Indeed, the PokéManiac had set up a picnic table, where she prepared sandwiches alongside her darling Fuecoco. The girl looked insanely focused when she applied the top slice of bread, so much so that she didn’t notice she had a visitor until directly spoken to.

“Oh! Hi, Ms. Visionary--I mean, Naomi!” She waved at the Unown avatar, who finally had a name, although the circumstances by which she’d learned that name (a wanted poster by the HBIC) were less than ideal. “They really oughta update your picture, am I right?”

At the mention of Ogerpon, a green shape flitted under the table. “She prefers the name Pon, and she’s doing a lot better, though she still doesn’t feel comfortable around most people.” Andrea explained, before looking down at her feet. “And I’m… d-doing okay too.”

Naomi Sato

☉

“Nomi. What a cute name!” The younger woman beamed. It certainly beat calling her Visionary all the time. “Don’t worry, I’d never sell you out. And I don’t believe any of the stuff they wrote about you. Someone who loves Pokémon can’t be a bad person!”

Star-shaped pupils stared back at Kallistatus with childlike curiosity, a grassy appendage being extended towards the shiny Unown. However, at Nomi’s approach, the green-clad ogre shrunk back, staring at her with trepidation.

“P-pon…”

“Shhh, it’s fine… Nomi is a friend.” Andrea tried to comfort the nervous creature. She thought for a moment, before cutting a piece off the sandwich she had just made, which she handed to the Rocket scientist. “Try winning her over with this.”

The way to every person’s heart was through their stomach, a saying that was true for humans and Pokémon alike.

Her face fell at Nomi’s next statement. “It’s hard to be entirely okay after what we went through…” The redhead sullenly replied. “Also, that whole peace thing we’re trying to achieve hasn’t been going too well…”

Naomi Sato

☉

The Oni’s star-shaped pupils dilated and her tiny mouth watered. She swiped the sandwich off Nomi’s hand and eagerly devoured it, gluttony prevailing over fear.

“Mmmm… Pon!”

Henceforth, the Visionary would be considered one of Ogerpon’s friends.

If only making friends with other Rockets could be as easy. “A few weeks before the stuff in the prison went down, I ran into Elisabeth Fiorelli.” Andrea sheepishly explained. “I tried to peacefully get her to NOT steal a poisoned Crystabloom for her own twisted purposes, but in the end, we ended up fighting anyway…”

It had not gone down exactly as she described, but deflecting all blame from oneself came naturally for most people--herself included. Besides, there was nothing either of them could do to de-escalate the faction conflict at this point. The powers that be wanted that war to happen, and so it would.

The eccentric cosplayer cocked a curious eyebrow at the older woman’s next statement. “‘Other ways’? What do you mean?” She inquired.

Naomi Sato

☉

“I see.” Andrea nodded in understanding. That was a decent plan, but not without its holes. “I bet you could block their access to the Unown Dimension since you’re their avatar, but what if that’s not enough? What if the DRK Triad has already infiltrated Hoenn? They were in Area Zero, after all. And if Holo managed to disguise herself as an astrologist, who’s to say other people in important positions aren’t secretly DRK Triad members?”

Heck, dahlia goode could be a DRK Triad member for all they knew.

Having finished her sandwich, Pon climbed up the picnic table, taking a seat next to Jalapeño the Fuecoco. The tiny ogress listened to the two women’s conversation with morbid curiosity.

“What if there was another way?” The young PokéManiac continued. “What if, instead of stopping them from coming here, we took the fight directly to them? I mean, the Hexahydrate has to have their base of operations somewhere, right?” She proposed.

Naomi Sato

☉

Nomi’s suggestion of taking the fight outside of Hoenn gave the eccentric trainer an idea. “Elsewhere, huh? What if we asked illeana reyes to help? Palkia can open a portal to any dimension they want, like they did back in Ultra Megalopolis.”

She had recently proposed the same thing to THEO BECKETT with less than stellar results. Hopefully Team Rocket did not harbor a collective grudge against the Alchemist.

Wistfully watching the kinship between the Oni and the floating letter gave Andrea a second idea. “What about the Unown? Wherever there’s Unown, the DRK Triad is usually not far behind. Maybe that’s the way we find them. Can Unown sense each other?” She asked.

Naomi Sato

☉

Any shift in the Visionary’s expression went unnoticed by the eccentric cosplayer, who just heard what she wanted to hear. “You’ll talk to her? That’s splendid! I’m sure Palkia will be of much help in our battle against the Triad!”

There was no risk from Andrea’s point of view. The Sinnohian deity could be trusted. It literally had ‘pal’ in its name. That meant it was a friend.

The blue-haired avatar confirmed that Kallistatus could sense the DRK Triad whenever they drew near. “If they can, then we’re just gonna need more Unown. Like, a thousand of them, spread all over the region.” The dragon maniac surmised.

“Pon~!” The Oni’s face lit up at the prospect. More Unown meant more friends.

Jalapeño waddled closer to a shivering Nomi, trying to keep the woman warm with the heat coming off his fiery ahoge.

“So, what’s the Unown Dimension like?” Asked Andrea, its mention tickling her curiosity.

Naomi Sato

☉

Four people disappeared from the picnic table in the blink of an eye. If Jalapeño was even remotely worried about being left alone, it did not show in his beady eyes. Eternally unbothered, the Fuecoco simply gnawed on the remaining sandwiches.

It took Andrea some seconds to adjust to the peculiarities of the Unown Dimension. The synchronized dancing of the Unown before a galactic backdrop was almost mesmerizing. Pon was certainly mesmerized by it, her star-shaped pupils dilating in sheer awe.

“Po…”

“You can say that again!” The onesie-clad woman exclaimed. “So, is this the home of all Unown, including the ones used by the DRK Triad?” She then asked Nomi.

Naomi Sato

☉