[attr="class","icon"]

the chop on the student's head tickles noah. he's reminded of his own training. a simpler time. a sepia-caressed childhood and all of its bumps and bruises. [break][break]

as he reminisces upon the rough, noah pets the wigglytuff. fingers swab through its soft tufts. [break][break]

"mr. naito." noah bows too, but one eye spies thea behind the master. he returns upright and his flop of hair settles about his boyish face. "and nice to meet you, thea!"[break][break]

noah withdraws his hand from the wigglytuff's delicate fur. he opens his folder, the knockout badge's design featured prominently on its face. from it, he pulls verdanturf gym posters.[break][break]

"hoenn's been going through it recently. we need strong fighters more than ever." he can't keep his eye away from thea. "thought verdanturf gym could sponsor your dojo. maybe even thea, herself?" he speaks with a cheeky smile.[break][break]

[attr="class","icon"]

slateport shines pristine beneath hoenn's sun. though it is built upon the bones of past tragedies, little scarring is betrayed on first look. commercial districts remain postered in celebratory palettes, while the beach is polka-dotted with rainbow and paisley umbrellas.[break][break]

however, should one look close enough, they would be able to find the quiet corners of trauma. abandoned alleyways. quiet memorials. new brick set among old.[break][break]

noah visits naito's dojo. he holds a folder of posters, business cards. he has done his best to look presentable—but all that means is that he has chosen his best athleisure to wear.[break][break]

"noah from verdanturf here!" the gym leader calls out. he looks for a damian as he surveys the premise. "damn, this dojo's one of the nicer ones i've seen."

[attr="class","icon"]

whether it is by intuition or past experience, noah comprehends the cryptic message. unease can be felt in his hands. the way they're loose in kyle's. how they struggle to find comfort in their default spread.[break][break]

but noah remembers to trust. over bergmite burger sauced wrapping and scattered salt crumbs, he squeezes kyle's hands. for awhile, noah stays like this. unwilling to let go.[break][break]

but inevitably, he'd would have to. hands release and withdraw to a lonely lap. warmth fades from the skin.[break][break]

intimacy fades into a fast food restaurant's din.[break][break]

"i won't." noah says. "i won't say a thing."

[attr="class","icon"]

"oh shit— look out!"[break][break]

though robin may marvel at the confetti lights, noah can see no romance in their brilliant, vivid menagerie. he runs for robin. arrests her hand before tugging her away into a forced sprint.[break][break]

like a balloon, the blacephalon's head reforms.[break][break]

noah's urshifu roars, warning the shadow toxtricity as another head explodes. the other two blacephalon prance about, tossing their heads.[break][break]

"that thing's killed so many of us, robin!" noah says. "we gotta go!"[break][break]

from alleys, crazed megalopolans begin to emerge like drooling larvae from blackened honeycombs. explosions erupt around robin and noah. blinding lights and searing flames mar their path. each detonated head turns into bursting rainbow swirl cake with all the ensuing colors cascading around them.[break][break]

"i swear, man. if you catch one and bring it to our gym battle..." noah says. half-jest. half-serious. his urshifu strikes a swathe of zombie-liked megalopolans away as he searches for an escape.[break][break]

a hiding space. [break][break]

anything to get them out of there.

[attr="class","bottom"]robin coello[break]
tl;dr POG[break][break]

[attr="class","icon"]

[newclass=.omgen b]color:#d172c6;[/newclass]
"whooooa, Greyson Connors's gotta watch out." noah ducks another chitinous caber. by now, it's instinct. adrenaline. should he stop to think too much—surely, he would die. "there's a new stud in town."[break][break]

but he wonders about the why. health aside, would one's constitution require that much attention if the region were free of threat?[break][break]

his machamp BULKS UP. rocks crumble off its flexed gray chest before the fighter returns to the trainers under electric glow.[break][break]

"time to get outta here." the gym leader pockets his flick knife. "you got a girl to come home to yet, aaron?"

[attr="class","bottom"]aaron faust[break]
miFUbvMK[break]
[break]
excursion e - rescue

[attr="class","icon"]

"you got it."[break][break]

noah swears he does not mind playing second fiddle. performing from the sidelines, delivering lines to those who may have forgotten their cues. and no clue can be deciphered from the way the verdanturf gym leader conducts himself. content. unconcerned. just the shadow after lightning's flash.[break][break]

"agility, then dig, hitmontop! trenches around its legs!" noah says.[break][break]

the hitmontop cries and accelerates. grassy clods sputter from the pokemon's pointed crest like a malfunctioning blender.[break][break]

noah slaps cian's back before lounging his hand on his shoulder.[break][break]

"your turn!"

[attr="class","bottom"]CIAN MAHER[break]
WCipRuQ8[break]
[break]
excursion c - monster hunter

[attr="class","icon"]

"fuck yeah."[break][break]

noah's knuckles bounce from lam's before they brace for the beginning. a shiver warps within him. anticipation's slithering; a serpentine countdown that curls around his ankles that noah will be forced to dispel.[break][break]

"hey, before i jump." noah says. "just wanted to say i'm glad you're on our side."[break][break]

within a flash of autumnal feathers, noah too, flashes lam a cheeky grin. his hisuian decidueye leaps past him and he grasps onto the neck of one foot as it passes.[break][break]

just before gravity forces them to plunge, noah manages to jest, "if i die, it's your fault!"[break][break]

he shakes his head immediately after—molting any real blame.

[attr="class","bottom"]lam logan[break]
nMdTkj0g[break]
[break]
excursion b - research station

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noah flexes his bicep. pats it like a proud baker admiring a new mound of fresh dough. [break][break]

"easy as appletun pie, dude." the gym leader says. [break][break]

slowly, noah's finger pushes the button on his ultra ball. from it, a scarf of spectral energy unfurls into a haunter's shape. its claws rise like blood moons.[break][break]

"i've got just the guy to watch our backs." [break][break]

the gym leader takes a few steps forward before peering back.

"ready?"

[attr="class","bottom"]kyle lopez[break]
B7n4wd9Y[break]
[break]
az excursion d - dark

[attr="class","icon"]

noah laughs as he arrives, tickled by the fanfare of the minor gym leader's introductions. her performance reminds him of an old career. of a simpler time. one made fogbound by rocket's breath.[break][break]

"you're getting into this, andrea!" the gym leader ascends onto his podium. all grins, he tosses his two pokeballs against the cage.

the metal fencing rattles as a HITMONCHAN and CHESNAUGHT manifest from cardinal light.[break][break]

"glad to finally meet you face to face." noah rolls his shoulders, stretches his quads. "alright! just show me you and your pokemon are capable of handling close quarters combat. you can do that right?"[break][break]

he expects much from the minor gym leader.[break][break]

the bell rings.[break][break]

his HITMONCHAN rushes toward the dragon-hooded girls' pokemon, while his CHESNAUGHT fires suppressive PIN MISSILES overhead.

[attr="class","bottom"]Andrea Vaneau[break]
tl;dr - hitmonchan rushes forth / chesnaught uses PIN MISSILE[break][break]

[attr="class","icon"]

the blows barrel into noah with little pause. sluggish limbs swing back—but knuckles bruise and crater his form. as pain erupts and consumes him like flame, the gym leader topples to the ground.[break][break]

noah can barely open his eyes. gasps are strained through clenched teeth, and his sweaty chest heaves to carry a burden he does not know.[break][break]

"who... did i steal? you're speaking fucking nonsense..." the gym leader asks. he struggles to lift himself from the canvas as the world continues to spin. as his vision whirls, he attempts to connect the dots: "kyle?"[break][break]

his GRAPPLOCT lays unconscious nearby. tentacles sprawled and loose.

[attr="class","bottom"]MATIAS SILPH[break]
tl;dr - grapploct faints![break][break]

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"what else can you show when your back's up against the cage!"[break][break]

noah assays noel's patience. his cool and calm. like testing punches, the gym leader's taunting comes in and out like bouncing springs.[break][break]

his CRABOMINABLE sputters steam. as the SHAYMIN emerges, the crustacean marches toward the SHAYMIN with little fear. though it is a bulky creature, its toothpick legs tap dance across canvas and surviving ice.[break][break]

but an EARTH POWER is difficult to detect. the fissure gasps and the terran javelin pierces the crab's abdomen to launch it away. the CRABOMINABLE'S UNCONSCIOUS BODY strikes the cage fencing—and before it can hit the floor, it is recalled.[break][break]

in return, noah's HARIYAMA is summoned. it raises its continental palms as a boxer would.[break][break]

"one versus one. just how i like it, man!" noah says. "how are ya feeling? right here, right now?"

[attr="class","bottom"]Noel Parker[break]
TL;DR: crabominable faints / hariyama summoned / noah asks question[break]