"me too." it seems everyone he runs into in this city has two cents about the tournament when he mentions he's abstaining from it. gym badges, sick prizes — it's like dangling a bone in front of a caged growlithe. there's no way he can go toe-to-toe with the competition, not with his ragtag group. "but, nah. next time."
[break][break]
aaron looks towards the timer. shit, he thinks. we're almost out of time. he looks towards the van, mangled by various attacks. his feraligatr slashes at the vehicle a few seconds before the buzzer goes off. the van is unrecognizable, resembling the other junk vehicles scattered around the yard. 
[break][break]
"we make a pretty good team," he declares, turning towards kiara. "thanks for letting me crash the car destroying party you were having."
[break][break]

+ BONUS STAGE: DESTROY CAR 4 @kiara [break]total: 448

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

if the healing mist wasn't a thing, aaron would probably be shitting himself by now. Josh Dragomir 's staff manages to slow their demise for a moment before the gondola doggedly resumes its path to the end of the track. with his braixen focusing on her psychic power, aaron grabs his pikachu in one hand and paws at the hot seat for something to hold onto with the other. 
[break][break]
"holy shit," he breathes out shakily as the gondola comes off the track and begins to float above the jungle. "it actually worked!" 
[break][break]
several thuds thump against the gondola and his braixen loses her concentration. no amount of healing mist can stop the knot of anxiety that rises in his throat as the gondola lurches and slips out of their pokemon's psychic hold. 
[break][break]
when they come to a stop, cushioned by jungle foliage, aaron isn't completely convinced they aren't dead. it takes him a few moments of stillness to find the will to get up and move. his legs feel like jelly as he wobbles for the door, for solid ground, spitting profanities the whole miserable time.
[break][break]
they need to get through this forest, somehow, and reach the summit — only, aaron isn't sure if that's physically possible or if this jungle is some kind of afterlife purgatory. he recalls his pikachu and replaces her with his feraligatr and nidorina, feeling, maybe, 1% more confident about his odds. 
[break][break]
"fuck it — i'm gonna try and find a way out of here." it lingers like an invitation for the other crash survivors to join him in his endeavor, even though he offers no tactician's plan on how he thinks he will accomplish that. 
[break][break]
heading toward the sound of groudon's roar, aaron orders his feraligatr to clear a path through the thick undergrowth with her SLASH attack. his nidorina gives her a HELPING HAND while braixen keeps watch in the back, her wand clutched in her paw.
[break][break]

+ tldr: boy scout aaron recalls his pikachu and releases his feraligatr and nidorina. he's following the sound of groudon screaming in hopes that he will escape this jungle hell. his feraligatr uses slash to clear a path through the jungle thicket for him and nidorina gives her a helping hand with that. braixen is keeping an eye out for baddies. [break]
light screen (3/5)

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

what in the actual fuck is going on?
[break][break]
the jungle below their gondola looks a lot like not mt. chimney and the track ahead of them looks a lot like not going to be very functional soon. oh fuck, he thinks, taking a glance at the other people in the cable car. arceus, he's going to die with these people — and one of them is even creating a moments before disaster type video by livestreaming it!
[break][break]
"shit, uh," everyone scrambles to find a solution to their pretty deadly problem. he can probably help illeana reyes and Greyson Connors , if the plan works at all. "can you help them with the cable car?" he asks his braixen. she waves her wand obligingly, eyes narrowing, and uses her PSYCHIC to try and help support the gondola once it reaches the end of its track. 
[break][break]

+ tldr:[break]
• aaron realizes he might mcfreaking die with these dweebs.[break]
• he has his braixen use psychic on the gondola alongside illeana's and greyson's pokemon so they can lower it to the ground and not die[break]
• light screen (2/5)

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

the top of the doorframe gives way beneath eleora's teeth, the icy edge of her bite weakening the metal. she jerks her head, but it doesn't come away even with all her strength. 
[break][break]
aaron feels pleased to get a laugh out of kiara. she came across pretty unfriendly when he first showed up, but now he feels like he's making pretty good progress on giving off an okay impression. "it's not?" he glances sidelong at the charred van and its cracked windshield. "could've fooled me." could've fooled him twice, watching her nod to her braixen — a silent order to continue battering the once pristine vehicle. 
[break][break]
"me? nah. not this time." he takes out another pokeball. they have a bit of time left; why not try out something new? his own braixen appears in a flash of light and watches the property damage quietly. "maybe next tournament, though."
[break][break]
"use psychic to lift the van!" he orders his braixen, who is still a bit beside herself that her trainer has gone rogue like this. she takes out her twig wand and aims it at the van. with some concentration, it begins to lift off the ground, higher and higher until —[break][break]
"drop it."
[break][break]
— the van abruptly comes crashing down. 
[break][break]

+ BONUS STAGE: DESTROY CAR 4 @kiara

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

aaron stares at her incredulously, awed by the sheer audacity of her slapping a hand on his shoulder. "and what the hell do you know about being a ranger?" there's absolutely no way way she's about to open her mouth and tell him she's a ranger. she shouldn't even be walking freely right now — she stole his stuff! 
[break][break]
the forest fire peters out to a few isolated flames, which his feraligatr and her wooper can clear up for them. mila taunts him by declaring their lawsuit settlement a date. he gazes impassively at the cute gesture she makes. it probably would've had an effect on him if he hadn't been so torn up about their past encounter. "i never — " he sighs, exasperated. gives in. "my name's aaron."[break][break]
"what do i call you?" besides a thief, of course.
[break][break]

+ fire force 4 mila alexopoulos

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

the healing mist filling the cable car blunts his reaction to  the way the track trembles and all hell breaks loose. "oh man, it's blowing shit up out there!" he announces, forehead pressing against the thick glass of the window beside him as he delineates the bad news that literally anyone else could see for themselves.
[break][break]
he nods to @giselle and pulls his shirt up over his nose. he's all for her taking charge until she opens one of the windows and starts climbing out. "wait, where the fuck—" are you going? he stops short as she yells for her pokemon to use protect. 
[break][break]
aaron reaches for his belt and releases his braixen, knowing they're going to need a lot of help getting to the peak of mt. chimney in one piece. "put a light screen up, quick," he urges. the fire-type's eyes begin to glow as she concentrates. outside, the air shimmers with a LIGHT SCREEN as the cable car is walled in by another layer of protection.
[break][break]

+ tldr: aaron releases his braixen and has her use light screen (1/5) to protect the cable car from fire balls. his pikachu is just vibing rn. 

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

"it's not just my sisters; it's my friends, too." aaron just has an aura about him that attracts people who like nothing more than to roast him. he doesn't know why, but everyone else does after a few minutes of spending time with him. "and you're my friend, sooo ... say whatever you want. i don't give a fuck. honestly."
[break][break]
she asserts he's not stupid.
[break][break]
"i'm a little stupid, let's be honest," he fires back.
[break][break]
to punctuate his point, he elects himself as her new relationship coach. his act of self-hiring has her visibly taken aback, eyes wide and uncertain. he can't keep back the laugh that rises in his throat. "i'm not going to change you, just ... hm ... enhance you? just trust me."
[break][break]
he takes a bite of his still-quite-hot hot dog. "okay, lemme think of a scenario to test the waters." he chews thoughtfully. if alice looks into his eyes right now, she'll probably be able to catch a glimpse of a dedenne running on a wheel, turning the gears in his head.
[break][break]
"okay, imagine you're at a party." he gestures broadly. alice doesn't really come across like the party type to aaron, but hopefully she can suspend her disbelief long enough for him to get through this training session. "and you see a guy and, like, he's pretty handsome and interesting and cool and whatever, right? so you go up to him and say ... ?" 
[break][break]
he motions towards alice for an answer.
[break][break]

+ Alice Godfrey

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

damn, alice has never had a boyfriend before? she's kind of a noob — even aaron has been in a relationship and he's unemployed and eats food off the floor pretty indiscriminately. "nah, you're fine. it's my bad," he says, waving a hand like he's trying to waft her apology away from him. he shouldn't have gotten heated over something so stupid, but it's a bit of a sore spot she'd been prodding at. 
[break][break]
she pushes on, explaining that she's an awkward turtle. the sour mood sweetens with her smile. "i know i'm thin," he laughs. "for the record, you can say whatever you want to me. i won't get offended. in fact, i've probably heard it before. multiple times."
[break][break]
he plucks another hot dog off the fire and watches steam roll off the tip (no homo). "also, y'know, talking to me is pretty good practice." he looks her way. "i'm stupid as fuck, so every guy you meet will be a breeze to talk to."
[break][break]

aaron has an idea. that's never a good sign.
[break][break]

with renewed excitement, he says, "hey, wait, i can teach you how to talk to guys!" it sounds like a fun undertaking, taking a shy girl and turning her into a baddie. "let's start with the 'awkward turtle' shit. just — never use that phrase again because ... listen, just don't." excellent teaching so far.
[break][break]

+ Alice Godfrey

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

"wait, really?" aaron is like a growlithe eyeing their owner's unattended dinner at the mention of badges being handed out at the tournament. he sits up a little straighter, turns his body to face her better. she's fucking with him, isn't she? or — is his dumbass really missing out on badge-collecting right now? "shit" is all he can say to that.
[break][break]
he chivalrously offers her the hot dog he was planning to eat, only for her to reveal that she isn't actually worried about her weight. it's girlish subterfuge to make sure he gets his fair share of dogs, she explains. "i guess i don't." aaron wants to leave it at that, but the exchange needles at him, even after she redirects the conversation.
[break][break]
"guys aren't psychic-types, y'know? if girls want guys to get them, just say what you really mean without all the extra shit." he takes a breath. oh shit, i'm venting. time for a smooth recovery. "shit — sorry. that wasn't at you, i'm just — i have two sisters and, y'know, i've dated girls and — and what i'm trying to get at is, guys are shit at reading between the lines, y'know?" 
[break][break]
nailed it. 
[break][break]

+ Alice Godfrey

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

"obviously you're not boring," he refutes earnestly, for once. "juuust not as good as me. but, listen, it's okay because — like i said — most people aren't." and then he's right back to teasing, the boyish smile on his face growing wider to soften the comment into something lighthearted and playful. 
[break][break]
"oh, they're competing in the tournament?" aaron isn't terribly good at lying, so the question comes across more like he's very obviously playing dumb for the sake of playing dumb. "didn't know that. guess they're safe from me this time around." one badge under his belt would give him the big head he needs to do something crazy like challenge the champion in a tournament. 
[break][break]
until then, he's going to help himself to some hot dogs. he takes the sausage and holds it reverently in his hands for a moment before biting into it. it's hotter than anticipated, so he sits there, open-mouthed, trying to make it bearable without having to spit it out. 
[break][break]
"what?" his voice is muffled as he speaks around chewed up hot dog. "i'm going to get fat way before you do." he finally swallows (no homo), sparing alice from having to suffer misophonia any longer. "fuck it, eat another, alice." he mows down the rest of the hot dog and reaches for another — and she wouldn't be wrong to think he's taking it off the fire for himself at this point, but he holds the skewer out for her instead. "here, go ahead."

+ Alice Godfrey

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

"exactly! i'm not trying to get caught with my pants down during a battle." or in any scenario, literally or figuratively. "sounds like you have a lot of experience with all this trainer stuff." even after a year, aaron still hasn't grasped the intricacies of pokemon training. his mentality boils down to: is it a badass-looking pokemon? does it not try to kill him on sight? cool. everything else (like team synergy, for example, if one judges him by his lopsided team) has fallen to the wayside. 
[break][break]
vic accepts his invitation to go on a jaunt through the thickly-shaded jungle with him. his priority — finding food above all else — endears him to aaron. they might die on this island, but at least they'll die on the same page, right? 
[break][break]
aaron follows his furret with a sort of lumbering gait as the sand beneath him shifts with each step. as they make their way into the thick shade of the jungle, the navigation gets easier, but not necessarily easy. the undergrowth snags at his pants as he takes an awkwardly long step over a fallen branch. ahead of them somewhere, he hears — or hopes he's hearing — the bark of vic's arcanine.
[break][break]
and rumbling.
[break][break]
"hey, i think we're near a waterfall," he announces, feeling a little proud of his outdoorsmanship. before he can take another step, vic yells, grabs him, and sends him sprawling onto the jungle floor.
[break][break]
"WHAT THE FU—?!" he yells as he falls, the rest of the curse transforming into a grunt as the landing knocks the wind out of him. before he can suck in a breath and give this guy a piece of his mind, a herd of scared tropius zoom through the foliage overhead. fruit rains down all around them and aaron raises an arm so he won't get tropius meat to the face. 
[break][break]
"thanks, bro," he says, ragged, once the jungle grows quiet again. sitting up, he reaches for one of the yellow, nanab-shaped berries. "i think we found the solution to our food problem."
[break][break]
like a proper hunter-gatherer, he takes an indiscriminate bite out of it. "hey, this tastes pretty good! i guess i'll let you know if it gives me the shits?" a nervous laugh finds its way up his throat. it dawns on him that maybe he should've asked the ranger guy if it's safe to eat before he ate it.  "i mean i think i saw a guy eat these on a survival show once so we should be okay, i think."
[break][break]

+ deserted island 4 Victor Wexler

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

"well that's not good," aaron says quietly as groudon's earth-rumbling roar peters out. on his shoulder, his pikachu bobs her head in agreement. the crowd begins to disperse as people jump to action, which spurs him to look around for some way to make himself useful. 
[break][break]
a flash of light in his peripheral vision, then another. his head jerks towards the cable car where Greyson Connors and mint frost   are trying to restart the control panel. since he lacks the poképower to scale the mountain otherwise, he makes a beeline over to them. 
[break][break]
"hey," he greets in a rushed tone, stopping to stand beside @giselle . he gives the tiniest sup nod of acknowledgement to greyson. "got room for another? i can help power this thing up."
[break][break]
on cue, his pikachu jumps off his shoulder and lands on the ground, electricity crackling from her cheeks. she fires off a THUNDER WAVE in an attempt to help disengage the locking mechanism.
[break][break]

+ tldr: aaron approaches the group at the cable car and asks if he can ride up with them too. his pikachu uses thunder wave to help unlock the cable car's controls. 

[attr="class","pokeclass"]