codenames? kyle doesn't even like the nicknames given to him, and thinking one for himself wasn't a good idea in any way. he cannot even give nicknames to his other pokemon cause he just has enough for the dogs.

when he hears noah's own self indulgent nickname compared to the one given to him, he quickly voices his concern.

"eh? that one sucks." he gets his hand on his head and starts scratching, silently hoping for muse to come. "how about, i dunno, watch dog... cause it's a dog pun, and, uh, a reference to... actually, never mind."

he isn't proud of the nickname, but it's better than lyle kopez.

the mightyena stops in his tracks, takes his nose off from the ground, and looks up ahead. he sounds a soft, muffled bark, one that wasn't supposed to attract attention besides the people around him. it was evident to both kyle and noah what it was for.

"what do you want to do, machampinator?"

it hurts him to say that name without cringing or laughing at it.

"no. they called me dog boy."

he instantly regrets choosing his current codename when he hears noah verbally say it. he is too focused on thinking of a replacement for it that he simply nodded and agreed on whatever noah said. it was only when he leaves that kyle realizes the problem in his plan. "hey," he shouts in a hushed manner, "delta's not--"

the words end when noah walks towards the turtonator poop.

he wanted to say that it was too much effort to pull out another pokemon for the assault. his current mightyena wasn't exactly fit for a direct attack against the turtonator and finds more success at catching the attention of the turtonator. kyle's solution is to use the moment of disarray to steal the role he wants.

"taunt."

the turtonator, who had turned its shell towards noah the moment the explosions get its attention, turns back around to them when his mightyena's bark brings him back to kyle. its anger manifests in a flamethrower, matched by his mightyena's protect.

"you don't mind filling my role, right?" he shouts lazily from the other side of the wild pokemon.

"not yet!"

kyle wanted certainty to make sure that the turtonator was pacified.

"delta, do your thing."

the mightyena barks once to get the attention of the wild pokemon back to him. as soon as their eyes meet, he starts to walk towards the dragon-type slowly, staring him down as he intimidates him into submission.

the wild pokemon stays in place, slowing down as it observes the dark-type stalk towards him, weary of the adversary. the mightyena has him under the effects of taunt, after all.

kyle raises his hand in hopes noah notices him and then motions towards the turtonator by pointing at him before turning his hand to a fist and then pushing it towards his other palm. the punching repeats itself until noah gets the message.

"what?"

clueless to what noah was insinuating, kyle stares at him with a dumbfounded expression. the expression stays as he watches two turtonators fight it out. his mightyena backs off, knowing that he already did his job, and waits until the fight is over.

'i don't get it.'

instead of thinking about it profusely, he decides to finish the job instead. he grabs an empty pokeball and lobs it at the wild turtonator for safekeeping. they'll probably relocate it somewhere later.

"what are you into then?" he asks. he still doesn't know the context of what noah uttered earlier.

kyle continues to stare, giving it a few seconds to settle. "i want you to repeat the first part and contemplate on how weird that sounds." he swears the lines he spews out were taken straight from romance novels or something similar.

secondhand embarrassment gets him red. he opts to go for the pokeball that contains the turtonator that is to be relocated to a more appropriate place for it, finding it a good excuse to get his face off of noah for a while.

he turns back to noah as soon as he secures it, the edge of his lip curling up for a smirk as he raises a questioning brow.

"it's not really dirty, isn't it? you just wanted to do that."