"You're confident that you can make this thing fly?" Howard looked at Oscar with a dubious expression that betrayed disbelief. "Seriously?"

The ship was, put simply, a hunk of junk. Wires poured out of every orifice. The hull was scratched, and the circuitry was exposed to more of the cancer-like wires that ran into the machine. This thing had the same chance of flying as Howard had becoming Top Champion. That was to say, impossible.

But if anyone in Hoenn was capable of fixing this thing, it was probably Oscar Clayton.

"So..." Howard peered at the wiring, as if expecting it to jump them. From his experience in Ultra Plant, that was probably likely. Howard had seen many a Xurkitree in his day. Hell, he had seen Shred Zeppelin and Grigori Sokolov each catch one. A sentient batch of wires was pretty ominous, though. "How do we start?"

He nudged the wires with his foot.

Several immediately lunged for him, preparing to throttle the Rocket Admin into submission. As two wires grabbed Howard's arm, they were immediately severed by Celpho's X-Scissor. The severed wires twitched on the ground, sparking, before turning still.

"This sucks, Oscar. This really sucks." Were the last words out of his mouth before the wires prepared to maul them both.

---

oscar clayton

Oscar took a moment to seriously consider Howard's question, and after examining the various panels and frayed wires he would deliver an honest answer. "Yeah probably!" Oscar had no experience hot wiring alien spaceships, but after getting a good look at Megalopolan tech over the years he was pretty confident that he could bumble his way into success. Did he need to? Well--no, no I guess not. But come on, they found this thing right out of the gate! He was pretty that was a sign--or something. Perhaps getting this bad boy working will help them traverse the Plant easier.

Howard would ask where they should start, and Oscar would bend down to get a closer look at the control panel's innards. "Well, I'll probably need to locate the engine and power source to make sure it's intact. As long as they're in good condition I can just clean up the wiring, get everything that seems important connected and ding-a-ling boom-boom get us in the air!" Oscar looked up enthusiastically at Howard, only to find him disheveled with large twitching wires surrounding him.

Oscar did not see, but his companion had been jumped by a Xurkitree while he was explaining his plan. The former beast turned toward Boris the Haxorus, who had witnessed the whole thing and would have intervened if Howard did not already have an Armaldo at the ready. Oscar gestured toward the Haxorus as the wires he had been examining slowly came to life. "What the fuck happened?" Boris pointed a claw toward Oscar, trying to warn him about the wires that were about to attack. Oscar scoffed, "Uh, how is it my fault?"

Before Oscar could say anything else, the wires would wrap around his mouth and torso. Pulling him roughly against the control panel, the xurkitree would attempt to squeeze Oscar through the control panel. Oscar let out a series of muffled explitives as he pulled away from the panel as hard as he could, giving Boris just enough room to sever the wires. Oscar fell forward, frantically pulling the xurkitree arms off of him while Boris dove into the machinery to grab and pull out the rest of the enemy Xurkitree.

Holding onto its shortened tendrils, Boris brutally flung the Xurkitree to the floor and placed his foot upon its bulbous head. The ultra beast let out a high pitched cry as Boris leaned in, sparking as its bulb was shattered by the Haxorus's weight. Oscar pulled himself to his feet as Boris ran over to help Howard and his Armaldo.

"Alright, so maybe we should clear out the residents first."

howard slayte

When Oscar said 'we', Howard was hoping that he secretly meant 'him'.

He did not.

While Boris dealt with Oscar's Xurkitree problem, Howard was busy fighting against a dozen sentient wires. He wasn't the one doing the fighting, that was Celpho, but the wires certainly tried their hardest to choke the life from Howard by lunging and coiling after him. Each time Celpho sliced a wire, it extended even further, revealing that the damage didn't even matter.

Ultra Plant was not a hospitable world. It was a miserable one, with electric demons lurking behind every corner. If they had to fight every single inch of wire in the ship, they'd be here all day. Howard wanted to get this ship running so they could pursue the real prize.

Regieleki, one of the golems sworn in Hoenn's defense. Yet it wasn't there now, it was here. In Plant. Hopefully. Oscar thought that chasing it down in a ship would work, but the archaeologist had its doubts. Regieleki was fast, stronger than Regice, and had no reserves about thrashing them into the dirt.

All it had to do was defend its home, and if that was here, then Arceus help them both.

"I'm clearing, I'm clearing!" Howard said helpfully as he did nothing, letting Celpho sever the bulb from a Xurkitree's body. More wires continued to emerge from the ship. "Oh, for fucks' sake... Celpho, pull them out!"

The fossil grabbed an oncoming wire with its claws, and yanked. With its considerable strength, much of the wires covering the ship came free, and immediately began to harass Boris and Oscar.

"Finish these off! X-Scissor, Celpho!"

---

oscar clayton

Oscar should have known this damn thing was a Xurkitree hive. They were popping out like snakes from a gag can of peanuts, the place was swarming! Still, Oscar was determined to get this ship running. He was certain that it would cut their travel time considerably, which in the Ultra Plant was an invaluable advantage.

As more Xurkitree went after them, Boris would do his best to smash their bulbs with his tusks. It was easier said than done, because once out of the machinery the Xurkitree were much more mobile. Still, Boris was no spring chicken and did a great job of fending them off. While he had the freedom to do so, Oscar pulled out two ultra balls and opened them up.

Out came his own Xurkitree: Navitas and Tanz. The sight of their hostile brethren made Tanz shiver a bit, but Navitas had long abandoned whatever kinship he had with the natives of Ultra Space. Oscar clapped his hands together, "I need you guys to clear out the inside of this ship's machinery and start putting shit together from within. Got it?"

Both of them nodded, and the two would slip into the open space within the control panel to start clearing out any of the other hiding Xurkitree. Oscar meanwhile went up the the control panel and began studying the dashboard. It was smothered in screens and buttons, but Oscar was confident that he could figure out what does what. "If my Xurkitree can reconnect some of the wiring, it shouldn't be too hard to start this baby up."

howard slayte

Prompt
Utilize an ultra beast or paradox pokemon in an advantageous way.

SMASH! Several bulbs cracked and shattered under Celpho's heel. Several masses of wires twitched and stilled as their life and power left them. It was like watching an Tynamo flop about on land, helpless and weak. These Xurkitree were strong, yes, but they had simply planted themselves and grown.

They were strong for this world, but they were no trained. Celpho's primal instincts overwhelmed the alien life forms and crushed them apart. Celpho was a strong Pokémon, Howard had only seen him lose once, against Mauville's Gym Leader.

Soon, the ship was vacant of sentient wires that wanted Oscar and Howard dead, and the two crawled inside. Howard let Oscar poke around at the dashboard, because Howard himself didn't understand any of it. He wasn't much of an engineer, beyond what was required of a historian. He could talk about how Ever Grande's sewer system was built and the ramifications of its existence, but alien spacecraft? No, impossible.

"Anything interesting? This ship is decrepit, man. I don't even know if you can fix it." Howard nudged a fuse box, which sparked. He leapt back in shock, falling onto his back. "Gah!"

Maybe there were records of Ultra Plant's fate in this ship? Howard didn't care for the fates of other universes beyond Hoenn's own, but he did vow to chronicle all he saw. He poked his way towards the crew's quarters, leaving Celpho outside to guard the ship.

---

oscar clayton
PROMPT: Clear a spacecraft of electrical wires.

Their battle came to a close, helped by the efforts of Oscar's Xurkitree duo. As the action died down, Oscar began to examine the control panel less frantically. With a more careful eye, Oscar could more clearly recognize parts shared by other Megalopolan tech. Howard would ask if he found anything interesting, to which Oscar would respond with a chuckle.

"Well it's alien technology, so it's interesting by default. It will be a lot more interesting once it's on." Howard scared himself with a spark, which prompted more laughter from Oscar. "Don't electrocute yourself!" He called out as Howard wandered into another room. Oscar moved over to the fuse box that had spooked his companion, and began giving it a once over. If it could spark, it must still be connected to a source of power.

Meanwhile the Xurkitree duo were busy reconnecting severed wires from within the ship's innards. Their wild counterparts made quite the mess as they tried to suck the ship dry, but fortunately for the party this particular ship could be salvaged. Navitas would reconnect a particularly large wire into what seemed to be an orbicular battery, which would cause the entire ship to whir softly.

Hearing the change in sound, Oscar would try flipping the switches on the fuse box. After a few tries, the entire ship would suddenly light up as power was restored. Oscar slapped his hands together, "Bingo! We're in fuckin' business!" He returned to the control panel, which now had several lit up screens with blinking red megalopolan text. Oscar scratched his chin, "I can't read any of this, but I'm sure it's nothing to worry about." He began to mess around with the control panel while yelling out to check on Howard.

"Yo Howard, did you find anything in there that we can use?"

howard slayte

"I've been zapped by Xurkitree, zapped by a golem made out of lightning, and had my utilities company cut my electricity supply back in college for two months." Howard said sheepishly as he looked up from the sparking fusebox. "I've earned the right to be afraid of a few sparks."

Oscar was going to learn that the Rocket Admin was scared of a lot of things. He talked big for someone holding Regice, but as soon as that Regice fell apart, Howard was the first off the battlefield. This world was scary, and he didn't want to be the sole living person in a world of wires and thunder.

He cared about Hoenn. Not Ultra Space. Why was Regieleki here, and not somewhere else?

"Hm. Let me see..." Howard frowned and looked at another box, before nudging it with his foot. Suddenly, the arcane symbols on the box lit up and glowed with a fierce light, and a static-filled voice uttered something in a strange language.

Yet somehow, he understood it.

"ᘺᕼᓰᖶᘿ ᕼᗩᓰᖇ... ᗩᕵᕵᘿᗩᖇᘿᕲ... Sᗩᓰᕲ... ᕼᘿᖇᘿ ᓍᖇᓰᘜᓰᘉ ᕵᓍᓰᘉᖶ... Sᕼᘿ... Sᘿᗩᖇᑢᕼᓰᘉᘜ... ᖶᓍᓍᖽᐸ ᕲᗩᖇᖽᐸ Sᖶᓍᘉᘿ"

The shrill audio, high and cruel, cut off with a gasp. Silence beyond the hum of the ship filled the cockpit, and Howard looked up, frowning. He didn't know what to do with this information. That harsh voice, the ominous disposition. They had listened to the dying gasp of whatever had originally owned this ship.

Now, it was gone. Buried under a massive tomb of wires and circuitry.

"Nothing much, Oscar. Let me see the symbols." The archaeologist moved to the front of the ship, gesturing to Celpho to enter the ship as he did so. As he stood next to Oscar, his eye narrowed. "Hm... yes. I see!"

He turned to Oscar.

"I can't translate this."

Wonderful.

---

oscar clayton
PROMPT: ᘺᕼᓰᖶᘿ ᕼᗩᓰᖇ... ᗩᕵᕵᘿᗩᖇᘿᕲ... Sᗩᓰᕲ... ᕼᘿᖇᘿ ᓍᖇᓰᘜᓰᘉ ᕵᓍᓰᘉᖶ... Sᕼᘿ... Sᘿᗩᖇᑢᕼᓰᘉᘜ... ᖶᓍᓍᖽᐸ ᕲᗩᖇᖽᐸ Sᖶᓍᘉᘿ

For a second Oscar actually thought that Howard was going to be able to translate the control panel. No such lucky, but Oscar would not let Howard feel bad. "That's alright man, most of this Megalopolan shit is self explanatory. See, this one here probably turns on the headlights." Oscar pulled a lever on the side, which indeed turned on flickering lights on the front of the ship that illuminated their drab surroundings.

"Ha! Easy. Hey, and this one probably turns the ship off." There was a twisting nozzle near the middle that Oscar would turn just as the Xurkitree duo exited the control panel. Oscar would have no way of knowing, but the two ultra beasts used their instincts and previous experience within this world to basically repair the ship--and Oscar just turned on the thrusters.

The ship ripped itself from the ground, going from zero to who fucking knows miles per hour into the sky. The Xurkitree duo worked fast, grabbing Oscar, Howard, Boris, and Armaldo and Ingraining themselves into the floors to keep everyone from flying backward. Oscar shouted in surprise as he vibrated within his Xurkitree seat belt, still able to reach the control panel.

He grabbed for a U shaped utensil that he thought to be the steering wheel, and when he jerked it to the left the ship would sharply turn right. The ship rattled as it continued to fly higher into the Ultra Plant sky, closer and closer to the churning thunderclouds that hung over the electric wasteland. Oscar grappled with the steering wheel until the ship evened out, only then would their flight smooth to a cruise.

Oscar let out a deep sigh and looked out through the windshield. The Ultra Plant soared past them below, appearing like a massive circuit board. Oscar chuckled as the ship continued forward, "That was my bad, but you can't beat these results! C'mon, you can see the whole damn thing from up here!"

Indeed they could view miles and miles of the Ultra Plant from every direction, including what seemed to be a red spotlight beaming up from the ground. Oscar steered the ship toward the mysterious light, and they would quickly pass by what looked to be an enormous power spot. As they passed over, Oscar leaned forward to see if the Regieleki. There was indeed a massive yellow figure within the power spot's center, crackling like a living spark. The power spot would fade from view as they flew past, and Oscar would cackle with triumph. "Ha! We found it, in just a few moments no less. See, this thing was totally worth--"

Lightning struck the ship, causing the worn thing to shake violently. The electronics began to blink on and off, a hail of sparks signalling their complete termination. The ship went dark, before slowly falling into a nose dive toward the Ultra Plant below. Oscar cleared his throat as the ship began to pick up speed, "Alright maybe we should screen my ideas going forward."

howard slayte

Prompts
--involve a regieleki that has somehow found a way to dynamax due to a power spot (or something analogous to that).

-- attempt to repair a smaller megalopolan spacecraft. doing so successfully, will allow you to launch briefly; however, the frequent lightning storms will prevent you from flying for too long.

"Wow, Oscar, you're really good at thi-"

Never again. Those words would never leave Howard's mouth again for the duration of this expedition. He'd make sure they were never uttered while Howard was still kicking on this earth. Judging from how Oscar had floored the thrusters, Howard's life wouldn't last much longer.

"CLAYTONNNNNNNN...!" Howard screamed as he was grabbed by Oscar's Pokémon and held in place. His hat flapped and almost flew away, though thankfully a cord he had gotten in Fortree with Shalin Nariya kept it in place. "TURN IT OFF!"

He did, and Howard collapsed to the floor. When the archaeologist rushed to the window, he saw the giant.

"It's huge!" Howard's voice rang out from inside the cabin as the Regi began to Dynamax. He saw the Power Spot, and moved to correct Oscar. "It has a Power Spot for a core! It's the same as Regice!"

It was the same. The League had captured the Power Spot that belonged to Regice, and it was now likely in a lab, being studied as they spoke. No wonder the Regieleki was stronger than Regice, it was still hooked up to a Power Spot. It could still Dynamax! Even it's lightning strikes were larger than normal!

Wait, lightning? Howard peered at the bolt flying towards their ship.

"Oh, FUCK!" Howard screamed as the ship began to fall, and Regieleki disappeared into the depths of Ultra Plant. This was a bust. A total, absolute bust. The only thing he and Oscar were going to get was the ugliest landing since Meteno tried to crash into Hoenn.

Scrambling for a Pokeball, Howard hobbled towards the door. Howard threw it out, and his Golurk, Atlas, appeared in a flash. The Shiny automaton disappeared under the ship, and began to push, its lower legs turning into thrusters in an attempt to soften the landing. Even now, their ship was beginning to slow. Despite that, it was still going too fast.

"Land us Claytonnnnnnnnnn-" Howard said as he was pushed to the back of the ship by the rapid fall.

---

oscar clayton
PROMPT: Involve a Regieleki that has Dynamaxed

Oscar strained against the steering wheel, pushing it down as hard as he could to keep the wings turning upward. The subtle maneuver kept the ship from nose diving, but they were still coming in hot. Even with Howard's Golurk, they were having a hell of a time slowing down. Oscar yelled out to Boris, who was clinging to the floor with his claws.

"Boris! Belt, red ball, OPEN IT!" Boris hesitated before nodding affirmatively. He would not dare fail his master in their most dire time of need. He clawed his way forward until he reached Oscar, gingerly grabbing for a pure red pokeball on his belt. The dragon would daintily press the center button, which would cause the ball to enlarge and open.

Genesect Prime had the time to look up before the force of the falling ship caused it to fly backwards. It slowed its fall by using thrusters in its legs, installed just for this kind of scenario (Magnet Rise). Oscar turned his head to yell, "Help--land!" Genesect nodded, flying out of the ship from the back just as the Golurk did before it.

Genesect flew at top speed, racing the ship to reach its nose. Upon arriving, Genesect placed itself precariously in the way of the ship and began pushing against it, its thrusters blazing at full power. Oscar watched through the windshield as Genesect managed to adjust its inner muscle density to match the strength of the ship (Download).

The ship slowed further, but it would be impossible to land cleanly. Oscar steadied the wheel, which fought against his every motion. Struggling to maintain his grip, Oscar would yell toward Howard. "Hang on to something stable! And--one--more--thing..." He was interrupted by Boris clinging onto him, the scaredy dragon whimpering as the ground came into view. "My--name--is--OSCAAAAAAAR!!!"

The impact of the ship kissing the ground filled the interior with noise. Sparks flew from every direction as the ship skid across the ground, ripping itself apart. The windshield would crack, and the wings of the ship would be lost half-way through the crash. It skid for several more feet before very slowly coming to a stop.

Oscar had kept his eyes open the entire time, and even as the ship came to a stop he found himself unable to blink. Boris gradually let go of his master, its usual hardened demeanor returning as he realized that the danger had past. As Genesect floated in front of the windshield, Oscar would finally pry his hands from the steering wheel. He took a deep breath as he stepped away, his fear giving way to amused relief. He cackled as his nerves were soothed, only for everything to become tense again as the ship budged.

"Get off the ship!"

Oscar and Boris ran to the back, leaping out as the ship began to slowly tip forward. The Xurkitree duo would leap off soon after, saving anyone who could not make it off in time. As everyone fell to the ground, Oscar would look up just in tome to watch the ship fall off of the cliff he had barely been able to land it on. He stared forward as he listened to the ship crash against everything it could on the way down, followed by the sound of an immense explosion.

Genesect landed near its dazed master, looking over him with as much concern as an emotionless cyborg could muster. Oscar let out a very long breath before finally finding something to say.

"So um, I'm gonna pay for your next vacation and we're gonna pretend this never happened."

howard slayte

VXqv9_Nc

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-"

His screams were so loud that every single being in Ultra Plant could likely hear Howard screaming as he bounced around the ship. If they didn't hear that, the ship crashing certainly would. If it weren't for Oscar's Ingrain and the numerous Pokémon supporting the crashing ship, Howard likely would've broken his neck, and every bone in his body.

Even still, he felt a few ribs crack.

"-CKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!" Howard screamed as he and fell out of the ship's back end after Oscar and Boris. The ship exploded into a cascade of brilliant colors that managed to drown out the archaeologist's screeches. After the crash, there was only silence beyond the crackling of burning debris.

Everything hurt. Howard's Golurk stood next to him like a silent protector. It surveyed the land for incoming Xurkitree and Stakataka, before confirming that the area was safe.

"Oscar." Howard grunted as he crawled to his feet, swaying slightly. He felt ashamed and defeated today. They hadn't made any meaningful progress with Regieleki, besides getting both of them almost killed. Howard's leg felt funny, and he had a weird twitch in his finger. "The profits I make go into Rocket's salary. You'd be paying me with my own money."

Silence. Howard trudged off in the direction of the rift, his Golurk behind him.

"I'll take it, though. We're going back."

They hadn't gotten close to Regieleki this time, but soon, soon, they'd make some progress. Howard thought about the Power Spot that powered the colossus and frowned. Was there any way to remove the Power Spot and make it equal in power to Regice?

Or perhaps, it was best to find out what Regice was missing. Nonetheless, this battle wasn't over.

They'd be back.

---

oscar clayton
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