And there it was, the agenda fully bared for the world (heh) to see: little horny lizard for brains wanted to get in his pants as always, however…

“You know what… alright,” he would quietly concede, however he would still pull on the outfit that was half-on him already.

“…don’t shred the lace again, you did that last year! You know how hard it is to find lace stockings in my size!” he would continue; literally red everywhere visible the other man could see.

---

here we go again with the partying!

“Why n-not both?” he would reply quietly, bending down a little as his partner would ask him to; and on went the shirt the other was trying to get on him.

“Have… a little bit of instant ramen, and then some l-late night pizza,” he would suggest a few moments later once he was sane enough to get his arms through the armholes of the shirt that was being placed on him.

As the silence fell between them, the best he could do was look at his partner’s gaze, memorizing the color of his eyes, the now-shortened hair, the everything, the scent, just the entire physicality of his presence—

“You’re not going to disappear on me, a-are you?” he would quietly ask the other man once more.

---

timelined right after the end of the rusted sword raid; dorime

“Whoa… Bella, Bella!” he would shriek in return, trying to calm the Noivern down before the belated realization of ‘this Noivern is deaf’ sunk in; how was he going to get her to listen to him?!

He would try to get as close to the bat-dragon’s peripheral vision before the Air Cutter attacks cleaved through the mist—but there was nothing in the direction where they were aimed.

He then realized—if she couldn’t hear him, he would have to do this in a very different way!

Waving his fingers in the Noivern’s line of vision, he would then point to another direction; before flapping his fingers together like a set of wings.

Hopefully she could understand the cue to use Air Cutter in the direction he was now pointing at!

‘The battlefield is no place for people who are too soft.’

Maybe that adage held true in this case. While he was fortunate enough to escape the latest ‘curve ball’ that the region had thrown their way, it wasn’t without damage though. Thankfully none of the damage was physical; most of it was mental… or psychological, but we don’t tell anyone else that.

He’d also had to talk to Ethan, to Claire, to the rest of the staff about what had happened and if they were going to be alright with losing their jobs at the Sanctuary since the ‘main source’ of funding had been abruptly shut off… he guessed that this had something to do with that ‘gaffe’ he commited.

And Hideo gets off scot-free because he’s a kid? Where’s the justice in that bullshit? he thought angrily as he stared out the perimeter fence at nothing in particular.

It would take a warning squawk from his Braviary, Kyouya, that there was someone coming…

The Archeops would squawk quietly as the Archen fumbled the take-off; by nudging them with his beak, he would help the Archen get up from the ‘splat’ position they landed on the grass, before the Archeops flapped his scraggly wings again and took a hopping start before gently easing himself into the air.

“W-well, we’re not married yet, it was him asking if we could be like, boyfriends,” he would clarify. Although, there were plans on popping the bigger question down the road, he just needed to get the strength and courage to do it without spiraling into a panic attack and just fleeing from the scene!

“You know this peace isn’t going to last. Let’s enjoy it while we can.”

Because this was Hoenn, after all, and who knew what gigantic curve ball the region was going to throw in everyone’s direction in the future!

He sighed once more.

“You… you know how some people want their fingers in as many pies as possible?” he would begin after a belated period of silence. How was he going to breach the topic without letting his bias rear its ugly head!

“…it may be just me, but I can’t help but think that’s how the League wants. To keep an unnaturally close eye on anyone who has something on this level,” he would add as he gestured at the Calyrex.

As for her question about him using the Stormbringer all willy-nilly…

“I don’t think you were around here for the one time that I brought him out in battle. It was during the time the entire region almost got dunked on by a stupid-ass meteor, and everyone was stuck inside Hoenn and couldn’t get out.”

“First off, which partner are you asking for,” he would tease her with this mischievous twinkle in his eye, “…and second… yeah. Between the two of us, I’ve got more relationship experience. Although it’s all with guys, so there’s that.”

He would cackle a little bit.

“Well, you know how Guillermo Marceliño is, he’s very vocal about how we want things to be so we at least have that part down pat. He’s the more open one, while I’m the… you’re not going to believe this, but I’m actually the one who made him wait before I gave him my answer to a very specific question of his.”

Because back then, all he needed was time. And now that they had all the time in the world…

He would then turn his attention back to the Archeops, who was now helping the Archen get off the ground and flap their wings to fly.

“Aww, cute.”

“Honestly, I was already at my wit’s end because I had no idea how the hell I was going to top my performance from the previous competition that was held last year—the one that Gabriel won.”

Yeah… he’d won both iterations of Toukon so far; so who knew if he was going to enter the third one or just be a sideline judge the next time? Who knew?

“I seem to have a propensity of getting ‘tough’ Pokémon even if I’m this scrawny noodle,” he would cackle as they got to a crosswalk; while waiting for traffic to ease up he would turn towards where the Charizard now had her tail firmly wrapped around some of the other eggs.

“Hey, Rav, don’t squash the eggs, okay? Can’t risk it,” he would let the dual-type know.

Once it was safe to cross, he would then lead the ornery parade to a flower shop where the lady of the hour was, bringing out a whole load of flowers.

“Miss Bertha! We’re here!” he would call out, trying to catch her attention while sweeping in to help her get the rest of the flowers into their display buckets.

Much tempted as he was to use Earthquake to shake off the Toucannon Armada™, there were several factors that would render this entire thing moot:

• Toucannon were part-Flying type, and therefore had immunity to Ground-type moves,
• Wouldn’t it look silly if a Hydreigon used a Ground-type move in mid-air and look like a clown?

The loud, derisive cawing would continue assaulting both him and El; to the point that the ricochet fire of the remaining Bullet Seed attacks would pelt not just the Hydreigon, but the Togekiss as well as they both cleared out of the second obstacle!

(Sometimes, the members of the Toucannon Armada™ did their job too well!)

The next obstacle, though…

The sound of rumbling clouds would reach El’s ears, and if they were smart enough (or wearing a jacket) they would do well to throw up their hood before going into the next one!

He could only guess who had deliberately chosen to put rain after ‘bullet hell’; what with the way the next stretch of the course had torrential downpours and near-zero visibility. The risk of getting lost in the haze was pretty high, unless one had sharp ears and would listen for the rumbling of the thunder clouds up above…

---

Part 3: Welcome to the Thunder Plains; where near-zero visibility and torrential rain will hinder your journey forward!

Roll lower than the total of Alex’s rolls to proceed!

He had a feeling that it was Claire who had taken her challenge appointment, because for a few seconds he would turn around and notice that for some reason, the other Dragonite had seemingly frozen up.

Uh-oh. Was there something wrong out here? He was about to backtrack and fly towards where the Dragonite had seemingly stalled before—

One of the Charizards that flew too close to where the redhead was currently flying almost bumped her off the Dragonite’s back—space was tight, even up here!

The heat haze would seemingly disorient not just her, but him as well—because they had to clear this obstacle before going on towards the next one—and he already had a rough idea of what the next one was, because he could see the floating Stealth Rocks swirling in the grit after the aerial Charizard Alley had been cleared.

Onward, they would fly!

---

Part 2; Charizard Valley: anyone who owns a Charizard (or several) knows that keeping them all cooped up is bad; so it’s always a good idea to let them fly around every once in a while and exercise their volatile tempers in the relative safety of the air!

Roll higher to proceed safely through the rest of the ‘aerial fire valley’!

The good thing about being a Salamence was that you could eat the ‘standard’ trio of elements plus Electric-type damage without even batting an eyelash—and this was what Gabriel would do; never mind if it would leave him drenched from tip to tail as the Hydro Cannon would try to force him to land.

Well, it would work somewhat—however fact of the matter is that the Salamence would now be flying low, and close to the ground before rushing upwards at the shining, shimmering Milotic with the sound of crackling Thunder being the only warning as he would try to sink those Fangs into the closest bit of Milotic that he could reach!

“Careful out there!” he would warn the Salamence; because he knew that this particular draconid of his favored ranged battles; up-close fights were something that were just a little bit out of his reach.

---

Salamence is out on the field!

Salamence eats the Hydro Cannon to the face; before flying low to the ground and suddenly surprising the Milotic with Thunder Fang!

Most days would involve either Ethan, or Claire being at the front desk ready to greet whomsoever challenger came by to the Fortree Gym.

Today, however, was going to be a special case because it would be the Gym Leader himself out at the reception area.

“You’re early,” he would remark as he stood up from behind the desk. “And right to the point, too.”

He would then turn towards the right-hand side door—the one that led to the outdoor open-air arena, and then open the door.

“This way, please. The arena’s beyond the door. I’m Alex, and yes, I’ll be the one accepting your gym challenge today.”

Short, sweet, to the point. Pretty much it.