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”Mystique huh?” Kouji let the name linger in the air for a moment, as far as codenames went, it wasn’t a bad one. Someone he didn’t know the background of, what she was about, or anything else. He couldn’t tell whether she was new or experienced, then again, perhaps that was the purpose of all of this.
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”Fool’s Gold, or Kouji, either one is fine with me.” He said as he looked down onto that crowd, he doubted it was any kind of structured team like that; those who really spread far had been crushed out by rocket and the league.
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”It’s most likely a local gang. Flare might still be active elsewhere, but the small timers known as aqua and magma were crushed a while ago, think some remnant exists in Alola?” Aqua and Magma, the local beliefs meant that those names came up again and again, even within the organisations of this place. The League and their initiative, Rocket and their research group, Aqua and Magma.
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Gangs with those names came up here and again, taking up an old flame, or perhaps simply thinking they were original and understood their purpose.
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”I’ll take a fifty poke dollar bet it’s a local gang.” He said as he righted himself, standing properly upright as he leaned on over to look at the card. He didn’t really get tarots, but he was not so uncultured he didn’t know the different names and numbers.
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”Like cards huh? What does that one mean?” He asked with genuine curiosity, yet he kept part of his attention on the group affronting the business that should really have been supplying money their way. Kouji was just waiting.
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For a fight to kick off.

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Hydreigon went to slumber with the strong strike; False Swipe was a move made of kindness as well as strength, the energy in its maws harmlessly dispersed, taken apart by the strong aura of the legendary before it. Only blackness awaited the Dark-Type, one that it would wake from soon enough.
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Kouji wasn’t given a fate so kind; Navy’s words only lit a fire under him, one fuelled by ichor, a dirty sensation flooded his veins, his expression contorted into a rictus of disgust before morphing into that of rage, further accentuated by the blood dripped from his nose, from the corner of his mouth, from the bloodshot eyes that stared at Michael Navidson.
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”You think this is because of one fucking loss?” He screamed, perhaps mostly at himself. ”One loss? I can deal with one fucking loss.” It had been Galar, it had been this place, it had been mostly to himself. Rage that brought the memories flooding back in. ”I fucking worked my ass off from the day I was born, here, in Galar, back here, again and again. What’s my fucking reward? To be tortured for a decade while my comrades forget about our goals? To come back, and have my friends leave?”
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Abandoned again and again, what was the purpose of a fight when there was no-one to celebrate victories with? Those in Galar had settled into their roles, Kouji wasn’t built to live in a society, he had been raised to be a Rocket from his very first steps. A simple break in conflict wasn’t something he could accept, to fight, and then fight again was the only way he had been taught how to live.
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”You have your daughter, you had Gabe.” While his siblings had left him behind, was it envy that surged up into the mix? Was it something else?
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”Don’t fucking lecture me, I can deal with losing fights, losing others.” He tried to convince himself so he could focus on the fight, so he could have focused on his goals. ”You’ve even got the favour of a legendary like this.” He said as he steadied his footing, his glare levelled at Zacian, the first time Kouji acknowledged it.
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”Galar made you a hero, a Warrior. Me? I’m not even a fighter anymore.”

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The blow was utterly Wicked, Kouji felt all sense being knocked out of him, the fist which sunk into his stomach made him feel as if each piece of food he had eaten the past year was going to be knocked back up. His ribs cracked…No he was sure two of them shattered at least. His body deformed around the fist before he was shot backwards with great force. The dark energies which coalesced only made him go back even further, bounce across the sand before he skidded to a stop.
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Kouji Matsubara felt his mind come to a halt, the pain and bile that was soaring up his throat followed with blood; it dripped, drop after drop; he could feel his sense return to him slowly as his Hydreigon’s roar of pain reached his ear.
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The Dragon Type soared past him, Kouji could feel the energy that spun past him for a moment as the Dark Type struck rock, and slid down it. Its own force turned against it before it floated back up again, blood and scars littered its body, dark intentions without a focus was aimed at the Ninja, a so called last charge, Draconic energies gathered in its maws, Dragon Pulse.
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But it was simply the charge of a mad beast who had nothing else left but that same madness, Kouji could see it from the outside.
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”Already lost?” He forced his way up to his feet, wobbly in his stance as he looked at Navy with bloodshot eyes, vessels having burst from the pressure that was applied to his body. ”Ah…I guess I have…” Words filled with delirium, but they struck at the truth he had tried to avoid. When did that happen? He began to wonder just at what moment, perhaps it had been many.
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”You can’t unlose, Navy. That kid lost, and I’m what’s left. There’s no more sense to be had. I’ll just keep swinging, so, are you gonna be able to put me down?”
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It was a simple statement, Kouji Matsubara began to move, one step turned into two, then into three, and then even more.
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But he asked himself that question once more, when had he begun to lose sight of himself?

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Did he die?
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He was afraid to open his eyes, but…
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”Huh…Was heaven always this comfortable?” Wait, why the hell was he in heaven, the only place for him could only be hell, or the Borders if he got lucky…
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Then he heard the voice and sat up as quickly as possible. ”Oh crap, sorry.” He said before he jumped to his feet, trying to regain his composure as fast as possible, and ignore the aches that he now felt.
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”I…Mean, ha! Finally caught you, now you can’t take what is rightfully ours.” Kouji placed a hand on his hips, the other was pointing down at Andrea. Yet the shaking of the cave was growing closer and closer by the moment. He could feel the ground beneath his feet properly rumble be the wall to his side exploded outwards; it was instinct rather than any conscious thought. Drilled into him by constant combat, and training since his youth, he dragged the smaller woman out of the way before jumping to the side himself.
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Behind him, Roaring Moon roared a muffle pained sound as the teeth of Hydreigon sunk into him; the initial outrage almost knocked the senses out of him, but the tri crunch was something that a constant pain throughout its body, enough to drive it into a rage. With its teeth already locked in, it went for a powerful roll using Acrobatics.

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Pride? That had been lost in that torture room.
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Something to fight for? There wasn’t anyone to put his lot in, not fully, there was no purpose if there was no person. He only had Rocket, that was everything to him, even more than himself. Kouji Matsubara had searched, believed he’d found it, and then on the day he’d lost it, he couldn’t fill that cup once more.
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”Hah. The hell you are talking about Navy, there’s only the fight left. Do you think any of us will reach our goals? Dreams, hopes? Fuck that. I’ll fight until there’s nothing else left in Rocket’s path.” Then he’d burn up with the end of the conflict, snuffed out by his own embers.
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As he crossed past Hydreigon, he barely saw it from the corner of his eyes until the aura was too great to ignore, that of a great beast of a Dragon, Hydriegon was far too big to turn around in a timely manner, to dodge properly as the strike smashed into him, causing the sand around them to explode outwards with great force.
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The shockwave knocked Kouji off his feet, and tumbling forward into a roll, tight he attempted to get back to his feet, ignoring the gathering mist he charged at Navidson.
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”You can choke on your pride, there’s something bigger than just me at stake.”
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At that moment the three headed dragon roared, one head blinded full; crushed and eaten by the other in the battle here at this very beach. Forcefully floating upwards against the powerful strike that had almost knocked it out. Each head told its own story, that of viciousness, of crushed kindness, of purposeful blind allegiance. Each head gathered energy, a story of fire, of ice, of lightning, gathering together in a ball of energy; the Tri-Attack was shot at the small yet great ninja.
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While Kouji Matsubara dived to throw a punch at Navy.
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"There's no time to be that kid anymore."

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Wait wait wait wait…
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It was heading right towards them, Kouji had a moment to decide exactly what he needed to do. ”Roaring Moon, throw me.” Kouji said as he leapt back towards the tail, the dragon type of his flipped forward in a tight roll moments before impact allowing his trainer to be catapulted towards the other…
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Uncontrollably.
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The Dragon itself went for a Jaw Lock, without a command, it went towards its signature technique, a powerful bite that would tear at his opponent, especially when it attacked with such a forceful strike as Outrage.
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The two clashed, a shockwave passed, and Kouji was unable to stop himself as he waved his hands in the air, as if trying to swim against the tide of cave. ”Oi oi oi oi oi, watch ouuut.”
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The chaotic battle in the caves only grew more chaotic.

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Jobs weren’t things that Kouji liked to waste his time on, to allow to pass as he waited around; but sometimes they required such a deft hand. Finding ways to pass that time was what really bothered him, as hung upside down waiting for the blood to rush to his head, he observed his partner for this mission.
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She was someone strange, or perhaps it might be said she carried herself better than most in their position. Kouji was rough around the edges, unrefined, and mostly acted the street urchin that he grew up being.
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He would never sip tea before a mission, always after.
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”You’re sure enjoying that tea, what’s it anyway? Hoenn is a terrible region for good tea, you’re better off looking at Kanto, or Johto.” His biases were immediate, the man of partial Kantonian descent always did prefer the more green varieties. Fermenting tea so long it turned dark was almost an affront.
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His eyes moved to where Mystique was looking, at the place they were supposed to harass…Or what Kouji considered harassment at least. But there were others, he knew pretty quickly that they weren’t up to any good. It wasn’t as if Rockets were the only ones that were involved in crime within the region.

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His daughter.
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”Good.” Kouji’s words were even, his eyes wavered for a moment before he steeled them again. ”Make sure you protect my little sister from everyone, including me.” He’d do his duty, because that was the only thing left; he’d thrown away far too much in the last year to simply allow everything around him to fall apart…Or rather because it had fallen apart, he had to go forth in this path.
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He squared up his stance, his eyes looked for any kind of gap in the man, a slight crack he could take advantage of. But unlike before there was nothing, like tempered steel the person across from him wasn’t showing any. Perhaps in the layers underneath, but Kouji wouldn’t be able to find any such thing.
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His hands twitched, ready to go for his pokeball within a second. He couldn’t be the first to blink or flinch away in this opening move, he wanted this fight. It served no greater purpose, it had nothing of weight behind it, bereft of his own ideology.
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”Aye, you’re right. I don’t want this fight.” Did the present him want any fights? Kouji wasn’t sure, but that fire was too dim. He who had sought conflict wherever it may be, found no such burning desire.
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”But I’ll take it anyway, I’m a Rocket, you’re in the League. What other reason is there for two people to fight other than being on opposite sides?” The sharp smirk that followed it was almost hollow before it dropped away. Kouji blinked.
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Then charged forward, pokeball thrown into the air, the one to greet them was Hydreigon, the dragon roared from all three heads before it charged ahead of his trainer.
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The fight of barbarism was started.

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Kouji looked at the still pokeball before picking it up; the sound of slithering behind him made him turn only to carry on walking. It didn’t matter if it was a rare coloration, or a type he was attempting to grasp, bug types were never going to enter a pokeball of his, not even for the sake of another person.
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”Makes me sick.”

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Harcourt, Quinn, Cross? Kouji smirked as he looked up at Navidson, there was a difference there, something had changed about the man. It was the intensity behind the look in his eyes, a real sharp stare.
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Like a blade piercing through his skill.
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It was focused, the kind Kouji had seen on war veterans alone. He had overseen a war, but for him the memories of that place was growing fainter, he remembered the time in the gallows, defending the walls, two decades of duty. But just like his age had slipped from him, so would that time, a year had passed, and that world felt far more distant, the world he existed in now was the one and only.
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”Nah, I came here out of my own volition. Had to sort something out with the new Gym Leader, didn’t realise you knew her too.” Kouji said over his shoulder, though once more unable to help himself; his smirk turned hungrier, his golden eyes focused down on the Sheriff of Dewford. ”Made her take the straight and narrow path huh? You think someone like that can?”
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”Not like it matters.” He shook his head, why was he even going into this, was it just a matter of spite? ”We clean up any stragglers eventually.”

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Kouji pulled the knife close to his chest, arm across his chest as he placed his focus on the sword in front of him. ”Ain’t done growing yet huh?” Kouji wasn’t all too sure about that. ”Ain’t you still growing too.”
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He gave a nod just before the moved into range, there was no point if his knife couldn’t hit his opponent, so he provided a sliding block to allow the knife to glide down the blade. He couldn’t use that to make a move, so he slid to the side to avoid the return swing of the blade.
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”Who the hell is barcode?”

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A deep breath, pulled to the base of his lungs, filled him with the sharp, salty tang of the sea air. It brushed against his hoarse throat, bringing a bittersweet sting of nostalgia. Dewford was a place that held a lot of memories for him. It was here that he had laughed, cried, and grown. Here, he had faced his fears and his failures, and where he had found his strength.
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As he stood on the familiar shores, he couldn't help but reflect on the person he used to be—a weaker him, a newer him, a stupider him. Back then, he was naïve, full of ideals instead of aiming to reach the only acceptable resolution to this war. What had happened since then? What steps had he taken since then?
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He stood before the crumbling remains of Granite Cave, now destined to be known as The Ruins of Granite. The jagged rocks and collapsed tunnels seemed to echo with the ghosts of the past. He picked up a rock, its cold surface rough against his skin. From beneath, the ominous sounds of the portal murmured, hinting at a realm filled with nothing but pain, memories of being impaled, shot, beaten; but at the same time. It was the place he found his resolve again after the clash with his father. Where his fighting spirit was properly sharpened, where it had become Qing.
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His actions today were stupid; but he didn’t regret them, even if he had failed in the task he had set out for himself. His hand went for a head that wasn’t there, Absol wasn’t beside him, the dark type was a killer, he wouldn’t bring a killer to a place like this.
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He felt a pokeball at his side wobble, shake and attempt to move out of the pokeball; fighting against itself. That could really only mean a singular thing. Kouji looked over his shoulder.
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”Navidson, your town sure looks pretty today.”

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