Two strangers, two miscalculations being made at almost exactly the same moment...

Oz's goes a little like this:

"Fuck, it's late." Yes, it's late. 'A sky full of stars and a desert that's too damn cold compared to what you'd expect from a desert' kind of late (got to love how immersive deep dive VR can be, right? It better not convince his brain that he's catching a fake cold or something). Oz had known is late, because like many Oz is well aware that the Hydance headquarters are in San Francisco, but he had felt like playing UNOVR and had (incorrectly) assumed that maybe some area in the new region would go by a different time zone or something.

Nope, they don't. He hasn't been playing the game for long enough, clearly. Since, when he had logged back in at the edge of the Dune District area that he had planned on exploring, he had found himself with only the light of the stars to illuminate his surroundings. At least there's a ton of them. Much more than what he can see with Toronto's endless light pollution. So, that's something?

<'Yo! Oz! I thought we were going sandboarding!'> Before he can even take a moment to appreciate the stars above, something below pipes up, demanding his attention — the small Piplup that accompanies him. He holds the makeshift board Oz had come up with earlier, barely managing to hold it up with his tiny Piplup flippers.

"Who taught you to be so damn sassy, eh?" He had, he knows as much, and maybe that's why he takes the board and puts it on the sand. "Fine, fine, let's give it a shot. Jump on."

Excited as they both might be by the prospect of surfing through dunes, they don't manage to get very far. Down one small dune and then the sight of something falling catches Oz's eye. There's a pile of rubble and everything... Was that another player?

Still on the board and with his Piplup standing right at the front, he goes to check it out, calling out to the stranger:

"Yo! You okay?"

Okay, so, not gonna lie, the whole comment about having only one pair of clothes makes this girl sound very... NPC-ish. But, like, that's not possible, right? From everything Oz had read about Ostellia (mostly in r/UNOVR), the whole point of it is that it's kind of an abandoned and forgotten city, so this has to be another player...

Maybe she's new to gaming or something.

"Oh... You don't have any other clothes in your inventory?" He mentions in passing, but then again, it's not like he has a very full inventory either. He had gotten another outfit when unlocking that one title, he knows that, but honestly, it doesn't really fit the whole aesthetic he had designed for this avatar.

He looks up towards the building next to them, although it's not like he can see much beyond dark silhouettes.

"Damn, yeah, climbing something like that is hard to do in the dark." Coincidentally, his parkour-loving self has quite a lot of experience with that sort of thing, but to do it in the middle of the night? That's a whole other story. "We were doing some sandboarding, which... is also kinda hard to do in the dark. Maybe you could—"

<'Oz! Oz! There's something moving over there!'> Peri interrupts, sounding nothing short of alarmed.

The year was 2022, the event was Pokémon GO Fest, Nihilego was introduced into the game to the surprise of much of the player base, and that, my friends, is how Oz himself had first learned about the wonder that are Ultra Beasts. See, he had played Pokémon games as a kid, but ever one to favour multiplayers in his adulthood, he hadn't kept up with the later generations until getting sucked into the Pokémon Go experience.

So, while he may not be particularly versed in the ins and outs of Pokémon lore (or versed at all), he sure knows what an Ultra Beast is, and when seeing the enormous silhouette in the darkness, he responds accordingly:

"Holy fucking shit."

Excuse his French. But, seriously, holy shit?! Celesteela? Here? Now? How the fuck are they supposed to fight that thing with just a Piplup and a Munna? His gamer brain moves at the speed of light: they don't really have type advantages against Celesteela (bad), but UNOVR Pokémon evolution stages have no relevance in combat other than for moveset (good), and from what he had heard wild encounters function differently from most combat, so...

"That's a Celesteela!" He shouts in response to the girl's question, quick to scoop Peri up and hide behind the rubble too, their improved sandboard being left behind to end up destroyed by the Celesteela's blast almost within seconds. "What the hell is an Ultra Beast doing here?! We gotta take it down or it's gonna knock us out. Peri, you're in."

<'What?! You want me to attack that thing? It's massive!'>

"Ya, don't worry about it, just charge. Trust." Oz tells his Pokémon, offering his best 'I'm totally not pretending not to be concerned right now' smile and a fist bump. Peri puffs his cheeks, but a flipper meets Oz's fist.

The little Piplup jumps out, giving his best battle cry before waddling over the sand towards the Celesteela and attempting to pound it. It's... kind of hilarious, were it not for how concerningly massive the Celesteela is.

"What the hell is a Celesteela?!"

A valid question, and a lore dump sure would be great and nice and helpful right about now, but Oz here has no lore to dump, so instead he mental scrambles to string together what little information someone can gather about these Pokémon by the mere act of playing Pokémon GO.

"It's an Ultra Beast! A kind of Pokémon!" Oz shouts back over the sound of... holy fuck, are those really rockets? He takes a peek at the huge Pokémon from behind the crumbling wall, his gaze fixing on the long bamboo-like arms that definitely look like they're motherfucking rockets (with nozzles, thrusters, fins, and everything else). "They're... supposed to come from another dimension or something?"

Whatever the exact lore may be, it's not what matters right now. They need to beat this thing up, and apparently Peri thinks that the best way to do it is to fire Water Gun after Water Gun. Gotta hand it to the little guy, at least he's pretty damn brave.

Psychic energy rocks the Celesteela, making it sway back and forward aggressively. Too aggressively. Oz barely has enough time to shout a "Oh, shit! Cover your eyes!" before the huge Pokémon soundly topples over, causing an enormous cloud of sand to rise as if a dust tsunami headed directly towards them.

Once the dust clears, and after a few coughs that come as a result of the overly-realistic virtual environment, Oz looks towards the Ultra Beast's fallen body, finding his Piplup alive, triumphant, and... jumping up and down on one of the huge bamboo arms of the Celesteela?

<'YEAH! THAT'S RIGHT! TAKE THAT! WE WIN! SUCK IT, UGLY!'>

Oz's eyebrows raise, yet despite how tense the situation had just been, he can't help but chuckle at the actions of his Pokémon.

"Yo, Peri. Don't you think that's kinda overkill?" He stands, brushing dust off his intricate attire, and then, he looks at Ruby, offering her a hand in case she needs it. "You good? That was pretty intense."

When his attention turns back to the Celesteela, a thought comes to mind, and a Pokéball is summoned as if out of thin air (by clicking the option in his UI).

"Let's see if we can catch it." He tells Ruby then, smiling.

Ruby immediately covered her face as the massive beast toppled, collapsing into the sand. She almost couldn't believe it. Was her Munna truly that powerful? Or were they just lucky? It was hard to tell. Of course, after she finally looked up and saw the cute penguin jump up and down on its fallen body, she couldn't help but laugh for a brief second as well. It was kind of wholesome.

Meanwhile, her lazy Munna just collapsed again, slowly settling into the cool sand like it was ready for a nap.

"Yeah, yeah. You worked hard, I get it." She rolled her eyes, ready to try and clean herself up again before her new friend spoke with her. "Uh, yeah. Mostly. No chance of getting any of this sand out of my clothes or my hair anytime soon, though. I don't suppose your penguin can give me a quick shower? Heh."

However, at the idea of catching the massive towering beast, her eyes grew wide. Could that... even work? Curiousity overwhelming her caution, she grabbed an empty Pokeball from her bag, and readied it. As soon as they'd attempt to catch it, she'd toss her ball as well.

And sure enough, the towering Ultra Beast shrunk, captured just like that. She was so stunned, that she just flopped onto the dusty ground. "... Are you saying, we can use that thing in battle?"

Ruby happily allowed the bubbles to swarm her body, the water soaking all the sand, making it far easier to wipe off. If only she could even see with all the different bubbles. She opened her mouth to speak back, only for a bubble to pop on her face that had her sputtering for a few seconds.

"Bluh, so many bubbles." She certainly wasn't upset though, just laughing and shaking herself off, smiling politely over at Peri the Piplup. "I'm Ruby! And that there, is Murmur." Ruby pointed over at the lazy Munna who had already settled into a nap, silently snoozing.

"Thanks for coming for the quick rescue though, I don't know what I would have done if I was alone, and-" Ruby blinked, pausing in thought as she picked up the Pokeball with the Celesteela inside, holding it carefully against her chest. "And... This sure is weird."

"... Uh, I've never seen anyone flying super high! But I know you can ride Pokemon though. Are you... You're totally thinking of using it like a rocket, aren't you?" Her eyes drift back to the Pokeball, holding it gently, as if somehow just dropping it would have the alien-like beast come back out as aggressive as ever. And yet, she couldn't help but laugh quietly. "If you can find a way to control that thing, by all means. Just be careful! I don't want to have to explain to Mom that one of my siblings got squished by falling to death." Then again, Ruby didn't really have a good idea what happened if someone 'died' in this game. She had never done it before.

Was it painful? She didn't really want to find out.

"... But then again, it would help me climb atop the buildings. Hell, it's taller than some of the buildings here!"