Single AirPod Connection Issue

I recently lost one of my AirPods (Pro 2) while out of the country. The remaining one has been working fine as I typically only use one anyway. I remembered I had an old set so I thought I'd try pairing one of those with my remaining working Pod. Read that in order to pair them together I first needed to disconnect and Forget the working Pod and Case. Did that and then realized the old set I had is actually a different model so the combining of the two would not work. Now, when I try to reconnect the single Pod and Case, I cannot. I assume you need two in the case to connect? Is that correct? Any work around outside of going to the Genius Bar?

Thanks