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''That's not what-'' but it doesn't matter. There was no desire to try and explain the idiom to the other boy. Needless to say however, he hoped the match ended soon enough that Hideo could make it to the bathroom. No one needed a win overshadowed by an accident right on the cusp of victory. And it did look like it was going well.
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While he could see well, the creeping shadows in the mist of venom betrayed shadow sneak, at least to him. As it was a ghost-typed move, he knew it well. The silhouette of the samurott within the cloud was getting absolutely pummeled and once again, the Blackadder boy had to ponder about the nature of his friend's pokemon...
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''Ab-fucking-fab, mate,'' he said as his opponent finally fell. ''Why did your gardevoir want to mega for that? Must have really taken that aqua tail personally, eh?'' But the tone of 'why are all your pokemon murderous' was clearly written in between the lines. ''You teach them to be that aggressive?''

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Covering his mouth, he was trying not to laugh at the chatot being roasted alive shouting 'fuck' all the while. Sadistic as it was, the situation was slightly comical. It probably wouldn't have been so if it had not been trained with that one profane word. Alas, here they were. As the supersonic washed over the runerigus it's one eye blinked for a moment.
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''Try a shadow ball.'' Andy said after a sigh, but his pokemon only glanced around, confused. ''Scirbbles?'' The runerigus instead deigns to cast crafty shield on volcarona. Which wasn't bad, he supposed. It wouldn't hurt Doug's pokemon after all. ''Scrib, get your shit together! We have a fight to win.''

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''And the herbal tea don't help?'' There was an obvious air of incredulity in the question. Tea was the lifeblood of Galarians, well any proper Galarian. The thought that the concoction did nothing for Hideo was worrisome and while he wouldn't say it out loud... frustrating. Was there something wrong with the people of Hoenn?
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They all live off of sunshine or some shit, he thought bitterly to himself. Andy almost responded to Hideo's question if he was sure about what when he noted the bracelet, and while his own megastone was far more gaudy, the function was no less the same. Knowing what was coming, he wondered why it was necessary to mega evolve on the samurott.
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''It's not taking the piss out of you that much is it?'' Both he and his gengar drank in the impressive sight. While he had seen other megaed pokemon before, none had been a garevoir, and it cut a threatening visage, like a vengeful widow. After the awe of the experience, he wondered when his friend had picked up his mega stone...

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Stumbling from the screech, the Blackadder boy nearly fell over from laughter if nothing else. He hadn't seen many pokemon capable of speech. While he did try to convince his rotomdex to spit curses, Buzzer had proved resistant to his cajoling. Now he had to try and find one of these... whatever it was...
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The other pokemon also shouted at them, though this was just an annoying racket. While it definitely had an effect on his eardrums, the both pokemon did little that bothered the ghost-typed runerigus. Andy figured that must have been something like normal type since Scribbles didn't even seem mildly irritated.
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''Know that saying, 'kill two birds with one stone?' See if you can get one Scrib.'' Making some ungodly hissing sound, one of the runerigus' ghostly appendage lashed up to slap at the chatot with brutal swing. If it started flying around all over the place, it was going to be an issue. Scribbles didn't have many ranged attacks.

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''You need to drink more tea, mate.'' The Galarian found the drink energizing enough to fight off the lack of energy. It was definitely relatable. Often did he feel drained, so long in fact that he took it to be his default state. His youth sustained him however, that and copious amounts of sugar filled treats. There were more pressing concerns than his frail body however.
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Underhanded as he was, was it uncouth for him to team up on the remaining pokemon? It looked as if Hideo had the situation well in toe before his opponent woke up and slapped the gardevoir. While he was unsure what the blind boy's pokemon had in its repertoire, he didn't want to steal his friend's thunder. So something more supportive was needed.
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''Taph, show him what it's like to actually be toxic.'' Floating closer, the gengar's mouth parted to blast the samurott with a poisoned mist. The distance was measured to keep Hideo's own pokemon out of the cloud. Epitaph was that experienced, especially given that he typically fought in tandem. Problems in Hoenn were rarely a one pokemon job.

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Wheezing in the darkness, his teary brown eyes stared into the void. It would have been a little more comfortable if there was at least a better view than this. With a particular huffier huff, something sank away within the boy, something that wasn't just physical. It was starting to become rather apparent that this was the final result of a long series of mistakes he had made.
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This was the end.
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I'm going to fucking die down here... It was an inglorious way to go. And he wasn't even sure he was even sure there would be some grand memorial. It was unknown if he shared the fate of being interred within the caves alone. Indeed, perhaps the slow onset of death would be the prelude to a bittersweet reunion.
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If he had not come to this cave... If he had not come to this region... If he had not left Galar... Then none of it would have happened. While breathing came hard, imagining he was responsible for the deaths of the people he cared about more than most in a long time definitely added a weight to each inhale.
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Perhaps he deserved this.
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Granted, all of those poor decisions had left him with a greater appreciation for the people around him. It also made losing them hurt all the more. He had been reckless, an unapologetic agent of chaos. Perhaps he should have shown a little more restraint, even if it would have been less fun. If he just hadn't gone into the cave...
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Giratina. What a fool notion to go looking for some ancient god. Where was he now? Wherever it was, it was of no help to him here, dying in the dark. Then again perhaps he was lurking around. What if the monster they had found had been a guardian, or test? Even then, he had surely failed. Outside of some passing HNN article, who would even know his cautionary tale?
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Closing his eyes, for all the difference it made, the boy wondered how long he would have to wait for the long sleep. At least he wouldn't have to worry about meddlesome adults anymore. A fact that didn't feel like as much of a bright side as he had hoped. Maybe it was Hoenn's fate to be doomed anyway. Yet how could he judge, for here he was with a sorry fate of his own.
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Meanwhile...
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Many things happen at once around the subterranean members of Search Team 1. Rocks and pebbles are tossed aside from the protective shadows of Hideo Kino's gardevoir, and blasted into dust by the mighty punches of Ruby Walker's urshifu and the electric touch of Eris Halla' own companion, the girl is whisked to safety fairly swiftly.
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John Sullivan keeps things on track as a life dew pulses around the group to mitigate the minor superficial injures. Perhaps the soothing touch of the dew will aid any anxiety building from the whole rotten situation. John Sullivan's orbeetles wouldn't allow their trainer to be assuaged however, as they pick of a mass of pissed off pokemon elsewhere in caves.
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And plenty of panic along with it.
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It might startle him them when Arashi Akiyama's salazzle comes skittering out of the darkness from the group's rear. Despite one of Arashi Akiyama's pokemon nearly causing another cave-in, the destruction wasn't without potential benefit. A narrow passage was opened that left into another cavernous mouth. In the direction of the earlier ping, perhaps it would turn out to be a shortcut.
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But who knew within this tangled maze of tunnels?
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The aftermath of Search Team 2's incident requires a little more recovery effort. While the cut suffered by Greyson Connors is nasty and may leave a scar, the floral healing his pokemon soothes him with seals the gash with ease. Whatever it cannot manage is further enhanced by Stormy Silph's own entourage and their life dew and heal pulse.
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The mending rain helps close the minor slashes suffered by Stormy Silph and Celia Auclair. Despite their desire to tend to their trainer in whatever way they can, his boltund continues sniffing around the team's excavation efforts. Joined by silvally, the two find a renewed trail. While aromatherapy further aids Greyson Connors, arthur finnian vanderbilt's kabutops and espeon clear the way for their compatriot's noses.
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While their combined abilities of ancient power and psychic uncover several rock crammed fissures from the old cave floor, the scent guided pokemon come to settle upon one in particular. Both stop at the same gravel pit in the ground. Unbeknownst to Team 2 this is the same fissure their missing youth took his plunge...
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Now they must decide how to proceed without causing the remnants of the cave ceiling and mountain side from dislodging where they've settled into the hole to potentially tumble down onto their rescuee, should he not have crawled far enough away. The weight of the decision is heightened by muffled rumbles heard in the distance. Small tremors shake the gravel around their feet.
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Search Team 3's situation is dire. Multiple explosions add to the stone debris of rock slide to immediately sweep Xander Belmont away along with his pokemon and any surrounding roggenrola. Buried under hundreds of pounds of rock, the events of only a few moments may prove fatal as the trainer disappears from his teammate's view underneath the tsunami of earth.
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Things fair little better for MATIAS SILPH. Caught in the same cascade of detonations as Xander Belmont, the cloyster's efforts are valiant, but the protect cannot withstand a barrage of this caliber. Buffeted by blasts the pokemon faints, protected from immediate death by its hard shell. The concussive force of the explosions too shower the Silph man.
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While thanks to the actions of his pokemon he isn't buried under some of the cave giving in to the destruction, the amount of sustained damage pulverizes his internals, a swift demise, as he is flung lifeless past the remainder of the team. The deteriorating situation likely does not encourage mint frost from their own state of despair.
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An iron tail sweeps the roggenrola and a boldore away from him, only for MATIAS SILPH to ragdoll into him and send the lone Rocket careening to the cave floor under the monstrous trainer, a cruel fate but not as deadly as party member's. A quick confuse ray prevents the posthumously tackled man from being assaulted further, as the roggenrola continue to assault each other around him.
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The yawn causes them to slow slightly. kyle lopez's naganadel mount reeling from a stone edge slicing into its carapace, it threatens to throw their rider as the mightyena does as it is bade, releasing a roar throughout the cave. The sound halts the plague of rock pokemon for a moment before they begin to turn, the effect of fear overriding the earlier rage powder.
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Eva Morales's magical leaves cuts a swath through the closest retreating roggenrola, leaving the lifeless hardened stones littering the ground as the gigalith and the remainder of its brood retreat into the shadows to eventually fade into the abyss from which they came. For a quiet moment, Team 3 can reflect on the carnage that has taken place here and appreciate the fortune theyhave by having kyle lopez in tow...
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...an avatar with a very particular set of powers.
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With the sandstorm gone, only the dust of the small cave in choked the air, perhaps causing a few rescuers to cough. The keen eared among them would catch the echos of wheezing hacks foreign to their membership. The devastation had opened passage into another section of the underground. While no less shrouded in darkness, a voice came.
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''Hello...?''
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The dynamic duo of Search Team 4 found itself divided as Allison Hawthorne lay crumpled and unconscious against a cave wall. Time was not on Kaida Adachi's side. The rhyperior roared in confusion and disgust as the acid spray cascaded over it. Stumbling further as iron head pounded into it, it struggled to deal with the unfair match-up.
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Attempting to ward off the durant, it lashed back with a scary face. That pokemon was the most potent against his conquest. With the dragon tail buffeting into its bulky shoulder, it swung around with a hammer arm to bat the dragapult away. There were too many of them. Glaring at the girl, he wasn't going to let her win!
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Stomping on the ground caused the cave to shudder as an earthquake threatened to bring the cavern down on all of them. A creature of pride, first the rhyperior had to be forced away by that masked dog, and now a mere human!? Unacceptable. Even dying as the result of his own actions was preferable, and the cave would give unless he was stopped.
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The dhelmise's grumbling about the stealth rocks had gone unnoticed to the boy (as I totally forgot about them), as he was paying more attention to the effects of the monster's power. The pokemon rarely disappointed and he wondered why everyone didn't have one of these.
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''Dhelmise, the sea terror,'' he answered man's question. ''They're rare.'' While the veracity of that statement wasn't exactly known to him, he hadn't remembered ever battling another. His opponent's next pokemon was familiar to him though. He and hatterines rarely got along...
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''A shiny?'' The question was more a rhetorical one for himself. This one appeared different from Hideo Kino's, so the answer seemed obvious. Either way, there was something that felt devilishly good about his coming command after having to deal with his friend's hostile hatterine.
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''Shiver her timbers, just like the last time, Skyler!'' Perhaps he was utilizing the dhelmise as a one trick pony, but he had yet to see any pokemon stand up to the steelworker enhanced anchor shot. With a clanking of its chain it reeled back the anchor to repeat the previous move with no less gusto.

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''Oi, drugs is hardly becoming of the League's finest.'' Perhaps the older trainer had made a jibe of his own, as Andy didn't see him as the type for such vices. The dramatic appearance of their foes had deepened what was perhaps a fake frown into a genuine one. This was destined to be interesting...
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''Did they always dress like this?'' He couldn't say he recognized the duo, but with the friendly introductions and hand jive it seemed apparent that Doug knew both well. Had it really been so long since he had been here? It felt as if a million years had passed.
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But then there was always something blowing up in the region. Good times felt like a distant memory. The Kantonian seemed eager to get started. The opponents tossed their pokeballs. Only the exploud was known to him. An old school bully had had one. The bird was alien to him.
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''Since you're familiar with that one, I'll let you have it,'' Andy said with a nod to the exploud. Knowing it was a normal type meant his runerigus would be useless against it. Most normal types he had made himself aware of. That way he knew when he was screwed.
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''Scribbles.'' The runerigus hovered around his trainer at the summon. ''Let's start with a bang, eh? Earthquake.'' Looking to hit both opponents at once, and one of the few moves he had that would be useful here, made it an obvious choice. The ground of the old encampment rumbled at earth chruned around the two.

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''A nightmare? Been a while since I had one of those.'' Of course having always had Epitaph around, they were being consumed. Ghost types could demand much from humans, even if just by their presence. Either unknown to him or unbothered by it, Andy didn't connect the two together as to why he was so thin and frail.
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''Anyway, Taph give him the old coup de grace.'' The trainer across from him looked worried with the Galarian's wordage, even if it was forbidden to actually kill a pokemon in a tournament such as this. The gengar knew what his own trainer meant however, using hex on the sleeping manectric.
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Afflicted as it was, the attack was twice as powerful as it might be otherwise. Already savaged by his the earlier attack, the pokemon fainted, beaming back to his mortified trainer's pokeball. It was a simple strategy, but likely not one that would have worked on anyone else he faced in this tournament. Planning rarely seemed to work out in his favor.
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So this experience was refreshing.

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''A tent's affordable even on League pay if you miss it that much.'' Perhaps a cruel jibe, as doubtless it wasn't the living in a tent that Doug found himself longing for. Having never really found much of a place in any 'community' himself, the Galarian didn't really understand. The changes to he locale, he noticed however.
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''See they wasted no time with cheap developments to cultivate hoodies and chavs though. Is that some of that Silph planning?'' Perhaps the man had had a say before stepping down. While their time here had been swell, other thoughts only fed the boy's aggression. ''So what sods are we pounding today?''
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With a cast of his pokeball, a runerigus appeared. Perhaps an unusual site in Hoenn given it was indigenous to Galar, but then that didn't seem to stop any number of different forms from showing up here. A big part of this tournament he had used to experiment with his less used pokemon, his B team. For most part this had resulted in unanimous loses...

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''Tch. So whatever the opponent's pokemon was it was a rock type, which didn't bode well for the shedinja. Immediately it fainted from the smack down. It was an empty skin, so without its wonder guard it was useless. Why was it that now matter what pokemon he brought to these, every trainer had exactly what they needed to counter him.
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Whose fixing these damn fights?! It had reached his ear that there was betting on these matches, but if he had to guess the ones that saw any real money involved much higher profile trainers than himself. Not that it mattered as far as betting went for himself. While wealthy, he only gambled with his life.
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That being said, any time there was money involved so was there corruption.
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''Alright then,'' Andy said tilting his brow downwards as the shedinja beamed backed within his ball. ''Like to hit hard do you, ya crusty shit?'' Tossing his next premier ball, the towering form of dhelmise appeared. ''Skyler Dross, annihilate this fossilized turd.'' The anchor's chain clanked as it reeled back.
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With a harsh metal racket, anchor shot blasted across the sand towards the carbink, the weight of its hit amplified by steelworker. While he had considered the pokemon rather niche, more and more he found himself relying on the dhelmise for its size and power, which was precisely why he had chosen the correct namesake.

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''Fucking dandy,'' he called in response as he pressed at his flygon to spur him forwards. ''Step on it, Draco.'' The flygon sped over the flags with a dragon rush hopefully narrowing the gap as his eyes combed the collection of colors to find the solid blue flag he needed to continue to the next leg of the race.
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''Shit...'' Everything was a blur, but he needed the lead. After being faked out by a blue and green one, he thrust his finger at one that looked correct. ''There! Get it!'' The flygon hastily weaved through the lines as it snatched it from its perch. Andy was glad he had picked this pokemon for this particular course.
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Anything else might have been too slow and uncoordinated, but a flygon was well at home in the air. Hopefully its dragon rush had gained him ground as his next mount, while a natural flier wasn't exactly fast. His beloved drifblim waited at the switch off to carry him to his next goal, and Andy wasn't sure the balloon would be enough without trickery.

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The sound of his teeth gritting in his ear made him worry he might have chipped a tooth and as the bone was flung towards. A dark attack for a dark attack. The impact reminded him of dropping china on the floor, although thankfully the polteageist didn't shatter into a million pieces as an inanimate pot would.
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''Jeely?'' The pokemon spun in the air within a daze. It hadn't fainted the dishware, but like any good Galarian, Andy could tell his tea wouldn't last long. ''Giga drain.'' Perhaps he could stretch Darjeeling's presence with this and protect, but the marowak didn't look in much better shape. With so little to leech from the other trainer's pokemon, he wasn't confident in the mileage he could get out of it.

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