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Kouji couldn’t regret the choice to battle.
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The genuine smile on his face was perhaps the only reply he needed to give before he spurred Iron Jugulis to move in the air as the ghostly creatures attacked him, to dodge, weave, and duck...But they were locked on, fixated on grabbing it, and it found its mechanical frame being invaded, like they were mere virus. It didn't give in however, as dark energies coalesced within itself.
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”Route DW.” What Kouji called Dark Wave, but the Dark Pulse was the initial opener, just to get his pokemon free, he needed to direct the panic of a pokemon he wasn't particularly fond of, but it was an effective pokemon, to train, to raise; maybe he'd grow to like it some day.
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He didn't count on it.
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”Oy, what do you get out of this island anyway? Shouldn’t you be up in Ever Grande?” Might as well opt for a bit of a distracting ploy, not that he really expected it to work.

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It didn’t take a second to realise there was someone else there, but that didn’t make it simple to deal with. The coalescing energy, and the lost mark; it took a strong kick to Roaring Moon’s side to make the dragon turn, even if it wanted to bite his throat out for the arrogance of striking it.
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Just in time.
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The dragon had his wing clipped by the blast of energy, almost like a poison to dragons, Roaring Moon began to tilt to one side before he rebalanced himself, putting more force into that wing’s flap to keep himself balanced.
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He looked at the interloper, a tone tinged in assuredness, he spoke. ”Yeah I was going to let him fa-.” Yet it faded as quickly as he began to see the features of the girl he was speaking to. His eyes widened before he tried to recollect himself, a deep breath to still his emotions.
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”Tsubaki.” He had spent too long in that otherworld to be swayed by this person, even if he wished anyone but her was there. He’d take a second fight against MATIAS SILPH before he had to fight her.
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”Turn around, I don’t want to hurt you.”
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Even if his voice was steady, even if he tried to keep it even, you could hear the plea underneath the bravado.

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It was a quick exchange, without real attacks, it felt like an exchange had occurred, the dragon Kouji was riding atop stilled and hovered, keeping him in line with Dragapult. Kouji watched the man across from him carefully.
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His nerves were frayed, he could tell already, this was the kind of threat he couldn’t make a single mistake against.
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”Gonna have to pass, adrenaline junkies like me don’t like safe.” He said as he pushed himself to smirk, his golden eyes didn’t even look away from Greyson for a moment.
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”Especially when there’s a good fight coming.” His golden gaze shifted, to the Dragapult. ”Dragon Pulse.” Draconic energies collected in his maw, spinning.
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”How about taking a dip.”

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Kouji had just missed his pokemon’s strike, but even then that was fine, what he didn’t get was who this woman was talking about, but that didn’t matter to him, did it? The hurricane that whipped out around them. He struggled to hold onto Dracovish as the two of them were raised into the air, spun around at high speeds with water joining the powerful winds to form a waterspout, but Dracovish was at home in water, swimming against it back to the water.
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But it was obvious it had taken some damage from it, and that damage made it more enraged.
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”Does it even matter? You’ll die either way.” Kouji didn’t know, but he could feel it; this place was strange. He didn’t want to know his opponent as he usually did, he didn’t want to talk as he usually did. All he could think about was the fight, all he could do was act like an animal.
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His usually smirking expression was replaced, contorting into a rictus of disgust, a snarl rolling off his lips. ”Disgusting. People like you make me sick.” Dracovish didn’t move, yet a growl was building in the back of his throat.
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”Path Break bite.” Kouji told his pokemon, who finally roared aloud before diving into the depths once more, taking a large arc before jumping out of the water, mouth open, and yet dark energies coalesced around its mouth.
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Crunch, a terrible bite that sought to bite through armor and flesh alike.

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Dragons-types were a strange creature set of creatures, Kouji couldn’t help but think that every time he looked at them. Like all types they came in different flavours, but there was an inherent pride he didn’t see elsewhere, just like the inherent honesty that were expressed by Dark-types, flaws and all.
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The pokemon he was riding on, was not a dragon type, even if it shared the same shape as them.
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Iron Jugulis was a pokemon that he was not fond of, ready to switch out in a moment’s notice. It’s mechanical form made him uneasy, and yet here he was riding on its back, for the sake and glory of Rocket, but it peaked up. Electrical popping sounds alerted Kouji to the sight of something else, even if it was a machine.
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Dragons were territorial, that was an innate truth, right now it saw another, a competitor, and Kouji understood without them having to speak about it. He urged it onwards, towards their target, to take them down.
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”Gonna sink ya to the sea if you don’t turn around, wanna live or die?” He asked the question that didn’t need to be asked, but the real question behind it all was.
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Could he make due on that?

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Lulu Flint.
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By all measures, this woman was a big shot. Kouji knew that, she was head scientist at one point, and even more than that. There were more difficult parts of this battle than just the battle, the purpose was to get inside of this place, and he was here to aid in one of those paths. Kouji looked over at Flint before nodding his head slowly at the first puzzle.
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”I think….” It was a strange series of glyphs that connected and disconnected to one another based on rotating the gears that were underneath them. Apparently the last set of grunts to fiddle with them had found themselves completely squashed underneath a boulder…
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Better to avoid that.
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”I think I have no idea on how to solve this.” He said with absolute confidence, his voice was even, and he still had the gall to continue to stroke his chin as if he was busy figuring something out.

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Kouji sighed, it wasn’t really going to be that easy, but then again it never was that simple to begin with. The shadowball would strike, that much Kouji was almost certain of. He understood just by looking, but at the same time.
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”We’ll break through, use Crunch.” The shadow ball struck the face of the Roaring Moon, an explosion with substantial force that knocked Kouji off the back of his dragon, and towards the ground instead. He braced, and rolled; but he felt the shock regardless, it was sand afterall.
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But for the Roaring Moon, its mouth glowed with draconic energies as the smoke passed, as if ready to chomp down on the Pallosand, and keep him locked down. Jaw Lock, one of its favorite moves.
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As for Kouji?
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”Tch, asshole, coulda checked if I was okay.” But the dragon was having none of it.

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Using a battle like this to settle a personal vendetta was low, Kouji didn’t care what your reasons were. A rocket should concentrate on their duties.
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Thankfully, his duties were making sure that no-one got onto the island; he stood on the back of his Dracovish, the pokemon paddling around at a sedated pace, looking around for prey like a shark.
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He didn’t mind that, not really.
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It was the people he was looking for, higher level threats as he liked to consider them. One of them just entered his sights, at the edge of his vision, but he wouldn’t forget that person, not ever.
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John Sullivan.
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He hadn’t gotten the name back then, but he’d studied now, worked on himself, he wasn’t just a rookie anymore. Dracovish seemed to be able to tell its trainer’s intent as Kouji sat down, properly seated for a fast rush. ”Fishous Rend, let’s take ‘em down as fast as possible.”
It was the ascent of a roar that allowed the fish-like dragon to take off with a large burst of speed.

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The sea was a dangerous place, anyone who sailed it commonly enough would tell you that much, from Hoenn to Kanto and back. So he could say with certainty that the sea as a battlefield was a place close to hell, and he was one of the people making it as miserable as possible.
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It was by design, as he rode on the back of Dracovish, he could see what was around them, the dragon was ready and raring to go at any moment but Kouji had to stop him. Such rash carelessness would get them killed.
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”Over there, let's go under.” Kouji had just finished before he took in a deep breath, his pokemon dove in beneath the waves, to dash beneath the surface towards their mark.
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A sea battle was close to hell on earth, if he hadn’t been beneath the wave, he wouldn’t have missed the encroaching mists.

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Kouji took the offered lollipop, unwrapped it and put it into his mouth. ”One second, let me just test something out before I do that, or do you wanna get rid of me that fast?” He said as he brought out his Tyranitar, the sand-storm would ease having to worry about lip readers, but the real purpose behind that move had always been something else to begin with.
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”Use earthquake.” To deal with people who were hiding underground using Dig, he had used the same trick earlier that day, and as the earth shook, two loud sounds told him that there were indeed people hiding.
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”Hope you’re ready for a battle before I get that info to you.” He said as he withdrew Tyranitar and brought out another pokemon, Druddigon, who stood ready to brawl from the word go.
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”Can’t be easy, guess these league guys are going into the grinder.” Druddigon roared aloud before he began to sharpen his claws.

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People who knew the lay of the land simply had to be stopped, it was a simple truth. While the elite four were known as strategic weapons in the shape of trainers, the head rangers could be considered to be walking intelligence. It was better to not let them nearby, and Kouji stood by that.
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Roaring moon bucked as it sensed someone approaching from the sky, turning in the air within a moment’s notice to rush towards them, the dragon was ready for a brawl well before its trainer, Kouji had to stop them, or at least slow them down.
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”Easy, curve in from the top, we’ll take the advantage that way.” He told his pokemon who complied and slowed down, taking air before choosing to fall down onto them, sky to sea; Kouji loved the ocean, and the seas, they were almost a natural part of him, that they blessed him.
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In a way, it might’ve been Kouji’s day, one of those Head Rangers was right in front of him.
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”Lars Anderson, you’ll be sinking into the sea today.”

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The shore was another important place to carefully guard, Kouji knew that, but that didn’t make it any less bo-
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Really, it couldn’t have come any sooner as Kouji stared across at the man, because that person could only be described as such. ”Damn, what’s your lifting routine?” It was an enemy, he understood that perfectly. But for a young man who invested every moment in his day towards exercise of some form, to the point of blending every meal.
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There were just some ideals.
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But it took a few moments to remember what his actual task here actually was, it was to stop anyone from passing, that meant…Everyone.
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”Ah shit, can’t pass. If you go any further, I’ll have to stop you by force. Don’t wanna do that before I get your routine.”

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The sky was a strange place, Kouji had pondered it a number of times, to stop other trainers meant to fight them in the air; but riding in the air meant that you were putting yourself on the line. It was right up his alley, he lived for the fight.
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But being on Elite Four duty, that was a difficult one, almost like a test. Kouji didn’t want to fail, he had remembered how it had gone with the other two he had fought in the Dewford caves…While it hadn’t been a loss, he would never consider either of them a win.
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”There’s the man.” New to the ranks, but that didn’t make him any less dangerous. Kouji steered his Iron Jugulis towards the man, altering the course of the Dark-Flying type, the mechanical monster gave a series of electrical sparks popping as a response before he jetted off in that distance.
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It’s wings played open just as the false mouths of the two auxilliary heads dead, a spread of hot wind to spread across the battlefield, a hello of sorts.
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”Greyson Connors, you’re gonna have to turn around buddy, can’t have someone as big as you coming onto this island.”

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