Lenore Valdis.
Goldenrod City, Johto.
Affected RPers: @Lord Celebi, @The Nonexistent Tazz, @XaikuX; everyone else indirectly.
Seriously, though, kids - don’t play with knives.

<Phase! Lenore, PHASE!>

It was too late. The caustic, powerful psychic voice of the Deoxys Burster too distracting. The attacks too unpredictable. Before she knew what was happening her arm was burning from the impact of some sort of energized physical blow and her body was dropping like a rock. Something heavier than her had slammed onto her back and had no intention of removing itself. While Hananiah, solo or Bursted, could carry his own weight with ease, there was no chance of flight with what felt like a ton of bricks on top of them. The ocean, the ground, the gunfire, loomed closer.

With a burst of telekinetic energy, Lenore rolled herself to face her attacker. The man was big, muscled, fully Bursted with what appeared to be an Electivire - Bursted, and holding high a pair of katanas just bristling with electricity.

<***** off!> That was all Hananiah, voicing annoyance from their shared head. Lenore did not deign to reply; rather, she struck, reaching forward and sending a pulse of psychic energy from each hand. The resulting blast wasn’t intended to be powerful, but it did the handy trick of sending the blades spinning, end-over-end, out of Lenore’s unknown assailant’s hands and above both of their heads. <Didn't your mother ever tell you not to play with knives, kid?> Hananiah laughed giddily while Lenore strained to remain calm.

Now that her opponent was disarmed, Lenore might’ve been able to finish him. Hananiah wanted her to. But a strong man Bursted with an Electivire was going to be decidedly tough to kill, very long knives or no, especially while in mid free-fall. Rather than engaging him directly, Lenore had Hananiah phase through him. Electricity crackled through Lenore’s half-resolved form as she passed; then, it was over, and she was floating alone in open air.

The man could probably retrieve his blades from the air, if he tried; Electivire were excellent at manipulating electromagnetism. He might even be able to guide his own safe landing back onto one of the ships. Who knew - maybe he wasn’t even falling fast enough for a direct ocean landing to kill him, if he just allowed himself to fall.

If.

Lenore didn’t look back. The thought of killing him, or leaving him to die, or not knowing what his fate might be or whether he would strike at her again, unsettled her.

<C’mon, you signed on for this,> Hananiah was chipper, but not taunting. <Well, maybe not full on *****ing terrorist warfare, but you were almost definitely going to have to kill somebody sometime. Those people back there we left to die, for instance ->

<Less talking, Hananiah,> Lenore shot back, <more fighting. Distraction will get us both killed, I’m sure we can agree?>

While she argued with the little demon in her head, she was wheeling back toward Lance and the Deoxys Burster, and one more variable - ah, yes, another Gengar. So that’s what the punch had been, why it had sent a cold chill flowing down her arm, why Deborah - who sometimes had trouble predicting the acts of those of a Psychic, Dark, or Ghost-type bent - hadn’t been able to warn her in time. As she approached, she could see the Burster readying another attack, this time some sort of Psychic-type move, most likely Psychic itself. <What’ve you got for me?> she asked Hananiah. Disable wasn’t too likely to work; its effects were probably still active, and as long as they were the Burster would be immune to a fresh application. Useful move in combat with a really stupid drawback.

<Now she wants my help,> Hananiah grumbled to no one. But he sped up his mental pace, getting his point across as fast as he could. <Look, my advice? Let the kid take the hit. His defenses are kick*ss at the moment and he’ll be resistant to that move - it’s a Psychic, I’d lay money on it. It’ll sting the living ***** out of him, but kill him? Nah. Besides, we can’t phase him through an energy-based attack like that, and we’re a lot squishier than he is right now, so we can’t take his bullet. I say play wounded, drop below him - four-face over there doesn’t look like he can’t move his neck up or down worth *****, especially past that ridiculous chest - and slam Deoxys and my dear brother Gengar with an Ominous Wind. Then we shoot a Shadow Ball through the slipstream and up Deoxys’s hideously mutated *ss. There’s even a chance we’ll disrupt him before he can fire off.>

Lenore didn’t like the thought of leaving Lance unprotected and alone against mother*****ing Deoxys, but she had only seconds to act. And while Hananiah’s plan was insane, and pretty likely to go fatally wrong… <D*mn you, you’ve got a point,> she grumbled at him. She slipped low, hovering just over the water and hiding in smoke where she could, her flight path wobbly and erratic but leading directly beneath Deoxys. Shooting upward just a tad, she sent a poisonous, bitter blast of glowing purple wind flying toward the Burster and his Gengar. This is stupid, she thought as she pulled back her arms. Spent my whole life studying Legends and I’m going to get killed by one probably, she mused as black-and-purple energy formed a roiling cloud between her claws. She poured the power on thick; she wanted to do serious damage rather than just pissing the Burster off. ***** both of you Harpers for dragging me into this, she added to herself as an afterthought, then threw the Shadow Ball with all her might, sending it traveling up the path of the Ominous Wind and straight toward what appeared to be the Deoxys Burster’s back.