the kiss comes suddenly like a renegrade wave crashing onto shore. surprise ebbs into warm complacement- but it is altogether too quick. too fleeting. noah, too used to being the one to initiate in public, is left burning.

noah laughs the cinders away, his voice curling at its end, "okay, kyle. bit early in the schedule, but i'll take it." he pockets his phone.

enticed by the chime, noah takes the bell. he moves in close and kisses the other's cheek before swiveling to press his back against the other's chest.

"now that i think of it, the bell's kinda freaky." noah frowns as he rings it. "you really remember like, nothing, yeah? did you feel any different? coulda had a concussion if you fell hard."

kyle lopez / vacation mission nov

"you can cuss if you want," noah continues to jog, only stopping to toss the occasional foam block back toward the walls, "i'm not the language police, man."

as a second machop resigns itself to an inevitable nap time, the remaining four become more frantic. although the challenge pits them against doug, the machop train by competing against themselves. whoever is caught last wins bragging rights, perhaps; the machop also wonder who will be the first to evolve.

noah refuses to pronounce the word entomologist with his own tongue lest he sound stupid.

"so you decided on bootcamp instead of studying bug pokemon?" noah stops jogging. "would you rather be a bug scientist or whatever instead, if you had the chance?"

his machamp tidies the room too. sounds of foam blocks slapping against walls echo in their little room.

[attr="class","pkspr"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon machamp"]

John Sullivan

the make of noah's gym causes the mind to predict bombastic entrances, frenetic announcements made by commentators with hoarse, mustached voices, and bravado slathered parades set to odd entrance themes. and yet, the genre is subverted. ji-hoon's pokemon initiate their challenge with emotive shapes, like masks of the commedia dell'arte.

the confusion extends to his hariyama. as the incineroar blows him off, the hariyama attempts to summon a SURF; however, in its confusion, the hariyama summons a circular wave that spreads outward from its feet rather than surge forth toward its opponents.

"gah— c'mon, fong. the incineroar doesn't actually think that. it's wrestling!" noah shouts, "fake!"

as his hariyama draws in deep breaths to clear its head, the medicham rushes for the slurpuff with wet steps. its dash toward the cotton candy canine is quick, for the enclosed ring forces claustrophobic combat.

without hesitance, noah's medicham aims to BULLET PUNCH more tears out of the dog.

[attr="class","pkspr"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon medicham"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon hariyama"]

Chu-e Choi

the questions begin to pick up speed. like bullets they fly. some shatter against walls and curtains behind them, while others directly hit their mark. when Katherine Fairburne bounces off his response, noah faber's breath relaxes some. despite their unified line of seats, it is easy to lose one's self in the constant blossoms of flash photography.

noah clears his throat to respond to the older reporter, "gym leaders and their trainers won't be the main response to uh, serious situations. we're a support team if they need more assistance and more well-trained pokemon. then again." noah pats his chest. the microphone picks up the firm thuds. "some of us are trained cadets, like myself. if there's a situation we can't handle, we've been instructed to let the respective authorities know instead of barging in like wild. good question, man."

he takes a swig from his squeeze bottle promptly afterwards.

@pressconference / Chu-e Choi

noah can not tire of the initial uproar of battle. as if springing from the earth in that precise moment, the cage ring's fencing rattles upward with every step of iron leg. enclosed tight by metal links flushed with light, noah faber's pokemon engage with contained intensity.

"focus on one!" noah shouts toward his medicham, "roda pull back. fight with fong."

the order is given and the maneuver is taken at the cost of being struck. as GASTRO ACID nullifies his medicham's TELEPATHY, the pink martial artist darts toward hariyama's position.

his hariyama does not retreat. instead, it claps its broad palms to summon boulders of rock (ROCK TOMB). they scatter around the sumo wrestler's position— not with the intent to strike, but with the intent to trap. his medicham slides within.

the hariyama stomachs the ZEN HEADBUTT as the metagross lands with a terrible crash. swiftly afterward, noah faber's medicham lunges to strike one of the metagross' legs with a DRAIN PUNCH, the attack prepared in case the cradily's acid was for damage.

it is clear however, that the ROCK TOMB surrounding the metagross, hariyama and medicham is not permanent nor is it indestructible. as noah's hariyama endures the metagross' punishment, the gym leader begins to bark his next command.

[attr="class","pkspr"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon medicham"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon hariyama"]

Cillian Quinn

"i'm gonna ring the fuck out of that bell. there's like, no reason being here if we don't, y'know?"

noah begins climbing the stairs. the staircase is surprisingly steep— and even to noah, who has navigated these kinds of stairs before, it comes as a surprise. he grasps the railing when he can and allows his hand to linger and lag as if to lessen the gap between them.

eventually, they reach a floor. effigies of ho-oh surround a fenced pillar that sways slow. the sun shines through, soaking the wood with rays and heat. the warm aroma settles with each intake of breath while greeting the tired soles of their feet.

noah pulls out his phone. its camera is quick to flash, the simulated sound of a shutter announcing the thievery of kyle's image. "alright, so here's the plan. when we get to the top, we can enjoy the view. do some kissing. take some pics for your social media, yada yada yada. then we ring the bell. sound good, man?"

kyle lopez / vacation mission nov

unaccostumed to such events, noah seems a little out of place. his gym uniform lacks the fabrics of formality, and his impulsive personality spills past clumsily on his tongue. there is no refined vocabulary: just feelings.

still, he does his best to answer. leaning forward against the table, noah comes terribly close to nudging the windscreens of the microphones.

"uh, so, noah faber here. verdanturf gym leader." he says, raising a hand. "at verdanturf's gym, we've been training a reserve of fighting-type pokemon and gym trainers to become an additional force to help officers and rangers in the local area."

he scratches his neck, fingers clawing at the stiff short hairs.

"but considering all of the craziness from the underground, i've been sending out gym trainers to rusturf tunnel to not only train there, but to patrol the area. and also, i plan on meeting with Billi Marsh, since he recently became petalburg's gym leader, to see if we can uh, figure out a regular schedule of communication in case any worries should come about and if we need to warn each other of anything we see around our respective cities."

he leans back in his chair. cheeks puff as he exhales nervous breath against the barrage of flash photography.

@pressconference

"hey! okay, so that's why the sign-up name was familiar." dropping his phone into his pocket, noah launches himself from a low bench.

like a braviary, he swipes the squeeze waterbottle beside him and uses the momentum of his small leap to swing the bottle's tip to his lips. "that was like, a year ago, right? "i was just texting kyle. we can send him a pic to say hi."

he squeezes water into his mouth before gasping brightly. refreshing.

"you're early. i dig that, man." noah unlatches two balls from his holster.

from their cardinal spheres, a hariyama and medicham are summoned into the ring. the show lights blare down like several suns.

"you're a capable trainer from what i saw." noah rolls his shoulders, stretching as he sets his water bottle down closer to his side of the ring. "close quarters combat. show me how you deal with it. should be easy."

noah begins to move to his side before pivoting back abruptly. a hand, swathed in a workout glove extends itself for a shake.

"you get first move."

[attr="class","pkspr"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon medicham"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon hariyama"]

Cillian Quinn

"guess i'm fucking cursed." noah shrugs alongside a sigh, his arms raising as his breath leaves him. "i can't believe you did this to me."

the woody scent of the tower is pleasant. almost herbal or fiery. it's hard to place.

"aight." noah shoots back quickly as he ascends the stairs first.

occasionally, the stairs would creak, the sound a warm echo of some consecrated past. noah pauses. with one foot on a higher plane than the other, he poses awkwardly in the midst of transition.

"i think the curse is getting to me already. you might have to carry me all the way up with your strong arms, oh noooo." noah says.

kyle lopez / vacation mission nov

noah jogs around john as he feints and fakes his way through capture. the first machop is captured, but it is quick to throw hooks— no jabs.

"they don't aim for the face." noah reassures, running in place, arms propped up in athletic form. "at least, i hope. actually, i dunno—"

the machop wriggles in john's grasp— but should eventually resign itself to being entrapped to its somnal fate.

"you said you were a catching expert, yeah?" noah asks. a machop leaps from block to block, laughing as it topples like a heap of potatoes. "is that your thing? catching all the pokemon you can? tell me about yourself."

[attr="class","pkspr"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon machamp"]

John Sullivan

"no, you're in the right place, man."

noah calls out. he's already positioned on the other side of the ring, both hands stretched around pokeballs. their crimson shape catches the light of the source fours above. diamonds of light are captured in the links of the cage ring's fencing, casting everything in a blurry white glow.

"ji-hoon, right?" noah says, tossing his balls against the cage. the balls bounce back and crack open before summoning a hariyama and medicham into the ring. "i'm noah. but you already know that."

his voice is loud. it expands, lungs filled with breath like those of a performer.

"we're here to teach you close-quarters battling," noah says, referencing the cage with an open palm, "so if you can show me what you got when you have your back against the wall, this knockout badge is yours."

his hariyama and medicham huff, already poised to strike.

"first move's yours though." noah says. "come at me, buddy."

[attr="class","pkspr"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon medicham"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon hariyama"]

Chu-e Choi

purchasing

1x tm/tr (60PD)
medicham / psych up -> brick break

small machop hands strike doug's palm. they're warm to the touch, torched by the ferocity of their practice despite their youth.

"you have to catch them."

the machop disperse all around the room. their reptilian ridges like streamers as they flee. noah's machamp sighs, as if recollecting a past it once had.

"they don't like nap time but," noah says, "if you catch them, they'll give in. just be careful. they like to hit back."

a gym trainer returns with a wheeled ball trolley. however, its canvas bag is empty, save for the small scraps of lint hidden away in its corners.

the trainer leaves as noah gestures to the bag: "once you nab one of these guys, drop them off in here." he laughs, flashing an enthused smile at the day's protoge. "i can help you out, if you want. feel free to use one of your pokemon too."

[attr="class","pkspr"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon machamp"]

John Sullivan