[attr="class","post"]

If he were more jaded, Rhys would say that at this point he knew the layout of the Giant Chasm and Area Zero better than he did his childhood home. The intervening weeks had brought him into confrontation with hordes of Paradox pokemon, giant Paradox pokemon, and even the perennial thorn in his backside that seemed to turn up at every possible worst opportunity.
[break][break]
Still, given the selection of partners he'd been privy to up to now - with the possible exception of Aurelie Lefevre - Rhys had to admit that progressing through the wilderness with Zev allowed for significantly less to go wrong from the standpoint of the native creatures.
[break][break]
It did, however, invite conversations that Rhys found difficult to gauge and respond to. With most people, he could fairly easily determine how much was too much, and how little was too little, but speaking with Zev offered little in the way of determining what he actually thought of Rhys's responses. Then again, he seemed a man that didn't bother hiding his opinions, when he disclosed them.
[break][break]
"I have," he returned, idly watching his Tinkaton patter forward to bash a fallen log from their path with a hammer larger than she was. "This has been a...challenging month, but I can't say I haven't benefitted from it. Even had a few unexpected run-ins with a Leaguer that ended favorably, though I question whether he was acting on orders or just off in his head."

[attr="class","pkmn"]

[attr="class","credit"]

[attr="class","post"]

His introspection was interrupted by a Cufant, of all things, wandering out of a nearby alleyway. He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed irritably. He couldn't even be alone with his thoughts without something coming along to interrupt him. Were the people of Slateport content to let wild pokemon run around unattended?
[break][break]
Still...he'd heard of a project or two during his time in the labs that benefitted from having steel-types on hand for research purposes. Perhaps it wasn't such an irritant after all. Reaching into his satchel, he released his Lucario and gestured to the Cufant. Owain nodded decisively, thrusting his arms out and releasing an AURA SPHERE that sent the tiny elephantine pokemon tumbling head over feet.
[break][break]
Rhys took another drag off of his cigarette as he approached the fallen pokemon, tossing an empty pokeball and capturing the creature with relatively little trouble. Self-searching could always wait when there was work to be done, and he'd become something of an expert in hiding in his work.
[break][break]
Only this time he'd have something to show for it.

[attr="class","pkmn"]

[attr="class","credit"]

[attr="class","post"]

Rhys wandered the streets of Slateport, lost in thought. He'd been through more in the past few weeks than he'd expected, and while some of the missions he'd been assigned to had been profitable - either in the tangible sense for Rocket as an organization, or for him as a member of said organization - some had been decidedly otherwise.
[break][break]
That man with the eyepatch, for instance - he'd shown up twice in short order, and Rhys would have thought it coincidence, perhaps, had the other man not been so vociferously against Rhys himself and anything he had to do, particularly on the research expedition to the Great Chasm. That hadn't even been a Rocket-sanctioned operation, just Rhys attempting to do a little information gathering on his own, and that idiot had treated him as though he were running every one of those Iron Treads through a compactor tail-first. The nerve.
[break][break]
Then there was his most recent expedition to Area Zero - what should have been the most simple of all of them, a recon job, was burning in the back of his mind as his biggest failure in Rocket to date. Not that the expedition hadn't drawn useful information, no, so in that regard he was golden. As a person, however, he'd been kicking himself over every misstep he'd taken during the job, and how he might have turned it around to do better. If he'd been aware enough, strong enough, he could have taken out that initial rush of Paradox pokemon such that caden maher never would have needed to get involved. Then Rhys wouldn't be a mess of thoughts and frustrations now.
[break][break]
He paused near the docks and shook a cigarette from his pack, lighting it with a practiced motion and taking a long drag. Being a member of a criminal syndicate seemed easy, some days, compared to coping with his own fragile ego.

[attr="class","pkmn"]

[attr="class","credit"]

[attr="class","post"]

The adrenaline had Rhys moving right past Aurelie's initial reaction to the Joltik as he directed his Nidoking to delay the creature as much as he could, and he was, at length, gratified to see Aurelie's Delphox join the battle properly. When it took a LAVA PLUME, Rhys cursed under his breath, calling out to his Nidoking, who sent a SLUDGE WAVE that caused the enormous creature to stumble sideways, snarling.
[break][break]
"You alright?" he called over to Aurelie, sparing her a glance and seeing that she was applying medicine to the injured Delphox. When the vulpine pokemon regained its wind and began lulling the enraged creature to sleep, Rhys signaled for his Nidoking to back off and gritted his teeth so hard he thought his jaw might crack.
[break][break]
At last, the beast slumped to the ground, out like a light, and Rhys exhaled deeply, raising his hands and bowing to Aurelie repeatedly. "THAT is how you handle a wild animal, THANK YOU MA'AM."
[break][break]
He recalled his Nidoking and, aiming carefully, threw a ball toward the slumbering beast. It captured the creature and landed on the ground, wobbling fitfully. A spike of anxiety ran down his back, but at length the ball stopped moving, and he quickly jogged forward to retrieve it, holding it up toward Aurelie triumphantly.
[break][break]
"We got it!" he enthused, grinning. "Now, we just have to make the report look good, and maybe we can nose in on the analysis team. They could sample the metal, I'm sure you could get some useful data from that, and I'd be very interested to see whether the means of flame production are similar here compared to other fire-type mammals..."
[break][break]
He trailed off, daydreaming, as the pair began slowly making their way back up the Chasm.
[break][break]

[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

[attr="class","credit"]

[attr="class","post"]

This mission couldn't end fast enough, and it had only barely begun. Not only had he managed to get swarmed by pokemon, Rhys had leapt into the arms of another man - literally - who had been egging him on as some kind of ridiculously suave kind of hazing, and on top of it he was fairly sure he wouldn't ever hear the end of it.
[break][break]
As he clambered to his feet and dusted himself off, he was fuming so much that he didn't even deign the other man's first comment with a response, gritting his teeth and recalling his battered Crobat.
[break][break]
Oh, he'll read the story? "I'm sure you will, y-" his snide retort was cut off as he processed the follow-up, and he immediately averted his gaze, staring instead at the interesting patterns on the cave floor. Now the guy was flirting? Or just continuing - again = to make fun of him?
[break][break]
Slowly raising his head to meet the man's pointing finger, he looks down at his shoes and finds he's stepped in a thick, viscous oily substance at some point during this whole debacle, and he can't help but throw his hands up and release an aggrieved snarl, scuffing his shoes angrily on the floor as he stomps away from Caden. "No I'm not going to fucking include that in the story! For the love of-!"
[break][break]
He knew solidly, in that moment, if he'd had the capability to, he would have exploded on the spot.
[break][break]

[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

[attr="class","credit"]

[attr="class","post"]

"Point," Rhys concedes.
[break][break]
He watches the swarm fade into the distance, mentally noting to treat Everard to something nice upon his return. The Zoroark has a personality almost as prickly as Rhys's, but he can't deny a job well done.
[break][break]
Turning to Dane, he pulls his phone out of his satchel and nods. "That's the immediate threat gone, anyway. I'll send in a report and hopefully it's clear enough for the rock guys to come in and finish this up. Thanks for the cover, I don't think I could have handled that myself if I'm honest."

[attr="class","pkmn"]

[attr="class","credit"]

[attr="class","post"]

Rhys was unsurprised at Aurelie's reaction to the Joltik - perhaps it's the same one he might have had, once, but he'd spent so much time researching with his Paras that insects concerned him hardly at all when he saw them. Then again, if he adopted a little more care, he might be able to avoid doing things like getting shocked in the future.
[break][break]
What does draw his attention is the fact that the woman draws her Delphox out purely with intent to light the offending bug on fire. "Really?" he asked incredulously, unable to restrain himiself. "That's what you're worried about right now? At least you'll be bug-free when that thing comes over here and does to us what it did to those rocks!"
[break][break]
She comes back around to the mission, though - and more importantly the topic of how to save their own skins once again. He nodded at her proposal, glancing over to where Nidoking was still managing to shake the earth between him and the beast, slowing its advance and only serving to enrage it further. "Alright," he offers, "Try and see if your pal can get close enough to do the whammy, I'll try and stall it."
[break][break]
Calling out to his Nidoking, he was gratified to see the pokemon respond by shaking off a flurry of TOXIC SPIKES That scattered across the rocky earth, hindering the titan's progress as it moved forward and rearing back with a roar as violet veins of poison began to emanate upward from the points of contact.
[break][break]

[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

[attr="class","credit"]

[attr="class","post"]

Oh, he'd have to pick her brain sometime when they weren't engaged in hunting down some kind of fearsome beastie. Granted, he was zero for two on that front, but he had to believe at some point that his tenure with the organization would allow for some kind of downtime, someday.
[break][break]
He hoped.
[break][break]
While his field of interest veered significantly toward the more biological byproducts of certain pokemon, he found himself fascinated as Aurelie spoke - clearly this was a field that she had an enormous amount of experience in, and as absolutely bitter as Rhys could be much of the time, he did enjoy hearing others expound on their fields of interest.
[break][break]
He nodded to her, grinning wryly. "Oh, I'm sure we'll find something interesting down here. This place always seems to have a curveball of some kind to present, I've found." When he notes her drawing a pokeball, he reaches to his satchel to do the same - as much as he doesn't want a fight, he's discovered firsthand the dangers of being unprepared.
[break][break]
He froze as Aurelie pointed out the footprint, blinking at it as well as the surrounding singed vegetation. "Oh yes," he affirms, his voice dropping to a more quiet cadence, "That definitely looks like it's nearby. This is still smoking." He peered down the way, and froze again.
[break][break]
Settled on the ground in slumber was an enormous leonine creature, characterized by an ornate crest of some sort rising out atop its head. Wholly impractical, in Rhys's opinion, but the beast in question didn't seem as though it would entertain opinions even if it were awake.
[break][break]
He glanced to Aurelie silently, putting a finger to his lips and pointing out the sleeping beast, then noticed the Joltik crawling on the cuff of his jacket. Carefully, he attempted shaking his arm to dislodge the small creature, which only succeeded in causing the tiny bug to send an electrical jolt through him that felt briefly like getting kicked by a horse.
[break][break]
"OW, you little bastard!"
[break][break]
Rhys's exclamation caused the sleeping beast to rise, almost immediately turning its head toward the thicket in which he and Aurelie had ensconced themselves. Swearing fluidly under his breath, Rhys hurled his pokeball, drawing out his Nidoking, who lumbered toward the creature, slamming his feet into the ground and causing an EARTHQUAKE that send the earth underfoot crackling toward their mysterious quarry.
[break][break]
Rhys glanced to Aurelie apologetically. "Well, let's knock it out rather than kill it, shall we?"
[break][break]

[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

[attr="class","credit"]

[attr="class","post"]

Unfortunately for Rhys, one solid hit from the Dark-type was enough to crack the Starmie's rubescent gem. To its credit, it held firm under the blow for two seconds, perhaps three, before it crumpled, flying backward from the mouth of the tunnel, the flow of water ebbing with its break in focus.
[break][break]
Will it never end? Rhys griped to himself, recalling Starmie and running a hand through his hair, a nervous gesture that tended to help him think. With that particular tactic fouled, he not only had Tavish to contend with, but a stampede of Iron Treads that were not, in fact, neatly dispatched by his attempt to use the terrain against them.
[break][break]
Damn it, this is a bad look, but I'm not taking this guy in a fistfight again.
[break][break]
When the missions into Area Zero had begun, all parties involved were explicitly told that emergency functions would be available in the instance of an actual emergency, and that misuse of the function would result in revocation of the function and potentially the ability of the individual in question to remain breathing.
[break][break]
Still, desperate times. He thumbed a few buttons on his phone, sending out his SOS, though he didn't know what form the assistance would take. Were there other Rockets nearby?
[break][break]
His question was answered barely moments later, as twisting, smoky shadows seeped upward from the ground like a tenebrous miasma, coiling togather and blanketing the entire area in a darkness so thick he felt he could touch it, if he wanted. Blinking at the sudden oppressive nightfall, Rhys made a mental note to never get on declan walsh's bad side.
[break][break]
Still, he knew his opportunity to make a break when he saw it, so he released his Zoroark and hared off in the direction of the nearest cutoff through the canyon. The shadows should be more than enough to cover his escape, but it never hurt to have an illusory backup plan.
[break][break]
He'd take the fight to Eyepatch another day.
[break][break]

[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

[attr="class","credit"]

[attr="class","post"]

Releasing a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, Rhys relaxes slightly as the swarm of Paradox pokemon follow his diversion. With any luck, Everard would be able to lead them away long enough for Dane and Rhys to deal with the surveying machine, and getting back?
[break][break]
Well, he'd come back at some point, surely.
[break][break]
He raises his voice to be heard over the continuing sandstorm. "That should buy us some time at least, what's the endgame with this thing?"{/b] He waves generally in the vicinity of the rig.

[attr="class","ooc"]

NOTES

• AZ Excursion B: Geological Survey

[break][break]TAGS: DANE FAIRCHILD

[attr="class","pkmn"]

[attr="class","credit"]

[attr="class","post"]

"Oh, good," Rhys quipped as Aurelie made her analysis, "It's a climber. That means we have to look up as well, which positively fills me with delight."
[break][break]
He couldn't help but lift an eyebrow as she continued, however, the scientist in him roused. "Could you even do that?" he inquired mildly. "Rationally, I suppose you could, though I've never really researched it - are metals on pokemon smeltable? Do they have different properties than the traditional sort?"
[break][break]
He almost daydreamed for a moment, envisioning a precision blade that never needed sharpening, canisters capable of holding volatile substances without degrading, shackles-
[break][break]
No. No, Rhys. That simulation was just a simulation. It's not you.
[break][break]
He glanced up to Aurelie suddenly, eyes bright. "Well, something to chew over, I guess." Following the direction of her indication, he took in the sight of the stones and cycads similarly marred by their mysterious bladesman. A cursory sweep of the area didn't indicate any other signs that whatever had left the cuts had been through, so that only meant that they'd need to go deeper.
[break][break]
He sighed, stretched, and nodded. "Well, follow the cuts and we'll find the cause. If we work together as well as we did the last time, we might even be able to bring the thing in for analysis." His eyes gleamed as he offered her a sly wink. "Maybe as the capturers, we'll be allowed in on the research part, eh?"
[break][break]

[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

[attr="class","credit"]