Time to take advantage of the weather as much as he could before the rains petered out!

Mike squawked in protest as the Steel Wing clobbers his frame, however he is uncowed—knowing that all the other Pelippers were watching him.

Yes, the peanut gallery was being extremely loud right now.

Screeching out of surprise this time as he rides the air currents, another Hurricane is released—an intention to drive the Skarmory back.

Meanwhile, down at Aisle 5…

The Gyarados roared in surprise at the sudden attack catching her by the scales—but she was one stubborn creature of the deep. Never mind if it was painful to be around the Garchomp, though, she was built for far worse than this. Enduring the pain, she changed tactics—seeing as the other draconid was intent on lashing out at her in close-range quarters, she decided to sass back with…

A Twister. Yes, bit on the weak side, but trust the system!

---

Gyarados and Pelipper are out on the field!

Rain Dance active due to Pelipper’s Drizzle (4 / 5)!

Pelipper is hit by the Steel Wing however the seagull counters with Hurricane! Back on the other side, Gyarados takes the hit and switches tactics a bit, going for the Twister in the meantime!

“No wonder they always say ‘make your mail worth it’ whenever someone drops off a letter, now we know why replies take a while to reach us when they’re coming from any other city.”

He took another deep breath, before sighing.

“It felt like… it tasted like rust out there, trying to breathe in while flying in that direction. Thankfully we got back here before things got too risky,” he continued as without preamble he felt his balance wobble and he literally, not kidding or anything, slumped down to the ground.

“Ugh. My head feels like it’s on fire.”

Never mind that there was a Mismagius nearby, the heebie-jeebies of almost getting killed by poisoned air was more than enough for his fear of the G to go unnoticed for a while.

---

timeline: three years and four months to their arrival in Hammerlocke

(timeskip FC is Yuri Leclerc from FE3H)

And now the battle was truly joined—much as he wanted Hera to keep stockpiling through the move she’d used twice already, the Garchomp lost his temper and charged forward towards her.

However, it was at this point—

The Gyarados roared, its Intimidate taking effect hopefully to surprise the Garchomp for a few moments before using the slowly-building up agility to twist her way around the surprise spikes of rock and come snapping at the Garchomp with Ice Fang!

Meanwhile, the Pelipper was surprised its tactic worked, before another sharp, singular note rent the air.

On cue, the flying avian busted out the Hydro Pump in a surprise tactic to catch the Skarmory off-guard!

---

Gyarados and Pelipper are out on the field!

Rain Dance active due to Pelipper’s Drizzle (3 / 5)!

Pelipper takes advantage of the situation by blasting Hydro Pump in the Skarmory’s direction; while the Gyarados evaded around the spikes of rock to catch the Garchomp by surprise with a power-boosted Ice Fang after attempting to Intimidate the land dragon!

Little did Hera know her earlier maneuver would send the Garchomp into a rage.

Boy did their Pokémon look absolutely silly like this. It was a dick measuring contest clown show between the pseudo and the actual dragon, basically.

Mike the Pelipper didn’t care, though, and was surprised to see the Skarmory literally get whipped and hammered by the microburst of wind—only to come out on the opposite side in a very familiar move that Alexei raised an eyebrow at.

Another shorter, sharper whistling noise and the Pelipper suddenly squawked loudly as a last-second Protective screen’s thrown up to brace against the Brave Bird impact before backing away. The pride of the entire flock of Pelipper was riding on Mike’s wings!

Back at the draconid showdown at the O.K. corral, the Gyarados only raised an eyebrow at the petulant Garchomp before Dragon Dancing again!

Sometimes, Hera just wanted to watch them all burn!

---

Gyarados and Pelipper are out on the field!

Rain Dance active due to Pelipper’s Drizzle (2 / 5)!

Pelipper almost gets hit by Brave Bird had he not thrown up a Protective screen, while Gyarados does the ‘u mad?’ face at the Garchomp before doing another Dragon Dance!

“Pretty much,” he breathed out, holding up a finger to confirm her point.

“I made all the necessary preparations, I did everything, I even waited for it to be a full moon out so I could travel by its light but… the air not too far out from the city is just. It’s bad.”

As if to prove a point, he made a few gestures, mostly of him waving his hands like warding off a horrible smell. It was like an omnipotent barricade that surrounded them—enough to keep them all trapped.

“I’m pretty sure others have tried to travel outwards from here, but on land,” he continued as he steadied himself. “Nobody tried the aerial option yet, so I fancied myself to be the first. Guess how that turned out, though.”

He sighed again as he ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

“No wonder letters sent out into the world take a long time to reply back. The entire place beyond here has been fucking blighted, and that’s an understatement. I can also take a pretty good guess that this is how it is in the other cities.”

---

timeline: three years and four months to their arrival in Hammerlocke

(timeskip FC is Yuri Leclerc from FE3H)

Unsurprisingly, there was an obstacle set up on his side of the field—to which both of his companions didn’t take to too well.

“Bleh, entry hazards,” he muttered to himself, whistling sharply exactly once as the Pelipper then flew forward, its Drizzle ability activating and causing a torrential, localized downpour to start around the open-air arena.

With the free rain set-up though, it was time to sweep the other two off their feet, quite literally!

Said Pelipper then took to throwing a powerful burst of Hurricane-force winds toward the Skarmory, while the Gyarados decided to play the waiting game too—much as she wanted to follow up with her own microburst of wind.

So it was Dragon Dance she settled for instead.

Two could play that game!

---

Gyarados and Pelipper are out on the field!

Rain Dance active due to Pelipper’s Drizzle (1 / 5)!

Pelipper used Hurricane aimed at Skarmory, while Gyarados plays the waiting game with Dragon Dance!

“I don’t know how to make them stop. I already have a prepared response, but it feels so. Flat. I don’t know about you, but I’m surprised nobody’s asked for your hand in marriage at this point too.”

Sometimes, even the ‘people’ of Hammerlocke got desperate…

Not him, though.

There was… there was nothing to be gained from the ‘shades’ that populated the world—there was a certain… something about them that constantly set off his ‘heebie jeebie’ radar that always kept him on high alert.

“It’s kind of like… you know, have you noticed how some of the normal people that live here in Hammerlocke… kind of have a slight resemblance to people that we know back home?” he hummed quietly.

As for his ‘dream or nightmare’ question, he wasn’t too sure either.

“Explain my hair changing color, then,” he mused quietly as he flicked some stray strands away. “Then again, dreams and nightmares always have this cop out of ‘feeling too real’ when it’s highly immersive…”

---

timeline: three years, six months to their arrival in Hammerlocke

(timeskip FC is Yuri Leclerc from FE3H)

Maybe there was something good coming out of him being an isolated little… hermit.

People rarely paid attention to what you did, mostly. Unless it was someone who was looking out for you.

Well, that was supposed to be the case—at least until he’d come back, just before sunrise one day, looking battered and worse for wear.

“Damn it,” he hissed as he pat his Braviary’s head. “I know you tried. We both did. But it’s impossible…”

Sliding off the Pokémon’s back, he then recalled the blue-plumed avian, allowing him some respite of rest. Who knew that travelling between cities was a bad idea right now?!

No wonder letters took a while to get back when he’d sent them out!

He needed to catch his breath for a while. That… that was definitely a wasted attempt of time.

---

timeline: three years and four months to their arrival in Hammerlocke

(timeskip FC is Yuri Leclerc from FE3H)

Once she mentioned Amor Rose’s name, though, something suddenly itched at the back of his brain. And then, just like that—

“Oh, my god. His Dragonite gave my Salamence one hell of a time, you know. When he came by and challenged my gym in Fortree. The one-on-one match was definitely for the ages. I don’t want to be on the opposite side of that Dragonite of his in a battle.”

A reminder of home, strongly influenced since one of the Pokémon in question was with him. Strange, isn’t it, how he easily remembered that?

(There are also a number of jokes tied with Amor Rose, although this is not the character they normally appear on!)

“I know Remy’s not giving up, but… you remember what happened to him last year? When that huge-ass Charizard suddenly appeared?”

It was like that fire stirred up another long-forgotten memory buried deep in his subconscious—one of a certain NIKOLAI PETROV getting burned alive the higher they ascended that accursed tower, all those years ago…

“I fucking thought we were going to lose him.”

Thankfully, King Calcifet survived to live another day—but at what cost, though?

“…the reason why I keep declining all those proposals is because… I am loyal to one man, and one only.”

He, of course, was talking about the sun to his moon; the Vierdon to his Saba (which was hilarious since both of the Skiddo were Frog’s however Saba liked to eat everything so that was him, definitely); the hammer that brought the walls of his secret garden crashing down—

Guillermo Marceliño.

“It hurts, though. Not being able to send him all those letters in my room. Because… because when I came here, we had an argument before I left Fortree to check out what had happened… and now we’re all in here.”

---

timeline: two years and eight months to their arrival in Hammerlocke

(timeskip FC is Yuri Leclerc from FE3H)

“They don’t get it, I don’t think they’ll ever get it.”

See, even back here in ye olde medieval Galar there was a ‘grapevine’ of rumors. Yes, rumor mills existed even in archaic places such as this.

“You remember one of the kings, Ashley Shepard? How they proposed to a commoner… it was kepler brueshaber if my memory isn’t mistaken—and that was. Taboo. You know. Royalty associating with the common folk, that kind of thing.”

That was how he saw it on surface level, at least. But for someone like him, who intricately knew how it was like being, well, gay, there was the entire other can of Orthworm to deal with.

“They’re gay, Tom. L-like me. That… that’s why I keep rejecting all the proposals they throw at me.”

When he mentioned that even he was looking for someone, and was hoping that they were alive and well, he couldn’t help but sympathize with the other man as well. He then reached out and gave him a pat on the shoulder.

“We’ve all… lost someone close to us. Time really does have a stupid way of screwing us over, wouldn’t you think so?”

And then the mention of another name… one he thought he’d never hear again.

“…yeah, she is. Probably causing mayhem and mass destruction,” he joked a little. Because the both of them knew that Phiones were just as harmless as wet toilet paper, so that last part was meant in jest.

---

timeline: three years, six months to their arrival in Hammerlocke

(timeskip FC is Yuri Leclerc from FE3H)

He doesn’t mean to pry, however curiosity gets the better of him and he asks.

“Who is it, if you don’t mind my asking?”

Maybe it’s someone he knows from back home?

(Imagine the hilarious reaction when he realizes that it is someone he’d encountered previously, back where they came from.)

“If I was well-versed with researching technology, then I would definitely try to help out there, but… well, it’s not a field I’m familiar with.”

Another sigh escaped him. Just how were they going to get the hell out of here, and get back home? He idly wondered why some of their number seemed to have all but given up—he hadn’t, though. Not yet, at least.

“I was thinking. What if we… has it ever crossed your mind that a lot of the people who came here with us have… you know… stopped trying to find a way back home? Don’t you find it odd… that they gave up already? So soon?”

He looked down after those words.

“And then… there’s the little problem of people asking for my hand in marriage. Mine. They… they don’t understand why I keep declining their requests… rather, I don’t think they’ll ever understand why I do such a thing.”

---

timeline: two years and eight months to their arrival in Hammerlocke

(timeskip FC is Yuri Leclerc from FE3H)

“As the sun sets, the moon rises,” he chuckled quietly as he hefted the bow up, loading the arrow and taking aim.

Once the next arrow had flown into the darkness—and landed somewhere with an audible fwip noise, he turned to face the other man.

“I’m heading out after I finish a few rounds of practice here. Didn’t realize you were the day’s watch—I told Remiel Calcifet I’d gladly take the evening hours for him.”

When he asked if there was someone waiting for him, though, he froze.

Taking a few breaths so as not to panic, he closed his eyes and willed himself not to have another breakdown. He’d been having so many of those while practicing out here, alone.

“Well… you—you could say that, yes,” he admitted. “Didn’t you know I’ve turned down so many proposal requests because of that?”

He doesn’t miss the little strange… silver-colored Pokémon approaching them, either, as he quirked his eyebrows up in silent question at the companion.

“Not your usual Audino, I take.”

---

timeline: three years, six months to their arrival in Hammerlocke

(timeskip FC is Yuri Leclerc from FE3H)

He chuckled.

“If we had phones, this would be easy, but…”

He sighed.

He knew how paxton concordas was attempting to research into how to improve communication between the cities, but that was about it. How had they survived this long without technology, he’ll never know.

(How the hell did people living in medieval times survive without anything they were accustomed to in the present day still continued to baffle him.)

His thoughts then wandered towards the slowly-growing pile of unsent letters that were building up on the table in his room.

“You’ll find it weird, then, how I keep track of time. I have… letters. Letters that I write, but I know I can’t send. Because the person I want to send them to… isn’t here. I would know if he was.”

Of course, he was referring to Guillermo Marceliño.

“How about you? Do you… do you have any unsent letters as well?”

---

timeline: two years and eight months to their arrival in Hammerlocke

(timeskip FC is Yuri Leclerc from FE3H)