El wasn't alone in the matter of finding the reigning champ, kyle lopez. Climbing up on top of a tall rock face on the mountain was none other than the adventurous spirit, Lucia! Her Dunsparce clung to her back as she climbed up the face. The extra weight did make it considerably harder to really maintain her balance, but she would have done anything for her Pokemon buddy!

"See anybody nearby, Hero?" Lucia asked, raising her Dunsparce up into the air in front of the downside of the mountain in front of her. Hero took a few quick glances left and right before then letting out deflated hisses as he was set back down.

"Hm, no biggie. We knew it was going to be hard anyway. We'll just keep looking, and maaaaaybe keep an eye out for strong Pokemon as well."

Lucia sat down for a moment, resting her legs for a second as she gaze up the path that they were traveling up towards. The intense heat had made these breaks frequent, and it limited exactly where they could go. Lucia herself was dressed in a special jacket that could help her withstand the heat up her. It may have not been what she wanted, hating to part with her brother's jacket, but if it was the only way....

"I wonder if anybody else is up here." Lucia asked herself, cupping her hands together to shout out over the mountaintops. "HELLO?"

El Sunderland

☉

It wasn't too much longer after her shout that a Pokemon would descend from above them. Lucia's eyes honed in on the large silhouette zoning in on them. She gasped and readied an empty pokeball in her hand to catch it with.

"Ready to go, Hero? On my mark."

The Dunsparce wriggled in front of the child and aimed its drill tail at the diving shape. A small whirling sound had come from the drill as both trainer and Pokemon were ready to take on this dangerous looking shape that was fast approaching. It had to be some kind of super tough Pokemon! But it wasn't until it had come closer that Lucia picked up on another person on its back. Even more so when they slowly landed in front of them.

"Huh? You're not a wild Pokemon?" she asked, eyeing the Hydregion. It definitely was a Hydregion, but it was different. "Oh, you must be sick too. Where did you find her? Was she with her family?"

She had come across it before, having encountered one when already exploring around the old portion of Mauville.

The person who had lowered themselves to her elevation was concerned, and who wouldn't be? Lucia wasn't stupid to see why any person would be concerned for a kid up here. But she stowed the pokeball away and would flick out her (stolen) phone to show them the bulletin put out to be searching for one man in particular.

"We were searching around for kyle lopez up here and trying to search for some Pokemon to catch at the same time. You're lucky I saw you. I was ready to have Hero use Hyper Drill on you two." she fussed, almost scolding them for worrying her. "Are you alright, though? Do you guys need help or anything? There's not really any strong looking Pokemon around here, so we were exploring around."

El Sunderland

☉

"She is? But her scales are all green when they're supposed to be blue." Lucia replied.

She didn't mean for it to come off as a correction, but was more of confusion.

"I was catching Pokemon in Old Mauville when I found a Koffing, but it was all green. The guy I was with said it was sick and he'd take care of it, so I let him catch it. That's why I thought she was sick."

With that topic out of the way, she was surprised to see that they were indeed a Ranger. Lucia tensed up some. Were they affiliated with the League? Should she just turn around and hurry away before they figured out who she was? Maybe it would have been better if she continued as if it was normal. Yeah, that would probably be for the best.

"It's nice to meet you. Uh, thank you for keeping Hoenn safe."

The child began, with the Dunsparce slithering closer to inspect Ysera. Lucia carefully moved closer before trying her best to seem as if she wasn't too affected by his presence. Hopefully he didn't pick up on it...

"I'll be okay. Hero and I have been by ourselves for long enough. But since we're both looking for the Champion, and you're worried about us, maybe we can team up? That way you'll be able to keep an eye on me and I'll help look for the Champ."

El Sunderland

☉

The knowledge about the discolored Pokemon phenomneom that were shiny Pokemon had made Lucia's expression to turn into one of horror. After El's little explanation, the child chided herself for attempting to

"So Jason just lied to me?! Augh, I should have called dibs on that Koffing when I had the chance! Damn it!"

She fussed about that little slip up she had with that one strange guy back in Old Mauville. If he totally knew that there was a shiny Pokemon she obviously wanted, how dare he keep that information from her! Koffings were...actually, were they good at battling? All they seemed to do was to flat around and release toxic fumes into the air. At that point, they seemed just like a car without all of the of metal parts. But maybe there was some kind of benefit to having them around?

Her offer to help El with their shared mission of searching for the Champ had gone over smoothly. At their agreement, Lucia beamed at the Ranger with a pleased but worn smile. All of El's Pokemon had such cool names as they showed off every one of them that were on their person.

"Thanks, El! I'm, ah..." Lucia paused. Probably not a good idea to give her name to this person. She wasn't here legally, and they probably had a record or something. Did Rangers have records?

"Lucy. I'm training up for the Gym Challenge out here. This is my Pokemon, Hero."

The Dunsparce let out a soft hum in greeting at El and their Pokemon. Lucia did the same, trying to pet Ysera's head or body to show her thanks for the ride, then do the same for each and every Pokemon that other El had showed her.

"Your team is amazing! How did you get them all? Are they strong? Can you tell me how to get strong Pokemon?"

Only 3 minutes of meeting a new person and Lucia was already peppering them with questions.

El Sunderland

☉