[attr="class","pinside"]

[attr="class","pinpost"]

[attr="class","pinside"]

[attr="class","pinpost"]

[attr="class","rainey"]

---

the cryogonal disappears from sight for an instant, leaving zeke alone with the stranger that is wrapped over his shoulders like a scarf for an instant. francie's voice still echoes in the distance; the source remains unclear to him. perhaps he can not pin its location because he's too preoccupied with the trek.

the ground beneath him is frozen but frictionless in places. it forces him to travel slowly, watching his every step with the dead weight that pushes down on his back. he is cognizant of the difficulties, stopping in fear when the ground beneath him shifts. relief washes over him as the ice cracks away and solid stone reveals itself in the form of a staircase. it leads him upward, bringing selzius back into view and his own body up closer to the exit.

zeke knows it is the francie's rockruffs that are aiding him -- he moves more quickly and with more fervor, feeling the blond man's body bounce on his shoulders. francie's voice sounds more urgent as he gets closer, the words light screen ringing in his ears. "selzius, go help francie if she needs it! be ready with reflect and light screen. i'll keep jet here with me."

the cryogonal zooms off as zeke summons his croconaw, who immediately tunes into the scene and falls in step with his trainer. zeke's ears pick up on a rumbling, but not just the storm. something else...something greater. his footsteps pick up in speed in an attempt to catch up to francie in his ascent up the rockruffs' staircase. over his shoulder, there would be nothing left but a pile of thistle and weeds where the man's body once was.

"almost there!" his voice rumbles triumphantly for francie to hear, hoping her hands aren't too full.

‣ francie myrtle

[attr="class","zeke"]

---

"come on...come on, wake up." his hulking form hovers over the slighter man's as concern for the blond oozes from his very pores. zeke shakes one of his shoulders lightly, eyes jumping up into the open space above them to check for any observers.

he can't decide whether or not he wants to be alone still.

bringing a chilled hand of his own up to the man's cheek, zeke frowns. "you're so cold...we can't stay here." who or what has brought them here does not matter to zeke as he staggers to his feet. "mother of god...fuckin'...ouch..." a hand rushes to the back of his head, body swaying precariously for an instant as all the blood rushes upward into his brain to make the room around him spin.

'zeke?!'

"oh, thank...francie!" his eyes search the cavern, running over the walls around him in search for the source of her soprano voice. today, it is the voice of an angel that widens his eyes with a hope he thought may have expired. "selzius...get us out of here...i need to..." his cryogonal appears from its pokeball, floating above zeke as he hoists the man's limp body up over his shoulder. it takes the ice-type all but a minute to find the exit, signaling to his trainer with a cry of its own. "there's some guy passed out down here. i'm bringing him out. something brought us here...please watch out..."

step by step, he follows the cryogonal in the hopes that it will lead him to his companion.

---

[attr="class","zeke"]

---

zeke rainey's eyes shoot open with urgency, mouth gaping open but producing no sound out of fear. something is very, very amiss. frozen stone chills his back and clings to the protective fabric of his winter coat, frosty air biting at his exposed face. the ceiling above him drips with stalactite and icicles, and he knows he is positively fucked.

his forearms push him up off of his back into a sitting position, a throbbing beginning in the back of his head right over his occipital lobe. everything is...blurry. across the cavern floor, he makes out the body of another human -- not one he can recognize. they lay in a bed of thistle and weeds that must have been collected from the mountain's slanted landscape for this very purpose. he's still on route 119, right?

"holy shit..." the strained words come out in a whisper as he rubs the back of his head; immediately he suspects that he's sustained a concussion from whatever it was that assaulted him. his eyes settle on the other body that occupies the cave, studying it for signs of life. he crawls toward it, unperturbed by the world around the two of them in this moment as he decides the fate of them. it's another man, albeit younger than himself. "you're breathing."

the observation comes out as relief, even if the blond man he has now cradled in his arms does not hear him.

while this man lies in his arms, a panic seizes zeke like a curse as he remembers the storm. "francie?" he calls out into the echoing chamber to see if she's here as well.

he is met with only a distant rumbling and a churning in the pit of his stomach.

---

[attr="class","zeke"]the duo nestles in a chrysalis, their forms blurring together in a swarm of luxurious blankets that protect them from any chilly winter air that dare disturb them. if it were to come up, zeke would be proud of how incredibly soft his comforter and sheets are. he takes all forms of bedding very, very seriously.

his heart rate has finally died down a bit -- minutes or hours have passed, he isn't sure. blankets and abner's rising chest are the only things that burden his blissful mind while he basks in his post-coital glow. it's heavenly.

"i can't feel anything." it comes out in a coo as he lays against the one-night stand, willingly allowing the guy to break the protocol of doing what needs doing and getting out immediately.

in this moment, he would let abner stay forever.

his legs stretch slowly, the hairs of his legs catching on the sheets and rustling them softly to fill the silence. not that the silence needs filled -- it is tranquil and soothing to listen to abner's heart beat. a yawn forces its way out of his throat to inform him that his brain will be forcing him into a slumber soon.

"thanks, by the way." it's almost comical, a direct thank you for the sex. his tone is both amused and congenial, quiet with exhaustion.

his eyes flutter shut and he stays there for who knows how long, completely defenseless.

his head bobs as he internalizes silph's words, fully hooked by the meaningless jibber jabber of his superior. "i guess that seems like a reasonable thing to want to do." taking back slateport, however massive and vague an undertaking, falls under zeke's umbrella of interests and skills.

somewhere along the way, he has felt his past self slipping away from him; the gruff cop with a gun filled with named bullets on his way over to hoenn to right the wrongs has fallen away to reveal the current zeke. the current zeke works for silph and tries to interpret as many meanings from his employer's words. the current zeke feels more calculating. if he had the clarity of mind to realize this, perhaps his response would be different. perhaps he'd march in and kick as much rocket ass as he could.

instead, he assumes silph has a shifty plan and decides to allow that to unfold and just pitch in when its his turn to play his part. "well, i don't want to hold you up forever, fernando. i appreciate you giving me the opportunity. i won't let you down."

the waitress is on her way back to the table, but zeke waves her away. they won't be ordering anything, after all. he rises to his feet before silph does -- perhaps it is impolite, but he knows silph must have three dozen things to do. "i'm here for whatever you need."

FERNANDO SILPH

[attr="class","zeke"]abner's taking the lead? zeke looks at him for a moment, smirk still on his face despite his eyes being out of focus. abner 'taking the lead' wasn't really he meant by being too tired -- it was a lame attempt to get abner to take his shirt off for him.

but zeke doesn't care who leads. ever, really. a softened smile sits on his face while he lets abner do with him what he pleases, head tilting up while the other man's lips presses against his neck. zeke lets it go on for a moment before lightly pushing abner away.

"you're in charge, then." the feigned lack of energy disappears along with his shirt, which lands somewhere on the rather barren living room floor. he slips around the corner into the bedroom, knowing that abner will follow after him.

---

---

---

alexei's discomfort does not pass by the attentive zeke; despite the heat in the cavern, he detects alexei's blushing. a chuckle is choked down, and when he is given the all clear, zeke allows the response to sit between them for an instant. part of him does not want to offer himself up for objectification...the other part is ridiculously overheated.

"right, thanks." off the shirt goes, revealing his bare chest to the flustered boy in front of him. "if you have any more, uh, issues, just let me know." he says it as a slight acknowledgement to alexei's attraction to him, perhaps as an attempt to clear the air. he walks on, allowing the riolu and its trainer to share a moment without zeke disturbing it. besides, he has somewhere he wants to be down in these depths -- he isn't truly here to put on a show for alexei, though the affection does make him feel good.

zeke doesn't get very far, watching as a slugma and a torkoal appear before them. the riolu bursts into action, taking on the torkoal with relative ease. zeke summons mother, his marowak. the bursting white light reveals the ground type. "mother, bonemerang followed by stomping tantrum!" the marowak grunts in agreement, launching the club in her hand at the slugma before rushing after it. the club moves too quickly for the slugma to dodge, passing through its lava body to go further down the way. mother quickly follows, stomping the slugma with the power of a ground-type pokemon.

after the attack lands, she leaps back, still boneless. another instant passes and the bone strikes slugma from behind again, knocking it out. the twirling bone returns to the marowak's hand, and zeke moves forward with three of his pokemon at his side.

"mikael, do you know the way down here by chance?" the numel has a good chance of being familiar with these parts, after all. he nods and walks out in front of zeke, leading them down the path that diverts from the main one. it is a little tighter than before.

zeke looks to alexei, rubbing the back of his head to shake some of the sweat off. "i'm ready to move on...how are you not dying of heat exhaustion?" he turns away from the boy and begins to follow the numel, giving alexei the chance to respond from behind him if he so chooses.

---

defeated slugma!

zeke sits in silence for a moment once fernando stops speaking. he can hear the exasperation and anxiety in his voice beneath the enthusiasm. the nerves are, of course, warranted; zeke tries his best to somehow convey his support without cheesy words. silph probably already knows that he has zeke's trust.

"that's coming up fast." the response comes after a long pause. his eyes drop down, into his own lap. with the unforeseen changes in responsibilities, he is even less certain of what he will do for silph.

"so, what do you want me to do for you? when this all goes through, i mean." carefully he chooses the word 'when' instead of 'if'. why did silph bring him on in the first place? and why was zeke stupid enough to accept a job whose responsibilities he did not fully understand?

FERNANDO SILPH

"it's all yours." the flickering flame that lights the path ahead of them illuminates the face of the magmar as they close in. zeke steps back to allow the kid to handle the situation, his electabuzz staying close to his trainer and out of the way.

flames erupt in the cavern, their strength quickly snuffed out by the hungry rock walls that encase the battle. zeke watches the riolu engage for a few moments, his gaze dancing between the two pokemon as a flamethrower reflects in his irises. the riolu is quicker and more precise, despite its battle style looking somewhat unpolished compared to persephone amavi 's lucario. a key counter decides the battle, tipping the scales in the kid's favor against the wild magmar.

as the pokeball leaves the kid's hand, zeke turns to find a numel hovering in the darkness behind him. it is timid, though perhaps interested in the group that had broken down the wall to reach the deeper part of fiery path. a battle plan runs through his mind, but mild pacifism keeps him from attack the pokemon that apparently has no interest in attacking him. zurich's arms, which had been up in front of him to defend himself from any sudden fire attacks, lower to his sides.

"i don't think you know anything about the depths of this place, but you can come with us if you'd like." it's an uncharacteristic way for zeke to make friends with pokemon, as a traditional battler. nevertheless, he sets his own spare pokeball down and allows the Numel to decide; its rounded nose presses against the capsule. white light swallows it and blinds the cavern's occupants for a moment before returning to the pokeball that shakes on the floor.

once it finishes shaking, zeke picks it up and summons the numel once again, an amused smirk on his face. "you're mikael now, okay?" the shared moment is brief but the message is received by the numel.

"Alexei," he finally turns his attention back to the kid. "nice to meet you. i'd be more offended if you didn't stare." a moment for a response lingers between them before zeke brushes by him, back down toward the end of the cavern. the electabuzz and numel walk beside him, the electric-type illuminating the path once again. zeke is now hyper-aware of the effect his body has on the guy before him, but refrains from taking his undershirt off for now.

a change in subject feels natural. "so the rumor is that these caves will start to branch and get smaller and smaller until we reach the end where it should open back up." already ahead he can see a path diverting from the one they walk now. "and apparently there's a hot spring beneath here, so things might get a little steamy. we'll just stick together and face whatever we come across together. fair enough?"

he pauses for a moment, giving alexei a chance to confirm that he will be sticking it out. "you don't mind if i take my shirt off, do you?" he feels like a douche bag but the words flow desperately in the muggy air.

---

captured numel! sending amoonguss back to the PC!