A brief memory of Aro collapsed on the ground and scrawling on the dirt with his fingers entered Maya's mind as she heard the name Petros. 

"I figured this was bait. Zombie here has a lot of toughening up to do though." 

The pokemon puffed its colorful chest in a way that was both cute and absolutely pathetic. She didn't notice, too busy with groping all of the complex machinery she could find. Maya never understood technology all too well, but the hands-on girl wasn't about to be stopped by enormous panels and rows of scary looking buttons. It felt cathartic in a way, messing with all of the equipment Ms. Amy regularly scolded her for getting close to. Fate had other plans, however.

The roar of a helicopter came crashing down on their ears, sending vibrations throughout the floor and walls. It felt like prey being rattled in a cage by a predator, and she took off sprinting even before Aro had finished talking. 

[hr]
"I can drive. Or at least, I can sorta remember the basics from the manuals I used to have."

Maya came to regret uttering those words. 

To the surprise of no one, riding a motorcycle was a challenge. And riding one while being chased by mutated pokemon and bandits? You could forget about the "safety" part of the manuals. 

That's not to say she didn't enjoy herself. Her reputation as a daredevil in battle shone throughout the various squabbles they found themselves in, with Zombie shrieking in and out of the landscapes turned warzones. To her satisfaction the result of irresponsibly training her only pokemon via trial by fire had resulted in a far stronger companion who could burst through the air at breakneck speeds, thanks to the fear of death egging him on. 

[hr]
Maya stretched her cramped legs and took in the sight of the industrial city around her. She knew it had seen better days judging by some of the worn out buildings, but it was still bigger and brighter than anything else in the wasteland up to this point. And among the lights that speckled around them, a flash of silver caught her attention the most. A piece of metal to be exact, glinting from the sunlight only faintly. Any other person wouldn't have noticed, but for the trainer desperate for pokemon she knew exactly what it meant. Her mind combed through all of the pokemon that could cause such a visual effect. It had to have been one low to the ground, with a body composition entirely or mostly metallic. A smirk spread across her face as she realized what was floating only a stone's throw away from her behind the corner of a building.   

Her spare pokeball expanded to fit in the palm of her hand. 

"Magnemite, huh."