noah picks up his water bottle by his feet. as he squeezes it, the plastic cap popped up above his mouth, he lets some of the cool water to splash over his face after he drinks. he dries his face with a small white towel, the insignia of his badge stitched in its corner.

his challenger arrives to his side and after ensuring that his own hand is dry, noah gives the other a firm shake.

"sure, hah! i'm down, man." noah says. "you got me, you got me. you know how to get and up close and personal, so you totally deserve this knockout badge!" he sets his water bottle down and carefully plucks the emblem from a nearby case.

as he hands it over, noah's grin softens. "gotta admit. i didn't expect that." his gaze turns serious for a brief dip. "but pulling stunts like that might make your pokemon resent you. keep that in mind, yeah?"

after the badge is given, noah pulls back, grinning again. he crosses his arms with a huff.

"come by for a rematch whenever you want. i won't go easy on you next time." noah winks.

oscar clayton

noah swallows his words as he's lifted, his body staggering about like a scarecrow in the wind without its bindings. quickly, he tightens his gut to steady himself.

"we paid plane tickets to get here. we're not gonna be homebodies the whole time—" noah runs his hands through kyle's hair with a smooth sweep— but at its end, he rustles it with a messy flail. "—but i am tired after all of that traveling."

the old woody scent of his home relaxes the limbs. his breathing slows and as he continues to play with his lover's brown hair, noah's voice comes out as a murmur.

"are you gonna let me down or what."

kyle lopez / vacation mission

as the pillars collapse, a blizzard billows through the town. teeth chatter, goosebumps rise. the gym leader navigates the flurry of hail with his partners, while his pokemon assume defensive positions.

echoing noah's past profession, they act as bodyguards for @iris, Noelle Lane, June Fair and Andrew Fisher. his falinks PROTECTS, his medicham DETECTS and his machamp WIDE GUARDS alongside June Fair's mr. mime to extend their wall of protection.

within the wintry winds, he can not see what is ahead. "careful, careful..."

OTisF|1e

tl;dr
machamp, medicham and falinks use wide guard, detect and protect in the hail.

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

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

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

seeing Andrew Fisher provides noah with a sense of relief. he shoots him a knowing glance. they had both made the journey across the turbulent dark. the pillars that slam into the earth resonate ominously. noah is quick to redirect his machamp to the pillar— calling upon his partner to join with the other's pinsir.

in the meantime, inspired by @iris's absol and its thirst for blood, his medicham DRAIN PUNCHES a naganadel that lunges with its stinger.

a still target allows the machamp to land an impressive DYNAMIC PUNCH against the east pillar.

he calls out to @iris, Noelle Lane and June Fair, should they be in earshot: "everything good?!" as the words leave his mouth, noah realizes he's becoming breathless. the briefest respite allows him to sense the shape of body, and how exhausted every sinew and tendon is.

t6NMQnbP

tl;dr
machamp DYNAMIC PUNCHES east pillar
medicham DRAIN PUNCHES naganadel
interacts with Andrew Fisher, calls out to @iris, Noelle Lane and June Fair

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

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

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

"alright, but i was like, born again in johto. what's your point, man?" noah spills clumsily from his mouth.

he tucks his feet into his slippers, yawning again as the comforts of home settle into his bones. the camera is caught. in the middle of the hallway, noah poses, raising a peace sign— but it's clearly too late.

"tourist attraction is right," noah says, nostrils flaring. "when the people of ecruteak realize i'm back, they'll swarm all over me." he flexes an arm and poses like a trophy.

he leans on his suitcase barely. the wheels cause it to tip.

kyle lopez / vacation mission

noah snorts. the flirting that leaves kyle's lips comes smoothly. no awkward footing. the courting has already been done, and so, they play, bound by rules they've secretly and unwittingly made for themselves.

punching the other in the arm, noah says, "actually i don't but," he squats before the door, lifting the raggedy brown welcome mat with a hoothoot in its center. around the circular bird, the words, 'home sweet home' are inscribed in lighter beiges, "aha! nothing's changed."

his gamble pays off. pulling the key from underneath the mat, noah opens the door and leads kyle in.

the home's initial hallway is narrow. a rack of shoes rests against the right wall and a variety of slippers await them below the elevated flooring.

noah has to carefully lift his luggage across the sea of shoes to set it inside. "welcome to where it all began. where the legend of the one and only machampion was born. well, kinda. not really, but play along, man." he takes kyle's luggage for him without asking.

kyle lopez / vacation mission

nestled among ecruteak's golden trees, noah's home sits quietly. the taxi leaves behind them and stirs up leaves across the lawn. the house is renovated— but the heart of it beats with an ancient rhythm. the arched roof and traditional wooden finishings characteristic of an ecruteak home are not lost.

noah breathes in deeply, his hand lazily cradling the handle of his luggage.

"it's time for the home tour!" noah stretches with a yawn, and unwilling to miss the opportunity to perform cliche, his stretched arm hooks kyle close. he plants a kiss on the other's cheek before moving up the driveway.

noctowl stone lamps line the path to the front door. unlit, they stare ahead as if gazing into the future.

"shoes off when you get in. also, we have baby photos all over the walls. it's okay if you knock them down." noah says.

kyle lopez / vacation mission

noah's medicham lands. the sound of its footfall is hushed. a peaceful pulse of almost-silence as the medicham channels psychic energies between its clawed hands.

however, the following maneuver catches both the medicham and its gym leader off-guard. there is no resistance from the other's blaziken. as the exeggutor is kicked in a flurry of fire, the medicham's PSYCHO CUT fizzles out like a decaying star.

the palm tree's thick trunk slams squarely into the lithe body of noah's medicham, causing it to wail. they arc briefly in the air before crashing into the metal fencing of the cage. the exeggutor rolls off— and the medicham soon follows, dropping from the wall to collapse face first on the canvas.

"no way." wide-eyed, noah recalls his medicham into his ball as the match is called.

oscar clayton

it had been a long time since noah exercised his martial arts like this. to strike without restraint— to allow fist and muscle to commit brutality under the star-scabbed sky of this night, does not give the gym leader particular thrills. instead, he numbs himself to it.

as the megalopolans around them fall, the naganadel that had rested by the fire departs with a shriek. instead of coming for its ambusher, it darts toward june instead.

another naganadel, previously unspotted by them, flies out from the shadows of the island's rock. it joins the other as his turtonator finishes the remaining enemies off with its pyre of flame.

"june! look out!" noah shouts. and as foretold by his partner, he goes crazy. with a running start, his sneaker grips the perch of stone before he leaps to grab on to a naganadel.

his hands struggle around one of their abdomens as he dangles below it, avoiding the stinger as the two naganadel stubbornly moves toward june to sandwich her.

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

June Fair

as noah loses his footing, he enters free fall. the sea below him beats against the rocky island, each wave a collective gasp of binacle and shellder. panic strikes his chest, clawing at his flesh from the inside as he remembers his brief minute of physicality in slateport.

if chance was a cruel puppeteer, then it would drop its wooden controller right before he hits the sea. noah swallows his screams, thoughts of home, thoughts of kyle lopez, and as he calls for his unfezant, he realizes his bird is long gone here too.

@hoennhistoria

noah faber boards alongside @iris (unless she is on a separate boat!), June Fair and Noelle Lane. Above the clamor of a rough sea, he hears Andrew Fisher's offer, but he hollers back, hand curved on one side of his face to keep his voice focused and loud: "already got one! join me when we hit the beach, man!"

he recalls his falinks and machamp into their balls. worried that their boat would be at risk of capsizing from the sheer number of bodies within the vessel. still, his medicham focuses on their sea route. a DETECT is committed to preemptively in order to discern threats hiding in the waves.

as they reach the shore, noah faber's machamp bursts out of its ball. the gym leaders leaps off of the boat as his pokemon grabs advancing megalopolan soldiers. he searches for Andrew Fisher as @iris's stun baton crackles like a magic wand.

"distracting outside forces!" noah echoes. as his medicham fights alongside his machamp, his own fists are too busy for him to properly pay attention to the marching building in the distance.

Joa1GMvd

tl;dr
leaps off of boat with machamp + medicham (detect'd during their boat ride)
distracting outside forces so that June Fair and Noelle Lane can liberate a building

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

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

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

"not bad!"

as he rubs his forearm across his brow, noah's smile does not falter underneath. in a similar fashion, the calm medicham DETECTS danger.

with a swift shift, the pink pugilist flips over the exeggutor. frosty hands grace the pokemon's multiple heads as the medicham catapults over, hoping to dodge the beam while attempting to cause the blaziken to strike its own partner.

"not bad at all!" noah shakes his head, allowing his tangled bangs to loosen.

oscar clayton

as noah runs from cave floor to pavement, he barely has time to catch his breath. he clutches his chest as if to calm his heart. all around him, broken windows and downed street lamps clot the streets. still, he wonders if this is all real.

his phone receives no signal. attempts to capture photos reveal black screens.

as he hides himself, noah waits for the next realm as the world around him flickers real then false.

@hoennhistoria