"eh?"

His Tyrantrum is quicker on the uptake than he is and sees the crackling ball coming first. He almost throws Pokkenger off as a swing of his dragon tail smacks the ball away into the sand behind them. A stinging sensation is left along the tail's king but it is a minor annoyance to the monarch. What is more annoying is the one who dares to challenge them as he lets out a roar and rushes at the interloper.

The closer they get the more clearer they can see what or who it was that was attacking. "No way...why..." Why are they here? They should be enjoying a mountain of Zapsi. More importantly, why were they... "BLACK?!" The Tyrantrum wasted no time with questions. It was a beast of action who's jaws filled with chilling air as an ice fang would try to clamp down on the guardian deity.

Ouch was this what rejection felt like? they weren't kidding it did feel like a knife twisting in your heart. "How could you forget?!"

A lunge is what misses its mark as the Buzzwole charges at his opponent only for the glittery cockroach to take off into the sky 'cept not really. No looking up the large bug could already see that foot coming down and coming down fast. They both slammed into the deck as the Buzzwole laid there staring up at its new rival. No way it was going to go out this easy so it jabbed its nose into its leg to try and leech some life out of it.

Kaz and Garydos were probably doing better if only marginally. Its dragon dance managed to weave it around the bolts that rained down around them and able to perch themselves on the deck of the ship with their foe. Not only that but the serpent coiled around her and her two Pokemon to prevent them from trying to run.

After all no one just tosses lightning at it and gets away with it. "Do ya really not remember me? Lilycove Mall?" Unfortunately for his trainer he was still weirdly hung up about this so called "previous encounter" he made it all out be seen as.

"Shit!"

Kazimir watches for Matias as he sees the Poliwrath melt at the hands of molten rock. His own little Poliwhirl does its best to rush over in a vain attempt to maybe quell the fires. "No wait!" It meets the same fate as the Heatran turn their attention on it. Lava Plumes wash over the water type as its life sizzles out and its trainer can only watch in horror.

This was too much. One hand balled into a fist while another reached for a second ball and out came a Clawhitzer who roared at the incoming group of metal slugs. "Make them pay Rockbuster, Water Pulse!" The shrimp aimed its mega launcher and with a blast of water washed them away and down the tunnels they came back in. "This is already turning into a circus."

What he wouldn't do to have a hammer to beat them back himself.

"AND NOW FOR TODAY'S AMATEUR NIGHT WE'RE PICKING TWO LUCKY CHAMPIONS FROM OUR LOVELY AUDIENCE TONIGHT. SO WHO. WILL. IT. BEEEEEEE!!!"

Spotlights scanned the crowd of the arena as they cheered trying to grab it like it was a golden ticket. It probably was in this case as Rustboro was the sight of a small Pokemon wrestling promotion that was having their monthly "pick a pair of chumps outta the crowd and watch them clown around" nights. Amateur nights to those who thought they had what it took to actually make it a show.

Soon the lights stopped in two spots and both lucky winners were promptly grabbed by a pair of Machoke each and dragged down to the ring. One was Kazimir who was reveling in the attention he was getting from the people cheering him on. He was used to this, he did this, wrestling was more than a favorite pastime it was a hobby. A hobby he loved.

"You ready for a heavy Wynter folks!" He called out to the crowd as he wasted no time climbing to the ropes and hanging off the turnbuckle and addressed the crowd. They ate it up. Flicking a ball from his belt he sent out his Iron Hands Kou-z who was already doing the usual sumo tradition of slamming their foot on the ground shaking the mat below them.

As Kaz turned to face their opponent for the night his heart stopped. There standing across from him was...it was... "Howard? That you?!"

A training camp held so close to the League headquarters ensured that many who joined would fall off rather quickly so that only the best of the best were left. Was it a little counter-intuitive? Probably. Maybe it was better that they only had a few people who could take care of themselves. It meant that less people would go out there and be lost for the cause.

He was trying to be optimistic about all this.

Right now the group were given a bit of free time to catch their breath. They needed it. Everyone was pushing themselves hard and none seemed to do it more than Elise Calcifet who Kaz walked up to with an extra water bottle in hand to hand off. "You holding up Princess? They're putting us through hell today." He wasn't one for politics so seeing the Galarian Ambassador didn't quite strike a chord with him. What did strike one was how much she was pushing herself. He could respect that. The fact they were fellow countrymen was just a cherry on top.

Would they be remembered if they bit it here? That was a silly question.

They were both heroes weren't they?

"Deep inside or from the mist, does it matter?" They were stopping them from moving forward. So they had to be taken down. Lave Plumes erupt around them as the numbers thin and they were getting desperate. His Poliwhirl sees the Kricketune and sees the Heatran approaching it from its flank. A hypnosis and a thumbs up are given, one to the bug and one to the steel slug as it falls on its side asleep.

"We beat them back all the same." They were scarecrows after all, all in the name of the league.

Trying to catch these little buggers was always annoying when they were near electronics. Mostly cause you couldn't catch a TV infected by one. Well you could but that would be considered illegal. Still it was probably a good idea to keep in the back pocket. For now Kaz watched as a few entered and exited a few appliances and chucked a ball into them. He was bound to get lucky or buy something he broke on accident. Oh well.

"Oh everyti-!" His cursing of the situation turning into the absolute worst would have to come to a pause. As much as he wanted to hate the fact that they had just fallen right into their hands something was burning. It was burning right on his shoulder. Slipping down his shirt a patch of blue was spreading and a growth began to develop on not just him but his Urshifu. Both of them fell to their knees as their new chains grew into monstrous dried up heads that kept mouthing one singular word.

H...OME...

They needed to get home. Wait who needed to get home? THEY DID! THEY DID AND THEY NEEDED FOOD TO GET THERE!

Kaz's eyes darted between every one as he could only voice one thought in his head. Help. But another thought kept intruding into his mind. It screamed its desire and Kaz listened. He wanted to help right? He was a hero right? Helping those less fortunate was right right?

So he needed to help them gather food.

Thomas Benoit and Grigori Sokolov were big prey, big but strong looking, too much of a handful to take. Yuina Higashi and Vanilla Kingsley looked better, small prey and easy, but perhaps too small? Then there was howard slayte. Yes him.

He was just right.

Licking his tongue Kaz kicked off the ground in a dash to tackle howard slayte to claw him to pieces. And then eat the pieces. And then tear into him some more. Domon wanted to take some for himself too. To break apart his body, claw apart his body, to crush his body with an iron head charge right into his body.

"aye aye captain."

What with they had already found in this cave keeping eyes open wide was important. Otherwise they'd find themselves in the thick of it. Luckily for them MATIAS SILPH was a walking scarecrow for them. Unlucky for them was that Heatran started to spill out of the tunnels around them. Double luckily they were easily dealt with by a water gun.

The hold is loosened and Kazimir rolls to pull his arm out. As he lies on his side cradling his elbow he watches Kouji writhe on the ground. He hated how much regret he was feeling about it. "Sorry man, but business before pleasure."

Kaz remembered he was here for a reason and not just a fight. Ok he was here for a fight but a bigger fight.

"If ya wanna get payback, look up Kazimir Wynter." He slowly pushed himself up to his feet and stood over Kouji looking down on him. His face was nothing but apologetic. "I'll be waiting." He starts kicking his fallen foe right in the sternum to get this over with.

And kicking.

And kicking.

From behind a pile of bodies was a line of marching soldiers crossing Howard's path and as they marched the top brass stopped in its tracks making its troops bump into it as they all turned to face howard slayte. Then came the battle cry of war. What they saw was another enemy and ran up to him, circling around his legs and looking up at him with the eyes of soldiers ready to strike down the enemy faction. In fact they were so ready to strike him down that they let out another rallying cry to scream that they would not retreat from this man.

A pile of rubble shifted from the ruins of the base and rising out of the mess with a groan was a towering and wide figure with their back turned towards Howard. Turning back only their face was visible and covered in scarlet "paint" as they asked one question. "Is that another one?"

"Ok you had me, then you lost me, and then you had me again kinda." He understood the gist of it at least in some fashion. Control the fighting control the peace. Things like Legendaries threw a wrench in that.

"Maybe that's why we need more guys like you Duggie." There was an abundance of fighters ready to throw down on both sides. What they needed were people like Doug ready to patch up the people and their homes during and after the fight. Otherwise the whole world would be nothing but one big mass grave as morbid as that was.

To move onto a more positive note, well as positive as learning a whole twenty years of life was just gone like that, the truth about these dreams came to light. Leading a bunch of knights against all kinds of threats, having a bunch of kids, he wasn't even sure if he missed it or not. Maybe it was just the shock of the reveal being too great to just let his mind even entertain processing all that.

"Man...even in another life the gods just keep ruining everything huh? Wonder if those heroes from Galar will help us out if we asked, or even find them. 'Cause if not..." He turns back to the pile of Rockets they had gathered together, "Guess its stuck with us for heroes huh? And boy do we got our work cut out for us."

Papers and books were spread about the dining table in the Wynter house, all about various legends of ancient Pokemon and people from Kanto all the way to Paldea. Underneath the sleeping head of Kaz was a book on the isle of armor from his home region. Specifically about towers and dojos. About martial artists who honed their skills on said island thanks to the challenges they provided for them. "Need...to get...strong..."

He mumbled in his sleep. An Urshifu just walked over and placed a blanket on him and patted him on the head as it went outside for its nightly kata practices. The path to strength was never ending and everyone had their own way of walking down it.

So what was Kaz's?

What was Domon's?

...


The sea crashed against the cliffs as the lone tower stood as the only landmark all around. At its doors Kazimir looked up to see two symbols at the very top. Well truth be told it looked like two symbols but they looked like they were phasing into one another making them indecipherable. Kaz just went on ahead and pushed through the doors not even paying it any mind. Inside he was met with a familiar setting, the floor itself looked akin to a dojo with a staircase in the back that led upwards. The only noticeable thing was a large plaque in the middle of the room depicting some black and white smudging that looks awfully familiar. When he tries to voice the name of what he sees his voice is silent and his throat stings.

He rubs it tensely and looks towards the stair case and figures if there's no other path for him he might as well see what's up ahead. Climbing he enters a similar room as the ground floor yet instead of a plaque in the middle of the room stand two men. Navy and Kouji Matsubara. A mix of confusion and joy filled his chest; these two had fueled a fire inside of him and now he could sense it coming off of them. That fighting spirit. No words were shared between the three as they charged at one another.

Then Kouji snapped Kaz's neck.

The darkness he found himself receded and he found himself back in front of the mismatched tower once again. He went through the first floor again and was greeted by the same two men. Again they fought and again Kaz found himself ended by their hands.

Rinse and repeat.

After the fifth try he found himself shambling up a flight of stairs that they had been hiding from him. His hands were stained red and a small river of the same red flowed from above an eye.

On the next floor he was met by two Pokemon; Ceruledge and Armarouge. Twin knights that he grew fondly of ever since he discovered their species. Behind them was another set of stairs and each gave one look at Kaz before rushing him down. He gladly took a swing at them to meet the two of them.

Then his chest was impaled by a blazing blade.

He found himself back at the bottom of the tower once again. "Alright...let's try again." He failed the first floor a few times, then the second floor burned him alive a few more times, each time he would awake and then sleep. Over and over. Because he had to reach the top, he wanted to reach the top.

Soon he managed to get to the third floor with burns and bruises. Who stands before him is another pair, but a pair that he knows will be the most troublesome. skyler dross and bryan delarosa. Only now did it dawn on him the pattern this tower was giving him, people, pokemon, avatar. He was going to need to conquer all three if he wanted to reach the top. The drive to reach it was stronger than ever now all he had to do was make due on it. After all he's already been fighting pairs over a hundred of times now. He knew what to do even if they did have powers. Then wispy vestiges of their patrons appeared behind them, each glaring at Kazimir as they slowly became solid beings. "Oh c'mon, four on one is just crazy."

He drowned on dry land thanks to water filling his lungs.

And again and again he climbs. He fails. He climbs again. Maybe he gets lucky. At some point he loses count at how many times he's gone through this trial. Its only when he reaches the top floor that he finds his prize waiting. Standing there is his Urshifu holding a paper crown grinning as it had the words "king of fighters" scrawled on it.

"Oh you think your funny huh? Putting me through hell like that just for some sick joke?" Despite the anger he's still grinning, "Well then c'mon Domon, I'll take your crown and even your head as payback!" Both Trainer and Pokemon drop into their stances and charge at one another, ready to take down the other to be crowned as the king.

Then Kaz is thrown out the window of a four story building.