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[Side Area A - River Side]

Looking into the water, but not too close this time, Connor tried to find where the Poliwhirl went. That's when a Barboach poked its head out of the water to see what was up. When the teen ignored it, it just stayed there with its mouth open, apparently wanting to be fed. It made him wonder if the gym leader did that for it to develop such behavior. "...I don't have any food. Go away." But the fish didn't budge from its spot which was hindering his search. Connor grumbled, reaching into his pocket and pulled out a half eaten Rage Candy Bar. He broke off a piece and threw it into the water, the pike taking it and swimming off. With a huff, he took a bite of the bar before putting it back into his pocket for later.

Moving right along Sub would find a little cluster of berry bushes. His stomach growling a bit the man would walk on over and begin to pick a few, popping them into his mouth for a snake. As the man munched on the berries he began to feel something touch his pants leg. Stopping his gobblefest in order to see what was going on down there the Dark One would spot something positively terrifying grabbing at his pants leg.

"Cleffa!" Chimed the happy little Fairy Pokemon as it looked up at Sub with its great big evil eyes.

"Nope!" Sub shouted as he threw the berries into the air and ran off, leaving the Cleffa behind with a look of bewilderment on its face. Not today, vile demon.

[Side Area A - River Side]

It appeared his search was going in vain. Perhaps he needed to move to a different spot of the river to get a better view. Connor started to walk along the bank when his Meditite jumped in front of him and impeded his progress. "Medi! Medi-tite!" she shouted, using a Force Palm on the ground before them. The blow had struck the hiding Stunfisk, who quickly flopped away to avoid more pain. If it weren't for Asura, he surely would have stepped on it. "Nice one. Good looking out, Asura" he praised his pokemon before continuing on.

[Side Area A - River Side]

"Bui, Bui!" the sounds of a pokemon cry were heard in the grass along the bank. As Connor and Asura neared, they found a Buizel knocking out a Poliwag with Sonic Boom. The poor tadpole was sent flying into the river, as Buizel cheered victoriously. It wasn't long before they locked eyes with one another, trainer and pokemon. This pokemon had serious fighting spirit, making Connor wonder why it was abandoned. Maybe because the trainer didn't want a fighter? The two kept a concentrated stare at one another before the wild pokemon jumped back into the river. He wondered if maybe...but no, he was dead set on capturing a Poliwhirl.

[Side Area A - River Side]

After moving far enough from their initial location, the two would stop nearby the waterfall. Asura would resume her guard duty while Connor went back to river watching. Apparently they arrived just in time to see a Mantyke lunge out of the river and skim across the surface. What made this even more amazing is that it then went up the waterfall without losing momentum. A very impressive feat that made him smile, just a little.

[Side Area A - River Side]

Connor continued to watch the waterfall, wondering if the Mantyke would make an encore performance. "Medi! Medi! Medi!" his pokemon would say, tugging on his pant leg. He tore away from the scenery to look at his Meditite, to see her calmly pointing at the river. And when he looked, he would see nothing at first but the vibrant blue water of the river. But then, that's when a Poliwhirl jumped out of the water, before diving back in just as before. Then it poked its head out, looking up the waterfall as it impeded his progress.

"Let's go, Asura!" he called his pokemon to battle, the little one jumping forward in a fighting stance. The tadpole didn't even notice them as it lunged at the waterfall and started doing the front crawl to go up. "What?! It's getting away! Asura, Confusion. Bring it back!" His pokemon nodded, her eyes beginning to glow a shade of blue as she made slight hand motions. The swimming pokemon would rise out of the water, much to his surprise while also being assaulted by the psychic energy. He would now take notice of his attacker and would respond in kind with a Water Gun aimed at Meditite. "Defend with Force Palm!" With a glowing open fist, she would accept the blast of water in her hand, splitting it in two. Unfortunately, to do so she had to release her hold on the tadpole. As Poliwhirl landed on the ground, he began firing Bubblebeam, keeping on the offensive. "Guard and use Mind Reader" Connor commanded, Asura doing her best to block the rather hard bubbles. As she did so, the psychic got a lock on the tadpole's mind, reading his every thought and movement. It was time to turn the tables! "Hi Jump Kick!" was the next order of attack, Meditite jumping high into the sky above her target. With an extended knee, her attack was sure to hit the big blue pokemon. But what came next was a shock to them both. Poliwhirl used Bubblebeam again, but this time, he spun around wildly which made his barrage impossible to read. That's when Connor realized: this wasn't some battle with a wild pokemon, it was a battle with an experienced and well trained pokemon. Asura used her knee to smash through the bubbles in her path; however, she couldn't do anything about the ones slightly off trajectory that struck her in the sides. Fortunately she landed on her two feet, but clearly the barrages had taken their toll. "Use Meditate. We're not finished just yet." "M-Medi!" she nodded, closing her eyes and crossing her as she sat down. This move came naturally to her; spending most of her time meditating and focusing her chakras. But their opponent wasn't going to wait around for them to finish. Unbeknownst to them both, the water type had already begun the attack as Asura was slowly but surely losing consciousness. While she drifted off to sleep, he began beating on his belly which looked rather painful to see. "Tch! I forgot they could do that! Asura, wake up!" he tried to call out to his pokemon. Poliwhirl would oblige the trainer's call, rushing over to the fighting pokemon and picking her up. His white glove now glowing orange, would slap her across the face two good times, the strikes being quite audible. After doing this, he would drop her and back up a slightly for his next move. Asura would awake just as the larger pokemon would be falling down on her. "Use Force Palm and roll away!" Connor shouted. Meditite would slam her palm on the ground, using the force and momentum to roll to the side and evade being crushed. As she backed away, Poliwhirl would close the distance with another Bubblebeam. "Enough of this. Use Force Palm on the ground and sling it" the trainer instructed. The palm strike would hit the earth, dragging the mud up with it and intercepting the bubbles. Asura charged forward, after the command of another Force Palm leaping into the air and coming down with her palm strike. A direct hit had sent him rolling backwards and into the water. The trainer worried for a moment if they had knocked Poliwhirl out, but that fear was put to rest with him jumping back out. Such a strong pokemon... Connor had to catch it! The fact this it could have turn in ran proved it was a fighter! Or that maybe they just pissed it off as it looked to be throwing a temper tantrum. In any case, the battle couldn't go on for much longer with Asura being this injured. There was one move that would work great in this situation. Poliwhirl resumed his attack, this time relying on Mud Shot to do them in. They couldn't afford to defend or block and they needed to close in once more. "Detect and advance. Then use Reversal" he told his pokemon. Meditite's eye glowed green now as she bobbed and weaved through the projectiles, moving closer and closer to Poliwhirl. Once she was close enough, Poliwhirl struck her with Doubleslap while she began gathering energy, converting her pain into raw power. After the second slap, Asura hit him in the stomach with an open hand, releasing all that power; the amphibian's eyes widening in shock from the sudden pain. The psychic staggered backwards, clearly spent from this battle while Poliwhirl remained standing, holding his stomach where he was hit.

"Nice job! I'll try a capture now" Connor huffed, pulling out the Net Ball he bought earlier. Tossing it at the stunned blue frog, he watched as it was sucked inside and started teetering.

The grass shuffles of Arkelos and his companion, as they stop in their tracks a light flashes. Moments later a pokemon jumps from the grass. "Another Skiddo? hmmm, i can't put my finger on it; But there is something off about this skiddo. It's eyes, are not like the last skiddo, and it's more aggressive looking." The pokemon glares with a dark grin, and throws a shadow ball. "Poochyena, be careful with this pokemon, something here is not right." Poochyena grunts, and waits Arkelos' move.

"Poochyena, lets try a unique tactic, lets throw it off. Charge in with a poison fang, than use three shadow balls. one in front than one on each side. Lets go, be alert!" Poochyena waits for the signal. "You can do this, GO!" Poochyena's mouth foams as she barrels down toward the pokemon, gaining the attention of the pokemon, it make a move. "Poochyena, it's waiting for an attack, do not hit it!" ... The pokemon stands its ground, Poochyena gets closer, the opposing pokemon grins. "NOW POOCHYENA!" The foam begins to clear up, and three shadow balls go hurling toward the pokemon. The grin that was once there has turned into a shocked look. Before it could do anything all three shadow balls hit around the pokemon.

After the dust starts settles to little surprise a Zorua comes walking out from the dust cloud. Arkelos snickers, "I thought something was off, Okay time for a real battle." Poochyena barks with approval, "Okay, this pokemon is tricky, keep up with it." The Zorua grins, "Okay, lets get back in our groove. Lets go Poochyena.' Poochyena charges in, "Shadow ball, keep it moving." Poochyena fires two Shadow balls toward the Zorua, "Try getting close, if you can't you know what to do."

Building up speed, Poochyena tries getting close. Zorua sees poochyena getting faster. Giving it something to chase, Zorua takes off with ferocity. The two give a magnificent chase. After a few minutes Arkelos got a filling that something was about to happen, and sure enough, Zorua charged a shadow ball and shot the ground causing another cloud of dust to plume.

Out of the cloud come Poochyena, looking around for the Zorua it looks at Arkelos. A second later another Poochyena comes running out of the cloud. "Wait what?? TWO Poochyena?!?" Arkelos was at a loss, "Which one is mine? If i use a move, it would most like copy it. However if i give it ever just a scratch it should change back." Arkelos thinks while the two Poochyena stare at each other with tension. "Lets do it this way, Poochyena-" The two look up at Arkelos, "I want you to take three steps back." The two did what would be expected, both took three steps back, "Poochyena Attack with Bite, and than wait for my attack." Both Poochyena lunged at each other, "My Poochyena, Counter that quickly!" Before the Fake Poochyena could react, the real one got just low enough to brush past and used the force of the counter to send the Zorua flying upward and itself downward. The Poochyena landed on the ground, while the now revealed Zorua started falling toward the ground.

"Poochyena, i think it's learned it lesson, but just to be safe, Catch that pokemon before it hits the ground." Poochyena waits for a moment, Than locks on, and jumps high. Timing it exactly, Poochyena was able to catch the Zoras. Lying it on the ground, Arkelos takes out a Safari ball. "Okay, that last attack looks like it did the trick, the falling may have had something to do with it. Let try this." Throwing the Safari ball, he hopes for the best.