"It's been like that for a while," Kyle would raise his voice at the inquiry of the newcomer.

A small canine was on its leash, for attempting to run at random directions away from Kyle, which the trainer held on his left hand. The right hand was kept free, which he used every so often to wipe off ash off of him once enough has accumulated either on his head or on his articles of clothing. Eyes were strained as he tried well enough to identify the other, partly recognizing him in one way or another. He gave up quickly, however, fixing his expression to a more relaxed one afterwards.

He approached him, tugging the leash along without regard to the pup on the other end. It wasn't like it was unwarranted though, given that the Poochyena kept going for the opposite direction. Regardless, Delta paid no attention to Alexei even as they neared him, putting his all on overpowering his trainer, to no avail.

"I'm pretty sure it's alone. I've passed by it multiple times already and saw no trainer trying to go back for it."

His attention went to the Deliberd, who tried its best trying to get the sack moving. Though Kyle had noticed it way long before the gym leader showed up, he made no attempt to find out what was wrong with it. It didn't seem like the type to accept it anyways from the looks of it.

"I wonder how long it'll be before it eventually gives up and drops whatever is in its sack," he mused out loud.

Eyes widened at the sight of the Riolu, though Kyle dared not to speak any of his thoughts out loud. He wanted one, but then again, he can't be bothered to hunt for it. The only way he'd probably obtain one is through a gift or if one wandered in front of him by chance anyways.

Kyle was interested on how the stranger dealt with the problem he put himself up. The Delibird clearly did not mind getting any help from anyone, as he noticed earlier ever since he kept a close eye on it whenever he passed by it. The idea that maybe humans were the only ones it would react negatively to did not occur to him until the Riolu was called in to intermediate between the trainer and the wild Pokemon though.

"Maybe. I'm not sure. It seems suspicious towards trainers. Dunno if that applies to our Pokemon as well."

Or maybe just interaction with anyone else in general. Kyle did not bring that up though, given that the person he was with seemed too enthusiastic in assisting the Pokemon. It was a wild Pokemon after all, and for all he knows, the Delibird could simply just be doing its own thing that was beyond their comprehension. Kyle would continue to watch, before a sudden tug of his Poochyena made him realize how awkward it would be to keep the other person talking without him saying his piece.

"Why're you so keen on helping it though?" he finally asked, though the way it was presented was more akin to blurting out his thoughts out loud. "Pokemon do weird shit all the time. Maybe it doesn't actually need help."

Kyle simply kept nodding as he mentally noted every detail that was explained to him before forgetting them immediately. He didn't really care about what was tasked to the person before him as much as wanted to judge his character, though he couldn't really complain after he had heard his side. Eventually, he agreed that the Delibird needs to move, though the methods were starting to get more dubious as he went for the next choice of strategy.

"I don't think scaring it will help," he'd started to open up, worry for the wild Pokemon evident in his voice. "It looks, as you said, very old. It might die the moment it gets a heart complication from the sudden scare. At best, it will probably have to leave everything in its sack to save itse-"

The words came to an abrupt stop, and so did his show of compassion. Kyle started to mentally map the thought process he had in his head before eyeing the sack that the Delibird has in possession. Whatever was inside it, he could only guess that the Pokemon deemed it to be valuable. Important stuff tend to fetch a high price in the market, and even should it not, it probably was still useful in one way or another. A Pokemon's judgement in objects, however, was not something it shared with people like Kyle.

There was no harm in trying though, he supposed.

"Actually, yeah, maybe we should try that," he'd agree, positioning himself beside him as he watched the Salamence's trainer's plan unfold. "It feels like mugging an old man. You're trying to steal from it, right?" The words were for affirmation. He did mention having someone to lift the sack (or the contents of it, as Kyle perceived his words to convey) after all.

"That's, uh, interesting."

Kyle's attention would go fully on the tool tied around the gym leader's neck, eyes peering to see if there was anything unusual to differentiate it from other common whistles. There weren't any. He supposed that was to be expected, given that they weren't really rare considering they were often used as training tools for special applications. He would have tried to obtain such object as well, but his Poochyena were already docile enough to be trained effectively through the conventional manner.

The whistle happened. Kyle's ears did not react to any sound it produced, though his Poochyena certainly did. The annoying tugging that the canine made constantly eventually stopped, turning to Alexei as the source of noise before letting his gaze wander to the Salamence. Delta the Poochyena wasn't the only one that was left at awe from the presence of the larger Pokemon, though Kyle's attention to it was more concerned about the act it will play for the following moments.

A series of misfortune seemed to befall on the Delibird, with each passing second promising its demise for the wild Pokemon's own perspective. The way it stared at them bothered Kyle the least as he trusted on the other's judgement, though when he was prompted with a conscience check, Kyle supposed that the only correct choice was the morally good one.

He would scratch the back of his head, kneeling down afterwards and unfastening the leash from his Poochyena's collar. The question was not answered with a straightforward response, but rather, a command for his Pokemon.

"Swagger."

As the Poochyena barked, calling the attention of the larger Pokemon and following it up in aggressive taunting, Kyle plucked another Pokeball from his arsenal and released yet another Dark-type, materializing the canine in between the Salamence and his other Poochyena.

"Yawn."

And so the Bite Pokemon did.

And another job well done for Kyle. He just had to give himself an imaginary pat in the back for managing to keep up with the savior act without actually harming the other's Pokemon. For once on his encounter with the gym leader, his neutral expression cracked into a proud smile

He'd exchange the smirk with the other trainer as he let him be the one to mediate between the two of them and the wild Pokemon. It might be better that way for the Delibird since Kyle would most likely just leave it on its own had he been unaccompanied. The fact that Alexei exerted enough effort to assist some random wild Pokemon meant that he probably would have found a way to help the Deliberd even without Kyle.

The thought never bothered him though.

Alexei quickly wrapped things up, managed to get the location of the Delibird's destination, and was ready to head straight to where it wanted to go. Kyle could only say he was impressed with how he handled things on his own, as the Poochyena trainer recalled the unruly one back to its Pokeball and folded the leash he was attached to back into a roll. "Y-Yeah, sure," he answered blankly.

"It's a good thing you didn't resort to looting the Delibird, then," he'd casually start a conversation as he followed the Braviary and its trainer to Lavaridge.