he flinches. as with cian, his heart beats faster than normal. he attempts to keep his cool as he readies himself for the worst case scenario.

with a name like thundurus, kyle consciously makes a mental note of where his manectric's pokeball was for its lightning rod. he doesn't make any movement that indicates action though, wary that it would illicit a negative reaction from the pokemon.

"uh, um, good morning?"

that was his contribution to the awkward introduction that cian gave. he decides to follow his lead and give his name as well, freezing in place while waiting to see the thundurus' intent.

"i-i'm kyle... yeah..."

he assumes she's talking about the suicune avatar since he's seen Isaac Merlo with her on parties and similar events.

isaac, navy... the names, alongside the behavior she was showing, gives kyle enough to work with to finally smoothly transition to a sensitive topic that most people would find awkward.

"oh, yeah, that reminds me, have you talked to navy or merlo about the mesprit thing?"

with choi out of the picture, he supposed the two of them would be her de facto guardians, especially if the latter has a pokemon watching over her. navy, too, has a soft spot for kids, ironically enough.

it's nice to see Navy letting loose after being too strict with his brother once upon a time.

"alone in the woods... wouldn't that make you a prime target?"

for drk triad or rocket who wants to harness mesprit's ability to make the chain during the darkest day, he presumes.

"you've been here a lot."

waves splash against his feet as he finds himself face to face with an absol. it follows him, even as he wades through the shores of slateport.

this wasn't their first interaction, nor was it the second, or the third. the harbinger of calamities have visited him multiples times, and only then had he emerged from his complacency to take the calling of the messenger.

a dip of its head is the absol's way of acknowledging the greeting. it lowers itself to the sands and leave behind a letter before bolting away.

disappointment comes when the absol doesn't join him in the beach, forcing him to waddle his way back to the sands. a suspicious delivery itself was enough to generate fascination, and curiosity grows even more when he opens the envelope containing it.

nostalgia hits him hard when a card that plays a little tune when opened greets him. braille letters were the only thing one can see within the card, but it's the rhythmic set of notes that kyle picks up the message from.

phone booth, it says in morse code.

surprisingly, one appears within the eyeshot.

kyle picks up his shoes and walks through the sands of the empty slateport beach. like a kid in a treasure hunt, he follows instructions without much thought and enters the booth.

when he picks up the phone, everything reveals itself to him.

a smile cracks from his expression as he lays down the phone. they have made their proposition and the champion has accepted preconceived connotations of the proposal.

they made the effort to invite me, so it's only fair that i give them a chance, he tells himself.

well, it's not like this kind of thing happens often, so i might as well dip my toes in the water, he says next.

logic dictates that answering strange calls from sketchy individuals shouldn't even be considered, but hoenn has changed him. there is no common sense to follow anymore, and often, it's less stressful to simply go with the flow and let the waves take him.

this is just one of the unexpected events that happens in his life. he has no actual incentive for joining the fray, but curiosity of his own fate tethers him to unwise decisions.

in the end, this will just be one of the many pages of his story that he will revisit some later time. for now, kyle leaves it up to the wheel of fortune to dictate how this decision will impact him for the days to come.

kyle leaves the booth, tearing the invitation to pieces as he went. he has been found worthy.

• location: slateport beach
• object of power: bookmark

his ninetales attempts to stir up heavy snowfall, but the sun seemed to overpower his pokemon's capabilities. perhaps the ninetales was stunted by fatigue from facing two other scenarios, or perhaps it's just that were stronger weather setters.

in the case that they were fire-types, kyle recalls the fairy-type that would've been strong against both of them had he known their actual typings.

"the last fight was draining, but looks like we have no choice either way."

he was ready to complain, like he always do. despite the urge to whine, kyle still steps up to do whatever it was expected from him.

as he mentioned, they have no choice. their only exit was to clear the scenario or die



still, ho-oh seemingly has gifted kyle with tools to win battles of attrition. a warm aura cradles them as they size up the opposing koraidon, keeping navy's pokemon up while he chooses the next pokemon to bring out.

"that's an option," sketching as he goes with imprison at the back, "but i'd still rather have other moves for practicality."

especially against big, life-threatening fights they usually partake in. he sees her case though, since the suggestion is indicative to his brand: seemingly pointless gimmicks that are niche enough to be too effective when they do.

"then again, who knows if it'll work," he tells melody concerning his plans on appropriating them by location. "no one can predict we'd fight in the likes of space, ultra deep sea, or even just a plain snow biome."

each stroke of the brush to cover the vandalism doesn't stop as they continue to converse.

"i could just go with your route if i keep getting bothered with the holes of the things i want." his voice teeters on whining, but there's enough self-control to stop it. "like, just give them a choice of their move, and then teach them supplementary ones."

he knows full well if he allows his pokemon to be directly responsible to the moves they wield, they can get unruly in his house.

it is as if stars aligned that the story itself presents him with what he assumed would be the best mode of transportation in space.

surely, there's not much difference between ultra space and outer space.

"oho? this is good shit."

when he saw it in the hangar, he most definitely knew it was his. after all, his solgaleo differs from depictions of alolan legends, as well as the one that appeared long before, which had been spread throughout the news back then.

immediately, he runs up the ship and inspects everything: from the consoles of the command room, to the corridors of the ship and even to the recreational rooms he assumes wouldn't affect the story a bit.

it was as if everything was laid out in accordance to sci-fi tropes of similar vessels.

kyle ends up his inspection on the captain's seat, leaning back to get a full view of the window that separates him from the potential void that constitutes what was beyond the skies.

"let's go, let's go..." he silently chants.

"'training' is the usual excuse," he answers her. "sometimes, it's for science. other times, it's to borrow their strength for an errand. no one's brazen enough to demand avatarship surprisingly enough."

though it wouldn't surprise him if someone actually did and it just wasn't written on any reports. it was only successful attempts that get fed back to them in aqua, after all.

"as to why it's you specifically, it's really all just coincidence." indifference fails to remind him that being distinct is important to some people. "we met up during one of my investigations, our conversation steered that way, and i have an option to give you that opportunity... it's, um, yeah, an impulsive decision."

eyes watch from the shadows as kyle continues to explain the situation to yuina.

"i-it's not exactly standard practice, but people bring their friends all the time for these! it's a privilege, but in a very loose way of saying it. d-don't worry much about w-whatever you're worrying about!"

"you just need to make sure that doesn't happen then."

it sounded so simple as it leaves his tongue.

kyle cranes his neck up to watch groudon rise. dragons already react to the goliath that was ready to protect what it has.

"isn't that how it is for you the entire time?" he reminds him. "when you want something, you make it happen yourself."

it fails more often than not, but the champion recognizes effort.

it's the one trait that kyle can sympathize the most from matias. though he doesn't have the greed that the volatile has, he follows the same ideology when a target presents itself in front of him.

he picks up the sword and copies the stance that gwyar employs for half-swording.

"yeah, this is better."

kyle was always about control and precision over force. he feels more in his element with being able to handle the sword in a manner where it's easier to control, though it does not excuse him from straying further from using brute force.

he adapts easily, but he isn't able to show expertise immediately.

when the liepard jumps and gwyar is quick to deflect the attack away, landing the limp body to the ground. with the newly learned half-swording technique, kyle immediately goes to the first thing that comes to mind.

he punts the liepard away with the flat side, throwing it to terrakion at the back, who properly knocks it out with the houndoom.

"i think i can handle things better with this," he tells gwyar. "do you have any other tips to handle a large blade like this better?"

"do you really have to ask stories about dreams? i don't think i'm qualified for that either."

his head sinks between his feet in defeat. once again, kyle sits beside calyrex by the roots of the dyna tree, imploring him with stories as an excuse to get out of the building.

"i'm not someone who can dream. you need to have a vision for that. i just see whatever is in front of me. kinda lame, i know."

kyle takes out his phone and browses through its history. there, he shows calyrex a picture of someone he had visited on their last vacation to johto.

"this person's the one that's all dreams. i don't think he even follows logic anymore." he pockets the handheld device. "i can tell you about him."



"i still have his badge. it's framed on my living room even."

blackthorn city gym was the only gym he conquered overseas. his campaign was short-lived, as he immediately decided to stop his journey after the first stop.

"now that i'm telling his story, it just makes it feel like he isn't really that special, but i guess that really is it with dreams. at the end of the day, they're just that. stories."

kyle stands up, dusting his butt off from sitting on the ground.

"but, hey, the fact that their dreams are remembered by people like me meant that they made their legacy. that's one upside, i suppose."

to fight against all odds and face danger for that last sliver of hope-- it doesn't surprise kyle that penelope was someone who was into something poetic like that narrative. he sometimes wishes that he, too, can look past what was presented to them and ignore the trends of the region's story.

"at least most of the region doesn't think like me," he chimes in as he finally gets back up. "i'm sure i'm in the minority that will settle with just driving kyogre away every time it appears until something interesting happens."

everyone has their own climax scene, and as far as the current avatars go, kyle has already passed his a long time ago. that was how he got his title.

"well, let's get this show going then, councilwoman livy."

forms of raikou and suicune appear from the surface of the ocean, running to a sprint towards the leviathan. their paws move fast enough not to break the tension of the water as a testament to their speed.

"we're both avatars of fire-type legends. kind of unlucky that the two of us are the ones paired, right?"

"you're getting a fresh start, alright."

the rough waters rocks the boat a bit, and kyle immediately pulls away from the growlithe and back to manning the boat.

"you can be a top-percentage guy outside of the region and still look average around here, or the other way around. it's kind of fun to see where people go."

they eventually reach the shore as the boat makes a skidding halt against the beach, scraping the boat's hull against the sands. the skies eventually clear out as the rains go away.

as soon as the motor of the boat stops, kyle opens his mouth to speak, only to close it and rethink his statement.

"if i were you, i'd start looking for all these strange happenings in the region. that's where you get these interesting chance encounters to make that start easier."

he'd usually tell people to steer away if they can help it, but eddie seems to be like the type to run when the situation calls for it. kyle gambles on goading a region's newcomer to participating on the clown fiesta.