"isn't it smarter to let me take the backseat?"

the assailant took his phone.

"isn't league so incompetent according to you people that reinforcements won't even come in time?"

he has pictures and videos in there that he'd rather not have other people see. his social life will crumble the moment it hits the cyber space.

"but fun is nice. yeah, let's do that."

he grips the other's wrist, the one with his phone, with a flick and tightens his hold. his stance suggests no intent of getting a pokemon out, but given the emergent's ability to unleash his ashen beasts, there was no need to.

cian's cries are ignored for the sake of his priority of things.

kyle pats the flexed arm as well. it was an intrusive thought forcing itself out, but he offers no apologies when he realizes.

instead, he acts like nothing happened and withdraws his hand.

as noah prepares to take out a guard, kyle mentally prepares himself for the next few steps that would follow. the release of the haunter meant that he has less need to be alert, concentrating his effort to the anticipated course of action instead.

"ready."

ash spreads underneath him as a safety precaution, though if all goes according to plan, there would be no need for him to use the contingency plan he had set up.

kyle is left by his knight. watching him disappear, the king then goes on to approach the kingdom's own remaining knight.

"we might again."

it would seem so.

"those things back there... what exactly are they?"

soul-hearts.

"and what are those?"

why do you even care, human?

"we're bringing you any of the dolls we find. think of it as compensation for help. no need to owe me something if there's an exchange."

...one of these carries the soul of the one i'm bound to protect. once i've repaired them, they would need a magearna to move, and only then will i know if they're the one.

"is that all we need to know? one of them lives at my home, and it would be nice to know anything that can affect their way of life."

if she breaks down again, i hope you're willing to spare some of your life for her.

"what?"

"nope," he answers nonchalantly.

the longer he looks at it, the more he realizes that the paradox pokemon weren't at all similar to their counterparts. given that they say all that roam the area were of such origin, it was the only logical conclusion he can land on.

"it's not paradox suicune at least," he mentions. "especially if what you said is true."

he falls back from staring long at the footprint to take notice of his surroundings, readying for any ambush that may come.

"it was water- and dragon-type," he tells him, having known from a previous encounter back at ever grande. "and if the pattern follows the paradox pokemon that appeared during kyurem, then we're good with our pokemon."

a shared type within the trio, and then one that mirrors their counterpart's typing. it's a safe conclusion to arrive to despite not having met the other two just yet.

the pokemon accompanying him was good against all three, theoretically speaking. practice, however, always has a way to upset theory.

"a short sword definitely fits me more," he concludes after the expedition.

it was light and compact, taking less effort to wield compared to other options. it was also the most simple and the one he can most easily transition into given his experience on other tools he has used in his life.

"but a zweihander doesn't seem that bad."

it's a symbolic at best, but one that he desperately needs in this era.

it's hefty enough to force him to do more than the minimum. it's clumsy enough to force him to rely on might rather than cheap parlor tricks. it's heavy enough to pay major dividends if he can reach the skill ceiling.

he mostly ignores the apprehended criminals by now. kyle is with someone responsible enough to take over anyways, and he can take a step back and let him do the formal work.

"can you take them back to the precinct?" he asks as a favor. "i think i'll accompany terrakion in making sure the poached pokemon are safe."

it's an excuse, but it's something he'll do nonetheless.

his drawing style is more akin to the kids he hangs out with at verdanturf own local park. they're figures that one can easily draw with chalk, and the different medium translates poorly, evident with his attempt.

much like a kids, his subject on his illustrations are equally as childish.

"i think i did a pretty good job."

it was a drawing of a vaguely canid figure, and the only way one can discern it was a poochyena was with its colors. there's also a tree and a house, alongside a sun hiding behind a cloud.

"but i think we're going to get reprimanded since this isn't the job they asked from me."

he's not sure if melody was a volunteer like him, but they did ask him to cover the walls with paint and not draw over them. not like he had a problem with it.

"oh, uh, looks like one of them is heading over. do you want to finish your work before we move out?"

marshadow wasn't used for the sake of the statement. coincidence works in the most surprising way that parallels are formed without a deliberate action towards it.

"i had to use it. your style's simple, but unique. i think this is the only other way to give you the kyle champion assessment experience."

it was cryptic, but words make sense within the next few seconds.

entei attempts to soften the blow of the earthquake with a bulldoze of its own, matching the shakes of the ground with his own. just as the pokemon was finding difficulty in moving, the marshadow finds a way to assist it.

actions of the rider can easily be picked out from an expert's eyes. the marshadow adjusts the entei's movements, assisting it in a way a jockey would to force its ride to a direction. amid the fatigue from withstanding earthquake's rumbles, the entei would find its way to the only pokemon in the field.

marshadow smacks the gogoat with its own assurance in a clumsy drive-by.

he would have a different direction to take if this was his first time encountering a paradox pokemon. he makes sure to keep himself calm, however, as to not disturb lutgarde's current temperament.

a whistle sounds to take the pokemon's attention. "electric tera, charlie," he tells his pokemon.

another transformation happens, crystalline growths all over the mightyena glistening in the sun. kyle orders another move with a differently pitched whistle, and, through helping hand assistance, fires an electric-type tera blast.

"your sylveon's got the type advantage," he tells her. "dark flying." the words were said like jargon rather than an explanation. "you can take charge of this one."

the blast fries its side to disturb its flying, but it doesn't deter it from whipping up a hurricane to their general direction. the light screen helps as it forms a sturdy platform between them and the paradox pokemon.

an earthquake shakes the ground, and their opponent is unaffected. their current method is safer under normal circumstances, but they have the environment working against them at the moment.

the electivire is recalled. they're left with a one-on-one.

"we go after this match. do you really want to set up an interview for your pre-champion match as well?"

that would suggest making their match a show. kyle isn't quite ready for it yet.

when the arcanine attempts to move away with extreme speed, the pokemon finds itself unable to get away. surprise makes it open to the hit, and in its last ditch effort of survival, bathes itself with morning sun.

it throws the raboot away from him with a swing of its head, but damage was already done.

staying on the defensive was a slow road to a loss, but the advantage of surprise from having its move disabled is now lost by the opposing side. the arcanine is ready for another exchange.

he turns to terrakion, who nods his head.

"i guess he does," he answers matias.

eyes follow the water's edge as he tries to figure out the path taken by the keldeo, only to find a strange liquid seeping through shards of metal, trickling its way to the small body of water.

kyle picks one of the shards up, taking one of the ones with a cleaner slice. he looks at it for a moment, sharing the sight with terrakion, before handing the piece of broken metal to melody's dog to continue tracking.

"looks like it hunted down those paradox pokemon that escaped," he concludes with the familiarity of evidence left. "if it's been fighting the entire time, i guess that means it's bound to get tired eventually."

and it meant that they can catch up to it, whether it's fallen from exhaustion, resting its fatigue away or the grim fate none of them would want to allude to.

"i gave a colleague of mine a gift with draconic language on it. she likes dragons so i thought i was being clever."

it was a cute children's book with its language on it. definitely not what you would expect from something that contains a rare, almost dead, language.

"turns out she already knows about draconic. it's a bummer, but oh well. i'm just learning on my free time since she said she doesn't have anyone to talk with using it."

he would say it's sad, but he doesn't want to sound rude.

"i already know how to read and listen well to it though. the speaking part was difficult, so i thought i'd get practice with people who actually speak it."

"this is a double battle, devlin," kyle reminds him. "you've seen my team."

entei charges in, large paws battering against the ground. the roar is enough to force him to glance away from its target to the pyroar, killing the momentum, but the charge remains.

from underneath the entei, a shadow slips towards the gogoat. marshadow appears from behind it, hitting the pokemon with spectral thief. it steals the boosts before using it as a spring board, hopping towards the entei's back when it tackles the grass-type with sacred fire coating its fur.

"entei isn't the only surprise you'll face in this match."

despite attempts to keep a straight face, the slightest smile appears on his expression.

for a moment, he ponders if he should speak to it through a speaker by tracing the frequency used by the voice and then route his response to the source. he decides against it, trusting that if it can get in his head, it can take his response from it as well.

"any knowledge helps in keeping us prepared for it."

he leaves his answer a vague response to the voice's question.

"would you help us figure it out?" he pleads. "the identity of the one behind the destruction of the stars?"

kyle leans back to his seat, making himself comfortable as he makes one last casual remark before awaiting the response from the planet. his eyes faces the one on his screen, talking as one would to an acquaintance.

"would it be too much to ask for your help to prevent the same fate from befalling our star? it sounds more benevolent than inciting cooperation in the name of revenge."

his goal for the story becomes apparent with the last line.