❆

"i, uh. i can."

she says it like she's done it before, or was forced to do it before. like she knows about the social implication of not accepting a cigarette when in certain company.

pressing one thumb over the other in order to tamp down her shiver, mcflurry lets out a white, visible breath that smells like liquid nitrogen and, honestly, evaporated burn heal fumes.

(there's a trace of mega evolution, too. she's still emitting run-off.)

"i, uh. i would, mmc — like to know who's sourcing my missions," she chimes up unhelpfully, sounding hopeful, before her voice drops in despair again. "ever since the ultra wormholes, i — it seems like all the brass mc-wants is... — i know it's b-because i'm good at it, b-but..."

she trails off in a soft stutter, her eyes downturned. the rest is unsaid.

(all she's been doing the entire time are missions like these.)

mclaren mcflurry ● Cillian Quinn

❆

either way, the mamoswine continued after mcflurry noted the shininess of her latest capture. weren't those rare? ...hm.

shrugging, mcflurry went on with her safari tour, fiddling around with a safari ball, juggling it between her hands. then, she spotted the next contender.

a dumpy-looking darumaka came bounding up to mamoswine like a crazed baby, before smashing its head against the swine while screaming in a high-pitched voice.

it was kind of disturbing, watching this darumaka headbutt what was practically a wooly megalith of muscle and tusk. taking pity on it, mcflurry ordered her mamoswine to use double hit, slamming both its tusks into the darumaka.

...then it gets up and tries again, once more headbutting the solid defensive tank that is mamoswine. she uses an ancientpower this time, and mcflurry's left wondering if maybe that wooper was the best they were getting.

mclaren mcflurry ● catching g. darumaka!

❆

at this point, mcflurry was tired. the heat, the mission after mission after mission, the implications, the fact she'd done this so many times.

the fact she's still doing this, so many times, both under league and rocket payroll.

looking to her partner-of-the-day, the cloaked woman shivered, letting out a visibly cold breath despite mt. chimney's seething atmosphere.

"you... you know the mcrules, right?"

then, mcflurry looked down from the cliff they were perched on, at the refuge militia camp that the megalopans had set up. small, infected pokemon and growing poipole dotted their numbers.

mcflurry downturned her eyes, before her voice went frigid.

"there are no pokemon or people in that camp. mc."

with that, mcflurry knocked the back of her fist on a nearby boulder, and the ground rumbled.

after a long dig, her steelix arose, biting down on its first victim of a very long day.

mclaren mcflurry ● Asteria Celeste

❆

frozen blood is firmly packed, made into a brown snow hugging against her sleeves, her wrists, her coat, her hair, her cheeks. bloodshot eyes and tear marks mar her face.

most notably, though, is the palpable runoff of invisible mega energy that oozes from every orifice, every pore of her body — including her eyes and her mouth.

mcflurry calmly takes a seat at the chair of gavin's office, at the time of her appointment exactly, with no flaw whatsoever in her time of arrival.

"burn heal factory incident kills 11 workers, 2 police officers, and 3 executives" is on the headlines right now.

the woman's expression trembles in an unknown emotion, her jaw clenched as she folds her arms on her lap.

"i-i'd like to inquire about, uh."

she purses her lips, trying not to betray any weakness.

"al — alternative job openings. mc."

mclaren mcflurry ● Cillian Quinn

❆

down the road, mcflurry started getting more and more worried about the state of her steelix, so she recalled it and sent out her mamoswine, instead. she'll be able to ride it, but probably not as quickly —

her attention was caught by the familiar sound of burrowing underground, when suddenly, a flash of cyan jumped up from underground, biting down on mamoswine's leg with a crunch.

the great boar let out a monstrous roar as the ensuing panic-blizzard froze out the entire surrounding area, grass turning rigid-solid and the air several degrees cooler.

shivering, mcflurry let out a hot breath, looking down at the failed surprise attacker — and then tossing a safari ball at the shiny trapinch.

mclaren mcflurry ● catching trapinch!

❆

steelix felt... somber.

the grounds were familiar. too familiar. the taste, the smell, the texture. mostly because, well. this was the same soil it had attempted to dig into, during...

during the war.

its trainer had done her best. in fact, their entire team had done wonderfully. steelix still remembered digging into that horrible monster of stone and wrongness, killing, eating, proving its worth, proving its strength.

and yet the death of fellow pokemon and of other trainers stained this city. their blood stained the soil. especially in that steelix is digging... a large gravestone.

a memorial.

steelix went on with its job silently, promising to itself that this was to console the departed souls of its comrades, those souls who died horrifically.

mclaren mcflurry ● steelix with dig

❆

after a few minutes of travel, another contender approached. this time, it was a wooper, jumping out of a cold pond and sending a wave of muddy water at steelix.

with its dual-type, the steelix grunted and held on as the wave threatened to wash it and mcflurry away, that wooper was... surprisingly strong. mcflurry readied a safari ball, stuttering out orders for the steelix.

the ensuing stone edge knocked wooper up into the sky with the several rising rocks, but with its last bit of energy, the water-type flipped mid-air and

— used power-up punch on steelix?

mcflurry could barely believe her eyes as her steelix rang from the impact, before the angered steel-type finished the wooper off with an iron tail.

looking a little worse for wear, the steelix huffed in response to its surprisingly-strong opponent while mcflurry quickly tossed a poke ball at the fainted wooper.

mclaren mcflurry ● catching wooper!

❆

— and, just as quickly, the first encounter came in the form of a brave little snom leaping from a tree top onto steelix's head.

mcflurry yelped before it had the chance to attack, smacking it off of steelix's flat dome and causing it to squirm on the ground for a bit before uprighting itself with a, uh. determined expression.

glancing to the side nervously, mcflurry supposed the battle was on. the snom rushed forward, giving a little battle scree as it used... bug bite?

the small bug was left chewing on a piece of steelix for a solid five seconds, before growing and sending a wave of infestation for another two.

by the end of it, it seemed tuckered out, seemingly gasping for air like it'd done a hard workout. the steelix and its trainer just looked down awkwardly.

with an iron tail to the face and a safari ball, mcflurry attempted to catch the snom and move onto the next.

mclaren mcflurry ● catching snom!

❆

honestly, mcflurry expected this place to be sort of... humid. hot. almost like summerland, in her home region. all sorts of not-fun for her in a coat and boots and gloves.

but the air was cold and frigid, and the grass was dying, and the snow was starting to bundle up from all the pokemon now inhabiting the safari zone. and despite her love of her home, ringtown, despite her life in hoenn...

...well. she's finding the cold to be a little more familiar, these days. mcflurry gives a delighted shudder as cold wracks across her arms, and the trainer pulls out a poke ball, releasing her steelix.

soon enough, she's seated happily on its head, the iron snake rumbling forth in search of new pokemon to catch.

mclaren mcflurry ● premium ticket used!

❆

mcflurry liked to think she knew what she was doing, but some days, you can never tell. nevertheless, the two continued on once alecto was done with her encounter, and mcflurry just looked at alecto for a moment before nodding and continuing on, her head ducked down.

the path diverged in two ways, but mcflurry only barely spared the second choice a glance. tough boots crunched down the first one, hands stuffed in her pockets as mcflurry continued to go deeper.

"second path is, uh. a dead end, mc. but there's a mcclearing? an open space? that makes this part a little more... — oh, there we go."

the pokemon were getting stronger and stronger, as seen by the next batch of duos to attack. an earthquake made the entire cave shudder, but mcflurry just clenched her teeth and stood her ground while her steelix quickly used magnet rise to prevent any damage.

the clearing consisted of a likely-freezing underground lake, and an aurorus caught drinking water turned its long neck to the trainers and started charging a thunder wave.

the steelix, made more smooth and faster with magnet rise, easily floated in front of mcflurry to block the electric-type attack. sailing forward in a counter attack, a quadruple-effective iron tail swung, knocking the entire dinosaur off its feet and into the water, unconscious.

not wanting a drowning, bloated pokemon on the way back, mcflurry grunted, tossing a poke ball at the incapacitated ice/rock-type. her eyes flickered to the ground water.

"think one of the local mcbarboach caused that earthquake... maybe a whiscash? mc."

mclaren mcflurry ● alecto rowe  ● catching aurorus