The battle reaches its climax. All around her, familiar faces mix with the unfamiliar and the unknown. Bodies fall to brutality, but nothing like what happens next.

It all seems to happen in slow motion.

Stormy is overtaken in the confusion of sea meeting sand. Sea Stormy's watery body slams into the real one, and hard. They fall to the ground in a struggle not unlike the one that illeana reyes finds herself in. If there had been any moment where Stormy prepared to defend her best friend, it was cruelly ripped from her hands now.

She gasps, the wind knocked out of her lungs as her shoulders drive back hard into the ground. She wrestles for control, but the other Stormy is ultimately the superior fighter. She is fiercer, more determined, driven by rage or by fear, or some competitive spirit that lets her see only red. Whatever it was, the real Stormy is virtually paralyzed by the sheer strength of her copy. She manages to block blows, but coupled with the fact this woman wasn't completely solid, and was using water blades or something to rip at her, well..

They both scream, but one of them is far more blood-curtling.

One last swing comes down and slices clean against her cheek. It leaves her with a clean slice through her brow that trails all the way down her chin. Although the cut is for the most part shallow, it bleeds profusely all down her cheek and into the sand below. It blinds her temporarily and stings something fierce. But in one fell swoop, the moment the blade meets her skin it is lifted as is the weight on her chest. The real scream had come from Sea Stormy and is cut short with a pop and snap. Blood sprays, covering the woman on the ground.

And Sea Stormy is devoured by Tyrantrum, gone in an instant between razor-sharp prehistoric teeth. Water and blood dribble from the Pokemon's mouth and she stumbles to the side, leaving Stormy free to roll onto her side and catch her breath. She is numb, horrified by what she's just seen and by what covers her head to toe. She looks like she's rolled in a mud-pit of blood. The woman stumbles forward, moving automatically, mechanically. She has nothing to say because her chest still hurts and her face is smeared with her blood and her copies.

She manages to return Tyrantrum in favor of her Charizard once more. The orange streak lifts Stormy up off of the ground, wings cutting through the air with urgency tenfold. The portal was within sight, all they had to do was reach it.

At the last second, Stormy glances over her shoulder to the Moltres left behind. Was there any connection?

notes:
- stormy is overpowered by sea stormy
- tyrantrum saves her by eating sea stormy
- stormy, covered in her blood and sea stormys blood, switches tyrantrum for charizard
- they attempt to make their escape
- stormy looks back at the fleeing moltres, wondering if there could be any possible connection

FERNANDO SILPH kim cole-essam illeana reyes

☉

Briefly, she escapes his gaze to chastise the Charmander under the table. She fishes him out discreetly to set him upon her lap. But, in the span of seconds, both she and her Pokemon have dramatically shifted in emotional energy. There is something particularly tense, worse than it had been a moment ago.

Stormy frowns, pulls her shoulders back, and stares across the table at him with a look that is far from kind.

"Excuse me?" she's genuinely agitated, blown away, appalled. His brutal honesty, if it could be called that, felt more like an attack. An intentional inflection meant to insult and offend. If that was the case, it was working. If it wasn't, well.. she was certainly taking it as such anyway.

"'Despises' us? What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

Anger bubbles, easily left unchecked. More eyes fall on her as a result of her loud outburst. She rises to her feet abruptly, holding her Charmander to her chest. The baby feeds off of her negative emotion and her outrage, hissing and burping out a little tiny flame. She glances down at the Pokemon before returning her molten blue gaze to Felix.

"What have you done? 'Work is work'. Fuck you."

Felix Gallagher

☉

When the dust settles, there is more to this fight than just the two of them. The world comes crashing down around them in the form of a NATURE'S MADNESS. It thrashes the Tyrantrum, dragging the shadow Pokemon out of the throes of Sea!Stormy's Moltres. It gives the bird a chance to catch its breath and take to the skies again. Given that it's met more than its match, the legendary bird changes objective. Rather than worry about the Tyrantrum, the Moltres turns its attention to Laurence Anderson' Articuno.

With a clap of its ass cheeks wings, the Moltres unleashes a HEAT WAVE upon its ice-type counterpart, hopefully combatting the Pokemon's Z-MOVE. The Moltres screams, challenging the Articuno to take them both. Sea!Stormy laughs, obviously under the impression that she had the upper hand. The real Stormy sets her jaw and whistles for her Pokemon to get back on her feet. The dinosaur bellows, the sandstorm rages on, and she turns back to the Moltres. She has one goal, to succeed, to conquer.

"Keep it up, girl. Show them what true defeat looks like. Show them how far we've come!"

Sea!Moltres already seems worse for wear, having survived Tyrantrum's assault coupled with Sea!Tapu Fini's NATURE'S MADNESS. The rain and the sand wears it down further, so it avoids fighting the prehistoric monstrosity. It pivots in the air, desperately trying to out-fly the ANCIENT POWER flung at it. Tyrantrum is not the least bit concerned with friendly fire either, and the rocks that miss Moltres are likely to interfere with anyone else's battles, potentially kim cole-essam's and illeana reyes's.

notes:
- ability DARK SANDS in use! sandstorm rages for 3 more posts
- ability DARK METAMORPHISM[ in use! sh!tyrantrums normal-type moves are rock-type
- tyrantrum and sea!moltres are hit by sea!tapu fini's NATURES MADNESS
- moltres abandons battling tyrantrum and turns on Laurence Anderson's articuno. uses HEAT WAVE
- tyrantrum continues pursuing moltres, using ANCIENT POWER. the attacks are being evaded, and the rocks might interfere with kim cole-essam and illeana reyes's battles.

FERNANDO SILPH kim cole-essam illeana reyes

☉

There is something undeniably interesting about how quickly ones face changes when they hear her introduce herself. With him, she can feel it in his firm handshake. She doesn't know this man from moses, but she can sense that she's instilled some level of unease.

Tot hat, she offers a warm smile as a means to lessen the tension. Beneath the table, the woman's Charmander mistakes her dress skirt for the tablecloth. He pulls, and pulls hard, and Stormy's knee drives up into the table in surprise. The glasses rattle and shake and she blushes, glancing beneath the table briefly to chastise her Pokemon.

"Oh, is that right? Well I hope I don't disappoint." Stormy chuckles awkwardly, offering a small smile in response to his question. "A bit of everything, I suppose. This is sort of like a charity event, I was told, and I enjoy helping the community. It's nice too to meet new faces and get to know the community."

Her attention never wavers from him, even in spite of his glance around the room. Those whose eyes fall on her to steal glimpses aren't really important-- he is.

Felix Gallagher

☉

She is talking about Alex-- mostly. But men had come into her life after him as well and hadn't stayed. It was enough to make her believe something was wrong with her- that she was the problem and the reason people couldn't love her.

She loved so fiercely it scared people away.

"I wish I could. I wish that I didn't look for him in every person I meet. I wish I didn't see him standing with his hand holding my best friends. But I do, and it hurts, and I miss him so much."

Her voice shakes as memories of his funeral rise to the surface. Her lip quivers and she relives the immeasurable grief she had felt, crying, sobbing, screaming into Sénon Game's shoulder when it had truly hit her she'd never see Alex again.

"I'm sorry, Cian. You-- you don't deserve this. Maybe I should go."

Tears well in her eyes and she uses the back of her thumb to hastily whisk them away. The napkin she's folded into her lap slips and she catches it while trying to stand up.

But would he let her?

CIAN MAHER

☉

Truth be told, this was a significant step out of her comfort zone.

But public figures and the press insisted it would be 'motivational' and 'inspiring' to see one of Hoenn's finest participating in a charity event and 'putting herself out there.' She had to keep her head above water and keep telling herself and telling the region that nothing had changed. That in spite of life's lemons, she was still making lemonade.

Fortunately, Stormy appears to genuinely be in good spirits this evening for the first round of speed dates. She's dressed nice, her hair is done, and her manicured fingernails draw against a menu of drinks and desserts. Her knee idly jumps beneath the table, disturbing the thin white tablecloth. She doesn't look up until a voice speaks up to introduce themself.

Stormy pulls her gaze away from the menu to greet Felix with a warm smile.

"Hi, Felix," she offers her hand to him for a handshake. "I'm Stormy."

Felix Gallagher

☉

Together, they manage to avoid being struck down by Kyogre's rage. They twist and pivot in the air while aiming to land. In Stormy's peripheral, she sees Fernando fall from the sky. Fortunately, the man lands without much issue other than a lung full of sand to compensate.

Stormy lands not too far away, gathering nearby both illeana reyes and kim cole-essam. But while the three of them engage with their watery counterparts, Stormy's attention is tugged away with a snide, overzealous comment from her own.

"I can weather both lava and sea— and I'll send you to your grave in either one. Make your choice, copycat."

Her Charizard bristles, a low growl rumbling in her throat as she looks to the sky. Above them, the burning wings of a Moltres fly overhead, the fiery counterpart to the Zapdos Sea!Kim has summoned. For just a moment, Stormy feels a rush of familiarity and surprise, but the bird above her is not hers. It doesn't have the same soulful eyes that had looked to her when it had saved her life at the Soiree.

"You're really dramatic. What's your choice, huh? Is this really what you want?"

There is an expression of molten rage behind the copycats eyes. Something familiar, something scary, something that the real Stormy just can't shake.

"Fine. Looks like you've chosen to do nothing-- typical."

Stormy braces herself by diving to the side, behind Charizard. Whatever remnants of the dragons PROTECT now shatter with the powerful AIR SLASHES that tear up the ground. Torrents of sand shoot up from the ground with every impact; the noise is deafening, pierced only by Moltres' scream.

Even in spite of the danger she's in, Stormy can't help but scan the bird for signs. She looks for the flash of pink, for the rage, for the determination. It couldn't be her Moltres because this wasn't her world. It couldn't be.

She couldn't pull her punches.

"Tell me, Stormy--" God, that was weird. Is that what people felt when they said her name, too? "How hard have you fought? How close to the end have you come? They say that when we hit our lowest point, we are open to the greatest change. Are you ready?"

She draws in a breath, returning Charizard and standing alone for a moment. Fear traces her steps, leaves her legs tense as she steps to the side to circle her counterpart. Naturally, the other Stormy rises to the challenge, and above, Moltres circles, too.

"What are you talking about? Just shut up and fight, copycat!"

Stormy sniffs. Even here, it seems the similarities between them were stifling. She turns to face the Moltres and it screams again. It borrows from the Zapdos' RAIN DANCE to summon a HURRICANE. Stormy faces that storm head on and without fear. She's hit her lowest point already, this was nothing-- but it was reminiscent. Fitting, given the step she was about to take.

It had been raining then, too, if she remembers right. Everything bad happens on a rainy day. When the world had gone dark and a monster had spawned, hell-bent on devouring everything in its path. It had taken her Castform and countless other innocent lives. It had nearly taken Moltres' too.

So it was time to introduce this Moltres to a piece of Necrozma.

The bellowing, ear-piercing roar that leans over her shoulder is on par with a God's. Driven by rage and by pain with the crystaline growths extending from her face, the Tyrantrum locks eyes with the legendary bird. Without hesitating, the dinosaur charges into the storm to fight. She is fearless because she has already escaped certain death. She has climbed from the brink of it and come out a monster.

Another bellow of her prehistoric vocal chords conjures a SANDSTORM from below her feet. The DARK SANDS whip up violently, shrouding her in darkness. No amount of Moltres' AIR SLASHES or plumes of flame can stop this train. Tyrantrum steamrolls, pulling rocks both from her own body and from the sand beneath her to pelt the Moltres out of the sky with ANXIENT POWER.

Stormy watches with bated breath as the deity fights back, using its AGILITY to evade. Again and again it swoops out of harms way, but Tyrantrum is tireless and unstoppable. She is the black hole that Necrozma had been. She is the remnant from the ashes, the monster come back to life.

One of the rocks clips Moltres and the bird slips. It's all Tyrantrum needs to spring. With a powerful push off of her hind legs, the shadow Pokemon HEAD SMASHES to connect with Moltres.

"No! How is this possible?! What is that Pokemon?"

Stormy says nothing, her expression grim as the two Pokemon crash to the ground amidst the sandstorm and the rain.

scxzOp|t

notes:
- lands safely, watches fernando, kim, illie land
- sea!stormy challenges her, stormy is surprised to see moltres
- takes the challenge, protects herself from the first blast (barely) by hiding behind charizard
- swaps charizard for sh!tyrantrum to fight moltres
- ability DARK SANDS in use! sandstorm rages for 4 more posts
- ability DARK METAMORPHISM[ in use! sh!tyrantrums normal-type moves are rock-type

FERNANDO SILPH kim cole-essam illeana reyes

☉

"Weaker than yesterday. Hm."

Her attention is drawn to the fireworks that reach across the inky sky. They explode in a series of colours and sparkling lights. She draws in a slow, slightly hitched breathe as if steadying herself. Or perhaps it is a sign of acceptance.

"What if, by pushing so hard, you break?"

The fireworks continue to crackle against the sky, drowning out her words with their intensity.

FERNANDO SILPH

☉

She rolls her eyes, agitation leaving her shoulders tense.

"I do. I've fought my whole life."

Maybe it didn't look the same as his fight. Maybe he really was disappointed in her. But that didn't make it any less real. She stares him down when he finally turns to look at her. Even beneath his cold gaze, she doesn't back down.

"So do I."

FERNANDO SILPH

☉

"I don't like being weak. If I've learned anything from you, it's intolerable. Period."

She swallows, bites down hard on the inside of her cheek.

"I'm trying. This isn't me, I've always been strong. High highs and low lows, but I always get back up again."

Her pale blue eyes flash, reminscent only of a fraction of its prior heat. Even if he doesn't meet her gaze, hers holds on him, as if challenging him to doubt her. But would he? Does he? Her expression falters when it occurs to her that he might not.

'It's okay to feel weaker.'

"Why do you say things that you don't mean?"

FERNANDO SILPH

☉

Stormy glances at him, unsure how best to respond. What did he want her to say? What was he looking for?

"I'm here with you, enjoying the evening."

Rather than holed up in her room, bedridden with self-doubt and depressed, heavy thoughts. She was showered, awake, alert and at least somewhat looking forward to the day ahead. Seeing her out here in public was a huge step in comparison to the lack of steps she'd taken before.

"But I can't lie and say that I'm great. I used to feel strong and capable and-- I know, Fern, I know that that sounds stupid. I know that I'm not nothing without Moltres. But I'm not the same and it scares me. I-- I don't know."

She sighs.

FERNANDO SILPH

☉

"Are you sure you don't want any?"

She asks again, conveniently attempting to dodge a difficult question. But the look in his eye as it scopes the city rather than herself suggests he isn't the least bit interested. Unsurprising, but it leaves an awkward note in her voice that she needs to fill in with some sort of an answer.

"I'm good."

Slowly, she twists the cone in her hand, staring into the swirl of blue and pink like she's searching it for answers. Her response is hesitant, likely unconvincing.

FERNANDO SILPH

☉