The mist was rolling in.

The mist was rolling in.

This was not a great thing. The sight of its pink hue meant that it was a special kind of mist and anybody caught in it was going to have a bad time which is why a masked hero was racing across the field as he was swallowed up by it. Even if wearing a mask didn't protect him from the mist completely it still provided some sense of protection. Mind over matter.

"Hey! If anyone is out there let me know! We gotta get outta here!" He's only had a handful of encounters with this stuff and all those times he could recall did not leave great impressions on him. If this war wasn't going to kill anybody than whatever came out of this plague was going to one way or another. No way he was going to let that happen if he could stop it. "Hey! Anyone out there!?" He just hoped he could make it time to actually stop something from happening.

"What's why I told YOU to get out of here!" he appreciated the concern but it would be moot if the both of them fell here. In hindsight it was probably a dumb idea for him to just take on this crowd by himself but all he wanted to do was just buy June a little bit of time. Now was the time to change up strategies if they both wanted to get out of here.

All the fire being thrown around made it hard for Kaz to focus however and it wasn't until he saw a salvo of rock throws being thrown at June from above that only one thought was on his mind now. Protection. "Watch out!" Pulling on the reigns Kaz and Noctis came up to June and threw up a protect to shield them from the rocks. While they protected them it left themselves wide open when a thunderbolt suddenly came down and struck both bird and rider breaking through the weakened barrier and soon fell to the ground.

Kaz's vision was blurry and his skin burned but he was still conscious and reached for a ball on his belt as weakly as he could. Opening one up an Aerodatcyl came roaring out and grabbed Kazimir by the skin of his shirt and carried him in its claws as the trainer looked over and returned his Corviknight back into its ball before it hit the water, he was pretty sure it was knocked out and wasn't going to be flying straight anytime soon. "We gotta...go...get us...outta here... Puto."

The fossil beast let out a roar and with its agility flew through the crowd. As it did its pressure that it exuded managed to scare off some of the Pokemon that chased after them much to their trainers angry responses. With how big it was if June was trailing right behind them they probably could at least ride its slipstream or something to follow after them if they were quick enough.

"Whoo! Yeah! Go Domon!" Watching his martial bear launch his brother across the beach and even the water sent a jolt of thrill right through Kazimir that was strong enough to make him jump to his feet. He had never quite felt like this before, a new high that he couldn't even find a reference for in his memories. Was this what a real heart stopping battle felt like?

Seeing the sudden explosion of water and the opposing Urshifu come down from the sky didn't stop this feeling. Normally it would make his heart sink but the sight of it was sending Kazimir. "C'mon Domon! You got this!"

What he couldn't see was that the Urshifu was smiling, feeling the same thing as his trainer as he braced himself for the punch to come right at him. As Qing made contact the sand around them exploded into rising pillars as the ground beneath them sank. Domon's face was full of fist and his head was turned around almost a complete 180 degrees. Any farther and it might have snapped.

That's when the two of them locked eyes. Pokemon and Trainer. Their smiles and the fire that was burning in their eyes communicated just one thing. That they were having the time of their lives right now and they knew they could go even beyond. So Domon toughed it out to show its best side to Kazimir.

With a roaring grunt the bear pushed against his kin to deliver a counter punch right into Qing's solar plexus to beat the last bit of wind in their body right out of them. Meanwhile Kazimir let out a chuckle. "Y'know. You two are real good, didn't think he'd meet someone else who could match him but Navy...but I guess that's why he's King of Fighters." Then he swung his leg around to give Kouji a roundhouse kick to his chest.

Glances kept being sent behind Kaz as he watched as the group of Rockets were closing in on them inch by inch, second by second. If something wasn't done then the two of them would be swarmed and thinking about what happens after that wasn't a thought he wanted to entertain. As his mind raced to come up with a solution his partner managed to suggest one. It wasn't a real pleasant one but their lives were way more important than what they were carrying, even if some might disagree with them.

As he watched June go down low and drop their cargo into the water Kaz was following close behind and was about to do the same when an air cutter whizzed past him and his bird. Looking back he saw that a few of the larger group managed to catch up to them and were almost right on top of them. He then looked back at June and knew he had to do something to make sure that she got out of this at least. Only one of them should get their ass handed to them by Rocket.

"June! Keep going! I'll buy ya a few seconds!" Kaz pulled on the reigns to swing Noctis around and as they did the bird let go of its cargo to throw it at one of the oncoming Rockets knocking them off their mount and plummeting into the water. Kaz held onto his bird with his powerful legs and raised his arms to strike a pose that ignited a glow around his body, "We'll cut to the future with our steel...Corckscrew Crash!"

Spurned on the by the energy that slipped from Kazimir to itself Noctis let out a screech as it rushed in spinning using its z-move corkscrew crash to barrel through the Rockets right above them and continued onto the larger group. Striking down a few of them it did manage to break up the larger group and get their attention focused on Kaz and his Corviknight as they came out of their spin and hovered above them and grinned down at them. "C'mon guys, why don't I show ya all a good time huh?"

"Yeah i'm well aware of how shit some of our own can be. Trust me I've heard stories about that." Personally he finds that while Rocket's deeds are much worse in the grander scale of things he did think that the League's own trouble makers probably had the more dubious character to them. Its probably why trust was a problem for the higher ups to really have with one another which made it even harder when while they couldn't trust one another as a person trusting their skill in a fight was a different matter. Its what makes the idea of going against them sound almost crazy to the vigilante. Almost.

"So don't worry, they'll get what's coming to them. The hammer arm of justice doesn't take sides." As the Dragon Pulse finds its way to the ghostly fish it bucks Pokkenger off of its back and into the water to save him as it takes the brunt of the attack. As the beam burns the skin of the Basculegion it manages to endure enough to find itself floating in the water unconscious before it disappears into light as the masked hero rises up with a pokeball in hand to swap out his fallen mount.

"But right now? You and Rocket are the immediate threat." What replaces it is a large insect that holds up itself in the water before rushing forward at the Kingdra looking to make a good first impression on its foe looking to strike it with its large claw.

As the wind from the energy that gathered around his brother belted against Domon he raised his arms up to protect his eyes from it and the sand. In between the small space between his arms as he saw a familiar sight. He knew the form that Qing took on, he could recognize it no matter what as it was one that he took a few times so this rush of power that he could feel pour from his brother was almost nostalgic. It brought a smile to his face as he braced himself.

Then the g-max one blow nearly took him off his feet as it pushed him back along the sand. Even if he was blocking it with both his arms the heat from the blow was starting to burn his arms. Still he knew he would have to fight through the pain and he was going to take the first step by literally planting his foot into the sand to stop himself from being thrown even farther.

Kazimir watched as the knife was taken out and then put away, a wave of relief came and left as it did. For a second he was worried this guy would go full Rocket and try to stab him while they fought. Seemed like the guy really did want to settle this with his fists, a man after Kazimir's own heart. As he gave himself a second to feel some relief it disappeared when he saw the man swing his leg down at Kaz's hip. Or so he thought as looking down gave him the opportunity to suddenly move his foot to meet with Kaz's throat and sent the man falling onto his back choking on air or lack of it. Out of the corner of his eye he could see his Urshifu trying his best to survive and he knew that if one of them were going to get out of this he'd prefer his partner making it safely out of here, so through the coughing fit he found himself in he did his best to strike a pose.

Kaz's body flashed with bright light that suddenly surged from Kaz to Domon as the Urshifu roared back as he felt his body re energized. Ice cold winds suddenly gathered around the beaten Urshifu's body as he clenched his fist and started to push forward again. As the icy winds swirled around him it centered itself around his fist as chunks of ice started to form a large spiked fist on the Urshifu's hand as it swung it right at Mega Qing with a sub zero slammer.

there was only so much standing around one person could do and the heat was wearing down the large man as sweat rolled down his face. he looked down to his water bottle and imagined the feeling it could give him if he just emptied it over his head to cool him down. then he remembered the damn thing was only half full and if he did that he'd pretty much just throw that water away. drinking it was enough but he needed to get out of the heat as fast as possible, the sooner the better.

his dreams of being drenched in water was cut short when something entered his peripheral vision and erased his dumb little thoughts. looking up he could see a small unown of all things floating around. it seemed to be staring straight at him. while he didn't want to say his dehydration was starting to play tricks on him something about a lone unown here of all places felt...odd. like it didn't belong but the more he scanned the area behind it the more he couldn't see any signs of more of them or at least a trainer in sight.

if it was all by itself and alone...

"lets get us a cute new buddy." he was quick to flick one of his pokeballs off his belt to release his ceruledge who stood tall and let the sun glimmer against his black armor. it took one look at the unown before charging forward with a shadow claw swiping right at the little alphabet creature. all the while kaz was searching through his pockets to see if he had brought some spare empties to try and toss them at it. adding one of these things to his pcs would be a nice feather in his cap.

"In a nutshell? Pretty much." The way its said pretty much confirms what Kaz thinks of it. Easier said than done. Separate the mystical powers and the dogs that follow him everywhere and what does that leave Kyle as? Only one of Hoenn's top trainers in the region. Easy Peasy.

"I've helped here and there. Some of it was helping the people of the region, some of it was helping us in Aqua deal with problems, where ever it was I pulled my weight. And that's sort of the problem." There's a moment where he takes a deep breath and breaks eye contact for a second before reestablishing it. "I feel like my best isn't good enough anymore. Or at least I'm not happy with it. I need to push myself not just for me but for everyone. I want to be top champ...cause I want to be someone who can bring hope to people. More so than I have been doing. They need someone who can carry the dreams of the people with them even if they can't."

A whistle left Kazimir's lips as he watched his partner take down the other Rocket with her Pokemon and their fiery tactics to send them flying to the ground. It was an impressive display and if they could see him they would see the man give them a thumbs up for their effort. The gesture didn't last long as his Corviknight suddenly jerked as they felt the tailwind suddenly pick it up and carry it along with it as it felt itself fly at a faster speed. Kaz just let out a loud whoop as he felt the wind blow through his short hair and break against his face.

When asked if they were still being tailed he craned his head around to see if anything else was chasing after them. At first glance he didn't see anything until there was a few black specks suddenly appearing in the distance. Then their numbers started to grow. That wasn't good.

"Hey-hey! I think we got a whole crowd behind us! We'd better get outta here and fast!" Whatever it was they were carrying must have been something Rocket really wanted in their hands. Which of course it was important to League in that case but was it worth dying over?

"Only two! But they're real persistent!" He didn't even want to describe how they've been chasing him down since yesterday and today was the only time he managed to give them a proper slip even if for a hot minute. Heck even their skill told him they weren't the average grunts but also weren't top brass, somewhere more in the middle. It was going to take a lot more than just luck to get these guys off their tails and while they were more than just him now seeing the poor Treeko get taken out tempered his expectations a little. Still he had to believe that they could get through this.

The Dusknoir comes rushing out with telekinesis that holds one of the bats in place and in the path of the ice punches and was almost ready to accept its fate. Almost. That was when its partner suddenly flew in front of the barrage and felt each punch leave a freezing mark on its body before the ice that crawled all over it became too much and the weight of it pulled them down to the ground. The physic hold on the imprisoned crobat finally waned and it wasted no time in going in for a bite on the Duskinoir.

Meanwhile down on the ground the twin Sevipers managed to find their way out of the haze and were quick to deal a pair of night slashes against the armarouge. The two slashes with their tails left purple marks across the knight's pristine armor as it felt its body suddenly hurt all around as their poison started to crawl throughout their body. The shock of it sent the knight down onto the ground and out for the count. "Tch! This isn't good... Try to get outta here! I'll hold them off!" He called to Yuina Higashi as he took out another ball.

This time another knight came out with its blades crossed as Kazimir struck a pose. "Let our blossoms dance from your ash, BLOOM DOOM!" As both trainer and Pokemon raised an arm to the sky flowers sprouted around them as the blade of Ceruledge glowed bright green as the flowers under its feet began to shoot rays of light into the sky that formed one larger beam that expanded and swallowed up one of the Sevipers as the other retreated back as fast as it could still hissing at the pair as their flower power z-move erupted.

The freezing beam was faster than the ghostly fish could swim and soon it felt its whole body burn with freezing temperatures. Even Kazimir was feeling some of the effects as he could feel his arms suddenly grow cold and frost starting to form around his visor and arm. His Basculegion doesn't fare any better as small chunks of ice starts to grow along his body. As the fish flails in its growing frozen prison it pulls a gambit to try and retaliate.

So its scales begin to glow as with a growl the fish launches said scales in a scale shot that homed in on the Kingdra to dig themselves right into its skin. The small heat that the move gave its body was able to slow the cold that grew on both the fish and its trainer which kept them from freezing but the bulk of the damage had already be done. Now they just needed to make sure they weren't the first ones to fall. "Seriously you Rockets sure love making a mess of things when you guys get involved. Ever consider maybe playing learning how to take turns doing that? This whole place could use less massive problems."

The compliments were welcome and brought a smile to Kazimir's face as it felt nice to know that at least the cover from the rain was appreciated. Although they all probably weren't going to spend much time under it if they were going to be looking for this beast and the people who went missing along this area. And speaking of beasts it seemed that a few people who gathered around him decided to share their thoughts all on the matter. From simple nature of a Pokemon to cause all this to the fact that it might have been poisoned by other worldly forces were honestly all plausible causes considering this was Hoenn.

Weird shit happened way too often here.

"Only the reports that they've been handing out. Lots of blood and torn up pieces of anything that wanders around here. Pokemon and people alike," He responds to Thomas Benoit first about what he's heard, Which is why I doubt its just a Pokemon being 'normal'. No normal thing is gonna go around leaving all this carnage behind. Not even the hungriest of 'mons are that dirty." Next he addresses Hyakkaryōran Tsubaki's deduction that its just being its normal predatory self. Something about the whole mess makes Kaz hesitant to just chalk it all up to that, its too clean for this mess.

Next comes DESIREE BLOOMS who's thoughts help him lead into Thomas' other thought about what's going on, "While I doubt those blue guys would come out this far it being poisoned doesn't sound too farfetched. Maybe it at least had a run in with a Vileplume or something." It sounded the most plausible compared to the little history lesson provided by Alba Evovae about old legends and the like. Honestly as Kaz took a quick glance at the weather they were dealing with it was probably safe to say that the whole thing was like a set piece for some old story.

That was when Vanilla Kingsley started to go from joining in their conversation for asking questions for Kazimir. Unfortunately as he stared down at her while his mind was trying to process and look for what she asked of him he knelt down with a sorry look. "Uh, I know a Kingsman but not a Kingsley. You might have better luck asking someone at some Ranger office. I'm just kind of a temp with them." Guilt flashed across his face for a second it stung he couldn't help this girl with her problem.

He probably couldn't have anyway considering the bigger problems they were facing. "For now why don't ya help us keep an eye out for those folks that were missing. We'd better start covering some ground if we wanna find any leads. Standing around ain't gonna change anything." As he spoke he rose back up and gave Vanilla a pat on the shoulder before heading out of the tarp, "I'll go on ahead. We gotta start somewhere after all."

As he walked he took out a Pokeball and returned his Urshifu who managed to watch over the people looking over the leftover ear. As he was returned to his ball Kazimir kept walking and threw out another ball to release a Ninetails that instantly lowered her head when the rain hit it. "Sorry girl, but ya think you can scout ahead for me? We're hunting today." The Shadow Pokemon let out a low growl as it turned its back on Kazimir and sprinting towards the swamp. Suddenly more copies of it started to rise up from the ground as it used double team to split itself and fan out to cover the most ground.

As Kazimir walked he came across a puddle and poked at it with his foot, noticing how sticky it was by how hard it was trying to not give him his foot. It certainly looked familiar but with the rain and fog pouring down it would be hard to tell unless he taste tested it. He learned his lesson that one time under the sea.

"Hey Thomas!" He calls out to Thomas Benoit, "Come look at this! I think your theory wasn't so crazy after all!"