“I only had one tiny little thing about Vortigern, though, Navy doesn’t allow the Garchomp to fly even though the Garchomp line can surprisingly do,” he cackled quietly as he swung the bag around front and reached in for a plastic container that had the mentioned Pokémon treats.

“Oh, thanks for the heads-up,” he remarked once she mentioned how… bitey the Shelgon seemed to be, considering the Dragon-type seemed to want to go straight for the spread of food she’d laid out for them to consume while recharging their energy.

“Okay, here you go,” he gestured at the Bagon and Shelgon’s direction, making sure to scatter enough treats for them to pick off of. The Murkrow on his shoulder took flight to look for some Berries, considering that there would be some that could be found nearby.

Oh, man… before the meteor…

“Would you believe me if I said, just staying home with my partner and letting him spoil the ever-living daylights out of me with his home-cooked food?” he admitted a few minutes later as he then reached for an apple and gave it a light rub.

(Love you, Guillermo Marceliño!)

“I’m not moving until you answer my one question,” he continued.

Never mind if he was tired, there was this burning desire for him to know, because that strange mist from where they’d come from had seemingly triggered something inside him—the fierce itch to know.

“Why did you leave me back there when I couldn’t see anything? You promised… that you wouldn’t.”

Maybe that would be enough.

Of course someone was going to remain in mid-air, because two of them were down on the ground (again) and he was of the mind that—

“Are you both seriously going to stay down there?” he called from his perch aboard Kyouya the blue-plumed Braviary. And then what was up with the strange assortment of Pokémon they were all busting out…

“Does anyone have like a Turtonator or something? I’m trying to pick out what we can use for ‘dragon’s jewel’ and a ‘jeweled branch’…”

A few minutes later, the Braviary came swooping down low, before he revealed a Typhlosion. It was his best guess for ‘a robe of fire rats’ because… well, looking at what the Typhlosion’s back resembled, wasn’t it on fire? And it did kind of resemble a…

Yeah that was one hell of a stretch.

“So we’re missing two,” he hummed before seeing that they weren’t alone—huh?

Okay, why was there a young woman riding a Hydreigon out here—

“Oh my god, please don’t tell me you’re also lost?” he said in the other woman’s direction. But he couldn’t help but wonder if there was something familiar about her…

---

trying to help out #18 with Typhlosion as the ‘a robe of fire rats’ + also hello who dis new girl on the Hydreigon

“Oh, hell no,” he grumbled as he saw what they were up against next.

Did… did he bring his Gardevoir along? Perhaps… but not now, because those were Poison-types and they were the ultimate bane of a Fairy-type’s existence. So yeah.

“Nope, nope, nope, let’s move! Unless there’s a treasure chest in there or something we cannot avoid, we are skipping past anything that will take too much time to deal with!” he said firmly as he then made to take off in another direction.

Nope, he was not going to lose the Gardevoir this early on. Who knew how long (and how large) this place was?!

The Salamence that was airborne gave the other Pokémon in the room a sibilant hissing noise, before following his human companion to wherever they were headed off to next.

---

Salamence stares at the Poison-types in disgust…!

“Look. You’ve organized one big race and there’s a second big one coming up. Getting a public event like that is huge, you know. I’m here on the quieter side with just taking tours of the Sanctuary grounds when I’m not busy with the challengers that keep showing up at the front door,” he chuckled.

He then poked at the empty basket of fries, running a finger along the salt that remained on the paper before sighing.

“Having a Gym isn’t about winning at all, it’s about teaching whoever comes through that door about what you want to impart. Although… my style got a bit cramped because of the ‘you know what’,” he hummed with a pointed eye roll.

(The eye roll wasn’t for him, though. He would know if it was.)

“If we win, then fancy that, a rare occurrence! Kind of like winning the lottery. But then again, that’s kind of why everyone comes knocking on my door because I’m admittedly one of the easiest to get a badge off of when traditional battles are considered.”

He then took one more sip of his drink.

“…of course I give everyone a run for their money when they come knocking for the non-trad challenges—I mean, you know it because you went through it yourself! So did Isaac Merlo,” he cackled.

The poor Pikipek, though—he was sure that this wasn’t one of the ones living in the aviary (or the one that had become yet another indoor Pokémon because the ovine herd was pretty tight with keeping an eye on their other companions at the flat)—was literally screaming and crying indignities the moment the ‘not-quite-a-Salamence’ approached, before flying out of the Roaring Moon’s mouth and like.

Making a beeline straight towards Alexei chittering and chirping about how they were just minding their business and all that.

“…one last question, do they eat other Pokémon?” he clarified; making a mental note to read the report later after the match was over.

Even if the Dragonite wanted to take a swipe at the ‘Roaring Moon’, his Salamence decided to step up to the plate—so it was going to be a showdown between the ‘known’ and the ‘unknown’ along with…

“Hera!” he exclaimed as the Gyarados let herself out of her Dive Ball, roaring and just really, ready to cut a bitch get going.

(Looks like someone was excited.)

“You get first move!” he said as he made his way over to his side of the battlefield; Salamence and Gyarados ready for one hell of a showdown.

This was it—this was the turn that Safeugard would finally go down—and by then he had to either slam the gas pedal or hit the brakes—he had a nagging suspicion one of the two Pokémon Cian brought with him had some kind of a status move asides from Disable…

The kindly ol’ grampa dragon swung his head around, watching as the rocks railed straight into him but refused to give up—and retaliated with another Extrasensory burst.

Meanwhile, on the yellow Oricorio’s end—a Mirror Move of swirling and dancing caused the incoming Hydro Pump to rocket in the same direction; aiming for a cancelling of the move out because she needed the next steps to go all-out!

---

Drampa & Oricorio (Pom-pom) are out on the field!

Drampa gets slammed by the Ancient Power however weathers on and retaliates with Extrasensory on Kecleon; while Oricorio used Mirror Move to blast back with a Hydro Pump at the Froakie as well in an attempt to cancel the attack out!

“See, that’s also the thing,” he chuckled once he’d gotten on the back of his own Pidgeot, who spread her wings and was ready to take to the air.

“In the actual gym matches, it’s all natural flight and maneuvers, no relying on Pokémon moves too! Don’t count out the winds up there too,” he added—because he remembered how windy it had been when boruta maher had come knocking on his door to take the jousting option.

And what a fun match that was, too!

“So it’s also a test of trusting your companion’s natural flight instincts. You know, bonds and all that,” he went on, absolutely not sorry with the alliteration he made there.

(There really was a reason why he was the #1 non-trad specialist around these parts.)

“You ready?”

The Corvisquire didn’t need to say anything as she flew down to join the Bagon who’d literally just plopped down on the ground because even she was exhausted herself. Why was it so hot out here?!

(Steel and fire never mixed too well, but then again what did, anyway?)

The Murkrow on his shoulder chittered in Miss Freya’s direction in welcome, making a little ‘bowing’ gesture with one of his wings.

“Mostly busy, the challengers don’t stop coming! I’ve come pretty close to a couple wins, and one draw—a hard-fought one. You should’ve seen the Mega Garchomp that Navy brought out onto the field in his match; one hell of a stubborn jackass—and I mean that in the good way!” he recounted.

“Right now, though… well, she’s supposed to be out here on a training trip to increase her resistance to fire but well, see what she’s doing,” he continued as he pointed to where his Corvisquire had joined the Bagon with their shared exhaustion.

It was here he belatedly realized he was carrying something on his back—a small-enough body bag slung on his back that had snacks for Pokémon—lovingly handmade by Guillermo Marceliño of course.

“I have the Pokémon snacks to go around, can I give them some if that’s alright with you?” he offered as he tilted his head down at the Bagon and the Shelgon.

If there was a way to channel his friend’s RBF he would’ve done so already.

So instead, he turned to where the ‘hipsters’ were with this unreadable look on his face.

“Excuse me, my boyfriend is working in Fortree right now as the Ranger Captain,” he began with this dangerously-sweet tone in his voice, although if one was smart enough to read the aura around him it was definitely veering into the ‘don’t test me’ area.


“And the last time I checked, Navy is straight as an arrow, why don’t you ask him yourself?”

The belated realization that he faintly smelled of cola hit him a few moments afterward.

“Sorry about that,” he apologized with a wave of his arm. “Might need to wash the jacket off, though,” and with that he took off the dark-blue jacket he was wearing—but not before fishing out his wallet from it.

“Well, show me your Gym, I mean, you already saw mine all the way back out in Fortree,” he continued with the same unreadable grin on his face.

Was it time for a take two?

Apparently, Hera the Gyarados was the one dictating the whims of their rematch. Highly insistent on coming along the moment he realized that what Navy had said was indeed, fucking real (there was indeedy a Gym down in Dewford) they had to make the trip.

Mostly because she wanted her vengeance. (That and she was better than ever now!)

(Un)fortunately or should we say hilariously the only mode of battle available in this Gym was traditional—the kind that he himself was… he needed some serious catching up in this field.

There was a reason why he was the #1 non-trad gym specialist around these parts.

So, anyway, after taking the Teleport express to Dewford, he would eventually find himself outside the Gym grounds, several Pokéballs in his pocket—and one hell of a lot of anxiety because holy shit, what the fuck, why did it feel like he was going to self-combust on the spot out of sheer nervousness?!

“You know how… how different it feels? Talking with someone about the entire experience who wasn’t there?” he began quietly as he let his fingers idle and fuss around with the handmade quilt.

“Like how there’s a gulf between you and the other person—wait. Wait, hold up,” he backtracked the moment she mentioned that she and a certain silver-haired man were no longer together.

His thoughts went a thousand miles a minute at her proclamation.

“Was there any other underlying reason for the separation? Is it—is it temporary? Is there like, any chance of you two getting back together down the road again?”

Sorry for all the questions, however his behavior swung around like a hawk the moment she mentioned that she’d gone through a breakup of her own.

---

who ordered even more emotional damage?! timelined after this as if he didn’t have enough already good grief

“You should let your Garchomp fly, even if it’s just from time to time. See how that turned out,” he chuckled as he made his way across the arena and gave his Gyarados a pat; seeing as she’d already decided to pass out in a nap of her own on the ground.

“Geez, Hera, not here,” he chuckled as he popped her Dive Ball open and recalled her in a flash of red light as well. He then smirked at the little round of self-critiquing the other was giving himself.

“Well, if you have a peanut gallery as large as mine, and having that peanut gallery out watching their rep duke it out… easy to see why it happened the way it did,” he cackled once he was close enough.

“Even if it was a draw, you still gave me one hell of a match. You didn’t give up either, even if I leveled the playing field,” he added with a hum—he was already holding something in his palm.

“Hey, it still counted as a 2 on 2, just that they focus-fired on their own individual battles,” he went on with another chuckle, gesturing for the other to hold out his hand.



“For that show of charisma, uniqueness, bucketsful of nerve, and one hell of a lot of talent—you deserve this, even if we ended in a draw. Congratulations—and wait, you have a gym, too?” he blinked.

That was a surprise.