[attr="class","josie"]

[attr="class","josie b"]

[attr="class","josie i"]do they ever truly learn from their mistakes? or do they simply strike at the same sore spot until it eventually gives way as all things do?

it is not up to her to decide, in the end, but she knows which one she'd choose given the chance.

"was that by design or luck of the draw?"

no matter.

she bounces slightly on the balls of her feet, rolls her head back and forth to crack the joints of her neck back into attention.

"for the glory of team rocket, then, yeah? when do we start?"

THEO BECKETT

[attr="class","josie"]

[attr="class","josie b"]

[attr="class","josie i"]"no," she murmurs, head tilting slightly to the left in mocking innocence. "should i have?"

a grin sprawls across his face and despite herself, she finds herself mirroring the action. it's a challenge, she surmises, and one she intends to pass with flying colors and sharpened teeth.

his poliwrath joins the field with a quick hydro pump arching through the air toward her. at the sight, she can't help the barked laughter as it claws through her throat. it echoes as her steelix lunges forward, her body shifting with the motion.

and while the hydro pump narrowly misses her, the mist of water splashes across her face enough for an amused, "refreshing," to escape.

"that all, hotshot?"

her steelix continues in its path, jaws open with a thunder fang aimed solely at the poliwrath. after a moment, when they're close enough, she leaps from its head to try and tackle him into the ground from the air... less girl, more bullet.

MATIAS SILPH

[attr="class","josie"]

[attr="class","josie b"]

[attr="class","josie i"]at the question, she barks out a harsh laugh.

"honestly, do i seem the planning type?"

she's more of a action first, think later kind of girl. it had served her well in kanto, but perhaps he means to plant the idea that hoenn will require a different touch into her brain?

and despite his pinched expression, she waves a nonchalant hand through the air to dispel the notion.

"i'll familiarize myself after it's ours."

they do, after all, have a war and all to get through - best to not get ahead of themselves.

"anyway, is there a plan in place yet?"

and where does she fit in the grand scheme? she hopes, with bared teeth, for the front lines and nothing less will satisfy her urges.

THEO BECKETT

[attr="class","josie"]

[attr="class","josie b"]

[attr="class","josie i"]if she were anyone else, perhaps she'd applaud him for his bravado... but she's not and she won't. the display leaves no impression other than simmering annoyance.

her expression cracks slightly from neutrality, purple eyes reflecting the destruction along the horizon.

"funny."

her, run? comical.

"you really think any of us would be afraid of you enough to run?"

they've already sent explosions along the foundation of the league, watching as the ground gives out beneath their precarious little feet and their bodies crumble into the aftermath.

"i ain't running, so show me how dedicated you are to stopping us."

she runs her tongue along the tips of her canines at the thought.

MATIAS SILPH

[attr="class","josie"]

[attr="class","josie b"]

[attr="class","josie i"]even without the confirmation, she could tell... hoenn has the same eerie sensation laid into the air as kanto did before they began the strikes. the tension is thick, nothing more than a spark away from an inferno.

"will we strike first?"

idly, she begins to crack her knuckles to release pent up ache from training.

"not familiar at all, really."

she prefers the brimstone of kanto to this heavy humidity, though she suspects that does little here.

"should i be?"

they asked for reinforcements, for additional fire power to their already restless ranks... but the travel guide for hoenn had been missing from the orders, not like she'd actually give it more than a passive glance.

THEO BECKETT

[attr="class","josie"]

[attr="class","josie b"]

[attr="class","josie i"]beautiful, she muses quietly to herself. smoke billows in the distance - another fallen city crumbling into ashes, surely, but a work of art nonetheless.

they've driven a knife into this region, bleeding it dry with each taken position until all of it is splattered red with the bloody remains of war.

and from her perch on the steelix's head, she'd be wrong if she didn't say it felt damn good.

he'll find her here - an enemy surveying the destruction she's sowed, dried evidence staining skin. she'll see his approach just barely when her eyes drift, but it doesn't matter. they've won, haven't they? she, along with the rest, have made sure of that.

"don't you have injured to tend to?"

her steelix growls low.

"dead to bury?"

a heavy handed way to say fuck off, perhaps, but it gets the job done.

MATIAS SILPH

[attr="class","josie"]

[attr="class","josie b"]

[attr="class","josie i"]she has no preference, so she says nothing. instead, she flashes teeth.

the training dummy is left to nurse its wounds for a moment for her fists unfurl themselves and her body relaxes.

"requested, though not by me."

she didn't have much of a say - not entirely, anyway. loyalty runs deep, even in the most unruly of dogs.

"jayden cross got me pulled from kanto, said something about war on the horizon?"

THEO BECKETT

[attr="class","josie"]

[attr="class","josie b"]

[attr="class","josie i"]after a while, everything feels repetitive - endless training, stalking through the halls like a vengeful ghost, and a finger on the trigger yet it's never pulled.

she grows restless in the waiting period. this place is clean, untouched by blankets of ash and plumes of smoke billowing out from destroyed cities. she detests it.

where's the action? where's the glory?

her lips press into a firm line, unwilling to ask the next unanswered question, and she strikes at the training dummy once more with a bruised fist.

the door creaks, then, on worn, rusted hinges and she doesn't bother to pivot for the mirror on the far wall gives her company away.

"beckett."

familiar, kantoian... would he smell of brimstone and smoke if she gets close? or has he lost his luster?

"been a while, huh?"

THEO BECKETT