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it's shaping up to be a quiet evening as julian hoped. but then there's a noise in the distance, and she freezes. i'm just hearing things, right? she thinks she's in the clear for a couple seconds, and then... THAT WAS EASY. the phrase rings out loud and clear, and julian lets out a terrified groan, dread seizing her. i could just pretend i didn't hear it, or... or... DAMMIT! no, she has to do this. she has to prove she can do this.[break][break]

they race toward the noise and burst onto the scene. there's at least one figure they can see-- two, actually? they don't assess the scene before announcing, "Y-Y-YOU JUST M-MESSED UP BIG TIME, GUY!" the words bursting out before they can stop them. they groan again, this time out of embarrassment, and finally look around the room for real.[break][break]

she freezes. the dread turns to abject fear. "you... w-what are you...?" all her bluster is gone. reality sinks in. she's here now, so there's no backing down, despite how heavy and leaden her body feels.

[attr="class","bottom"]now i'm afraid of losing, so i shut myself in.[break]
[break]mint frost
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he actually manages to counter it. shocking! "oho~ guess he's not all talk," julian says. she'll have to actually fight seriously, she supposes. the nice thing about gengar in six is that it's a well-rounded attacker, with an artillery of both short range and long range moves. this makes it one of the more versatile characters in the game, one that has decent counters for any opponent.[break][break]

julian uses its ability, levitate, to lift off the ground. from there, as it hovers short distances, she launches shadow balls at andrew's blaziken. alternating between levitating and landing. she uses that to try and crowd him into one singular area, where she then smacks him with a smog attack, the poisonous fog spreading. "i did kinda miss this moveset," julian admits to their audience. "i mean, if he's right about anything, it's that six is better than seven in terms of actual combat. seven hasn't been balanced as well-- yet. they said they're tweaking things with the latest update, at least."

[attr="class","bottom"]now i'm afraid of losing, so i shut myself in.[break]
[break]Andrew Fisher
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despite her ambitions, julian is not one for ambition. she tries to stay out of the way of other people, so they'll stay out of hers. it's not the bravest way to exist, she knows, but it's hard to kick the habit. though she's officially listed with the league, she tends to turn down job offers, especially now that rocket is more active. she's stayed far away from the fighting, coasting on small jobs in order to maintain her allegiance. [break][break]

but that's no way to achieve her dream... so tonight, julian's decided to try doing something brave. sure, it's probably going to be an uneventful night, but patrolling the area around the weather institute is one step closer to becoming a gym leader... or something like that. mostly they just wish all this fighting would stop. isn't it annoying, to constantly be at war with other people? [break][break]

they've got their flashlight out, their tinkaton at their side. you know, just in case something happens. which it won't. because who would bother raiding the weather institute?

[attr="class","bottom"]now i'm afraid of losing, so i shut myself in.[break]
[break]mint frost
[break]

[attr="class","credit"] [attr="class","fas fa-cloud-moon"]

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julian taps her mask thoughtfully. there's more porygon peeking out around the corner, and she wonders if the city has wi-fi back yet... "maybe," she says. "i mean, we could allow them into our phones, and then we can just take them back home ourselves..." it would be a more elegant solution than battling all of them and then taking the fainted porygon back somehow. transformed into data, the pokemon will be much easier to carry.[break][break]

"sure, let's give it a shot." they pull out their phone and turn off wi-fi. they hold it out to the porygon. "here. if you guys want, we can take you home in here."[break][break]

the pokemon seem hesitant at first, but then... miraculously, they seem to decide to trust the two trainers. they begin to pile in, and without further ado they disappear. julian can only assume they're inside the data on their phone now, since there's no real indication other than the fact that their data usage seems to be steadily climbing. they turn back to silverio, holding out their phone. "i think we just have to get a bit closer to their home... probably." the hardest part is over. thank god.

[attr="class","bottom"]now i'm afraid of losing, so i shut myself in.[break]
[break]silverio delfino
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not that julian doesn't like money, but... she hesitates to accept, if only because she doesn't like staying in contact with people for long. she's spent pretty much her whole adult life holed away in her bedroom, and later her studio apartment, because she doesn't like nor trust others. her dream of becoming a gym leader, unfortunately, means she'd have to give that up eventually, which is why she created the persona of heidi hemlock to protect herself. with a mask on, she can pretend to be someone she's not.[break][break]

after a moment's pause, though, julian heaves a sigh and pulls out her own phone. she adds thea to her contacts, giving the other girl her number. if it's mostly over text, i'll be fine, right...? her phone case has a number of shiny mareanie and toxapex on it, and there's a pikachu charm attached to it. once she puts her phone away again, she finishes off the rest of her food quickly.[break][break]

julian stands. "a-alright..." they manage an uneasy smile. "i've, um... got somewhere to be. it was n-nice meeting you... th-thea." they all but run away, andromeda on their shoulder. IT'S OVER! I SURVIVED!

[attr="class","bottom"]now i'm afraid of losing, so i shut myself in.[break]
[break]Thea Naito
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with the mandibuzz gone, julian calms down a bit. "calm" for her is completely relative, as her idea of "calm" is probably another person's idea of "needs a prozac immediately", but beggers can't be choosers. she's about ready to head back when there's a shrill bark from an alleyway, and she once again jumps in fear of being assaulted.[break][break]

a torrent of flames bursts out and surrounds her togedemaru. the steel type can't take the heat, crying out in pain and then collapsing. "HEY!" they wheel to face their assailant, a houndoom that's clearly got a bone to pick with them. its sharp gaze focuses on julian, and she nearly drops her next pokeball in fright. thankfully, her heliolisk pops out anyway, collar raised in a threat display. "b-bulldoze!" julian yells, and the lizard charges the houndour, plowing it over. as the dog tries to get back up, julian flings a pokeball at it. that's the easiest way to deal with its aggression, right?

[attr="class","bottom"]now i'm afraid of losing, so i shut myself in.[break]
[break]
[break]catching houndour![break]

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porygon were born amidst the zeroes and ones that make up cyberspace. it's only natural that they'd want to return there. what the poor things didn't realize, apparently, was that they were responsible themselves for the internet outage that prevented them from slipping back into the wi-fi.[break][break]

the first porygon goes down. julian feels a bit sorry for it, but not enough to slow her roll as the next one appears. another nuzzle ambush, and that one goes down too. heidi catches everything on film, making sure to pan around the area to show exactly what's happening. a third porygon appears, but this one... seems hesitant. it's not barreling in like the others, and instead is peeking around the corner. so she stops, doesn't give the command to her toxtricity, but instead carefully approaches it.[break][break]

she puts her hands out. the porygon flinches. she realizes more porygon are appearing. "uh... hey there, little guy," she says soothingly (or at least her best approximation of it). "look, i don't actually want to hurt you... we just want to take you guys home."

then the internet cuts out again. julian bites down a swear. "haven't you figured it out yet...? you're the ones cutting the internet. is that the only way you know how to get home again?" she tries to gesture for silverio to approach, though the gesture itself is a bit vague, so she settles for motioning him over vigorously.

[attr="class","bottom"]now i'm afraid of losing, so i shut myself in.[break]
[break]silverio delfino
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much to her chagrin, julian continues her path around the creepy abandoned warehouses. she can only hope she doesn't look particularly appetizing to any violent wild pokemon or people looking to rob others... she tries to come across as penniless as possible, but gives up when she realizes there's really nothing she can do short of dirtying her clothes, which is not an action she's willing to take.[break][break]

there's a screech overhead. julian turns just in time to see a mandibuzz barreling down at them. they let out a shriek and backpedal wildly, using their hands to cover their face. "AUGH! CEPHY, USE ZING ZAP!" before the bird can make contact with her, cepheus the togedemaru goes barreling into it, sparks flying. the mandibuzz cries out in pain and flaps its wings, trying to get away. julian shakes their fist at it. "TH-THAT'S RIGHT! YOU BETTER RUN! er... fly, or... WHATEVER!"[break][break]

what did it even want with her? does she look like a corpse!?

[attr="class","bottom"]now i'm afraid of losing, so i shut myself in.[break]
[break]
[break]passing over mandibuzz![break]

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thea asks her something. it takes a moment for it to really sink in, and when it does, julian stops chewing. eh? ehhhh??? unfortunately, this causes her to swallow a bite of flatbread down the wrong pipe, and she starts coughing violently. her shoulders bunch up and she reaches for her drink, taking a big swig to try and force it down. she holds up a finger to try and indicate she just needs a moment, hiding her flushed face from the girl across from her.[break][break]

KILL ME! JUST KILL ME NOW! this is the most embarrassing thing that's happened to her in a long time. it's a couple minutes before she's able to speak, but it feels more like an out-of-body experience than anything. "l-like... a commission...?" she asks, before coughing some more. "i could... p-probably... do that..." please, just let a hole open up beneath her and swallow her. that would be preferable to her basically agreeing to stay in contact with thea in some manner. [break][break]

andromeda pats her trainer on the back consolingly.

[attr="class","bottom"]now i'm afraid of losing, so i shut myself in.[break]
[break]Thea Naito
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