“Did you mean that in the platonic, or the ‘more than just friends’ kind of way?” he would sass back.

If there was one thing he excelled at, it was this: hiding his emotions especially when it came to friends he truly, madly, deeply cared about.

(Unfortunately though, la idiota wasn’t available, so he would have to hide all that pain underneath the universe’s biggest pile of salt, to never be found again.)

“Bruh,” he would huff back once he’d had a chance to gather his thoughts.

“Remember when I got kicked out of my spot, I had a lot of remaining unused paid time off? I went back there and fixed… family affairs, pretty much. It’s kind of hard to be the head of the family now despite being in another region altogether. I had to delegate a shitton of things and. Well… fix some other stuff.”

He would get into that later, if the other wanted to ask about it.

“…I don’t miss the tourists though. Way too loud for my liking.”

---

• ROLL A 99. - Find a Gimmighoul coin or chest with or without the Pokemon. Receive a bonus 25 PD (once per thread).

Sometimes, he was very thankful that the immunity to cold encompassed all of his own Pokémon, so they weren’t going to be easily frozen, all things considered.

However, his companions didn’t have the same protection; while they would bring down the shield of a Z-move to bat back the incoming frigid air that could freeze anything caught in its path, Lars would take a running start and quickly recall the de-evolving Lucario before the Jackal Pokémon fucked up the landing!

The angry, angry force of frigid cold was unamused at how there was another Z-move that had repelled their attack, cleaving it clean in half and causing the incoming burst of cold energy to dissipate and strike the walls instead.

All the while, the darkened wings of cloudy ice would manifest themselves from his back as he took a leap to face his legendary patron head-on, with a lengthened jagged shard of ice that had his survival knife buried at the base; a conduit of the power he possessed, extended into a darkly-colored blade that shimmered as he took the fight airborne and straight towards the legendary that waited to meet him in mid-air.

The two would be safe on the ground due to the protection of the Z-move that the Aegislash had casted; however the final blow would be the one between the two—between disconnected human and legendary patron of ice and snow.

A powerful explosion of icicles would burst from the point where the airborne human and the scorned legendary patron would collide…

---

Lucario is recalled as the Mega Evolution fades; while Lars takes a running start to meet Articuno head on for the deciding blow!

With the way things were going, the two Pokémon on the Gym Leader’s side of the field were catching on to what his gimmick was all about.

Tempted as he was to go after the Flygon, the Corviknight was out for blood—but so was she; and in a moment’s notice the shiny Gardevoir had changed targets; aiming the Moonlbast that was originally intended for the Flygon, instead towards the Corviknight.

(Because the moment a couple of Steel-type attacks touched her, she was toast.)

“Eli, can Gron catch Lynette?” he asked her as he tilted his head in the direction where the Gardevoir had leapt into the air before the Earthquake shook the area; an attempt to meet the Corviknight head-on with the burst of lunar fae energy.

“We can’t keep going after different targets! We have to focus-fire on one of them, and then once the first one’s down, we can get the other!” he added a few moments later.

---

Gardevoir is out on the field! Psychic Terrain (3 / 5)

Gardevoir leapt into the air; to meet the Corviknight head-on with a Moonblast attack originally intended for the Flygon! (leap is to avoid the Earthquake on the ground, so good luck catching her, Gron! Gareth will have your head if you dinnae catch her!)

The Volcarona would follow the younger man, flapping her wings fast and furiously all the while; this was the fastest way for her to generate enough warmth for the other human presence to not freeze over the longer they stayed around here.

The stove… microwave… Heat Rotom, on the other hand, would look over at the black-haired man, and tut at him. Yes, the Rotom was going to sass him for trying to run away!

The Volcarona then chittered in the Rotom’s direction; to which the Rotom would only sigh before leaning their strange body over to where the younger man was… and quite literally popping their ‘door’ open.

For inside… there were those little hand-warmer packs for him to take.

(Who knew what weird stuff Lars kept in his Frost-Rotom’s ‘body’, too. Strange, sparkling fridge cooler that he owned…)

Back inside the cavern, he’d all but glared down the very same patron he’d fought side by side with.

“What, then? Do you want my life?” he continued—in this uncharacteristically quiet voice as he pulled off the turtleneck top he was wearing and threw it aside.

Never mind if the immense pressure in the room was trying to make him kneel, he was going to go out standing, fighting, screaming if he had to.

“Because I did promise it to you when you first chose me. Come to take your half of the bargain, then?”

The offer was on the table, now.

His mind was going a thousand miles a second; the cracking sound had seemingly tapered of—for the moment.

“That…” he breathed out, the terror very evident in his voice, “…was the wrath of something that doesn’t want me here.”

For a few moments, though, he caught sight of his best friend’s expression; there was palpable terror there, right there, where he could see it.

“If I hadn’t tackled you down, who the fuck knows what might’ve happened…” he heaved quietly as he then looked over his shoulder; straining his ears as best as he could manage before finally, very painfully slowly, getting up—and helping the other man up as well.

“D-do you have any Fire-type Pokémon with you? To keep you warm?”

Because the threat of frostbite was so very real the longer they stayed here. As a matter of fact, the temperature had already gone down several degrees…

Much as he wanted to bust out the Alto Marean Ranger uniform he had, he knew he could only get away with that with la idiota ollie morales, so he was stuck wearing the Hoennian version—yes the one that made them all look like traffic cones because of how hot the orange was before he had half a mind to look at what she’d chosen—

And he felt his jaw drop.

Wait, wait a second, was that—

“First off, what the fuck—” he trailed off at the sight of the Pokémon that had the abnormally large head before belatedly realizing—

He then looked around the immediate surroundings and then hissed her way, “…were you made an Avatar?!” he exclaimed in a very loud stage whisper.

Even if there weren’t any people around, he figured, it was best to lower his voice in case the wild Pokémon had ears or something like that.

“It’s going to be either violent rainfall, or… worst-case scenario, Water-types fleeing the area before we find the rainfall, so prepare yourself,” he continued as he scouted ahead, the silver beast flying ahead of the Noivern and expanding the ‘mental net’ that the Metagross had casted over where they were.

So far, so good… for now.

While he waited for her to catch up, he took a look at his PokéGear to double-check that the weather reports had pointed them in the right direction.

“Hm… this place is peaceful… almost too peaceful,” he’d muse out loud once she was close enough.

Where was the big ol’ fish hiding?

“Aren’t you afraid of blowing your eardrums or your back out every time you do the whip-cracking thing?!” he exclaimed; the concern in his voice was evident even from here.

Even the Lucario could only look at the greenette out of concern because whatever this was, it was nuts; it was crazy; it was insane!

If anyone would get in her way, they wouldn’t stand a chance… unless they were an Avatar like himself, for one thing.

(Or what if there was a way to counter these Sygna Suits? The thought was troubling.)

---

oh look who finally decided to get a sygna suit of his own

“Well, would you prefer scouting or chasing down whatever those weird… those weird Pokémon are?”

He wondered if the other knew of what had happened in Oldale—the way those strange ‘paradox Pokémon’ had poured out of the Giant Chasm; of how they looked like mockeries of the Swords of Justice that were currently accompanying two of the current Elite Four (and the current Champion)…

“Because either way, if we get into trouble—we’ll have to be careful because these Pokémon that call this place ‘home’ are stupid strong.”

Much as he wanted to voice out his thoughts, he decided to save those for later, because hopefully this was just going to be a quiet exploration of the place.

“Anything interesting we locate, we either haul back or take pictures of and send out a recon party to secure it,” he added as he rolled his shoulders and got ready to move out.

“Josh,” he growled quietly once the tin of cream had been passed back to him as he returned it to his first-aid kit.

“What’d I tell you about actively chasing a legendary down? D’you want what happened to me, to happen to you? Is that something you’re prepared to live with for possibly the rest of your life?”

It wouldn’t take too long before the sound of… well, there it was again!

The melodious, yet antiquated melody, distorted and strange, rippling through the space.

“Don’t tell me whatever’s making that noise… it’s a mating call of some kind,” he continued, weirded out at the premise of legendary Pokémon being able to… produce.

(Well, there was one exceptional case, however that was neither here nor there…)

“Want to check it out?” he offered.

For some strange reason, he could feel the hairs on the back of his neck beginning to prickle; before he whipped his head around for a few moments just to check that they were being followed…

…strange.

---

• ROLL 2-10. - Hear the following cry echoing from somewhere deep below (using the 7 roll)
[player]https://file.garden/ZXZrnWMYuz15frfJ/HOENN%20MUSIC/MysteriousCry2.mp3[/player]

The moment the other mentioned Kalos, he felt this momentary burning jealousy in his gut; but quenched it.

(Conceal, never feel, right? Right?!)

“What, prefer to be out of the chaos rather than right here?” he teased the other; their positions were reversed now—he was no longer Head Ranger while the other was one of the Head Rangers now.

“Feel like running away sometimes, don’t you?” he hummed as he squinted out over the ground below. Things were quiet now… just don’t tell Lars about the multitude of Spinarak nests around here!

The moment she agreed, he then placed his palm on one side of his Metagross’s legs and off they went—with him in the air and her down on the ground, it wouldn’t be easy to sneak up on them!

(Adding to this was that Ro was part-Psychic so there was that, too.)

“Don’t forget to like, record video of where you’re headed down there!” he called down her way; he already had his own camera on ‘record’; they’d have to upload this later and whoever was in charge of translating the video data into a map would be able to make use of what they’d be bringing back.

Hopefully they didn’t run into any problems…

But knowing Hoenn? Haha.

---

• off they go!

“You think?” he blinked, because right now he was just basically another number from the Ranger ranks that could be pulled in for most stuff—at least until AQUA-related things came into play.

He watched Doug go forward before—

“Wait, I have an idea,” and he popped out the scuffed, battered Heavy Ball before summoning his shining silver beast of a Metagross, Ro.

“Best to have an extra pair of eyes in the sky, wouldn’t you say?” he remarked; with one singular pat on the silver Pokémon’s legs, the Metagross took off and ‘flew’ slightly ahead of them.

The moment the other mentioned ‘stepping down’, he let out a bark of laughter.

“Stepping down? I’ll be straight with you. She demoted me.”

He then pulled out his vape, flicked it on and took a deep inhale.

“…but yeah, ever since I was yeeted out of the title I’ve had a lot more time for myself these days.”