The funny thing about all this was that he was airborne; and the Braviary continued to rain down Rock Slide as covering fire; allowing the Hydreigon to slip through the cracks so to speak and to keep the pressure on the Walking Wake (not that he knew what it was called) but then again—

“Tom, watch out, you’re about to walk straight into—” he trailed off from his aerial vantage point; as there was a large, steaming pile of Pokémon doodoo not too far away from where the other had dismounted.

The Corvisquire, on the other hand, would continue squawking from her perch while continuing to Swagger in the Walking Wake’s direction because it didn’t look like the previous attempt actually landed (oops)!

---

• Alex is recording the fight and trying to catch as much of the Walking Wake on video!

The moment Tom took the lead, his Braviary then provided covering fire with a surprise Rock Slide or two—making sure to avoid the Hydreigon and the Galvantula.

The Corviknight was good for one thing—she would then Swagger herself in the line of sight of the blue beast; hoping to catch it in a state of confusion!

“Tom, go!” he called as he adjusted his hold on the phone in his hands; making sure to catch the battle as it unfolded—he would then risk flying lower so that he would have a better view while the video was recording.

---

• Alex is recording the fight and trying to catch as much of the Walking Wake on video!

To his friend, these were the only words he would say:

“Let’s catch it by surprise.”

He knew, of course, that while attacking while it was distracted, they would be able to get closer—in his case, get as close as possible to get as much information as was permissible, all things considered, before the brawl erupted.

“We have the element of advantage, after all—” and here he would defer to Tom going first; as he would be supporting from the back row.

---

• we have the element of surprise!

It was at this point the Corvisquire turned back—before making a beeline straight towards where they were.

“Whoa, whoa,” he blinked, surprised at the Corvisquire’s sudden appearance. It was like the danger meter had been turned up, ridiculously, to the point where it was off the charts—

And there was that danged-ass antiquated-sounding roar again!

“Really?!” he would exclaim in the direction of the noise; before retrieving the camera from the Corvisquire and rewinding the footage, before recalling her and—

“Oh wow, someone’s hungry,” was all he would say next as they approached…

---

• ROLL 2-10. - Hear the following cry echoing from somewhere deep below:
[player]https://file.garden/ZXZrnWMYuz15frfJ/HOENN%20MUSIC/MysteriousCry2.mp3[/player]

The moment both ‘brothers’ had met, it became rather clear to the one on their side (the purple and green one) that this was not the one he was supposed to be arguing with.

Why and how did he come to that conclusion?

He just knew. Call it a legendary Pokémon’s intuition; or something close to it.

“Oi, oi, HEY!” he would yell, watching as the strange chimeric Pokémon would then take a flying leap at the Tornadus, before he would turn to where—where had Josh gone off to?

“Your Pokémon’s attacking mine!” he would all but scream as the Tornadus, temporarily distracted, would turn to face the Type: Null before getting beaned with a full force Wildbolt Storm attack from the not-quite-a-Thundurus that was in the middle of attacking them!

He turned to look at Navy—wait, what? They were going to—

Normally, it would be the opposite way around, however now that things had come to a head, it looked like there was no other choice remaining…

“As for locations? The most probable one I can think of is Mossdeep. Because of the Space Center, and the wealth of information they may have about wormholes, and the potential existence of other realities. Also, proximity to Sootopolis as well.

Who knows what else the eggheads over there are studying; but fact of the matter is, there’s a possibility that blasted pink mist might come leaking out of the place too.”

He paused for a while, considering the… alternative options.

“…Lilycove may be another possible target, remember—they have a submarine, so they’re going to need a place to dock it at, should the League succeed in taking Sootopolis back.”

He then realized that the spread of the so-called ‘power spots’ would pose a problem, because there was… there was literally one outside Fortree’s limits, too.

If Lilycove were to fall, Fortree would be next…

“I don’t know about Slateport, but any place that’s water-adjacent may be a prime target. Any place big enough to house their sub should be on the watch list. If there are any other places where the energy’s naturally occurring, they might target those locations, too.”

And there. There was one of the reasons why he was adamant against using Dynamax in the first place. He turned to look over everyone.

“I’m going with the Healing Corps if there are any deployed. Who’s going to help heal all the injured people while most everyone’s fighting out there?” he added.

(And besides, the Tornadus had a Z-move, but it wasn’t an offensive one; it was a support-themed one to boot.)

He then turned to the greenette.

“D’you want to start practicing with the D-Dynamax after we’re done here? So we can get a hang of how to control things in case we do encounter it. I s-suggest starting the practice—drills, and all that, how we can handle and how much firepower’s needed to take them down as soon as we can.”

---

• Alex mentions: Mossdeep, Lilycove, maybe Slateport—anywhere that has a port to dock in are potential targets
• (however there’s also the possibility of Rocket going further inland to go after the natural dynamax spots, so there’s that too)
• he also makes it clear that he’s going to be helping with the healing because who will, while most everyone’s fighting out there?
• also makes a suggestion to fellow Birdfather™ if they can start practicing with the Dynamax + tries to get the practice drills going so that if and when the actual thing does happen in battle, they’re ready for it

“Either that or they’re really looking for someone to mate with,” he joked back, picking up the pace as the Corvisquire continued to fly forward; the tracks getting bigger and more numerous the further they went.

“I hope that Ting-Lu isn’t at the end waiting to kill us,” he went on as he shoved some undergrowth out of the way; never mind if they made so much noise chasing down whatever caused these tracks to just… appear.

What would they find at the end of the golden brick road path…?

---

• the chase is on!

“Wait, lemme take a look at the footage,” he hummed as he rewound back to just before the point they’d gotten sidetracked, and squinting at the tracks that went on beyond the wreck that the Regirock had left behind.

“…whatever left these tracks really doesn’t want to get into a fight with the bowl monster,” he added quietly; ‘bowl monster’ being Ting-Lu of course.

Eventually, the Corvisquire would take off again; this time doggedly following the rest of the tracks that had resumed—

“Come on, let’s go! She’s on the move,” he spoke up some minutes later.

---

• the chase is on!

This time, the perimeter fence was already open, and the man of the hour himself was leaning against it when his friend arrived, followed by a—

“Wait, hold up—” he blinked, recognizing…

He then looked around; to ensure that they were well and truly alone.

“C’mere, through the fence gate, quick,” he ushered her in; once they were both inside he would close the gate; before grabbing her by the hand and taking her down towards one of the three aviaries—the good thing was that today, the Sanctuary was closed and there weren’t too many people around.

They would make tracks throughout the place; until he reached the aviary that doubled as the nursery for all migrating Pokémon that stopped by; before he opened the door of said aviary and ushered her inside.

Thankfully this aviary had special technology built into the glass panes; so once they were both inside he would immediately hit a button on the side which would darken the view to anyone outside who wanted to take a peek inside.

“When did you get them?!” he would exclaim once they were absolutely, irrevocably alone.

The moment they’d been grounded back in reality, he too, had to close his eyes for a while and take a deep breath.

Okay, now that the intrusive thoughts fear wasn’t trying to kill them outright, he then retrieved the tablet to check where his Corvisquire was waiting—and she’d apparently decided to roost in a tree to rest her wings.

“Y-yeah, you do that,” he breathed out once he’d stabilized himself back to normal.

“Speaking of which, my Corvisquire took a rest; but… the tracks are there again,” he continued as he leaned over to show his friend the screen, rewinding the footage as needed.

---

• the tracks are back, check the footage lol

The noise was so loud, he was more than certain that shit would come screaming down on them the longer this went on.

“I said—” he began in his outdoor voice, before realizing that the loud noise had died down and she was no longer a blur of color.

Popping out the earplugs, he then had to clear his throat before he continued, “Doesn’t doing that like, all the time, really hurt after a while?” before blinking her way.

Sometimes, he was thankful that he lugged earplugs around with him all the time in case situations like these came up.

“E-exactly… my partner told me about the s-stories involving the Pokémon that hoards those c-coins,” he squeaked; not realizing his own voice had gone up several octaves again.

Primarily because Gholdengo were possessive little shits, and they did not like their stash being stolen from!

“W-what if this coin’s cursed?” he continued in that same quiet tone, quickly brushing off the rest of the webbing that had gotten stuck to his jeans.

Now, where did his Corvisquire fly off to?!

---

• hello, intrusive thoughts (fear prompt, Tom rolled a number with a 4)

The sound he’d heard was similar to the one he’d picked up on several times during a previous trip out here with his friend Thomas Benoit; was whatever making that noise in the middle of mating season?!

It sounded like the calls he’d heard previously… what if whatever made that noise was extremely territorial?!

He could only look around in a panic; before he searched his pockets and realized that he had his phone; but luck of the matter had it that the poor thing was already running low on juice!

“Oh, fuck me,” he whined; drawing out the last part of the sentence. Mustering up what courage he could, he immediately snapped a picture of the area; before popping a message open and looking for the closest contact he could find and sending it along with this message:

‘Send help! My phone’s running low on juice and I only had Kyouya with me earlier; he should be heading your way with an injured explorer!’

He then turned the phone off; his paranoia literally going up and through the wall because shit, shit, shit…

---

• send in the clowns what a nightmare