“Not always.” The dragon enthusiast casually replied. “I caught Meatloaf two years ago. He was just a Shelgon back then, but he loved to battle! I caught Sora a year later.”

The two women’s chit-chat was interrupted when a wild Delibird landed on their small rock in the middle of the ocean. It pulled a glowing present out of its sack, extending it towards the humans.

Meatloaf snarled, seeing right through the Santa bird’s wicked sophistry. That was no harmless present; it was a bomb! By flapping its great wings, the dragon blew the orb of explosivity back, causing it to blow up in the Delibird’s face.

“Thanks for the save, Meatloaf! Pokéball, go!” The costumed trainer exclaimed, attempting to capture the holiday-themed penguin. Someone needed to teach it that tricking people with exploding presents was not very nice.

freya morningstar //attempting to catch delibird

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thankfully for them, meatloaf is quick to react. fafnir observes from up high, ready to dive down and intervene if needed, but the dragon-hooded girl and her salamence take down the delibird with ease and precision. 

freya starts to count herself lucky they wandered into each other. 

especially when from the depths bubbles a goodra. one of the most docile dragons known to man and freya watches horrified as the dragon hoists a squealing palafin into the air. 

fafnir reacts immediately. a swift thunder punch to its guts releases the squirming dolphin. the goodra snarls and lashes out; it and faf exchange a few blows before freya sneaks in a ball. 

"that palafin okay?"

Andrea Vaneau
catching goodra!

☉

“Wait, that’s not a Finizen?!” Before the young PokéManiac could process that revelation, the bullied dolphin disappeared into the depths. “Where did it go?!”

Soon, Palafin re-emerged in its Hero Form, striking a valiant pose. Still holding a grudge against dragon-kind, it struck Meatloaf with its aquatic tail. Even though that move was not very effective, it packed enough raw power to make the Salamence reel.

“Sora, Dragon Rush!” At her trainer’s order, the second Salamence rammed the opponent with her whole body, which was coated in a draconic aura.

“Good girl, Sora!” Andrea petted the azure dragoness for a job well done, before throwing a spare ball towards the injured cetacean.

freya morningstar //attempting to catch palafin

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"what's a finizen?" freya asks. another name for the dolphin creatures? she's only ever heard them spoken about as palafin. granted, they're not dragons and they're not native to hoenn, so her knowledge on them is spotty at best. 

another pokemon breaches the water and freya has absolutely no clue what this one is, but at the very least, andrea's salamence make quick work of it. 

she picks up her own ball containing the goodra and thumbs away some frothy brine. a ray bobs in the surf, watching curiously, no doubt thankful that the goodra had been captured. 

"let's see the other end of the beach," she suggests. 

Andrea Vaneau
skipping

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“That was a Finizen, or at least I thought it was.” Replied Andrea, while picking her own ball off the ground. Being among the newish species imported from Paldea, the correlation between those two species of dolphin was a mystery to many.

Nodding at Freya’s suggestion, she followed the councilwoman to the other end of the beach--a comically short journey considering how small the island was.

“So, how long have you been training dragons?” It was considered rude to inquire about a lady’s age, but the same was not true about the length of a trainer’s tenure.

freya morningstar //skipping

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it's a laughably short walk, but the rocks and crags of this temporary isle are still treacherous. one wrong step and you can slip on algae and cut yourself up on barnacles. so she takes care walking, and fafnir flies steadily alongside them.

"mm, about twelve years," she says, stopping the count on her fingers when she hits six. "since i was adopted. feels a lot longer than that, to be honest with you, but the kid i was before the morningstars doesn't really feel attached to me anymore."

kalos and emma are so far away from her now. several lifetimes, in fact. 

"what about yourself?"

fafnir makes a noise and in the surf, they see the semi-translucent form of a dragapult. some yards away is a frillish, tentacles adrift. freya frowns. dragapult aren't aquatic hunters. 

fafnir intervenes before the dragapult can pounce and the dragon fights back with enraged hisses. her dragonite makes quick work of it and freya throws another ball.

Andrea Vaneau
catching dragapult!

☉

“Twelve years, huh?” The younger dragoness placed a finger on her chin, thinking. “Chomper was my first Pokémon, and he’s a dragon. I’ve had him since I was ten, so that’s about eleven years. I guess that makes you my senpai!”

She didn’t comment on Freya being adopted. That stuff was deeply personal and the councilwoman probably didn’t wanna go into the specifics. Instead, Andrea watched her ‘senpai’ expertly catch a wild Dragapult. “Oooh, nice!”

freya morningstar //skipping

☉

she wracks her brain. was it longer than twelve? it's hard to keep track of years now - if she counted galar, she could have said well over thirty years. there's a chance andrea wouldn't have even batted an eye. more unusual things than that have happened in hoenn. 

fafnir stretches his wings by the water. the scaled hide of a gyarados rolls in the surf. freya stretches too. 

"your senpai?" she says with a brow raised.

Andrea Vaneau
skipping

☉

At Freya’s raised brow, the younger woman nodded. “Yeah, my senpai! Like, a mentor, or a big sister!”

Suddenly, the scaled hide of a Gyarados became visible. Jumping at the opportunity to catch another dragon-adjacent Pokémon, the draconic cosplayer pointed at the water. “Meatloaf, Outrage!”

The Gyarados did not appreciate being attacked in the middle of its swim, biting into the Salamence in retaliation. The azure dragon roared in pain, but a loud Dragon Cheer courtesy of Sora gave him the boost necessary to overpower the sea serpent.

“Nice work, you two!” Andrea exclaimed, hurling another ball towards the defeated leviathan.

freya morningstar //attempting to catch gyarados

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