Before he could turn to reply to Hanzo, the Greninja had hissed a warning that made him snap out of his thoughts—while it wasn’t the insanely-sized rocket ship of a Pokémon that the other man had brought along to the race, this was…

What was this?!

He only knew about the Pokédex until Volcanion; anything Generation Seven and onwards was mostly beyond his reach, so there was that to consider.

A surprise burst of cannon-fire water in the form of a Hydro Pump came from the Greninja’s mouth; alerting him that whatever… whatever this that had come screaming out of the sky had no business being here!

‘Get out of the way!’ he would hear the Greninja yelp; and he would do that a few moments later as he dived low to the ground while the dual-type engaged with that… that was a ridiculously huge stinger!

came for the spaceship, stayed for the alien (not that he knows that naganadel is a dragon-type)

How do I tell him, how do I tell him? Wait, hold up—how do they know what to ask?

These thoughts were swirling inside his head, unbidden, as he continued to watch the two trade blows—him very nearly wincing as the ‘stinger’ on whatever this… whatever this Pokémon was (was what his Greninja fighting even a Pokémon?) almost cleaved the dual-type in half.

Alright, that’s it, I’m going to look into the other generations beyond Kalos after this! he would make a mental note to himself as the Greninja switched from close-range to long-range once again, blasting another Hydro Pump towards the strange beast in order to put as much distance between himself and the oddity as much as possible!

“You’ve got this!” he cheered from the sidelines—honestly, it was the only thing he could do at this point because Hanzo had taken matters into his own hands—flippers—whatever the Greninja’s appendages were called as the two continued to trade blows; him even realizing that the dual-type was now slinging Water Shuriken like a madman as the strange creature chased after him!

came for the spaceship, stayed for the alien (not that he knows that naganadel is a dragon-type)

Caution would override the healthy sense of danger that he had, and in a flash of red light he would summon his Dipplin; watching as the sticky goo would slither all over the place before he tilted his head in the general direction where the Greninja was fighting.

“Hydra… I know this is asking too much, but can you help Hanzo? I know you can—you’ve got that move that can slow things down, right? I remember you used that in our little sparring match versus Josh Devlin, that would definitely come in handy now!”

The sentient fruit Pokémon would blink at him for a few moments, before nodding their head—heads?—and glopping their way towards where the Greninja was currently fighting.

Fighting for his life, and for his honor at the same time.

Once the two Pokémon were deployed, he would go back to his interrupted train of thought—how was he going to explain what his work entailed to the Greninja in a way the other would understand?

Was it possible that the Pokémon were aware of the passage of time when they, the player, weren’t around to accompany them on their journey?

came for the spaceship, stayed for the alien (not that he knows that naganadel is a dragon-type)

The loud roaring from the Dipplin caught his attention as the Syrup Bomb connected, which allowed the Greninja to come in with another risky Night Slash attempt had him looking up from his private musing to watch what was happening.

“I don’t think this is safe for just the two of them anymore,” he would continue to himself, worry all over his features as he continued thumbing at the Drakloak’s Pokéball with apprehension as the ‘stinger’ on the purple beast’s body lashed out again.

“This battle is putting me on edge…” he added, pinching the bridge of his nose—something he very rarely did under duress.

Over where the two Pokémon were now tag-teaming the Naganadel, the ‘stinger’ jabbed out once more; both of them barely managing to avoid the incoming attack that came screaming their way!

came for the spaceship, stayed for the alien (not that he knows that naganadel is a dragon-type)

He was hoping, hoping, hoping—

That his silent prayer wouldn’t be in vain; however fact of the matter was that… when he’d finally managed to pull himself up and off from where Hanzo the Greninja had told him to wait, he’d already thrown out his Drakloak to join the battle and—

And…

“HYDRA!” he would all but scream, making the mad dash over to where the Dipplin had been ‘cut’ down.

‘What are you doing?! Didn’t I tell you not to—’ the Greninja yelled back at him, before the Drakloak soared out from behind his back, screaming bloody murder as she threw her entire spectral body weight into a Dragon Rush attack straight at the strange, purple-colored beast.

(The good thing was that they were able to establish that this strange purple thing was weak to Dragon-type moves!)

“I don’t care! Hanzo, LOOK AT WHAT HAPPENED TO HYDRA!” he would continue, the grief in his voice evident as he threw all caution out the window and scooped up the Dipplin into his trembling hands.

The sounds of battle caught the Greninja’s attention; before the Drakloak continued to scream, unintelligible gibberish escaping her mouth as the other dual-type rejoined the battle with another Hydro Pump.

came for the spaceship, stayed for the alien (not that he knows that naganadel is a dragon-type)

The Greninja was trying his damndest hardest to hold back the Drakloak that wanted to continue beating up the passed-out Naganadel, however their human was still torn up about what had happened.

Did… when he ran for the Thunderfall Shrine earlier, did he glitch out of existence, or something? Surely not… since Hanzo and his Drakloak were still there.

No matter how hard he would cry, the Dipplin did not stir.

Shit, was he going to have to make a trip to the Everworld to get Hydra back at this rate…?

‘Letmeatthemletmeatthemletmeatthem!’ the Drakloak continued to scream, trying to fight her way free from the Greninja’s hold—never mind if she was speaking a thousand miles an hour, she was angry and wanted to cut a bitch!

‘We’ll have to wait and see what he does…’ the Greninja sighed, before collapsing out of exhaustion; he’d really pushed himself too far in that battle.

The noise washed over him; still holding the ‘sliced’ Dipplin—before what felt like an eternity later, he would pull himself up into a standing position.

“That… I’ll never forgive that fuck,” he hissed; walking past the two other Pokémon before pulling out the Golden Pokéball.

He would then throw it at the Naganadel’s prone body—for he was not one to deny an angry den mother’s whims.

At least someone could get their revenge later.

---

catch attempt on Jack Da… Naganadel!

they acquired a naganadel, but at what cost?!