<sub>mithril wasn't entirely blockheaded. although she liked to keep herself out of... "current affairs", so to speak, she knew to keep an eye out for these things, and keep an ear to the ground in case anything bad happens where she might be going. she watched the news, went on the internet, all that. she wasn't stupid.

but she also wasn't scared.

she avoids these things because they get in her way, not really because they particularly strike fear into her, or make her worried for her well-being. like a wise person once said: as long as you have pokemon with you, anything is can be done. it's her firm belief that if she were to ever encounter one of these issues, she wouldn't flinch.

so when a strange mist coalesced into an older, stronger, deadlier version of mithril, one with shadows dancing in her eyes and veins clenched in her fists, she didn't even bat an eye.

"..."

"..."

it seemed that her "future" version had a similar thought process.

locking eyes with her future self, blue-on-blue, mithril assessed her opponent: her older self, or so it seemed. she seemed wiser and better in every way, and her castform definitely seemed more powerful than her own. she had no doubt that this version of herself had almost, if not every badge — perhaps even challenged the pokemon league.

older mithril raised a poke ball.

well, who was she to say no to a challenge?

mithril raised her own poke ball.

as the illusion of her older self seemed to throw a poke ball, mithril also released her own pokemon —

and her shelgon growled loudly at the roaring moon that erupted from the pink mist.

as the crowd cleared the area and others scrambled away from the wild paradox pokemon, mithril stood stalwart to face the oncoming threat, her shelgon galloping into battle against the bigger, deadlier dragon.</sub>