“Yep.” Is the Sheriff’s simple reply. A gaggle of college kids sees Thomas, raise their glasses, and cheer for him. A few turn around and snag selfies with him ‘photobombing’ in the background. A girl even shouts at him.[break][break]
“You were the best elite four this region’s had in ten yeaaaaars!” A line of cheers accompany her proclamation. Navy laughs, almost falling out of his chair. The mood’s good. Life isn’t bad. Thomas may not be a fan of the beach, but what is life if not one big beach?[break][break]
“Well, you came all this way. May as well sit down and help keep the kids safe.” Navy muses, “Never know if that Cillian guy is gonna show up with Lugia to ruin summer.” He’s made enough progress with that traumatizing experience beneath Dewford to joke about the matter. There’s victory there. A small victory he’ll take, moving forward day by day.[break][break]
“Gotta be ready.” Relaxed as Navy looks, he still has six pokeballs on him.

[break][break]

+ Thomas Benoit

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

“Y’know,” Navy remarks, independent of Thomas’s question, “for a guy who lived in the spotlight for a while, you sure are bad at dealing with civvies.” As the president of the Former Civvie club, Navy feels qualified to speak on their behalf. “Chill out, they’re just kids who admire you. Hell, they probably miss the way you battle.”[break][break]
But a question was asked, and it’s only right he offer what information he can. It’s not much, it’s not like he actually knows the man, as deeply as he was affected by the one time their lives have truly intersected. It’s odd, being the man on the inside. Some would call this leaking information.[break][break]
“That’s what the database said when I tried to look up his old alias. We know right where he’s at most of the time, if you ever wanna go pay him a visit.” What a marvelous idea he proposes – to march right into the heart of Sootopolis and tango with a monster who consorts with monster.[break][break]
“But getting’ into Sootopolis sounds like a bad gig.” Speaking of bad gigs and horror, unknown to the beachgoers, something begins to bubble in the water near a group of hipsters playing some watersport variant of volleyball in the shallows.

[break][break]

+ Thomas Benoit

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

“Revenge is a dish best not eaten.” It’s Navy’s turn to sound grim. They’re words he tells himself. Fate is cruel. There is going to come a day when he has to face his brother’s killer. As much as he tries to tell himself it was a fluke, an accident, a trick of fate, his gut tells him different. He wishes he could be the man Kyle is, to have a golden heart. To fight without hatred is a powerful thing.[break][break]
Just another reason Ho-oh would go for someone like that rather than him. Thomas has the right of it, there’s about to be a fight. Standing up, cracking open a soda, he pulls a nearby megaphone up and shouts into it for all to hear.[break][break]
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is Sheriff Navy speaking. Everyone clear the water, looks like we’ve got a situation. Vacate the beach, let us handle it, you’ll be back to having your party in no time.” Strangely, the casual demeanor he has about the whole thing works. Few people panic. People shuffle out of the water.[break][break]
A massive Klawf, bigger than Shuwen, shambles out of the water. Josh loves his Alpha Pokemon. This is something that’s almost, almost beyond Alpha. A crowd gathers behind Navy and Thomas. Releasing Shuwen from his pokeball, the bear immediately bulks up while the crab finds its bearings.[break][break]
“Told you kids to stay back!” He says in a sterner voice, making the crowd take a collective five steps back like a rolling wave.

[break][break]

+ Thomas Benoit

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Shuwen smiles. There is pride in the gesture. Navy doesn’t know where the creature came from. He wonders how a creature such as him emerged, fully grown, in the middle of the interdream zone. Whatever past this creature has, if he has any past at all, is unknown to Navy. Somehow, he gets the sense that Shuwen has never had the chance to train a student before. Falling in beside the younger specimen, he sways in the loose, quick pose of the rapid strike style.[break][break]
He dances across the warm sand, out into the shallows. Klawf is taken aback by the aggression. Each individual strike would be but a pittance to a creature such as this. Individual strikes are not the point. Theirs is not the way of a single distinct, decisive blows. One powerful strike comes from many repetitions. He strikes along its underside, roaring his battle cry. Using his speed, his bombastic cry, he tries to create an opening for his fellow.[break][break]
Let this creature, so eager on disturbing the peace, feel the might of a wicked blow. Farther up the beach, people point and whisper. They jump in excitement. The notion of the Sheriff and his Pokemon fighting alongside an Elite 4 member has caused cell phones galore to be pulled out. Navy doesn’t care about it in the heat of battle, but they’re going to be all over the internet within the hour.

[break][break]

+ Thomas Benoit

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Klawf is caught between two legendary combatants. Swinging his hammered hand about wildly, he tries in desperation to snag them. Defeat them. Overcome them. Shuwen and the younger Urshifu were not the opponents he expected. Caught between a chorus of ‘ORA’ and ‘MUDA’, its armor begins to crack. Whatever it hoped to gain by attacking these onlookers, it wasn’t going to find that here.[break][break]
Instead, seeing no other option, it gives in to its anger. Both claws slam into the sand beneath his feet, churning them. Turning them into rocks. Both Shuwen and his younger brother are caught in a rock slide that means to draw them down, slam them, tear their mighty bodies apart. Shuwen crosses his arms, jumping in front of the younger Urshifu in an attempt to protect them both.[break][break]
“Hey look, they’re workin’ pretty well together.” The detective observes.

[break][break]

+ Thomas Benoit

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

“Oh ho. Wonder where you got your hands on that.” The detective-turned-sheriff recognizes what he’s looking at right away. Looking at his own wrist with its mega stone affixed, he gives the elite trainer fighting alongside him a nod. No time like the present to show this would-be interloper what Dewford is made of.[break][break]
“Alright, here we go. It’s time for you…” He points a single finger at the Klawf. It recoils, sensing the impending attacks.[break][break]
“…to get out of my town. Dewford’s closed to the sea.” Shuwen is shrouded in light, morphing, growing. What steps out of the light is a towering creature, almost as tall as his black dragon. His eyes are two steaks of white lightning, his fists rumbling with the power of water.[break][break]
“ORAAAAAAAAA!” The first fist strikes Klawf. Then another. And another. The same repetition as before, delivered by hands bathing in infinity energy. Urshifu are not considered creatures of legend without reason. The bear beats against the armored crab. Every blow throws it back further into the sea.[break][break]
“ORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORORA!”

[break][break]

+ Thomas Benoit

[attr="class","pokeclass"]