METEOR FALLS IS THE PLACE TO STUDY DRAGONS.

While they rarely frequent in open areas, the cavern has been home to the folkloric creatures. Catching one like Enigma strikes his curiosity to further study the dragon they affectionately call Roaring Moon. Similar to the celestial body when at crescent, the dragon boasts a plummage in vibrant hues of blue and scarlet; also similar to a familiar Pokemon called Salamence.

Sergei hopes to find one Salamence today to study with Enigma, but it seems he doesn't have to catch one now.

"Can I help?" He interjects with the stranger (Josh Devlin) mounting on a similar Pokemon as well with the company of a Salamence. "I have the same boy back there." Pointing towards Enigma hovering behind him. "Is there something we can help with?"

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MISSION: A PARADOX PROBLEM
Josh Devlin

Was this what Navy warned Josh about? When they went to Lilycove to watch the ball game, he had brought up the notion of Pokémon that only allowed themselves to be captured, turning on their trainers at a moment's notice. Was Ao, this Roaring Moon, like this? They had spent two months with one another, he and Yosei sparring with one another when they weren't doing Ranger work in the mountains north of Mauville. While it wasn't true hostility, there was something Ao didn't approve of. Before he could get himself wrapped in the cocoon, the paradox Pokémon gave the rider a heave-ho, throwing him into Yosei. Thankfully for the Gym Leader, the well-trained Salamence was there to break his fall.

Ao crawled toward Josh as the Pokémon racer stood up. "Even now?" he asked, about to make a follow-up appeal to the Roaring Moon when he heard a voice behind him. He and the two dragons turned around to see a young man with another Roaring Moon behind him. "Another one?" he asked the stranger. "Were... you at the Battle of Dewford, too?" What an awkward question. A natural one, but an awkward one. "I don't understand this Pokémon at all. Ao and Yosei here look like one another, yet couldn't be more different. It's almost like Ao's species is... like a fossil Pokémon, but at the same time, not. He's also by far the most aggressive Pokémon I've tried to raise." He stopped to examine the Roaring Moon's saddle and bridle, making sure not even one feather was being pinched by a strap...

"YOU MEAN THAT SORT OF HOENNIAN RITE OF PASSAGE? You bet I am!" Sergei giggly walks towards Josh Devlin's direction while his hands reach for something inside his satchel. The other will see that it is some sort of jerky, the soy-marinated breast meat dried out perfectly.

"Most hunting dragons have one fundamental similarity: they love meat!" His assumption works with Enigma as Sergei's Roaring Moon matches by far the observations he has written down on Salamences when he was still a sophomore. Approaching the other Roaring Moon is a gamble he is willing to take, but in Sergei's defense almost no Pokemon backed down on his cooking.

"I don't think it's a fossil Pokemon though. Most fossils in their full form have a trademark typing which is being Rock." At least the full fossil ones. others like the Dracozolt of Galar is a different mystery of its own.

"And this one. It is unusually shaped like a Salamence. But doesn't the law of evolution apply to these things if it is really from prehistoric time?"

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MISSION: A PARADOX PROBLEM
Josh Devlin

Sergei seemed enthusiastic about Josh's Pokémon, at least. Ao gave the Roaring Moon a threatening stare before backing down after a hiss came from between the trainer's teeth. "So you were there, too..." he trailed off.

The Roaring Moon's emotions dropped off after Sergei bribed the dragon with a piece of jerky. He thought the paradox Pokémon would be much too vicious to be satiated by a simple treat, but the rival Roaring Moon's trainer proved him wrong. Taking advantage of the distraction, Josh closely examined Ao's saddle, and indeed noticed that one feather was pinched! He quickly made adjustments to the dragon's straps to release pressure from the one feather. Once snack time was over, Ao was much more calm than before. "Feel better?" It was hard to truly tell Ao's emotions other than anger; the Salamence look-alike always looked so much meaner than Yosei did on his worst days. Silence was golden, though; he interpreted it as the Roaring Moon being in a good mood now.

Josh bravely approached Enigma to see what differences there were between the two. Ao was definitely larger than most Salamence. Unlike with the familiar species, his Roaring Moon was large enough to comfortably seat two people. "Come to think of it, you're right," Josh answered. "Prehistory was something I never really studied much. Their wings are strange for a dragon, though; most dragons have leathery wings, but this one's are closer to a bird's."

As Josh walked back toward Ao and rest a hand on the Roaring Moon's saddle, ready to try riding again, he realized he had forgotten something important. "I don't think we've properly met yet! Elite Ranger Devlin, or Gym Leader Devlin, but I go by Josh. And this Pokémon's name is Ao. I don't know much about him yet."

INSTEAD OF ACTING SURPRISED, Josh Devlin WILL ACTUALLY SEE SERGEI SMILING. This late introductions was actually long overdue, especially when the redhead expected to have met the Gym Leader during his gym challenge. "Yes, I know! I thought I've meet you the last time when I challenged your gym but it was actually... Jackie? Did I remember right?"

The jerky does its trick, making the Roaring Moon calmer than usual. This is a signal for Josh Devlin to fix the strap and get ready to ride; the curious redhead watches the other do his thing. "I agree! However, I think it still shares some dragonic characteristics. Some of the moves my Enigma has proven capable of are also dragon-type moves."

Perhaps, maybe they need to start thinking outside the box. Maybe Roaring Moons exist to redefine what dragons actually mean.

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MISSION: A PARADOX PROBLEM
Josh Devlin

As Josh finished the adjustments to the misaligned strap, the Roaring Moon's saddle in perfect working order, he turned around to see a rare smile on the paradox Pokémon's face. "Jackie Myers, yeah. She was running the Gym after my late interim, Shawn, was killed on the job. I dunno how much you follow the news, but there was an article about it. I was devastated. I even saw him die right before my eyes, with nothing I can do about it. Arceus-damned League red tape at its finest. Not."

The look on his Roaring Moon's face was the look all his other unruly Pokémon gave him when he at last had broken them to the bridle. "Alright, let's go," he sighed, giving the dragon a gentle rub on his feathered head before sitting in the saddle and zipping its cocoon together for the first time. "Coming? I'm sorry, I don't think I ever got your name, then or now!"

SERGEI FELT THE NEED TO BE SILENT just to show respect to Josh Devlin's fallen comrade of his acquaintance. While death is unheard of in Unova, Sergei knows death in Hoenn is another level. In this region, you can die by alien cannibalism, Ultra Beast invasion, Team Rocket assassination, or something much worse. Who knows?

While the other guy establishes control with his Pokemons by the use of harness, Sergei fosters a natural relationship that does not need one. "I am! My name's Sergei Dachev."

A pat on his Roaring Moon's side catapults the dragon into the air, leading the way for both of the dragon-wielding trainers. "Let's go!"

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MISSION: A PARADOX PROBLEM
Josh Devlin

"Great to meet you, Sergei," Josh waved to the dragon trainer. "I hope we get to spend more time with one another. You're not just a great war buddy, but a genuinely nice guy." He was impressed Sergei was riding the Roaring Moon "raw", with no gear at all. The dragon's feathered back provided some cushion, but it still couldn't have been as comfortable as the Gym Leader's methods. To each their own, though, and that was what made every trainer unique!

Ao stretched his massive wings, by far the largest of any Pokémon he had on his roster. His roster was enormous, spanning nearly a hundred Pokémon at this point. When did he get so many? It put into perspective just how large the number of species of ride Pokémon was. Beating his wings toward the ground, the dark-type blew pebbles and even small rocks around in his wake, startling Josh with the force of his takeoff. "Whoa!" the Master of Faster yelped, clutching the reins tightly by instinct. With a roar that echoed loudly around a waterfall, they were airborne, the surface below shrinking in a hurry.

It was rare for a ride Pokémon to overwhelm Josh, unless of course it was a legendary. This seemed to be on a similar power level to a legendary, the takeoff making him visibly shake in his cocoon. The rider relied on adrenaline to maintain control. Just how much more intense would the brutal dragon make things?