First thing he caught made his face screw into an infinity-kind of cringe.

Because, really—

Who would love something like THIS?!

(THEO BECKETT, probably, but he’s pretty sure the other man’s already caught something that looks EXACTLY like this, complete with winking façade and all that.)

After throwing the Bruxish back into the water, it was time to cast the line out again.

The first thing he encountered—

Huh, strange-looking little…thing. Waddled around on stubby little feet.

He would’ve wanted to catch it and add it to his growing army, but—his Meganium was a nasty little drama queen who didn’t like anything else that shared her typing running around…

Oops.

“Why did I have to be stuck with a drama queen…” he grumbled with a sigh, palm meeting face as he (regretfully) left the Fomantis behind. For now.

Maybe next time.

Hm.

How long had it been since he pitched a ball?

Well, whatever—

Although there was a secret sadistic side of himself that wanted to dunk more than a few people in Rocket that he knew. Shame that the guy on the tank right now isn’t one of them.

Whack.

The only text that THEO BECKETT would receive from him was this:

‘Sir, forgive me, but what in the absolute fuck was that form?’

At least he’d gone out to try this activity much later in the day because holy shit, he did not want to be spotted by his boss as he himself attempted to land the Magikarp Splash, a trick that had constantly eluded the older man for so long.

Seawater made his skin crawl.

At least it wasn’t those fucking poisonous leaves that made him break out in hives for fucking days on end that he was subjecting himself to.

Either way, secluded little inlet, within sight of wherever the organizers were, time to dive.

And no, he did not entertain the idea of skinny-dipping.

One man’s trash is a poor man’s treasure, they say.

He…

Couldn’t understand why the fuck his boss liked fish.

Jiro was of the opinion that if it was something from the sea, it was meant to be eaten.

Just like how he had gone for so long without Magikarp sashimi.

Shame he couldn’t just slice up the first thing that came out of the fishing line.

“How the fuck do you even enjoy this, THEO BECKETT,” he muttered under his breath as he tossed the line out, 100% unsure if he was even doing this shit right.

Call him morbid, but—

This was the very first time he was going to set foot into this region’s Safari Zone. Like, ever.

How different was it from Kanto’s anyway? He knew the entire layout of Kanto’s Safari Zone like the back of his hand, so this was going to be completely unexplored territory for him.

Well, then.

Rumor had it there was… the ‘most useless fish alive’ currently overpopulating these parts, so it was time to make some Magikarp sashimi he wanted to get one for himself—not because of the ‘most useless fish alive’ thing, but because of its evolution.

And man, THEO BECKETT would kill him if he said the words ‘the most useless fish alive’ to his boss’s face.

Haha.

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