Now this seemed familiar. Not just to her, but also to Arcanine, who had been walking beside her. After all, they had experienced something similar before. Not that they’d understood it or anything like that, but they had experienced it nonetheless, one of them even coming out of this experience a changed Pokemon. Granted, Meg still had no idea what exactly had happened there, but according to that one scientist, Arcanine had taken on some attributes of a form long deemed extinct, which was why it felt a lot more rocky than before now. Yet, as far as she was concerned, he was still the same good old boy.
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He did draw odd looks when walking the streets though. Something she kind of liked. But he also had developed a bit of a sixth sense as to these weird kinds of occurrences. That had given him like a second of forewarning, but that was still enough to get into this a bit more safely, for he quickly got in position to shield her from an incoming gust of wind, one that apparently toppled over another pedestrian. That alone was already not good. The thunder and odd lighting in the sky didn’t make it much better. “Yeah. And that’s not a good thing. I’d take hallucinations over another one of these.” Though granted, the last one she’d experienced had not been as violent, weather wise. This could be a lot worse than anticipated, which was not exactly great already. “If you got any fighters, bringing them out might be wise. Who knows what will come through today.”
Megan did continue to converse with the fallen girl that was getting up, but her eyes were scanning up and down the street instead, wary of potential pokemon appearing.



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“Some sort of distortion thingy, the scientist called it,” she replied, deciding to simply be honest about this. Probably should have paid more attention to the explanation so that she could forward it on. Had not seemed all that important back then since it had provided no clues as to what one could do about it or the like. Just a lot of sciency stuff that she just did not get and probably would not ever get to begin with. Hence her unwillingness to truly listen to anything but the survival tips. But hey, those would probably come in handy now.
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She was all about to convey those when there was a loud noise and nearby, a huge Pokemon started to come right out of the building. Looked like a ghost. Looked like dragon chew. “Hydreigon, go!” That being called, she did bring out her Hydreigon, which was large enough by itself. It also was a dark type, which should be able to trump a ghost. It moved towards the Alpha, while Arcanine protectively positioned itself between that and the girls. “That doesn’t look good at all. Listen, from what I know, those things are temporary, but they can change people and pokemon if you aren’t careful. Like what happened to Arca over there. So let’s stick together, fight off that thing and just weather the storm, aye?”
Not that she had a specific need to stick with this girl in particular. But while she was no hero seeking out those in need, when someone was in danger right besides her, she just couldn’t help but help. In the mean time, Hydreigon rushed the alpha without fear, seeking to crunch down on it hard.



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Cellach? Was that a Pokemon she didn’t know off from some far-off region? Megan briefly saw her head snap to the side, looking for the fighter in question to find something vaguely familiar. It was a species she had seen somewhere before, but not one she knew by heart. This wasn’t the time to whip out a Pokedex, however, so she just assumed that it was a nickname. Megan instead fixated on the fight in front of them, not wanting to lose her cool.
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At the very least though, that white Pikachu lookalike did have a very fast shadowy tendril attack, one that forced the Dusknoir to focus on it briefly, disabling it to protect itself. Which, in turn, left it wide open for Hydreigon which wasted absolutely no time. As soon as it was in range, as per their usual tactics, the three heads spread slightly, each going for a separate target on the Dusknoir’s body, crunching down hard and seeking to not let go anytime soon, in order to inflict as much damage as possible while restricting the other’s movements. It was quite willing to take the shadow ball to the faces if that meant ensuring success in that regard.
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In the meantime, Megan continued to scan the area alongside Arcanine, which had its ears on high alert. Remembering how the Dusknoir had entered the field, she felt a sudden chill, realizing that this might not be the only assailant of such persuasion. So, without really thinking much about it, she simply grabbed the other woman’s hand and started to pull her with, towards the middle of the street. “We need to get away from the buildings. More of those things could come through the wall. And if it comes from the side like that, not even our Pokemon could protect us from them, so let’s not get flanked.”



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Hydreigon was nothing but stubborn when it came to fights like this. That was how they had earned the Skyrider badge too, after all. It was very much convinced that it could outlast this ghost no matter what. So it kept biting it, weird red aura or not. It just tasted more red, but that was just about it. Other than that, it was just a Pokemon like any other. And it would fall eventually. The Mimikyu coming in to help as well would only accelerate this process, usher in that finality of inevitability much further. As two heads continued crunching, the third roared in triumph, even though this thing was still actively hurting it. But such was battling. This was Hydreigon making a statement, not a discovery.
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Megan, in the meantime, had pulled the girl towards the middle of the street, right behind the rocky Arcanine. Their forces of water, stone and fire were seeking to protect them from further assaults. However, while there was definitely movement about – she could spot what looked like Dusclops and Duskull floating about, those ghosts were…. More like shades of themselves. They seemed even less tangible than usual, as if they were flickering in and out of existence, like video from some corrupted file or so. This definitely was not good. But, judging from their movements, these things were not encircling them and preparing an attack, but rather going about what they usually did. Maybe to them, they, too, were more akin to flickering spectres in the night.
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“These events seem to connect places and times or something. Probably takes something strong and emotional like that thing to fully cross over or whatever. At least….I hope so?” Frankly, she had no idea. But given that they certainly could not take on a full swarm of ghosts, she certainly hoped that she was right, keeping the other’s hand in her own all the same. Just to make certain neither was just sucked into whatever this was connected to by the winds.



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The struggle continued. Only, it then stopped, if only briefly. Hydreigon could tell that their opponent was getting more frantic, lashing out but prioritizing certain targets over others. Megan, still observing the fight, noticed that too. “Give it some room. Let’s see if it takes the offer,” she calls out to her Pokemon, which swiftly disentangles from the other and evades the retaliatory strike, instead starting to flap its wings not too far away to stay airborne. From there, it would glare at the opponent, but not engage for the moment, simply trying to intimidate.
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It was a common tactic for them. But Megan did realize that it probably did not make complete sense to a stranger, so she decided to quickly explain, least it was ruined by a lack of communication. After all, that Mimikyu might be prone to trying to continuing the fight, even in this situation. “This Pokemon clearly doesn’t belong to a trainer, so it might not want to fight to defeat. It’s probably just as confused about all this as we are. I say we give it a chance to disengage, now that it knows we are a threat by showing it that we are not necessarily hostile. No point in fighting that thing if we don’t have to. If this is one of those distortions, it might be drawn back to where it came from soon either way.”


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Phew. She let out a little sigh of relief. Frankly, she was just winging it, as per usual. But her instincts were good. Once more, they pulled through, ultimately scraping by. Though, admittedly, this was more than just scraping by in her opinion. This was a bona-fide win in her book, even though they had not beaten the opponent into submission. Then again, that was often not necessary, at least with wild Pokemon. During the first weeks of her journey she had done that, but ultimately she developed a live and let live attitude, like most trainers probably did.
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Either way, they had fended off the potential attacker and the distortion was fading. She did not allow herself to let her guard down until it was fully gone, holding onto the other woman’s hand until the end just to make sure neither of them would be pulled away or anything like that. “Well, you are asking the wrong gal about that one. This is like the second one I experience. The last one lasted way longer though. Long enough to get there from quite a distance and explore. But it might have also been bigger. Difficult to tell from the inside. Maybe they just don’t last that long in cities to begin with, there being more people and the like. Wilds are probably closer to other times and such. Though I am really just spitballing here.”



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“Ah, don’t mention it,” she replied – and she meant it. Frankly, it was perfectly understandable to have questions. If she were in the other’s shoes, she would have probably tried to ask similar questions. It just made sense, in her eyes.
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Looking around to see if everything truly had gone back to normal, Megan completely missed the other’s hesitation, though she did eventually let go of her hand when it seemed like danger had truly passed them by. “Heh. It’s almost like your parents really wanted you to go by JoJo or the like,” she replied with a brief chuckle, before rubbing her nose. “But don’t worry, I won’t call you that if it’s like, super cliché and stuff. Anyway, I am Megan Whitmore. No alliteration or dualliteration, but I think it’s a fine name, too.”
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Another chuckle, for she found that little play on words somewhat delightful. However, she wasn’t completely and utterly oblivious. “Also, are you alright after this? I’m getting hungry, so if you need some more company, you can join me finding something edible.”



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