the exchange of weird stares is prolonged since the poochyena decides to add a wish on top of the previous attack, which manifests just now.

both delayed explosions occur at the pokemon having a staring contest. the poochyena yowls when it gets hit, but it's mostly exaggerated to get its trainer's attention away from finding faults about itself.

"a lot," he answers. "he's my latest project, though."

most of them grew up with standard k9 unit training as a nod to his day job before moonlighting as the league's champion. time constraints meant kyle can only give a few of them special attention, with kilo being one of them.

it really was a physical set rather than a random move latched in for coverage. most used solar beam as their favored option, but the mega evolution answers the reason why it had a different move than the conventional one.

waiting for the charizard to make its move bears fruit when kyle easily activates a function of the sygna suit. the poochyena steels itself as the trainer move: physical shield manifests, with wish fueling the resilience of the pup.



"here's where we pull out our secret weapon, kilo."

it opposes the move of the mega evolved charizard. aided by the barrier given to the poochyena by the sygna suit, the dark-type makes a grand statement by striking the dragon with the move it was blessed with from the dragon's den: dragon hammer.

"where's... where's the pun?"

kyle rewinds the sentence over and over again in his head, trying to figure out where the joke was.

as the close combat threatens the poochyena, kilo takes it with stride. he latches on to play rough with the tauros, though the thought of how it can remain hanging on a rampaging tauros didn't occur to the dog.

"you're not... bullshitting me, are you?"

the confused expression turns to a smile.

kyle was too busy enjoying the raid-style boss to react to comms, especially after hearing PENELOPE LIVY order him to stay back.

the instruction was taken a step further by staying off the front lines and switching his pokemon to his smeargle in a more supportive role instead. a geomancy is set up to be passed on later.

"i think it means the seed we got from the cave when we met the dogs. i guess two calyrex are going home from each version of galar," he tells matias. "that's what you're asking, right?"

he had purposely distracted himself that he wasn't sure the development that caused this friction. the last time he was paying attention, he had been getting backup.

he watches Elise Calcifet come at MATIAS SILPH, waiting for her to take her attention away from the elite four and back to the battle before stuffing his hand on his pockets. earbuds he uses for his phone were handed over.

"looks like you'll need this."

staying back did give him opportunity to be more carefree and lax, comparatively speaking. he connects it to his phone, playing a playlist of songs from ten to twenty years ago.

tl;dr

• plays backline as soon as the opportunity comes
• smeargle uses geomancy
• only pays attention to kyurem instead of the people around him
• gives matias earbuds to ignore the people around him

he sticks his tongue out from his smile in response of razz's guess, neither approving nor denying the claim.

what he said was true, however. no one seems to care much since the vital gear displays the result automatically, whether or not the rules of the battle was followed to the last letter or not.

"either way, it still proves that people take things casually for this tournament." even if said people was just him.

the poochyena bounces back after being deflected by the riolu's move. it barks once or twice before charging in again, leaping at the fighting-type to corner it to play rough with it.

his poochyena shares its anxiety with its trainer through the sygna suit's sync. they're about to face a move usually done as a finisher, after all.

"you better wish you survive this, kilo," he'd tell his pokemon in jest.

kyle's calmer demeanor eventually bleeds out to the panicking poochyena. instead, it steels itself, ready to face the attack head on. there's no blocking it, but there's hoping to withstand its force.

the poochyena wishes for good fortune against the attack.

"it's me!" he'd exclaim at ollie's introduction of kyle. "i'm the champion!"

the exaggerated enthusiasm dies down as soon as he's done with his bit, returning the gesture in a firm but friendly manner. his poochyena by his feet barks a greeting back to the pikachu.

"it's great!" he tells ollie. "everyone's having fun. no one's tryharding. it's like hoenn star tournament, but livelier."

hst had other events going beside the fights though, so it has that going against vital city tournament. on the other hand, the current tournament has a better atmosphere.

"it's really funny how he involved himself with a lot of work after saying the league life doesn't fit him," he'd tell tsubaki. somehow, navy really did waste no time trying to fit his role.

he would snitch more about the gym leader's other misdemeanors but the follow up question piques his interests.

"i really would have if i could," he whines. despite his nature, he still was a law-abiding citizen.

his poochyena comes out of its ball to match the arbok. it was almost comical how two of the closest people to someone who was trying to play hero have stereotypical villain pokemon as their partners for the tournament.

as he activates his sygna suit, a thought comes to mind. "hey, do you know how else he'd be jealous?" it was more quizzical in nature than him asking a question.

"hello aaron faust!"

he uses his full government name in response since it's what he introduced himself as. there are some people that would prefer to be called their full name, and aaron was probably one of them, kyle thought.

"let's just have some fun then. you know, the chill battles where we go in head empty."

he could go all out against a fan, but he only had his poochyena with him, who barks once in a cute puppy demanding attention kind of way. kyle lets his pokemon do whatever it wants as he takes on his position on the other side of the field, activating his sygna suit along the way.

"go easy?" he repeats with a chuckle. "are you sure you're the one who should be asking for that?"

it is his poochyena that matches against the melmetal. a classic story paints itself at first glance, but kyle isn't in the tournament to hand out freebies.

"hope you have fun then, barnaby. you can call me kyle."

his poochyena barks, indicating his readiness for action. there has been non-stop battling in the tournament, not unlike a festival, and the canine isn't stopping anytime soon.

the rocks and the barrier finally managed to dislodge themselves from the way by his poochyena's effort, but the damage has already been done.

"good job, kilo," he goads his own pokemon in the friendly banter manner. "now you just have to actually hit the opponent."

there's a smile of relief that was present in the pokemon's expression since it finally clawed itself out, only to see that the very rocks it has been attacking the entire time attempts to attack back.

it rushes towards the beheeyem with dragon hammer, but not before it gets buried once more by the rocks.

using the momentum of the blow to their advantage, kyle smiles at the development.

"prepare for its landing."

unable to strike the target, or rather, difficult to do with a pokemon with limited options like his poochyena, the dark-type tries its best to dodge the attack, albeit to questionable success.

it bunkers down to the best of its abilities, preparing for a delayed attack with future sight as soon as the shaymin drops to the ground.

he shakes his head at ana's guess.

"he even eats the flowers," kyle tells her. "i don't even know why. it's not like i starve him."

it doesn't happen often, at least, mostly due to the fact that his other dogs stop him. on cases that kyle takes them for actual missions for the league, however, evidence remain.

the psycho cut, despite not being effective against the pokemon's typing, was effective at its purpose. it's the visual indication alone that scares the pokemon, deterring it from moving forward.

instead, it stops and keeps its distance, conjuring a future sight for a delayed attack.