victory_road | Too little too late

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Too little too late

Who: Jinx and anyone exploring the ruins of the warehouse
What: Exploring the exploded warehouse, trying to catch wild abused pokemon
Where: Goldenrod warehouse district
When: Backdated to the night of the explosion.

Honestly, as soon as she saw the news, she had a feeling she knew who to blame.

But without proof all she could do was go see for herself the mess that had been created.

Diana was off like a shot as soon as the news mentioned where the explosion had taken place. They'd both been to that Rocket base, they'd seen what was going on in those labs. Diana was never one to run towards the signs of danger, but Jinx could barely keep up with her this time as Diana took off on Blue the Golbat leaving Jinx trailing behind until she could summon her own flying pokemon (Hex the Honchkrow) to catch up.

By the time they arrived however the explosions and fires had already started to settle down, unlike the pokemon currently swarming about as they made their escape. They were every bit as scared and angry as they had been the last time Jinx had seen them, many of them more so. Even the ones that had just seemed depressed were fighting for their lives in this moment.

Jinx's instinct was to summon out her Absol Noir to provide her with some protection, but as the first wave of panicking pokemon came washing over them she was forced to dig into her own acrobatic skill to avoid being trampled, zapped or burnt. In the chaos she lost sight of Diana, which meant that was now her first objective.

After finding her they could explore deeper and hopefully ensure that Walter was no where to be found in this mess.

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Jinx was perhaps ill equipped for this kind of fight.

Fire types she could deal with easy enough, Trixie was a powerful Primarine and more then happy to play to incapacitate rather then really hurt. After all most of these pokemon were already abused and frightened. A bubble here, a splash of water there. As Jinx plugged her ears a few of the pokemon even fell prey to his singing. Once asleep Jinx tried to either catch them or she would have her Incineroar Ms. Fortune gather them up and rush them outside where others could tend to them.

Electric types on the other hand...that would be a problem. Trixie had to cower behind Ms. Fortune as she took the blows, her fur frizzing up from the static. After the third round of shocking attacks even the mighty warrior cat took a knee to paralysis.

"Shit! Hold on girl I've got something for that in my bag. We just gotta get these guys to calm down first!"

Looks like Jinx could use a little help.

Edited 2017-12-11 23:18 (UTC)

Clothing singed, hair frizzy and burnt from electric attacks, Jinx is well past regretting her choice to come back here and has moved on to resenting Walter for it.

Though a part of her can't help but admire him for what he's done. He took this place down well and truly. Even if Team Rocket recovered any of their data or equipment from what was left of this base the pokemon were gone, and the police were aware of it now. It would be a major blow to the organization.

...at least Jinx hoped it would be.

Skulking about the desolation still on the lookout for a body or something worth salvaging. She still had Noir keeping an eye on her while she let her other pokemon rest, but he wasn't as helpful looking for loot as her cat pokemon were. To this end she had Carmen the Purrloin helping her sift through the rubble.

Hearing a noise she stiffened and hissed for silence from her pokemon, ducking behind a sparking computer console. Someone else was coming this way and if it was a fellow Rocket, she wasn't sure how she'd play it.

Alas, it was not a Rocket who came into view. It was Ash, with his hood still pulled over his head and some fabric tied around his neck - he'd clearly been using it to cover his face. With him are two Pokemon; a large and very angry looking Braviary, with an impressive scar over it's front, and a Zoroark, who was half hidden in the shadows and keeping a watchful eye over their backs.

He looked over the cages with clear disdain, moving through quietly and looking up to the corners for cameras and ducking into blindspots and shadows. Clearly, this wasn't his first time doing this sort of thing.

She hesitated for a moment, weighing her options. Ash's feelings about Team Rocket had always been pretty clear, and while there was nothing to tie her to this location she would be on eggshells if they explored together.

But it would also be better to make herself known rather then be found so she cleared her throat before slipping out from where she was hiding offering him a little wave. "Great minds think alike huh?" She spoke softly not to put him anymore on edge then he already was.

He and his Pokemon turned at the sound of her voice and, upon seeing her, he relaxed slightly with a sigh of relief. He approached her, still keeping to the shadows.

"Hey. Man, it's good to see you. You alright?" She looked like she'd been in a couple of fights already. The Braviary fluttered onto the remains of a nearby desk and the Zoroark remained right by Ash's side, eyeing both Jinx and her Pokemon. It was nothing personal, Kinnagoe was a suspicious creature by nature.

"So far. I arrived long after the fireworks. Just wanted to poke around and see if I could piece together what went down."

Not a total lie, she did after all want to try and sort out how the explosion had been triggered and if there were any clues...or bodies.

"Seems like there's still plenty of scared pokemon around to help too. What are you doing here?" She offered conversationally. After all who was she to act suspicious of someone lurking around the ruins of a Team Rocket operation. That would be even more suspicious.

"Coming to check on the Pokemon. All these cages...it's like Prom again." Fionn bristled and hissed ominously and Ash reached out to pet him, smoothing over his feathers. "It's okay, chara. Any Rockets are all yours."

He turned back to Jinx. "Fionn's one of my...ex-Rocket mons, if that makes sense. He was one of the Rufflets they caught at Prom. He's no trouble, just. A bit hot blooded when it comes to shit like this."

"A perfect fit for your hot blood then." Jinx countered being thankful that so far none of Ash's mons that she'd met had been able to out her as having been one of the Rockets at the aforementioned prom.

Maybe with enough time, the possibility for discovery would fade to an impossibility.

"Maybe if we're really lucky we can find something to point us to other bases they might have nearby that we can wreck?"

It was kind of funny to Jinx at least, seeing as she knew where other bases were and could very easily attack them if it wouldn't result in her getting her butt kicked and worse.

None of his Pokemon had been able to out her...yet.

"Heh, yeah. We're a good pair." Ash nodded, unaware of what a joke this all was for Jinx. "We might find other Pokemon trapped like this and can shut down some other labs. There's no way this is the only place they've been operating." Kinnagoe remained by Ash's side, watching Jinx the entire time. If Fionn matched Ash's hot blood, Kinnagoe was a complete enigma.

"Sounds pretty dangerous, but the cops aren't doing much about it so somebody has to. Like whoever decided to do all of this."

How could she say these things so easily? Was it because she was actually considering it? Turning on Team Rocket could be detrimental to her health. Especially if they sent some of their more talented battlers like Jack after her.

But...Jack was sort of like family. Could he really do that to her?

....yeah he would. He liked Diana, Jinx was just an acquaintance.

"Alright, let's go down to the next level. See how deep this place goes." She gestured down a darkened hall, light bulbs shattered with only the faint glow of a flickering light in the stairwell to offer them direction.

Ash scoffed at the mention of the cops. "The police here don't do shit. Main way this place reminds me of London."

He followed her but as they went under, he glanced to Fionn. "You might need to be tucked away for now mate. If things get hot, I'll call you out." The Braviary hissed at him, but eventually agreed. His pokeball swayed from side to side, almost as if the bird was paced around in a huff. Ash sighed and tucked him back onto his belt.

The under level was, in it's own way, comfortingly dark. There were plenty of shadows to creep into, and the faint glow was something like the old ambering streetlights of home. There were more cgaes, more machines but in a way, Ash felt more in his element now. Kinnagoe slipped past him, narrow eyes scanning for any upcoming danger.

And Jinx was more then content to let them in front of her. Perhaps a month or two ago she would have tried to stall them, or find some way to hide Team Rocket's information, but she was past the point of caring anymore.

Plus she found it somewhat interesting how different Ash was from the usual interactions she had with him. Serious, intense in a more intimidating way. He could be the next Robin at this rate.

It made her stomach knot to think that if he knew she was a part of this he'd turn that piercing gaze on her.

"He was through, there's hardly anything left down here. Least that makes it easy to see the pokemon are out."

Carmen's hiss is met with a low growl. A few feet away, the shape of Pokemon and a person appear. There stands Caine, Diana's ever watchful guard. He narrows his eyes at Carmen and flicks his tail before returning his attention to his trainer.

He stands over Diana as she looks through the rubble, Isla stood beside her, watching her actions carefully.

"Ah, it's you guys."

Carmen backed down giving Caine a side eye as if to pretend she hadn't just been startled by his approach. Jinx meanwhile slid out of her hiding spot and waved gently.

"Find anything yet?"

Isla lifts and waves a ribbon tendril, making a small chiming cry to greet Jinx. Diana just shakes her head and continues picking her way through the rubble.

Jinx makes her way closer, keeping an eye on Diana and listening for trouble. Most of the pokemon have fled, but there might still be some lurking in the shadows.

As her nerves started to build she peered into a trash can and let out a startled yelp, mirrored by the yelp of the creature she'd found herself face to face with. It rolled into a ball and threw itself at her, only missing by inches and leaving the tips on her left hair horn singed.

"Look out!" The Darumaka continued crashing around in rollout mode, panicked and afraid that it had just been caught and was about to be put back in it's cage.

Edited 2017-12-14 00:13 (UTC)

Diana and Isla jumped and Caine gave a loud growl at the commotion. The Sylveon and her trainer quickly scramble to get higher up on some rubble in an attempt to avoid being rolled into at high speed.

Caine, in Caine fashion, just bristles and readies himself for a fight.

"Easy! Easy hey!" Jinx was darting around dodging almost instinctively as the creature continued to crash about wildly. Carmen was trying to scramble for cover but got flattened in the process leaving Jinx to face down the frightened pokemon on her own.

Casting a glance at Diana and her pokemon, Jinx considered how quickly an attack would finish this. The pokemon may be building up speed and power but it must still be weak from it's time in the base and the explosion.

But maybe for once, violence wasn't the cure for violence? It felt unnatural to someone from a world full of superheroes and villains like she was but...what the hell?

Darting in the line of attack Jinx braced herself and took the brunt of the attack head on. Both arms gripping at the spinning fire type till she felt the friction burn.

"Calm, down!"

...

And slowly...slowly it did.

The Darumaka stopped spinning, tears running down it's face and Jinx sank to her knees smiling, dazed from the dizzying strike.

"There see? Nothing to be afraid of. You're not in trouble." Offering an apologetic smile to Diana she added "Sorry. You OK?"

"What the hell are you doing?" Diana shouts as Jinx's arms are burnt red raw.

Caine looks completely baffled as Diana and Isla slowly climb down, Diana looking at the teen's raw arms in horror. "What the hell was that?"

"A very bad idea that worked out pretty well." Jinx offered wincing as she produced a pokeball and summoned out Miss Direction. The wobbly blue pokemon took one look at Jinx's arms and let out a panicked squeal which caused the Darumaka to whimper and quiver.

"I'm fine really! Seriously this isn't even the worst burn I've gotten in this world just...take him so I can patch myself up."

Miss Direction complied with a wary eye, glancing around the wrecked base and starting to piece together where they were. The Darumaka seemed ok if not exhausted for the time being so Jinx set to digging out her first aid kit. Her pale arms are still angry and red, the sleeves singed and while she's trying to play it off, her voice shakes clearly surprised by her own impulsive actions.

Diana sighed and takes Jinx's bag from her to get the first aid kit out herself. "That was the stupidest thing I think I've ever seen you do. Which is hard to top."

She sets about trying to cool and clean the red arms. "I can try and wrap these just to keep anything from getting in. But we gotta get you to a center."

"Thanks, just do what you can. We'll deal with it after we finish looking around." Jinx felt her face burning with embarrassment. She should have known Diana wouldn't be impressed with something so reckless, but at least she hadn't been doing it to impress Diana.

The Darumaka now passed out in Miss Direction's arms seemed fine, maybe if Jinx took care of it she might feel less guilty about what sort of experiments she indirectly helped through Team Rocket. For now she'd just have to try not to look so guilty while Diana wraps her arms.

"If it helps, I won't be doing it twice."

"Don't be stupid." Diana snaps as she finishes her attempt at binding the arm. "We're going now."

Like they can just go looking around the burnt site now. She sighs and calls for Caine, who looks at wreckage and shakes his head in frustration before turning to follow her.

Isla pats at Jinx's leg with her ribbon sympathetically.

"Come on, let's go."

Jinx's expression fell for a moment before nodding to Isla and shrugging as if to say What else can we do?

"We're not leaving just because I got a little burnt. Come on the pokemon do most of the work anyway. Now we both know why we're down here so let's keep going."

Besides if they left now, Diana would never let her live it down. Especially if it turned out Walter was down here somewhere.

Diana shoots her a scathing look. "Again, stupid. Your arm's are red raw. You need to get them looked at. We're not staying here."

"I'll be fine! Come on let's just do this already. I'm not gonna force you to leave and then when it turns out Walters trapped under some rubble or something down here it's my fault we couldn't drag him out." In an attempt to force the issue Jinx turned on her heel and made for the door at the end of the room, one that would hopefully lead them deeper.

"I screwed up. Fine but that shouldn't mean you have to give up on why you came down here." She grit her teeth doing her best not to wince each time she moved her arms. She'd be more worried about them if she didn't already know how advanced the medical tech in this world was.

Jinx is cut off by Caine's giant black form standing in front of her.

"Shut up!" Diana shouts, glaring at the other teenager. "Stop being such an idiot." She marches towards her. "We're going back." She grabs the back of Jinx's shirt and tugs at it harshly. "Just..." She sighs. "Stop being an idiot."

"Let me go! Come on Diana I'm fine!" She didn't fight back though because the last thing she wanted to do was start a pokemon fight with Caine. Even with her higher level pokemon. Even if she won she wouldn't be winning this fight.

"So we're just giving up on him then? Because I made a stupid mistake? It's not like I'm going to drop dead from arm burns." What's worse is her face was burning red now, feeling utterly humiliated at this outcome.

"You don't have to take care of me, I'm supposed to be the one taking care of you damnit."

"Stop being a moron!" Why was she doing this? Why was she being so difficult?

Was it jealousy? Really? What kind of stupid bullshit- "Walter isn't here! He's long gone!" She stands infront of Jinx and gives her a shove. "And now we're going."

"That's not your job!" Diana shouts in her face.

Jinx flinched as the words washed over her like a cold bucket of water.

"I'm...we're friends Diana. Of course it's my job." She muttered sounding subdued, no longer struggling to keep pressing on.

"What are we even doing down here then if we weren't looking for him?"

Sure she would have explored it on her own, but Diana had led this charge as soon as they heard the news. She assumed it was because she thought Walter might be injured or worse.

"That doesn't mean you have to do this shit." She lets go. "You're my friend. Not my caretaker. I don't want you worrying about me all the time."

Her fists clench into a frustrated ball. "I don't know!" She sighs, rubbing her face. "I just... I don't know what I was looking for..."

"Well you won't worry about yourself enough so someone has to. And I'm not the only one either so it's not like I can't handle worrying about someone I care about."

All things considered Diana was doing much better then she had when they first met...but there had been enough backsliding when it came to Walter that Jinx resented him...blamed him for it more then Diana.

"Well I thought that was the point. He's smart and knows what he's doing sure but you and I both know things don't always go as planned. So we can keep going...I can keep going. I just won't be doing any more stupid things for the night...probably the next couple of weeks."

"But if you're worried about him, let's see this through."

Diana stands, looking at Jinx harshly before slowly folding her arms. "I'm not doing anything until you go."

She does want to keep looking. There is worry there, for Jinx and Walter. But with Jinx being so stubborn about it... "I'll only go looking if you go get your arms fixed. Now. Otherwise, I'm dragging you there. And then it will be your fault we couldn't look around."

And there it was. Rock and hard place.

It was so...impossibly frustrating for Jinx to feel so powerless in this situation. She was the stronger one, she was the more stable one why was it that she couldn't make Diana listen to reason?

This was a girl who had almost no self control when there was food in arms reach how was she so stubborn and stalwart here and now?

"Fine! Whatever. I'll go get my arms fixed and you keep looking. But I expect you to text me so I know you're OK. If I don't here from you regularly I'm coming back here bandages and all!"

Once again, Diana had won leaving Jinx red faced and humiliated. Why was she getting so worked up over this? It's not like she wasn't used to giving in to Diana's demands.

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Too little too late

The outer labs // Pokemon battle

The Inner Labs // Exploration

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