Welcome to Gaia! ::

"A channeler's a human that can use the energy of their Pokemon to use abilities similar to Pokemon attacks with the help of an Artifact that bonds them to one of their Pokemon and acts as a conduit for the energy to pass through." Lykas explained. He could have sworn Chaos knew about those already. Then again, it was something Sub seemed to have discovered that may or may not have been a widely known thing outside of Snagem.

"Oh, ya. He's a Ghost Channeler. Channels through his Shedinja, if you're wondering." Lykas replied with a smirk. He knew Chaos hadn't expected something like that. Odd was always meek and didn't stand out any the last time Chaos saw him, after all. But now? "You'd be surprised by his strength if you saw him now." Of course it was hard to say that about him physically, sad to say. The other male was seemingly getting physically weaker but the power of his channeling abilities was growing exponentially.

"Oh, there are still side effects." Lykas replied to Abby. "FOr example, if a Channeler's primary partner, the one they're bonded to, were to die, so would the channeler. They're linked, physically, mentally and spiritually. It's like being a hybrid in two bodies, almost. At least that's how Odd's described it to me." He explained, rubbing at his chin as he thought. "And if you're channeling Pokemon gets knocked out, you can't channel with them. And if your artifact gets damaged, if can hamper your channeling. Plus if it gets destroyed, the bond is severed permanently and you'll both probably die instantly."

He chose to ignore Chaos' comment about Odd being one of the ones who pushed him to become a hybrid. That didn't sound like him, after all. Odd had never been an advocate for hybridization. All he'd ever told him about the reason was that it had something to do with his mentor as a child and he'd never bothered to pry into it.

"Can't say I blame you for thinking that, honestly." Lykas replied to Chaos and Absinthe when they agreed on the conditions of becoming a channeler. "Not that being a hybrid's any easier, honestly. But I kinda was a special case." He admitted with a small sigh, recalling why he chose this path in the first place. Not that he disliked it or anything. Being able to do some of the stuff he could do was pretty awesome. It just got old getting funny looks and sidelong glances from people because he wasn't Pokemon enough to look like a hybrid. Some people have invisible hybridization, people. Come on!

When Chaos caught Terashi and Keiko leaving, he smirked. "I'm with Chaos. I wanna see what Terashi can do in a real battle." He said as he looked over his shoulder at Mykel. "Change of plans. We're gonna watch Terashi's battle first, then we'll get lunch." He told the Gardevoir.

Awww! But I'm hungry!" Mykel whined as he lifted Lykas' bags. He already knew Lykas wasn't going to change his mind on this matter so he may as well just accept it. But that didn't mean he couldn't be annoying the whole time, right?

"Oh, you are? Um, well, you see...champ-in-the-making, Whitney's boyfriend just dumped her and she is really upset. I mean, you can try and see if she'll battle you but I don't suggest it..." The gym guide explained to Ter, almost afraid to even say anything. Was Whitney that bad when she was upset?

"Uh...I'll let her know..." Was all the gym guide said before walking off. Roughly five minutes later he would return, his gaze fixed on the floor. "...go on back, it's a maze." Okay then?

"No, I"m not okay with this," I told them. "Given what she's been through, this is the last thing she needs."

"Don't be a-" Chaos started to say.

"You can call me whatever you want, Chaos,"I retorted without missing a beat. "The last thing she needs is someone bothering her while she's grieving. I'm not about to get in the way of that."

"What if she needs someone to talk to?" Keiko asked. "Maybe getting her mind off of what's hurting her will give her time to heal?"

I gave Keiko the most displeased look I could muster, mostly because what she said made sense despite my desire to be nowhere near a crying girl that I don't know. "I'm going to regret this," I sighed raggedly before making my way to the maze entrance.

"Way to whip 'em," Chaos smirked.

"Can't whip him if I haven't given it to him yet," Keiko responded quickly.

"And why the f-" Chaos started to say.

"That's really none of your buisness," Keiko retorted, holding a hand between her and him as she followed me in.

"Then why'd ya tell me in the first place!?" Chaos shouted. "Inconsistent ~/~!"

"Tell me about it," Abby smirked.

"Let's just hope this battle actually helps her. I'm blaming all four of you if this makes her worse."

"Or you could take responsibility for your actions like a man," Chaos sneered.

"Chaos, I could honestly care less about what you think right now," I snapped.

The journey through the maze was carried in silence for a very short amount of time. "Are you gonna let that scrawny ~/~ talk to you like that?" Abby whispered to her father.

"Nah, it's cool. He rarely stands up for himself as it is," he smirked. "Besides, I can just make fun of him when he gets his a** kicked."

Abby giggled at that, and let the matter drop. As we walked through the maze, I was starting to wonder where the gym trainers were. Did they leave to avoid Whitney, or did she tell them to leave? Or maybe they were all near her trying to make her feel better? Whichever was the case, they certainly weren't swarming the maze, or so it seemed.

The group would get to the end of the maze without encountering any humans, which was weird in a gym. At the end they would find a crying girl slumped on the floor with three other girls sitting and kneeling around her trying to console her. One of the girls would spot the Snagems and shoot them a glare.

"Uh, excuse me? Can't you see there is like, an issue right now? Go away, she is in no shape to battle!" The girl hissed.