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So the leer managed to work on the sandslash. Laichi noticed. The sandslash tried to make it seem the opposite, but that step backward was a sign of an uneasy pokemon. "Let's see how much it helps. Zii, it's fighting ability is similar to yours. Quick attack it into a juggle, do not let it hit the ground!"

Zii grows a deviant smile and in a haze he vanishes. The masked boy screams, "Sandslash defend! Then make that zangoose feverish!"

Laichi notices Zii needs more practice. He's leaving dust clouds wherever he steps, and small craters in the sand. The sandslash observes this too. Not good. Sandslash curls into a ball right when Zii kicks it up into the sky. Sandslash is kicked into a spin, which it abuses. The sandslash rolls down a large tree surprising Zii as it speeds toward him. The sandslash was too quick for Zii to react.

Sandslash jumps from it's ball form and stabs Zii in the belly. He slides to a stop behind Zii with it's eyes closed, as if a samurai from an old Bushido movie. Zii growls and instantly becomes ill.

Laichi realizes what just happened: Poison Sting. Laichi leers at the sandslash then at it's owner. "I'll have to do it if Zii is unable to."

Of course, Leon was pleased that Roxanne's Onix was down and out, but he couldn’t' say that he had expected it to actually hold up against Muuma's attack. Ghos had done a fairly decent job, and even with the Sandstorm helping Onix out, he had still managed to land a few attacks, especially the Giga Drains, which would have done some nice damage to the rock snake. He listened to her little bit and then responded, "I would expect nothing less from a gym leader, of course."

The moment she was done talking, the boy called out, "Shadow Sneak," to his Misdreavus. She immediately complied, and as the rocks were jutting up around her, the Ghost-type sent her shadow shooting towards Nosepass, reaching it out behind the Compass Pokémon and using it to attack him from behind as the rock closed around her.


[( Sorry for the crap post. )]

Laichi looks long at the sandslash and it's master, the young boy who wishes to be a girl, but will not admit it. (Well, in Laichi's mind anyway.) The boy has an opened pokedex and he nods his head a few times, flipping it closed as he has found enough information about my Zii. Zii is still strong, but a few coughs wake up a sense of insecurity inside Laichi.

"Sandslash, DIG!"

Sandslash spins wildly like a top and buries himself under the dirt.

"Zii, you have to win this battle! He's going to dig under the ground. Move around so this sand rat has no target! The boy girl thinks we'll just stand around and wait for his attack to connect. let's show this fool how we fight!" Laichi expresses while paying attention to where the rat's master's eyes are looking. This may reveal where the rat will appear.

Zii smiles with deviancy, he begins wildly swinging his arms around. He spins a few times with his claws stretched fully outward, causing a rotation. He falls to the ground using the motion to spin into a windmill, as Machika performed when Laichi jumped him earlier. Laichi raises her fist proud of Zii. She knows what this technique is without a pokedex or pokemon cards, which she has seen other trainers use. She knows her pokemon so well she needs not those identifiers!

"Sword Dance! Do it Zii! You look so awesome!"

Zii, using his claws as leverage lifts himself into a handstand. He spins his body like a top, using one claw as the point.

"That's a risky move Zii, let's go with it! Yay Yay Zii!"

Soon after he does this, the sandslash comes spinning from the ground at the very point Zii is spinning. Machika and Laichi are in awe as BOTH pokemon's collide with a synchronized perfect spin. Sandslash and Zii continue to spin into the air, the points of their claws continuously spinning as if two tops spinning against each others tips.

"Zii! Scratch! Quick!"

Zii grabs onto the sandslash spinning it around into the air with the rotation. He throws the sandslash into a tree. Zii uses the momentum to land onto another thick branch. The branch bends back and slingshots Zii toward the sandslash.

"Sandslash, Defense curl!" Machika yells, but is too late.

Zii passes sandslash up with his claws forward. The scratch connected.

"Machika, a successful critical hit with a scratch which was sword danced. Recall your rat before he gets hurt any more!" Laichi says while growing an evil smile.

"I will not!" Machika yells as he runs to give Sandslash a potion.

Before Machika can get to sandslash he is stopped by a foot to his mouth. Laichi did what she was planning. She believes sometimes in a challenging fight a trainer has to join the rumble. Machika spins rapidly into the air and falls flat onto the ground.

“Quiiiiiil…”

Scarlet blinked, looking back over to the Quilava crouched on the elevator. “…Huh? What’s up?” As he spoke, he tapped a button on his belt, a crimson light flowing out and enveloping the Gas Pokemon, returning him to the safe and comfortable confines of his Pokeball. Scarlet trotted over to his partner and kneeled down, frowning a bit at her nervous expression. “… Don’t tell me this place is bothering you that much…?”

She responded with a quiet nod. Cindy most definitely did not belong this far above ground level, and she had no issues letting her friend know. If he was a good friend, he’d get her off this thing as quickly as possible.

“… Alright. Let’s go out for some air. We were gonna catch a water type anyway, right? There’s a pond outside next to Sprout Tower. Let’s check it out.” With a ‘see you in a few minutes’ wave to Jett, the trainer from Cherrygrove City and his Quilava shot down to floor level on the insanely fast elevator, proceeding outside and heading toward the place where they got Terumi not 24 hours ago.

The lake there was almost pristine, well taken care of by the citizens of Violet City. The Quilava and her trainer would’ve admired their reflections for a while, if not for the ripples that suddenly splashed up at the surface. Deep down, Scarlet could see movement, blue and white, a couple of feet under the surface.

“… Sweet. Maybe we can pick up a Poliwag.” Scarlet said, remembering a girl he went to school with showing up with a Poliwrath. Dual typing with fighting in the future could open up a mass of possibilities.

Cindy nodded in agreement, thinking of how powerful it was. She definitely wouldn’t mind having something like that as a partner. Especially if it limited Scarlet’s use of that creepy, creepy ghost.

And so, Scarlet fished into his bag, retrieving a Good Rod. With silent concentration, he sat down on the edge of the stone bridge, dropping the lure carefully and silently into the water, waiting carefully for his future poliwag to bite.

Machika rubs his face for no reason, due to his hands and face being dirty. He sits up to view an outrageous scene. Zii has the sandslash up against the tree in a choking fashion, and Laichi is walking up with fury in her eyes.

"Why...why are you doing this girl?" Machika asks.

"I really can not place it right now, but I can not stand you. You think you are all righteous and you think you are better than me! You insult Zii and you mock me! Nobody is better than me!" Laichi exclaims as she kicks Machika in the side. Machika falls over and drops a pokeball.

A meowth appears and jumps in front of Machika. The meowth looks sickly, and shakes as it's hard for it to even hold itself up. Laichi's anger seems to decrease instantly. She has made a very bad decision. She stumbles back, understanding why Machika was taking the medicines. He was trying to heal his own pokemon. Laichi never met a thief who stole for good.

"Wha..what is this? Are you trying to be some kind of Robin Hood? Do you really think your pokemon want to be healed through dishonest means!?"

Machika rubbed some dirt from his pants and he stands up. Revealing the pokeball, the meowth returns. He returns sandslash and with a firm voice says, "Look at the situation here. Observe what each of us are doing. I attempted to run, and try to stop the conflict. You got your medicines returned, but you remain here to inflict unnecessary pain onto me. You had your chance to return the bag, but you did not. You even lost my boat. Look at the scene here! You are the villain!"

Laichi's body sends a jolt to her brain as he says this. He is right. Laichi covers her mouth in disbelief. She has never been on the wrong end. Yes, Machika stole, but she did get the stuff back. She stayed to inflict greater pain, because of an insult. Laichi looks at her shaking hands.

"Why is my hand shaking?"

"It is shaking because you are angry. You have no control. You like to see people hurt! You like to see pain! The shaking is your soul telling you it is wrong! But, you are too hot headed, too stubborn! You won't stop. Why won't you just let me leave?"

Laichi begins tearing up, and then Zii places his claw on her shoulder. Zii shakes his head, telling Laichi not to cry. Laichi remains staring at her shaking hand. Her body is hot, because she is hot tempered. Machika slowly walks past Zii and Laichi. They remain still, not even watching Machika walk by. As Machika limps over a hill, Laichi's hand becomes still.

"...am I a bad guy, Zii?"

Spearow gave a caw of indignation as its eardrums were violated by the Hoothoot's resounding Uproar, and even Falkner, who had raised many of the Owl Pokemon before, had to admit that he'd never heard a Hoothoot make such a tumultuous sound before. "...Wow," was all he could say as he calmly covered his ears with his palms, wishing he had a pair of earplugs with him. "Your Hoothoot is quite... spirited."

Spearow's short wings flapped rapidly as it carried itself back up into the air, its beady little eyes shooting death glares at the caterwauling Hoothoot as it awaited its next order from Falkner. The blue-haired trainer pushed his hair out of his face and tried to ignore Athena's screeching. "Fury Attack," he called, his voice only just reaching the ears of his Pokemon. Spearow crowed loudly in reply and quickly turned about in midair before diving at the Owl Pokemon, eager to tear into her with its sharp beak.
=====
Miharu couldn't really put her finger on what emotion she was feeling as she and Sam finally arrived in Cherrygrove City, but she knew it was a mix of nostalgia, guilt, and apprehension. She hadn't come back home at all since she'd actually left to start her journey as a Pokemon Trainer, and now that she thought of it, she hadn't called her father once to update him on her progress. Her pace became much slower as she walked the familiar streets of her hometown, though surprisingly, no one paid her so much as a second glance. She looked down at the dress she wore, which had gathered a few small stains already, and sighed. Perhaps no one recognized her in a dress, as Miharu had always worn ratty, old jeans and tee shirts, and now she could see why many people considered her to be a tomboy.

She stopped walking and turned to look at Sam. "So, uh... should we press on? There really isn't that much to see here." Even though she'd only just returned to her hometown, she couldn't wait to get out of here. It wasn't that she didn't want to stay, it was more that her father had insisted over and over again that she leave home in the first place, and she wasn't sure she wanted to see him again after he'd practically thrown her out. Granted, he had given her the egg that would later hatch into a young and healthy Bulbasaur, but that was besides the point. She cleared her throat, and shrugged her shoulders. "It won't take us very long to get to New Bark Town if we stick to the shortcut."

((The Holidays are always busy, no one's really posted lately.))