❆

time for another bout of spelunking, mcflurry supposed. boarding her steelix yet again, mcflurry decided to dig closer to the eastmost path. she thought she spotted signs of another underground lake, similar to the one her lapras came from, so. high hopes.

with high hopes, mcflurry rode forth, entering the arctic caverns like she was walking through her home.

mclaren mcflurry ● 3 encounters left  ● catching x

❆

mcflurry looked at the legend in front of her with anger, her cold breath escaping her body like she was a steam engine in winter. she dared him to say anything to her at all.

but all that was left was silence, damning silence. and the first thing he said wasn't pity, or commiseration — it was correction. it was confirmation of her worst fears.

when she drew another breath, it was shuddering, almost a sob.

steelix, understanding that this was a tense moment, grabbed some items (namely, poke balls) and left to go clear the rest of the cave.

"i-i... i don't know if i want to d-die. i don't know if i can. i still — i still have so much i'd be leaving behind, mc... but..."

mcflurry sniffled, her eyes watering. the walls shuddered with the sound of steelix likely removing another pokemon from the picture, but the world seemed to be a tiny little box for mcflurry right now.

(steelix, had, in fact, fought another pokemon. the first iron tail didn't do it, so as a flurry of fury swipes crashed against its hide, the iron snake roared as a stone edge finished off the beartic — before the serpent batted a poke ball at its body.)

"...what do i do? oh, god, wh-what do i have to do...?"

mclaren mcflurry ● Chu-e Choi  ● catching beartic

❆

mcflurry hummed, considering her newest pokemon. well, it was a cute thing, at least. maybe it evolved into something strong. it'd definitely feel at home with her other pokemon.

that being said, she actually passed by her next contender entirely, the wooper trying and failing to catch up to the steelix.

mclaren mcflurry  ● skip ● 3 safari balls left

❆

the first contender wasn't really anything special, unfortunately. mcflurry just looked down at the bergmite and sighed.

soon enough, a protect would be damn-near shattered, before the ensuing iron tail completely decimated the tiny ice-type. mcflurry caught her prey, eager to look for more.

mclaren mcflurry  ● catching bergmite ● 3 safari balls left

❆

mcflurry fell silent as she stormed forth, not even noticing the shiny vanillite she had passed by. instead, a castform revealed itself, clearly upset by the tremors the steelix had created —

before it, itself, became victim to a stone edge, the jutting rocks only accentuating the way mcflurry's entire body halted when the man came to his conclusion.

(there was a certain cold to her breath, now. it reeked of mega energy, laced in her very organs, like she overdosed on the essence itself.)

"r-r-r-rocket...?"

she turned to him with a dead serious face, like she would kill him where he stood for finding out that information. she very nearly ordered her steelix to begin a cave-in — before he showed his id.

"ki" was chu-e choi. she heard tales of the man. what he'd done. and frankly, she could give less than a shit. in her mind, she'd hurt people far worse than he ever had. worse, she felt every last drop of blood on her hands, and he probably didn't.

(to mcflurry, she was more of a monster because she hurt people and she was fully aware of it. and she kept doing it anyways.)

throwing a ball haphazardly behind her back at the pokemon, she marched up to the man, her once undiscerning eyes now filled with a mix of hatred and a haunted tiredness. she looked him in the eyes and spoke slowly, and suddenly, her steelix felt very big behind her.

"historically mcspeaking, genocide. d-d-down the list is murder, destruction, and just plain sh-sh-shit."

(the sudden and bloody disappearance of megalopan camps across hoenn was no secret. the ice left behind was a little more well-hidden, but never completely gone.)

mclaren mcflurry ● Chu-e Choi  ● catching castform

❆

another day, another dollar. the safari zone was colder than the last time she had visited. the ice-types were likely settling in, changing the environment to more suit their needs.

mcflurry pushed forward with her steelix for a second time, keeping an eye out for some rare pokemon.

mclaren mcflurry  ● 4 safari balls left

❆

mcflurry had a haunted look when the word 'quit' leaves the man's lips. there was a distinct sense of cold leaving the area — maybe not scientifically, not measurably, but somehow, mcflurry felt the air become hollow, rather than cold.

and then she let out a slow, shuddering breath, the whiteness of the precipitating moisture so thick, so diluted, one would think that she had taken a huge hit of tobacco.

"i-if i q-q-quit, they — they wil kill me."

and that was that. mcflurry barely even registered the next part of what "ki" was saying, only actually snapping to attention when a mr. mime jumped out from a corner and started making shapes with a determined expression, a cocky smirk on its —

— it got its shit absolutely hammered into a fucking wall with an iron tail before the battle even started. and then another one. and another one for good measure. there was a 6 foot indent in the rock and a shudder ringing through the cavern walls by the end of it.

mcflurry caught it.

"th-that's nice, ki. it's not like i... own the cave, or anything. mc. i just come here. when i'm free. my boss, gavin, he — nevermind."

mclaren mcflurry ● Chu-e Choi  ● catching mr. mime