It was a scenario the young Champion dreaded seeing: Mauville City had fallen to a Dynamax attack, and Rocket was marching toward Verdanturf Town. It was up to Josh Devlin and freya morningstar , and the combined might of their dragons to deliver a message from the city to the nearest League stronghold. Even surviving would not be easy; the great defenses Josh and Annalise had set up to protect the tri-level city would now be used against them, the Rockets having set up marvelous anti-air defensed aimed at intercepting even the most talented of trainers and Pokémon.

"So many flying-types they have parked on Mauville's west side," Josh gasped, noting that all of them could potentially use HURRICANE to blow the sturdy Dragonite that flew alongside the Salamence he was in the saddle of. Yosei boldly stared down the many birds, ready to attempt to zip between them with the fastest DRAGON DANCE he could muster. "We might have to fly north, around the Mount Chimney area, to get to them... but we might not have time to take that big of a detour. If we get the jump on them, maybe we can knock enough of them out that we can squeeze through." Yosei's halters seemed to glimmer in the sun, the dragon ready to swoop down upon his trainer's former home...

Come to think of it, Josh had yet to see the "bad end" of the delivery mission. He wasn't sure whether or not the League was monitoring how he performed inside the simulation, but if a Council member wanted to explore a bad ending, what was going to stop them? There would be evidence it was her idea. "You mean just... turn around and abandon the duty?" he asked with trepidation. "Obviously I would never do this for real, but sure. Seeing Hoenn like this breaks my heart, though. I will not let Mauville fall, Freya. None of my dragons will."

Yosei let out a proud cry, Josh reining him away from Mauville City's anti-air defenses. The Dragonite would continue bravely on its own, flying headlong into Rocket's trap. He felt awful sending the creature, and their message, to a grisly death... and wondered if this was a decision he would have to make in the real world one day. "That reminds me. One day, I should visit your den and let Yosei and Ao mingle with your dragons. Spend some time together, getting to know one another better. I'm a dragon lover myself, though not to the same extent you are." Their attitudes toward raising dragons was also quite different, the two having quite different levels of respect they elevated the sacred creatures to...

Indeed, it was a bad ending; the Dragonite was completely obliterated by anti-air defenses consisting primarily of BLIZZARDS and other strong Ice-type attacks. "Just like Sootopolis is precious to you, Mauville is precious to me," Josh tried to comfort the dragon master. "We will fully reclaim it, Freya, just like the prophecy says."

Once the dragons and their riders were a safe distance from the occupied metropolis, Yosei landed, the Gym Leader basking in the warmth of Fafnir's fire. "I'll have to come knocking, then," he casually remarked. "Get some of my own dragons into shape for when the next conflict flares up. Looking forward to it."

Once the tendrils of sleep claimed Josh, his vision would fade to white as the simulation whisked them away to the next scenario...

Walsh stood before Josh in the simulation. His imposing, purple-haired figure had stricken the Champion with fear once; during Father Winter's visit to him, he had been offered a Shiny Raikou in exchange for unerring loyalty to Rocket. An offer he refused, only to have his very life taken from him by the Beast he admired. It was all a dream, yet it felt so very real.

"You got it!" Josh called back, now on foot as his Salamence and Roaring Moon threw themselves between Freya and the Rocket Boss' Pokémon. A bitter battle ensued among the Gliscor, Nidoking, and the Gym Leader's two dragons, Yosei and Ao seizing the initiative and tearing into the flying-type with DRAGON CLAW and DRAGON RUSH. Ao turned around to slice his mighty claws into the Nidoking, only to be met with the whirring sound of a HORN DRILL. The paradox's Pokémon's eyes widened in the final moments before the spinning horn ripped into his midsection, bringing the Roaring Moon down in a single blow.

"Now, Freya!" Josh cried, bringing his fallen partner back into the Ultra Ball that caught him.