Like any good blade, he stays on the woman's right side. Just ahead of her, leaning his barenaked sword against his shoulder. Let these paradox Pokemon come. No skin off his teeth, no danger to him. He's killed them before. He knows how they die. He was there in that podunk little town on the edge of everywhere and nowhere.[break][break]
"I've killed 'em before." He admits. "That one robot that looks like a Gallade? It's got a heart, same as anything else. They bleed oil. Anything in these caves attacks us, well..." Above his free hand floats a peculiar little creature. Were it not for its independent suspension in the air, it would surely be mistaken for paper mache. It floats around, chuckling and surveying the area. Fragile as this little paper crane is, it is power. Hitoshi has witnessed its power firsthand. Perhaps its style resonates with him - offense at the cost of all defense. One decisive swing to end things.[break]
"You two got pulled into the sword, right?" He asks them. Since that day, he has been more somber. More serious. Severe. Almost stern.[break][break]
"Missed you guys." Twenty years is a long time to think. He's not afraid to make that admission to them.

ALL IT TAKES IS AN UNEXPECTED EVENT TO CHANGE THEM INTO WHO THE PEOPLE THAT THEY ARE NOW: Hitoshi Inoue being softer, Ashley Shepard being tougher, and even when Selena Desmarais feels like she is still the same old Selena, her twenty years reigning in the memory world of Galar changed her in ways she did not expect it would. After all, her fears of being irrelevant are triumphed by the experience of being revered and regarded with respect.

And while the memory of it is slowly dissipating from the back of her head, the feeling remains inside her chest.

She only responds to Hitoshi Inoue with a smile and a nod of acknowledge to Ashley Shepard. Godkillers has matured since their last exams. She knows Elisabeth Fiorelli will just be proud of them.

"Be careful of the Glimmoras though. They have the tendency to self-explode when things become awry for them. Ashley, you know what to do when that happens." Being the shield, that is all.

Eventually, deep into the cavern, what Ashley Shepard says eventually proves to be true. A swarm of Glimmora hovers ahead of a boulder gate that looks like concealing an entrance to a much deeper tunnel. "When we push the boulder, get ready Hitoshi Inoue."

---

MISSION: TERA TUNNELING, ACT I
Ashley Shepard Hitoshi Inoue

"Man, both of you guys got crowns? All I got was a dojo and a bunch of oddballs who kept followin' me around. Callin' me master. Guess they thought I had somethin' to teach." He grumbles, although he has no serious desire to carry a crown. Reflecting on the event that kicked everything off, twenty-odd years ago, they all descended on the two dogs. The only two creatures with the good sense to fight those monsters, and everyone in Team Rocket wanted the Shield Dog dead.[break]
"Only thing I took away from all that is...that cat is bad news. Hope you know, boss: I ever see it, I'm killin' that thing." He's accepted the woman's role as his leader, given her a fancy name and everything. There are precious few names he can remember. Yumi, Mei, Elly-chan, Jetto-chan. Everyone else gets nicknames and epithets.[break]
"As for these losers...think I've got just the tool. Kusanagi, get ready." His Kartana grows excited, sensing what Hitoshi is about to do.[break]
"Slot...in!" Inside his katana's grip is a tera orb, slotted with a water shard attuned to this Kartana. The shard came from these same caverns. When the boulder is pushed...[break]
...a blue streak trails off towards the horde of Glimmora. Trailing a rapid path of destruction, he goes clean through one side of a Glimmora and comes out the other. They have no time to explode. Well, the ones he hits don't.[break]
The others began to close in around the Kartana. It grows stronger with each kill, but all that power will do it no good as several began to inhale and glow.[break]
Soon will come the boom.

IN TIME, SELENA HAS COME TO ACCEPT HER ROLE AS WELL being the head of their group. This position does not come with superiority or bias but being simply a designation of tasks. But Selena knows that when their mettles were tested, all of them proved to be trustworthy leaders on their own.

There is no question with Ashley Shepard being a thronemate for their Galarian royalty stint for the last two decades. There is a surprising relief hearing Hitoshi Inoue's tale as a sensei to his kenshis as well. If given a chance, if given a different circumstance, and if they are to perform what they are expected to perform during the trials, she knows she would have pale in comparison to the two.

Perhaps the comment about "being more" struck Selena in more ways than she could have ever imagined. She felt having her own safety nets through spies and loyal subjects would have earned her the respect she deserved from the Rocket's upper echelons.

But then again, why would she ever need someone else's approval?

The team did just like what she said: Selena cuts through the boulder instead: she summons Iron Valiant at her stead in case any gets past them. Hitoshi Inoue manages himself to get a Kartana which swifts through the swarm of Glimmoras at a blinding speed. Ashley Shepard resorts to his Roaring Moon who scares off the others that remain.

And then there's only the deep endless tunnel looking back at them.

---

MISSION: TERA TUNNELING, ACT I
Ashley Shepard Hitoshi Inoue

"I've got enough t'worry about just keepin' the people 'round me safe." Hitoshi states with the bluntness of a mace. Kusanagi wears a crown of waves, swirling around him. It douses his robes in water. Hitoshi pays it no mind. It's life a refreshing drizzle in the sudden daylight. The Pokemon seem to be no more. Sad, he was starting to have fun. They're a well-polished team. The dog whistles at the two. He has no Paradox Pokemon. Merely Kusanagi, floating around him. The blade waits for further orders. Each kill has made him tremendously stronger.[break]
Blue eyes gaze out at them from the deep darkness of the tunnel. Hitoshi sees a pink mist. That's not the first time he's seen something like that. He steps to the front of the group. A happy little robot shambles out of the darkness. Red, white, with blue eyes. It's a happy little Delibird from a future that will never be. Another joins it, and another. A whole line of them.[break]
They wave. Hitoshi senses danger. With a flit of his eye, Kartana flicks towards them. The first stands no chance. Hitoshi and Kusanagi are on the same page. The machines have parts in the same place as the heart. That's all he needs to know. The first of the Iron Bundles explodes.[break]
"So...anything different about the Sword? Seems t'me, from how all the other guys talk about it back at base, the two worlds were pretty much the same."