"Damn."

To be honest, you can't say you're particularly moved by his plight. For all the supposed distance between his people and his homeland, they don't seem to be making much effort to move towards it. No, from what little you've seen of Velmos, he seems all too content to wallow in self-pity and bemoan his circumstances. Better to believe his mission impossible than to actually try and find it so, you suppose.

But you've got little patience and much that needs doing. If all this old soldier has to offer is complaints about today and reminscience about tomorrow, then you've got little else to say to him.

"Well, this certainly has been an..." A waste of time? A pointless diversion? A wild Zangoose chase? "...Enlightening experience. Thank you for your time, General."

With that, you stand up, offer the laziest head-bow you can muster, and make to leave.

---

shiv

• player/ooc name: Raptor
• character tags: Shred Mitsuru Kagami
• dropped characters' tags (if applicable): Don't worry about that
• ic posts for characters: Shred | Mitsuru
• are characters in directories?: Y
• any notes/comments: Just saw Ghostfinch's file on Shiv

"...What?"

Grigori's daughter? No. Surely not. How? And why? And, and, and...

Too many questions flood your mind. You can't even begin to answer one before two more hit you. You try to look for an explanation, but you just can't find it. You try and reconcile the Grigori you know with this Grigori you've been presented with. Grigori, the loyal and kind yet unassuming Rocket Grunt. Grigori, the distant and uncaring and emotionless father.

Your hand slips off Howard's neck and moves to grab your head. Thinking about it makes your brain ache. Like trying to solve a puzzle when the pieces are constantly changing. It just doesn't make any sense. How could it possibly make sense? Your eyes flick back to Howard, your previous anger dulled by newfound confusion.

"Explain."

---

howard slayte

You're not burned.

That's the first realisation you make as you awaken within the idea of Ultra Megalopolis. Something you can feel before you even open your eyes. The smoothness of your skin, the sensation underneath, the painlessness of it all. You've even got your missing arm back! It feels like you've just woken up from an overlong nightmare. Finally, finally, you're whole again.

But eventually, you do have to open your eyes. When you look upon the neon skies and the alien architecture that scrapes them, you can feel something isn't right. And when you inevitably find a mirror in this city of glass and polish, you see that your reflection is not quite your own.

"Fuck me..."

It's just a dream. Another goddamned fucking dream. And when you wake? You'll be broken again. Disappointment hits you hard. It'd crush you, if you weren't crushed already. Instead, it just feels like it's poking against your bruises.

But after a time, that feeling passes, and it's replaced by a more immediate realisation.

"...Shit! Lulu? Where are you? LULU?!"

She's not here. You're not sure how long she hasn't been here, but even a second is too long. So, you kick into gear and begin to search the sprawling expanse. It doesn't take long for you to meet a few familiar faces, and not longer after that to start picking up the finer details. You exchange words with your allies, get caught up on the situation within each of the wards, and even hear that a certain fucking backstabbing piece of shit is here in prison with you.

You keep an eye out for one General Velmos as you search the city. If you find him, and he better pray you don't, then you'll have some strong words for him. Something along the lines of "Oi, FUCKER, what happened to that whole "I'd kill myself" speech you gave, huh? Why the fuck are you screwing us over here? Why're you getting special treatment? And the fuck are you doing with all that mask bullshit, anyway?".

Whether you find him or not, and whether he answers or not, you don't stick around. Instead, you continue to look for Lulu within the gigantic city, like looking for a needle in a haystack. And yet, despite how absurd that sounds, it isn't much longer before you find it.

"Lulu! There you are! I know I look a little different, but--"

You stop. She's crying.

Your eyes flicker to her Houndoom, suspended in some strange display. Then, they drift back to her. To her watering eyes and her tearstained cheeks. For a second, you stand there, unsure of what to do. Then, you discard your thought, and allow your instinct to lead you. Taking a deep breath, you step forward and hug her. With both of your arms, while you still have them.

"Shhhhhhh... It's okay... It'll be okay... We'll get them back."

Her Houndoom. Your Meltan.

"And when we do? We'll all leave here. Together. Just like I promised..."

---

Lulu Flint
TL;DR - Shred wakes up with his DDD body from HIT HOENN THREAD IMMORTAL ONEIROS, and scours the dream city looking for Lulu. In doing so, he gets caught up on the critical information in a variety of intriguing Dream threads. Using this information gained, he looks for Velmos and proceeds to ask him the tough questions about HIT HOENN THREAD CHAIN OF COMMAND. Then he find Lulu and hugs her :ureshii:.

"Well, uh... No." You admit, rubbing the back of your neck. "I haven't seen her since everything that happened in the Silent Icelands. Haven't worked up the nerve for it. Yet."

But with this mug by your side? That'll all change. You can see it now - You walk into the laboratories, stride straight up to Lulu Flint, and slam this bad boy down in front of her. Bam. INSTANT romance. Even parker jones, in all her scientist-wooing wisdom, would be jealous of such a raw display of "rizz". People will talk about your unprecedented act of courtship for aeons to come. Howard'll probably end up having to write a whole book about it and its consequences, and it'll probably end up being his thirteenth reason. But, hey, if that's the cost of progress? Then so be it.

"Bitchin'."

You stash the mug away and look around the rest of the container. Between the two of you, you've managed to unload about... Ten percent of it? Fuck that. You've stumbled upon enough cursed objects for one day. You're calling it quits.

"Alright, I'm off." You declare, making for the exit. "I'll send for some grunts to help you finish things up here. If anything comes up? You know where to find me."

Asleep, on the couch in his office, and probably using the one-of-a-kind pelt of some long-extinct Pokemon as a blanket.

---

howard slayte
No Catches.

The two Pokemon clash with intense speed, and both are sent skidding from the force of the impact. Had it truly been Raikou and Suicine battling it out, then the lightning might have beaten out the rain.

But they aren't, are they? No, draconic ancestry runs deep in the blood of these Paradoxes, raw and savage and primal and fierce. Even the forces of nature are but trifles to them. Instead of falling, both Walking Wake and Raging Bolt alike stand tall. Yet, his has lost its fighting spirit, while yours is eager to finish its hunt.

Perhaps the gym leader knows that, too, as he reaches for another Pokeball and sends out a Walking Wake of his own. The two stare each other down, yellow eyes regarding each other with suspicious and disdain. Two predators, competing against one another to be apex.

Yours is the first to move.

Waters fills its mouth from the edges of its teeth to the back of its throat. It overflows, pouring through its fangs and trickling down its chin. Then, the water is superheated, boiled and boiled until it is so searingly hot it cannot remain as it is. Then, with a breath of contempt, your Walking Wake releases a Hydro Steam, aiming to scald enemy, trainer, and mount all at once.

---

Josh Devlin

Relax. Relax? You're getting bombarded by Genesect from all angles, and he wants you to relax?! You'd have snapped at the Underboss for that stupid comment, if you weren't busy fighting for your life.

Your Cyclizar soars down the highway, ducking and weaving between futuristic traffic, narrowly avoiding the attacks as they come. At this point, you're not even convinced you're actually steering this thing. It just seems to be moving on its own, following some invisible path through the chaos, as though being led by some hyper-advanced routing system you can't even begin to understand.

As you pass by a truck with a familiar name emblazoned on the side, yet more hostile Pokemon crash and tumble out onto the road, and things only get more and more hectic. This is a HUGE pain in the ass, and it's only getting bigger with every passing second. You need to get out of here.

"Shedinja!" You grit your teeth as you grab a Pokeball, tossing it up to release the eponymous bug. "Get us the fuck out of here!"

"ꂦ ꀎ ꓄ ꂦ ꎇ ꌗ ꀤ ꁅ ꃅ ꓄ ꂦ ꀎ ꓄ ꂦ ꎇ ꂵ ꀤ ꈤ ꀸ"

The husk sinks down, vanishing from sight as it skulks into some nowhere nook in this dense metropolis. Then, with an Ally Switch, Theo is whisked away. Now floating where he once road, it repeats the process a second time, and before you know it, you're away from the highway and right next to Beckett.

The first thing you do is take a deep breath. Then, you complain.

"Arceus wept... What the fuck, man? We've barely been in here for a minute! Why the fuck does it even start like that?!"

---

THEO BECKETT

Inwardly, you can't say you feel particularly different inside the RKS System than without. Then again, you've never really thought about it before. Maybe if you did, it would make things easier? Oh well.

"Really?" You raise an invisible eyebrow to the admin, before shrugging. "Okay, whatever you say."

In a way, this is a dream come true. When you were a kid, you always wanted to be a Gym Leader, or a Champion, or something of that ilk. For better or for worse, life took you on a different path, but now? You've got the opportunity to live out that dream, so you might as well take it: What kind of gym leader would you be?

The Tera Crystals resonate, and the world around you changes.

It... Really doesn't look much different from the gym back at Spikemuth, does it? Grungy, urban, filled with thumping music and neon lights... Sure, there's little differences here and there, but otherwise, it's not far off. It even has the Galarian Zigzagoon digging in the trash, just like you remember! Man, good times, good times...

Holy shit, you're a hack fraud.

You glance around nervously, as though expecting some overbearing teacher to catch you copying homework and pull out the cane. Part of you even wants to redesign it entirely. But, after a moment of deliberation, you decide to keep it as is. It might be blatant plagarism, but it's honest, too.

"Alright, I'm done."

---

BARNABY FINCH

"Don't tell me what paths I can and can't walk, Grigori."

It's a remarkably cold rebuke.

He wasn't there. He wasn't at the Silent Icelands, standing across from the best and brightest that the League had to offer. He didn't have to contend with Gods and Avatars and more. He didn't fucking die. How could he ever begin to understand how you feel?

After a moment, you shake your head. No. No point wasting energy arguing about it. Besides, Grigori Sokolov never factored into your plans for revenge to begin with. Better to leave him out of it entirely.

"I think you should go now, Grigori. We can talk again when I'm better."

---

Grigori Sokolov

Well, that's... remarkably forward. You shuffle uncomfortably on the spot. Is this what workplace harassment is like?

"I'm sorry, Mr Cross. You're, uh, not my type."

...Did the room just get warmer all of a sudden? Nah, the ice doesn't look like it's melting. Must just be your imagination. After an awkward moment passes, you clear your throat.

"I think I'll go now."

With that, you make to leave.

---

jayden cross

You don't particularly want to be here, and yet, you're here anyway. Why?

Partly, it's out of duty. Though the mass outbreaks of March have come and gone, you suspect the Toxic Chain is still out there, somewhere. Even in such a short span, it's already caused so many headaches, and if it somehow gets whisked away in time and space by this distortion? It'll be an even bigger pain in the ass. So, you stand watch, keeping a vigilant eye out for any infected amidst the distortion.

And partly, it's out of some foolish hope. That maybe, just like Navy and Kouji Matsubara, you'll be pushed forward in time and given a better body. Older, perhaps, but better, healthier, stronger for it. That maybe it'll end your waking nightmare, and make it seem like nothing but a memory.

Alas, that doesn't come to pass...

...

...

"Woe be unto you, for thou misery is a song that echoes through aeons into eternal suffering..."

"...Charcadet, what the fuck?"

"Heh, surprised? I'm not some weak Charcadet anymore. Now, I'm the alpha and the omega, the shadow of the night, the darkness in your so--"

"Shut up and get back in your ball, dork."

---

>PISS YELLOW SHARD acquired
>EVOLVE Charcadet into Ceruledge
>LEVEL UP MOVE Ceruledge into Bitter Blade

As Lulu drifts off into sleep, you allow yourself to breathe a sigh. She might think herself witless and powerless and ugly, but you're starting to think she's just stubborn. Then again, from where she's sitting, she probably thinks the same of you.

So, what now?

After taking a moment to ensure that she's asleep asleep, you stroll over to beside Lulu and slump down next to her. Then, you wait a moment longer. Then, a moment more. And then, a moment more...

...

Nothing. She's completely out of it. You suppose that isn't surprising, given what little you know of her. How many sleepless nights has she spent worrying about a dozen different things beyond your comprehension? How many weeks and months are catching up to her right now? You think back to when you first spoke at the Team Rocket laboratories, when you begged her to take a break and rest. There's something bittersweet about watching her finally rest in a place as dreadful as this...


...

"...Love you..."

...

...You close your eyes and allow sleep to claim you. And when they next open, you find yourself somewhere else entirely.

---

Lulu Flint