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The bandanna-clad punk laughed raucously when the Ralts' body was consumed by paralysis and it couldn't even force out a measly little growl. The Ekans seemed to share in his master's amusement and he too let out a hissing laughter. "Not so tough now, are you?" the punk called out, though it was unclear as to whom he was shouting at, Jiro or Tyra. "Chomp 'em with a Bite attack!" he laughed maliciously. This would be good. The snake slithered forward, fangs bared and obviously quite happy to be able to try and take a chunk out of the cheeky Jiro. It rose up, hissing menacingly as it lunged forward, fangs glistening, but that was all that happened. It seemed that Jiro's ability, Synchronize, had kicked in when the Ralts had become paralyzed, thus inflicting the Ekans with the same status Jiro had just suffered. The Ekans was frozen in place only inches from the tiny Ralts, mouth gaping open. It's eyes were wide with surprise as a light breeze kicked up and the snake toppled over, still rigid as a board.

Miharu smiled when she saw that Sparkle's Cotton Spore had been a success and she raised her hand. "Okay Sparkle, now show them the power of your Thunderbolt!" Miharu was quite glad she'd splashed out to purchase the TM for her Flaaffy. Sparkle bleated excitedly, letting go of the Taillow as static started crackling from her wool before she directed a bright blue surge of electricity towards the blue and red bird, this one aimed a little more carefully than her previous Thundershock. Petunia, meanwhile had been leering dauntingly at the Treecko as it picked itself up off the ground and then began to charge at Petunia, fists ready to strike. Petunia snorted and puffed her chest out, her thick shell shimmering a bit as she Hardened it in order to fend off more damage. The Stagbeetle Pokemon seemed to chuckle as the gecko bounced off her stomach, though she felt pain radiating all the way down her spine and through her legs. Though small, the grassy lizard was tough.

"Your going down losers. Go on Slakoth, yawn." Tom said with hesitation. Slakoth opened its wide mouth and began to take a big breath. Magmar looked at the slow pokemon as it inhaled and laughed. "Whats so funny you stupid pokemon?" Tim said insulted. How dare someone laugh at him he thought.
"I wouldn't piss him off kid." Rogar said shaking his head. "Don't even try it Magmar, we'll just lose if you do." Magmar looked at Rogar with an angry glare and began spewing toxic fumes.
"What are you doing!" Breaker coughed at Rogar. "We can't lose to these twerps."
"We won't get anywhere, those kids were right, I don't think Magmar has it in him." Rogar gave Magmar a disgusted look.
As the toxic fumes released, they slowly over took Slakoth. Slakoth's eyes widened as he inhaled the smog released from Magmar and let out a horrific cough and seemed to even turn an awful shade of green.
"Hey what's the big idea you jerks! Go on ponyta tackle that stinky Magmar of his." Tim demanded. "Lets end this with a bang!"
Ponyta raised up and let out a big neigh as it's feet came back to the ground and began to charge at Magmar. Ponyta slammed into the back of Magmar who was leering at Rogar to no avail.
"What are you doing over there you two! Reverie put out that pony's flames." Reverie, who was not very effect on ground, did the best she could do with her attack and sent a small chunk of dirt into Ponyta's face.
"Ha, I should just walk away now, your no good to me when you need a FISH to protect you." Rogar said turning his back to Magmar. "Unless you can prove me wrong by getting back up and attacking something." Magmar stood up quickly and spit up small embers from it's mouth, hitting the still coughing slakoth.
"Hey!" Tom yelled." Slakoth lets get that fish, ponyta can take on that flamer." Slakoth slowly raised up his body and began to make his way to Reverie.
"Hey a little help would be great Rogar." Breaker said as he watched the Slakoth slowly approach. "Do your best to get away Reverie" And so she did but despite her speed in water, she was still to slow even compared to even the slowest slakoth. It was only a matter of time as Breaker watched the Slakoth whack Reverie with it's long claws and sent her tumbling away. Slakoth than fell to the ground and closed it's eyes.
Rogar ignored Breakers pleas for assitance."Oh come on Magmar, your going to attack a helpless slakoth, when you have a much bigger challenge right infront of you." Rogar said mockingly as Tim's Ponyta slammed back into Magmar, sending him to the ground again. Magmar glared at Rogar who had once again turned his back. "Well what are you going to do, eh Magmar?" Rogar asked knowingly. Magmar rolled over and spit more embers, but this time right into the face of the Ponyta.
The surprised Ponyta stumbled backwards and let out a rather loud winnie.

Alex stayed quiet as she dished out the mac and cheese for her and Serenity. Sere could tell that she was trying to come up with a way to answer her question. Alex wasn't over protective, but she always thought that Sere was too young still to be dealing with all the dangers that were out there. She didn't want to loser her sister the way they had lost their parents. Sere was sure that the battle that had taken place in Slateport had brought more of those anxieties out. Serenity looked down at the burn scar that wrapped around her wrist. She could try to explain to Alex that the whole event was probably quite helpful in getting her to be a bit more outgoing and getting her to stand up for herself more. She figured though that it probably wouldn't do any good.

"Well?" She asked again.

Alex put the bowls down on the table and sat down. "I think you need to go out and do the training." She said quietly. "That doesn't mean that i'm not allowed to worry about what happens on the road."

Serenity nodded. "You can send messages to me while I am over in Sinnoh. Everyday." She smiled.

"You can count on it. And you better reply. I can get pretty worried if you don't remember." Alex winked at her sister.

They spent the rest of dinner talking about their plans for the evening. By the time that she had finished eating Alex had actually gotten Serenity excited about the Gala. It would take her a while to get the make-up just right to cover the bruises, and dancing would be difficult with her shoulder. Still, she could use a night of fun.

The punk girl stood there eyes widened and her mouth dropped as the blue thunderbolts hit the taillow hard! The small bird stumbled backwards to get away from the sheep pokemon.

“That’s not going to stop us! Taillow Wing attack!” The blue and red bird stretched its wings out as far as they would go. “The Pinsir!” Before the bird could crash its wings together it switched directions and headed for the bug pokemon on its other side. The change of opponents was a bit shocking for the bird but followed orders. “Alright Treecko!” The grass lizard shook itself off from the tumble it had taken and was up in its fighting stance. “Absorb from that sheep!” The girl called out pointing at the electrically charged sheep. Treecko threw out his hands towards the Flaaffy and narrowed its eyes to focus as it attempted to get some of the health back. The girl was fighting hard to make sure her pokemon could stay in this battle. The hard hit that Taillow took had shook her up some.


As the Ekans’ fangs had come close to Jiro Tyra was thankful for her shades covering the fear that she felt in her eyes. Tyra fought the urge to fall over in laughter. Her Ralts may not have been able to attack but having the punk eat his own words was delicious. As the Ekans had fallen to the ground Tyra straightened her back to keep her height and hopefully her intimidation going. This punk was not going to bring down Jiro. “CONFUSION!!!” She yelled with all her might. It was down but not out, and she wasn’t one to back out of a fight. Jiro listening to his trainer’s commands jumped back a bit to get a bit of distance. The fangs had put a bit of fear into the small Ralts. Jiro placed his hands on his head as he tried to get the rainbow waves of confusion to attack the fallen snake.

"Yeah, I'll show the way I was just heading for breakfast myself when you rang," He turned and began leading down the hallway and its myraid of art and skylight.

"So where'd you travel from?" He asked as they walked.

Karrigan nodded politely and stepped past the threshold and into the lighthouse itself, allowing Venerax to lead the way. She took in the many strange pictures and portraits on the walls, not sure what to make of Bill's taste in art. A lot of the pieces seemed to be at least centuries old, and many depicted Pokemon that Karrigan had never seen before. She did notice that there seemed to be a lot of images of Vaporeon, Jolteon and Flareon as well, though she wasn't surprised that those three were the only ones she saw.

Realizing she was lagging behind Venerax a little she jogged a bit to catch up, still wearing her ever-present shy little smile. "I'm from Snowpoint City in Sinnoh," she replied quickly, though just mentioning her hometown's name was enough to remind her that she was a little homesick. Since Snowpoint City was perpetually covered in snow, everything was always so quiet there. Karrigan still wasn't quite used to how noisy everywhere else seemed to be. "What about you?" she asked finally. "Where are you from?" She decided that the idle conversation would help to keep her mind off the fact that a lot of the images on the walls seemed to be staring at them as they walked.

=-=-=-=-=

"Oh no, Horsea! Try to dodge it!" Misty called, knowing that if the little seahorse were to be hit by that, it would be done for, and then she'd be down to her last Pokemon. Horsea wasn't about to argue with that command and it made a desperate attempt to swim away from the oncoming seeds. However, the Leech Seed vine that had snaked around his tail had other ideas, and even as he struggled to free himself it continued to sap away his health as well as leaving him wide open to the full barrage of seeds coming from the Hoppip. The tiny Dragon Pokemon cried out painfully before slumping over in the water and Misty didn't hesitate to recall him. "You did very well Horsea," Misty said, holding the sphere close to her heart. "Take a good rest, I'm proud of you." She then took out her final Pokeball and held it up, taking a deep breath before she glanced over at Robin. "That's it, you've forced me to pull out my ace," she said, and then lobbed the Pokeball into the pool, which seemed much less dangerous now that the Leech Seeds had disappeared with Horsea's defeat. "Misty calls Starmie!"

The evolved form of Staryu took shape in the water now, it's ruby-red core gem reflecting the gym's lights twinkling beautifully beneath the water. "Let that Hoppip have it, Starmie! Swift attack!" Starmie twirled around gracefully under the water, quickly firing a steady stream of crystalline stars that shot up from the water's surface like dozens of sparkling shurikens, each homing in on the little Hoppip.

Karrigan nodded, not entirely sure where Celadon City was, though she did know it was in Kanto, and that it was where Kanto's Game Corner was located. She only knew that because a few years ago she and Candice took a trip to Veilstone, where Sinnoh's Game Corner was, to see one of Candice's favourite bands play. "Reading people?" she repeated quietly, not quite sure what he meant, but she let it slide. She stuck close to Venerax, wondering just how much further they would have go to before they started up a short flight of steps, almost jumping a little when he called out to Bill. She waited for the famous researcher to acknowledge her before she gave a little bow and introduced herself, though the young man that stood before her was still not quite what she expected. Don't judge a book by it's cover, I suppose, she thought, though she quite impressed by the setup she saw. It reminded her of the way Professor Rowan's lab looked, and she couldn't help but wonder if Bill had any Pokemon here.

=-=-=-=-=

The line seemed to barely move at all, but Jaeshan hardly noticed. In his mind he was replaying the battle over and over again. He could still clearly see Combusken as she refused to dodge the Medicham's Thunderpunch, and the surprising yet fiery evolution that followed. He couldn't stop thinking of how powerful her Blaze Kick and Flamethrower attacks had grown. And she'll only keep getting stronger, he thought, grinning from ear to ear. Oblivious to the grumblings of the other annoyed trainers around him, Jaeshan finally had his turn and still grinning like an idiot he shoved the tray of Pokeballs across the counter top towards the pink-haired nurse, the same one who'd been working earlier. "How was your battle?" she asked tiredly, though she didn't really wait around for a response from Jaeshan and took the tray to get his Pokemon treated.

It was a short while later when Jaeshan's three Pokemon were returned to him, and Jaeshan thanked the frazzled nurse and went on his way, now humming quietly to himself. His stomach grumbled noisily then and he stopped, frowning. "I guess we earned a victory lunch," he murmured, pivoting on a heel and turning to head back inside the center. About an hour later he reemerged, fed and just as happy as he was before. "Now, onward to Granite Cave," he said aloud before heading in the proper direction.