[attr="class","spiral"]"Ah, one second please." The receptionist looks over his trainer ID and types in his name, confirming his appointment and logging his visit on record. "Thank you very much. He's been expecting you. If you follow straight behind here there should be a set of double doors down the hallway. He should be past that."

The road diverges into three and the path straight ahead leads to a long and wide hallway. Big enough for several people, at the end rests the double doors that separate the main building from the standard battlefield. It's nothing fancy, a wide stretch of empty gym floor set for an other official League battle. Opposite where Kyle will enter from is another entrance, set for the Gym Leader and leading deeper into the Battle Frontier. On that end of the battlefield is a PC. Fernando has his back turned, browsing through his boxes to review the Pokemon he has in storage.

[attr="class","spiral"] Fernando perks up at the sound of his own name. By now, he recognizes Kyle's voice. Third times a charm and the councilman can't help but welcome the challenger with a wide grin. "Why am I not surprised that the first challenger would be you, Lopez. What's that make, your fifteenth badge?"

Two Pokeballs materialize on the empty tray beside the PC. Fernando leaves them alone for now, more interested in his guest than anything else. "Actually, I'm glad it's you. There's a lot of things I've been meeting to discuss with you. I just haven't had a chance to sit down and talk with you."

[attr="class","spiral"] Fernando finds humor in the question and laughs accordingly, mild mannered and dismissive. "Do you think you can battle without giving your Pokemon any commands? We can let them loose and see what happens but I was hoping to discuss quite a few topics with you. It's been a while."

[attr="class","spiral"] Fernando frowns. "Messy." Even if Kyle is an Elite Four member, there's a degree of dignity and poise he expects from a person of this position. The lackluster answer he gives afterwards does little to reaffirm his fears. Regardless, Fernando still ends up at the PC, taking the two Pokeballs from earlier and shooting their beams onto the far end of the battle field.

It should come as no surprise that the Pokeballs contain the same Pokemon that were advertise for the double battle. The Golurk and Aegislash combination he had employed during the Hoopa invasion finally come to fruition and the Pokemon stand apart, Aegislash rotating around the Golurk with a twirling SWORDS DANCE. The grounded golem remains still, hardening as its IRON DEFENSE reinforces its exterior.

"Well, there's a range of things I wanted to ask you. We can start with what I'm the most curious about. Why didn't you accept Tapu Koko back during the Aqua Festival?"

[attr="class","spiral"] "Fair enough."

There's no way for Fernando to decipher between the minute differences in the Mightyena's barking. The TAUNT goes amiss by his observation due to being unaffected by it. It is his Pokemon that are subjected by an innate desire to attack. Fernando fully expects his Aegislash to KING'S SHIELD at a moment's notice but neither opponents attack.

Yet.

What comes next causes his eyes to go wide as the Mightyena manifests an onslaught of ghastly hands to assault his duo. He's never seen an attack like that and Fernando can barely keep his demeanor, both shocked and absolutely ecstatic. "What attack is that? I've never seen anything like that."

This is worst than Darkrai's nightmare. At least there, Fernando and his Pokemon had been apt enough to avoid the lecherous hands that had strangled those around them. This time, there would be no safety in maneuvering out of the way. The precision of each hand entangles both Pokemon and start to tear at them, threatening to pull them apart, piece by piece. The damage they take is immeasurable and the most that they can do is try and struggle through the terrible hold. His Golurk reaches for the Aegislash hoping for some defense from a KING'S SHIELD but the Pokemon never protects, unable to due to the TAUNT. The Sword and Shield formation starts to crumble.

The sash arm of the Aegislash points at one of the Mightyenas and the Golurk uses every fiber of its being to throw the Aegislash forward like a javelin, tearing through the lingers hands with a SACRED SWORD as the weaponized Pokemon surges forward to skewer the Mightyena with its sharpened edge.

Busting out such a strong move straight from the get-go turns this into an uphill battle for his Pokemon but Fernando is fine with that. His excitement is seeing both a new technique and coming to gauge just how skill the Elite Four are. It's not wonder Kyle managed to conquer so many Gyms.

"But I think you misunderstand something. While we may think that legendary Pokemon and Avatars will be beacons of hope and integral to our protection they also serve as a liability. What happens when one of them gets hurt? How will that effect us? There are Legendary Pokemon that are rumored to control aspects of our life such as the weather. What happens when they're defeated or even killed? That makes skilled trainers, such as yourself, more important than ever. Their well-being will become you utmost concern."

[attr="class","spiral"] Fernando listens intently to Kyle's explanation. One by one, the pieces start to come together and Fernando connects the dots. The berries in his possession can lead to this type of power? Even Tapu Fini has ingested one of the Passho berries, having found it on its own while scouring Hoenn for various sources of energy. Fernando thanks Kyle for the tip and quietly savors his newfound knowledge. With several of these berries in his possession, he can't wait to experiment and test out how they effect his Pokemon.

"Not quite. That makes you both the front lines and responsible for our greatest assets, however troublesome they may be." Fernando sits there for a moment, humming. "Don't worry about anyone else's expectations. They're meaningless. The only expectations you have to meet are my own and I just want you to try your best. That's why I endorsed you, Lopez." Fernando averts his attention to the battle unfolding and reaches into his back pocket to pull out his wallet. From one of the card slots he slides across his business card. "My personal info is on that. Feel free to reach out whenever you need my help. I know it's a lot to ask from you but you won't be doing it alone."

The SNARL from his Mightyena wrack both Pokemon until the Golurk phases out of vision, turning ethereal with its PHANTOM FORCE. The Aegislash doesn't have the same ability and instead continues to strike at the PROTECTED Mightyena with various swipes of its SACRED SWORD.

[attr="class","spiral"] "Oh?" Fernando is genuinely surprised by the statement. While Kyle has never shown any inclination toward either ends of the spectrum of fame, at least in his eyes, Fernando's never considered someone who's cleared the Gym challenge would want to keep a low profile. "Yet here you are."

The CRUNCH lands mid-strike and the Aegislash is thrown to the ground, diminishing the impact of the SHADOW BALL from landing a clean hit. The phantasmic energy still implodes at the point of impact and the residue spreads onto the Aegislash, damaging it further but far better then being hit clean from where it was prior. The moment it lands, the shield readjusts, swirling in a spin as cycles into another full revolution of SACRED SWORD.

By now the PHANTOM FORCE pulls the Golurk back into reality and it materializes behind the Mightyena that had used SHADOW BALL. From nothingness, the Golurk launches forward with an IRON FISTED DYNAMIC PUNCH.