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“A lovely name.” [break][break]

Rhea smiled and took the outstretched hand with a firm shake, [break][break]

“Rhea Armistead, at your service.” [break][break]

And goodness, wasn't this a most fortuitous turn of events? Already this little outing had turned into a prospective job offer, and a rather tempting one, at that. Rhea considered following through, should time allow outside of her obligations to her (admittedly, extremely recent) contract with Rocket. [break][break]

But there was some part of her that insisted on modesty; dispatching a bunch of angry bees was just all in a days work, wasn't it? If anything, it was a self-indulgent little side quest that Rhea had just happened upon. But on the other hand, turning down a fair lady's generosity would be quite unbecoming, and Rhea found herself quite intrigued by her new acquaintance, [break][break]

“I would like that,” she admitted, smile turning to a full-on grin, “I hope you find my company preferable to theirs.”

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ameena abadi [break]

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Cain suddenly leapt back in a move to disengage that Rhea hadn't predicted. She overstepped, her body finally following the thrust of her sword, but with more momentum than she had intended as she fell flat on her face, [break][break]

“Fucker!” [break][break]

She glared up at the Ceruledge, but before she could sputter further, the ghost leapt past her with a SHADOW CLAW. Rhea scarcely had time to scramble to her feet before she heard the frightened squeal of the downed Rotom. [break][break]

The littler ghost wasn't particularly adept at taking a punch, it seemed, and Cain loomed over the cowering, crackling Pokemon as it watched wide-eyed from its spot on the dirt. Rhea reached for a Pokeball and gave it a toss, [break][break]

“Good eye,” she called in praise to her Ceruledge as the orb clicked shut. She stowed their new prize away with a fresh grin; though the Rotom was frail now, a ghost as unique as it was sure to possess near limitless potential. [break][break]

But that would be a matter to attend to another time. For now, she squared back up with Cain, sword held tight, and surged forward with another thrust. Practice made perfect, after all, and she was still far from perfection.

[attr="class","bottom"]catching rotom! [break]

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Rhea's form had gotten a little rusty. She grit her teeth as she lunged again at her Ceruledge, only for the blade to catch against one of his own sword-like arms, [break][break]

“Damn it.”[break][break]

You couldn't just jab your sword-arm forward for a thrust; your body had to follow behind, carrying that momentum into the strike. This was entry level technique, and somehow she was mucking it up after years of work and practice, [break][break]

“Damn it!” [break][break]

Again, again, again. Cain was a patient sparring partner; they would practice as many times as they needed to until Rhea got it right, but Arceus help whatever foolish creature intruded on their practice in what was supposed to be a rather isolated corner of the route.

[attr="class","bottom"]solo wild - psychic/ghost types [break]

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Rhea almost lamented the lost opportunity to use her own steel, but still, she couldn't deny the effectiveness of Cain's strike, nor could she deny the effectiveness of the shimmering, psychic field that the Vespiqueen was now IMPRISONED inside of. Excellent thinking on the other woman's part; Rhea had a healthy respect for those with a tactical mind. [break][break]

She also had a slightly less healthy love of praise heaped on by a beautiful stranger. Rhea sheathed her blade and flashed the other woman a grin, [break][break]

“Oh, no trouble at all,” she replied easily as her Ceruledge approached, eyes narrowing at his trainer, “It's part of the deluxe package, you see. They send a strapping young lass to wait in the wings for the moment some bit of peril should strike, and- ow!” [break][break]

Cain elbowed his trainer in the ribs, apparently deciding that he had had quite enough of her nonsense.

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ameena abadi [break]

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The threat that the Combee posed was minimal, especially when the woman's Gardevoir joined in with a MYSTICAL FIRE. Rhea's pride swelled as she watched Cain catch a few of the bees with a blow from his sword-like arms, but her attention was drawn elsewhere when the buzzing seemed to swell to a fever pitch. [break][break]

“Watch out from above!” [break][break]

Her gaze shot upward as the Vespiqueen's wings seemed to thrum with agitation. Rhea glanced from it to the woman crouched on the ground and back again, and suddenly realized that some of the downed Combee were reconvening to execute their matriarch's ATTACK ORDER, [break][break]

“Fuckin' hell.” [break][break]

She unsheathed the gladius from the scabbard hanging at her waist and pointed it in challenge at the insectoid brood mother, [break][break]

“Hey!” she barked angrily, hoping to draw the Vespiqueen's ire as Cain readied himself to strike with a BITTER BLADE just outside of the bug's periphery, “Fuck off!” [break][break]

Rhea stole one last glance back at the stranger kneeling among the flowers. Whether the “damsel” was content to just watch the spectacle or join in on the fight herself made no difference to the mercenary; either way, it looked as though some pest control was in order.

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ameena abadi [break]

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Rhea wasn't actually some sort of knight in shining armor, but she also couldn't deny that some part of her was drawn to the fantasy of the idea. This annoying little mental reflex, this romantic urge, was probably going to be her downfall some day. [break][break]

And maybe that day had finally come. She had been drawn to the flower fields surrounding Verdanturf by homesick nostalgia when she had first seen the Combee start to swarm. The culprit was quite clear to see, at least from her side of the lush landscape of flowers; an Ursaring charged off into a nearby treeline, pursued by a few diligent members of the swarm, as the rest of the hive raged and buzzed about, fuming over the destruction of their home. [break][break]

In their furious swarming, they seemed to have decided upon their scapegoat. Rhea watched as they began to approach a woman some distance away and any thoughts of minding her own business were cast aside. There was a damsel in distress, and a knight had their duty to her, [break][break]

“Cain, FLAME CHARGE. Let's see if we can't take out some of the nasty little buggers, yeah?” [break][break]

The Ceruledge nodded in acknowledgment and dashed into the fray, his body swathed in flames as he moved to collide with the angry swarm. Rhea was not far behind, prepared to knock each and every one of those pesky bees out of the sky with her bare hands if she had to.

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ameena abadi [break]

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It had been a while since Rhea had gotten the chance to get lost in a book. Hunting men and cracking skulls seldom afforded her the opportunity to retreat quietly into one of her favorite childhood pastimes, so when the chance finally did come, she had taken it readily. [break][break]

That's how she had found herself here, curled up in one of the plush chairs of this particular corner of the Rustboro Municipal Library, pouring over Apparitions of Northern Galar while Lautrec contented himself by gnawing on the wooden blocks of a children's wire-and-bead maze. It was quite an engrossing read too, she had found, now that she was neck-deep in a chapter on lupine creatures that roamed the moors. When some bit of movement from between the bookshelves nearby caught her eye, Rhea found her attention suddenly drawn elsewhere. Peering over the top of the pages held in her hands with eyes narrowed in suspicious appraisal, she took a moment to assess who exactly was intruding upon her peaceful little corner of Hoenn. [break][break]

The answer, as it turned out, was rather shocking, [break][break]

“Princess?” [break][break]

The word came out before Rhea could think better of it, and her face flushed with embarrassment as she stared at the young woman. Maybe she was mistaken, or maybe her eyes were playing tricks on her, or maybe she had taken a harder hit to the head on her last job that she previously thought, but Rhea was almost certain that she was staring down the Elise Calcifet, third princess of the United Kingdom of Galar. [break][break]

Even the nearby Impidimp stopped his bit of tomfoolery to gawk alongside his trainer. Huh, it really was a small world.

[attr="class","bottom"]library fit | mission[break]
Elise Calcifet[break]

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