June had never been to the safari before. It had been a recommendation by annalise henderson , to catch more Pokemon, observe wildlife, and overall come to understand the balance of nature in the wild.

But that was lame. She was there because the available, or common, Pokemon list had been updated. Fletchling were potent flyers, and having a small army of them would be good for delivery runs. If she could teach them to be self-sufficient? The world was her Cloyster, and she was upset she hadn't thought about it before.

And there were also Varoom. They were cute and funny, and she was pissed she'd never seen them before now. She needed more for personal reasons.

---

4/4 Pokeballs left

PURCHASING/REDEEMING

welcome to the poké mart!

1X Premium Safari Ticket ( (50 PD)

TOTAL

do come again!

50 PD

June scoffed. “The problem isn’t me in this relationship. Thing keeps trying to run off– like it’s looking for something. Or someone.”

“And… Licorice? Seriously? Annalise, we have GOT to teach you better nickname schemes.”

But with the light, the mechanic finally put herself upright and into the nearest seat. It felt cold, ancient, and entirely uncomfortable, but it let her get her hands on the control panel proper. Dust covered each switch, and the buttons stuck in their sockets like bolts. But with her hand on A/C, it would be impossible for her to do any work.

So, without warning, her hand reached to her belt and released another Pokemon. In a flash of white light, the creature appeared on the second seat next to her. It had a gear on its head, a bright smile on its face, and a body made of gears. A clockwork doll, whom June immedately put to work.

“Here,” she gave her hold on the black cable to the Magearna. It held on for dear life, but the Xurkitree that struggled still failed to make any ground. “Now, I can fix this thing.”

Not that she had the tools. But the coin in her pocket undid the bolts that held the top of the panel just fine, and she lifted it up within a few moments. More dust, more wires, and even more confusion.

She started to fiddle with the multicolored pieces that went every which way. The work was weird, but she finally settled on a specific wire in the middle. She yanked it from its socket, and then a second wire close to the left. With the safety covering torn off, it was all to easy for her to tap the wires together. Nothing happened the first time, nor the second.

But as always, the third time was the charm. Filthy yellow lights flickered on above, and the entire spacecraft rumbled to life. “I'll be fine. A/C’ll be fine. But what won’t be fine is you if you don’t get in her proper and take a seat. We’re going for a drive. Fly? Whatever.”

PROMPT COMPLETE: Attempt to repair a smaller megalopolan spacecraft. doing so successfully, will allow you to launch briefly; however, the frequent lightning storms will prevent you from flying for too long.

---

annalise henderson  
 

“A… spaceship?”

Unfortunately, her own Xurkitree had led them to… who knew where. Kept running off. Even now, she had it gripped like a Yamper on a leash. It strained against her grip, but it didn’t make much distance. Probably because it knew it’d just be recalled if it fought back or actually broke free.

Point was, there wasn’t one. They were outside a spaceship, and she couldn’t rush forward fast enough to stop Annalise from opening the hull. She inhaled sharply as the machine hissed, stiff as a board. Her muscles relaxed when nothing immediately tried to kill them.

“Well…” June straightened up. Then, she walked past Annalise and straight into the aircraft. “When in an alternate universe.”

In reality, she wanted an excuse to fuck around with a machine. It’d been too long, with work and work and more work. That’s why she immediately fumbled around, one hand on various switches and levers and the other still on one of the black cables. Outside the ship, the Xurkitree struggled to keep its ‘head’ outside.

“Don’t just stand there,” she called out as she slammed her hand into a panel accidentally, “give me some light! A/C doesn’t like tight spaces.”

As if on cue, said Ultra Beast spat out a few sparks from its cables. “Or me. Flashlight or… what’d you name your alien?”

---

annalise henderson

In the face of such a threat, and after such an emotional moment, her perfectly concocted ‘plan’ failed to rematerialize in her brain. Let alone on her tongue. It probably involved a ground type, or something, but she holds back from blurting it out. Somehow. "I-I don't know."

Maybe it’s because of how it danced around the Electrium Z-crystal, or how it grows and its multitude of spider-like ‘eyes’ face away from their makeshift camp. How it didn’t look past the through the blue tarp is beyond June.

But all she sees is that it grows to its maximum volume, what they first encountered a few months ago, and then–

BLIP!

Somehow, it’s… not there anymore. The after imagine burned her pupils, and she choked on the breath stuck in her mouth. Just as fast as it appeared, it left. She and Annalise both knew just how fast it was, but that was quite something else.

Terrifying, for starters. But that was a problem they’d solve later. For now, all they could do was pick up the pieces and try to put the situation back together. Like the massive energy left behind by the Z-crystal. It now lay defunct on the earth, a mere reminder of what power it’d held not even a minute prior.

“Um. Should we go get that?”

Wait, hold on. June felt instinctively for her belt, and pulled off a Poke Ball. In a flash of light, her own sentient power cord bundle emerged. Its bulb scanned the surroundings, as if it too looked for something.

“Hey, A/C, you want to go grab that?” She stepped forward and pointed straight to the colorless stone. Sure enough, the Xurkitree bolted out of the cover of their decrepit building. Its ‘legs’ carried fast, straight to the rock–

Past the rock. “Huh?”

PROMPT COMPLETE: 35 allow a stakataka or xurkitree that you own to guide you safely through the realm, or have them encounter previous members of their kind that believe it to have betrayed them.

---

annalise henderson

“I…”

June could never promise that. She knew it, and maybe Annalise knew it too. Whether because of their line of work, the task at hand, or the unpredictability that was Hoenn– her safety was never guaranteed. Neither of their safeties were. So why did Annalise say she’d be fine no matter what?

Maybe that was the trust speaking. To make the other feel less anxious. It’s all she could guess, and she’d just have to live with the little white lie. The other option was to ignore it, but she’d rather actually die than lose one of the few people that knew what it was like to be stuck in the past. In a way, they both propped each other up. If one fell, so might the other.

“I’ll do my best. It’s all I can promise.”

And when the ranger said she’d stick along, some weight left her shoulders and she slumped back into Annalise’s hug. She came in here expecting this to be the last time they ever hung out together. "And... thanks. Seriously."

It was nice to be wrong sometimes. Like how Annalise was wrong about the storm being near the end.

For about ten seconds, sure, the crackle of lighting left the immediate area, and electricity ceased its horrid torrent. Yet there were a few oddities left behind. Like the electrical static that lingered well after the lightning ceased. It arced between rocks and cables to form a mesh of yellow power. But that didn’t get her to open her lips in surprise, in absolute shock (no pun intended).

No, it’s when a yellow orb, familiar but massively shrunk down, showed up to the scene. It flew across the area, like an electron, from one point of interest to another. Faster than light, and faster than sound.

Regieleki. June’s legs shifted forward, but stopped themselves. Annalise’s grip was one reason, and their conversation was another. But it was mostly the serenity of the scene that kept her in check. How strangely naturalistic, to see it act like a normal Pokémon. Curious. Intelligent. On the hunt for something. “Annalise… don't freak out. But... it's here.”

---

annalise henderson

June didn’t even give the stranger a spare glance. Anyone who opened up like that was either a dick, arrogant, or was making small talk before an important conversation. Or all three, based on his tone. She put the last round in the revolver and closed the cylinder with a satisfying click.

Only to realize that faint glow of the protect, which blocked the last few bottles from her ameature aim. She rolled her eyes and clicked the safety on before she tossed the gun onto the table. Thankfully, all it did was rattle against the wood.

“I am in the parking lot,” she wiped her sweat-stained hands against her black pants, “because I have finished the scheduled deliveries for the day, I want to stay close for any last-minute calls, and to practice gun handling safely.”

“So, congrats, you know more than someone who’s shot a gun three times in her life– including right now,” only then did she turn to the stranger, the side of her head rested on her palm.

“Y’know, I heard the Littleroot Litleos and Mauville Meowths are playing just down the block. I’m sure those third-graders would absolutely love your amazing insight on how to shoot a basketball. Since you have nothing better to do with your life.”

She smiled big and bright to the League official. Yet her eyes told a different story, filled with annoyance. If looks could kill, Paxton would’ve died the second she turned to him. Unfortunately for June, though, they did not, and he was still there. What the hell did this guy want?

---

paxton concordas

Well, who was she to look a Mudsdale in the mouth? Best to take the free shit and hope it wasn’t a setup for a future text saying ‘you owe me’ in the middle of the night. The bartender could write off this business expense rather easily; June couldn’t afford to. But, hey, what was the worst she could do?

Ask her to help bury a body in the woods? Please.

“Psh, you’re gonna be waiting a while then,” she said. She took an angry first bite of the food and scowled. “A long, long while.”

Well, she wasn’t going to be a sobbing, desperate mess at the bar: she’d be pissed-off instead. “But I’ll see what I can do. Don’t be surprised if your hair is more gray than white before you see me again, though.”

She had enough debt to make the average university student feel rich. It drowned her beneath a weight heavier than a herd of Wailord. And until that was paid off, her prospects were limited to… exactly her current job and whatever pond scum she could scrounge up. Patience was a luxury.

“It is what it is.”

---

Camellia Lemaitre

Catastrophic? Cata-fucking-strophic?! June scoffed. “What, you think I’m stupid or something? I’ve lived here my whole life– we’re in a fucking winter. In Hoenn. Shouldn’t be below fifteen degrees, and yet here I am freezing my ass off. Of course shit's going to hell.”

And why did it feel like this stranger was trying to get her to join a cult? It felt like a Rocket sales pitch, but instead of the ‘catastrophic’ being about the incompetency of the League, it was about how there was a shadow organization secretly controlling the region. The message belonged on a conspiracy theory channel.

But…

“It’s not like I don’t want things to be better,” she said. Why was she even humoring this? Everything about this whole scenario screamed insanity. A horrible dream she’d yet to awake from. “But what do you expect me to do? I’m not joining Rocket, certainly not joining the League, and I’m not about to join some third, more mysterious war that I still know jack about!”

If the stranger wanted to keep her secrets about whatever the hell a dark triad was about, then fine. But she wasn’t about to sign a contract without even a glance at the terms. One of them had to budge on information, and she had none to give.

“Just–” she let her foot fall, and she crossed her arms, “anything. At all. I've heard used car salesmen be more up front than you, and they'll try to pitch you blinker fluid with a straight face. How dangerous we talking, how big is the dark triad, and, hell, why do they also have the same letter Pokémon you have, yet you're on the good side?"

She finger-gunned to the D that hovered behind Nomi's shoulder. It yelped, then quickly floated back down to the safety of cover. It shivered into her back, still unthrilled by the mere existence of the delivery girl.

---

Naomi Sato

After several minutes of quiet panic, miniature anxiety attacks, and several tranquilizer darts, the Walking Wake had been subdued. June tossed the scratch-marked gun to the ground and shook her sopping wet sleeves around. It'd take her ages to get dry, even in the warm sun. Her socks especially. Several deep breaths carried her to the edge of the area, through the puddles.

Several deep, awful puddles. The entire holding facility, with all the cages of the Pokémon the Rangers wanted to look into, was more akin to a swamp or mire than a proper pen. It reeked of dung and dampness and sweat and blood and who knew what else. No way in hell the rangers failed to notice this mess for... 

June fished out her phone and clicked the lock. It failed to turn on, and several milliliters of water poured out from the charge outlet. Fuck. She's fucked. In the aftermath, it was almost impossible to feel anything but emotionally detached from the scenario. Arceus be damned, this was a terrible idea. All because Mila wanted to examine the fucking Walking Wake. What a disaster. 

"So." The delivery girl pocketed her phone and took off her sweatshirt. "How inspirational was that. For you. Good enough for your next project?"

Thank Arceus her hair was short. If it was even below average instead of just entirely out of left field, she'd be really pissed right about now. Instead, she grumbled apathetically and pulled her hands through the wet globs. Oh, good. Some of that was spit. Gross. 

---

mila alexopoulos

“Not like you knew,” she said with a lump in her throat. “Not like I share this with… anyone, really.”

“I-I just…” June stopped the words before they became something incoherent, a mix between a confession and sob. She afforded herself one solid sigh, a moment, before she continued her explanation. “I don’t know what else to do.”

“Remember how you talked about moving on, our second time here? How we haven’t figured it out?” She focused on the light fingertips on her shoulder, unsure of if she should pull away or lean in. “I can’t do it, Annalise. I don’t know if it’s just because he’s gone, or because he cared about it a lot, or whatever. The last thing I want is to be stuck in the past. It hurts– you know how it is.”

The past wasn’t meant to be lived in. From those who stare out the window and reminisce to the ones nailed down by some traumatic event, they were trapped in a hell few could relate to. Even worse was when they were left behind as well, stranded in a time long gone. June had been stranded by her father’s killer, and Annalise by Rocket itself.

All they had were those stuck there with them.

“It’s why my half of it is gone. Probably longer than two years, now that I think about it. But… my ability to show it to him did. It’s weird, I don’t know.”

“And it’s why I have to keep going,” she concluded. Nothing made sense, but it didn’t need to. It just had to work. “If you don’t want to help me, then… I understand. It’s dangerous. You know it as well as I do. Hell, if you don’t want to work with me at all, then so be it. But I promise you, with all my being– I won’t let you get hurt by my actions again. Not now, not ever.”

---

annalise henderson

There was enough whiplash in the last two minutes to put an entire room of car crash victims to shame. From cryptic, to angry, and now to nice, it left June entirely confused as to what the hell was going on from the avatar. Did power from a living alphabet also take away some of the screws in your head? Was Nomi bipolar now? Multiple Personalities?

Or was she just fucking with her because she was an avatar and held all the power in the conversation– the situation? Hard to say, harder to know, and hardest to keep the frustration in June’s chest down.

So, what, her choices were to kiss ass or eat shit? Join a battle against some group she’d only heard rumors of and cared for even less, all for a chance to get back at the guy who fucked her over? Showed her a life she’d never have? Rubbed it in her face. What a joke. But why did she feel like she was the punchline for the umpteenth time this month?

Even if it wasn’t Nomi’s intention, she’d shown June just how out of reach her petty revenge was. How stupid she looked right now, in the face of someone who actually knew the circumstances. The thoughts invaded her mind, in those few seconds. As they dragged on, it multiplied upon itself exponentially, until–

“GRRAAAAA!”

She turned around and sent her foot into the nearest silver trash can. Unfortunately for her, someone must’ve thrown away construction-grade bricks, as it didn’t budge underneath her force. Pain shot up her foot like a lance, and she immediately clutched it with gritted teeth. “Fuck, ow!”

Her back hit the wall, and her head followed much gently after. “I don’t want to play a stupid part. Or start over. Or hurt some dark triad. I just want to fight this one guy– but I guess I didn't realize I was trying to get involved in some power struggle fuckery.”

"So sorry for wanting to not be stepped on. Next time I'll play my part perfectly, and let all you fuckers step all over me while you fight for control of the universe, or whatever," she said. Her foot throbbed alongside her heart. June had learned her place in the pond power struggle that was Hoenn during the war on the island. And when howard slayte decided to be an asshole to her. And with Father Winter. And with annalise henderson after the alient world. "Just fuck me, right?"

---

Naomi Sato