"if that's how you deal with things, then this should be fine too, right?"

he leans forward, taking a long piece of stick from the forest grounds, and crosses it with keldeo. like a child playing with swords, he taps it against keldeo's horn.

a glow on the colt is accompanied with change-- one that it has resolved itself to take after everything that has happened on hoenn.

"i'll bring the two of you back to the other side, you have my word on that. i'll even make sure you'll make it in one piece."

kyle slides his foot across the ground, creating a stream of water flowing from underneath him towards terrakion.

keldeo slides through it, brandishing the sword on its horn as it manages to shine amid the smoke. it swipes across terrakion and eddie, who the sword of justice shoves away.

"i think trainers will only get to do a little more if they actually allow you to," kyle proclaims, pointing his stick at terrakion despite speaking to eddie. "but it looks like terrakion already has plans on his own that you'll only end up disrupting."

terrakion aims to protect. its goal doesn't entirely contradict with what has been said.

its eyes glisten like ruby. the way it stares back at airi after she tries to talk it down was telling enough that it wasn't going to listen.

while it listens, it doesn't take heed of her request.

"i don't think it's alive..." kyle whispers amid airi's attempt of diplomacy. "it's not breathing."

talking has given kyle the time to assess the situation, looking at anything to exploit in the situation. unfortunately, his eyes only manage to find what was interesting-- the supernatural state of the raticate before them.

"do you think we should-"

before he can finish his suggestion, the raticate charges forward. large teeth point themselves at the pair, unable to compromise with the ranger. its large size causes the interior of the warehouse to shake, further scaring away any pokemon that might have stayed.

kyle leaps away from the giant rat's trajectory, rolling on the dirty floors upon landing and throwing out a pokemon for protection.

electivire hits the field.

the bell tower might be ho-oh's roost on johto, but this spot on verdanturf was entei's equivalent. there's pride on the line when it comes to defending it against invaders.

when the pinsir tests its luck, entei stalks the bug. immense pressure immediately causes the wild pokemon to notice its position, turning its bravado to fear almost immediately.

it only takes a growl from the volcano pokemon for the pinsir to turn tail and scuttle away, leaving behind the garden that it had wanted to vandalize.

the emerald tones of in the phone's screen disappears.

he blinks when someone approaches him, dispersing the ghosts around him for a moment. they change their target to the newcomer, fussing over him instead to usher him inside.

unlike kyle, they gave noah a bit more time. he didn't loiter like kyle after all.

kyle absently nods to noah's invite as he adjusts his mask, taking a moment to recognize who the voice belonged to. the phone returns to his pocket as he allows noah to lead the way.

"a full mask, huh?" he teases. "how would you able to taste the food then?"

free food was always the main pull of these events for kyle.

tl;dr

• enters the party with noah

he doesn't mean to rub his eyes after waking up, but he does so out of habit. he turns to hideo, then his pokemon, before resting his eyes on the ceiling, leaning back on his seat.

"there's definitely a lot of context that don't get explained in the story," he starts, "but i think it's better that way. it leaves much to the reader's interpretation so they're forced to fill in the blanks with imagination."

it was his answer: no questions for him.

"stories like that are fun. if i ask things like the true ending, i would just end up regretting not following the script."

interactive stories differ that way compared to narratives that let you delve into a character's journey. the way hideo has his gym challenge structured leans to immersion.

it wasn't much different to standard roleplaying games.

"i definitely would have tried other approaches, like what happens if i fight it head on, or if i purposely led it to the worst ending, but for my first playthrough, i don't think i have any regrets."

the first run should always be untainted, pure-- taking choices you would have taken naturally.

"have you tried going through the story?" he asks hideo.

the fog slowly thins out, but the visibility never really clears out. instead, the smell of fire permeates through everyone's noses and smoke replaces the mist.

from further away, the silhouette of trees within a heath poke beyond the horizon. hints of red and gray mix in with the air.

ash flies with the wind.
[newclass=.gscnote]border-width: 6px 6px 6px 6px;border-style:solid;border-radius:10%;border-image: url('https://i.imgur.com/IxR9pR1.png') 6 6 6 6 repeat repeat;padding:6px 8px;background:#aaa;color:#232323;text-align:justify;font:11px Calibri;letter-spacing:1px; margin-top:20px;[/newclass]
a reminder of terrakion's distrust for humans appears before him. a similar memory he shares with the student in front of him attempts to bring out what had been buried deep within, working harmoniously with the chaos of hatred and grudge.

"two of us? at the end of the day, we're both just trainers," kyle calls eddie out. "the pokemon are the ones that do the heavy lifting."

playing the devil's advocate lulls the bull back closer to how he had been before his partnership with humans.

the themes of the border play against terrakion's mind. words from kyle show the wildcard underneath the passive exterior, exposing to reveal what had always been there instead of weaving words to conjure an entirely new thought.

"if my calls had any weight, he would have trusted my judgement and never left a potential fight against the rocket boss, right?"

eddie would know what exactly did terrakion chose in the heat of the moment over an encounter with monroe.

even for someone as unbothered as kyle would start growing uneasy with many implications of a supposed death he was to have had experienced.

he forces himself to move, even as his nature prevents him to. like a deer caught in headlights, he knows there is irony in the fear of death after multiple people have alluded to such fate being inconsequential.

"d-do what?"

to act friendly in front of him meant there had been a preconceived relationship between them from the past, or that the person in front of him is just the type to break the ice immediately and act familiar with anyone.

he assumed the latter, refusing the narrative that supports a reality he is not familiar with.

"i just want to live dude," he tries to reason. while he doesn't show any sign of aggression, small assurances like the trust in his ability to quick draw a pokemon in a moment's notice build up to releasing the tension in him. "i did what i had to."

the brilliance in kyle misinterprets the question, and assumes zev meant his previous skirmishes with other rocket operatives.

the notion of a date gets him to stare at the flexed arm, but decency causes him to abruptly shift back to noah's face.

"you would think someone who got hospitalized would act, well, down."

he certainly looked down when they first met, but given everything he spewed out, it seemed understandable. the loss from what he got in return, a different entity that barely has substance to replace what was once was, didn't seem enough to bring his spirits back up.

kyle surmises desperation, or perhaps just optimism for scrambling for any crumb of hope.

"should i call you machampion too?" kyle asks as he looks at his cup. "that's a weird nickname, but we're going on a date later anyways, so..."

he extends his arm and offers his leftover coffee before recalling something.

"ah, can you take in caffeine? doctors usually don't allow stimulants when the person needs rest."

on hindsight, noah found him when he delivered his neighbor's medicine from the hospital's pharmacy. it does make sense that he had a reason to be there.

he does seem healthy though.

noah had urged him to come with him in the doctor's office for his check up, though kyle declined at that time. he did ask to come with him to the hospital though. still, it felt like it was an invasion of privacy, regardless of who invited who.

they settled with kyle waiting at the lobby, before moving to the coffee shop by the first floor of the hospital after it took a while.

he looks up from his phone, which had been playing an old animated movie. he lifts his earphones off when noah returns from the doctor, taking a sip of iced coffee from a cup before speaking up.

it would've paired well with cake, but it doesn't seem like he has enough time for one.

"you don't look like you've been returning to the hospital," kyle bluntly puts out there.

he taps his foot as he waits by the entrance of the venue. his eyes are glued on the screen of his phone while patiently waiting for a response from the other side.

his heart beats fast. parties and formal functions were out of his comfort zone, yet he couldn't deny an invitation when it was given to him.

ghost-types were eager to usher him in, but a few gestures and apologetic bows convey the message that he was still waiting for someone else, wanting to come together rather than alone.

it was less about being rude and more about the actual fear of having to converse on his own should someone approach him alone in the ball.

as the ghost-types around him start to grow impatient, he dials in a number. he lived closer to the outskirts of slateport where the mansion was built, and it felt rude to rush someone who had a longer travel time.

"i think the butlers of the mansion want me to go in soon," he tells the person on the other end of the line once it was picked up. "please come get me soon. it's scary."

the ritual of social interaction that is, not the ghosts.

tl;dr

• waiting for noah outside the venue
• is getting harassed by ghosts to come in already

he quickly turns to the direction of the alarm after being, well, alarmed.

he twists around for his pokeball-- the best lifeline a normal person would have in this situation. fingers pluck a pokeball out of his waist, enlarging it with the click of a trigger, and silently releasing the gyarados inside.

the other would be assistance from their peers.

"taunt," kyle whispers a command amid the loud noises.

to make it focused on fighting the gyarados over everything else, it turns the situation into a lesser extent of undesirable. besides, it's easier to hide the noise of a battle amid the war instead of a dedicated siren.

he banks on claydol being trained to be utility, given its role as sentry. the aquatic serpent shows off its cry, specifically agitating its target.

kyle takes it slow and steady, playing the safe game. given the situation, he starts to doubt his judgement.