"i got it!"

a wall nearby has a plate stripped off, revealing machinery underneath its interior. gears and screws litter on the floor nearby, which kyle immediately goes for.

"just go straight at it!"

he ignores the chase and splits off to fix the puzzle as they always had. one glance at the open mechanism tells him the missing piece was an obviously large gear on the ground.

it takes him a moment to slot a gear in for repair, immediately moving the rest of the clockwork back to motion.

with matias on the chase, he repairs the few needed crews and bolts needed to secure the gear. they don't want to have their way out shut close again after all.

he shrugs in an attempt to keep things calm. the excitement is infectious and kyle tries his best not to get too caught up in it, minus the big smile on his face.

"i told you. i have a single niche out in the field that only i can take." with suicune's avatar entering the playing field, he's not sure if that was the case anymore. "thank navy. he had his greninja bring it over to the other side of the chasm."

he folds his arms as he observes the two pokemon enjoy their reunion. he hadn't seen their conditions before the revived them, nor did he ask how they died. the only thing he needed to know at that moment was whether or not he should do it.

"i wasn't sure if it would work since there's a time limit on how long someone can stay dead before i lose my ability to bring them back. other factors are considered too."

such as the composition of their body among other things. he remembers failing to bring a pokemon back to life after it had been corrupted by poison from ultra space, or if there was no body left to bring back.

"i guess it's all luck that stars aligned for them to get a chance to reach me."

a screech echoes through the walls of the chasm.

kyle turns to see her looming over a crystal, which conjures a pokemon ever so familiar to him, having been friends with its avatar a long time ago until the drk triad ended the relationship.

still, it wasn't the same being.

he stands on his spot, contemplating on his next action. he already had stepped away, and it would be awkward to say hi again after they made their informal goodbyes.

given her sarcastic response to him earlier, he continues walking away. hoenn was full of strong trainers, and when someone says they probably won't need his help, they probably mean it.

her reaction tells him that she answered the question herself. there's no need to explain in detail what his words entail when she came to the realization.

"eyes of those who want mesprit." he would mention both the drk triad and rocket, but that was already a given.

he gets her though. he technically was in the same position for simply doing his job as a peacekeeper.

"i don't want to be under it too, but it's just the consequence of taking action."

the difference is that he isn't oblivious to the nature of the universe. survival of the fittest was always the rule, and the world just evolved to change the definition of the strong.

"it's not that bad. you get to protect people after all, right?" he never got to pay attention to it in the heat of the moment, but he's aware of her deed during kyurem's attack. "you just need to adapt to it, i guess."

he turns to the direction of where the kid and his mightyena ran off.

"why don't you stay with someone else until another person becomes the center of attention?" he asks, eyes away from her and her drawing on the ground. "just not to be alone while you have a potential target on your head."

"i haven't tried it yet," he answers.

there's no certainty when it comes to it. the answer was always clear to him, but it was nothing but a gut feeling planted on him by the false optimism of ho-oh's influence.

kyle was someone who runs on logic more than feel, however.

"ho-oh's legends only mentions its ability to bring others back to life. never did it say that it can do it to itself."

his weakness comes from fear of taking risks, and complacency with what he was comfortable with. he's trying to overcome them on his own, but at the end of the day, he's only human.

"i don't think i want to risk it."

he was ready to cut off the fun for the paradox pokemon by changing the weather to kill the sun's influence on him when navy tells him something he should have considered.

no rain dance will be had if they want to have fun.

"i forgot we're visitors in this scenario," he mentions as he eases down on the fight, giving way for the second koraidon's entry back. "and this is his world."

he had things planned. thunder would have been the last of the three-step strategy to this that simultaneously incorporates support, defense and offense, but he scraps it all for the koraidon show.

"you've caught your breath," he tells the dragon. "go get back there now."

an invigorated roar attempts to announce his entry. he charges in as he glows white, bestowing himself with a draconic crown. it rushes in with collision course, taking advantage of the enemy koraidon's focus on a different target.

"that's part of the job, i guess." doing crazy, that is.

his eyes stare at the fire, longing for the warmth that came with it. he didn't have to bother with seasonal clothes before since hoenn was temperate enough to not have a need for them.

he's adamant enough to only wear a thin jacket over a cotton shirt since he was convinced it wouldn't be as cold as the silent icelands.

"compared to back then, it felt so normal now to kyle of the present. aren't you glad you get to do some normal people things before you decided to join us in the crazy?"

the change was slow and subtle that kyle hadn't realized that normal peacekeeping responsibilities under his job as an officer would soon evolve to something like defending the world against giant beings and otherworldly invaders.

"well, i don't have magmortar, so you get what you get. either way, it's not like it'll be much different."

and even if that had not been the case, there really won't be that much change. at the end of the day, it's still a fire-type catered to matias' play style of going aggressive.

"as much as i would like to give you a chance, unfortunately, rules are rules. i can't break them just because we're friends."

with a shrug, he goes back to business.

"let's just end this quick so we can go get lunch."

arcanine barks in accordance to his trainer's will, alerting the electivire with the subtle messages it would be oblivious to, but not a pokemon used to pack tactics.

a snarl from the fire-type comes to intimidate the opposing pokemon in an attempt to distract them long enough for the electivire to shower them with rock slide from afar.

one by one, his opponent showcases his pokemon. the usual members of his team were present, but kyle still notices an absence.

"shuwen's taking the bench, i see."

a screen by his chamber shows the pokemon they brought to the fight. for navy to only be bringing five was surprising, but not exactly out of character.

"what are you doing a moment for?" kyle asks, appearing aloof but having said it with humor. "this fight is just formality."

the lycanroc flings itself to the arena, eyeing each of navy's team in anticipation of the fight.

"you know me. i know you. if you already got past the elite four, then the ending is the inevitable."

he never has considered himself the best when it came to training pokemon for a fight. most of his prowess comes with adapting to the situation and making creative use of his tools rather than brute force.

in a fight without outside interference, he was just one of the top trainers of the region.

"i guess my job here isn't to gatekeep, but to make your progression uncomfortable for you."

kyle presses something on the screen of his phone and updates the screen with his own pokemon. it doesn't reflect kyle as a trainer at all, but rather, hints about the direction he's taking.

smeargle as his sygna pokemon makes more sense if you take it from this angle rather than an aesthetic one.

the sleeping rampardos remains asleep.

the light was dimmed, with the spotlight centered on the pokemon. slowly, it illuminates the stage as kyle orders for it to sleep talk.

it was all improvisation now, but no one needs to know that.

amid its slumber, it starts to charge at the audience's direction with force in its every step. the shaking of the ground was evident to its strength as if it was an attempt to bulldoze everything in its path.

the performance feeds on the fear for those in the front seat when a pokemon is seemingly rushing at them, and the euphoria that comes when the trainer stops it with a recall of his pokemon.

kyle calls it out again, following the same routine: sleep talk.

this time, it turns to kyle, who goes at him with a head smash. the trainer is more confident now, knowing how sluggish a rampardos' movement was. he dodges the last second, allowing the audience a show of a rampardos' strength

the impact hits the floor, a shock wave reverberating throughout the venue.

"that's just a sample of what everyone faces in these big fights," kyle tells them. "come on, we'll show you how tough we need to be to survive those clashes. i'll give everyone liberty to throw their pokemon on stage and hit him with your best shot."

audience participation. kyle times it with his pokemon's sleep timer.

the rampardos wakes up to a crowd of people bringing out their pokemon against it. he hears a whisper from his trainer. power shift, he says. the fossil roars as it goes on the defensive, ready to bear the exhibition it was about to perform.

with its property as a shadow pokemon, dark stupidity allows it to tank even what was supposed to be super effective, kyle takes a bow as they end the performance with the same chaos they faced during the fight with kyurem.

"my ideal world, huh?"

he stops to think what he wants. there has always been none, but there were always scenarios that he likes more than others.

"for all its nuances, i really like the hoenn that it is now. everyone has a chance to make something happen and it's like the world is making sure that everyone can get the spotlight if they wanted to."

his has long been passed along to the next person.

while his achievements look great in a vacuum, what others have achieved with the help of hoenn's current setting pushed them to higher pedestals. transformations, good or bad, kept the world a colorful place.

"maybe just tone the power scaling down but keep the progression easy. we can't have the late game people keep getting their way, after all."

arceus' change to smeargle was a step. kyle gets excited of what's more on the horizon.

"everyone wants change. i like a world where everyone stirs it up so nothing turns stale."

"people's nature to wish for what they don't have results to conflicting ideals between them. i don't think i need to do anything to see it happen."

"in any case, please keep this a secret. self-righteous people will get me for this, hehe."

kyle laughs it out. there's something gold about noah expecting him not to make the most logical decision to get the result he wants when faced with emotional distress.

"don't worry. i know how to get to my win condition."

it's a vague statement that neither claims nor denies the promise that noah attempts to make him take.

the champion doesn't expect much for himself, but he is aware of the tools in his disposal should push come to shove. if the storyteller doesn't will for it to happen, then he knows the right people to approach to bring the possibility up.

he leans his head over noah's and nuzzles on his hair. "you should be the one telling yourself that."

kyle is aware that noah would kill himself for his sake. he would rather not come to that.

"dragon and fire is kind of a good type combination after all."

his turtonator had been one of the more used pokemon in his arsenal back in the days. with the high-paced nature of hoenn, however, kyle supposed that it was much better off lent to members of slateport pd than join with the chase of the hype.

"do you want to get a saddle for your paradox entei too?" he asks. "they might be banned from the silph cup, but they're actually comfy to ride on."

it was soft, and plush, and warm. they provide more cushion compared to other pokemon that kyle can ride with its fur on while sacrificing none of the speed and power.

he blames Josh Devlin for putting the thought in his head with his obsession with races.