as soon as dominic's feet hit the ground, he drops marcel maeda's sylveon at the man's feet (almost gently - the eevee evolutions always feel so fragile and he didn't want to actually injure a colleagues pokemon inadvertently).

briefly, he's fixated on the tree, its brilliant white roots starkly visible in the gloom. dominic watches Kazimir Wynter and Goro Shimizu join them, remaining still and watching through narrowed eyes as priam conrad dealt with them. while the trio are occupied he turns and takes the klefki out again, repeating the same order from earlier. he can hear voices drawing near, and if they're here it must means others aren't too far behind. they need just a bit more time.

the klefki floats up from his hands and silently snaps out long, pink chains once more through the hole in the hatch, another FAIRY LOCK, before dropping back down into dominic's open palm. he watches as something dark and noxious pours down through the hatch. the poison seeps into the floor around them, harmless against their glimmering SAFEGUARD and LIGHT SCREEN, and bleeds into the dirt closer to the roots.

kind of someone to do his job for him, he supposes.

"we don't have much time," dominic murmurs to Eva Dumont when he draws close, nodding toward the tree. "take what you need and let's light this bitch on fire."

he releases the bisharp once more and it DIGS deep into the earth almost immediately, requiring only a hand gesture from its trainer to know what to do - lie in wait until it hears dominic's voice reverberate through and direct him where to attack.


tldr: Eva Dumont's SAFEGUARD (2/5) and marcel maeda's LIGHT SCREEN (1/5) are active. klefki uses FAIRY LOCK through the hatch on b2 (west side) to stall and keep people in miasma. recalls kelfki (removes PERISH SONG effects). releases bisharp, bisharp uses DIG and lies in wait.

tzYWOFjx

dominic's easy smile falters. there was a time when the bitter pinpricks he felt in his chest and along his spine would have driven him to lash out - physically, violently. the expanse between him and calcifet is tangible; one had everything given to him, and the other clawed for the scraps.

for a half-second, dominic's gaze falls to the young man's throat before flickering back up to his face.

were they in kanto, he could strike him. were they in kanto, he could throw his weight around. in hoenn, he's shackled and playing by cadis's rules. at least until they bleed this boy dry.

dominic lets the thought console him for a moment longer, barely having time to snatch his hand away from the galarian meowth. the claws still make purchase and graze the skin, though the sting is dulled and superficial. honestly, he probably would have been disappointed if the pokemon had been an entirely placid pet.

dominic vacantly nods along to calcifet, surprising himself when the faint condescension didn't irritate him more. instead he watches the galarian meowth bound off with atypical agility and reaches for the pokeballs inside his jacket.

"i would be so grateful," dominic said, flat and sounding everything but that as he balanced three capsules in long fingers. he makes a conscious effort to sound less adversarial when he continues to speak.

"my pokemon aren't trained to, ah, behave in public places or be sure i would have used them," dominic offers by way of explanation, hoping that calcifet can at least follow the inferred meaning. "they're a bit aggressive."

he studies the capsules and pockets two, releasing a weavile from a starburst of light a moment later. "but this one can play nice."

the weavile drops into a defensive stance for a moment, teeth bared in a sneer, claws at the ready and eyes searching for a target until her trainer's voice indicates that there's no need for violence. the pokemon visibly relaxes, though her torn ears twitch suspiciously in caclifet's direction.

Remiel Calcifet

it is probably for the best that samuel does the talking. dominic evaluates the man for a few seconds. actually - it is definitely for the best. dominic isn't delusional, he knows that his demeanour and wording of even basic requests can come off as a threat or order more of then than not.

"i'll make sure they're quick about it." the longer they spend on this, the more chances there is for someone to fuck something up, causing the entire operation to unravel.

dominic gives samuel a nod as he breaks away to essentially usher the small group of disguised science-engineer types to the back of the vehicle like a shepherd with a group of mareep.

he doesn't exactly understand the minutiae of the equipment they are dealing with, so when he swings the doors of the truck open, dominic mainly stands back to let the others work, alert and watching. as the grunts swap out equipment with boxes (laden with rocks so as to mimic the weight), dominic cranes his neck to watch the scientists pry the boxes open, shining lights and murmuring to one another.

dominic takes a step forward and clears his throat when he thinks they're taking too long, just to spur a little more action out of them. after all, there is more than one truck coming through this evening, and they'd have to stash these boxes and containers before the next one arrives.

looking back, it seems samuel is doing a good job of stalling, and his little group finishes speedily. dominic steps around the side of the truck and into samuel's line of sight. forgoing obvious gestures that would otherwise draw attention to him, dominic makes eye contact with his colleague and inclines his head slightly.

one truck down.

Samuel Boothe

dominic squared his jaw and narrowed his eyes at the sudden rush of sound and movement ahead of them. it's not that he was superstitious per se - he was accustomed to the meddling of ghost-types.

after all, rocket was born in saffron, like he was, and lavender's pokemon tower was a stone's throw away. and what's a little grave-robbing as a tween rocket recruit?

still, the screeching of ghosts somewhere in the depths of the warehouse as they were... hunted? absorbed? exorcised? by zacharias's gengar sounded like the drowning of a litter of unwanted littens.

dominic winced and let his lip curl in something resembling a sneer.

"that seemed efficient," dominic says when the sounds die down, sounding almost impressed. he knew intellectually that zacharias is competent but it always came as a surprise when he actually got to witness it.

@zacharias

its trainer crouches down near the fence at the rear of the property and slips it through the steels bars, like sliding a coin through a coin slot. bronzor happily clinks its body against the metal and rotates in the air to face its master.

"just, blend in, act natural. i don't know, maybe learn something useful? i'll be back to pick you up at this spot at six, do you understand?" the trainer asked in a quiet, but no less commanding voice.

bronzor spun around twice in one direction, then twice in the other, and screeched a beep boop to indicate it understood. the trainer arches an eyebrow, rises to his full height and leaves.

the pokemon decides to take the orders seriously and tries its best to blend in by burying itself in the earth so that only its unblinking yellow eyes are visible. it keeps close to a playpen with a handful of baby pokemon in the hopes of learning something cool to impress the trainer.

mission

open!

it's with a calculated precision that dominic loses round after round. his gaze lingers on zacharias and he quashes the smirk threatening his demeanour, glancing back down at his hand.

they should be closing in on the targeted player, if the quirk of his brows and the way he rearranged his chips almost nervously was to be an indicator. dominic's sure experienced players can usually control their responses better than this, but with the amount this man stood to lose?

well, everyone cracks under enough pressure.

dominic played his cards and, like a conductor, let the gesture of his fingers communicate further information to zacharias.

@zacharias

he catches movement in the bushes and snaps to attention, body tensing for a moment until the intruder shows itself to be nothing impressive.

eyeing the small pokemon suspiciously for a moment, dominic tries to recall if he had ever fought this thing. satisfied that it is not a threat and of little to no interest otherwise, he turns away.

skipping!

his own honchkrow was a gift from old man @desmond - given to him well before rocket was filled with EMPTY SUITS.

dominic watches the cluster of pokemon with latent interest.

he didn't really need another one of the pokemon, but he had something of a soft spot for the species so he flung an empty capsule toward them anyway.

6q9OxRGS

this rural shithole really has to be the worst part of this already backwater region.

dominic never really did understand why they picked hoenn for all this instead of something slightly closer to home. he supposed the distance meant some of the pokemon were exotic enough to sell for an inflated price, maybe the artifacts and rocks the science-guys unearth in the caves are worth something.

standing watch for the scientist's "protection", dominic paces impatiently outside the ancient tomb, glaring at the eerily symmetrical rock structures surrounding the cave as though sharing a space with them is an insult.

he and the scientist both know he's there just to make sure the man doesn't try to run.

wild

dominic halts his assault, and for just a moment it looks like he won't react to the speaker at all. he swings around to face remiel in fluid motion, the precise, sharp movement not at all correlating to the drunken lilt of his voice.

he studies the young man in front of him, matching the dark hair and particulars of his features to the compendium of faces in his memory and after a second, dominic's head lolls backwards and he gives a humourless bark of laughter. oh wonderful, how fortunate for him! to run into rocket's precocious little sponsor!

dominic lets the peal of insults die on his tongue, and he practically feels the acid run down the back of his throat. he's still smiling when he speaks.

"it's in my way," dominic says simply, as though speaking to a child. maybe there's a gentle threat there, maybe it's his default tone. dominic himself won't be able to tell. "so i have to remove it."

he reaches down a hand and absently gives the galarian meowth a few pats on the top of his head between the ears.

"what, are ya gonna help me out, buddy?"

Remiel Calcifet

TYPE 2 EVO w/ EVENT DISCOUNT
togepi -> togetic, 25pd

TYPE 3 EVO w/ EVENT DISCOUNT
togetic -> togekiss, 25pd

ty!!