"I dunno." Rex shrugged. "Maybe there are women in there."

The door creaked open. There were not.

For a moment, Rex didn't reply. His gaze wandered the restroom like a demon infringing upon Eden. This was a world that no man had or would ever see again. He was here temporarily and with a purpose, but that did not mean that he belonged here. His eyes landed on pipes dripping water from the ceiling, resulting in clear liquid pooling at their feet.

Mighty inconvenient. The Sea Mauville folks could've at least left a decades-old wet floor sign in here as a contingency. It was rude of them not to. Hindsight was twenty-twenty, he supposed.

"I'm good. Just preparing to live out my life in prison when we make it back up to the surface." He was far too honest. A verified boy scout and battle junkie. "It feels wrong being here. It's exactly as I imagined it."

Like the men's restroom, but with no urinals.

"Let's see..." By Rex's feet, a Togepi followed him, demanding uppies. He eventually complied and scooped the egg up and held him close. "I'm not a kid, y'know. I can drink! I can adult."

With the pouty expression and the Togepi waggling nubby arms, that claim continued to crumble. He was more of a teen pretending at adulthood. The classic 'Pokémon Trainer' complex.

---

AIRI WATANABE
03. Address environmental hazards.

She deserved it. She had messed with Togepi.

Such a crime was paramount to treason against the Pokémon League. Calliope refusing to apologize to the little fellow meant that she probably kicked Growlithes for fun or something equally heinous.

"Wrong! I'm gonna be the champion! The strongest trainer of all time!" She was too close, and not in a good way. Each line of scarring, each tortured wound reflected in Rex's eye.

All he felt was repulsion.

"That's why..." Togepi's fingers kept wagging. "I'm gonna reach the top!"

The Metronome triggered, and Calliope was Teleported to the top deck of Sea Mauville where rangers ran around, evacuating staff and Pokémon.

---

Calliope Marks
01. Escort a group of workers or non-combatants to safety.

"I'll have you know that I gave a total hottie my number recently." It had been an autograph for keiko mori, but there had been a number scrawled on it. "And the people in Littleroot disagree! I'm super popular! More than you, anyway!"

He squirmed against her wrist, surprised by Calliope's raw strength. For someone who looked like they had lost a fight with a pot of hot oil, she had a remarkable grip. If she used it to give hugs instead of assaulting people, she'd be far cooler in Rex's book.

"You're scared I'll win! You're just a bully. All talk, no fight!"

The Metronome continued to build.

"Lemme go!"

---

Calliope Marks
41. Secure corners and blind spots to ensure the area is safe to act in.

He stared at the vindictive witch masquerading in human skin.

"That's. It. You're the worst!" Rex pointed a finger at the scarred woman with a mixture of wrath and contempt. His finger trembled as he pointed at Kanto's fallen star. "No wonder you look like shit, you're rotten from the inside out!"

'Toge toge!'

From the vent above, Togepi waggled its finger in agreement. The trained eye would notice a Metronome building, but unfortunately Rex only had eyes for the woman in front of him.

"Battle me! Right now! I'll kick your ass!"

---

Calliope Marks
27. Handle encounters with hostile individuals or pokemon.

"He's not a thing! He's a little guy!" Rex protested as Togepi waggled his fingers at Calliope. The younger trainer, meanwhile, rushed to Togepi's aid as Calliope proclaimed the innocent creature as little more than a nuisance. "Don't be mean to him!"

Togepi's eyes widened as the egg used Baby Doll Eyes to prove Rex's point. The duo looked pleadingly into the ex-champ's gaze, as if a few stares could warm her frozen heart.

"You gotta apologize! Apologize to Togepi!" Rex insisted, shaking his head earnestly. "Apologize!"

---

Calliope Marks
24. Offer emotional support to those affected.

'Toge toge?'

The Togepi looked down at Calliope from the open ventilation shaft, its small body making the cramped vent look vast and cavernous in comparison. It looked delightfully maintained, a ribbon wrapped around its head. It waved at the former champ, so tantalizingly close yet too far out of reach.

'Toge toge!'

The Togepi waved again, before waggling its fingers in an attempted Metronome. When it did so, a nearby Krabby teleported away, presumably to safety.

---

Calliope Marks
06. Use non-lethal methods to calm or capture rogue pokemon.

Sea Mauville groans as the ground beneath the preserve continues to buckle under the pressure of the Tera Crystals clawing at its foundation. They are an inconvenience. Ofttimes, they're a useful tool, powering the Tera Orbs that adept trainers used to great effect. Other times, they popped up and caused large amounts of damage.

This was one of those times.

Luckily, ollie morales and freya morningstar are quick in their responses, directing the Ranger Corps and the Pokémon League to the nature preserve's aid. The Head Ranger has come himself, and he subsiquently walks through the shifting halls alone. Water drips from the ceiling, pooling every few meters.

Yet eventually, he feels something by his foot.

'toge toge?' A Togepi looks up at the Head Ranger, before waggling its fingers urgently. 'toge!'

---

ollie morales
09. Use signaling methods to call for additional support.

Team Rocket. A bunch of wanton criminals, much like the mustache twirling villains in the films Navy had watched when he was young. They were evil and vindictive, but it hardly mattered.

When he met them on the field, Rex would win. No better practice than to wage war on the battlefield.

Littleroot had been a battlefield where war had been waged and time had turned lucid. Rex recalled the rusty screech of iron hinges from the locker he was hidden in, the faceless rangers that had pulled him from the rubble when the battle was won. When he had looked around for survivors, there had been fewer friends that he had started with.

It was a small town. A podunk. Hideo Kino did the best he could, but everyone knew each other and that made every death hurt slightly more.

"I won't die." His voice was firm, ambitious, arrogant. He shook his head once as he shuffled backwards, allowing the sheriff room to shuffle back the way he came. "I'll win."

How many trainers had told Navy those same words before coming home in shrouds?

---

Navy

Strength is a mantra. It is the only mantra that matters. It is the only prowess the world accepts.

People could be spoken down with soft words and firm ideals. Pokémon could be tamed with kindness and might. But you could not talk to a mountain, convince a wave to stop raging, appeal to the emotions of a blaze. Strength made them all bend and fold to the will of the one who held power. People and Pokémon were the same.

I will be strong.

There was no need to justify it.

Still, he tries to. Navy is one of the strongest trainers in the region, likely the world. He is mighty, but his might has been tempered by age and experience. So instead, he utters a word.

"Littleroot." He pauses thoughtfully. "Gotta be strong for them."

---

Navy

He seriously considered nudging the wobbly head to determine its consistency. As close and tempting as Charles's head was, Rex suspected that Elise would issue a royal decree and lop off his hand if he dared touch the thing dreams were made of.

Thus, he stayed his hand.

"It's fine, don't worry. I wouldn't dare make Calyrex sully his little hands. He's too cute to put to work." Besides, impressing a princess came with numerous benefits. Maybe he could become a duke or something in Galar and rule over all the poor people. Once he became champion, of course. "Aha!"

A locked door barred their path. Rather than let Elise handle it with her numerous Pokemon, Rex simply kicked the door down.

"HYAH!" He hit it once, twice, and it finally fell off its hinges on the third strike.

---

Elise Calcifet
43. Force open a locked or barricaded door to access a critical area.

Being forced into a women's restroom by some five foot nothing Gym Leader wasn't on Rex's checklist, but he had never felt more violated in this precise moment. A Gym Leader was breaking the rules, and not only that, she was making him an accomplice.

"WAIT WAIT WAI-" His protests are cut off as the door slams behind him and Tsubaki. The restroom is, put simply, filled with snakes. They dangle from the stalls, from the lights, from the holes in the ceiling and walls. Despite this, it's still somehow cleaner than half of the gas station bathrooms Rex had seen on his journey.

The ones he had seen in Slateport? Abhorrent.

"I'm not supposed to be in here!" Rex hissed down at her, his eyes flicking around the room. The snakes were secondary to defiling social norms, even if those social norms hadn't been enforced in this room for the past sixty years, give or take. "Do you want me to get arrested? Idiot!"

The Ekans began to sway as Rex fumed.

---

Hyakkaryōran Tsubaki
03. Address environmental hazards.

"Most people shouldn't give up just because they grow up." Rex said defensively as he slowly drowns in a vent filling with paper files. There's a lot here, like employment lists, budgets, accounting tables. Loads of stuff that doesn't matter to Rex. "And the best way to get stronger is to take the Gym Challenge and make it to the champ."

He wasn't Kyle. He wasn't Matias. He wasn't Melody. But they hadn't been the people they were now when they started their journey. They had simply been the ones who had committed.

If he kept going, he'd make it too.

That was what it meant to be a champ.

"I've got a purpose. A reason to do what I do. Didya think you'd end up as Elite Four when you started out?" Kyle had a purpose when he started, but when you climbed all the steps to the top, all you could do was look down. Rex would keep looking up. Keep climbing. Push the boundaries. "I'm gonna be the strongest."

He repeats it again. A mantra uttered in the films of old.

---

Navy
28. Recover essential resources or items.

Oh, she was a she? Damn. Hopefully the big dog didn't get upset at him for misgendering her. That sword looked surprisingly sharp.

"It's a one of a kind fight. Where else am I gonna find a big dog that wields a sword? I'm fresh out of Lycanrocs and Honedges. You're telling me that fighting her isn't something incredible to remember?" Rex peered through the cracked vent as he spoke, his eyes spotting the broken microwave sparking in the corner. "Besides, if I'm gonna be a champion one day, gotta practice. Gotta be the best."

Gotta be like kyle lopez.

Most of the Elite Four's Pokémon were iconic. Rex had once seen a Hattori mug for sale in a gas station in Oldale. The frog wasn't as dear to Rex's heart as Hideo Kino's Beheeyem, but someone had to rep Littleroot.

"Means that when I get up to Ever Grande, I'll beat you too. Don't you forget it!" Ignoring the fact that his badge case was empty, a war was going on, and the challenge had been temporarily suspended. "I told my neighbors we'd be champs, one day."

---

Navy
03. Address environmental hazards.