“I’d choose a slumber party over a war zone any day of the week! It’s you who invaded our homeland and haven’t allowed us one moment of rest since!” The weirdly-dressed woman retorted.

She was projecting her anger against the organization as a whole on this one grunt. Her past self would not have done that. Had she become another angry person hellbent on destroying Rocket? The thought caused her to falter, but only for a moment.

Lapras’ attack was super effective, but not enough to finish the Salamence off. Andrea’s Mega Ring glinted. From the lingering cloud of frost, the azure dragon re-emerged in its Mega Evolved form, aiming to slice the polar plesiosaur with its crescent-shaped wings.

“Return the favor, Meatloaf!” The dragon enthusiast ordered, opting to focus on the battle itself rather than any questions still gnawing at her conscience.

Aqua Kennedy //skirmishes

☉

As soon as the dynamic duo beheld the magenta chain wrapped around the Archeops’ barely airworthy body, it brought out their worst deep-seated grudges, human and ogre perfectly mirroring each other in their fits of spiteful rage.

“What did you do to that Pokémon?! Are you serving the never-rot?!” Andrea did not wait for an answer, immediately activating her Z-Ring. No explanation or excuse could placate her. She wanted revenge. She wanted justice.

The never-rot was the embodiment of evil. The Toxic Chain was its sinful mark. Therefore, purging that abomination was not only right, it was their duty. That was her and Ogerpon’s single-minded objective right then and there.

“Disappear! Disappear! Disappear! MEMORIES OF ONIGASHIMA!!”

“GRAAAAH!! POOON!!!!”

The diminutive ogress sprouted a pair of gigantic arms made of ivy and thorns, with which she delivered a ruthless flurry of punches, each with the potential to turn the primordial bird into a fossil anew.

This Z-Move also had a secondary effect. As some of the punches inevitably connected with the ground, it imbued the soil with nutrients, causing a Grassy Terrain to manifest.

Andrew Fisher //skirmishes

☉

The self-proclaimed reformer of Hoenn introduced Andrea to a concept that would definitely keep her up at night: A dystopian future where only the League owned avatars. What would they do with limitless power at their disposal and no opposition?

“You’re assuming those that are avatars now are gonna stay avatars forever.” Said the dragon fanatic, trying to keep as level a head as possible about this. “Legendary Pokémon have flocked to Hoenn in order to help us, not fight in our wars. They don’t follow the League’s agenda. Lord Rayquaza blew the meteoroid to bits, when the League’s plan was to make it another universe’s problem.”

Believing they had any degree of control over those godlike beings was even more childish than dressing up like a crocodile. Hopefully the recent rampages of Groudon and Kyogre had shattered that illusion for good.

“Pon, Swift, Charles, even Zacian… They’re all free spirits.” The young woman concluded, wizened mentally by her grueling life experiences. “If we take them for granted, or try to abuse their blessings, they could one day leave our lives as suddenly as they appeared.”

Navy //mission thread

☉

“It’s not necessarily a wild goose chase.” The PokéManiac argued. “Looking for the statues is still important. Killing those three again won’t accomplish anything if we haven’t destroyed all of their statues first.”

Otherwise, they would keep coming back, again, and again, and again. A vicious cycle of death and rebirth that was neither ‘okie dokie nor ‘hunky dory’.

Those scoundrels allying themselves with Team Rocket was a reality that Andrea refused to accept. “No way they’d help Rocket! Not after what happened in that prison!”

Indeed, the crime syndicate had played a role in the Loyal Three’s demise too, so it was unlikely that they would see them in any favorable light. Their reappearance in the battle of Petalburg must have been a coincidence.

Uxie had another message for them, one that stunned the blind boy and deeply perplexed the dragon-costumed woman. “What’s the Red Chain?” She cluelessly asked.

Hideo Kino

☉

“Yeah, the RKS Simulation. You know how when you insert the Scarlet Book in the machine, it unlocks a scenario with Koraidon?” The mildly inebriated girl explained as if that was common knowledge.

“Well, another of the unlocked scenarios was with Pon.” She explained further, staring at her own distorted reflection within her glass. “In it, she gets ousted by a mob of angry villagers calling her a monster and an ogre. Isn’t that so unfair? What did she ever do to them?”

Just thinking about it made her blood boil and her face flare up with anger. Or maybe that was just because of the tequila.

Lulu Flint

☉

“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

☉

Upon hearing Maldacena’s familiar, off-putting voice chime through the repaired PokeGear, the reptile-costumed woman visibly tensed up. Was he real, or was he merely part of the simulation? Not knowing the answer was dreadful.

“Destroy it. We can’t take stuff from the simulation back home anyway.” The eccentric cosplayer replied, before taking a deep breath. “That Macadamia guy is part of a group of really bad people who use Unown for their own evil purposes. Whenever one of those people shows up in the simulation, weird things tend to happen…”

As if on cue, right as she concluded her exposition, the eerie sound of a coin being flipped echoed behind them.

Xuying Zhou

☉

In their effervescent search for the Loyal Three, the dynamic duo of Andrea and Ogerpon had combed the northernmost part of Route 104 to no avail. It was as if the dastardly trio had vanished off the face of the earth.

This was a situation where Naomi Sato’s ability to stalk find everyone within Hoenn would really have come in handy, but alas. They only had the one lead to work with, namely those footprints Pon had found in the woods with her newest friend Doug.

While there were no Okidogi, Munkidori, or Fezandipiti to be found, they did come across a familiar face; one who, fortunately, was another friend. The little ogre with the keen nose(?) was the first to become wary of her presence.

“Poni!”

“Eris? Long time no see!” Andrea gave the younger girl a cordial greeting, unaware that she was out on a mission of her own. “How are you and Isaac?” The PokéManiac proceeded to ask, very much out of the loop on account of her self-imposed solitude.

Eris Halla //skirmishes

☉

Finally feeling comfortable going outside again after a long talk with Navy about her role going forward, Andrea decided to do some training on Route 102 in order to hone her skills as a trainer.

This forest-surrounded area was quite a ways away from her usual stomping grounds, but it was rumored to house some particularly strong species of Pokémon thanks to the recent anomalies that plagued the region.

Little did the Pokémon-costumed woman know that she was about to unwittingly get involved in the ever-escalating faction conflict yet again. The very same conflict that had taken Chomper’s life.

Her Salamence was the first to be alerted of a possibly hostile presence, snarling in their general direction. “Who’s there?” Asked the eccentric cosplayer. “If you’re Rocket, know that we’re gonna fight back!” She declared.

Aqua Kennedy //skirmishes

☉

The Loyal Three’s tracks had been found in Petalburg Woods, which meant those miscreants could not have gone that far. Soon after her talk with Hideo Kino and Uxie, Andrea and Ogerpon went to search every nook and cranny of Route 104.

It was an area dangerously close to the newly Rocket-occupied city, meaning it was likely teeming with grunts. The young PokéManiac’s choice of attire was not exactly the pinnacle of stealth. Neither was the presence of her ogreish friend for that matter.

“Grrrr… Pon!” Catching the familiar scent of a Toxic Chain in the air, the orange-faced Oni bared her fangs. She could recognize that scent anywhere after what she had endured in that penitentiary of prism.

“I’m right behind you, Pon! Let’s get them!” The eccentric cosplayer followed after a ninja-running Ogerpon, her heart pumped with adrenaline. Like Pon, she too had a score to settle with those fiends.

Today was the day they would finally put the never-rot’s twisted creations to rest. Permanently.

Andrew Fisher //skirmishes

☉

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

☉

In many ways, Pon had enriched Andrea’s life. That little ogre was a valued friend and a cute critter she could love and nurture. However, as the Warrior cautioned, bonding with a legendary came with certain annoying caveats.

“It almost sounds like you speak from experience.” The dragon maiden observed. “Have they come to you with that spiel for Zacian? Have they come to Josh Devlin and Elise Calcifet too?”

Swift and Charles were her friends too. The thought that the League would treat those dignified and sometimes sacred beings as assets at best or weapons at worst left a sour taste in her mouth.

“What was your backup plan if Kyogre didn’t do as you wanted?” Andrea proceeded to ask, furrowing her brow. “What if it attacked Ever Grande or Pacifidlog instead of Sootopolis?”

Navy //mission thread

☉