EXCURSION SIGN-UP

ADVENTURE IS OUT THERE!

WHICH EXCURSION?: AZ Excursion A
PARTICIPATING CHARACTERS: Amor Rose Preston Fugu

Area Zero was hell.

Bodies fell to the ground, charred and crackling. Electricity danced from the fingertips of the slain as their organs were fried and skin darkened. Paradox Pokémon were alien to him, and Preston didn't fully know what they were capable of. As men died, all Preston could do was watch.

"No, not again. It won't be like last time." He remembered the battle with Kyurem, where robotic creatures came to life and turned the land red with blood. How many more of these things existed? Robots, now dinosaurs? As the Thunderclap struck, Preston reached for his Pokeball to return his Tentacruel.

The strike did not come.

"Why're you protecting me?" Preston turned to the masked man with a scowl. "We're enemies."

As he asked, the ground began to tremble due to the rock slide. Area Zero shook as the ground cracked as people were buried under tons of stone. Soon, Preston and his savior would be next. The ground continued to crack as a latticework of crevices appeared around them.

The ground was soon to collapse.

---

Amor Rose

"Grrr..."

Preston's voice rumbled with anger. It wasn't his institution. The League didn't mean anything to him, but they were paces better than Rocket. The League hadn't killed his friends. The League hadn't killed his Pokémon. Rocket had done both of those things. If your organization's first goal was to raze Kanto, that organization was evil.

"They're not perfect, but they're better than you. I know what you've done. I remember Fuchsia." Preston spat bile as his attack was reflected. "I don't care about ideals. I don't care about beliefs. I just want to live in peace."

Fugu's tentacles whirled up as Preston clenched a fist. He looked up at the armored man with anger and pain in his eyes.

"So why..."

The question was never finished. The earth rumbled and shook as a large beast appeared on the cliffside. Members of the League and Rocket screaned and shouted and pointed at the Raging Bolt that was slowly making its way down the cliff.

Preston turned to face it.

"What...?" His voice was drowned out by a Thunderclap that arched across the battlefield, zapping and killing trainers and Pokémon alike.

---

"It might not have been you, but the system you support, who you align with..." Preston snarled at the masked man with rage. Massive arms clenched in fury as he remembered the wrongs of Rocket. Kanto, Johto, Hoenn... It'd never end. Preston would never get a chance for a peaceful life while Rocket still reigned.

"You're unforgiveable. Worse than that, you're complicit. We'll put you in the ground."

There was no way to dodge the Magearna's strike. Of that, he was confident. Mechanical Pokemon always seemed to hit their shots from Preston's experience. It meant that dodging was almost impossible. It was time to get creative.

As the Zap Cannon struck, Fugu melted into a puddle of Acid Armor. The Zap Cannon struck as the Tentacruel reformed, avoiding the worst of the damage. Nonetheless, arcs of electricity danced across the sea creature as it let out a low bellow of pain.

"Paralysis." Preston spat onto the ground. "Wrap 'em."

Electrified tentacles rushed towards the Magearna and began to squeeze on the mechanical doll. Tighter and tighter and tighter, until there was little room for movement.

---

Amor Rose

"Hup!" As the cannon shot at him, Preston and his Tentacruel danced around the strike with remarkable dexterity. They were familiar with the song of swords and the clash of steel on the battlefield.

"Rocket..." Preston's voice was thick with hatred. Even his Tentacruel seemed enraged, as its various tentacles grasped around anything nearby. As soon as it found a rock, it squeezed it until it shattered into gravel. "That's not normal uniform. You a beast?"

He didn't expect a response. He was familiar with Rocket's structure from his years of leal service. If this was a Rocket Beast, the battle had gone from bad to worse. This wasn't a fight he'd be able to win. It'd be best to retreat for now and wait for a better chance.

There was still a chance to turn around and live a peaceful life.

"You took EVERYTHING FROM ME!" Fugu's tentacles twisted in rage as it shot out a massive Hydro Pump, which skimmed the Flash Cannon as it continued straight towards the armored figure and his Magearna.

---

Amor Rose

The war waged on. The full weight of the League was terrifying to behold.

But Rocket was ferocious and tenacious. They had nothing but absolute loyalty to their beloved underbosses and bosses. Indoctrination ran deep in their bones. Cogs in the machine were common. Defection was murmured, but rarely ever came to fruition. Leaving Rocket often meant death, and there was no easy way to leave its clutches.

Preston had. Even now, it felt like a dream. When had he left Rocket? Years ago? He hardly remembered, anymore.

"Show some guts! Come on!" Preston roared as he and several trainers dispatched a swarm of Zubats, Rattatas, and Ekans. The floor ran slick with blood. "We've got 'em on the ropes!"

He had made a promise to leave Rocket behind, but he was fighting on the battlefield against them all the same. Why? What was it all for? Revenge? Absolution? Hope for a brighter tomorrow?

To his left, several trainers were blasted backwards by a powerful strike. Preston turned to face this new opponent.

---

Amor Rose

EXCURSION SIGN-UP

ADVENTURE IS OUT THERE!

WHICH EXCURSION?: AZ Excursion C
PARTICIPATING CHARACTERS: Amor Rose Preston Fugu

PURCHASING/REDEEMING

welcome to the poké mart!

1X Iron Boulder Mighty Cleave / Counter / Swords Dance / Psycho Cut / Sacred Sword / Electric Terrain - Dragon's Teeth(0 PD)

TOTAL

do come again!

##0 PD

"That so?" He doesn't believe it, but he wants to. His restaurant in Lilycove is booming, and his restaurant in Mauville is just as exclusive. Half the towns in Hoenn would dream for Preston Fugu to make an appearance and open a restaurant, yet he didn't.

Dewford. An island sitting on top of a dragon. It was a risky business venture. A dangerous one, with minimal chance of anything positive coming from it. Cooking for a war-torn town didn't have many benefits, but...

"Dewford has the best Tentacool in the region. The poison they produce is exotic, and the flesh of Octillery is..." Preston tailed off, before scowling. "Dammit."

...it was a challenge too delicious to ignore.

"I'll think about it." Preston begrudged. The best they were going to get, but for the chef, it was essentially a 'yes' with extra steps. Many people dealt with 'no', Preston did the opposite. Besides, it'd let him make amends for what he had done when he was younger.

Could a former Rocket find redemption through cooking?

Probably not, but it was worth a shot.

"I'll take that ride." Preston extended a hand.

---

CATCHING IRON BOULDER 7/7
FINE GOD I'LL COOK

"Dewford? Why would I open a restaurant so far out of the way? It's still recovering from those wars you people love to fight. Your economy is staggering."

It's the air of a professional who thinks—knows—he's hot shit. He was trained in Kalos by the best chefs in the world. He studied chemistry with the best chemists as well. He's an artist, a prestigious artist who turns cuisine into an out-of-this-world experience. To ask a chef like that to work in Dewford of all places was like using artisan canvas as a napkin.

A waste of potential. Preston stares at the struggling Iron Boulder. He tosses the Ultra Ball in his hand. Once, then twice, then thrice.

Catching a Pokémon again? All of his died when he left his old life behind. Now, he had a few stragglers. Could he catch this Pokemon?

Of course. Preston threw the ball. The Iron Boulder faced it and struggled for several seconds, before disappearing into the container.

Click. Caught.

"Do you think you can goad me into setting up there? There's no challenge in bulldozing a wreck of a culinary scene and setting up shop." Yet there's the pride of a chef there. His nose twitches. His eye gleams. He's interested, and Michael Navidson and Hyakkaryōran Tsubaki know it. "Ridiculous."

He walks over to pick up the Pokeball.

---

Returns Fugu to its Pokeball.
Goaded by Tsubaki's insistence.
6/7, catching Iron Boulder.

"Aye." Preston nodded, though his brow furrowed slightly. "Yet we'll have to carry them on. We'll live on for those who're lost. For our sins. For our virtues."

Preston snarled at the Iron Crown. He didn't particularly care if he lived.. Death would be punishment enough for his crimes, but to live... that could lead to something more. It could lead to redemption for his crimes from his past. Preston had done evil things, but he had survived.

He had survived. The innocent had died.

Injustice.

"That's all we can do. When I live, I'm going to return to my restaurant. I'm over the battlefield." Preston hissed in pain as Fugu struck at the Iron Boulder again with Hydro Pump. After further damage, the machine folded and collapsed in on itself, grinding with rust.

"These can be caught?" Preston asked, Kyurem splintering in the background. "These are Pokémon?"

From his cursed time with Team Rocket, Preston had seen Pokémon he had never seen before due to his time. Paradoxes. Contradictions given form by delusion. They shouldn't even be allowed to exist, yet who was Preston Fugu to judge the existence of a walking anomaly? He was one himself, after all.

---

Finishes off his Iron Boulder with help of Michael Navidson.
Life sucks, man.
Kyurem broke.

"I made no promises about helping the League." Preston cursed as Fugu struck at the Iron Boulder with another Hydro Pump. Metal screeched and oxidized under the force of the torrent. "I just want to live my life. It's all I have to live for."

Yet the man exhaled and kept fighting. "I owe you my life, though. It wouldn't feel right to owe a favor like this."

Resigned, bitter words. The words of a man who had seen too much in too long a time. If there had been any spark of fight in this man, it had been stamped out. The only thing left was a contempt for Team Rocket, yet when the enemy directly in front of them wasn't a Rocket, what did Preston have left?

Not his Pokémon, those were all dead.

Not his friends, they all viewed him as a traitor.

Only his work as a chef remained.

"It's fucked up, Elite Four." Preston agreed as his Tentacruel waged its war. It was weakened out here, without an ocean to support it, but it was one of the only two Pokémon left to Preston from before he left the battlefield forever. "But there's nothing you can do about it. Fight or die, it means no difference once you're dead."

---

Fugu Hydro Pumps the Iron Boulder, weakening it further.
War never changes, Navy.