Realizing that it was massively outnumbered, Walking Wake let out one last Hydro Steam to show its defiance. By the time the fog had cleared out, the long-haired dinosaur was nowhere to be seen, having left naught but a fresh set of footprints behind.

“Whoa, we actually won!” Andrea exclaimed, both she and Chomper panting in exhaustion. Granted, they had only bested one ultra-powerful Paradox Pokémon; the Entei lookalike remained.

Turning around, the quadruped, hairy behemoth finally acknowledged the humans, menacingly lurching towards the dragon-costumed woman, and… gently rubbed its snout against her as if to say thanks, making a sound that was a mix between a purr and a reptilian growl.

“Teehee~ You’re welcome!” The girl giggled, reaching out to pet the beast’s face plate. It felt warm and hard to the touch, almost like a piece of armor. Turning back to Eva, she smiled widely. “Looks like we’ve made a new friend!”

Eva Morales

☉

Exiting the arcade, Hoenn's famous speedster and part-time dancer would find the young PokéManiac idly sitting on the edge of one of the rocky ledges Veilstone City was known for, swinging her legs back and forth. Upon hearing his voice, Andrea slowly got up, before turning around to face him. She was smiling.

"It's okay, Josh. Did you have a good time?" The girl casually replied to him. If she held any hard feelings for earlier, it certainly did not show on her face. At his next suggestion, she nodded enthusiastically, picking Jalapeño off the ground. "Food court sounds good to me! I'm starving! I hope they don't have a no Pokémon policy too, 'cause then I'll have Chomper level the place!" The dragon tamer said jokingly.

She was joking about that last part... right?

Josh Devlin //sygna drip

☉

The young woman smiled at Josh's newfound optimism. "That's the spirit! Sometimes it comes down to genetics, but more often than not it's based on effort! Even if he's not the fastest now, you can train him to be faster!" Having parents who worked in the Breeding business, Andrea had seen many callous trainers disregard newly hatched babies for having 'low potential' without realizing that true strength was the result of hard work.

Giggling at Raikou's act of kicking the Pokéball away, the girl added. "Teehee~ Don't get ahead of yourself, Josh. Raikou may have agreed to be your friend, but legendary Pokémon don't belong to anyone but themselves." And woe be to anyone who thought otherwise and saw those deities as mere weapons to fight their wars for them.

With that, they raced to the top, the speed-obsessed youth riding the Johtonian beast on land, while Andrea rode on the back of her trusty Salamence. "Go, Meatloaf, go! Fly like the wind!" The draconic cosplayer exclaimed, as the azure dragon spread its crimson wings and promptly took off, shooting straight towards the gaping mouth of Area Zero.

Josh Devlin //mission thread

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"Thanks." The young lady gracefully accepted the napkin and wiped her lips with it. Still mildly perplexed by the man's offer, she was relieved to hear that it was not a full-time job. "So you want us to lend a hand every now and then? Yeah, I could do that! When do we start?"

It sounded fun, allowed her to be a useful member of society, and gave her an excuse to visit Remiel's draciary more often. As the average car salesperson would say, it was a pretty good deal.

"Wait, what do you mean 'now that there's a lot more League personnel'?" The dragon maniac proceeded to ask, tilting her head curiously. The way he had phrased that made it sound like the League personnel were a recent addition. "Who was looking after the place before?"

Remiel Calcifet //sygna drip

☉

Eva's scientific name for it didn't sound much catchier. Then again, few things could beat the name Flamy Forehead.

As the two paradoxical beasts traded fierce blows, Andrea decided against the professor's word of advice to assist one of them. With the effect of her shield wearing off, the draconic cosplayer decided to deactivate her Sygna Suit and tap into the potential of Z-Power instead. "Chomper, give Walking Wake a taste of your Z-Move! VENGEFUL HYDRA!!"

Her signature, shiny Hydreigon manifested six extra heads made of raw draconic spirit, before biting down on the crystal-crested raptor with all nine of his hungry jaws, each bite being more ruthless than the last. At the same time, the prehistoric Entei lookalike rammed headfirst into its sibling with its flame-coated, giant antlers.

Eva Morales

☉

“Oh, so the DRK Triad was behind that too?” At this point, Andrea was not even surprised. Over the last two years, that interdimensional cabal had been involved in nearly every major event in Hoenn.

“The Illumina Slowpoke I hatched from there seemed fine to me. It’s a Slowking now. His name is Bronson.” The eccentric trainer mused, before taking a sip of her hot beverage, a chocolate mustache smeared around her lips afterwards.

An inquisitive eyebrow was raised at Remiel’s suggestion. “Are you offering me a job? I’m… not sure what to say.” She loved being around Pokémon, especially dragons, but this had come out of left field.

Remiel Calcifet //sygna drip

☉

"Go, Enteisaurus!" Andrea hopped onto the back of a Gouging Fire, and held on tightly to its golden antlers, before the paradoxical beast took off. "Let's pick up speed! Use Flame Charge!" Fire erupted from the beast's paws, leaving scorch marks on the ground as it ran faster and faster.

Riding such a speedy mount made traversing the treacherous Area Zero a cinch. Now she understood Josh Devlin's obsession with Raikou and its siblings. Although it was not the Entei of Johto, this ceratopsian creature was just as impressive. In another world filled with primitive life, it might have even been treated with the same reverence as a legendary.

A suspicious sight brought her exploration to a halt. There was an outpost of some kind at the base of a hill. Dismounting her big cat-dinosaur hybrid, the young PokéManiac hid behind a rock formation, and inspected from a distance, using her Rotom Phone's camera to zoom in on the campsite.

There were humans down there, but they did not look like League officers, nor like Rocket members. They were dressed in all black with their mouths covered, much like Nisa Holo's ninja form.

"Grrr, DRK Triad..." The dragon-costumed girl growled through her gritted teeth. "What are they doing here?" She wondered aloud.

THEO BECKETT, Lulu Flint

☉

Andrea pursed her lips. Being admonished by a security guard just trying to do their job was one thing, but Josh piling on her as well--however good his intentions may have been--was the straw that broke the Camerupt's back.

To an outsider, this may have looked like a nothingburger of an issue. Why couldn't the woman just follow the rules and leave her Pokémon at the front desk, instead of wasting everyone's time? From their perspective, she was making a mountain out of a molehill at best and being a brat at worst. But she knew she wasn't. This was important to her, even if it seemed trivial to others.

"I'm sorry, Josh... We'll wait for you outside." The young, costumed woman said, pulling her hood as far down as she could, before storming off, shoving past several arcade-goers on her way out of the establishment.

Josh Devlin //sygna drip

☉

"Why does it always have to come down to speed? If you love Raikou, does it even matter if he's not the fastest? Pokémon are our treasured friends, not trading cards to be ranked based on their stats." Abandoning one's childhood favorite just because he had been overshadowed did not sit right with Andrea. "Besides, the Raikou you rode last time was a fake. We have no way of knowing how fast the real deal would be. It could be even faster than Kora!"

Speaking of riding, the legendary beast seemed to want the humans to mount its back. Knowing that Josh would be all too eager to take the helm, the young PokéManiac decided to give it a pass herself. "You go ahead. Me and my dragons will follow. Carrying both of us would slow Raikou down. This is your dream, so you deserve to live it to the fullest." In other words, the Master of Faster needed to go all out without holding back for her sake.

Josh Devlin //mission thread

☉