What was it with him wandering so far away from the City in the Crater?

Here he was, out at Mount Pyre—did it remind him of Mount Moon for some reason—?

“Fuck,” he hissed as he felt his arms get snagged on the extremely sticky webs that had literally festooned all over the nearby area. Honestly, why was there an infestation of these things out here, of all places?

“Don’t get stuck,” was all he grumbled as he sent out his Doublade, that made a grating noise before proceeding to hack and slash away at the sticky threads, praying that none got on the vibrant tassels—those would be a bitch to clean.

He then squinted in the distance, spotting the unnatural growth of the canopy of the tree that now covered the Sootopolis crater. Those within Rocket called it the ‘Tree of Life’, and with good reason.

The damned thing grew so suddenly it blotted out the night sky views. Sucks to be them.

A few moments later, he then felt something brush against his legs and groaned.

Was he going to have to incinerate the entire area with his foul-tempered Charmeleon just to clear out the silk?!

How did he find himself so far inland? It was—strange, really.

The sight of a Poliwhirl made him come to a stop, though. He had a feeling that the garden belonged to someone else, however the Water-type looked absolutely ready to demolish the garden…

“Go,” was all he said as his Grass-type, the Meganium emerged from a red beam of light. The Water-type then saw that they weren’t alone, and then charged right at the Grass-type with a Body Slam attack.

She was faster, though.

One Petal Blizzard attack later, the Poliwhirl was teetering on its feet, but she wasn’t going to stop there. A Magical Leaf attack followed not too long afterward, and before the Water-type could flee, he threw an empty Pokéball.

---

catch attempt on Poliwhirl!

To be fair—

He’d only arrived in Hoenn pretty recently, and so therefore had little knowledge or information about what was about to unfold. He wondered if the two ladies knew something, hell, anything about what was happening.

“Kenjiro,” he remarked in her direction, with a tilt of his head.

Seeing as most people had already scattered, he took note of the lighthouse, and about how there was a large ball near the peak—

The surroundings (in particular the lanterns) reminded him of the outskirts near Celadon, back home… clearly there was something big about to go down.

Turning to his companions, he inquired, “Do any of you have any useful information about what would go down around these parts?”

The Doublade continued to float near him.

This was an extremely complex recreation of something—but there was something tickling him, in the back of his mind, about what could potentially happen.

He watched, and waited.

“I have a Dragonite, in case we need to fly.”

---

• looks around the area, takes note of the lighthouse and the ball perched atop it
• turns to his companions chryssa glasgow & Alexandra Briarwood, inquires if they have any useful information about it
• despite the general ‘aura’ of the area, something’s tipping him off

Honestly he didn’t know how he was able to stand all the noise, but he looked up the moment most everyone was called to attention…

It was still too bright to see beyond the range of the lighting around the area. He still couldn’t shake the feeling he was being watched, though, could anyone blame his paranoia?

Either way…

Much tempted as he wanted to go through the entire thing without the band, he had to spare a second glance. After all, he’d been there in the hellfire when Kanto burned, right at the forefront. He’d seen—things.

He wondered what THEO BECKETT would think of this.

A twisted smirk flashed across his features for a bit, wondering who else hadn’t teamed up with who yet…

Back then he would be hiding in the shadows, just within the admin’s reach, in case shit went down. Now, however? It was a different playing field altogether.

He wasn’t one for high positions anyway, jack of many trades yet a master of none…

With that, he unballed the only named Pokémon he had with him; revealing itself in a flurry of tassels and metal before hovering at his side—his Doublade, Yamato.

There was nothing else to it—

“Ladies,” he began in Alexandra Briarwood and chryssa glasgow’s direction as he gave them a slight bow; seeing that everyone else had pretty much either paired or teamed up, it was now or never.

“Any space for a Kanto veteran in your number?” he added, so quiet only they would hear as he slapped the band on.

---

• takes a mental headcount, notes that there are nineteen special referrals
• notices that people are pairing up or teaming up,
• slaps a band on, just in case
• approaches Alexandra Briarwood and chryssa glasgow and asks if they’ve got room for one more on the team
• now accompanied by his Doublade

Oh, how he hated being so… exposed like this.

Finally, he thought as he made his way to the center, something to fucking do…

Honestly, with the way he’d been loitering all around the entire place one would think he was just bumming around on his ass, but to be fair—he wanted excitement.

While he had missed what the hell had gone down with that group of fellow associates who’d gone exploring around the Tree (how was that even possible? His mind couldn’t comprehend it) he at least was informed enough of what the hell had happened during said expedition.

He was secretly thankful he wasn’t there, though, because whatever transpired was very much well into the territory of ‘nightmare fuel’, so to speak.

Of course, he’d brought his preferred weapon as well, currently resting in its usual place. While admittedly, he’d look very out of place as compared to everyone else (who the hell else carried a sword around, chrissakes) he at least felt much more comfortable and secure with the blade near him.

---

tada. He here to enter as a participant

What was he doing all the way out here?

He was… for lack of a better word, tired of loitering around Sootopolis with almost nothing to do.

Could anyone blame him if he’d just vanished for a good while from the City in the Crater to stretch his legs elsewhere?

Little did he know his own personal sojourn for peace and quiet would be interrupted—

“Not long now?” he inquired quietly, not wanting to ruin the somber mood.

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Okay, he was bored—like really, really bored.

Shame he couldn’t bring his weapon around because people were always on high alert—he had never felt so naked his entire life.

And so he decided to hike out away from Lilycove, following the path and—heading into a torrential downpour. But there were people who were attacking a certain gathering of Pokémon that had appeared amongst the rain…

That was interesting.

Either way, he waited until the surroundings were clear enough…

Wait, was that…



Slime?!

Gross!

So there was definitely something about dragons that had always piqued his interest.

Never mind if they were all big, ferocious, and—there was just something about them, that there was this ‘cute charm’ about them that most people found really unsettling; but to each their own, right?

Dragons, right—

Quick thinking and his Doublade, Yamato, was out on the field.

“Go,” was all he said, whistling low.

A Swords Dance from the Doublade was the first to happen, which made the Gible look up and growl at the intruder. Valiant little thing flung off a Dragon Rage attack, and while it did sting, the dual-type lashed out with a Sacred Sword dance not too long afterward.

Undeterred, the Gible continued with a Twister, which was then countered with a Night Slash that came crashing down on the naughty Pokémon’s head.

A few moments later, another Pokéball was thrown.

claiming the following bingo board awards:

15 completed squares = corresponding PD award

So his last trip out here ended with him catching a completely normal Pokémon.

However this time, he was back and he was looking for something—well, he would know when he would see it. Originally he was looking for a Dragon-type, however he knew how stupid hard it was looking for that particular type of Pokémon; as they were damned-ass rare in his home region.

He’d decided to return to the place in the evening; with the light of the full moon the only source of illumination around the area.

This was how he liked things—peace and quiet; slightly windy, and just the right amount of chill in the air. ‘Winter’ was coming, after all.

“Well, I can’t wait for the bonfire later,” he gestured as he tilted his head towards where the piles of wood were being assembled for later.

There were other things that needed to be done, and one of that included plucking apricorns to be deshelled to make a nutty sort of pie later.

Pies, made with apricorns?

Weren’t those apricorns used to make those weird Pokéballs in Johto? Either way, the inside of the apricorns were considered to be wasted as they only apparently used the ‘shells’ to make the weird Pokéballs…

“I’m going to pluck some apricorns and berries for the pies they’ll be making—what else needs to be done out here?”

---

a bonfire later after the farmwork's all done

“As long as it doesn’t involve herding animals in the snow then I’m good,” he nodded.

Not that it snowed in Hoenn, anyway. It sort of did, back home, but it wasn’t the same. Celadon was more—urbanized, if one could call it that.

“Did you hear, there’s going to be a bonfire later after everyone’s done with the farm work,” he gestured, tilting his head in the direction of where there was a big pile of wood being hauled over.

“Something about celebrating the season’s bounty, and all that.”

Because warming up by the fire was always a good way to unwind after a day’s work, right?

---

a bonfire later after the farmwork's all done