at least he'd been carrying around the gas mask for the past week; dominic dons it in a laconic, but practiced, motion as the amoonguss glower at him from the grass and try to spit spores in his face. it occurs to him only later that the effect wouldn't even be able to put him to sleep.

dominic feels a vibration in his pocket and glances down at his phone screen to see that yet another emergency meeting had been called at the submarine - why exactly he's not sure, but there are so many reasons at this point that he won't even try to guess. sighing, he throws a pokeball moreso because he's annoyed at the pokemon than for any other reason.

pSz|BZ_V

maybe it wasn't always the case, but dominic feels at ease here among the spirits and graves. in kanto, it was lavender tower; this is no different. he follows the others down the path, taking a moment to scrutinise the spiritomb and the lights attached to it.

his umbreon's MOONLIGHT joins the stream of bright radiance emitted by the other pokemon alongside him.

MOONLIGHT
[attr="class","pokesprite pokemon umbreon"]
M9ip6K93

TM / TR
redeeming from a mission reward
nidoking, focus blast

petalburg drips in the galarian slowbro's poisonous sludge. dominic regards the noxious waste and the pokemon that spread it with a long, if very slightly bemused gaze. the fact is, the developments over the past days had been only mounting in absurdity.

it's no matter; dominic resolves to remove the problem and leave figuring out the reason to someone else. his nidoking typically has little to fear from poison, but this time dominic can swear that what the galarian slowbro's expel isn't the same type of toxin that harmlessly drips off the nikoking's body. he opts to steer clear, suspicious.

"nidoking, FOCUS BLAST," dominic says, pointing out at small gathered clump of galarian slowbro's intending for the ensuring ball of concentrated energy to simply knock them out of the city as though it were a bowling ball and the crazed pokemon mere pins.

FOCUS BLAST
[attr="class","pokesprite pokemon nidoking"]

dominic approaches circe crowley with a smile on his lips, his phone in one hand and a drink in the other. he's not sure how he manages to blend in with the league members, but he feels he deserves to make the most of this opportunity.

"hey babe," he purrs as he joins her, dropping onto the cushioned seat beside her. his delcatty sits by his legs, her tail delicately curled around its feline body. "sometimes wishes come true."

ASSIST
[attr="class","pokesprite pokemon delcatty"]

they're moving quicker than any of the group gathering around him could even react. dominic releases his bronzong with a motion that belies his lethargy; the preceding days had made their toll on him known.

"SPEED SWAP," he orders the hefty pokemon. its eyes pulse a dull red glow for a long moment, and dominic watches as the scolipede are forced to slow their descent down the slope. hopefully this forces them to decelerate enough so as to not render any more pokemon to a paste.

SPEED SWAP
[attr="class","pokesprite pokemon bronzong"]

the awareness that he had spent too long idling in the safari wilds comes as the shadows elongate, drawn long by the setting sun. dominic returns from the water's edge, making his way back to the central path, as he intends to follow its loop back through to the entrance. there's a rustle in the grass as a morpeko darts out and crosses his path, but dominic opts to not pursue it.

skipping

a wild pokemon - blue, buoyant - floats by, cresting aimlessly across the sea waves. when it nears dominic, the marill will be met with snarls and the crackle of electricity. it quickly paddles away, lest it draw the ire of the trainer and his pokemon.

if dominic noticed the wild pokemon, he didn't react.

skipping

"and we're probably all you need," dominic comments, his tone almost off-hand. he could say more, of course, there lay a slew disparaging things he could offer about anyone in management, but he knows there is a time and place for everything.

for a moment, dominic watches samuel handle the larvitar with his salamence, the capture going off without a hitch. he turns away when he hears stomping deeper in the cave but the shape of the lumbering cufant doesn't entice him to pursue it.

dominic grins when samuel next speaks, matching his smile with his own as he swings back to look at his colleague. "i can look into that. you know, we can be very generous if we want to be."

Samuel Boothe
skipping

dominic doesn't remember what they were talking about either, and it feels like remembering would require him to go back to a previous page to trace their conversation. he's not going to do that.

"were you telling me about how your scyther can decapitate people and pokemon?" dominic suggests.

the passage of time is an illusion.

priam conrad
skipping

dominic blinks at kyle and then at his houndour. he drops his gaze to the houndoom's capsule in his hands and smiles a smile that is more reminiscent of a grimace - he considered his houndoom to be many things, but cute was certainly pretty low on that list.

"kyle," dominic says after a long moment. "you have some of the cutest pokemon i have ever seen. my dog only sleeps, eats, and tears things apart if i'm not looking."

kyle lopez
skipping

it's a moment of relative respite between the skirmishes along the coast. dominic paces across the stone beach because the concept of exhaustion eludes him in the face of an anticipation that prickles at his skin.

he holds his phone and waits for the next call to come while his pokemon lurk in the shadows and between the rocks.

solo wild

dominic draws close to a stream running through the forest, intending to follow its curvature through the trees.

he smells it before he sees it; something acrid and familiar. squinting at the mud and dirt underfoot, dominic recognises droplets of some kind poison on unknown origin and follows the trail until he comes to some stones by the water. the weakened, poisoned anorith lay almost obscured by them, and dominic only really saw it when it weakly twitched its legs.

frowning, dominic squats down alongside it and tries to ascertain if it's the same kind of poison he'd seen cropping up across the region in the past days and weeks but he lacks the medical knowledge to be sure. dominic regards the weakened pokemon for a long moment and eventually heaves out a sigh. he knows he can be merciful; dominic pulls out a pokeball with his alcremie and directs it to use AROMATHERAPY before he captures the anorith in a safari-issued ball.

capturing