INTERLUDE: THE SAUCE

The robbery of ft. ameena abadi

It had only been a scant few hours since the experiment had concluded.

The accumulated data was still being processed when every single living being in the lab, simultaneously shuddered.

... Something was off. The psychic pokemon present could feel a presence... almost. As if at the very edge of their 6th sense.

Any nearby humans could feel a mounting tension, as if they were being observed.

But only one person would notice the one thing out of place.

A simple, pink cone left on top of a desk. Unnoticed and seemingly forgotten.

---

TL;DR:

Voyagers of the Dyna-storm

walter delmar

Everything had been going a little too smoothly. Such was not the way of John Douglas Sullivan's life.

He was, after all, the Jinxed.

"WE'RE NOT EVEN OUTSIDE OF HOENN'S WATERS, WHAT THE HELL?!" Screamed Doug at the top of his lungs, his shouting drowned out by heavy rain and the clap of thunder as towering waves rose around them.

Gargantuan waves that would've put all splashfest surf contestants to shame lifted their boat high in the air as the medic held on to the main mast for dear life.

Thank god Yuina Higashi and howard slayte were inside the ship proper... And how unfortunate that he had chosen that day to take in the smell of the sea.

"CAPTAIN, ORDERRRS!!!" At that very moment, only walter delmar could get them through this.

---

TL;DR:

Indiana John

ft. howard slayte, Yuina Higashi

"Is that it?" He asked, squinting at the silhouette of land in the distance.

Perched precariously on the bow of walter delmar's vessel, the colonel cut a rather dashing silhouette, were it not for the occasional shift and arm pin wheeling from nearly falling into the sea.

"Looks small." He mused, holding a hand over his eyes.

If Remiel Calcifet was correct, the people in that island would have the clues they needed.

As the beach's sand began to come into view, he hopped off the ship's prow and jogged back towards the historian nerds.

He grinned and winked at Yuina Higashi, and while he wasn't terribly familiar with howard slayte yet, it didn't stop him from clapping the man's back cheerfully.

"Thanks again for coming with, man!"

---

TL;DR:
Mission

With howard slayte.

ANSWERS

ft. Navy, illeana reyes, Noel Parker, Andrea Vaneau, FERNANDO SILPH

Never once looking away from the working councilman, Doug leaned over to whisper at illeana reyes, lips pursed together as he whispered. "_{Man's never heard of delegating in his life.}"

For a man claiming to not be exceptional, Doug could only wonder who, if anyone, Silph was taking advise from on all these executive decisions he was taking, all of which sounded like preparations for war.

"Well, we're in. And he's clearly busy." He said, turning to Navy. "Someone's gotta go interrupt that storm of productivity. So..."

"Onetwothree not it." He declared, before giving Navy an unceremonious push on the back. "Navy, I choose you!"

---

TL;DR:

Island Hopping

ft. Yuina Higashi

He shrugged his shoulder, linking his digits with hers and smiling. "Maybe. Maybe he just liked your style."

It probably had something to do with her relationship to time, but that alone wasn't a reason to stick around. Cait Alfric had no experiences with time travel prior becoming the full avatar of Celebi (that he knew).

Whatever caught Celebi's interest about Yuina, it wasn't just because of her mishap with time.

But... her worries were very valid, and very concerning. He had grown used to being a target by now— desensitized. He was rarely ever a priority for anyone.

But Yuina was already in the ninja's sights. Would she be in Rocket's as well?

His hand squeezed hers, brows furrowing thoughtfully.

He stopped walking, before pulling her close for a hug.

"I can't tell ya what to do or how to feel." Anymore than he already tended to try, really. "But I'll protect you from whoever, whenever, wherever. No matter what."

That was the only thing he could do. No one, not a triad, not a witch, not a rocket, would touch lay a hand on her if he could help it.

He pressed his lips to her forehead gently, lingering there for a moment.

---

TL;DR: Beach Doug

Implicit Duties

The second step. ft. Yuina Higashi

"Let's check." He said with a cheshire grin, making a show of (very lazily) reaching for the night stand on her end of the bed— for her phone, more specifically.

That is, if he had made any effort to abandon her lap, at least.

"Hnngh...! Nope, can't reach." He huffed, resettling back lazily on her lap, before snuggling against her stomach. "Guess it'll have to wait until tomorrow..."

His eyes fluttered slightly as a brief silence followed, his chest rising and falling as he looked up at her, smiling.

His hand slid over the bedsheets to grab hers, squeezing it gently.

"So..." He said.

"Is now 'later'?"

---

TL;DR:

Lesser Megalopolis

Yuina & Doug

He gave her a wry look.

"Didn't mean it like that, love." he said simply, scratching at his cheek. "For better or worse, this is their home."

The ones that remained in the city were likely not in the same group as the ones invading other universes.

As they rounded around a corner, he froze in place, eyes widening briefly as he nearly took a step back behind the wall— before realizing what he was looking at.

What had seemed like the silhouettes of those zombies crowding a broad avenue were actually... corpses. Almost completely encased in crystal and metal, flesh scarcely left, faces twisted in agony.

He gulped.

"And they have enough on their plate as is." He said, lip curling. "I'd rather not add more to it."

But if they did find the group, maybe they could get a better idea of what had gone down in there.

---

TL;DR:

19 encounter the haunting corpses of megalopolans that have been completely overtaken by black crystal or metal. it seems like the megalopolan's flesh has been completely overtaken by the material.

Implicit Duties

The second step. ft. Yuina Higashi

He hummed contentedly as her nails raked against his scalp, leaning into her touch like a puppy. He could've fallen back asleep right then and there...

But no, they were still talking. He needed to be awake and present for her, as she was for him.

The only boring books he could read without whining were medical or political, so he wasn't terribly excited at the idea of having to blast through a thick, stale tome of academic research.

Needless to say, the prince of Galar was a much more attractive option.

"As in, Remiel Calcifet?" He asked her, frowning briefly.

Did he know Remiel...?

"Not really." He said with a shrug. "I know of him. But I don't know him."

He knew him by reputation, once squeaky clean as royal heir and ambassador of Galar, then marred by his public status as a former rocket admin, now somewhat reformed in the eyes of the public after his efforts.

He couldn't help but wonder what the man was like.

"You friends with the guy?" He asked as he rolled onto his back, laying his head on her lap and smiling at her. "Think he'll help if we pay 'im a visit?"

---

TL;DR:

Dreams within Dreams

ft. Lucia Aldrete

Priorities. Doug was adept at handling his own, compartmentalizing different issues into their own little islands in his head so he could tackle them one at a time as needed.

There was something at the edge of his vision, tickling at his curiosity whilst he ran after Lucia— but priorities were priorities. And Lucia was the most important thing in that moment.

As the little girl came to a breathless stop, Doug quickly slid besides her on his knees, quite literally leveling with her. He would've hugged her— snatched her right off the ground even, what with the pavement looking seconds away from crumbling beneath them.

But he still recalled the first time he tried it.

It was best to simply be around, and let Lucy know that if she wanted or needed something, he was there to help.

"Yeah, it looked like it." He said, holding out his hand as he smiled at her. "Still; better for us to stick together when afraid, yeah?"

Where they still in prison? So she thought they had already escaped too...?

He cupped his chin thoughtfully, finger over his lips as he considered everything they knew.

Now that Lucia was close, however, priorities had shifted— and the frustrating flashes of familiar color at the corner of his eye wouldn't stop annoying him.

Oh, he had no questions for who it might be. He only knew of one pink menace that constantly tried to get under his ski—

Lele was supposed to be captured, though.

He looked around, rising back to his full height.

The city. It was a safe haven— right? It wasn't supposed to crumble.

He brought his gaze down, thinking hard, abandoning thoughts of Lele or the prison as he tried to remember.

"This..." He began to say to Lucy, brows furrowed.

Before he could however, the world was awash in a curtain of pink and magenta— an all too familiar hue to him.

The sensation that flooded him, too, was familiar, yet different from the usual.

The feeling of power always accompanied the release of his terrain— but this... it was in a completely different scale. It was not the subtle static flowing through his limbs, the reassurance that no injury would be too great.

It was overflowing sea breaking through a dam, making every nerve on his body seemingly stand on end. His terrain, usually of limited scope, had encompassed the whole of the city within its boundaries.

"Can I...?" He wondered to himself, now somehow aware of every structure within his reach, every crumbling piece.

Cautiously, like he reached out and grasped onto it— this was not flesh... but the very fabric of the dream, the mist... and began clumping things back into place, like a child playing with clay and legos.

"I— think we might be dreaming, Lucy." Doug said, eyes closed as the city began to revert, time seemingly looping backwards as falling towers and crumbling infrastructure moved back into its correct place.

---

TL;DR:

Implicit Duties

The second step. ft. Yuina Higashi

Well, at least someone was being positive about this.

He slid his arm off his face, a slow grin on his lips as he turned to look at her.

"Reaaally now." He asked wryly, rolling onto his side whilst wrapping his arm around her waist, nuzzling his face against her flank. "Dunno how good yer record is... ya did end up here with me somehow."

She was the historical expert here, ironically, so if she believed there was a way— well, he was literally too unqualified to question her on it, wasn't he?

He peered up at her as she listed off all the reasons they could totally solve this; it was always invigorating to see her being confident.

"Ok. I trust ya." Naturally. "Where should we begin, then?"

He imagined they had to hit the books— but he was curious which human resources she happened to have off the top of her head.

---

TL;DR:

daybreak

With freya morningstar

Whatever tension was built up on the short walk to the surgery room was short lived— there was no need to postpone the showing of a success.

The colonel thew open the double doors to the sealed room.

There were no other humans inside, only countless Orbeetle and two Blissey, all moving in tandem to clean up the aftermath of a successful operation.

The councilwoman would find her beloved dragon resting on its chest atop a large, elevated platform in the center of the room, the wing he was operated on stretched out over the platform and rested atop fabric.

"It'll be while 'fore regrown tissue regains its pigmentation." Doug said as he approached the platform, pointing at particular spots on the wing.

The prosthetic had been discarded, naturally; the formerly lost flesh and membrane, once torn, rent and destroyed, had been regenerated somehow, obvious in its nature due to its almost pinkish coloration, differing from the rest of the crimson wing.

"Shouldn't take long to fix itself, that."

---

TL;DR:

ANSWERS

ft. Navy, illeana reyes, Noel Parker, Andrea Vaneau, FERNANDO SILPH

Illeana was being a lot more intense than Doug was used to (outside of battlefields anyway) and he wasn't sure if it was just a consequence of being around her more often, or Palkia.

"It's tone deaf, impossible to carry out, and toothless where rocket's concerned. " Doug said. "It's a PSYOP— not even a good one."

Unfortunately for them— Fernando was so busy he couldn't even take a message from his own secretary.

He swallowed a sigh.

The council members needed to learn how to actually delegate, apparently. Every single member becoming too busy to take a damn call at the same time was ridiculous.

Unfortunately, Navy agreed.

A little too strongly.

The other's words came, and Doug's lip curled.

"Please don't."

Crash.

"Uuuugh... _{Find me in the alps.}"

The long tried, well tested, yet-to-bear-any-fruit method of aggravating FERNANDO SILPH in hopes of getting something out of the man.

Not his first option.

"We better find some ninjas choking him in there, Navidson." He grumbled.

---

TL;DR: