[attr="class","rubyw"]

The League was moving some of those weird "treasures" from the Ultra Deep Sea, and Rocket wanted someone to intercept the couriers and take the goods. "Someone" ended up being Ruby and one of the few people she could truly call a friend, Isaac Merlo. This would be interesting.

[break][break]"Hurry up, Slowpoke!" she called, hoisting her trusty nail bat over her shoulder. "They're not gonna wait for us!" Ah, it felt good to be ribbing on him like this again. He wasn't even being all that slow, but teasing him was fun. It helped distract her from how fucking creepy this place was. Dark caves, weird Pokémon (if they even were Pokémon), that freaking heartbeat noise she always heard in the background... This place made the Mechanical Kingdom seem welcoming.

[attr="class","rubyw"]

At first, Ruby didn't respond to Isaac's declaration of respect. She should have known that Isaac, of all people, would be like that, but she still wasn't used to that sort of treatment. After a few seconds, she just shrugged and said, "Yeah."

[break][break]Without even looking back at him, Ruby let her hand fall back for a light punch to Isaac's general upper arm/shoulder area. There was no real force behind it, but, Ruby being Ruby, it probably still stung a bit. "Shut up." Her voice was uncharacteristically quiet, and if Isaac looked closely, he might have been able to see her cheeks flex in a momentary smile.

[break][break]Then it was Isaac's turn to talk, to share his own pain from that damned day. One of his own Pokémon, practically a family member, had died to protect him. And Isaac felt like he'd killed her because of it.

[break][break]"Bullshit," Ruby said immediately, actually turning to look at Isaac now. "You didn't kill her. The bastard who tried to kill you did."

[attr="class","rubyw"]

Slowly, composure returned to Johanna's body. The former Rocket tried to speak casually, but Ruby could still hear the edge of tension in her voice. The display was almost adorable; if they weren't on Johanna's turf, it would have been downright pathetic. But being in League territory was all the more reason to keep pressing whatever advantage Ruby had.

[break][break]The words "family's fortune" pressed Ruby's smirk down into an unimpressed line. "Little rich girl, huh? No wonder you couldn't cut it with us." And of-fucking-course they'd spend all their money on this theme park instead of something useful. Trickle-down economics, Ruby's ass.

[break][break]Her smirk half-returned at Johanna's question. "What, I'm not allowed to congratulate an old friend on her cushy new position? Ever Grande City's Gym Leader, goddamn. Big step up from where you were before, huh?" The bitter sarcasm in her tone was almost palpable.

[break][break]"Your security sucks, by the way. Your Bewear let me right in through the employee entrance. I got to skip the line and everything. People were pissed."

[attr="class","rubyw"]

Ruby wasn't bothered by the lack of asking for permission. Hell, she'd been the one who said they shouldn't split up, so having another person with her was a good thing here. (In her defense, though, she wasn't going far. Just enough to see if anything was encroaching on their position to ruin their day. Again.)

[break][break]"Yeah, an absolute unit that would have tried to kill us," Ruby grumbled in response. Curiosity be damned, it was a good thing the mechanical beast was dead. One less thing to attack them.

[break][break]Belial started messing with some kind of lamp-like contraption sticking out from the ground. "What are you—?"

[break][break]Her voice, along with the rest of her insides, froze when something burst out from inside the newly opened lamp. She didn't want to believe it was a ghost, but the mournful moan it let out before disappearing through the ceiling was way too close to what she'd heard in her previous encounters with the paranormal. Without meaning to, she gulped at the same time as Belial and met his eyes. The only relief was that he also seemed creeped out about it.

[break][break]"Wish I hadn't," she said, averting her gaze and looking around the room.

[break][break]A distant boom hit her already frazzled nerves, jerking her into high alert. The sinister roar bouncing through the castle's hollow corridors didn't help.

[break][break]"Let's go," she said, already running back to the engine room to rejoin the others.

[attr="class","rubyw"]

Yeah, that's what Ruby figured Holo would do. Apparently, if too many people saw it, they'd start to imagine more like it, and those would start to appear.

[break][break]Ha. Imagine if this dumb game made that happen in real life.

[break][break]According to Holo, the Tera Crystals were the cause of this link between dreams and reality. She also wanted to know what Ruby thought was going to cause the end of 820's Hoenn and all other universes. Honestly? Ruby had no damn clue. What the hell was "the incoming ruination"? She just went with what she knew lined up with the DRK Triad's goals.

[break][break]

[attr="class","rubyw"]

There wasn't any time to hold on, Ruby thought as she pulled Kepler along with her. He weighed almost nothing in her grip, which would have been concerning if it weren't so convenient.

[break][break]Ruby set her jaw and turned her head to bark her annoyance at Kepler when he pressed into her back, but her words died in her throat. Even with his back turned to her, Ruby could see how pale he was. His hand was over his heart until he had to cover his ears, and his breathing, though steady, was labored. Ruby's previous thoughts about him having a heart attack suddenly seemed way more serious.

[break][break]Deimos, meanwhile, was having way too much fun with this, diving into computers after the Rotom and making them explode afterwards. Ruby spun around so her back was facing the oncoming shrapnel and clapped her free hand over Kepler's shoulder before he could turn around.

[break][break]"Don't die on me in here," she said, trying not to sound as concerned as she felt. Curse her big-sis instincts. "Just stay low and breathe." She tried not to think about how the first part had to be said because of her own shortness. At least she had the muscle to prove she wasn't just some shrimp trying to play tough. She winced as some of the shrapnel scraped across her back, but it was better than it hitting her in the eye or something.

[break][break]There was a crash, and Ruby dared to glance behind her to see the Rotom being slammed into the wall of TV screens. Its eyes spun around in a daze as it stuck to the cracked glass, twitching even more than a Rotom normally would.

[break][break]"Cerb, finish it o—"

[break][break]Her command was interrupted by a flash jumping out of her bag and forming into her newly "caught" Dusknoir. Ruby's grip tightened on her bat, worried it was about to betray her. Would the bat even work on this thing if it could just phase through solid objects? At least she had Cerberus.

[break][break]She didn't need to use either, though. The Dusknoir just stared at the Rotom as it shook its body back and forth to snap out of its daze. The Rotom looked puzzled at its former companion. The Dusknoir let out a low groaning sound, again reminding Ruby of the distant sound of falling wood. The Rotom let out a questioning buzz, and the Dusknoir nodded. Whatever that was seemed to be enough for the Rotom to shrug, wave at Ruby and Kepler with one of its plasma "arms," and fly through the wall. This time, Ruby didn't feel the need to chase after it. The creepy atmosphere finally loosened its oppressive grip over the facility, and Ruby sighed, exhausted.

[break][break]"I'm not even gonna ask," she muttered. "I just hope that's the last of it."

[break][break]With the battle over, Cerberus lowered his tail and padded over toward Kepler, his limited training as a service Pokémon taking over as he sniffed at the scientist.

[attr="class","rubyw"]

The vigilante's eyes stretched open in horror when he realized what Zev was holding. Ruby clicked her tongue derisively. "Sucks for you," she said. "Should have tal—agck!"

[break][break]Ruby flinched back at the sudden pain between her eyes, her grip on the man loosening. There was a hiss, then another, wetter weight on top of her. As the spots in her vision cleared, she realized two things: First, the bastard had headbutted her. Second, Arachne had pinned him down, but their close proximity meant that Ruby was pinned beneath them. She took a breath. This was what she got for thinking too much.

[break][break]"Leech Life," Ruby all but growled out. "Finish him."

[break][break]The man struggled above her, trying to break free of both the water bubble and Arachne's spindly legs, but Ruby grabbed his arms to help hold him in place. He stiffened in her grip as Arachne's fangs sunk into him. He thrashed wildly for a few moments, but his struggles quickly grew weaker until he went completely limp. Ruby pushed him away, grateful for the water bubble making him float, and pulled herself to her feet, Arachne stepping back to give her room.

[break][break]"Fucking bastard," Ruby grumbled, rubbing where he'd hit her. Her clothes were wet now, too. Great.

[break][break]The man's body floated in Arachne's water bubble, where it would stay until she was given another order. His face was twisted in fear, and his eyes were still wide open, rolled back in their sockets. Ruby averted her eyes.

[attr="class","rubyw"]

Of course people picked the Yamper-butt pasta. And of course Walsh didn't take a single bite. Ruby checked the statistics on the screen and frowned at the Attention loss. Well, at least he didn't totally hate them for it.

[break][break]Seemed they had another mission right after, too: They were going to disguise themselves as Celadon's "finest," namely the now-deceased Gym Leader and a Gym Trainer. As Walsh did the player's makeup, he asked why they joined. Ruby scoffed at the second choice. "Justice," her ass. Some Rockets may have tried to fight for it, but it wasn't a system that would allow for true justice.

[break][break]