelling loudly, as if he had any reason to be this agitated. But at least with his word she could tell that this was definitely a League place. Only those people would assume anyone remotely opposing them to be a Rocket.

She does not flinch, but mostly because her rational mind told her it would be useless. She was not the kind of person that dodged bullets, after all. That was futile. You had to hope that either the other had bad aim and actual killing intent or vice versa. This one didn’t. Which was good to know.

In the meantime, her Swalot, being hit in the big belly, clearly grunted in pain from the attack. But since the opponent was close, it replied right away with a Gastro Acid anyway. “Back off…where? You and yours are threatening me,” Shizue replied in her usual, deadpan, way. Granted, she knew why it happened. But she did not agree with the whole attack strangers at sight thing to begin with.
Maybe she just was not cut out for wars. They never made sense to her.


paxton concordas

“Nothing. I am simply an opportunist collecting parts that I can see. Those are of no use to anyone like this, after all. Might as well.” The girl did seem to stand down, partially, but she also did not seem too perturbed by the involvement of the Zubat. At least she was smart enough to know. Incidentally, that put her up a notch or two in Shizue’s estimation. “Last I checked, that was only a crime in nature preserves. Though down here, just not being explicitly with one side or another is the greatest sin, I reckon.”

Shizue smirked to herself for unknown reasons, then straightened up. Electivire had finished loading up. Those poison glands would be sufficient. Sure, they would probably be used against the friends of this girl. But that was not Shizu’s problem. Her job was to make the poison. Both sides used it. At the end of the day, the choice to use it or not to – and who to use it on – was not made by her. Hence she saw no reason as to why that should be much of an issue between them. “Now, that being said: are you going to let me leave, or is this to become dangerous after all? That choice is yours.” She, the load-bearing Electrivire and the Swalot would now all be facing this girl, waiting for her move – or lack thereof.


Julia Davis

“Well, ‘with Rocket’ is maybe a bit too strong a phrasing in my opinion. I am with whoever is willing to let me do my job and pay well,” she responded, frankly. Not being an idealogue, Shizue was simply with whomever fit her best. And Rocket was much more flexible in that regard. Ironically, they seemed to be less stringent about the whole ‘you are either with us or against us thing’ as the league was.

Case in point: this young lady. Just the mere possibility of Shizue being Rocket was apparently enough to threaten violence. She sighed. Sometimes it was exhausting to always be in the right. However, this did earn Julia the dubious honour of the other finally acknowledging her proper, turning towards the girl. However, her Electivire continued with its work for now. “Or what, precisely. Are you going to sic your Pokemon at me. Maybe kill me for now doing what some random stranger demands of me? One who, by her own admission, does not even know what I am doing? Pathetic.”

She shook her head, then pulled out a Pokeball and released her Swalot. “Well, I do not intend to just let you harm me, frankly. Swalot, release poison gas if she tries anything. Her choice to fight in the middle of the injured.” After all, quite a few Zubats were still alive. But that was mostly Shizue testing the other’s knowledge of the type, more than anything. And their haughtiness. After all, she put the focus on how the Zubat might take it, but if that girl was fresh, she would not realize that she, too, stood in the path of the attack.


Julia Davis

Oh. They were changing out Pokemon? Fine by her. Vileplume had taken some damage by that beam, after all. It could still stand, but had been driven back a little. Might as well recall it and replace it with her Swalot right away.

Though, admittedly, that did not exactly change much about her strategy at all. Instead of sending out poisonous spores, this one instead released a poisonous gas from its mouth – which sought to cover the area in a half-circle facing away from her, which would include the downed people. They were not exactly dead so far, but poison would probably do them no good in such a situation.

Not that Shizue cared. Just in case she always carried a gas mask in her pouch. Something one needed to have in a war zone, after all.


paxton concordas

Ah. A philantrope. Probably league, judging just by that. Sure, some in Rocket also deeply cared about Pokemon. But most of them knew better than to possibly endanger themselves just to help some Zubat. That was something for the naïve and foolish. Fortunately for the girl, Shizue was also not the kind of Rocket that got annoyed by something like to the extent that they wanted to teach a stranger a lesson.

No, she just wanted to do her job here. Still, when asked a question like that, she could not help but answer. In an abrasive way, of course. Because it was a stupid question. “Know? No. But I can make an educated guess. There is a war of sorts raging. Even the League talks a big game, but they are not going to hold back just to make sure they do not cause cave-ins on Zubats. Probably because they know they have fools to clean take care about the collateral damage. Then they can all pat each other on the back for being the quote unquote good guys.” She sighed, but did not stop her work, still not acknowledging the girl enough to look at her.

Julia Davis

“What does it look like I am doing?” She did not even look at the newcomer as she said these words. They had not immediately attacked or anything like that. That meant she had a fool or a Samaritan here. Given that there was a hint of worry in their words, probably a combination of the two.

Shizue sighed. That probably would not fly as an explanation with this one. She could tell. Shizu was not quite as hopeless with people as others often thought her to be. Though it was probably hopeless to expect too much from this interaction. “The Zubat died. Their parts are still useful. So, I collect them while they are fresh. Simple as that.” Evidently, she had little to no compassion for these Pokemon. And why would she? There were millions of them across the world, each essentially the same as the other. If she was training one it would be different, but those were just animals. And when they died, they simply became parts.

“If you want to help with that, feel free to make yourself useful.”


Julia Davis

Ah, that judgmental gaze. She was used to it. From both sides, really. Shizue was not as religiously hating the League as some of her compatriots, but she had long since accepted that this ran on both sides. Really, sometimes she did wonder where the difference laid.

At least this girl was superficially polite. “Good, good. You will find that I am the person I say I am.” Well, it was not that difficult. Though it would probably be more difficult in the future. Once someone found that she was affiliated with the Rockets, she probably would need a second identity. Or not. Too much hassle. She would have to settle with being treated like this.

Not like she wasn’t treated like a criminal already. For now, she casually followed. There was a trojan on that tablet just in case, but she was not quite sure she wanted to risk using that. It had come pre-installed on that thing just in case she got an opportunity like this. But that did not mean she had to act on it. “Neither of us should be in this place on our lonesome, though. This place apparently induces paranoia in certain individuals. You should be careful.”

Elinor Anderson

A Porygon, reflecting the sleeping powder back at them. Fortunately, Vileplume was used to those sufficiently due to producing them to resist the drowsiness for the time being. But that probably meant the data Pokemon had a reflective ability. No, Porygons were not able to develop that. It had to be a move.

In which case, it could be exhausted. And she knew what to play in that regard. As the strange newcomer seemed primed to prove a threat after all, they would just have to deal with this properly. It seemed to be bristling with energy, but that was nothing they could not handle. “Switch to Poison Powder,” she ordered and Vileplume obliged, aiming a generous dose of that both at the Pokemon and its trainer. That way, it would have to at least try to take the edge off of the powder instead of retaliating.

And that was why she usually did not like field work. Always disarray, short-cuts and improper note-taking. That was how people found themselves with more mistakes than necessary. She was not deathly afraid of those. But she still did not like making them. Shizue was a perfectionist in her work at times. It hurt to do things haphazardly that she knew she could do better. But she sighed and got to work anyway. Because any result was better than no result at all.

For that reason, she released her Inteleon once the other had returned with her ideas. It was decision making time. “Naturally, it should be a Pokemon that is well-known to be one of yours. You seem to know more people in Rocket more personally than I.” A simple assumption, since she did not bother with most people herself. “And we have to consider the other side needing to trust the message not to be a fake. So, the most average, yet known Pokemon of yours should simply do.” Though naturally, that one also ran the highest risk. Shizue simply assumed that her meaning was caught insofar that the one would be chosen that was known to Rocket, but not necessarily to the League. They did not want to get sniped after all. That was more Inteleon’s thing, but he would have to run decoy this time, too.

“Unless you have a better idea, of course.” Or rather, a better reasoning. Because that was what it all boiled down to, in the end.


Calpurnia Kubrick