Ah, praise. That was always very welcome. Her smile deepened a little, but she still controlled herself. After all, this was official enough business, not just some kind of fun little exercise. Vio took it very seriously. Hence, she quietly and attentively followed and observed.[break]
Some of the tools presented she actually knew already. But others were new. Fortunately though, she spent enough time in R&D to be able to figure out what the new ones did well enough.
[break][break]
The purpose of it all became clear soon enough as that hypothetical test was given. Naturally, she gave it some thought before saying anything at all in that regard. “Well, the first part of the operation would be gathering intelligence on the mark and the office in question. From what I gleamed from a distance so far, Delaney is the slippery sort, the kind of person that would not be fooled by sleight of hand. Any attempt to do these things while they are in said office would be bound to fail, at least from what I have seen.” After all, the tools presented would allow her to fake her identity to an extent, certainly. But if that person was worth their position, they would not be that careless. Even Mint, for all their lackadaisical attitude, had not left her unsupervised in their room for a second during their meeting.
[break][break]
As such, the modulation trinkets would only be useful in a rather narrow kind of way. “The first order of business after that would be to find a genuine excuse to scout out the interior. It is not too difficult to do so for a grunt without too much of a name to themselves, there are always deliveries to make you can volunteer for. An opportunity would naturally present itself, most likely. If not, trying to deliver to the quote unquote wrong office is always and option.[break]
After that, a schedule would need to be acquired. That kind of task would need at least half an hour, with enough buffer time, but would also have to be accomplished while the computer is at least in stand-by mode, since as far as I know, booting it up when no one should be around is something that can be found with relative ease.[break]
And finally, the actual infiltration is where the gadgets come in of course. A combination of earrings and mask to deal with voice recognition, a watch to pick a physical lock and a pen to deal with the actual computer. And the bugs would be placed but without first scouting it out and testing out the acoustics on the leftover bugs I could do little but guess where to put them.”
[break][break]
Vio gave a light shrug at the end. She certainly had picked up a lot of useful tricks with the techies, but ultimately, something like that would take a lot of field work. “Of course, seduction would be the easiest method, but at least last time I saw them, I got a decidedly ‘taken’ kind of vibe from him. My intuition isn’t wrong a lot in these cases.” Well, aside from certain woman that should not be spoken of here.
[break][break]

+ oscar clayton

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

“I know that one of the key aspects of reconnaissance is to be observant of one’s surroundings and have a keen eye for details that may or may not be important before they do become important. Such as you evidently being irked about something involving whatever you just checked on your phone. And since some profiling is a necessity when doing reconnaissance, you do appear to be the kind of person that does not just check up random things on the internet right in front of an assessment, so it stands to reason that you were checking on something related to the task. I might even be able to make an educated guess as to what it is about, but that really is not the time and place, right?”
[break][break]
Naturally, she espoused all of that in a casual, friendly way, with a slight smile on her face. She was already deep into her role, casually sliding herself into a position that could ambiguously slot in somewhere between friend, girlfriend or sister depending on this man’s attitude. This was meant to be intel work so the moment they even got remotely close to the public, she had started to not behave too much like a rocket, or an underling.
[break][break]
Of course, though, she would still keep professional courtesy and be polite about it all. “Naturally, remaining inconspicuous is also important. I do have a bit of an handicap on that end due to being a pale beauty, but some things can’t be helped on short notice. And I should be able to get work done without lengthy hair-dying sessions anyway, I guess.” Plus, she was fortunate enough to be paired with another of the pale persuasion for this, so it wasn’t too bad.
[break][break]

+ oscar clayton

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

She couldn’t help but shrug. “Possible. After all, that thing looked and felt as if it had not been used in ages. So, anyone calling us down here would have probably taken another route.” At least if it was that Megaerna from before, she had seen it up on the surface. Well, whatever counted for a surface in this place. Either way, it had been in the area above. Which kind of meant that it had to have gone here somehow.
[break][break]
“Speaking of, though, I can’t exactly see a welcoming committee here, either. Maybe it was a trap. Or maybe we just went a route we completely were not meant to take.” Vio tended to at least try to attribute to stupidity which could be explained by that, not malice. But she could not be completely certain, either.
[break][break]

+ Gerald Kaiser

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

“Thank you,” she simply noted, but offering a genuine sense of gratitude with it. Naturally, Vio did not mind the bias at all. She never did when it benefited her. That was just common sense, as far as she was concerned. It added a bit more pressure to know that she was one of the first in that regard, but she did not mind too much. At the end of the day, she could only do her best anyway. And she was going to do so.
[break][break]
Since that concluded their business and he already all but motioned for the meeting to end, she would give him a brief bow of sorts. A courtesy, not some gesture of submission. As was customary for such situations. “I will not disappoint you,” she repeated, just because she wanted to make a point of it. This was something she did want to do, truly, for once. Hence, she was going to tap into the same willpower that had allowed her to completely reinvent herself once before and see this through.
[break][break]

+ mint frost

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Wonderful. She allowed herself to smile in response to his accommodations. It would have been rude to remain neutral just to keep some kind of pokerface. This was what she wanted, after all. Work tailored to her strengths with an end goal that she most certainly could get behind. Where most of her peers had been awe struck in the face of mythicals and avatars, she had grown to recognize them as a threat that needed to be dealt with. Either by incorporating hem into Rocket, or by getting rid of them.
[break][break]
It was that simple. Hence, she did appreciate this outcome quite a bit. “I will make sure not to disappoint you, then,” she simply noted. Her path had already been decided on her end. She had only needed him to actually give her a chance to prove that. Again, should she fail, it would simply mean that she was not cut out for it. A regrettable outcome, but one she was willing to accept. Even though she whole-heartedly believed that it would not come to pass. [break][break]
Hence, she nodded, in part to herself, but also to him. “I already asked what I had on mind so far,” she ultimately continued. There certainly would be more questions later, likely pertaining details, but they could take care of them, then. “I am prepared.” For once, she left it at that short, simple statement, as it was clearly intended to be punctuated that way. At the very least, she thought that she was prepared to tackle this challenge. That was all she could be, right then. But for what it was worth, she was prepared to that extent, at least.
[break][break]

+ mint frost

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

She had to smirk a little on that notion. He couldn’t know, after all. Just about nobody did. Not in rocket, not elsewhere. Because that was one of her greater strengths. It probably only worked because she flew under the radar so far, but that had been intended as well. “It certainly does. I will figure something out.” She tapped her lips, briefly thinking. “Not that I would particularly need to. I do have a spare identity lying around that I could resume without too much issue. Well, not anymore. Ever since we had that operation involving the Galarian hounds, things have changed. For me and others, I think. It’s subtle, but something has been off with some people.”
[break][break]
She was probably getting off track there. The important part was that she had at least slightly reconnected with the person she had been before deciding to become Violet. “That being said, I have some proficiency in disguising myself. Part of it is why I chose this striking white as a base. It’s both easy enough to dye, but also striking enough that people don’t expect me to look drastically different.” Obviously, she was hinting at this not being her natural hair colour to begin with. Or at least not her original one. Everything about her was manufactured, but not necessarily artificial. Just the person she had wanted to be.
[break][break]
Well, most anything. But she did not have any complexes about height or the like. That was something she could not change, but had accepted. “That being said, I reckon I will continue to cultivate that third party aspect. Intelligence work is too important and my natural temperament lends itself to that, I think.” Obviously, she would not object being put to other use. But for this particular matter, this still felt like the correct path. Especially given how often they essentially had to at least use the league, if not work with them.
[break][break]
With that, her question and little detour seemed settled, so that they could return to the interview proper.
[break][break]

+ mint frost

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Well, so much for the elevator. At least they both got out, unscathed. Vio let out a brief sigh of relief, still on top of her Togekiss, as she watched the other make it out as well. Not a moment too soon, it appeared, given that the elevator was already crashing on the down below.
[break][break]
“Guess that leaves us with the age-old question: was that someone trying to pull something on us, or just century-old machinery simply not working as intended?” That was the question they needed an answer for before pressing onwards, after all. It was all fine if that was just faulty equipment, but they had been invited here by their host, right? In that case, it was important to know if this had been an attempt on their lives or not.
[break][break]

+ Gerald Kaiser

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

It dinged. Somehow, it dinged. Violet let out a deep, deep sigh of relief. Honestly, she had just hoped for this to work. Aegislash had hit home hard, but had gotten steel antlers back for its troubles. She’d had to recall it – and in the same breath decided to simply try and throw one of her open balls at the injured Iron Crown. It was a valid tactic, in her experience, to just make a catch attempt and run.
[break][break]
Only this time, the ball had bounced back with a ding and a catch. It was almost too much to believe. But she decided to simple take it, for now, and worry about things later.
[break][break]
Pandemonium was still raging all around her, after all. She had to make some sense of it, quickly. Hence, she took it in broad strokes.
The horde was seemingly on the backfoot, with Hoopa trying to get away. The Kyurem was ceasing hostilities, it appeared, to a degree.
[break][break]
So, of course, people went straight back to trying to kill one another. Violet could not help but sigh as to what she was hearing on the coms. Her attention was half focused on that when she noticed a familiar pinkette apparently being helped up onto her Togekiss, seemingly injured. [break][break]
Vio decided to head there, first, while she tried to make some sense of the newly-drawn battle lines on the side. As her own Togekiss approached, she decided to offer some aid right off the bat. “I know you are a bit hurt yourself, but give these two a Wish for now, alright?”
[break][break]
Fortunately, Togekiss obeyed and used the move to support its kin and the rider. “Sorry Desiree, I heard something but I got attacked first,” she started, honestly being a bit apologetic. After all, she had separated from this one out of awkwardness, only to find her injured now. Vio still wasn’t a monster, after all.
Plus, she had heard what the strangers had said to the Togekiss, so she decided to order her own. “I’ll give them some escort until they are out of the worst, at least,” she informed those, hoping to use her Togekiss to guide the other out of the active battle-zone. While still listening in to the comms, so that she could figure out the best course of action after.
[break][break]

+ Catching Iron Crown, going down to El Sunderland DESIREE BLOOMS and Thomas Benoit , casting a wish on the other Togekiss and rider and offering to escort them up, while still making sense of the mayhem

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

The initial defense had gone well enough. But a good defense didn’t exactly lead to anything by itself. Vio knew that well enough. And it was only reinforced now by the Iron Crown that had left its pack fighting other trainers on the ground and had instead taken to bounding off the chasm walls, obviously trying to get closer to them. It was a baffling display for sure, causing her to waste precious moments trying to figure out if what she was seeing there was real or not.
[break][break]
Which was enough for the teal one to catch up to them. Fortunately, her Togekiss was abit quicker on the uptake than her trainer, diving to the side and harshly against the wall itself, just to dodge some sort of assault by the Iron Crown. Vio was not quite sure what it had done, but that blue-ish glow it’s horns emitted just seemed like bad news all around.
[break][break]
Getting hit by that would be bad news. And it would be a real possibility, given that it had already reached the other side of the chasm, from where it would certainly rebound to them. Togekiss groaned a bit as it stabilized in the air, not liking having had its flank graze the harsh stone to their side. But at least it was still capable of moving.[break][break]
As was Vio, who was holding onto the flying type as best she could. “No other choice, but we will have to go with teamwork here. Wait until the last moment, both of you,” she ordered courtly. They did not have a lot more time, anyway. The big one was already coming towards them again. But at least Aegislash understood, moving into sword configuration. And Togekiss? It did not necessarily have to understand, really. Vio was guiding it by applying pressure to the body, by steering it – and urging it to move straight down just as the opponent came rushing after them once more.
[break][break]
In doing so, they all made room for Aegislash which, ironically enough, would charge at the opposing steel type with a Sacred Sword of its own.
[break][break]

+ 7/7, choosing Iron Crown, fighting that one in Midair in the chasm.

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

“Well, what now?” She mused that to herself as she recalled Mawile again. Not because it had been defeated or anything, but it always needed to recuperate after using its strongest attack. And Togekiss was happier not having to carry any more than necessary. The steel type had done its job, evidently injuring at least some of her opposition, but it was only part of the subjugation effort. And dropping it into the sea of things below did not seem right at all.
[break][break]
She had to make the most tactically sound decisions here, after all. Everything was an evaluation now, so she had to remain aware. Which was difficult because, as always, their efforts against the mythicals and paradoxes and legendaries of this world had boiled down to a series of chaotic skirmishes all about. She sighed, once more. If only they had actual generals and tactics and formations, like they’d had…
Wait, when?[break][break]
Violet blinked, a thought escaping her the moment she thought she’d grasped it. Instead of clarity, all she gained was more confusion.
[break][break]
She shook her head. Not the time, not the place. She had to focus on what was in front of her. Or rather, below her. And as if on cue, from the corners of her eyes she noticed something peculiar. Mostly because she felt as if she, herself, was being noticed.
With but a few seconds to realize and react, she reached for the one Pokeball she always went for when threatened, barely getting her Aegislash out before the incoming beams of light crashed into a hazily erected King’s Shield. The impact still distorted the air enough for her to cling to Togekiss strongly, to not get thrown off. Whatever had spotted them from below definitely was strong.
[break][break]

+ 6/7, recalls Mawile and observes the area, is attacked by an Iron Crown and barely gets out her Aegislash to King's Shield the attack zeiGiQI7

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

It was surprisingly tough to see people she knew bleed, even if she had only cursory knowledge of them. Well, most of the time. Sometimes, she just had to carry on, but she was briefly fixated on DESIREE BLOOMS when the latter seemed so injured. It was easy enough for her to see that on their Pokemon, mostly because she was semi-used to that. But in the end, that was just because of her upbringing and seeing that often enough in the wild. Watching your parents put down injured Pokemon that could not be saved did have a bit of an effect on one.
[break][break]
Still though, that had changed too, hadn’t it? Ever since joining Rocket, she had ironically found herself bonding with Pokemon more strongly, while also getting used to violence being used on those of others. It was strange.
But she found herself having to decidedly look away from the others when a certain someone started confessing their love, lightly blushing. It evidently wasn’t something new to them at all. Yet, she felt uncomfortable nonetheless.
[break][break]
Instead, she once more replaced her Zarude with her Mawile, having it Hyper Beam the paradoxes for good measure. Things were moving in that direction, after all. Still on her Togekiss, she felt reasonably safe for the time being, but she was prepared for her actions to draw the ire of those below, if nothing else.
[break][break]

+ using Hyper Beam 5/7 nrQDf3UB

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Hmm. She still found them weird. Those shows of affection on the battlefield, as she watched DESIREE BLOOMS and Thomas Benoit hug. This wasn’t the place or the time, she reckoned. Though, on the other hand, maybe she was just a bit irked. About not having anyone to feel that way about. Sure, she cared about her Pokemon. More than she would admit, really. But a human that would be…nice.
[break][break]
She shook her head, dismissing memories of being on a boat, having just weathered a storm. There had been one she had once thought that she thought and felt like this about. But unlike with those two, it had not been reciprocated. Maybe never had.
[break][break]
Wishing for it now was an utter waste. She had to focus back on the situation at hand.
With a sigh, she dismounted her Togekiss on the bridge before replacing it with her grassy simian. “Jungle Healing, everyone that might need it,” she ordered the Zarude, though gesturing mostly towards Yuina Higashi as the latter was pulled from the snow.
Then she looked around, trying to re-orient herself after being through too much to coherently follow momentarily. But she was trying to make a name for herself. She had to regain focus and do her best for this encounter.
[break][break]
Which included keeping track of the prophecy being revealed. “Perils will gather to sunder the old world. That much seems a given,” she started, thinking to herself as she tried to calm the storm around her and in mind. “But who or what will reign? Only then ice will reign? This is Kyurem, after all…”
[break][break]

+ trying to find back into this after busy week(end), just observing and having Zarude heal nLECiiR0

[attr="class","pokeclass"]