Ameena tsk'd at the young woman's insistence. "Yet you blocked my pokeball. So I have no way of knowing if that were true or not." She was unfamiliar with Arcanine behavior, so it was unclear if it could've bonded to her as much as they clearly were in the short time since Ameena first saw the Hisuian pokemon. [break][break]

Regardless. Ameena felt a chill run down her spine as she acknowledged the Penitentiary. Her eyes widened, but as her mouth opened, nothing but a choked sound came out. She didn't know how to address it, how to dissuade her from believing Ameena was actually there. Her own defense for her actions being the toxicity were solid; and, in favor of the truth, she really had wanted to save the Megalopolan child from the fate of the ship's destruction which she had been so certain was imminent. [break][break]

That she had also intended to experiment on the child was irrelevant. [break][break]

Ameena grabbed at her head, but even as she scrambled to think of a retort, Gardevoir sensed her distress and acted, launching psychic at the woman and her Arcanine.

TAGS – Yuina Higashi [break]

NOTES – make it double[break][break]

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Ameena stood from her desk as Gwen was escorted in. "Thanks for coming in," she greeted, walking to the front of her desk to lean against it and better look at the Ranger. Her movement also revealed the Rotom that had been behind her chair as it floated to follow her. [break][break]

"I hope you have not experienced any stress since our encounter with Regeleiki?" The experience was harrowing, even if they had made a quick getaway. The electric deity was intimidating to say the least. She had not expected anything like that in the Plant since even the Deep Sea hadn't revealed a hidden god, and that had been a horrific environment. [break][break]

The hallucinations and energy of the area had left her off-rhythm for weeks. "I got my hands on a Rotom after the encounter. It feels like the most similar pokemon to that guardian."

TAGS – Gwendolyn Conway [break]

NOTES – [break][break]

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Ameena had obviously hoped to hold on longer, but she was pleased with the outcome of mutual destruction. It was the least harmful to her ego, though she had entered primarily for her own confirmation of growth. Pokemon battles were not a strongsuit of hers as she had long since used pokemon non-traditionally in war. Entering the Gauntlet had been a step out of her comfort zone, and while her strategy hadn't been a winning one, that seemed more a result of her opponent's well-chosen pokemon than a flawed strategy itself. [break][break]

"That was nice work," she complimented Rhys Collins easily. "Reuniclus was a good choice. I had been betting on my toxic spikes." She would fold her own unused Reuniclus into her teams. Rhys' moveset seemed advantageous in a lot of scenarios. What she'd seen of it, anyways. "A more offensive approach might have kept your Reuniclus in the battle." [break][break]

Speculation more than criticism, but she shared it thoughtfully. "I should have chosen a more aggressive approach over waiting for someone to enter my trap, seeing as it cannot be effective against all pokemon." She let her hair down now that they were in the observation deck. She was stunned for only a moment at seeing just how many elite Rockets were watching, but she relaxed again. Her value to Rocket was more on the research side of things, so it was unlikely she would get a performance improvement plan for the gauntlet outcome.

TAGS – Rhys Collins [break]

NOTES – Provide feedback to a participant eliminated from the first round of The Gauntlet.[break][break]

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She's stunned as he asks for her suggestion. She hadn't considered her proposal to be pulled from the abstract and rendered on the center stage of their conversation. She takes a moment to think, staring out at the horizon rather than scouring the ground for information as they should be doing. [break][break]

"The recent poisonings have left them weakened, so I understand wanting to tackle things now, but I think we should have focused on giving them another resource drain before launching an assault." Rangers were still handing out antidotes and even rowdy civilians had cut back on political demonstrations in favor of mutual aid. "The toxic chains were an opportunity to continue sowing disorder. We could have manipulated swarms of pokemon into larger acts of environmental damage, and the aggressive behavior would have been waved away as a toxic chain consequence."[break][break]

Tauros swarms could have stampeded into cities, wild mankey could have descended upon fields and claimed harvests, chimchar or growlithe setting fields ablaze. "Having Rangers split between humanitarian aid and environmental damage control would have spread them so thin across the region that a coordinated attack on a specific location would face little resistance." Not that she knew for sure they were only planning to attack one location. The war plans were a vague and abstract notion to someone like her who lacked the clearance for finer details. [break][break]

She focused on him, now. "You do not think we have shown our hand? The entire region - nay, the world, I suspect - knows something is coming. While that fear is imprecise... I wonder if we have created more casualties for ourselves in letting tensions build instead of creating further distractions." The loss of Kyle was an excellent blow, but something broader and not easily tracked to Rocket could have used up League resources without raising suspicion on Rocket nor inspiring Leaguers to prepare a counterattack. "If a Leaguer wanted revenge for Kyle," she impulsively asked, "who do you think they would take from us?"

TAGS – jayden cross [break]

NOTES –[break][break]

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Alison isn't necessarily baring her soul, but there's something about the other woman's forthcomingness that comforts Ameena. It's a relief to not have to prove herself to every single Rocket she meets, though she suspects the longer she is with the organization, the more frequently this will be true. She had shown her inner colors to many of the upper echelons of Rocket when she first started so as to better embed herself in the organization and be known as a good ally. [break][break]

Uselessness was punished, after all. [break][break]

"Power comes over time," Ameena finally said. "I can help you with gathering more pokemon and with some basic drills. Strength is versatile, much more than many will treat it. Your skillset is valuable. We cannot win a war by just hitting Leaguers over and over again." Though, hitting hard enough was still an important aspect of war. [break][break]

She had no reason to believe Alison was looking for a reason to turn on Rocket after such brief tutelage. In fact, the researcher did her best to not let paranoia or cynicism waste more mental space than absolutely necessary, so she was content to take the woman at face value, especially with her new confidence in her team. "I will look for good opportunities to test your skills. I think you will find that showing your usefulness will only bring you better opportunities and more power."[break][break]

"But tell me: what is your immediate goal? What sits on the horizon for you?" Revenge? Purpose? The power to become untouchable, unbetrayable, unshakable? There were many answers, and all of them were right.

TAGS – Alison Everly [break]

NOTES – bond bridge[break][break]

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Leilani disappeared in a puff of smoke from one of her pokemon as Mr. Officer released Skarmony to handle his net. Well, Ameena needed to copy that plan, but she had more of a reputation to protect than Leilani, being a public figure (CEO) and partially recognizable with her long pink hair. A little damage control would help prevent this little event from appearing in the tabloids, though she had the money to handle fines and hush the story after day one. [break][break]

Most importantly, she didn't want any law enforcement to be very suspicious of her individually. That kind of relationship only spelled trouble. [break][break]

"I - well, my friend here was looking for... something to scare her ex-boyfriend. I know it is very stupid," she said with her best imitation of remorse. "He cheated, she was mad, and I told her property damage was a bad idea." So far, so good. "So, when we saw a horde of Galarian Yamask, she hatched a plan to set one loose in his apartment." Nevermind that these were caught pokemon and this was poaching.

TAGS – Montgomery James [break]
NOTES – I need some pocket sand to throw at Montgomery 4 a clean getaway[break][break]

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