#noitxll

It was the first time in Hoenn for Hau- at least since he was a baby- and what better way to celebrate that than to visit a friend?

Noland had visited them in Alola before, it was only fair to return the favour. Not that Hau minded one bit! He had read about the Battle Factory before, but seeing it for himself with his own eyes? Incredible!

Once they were done examining everything, they returned to where Noland was situated, and leaned on a nearby desk.

"Pretty neat place you got here." Hau muses approvingly, nodding in a random direction.

muse visions / accepting!!

Yusei clenches his teeth as his D-Wheel rumbles down the Factory's strip, visor pulled low over his eyes. The modified, scrappy motorbike has never been constructed from the sturdiest stuff, but it is now officially on life support, air and brake fluid leaking out with every press of the accelerator.

Yusei clears his mind with a deep, steadying breath. Remember where you came from. This is nothing. And indeed, as unfamiliar as this 'Battle Frontier' is...it's pretty nice. Especially when compared to the Satellite slums.

Yusei's D-Wheel trundles on, belching smoke and other unpleasant fumes, as he wills it towards the Battle Factory garage slash converted hangar, glancing admiringly at Noland's slew of half-finished projects strewn about the yard. Warm memories of the Satellite flood back into his conscious, memories of foraging the junkyard for just the right parts, of foraging the big-city trash cans for everybody's draft chaff and bulk cards.

"Hey, hey," Yusei calls out with a slight wave, smiling as he takes off his helmet and waves at the Brain hunched over his workbench. "You're Noland, right? Sorry to impose, but..." He pats at his bike with a sheepish shrug, "...I'm having a bit of an emergency and was told you're the guy. Ran into quite the scary snake lady down the way and she said to stop by here."

The duelist grins, nodding towards the sprawling hangar-space. "You've got quite the collection here, huh? Cool."

As always, there's no holding back between these two, and Clair wouldn't have it any other way. Even in the heat of battle, there's a comforting catharsis to be found on these familiar sparring mats, an unspoken invitation to go wild versus an equally-ferocious competitor. Their shared, hungry flame burns bright, demanding they go all-out...and so Clair does. Against Noland, she's never needed to hold back.

Against Noland, she can finally let her inner dragon roar.

"...I'm just getting started," the tamer snaps back, bouncing on the balls of her feet, sharp eyes pinpointing her next point of attack. She'd never dream of making excuses--but it's been a while since their last bout, and Noland's hard-charging energy takes a moment to get used to, right out of the gate. Only ever a moment. Clair is quick to adjust, betraying a grin as that familiar adrenaline begins to course through her veins again.

It's time to go even harder.

he may never see the opportunity to speak to her so closely again, not for a long time, at any rate. nor did he ever anticipate standing center-stage of a contest hall once the gala reached its end. what better time, then, to offer her a hand, "do ya dance?"

As the evening wears on--a pleasant blur of handshakes, wine, and happy (re)introductions--Cynthia can sense the illustrious gala's fire steadily burning down to the base of its proverbial candle. There was still room for raucous enjoyment, of course (Wake was making sure of that, bless him), but an air of late-night calm was finally beginning to settle into the gleaming contest hall.

Sinnoh's champion can't help but feel a light pang of wistfulness in her chest. Perhaps Cynthia is forever cursed to arrive just as the party's about to run its course. In many ways, she hasn't even gotten a chance to sit down yet, but that's fine--the gala's reconnections, spectacles, and antics have all kept her preoccupied in the best way.

Still, it's nice to get a moment to herself, pensively wandering the dimly-lit dance floor as calming music hums through the air. Until...evenin'.

“Perhaps  if  you  actually  took  it  seriously,  then  maybe  I  would  stop  telling  you  otherwise?”

𝐍𝐎𝐓  𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐘  𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄  𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄  𝐓𝐎  𝐆𝐄𝐓  𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑  𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄’𝐒  𝐒𝐊𝐈𝐍;  but  𝐍𝐎𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃  seemed  to  get  under  his  skin  with  minimal  effort.  His  brutish  behavior  (  in  Wallace’s  opinion  )  was  most  unbecoming;  and  despite  the  man  knowing  𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐍𝐄𝐘  for  much  longer  then  the  champion  had,  𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄  still  had  his  concerns  and  DOUBTS  about  the  relationship  that  his  ELITE  and  THE  FACTORY  HEAD  shared.  Perhaps  𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄  should  have  had  more  faith  in  𝐍𝐎𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃  because  of  the  LONGER  history  he  had  with  𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐍𝐄𝐘,  however,  with  how  many  times  the  CHAMPION  had  witnessed  his  friends  broken  heart  back  in  the  day—What  made  this  relationship  any  different,  truly?

𝐀𝐑𝐌𝐒  𝐀𝐑𝐄  𝐍𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐋𝐘  𝐅𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐄𝐃  𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑  𝐇𝐈𝐒  𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐒𝐓;  expression  showing  that  was  LESS  than  amused.  From  what  he  saw,  𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐍𝐄𝐘  was  happy,  sure—HOWEVER,  the  CHAMPION  only  figured  it  was  surface  level  happiness  that  he  saw  again  and  again.  He  didn’t  realize  that  the  care  and  concern  for  his  FRIEND  was  a  bit  SUFFOCATING;  or  perhaps  he  just  didn’t  want  to  see  it  that  way.  “There  is  a  severe  lack  of  commitment  coming  from  your  end.”