The applause stops and Xenon tilts her head, confused by Luka's confusion and outrage. "Well of course it's not a game. I don't know what kinds of games you might play, but I'm conducting a very serious experiment centered around how effectively I can squash you Leaguer roaches. But if you don't want to participate in the experiment, I hold no issue with just going back to killing you." Rhodium seems to agree with this sentiment as its engines purr loudly, a lick of flame escaping their closed mouths as they stare at the Dragonair.
[break][break]
Granite Cave, Granite Cave... ah yes, that incident. "Well if you're so confident, lets see if you can finish the job this time huh?" Xenon smiles as she lets Sakeru and Luka approach, watching that Aqua Tail get closer and closer to hitting Rhodium. And at the last moment before impact, the machine twists up and into the sky in an unnatural feat of aerial acrobatics, looping over and behind the duo as those flames turn silvery white. "But this time I've got a clear eye on my future. And the only thing I see is victory."
[break][break]
A bright flash of light escapes the Iron Jugulis's maw as it fires from point blank, triple Flash Cannons slamming into the serpentine dragon with a screech as steel power burns into her scales. This machine was on a whole different level from anything the scientist had displayed in their last fight, and if the look in this woman's eyes was anything to go by, so was Xenon.
[break][break]

+luka chêne

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

"I pity the poor woman who took you. She must have had some sort of fit of madness that she can no longer take back." Xenon remarks dryly as Dorian bursts out into laughter, content to leave the exchange there as she turns back to the hallways and stops. Something was changing in the air, and this time it wouldn't be nearly so easy to ignore as a little bit of sulfur and a tripwire.
[break][break]
The Interdream Mist was thickening once again, but the smell of it now was... musty. Damp in all the wrong ways, sweat and flesh, the smell of an ancient jungle encroaching upon the present day. Dorian and Xenon act in tandem as she ducks down to let the man release his Raboot, she in turn unclips a Pokeball from her belt and whips out a Slowbro across the ground to intercept an incoming Flutter Mane. The poor thing didn't stand a chance against the Paradox Pokemon as the ghost latches onto the thing and utterly drains it of its life in a matter of seconds. Yet the scientist doesn't even blink as she steps to the side and snaps her fingers, Radon's tail whipping out and slamming the Pokemon of the past into the stone wall, she leans down and presses against a pressure plate on the floor and a row of spears eject from the wall and utterly skewer the ghost in one move.
[break][break]

+dorian westcliff

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

It was just never a fair fight from its very premise, the future had been decided the moment this foolish little girl tried to be a hero. A wild fit of Acrobatics from the Talonflame manages to push back Argon a few yards as claws rake into his ghostly hide, but its more than evident who would be the winner of both of these fights as the two Pokemon ready the finishing blow.
[break][break]
"The future was decided, but things can always change." Yet the final blow never comes. A sharp whistle slices through the cacophony and both Pokemon suddenly pull back, Xenon's steady eyes locked on Mika, a light smile adorning her lips. "Come back when you're strong enough to put up a real fight kid. Maybe then I'll consider joining your little powwow over in the League." She calls as she dives down towards the ground, something more interesting than Mika catching her eye down below. Maybe she was hoping for a challenge in the future, maybe she didn't see Mika as being worth the effort to kill, maybe she just got bored, to try and discern the inner thoughts of a girl who was never the same was a fool's errand even for her closest "friends." One should simply count their blessings that they would live to see the next day at all.
[break][break]

+Mika Nakayama

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Neon lights shine bright in the eyes of the people of Lilycove, illuminating the night and blotting out the stars above as heavy bass rattles Xenon's skull. She sits at the bar of The Ultramodern (formerly known as The Black Note) with a White Kalosian in hand, staring down at the dance floor with amusement and taking a sip of her drink. She had spent a lot of time and money on beating this city down with the proverbial stick, now it was time to offer the carrot.
[break][break]
The club formerly known as The Black Note was something of a dive before Xenon had forcefully taken ownership a few months prior, consistently in the red with no signs of recovery, next to no patronage from any of the locals in town, Xenon barely even had to break the owner's knees before he was begging for the woman to take the damn place from him. She still did of course, he was sleeping with the fishes down by the harbor after he had called her newly acquired club a curse, but the point is that it was an uphill climb to get to opening night tonight.
[break][break]
And what she had to show for it was good, real fucking good. She put in the time advertising around town, had all her grunts putting up fliers and badgering people to swing by, she even spent actual real money putting up ads on social media! That's a legal course of action right there, completely legitimate way to attract business! Promotion through algorithms! The atmosphere was moody, the music was bouncing, the people were dancing, a few weeks of this legitimate business and she could move on to recruiting the disenfranchised youth of the city. Organic propaganda!
[break][break]
Xenon sets her drink down on the steel railing and smiles as she leans over to the club, time to get this night really fucking going. "Thanks for coming out to the club folks, let's get a complimentary round for everyone here on the house!" The crowd erupts into ecstatic cheer as glasses clink against one another and the music kicks up, everything was going perfect. So why then... was she getting that tingle on the back of her neck? That tingle that let her know when the future... was taking a turn...?
[break][break]

+Bullet Valentine

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

"This seems like a pretty effective form of suicide." A beat passes as she considers the possibility of a human ghost haunting her for her love. "If you're a ghost, please don't stalk me in the afterlife or some lame shit like that."
[break][break]
As for slashing Xenon's pay, unfortunately for Howard she was one of those kinds of people who loved their job more than they loved getting paid, though in this case her job was annoying the shit out of her boss and killing people in the name of scientific research. "I got promoted too! I think kicking your ass last time had something to do with it, the big bosses have been pretty impressed by the shit I've gotten up to these past few months~" The pride in her voice, that satisfaction she felt, it would almost be adorable if it weren't for the fact that this pride was in how good she was at killing people.
[break][break]
As for her Pokemon, they were doing a pretty solid job of handling Kazimir's squad on their own as they worked in tandem. Rhodium takes the brunt of the Celesteela's Heavy Slam with the bulk of its iron body, wavering just slightly off course before righting itself and blasting the Ultra Beast with more blasts of its Flamethrowers, steam hissing and clouding around it as the storm intensifies further. Bismuth takes his hit just a little worse as the steel tip of the Naganadel's stinger pierces his rocky shell, a dull cry of pain escaping the cracks of its curled up body followed by a loud POP as the Glimmora unfurls and sprays harsh Toxic acid all over the Ultra Beast in a fit of rage. And in the dirtiest trick of all, even the Poison aspected alien wouldn't find itself safe as Bismuth's Corrosive toxins seeped into its skin, the beginning of the end as he folds his body back up and tries to defend himself from any further attacks from the now poisoned Ultra Beast.
[break][break]
"Well as much as I'd like to handwrap this useless sack of shit and hand him off to you myself, I am unfortunately in charge of defending this guy as he is technically my boss. For now." Xenon steps between Howard and Kazimir to block his line of sight as she says this, staring the League man coolly in the eye... before tilting her head and looking over his shoulder behind him. "Buuuuuut, I think you've got bigger problems to worry about today."
[break][break]
If Kazimir was smart enough to turn around, or even just look over his shoulder, he would see exactly what everyone had been fearing breaking the surface of the ocean and letting out a cataclysmic cry of fury, a great and mighty mass of blue illuminated by a flash of lightning as it locks its gaze upon the teeny tiny vessel that dared to enter its waters. A hateful yellow eye narrows and the storm intensifies a magnitude further, the boat rocks and shakes as the ocean itself tries to drag it under, the grunts discard their guns and scream as they run to their stations and do their damndest to keep from sinking to the bottom of Davy Jones's locker.
[break][break]
"Looks like we found your stupid whale boss! You sure you don't want me to just kill it?"
[break][break]

+howard slayte Kazimir Wynter

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

The promise of next time seems to satisfy the girl as she quiets down, a promise of the future was just the right thing to say to the Ultramodernist all things considered. Though the fact that she considered a "maybe" to be a confirmed promise was an issue of its own, one could already see the gears spinning in her head as she plans out an outfit for the pretty pretty boy, how she had the confidence to say these things to an Admin of Rocket was assuredly a topic for another time.
[break][break]
"I'm always ready, right up until the point where I say I'm not ready!" Xenon exclaims with aplomb as she throws out a Pokeball and releases her Terbium into the air, taking a step off the edge of the cliff and letting her dragon catch her as the two sailed down to the ground where this League encampment lay. She makes no effort to hide herself as she flies up to the very front entrance, security was tight enough right now that trying to find a gap in their defenses would be an exercise in futility, all eyes were on high alert on every bit of the walls surrounding this makeshift base.
[break][break]
Ironically enough, this also meant that the front entrance was the one that everyone was the least worried about. The woman formerly known as Xenon slaps her cheeks as she gets into character, landing down on the ground and letting tears brim up in her eyes as three different Rangers rushed up to the unknown trainers. "Y-you gotta help us, please! There's a whole squad of those Rocket goons on our tails, I barely managed to lose them but I need a medic for my partners!" She screams as the Rangers close the distance and scan her over.
[break][break]
"Alright slow down girlie, how many Rocket goons are after you?" One of the three asks as they lay a hand on her shoulder, the youngest of them obviously and the most gullible. Praying on his idiocy would be the key to the front door, she needed to make sure he had the reins of the conversation rather than his senior partners. It was lucky he spoke up first.
[break][break]
"I um, I wasn't really able to count, it all happened so fast! I think there was l-like um, six? It might have been five, I'm not really sure, I'm so sorry!" Five or six was a believable number, it lined up with Rocket grunt pack tactics if they were going after a duo like Xenon and Jayden. The young man nods his head as he runs those numbers through his head just like he'd been taught. An older woman starts to open her mouth to question her, she turns up the waterworks a little more and forces a few tears down her cheeks, like clockwork the rookie claps his other hand on her remaining shoulder.
[break][break]
"Hey hey, calm down, it's gonna be okay! Come on lets get you in to see a medic-" He's just about to start leading her in when the final one finally cuts in, looking straight at Jayden the whole time without even glancing at her.
[break][break]
"Hold up buddy. What's with the mask?" He asks accusingly as his hand drifts to his belt, narrowing his eyes at Jaden as he starts to walk forwards.
[break][break]

+jayden cross

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

The robot and the woman with a heart of iron rise from the ocean when all is said and done, the water around them hisses as steam rises from their bodies. The battle was hard fought, but so long as Xenon stayed the course she could always achieve her ideal future. The woman doesn't even bother following Shalin and Rielle's flight path as she turns back to her ship and calls for the order to return to shore, it's not that she's already forgotten about them. They gave her enough of a workout both this time and the last that she would remember them for quite some time to come certainly.
[break][break]
But whether they lived or died was simply no longer of any concern to her. If she was dead then she was dead, her body would sink to the bottom of the ocean for the Carvahna to feast upon and life would move on. But if she was alive... well, Xenon quite looked forward to a future where she could fight that girl again. That kind of future was quite exciting indeed~
[break][break]

+Shalin Nariya

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Even though she had done this before, the ebb and flow of this man still overwhelms as Xenon rides Rhodium through the maze trying to get away. "No fair fights huh? That's a good approach, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. People who whine about fair fights and morals are losers who need a handicap to claw their way out of the trash heap, the only good fight is a fight you survive." Is this a bad time for a lesson? Of course not, it's the perfect time for a lesson. This guy hunting them down was the embodiment of what she was espousing after all, a bastard who struck from the shadows with poisons and sneak attacks to win a fight he otherwise couldn't win.
[break][break]
The good news is that they manage to outlast whatever timer the guy was running on as he finally gives up the chase, she tunes out his meaningless words as she swoops back down next to Marguerite, seemingly unphased by this entire battle as she waits to move on to the next zone. But only a keen eye can spot the light sheen of sweat on what little of her skin was exposed, the uneven rhythm of her breathing as she tries to hold down pants of exhaustion. Protecting newbies was such a fucking drag, made her actually work just to keep that guy's attention off of the girl.
[break][break]
But there's value in protecting a future asset. Well, there was as long as she was able to make it through what was going to come next. "All good questions, ones that I have my own answers to. But you should form your own opinions before you come to me for mine, I don't like proselytizing to empty headed sheep. At least if you have your own ideas I can find a bit of joy in crushing them with my own, that's the scientific process baby~"
[break][break]

+Marguerite

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

It was an incredible display of resourcefulness on Shalin's part, if she had continued to fire upon him from so far below he most certainly would have been able to continue dodging and weaving through anything she could throw at him and rain down hell from the skies. Eliminating the advantage of elevation and distance was the only way to land a surefire hit against the ghost, and as the girl and her Vaporeon ride up into the sky upon their platform of frost, it almost seems as though victory is assured as that Ice Beam hits the Gengar square in the chest and sends it down to the ocean as a falling block of hail.
[break][break]
But reality is so cruel isn't it?
[break][break]
That same ice which carried them to the heavens would be their ultimate downfall, only the faintest shimmer of light visible from beneath the thick coating of rime as Rhodium charged his ultimate attack. Electric Terrain was deployed and immediately destroyed as all that energy was sucked into its primary cannon, white light builds in the war machine's throat as it opens wide and points straight to the sky where Shalin stands. Her only warning is the slight crack of ice and the pop of a Pokemon being recalled as the frozen Gengar disappears beneath the water's surface.
[break][break]
The light of the future breaks through the surface of the ocean and hits Shalin and her Vaporeon directly, an impossibly powerful Hyper Beam that could defeat any foe in one strike.
[break][break]

+Shalin Nariya

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Xenon turns to Marguerite with a confident smile, grabbing her by the wrist and yanking her close. "You said it yourself didn't you? We're always exactly where we're supposed to be. How could you be making the wrong choice?" And the way she says it, the way she reaffirms those words that were supposed to be nothing more than a transient lie, how could they not be true when they're said with such conviction? Did she know all these paths already? Of course not, this simulated universe was as vast and deep as the sea of stars. But she knew the path she walking as well as she knew the back of her own hand, and that's all that mattered right now.
[break][break]
Once more they find themselves in an unfamiliar world, though perhaps just slightly more familiar than the last as they watch Fuschia City burn. Maybe if Margeurite knew anything of Hoennian history she would recognize the siege of Fuschia, Xenon couldn't possibly care less about some ancient history like that. But what she did remember is that she had done this before, and last time she had lost to that man. She presses her hand forward, and just as she expected there was an invisible wall barring her way. The Executive smiles as she lays her other hand on Rhodium's central neck, she could win this time.
[break][break]
But then her eyes drift towards Marguerite once more and the smile dims. She could if she was by herself, or if she had Shred here again with her. The newbie would drag her down, trying to win this game was an exercise in futility. "This guy has a Gliscor, a Nidoking, and a Hypno. I don't know what you have on you right now, but it's not enough for me to carry you through this. We're running now." And nothing more needs to be said as the machine turns and blasts a hole through the invisible walls of the destroyed Fuschia gym, glittering shards of glass reflecting off of the steel light of its Flash Cannon as Xenon charges back and away from where the real Walsh is.
[break][break]

+Marguerite

[attr="class","pokeclass"]