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ZONE D

Hearing Cygnus's response over the radio had Rose freeze up instantly and stiffen. She made him mad.

She did something wrong and made him mad.

Her first instinct was to do absolutely nothing as if she was waiting for something else. And it was only then that she finally looked up and around, hearing all the violence, anger, and fear in everyone's tone. She had been so distracted...

The rain waters washed down over her and her craft, and it shuddered in the air, slowly flying off course. And yet, Rose did not stir.

"Hey," Her Sprigatito poked her with a paw, trying to get her attention again. "What are you doing? Focus! We're in the air!"

"Right, right, umm-" Her hands were still full of Zygarde's egg as she attempted to push the joysticks up with the back of her hands and keep the craft going, despite the rainwater pouring into the small saucer. But even still, her hands shake as she cradles the egg close, and it's obvious something is not exactly right. "I'm okay, I'm okay."

"You're clearly not. Rose-" The cat paused, an idea slowly dawning on them. "Just, fly away. It's too dangerous for you here. It's not safe."

"But-"

"But, nothing. When Ash gave me to you, it became my duty to protect you. I swore to keep you safe, no matter what. And I can't do that if you don't listen to me. You're going to get hurt, and I can't let that happen. Leave, we can do nothing when you're like this. "

The tower cracks, the elevator broken, people flying, plucked out of the air by the big bird. But before Rose can really respond back to her starter Pokemon, bubbles suddenly begin forming around the craft. The reflections of a castle dominate her vision and just like that, she vanishes without a trace.

"Rose?!" Sprigatito suddenly shouts, left alone in the craft, even as it flies at a mostly straight path. Did they scare away her trainer? What happened?

Did they make a mistake?

---

Rose's eyes had shut tight when the saucer vanished from beneath her, but even she couldn't remain locked up and afraid as the weightless feeling shocked her even more.

Her legs kicked out and about in the air, twirling in place, only just noticing that her legs were apparently very colorful and cute all of a sudden. Her eyes drifted across the floating space, in silent awe. It was like a snapshot of her dreams. A beautiful princess, an old wise king, and adorable bubbles everywhere.

Seeing that other players were also floating brought her back to reality. She genuinely didn't know what to think, having no idea what the Dream World was, or even that Articuno had taken the form of a king. And yet, she listened with a quiet attentiveness like when she was in school.

She was so eager to learn, to absorb everything she could with the wide-eyed curiosity of someone who had such a love for life and everything in it.

He was trapped, and he was done playing pretend.

Rose was intelligent enough to know that she wasn't the smartest girl, that she didn't truly understand the full plot of the game, but it seemed so serious all of a sudden.

Was it really so sudden, or had she just never noticed it before?

The bubbles returned, and she vanished from the Dream World just as she entered. Without a word.

---

"Oh god, Rose, I'm sorry, please don't just vanish again, I-" Sprigatito begged as her trainer returned in a flash of bubbles, only to suddenly pause. "... What are you wearing? Why are you covered in cats?"

It was only then that Rose really looked at herself, seeing the adorable shirt, the frilly skirt, but most of all, the cat ears atop her head. "Gasp!" Rose finally responded, reaching up to feel at them, before suddenly giggling endlessly.

"I met a princess in a dream! And now I'm the prettiest cat girl princess of them all!" Rose shouted with an incredibly wide smile, "Just like-" Before she could even finish, Auntie Tuesday spoke to her, and the little girl just beamed, hoping they'd notice her ears, and enjoy it just as much as she did.

The question caught her off guard, however, and she paused for a bit. She wanted to help, she loved helping... She didn't want anyone to be sad, angry, or mad. Not again. Despite her wide smile fading somewhat, she nodded. But instead of just waiting for Auntie to return, Rose steeled her resolve. With a firm tug and a yank, she finally ripped one of her hands off the egg and gripped the joystick of the saucer. A little HP bar appeared on her skin, showing that she hurt herself by doing that, but Rose couldn't care less.

"I'm coming too! We got a message to tell!"

"... That's my girl." The Sprigatito spoke. They had no idea what had happened between when they vanished and returned, but something had sparked joy inside them again, and that was all that mattered. Something had encouraged her to act, to keep going, and if putting on a cat outfit made her confident, then so be it.

The saucer puttered along, chugging as its steampunk engine struggled against the brutal rain, but she kept going, attempting her best to fly the device, relying solely on instincts granted by Cygnus's weird green laser light. When Tuesday called out to Zapdos, Rose fiddled with the radio system on the saucer, attempting to fix it after the electrical damage, and now presumably water damage. But sure enough, after hitting it a few times, it roared to life with static. She picked up the receiver, speaking through the small speakers to amplify her voice over the rushing rains.

"Zapdos!" She spoke, mimicking her role model with the first shout. "Articuno told us lots. He said he was stuck and seemed really sad. But he said that you and him played pretend with kings and princes. But- I think, it's time to stop playing pretend."

Ironic, coming from her. Not that she was aware of the irony, even if she knew what that word meant.

"But now, you can be true heroes! Please, don't be mad. We all just want to help this world... As much as the land hurts, it's the best world I know!"

Sprigatito - Support

Core Abilities: N/A
Freeform Action: N/A

ZONE A

Rose had absolutely no idea what she was doing. In fact, she was pretty sure she was here late. She missed whatever announcements, only to drop straight into absolute chaos, with Zapdos striking everywhere, the elevator so high up into the sky it was freezing,

Her cute little beetle wings unfolded from the small shell on her back, fluttering anxiously. A black stone-like egg was held in her hands, shimmering with shifting green tessellations that certainly inspired awe. But now wasn't the time to focus on how pretty the egg was.

With her new Catcher abilities, her hands and feet gained intense traction, hence why she was barefoot too as she waddled across the space elevator. But her hands-

"I'm stuck!" Rose yelled, tugging and pulling on the egg as she tried desperately to yank her hands from it. She really had no idea what she was doing.

"Yeehaw!" Her Orthworm suddenly shouted out, slithering across the ground like a steel worm would. "Looks like to Zapdos, we're as welcome as an outhouse breeze. Well, rather than hanging out here like a hair on a biscuit, why don't we show that man what's what, hmm?"

"... What?" Said Rose, stunned and looking confused.

"... What's an outhouse?" Said Moab the Type: Null.

"Tell ya when ya'll are older. Now, I got my tail up and stinger out, shall we blast him out of the sky?" The Orthworm said, that did not in fact, have a stinger. He had fists.

"Uh... yeah!" Rose grinned ear to ear, holding the egg stuck to her hands above her head. "Knock him out of the sky!"

"Pronto! When we're done with him, he's gonna look like something the cat dragged in and the kittens didn't want." With a sudden shout, the Orthworm suddenly spit out a rock from its maw firing it towards Zapdos with a Smack Down.

Confused, and yet intrigued by her new worm friend, she still had to protect her wormie friend's egg. Climbing atop her Type: Null like a child would ride a small dog or a large cat, she shouted. "Keep me safe! If you have to, jump! I got a ship! Uh-" She paused, entirely unable to activate the very silly remote that looked like a set of keys in her pocket with her hands stuck to the egg. "Uh, somewhere! Just move!"

"Understood," Moab spoke, dashing across the platform in what were basically circles.

It looked very silly.

Orthworm - Tank | Type: Null - Sweeper

Core Abilities: N/A
Freeform Action: 100 DMG

Rose stood back in awe as the Pinsir evolved, growing massive wings that carried them up into the air within the caves. Mega Pinsir. "Cheater!" Rose suddenly shouted, frowning at the wings. "I didn't know you could fly! Give me your wings! Make it fair!" She shouted, furiously dodging among the sticky cave floor to not get hit by some of the pins firing down above.

Her Caterpie, however, was not so lucky. Pinned to the wall of the cave, Rose climbed up the sticky webs to hopefully free them. "It's okay Winnie, I'm coming!"

Suddenly, a big glob of honey got tossed her way, and her eyes widened dramatically as she turned to her Caterpie. It was time for her own buggy to be a big boy.

"Just a scratch," The Caterpie began, coughing softly as the poison started to work into their body. "I can take it. I'm tougher than I look."

"I know you are, silly. But even the toughest guys can use help too." Rose grinned like a madwoman, uncorking the antidote and pouring it all over the honey, before just shoving it into the Caterpie's mouth. "And you're about to be the toughest guy of them all."

"Wh-" Was all they managed to say before they had a mouthful of mega-honey, and it didn't take a genius to connect the dots of her goal. Their body began to glow, enlarging in size as the pin that was holding them down snapped, becoming the world's biggest Caterpie.

"Yeah!" Rose cried out, giddy with glee as she scrambled back to stay out of the immediate fight. "Go murderlize him, Winnie!"

Wynebgwrthucher smiled to themselves, even as rocks were chucked their way, squishing and damaging their body. They were far too confident to let this attack go unanswered. "Murderlizing, it is! Have at thee!"

Charging forwards with as great a speed as he had, the Pinsir took notice of the big bug, suddenly grabbing the Caterpie between their horns, and tossing them over at the wall with surprising force. Once again, just like before, it charged forwards attempting to overwhelm Rose's Pokemon with a decisive blow.

"No!" She suddenly shouted out, tossing the Spewpa Grenade like a baseball, exploding between the two Pokemon and hopefully lessening the damage they took.

Standing back, Rose watched as Aero's Shuckle suddenly shucked a rock so hard, the Pinsir suddenly stopped moving. It didn't take a genius to look up at the HP bar at the top of her UI to see the boss had been defeated.

Still, Wynebgwrthucher didn't realize that as it shouted, String Shot flying from its maw towards the slowing drooping Pinsir. "I'll finish you! Time to bury you in your- Huh?" Their spiky shell hurt, but seeing the lack of movement, not even an attempt to free themselves from the sticky strings trapping their body to the cave ground, they finally let out a sigh of relief, standing back.

"That could have ended, a lot worse..." They mumbled to themselves, hoping that their trainer didn't hear them.

Rose's little machine puttered rather cutely as it ascended into the air, slowly turning on her command as she attempted to keep close to the older man who looked like he was from some fantasy series. She knew Lord of the Rings! With like, Legless, Gomlo, Frobo and stuff... right? She didn't really know anything about it. She just knew the cool elephant scene, which actually was really sad because the elephant died, but the archer man took it down by himself, and that was neat because it made the bearded man upset.

Shaking her head to focus on the here and now, Rose gently fiddled with the joysticks as the device flew. "I wonder what happens if I push all these other buttons..." Rose mumbled to herself, kicking her feet back and forth.

"Huh? Oh, yeah!" She finally responded to Tiernan Oaktread. "We can make it! Just you know, fly through the green light. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy!" She seemed so proud of herself for using that saying as if she had invented it. Sitting there all smugly grinning.

But that curiosity of the other buttons, tempted her. Maybe she should ask the old friendly man to read some of these little words on the board here. She didn't know what a lot of it meant. Out loud, she spoke, trying to sound it out as she looked at a small button behind a little glass panel. "Uhhh, do you know what an Eeeegecktour Seat is?"

Squelch, came the sounds of honey sticking to boots as the child attempted to wade through the honey. Her caterpie atop the horn of the helmet on her head kept them out of the honey.

"I wonder if-" Rose mumbled to herself, reaching a hand down into the honey and scooping it up a bit.

"Do not eat it, my dear." Her Caterpie began, only to put a frown on Rose's face. "You are currently in it. Would you drink bathwater?"

"... No." Rose sighed, letting the honey drip from her sticky fingers.

Before Rose can really feel sad about the loss of a sweet treat, their enemy had finally revealed itself. The Pinsir erupted from the ground, firing dozens of spikes towards her!

Rose leaps to the side, while instead the Caterpie simply leaps into them, blocking the pins with their body. When all said was done, Wynebgwrthucher was still standing tall, a few new scratches. "Tsk, barely a scratch." The overconfident Caterpie began all edgy and whatnot, staring down the Pinsir.

"Thee are no better than a wild beast! My smallest appendage could poke harder than that!" He'd pause his taunting, suddenly glancing over to Rose still where she first leaped too. "What are you doing? Move! I'm drawing it's attention!"

Rose didn't need to hear anything else, she scrambled off her feet, as a a suddenly powerful Horn Blast rocked their body, flinging them back and knocking them straight into the soft cave wall as the Pinsir then turned to deal with someone else and Rose lost track of it.

"Winnie!" Rose exclaimed, swiftly grabbing the Spewpa Grenade from her bag, only to see the Caterpie once again climb back to it's feet. "Make your web! String him up! While he's busy with the others!"

"That, didn't even sting." Wynebgwrthucher began, only to follow the plan. Firing waves of string from their mouth, they'd work dilligently to attempt and build a web, as basic as it was. It was only held together with a few lines of string to the cave walls, but there wasn't any time to to make it perfect.

Meanwhile, Rose had turned to watch the others with eager anticipation, trying her best to think strategically, which wasn't her strong suit. Hearing Aero shout about baseball, and then the adorable Nymble of Jade Jager 's shout that they were on it, she had an idea.

"Winnie!" She began finally unpopping the grenade and readying to throw. "When they hit, String Shot, and pull them into the web! Use the force!" She didn't really know what force was being used, but she heard it in a movie a few times.

The Caterpie saw no immediate flaws to this plan, and as the projectile Shuckle got flung straight into the Pinsir through the smoke, a powerful String Shot fling into the smoke after them, attempting to yank them straight into the web.

As the smoke cleared, it revealed that not only was the Pinsir indeed going towards the web, it was readying a Giga Impact again and practically charging towards her Caterpie.

"Winnie! No!" Rose shouted out, standing in fear, unable to commit herself to move and toss the Spewpa grenade.

And yet, with all their energy, the Caterpie just tugged on the string tightly, fighting against a foe so many times larger than its size, with a violent fury burning in its eyes. "Ha!" It shouted, laughing as it did so. "Your bite can not pierce the shell of an acorn, let alone the armor created with love by my squire! Have at thee!"

This was fun! Rose hadn't attended a big event like this before! So many people, she almost felt a little crowded and worried. And then she remembered that maybe her mom and dad were here!

And maybe some of these other people that looked like big kids, were actually kids her age! She had heard about a friend from school whose character was a big muscle lady!

But more importantly, her eyes scanned the crowd for any hint of a familiar face, humming to herself as she happily skipped among the crowd, oohing and aahing at everyone's little flying devices.

She was so distracted, she didn't realize someone had approached her and spoken. "Oh! Oh! A team? That sounds fun!" She bounced on her feet and twirled for a little bit before speaking. "I'm Rose! But you can call me Rose!" The young girl giggled at her joke, finding herself at least funny. "If Mom and Dad join though, I gotta go with them! I've been looking for forever! But until then, I'm with you all the way!"

"We're gonna fly into the skies and fight some meanie, right? I got a nice bird friend who can carry me! But I kind of want one of those thingies too." She'd finally turned around, her hands held up like she was about to sneak them into a forbidden cookie jar as she stepped over with eager anticipation.

Instead, she found something that wasn't even quite on the table at all. Sitting nearby, it looked like a mix of a baby walker and a spaceship! Of course, covered in weird pipes and dials and doo-dads on the inside with some weird joysticks and levers to direct it. Like a tiny little UFO, a miniature saucer.

Genuine sparkles shimmered in her eyes, as she suddenly turned around and just instinctively lifted her arms and bounced on her feet. "Up! Up! Help me in it! I want it!" In all fairness, it probably was one of the safer contraptions. It did look like it had seatbelts, at least.

Teammates: Tiernan Oaktread Fairytale and Rose Garden