lyune's fangs sink deeper into the enemy dragon's hide; draconic fire gathers in the back of his throat, spilling out from his maw, and purple embers spurt out in a gust. freya watches the creature writhe in pain. 

lyune twists his neck, tucking his wings, prepared to roll, and then freya feels an incredible heat on her back. sweat instantly runs down her neck, dewing her skin, and the gouging fire finds renewed strength. 

flames scorch even the top of lyune's mouth and he reels back in pain, snarl cut off and made into a loud bellow when the surprisingly agile dog rams straight into him with its massive crown. 

"no!" she snaps over her shoulder, too focused on the battle to put on a polite face. 

the heat from the paradox radiates off of it in waves. freya hisses an order in draconic and lyune leaps, wings unfurling like SAILS!!!. his body enshrouds itself with green and golden flame, jaw and claws sink into flesh and then, with a thundering boom, they're launched in the air in a wave of heat and crackling lightning.

"hit it where it lands," she instructs once in common and again, at the paradox, in the slippery snarl of its native tongue.

june sleigh

☉

he looks around and considers and her palms start to sweat, needling reminders of what could go wrong if lele decided to finish the job fini hadn't been able to. 

and then he talks about surgery and sanitation and mentions ever grande general and she feels silly, but she also feels an awfully strong wave of relief. 

"oh, i thought - " she says and looks away sheepishly. "i thought it'd be all avatar power. ever grande general." she nods. 

"yeah, let's do that."

John Sullivan
i remembered to roll
kdp2Tv17

☉

trading saskia volosenkova's gouging fire to MATIAS SILPH for his walking wake on freya morningstar

they're dragons. and if she can contribute anything to some of the research down here, it's going to be on them. her thumb presses lyune's ball and it enlarges in her hand, but she waits to release him. once she does, they'll be on them quickly. and without mercy.

"gouging fire," she says lowly. a thick red tongue laps at the water, nonplussed by the bug pokemon that drift around it. a couple of greedent scurry away and up into the safety of the topmost branches of a tree. no other fauna dare linger in the vicinity. 

and for good reason. trees are felled a few meters to its left, scores slashed in the bark from what was no doubt a nasty fight. droplets of blood are spattered on the foliage, but whatever it had skirmished with isn't in view. 

"it recently fed, i think," she murmurs and steps closer, examining its belly. "it'll be slower." she turns her head. "sounds like a plan. tell them to stay light on their feet. we'll be fine."

and then she hurls the pokeball. 

lyune hits the ground like a boulder, shaking the earth as he lands. he towers over the dog-like dragon and wastes no time in digging his teeth into the creature's hind leg while they have the element of surprise. 

june sleigh

☉

a civilian? her brows furrow. annalise henderson's name-drop does make her feel a bit better; at the very least, it stops her from immediately shepherding her out of the chasm and back to new mauville. a delivery runner could be useful down here, especially with the ground they've needed to cover between the research stations. 

"i meant what leg of the league. ranger, officer, etcetera, but i got my answer."

the earth is still damp where the footprints lay in the ground. grass springs up near a pair and she pauses, cocking her head while she carefully unclasps the ball from her choker. 

"this one's very fresh. we're getting close. first sign of things getting nasty and you clear the area."

june sleigh

☉

"to hold a gym leader position," she bites back. their last conversation within these four walls comes to mind. long gone are the days when a gym leader was meant only to test the mettle and might of a trainer. they're not warlords now, by any means, but more often than not they're trusted to take care of their citizens. they're leant on in times of strife. and hoenn has a lot of that. 

"i'm not wasting resources of that level to make sure alexei doesn't lie. he does so again? his gym leadership will be removed from him, end of story." she takes another, heartier sample, and feels it burn. 

at the news of the elite four knowing, her brows shoot up and she very nearly snarls, "who?"

he speaks to the choir with all else and she at least has the satisfaction in knowing she's not insane for thinking how she does. partway through his spiel, she leans over the desk and tops off his glass. 

"i used to crow about the incompetence in the league, but witnessing it firsthand is - it sucked."

paxton concordas

☉

his fervor becomes a frenzy and while she shares the same sentiment, she has no guard rails for her hate. it's a face to an evil that will be around long after the organization's fall, but still there is a fire that burns in her at what they've taken from those she loves. 

she can forgive the individual, but she will condemn the whole. 

she says, "we will. we will do better." and then she stands, fingers splayed, head cocked. gym jam left her feeling powerless in her inaction, penned in on all sides by distrust and incompetence. 

"i've my badges, navy, and i've been meaning to do this. what better time than the present?" she brushes a hand at the belt on her side, the pokeballs she carries with her while at work, hand-painted and worn. "let's see what we're made of."

Navy

☉

they'd been ambushed so shortly after, freya hadn't had time to sort their story with Eva Morales. but to admit to the situation would bring up too many unanswerable questions and so she feigns professional interest, stuffing away their little skirmish with the drk triad in a box. 

"i never answered that letter of hers," she says instead, which is the truth. though she had kept the dragon. 

she tests the waters - "have there been any reports? sightings?"

PENELOPE LIVY

☉

her lips quirk, despite herself. few others have taken to the language like she had. but were there others? she thinks before the thoughts wisps away, hearing dulcet tones of familiar voices she swears have never spoken to her in that tongue before. 

she was as much a teacher as she was a student in her alternate life, she realizes. by growing alongside the likes of fernando and alex and eva, they learned from her, and now she's left feeling robbed of another connection. 
 
yet warmed all the same when she says, "you're picking it up quickly."

calcifer tucks in his wings and drops to all fours so he can lap generously from the pool of water at the base of the falls. fish pokemon dart away from him in erratic spurts. birds fly lowly, lazily overhead, as though they had lived here for eons. 

"you said something, during the battle," she says, wracking her brain. adrenaline has a way of mucking up memories. "before the blast. after the blast?" she sucks in a breath. "was that him?"

Caleb Harcourt

☉

she does hate it and has always hated it - knowing that what used to bring him comfort and freedom now brings him pain. that is why she is quashing all of her misgivings. that is why she is stifling every instinct not to trust the thing that gives doug his powers. 

i trust him, and that should be enough. 

lyune studies him and after he winks, the dragon looks past this silly human and towards freya. part of him understands, as all dragons do, and when she searches for a decision, she finds there is none. 

"now," she breathes. "if you can. if we need to wait, i understand, but if you can heal him...then now."

John Sullivan
i remembered to roll
RACPbvwU

☉

they'd left her well enough alone in all other instances except when she's traveled with an avatar. the agents will try to cut through her, but their end goal is the other.

she's breathing hard by the time they find a reprieve. they hadn't exactly been subtle upon their land, but kirimu's onslaught of heat waves had immolated enough of them to force them to regroup. or so she hopes. 

she dismounts and nods at his question, tilting her head back to look through the canopy of trees and clusters of crystals. 

"i'm not so sure," she says grimly. "but we need to keep moving. half of area zero would have heard that."

Remiel Calcifet oscar clayton mint frost

☉