he wasn't sure how many times he had been within slateport despite its unforgiving nature at the moment. he already had multiple runs just to take his things from the appartment he lived in before the invasion, as well as times when evelyn silph forces him to visit. the point was that he was starting to feel comfortable walking within the hostile environment.

part of the city had already been swept by him, taking only what seems to be important (or expensive) from multiple houses he raided. it feels like he's looting in a post-apocalyptic setting. it was exciting for him, but certain ideals have to be held regardless. he argues that he's simply depriving rocket from financial gain through looting the city in the end.

kyle reaches the rendezvous point, his growlithe following closely behind him. he was alread7 starting to formulate a way to convince whoever was paired with him in his head when he saw him.

"wait, i know you."

his voice cuts through the awkward silence as kyle tries to recall the name he can associate with the face. he knew they met somewhere on johto though.

Soul was the first of the two to notice the new arrivals, having felt their presence for quite some time now. That was why when they approached the Pokémon had already turned around to face them.

”Hm?” noticing this, Adam turned to face whomever or whatever had caught Soul’s attention. If it had been a rocket or someone who would end up being a threat Soul’s reaction would have been much different which was why Adam was more lax in his response to this new person. This was good, they’d be able to start the job and get it done.

A surprise, however, was that Adam recognized the person that was standing in front of him. ”Oh shit is that Kyle Lopez?” He pointed at the man like he was caught red-handed of a murder or something.

”Kyle “The Dog Boy” Lopez?! Kyle “If it doesn’t walk on all fours close the doors” Lopez?! Mr. Neat but with two e’s?!” Holy hell what were the odds of something like this happening?! ”Oh man is it nice to see you! I wish it was under better circumstances but hey beggars can’t be choosers am I right?!” He’d walk over to the man as he spoke, throwing an arm around his shoulders.

”How many years as it been man?” He’d ask, nudging the man. ”I would have never thought I’d run into you here! You ready to go spelunking?!” This was going to be more fun than Adam originally thought.

"...i remember why i forgot your name now."

he suddenly recalls his previous experiences with the person in front of him just from his manner of speaking, memories flooding with a single prompt. despite the complaining nature of his words, adam's enthusiasm was met with his, albeit in a more muted form of a slight smile.

meeting up with people he associated with back on johto was a good change of pace. "the gym leader's also here," he mentioned, pertaining to mateo. "how boring did johto get after i was gone?"

the sudden weight on his shoulders took him by surprise. he'd ignore it for now though, giving priority to the task they were given. then again, kyle was willing to ditch it for a more personal objective in mind.

"spelunking?" he'd ask, doubt evident in his voice before it a certain excitement in his tone ruins it completely. "i'm always ready to loot this place clean."

Kyle’s response to Adam’s teasing made the man laugh even more. Adam was happy that the guy was a good sport about his teasing, be a bummer if he grew into a stick in the mud. It was nice to be working with someone he’s familiar with.

Makes things a hell of a lot easier and the chances he’d be able to steer them in a certain direction were better too. Hell, Adam was pretty confident if he just told Kyle the other thing he wanted to do the guy would have no problem with it, not like it was that much out of the way.

A brow rose at the mention of a gym leader before realization struck the man, the look on his face reflecting this. ”Teo Tinez is here too? This really is a big ole reunion special ain’t it?! Does he still refuse to wear shirts? All about freeing the nipple with that guy. Wonder if he wears even less in the summer. Or maybe he wears less in the winter as some sort of endurance training thing. Or maybe he's just an exhibitionist. What's your bet?” Adam laughed at his own ridiculousness. The man shrugged at the question that followed.

”Johto’s Johto same ole same ole. Though can’t say I stuck around there long myself, too busy globetrotting and all.” The man responded, removing himself from around the other male’s shoulders. He’d take a few steps away, throwing his hands behind his head before turning around to face Kyle, a grin on his face.

”Now that’s the response I wanted to hear!” He exclaimed as he then pointed to a building in the distance. ”Let’s start over there; I’ve got a good feeling about that spot.” There was nothing that Adam had in mind to base that off outside of the fact that the direction he pointed towards was the path that’d lead to where he needed to be going.

"stop saying that. you're gonna make him cry one of these days." the fake protective tone ends with a chuckle as kyle joins him in mocking the mutual friend. "he probably thinks it makes him look cool."

adam points at a random building at a distance. there were a lot of buildings that he already marked off of his map-- the ones that he already tried to break into. kyle tries to recognize it from his observations from previous trips to slateport. he recalls that it was one of the ones he avoided the area during his runs.

"you sure you want to go there. i think some of the grunts use that as their dormitory or something."

once a high-end and classy hotel, kyle assumed that there wouldn't be anything interesting in it besides expensive stuff. once he factors in that rocket might be using it to house their stash, his stance changes quickly.

he starts walking towards the building, nudging his growlithe to take the lead. his dog's job was to alarm them if they were to head into danger.

"sounds good," he'd agree. he turns to adam briefly, "you got good intuition."

Kyle had a good point, Adam should really stop joking around when it came to Mateo. One of these days the guy might just snap and punch him in the throat or something. With that behind them what Kyle had said put some fire in Adam’s belly.

”Hey that makes that spot even better!” Adam spoke, cracking his knuckles as he did so. ”Finding loot and smashing in some rockets. Sounds like a good ass day to me.” Oh man did he hope they ran into some rocket chumps. Since being here in Hoenn Adam hadn’t seen much action but he was itching for it.

”And besides Soul here will be able to pick up on anyone way before they ever notice us giving us plenty of time to think of how were gonna handle any sort of contact.” He’d explain, petting his Lucario as he did so. Both of Adam’s Pokémon were good at body detection, this fact being what makes sneaking up on the man hard if he’s Pokémon are out and even more so if both are at the same time. He doubted they needed to proceed with too much caution as rocket had been quiet as of late, at least in this area.

”So they send you out here before? Heard they like to send people out here searching through these ruins like clockwork. ” From the few interactions with people who had been out here he had this was the impression Adam got from them.

a lucario's ability to detect through aura was much more useful than his growlithe's capability to detect scents. he was thankful that adam has that for them at least.

he walks as he talks. "i got sent here like once, maybe twice." one of them was when he went with rustboro's gym leader, and the other was for when the league received a distress signal and he was sent to investigate it with delphi.

"i've been here multiple times though. i lived here before rocket was a thing so i kinda wanted to get my stuff back from my old apartment."

he didn't include trying to break into areas that he wasn't allowed to enter when the city was still on its peaceful state however. he wasn't mentioning pocketing things he found on private homes that wasn't his own either.

they eventually near the area. kyle slows down as he notices his growlithe tense. multiple pokemon were deployed to guard the nearby area, though it seems as though they were not detected yet. no rockets were visible however. kyle assumes that they're inside.

"how do you want to approach this? the boring way or the exciting way?"

kyle would have done the boring way if he was on his own, though he wasn't exactly opposed to choosing the other option.

”Once or twice, huh?” That might come in handy. ”Well I’ll leave it to you if we somehow get lost or turned around.” Adam added, doubting it would come to that however.

”The whole situation with your home sucks, sorry to hear that man.” Just thinking about it pissed him off, innocent people having their lives ruined by a gang of degenerates and psychopaths, and for what exactly? Control over the region? Money? Just to cause chaos? It was why he hoped to run into some rockets, to let some serious steam off and work out some anger issues.

Along with Kyle’s Growlithe, Soul had also noticed the Pokémon that would be guarding the nearby area. Looking, Adam took note as to how many and their positions along with the fact that there were no trainers nearby for these Pokémon. Sentries, that’s the role they were probably playing.

If there were more inside then these guys would just be the appetizer. Adam releases his two dragons and the three came up with a plan. ”Hmm you say something?” Adam asked, almost missing Kyle’s question. As he spoke he and Soul were already climbing on Kanē. ”Oh hell man I think it’d be rude of us to not come in with some sort of flair.” He joked.

”I can come in high while you come in low? I got the sonic if you got the boom, blow the shit down and give them hell before they can even realize what’s going on!” A simple Boomburst from Sire would probably be more than enough to make some noise but the combination of that and a dive bombing Garchomp? It was definitely not something that you can really prepare for or foresee.

"i'm doing it then."

he picks up his growlithe with both of his hands, lifting the chunky dog over his head and then throwing it in the middle of the enemy. he hasn't done this ever since his poochyena had evolved. the act of using his pokemon as if they were dispensable weapons brought a certain hint of nostalgia.

"outrage," he'd command in a whisper just before the dog left his hands.

the growlithe would suddenly turn from tame to feral as it landed, eyes enraged and blue flames spewing from his mouth as he charged into the fray in a ten versus one kind of situation. kyle didn't really count since he was readying another pokeball in case he needed another pokeball in a moments notice.

"let's go!" he'd cheer wildly.