Oscar scratched his head as Bryan took a moment to recharge. He did not look so good, the effort to revive the tree of life seemed to be taking a massive toll. Oscar scowled as he cautiously drew closer, resting his hands delicately upon his waist. 

"That barely answered my question." He spoke firmly but empathetically, as he did not wish to set Bryan off or upset him. "Forget about me, I want to know how Bryan is doing. You've been trying to revive this thing for ages, when was the last time you've gone outside?"

Oscar worried for his friend; it was understandable why Bryan seemed to be obsessed but it was clearly killing him. Humans, demi-gods or not, were never meant to expend Infinity Energy. If he could not reel himself in, the damn fool was going to waste away.

bryan delarosa

A dinner with FERNANDO SILPH? How unexpected. Oscar had assumed that Hoenn's premier mega-ceo would rather chew glass than interact with him in person. Perhaps he missed Oscar's roguish charm and bad attitude. Jokes aside, Oscar felt uneasy about the invitation. Fernando did not reach out unless there was something important to discuss, and if it involved Oscar it likely meant bad news.

Oscar would attend regardless, meeting Fernando at the restaurant of his choosing in a fashionably late manner. As Fernando came into view, Oscar would open his arms in greeting. "Well Mister Silph, it's been an age or two hasn't it?" 

Oscar tapped his fingers to his cheeks, "Nothing we can't handle I assure you. Just an influx of sea predators, probably drawn by the tourist activity. They should not be hard to clear out." Oscar leaned back, dismissing his concern as a passing anxiety. Surely the reports from his GMH survey team were exaggerating. 

He opened up his arms as he chuckled to himself, "Fuck Rowan I'm just excited to get that eyesore back to being operational. When can we start?"

Rowan Wrynn

A shadow passed over Chu-e Choi. Perhaps he would pay it no mind, believing it to be just a cloud. Or maybe he would look up right away to see what was suddenly blocking his light. Either way, a metallic screech would surely draw his eyes to a black and red object hurdling down toward him. With a bit of focus, he might even realize that it was nonother than his favorite cybernetic assassin: Genesect. 

As always, as soon as Genesect located Chu-e the eccentric former underboss would become a priority one target. Genesect was flying at a breakneck speed, likely aiming to smash Chu-e into a smear of black crystal on the bench he sat upon. Luckily before it could get too close, Genesect would disappear with a flash of red behind the sitting mister Choi.

If Chu-e were to look behind him, he would find a very giggly Oscar coming out from behind a tree. He felt rather proud of his little gag, only possible thanks to the park's sparse population. He hid Genesect's red pokeball in his coat pocket, getting all of his chuckles out before addressing his long-lost friend. 

"I'm so sorry, I really couldn't help myself. Did I scare ya?"

"Hmmm..." 

By this point Clavis was completely decked out. Rings lined every inch of his legs, and he worse bracelets around his body like extravagant skirts. It was a more than satisfactory haul, and with the trinkets Oscar had in his own pockets he felt pretty confident in their victory. However, he did not feel happy about it. It seemed uneven, if he came back with this much loot it might make Jayden feel bad. The last thing he wanted was for him to stop wanting to hang out.

Oscar rubbed his neck and groaned as he emptied one of his pockets onto the ground. "Dump the jewelry, we're not taking it." Clavis gasped, shuffling backward in shock. Not taking the loot, had Oscar gone mad!? Oscar shot the dewpider a harsh look, "You heard me bub, dump it all!" Clavis sighed, reluctantly sliding off his various spoils. The disheartened spider then crawled up his master's body, perching himself on Oscar's right shoulder. Oscar scratched the top of Clavis's bubble, "Sorry pal, I just don't want Jayden to be mad at me. I'll make it up to ya. Promise."

Oscar emerged from his hiding place and headed back to their original meeting spot. As Jayden came into view, Oscar held up a hand and tried to get his attention. "Yo Jayden! Over here!" Clavis mimicked his master, waving one of his legs frantically to get Jayden's attention. Once he was close enough, Oscar pulled the few bracelets he kept out of his pocket and showed them off. 

"I didn't have much luck this time. Oh well, it happens. What did you get?"

jayden cross

HOLLOW'S REWARDS TRACKER

TIER: Small/Average/Large/Super Size[break]
REDEEMING FROM: either prompt number or tier completion[break]
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SUMMARY OF POST: write here[break]
CHARACTER REDEEMING REWARD: @tag

Oscar checked his watch as he looked down from the top of the Jagged Pass. There was no time crunch or anything similar, he just needed something to do besides staring into the horizon while he waited. Today's mission was straight forward, just find some spoink and take their pearls. Nothing else to it really.

Oscar was glad to have an easier job for once. The Jagged Pass had a sizeable spoink population, so it shall not be difficult to find a few. Plus spoink were tiny weaklings, taking their pearls shall be easier than stealing from toddlers. Why did Rocket need their pearls? Well what do fucking spring pigs need pearls for? Psychic enhancement? Sheesh, they will be just as psychic without them. These pearls had a high price on the black market, and with how easy they were to get the profit basically made itself. 

Well relatively easy to get, there was always the chance that a powerful grumpig will be nearby to protect the spoink--but come on what are the odds of that happening?

Before he could begin though, Oscar had to wait for his partner for this mission: Levy Alinsky. His file had very little information, so he must have been pretty new. Oscar supposed the admins wanted him to teach the greenhorn a thing or two, which was never a problem as long as they got the job done. 

"Shit..."

As Oscar shifted through his backpack, it slowly dawned on him that he was underprepared. Mother fucker used to be a professional tomb raider, and he went and undershot how much supplies he needed. He hoped he had not lost his touch, lest this mission end in disaster.

Oscar had been tasked to retrieve a valuable artifact that had been lost to the bowels of the fiery path. Apparently one of Rocket's investors requested it as a condition to continue business. If Oscar had heard such a request personally he would have laughed the shit-head out of the room, but the deal had been struck and Oscar had no choice but to fulfill the bizarre wish of a deranged millionaire. 

Luckily he would not suffer alone, he was assigned a grunt to help him on this expedition. He was not familiar with fern delaney, but his file described a solid track record so Oscar was not worried. What he was worried about was how he had forgotten to bring water to a place called The Fiery Path. Who forgets to bring water before going through volcanic caverns? 

Oscar abruptly closed up his bag, it was too late now! No use getting pissy over his mistakes, he just had to get this done quickly. Hopefully his partner would arrive soon, Oscar's nerves were already making him sweat. And they had not even entered the path yet!

Oscar was having trouble staying still while he waited. Maybe it was the unabashedly modern aesthetic of the lobby of the Sootopolis Research Center, but he just felt like he stood out. You know because he was wearing a black suit and everyone around him was wearing a white lab coat, not because he did something that could have DRASTIC CONSEQUENCES if it was not fixed. Nope!

Oscar shifted his waiting pose, resting his hands on his hips and leaning slightly to the left. Did he look casual enough? Was he being discrete? His eyes darted nervously across the lobby. Everyone was minding their own business, surely they could not see his guilt. NOT THAT HE HAD ANYTHING TO FEEL GUILTY ABOUT! 

He shifted again, folding his arms while leaning to the right. He just needed to stay cool until his help arrived. He had contacted @bishop because he heard he was always open for jobs--and Oscar had a very very important job for him.

As his further preparations came to a close, Oscar took a look at his final subject. Now this was a little bullshit, whoever dropped off these black market rejects was pulling his leg. A fucking dragonite? In such great condition no less? Ugh, the idea of accidentally mummifying it made Oscar wince. What a waste of potential.

No no, not a waste. If it led to Oscar making progress on this project, no price was too high. Besides, if he succeeded in finding the sweet spot perhaps he could keep it. Through great effort Oscar would remove the heavy dragon from its cage and drag it into the machine. Once it was safely enclosed, Oscar would once again head to the control panel and begin recording his notes.

"Test number three of the Pokepod Prototype one point oh. Subject is a female dragonite, unfortunately very much average size. My back is already killing me. Anyway, I've calibrated the absorbers so they should ideally absorb less infinity energy overall. My hope is to find that middle ground, enough suction to keep the subject asleep while keeping them alive. Beginning experiment now."

As before Oscar flipped on the switch, causing the machine to roar to life. The dragonite awoke from its drug induced slumber, and Oscar very quickly turned the suction to level one before it could react to what was happening. Fitting, since Oscar would have no chance to react to what happened next.

The dragonite exploded, along with the machine. Before Oscar could blink he was thrown backward into the far wall, flinching as shards of the prototype went into every direction. As the moment died down, Oscar was left staring at the smoldering ruin of his hard work so far. The emergency fire system abruptly turning on to soak the room was the cherry on top.

Oscar glumly walked over to the control panel, which now had a dragonite skull smashed through it. He picked up his discarded tape recorder and gave a small update.

"Test results poor. Further development required. Will resume next week."

--End--

Oscar listened closely to Aurelie's concerns, though the smile on his face would indicate that he already had answers prepared for these very questions. Once it was his chance to speak, Oscar flourished his hands and chuckled. "Would you believe that having a human element is cheaper? I mean I have money but those assembly line machines are cash pits. Besides, the less other people involved with this the better. Too many eyes and mouths and I can't possibly keep them all shut, it's been a hassle in the past."

Oscar began to rub his hands, as it came time to talk about the material. This was the only thing that made him nervous about this deal, since what he desired to use could be considered--unconventional. Perhaps even macabre. He steeled himself, taking a deep breath and maintaining his seemingly care-free smile.

"As for the steel, I actually have something special in mind. I have in my possession far that is far lighter than conventional steel. The same kind of metal but far more maneuverable. The catch is--well it can only be found one way." There was a pause as Oscar pushed through his hesitation and revealed the catch of this task.

"Steel pokemon, you see. Thanks to Rocket's efforts to recreate the artificial pokemon Genesect, I have come into possession of a sizable stock of deceased steel types. It might sound grotesque, but if they are melted down their metallic skin would be the perfect material for these casings. It's a delicate process, yet another reason I prefer a human's touch. A professional human's touch at that."

Oscar waited to hear what Aurelie had to say. That was probably quite a bombshell, so he would give her all the time she needed to process this new information.

Aurelie Lefevre