no one is unbreakable, but parker jones is damn well fucking close. karma came for her ass real quick after she wailed on the unnamed leaguer who'd been caught in the current of war. but is it really fair? is it really fair when she's just as snared, if not more so? 

guess he probably got out worse, given the pulp she'd turned his face into. she doesn't even know if he deserved it. 

do they ever deserve it? 

she doesn't think like this. she can't think like this. life is shit until it's not, and then it's shit again. she's just a small piece of that. she brings the pain or the pain comes down on her. 

and it will come it will come it will come it will come. 

amulius walks beside her, but his steps are nervous. they are quite literally, lost. she'd escaped with her life from that whirlwind battle, but only because she'd fallen off a floating rock and onto another one. and now she drifts. sometimes gravity does things gravity absolutely should not do, but she's good and fucked. 

once, she has to duck under cover and squat behind a rock because a group of league rangers pass overhead. but those were the last people she saw. well, there are the mist people. the swirling shapes, somewhat familiar, that keep whispering things to her, but she just keeps shoving her fingers in her ears and plodding along, staring at the ground.

and keeps walking and walking and walking. 

Naomi Sato

10MP for paranoia

☉

parker is supercalifragilisticexpialiDONE with this place. she's done with the mist and she's done with the rifts and the monsters that lurk within it. is this what all the upper echelon of rocket deal with? is this what their bodyguards have to deal with? 

fuck this and fuck that and wah, wah, wah. 

all her grievances dry up when nomi looks up at her, turns pink, and asks if she's okay. 

"uh." she blanks. she balks. is she okay? no, the fuck she's not! but she wants to be okay because nomi looks rattled to all hell and parker's supposed to be the one looking out for her. so she awkwardly clears her throat and lets go of her when she realizes she's still gripping her tightly. 

"'course i'm okay, doc. 'm just sad 'mul got all the punches in on whatever the hell that thing was." she decides to sit down. just plops right down there in the middle of the trail and stretches out with a sigh, 'cause damn if she hasn't earned it. 

"are you okay?" she says skeptically.

Naomi Sato

☉

looks like her mating dance is working. her sideswept hair is a little less sideswept and more stuck to her forehead from her sweat, but that's fixed with a run of her fingers and a simpering grin as she tails yumi back to the bar. 

"don't gotta ask me twice," she says. though she is far more coherent sounding than yumi, she's definitely feeling giggly. and also handsy. but the handsy she gets under control. kind of. 

when yumi asks if she's having fun, parker sways, leans in on it, and places a hand on her shoulder, giving her a squeeze. she takes a sip from her own fancy new drink (it's literally just fruit juice and vodka) and bobs her head up and down. 

"mmmm, when'm i gonna see your moves though?" she asks, eyes glimmering. 

Yumi Hasegawa

☉

the yelping is lost to her. she doesn't hear it. doesn't hear his cries of pain or his pleas. you're not supposed to hear that. you can't hear that. she's too busy straining past it, trying to pick up sound 'cause her eyes are smarting from the smoke and her lungs are begging her to double over and start coughing. 

they're granted the doubling over part, at least. there's a whoof as the assailant rams right into parker's midsection, lifting her up and off of her victim. 

she responds in kind, swallowing the pain and telling her ribs, and by extension her lungs, to fucking chill while she takes care of business. he's going to take her down, with momentum like that, and she's ready. as soon as she hits the ground, she's gonna sock him right in his fucking face and bowl him over. 

Gunner Graves GIDEON GRAVES

☉

the rocket scientist is rather preoccupied and by no volition of her own, ignores parker. that's more infuriating in of itself, especially because the mist is wrapped so thickly around her, dividing them further still. she reaches out her hands and tries to brute force her way through, but it's like the closer she gets, the further away she drifts. 

in the end, it's amulius that saves them. flames spurt from all of his talons and he spins like a top, fanning the embers. the mist sizzles and recoils, lapsing between scientist and bodyguard. 

parker's good at ignoring things that don't make sense to her. so whether or not what she saw in the mist is real, she decided to shove it to the back of her mind and close the distance. she's still got a job to do. 

she passes that barrier and comes upon nomi, hand hard on her shoulder. fingers flex, sinking into her skin, confirming she's really there. and then she apologizes for the intrusion with a smile and yanks her up by the arm. 

it looks like a hydreigon, but it's not - one of its heads is a distorted sceptile's, the second a dragapult's, and the third some awfully tiny fairy thing that looks like it's been super glued to the furred body that makes up the rest of it. parker grimaces and says, "that is one ugly bitch."

valerian and amulius exchange blows with the creature, forcing it back. the heat makes the mist shiver and shudder and slowly it dissipates enough that parker can actually make out everything around them. 

Naomi Sato

☉

everything has led to this moment. everything has brought her here, wandering in this fucked up inside out world (hell, is this the first time she's entered one of these damned things willingly?), and it's all for this dumb bitch with a knife pressed to her damn neck, looking like parker just said the worst thing imaginable, which, okay, it probably is the worst thing she could have said. 

'cause she hadn't asked and she wouldn't ask, especially not from someone like her. especially not her. the look and the words and the fucking slap-in-the-face-realization cuts parker deeper than that knife on her neck ever could. but she's physically incapable of flinching away; instead, the corners of her eyes crinkle, mouth twisting into a macabre grin. 

the pressure disappears. she drops onto the balls of her feet and stares down crudely at the dagger and then rolls her eyes. 

"i'm not gonna stab ya, dross." but that doesn't stop her from closing those two feet between them, fingers catching skyler's wrists, muscles tightening 'cause she damn well knows she's only got surprise on her side. close enough where skyler can hear the static in her ear.

"report in, six. do you need backup? we repeat, do you need backup?"

she tilts her head, presses ear to shoulder and says, "nah. false alarm. she ain't here. six reporting in - avatar skyler dross ain't here."

"confirmed. stay safe out there, grunt."

amulius makes a noise and parker's twisted smile twinges, almost annoyed, as she looks past skyler. she grinds her teeth. 

"where'd ya put chucklefuck?"

skyler dross mitchel kane

PARKER JONES's prowess with fighting/hand-to-hand combat must be advantageous in some way.


14 involve a betrayal of some kind.

☉

her best shirt's the nice silk red one. long-sleeve. hidden buttons in the middle with a v-neck curve that brings out her bust. hugs her in all the right ways, especially when she tucks it into her black dress pants. black belt. combat boots 'cause she doesn't have dressier.

yumi doesn't have to worry 'bout a damn thing because parker would rather die than let anything happen to her on her watch. it's why she has been watching her all night, steel grey eyes sliding up and down her form and thanking arceus for that pretty little number she's wearing. 

she's a couple of pina coladas in. the sugar would have made a lesser drunk sick, but her blood's used to the sweetness 'cause she's already smacking her lips together for more. she turns her hips, raises her arms, and lets the music slide over her body, gaze darting to yumi at the bar. 

keeping tabs on her, hoping she's watching.

Yumi Hasegawa

☉

a lot of things happen at once. the small group of rocket she'd blundered into give a few shouts. they are attacked, quite literally, from all sides. the warfront had come to them and they get rolled up in the skirmish, and all she can do is stare down at this man in her hands and keep punching. 

because she doesn't know what the fuck else to do. 

she gasps over him, spittle at the corner of her lips, cheeks flushed. her hood is up, hiding her mess of pink hair, but she doesn't even have a fucking mask on. 

she'd tripped into the arceus-damned rift on her way to getting a bagel. 

heat flares on her cheeks and she looks up, drawn from her haze, the pounding in her ears. it's like the world snaps back around her. the blaziken stands before her, flames licking at his sides, his right leg still emblazoned from knifing the lava plumes through the middle.

the adrenaline kicks back in, muting the pain in her split knuckles. amulius stares down the typhlosion in front of him, looking slightly unsettled. she doesn't think anything of it. let them fight fire with fire. 

"handle it," she snarls at him. he bounces from foot to foot and then snaps forward with a fiery fist cocked. her cold gaze flickers down to the broken man on the ground, steel-toed boots pressing down on his hands.

can't risk him pulling out a pokemon while her attention's split. 

GIDEON GRAVES Gunner Graves

☉

now she's bumbling and making a fool of herself. maybe, by the end of this, the doc will check her for brain damage. and then never ask her on these crazy rides out to crazy town where all the crazies are. she can't make sense of it. the mist wrapping and warping around them. 

she can't punch that?

her old man rises from the ground and parker almost shits her pants. but after that, asshole puckered, she grits her teeth and has the decency to at least say, "what the fuck" before entering fight mode and slamming a hammer fist down into - 

the ground. ow. 

'i want her again.' she snaps up reflexively. she's already decided she can't trust her senses. at least their previous foray has kind of prepared her for this nonsense. 

there's another nomi, blood dribbling from her lips, canines sharp and staring daggers right at her. 'the same bodyguard as last time.'

she smiles prettily and parker calls hoarsely to amulius, but the blaziken doesn't answer the call. 

'jones. so we can make sure she knows her place.'

she laughs shakily and looks to the more tangible nomi, eyes hard, and says, "what the fuck is this, doc?" answers won't be forthcoming any time soon though, because the reason amulius wouldn't answer the call is made plain all at once. 

the blaziken is blasted between the two of them. the air crackles with static and the mist he'd flown through distorts, slicing wisp!nomi into neat little ribbons. amulius gathers himself and launches itself back towards the monster that had attacked them.

it's not just one thing. it's a lot of things. in one shape. maybe a ditto? but dittos aren't the size of semi-trucks and she's fairly certain they're not able to turn into fucking chimeras. 

Naomi Sato

☉

hearing skyler say it? music to her fuckin' ears. watching the rough shape of mitch's mouth form the two syllables that make up her insufferable one-of-a-skyler-kind nickname and parker, suddenly, for the first time ever, feels anger so intense it strays to being murderous. 

she would turn on him. she would do a lot of things to him if skyler hadn't beaten her to it first. as it stands, she has one sleeve already rolled up so she can punch mitch to the fullest extent she's capable of, but one second she's looking at him and the next she's looking at empty space. 

as he's ripped away from parker's side, she swears and turns, but skyler's already on top of her. and not in the hot mess of a way she'd fantasized about a hundred and one times. 

well, okay, maybe a few of those scenarios started like this. 

amulius spurs into action, but parker slams a palm against the rock and barks for him to stand down. and then, with less enthusiasm, to make sure mitch isn't being choked to damn death. 

she narrows her eyes down at skyler, wanting and angry in her own right. "you're a fuckin' siren, y'know that?" bitterly, "'course you do. and i'm just a whipped piece of shit savin' your ass," she hisses. 

skyler dross mitchel kane

☉

who's bax? 

now it's parker's turn (again) to look confused. even more so when the head scientist completely stops in her tracks and makes parker roll onto her toes so she doesn't knock right into her. she rocks back onto her heels with a mph. 

motherfucker. if it's not about bax, then it's gotta be the rift shit. 'cause ain't no way the authorities are out looking for someone named pinkie. skyler's a hag, not a rat. 

parker doesn't know what to do with the silence, especially because it feels like she should be saying something? or like nomi's looking for her to say something?

"he's, uh, an asshole. but like, a good asshole. don't mean no harm." did she just call someone, bax, a good asshole? 

"but if it's about the rift, honestly i just wanted to forget about it. that place was creepy as fuck. and i still hear that stupid lullaby or whatever the hell it was in my head. not that i'm, like, complainin' 'cause this is...great, bein' back out here with all the crazy."

she looks down, finally noticing the mist. "speak of the fuckin' devil."

Naomi Sato

☉

fuck. 

she runs through a lot of scenarios when her phone goes off. when the goddamned mission report comes in. alarm bells go off in her head and she thinks a few things:

1. is it because i fell through that fucking rift and didn't tell anyone about it? was i supposed to tell someone about it?
2. did skyler dross put two and two together and figure me out and go tattle to the authorities? she strikes that one immediately. 
3. did jayden cross think i was too fuckin' soft on bax and now i need a babysitter?

of all possibilities, it's probably the latter. of the three, it's probably the least terrifying. probably has the least consequences. but still, is it not enough that she keeps her head down and gets her job done? rocket gets its money and she keeps her hands (mostly) clean.

it's misty out, which already adds to the creepiness around mt. pyre. there's a rift here somewhere. another rift. and she's heard stories about the boogeymen instead of it. but wherever the doctor goes, she's duty-bound to follow. 

"well, there's one," she jokes flatly and points to the unown that circles them, also creepily. altering reality does not sound like a good time to her. the only context in which she wants her blind blown is not proboards tos.

"'m always on guard, doc. don't gotta worry 'bout that." amulius follows their steps some ways back, but looks up for added emphasis. 

her very, very last words make parker stop. and then blink. and then frown. and if ya knew her any better, you'd probably tell her to stop thinking before she hurts herself. 

"don't ya have, like, files 'n shit for that? 'm a debt collector. shake down fuckers for what they owe us." she offers a thin smile, still not entirely understanding. "look, i dunno what cross said, but bax isn't all bad. he's just a dumbass. didn't deserve more 'an a few broken fingers."

Naomi Sato

☉

don't you get it?

her knuckles hurt. pain blasts up the side of her arm. the gauze wrapped around her, cushioning her blows, is soaked through with blood. his face is a bloody mess. if she keeps going, if she keeps squinting, it'll be easier to think he's not a person at all. 

you stupid piece of shit, don't you get it?

he pleads up at her and she roars in frustration, knuckles squelching against the side of his cheek with enough force to send him to the ground. she releases her hold on the collar of his shirt and breathes haggardly down at him. 

it's either you or me.

a supervisor's cold glare settles on her. she goes in for a kick to his ribs. the look passes. 

and i'm always gonna pick me.

GIDEON GRAVES Gunner Graves

☉