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Sitting across from an Underboss, Theo Becket, Kouji didn’t feel as nervous as he should have. Perhaps it had been the fact he had undergone missions with this man, seen the borders and the mechanical kingdom with him, but it was a serious occasion, and so he didn’t treat it casually.
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”To become stronger, to learn more, and to build my ideal world.” Kouji stated it outright without playing around. He was straight forward with his reply, and he knew what that world was. ”A world where the weak disappear, and the strong prosper.”
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He didn’t care for weaklings.

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Standing across from one another, Kouji looked at the duo wrestling as he thought out his plan.
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”What’s your first plan in a battle? You must have some kinda tactic when walking into a pokemon battle that works best for your team.” Kouji tilted his head subtly to the side, he was curious how smarter people would approach this one. He had opted to maximise his strengths, and with time he had learned that came with maximising a weakness in his opponents.
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Simple, but it worked, and he had figured out a lotta ways to do that with his dark types, the moment he had added dragons into the mix, it had become even more straight forward.
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”Like your Larvitar, his strengths I’d bet are being able to handle crazy statuses like being burned, and coming out even stronger, when he evolves it’s going to be being able to take a hit and give it back even harder.”
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”But they’re even better facilitators, Sand is pretty useful for a lot of pokemon, it’s the kind of strength your whole team can rely on. You’re smart, if you don’t have one, you should figure out one. Then you increase how many options you have.”

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Absol had struck hard, and was about to be struck even harder, Detect was always an option but a call from his trainer changed that direction.
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”Route SS.” Self-Sacrifice, it was necessary sometimes, and Absol took the signal beam as he headed towards Kommo’o, it was a huge explosion off its back, most had been deflected, but even so it was a super effective move, Absol sat at the edge of consciousness as he used Detect to protect the other pokemon instead, tracing the path through its ability to visualise the future…
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Absol jumped into the path of Extreme Speed, taking the hit instead, it was natural that after this Absol was absolutely out. The pokemon fainted and Kouji retracted him into the pokeball before he ordered Tyranitar to step outwards.
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The vents in his armor opened up, and immediately began to kick up a sandstorm, some of which collected into denser and denser rock, a Rock slide was being prepared.
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”What’s the plan to fix it overloading? You gonna install more of those things?” Kouji asked just as Kommo’o began to smash his scales against one another, creating a large sound that spread forward and outwards, a shrill attack that was at the right frequency to cause harm, even to pokemon.
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It looked like the battle was seriously heating up!

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Kouji ran a hand through his hair.
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”Working with you? I don’t mind as long as you’re happy to hunt traitors with me.” It was a beast across from him, and one that couldn’t be killed. In a way he could figure out tactics to deal with guys like him, avatars, it was a deal that was difficult to understand.
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He looked at Bryan, his smirk dropped away as he slightly tilted his head, sized the man up again. ”So, you’ve got the God of Life, so who the hell is the God of Death amongst pokemon?” Kouji asked, with genuine curiosity in his voice. He didn’t seek to kill Bryan.
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But he felt that if he could kill Bryan, he could kill anyone. ”If someone else has that, they’d be your sworn enemy, right?”

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The place they had chosen to eat at, well it was at Kouji’s behest, he wanted some Paldean food, and that was what he was going to get. In all truth, the place was pretty nice, it opened up to the large lake that stood in the middle of the city, and they were presently eating outside.
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Still, it should be stated that Kouji’s meals primarily consisted of blending his meals together, and what that really meant was that…
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”Hmm, the Paella goes together really well with the Couscous and the peri peri wings they’ve got here.” He just put all of his food into the same plate, he was a man that was unconcerned with the sanctity of flavour, keeping different foods apart; in truth.
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”So what’s your theory? What do you think all of that was? I didn’t think about it a lot, not really. I just assumed it was like a super strong version of dream mist.” But the hole in his theory, in the fact that it was fake…Were the trinkets left behind.

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The psychic blade fell on Kommo’o just as Absol had finished his strike, it was a powerful move that sliced downwards just as he gave a shrill cry, a battle cry to focus his mind, his scales began to shake and waver in that moment just to begin the battle. He had his sights set forward as he recovered.
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”Tch, it over charged huh? Is your Absol gonna be alright?” He himself wasn’t concerned, not in truth. But he didn’t want to see a dark type get injured in a non-serious fight, it was that simple.
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But for Absol, things were different as Scorching sands whipped up, and struck it just as it had landed, his red eyes began to glow as the simple beam was loaded up, and he opted for the Sucker Punch at Luxray.
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Meanwhile, Kommo’o had finally completed it, his Clangerous Soul powered him up greatly, yet the scales he shook off signified that he had lost some of his stamina.

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Kouji looked over at Hitoshi before he gave a sigh, he didn’t like this thing either, he didn’t want to deal with this thing again, but then again that was fine.
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But the moment he thought about one thing or the other, it turned around once more. ”Get ready, we never really know what the hell it’ll show us.” Kouji answered just as it did in fact give them a viewing, a sneakpeak of a different future.
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No, this was the past, but was it their past?
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But he recognized this place, it was Galar.

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”Damn. You really hate yourself huh? Well, you’re in the right place, this is the self hate room.”
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It was funny to bring it back to that, but Kouji didn’t stop, but the hyper beam was rightly timed, not bad.
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”Your Larvitar’s got good instincts, maybe you can learn a thing or two. You can’t be scared of looking at what might hurt ya, plot out your exit routes the moment you get into a room, so you can just watch the threat, and run away…But never look back, that one just slows you down.”
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He remembered being chased by Garchomp through the caves of Dewford, it was a terrifying experience in truth, but it was just as much a learning experience. He knew full well just how terrifying these battles could be.
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”After you finish with these, we’ll get started with the actual pokemon battling part.”
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He threw another baseball, aimed at the man’s lower leg.

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Kouji stopped, stared at Grigori for a moment, and then began to speak.
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”Tch, that’s perfect old man who likes to dress as a chick speak, I ain’t projecting shit, just tryna protect these tea leaves from the hands of people who can’t properly appreciate them.”
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The man’s speech had some merit to it however, Kouji almost felt himself getting strung along, nodding along before he stopped. ”Yeah, you’re right. I’m just settling for good, when I can be going for great.”
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He paused for a singular moment before he smirked once more.
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”But, you’ve had a long life, a lotta experiences, how about letting the new generation try their hand at making their mistakes, I’ll share some of my tea with ya too. How’s that sound?” He said as he extended his hand for a shake, a subtle smile danced across his lips as he kept eye contact with Grigori.

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