he arrives with terrakion, who had led him all the way to sootopolis.

"urgh, why here?"

the question directed to the legend lingers in the air as the pokemon cannot respond with words. the mystery of the purpose of their trip remains, but it's certain that it was urgent. terrakion doesn't normally ask from him after all.

a pair of footsteps follow closely behind him. he turns and sees the other sword of justice, and with the location of choice in consideration, the puzzle pieces fit themselves seamlessly.

"virizion too?" he asks matias. kyle steps away from the door and presents the wreckage of an entrance to the elite four. "do you want the honor?"

-of stepping inside a building that presents itself as a red flag.

when he calls for people to stop for a minute to get their bearings back after being split, kyle had used it to attempt communications. A click of the tongue with the failure is abruptly stopped with the young trainer's inquiry.

"comes with being an avatar," he casually answers Vanilla Kingsley with an awkward but assuring smile. "useful. convenient. makes the job easier."

kyle honestly only has them out to speed things up, otherwise he doesn't like growing reliant on these abilities.

"we can get back to them as soon as we finish the job." as cold as that solution was, they signed up for priorities that needed to be met. "they'll probably find a way out and we can meet them halfway as soon as we secure the cruise ship people's safety."

he brings up the rear while the others take the lead, subsequently clearing obstacles for the group.

Vanilla Kingsley's gambit brings them a path to a shortcut at the cost of respiratory problems. he'll leave it to El Sunderland to check up to her if his read of their character is right.

"are those pokemon are hostile?" he asks Yuina Higashi, who was more or less on the lead. "we have no choice but to go through them if they can't be intimidated away."

they have people aided by his beasts, as well as an active challenger of the gym circuit. he's certain they can go through it in no time, but it would be convenient to go through it without a fight.



tl;dr

• answers vanilla
• asks yuina if vanilla's shortcut is safe
• ready to fight if not

"even if that's somehow a power source or something for these creatures, i don't think we should destroy it just yet," he tells MATIAS SILPH from beside dahlia goode. "we're an elite team. we can survive for a while until we see what's inside of it."

he doubts it'll disintegrate anyways, and that it's something mythical or the like. it just presents itself as a key item in a video game, and being spawned inside the otherworldly terastral cavern gives the book a vibe that it's indestructible for being part of the setting, but that's just his imagination working.

he turns to another source of discord for the group, recalling his smeargle in the mean time.

"livy," he calls PENELOPE LIVY by her name after ollie morales's attempt to ground her back. "you don't mind if we stay back during these encounters, right?"

it's a similar role he has taken. kyle wonders if penny would take it as an insult, given that she's been on edge since the meeting. they do say something about too many cooks in the kitchen.

while he lets Michael Navidson go in the scuffle with just a safety net of being revived should things go south, as well as using everyone else's tendency to shield dahlia goode for his own convenience, he lets entei go the moment that the hydro steam dissipates.

entei, the volcano pokemon, would surely be able to resist the fiery hazard cooked up by both MATIAS SILPH and PENELOPE LIVY.

extreme speed lets entei go straight from the back to the walking wake's face. up close and personal, it intercepts the move hitting Eva Morales to exert its pressure over it.

how close are you to the original?, kyle wonders as the clash between the pseudo-suicune and entei gives time for the latter to read the opposition. are we related or not?

tl;dr

• tells matias to wait before destroying the book (late)
• invites penny to hang out with him beside dahlia goode
• entei uses extreme speed to get up close and personal
• blocks for dreva
• uses entei to assess walking wake's similarity to suicune

"that's what we are," he interjects Greyson Connors's comment about being a hero. "remember galar?"

watching Michael Navidson run off on his own was the reason he signed him up for this. he's someone who's willing to run off and die for him, so kyle can stay back and work from the sidelines.

"i'll get you back up if you die, soldier!" he cheers from a distance. "don't get torn to pieces, alright?"

despite being called by his surname, he heeds the call of the man ready to meet his maker. it's his last wish on earth, and it's not like kyle wouldn't prefer staying with dahlia goode all the way to the back instead.

kyle releases his smeargle. like what most people expect, sketch follows soon after. kyle checks his pokedex app from his phone to reflect properties of hydro steam, an unrecognized move by then.

"well, suicune cannot learn this move," he observes aloud as the local legendary johto beast expert. it would've appeared had it been. "but isn't this one of the pokemon that appeared on that game?" he asks dahlia goode as he makes idle conversation with the commissioner.

before he forgets, he turns to a member of the elite four.

"oh yeah, don't get the sun up," he tells MATIAS SILPH. "it's just a hunch, but some paradox pokemon do get stronger with them."

tl;dr

• cheers on suicidal navy
• hangs out with dahlia at the back
• calls out smeargle to sketch
• checks sketched move on his pokedex
• reminds matias not to set the sun up in case he brings groudon

he picks up his smeargle and lets it rest on his shoulders. he probably could run faster than the pokemon anyways.

the bag felt light. it wasn't filled, but there was no time to fill it up anyways. kyle cuts his losses and prioritizes safety over material gain over this trip. unlike the previous skirmish around ultra deep sea, fights were entirely preventable.

"at least we're on the same page." the number of hoenn residents that would rather fight to the death made his head hurt. "lead the way. we'll cover our backs."

he lets yuina go first, with him trailing behind. another mist ball provides visual cover for them against the beasts of the interdream mist, but would it be enough?

the message given to him by his mightyena does lend itself to further prove a point that was already made by multiple visitors. there was no need to chase after it, but kyle takes an article of clothing regardless and places it in a ziplock to keep the smell.

he's sure MATIAS SILPH would like it as a gift.

as much as kyle would give it as a gag, he'd rather not waste precious resource to fuel his friend's delusions. instead, he takes one with said friend's smell: a previously used ankle monitor, one that hung low enough to absorb the smell of the barefooted elite four.

"let's see if they really are as friendly as they seem, m'kay?"

he lets the mightyena take a whiff, who holds off a gag, and looks around for anything similar that to it. in the mean time, the ankle monitor returns to its own ziplock.

magic bounce or synchronize. either way, the espeon was the best shield for the attack.

kyle pulls the mightyena by its tail before it lunges forward. unfortunately, the espeon wasn't a large enough wall to block all the spores and the rest flies past the psychic-type.

"oh, right, this isn't a game."

the stun spore locks up kyle's joints as he freezes in place. his pokemon remains with its trainer, circling the champion while keeping an eye on the brute bonnet.

"a paradox pokemon. that's what they call all the weird pokemon from the mist," he answers despite the situation. "it looks like an amoonguss, but it doesn't necessarily share its typing."

he would act, but he's uncertain on how zev reacts to the situation. while he thinks of the best solution with the dilemma he's currently in, time becomes a concept he forgets to get conscious about.

as they get out, signs of ultra beasts getting attracted to the ring appear from a distance.

although matias has taken care of the hoard, there was no telling how resilient they are, or if they have backup. the easiest option shows presents itself from the elite four's lips.

"portal," kyle decides as silhouettes of ultra beasts get closer.

with his free hand, he takes a pokeball out and releases his solgaleo. it opens up a wormhole for them to enter, giving them a convenient exit before they get sandwiched by the zombie megalopolans and the ultra beasts.

"after you."

no CIAN MAHER and no Michael Navidson meant that there's no one else willing to take the spotlight in their half.

he supposed that Vanilla Kingsley might take up the challenge, but kyle starts to worry about her doing such if she's one of the challengers Michael Navidson talks about a lot. it was more worrisome if she happens to misinterpret whatever ideology that gym leader preaches.

"if any of you want to attempt a rescue, now's the time, i think," he tells everyone else, trying to create any semblance of order in the chaos that happened. "we can't waste too much time if we want to save the civvies too."

he looks down the hole, but finds nothing but darkness.

"i doubt they'll need help though. they got competent people down there."

kyle scratches the back of his head as the realization that it'll be up to them to actually do the job instead hits him. although they won't be fighting for their lives, but they'll be fighting for other's, not to mention they're the ones with a time limit.

he takes a quick survey of their half of the team. suicune appears in a puff of smoke next to El Sunderland, someone he recognizes despite not having met him before. raikou comes with Yuina Higashi, simply by virtue of elimination. emmett brookes was a ranger and would be safe on their own and Vanilla Kingsley, although a competent trainer by others' account, felt like someone who would rush in if kyle gave them the power to.

"feel free to use them however you want," he tells the two, waiting for everyone to settle in from the split. "you guys have them for the rest of the mission."



tl;dr

• reminds everyone they have a job to do
• and that those people will probably be fine
• summons sacred ash!suicune for el and sacred ash!raikou for yuina

controlled disaster this, scare tactics that. kyle doesn't fully agree, but he doesn't find the words to convey his point naturally in a formal setting like this meeting. like a quiet kid in the classroom, he sits on the thought until he manages to form a coherent statement to present it, only for it to come late.

the collapse pulls everyone down. the urge to teleport out was strong, but noticing the crystals jut out of its walls was enough to deter the champion from being impulsive. cosmic power ends as kyle gets wary of the environment, holding onto his solgaleo during the fall.

"how about we just give the residents an ultimatum instead of a warning," kyle pipes up amid the chaos. "transparency is simple, and simplicity is the easiest choice."

in an ethereal manner, the solgaleo descends down with its trainer on its back like an asteroid gently getting pulled by a planet's pull. as kyle recalls the pokemon, a roar sounds from above.

he whistles back, and then turns to Michael Navidson.

"good timing." a thud announces the entrance of entei, bringing with him a satchel on its mouth. kyle takes the receptacle and buries his hand inside. "i always forget to bring this to you."

kyle produces an envelope from the bag, and in it was a contract for aqua, with navy's legal name already printed on the paper.

"read the terms and conditions. in the case you do skip anything, we'll have dear melody over here recite them for you." there's a pause, and he finds a connection between the quick aversion from the close friend in favor of someone else. "oh... you're the poor husband who got forgotten..."

he did remember Melody Miro mentioning about her love from a previous life. trying to evade a quip from the elite four, he turns to another member of the group.

"it's one of those terastral tunnels the commissioner mentioned," he answers Callan Young. "it's similar to the one we came out from at route 120, after the zacian zamazenta fiasco, if you guys explored that area before. apparently, the ground underneath is filled with dream mist so it's definitely a hazard zone. oh, try terastalizing your pokemon too. they can do it without a tera orb around these parts. very fun."

other secrets of the area was unexplored by the champion, feeling like he already uncovered the basics of it with Zev Harcourt.

tl;dr

• lands safely with solgaleo
• tries to suggest something while falling
• forgets about the meeting when he sees navy
• recalls solgaleo
• entei leaps down the hole to deliver kyle a bag
• recruits navy
• answers callan with things he knows about the tunnels