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"Fair," Rhys offered in return, as he was no expert on either of the subjects himself. "Still keeps the gears going to speculate, though, don't you think?"
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He thought so, at any rate. Granted, speculation without evidence was baseless, but it was something, at least. If he left his mind to go too long without some kind of focus or rumination, he could find himself almost drifting, simply existing and - if left long enough to his own devices - essentially 'spaced out' for hours on end. He needed a focus, or he'd focus too much on things that didn't deserve it.
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"Johto, huh? I'm not too familiar, if I'm honest, but I hear it's...interesting," he hedges, rolling his shoulders in a shrug. This was conversation, right? Better than walking in silence and snapping photos.
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Her warning brings him up short, and as soon as he sees the robotic Tsareena stagger into motion, he nearly drops his phone in his haste to turn and run before she's even given the directive. "Ooooooh shit," he spat, barreling down the hallway as the distinctive ting-ting-ting of sharpened blades on metal flooring echoed behind him at a frequency that froze his spine.
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Nearing a corner, he waited only an instant for Yumi and her own Tsareena to pass before he snapped a command at his Tinkaton, who swung her GIGATON HAMMER at the floor, causing a rippling wave of sheet metal to surge out and trip up their assailants.
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No time to survey the results, though, as he took right off in hot pursuit of Yumi. "Bought us a couple of seconds," he panted, pointing ahead of them.
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"Elevator. Think we can make it?"

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"No souls?" Rhys inquired, trailing only a step or two behind Yumi as they make their traversal, his own phone raised to capture photographs of the surrounding environment and the strange mechanical apparati that are dotted throughout.
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"Near Area Zero, I noted several Paradox Pokemon that seemed to be more robotic than biological, even for Steel-types. Do you think this could be where they originated?" He canted his head curiously, his Tinkaton trailing behind him with a vacant, wide-eyed expression.
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He considered her question before offering a noncommittal shrug. "Curiosity," he allowed. "This is my second tour through one of these places, and it's every bit as strange in its own way as the first. I feel that's worth researching, because I hear there could be some serious threats to us in these places." He paused to consider. "Or weapons."

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At the other man's suggestion, Rhys lowered his gaze, toying with the idea. He wasn't a researcher - not of that kind - and didn't want to create more of a presence in that neck of the laboratories than he had to, lest he be roped in as some kind of assistant or other. Yet, his desire to keep arm's length came into direct conflict with his basic desire to know about everything.
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When he thought about it like that, the choice was clear.
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"I will," he nodded. "The proliferation of these things is something we don't want to be caught wrong-footed on." He moved to continue as Zev finished, beckoning to the Walking Wake. The beast growled, a rippling, dangerous sound, but fell into step behind Rhys without further complaint.
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"Of course," Rhys returned brightly as their path drew them further through the rainforest. "I'll be happy to provide you with that data." Well. Not strictly happy undergoing whatever test Zev had in mind, but confident, at the least, that he could show the man he had indeed progressed.
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He smirked as they continued, a thing full of pride. Confident, yes.
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"I was hoping for something a little less involved," Rhys sighed as he stood, waiting patiently for Zev to finish gathering photographs of the damage. "Still, you're right, it might wander back or it might not. Some of them are just such a nuisance to subdue," he grumbled.
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As they advanced forward, Rhys kept an eye out both for additional tracks and any pokemon that might happen to take issue with their presence in the area. He had quickly gotten a handle on appearing outwardly composed, but his insides were coiled like a spring, his constant low-grade anxiety prepared to power swift action should the need arise.
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Fortunately, the need had not yet arisen, and all he found himself facing were more of Zev's questions. These, at least, seemed more informational than pointed, in contrast to some of his last dealings with the man, though, and so he was glad to field them.
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"Not strictly my department, so not quite as much as I'd like, but they are fascinating," he replied. "Aurelie and I managed to capture the beast I mentioned beforehand, and as a result of that they're allowing us to monitor their progress, but no direct involvement, unfortunately." His lip curled - frustration, perhaps. "However, on my last outing, I happened to capture another specimen for myself, and that's provided its own benefits, if unofficial."
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He recalled his Tinkaton and tossed another pokeball, revealing a saurian in cool hues, regarding the pair with barely-contained anger.
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"It listens quite well, for looking so angry," Rhys offered with a small grin, "But it's terribly useful having one to monitor and biopsy so close to hand."
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Hm. "I don't know that I would classify him as a threat - if I was able to fend him off, I imagine nobody would have a serious problem with him." Rhys mused for half a moment, then added, "Still, unpredictable."
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As they rounded the bend, Rhys canted his head curiously at the Mismagius' alert, then blinked as he saw why, even before Zev prompted him for an answer.
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"Damage from a Paradox pokemon," he answered readily. "It's difficult to say which - so many of these variants have blades of some kind or another. I tracked one of the larger ones, maybe a kilometer from here - give or take - with Aurelie Lefevre, and we saw similar signs there. In that instance, it was a Fire-type, some kind of crested leonid."
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His head snapped up from his examination as a strange cry echoed from deeper in the Chasm, reverberating strangely through the surroundings. "...That might even be the culprit, although I haven't seen any of these things that sounded quite like that," he murmured.
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Rhys shook his head, grunting a negative as he followed the other man through the remains of the log. "Can't say we had the chance to exchange pleasantries - he's the type to introduce himself with a knife, apparently." Scowling, he flicked a small insect from his lapel.
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"Swarthy type, eyepatch, unusual accent. One of the Galarian regionals, maybe." He lengthened his gait, pulling just enough ahead of Zev to hold a portion of the vines out of the way with his forearm, allowing the other man to pass. "Two encounters, one when I was on shift monitoring the Dyna Tree, and one when I was deeper in Area Zero collecting specimens. Doesn't seem to have a connection, could have been bad timing, but he's definitely a pest."
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Slipping under the vines to slide back into step with Zev, he brushes his forearm free of the detritus, musing. "It's something, though, to come at a Rocket, grunt or no, with a weapon in the flat middle of Sootopolis. Vigilante?"
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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.
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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.
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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.
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"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."

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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?
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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.
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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.
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Only this time he'd have something to show for it.

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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.

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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.
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"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.
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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."
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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.
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"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..."
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He trailed off, daydreaming, as the pair began slowly making their way back up the Chasm.
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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.
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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.
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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?
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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-!"
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He knew solidly, in that moment, if he'd had the capability to, he would have exploded on the spot.
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