---

tropius does not come across, in any way, as a sleek, speedy flier. it is hulking, and it has leaves for wings. zen....is not a sleek, speedy flier. around his midsection, a strap fastens a basket of sorts to his back, a much larger package than one of his sleeker, speedier fliers might be able to handle.

for him, it is nothing. the cool air tilts the bananas that hang from his neck back and forth hypnotically, his eyes shut as he takes in the blissful solitude that he experiences, ignoring the payload trying to weigh him down. the tropius gets very, very little time alone these days -- in galar? he'd be off doing these pokemon jobs constantly, sometimes going days at a time without seeing onus. now, they were constantly together, which, was, you know, great!

but the solitude? also great.

his destination is pacifidlog, a place he has been to only once. luckily enough, the house he is delivering to has a large enough landing area for the large grass type to touch down; a lone woman stands there awaiting his arrival. she peeks back into her house and beckons to men to join her, both burlier than the woman. within a few minutes, they have what might be a television unloaded from the back of the tropius. zen hears the woman mutter something about "distancing" but gets lost in the massage from one of the two men.

and then, he's off again. left for some solitude and some more delivering.

---

the pokeball rolls to a stop, the carbink contained and now under his ownership. he looks over and finds sidonie has also captured her "prey," as she would likely see it. "i guess it's obvious then." is all he can manage. the two of them have never gotten along based on their differing moral compasses, even if they were both pieces of shit in their own ways.

at least onus wasn't a pokemon abuser.

"so, how's that research of yours going? gave up the bullshit that is the galar region?" more pokemon appear, apparently hungry for battles today out here. amaya is returned and replaced with sina, who opens up the battle with a psybeam. it is enough to stagger the weezing, who responds with a sludge bomb. It washes over the kecleon and leaves her as a poison type. She unleashes another psybeam, this one knocking the weezing out.

he looks to sidonie. she looks just as he remembers her looking, maybe even a bit less human than before. how she is the way she is, he'll never quite know.

---

---

parker is quick on the uptake, and, in that moment of their faceoff with the scientists, onus realized he likes working with her. her voice shakes the walls of the cave, the command in its voice that of a natural leader. he grins and nods, bolting off in the direction of some of the cages before tossing a pokeball back toward parker. "sina, do what parker says!" the kecleon emerges, her eyes locking with her temporary master's before facing back off with the scientists before her.

amaya is in tow, and onus scans the cave -- there have to be 20 cages in here, all filled with fire type pokemon. a growlithe sits in the cage before him, its eyes pleading and sad, the kind that might even make @sidonie feel some semblance of sympathy...well, maybe not. "we're getting you all out, don't worry." he backs away, allowing the cufant to get in close. "rip those bars out, amaya. but be careful." he looks over his shoulder, instinctively feeling as though he can trust parker, but logically covering his own ass. the scientists are well occupied for now.

within a minute, the growlithe is free, running off into the depths of the cavern. amaya movesonto the next cage, and then the next. they arre well on their way to succeeding, so long as parker can deal with the scientists.

---

this virtual reality around him is still foreign to him, though he has begun to get a grip on what he is to do and how he is supposed to go about doing it. that, of course, requires "internet friends" which he not only does not have, but does not know how to effectively obtain. so many people around here seem to have their little squad to go after enemy hordes or whatever.

onus, or dell, as he has decided to go by in the game, is not one such person, and barely knows what an enemy horde or aggro or whatever, is.

he wonders...am i...old?

"i can't be that old if i've made it this far by myself so far!" fate would find him in fontaine, a lush area of the virtual reality with waterfalls and oceans and beaches. his character, dell, stands alone, sword loosely gripped in hand, blond hair hanging down in his face, eyepatch limiting his peripheral vision rather substantially. 

the sand beneath his feet is gritty and real, a shocking realization he's had several times since starting the game. it's an impressive undertaking.

he walks the beach alone, knowing damn well that he's about to be in for a shock if he remains that way much longer. this place is supposedly known for having a lot of aggro mobs, which he was equipped to deal with, just not well enough to do it alone. something needed to change.

fate, again, brought him to a female character. "hi uh, i'm out here by myself and am probably in way deeper than i ought to be...would you mind teaming up for a little bit?" it's just about as nice as he's ever been, so she'd better say yes.

avery jones

---

---

the moment of confusing peace that follows sunflora's presence is not long for this world -- a flurry of leaves rises from the foliage, its wielder a roserade ready for battle. the nickit, too, rises, ready to protect his hungover and existentially confused trainer. a magical leaf shoots off after dell, who is forced to take the hit.

he shrugs it off -- he's strong that way -- and returns with a feint attack, another no-miss move. the roserade has no trouble withstanding the attack, either, and summons a petal dance to send the little dark type flying.

onus is still silent, still thinking about her. dell must conduct himself, and uses another feint attack to topple the roserade into a tree.

they trade another magical leaf for another feint attack, and this one is enough to leave both pokemon exhausted. dell looks over his shoulder to his trainer, who is finally moving.

a pokeball soars over the nickit's head and releases zen, onus' tropius. dell returns to his trainer's side.

"air slash." as the roserade attempts to use another magical leaf in this clear type disadvantage, tropius overwhelms it with an air slash that sends the roserade back to whatever shithole it came from.

for a moment, onus, dell, and zen share a look in relative silence.

"i mean really, what was that sunflora?"

---

---

"or maybe they all scrambled for fear of being taken..." his words trail for a moment before the thought is broken by parker bolting off after her pidgeot. onus follows closely, allowing his counterpart to lead them wherever her trusty bird takes them. he doesn't mind; he has no better ideas.

he presses his hands up against the wall beside parker, his eyes reading the confusion in her face as amaya approaches beside them -- surely any element of surprise would be ruined by the cufant's stomping about. "i'm sure that there's some kind of hidden button, or code, or whatever...but I'm not really into that, ya know? so let's just....back up..."

one hand gently pulls parker away from the wall, allowing ample space for his cufant to lumber up to it. "i hope you two are ready because i don't expect things to be super easy from here on out."

he swallows. hard. he still can't figure out why he's as nervous as he is. is he scared of the recognition?

it doesn't matter. "amaya, iron head."

the sound shakes the entire cavern but the trouble is not for nothing. "excellent work, pidgeot." he smiles to the bird briefly before moving forward, motioning parker to follow.

[attr="class","leaguecardfront"]

---

"I suppose you're here to irritate me too?" a sunflora stands before them, its face a still, creepy smile. neither party moves, the movement of air the only sign of life between all 3 of them. onus won't move, won't initiate -- he's got a headache and he doesn't need this little piece of shit making it throb any harder than it already is.

so they sit. and sit. minutes pass, and onus begins wondering just what the fuck this thing wants with him. does it need companionship? does it need food? shelter? what?

the sunflora finally takes a step toward onus. then another. dell sits casually, but onus knows he is ready.

and then, she just sits. right there. right next to them.

just, sits.

and so they sat, watching as the clouds floated along, for a good 20 minutes. sunflora's presence is calming...it slows the world around them, and it makes his head feel much lighter. onus smiles at the pokemon, who returns her same smile back.

this time, it is endearing to him. his hand reaches over and pats her on the forehead, his smile lingering as they continue to bond.

and then, she gets up, looks at him, and walks back off into the woods.

and onus just sits there. just.



sits there.

---

[attr="class","leaguecardinner"]

---

he chuckles, a smirk settling in on his face. "sarcastic and deflecting? i don't know what you're talking about." the temper tantrum from before is a thing of the past -- he has enough going on in front of him. to sidonie, he is likely nothing but an extra set of hands to protect her precious research, whatever that is. their history is pretty dated but is not so recent, so seeing her here is a shock to say the least.

then again, she has a habit of showing up unwanted.

her attitude toward pokemon was almost as 'endearing' as the rest of her personality. he rolled his eyes and shook his head. "you mean pokemon? not necessarily but...sometimes they crop up."

speaking of which, more wild pokemon appear -- this time, a carbink and a floette. he squares off with the carbink, his hand reaching into his pocket for amaya's pokeball. a flash of light reveals the cufant, her hulking form towering over the carbink, who initiates the battle with a power gem.

amaya takes the attack, leaning her head into it with little difficulties thanks to type advantage. "iron head." she complies with easy, diving in for an attack. it's enough to weaken the pokemon, sending it knocking into the tree behind it. rocks levitate around it and fly toward the cufant, who charges forward and breaks them with another iron head as they hurdle toward her. another hit and the carbink is defeated.

onus tosses an empty pokeball at the pokemon in hopes of recruiting it. it rattles on the ground, but onus looks to sidonie.

"and what are you doing out here, hm?"

---

---

"orion, right. i've never been one for formalities anyways. i usually answer to asshole, so." his cheeks redden when his ears register what his mouth just spouted. "maybe too informal. just uh, pretend i didn't say that. heh..." his feet carry him a few steps ahead of ranger lykos, orion, to mask his embarrassed expression.

then again, he was the man with the map, he was in charge, so he could relax a little, right?

the creaking of the cavern persists, droplets of water appearing from nowhere and landing nowhere, but making themselves known with their little plop echoing about. they veer away from the running water, his eyes occasionally glancing down at the map before him to ensure that he is leading them in the right direction.

"dell really seems to like your absol, by the way. he doesn't usually warm up so immediately." he peers over his shoulder to the two quadrupeds walking side by side, in step and in sync. "i wonder when he'll evolve. i'm thinking soon. we've been together for a while now." he feels more inclined to speak in the presence of someone with a lot more power than he has, and silence echoing between them makes for a bad impression to say the least.

the nickit's ears perk up, causing onus to stop.

plop.

he hears...something...but isn't sure what. his eyes lock with orion's. "do you hear anything? or am i crazy?" stopping makes no sense, and so he starts slowly stepping further down the path, still looking at his ranger counterpart.

Orion Lykos

---

the duo approaches a lovely looking stump just up ahead, and relief washes over onus' sunken-in eyes and pale face. he looks like shit, and that looks like heaven. just to...take a seat...

"mother fu --!" with a whoosh, a gourgeist appears, a giggle filling the air as it challenges the duo to a battle. onus locks eyes with the grass/ghost type, his brow showing that he is both livid and aghast. "you son of a....dell, foul play." the nickit springs into action, his forme moving quickly as he lunges at the gourgeist. the hit lands, and the gourgeist returns the favor with a shadow ball. ghastly energy whirls around it before accumulating in a sphere before it, launching at the nickit, who withstands the hit by shielding its face with its oversized tail.

"hone claws, then feint attack." the nickit sharpens its claws quickly before diving back into the fray, watching as the gourgeist prepares another shadow ball. the forces meet somewhere in the middle, but the nickit not only breaks through the shadow ball, but lands a hit on the gourgeist.

it is enough to send the thing sprawling back to wherever the fuck it came from.

"good job, dell. finally, just...a seat."

he sits.

---

---

someone had a sense of humor sending onus on a mission with one of the councilman of the league. he tries to force a smile but it doesn't really come. instead, he nods quietly. "nice to meet you, ranger lykos. i'm um...ranger eliakim. onus works better because i probably wouldn't register ranger eliakim as an address to me." he chuckles at the foreign sound on his tongue for a moment before allowing the conversation to naturally move on to the task at hand.

onus' eyes falter over to those of the absol as he speaks. "yeah, that's what i was thinking. guess they're a little further in?" he turns toward ranger lykos. "i have the supposed location, which isn't really too far from here...guess we should go take a look?"

the nickit pads over to the absol, its much smaller frame just below its fellow dark type. onus realizes that he is trying to boss around a councilman and high ranking ranger. he finds himself blinking once or twice.

"ranger lykos i'll just....you should call the shots, yeah?"

when did he turn into such a submissive wuss? lykos wasn't going to manage to dig up dirt on the piece of shit in front of him while they were trapped together in rusturf. might as well be...normal.

which, normal isn't great either. hm.

Orion Lykos