Oscar tapped his chin, trying his best to think deeply while navigating the uneven terrain of the cave. "Galar again." He said out loud, nearly to no one. By this point Oscar had heard a great deal about what had happened with Galar, yet he still understood none of it. The puzzle pieces fit together, but the image it made looked wrong. As if it was blended up in a paint mix or something.

"It would make sense that the Galarian variant would appear in Galar I guess." Oscar mused while carefully moving up a frozen slope. "I don't really understand what had happened though. Every time it's explained to me it makes less sense. I wish I could have been there."

Oscar briefly paused as he recalled some of the more traumatic stories he had heard. Sure the best way to get what happened would be to experience what happened, but perhaps it was best that he did not. "Maybe I don't though."

Oscar pressed forward, trying to keep up with his companion. "I guess what I'm thinking is, it probably wouldn't bother being somewhere this cold if it weren't an ice type. Maybe it would be drawn somewhere with psychic power, like--fffFuck!" Oscar had lost his footing and slipped backwards, landing on his behind with a loud thump. There were worse places he could have fallen, but that didn't heal his pride or his ass.

"Fuuuck that hurt."

mint frost

Oscar gave Lulu a puzzled look. "A what and what?" The pokemon Lulu had described were foreign to Oscar, this was the first time he had heard of either. Oscar's face suddenly lightened up, this uncertainty provided an uncommon opportunity. "Oh fuck yes, one second!" Oscar pulled out his phone and began frantically tapping through his apps. When he came upon what he desired, he would let out a giggle fueled by childlike anticipation.

After a few seconds, Oscar would tilt his head. "Oh! See that explains it, this guy's from Paldea. I haven't kept up with those guys--which is why I downloaded this!" Oscar turned his screen toward Lulu, revealing the interface for a phone-based pokedex. Oscar had never owned a pokedex before, but he decided to pick up this app just in case he heard about one of those elusive Paldea pokemon. The opened entry depicted a rendering Cyclizar, as well as various stats that had been gathered over the past year.

"Oh shit check this out." Oscar pressed a button on the interface, prompting a robotic voice to start reading Cyclizar's pokedex entry.

Cyclizar: The Mount Pokemon

Cyclizar has a top speed of 70 mph. It has been used as a mode of transportation since ancient times.

Oscar giggled as he pulled back his phone. "It's just like the old models made in Kanto! Fuckin' wild right? Ugh, I've always wanted a real one." Oscar performed some more tapping, and after a few seconds of staring at his screen he would sigh and put the phone away. "No info on that--what did you call it? Mo-rai-don? Is it another form for Cyclizar?"

Suddenly the same cry they had been hunting sounded off once again, only this time it seemed very far off. Oscar eyes widened as he slowly realized the implications of this. "Holy shit! Whatever it is, it must be fast as hell. It almost sounds miles away now."

vYaWZD2W

Lulu Flint

Oscar whistled as he took in the ruined cityscape, glass cracking under his boots as he leisurely moved forward. "I can see why the Megalopolans left now, this place is fucked." The futuristic wasteland was as beautiful as it was disturbing; it just goes to show that it does not matter how advanced a civilization is, doom can befall them all the same. It was a miracle that Hoenn has lasted as long as it had.

As every one of his steps was announced by cracking glass, Oscar would grow curious and look downward. "Oh shit." He would say with mild amusement. He was not stepping on glass after all, but rather an endless sea of dully colored crystals stuck within the pavement. He bent down to have a closer look, and upon realizing that they were seemingly dead Z-crystals Oscar would let out a harsh chuckle. "Alright this place is beyond fucked. This is some post-Post-apocalypse shit. Really pretty though."

Oscar stood up and dusted his hands off, reluctant to move forward without some input from his companion. He has only worked with fern delaney once long ago, way before his promotion to admin. When the opportunity to work with Mister Delaney reappeared, Oscar was more than a little excited--even if he probably was not the first choice. He knew Fern was looking for something, but he still was not sure what.

"So what's our next step? Do you have a first destination in mind or are we wandering blindly? I'm down for either."

Prompts
04 discover permanently defunct and dull Z-CRYSTALS scattered about the city.

These days it was common for Oscar to forget that he was once one of the Beasts of Rocket. It may be hard to believe, but there was a time when Oscar was the name called upon when violence needed to be dealt out in Rocket's name. He had always enjoyed that role, even if it had stood in the way of what really ignited his interest. Sometimes he would even miss those days, when everything seemed so simple.

So when it came down from higher up that Rockets were needed to clear out some rowdy Paradox pokemon in Area Zero, Oscar was happy to volunteer. There was nothing like going back to basics every now and then, just some good old fashioned annihilation to lighten the spirit. He would be accompanied by sidney tsuda, a complete unknown to him but the battlefield was the best place to make new friends.

When they got to the site though, Oscar was a little put off. The came out on an elevated platform that overlooked a chamber made entirely out of Tera Crystal. It was beautiful to behold, no wonder Rocket wanted the room cleared out. Unfortunately, the chamber's tenants were more than just 'Rowdy'. Paradox pokemon of every variety in nearly innumerable numbers were viciously fighting what seemed to be a war of dominance. The Tera Crystal walls were drenched in blood, providing a disturbing red glow to the brutal combat below. The battle was strikingly vast in scope, with Paradox pokemon appearing seemingly out of thin air to instantaneously replace the fallen. It gave Oscar a headache.

"Um--okay." Oscar noted to Sidney as he scratched the back of his head. "This is a little--bigger than I was expecting."

dnJ9hrO0

The second appearance of the roar shocked Oscar, not expecting to hear it so soon. The possibility of discovering a new pokemon ignited his adventurer's spirit, and he was determined more than ever to forge forward. "What are we waiting for then?" Oscar pulled a pure red pokeball off of his belt and opened it to let out Prime the Genesect. The blackened cyborg took a brief inventory of its surroundings as Oscar tried to figure out the cleanest route of descent. It paused to take note of its fellow Genesect, it was tempted to try and communicate with it as it had with Tempest Quinn 's Genesect--but perhaps now was not a good time.

Oscar pointed diagonally toward the bottom-left side of the chamber. "I think I see tracks over there. Let's head down and take a look." Prime hopped into the air to transform into its hoverboard form (Magnet Rise), floating close enough to Oscar to allow him to hop on. Oscar would wait for Lulu to be ready before flying toward the supposed tracks.

As they neared the floor, what Oscar thought to be tracks would get clearer. They were lucky that the floor was not too far down, Oscar imagined floating into a deeper abyss with nothing to be found but darkness and gnarled teeth. Would he even bother exploring the chamber's floor if he could not already see it? Useless what ifs, Oscar purged his mind of gratuitous thought as they reached their destination.

"Hmmm, this can't be right." Oscar hopped off of Prime and bent down to examine the tracks. They appeared to be--swerving lines? Like the wheels of a bike had come by. Oscar sighed, "It looks like someone beat us here. Don't know why they'd bring a fuckin' bike in here though."

w4dugEni

Lulu Flint

The second ranger was saved from Prime's net by his dragonite ally. It was a setback, but Prime felt indifferent. Battles were built on maneuvers and counter maneuvers, all that mattered was it being the one left standing when the dust settled. As the second ranger mega-evolved his charizard, Prime predicted that the false-dragon would attempt to clash once more. However, a curve ball was thrown instead. The charizard went after sigilyph, which would provide Prime with precious seconds to plan its next move.

Prime's head turned toward its first target, and to its surprise the trapped ranger had brought out a tyrantrum. This was an undesirable development. Prime was sure that it would be forced to fight three on one, and began Downloading the data it had observed so far to adjust its combat capabilities.

Maybe it would have been able to take the trio head-on, but we shall not know. The tyrantrum opened with a shattering Earthquake, and there was no way to avoid it. The Genesect tried only once to defy gravity with Magnet Rise, and when it failed to transform it would simply accept the attack. The Earthquake blew Prime back, sending it up the cliff side and then back down again. By the time it fell back into a static position, Prime was not in great shape. Its armor was dented and worn, but it probably would have been smashed apart completely if not for its earlier Download. Prime shakily pushed itself up onto its claws and knees before mysteriously dissolving into the shadows of the cliff.

Oscar watched carefully from afar. The Earthquake was not ideal, but at least the tyrantrum's allies would feel the pain too thanks to Gravity. From his left side, Oscar's shadow would suddenly flare. The silhouette bulged and warped as Prime clawed its way out of the darkness, rising on shaky legs to stand alongside its master (Shadow Sneak). Oscar kept his eyes on the rangers. "Good attempt Prime, but sometimes shit just doesn't work out." Oscar raised the frosted pokeball, sighing heavily as he came to terms with what he must do.

The pokeball opened, unleashing a gust of chilled wind across the area. Regice would emerge, no doubt confused by why Howard was not the one holding its pokeball. Oscar addressed the golem, "Hey, I don't know if you can even understand me but Howard's busy and we need your help. See those goons over there?" Oscar pointed toward the rangers. "We need them to piss off. Or die. Or--whatever gets them not to be here anymore. Shouldn't be hard if we work together, what do you say?"

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tl;dr
--Genesect Downloads what it has observed from its opponents so far to heighten its durability.
--Said durability allows Genesect to survive a direct hit from Tyrantrum's Earthquake.
--Genesect used Shadow Sneak to get away from the rangers and appear next to Oscar.
--Oscar let out Regice to hopefully keep the rangers at bay.
howard slayte, ollie morales, Roy Aker

As Aurelie came into view, Oscar felt a brief relief from his back pain. "I--don't think so." He said before trying to sit up. His muscles clenched, sending waves of agony across his backside. Oscar heaved and fell back into a laying position. "Alright so my back is fucked. I think I threw it out."

The bizarre jigglypuff slowly approached as its prey recuperated. It probably would have gotten the drop on them, if Vlad had not come up from behind to grab the ugly creature by its tail and fling it as far as he could. The puffball flinging into the sky and falling an innumerable distance would be an amusing sight to anyone that noticed.

Oscar would not, as his back pain would keep his eyes staring into the false sky of the Giant Chasm. So much for an adventure, he went and ruined his chances of exploring! He stared woefully into the sky, hardly reacting as Vlad forced his mug into Oscar's view. Oscar sighed hoarsely, "Aurelie, I can't go on. I have to go back and get my back un-fucked. Vlad, get me on your back."

Vlad turned away from Oscar, carefully sliding his tail underneath his master. Oscar moaned as the tail prickled his spine, and would outright scream when Vlad flung him onto his leathery back. It hurt like hell, but he was too tired to do more than groan. Oscar carefully turned his head as he adjusted his arms over Vlad's shoulders.

"Thanks for coming out here with me. It was going to go great. If you choose to keep exploring I'll understand, but you look like you're in not-so great shape. Do you want to head out together?"

hWGGbIuI

Aurelie Lefevre

Oscar watched every act perform their closing routines, and gradually became increasingly nervous as their turn drew near. With so many highly talented performers, would they be able to shine through? A low growl would catch Oscar's attention. Robbie had been watching his master, and he would not let Oscar fall into an anxiety spiral. Oscar had given him the confidence to continue forward, and while he could not exactly do the same, Robbie was keen to return the favor.

All Oscar did was look to his determined partner, and his worries melted away. Win or lose, they were ready to give it their all. He nodded with thanks, "You're right Robbie, we got this shit on lock. Buuuut just in case let's go over the routine one last time."

The duo was unlikely to win at this point, but the least they could do was leave with a good impression. A white screen was put out onto the stage, causing anything behind it to appear as a silhouette. After a few moments of silence, electricity would burst from back stage and take out the theater's lighting (Thunderbolt). Everything went dark--that is, except for the two spotlights that allowed the white screen to project its silhouettes.

The intimidating shadow of Robbie burst into view, its alien cackle echoing across the darkened theater. He would not have time to menace the audience though, as a human sized warrior in samurai garb would quickly join him. Robbie's silhouette turned to face the strange warrior, who raised his sword to challenge the demonic drake. The ultra beast obliged, raising its stinger to use as a blade of his own.

The two fighters dramatically clashed, dueling for the souls of the audience. Robbie had positioned himself in such a way as to make his projected silhouette appear much larger than his actual size, making the battle appear to be between a brave human and a hulking monstrosity. The battle lasted only a minute before the hero would 'strike' Robbie down. The dragon would wail, overacting as he fell to the ground.

With the fight over, the lights would return to the theater and the screen would be removed. Robbie would rise and float next to the warrior, who removed his helmet to reveal the face of Oscar. The two took a bow, ending their run in the contest.

EYFStufM

Oscar was relieved to hear that Howard knew exactly how to solve their problem. His relief turned right back into stress as Howard tossed the frosty ball of Regice to Oscar. Oscar yelped as he tried to catch the unexpected loan, batting the slippery ball between his hands before finally catching it between both. Oscar nervously beheld the ball as Howard went off to fix the drill.

"I--um--are you sure?" Howard would not hear, he was already working on the drill. Oscar turned his attention back to the fighting, hoping that he would not have to resort to using the legendary golem.

Prime had managed to bag its catch, and it would track Ollie as he fell down the cliff. All it would have to do now was grab the net and take it back to its master, an objective that should hypothetically simple. Of course it knew better than to rely on odds alone, which is why it was not surprised when a charizard came charging its way.

Prime began doing calculations. It did not have enough time to dodge the entire attack, so it would have to be hit in a way that would minimize potential damage. It had to factor in the charizard's cowl of flame, as that was sure to cause immense physical trauma no matter where it hits. Perhaps if it tilted at the right angle, Prime could take the hit and retaliate?

The genesect was nearly ready to attempt its plan, when its Sigilyth ally appeared to take on the attack instead. Prime was surprised, but more than grateful to avoid what would have been a devastating blow. It immediately disengaged, floating toward where it had last spotted its electrified prisoner.

As Ollie was located, Prime would also spot the other ranger running to his aid. Prime saw its chance to bag two rangers at once, that would surely please its master! However, before it could fire its net, Prime would find itself abruptly being pulled to the ground. No matter how much it revved its engine, Prime would not be able to gain altitude. It eventually gave in, unfurling into its combat form so that it may dramatically land with one claw slamming into the ground to lessen the impact of its descent.

As it stood to its full height, Prime would find itself conveniently positioned between Ollie and Roy. Prime would turn to face Roy fully, firing an electrified net at his position (Electro Web).

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tl;dr
--Oscar nervously accepts Regice.
--Saved by Sigilyth, Genesect turns its attention toward the rangers.
--Gravity forces Genesect to land, by happenstance between Ollie and Roy.
--Genesect tries to capture Roy with Electro Web.
howard slayte, ollie morales, Roy Aker

Oscar turned back to put his hands on the crystal wall. "The more powerful it becomes..." he mused as he gently rubbed the surface. "If only we could harness that power for something other than make hats." He knew Amor Rose was working on some projects with Tera Energy. He should pay him a visit some time to check on his progress.

Oscar's examination of the wall was interrupted by the cry of an unknown pokemon. It was loud and bizarre, echoing across the passages of the cave. Oscar sneered, suddenly having the urge to delve deeper into Area Zero. "C'mon, let's see if we can locate our vocal friend."

Oscar tried to stay alongside Lulu, but he would keep getting distracted when they came upon robust crystal structures. He was just astounded that Tera Crystals could grow into such a variety of shapes, their knowledge of the mineral was far more lacking than he anticipated. Every time he got distracted, Oscar would eventually realize his mistake and run to catch up to Lulu. "We simply must build a lab down here." Oscar would say while catching up for the third time. "Imagine the technology we could power using all of these cry--oh."

They had come upon a new chamber, and to say that it was massive was a severe understatement. It was large enough to hold all of Mauville City, nearly as vast as the chasms just above them. Countless platforms of stone and crystal dotted the titanic cave--all leading deeper still into Area Zero. Oscar blinked as he forced back his amazement.

"How do we--where do we start?"

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Lulu Flint

Oscar was hopeful about Aurelie's speculation, because an unspoken alternative idea had his anxiety spiking. The gashes in the rocks were massive, with their trajectory and proximity making them look similar to claw marks. Were these done by a giant pokemon? Was that pokemon still around?

Normally Oscar would excited to find such a specimen, but for reasons beyond him he felt uneasy. Similarly, he felt unusually anxious about scaling down the cliff-face. What if they fell and hurt themselves? Or what if there was a landslide? Or what if--

Oscar abruptly slapped himself, before patting his cheeks and letting out a deep breath. This worrying was not like him, and he would not let it ruin his adventure of discovery! Oscar nodded to Aurelie, "Yes! We had better get started before something worse comes upon us. Vlad keep up!" Oscar grabbed the handholds and began climbing down, taking deep and steady breaths to ward off intrusive thoughts of fear. Vlad hovered nearby, confused about why his master did not just glide down. The great bat would not understand, he just loved fighting too much.

When they were most of the way down, a strange clicking would draw Oscar's attention. He dared to look down, discovering that they were getting pretty close to the ground. He could probably jump from here, if he was brave enough to twist himself in mid-air to maneuver a rolling landing. He was currently not, for the record. His eyes journeyed toward the source of the noise, which seemed to be a twisted version of Jigglypuff. Oscar tilted his head as he stared at the creature, wondering what it wanted.

He would not have to wait long for an answer, as the being would open its mouth and let out a horrible shock-wave of sound (Hyper Voice). A shocked Vlad covered his ears as he fell out of the sky, while the cliff that Oscar clung to began to rattle. Oscar looked up, and yelled out as he spotted rocks falling upon him. "Jump!" he shouted, hoping that Aurelie would follow his lead. Oscar leapt backward, barely dodging the rocks before falling like a stone himself onto the ground.

He luckily did not fall far, but the landing was not ideal. He felt a sharp pain run up through his back, and Oscar would howl as he lay like an upturned beetle. "My back..."

PwgLrgYD

Aurelie Lefevre

Oscar raised his eyebrows. "You know your stuff. Alright then let's put it to the test." Oscar motioned for Violet to follow him, leading her to a nearby table with a heavy case sitting upon it. Oscar unlatched the case's lid and opened it up to reveal a neat array of gizmos and makeup supplies. Thank goodness Mint picked out some stuff Oscar actually recognized.

Oscar carefully unpacked the case, setting every gadget along the table. In total there was: A watch that hides a multitude of tiny tools, a pen with a hidden USB drive containing a code cracking algorithm, pearl earrings with microphones within the pearls, glasses with a hidden camera within the frame, five "bugs" that could be planted for covert eavesdropping, a hygiene mask with a voice changer on the inside, and a makeup kit with a large selection of brushes.

Oscar stood to the side of the table and leaned on it as he explained the scenario. "Here's a hypothetical. Imagine you're a League operative working undercover to infiltrate Rocket. You've been given this selection of tools to help with your mission. Your task is to make it into the office fern delaney, download the files on his computer, plant three bugs in strategic locations, all while remaining undetected. How would you accomplish this? Oh, and pretend you don't have any pokemon."

Violet Fairbanks

As always, Priam's colorful enthusiasm was as welcome as it was infectious. Good thing Howard was not around to hear him call the place shit though, he would probably blow a gasket defending the farm. Oscar clapped his hands together as he searched for his building supplies around the makeshift base. "Nah nothing like that. This is hopefully gonna be a full research center, where any Rocket scientist or scientist adjacent grunt can come research Ultra Space. I'll try a secret evil lair for the second attempt."

Oscar was a bit dumbfounded about where his supplies could have gone, until he noticed something shiny sticking out of a large hill of sand nearby. It looked so natural that Oscar had hardly noticed it, but seeing the shiny protrusion suddenly made everything clear. "Ugh, speaking of melted down steel pokemon though." Oscar walked over to the hill and did some light digging, causing sand to spill over his boots. He cleared just enough to expose some steel foundation pipes, confirming that Oscar's supplies had been buried in sand.

Oscar groaned, "Well that's inconvenient. We'll need some pokemon to dig this stuff out." Oscar stretched to regain some of his pep and faced Priam. "All of the building materials, from the walls to the foundations, are made from organic steel alloy! You know, melted down steel pokemon. Mostly Steelix--and at least one bronzong. It's the only building material that can withstand the conditions of the Ultra Desert."

priam conrad