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”Hahahaha.”
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It was a belly busting bit of laughter, he looked at it and found himself grabbing his stomach as Tyranitar let out a gruff roll from his throat; it really did feel like something special. He patted the shoulder of the creature who roared growled at him, almost ready to take off his arm…
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What a terrifying creature.
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But it was in that moment Kouji saw the small sable-eye poke around the corner, Tyranitar looked at it just as well. ”Crush him boy.” He said with a pat, and the creature that had too much aggressive energies worked up, charged forward with deadly intent as he threw himself forward, mouth open; crashing Sableye against the tree, which Kouji took as his chance to throw his pokeball.
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”Can’t miss that chance, think that’s everything here for me, what about you? Gonna try and carry on riding on that flygon of yours?”

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Kouji cracked his neck after completion, suicide runs huh? Sucked, he hoped that he wouldn’t be made to do them, but then again he was a new recruit. He’d have to deal with whatever was put on his plate.
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He turned his head towards Jayden, a smirk on his face. ”Mah, I coulda done better there, but I’ll take it. Learned the start from my old man, the rest came from street brawls, and martial arts to ‘correct’ my behaviour. My pops paid for it, and I got to fight, so nothing to complain about.” He put extra emphasis on correct, in reality it had only done worse for him. He had hated it at first, but people were adaptable, and Kouji considered himself to be especially so.
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Famous last words.
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”How far in were those two? They weren’t bad, just that they didn’t expect me to be as good as I was. Could see it in their movements.” It might have come from arrogance, training did that to people until someone even better kicked your ass. Kouji had run into that a hundred times, and he would definitely run into such things again.

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Kouji couldn’t focus, it wasn’t just a matter of waning attention, but the air itself that led to this, the call itself might have been part of it, but it didn’t really feel…Normal, and that sensation didn’t let him calm down.
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He didn’t overtly fret, nor make any show of it, the last person he wanted to show that vulnerability to was Harcourt, just thinking the name left a bad sensation in his mouth; but he didn’t get to dwell on that, not with the pressure that pressed him against the wall, or the white sclera that looked at him, locked onto him.
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”Un-” His voice stopped as words tried to force their way into his mind, they weren’t clear, but they were intense, and there was a clear meaning behind them. He just couldn’t grasp it, it didn’t make sense to him, as if there was a layer of noise stopping their words from truly getting across.
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Was this really a simulation?
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”The hell are you floating freaks blathering on about? Do you think I want anything to do with you gu-” That was his impulsivity, even a dream that felt like twenty years didn’t get rid of that habit, he stopped himself. His anger boiled under, and he took in a deep breath, he didn’t have the ability to move, nor grab his pokeball.
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”Still alive Harcourt, we fighting, or talking?” He settled, better to leave the responsibility, and potential chance of failure with the higher ranked one.

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The air was knocked out of him again, his back impacted against the ground, so this man couldn’t die? He wouldn’t be killed; it only brought the excitement he felt upwards as he attempted to stab his knife into the arm of the man in front of him, and gripped onto it tightly.
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It was an action done in order to hook his knife into the arm, even as he struggled to pull air into his lungs, it wasn’t the first time his lungs were emptied, and it wouldn’t be the last, even for just this spar. The man across from him couldn’t be killed, nor brought down, at least as far as he was told.
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It was why he went to pull it free, to slide it down the length of Bryan’s arm as he rolled away, out of his grip. ”Why haven’t you taken over a region or something yet? A guy who can’t be killed, can’t be stopped. Y’know? It’s one of them avatar powers, ain’t the human usually the weakness of those kinda partnerships.” Kouji said with a chuckle, it was so ridiculous it was hard to believe. The other man, Doug, was able to heal.
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”There’s gotta be a way to stop ya, right?” He said as he pulled in a deep breath of air, but that just made his back hurt more…It was bruised, but was it his muscles, or his spine?

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Kouji had expected to hear this voice at some point during his time here, the facemask he wore, the one that covered the lower half of his face, it was something that hid just who exactly he was to those who would care. But this man? Well, he didn’t really see a need, even as things had cooled down.
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He pulled down his face mask, gold eyes looked over at the man sitting up high, like a king looking over his kingdom. But then again, Kouji never cared for kings to begin with; he raised a singular eyebrow as he opened his mouth.
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”About twenty years I’d say, can’t say that it was a great time if I’ll be honest, Navidson, but at least my head’s finally where it’s supposed to be.” This was a second chance for him, he wouldn’t squander it. His old way of doing things simply did not work, it didn’t make sense, and so Kouji…
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Would win this time.
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”Does playing Sheriff make ya happy, or just finally going on a powertrip?”

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This place was strange, Kouji understood that; but at the same time…Was this really Hoenn? He wasn’t the brainiest, even after that whole…Dream Shebacle, he felt different to before, but that didn’t mean that much.
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The things he needed to do had not, and would not change.
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”Just take it if you want to, no point in pretending to be a shy girl; you’re the senior one here, you’ll just make whatever choice you had in mind already, yeah?” He said with a half smirk as he finished; it lacked the spark of youthful energy he had held a couple of months prior, but all the same.
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It still looked far too cocky, especially with what he was saying, so he went forward and pressed his hand on the rock, as if to take it; but that just caused the world to change.

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So this was that swanky new system? Kouji had skimmed over the email that had gone out, but all the same, he was interested in a new path for Rocket, it was just a shame that he was stuck with…him.
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It was a dull anger that thrummed underneath the surface, and there sat undercurrents of another feeling; far less dull, far more apparent, and one he disliked even more. Both showed on his expression, his eyebrows furrowed together, and his lips pressed into a tightline, yet he didn’t look at Zev Harcourt, but instead on the Ruins before him.
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The noises were strange, yet alluring; they were attempting to draw him in, or was that simply his curiosity? He couldn’t tell, but he attempted to shake it off by speaking; words into the air. ”What do you think, Harcourt? It might be a simulation, but you think it’s safe to go in?” He said as he looked into the darkness, he wanted to rush in; but he wanted to beat down that instinct just as well.
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He’d be burned enough times for that, but well; if it’d burn the two of them equally he might’ve considered that, but he knew better than that.

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Kouji hadn’t expected the switch, his eyes had locked onto the rapidly closing wounds; it reminded him of Doug, that annoying man; the one that had caused him the most pain on the day of that battle.
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So it was only natural that he found himself launched back, Bryan was bigger than him; sure Kouji was strong, but he was flung back regardless; forced to slide against the floor. The only thing that saved him was he remembered by instinct alone to slap his palms against the ground as hard as he could; to disperse the force of his crash against it.
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It still didn’t do anything for the knocked air from his lungs, but he forced himself back onto his feet as fast as possible. ”Oi oi, the hell was tha- Goddamn it, you’re an Avatar.” He said as he brandished his knife, made sure to hold it tightly.
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”Haaaa. Alright, this was exactly what I wanted. So you can heal yeah?” He said with an almost bloodthirsty smirk, his golden eyes brushed over the vulnerable points of a person.
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So he dashed forward, a wide swipe that was made to miss on purpose; a downwards slash that immediately shot back up towards Bryan’s armpit, in an attempt to at least disable one arm. Just how fast could this person heal?

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Kouji was late, which was strange in itself, but he was also exhausted; tired, and well, he wanted to be anywhere else but here.
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Terastilization, it wasn’t something he paid much attention to, but to think there was a pokemon here, and he wasn’t tagging along with one of the brainiacs. ”Yo, you’re Mirabelle, yeah?” He said with a wave of his hand, raised above his head; it was a lazy movement lacking energy.
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”Sorry I’m late, slept a bit too long. Though I’d have a nap.” He said with a loud, exagerrated yawn. ”You got any sights on where that pokemon might jus be?”

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Unexpected, having been launched by the explosion; that was what had come to mind, or perhaps it was the large branch that had blown him off his feet, or perhaps it was the fact he was lifted up not long after.
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”Whaaa?” He mumbled out, though it was more of a slur; he struggled to collect his thoughts, voices were mere whispers due to the ringing in his ear; he couldn’t hear, and his heavy eyelids made it difficult to see as well, but he gritted his teeth, and bit down on his cheeks to see just what the amazing sight before them was; he held on tightly, as tightly as he could.
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He’d come across all manner of trainers, those who wielded legendary powers, those who wielded legends, those who wielded feral beasts that were merely contained rather than caught. But this was different, teamwork perhaps in its purest form; a well oiled machine between the trainer and her pokemon, everyone of them knew what they needed to do. It was an impressive sight, one that was rocking him out of his own stupor. He could see and tell in that moment, that this Cygne was a strong trainer.
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”Can’t…be shown up here.” It would end without his being able to do anything of use, these Unown would faint from this combination attack, he could see that as easy as day. ”Absol…You’re up.” He stated as he threw his pokeball, releasing his pokemon, the white fur glistened as rain fell upon it, as the wind caused it to shake, and as ice got caught up in it.
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Yet, Kouji pushed it a step further, his flick knife that he held began to glow, and his Absol with it; energy coalesced, his fur grew longer, as if forming wings onto his back, his horn extended, and found company with another smaller on the other side, and then there was the fringe that fell lower.
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”We’re going all in, use Night Slash.” He told his Absol, in that deadly spiral; it might have been suicide, but he believed in the blade of his oldest partner, and Absol dashed in without a hint of hesitation. Absolute dependance, it wasn’t trust, Kouji had never fostered such a thing, it was simply two creatures that relied upon another over everything else.
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So Absol did, the horn on his head elongated, surrounded by dark energies as he leapt into the whirlpool of death and ice, a large slash that cut through it for only a fraction of a second; creating space that was immediately filled up, and frozen over as he found himself swept up in the blizzard, the rest of his energy spent after the earlier battle.
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But, the intensity of that whirlpool was enough, the blizzard was overkill, and the Night Slash was entirely unnecessary. ”Adding rain ontop of that is just cruel.” Seeing as the rain had been there first, it might not have been accurate. But, their terrible trial was coming to an end, bits of data spiralled out of the whirlpool, jettisoned into the distance.
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It was constant, almost like a snowfall itself as mismatched colours were shot into every direction, and rained down upon the landscape, the last of the unown, scattered into the air. Rather than meaning, Kouji could only look at it as now devoid of it, they didn’t look like letters anymore, but mere bits of pieces.
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”Guess…It’s over. Never touching another Trebuchet again.” And just like that, combination move exploded, their terrible enemies were now gone .

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Kouji did not take the hand offered; instead looking at the cluster; they were up to something, something big, he could feel it, and it wasn’t the various things that were being pulled towards them and reconfigured, changed.
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The rocky earth took on a metallic color, the soil beneath took on the color of…some kind of liquid, it was clear, and it combined together, forming a shape. That of some kind of rocket, one that immediately crashed down onto the ground, creating an explosion.
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But they immediately formed another, a stronger shape, larger, and Kouji’s eyebrows couldn’t shoot up any higher. He had underestimated them, but it turned out that these pokemon were nothing to laugh at.
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Unown were dangerous.
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He switched out his Absol with his Meowscarada. ”Use protect, and surround that.” He stated as he looked to his pokemon who immediately nodded, and did just that, a purple spherical barrier beamed to life around it before it could crash onto the floor. He’d come up with something, something to be used, and the missile was just that. ”Go to the Trebuchet and use Ally switch.”
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His pokemon had just done that, switching with the missile just then…
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What he hadn’t considered was the proximity to them, and what he hadn’t considered was the weight. Unlike one of his teammates, Kouji most definitely was not an engineer, as the Trebuchet fell apart, it exploded; a shockwave strong enough to reach them, enough to blow him off his feet.
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Even if his face wasn’t facing up, Kouji really was seeing stars.

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