V E N D E T T A

the earth shook once again as hands braced. he only worries for the mole that was underneath the ground, who somehow manages to evade and not get damaged by the movement of the earth. he remains there for now, taking his position underneath as he awaited orders. he soon hears something slithering towards him, unable to look in time he could only cringe at the sound of concrete being destroyed. it misses his head thankfully, debris idly falling onto him.

he quickly scurries away to another, keeping low along the ground. he can no longer ignore the growing possibility that he might just lose this battle. he's outnumbered, he realizes it. he stays still again, back against the pillar as his breathing quickens. his heart races, pain echoing through his body. he clutches his chest, tries his best to make the pain subside. it's not even real, just memories, scars.

"zu!"

the ground that the galactic stood upon would shake for a brief moment before cracking. it splits open, and from it comes an excadrill, claws slashing at both the man's legs in an attempt to take him to the ground. it happened quick, and whether or not the DIG attack succeeded the excadrill would DIG into the ground once again to await mor orders. he peers around the corner, eyes searching for signs of the man and whether his plan succeeded.

meanwhile both the lucario and kingdra had a battle on their hands. uca's unable to dodge either of the attacks, the will-o-wisp making his arm catch on fire. the lucario clutches it, swipes at the flames only to be hit by a sharp rock that emerged from the ground. he's hurt, sent flying back. the fire's still on him, and he's certain he wasn't going to last much longer. in retaliation and desperation he sends out two SHADOW BALLS at the dusknoir, hoping that with the nasty plot from earlier would be enough to make it faint.

the earthquake hits dra too, but it hurt him less than it did the lucario. he shakes it off, his battle so far has been much easier. he needs to carry the weight of his partner that was soon to fall. another BLIZZARD takes the battlefield, piercing shards of ice flying through. temperature would drop once again. with more than enough space he shoots out a strong stream of HYDRO PUMP at the ranger, hoping to at least injure her or knock her down.

liam's kept busy with his own shit. he knows that more mockery would do him no good, but it was hard to resist. "you should listen to your bitch, adrien."

Stay out of my way. The was the first time anyone had spoken to Adrian in such a manner that it was almost impressive if not for the idiocy that was associated with it. Instead out of pure disdain for the statement her hands balled into a fist, her nails digging into the palm of her hand that signaled she was still registering pain. Her gaze shifted as the sound of another pillar shattering rang through the area. From that she noticed some movement however as she moved her hand to her gun, her slowed movements due to the temperature drop caused her lose sight of Liam. As she tried to search for where he could have scurried off to, the sound of pain caught the ranger off guard. Instinctively she turned towards the source and the sight of Adrien stumbling and falling fell into her view. The sight of crimson red falling to the ground was enough for her to piece together what had happened, only further establishing she needed to keep a more watchful eye of Arkwright.

Or - you know - get him to leave period.

In the meantime Blissey was keeping careful watch on the Dusknoir and Eelektross, thus when the Dusknoir hit the ground another heal pulse was sent its way. The tick of poison in her body was draining her energy however the egg pokemon was determined to continue her duty until she had fallen. At the sound of the human in pain, Blissey's attention was divided even further and waddled over to Adrien's side. While she could not heal him like she could pokemon, she wanted to try to help as she tried to poketalk the man down from standing back up. In doing so there was a pained sound from the poison running its course that the ranger took note of however and while she was proud of the pokemon for trying to assist however knew she had to recall her. Arkwright wasn't listening to her anyway so she did not expect her pokemon to get through either.

Recalling Blissey took a matter of seconds which was the same time to took for the hydro pump to launch towards her. This time from her peripheral vision, Adrian had taken notice of it right as Arkwright had called out to her. For once she would listen to Adrien and try to run out of the way, only for her body to disobey entirely. Midstep the ginger found her leg failing from the cold as she fell to the ground in a similar manner as Adrien had moments prior. Kicking to plan B, Adrian dropped one of her pokeballs and allowed the pokemon inside to act in her stead. Her partner appeared in a burst of light and reacted accordingly by using Psycho Cut to slash the hydro Pump in two. Regardless of what happened after that, the water droplets that were in the air from the water attacks were surrounding the hotheaded ranger and for once the woman was feeling weaker than ever. It felt disgusting. "F-fuck off Arkwr-right." Already her words were slurring a bit as her body was shaking in an effort to keep warm.

The dark type had since then walked over to Adrian's side to help the woman back to her feet. The ranger accepted the help and her hands lingered in the Absol's fur for a moment due to the warmth they gave. However there were more pressing issues here with someone else that was seriously injured. "A-Absol, p-protect t-the blue hair." The attacker was still out there and currently Arkwright's life had to be prioritized. The Absol looked reluctant to part however took the order in stride as the four legged pokemon made his way over to Adrien. Had Arkwright been targeted again, then Absol knew to help him.

Liam's words would serve to make things worse. This must have been a game to him and thinking about that made her feel dizzy. She had to end this as fast as possible. She had to save Adrien even if her pride had to be hit. "L-Leave! P-please!" Her emerald eyes turned to Arkwright, her voice pleading for him to listen to her for once.

The thunderbolt struck the enemy and despite the pain that coursed through Adrien's legs,  a smile would creep onto his face - - the satisfaction of seeing Liam fall making this all worth it.  Unfortunately,  even if he did try to ignore the pain,  his body wasn't responding accordingly and standing up took effort he couldn't muster.  A hand instinctively attempted to lean on the absol that had come to his aid,  the admin now dizzy and light-headed. The blood puddling at his feet would cause him to lose consciousness no doubt,  even willpower doing little to combat it. 

The Eelecktross' attack was rendered useless with the kingdra's hydro pump successful in creating distance. Dusknoir, on the other hand,  wasn't able to take the dragon breath and would succumb to the damage caused soon enough. As for Adrien,  he'd finally begin walking towards Liam when a certain rude stutter would cause him to turn his head once more. Adrian should have been able to evade the attack... At least that's what he had assumed although what he witnessed struck fear into him immediately. 

"A-Adrian?!," His voice had lost its vigor, partly because of the cold and his injuries and partly because hesitation took over. She had been drenched from the attack and with the blizzard raging on,  even he could tell that hypothermia could set in anytime. He'd stumble backwards and towards her, although couldn't get too far before attempting to lean on the absol again.  And then,  as if timed,  Liam would bark once more - -  his proposal to settle this 'properly' was tempting.  So very tempting that it left the blue-haired male at a crossroad. Save Adrian or finish Liam off.  He was so close and now... 

"Fuck off!  You do that and want to settle it 'properly'?" Adrien would extend his arm back,  a palm gesturing towards the fallen and critically injuried ranger. Liam didn't play fair,  that was establish a while back.  He'd  raise his voice a final time,  his throat numbing soon after. Tch. The man clicked his tongue and closed his eyes in defeat,  two pokeballs each recalling the Dusknoir and Eelecktross.  He had paid heed to Liam's words. At least, that's what it seemed until two other pokemon were summoned forth - Skarmory and Salamance now at the Galactic's side.  "Dark Pulse.  Cover us," The steel bird had its orders and took flight soon enough,  a dark pulse aimed at the pillars near Liam in an attempt to have them come crushing on him.  

As for Salamence,  Adrien would a sling a hand over the dragon's neck and took support as he'd edge closer towards Adrian.  Once by her side, he'd attempt to yank her up by her wrist and support her with another hand. "Get on,  we're leaving..."  He'd murmur,  his voice turning hoarse now and eyes lowered in dejection.  The Salamence would crouch low should Adrian wish to embark. 

Hopefully Skarmory would be able to keep them occupoed for a while longer. 

Adrian Mastry  + LIAM SUMMERS
DUSKNOIR fainted
SKARMORY used dark pulse 

his ears listen closely to the man's movements, curiosity peaking when no more footsteps were heard. he raises an eyebrow, tempted to just peer around the corner but it might not be the best idea given how unpredictable the galactic was. so he stays put and is soon greeted by the reappearance of the mole. zu pops back out of the ground, his claws tinted stained a murky red. he stares at it for the longest time, in a bit of disbelief that he was capable of such things.

"zu...it's fine." he whispers. he extends out his hand which prompted the mole to move forward. a hand grasps around one of the stained claw, rubbing at it with a single finger in an attempt to wipe away the blood. the man feels both sad and guilty that he's had to force the mole to do such extreme things, something zu wasn't even capable of doing a few months ago. "i'm sorry, buddy..." he forces a smile. the water's too far away to wash it off, and given his condition he's not too sure if he can even make it. instead he reaches for a pokeball and taps it gently against the mole's head, a smile lingering on his lips until the flash of red disappeared.

he leans back against the rubble and sighs. he's lost in the moment, lost in his own thoughts of guilt and regrets to even notice the dark pulse. the pillar near him cracks, chunks of rock about to fall right onto him before a HYDRO PUMP clears it away. his heart quickens, he's had too many close calls today, but he isn't ready to leave, not quite yet. 

finally he looks back around the corner to see a stone edge separating them. he can only assume they were about to make their escape. he won't allow them to. they must not make it out of here alive, he's going to make sure of it. someone has to die. a hand reaches upwards and places itself on the edge of a fallen slab. he uses it to support himself up, giving everything he had into his right arm. he struggles but eventually he's up. it hurts to stand, the idea of moving made him cringe. but he can't stand there, not when the enemy's right behind the stone edge. he finds the will to recall the kingdra as well, taking note that the lucario's body was still around somewhere. but that could wait.

two more pokeball emerge and out comes two ground types. dosi makes the ground shake as he lands on it, his feet thumping against the floor creating small cracks to form. drax hovers in front of them, finding the small cavern unpleasant, which in turn is causing him to get angrier. perfect.

liam takes two steps forward, legs trembling as he struggles to stay upright. his left arm hangs in front of him completely numb, useless as his eyes start to blur. he taps against dosi's back four times total with a brief interval after the second. a nod from the drill pokemon would follow.

dosi charges forward, his drill rotating violently in preparation, or is it a distraction? he heads straight for the skarmory, charging drill first and when he's close enough he'd fake an attack and swing with his arm instead, using a HAMMER ARM to try and catch the steel bird off guard. whether it landed or not would not matter as the rhyperior makes a quick turn. he now heads straight for the stone wall that blocks, the spinning drill impacting with the rock for a DRILL RUN. the wall shatters to reveal the enemy. liam's quick.

whistle.

the tail of the dinosaur finds its way slashing into the ground, causing chunks of rocks to fly at the enemy for a ROCK SLIDE attack. it's aimed to act as a distraction more than cause damage, giving the dinosaur much needed space to fly straight forward, wings cutting through the air as his head covers in a strong metallic coat. it ignores everything, colliding with everything that might stand in its path. an IRON HEAD would target the salamence and more importantly, the ranger on top of it.

meanwhile liam slowly starts to move forward, closing the distance between them. he limps, he almost falls a few times but he soon takes refuge at a nearby wall. he pants, eyes blinking but clarity in his vision not returning. he's struggling hard but he's so close.

"you...are not leaving...alive."

If Adrian had found herself in such a situation weeks ago where her life was in danger and being cradled in Arkwright's arms, she wouldn't have believed it. In some ways death might have been preferable. Oh how the tides have changed. Not that the woman could tell what was going on anymore. The sounds that surrounded her let her know the fight continued however she could hardly spare the effort to move her body no matter how much she wanted to. What was worse was that from wherever she was, she could now hear Adrien's words - the concern in his voice - and the ranger could only imagine how pathetic she must have looked for that to happen.

It was not as if Adrian had lost all feeling in her body yet, the feeling of something against her cheek a welcome reminder of this. Her emerald irises sluggishly shifted towards the hazy outline of the human figure that was assumed to be Adrien. She wasn't sure if she should have been grateful she couldn't see all too well or not. "..." There was a figment of thought on responding to him. Anything, even a simple okay. Unfortunately in her current state, the woman was unable to do even that much. Her eyelids lowered from the struggle to fight the temptation that was sleep. In some vain attempt to alleviate his fears, the ranger forced her eyes to focus on the blurry face of Adrien to keep her eyes open. Her haggard breathing steadied for now despite the long pauses between her slow breaths.

As the Salamence was taking off, Adrian couldn't exactly tell that she was being moved aside from the sensation of wind brushing on her already pale skin. The sounds of pokemon cries and crashes further emphasized that the ranger was needed. Every second of this felt like it should have been painful. Unfortunately the concern was shared by the Absol who had watched the stone wall get destroyed by the large rock type. There was not much the dark type could do to help that did not also risk the Salamence, thus Absol refrained from doing anything reckless. On that note, knowing something must be done, Absol shifted his attention to the thread that was made. Seeing some opportunity due to the position of the other pokemon, the Absol attempted to shoot a psycho cut at Liam to get more attention and hopefully injure him. He would not wait to see how the attack turned out though as he attempted his own escape seeing as how Adrian was otherwise incapacitated.

Speaking of, the turbulence was difficult to miss even for someone who had been so out of it. She could only guess that her words were unheeded. Of course Adrian was in no position to argue further. Adrien's words served to complicate matters and in some ways the ginger wondered if the person holding her was truly the man she thought he was. While she wanted to blink in an attempt to bring focus back into her vision, part of her withheld for fear of not being able to open her eyes after. As she was being held, the little warmth he had tickling her chilled body, she wanted to tell him not to worry. Her lips parted to call his name however her voice failed in that regard too. Her lips barely moved to mouth his name that was easily missed if one was not paying attention. Weakly taking her right hand up in an effort to reach out to his face, her hand had touched Adrien's instead from his coat pocket, not that the ranger had known what he was planning to do.

Her hand had gone numb but she knew that her hand had touched something. The usual force and firmness of her grip would remain absent and gravity would serve to show that resistance. Deciding to try again, she futilely curled her fingers around his hand. "D... do...n't." Her voice came out this time, albeit hoarse, and not being able to muster everything she wanted to say. She was aiming for 'don't worry about me' yet somehow it didn't feel like what she had said was enough.