"He trusted me.....just how Jokester trusted me and they both ended up dead!!" Skids's muffled voice could be heard as he tried to curl in on himself more but he couldn't. "I couldn't...I couldn't buy anymore potions or revivies, nothing!! Earning money really only came from doing battles against trainers and it wasn't always much, even more so when you had to go through all the gyms and then four rounds of....bullshit themed hell.."

Skids pulled his head up, not looking at Billi as he shuddered. His hands were still firmly against his head as he shook.

"He wasn't up for it.....he was already hurt form the last fight, nothing was going to heal...nothing was going to fix him up....it was the stupid ice challenge..." Skids added. "I should....I should've...just...forfeited instead of going through to that round..."

For all the happy and high energy Skids had before, it was all gone. The problem with Skids is when his own problems arise, it's hard for him to ignore them. If they become a subject of conversation, it's near impossible. His mind was just swept up in the past at the moment. So calming him down was probably the best bet.

Billi Marsh

"Ah....it's okay. It was just the first thing that popped into my head." Skids answered.

Accepting the phone, Skids glanced down to it. Looking at Rotom as they asked the question on if they needed something. How would he even go about finding it? The video was probably like...twenty years old or so.

"Yes but...I'm not even sure what it would be called..." Skids answered the pokemon. "Well...the video is probably twenty or so years old so...yeah I'm old."

A slightly stronger smile was on his face with his response to Billi. Once more, it was due to the younger man smiling and even that light laugh they had. Seeing the pokemon bring up the internet was...a interesting surprise. Man it was probably cringy that he was surprised by this.

"I have the basics down, granted I just...like to live outside of a phone. No offense meant Razzberry." Skids answered, making sure to address the pokemon. "Alright.... I suppose....the first way to phrase it is...Elite four match from twenty or more years ago?"

Finding the right video took...quite a while. Skids didn't want to give away the entire thing to Billi before finding.Was this the right way to do it? Probably not, but he couldn't bare to bring himself to say those words. Eventually, they found the right video. The video quality could for sure use a upgrade but it was still visible and you could make the entire thing out. A deep breathe left Skids as he offered the phone back with the video brought up. It was already partially loaded and skipped to the mid way point.

"It's at the...right part...or at least near enough to it..." Skids said. "I'm surprised this thing is even on the internet...."

If Billi clicked play, he'd be greeted by the a possibly retired; in this current age, Announcer. Their voice full of energy as he announced the next round and the camera panned to show a young man with dark brown hair, the same turquoise eyes that Skids sported. They had a slightly different get up, still consisting of browns and green but in different ways. Even back then, the announcer broadcasted him to the returning crowd as Skids Lawrence. Making the obvious connection between this video to the man next to him. The first few 'minutes' of the fight were fine, until a Blaziken was brought out. It already looked hurt.

For Skids, he could hear himself questioning the pokemon if they were sure they could handle the fight. The video would show the Blaziken giving a thumbs up to it's young trainer. Not a minute into the blaziken being out and actively in the battle...it all went downhill...the move from the enemy pokemon had done more damage than it should've, causing the hoeenn starter to be slammed into the arena walls. SKids visibly winced as the microphone attached to his younger voice picked it up.

"BLIIITZZZZ!!!" the younger voice screamed in the video.

"Folks we're gonna have to take a unscheduled break as the battle has just taken a very serious turn..." The announcer was saying as the camera followed the young man as they rushed onto the icy terrain, slipping even as they were more focused on reaching their injured pokemon as it slumped to the ground.

"Blitz?!! BLItz?!!" the younger skids yelled, their voice could be heard as the screen went black and the announcer tried to talk over them as they couldn't remotely turn of the young trainer's mic.

With Skids sitting there next to Billi, Skids shrank in on himself. Burying his face into his knees and putting his fingers into his silver hair. Digging his nails into the scalp of his head as he sat there, shaking...tears flooding his eyes as he could only see the brown color his pants and even then he closed his eyes. All that did was make him see the entire scene on it's own. The orange, creamish, and yellow feathers stained red and they were disturbed as some of the League officals tried to pull him away from the injuried pokemon. All his ears allowed him to hear was his childish sobbing, the memory of it all. For Billi, Skids was quiet as he sat there.

Billi Marsh

Skids smiled, happy to see that the young man didn't look upset by his words. Skids was a very friendly soul, he cared about other people and always wanted them to be happy. Yes that wasn't a logical thing to always be happy. So if he could at least cheer someone up for a short amount of time...he'd be happy. Sadly his smile still faltered swiftly as he sat there.

"The two...old friends wouldn't be in a special video....they'd be a memory if...anything..." Skids answered.

It was so hard to talk about this, his chest was hurting again and all his heart wanted to do was stop beating. Deep breathe..he had to take a deeper breathe in. A password? Well he didn't know what that would be then..

"Alright...you're a gym leader right? Do you know if here's a back log for elite four matches and if they would even record such a thing back then? I know it....would've been broadcasted live back in the day so...." Skids started, his face showing a great deal of confliction and discomfort. "Phones now a days can show...video right? Through the internet and all that? I"m old I know."

The last part was a attempt of humor but due to his current mindset, he didn't smile nor did it sound funny.

Billi Marsh

Seeing the familiar voice and hearing their voice, Skids gave a warm smile and waved to Noelani.

"Oh good, you two already know each other! That means you two can probably work together a lot easier." Ol Macintosh remarked.

"Yes, we've had our own adventure of sorts back in Slateport." Skids replied witha nod.

With noelani asking about the task,the farmer directed their gaze to a newly fenced in area. Which the two men would be able to spot the fluffy white balls that were known was Wooloo, there was probably five of the sheep like pokemon there. Rolling about the nicely sized area they had to themselves.

"There's a local Mightyena pack that seems to fancy sheep mostly but they've been a problem for a while now. It seems though with these round fluff balls, they've gotten much bolder. Doesn't help sometimes the wooloo roll along and break the fence. I can handle figuring out a way to build a fence they can't break. What I'm not able to handle, is that Mightyena pack." Ol Macintosh explained. "So while I reinforce that fence, I need you two lads to watch the wooloo, as I'm going to have to move em to a different area in order to work."

So it was warding off a pack of mightyena. Why though were they attacking the farm for food? Was something not right in the routes nearby for them to get food? Wait...this sounded familiar.

"Is it that same Mightyena you swear had it out for ya all those years ago?" Skids asked, the older man chuckled.

"Might be one of his pups, old Snaggletooth seems to have kicked the bucket. But whatever Mightyena took up leadership, decided that it was still a wise idea to keep hitting up my farm for a extra meal. Darn dogs haven't learned yet despite all the years of back an forth war." Ol Macintosh replied. "Sadly my best guard dogs aren't up to the task, they're mostly old and the youngins aren't trained enough to handle this pack, last time I tried that, I had to get my mons stitches."

Skids shuddered lightly, not liking the sound of it. Well this was going to be a strange and interesting event.

"Hopefully we can help scare them off for good, right?" Skids said, glancing to Noelani to see if they were still on board for this.

Noelani Kekoa

Each pokemon was different, Skids had Salemn for years. And the ol dragon still would act up. Some pokemon were just very hard to tame, some were just stubborn or instant on staying the way they were. Perhaps he could try to help Hideo out with that wild card of their's? He did want to see how they operated in a pokemon battle with em. For now though, his focus was just gonna be on this battle. And the battle was kicking off now with the fire fang landing and the general shock fading.

"Pull back a little, make a gap between you two!" Skids ordered, causing Holo to take to her speed to move away from the spider as they were prepping their cross poison.

The glowing of their limbs was a clear thing to be wary of, cross poison was a attack that was launched at the opponent. Thus...speed was honestly the saving grace with such a move. Holo's four legs carried her swiftly and soon enough the purple X was launched into the air. It sailed through the air to approach houndoom.

"Turn roun quickly, let lose a flamethrower!" Skids ordered.

A sharp back left Holo as she spun to the side, narrowly escaping the floating X. Alright, so that was something he was going to have to watch out for. Holo had speed on her side but that didn't mean she was skilled enough to out maneuver every cross poison that came her way. The dog pokemon took in a deep breathe as she came to a halt, a burst of flames left her maw as Flamethrower was unleashed at the opponent. Flamethrower had a long reach too, just like how Cross posion would sail through the air except for one difference, the flames still remained connected to Holo as she released the compressed torrent at the other.

Hideo Kino

Holo dodged Cross poison
HOlo used Flamethrower against Squeeze

michiko maeda

It's okay, they don't have to meet each other at Meteor falls, it was just the first idea I had. I can see them having known each other in the past despite that. After all, when Skids started his journey, he'd easily be able to meet her back then. Even with his wanderlust back then, he'd stay in a place for more than a day as he'd get to explore the town or city he'd come to back then.

Zangoose and Primarine

michiko maeda

Currently he doesn't live anywhere so we can totally have him be living in a hotel. He's not sure on where he'll settle down yet if he really does, so a hotel works perfectly. Where's the hotel at?

I say let's have them reunite in the area where breakfest is being served and they're catching up. A little into the thread we can have a elite four match be turned on and then Michiko can notice how tense and uncomfortable he gets. She'll have to poke and prod a few times to get him to admit to issues ^^

Do you want to start the thread or should I?