At one moment, he was desperately trying to look for Ash as soon as he got off of the tower. The next thing he knew, he suddenly found himself in the arms of a Dragonite.

Confused couldn't even begin to describe his state at that moment. Tired, worried, perhaps even relief. He could not comprehend what was happening, his heart still beating fast with adrenaline and his eyes unable to focus on one thing as the scenery changed in a flash. The blank expression that portrayed his confused state pretty well quickly changed as the Dragonite released him, dropping on the floor on his butt with a thud.

His brows furrowed as he frowned, trying to turn back to the Dragonite with an expression of anger before being interrupted by the foot push his back down. "Hey! This shit's expensive," was his quick retort to having a boot on his formal wear. He was quickly silenced by a series of roughing up, none of which Kyle had the energy to even try to fight back, besides matching his glare with his. He was smaller and most likely physically weaker anyways regardless of whether or not he still held his composure after surviving a traumatic experience.

Kyle was docile for the most part, but he wasn't intimidated quite easily.

He held his mouth shut as the male began started to ramble on, silently empathizing with him as he ended his story. He wasn't going to talk until he shut up anyways. His hands were busy dusting off his clothing as soon as he was released, having not paid much attention to the Gym Leader in an attempt to calm himself down as well. Brows were furrowed as he tried to contain his annoyance to being dragged all the way here when he was to look for his sister.

"Well, I was expecting free food. That's enough excuse to be there, right?" he'd comment nonchalantly as he finished his business with straightening his collar.

His expression would soften up as Mateo calmed down as well, huffing as Kyle massaged the base of his neck. "Thanks for apologizing, I guess." After hearing his side, Kyle somehow understood the actions that led him to becoming this guy's scapegoat. He wouldn't approve of it since he was on the receiving end, though he probably won't have any problems with it should he had taken someone else.

"What do you want to hear exactly anyways? I'm pretty sure the night went from listening to that Team Virus leader's speech to suddenly finding out that the building's burning."

If he cooperates, Kyle had hoped that maybe he could get home as soon as possible, although if he was to be fair, he was certain that Ash would still survive without him anyways. He supposed he wasn't in that much of a rush, but still, he wanted to get out as soon as he could.

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"Yeah, I get that a lot." He did not mind getting called useless if he objectively was, just like on this case of this gym leader's investigation. "Don't worry. You'll get lucky snagging the correct victim next time." If he was to say anything, it wouldn't have been anything worthwhile anyways. As far as he knows, everyone within the building had watched the entire speech from that assistant. Nothing would've changed if he got someone else instead of him, except maybe perhaps time being wasted on his part.

"Dragon tail?"

His priority quickly changed as soon as he was offered something that he hasn't quite yet experienced. He'd think that the atmosphere had already changed, but judging from how crudely he was being handled, he supposed being annoyed by his situation should still be acceptable. "I can see why you don't get visitors," he'd comment, trying to pull himself away, but eventually giving up as Mateo seemed to be persistent on bringing him along in this manner.

"I'll visit some day though. Dragon Den sounds like a good place to visit now that you mention it."

An explanation about the story behind the fountain probably wasn't needed as Kyle didn't seem to be interested in it whatsoever. "Sounds unsanitary." Water exposed to elements did not sound healthy after all. "Did you try drinking it before? I'm guessing it upsets the stomach." The words that came from his mouth were the first things to come to mind, not finding enough reason for him to filter his thoughts before blurting them out.

"And the name's Kyle. Kyle Lee, if you also want me to introduce myself by my full name."

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The ear? Really?!

A soft "Ow, ow, ow," was muttered by Kyle, adjusting his head to the direction of the force exerted by Mateo in an effort to lessen the pain. He had expected a retort back from him, but not the punishment that came along with it. "It'd be interesting if I was maybe ten," he'd mutter, rubbing a hand on his ear as it was released. Although despite of his love of fantasy and mythology based games and literature, Kyle had always been on the realistic side of things.

"Maybe I just said that I don't know anything so I'd get released sooner?"

Scratching the back of his head, he reiterated his reasons. "I already told you: free food, free drinks. Those high-end alcoholic drinks aren't that cheap to try with my own money, alright?" As petty as it sounds, it was the truth. He wasn't a fan of major events, more so of the competitive crowd that a gym leader and a top coordinator brought. He even vaguely remembered being bored as soon as he got inside. Food was the only thing that reeled him into accepting the invitation, outside of curiosity maybe.

"My sister was there. Parents weren't, so they probably won't know about this until the news reaches them."

Mentioning his phone, Kyle started to frisk his pockets before ultimately remembering the fate of the electronic device. "Oh, right. I lost it." Mateo had a perfectly valid point that he forgot to address earlier though. He'd look up to him and was ready to ask to borrow his phone, but ended up simply shrugging. "Nah, my sib's got it. She can call them if she wants." Kyle wasn't ready to face any reaction from his parents anyways, preferring to delay the inevitable and letting Ash take the burden of answering the many questions that he imagined their parents would ask.

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"Under your dragon wing..." he repeated.

The unnecessary addition of a word in the idiom had somehow gotten Kyle's attention more than anything, though he quickly got over it and focused on the more important points to consider in the abrupt proposal that Mateo brought up to him. "Gym trainer? I could be a lousy trainer for all you know." He wasn't sure why the Gym Leader had not given him the benefit of the doubt, and besides, Kyle did not have that much confidence in his battling skills anyways.

Still, he considered it.

"Well, I got nothing much better to do anyways," he'd muse, running his hand to the back of his neck, eyes straying up the ceiling as he weighed his options. He'd lean forward, crossing an arm as he rested his chin on his hand. "Free rent sounds good too. I don't think I'll need to learn how to talk to dragons though," he'd muse out loud. Him saying good things to him seemed to have swayed Kyle to his favor as well, though part of him still thought that it was just a marketing strategy to get him to accept the proposition.

He was, indeed, pressured into finding a career of sorts by his peers and family and perhaps the offer was just an easy way out of that trouble. Besides, giving an answer was probably the quickest way to get home. At this point, he figured declining the offer would just result to Mateo trying to convince him more to change his mind. He wasn't sure what the Gym Leader saw in him, still unsure about the sincerity of his words when they just met, but he knew assertive personalities such as him were difficult to deal with.

"You said I can leave if I give an answer, right? I, uh, guess I'll take the offer."

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"Ah, if I'm getting a dragon then," he paused, thinking deeply of what the following words would be, "can I request for a Bagon? I've always wanted to see if a Salamence fits me."

As much as Mateo seemed enthusiastic about the prospect of having his gym trainer, Kyle had just been nonchalantly trying to get humor him. Any sign of fear he had from getting taken away from one horrifying situation to another had mellowed down considerably with the Gym Leader's use of unnecessary inclusion of words associating to dragons in his statements. He'd acclimated himself with the individual for the time being, perhaps getting too relaxed despite the seriousness that Mateo tries to show.

"Wait, being a good trainer isn't enough?"

Watching Mateo basically flex in front of him, which, by the way, was very awkward, brows would furrow as he started to rethink of his choices. "I, uh, I think I'm good enough on those ends, thanks." He wouldn't consider himself to be strong on any of those aspects, maybe weighing himself as average at the very least, but at least he wasn't bad.

"You're probably making a bigger deal of me than you should be. I'm not even aiming for champio-"

He cut his words short as Mateo mentioned tonight's circumstances. He had been unable to do anything to contribute to control the damages done to the tower, and even turning to rely on other's to even survive tonight. Kyle did not have the ambition his sister had to even consider being at the top someday, though he knew he had to get stronger somehow. Mateo's statement rang on his head once again, the words being the one he tried to avoid. Thinking that he could've done better only brought guilt on his end, though he shouldn't deny it at any case.

"...well, you got me there."

He'd gently put away the hand from his chest, motioning his shoulders to a shrug. "I already told you I'd take the offer, yeah? I'm not someone who backs away from my word easily." His hands would go to his waist as his eyes lingered around the interior of Mateo's home. "If that's everything, I guess I'll go now. I still need to check up on my sibling."

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