they could easily just send out their water-type pokemon and get them out of danger, but doing so would expose their backs against the threat. kyle sends out a pokemon, judging that dealing with it head-on is the best play he could do.

a gyarados pops out of the ball, facing the dondozo underwater. it intercepts the wild pokemon's aggression with its own show of intimidation, temporarily taking the heat off of them.

unfortunately, sound does not travel well underwater and kyle has no way of communicating to his pokemon. without instructions, the gyarados is left to its own devices to deal with the dondozo.

a whirlpool is started once the dondozo comes out to approach, locking the two in combat.

in the mean time, kyle motions with his hands to miyako that it's their time to hide using gyarados as a distraction. it was all wild movements of his hands, however, and will be prone to misinterpretation.

kyle may have retired from the force, but it didn't mean that he actually "retired". he'd describe it as a difference in management, but the end result remains the same if he keeps getting hired to do odd jobs by the same people.

silverio works with kyle today, who had been paired to the former by the ranger's superiors for the latter's alleged experience with search-and-rescue during his time with the force. kyle, begrudgingly, leads the two of them deeper into the rusted corridors of decrepit research facility.



"did you know i tried to be a ranger once," he says, making small talk as they creep nimbly on the unsteady floors of sea mauville. "i only lasted a month or so, i think."

while they could be talking about how they were supposed to fetch two stranded scientists at the bowels of the nature reserve, kyle's natural tendency to remain carefree about things doesn't place the idea in his head to do so.

the job was peaceful for the most part.

people have gone ahead to explore what remained of sea mauville, leaving a few like him behind to clean up after an area has been cleared. as the majority of his party left, kyle remained by the open deck, sweeping away any debris left on the surface before it inadvertently gets sent to the bottom of the seas.



a huge area of the deck was clear. rust induced by the salty sea air still remained, and grime still covered the floors, but most of the debris have already been packed in bags, ready to be sent to the nearest landfill.

he wipes a bead of sweat rolling by the side of his head with a towel draped on his shoulders as he hears steps closing in. though he doesn't recognize him, he makes assumptions based on the nature of the job.

"hey!" he calls out. "are you helping out with the cleanup too?" he asks.

there is no moment wasted.

entei's beneficiary has the experience embedded on him. the new beginnings of the blue orb spells the action of greed, and once power that a creature of avarice is claimed by someone else, time will start to tick down for the grand destruction.

as soon as it lands on Mitsuru Kagami 's hands, standing by no longer becomes an option. survival becomes the objective, and entei, seemingly influenced by what kyle lopez would have done, finds itself defying its own logic and reasoning.

it scoops Mitsuru Kagami up, and then Noel Parker , carrying both on its back.

extreme speed brings them to the dyna tree, away from the kyogre. it leaps from the ground and into its branches to potentially use it as a spring board to get to higher lands, taking advantage of the calyrex being distracted elsewhere.

in the midst of its trip, it takes the opportunity to taste the dyna fruit of the tree.

• entei takes mitsuru and noel away from the cave
• with kyogre approaching from the east, entei escapes to the west to the dyna tree
• entei uses extreme speed to dodge everything
• entei does driveby nom on dyna fruit bc yummers
• D4

if a random nerd from a random museum can be a rocket admin, then a random nerd getting shoved inside a random locker could be as well. kyle didn't voice it out since he is a saint sent from above and wouldn't think of doing such heinous action.

while he can't decipher the togepi's actions, he shares a look with it before deciding to help althus out. the sudden warning causes him to stop, however.

"it's, uh, telling me to let you out, i think." kyle takes his hands out of the barricade of the locker's door. "should i not do it then?"

to trust the togepi means to do what it wants it to do, but if the person inside the locker tells him not to, then the paradox of the logic produces a conflicting idea.

"is this togepi yours to begin with?" he asks. "it doesn't look like a wild pokemon."

while kyle does technically have millions in his bank, he is currently using a separate account for this iteration of his. his savings are back to what they used to be-- normal.

clamperl diving usually rewards him with stuff that collectors will pay money for, and kyle is down for that. he doesn't usually get to sell much though, since most of it are useful and he tends to keep those, but this time, he resolves to be different.

he'll likely hoard again though.

people have advised him not to go out, but this has been a yearly tradition on hoenn. being able to hit the magikarp splash is simply everyone's highlight of their year.

kyle chooses and acquaints himself with a mantine before deciding to get up on it. it's been a while since he did it and he wonders if he still can.

the attempt goes and kyle goes flying in the air

kyle, unfortunately, is well-versed at being selective at his answers to ignore parts of the conversation that he doesn't need to be answered while making sure there's enough substance in his reply to move the conversation along. he could argue about his loitering not being a disturbance, but it's all subjective in his opinion at the end of the day.

"think of me being here as, um, an insurance for public safety," he answers. "i already did my job as a trainer, but when the trainee doesn't do what he was trained for, then..."

the mabosstiff whines at being blamed. kyle softens with a sigh and a droop of his shoulders, followed by a scratch behind the dark-type's ears.

"see? widdle baby wikes being petted that's why we can't do anything pwoductive."

the answer is laced with the tone of baby talk as to not upset the mabosstiff. the reality is that puppy dog eyes work so well against kyle.

"anyways, have you heard of kids going home late around the neighborhood?" he asks. "some parents are worried about it so they asked me to figure it out."

kyle already figured out that a third party was involved, but asking the children directly would close down all avenues of figuring it out. they are, after all, petty and driven by a desire to go against being controlled by their parents.

the look of perplexity was evident on his expression when miyako suggested the thought in his head. he had been easygoing for long enough that it wouldn't be impossible for others to have fun with it.

he takes out his phone to prepare a strongly worded text message to clarify when his colleague has already prepared to move. another surprise hits him when the initiative is pushed on him.

shock is experienced, but it quickly dies down with acceptance, alongside a sigh.

"don't blame me if we don't find anything, alright?" he cautions, suiting up for the operation as he talks. "i'm going to be leading us away from the offices, since, well, that's the obvious choice for other treasure hun-- i mean, retrieval personnel."

if he's in charge, he's going to the path of least resistance. offices are often locked with various security measures anyways, and it's more likely that it's easier to clear other rooms and say they covered a lot of area.

kyle hops into the water.

there was tempatation to catch all the defeated crawdaunt and sell them to grade schoolers at a local school, but he held the thought of it off. he can't lose sight of the togepi after all.

the togepi is followed, and has led him to what some people would call a treasure.

it would be mostly parents and close friends that would say that, which kyle is not, but it was a good interpretation of the old adage: one man's trash is another man's treasure.

yelling and banging from the locker caused him to stare for a moment. ideas to mess with the person inside came up, but most of it was discarded.

"are you, like... what's the deal with you?" kyle asks.

honesty was the chosen form of interaction. he starts to look from one corridor to another afterwards, wary of his surroundings. if this was any other place, he could think it was a prank, but on an abandoned research station by the sea...

"i would let you out, but i don't want to deal with the mafia, you feel me?"

brine drenches the volcano pokemon's paws as it stays by the tree.

its attention goes from the dynamax tree to petrified ivory tree. it had seen its effects, and longing overcomes the spectator of the little play conducted by the rocket boss.

entei steps away from the protection of the calyrex and walks towards the other tree, trudging along the flooded grounds of sootopolis to take a brief study of what has birthed life from dreams.

this was a solution to the problem that entei was searching for, but taking a look at the breached walls, this has already been claimed by someone else in the playing field.

the beast decides to go to higher land, but is stopped by seeing one petrified soul by the collapsed caves. it approaches Mitsuru Kagami and motions for it to get out.

the stalactite is noticed by then-- but it's all it does to it. notice it.

• entei meanders from dyna tree to xerneas tree
• notices mitsuru and tries to tell her to get to higher ground before she fucking drowns
• E4 ig

"it should be," he huffs, answering her. he turns back to his mabosstiff. "see? you're causing disturbance."

he clicks his tongue a few times after scolding the dog before turning to face the voice that decided to further push his agenda to the dog he just started training. a quick glance immediately profiles her, and just as fast, he skips a train of thought to make a statement.

"ah, shit. is school out already?"

there was no telling how long they could have been out. it could be as long as five hours or they could've just been playing around for five minutes. despite carrying a phone all the time, he barely checked it for the time.

rather, he tried to avoid it since he knows he'll just disappoint himself once he learned he barely put in any effort.

"you're, like, at high school, right?" he clarifies before further berating his pokemon. "see? you've been dawdling for so long we've missed the time period. we're supposed to be done before kindergartners are out."

the mabosstiff whines. kyle feels bad but couldn't do anything but scratch the back of his head since he cannot take back the words he had said.

there is more to explore, and more to figure out. the depths of the cave of origin holds clues to the answers that it looks for, but there are no chances for the entei to settle its questions.

it exits the cave alongside sariel duong and verona santillian , though it does not bother to look for them once they were out. while it stands as proxy of the previous ho-oh avatar, allegiances meant nothing to him. rocket, nor league, meant little compared to what lies underneath the city.

instead, it finds itself at the mouth of the cave, privy to everything that happens in the city due to its proximity to the center of the crater.

the calyrex happens to be near its vicinity. it tries to look for its eyes, but says nothing in passing. there will be things to be asked and events to be experienced, and only by observing through it all will it get a semblance of the reality they are on.

entei decides this wasn't his time in the limelight. he was an observer in this, and it's only respectful for the king to know of its intent.

• entei exits cave of origin. doesn't care about verona/sariel
• sees calyrex. hangs out to be a spectator because it's not its place to interfere
• D-4