A few minutes earlier...

Andrea was having a peaceful picnic outside Verdanturf Town, feeding Chomper a bunch of sandwiches. Ah, look at the flowers. Look at that crystal clear pond. So preeeetty! Just when everything looked idyllic, things abruptly turned non-idyllic, as a sinister purple bubble encased all of Route 117. A space-time distortion had appeared.

The girl in the dragon cosplay looked around her in terror. "W-w-what's happening?! No, it can't be... I heard about this on HNN!" Civilians had been warned to stay away from these distortions, but nobody had told them what to do if one manifested right where they were. Soon, it started literally raining red, blue and green shards from the sky, forcing the duo to hastily leave their picnic supplies behind and make a run for it.

With how she'd gotten up in a hurry, Andrea's draconic hood got in front of her eyes, obscuring her view and making her crash face-first into a hard wall... only upon closer inspection it wasn't a wall, but a set of rock-hard abs! It seemed this burly, bearded stranger was also trapped in the same quantum anomaly. "Sorry about that, sir. Wait, what are those?!" She cried out, pointing at the pair of wild Kleavor.

Chomper the brave little Deino didn't seem intimidated by the axe-handed mistakes of nature. His tendency to pick fights with much larger Pokémon was both his greatest strength and flaw. Flames igniting in his still hungry after eating a bunch of sandwiches jaws, he charged at one of the oversized insects with a vicious Fire Fang.

Kazimir Wynter

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A shocked squeal escaped the costumed girl's lips as the burly, beefy bear of a man picked her up bridal style and sprinted off into the nonexistent sunset. He'd also sent out a Samurott to deal with the unidentified Bug types, whose coloration looked slightly... off. Not quite a shiny Samurott, but not a regular one either.

"I can tell that they're Pokémon, but what kind of Pokémon?" Andrea addressed the man's earlier snarky comment. "They kinda look like Scyther... or Kabutops... but not really? I dunno... Come to think of it, your Samurott looks kinda weird too!" The young PokéManiac observed, squinting her eyes at the darker and edgier version of a popular Unovan starter.

Meanwhile, Chomper didn't appreciate being picked up by the aforementioned otter turned evil samurai. He made sure to show his lack of appreciation by rapidly waggling his tiny legs, getting all Worked Up over the situation. As the wild Kleavor presumably continued to give chase, the Deino pivoted his head and fired a Dragon Pulse out of his mouth, doing his part in driving their pursuers away.

Kazimir Wynter

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"Ancient Pokémon?! In this day and age?! It's like time got distorted or something!" Andrea exclaimed, her eyes blinking upon coming to a sudden, life-changing realization. "Oh... I can see why they call them space-time distortions now." She could help the bearded stranger deal with those Scyther lookalikes, but honestly, with two powerful Water types at his disposal, it looked like he had everything under control.

Speaking of ancient critters, a Rampardos and a Bastiodon approached from the opposite side, bearing hostile intentions. "Uh oh... Looks like we walked into their territory. Are you ready, Chomper?" Andrea's Deino nodded, before firing another Dragon Pulse, which was unfortunately blocked by the Bastiodon's big, fortress-shaped head.

"It's not very effective... We need more firepower. Go, Sandy!" The PokéManiac sent out a creature that was far more emblematic of her trainer class: A ferocious-looking Tyranitar that summoned a brutal Sandstorm by its mere presence. "Oops! I forgot that she does that..." The dragon-hooded girl muttered, her glasses thankfully preventing any sand from getting into her eyes. Hopefully the Sandstorm wouldn't be too much of an annoyance for her teammates.

Shaking her head, Andrea focused on the battle at hand. "Alright, Sandy, hit them with an Earthquake!" The bipedal lizard let out a mighty roar, stomping the ground and causing powerful tremors that were felt by the two Fossil Pokémon, although it was kinda hard to see through the howling gale of dust and debris. To tally up, this Tyranitar had so far caused TWO natural disasters.

Kazimir Wynter

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The draconic cosplayer felt a tang of pride at being praised by a man that looked like the personification of the sideways-facing bearded Chad meme. That's right, she wasn't just a budding trainer anymore, she could hang out with the big boys now! Granted, her absurdly overpowered Pokémon were doing most of the work.

Case in point, the combination of Sandy's Earthquake and the Blastoise's Hydro Pump seemed to have done the trick. After Andrea called back her Tyranitar, the raging Sandstorm slowly but surely subsided. When the dust had settled,the area was covered in small dunes, and one could clearly see that both Fossil Pokémon had been knocked out, lying on the ground with swirly eyes.

"We did it!" The dragon-hooded girl pumped her fist excitedly. "Space-time distortions aren't so dangerous after all!" She declared, getting a bit arrogant on account of her recent win streak. "The news were all about how they can age you up and even kill you, but I don't feel older at all! Do I look older, Chomper?" She asked her Deino, who shook his head in response.

Kazimir Wynter

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The space-time distortion faded, and so too did the prehistoric beasts that had attacked them. Andrea was immensely relieved to see the clear sky and pretty flowers again, yet her relief turned into dumbfounded shock as she realized that the man before her had suddenly shifted into a slightly less beefy, clean-shaven youth. "W-w-what the... You just de-aged! You had a beard a second ago and now you don't!" She cried out.

Come to think of it, didn't that guy look sorta familiar? The young PokéManiac squinted her eyes. "Wait, I know you... You're that Elite Four guy who's also a superhero! You're like famous!" She squeed with appropriate giddiness for a teenage girl meeting a celebrity up close. "No wonder your team is so powerful! Your Blastoise was like FWOOOOOOSH!! And that Bastiodon was like blublublublublub..." She added, making a sound akin to drowning.

"Anyway, we'd better get going. Bye!" The dragon-hooded girl finally said, waving goodbye, before she and her Deino ran off to have more adventures elsewhere. "Isn't that so cool, Chomper? We just battled with one of the Elite Four!" She could be heard yelling from a distance.

Kazimir Wynter

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