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"Nidoran, use your peck attack," Nate called out to his Pokemon who rushed towards Zor with it's horn pointing right at it. The battle was almost over, seeing that Isa's Sentret was already knocked out by Zor's Vacuum Wave before she could even call a command, while Sel was returned to make the battle mor fair as a one on one.

"Hold your ground and then use the quick attack," Peine called to his Scyther, who held out his arm-scythes, using them to tone down the damage of the peck attack that hit Zor, moving the Pokemon back. Zor then shot up in a green blur, and the quick attack hit Nidoran, knocking the Pokemon on it's back.

"I have to say Nate, you're better then I expected, though you're not good enough," Munro said to Nate. "Vacuum wave Zor, finish it!!" Zor swung one of his scythes infront of him making a brown blade of energy flying straight towards the Nidoran.

"Get up and use poison sting quickly," Nate yelled at his Nidoran. Nidoran was barely able to get up, though was able to use the poison sting to counter the vacuum wave midair, making a mini explosion knocking both Pokemon back again.

'This is getting to much for Zor, though I have to give him confidence in battle before anything...c'mon Zor, you can get through this,' Munro thought as he thought of what may be the last attack of the battle. "Quick attack," he called out as Zor, who was having a bit of trouble to get up was already trying to pick up speed in order to make the attack happen.

"Use tackle Nidoran," Nate called out to his Pokemon, who was having more trouble getting up than Zor. Then for seconds, it felt that time stopped, that nothing could be heard, with all eyes glued on the two Pokemon, both of them struggling to use there attacks. Though the only difference is that Zor was starting to go at a faster pace with every step, trying to get a quick attack off. About ten feet away from Nidoran, Zor was only halfway towards full speed, though it was good enough to take out Nidoran who was just getting on its feet. Knocked back down, the Nidoran was knocked out, not being able to get up.

A look of relief came to Peine's face after he knew he won. The battle went from a nuisance to an actual training session. "Return Zor," he said as he took out the ParkBall that held Zor and returned the Mantis Pokemon who was very tired. "Now, I think you owe me some money for winning, and I also have a right to pass," Peine said, to Nate, who relucktantly gave money to Peine. The boy waved to everybody, who was still in shock that Peine pulled off that win, as he continued his way towards New Bark Town.

Jett remained silent as ever for the time being, stare fixated on the ground though his eyes flickered back up to Totodile and his new companions every few seconds.

"Sounds good," he finally murmured, nodding a little to further emphasize his agreement. Though his mouth did pull downwards in a slight frown at the notion of so many options; for all he knew, Scarlet would want to go to Goldenrod, Jasper to Ecruteak, while he wanted to go to Azalea. Would they part so easily with that?

But getting used to meeting new people and leaving some of them behind was necessary, considering the usual trainer lifestyle. He'd be grateful for the time now with his friends, and that would be that. He couldn't help what happened in the future.

"Should we get going, then?" the raven-haired boy asked after another moment, eyes flickering hesitantly back up to Jasper before switching to Scarlet. His fingers brushed against the Pokeballs attached to his belt, but he wasn't sure who would be best to let out. Aerosmith would be constantly angry, River would still be angry for the gender confusion, and Athena seemed to frighten Totodile and generally everyone.

He needed more personable Pokemon on his team, that was for sure.

Now that they'd come across some of the grunts Mike had previously encountered, Flannery stuck decidedly closer to Keegan, her hand still clutching Magu's Pokeball quite tightly. When Mike stepped out of his well-concealed hiding place, she very nearly screamed, but was able to hold it back, biting down on her lower lip. She tried to say something but stopped, trying very hard not to flinch away from the boy's touch as he reached for her. Had she been more of the observational type,
she probably would have noticed that her too friends had become still and silent, listening to something. A few seconds of cluelessness later, she too could hear the footsteps approaching. It sounded like many different sets, and all at once she knew there was too many for it to be those of their friends. "That's a lot of footsteps," she whispered, but neither of the boys heard her, as they were too busy eying the grunts that had just surrounded them. Gulping, the gym leader also took her Torkoal's Pokeball from her belt, not at all offended that Mike and Keegan had put her between them. She now could see that some of them were armed, and that factor alone rattled her confidence to the point where she temporarily froze up, unable to think of anything except for What am I doing here?

Everything around her seemed to fall into slow motion. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Keegan using a Pokeball as an effective weapon before being attacked by a knife-wielding grunt, and the two began to struggle for control of the weapon. She vaguely saw Keegan's Manectric now running wild, and now some of the other grunts, ones that apparently weren't interested in engaging in fisticuffs, tossed out several Pokeballs between them. Flannery noted a Zubat, a Numel, a Mightyena, and a tiny Diglett, of all things, and suddenly, her fear melted away like a block of ice in the mid-July sun. Time then returned to normal, as did the gym leader's resolve, and the redhead narrowed her eyes before she released her own two Pokemon, able to gauge that their opponents were relatively weak in comparison to her own. A quick Rock Throw from Magu downed the Zubat rather quickly, and a concentrated jet of fire from Torkoal brought down the Mightyena, confirming Flannery's suspicion that the grunts were now trying to gain force with numbers rather than individuals. The Diglett disappeared below the rocky floor, and Flannery didn't seem to notice it gone as its battling partners were quickly withdrawn. The Numel gave a growl and charged headlong towards Torkoal, but it quickly found this tactic to be virtually useless against Torkoal's nearly impenetrable shell.

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The Champion couldn't help but smile when she saw the look of understanding appear on Jason's face. It always pleased her to see young trainers learning more about their Pokemon and becoming more in tune with them, as it always made them better trainers and friends in the long run. It was true that Cynthia herself didn't have much experience with raising Electric-type Pokemon, though it had been a type she'd been considering to add to her roster for a long time now. The only issue she'd had was choosing one, as there were so many great ones to choose from.

She had been ready to agree with Jason's course of action regarding his Magnemite when quite suddenly, the boy's head snapped forward, planting itself quite messily in the half-eaten ice cream. If it hadn't been for Jason's loud snores, Cynthia definitely would have thought that the boy had just up and died right in front of her. "What the..." The blonde woman trailed off as she watched the boy sleep soundly, face-first in his ice cream and still standing, at that. Over the years, Cynthia had encountered many strange things during her travels, but never anything like this. She had no idea if she should try to wake him, or let him come to on his own. A few people nearby had even stopped to stare, making even the normally-confident Cynthia somewhat nervous.

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"Nidoking?" he asked, taking a cautious step forward. A large, purple beast was breathing heavily, down on one knee. His shoulders were shaking with exhaustion.

"Finish him, Venomoth!" the blue-haired called, pointing at the downed creature. "Psybeam!" Reacting quickly, the large, purple moth flapped its wings quickly, generating power. It opened its mouth, and fired a rainbow-coloured beam. The purple beast did nothing to avoid it, taking the hit solidly. The force of the attack sent him tumbling over backwards, his tail sweeping out, knocking Jaeshan flat on his back. As he landed, he heard a sickening crack, and he froze upon realizing that it had come from the egg, which had still been clutched tightly to his chest.

"Oh no," the boy whimpered, staring up at the sky, tears dotting the corners of his eyes. "It's broken..."

"What's broken?" a concerned face appeared above him, and above her floated Venomoth, looking down at the two curiously. "Are you hurt? Hey! Answer me!" she called, as the boy didn't answer.

"M-my egg," he said, sitting up slowly. "When I fell, I squeezed it and I heard it crack..." He glanced over at the purple creature, who had propped himself up with one arm, and was looking apologetically over at his trainer. He hadn't the energy to get back up again. "It's broken, isn't it? I can't bear to look!" He squeezed his eyes shut as he sat up slowly, still cradling the cracked egg in his arms.

"Uh, yeah. It’s broken," the girl stated gently, kneeling next to him. "But I think it's gonna be all right somehow." Her voice held a hint of laughter, and the boy opened his eyes, looking at her in awe.

"What? How can it be okay? My egg is broken! The Pokemon…" he stopped, feeling something moving in his arms. He summoned his courage, and looked down. Indeed, the pale, orange egg had a large crack that nearly split it in half. Underneath, he could see something moving. He leaned in closer for a better look, blinking in astonishment as a small beak pushed its way through the crack. Then, two eyes were looking up at him, at first, in confusion, and then in delight.

"Tor...chic?"

Jake's eyes snapped open, the hazy dream lingering in his mind. It felt familiar, yet distant. He could still see that small, orange Pokemon that had blinked up at him through the cracked eggshell, and all at once he jumped up, startling both Grotle and Bibarel from their naps. None of them had been asleep for more than about fifteen minutes or so, but it felt like a lot longer as Jake swung his legs over the side of the bench, quickly looking around for something long and pointy. A stick was lying on the ground a few feet away and he sprang up, grabbing it and quickly sitting back down. The edge of the stick scraped noisily against the relatively solid dirt ground, and within a few moments, he'd scratched out a fairly decent rendering of the small orange Pokemon he'd seen in his dream. It was fairly cute, with beady little eyes and a tiny beak. Small feathers protruded from its head, and though Jake didn't know why, he knew they were yellow. The blonde haired boy stared down at his handiwork, sitting for a long moment before he scratched the letter 'T' under the face of the cute chick thing. I... I know this, Jake thought excitedly, trying desperately to remember more details about the dream. Meanwhile, his two Pokemon were both staring at him, wide-eyed, though both for different reasons. Grotle thought that maybe his trainer had remembered something important while Bibarel simply figured the boy had gone off the deep end.