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Topper was hit by the attack with no way no dodge. He was then pulled into the hole and buried. Tired from his move, he'd have to take this time to recharge his strength. But if Wukong gave him that chance, he planned to reign hell.

SMASH! Bill's body was thrown like a rag doll. He slammed into a tree, his steel armor cracking under both forces. As he slumped down the side it fell away, revealing hard defined muscle underneath. Slowly, he pulled himself to his feet, bleeding on both sides. Arms torn at the spandex underneath, blood trickling down each one. He glared at Salieri.

"That hurt," he called, internally thanking the dampeners for saving his life. Still, though, the attack was strong. The forest, it seemed, was booby trapped.

Behind him a fire had begun to blaze thanks to the logs, smoking filling the sky. Bill looked at Salieri, annoyed. "This is it?" he asked. "Yer big counter attack? Hittin' me with trees? Come on, girly, men can't die by womanly tactics. Whatcha think this is, one of yer crappy martial arts lessons?"

Topper cursed Wukong as he was struck and Bill grit his teeth at it all. "Pathetic, just as pathetic as when we originally fought. You? Strong? It's not even remotely possible," Bill said.

He'd then find himself in Chen Zhen's trap, but he didn't protest. He smirked as if he saw it coming. "Next you'll go around braggin' that you beat me, tryin' to feign strength. You 'n I both know, though, girly. Ya en't stronger then anyone, yer just a frail lil' girl clingin' to delusions. One day you'll be forced to see that. Ya just better hope it en't when you've crossed the line 'n the other person wants 't kill yer a**."

((Sal has always wanted to tie Bill up? Kiiiiinky.

Anyways, I'ma be out of town until monday or the first. To those I'm battling, have patience please. Coolness shall commence upon my return.))

((Since Trop's away, I got told to battle myself))

Hitmonlee landed smartly. Luckily for him his foot turned diamond-hard on contact. Even with the sheer power put into Counter, it was being delivered with a fist, flesh; akin to driving a car into a well-built wall, the car is going to come off worse. He'd come out of the fight less than injured.

"Nice work, that's one down," Wayne said and Deerling was released, "One to- pfft!! Aaahahaha! Look at that thing! Oh man. Hitmonlee you gotta see this!"
[Heh. Queer deer.]

[Come over here and say that, you bastards!] squeaked Deerling, stomping his hooves and the sunny flower between his leaf-like ears rustled as it shook.
"It always gets like this," Leonarda muttered into her palm before speaking up, "Okay, trainer, this is your chance to surrender. Make me continue this battle and I swear it won't be pretty."
[I'll tear you to pieces!]
"Calm down, you insane thing," hissed the Plasma grunt - the pokémon obeyed, now remaining statue-still with both eyes glaring in Wayne's direction.

"I dunno," Wayne rubbed his neck, "Looks to me like you got destroyed," he tapped his thumb into his chest, "by me, WL. aka Wayne Lee. Hitmonlee did some of the work."

"Aren't we confident? But from where I'm standing, your Hitmonlee did all the work," Leonarda replied and Wayne's face dropped, his lips sealed shut. Hitmonlee nodded in agreement. "Why don't you prove what a great trainer you are and use a different pokémon to face Deerling? That Petilil there looks like a good choice."
Hitmonlee rolled his eyes, [Oh please, he's not that stu--]
"Hell yeah! It'll be easy!" Wayne roared and Hitmonlee's palm met Hitmonlee's forehead with a wet slap.

Petilil was rushed into battle position and Deerling stomped his hoof on the ground, smirking evilly and looking as scary as he could. A slight frown was all it took to get Petilil worried but she stood her ground in the face of Deerling's eager bloodlust.

"Alright," Wayne struck a grin, "let's get this started!"

--

Null was hit again by Metal Sound, its special defenses dropping further. In the time that Iron Hide had been digging, the synthetic pokémon had been ordered to use Magnet Rise, which allowed it to begin levitating above the field.

This meant that Iron Hide would be unable to attack the pokémon directly using Dig, and would be forced to surface whenever he engaged in an attack.

"Man, I can't believe he's underground. How am I ever gonna get him there?" Boaz asked mechanically, almost as if Dig wasn't a hindrance at all. Of course, if his goal wasn't to stop TK from proceeding further into the forest, then maybe the boy's stall tactics might have been troublesome.

He tapped a few more times, now ordering a Rain Dance. Noting that Iron Hide was tunneling again, Boaz sat on top of a toppled tree, placing him off the ground with his feet against the bark in case he needed to move quickly. Boaz was 37, not some inexperienced youth trainer. It took a lot to surprise him, really.

Null launched a bluish beam into the canopy and the area darkened and the air began to condense. A localized rainstorm brewed, only affecting the battleground shared by TK and Boaz. Rainwater dripped and dropped, quickly pouring and striking the forest floor to become a mist. It was heavy rain, and it wouldn't take long to soak the ground completely.

In a matter of seconds, TK and Iron Hide's tunnels would be dripping with seeping water and mud. Since the tunnels weren't supported by beams or anything, once the soil was sufficiently wet, the tunnels would collapse in on themselves.

--

Alyse brought her sword around as Frate moved in to attack. While reluctant to attack pokémon, he had no qualms about defending from their attacks; she wasn't that much of a martyr. The rocks hit hard, and Alyse used her shoulder and arm to reinforce the blade's flat.

As the rocks fell to the floor, more shot into the steel edge until finally the attack was over and Alyse got off her knees, her shoulder socket feeling loose and bruised and hard to move. Still, it wasn't her strong arm and it wasn't completely useless.

She realised she had to move quickly now. By choosing to defend against a long attack, she could have given her target time to recover. That was something she did not want to do. Rising and rushing forward, Alyse slashed with her sword using only one arm.

An Arc Wave generated would race across the ground towards Henrietta, like a big, deadly shark fin in an ocean of dirt, grass and leaves. If it met its target head-on, it'd slice a vertical line down her middle, opening up the skin.

The pain in her shoulder prevented Alyse from focusing her Aura properly, and the resulting technique was weaker than what had been used to cut the trees. Still, it intended to kill, and that alone made it sharper than a butcher's knife.

--

Leyla huffed and puffed and finally caught up with her quarry. She stomped her foot down, the heavy Plasma uniform being unkind to her slender frame. She had fiery red hair that hung over her shoulders but her gaze looked like coal pits - dark and angry.

"What's wrong with you, fatso?!" she yelled at Robby, "everyone else is in the other direction. Did you wander off here just to be awkward?!"

She took out a pokéball, "Ariados! Bind this b***h!"

And with a throw, her spider-pokémon materialised, spitting an Electroweb towards Robby, aimed to trap him like a net. Even if Robby was fat enough to warrant his own equator, he wasn't immune to being shocked by electricity or being bound by tough webbing.

If the attack landed, Robby's arms would be trapped by his side and he'd be shocked with enough voltage to put down most anyone.

--

Eunmi was chasing D-Vee into the forest. Though she wasn't after the skull, orders were orders; they had to stop anyone from interfering, overlook nothing. And with a heavy heart, Baker stood on the path ahead, clad in his Plasma uniform but with the hood pulled down.

"You look lost," he said as Eunmi drew nearer. He held a worried expression, reluctant in what he'd been told to do, "Trust me, you don't want to go any further in. Just turn back."

--

"Glad you finally caught up," Zack said, standing with his arms folded and only half-turned in Artemis' direction. "This isn't going to be easy, Artemis."

He'd tracked Gorm down, being able to sense the Sage's aura from a mile off. The signature wasn't moving; Gorm was likely waiting on ahead, making no effort to hide his location from the Aura-able. No, more than that.

"I think he's baiting us into a trap," the former trainer put his hands into his pockets. "His name's Gorm, he's dangerous. And from the looks of things he's working for Plasma. Strong guy in a radical group: you see where this is headed, don't you?"

Just like Hoenn and Sinnoh. This was not good.

"Ah, see, I really didn't want to have to do this," Baker said, signalling forward. An ear-splitting buzzing sound descended on the field, breaking through trees and hovering above the floor; a Vespiquen, shrouded in power that seemed to make the air around it shimmer and the ground break apart.

Suddenly, a dark purple wave shot between the queen bee and her trainer, not doing any harm, but slacking like a rope held between the two. It faded out of sight and Baker exhaled, his breath turning to steam on the air. He sucked back in through his nose and seemingly returned to normal.

"But now I'll have to," he said, "That was Destiny Bond - I share my pokémon's fate. You trainers talk of bonds, friendship with your pokémon. But mine's different. It's on a whole other level."

His sharp blue eyes quickly turned narrow, "This is your last chance. Turn back. Now."

--

"It's only blind if we're not expecting it," Zack said, walking in the direction that Gorm was waiting in. He stopped, looked back over his shoulder with a confident smile, "We got this. Just like old times."

He looked on ahead with an observant frown. "I hope all that painting didn't make you rusty."

"Defend Order," Baker said calmly. Vespiquen widened her arms then swung them to a close. Following the movement, a hoard of buzzing bees seemed to appear out of nowhere, either side of the queen, and crashed together in time to meet Dali's attack.

Vespiquen wasn't fast enough to dodge, but the Defend Order did lessen the damage. Some of the bees swathed around their queen, vanishing on contact and making her flesh shimmer.

They weren't real bees, but manifestations of Vespiquen's inner energy. The bees that hadn't been absorbed to enhance their queen's strength instead began to fly to the offskirts of the battlefield, hanging around the trees like a noise crowd of observers.

Water Pulse managed to knock Vespiquen back but it was far from enough to finish her. Defend Order boosted her already considerable defenses and Dali was still under-evolved.

"You're going to have to try harder than that," Baker told Eunmi as he staggered back from her blow, her fist still resting on his jaw, "we hardly felt a thing. Defend Order again!"

Baker doubled over, coughing up spit. His hand found its way to Eunmi's elbow and he reached around to try and grab her back and pull her in to be pinned against him.

His armor provided excellent protection overall, and the girl would move likely hurt herself than hurt him. If he could keep her movements limited and her attention away from the battle, it'd be a simply victory. Luckily all male Plasma members were issued steel cups to protect their valuable nuts.

"You don't want to do this," he said, strained, trying to make it impossible for Eunmi to even see the battle. "Just stop fighting. My team won't attack pokémon that aren't being commanded by a human. You don't have to worry!"

Dali's slashes met their target, but with Defend Order active, Vespiquen soon found herself able to break free of his slashes and maneuver up into the air. Dali's attack had been lucky enough to strike her weak middle section, piercing through the bee queen's defense.

She knew what to do at this point. As Defend Order's bees buzzed off to join the gathering crowd of spectators, she generated another batch that swarmed around her, cloaking and masking her form. Heal Order. By the time the bees swarmed away to the crowds, Vespiquen was as good as new.

--

"Run away!"

The trainer, pokémon and pokémon bound through the forest, diving over fallen logs, through bushes, sliding down slopes, scrambling up more, covered in mud, tired and terrified. Loud booms chased them, scratching roars and toppled trees as the monster forced them down with sheer might.

Wayne stumbled but Hitmonlee grabbed his arm, pulling him out of the way of a mighty hoof as it tore through the forest and impaled the ground. The trainer nodded a brief thanks and scooped up Petilil into his chest. Keep everyone together. No getting lost.

"This way," Wayne said quickly and they ran off to the side, Hitmonlee looking back, eyes shooting open as their predator continued its pursuit undeterred.

Far behind, Leonarda struggled to keep up, hot and sweaty beneath her armor and wig. She pulled the latter off, seeing no point in hiding her identity when even the native pokémon had taken a hike.

"I can't believe anyone could be so stupid," she mumbled in between breaths.

---
"Whaaaaaat? Nothing's working, Petilil!" Wayne cried as Deerling slurped up even Solar Beam, "I know! Try another Mega Drain!"

"Just give it up," Leonarda said with a bored expression, "Check your pokédex - Deerling has Sap Sipper, he can absorb any of your Grass attacks and increase his strength. Literally, he's eating your power. So much for being a 'great' trainer."

"...Eating, huh?" Wayne looked at the deer pokémon with a mischievous smirk, "That gives me an idea..."

[Let me fight?] suggested Hitmonlee. But it was lost on the human trainer.
[Let him fight?] whined Petilil. Same.

"Now Petilil! Let's give this thing indigestion! Throw everything you've got at it!"
---

"Why did I have to goad him?" Leonarda hung her head as she ran. At the same time, Wayne was ducking his own down to avoid it being smashed off. As it turned out, when you give a raging psychopathic deer incredible power, it goes a little bit out of control.

He jumped off a boulder and it smashed into a thousand pieces a moment later.

Well, a lot out of control.

Wayne tumbled through a cloud of bees, which seemed to let him pass like they were nothing more than holograms, and rolled to a stop on a forest path occupied by someone familiar and some dude in a knight's outfit. Not to mention a pair of battling pokémon.

"Eunmi!" Wayne shouted urgently, Hitmonlee skidding to a halt at his side, "Am I glad to see--" the forest floor quaked up and down, "Oh no.."

"DEEEERRRLIIIINNGGGG!" the hulking, bipedal mass of muscle and raw strength burst through the trees, smashing them aside like overgrown matchsticks. It had somehow managed to grow to around 12 feet tall and gain arms like a Machoke on steroids complete with razor sharp hooves.

It stomped into the battleground, breathing heavy and hot as it looked from person to person, pokémon to pokémon. And decided to prove itself by beating them all.

First of all, it'd hit that human trainer who dared to laugh at it. With a swing of its arm, Mega Deerling went to nail Wayne to the ground right through his chest. With a hollow clang, it met a different target instead.

Hitmonlee... blinked. [When did you get let out?]
Solosis looked over with a frown, [This is my moment. Don't spoil.] He held his Barrier in place, just warding off Mega Deerling's strike with the power of his mind.
[Stay focused or your fifteen minutes won't last fifteen seconds!]

"Thanks, Solo," Wayne panted, but Solosis was too busy to pay him mind. He was cracking under the strain, his Barrier doing so literally, and a moment later it shattered like glass and Mega Deerling's hoof slotted into the grassy ground.

Wayne had pulled Solosis back at the last second, getting them out of there. He let Petilil down and Solosis uses Telekinesis on himself to start floating. He looked tired, doubtful that he'd be able to maintain a Barrier like that one for a good while.

"Okay," Wayne muttered, backing off with his pokémon at his side. Mega Deerling took one step forward worth five of their steps back, looking down with rage plastered across its formerly cute face. The flower on its head was still rustling. "I think it's time for Plan B."

--

"Like moths to a flame," Gorm's voice was the kind that rumbled to your core. Zack, Artemis and D-Vee entered the clearing that he'd chosen, right at the heart of Pinwheel Forest, the center of the wheel. Talls trees loomed above them like towers, casting hard shadows on anything caught in their notice.

A prickling of danger and a sudden attack, Mienshao made his move, launching out of a tree top and rocketing towards the attackers. As the world blurred around it, power flowed through the creature's paws, mostly hidden by its long arm fur.

As it reached the ground, still a good dozen feet above its targets, its paws slapped together, releasing an incredible, bone-crushing Force Palm; the attack was so strong, so insurmountable, that it may as well have been a solid rock ceiling dropping down on its targets.

Moments before it hit, Zack shouted, "Artemis! Shield!" and at the same time, Xen launched a surprise attack from a different tree top, aiming to crash into Mienshao and drag it out of the air, ending its technique early.

A powerful surge of air blasted against the force of the Meinshao's attack. The wave of air didn't come from the brown and tan Pokemon, but instead from the woman whose outstretched hands were held together at her wrists. Xen came crashing down on the Mienshao, knocking out of the air.

D-Vee dashed in from below, throwing his tail in front of him. This was the type of battle he had wanted Eunmi to have him fight. Eunmi didn't know how to use him - she didn't understand him. With Artemis, he knew he could win this fight. And she wouldn't even have to say anything.

The symbol on his back, originally a green paw print, wasn't the typical paw print a Smeargle usually bore. As he swiped his tail out, the same moment Xen came down from above, the symbol on his back changed to a eerily rendered spiral. The paint splattered off the tip of his tail and splashed out into a spiral until the paint was no longer paint at all, but a forceful Shadow Ball.

He dropped back to the ground feeling invigorated. "Take that, you stupid Meinshao!"

Artemis lowered her hands slowly. She could sense his Aura just as well as Zack could, but she was surprised by his appearance. Maybe it was because she was rusty. She surprised herself, at least, that she'd managed off the shield Zack asked for. When was the last time she'd done that?

She didn't have time to worry about that, but she also didn't want to rush in and attack an opponent she knew nothing about. She stole a glance at Zack - if the Sage had more Pokemon like the Mienshao, it'd be better to take him out before he could call upon them, but she wanted to be sure before taking a strike.


--


Eunmi squirmed, but the armor the grunt wore cut into her as she moved. She wasn't a weak girl, but she couldn't really do much in her current position.

"Yeah? Well, maybe..." she planted her feet firmly on the ground. There were virtually no openings with all that armor. Except... "I don't mind fighting!" Plasma grunts didn't wear helmets. It'd hurt her too, no doubt, but she slammed her forehead against his, pushing her arms apart to spread his arms enough to break from his hold in the same instant.

Dali staggered back, confused. He knew he was small, but his attacks had to count for something! His brow furrowed, he spat a Water Pulse at the Vespiquen again, but it was quickly interrupted by a quake.

"Eunmi!" Wayne's voice shouted. The korean stumbled back, away from the Plasma grunt, hand pressed to her forehead. Then -

"DEEEERRRLIIIINNGGGG!"

"Oh god..." Eunmi stammered. "Dali, get back!"

She made a step towards her Pokemon (although she could barely see him), but then the monster Pokemon thrashed against Solosis' barrier, moments later shattering it like glass.

"Wayne! What the heck is going on?"