Andrea’s frown deepened when the other woman mentioned the creature from the pit. “She’s not a thing! Her name is Pon!” She curtly replied.

Clearly the Rocket scientist’s unfortunate use of words had gotten under the PokéManiac’s skin. There was still a disconnect between them that could not be mended simply by sharing a few drinks.

“Sorry…” The young cosplayer mumbled, taking another sip. “It’s just that, after what I saw in the RKS Simulation, I can’t forgive anyone who’s prejudiced against her.”

Lulu Flint

☉

“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

☉

Did Ogerpon know how to type? Excellent question! The characters on that keyboard held meaning for humans, but for the Oni it was total gibberish.

Fumbling with the unfamiliar interface, she typed a random, nonsensical sequence, until she accidentally tapped a button that switched the keyboard to an emoji display.

Now those were symbols she could work with.

Qzgfzq/////.geqqiaggg5g84t6
🌲🌲🌲👹🐻🌲🌲🌲
🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐕🐒🐦

“A bear helped you find the Lousy Three’s footprints in the woods?” Andrea attempted to decipher the finished message.

“Pon! Pon!” Ogerpon nodded in confirmation.

“I bet those woods were Petalburg Woods.” The eccentric trainer postulated, handing the Rotomdex back to Uxie. “Which would mean they’ve escaped to Rustboro or maybe even Verdanturf.”

Hideo Kino

☉

That device had an eerily familiar symbol on it, one that Andrea recognized at a glance. She kept that information to herself as an unknown trainer asked for her assistance.

“Sure, lemme check!” The onesie-clad woman replied, searching the scrap pile alongside a Fuecoco that looked like her spitting image. Eventually, she found a screwdriver and some batteries.

“Will these help? By the way, have you ever met a Pokémon called Unown?” The crocodilian cosplayer inquired, trying to make some small talk while the young mechanic did his work.

Xuying Zhou

☉

Him believing meant the world to her. It would have been so easy to disregard her theory as the mad ravings of a person plodding through the different stages of grief. Perhaps they were all a little bit mad.

“I used to feel that way too. I could fight like Chomper, fly like Chomper, bite like Chomper. Now I can’t do any of these things…” Andrea lamented, slumping her shoulders. Even with all her newfound determination, the loss of her strongest Pokémon had dealt a heavy blow to her confidence.

Still, there was another Pokémon that was just as strong, if not potentially stronger; a certain masked ogre. “She prefers to be called Pon.” The young woman explained. “You’re not wrong about her. She’s a free spirit. She likes going on her own adventures from time to time.”

One of those adventures involved a bear and a monkey, but that was a story for another day.

Navy //mission thread

☉

“They can, huh? Now that you mention it, Azelf did speak to us psychically, back in that prison.” Since her mind was constantly trying to repress those traumatic memories, Andrea had momentarily forgotten that Uxie and its siblings had that ability.

Thankfully, Hideo already had his menagerie of Pokémon patrolling the entire town. “That’s good to hear. I think it’s important that we do everything we can to protect our cities. Not just as Gym Leaders, but as Hoennians!” The trainer of dragons patriotically remarked.

Then came the blind boy’s request to keep his connection with Uxie a secret. The draconic cosplayer nodded reassuringly. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone, and neither will Pon, right?”

“Ponyo!” Ogerpon jumped up and down, while pointing at the lake spirit’s apparatus.

“I think she wants to borrow that Rotomdex.” The ogre’s caretaker explained.

Hideo Kino

☉

Getting bitches? Visibly cringing from the monkey’s obnoxious rhetoric, Pon’s tangerine visage became an over-exaggerated, Kabuki-esque expression of pure and utter disgust

“Friend Doug, this monkey must be what humans call a… misogynist?” The female Oni remarked, raising her signature cudgel over her head. “I think we’re gonna have to kill him.”

howard slayte //mission thread

☉

Ogerpon removed her Teal Mask, tucking it away in her leaf kimono. The words ‘dejection’ and ‘disappointment’ were written all over her citrus countenance. “Pon was careless too… Next time, Pon will find them, and Pon will kill them for good!”

Just then, the fake Munkidori came crashing back down. Doug immediately began interrogating this… creature. Pon still had no idea what kind of Pokémon it was (though it vaguely resembled a Thwackey).

“Friend Doug, wait.” The ogress intervened, pointing at the monkey’s neck. “He does not have the chain of madness growing from his body. That means he’s not a servant of the never-rot.” She pointed out.

howard slayte //mission thread

☉

“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

☉

“The red R, huh?” Muttered Andrea. That red letter was a symbol. She supposed she could hate what that symbol represented, rather than the people who wore it on their chests. However, that would still put her at odds with the likes of Lulu Flint and THEO BECKETT, whom she (naively) considered friends.

“Chomper wanted me to live.” The dragon maiden sniffled. “I know that, because it was the last thing he told me. I know it’s hard to believe, but I heard him. Like, actually heard him…”

Pokémon were intelligent creatures, to be sure, but to claim one had gotten the ability to communicate with words in its final moments certainly sounded absurd.

“But how can I live at peace knowing that what happened to Petalburg could also happen to Fallarbor tomorrow?” She continued, hugging her beloved Fuecoco tightly. “You yourself asked me to protect my home, and that’s what I’ve been doing. That’s what I’ll continue doing. I’ll protect my son, my mom, my dad, and everyone else here. I don’t need to enlist to do that.”

Navy //mission thread

☉

Had Pon been quicker to notice, perhaps that fake Munkidori would not have been unjustly sent blasting off by Doug’s Blood Moon. Oh well.

Happy accidents aside, the lingering question that was soon verbalized by the myopic Ursaluna was, if that unsightly creature had merely been an impostor, what were the whereabouts of the true villain?

Come to think of it, hadn’t they found a clue not too long ago in this very clearing?

“The tracks!” The masked Oni gasped at the realization. “Friend Doug, if we follow those tracks, we’ll be sure to find the real Munkidori and his ilk!”

howard slayte //mission thread

☉

“There’s nothing left to bury…” Mumbled the young cosplayer in response. Whatever remained of Chomper’s body after Kouji Matsubara had ordered that airstrike was burned to ashes along with half of Petalburg City.

All that survived was a memory. Many memories, in fact. Both good and bad. Thinking of all the laughs and tears they had shared made the void in her heart all the more unbearable.

“What now?” Andrea looked pleadingly at the older man for any sort of guidance. “Am I supposed to hate Rocket forever now? Am I supposed to hate Silph? I… I don’t know what to think anymore.”

Navy //mission thread

☉

Munkidori’s screeching pierced Ogerpon’s eardrums, causing her to wince. As if that wasn’t annoying enough, the former warden of the Dummy Ward had the audacity to insult her caretaker.

“Keep Friend Andrea’s name out of your dirty mouth!” The masked Oni angrily retorted, lunging anew, yet she paused just shy of giving the monkey another whack with her mallet.

Now that the target of her wrath was on the ground and better illuminated by the waxing moon, she finally got a better look at them, bringing an abrupt end to her aggression. “Friend Doug, that’s not Munkidori.”

howard slayte //mission thread

☉