death valley [event]

[toska]

"fucking no." she grits her teeth. karimi had tried to sate her appetite for progress with scourge battles all month, but that's not helping anybody in decima. wait until bacchus is liberated, they say. nobody in eos is even doing anything for decima. "what do you know about the dream castle up at pax lake?"

fuck it, she's plenty strong. if it takes the absence of one of the top researchers that eos has, then so be it. karimi is selfish enough.
king

[king]

alex has no idea what she's talking about.

"the what?"

toska

[toska]

fuck, the confusion on his face is real.

"a castle? with a physical realm that can be entered through the rift? seriously, y'all got scourge deoxys and giratina and god knows what else up there and you're saying that you haven't noticed that shit?"

king

[king]

was she talking about castle forlorn?

"just because we're scourge doesn't mean we're observant. but are you talking about castle forlorn?"

toska

[toska]

"i'm gonna hedge a guess and assume that scourge legendaries aren't chasin' y'all down the halls up there. good to know."

fuck, isn't it ironic that the only people who are safe enough to understand the full intricacies of the scourge are the very people who are the least inclined to help her.

but she's got a name. that's as good of a start as any.

"yeah, that castle! how long has it been there? is that where all the scourge came from?"

king

[king]

"nah. a lot of people just live there. pokemon too. it ain't a pretty place but it's somewhere we can apparently sleep in peace without being attacked."

toska

[toska]

"...dude i watched a friend turn into a monster in front of my eyes in there, so you're not getting off so easily with such a paltry-ass answer." karimi hisses. "seriously what's up with that place? what's running it? a legendary pokemon, or all the scourge collectively?"
king

[king]

"boo fuckin hoo." alex snapped. "let me shed a few tears for your sob story." sonata warily blinks open an eye. "maybe if you ever want answers, try asking nicely. being a jackass to someone with answers isn't gonna get you anywhere."

toska

[toska]

karimi tells herself that no, closing her eyes and counting to ten isn't necessary anymore. she can handle a simple conversation with a hades agent without telling camus to zap him to ash. totally.

"you fuckin agents ran over my home last summer, and you want me to play nice?" what. the. actual. fuck. "are all y'all agents this goddamned stupid, or is it just you?"

she was going to get answers no matter what she had to do, no matter who she had to bow to. that's what she told her colleagues. that's what she told herself.

"we can do this the easy way or the hard way."

eelectross used hone claws in the background.

"is all this - is this war gonna end if we just knock that castle down?"
king

[king]

alex stands up, angry now. "yes because all of us agents are all the same. we all burned down your house. you are a special case." his voice raises. "my house is gone. my family is gone. so get off your fucking high horse."

alex draws darkrai on karimi.

toska

[toska]

i'm gonna be generous for the sake of plot and say that the dark void hit the eelectross too since he has an acc buff.

the arcanine, however, is not so generous. he lunges forward towards alex, fangs bared.
king

[king]

alex grabs karimi's body and holds it in front of him for the arcanine to dig his fangs into. "i wouldn't do that." he whispered. arm around her waist, he drew psychic and teleported to the lemures circle. to the castle forlorn they would go.

/fin?