"and they desire to pick a side." [break][break]

the boss flips through several pages: a portentous catalogue of loyalties.[break][break]

"team rocket or the league." he stays his hand. "i do not pretend to assume these pokemon apprehend mortal matters, but what we do inevitably affects the wider fate of this world on which they lay."[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] THEO BECKETT[break]
[attr="class","pokesprite pokemon darkrai"]

"it is strong."[break][break]

a garbless statement. a declarative scrubbed clean of emotion. but it must be scrubbed.[break][break]

"you must already know, theo." he says. "why avatars are chosen?"

[attr="class","ooc"] THEO BECKETT[break]
[attr="class","pokesprite pokemon darkrai"]

"a series of reports will not lead to a weapon. only a concept." [break][break]

the boss' expression does not shift. he speaks with the same tempo, the same lack of lilt.[break][break]

"still i find it peculiar that you would preface our meeting with mention of that blueprint. particularly when one of its possible targets sits before you."

[attr="class","ooc"] Tempest Quinn[break]
[attr="class","pokesprite pokemon darkrai"]

"it is quite simple really."[break][break]

walsh opens the manila of profiles. his finger runs across the stack, sensing its volume.[break][break]

"you bring attention to the shackles they already wear," he says, "and question the integrity of that bond. the bond between themselves and their patrons."[break][break]

he cuts his explanation short to allow the idea to diffuse.

[attr="class","ooc"] THEO BECKETT[break]
[attr="class","pokesprite pokemon darkrai"]

"it would serve you well to remember who you are conversing with." the boss says. [break][break]

though there is no darkrai, the room grows grim. to walsh, temp's grin is a mere bulb. too much has shadowed his vision.[break][break]

"be mindful of your requests."[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Tempest Quinn[break]
[attr="class","pokesprite pokemon darkrai"]

the boss opts to enter through the door. there is a quiet to his footfalls. muted steps track his small journey to his seat.[break][break]

there may be little to divulge. however, there is much advantage to having someone pick your brain: you get to hear the questions once hidden, expose themselves in front of you.[break][break]

he lets tempest make the first move.

[attr="class","ooc"] Tempest Quinn[break]
[attr="class","pokesprite pokemon darkrai"]

the boss' gloved hand rests atop the file. his face remains a stoic canvas, a kantonian slate doused clean by sootopolis brine.[break][break]

"you speak as if they are wholly separate." he says. "rattata to be studied beneath laboratory panes."[break][break]

the voice is devoid of color: a steady stroke of ink lacking divot or grain.

[attr="class","ooc"] THEO BECKETT[break]
[attr="class","pokesprite pokemon darkrai"]

miraidon. the iron serpent. a simulated legend. no matter its title, pursuing an everchanging name would amount to nothing but wasted time. its whereabouts remain unknown—and there is no promise that it dwells here, in this area zero.[break][break]

"then we shall make chase." the boss says. "track the rifts to the distortion world. where they appear, when they appear, so that we may predict the next series of openings. we can cast and reel back recorders to scout..."[break][break]

walsh's shadows inspissate beneath his seat, stirring slow like dusky seas.[break][break]

"... before making preparations for an eventual expedition into the distortion world."[break][break]

his eyes land on howard.[break][break]

"since you are in possession of regice, then it makes sense to task you with the regirock's retrieval." the boss says. "subdue it. then it will be yours."[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Amor Rose Lulu Flint THEO BECKETT[break]
[attr="class","pokesprite pokemon darkrai"]

like a spout of octillery ink, the rocket emerges from the webbing of shadow in the tent's corner. the deepest black drips off his hair and neck before gliding into the shape of his cape.[break][break]

he offers acknowledgement to those present. stiff and solemn nods.[break][break]

"do not mind me." walsh says. "pretend i am not even here."[break][break]

like a pale gargoyle, he stands in silence.[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Xenon Antheil Lulu Flint THEO BECKETT[break]
[attr="class","pokesprite pokemon darkrai"]

"that is all."[break][break]

the door creaks open. shadows disperse from its hinges like scrambling ariados legs.[break][break]

"even if he does not perish," the boss says, "we win. the league will have to contend with another embarrassment. an encore of weakness."[break][break]

he stands eerily still, awaiting her departure.[break][break]

"you best not be on that stage when that transpires."
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Elisabeth Fiorelli[break]
[attr="class","pokesprite pokemon darkrai"]

"you and admin bee can take your time. be patient for the best window of time to administer the shard." [break][break]

the rocket boss withdraws his gloved hand. even the fabrication leaves the red static of malice on his fingertips.[break][break]

"in your hand, you hold the lethal dosage." the boss says. "as lethal as it can be in that form. it may be better to describe it as a wrench thrown into the cogs of his blessing." [break][break]

his darkrai emerges from the shadows behind him.[break][break]

"expect another skyler dross." the boss says. "he will lose control of the continent pokemon... and by the consequence of the shards embedded within his skin, he too, will become berserk."[break][break]

he remains stoic. no smile. no frown. every word is declared rather than said.[break][break]

"if groudon doesn't kill him, the league will."
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Elisabeth Fiorelli[break]
[attr="class","pokesprite pokemon darkrai"]

"fernando may be unpredictable, but i believe him to be in possession of an astute mind." the boss says. "thankfully, i was referring to the 'simpler' silph."[break][break]

he pinches an invisible relic in the air. shadows travel from the floor and across his outstretched limb. they coalesce between his fingertips, swirling and swirling until the murk hardens into a 'red shard'.[break][break]

"deliver this to him." the boss says. "it is not real. just a nightmare manifested, but he does not know that."[break][break]

shadows continue curl around the blood shard's facets in tender, toxic massage.[break][break]

"over time or deliberate use, we can hope that this will sever matias' bond with groudon. even better if it kills him."

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Elisabeth Fiorelli[break]
[attr="class","pokesprite pokemon darkrai"]

"why, right back to silph of course."[break][break]

the boss grants pause. he wonders who comes to mind within elisabeth's bramble of thoughts. which spine protrudes the sharpest. which thorn hangs the most awry.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Elisabeth Fiorelli[break]
[attr="class","pokesprite pokemon darkrai"]