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Gilgamesh easily dodged the attack as the Nidoran tried to keep up with the speedy water type. However, Kressen knew enough about Nidoran to know using Vice Grip would be a bad idea. The poisons barbs on the pokemon could easily afflict his Krabby with poison losing the match for them. That only left bubble for his offensive move. "Alright then Gilgamesh use Bubble!"

From several meters away the Krabby blasted forth a small flurry of bubbles that zoomed towards the Nidoran. The attack was met by Nidoran charging through them with his horn, popping them before the bubbles impacted his body. Thus the bubble was rendered ineffective much to Kressen's dismay and the student's glee. "It looks like you're going to have to risk getting poisoned if you want to win! Nidoran use peck!"

The Nidoran charged forth once more only to be dodged once again by the Krabby. The kid's right. I'll have to risk it if I want to win. This is going to be a bigger pain than I imagined. Gilgamesh didn't seem as worried though. The king of Krabby simply clicked his claws eagerly awaiting an order from its trainer.

The Gym trainer may have already realized that Ben's Pokemon were stronger than his, but Falkner had told him not to give up without a good fight. So, gathering himself as much as he could, he called out his next attack. "Pidgey, use Tackle!" As his tiny bird scratched its claws on the floor, getting ready to charge, Ben also called out his move. "Pidgey, you Tackle, too!" Both birds squawking, they took off at a run toward each other, meeting in the middle with a collision that sent the younger Pidgey skidding back a few feet. Ben grinned and nodded. "Good job, Pidgey! Finish it off with another Tackle!" The Gym Trainer looked horrified as Ben's Pidgey charged again, slamming into the weaker bird so that it gave out a weak cry, the other trainer waving his arm emphatically. "Okay, stop! This guy's done," he said quietly, calling back his fallen Pidgey with an almost angered glint in his eyes.

"You may have beaten one of my Pokemon, but let's see you do it again!" he said as he tossed his second Pokemon. Waiting to see what he would be faced with, Ben's expression grew amusedly exasperated at the sight of yet another Pidgey. It seemed like this battle would end up going the same way, from the looks of it. He was a bit surprised at himself for the way he had ruthlessly handled the previous match. That wasn't the way he usually battled, was it? He was a nice guy, really.. But his desire to win was so strong right now, being in a Gym, that he might be letting his strength go to his head. He'd have to be careful about that. He was sure that the Gym Leader wouldn't be beaten so easily.

"Lucky me!" Bugsy cheered when he saw Aerosmith show the telltale signs of becoming envenomed. He honestly wasn't expecting it to happen so fast, but then again, this particular Beedrill was always a bit of a go-getter. However, Jett countered with quite an impressive looking attack of his own. It did indeed show the Poison Bee. Despite being quick in the air, the species was very much a fair weather flier, and did not fare well in adverse conditions. Tucking in his wings to avoid any permanent damage, the Beedrill was tossed helplessly through the air and hit the ground with more force than the trainer or Pokemon wanted.

"Get back up and show that Beautifly your Rage face!" It was just an expression of course, Beedrill couldn't emote aside from their oddly luminescent eyes. Regardless, the Pokemon either understood the figurative intent, or just didn't care, and righted himself. His aforementioned eyes glowing blood red, the bee shot into the air and with a high, frenzied buzz, thrust his stinger forward at the pesky butterfly.

------

Mike had stared death in the face twice at this point. Once with a quiet acceptance, and the second with wild, hysterical laughter. Neither of those emotions were present in the boy as he shuddered underneath his umbrella. He tried very hard not to cry out for Kasi's help every few seconds, but in his current state, his bravery faltered more than once. Surrounding him were a crowd of phantoms, who tried in vain to keep the rain away, swiping at it with their intangible, shadowy claws. The chatter between all of them was so loud and cacophonous he didn't make out Kasi's orders to Shocker before the Raichu was released. The flash of light made him yelp, as he thought lightning had just blasted a hole in the ground near him. His guess didn't seem to be too far from the truth considering the Pokemon released. As happy as he was to see the mouse and her protective field, seeing Kasiya run off made his heart sink. "Kasi!" he cried, impulsively reaching out for her. A drop made it through the screen and splashed on his hand. "Agh!" he shrieked. "She hasn't left me! She hasn't left me!" he repeated, his body glowing brighter as his heart picked up speed. "I trust her!" he yelled over the chatter of his phantoms, which now were all screaming in confusion and pain.

The mere minutes that passed where Kasiya was gone felt far longer than any collection of seconds he had ever experienced. Each lightning strike made him quiver, and even though Shocker's Light Screen kept the majority of the rain at bay, some scattered drops did manage to find their way through, along with the mist that accompanied most light rain, and that was all but unavoidable as it wafted through the air. The pain was like thousands of tiny microscopic Silkoon and Cascoon were rolling across his skin.

Suddenly, in what may very well have been hallucinatory wishful thinking on the part of his psyche, the clouds dispersed and the previously warming afternoon sun returned with a vengence: which is an emotion Mike could both respect and admire.

Are we safe? a phantom asked.
"I'm not sure." Mike replied, blinking at the sky. He had been tricked by his eyes and mind before, but upon surveying the scene and spotting Kasiya's Meganium, he knew it was no mental illusion.

Of course. Sunny Day. That move that Nitro has. Why didn't we think of that?
Pure, frenzied terror toward the situation at hand?

"I t-told you she wouldn't abandon us." Mike stammered. "She always comes though! Always!" Still very shaken up by the whole event, Mike slowly dipped the umbrella down to not get any lingering drops on him and rose to his his feet: albeit weakly. Rosemary was here, but where was Kasi? Leaning to the side, he saw his girlfriend face face down on the ground and immediately rushed over. He fidgeted in place as a wave of emotions rushed through his mind.

The danger is gone, so help her up.
Don't be stupid, look at her she's drenched!
Who cares? Wrap you shirt around your sleeve.
Then what will she wear when she washes her clothes?
...nothing? I fail to see the proble-
You're not helping!

"Hey. Thank you, thank you!" he rambled. "I love you, you're the best, and I swear I would help you up and hug you for literally an hour if I could right now but we seem to be in-what can only be described as-an amusing role reversal." His brush with danger hastened his words, which came out mostly jumbled as he tried (and, of course, failed) to make light of the situation and sound coherent at the same time. "You know, where now you're the one rushing into a situation to save the day and end up with a messy wardrobe and I can't touch you because you'll hurt me." His reflection in a nearby puddle caught his attention. The rain, while painful, had blemished his skin in such a manner that it looked like he had freckles. Considering all of the trans-formative effects his new abilities had on his body as of late, this one wasn't so bad. They looked strikingly similar to the kind that Kasiya had, honestly. "All to save your ephelis-coated love." he chuckled at the situation, but the laughter was so pleasant and infectious that he soon lost himself to a fit of giggles.

The people walking by, who saw the situation entirely out of context, must have found Mike to be a tremendous and complete a*****e as he stood over a rain-soaked girl laughing his a** off.

"Shocker, could you please give us a hand?" Mike asked, between giggles.

It wasn't surprising to find that the next room was virtually identical to the last, though instead of Randall, Keegan found himself looking at a girl. She shifted somewhat nervously on her feet but tried to keep a neutral expression, her gaze flickering from the redheaded boy to the Ninetales at his side and then back to the redhead again. "Welcome to the Defense Room," she said, giving a slight nod. "If you want to continue, you'll have to get past me - Alexia!" She looked a little more determined as she released her first Pokemon - Keegan could see a second sphere hanging from her belt. A medium-sized Pokemon appeared in front of her, pink in colour and sporting a pair of long, rabbit-like ears.

Wigglytuff, Keegan thought, resisting the urge to roll his eyes and laugh and instead gave the nod to Helios again. The fox saw nothing amusing about his opponent and quickly stepped up to face the Balloon Pokemon, upper lip curled back in a rare snarl. "Let's make this room a 'Speed Room' too," the redhead chuckled, pointing at the opposing Pokemon. "Helios, Heat Wave." His magnificent tails all seemed to move with minds of their own as he summoned the power for what was easily his trademark move. As the Ninetales exhaled a widespread, scorching hot blast of air, Keegan idly wondered if he'd seen Helios use this move since his evolution or not. Regardless, it was immensely more powerful than it had been when he was a Vulpix and he and the fox tried (with little success) not to smirk like a pair of jackasses as they hoped their pink opponent would be dropped with one attack, just like the last.

As the blistering heat faded, however, the pink Pokemon would prove to be a bit of a nuisance as its green safety barrier faded - a quick use of Protect. Alexia's grin matched the one Keegan had previously been wearing, and she leaned back on her heel. "What, you think it was going to be easy?" she called in a taunting voice. "Wigglytuff, Disable!" The Balloon Pokemon hopped forward, its large blue eyes shining as it stared down Helios. All the Ninetales could do was stare back in confusion, completely unaware of the fact that he could no longer remember how to use his favourite attack. Keegan only shrugged; Helios had plenty of other fire attacks at his disposal.
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While most people probably would have been amused by Karrigan's response, Damien narrowed his eyes and frowned in annoyance, making it somewhat unclear as to if he didn't quite get it or just didn't appreciate the comment in general. PokeDex still in hand, he silently looked the item up and quickly learned that there were only two Pokemon that could evolve with its use - Onix into Steelix and Scyther into Scizor. Karrigan hadn't mentioned an Onix, but if she'd had a Scyther, it was likely she would have sent it out during their training when they were back on the ship, as for obvious reasons, Onix were not allowed outside of their PokeBalls. Feeling as though he'd solved the mystery (knowing that it would be one of two Pokemon, at the very least) Damien closed the device and returned it to his pocket, looking over as Karrigan pointed out the Casteliacone stand. He didn't return her smile nor did he answer her about coming back later; if the ice cream was 'famous' it was probably horrendously overpriced.

Looking past the redhead, however, he saw the smiling worker dishing out cones to a happy-looking young couple. Nothing about that seemed out of the ordinary, at least until he noticed the grizzled old woman standing behind her. Damien knew almost instantly that she was not of the earthly variety, as not a single person so much as glanced in her direction. Damien pretended not to see her as well, once again cursing his "gift" as they passed by the ice cream shop altogether. They were definitely in the right part of town though, as storefronts lined the busy street seemingly from end to end. It seemed like a wide range of shops had set up business here, as there were cafes and clothing stores as well as stores for trainers and just about anything one could imagine. They even walked by a seemingly random and out-of-place XXX store and Damien was sure to shoot the most judgmental glare he could manage at the shady man exiting with a brown paper bag in hand.

"This sounds promising," the dark-haired youth commented tiredly as he and Karrigan stopped outside of a little shop cleverly dubbed "Evolution Corner". Conveniently enough it was even located on a corner, if one could wrap their minds around that one. Without waiting for an answer from his redheaded companion, Damien entered the shop, glaring up at the tiny brass bell that jingled to signal their entrance into the little store. "Let's make this fast," he grumbled to Karrigan, motioning for them to split up so that they may find their required items faster.
=====
After managing to get off the piers without further spills, Miharu followed the rather geographically-minded professor back in the direction of the Pokemon Center, as she seemed to know exactly where to go. Essentially, they unknowingly followed in Karrigan and Damien's footsteps as they turned down the exact same street as the pair of trainers had only a few moments ago. Miharu was a lot less eager to take in the sights of the busy street, as the hustle and bustle of all the people around her was basically an anxiety attack waiting to happen. She walked as close to Juniper as she could without it being super creepy, trying very hard not to think the absolute worst of every person that passed within five feet of her. It also didn't help that the bandage on her head stood out plain as day, and naturally the eyes of every person they passed by stared at it like it were some sort of abomination.

They didn't travel too far up the street before the professor stopped, gesturing with her hand to a rather trendy-looking clothing shop quite obviously aimed for teenagers. "Will this do?" Juniper asked, and Miharu nodded; not necessarily because she agreed with the choice of shops but more because she wanted to get off the street and away from all of those people. The atmosphere inside the store was almost immediately relaxing for Miharu, and though she really didn't need permission, Juniper gave her the go-ahead and the green-haired girl began to browse the aisles.

"Use your Gust Attack!" Pidgey stood back to start flapping his wings powerfully, sending a strong gust of wind out at the foe trainer and Pokemon. Ben watched as the Pidgey hunkered down against the wind, and wasn't tossed up like the last bird had been. Maybe it was smarter? Just then, the trainer was calling out for another Tackle, and the bird was charging again, so Ben leapt into quick action. "Pidgey, fly up and dodge it, then Tackle!" He watched with confidence as his Pidgey quickly flapped his wings and left the running Pidgey in the dust before quickly veering down and slamming into it. The Gym Trainer was looking kind of peeved. "Pidgey, you try doing that! Get up in the air!" The younger Pidgey looked at its trainer a bit skeptically before flapping its wings and teetering into the air, trying to propel itself forward to tackle Ben's bird in the sky. It was kind of amusing to watch since the Pidgey's wings hadn't acquired the same strength as Ben's, who had already mastered his Gust Attack. "Tackle it out of the air!" Ben called, his Pidgey chirping and diving in toward his foe again, slamming into it and sending it falling to the ground, too weak to continue.

"Darn it!" the Trainer yelled as he reluctantly withdrew his Pokemon and sighed. "I guess you are good enough to face Falkner.." Smiling, Ben walked forward and gripped the boy's shoulder reassuringly. "It's okay, I had fun. It was a good match." Once he'd left the boy, there was only one more place to go - and his sights were set on the blue haired Gym Leader who was standing right in front of him.

Growling Kressen let go of the defensive game plan. They just had to beat it before, the possible poison took effect. Simple enough right? Alright then Gilgamesh use Vice Grip!" Still light on his several feet Gilgamesh rushed forward his claw raised and ready to deliver a crushing blow to the Nidoran.

The student thought differently however. "Use peck to counter!" The Nidoran rushed towards Gilgamesh and the collided. The Nidoran's poisonous horn struck a little to the right of Gilgamesh's mouth, but the Krabby's claw would clamp down just behind its neck. It wasn't ideal, but it would have to do. Gilgamesh looked a little green as it held on tightly to the now struggling Nidoran.

"Now use bubble point blank and don't let go!" The student's eyes widened as Krabby let barrage after barrage of bubbles into the face of the Nidoran. It struggled harder, but the king wouldn't let up his grip and soon the student decided the battle was lost. "Nidoran return...I've never seen anyone try a combo like that. I'll have to write it down in my notes. It was fun though, oh. Can I ask you a favor though, I know you must be tired, but can you battle our friend Sara? She just got her new pokemon the other day, and she doesn't really know how to battle."

Kressen recalled the Krabby and smiled. "Thanks for the battle and sure. I've got time for one more. Bring her here and I'd love to have one last battle before I visit nurse Joy again."