Josh, alongside Michael Navidson , had reclaimed the Operations Center near the entrance to the Ultra Deep Sea rift, which was near the entrance to the Interdream Zone. Little was understood about the so-called Paradox Pokémon within, and going in to observe and research them was incredibly dangerous. Even after being captured, Ao was showing resistance to being fitted, and riding the Roaring Moon without a saddle was risky. Josh was certain the Pokémon would warm up to him over time; after all, some of his Pokémon, like Komainu, were at first stubborn about wearing saddles of their own.

Getting settled in, Josh sent his team of Pokémon back to Mauville Gym for some R&R. Pulling up his contact list, he realized he still hadn't deleted SHAWN RICHARDS from his contact list. He shed a tear for the young man who had paid the ultimate price for his loyalty to the Mauville Leader. Instead, he texted Interim Gym Leader JACKIE MYERS to upload six Pokémon to storage, where Josh could retrieve them. These were third and fourth-stringers; some of them had never even seen combat before. He hoped they wouldn't today. Today's mission was simple.

Use their new communications base to spy on Rocket.

"Alright, Elinor, wiretapping now," Josh announced, cycling among the listed channels until he found a frequency that looked suspicious. Next to him was Wiley, a saddle-wearing Furret that was ready to pick him up if things got hairy.

---

Elinor Anderson

Josh's Sygna Suit will be inert for this thread; it is being worn for flavor only. He will not have access to its powers.

Post MP: 10 (IC post)
Thread MP: 10

{WC: 247}
{PC: 1}

NAME            SPECIES           STATUS 
                                  ♥♥♥♥♥
Josh            Human             ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
Voja            Mightyena         Good  
Medli           Meganium          Good  
Komainu         Houndoom          Good  
Wiley           Furret            Good  
Steel Needle    Gliscor           Good  
Ao              Roaring Moon      Good  

[googlefont=Raleway]

If there was one thing that was good about the base they were working out of, it was that it was ahielded from the elements. With his Sygna Suit still recharging after his trip into the Interdream Zone, Josh was grateful he was inside one of the few places within Ultra Deep Sea not exposed to the toxic atmosphere.

Tapping into the bodycam the overseeing Executive was wearing, Josh could not believe what he was seeing. It was clearly the Interdream Zone, but not the one he had been to. This looked like... a space station? Many of the Pokémon in the space station were recognizable, too... but they were all... metal? "Elinor, come take a look at this. Have you seen Pokémon like this before? They're so familiar, yet so... unfamiliar." Prominent were Hydreigon and Hariyama that looked like they were made entirely out of metal. Artificially created, perhaps?

After several minutes of observing and listening, the sound of shattering glass disturbed the ambient hum of machines as BULLET SEEDs went flying everywhere around them. Some came from a Pokémon resembling Amoonguss. Others came from what appeared to be firearms fueled by Pokémon attacks. Setting his headset down, Josh got on Wiley's back, leaning as low as he could in the already-low saddle. It had to be low to accommodate the body shape of a Furret.

"Komainu, Ao! Hold the fort down!" the Gym Leader called out, sending out a Houndoom and his newly-captured Roaring Moon by throwing their Poké Balls through the broken windows. "Wiley, we need to guard the entrance!" With his three Pokémon holding down the fort, he was confident their position would hold. Little did Josh know that these Rockets already had captured some of these so-called Paradox Pokémon, and were not afraid to use them...

---

Elinor Anderson

Josh's Sygna Suit will be inert for this thread; it is being worn for flavor only. He will not have access to its powers.

Post MP: 10 (IC post)
Thread MP: 20

{WC: 307}
{PC: 2}

NAME            SPECIES           STATUS 
                                  ♥♥♥♥♥
Josh            Human             ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
Voja            Mightyena         Good  
Medli           Meganium          Good  
Komainu         Houndoom          Good  
Wiley           Furret            Good  
Steel Needle    Gliscor           Good  
Ao              Roaring Moon      Good  

[googlefont=Raleway]

As unusual as an oversized Furret was as a mount, the Normal-type's extreme agility kept the Gym Leader out of most of the crossfire. Staying behind Komainu and Ao helped, as well. Swaths of the first wave of ordinary Pokémon fell to the Typhlosion's INFERNAL PARADE and the sizzling FLAMETHROWER attacks of Josh's partners. Though they started to turn the tide of battle, the dozens of BULLET SEED rounds started to wear the brave rider and his Pokémon down. "Wiley, pick up the pace! AGILITY!" The Furret's running stroke bounced Josh about harshly, agitating his existing wounds, but keeping him from being struck by any more gunfire.

The shrill cry of an Eevee, of all things, caught Josh's attention. Had he noticed the small Pokémon was there, he could have stopped it from using the Z-MOVE: EXTREME EVOBOOST, a hidden technique only the cute but deadly Pokémon could use. It was a lot like a more potent version of his Pyroar's Z-Move. But a Z-Move? If Rocket was deploying trainers with Z-Moves, this base must be extremely strategic to them. With the Eevee's combat performance maximized, even legendary Pokémon would have a hard time handling it, let alone the Pokémon that were on Josh's roster.

The small Pokémon's QUICK ATTACK was far too fast for even Josh to follow, felling Komainu in a single attack before she could even defend herself. "Wiley, don't lose sight of that Eevee!" the rider ordered as he withdrew the fallen dark-type, though it was likely a futile command. He needed real reinforcement, and fast.

---

Elinor Anderson

The Z-MOVE: EXTREME EVOBOOST will MAXIMIZE (+6) all parameters of the Eevee and enable it to use two moves per round.

Josh's Sygna Suit will be inert for this thread; it is being worn for flavor only. He will not have access to its powers.

Post MP: 10 (IC post) + 50 (Ally KO)
Thread MP: 80

{WC: 267}
{PC: 3}

NAME            SPECIES           STATUS 
                                  ♥♥♥♥♥
Josh            Human             ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
Voja            Mightyena         Good  
Medli           Meganium          Good  
Komainu         Houndoom          KO  
Wiley           Furret            Good  
Steel Needle    Gliscor           Good  
Ao              Roaring Moon      Good  

[googlefont=Raleway]

"Wiley, U-TURN!" Josh shouted his command to have the Furret he rode make a swift attack-and-retreat. It wasn't to be, though; the small foe was simply too fast and too strong after its EXTREME EVOBOOST. Despite Josh spurring the Furret to top speed, the rebellious Eevee rammed the duo head-on, knocking Wiley out from underneath Josh.

The Typhlosion's FLAMETHROWER attack grabbed the menacing Eevee's attention. With the normal-type's combat performance maximized, it was able to shrug off the fire attack. Upset at the fire-type's intrusion, the Eevee brandished its teeth at Elinor's Pokémon, its BITING fangs seeking the Typhlosion's soul gem.

The distraction gave Josh enough time to send out another Pokémon. "No more messing around!" he barked. "Ao, you're up!" The Roaring Moon that alec foster helped Josh capture emerged from its Poké Ball. "DRAGON DANCE!" Ao had other ideas, though, instead trying to pinch off the space the Eevee could run around in by using FLAMETHROWER instead. "Ao, that's not Dragon Dance!"

---

Elinor Anderson

Josh's Sygna Suit will be inert for this thread; it is being worn for flavor only. He will not have access to its powers.

Post MP: 10 (IC post)
Thread MP: 90

{WC: 165}
{PC: 4}

NAME            SPECIES           STATUS 
                                  ♥♥♥♥♥
Josh            Human             ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
Voja            Mightyena         Good  
Medli           Meganium          Good  
Komainu         Houndoom          KO  
Wiley           Furret            KO  
Steel Needle    Gliscor           Good  
Ao              Roaring Moon      Good  

[googlefont=Raleway]

Taking a hint from Ao's efforts to box the Eevee in, Josh sent out a second Pokémon. "Follow up, Steel Needle! THUNDER FANG!" The Gliscor that came out of the Gym Leader's Poké Ball swooped above the normal-type, baiting a dodge with her sting before chomping down with her voltage-laced teeth. At last, a blow on the supercharged Eevee!

The little one, not taking kindly to its high speed failing it, lunged toward Steel Needle in an expertly placed and timed TAKE DOWN. While the reckless charge was not enough to down the Gliscor alone, a rogue, friendly-fire DRAGON RUSH aimed at her finished the job. "Ao, Steel Needle isn't your enemy!" The proud Roaring Moon didn't need help. He wanted to battle this Eevee, one-on-one. "Come on, Medli, help out!" The Gym Leader sent out a Meganium to help the Roaring Moon take down this foe. What Josh didn't understand was that Ao didn't want to fight except while alone.

---

Elinor Anderson

Josh's Sygna Suit will be inert for this thread; it is being worn for flavor only. He will not have access to its powers.

Post MP: 10 (IC post)
Thread MP: 100

{WC: 162}
{PC: 5}

NAME            SPECIES           STATUS 
                                  ♥♥♥♥♥
Josh            Human             ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
Voja            Mightyena         Good  
Medli           Meganium          Good  
Komainu         Houndoom          KO  
Wiley           Furret            KO  
Steel Needle    Gliscor           KO 
Ao              Roaring Moon      Good  

[googlefont=Raleway]

Ao roared as Elinor's Shiny Steelix conjured a stone labyrinth around the Pokémon engaged in battle. Without the Evoboosted Eevee supporting them, it was simple enough for the rest of the Rockets' Pokémon to fall to swaths of RAZOR LEAF and the blazing phantom's attacks.

That left Ao with the one-on-one battle he wanted, but it wasn't one Josh wanted Ao to be involved in. The normal-type's high-pitched HYPER VOICE was grating to all those nearby. While the Roaring Moon's trainer was able to cover his ears in time to avoid the worst of it, the dragon-type was not. Driven to a dragon's rage unlike anything Josh had ever seen, the Salamence look-alike took off and divebombed his foe with a high-speed DRAGON RUSH. Not even the added speed the Evoboost granted it let it evade the crashing attack.

Just as it seemed the Eevee was showing chinks in its armor, the unassuming Normal-type pounced Ao with a reckless use of DOUBLE-EDGE that proved to be too much for even the paradox Pokémon to withstand. It was only a matter of time before it broke through even the Steelix's barrier. Josh had lost.

To an Eevee, of all Pokémon.

The Gym Leader withdrew his other two Pokémon and sent out Voja, his Mightyena. "Hate to say it, Elinor, but I think we're outclassed. We need to back down and live to fight another day." With that, the young man thrust himself aboard the dark-type canine in retreat.

---

Elinor Anderson

Josh's Sygna Suit will be inert for this thread; it is being worn for flavor only. He will not have access to its powers.

Post MP: 10 (IC post) + 50 (Mission participation) + 100 (Mission completion) + 300 (Mission failure)
Thread MP: 560

{WC: 252}
{PC: 6}

NAME            SPECIES           STATUS 
                                  ♥♥♥♥♥
Josh            Human             ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
Voja            Mightyena         Good  
Medli           Meganium          Good  
Komainu         Houndoom          KO  
Wiley           Furret            KO  
Steel Needle    Gliscor           KO 
Ao              Roaring Moon      KO 

[googlefont=Raleway]