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With a fortunately smooth flight behind him, Zero quickly arrived in Sootopolis, returning Ashen to his pokeball before turning to the large, brown-roofed building he landed in front of. This was it, the last gym he had to face before he’d officially have all the badges within the Hoenn region. The last challenge he knew how to face… And he hesitated, for but a moment. A part of him didn’t want to go through the azure doors and fight, due in part because training for this fight gave him a definite goal to work towards, and he couldn’t help but fear he might lose something if he finally got it done and out of the way. Still, it had to be done, he knew that well enough. He’d need to get things taken care of so his pokemon would continue to obey him, and in his current state he was running dangerously close to his limit with all of them. Suddenly though, Nova emerged from her pokeball, Zero turning to her as she placed a reassuring hand on his back, lightly pressing on it to urge him forward. He felt something similar on his leg as well, as he glanced down to see a pale hand poking out of his shadow to help urge him along, the occupant within causing a small distortion in his shadow. It stretched a touch longer than normal, and where his hair would’ve been extended much farther and flowed much like the Darkrai’s own, something Zero couldn’t help but chuckle slightly at. With all that, he couldn’t quite say no anymore, and started walking into the large building.

When he stepped through the doors, the temperature dropped dramatically. Zero rose an arm up to cover his face as a gush of chilling air burst out of the building the moment the doors opened, rushing water covering the entire lower area of the gym as the walls were broken up regularly by waterfalls, and the platforms people were meant to walk on were coated–-Perhaps even made of––thick blocks of ice, though there was some solid flooring scattered between them in large chunks. Regardless, after taking a moment to adjust with the temperature and taking in his surroundings, Zero continued forward, hardly breaking stride as he climbed the stairs up to the gym leader. Within moments, the older, thinly-dressed male came into view, on a solitary platform well above the rest, smiling in a way Zero could only describe as seductive, seemingly unaffected by the cold despite his rather exposing attire. Zero didn’t know this man, Wallace, personally, but reputation preceded him by all accounts. Even he had stopped to watch the man’s performances in the contest hall whenever he chose to make an appearance, his Milotic often putting much of the competition to shame. Despite that though, this was the final gym leader, Zero had absolutely no reason to presume any failings because of his dual performance as Coordinator and Gym Leader. Their eyes both met, Wallace’ grin growing slightly as Zero’s only narrowed. ”Rather unique aesthetic you’ve got going on here,” the latter noted, getting a mildly flamboyant laugh out of the man.

Wallace gave a light bow, but an exaggerated one none the less for the sake of being showy. ”Thank you, I’m quite proud of this place. Judging by those eyes, I assume you’re here for a battle?” Zero nodded, though raising a brow slightly at the particular aspect pointed out. ”I thought so. A bit of a shame, with that interesting Gardevoir at your side, but I won’t criticize your life choices. We can begin right away.” With his smile turning into a confident grin, Wallace reached behind him to retrieve a pokeball, the orb expanding as Zero reached for his own starting fighter.

”Before we begin,” Zero suddenly interjected, before either of them sent out their first pokemon. ”Why don’t we make something of a gentleman’s agreement? Just to make our lives easier, neither of us will switch out unless a pokemon on either side goes down. How does that sound?”

Wallace raised a brow, looking at Zero for a moment as he did consider the idea. ”I do hope you don’t expect taking that out of the equation to give you any edge, but I accept. You’ve made it this far, so you obviously have more up your sleeve than any cheap tricks. Just know, with dignity and respect, that I represent both beauty and intelligence… I do not hold back.”

Zero chuckled slightly, nodding lightly as he adjusted his hat. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. Now let’s get started!” With a wide arch, Zero chucked the pokeball into the air, Wallace following suit, before the two collided in in the air. When they met, the orbs bounced off each other, before bursting open to release the pokemon trapped inside. A bright orb of light suddenly shot into the air, attaching to the ceiling as a harsh warmth suddenly bored down on the arena. On his side, the silver-haired trainer sent out Ashen, who hovered in the air ready to fight, while on the other… The entire platform was taken up by a Wailord, leaving very little room for anything bound to the earth to move. Seemed he got at least somewhat lucky with the match up, but Wallace only watched from on high, keeping a wary gaze on the Charizard. No trainer at this point would ever open a gym battle with a type disadvantage like this without a plan…

Regardless, with the players on the field, the fight began immediately. Wallace commanded his Wailord, and with a cry, the whale shot a torrent of water into the air from its blowhole, some of it evaporating from the harsh light, but for the most part it all came crashing right down on top of the flying fire-type. There was a very obvious drop in altitude after he’d been pelted hard by the rushing water, but he still flew, and with an echoing roar, opened his long snout to reveal a ball of golden energy accumulating inside of it. Ashen knew what to do; The orb grew quickly in the bountiful sunlight, and blasted the water-type with a powerful beam that hit far harder than the Water Spout, making up for the initial hit. Wallace looked at Zero knowingly, assuming it was reasons like this that he asked for neither of them to switch out until a faint, but continued regardless–-He did agree, after all.

With both having played their best cards, the pokemon repeated the events of the round, the water the Wailord spewed out certainly doing a number on the Charizard, but it wasn’t nearly enough to knock him out just yet. Ashen, on the other hand, still had plenty of light to fuel his attack, allowing him to once again fire another Solarbeam almost immediately, knocking the Wailord out cold in all of two strikes. Letting out a small sigh, Wallace returned his fainted pokemon, while Zero recalled the pokemon on his side as well. The gym leader watched Zero carefully, but as it seemed the young man already had his next choice lined up regardless of what Wallace threw out, he simply kept things moving, somewhat surprised when he saw what Zero chose to use.

Nu, his Metagross, floated relatively low to the ground, its eight arms of fire and ice ready to assault whatever was to come, as Wallace’s Seaking took the stage. Without the Charizard on the field, the harsh sunlight that’d warmed the gym faded quickly, and by the time the fighting resumed, it’d disappeared entirely. However, it was quickly replaced as the overhead lights darkened, and dark rain clouds began to form overhead, followed by a torrential rain. Zero held his tattered tricorn to his head, the leather jacket fortunately proving fairly water resistant as Zero continued on uninterrupted. Both combatants used their strongest moves that wouldn’t be inhibited by type advantages, leading to a constant barrage as Nu started to hammer at the Seaking with hard strikes, a purple, flame-like energy coating its arms thanks to Dragon Rush, while the flurry was occasionally broken up by the water-type’s powerful Waterfall. However, despite the boost in speed the fish gained thanks to the pouring rain granting it more mobility, it seemed like every other strike from Nu caused them to stagger, even flinching during the short openings they’d otherwise take to use Waterfall in. In a last-ditch effort, as their HP dropped dangerously low, Wallace commanded his pokemon to start using something different; Horn Drill. Zero grimaced, knowing that if it hit, the move would instantly knock out anything it touched. Fortunately though, the first attempt failed, another hit from Nu causing the fish to flinch, before it just completely missed upon their second attempt. And by that point, it was too late for a third; One more, powerful fit dug into the Seaking, knocking it back towards the stairs that lead to Wallace, who soon returned the pokemon as Nu took a moment to recover from the short but intense fight.

Following up Seaking, Wallace’s next pokemon was a Whiscash, which slid slightly on the water left by the rain, which eventually subsided in the previous match-up. If memory serves, Zero began to think, Whiscash has a water/ground typing… So Nu is probably still good for this fight, I just have to hope it doesn’t– ”Whiscash, Earthquake!” <********> Knowing just how disastrous this could be, Zero threw his hand out and before the command to resume the assault was given, Nu already heard it shouted in the trainer’s mind, and immediately resumed the Dragon Rush in attempt to stop the following attack. Despite his pelting however, there was still an opening left in the barrage of attacks, and the water-type capitalized fully on this by putting the Metagross at the epicenter of it all. The solid chunk of flooring they were on shattered, and before Nu could naturally float above the scattered pieces they drove their way into him, bombarding him as even pieces of the ceiling fractured off to pelt him incessantly. However, Zero wasn’t going to let that shake him or his pokemon, and simply directed Nu to continue his attacks. Back and forth, the Whiscash tanked one monstrous punch after the other, countering all the while as more and more stone slammed into the steel-type heavily. The Metagross began to slow down, quickly losing health faster and faster, the natural speed advantage being all that kept him ahead of the oncoming stone bombarding him. However, the water-type was taking it just as hard, the trades leaving them both tired and battered, and in the end it all came down to one fatal possibility–-A flinch. The Metagross’ eyes darkened slightly, weak and tired from the strain, but still hammering away. The Whiscash watched the attack, waiting for an opening, but when it finally came time, it hesitated. A single fist, too slow to stop him was coming forward, but it was enough to do the job; The Whiscash flinched, recoiling back as it tried to instinctively dodge, but it was exactly this that Nu was looking for. With his opportunity in sight the Metagross pressed on with a second wind, its crimson eyes flaring back to life with a burning intensity, and with one last push they pounded the water-type with furious intensity. When it finally stopped, and Nu collapsed from exhaustion, the Whiscash was fainted, while the Metagross still remained conscious.

Both men let out a deep, audible exhale, neither realizing they’d been holding their breath until after the fact, before they both returned their pokemon to their balls. Zero and Wallace glanced at each other as they selected their next pokemon, their gazes simply evaluating each other at first before they both couldn’t help but chuckle. Composing themselves quickly though, the next bout came uninterrupted, Zero sending his Lucario onto the field while Wallace chose his Sealeo. Seeing this, the silver-haired trainer visibly grinned, finally having a type advantage he could exploit again, his smile visible even with his cloth mask covering it. This time Wallace had the speed advantage back, his Sealeo getting one clean hit in with Waterfall before Sei suddenly disappeared, instantly closing the distance between it and the ice-type after it landed, and unloading her own, devastating barrage into it at point-blank. It visibly strained her body, but it did a heavy chunk of damage to her opponent, which was really all they could ask for. The seal was sent back a ways, with Wallace directing the Sealeo to Body Slam the Lucario in an attempt to at least paralyze her, but in the end it did minimal damage at best. One more Close Combat, and Wallace’s Sealeo was down for the count.

Sei’s defense had been somewhat tanked thanks to the double barrage, but Zero felt a quick win against any of the pokemon in this fight was well worth the stat risk. Wallace didn’t seem too worried though, despite now being down to two pokemon, and next up came another staple of his team; Luvdisc. It was faster than Sei, so Wallace was able to get in the first attack on this bout, using it to immediately confuse the Lucario into hurting herself. Oh boy. Zero suddenly felt flashbacks to the constant flinching he dealt with when fighting Winona, but fortunately it didn’t quite get that bad, Sei snapping out of it the following round after taking a hit from Water Pulse. She began to take some solid hits by this point, but for the most part, she was able to return whatever damage she took, with some extra thanks to Thunder Punch. Unfortunately, it seemed Zero had just as much luck with status ailments as Wallace, as the only thing that seemed to cause something for either of them was the confusion from Luvdisc’s Sweet Kiss, but it seemed Sei was able to mostly keep herself together after the first, eventually taking out the water-type with a bit over half her HP left.

However, now came the last challenge; Wallace’s most strongest pokemon, Milotic. Once again, with a speed advantage, they opened with a powerful Hydro Pump, knocking out just about half of what health Sei had left, with some residual confusion keeping her from immediately retaliating. It wasn’t until the second one that she came to, using what strength she had left to get in a single Thunder Punch. However, all it took was one more Hydro Pump, and what strength she had left went out the window, fainting upon being thrown back by Zero, who returned her promptly. Zero let out a small sigh, deciding which pokemon he’d send in. It might’ve been somewhat unwise to send in a pokemon with an obvious type disadvantage, but he decided the pros outweighed the cons, and threw out his starter pokemon, Agidyne. While he was hit with a Hydro Pump upon entering the field, the mega Blaziken made sure to return in kind, dashing forward and sweeping the Milotic clear across the face with an electrified punch, the serpent sliding across the ice to gain some distance. Unfortunately, Agi was quick to do the same to give chase, his speed only growing as his Speed Boost kicked in. The water-type turned to blast him with another Hydro Pump, but the Blaziken simply moved aside, and before the torrent of water could be adjusted to catch him, Agi closed the distance. With a short leaping dash, Agidyne slammed a Thunder Punch squarely into the pokemon’s head, driving them forward with it before they reached the floor, the Blaziken flipping forward and landing on his back due to the momentum. However, when he rose to his feet, he turned back to find his opponent out cold, completely fainted before Wallace returned his pokemon. Zero once again exhaled a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding, and suddenly fell back, sitting on the cold floor as he took a moment to absorb everything that happened, and let the intensity of what happened gradually fade now that it was all over. He’d beaten the eighth gym of Hoenn.

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OOC: N/A.
Company: Wallace.
Opponent: Wallace.
Team OoB: .
Current Outfit: Secondary Outfit.

As the battle finally met its conclusion, it seemed both men felt the intensity in one form or another. Though while Zero took a moment to rest, it seemed Wallace chose to revel in it, causing the silver-haired trainer to chuckle a bit before he got back onto his feet. "Thanks, it wasn't easy, but I think we did pretty good." When the sparsely-dressed gym leader approached to give the trainer his rewards, Zero braced his feet for all the flamboyant fanfare that came with anything Wallace did, but he regardless took his rewards without much hesitation. He nodded at the man as he explained that the Elite Four challenge was now available to him, but... Well, that wasn't really the thing on his mind just yet. "I see... Well, we'll see what happens. Thanks again for the gym battle." And with that, after the young man tucked away the discs and pinned his badge into his case, Zero walked away, heading right out the door as he now faced a challenge just as trying as the battle he just went through; Figuring out what to do while waiting for Isis... After stopping by the pokemon center and healing his pokemon, of course.

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OOC: N/A.
Company: N/A.
Opponent: N/A.
Team OoB: .
Current Outfit: Secondary Outfit.

As Zero sat quietly in the pokemon center, pondering what to do next, he felt a sudden buzz on his wrist. Grabbing his attention, the silver-haired male snapped his head towards it, raising his arm to look at his ringing X-Transceiver. To his surprise, it was an old friend on the other line––though really it wasn’t as if there were many other possibilities––and he paused for a moment before answering. Once he accepted the call though, the screen went white for a moment, only for but a moment, before it filled back with the image of the person on the other side of the phone. Just as the caller ID had said, it was Andreas, the older brunette unmistakable on the small, digital screen. ”Hey, Z, you doing well?” She greeted, seemingly reclining in a chair of some kind or another judging by the angle.

”I’m fine,” Zero replied flatly, lazily scanning the background for any sign of Machina. ”What about you? I know it hasn’t been that long since we last saw each other.” A part of the young man decided to forego telling Andreas about his most recent gym battle, fearing somewhat that she’d stop at nothing to make him sit down and celebrate his victory. And even if the older woman decided to dip into her personal stash…

Regardless, that idea was set aside once the brunette began to talk again. ”Nothing’s really changed on my end. I was calling though to see if I could get your help with something.” Zero raised a brow, the visible intrigue in his expression giving the woman licence to continue. ”I know it’s rather short notice, but I need someone to come with me for a little bit, while I give a short class at some of the trainer schools throughout the regions.”

The younger, silver haired man looked at the image on his screen silently, trying to momentarily think of a way to respond. Rather than give an immediate one, he chose to skirt things first. ”I thought you already taught a class at a college or something? That academy place.”

”Of course, and I still work there. Buuuut I’ve got a few free days while my students work on a research paper, so I accepted an offer to help give a small class or two a quick lesson… But, you know how Machina is about kids, so he decided to take the day off instead of dealing with them. I just need someone else there with me to help every so often, all the better that its an experienced trainer. Like I said, it’s pretty short notice, but I could use the help if you’re willing.”

Zero paused for a moment, thinking about the woman’s request. He had a good amount of time before Isis would likely be back, and he didn’t want to spend all his time doing nothing as he waited again. He didn’t consider himself terribly good with kids either, but… Well, what could really go wrong? ”...Alright, I think I can help. Where do I need to go? And how soon do you need me?”

”Great!” The image blurred as Andreas moved, the camera on her phone shaking as she sat up in her chair. ”To be honest I could use you right away, but the first class isn’t for an hour or two. Change into something that won’t scare little kids, and get ready to head out. I’ll text you the city to head to, and we’ll meet up outside of the pokemon center.”

”Alright, I guess that works. I’ll see you when I get there.” He gave a small gesture to wave her off, before the screen blinked away from the older brunette, the call ending. Letting out a breath, Zero quietly got up from his seat after a few more minutes, heading off towards the changing rooms in the Pokemon Center. Nevermoor waited in a different, nearby shadow as he got out of the renaissance fair costume, and getting back into his usual outfit. He emerged immediately after changing, and with the Darkrai leaping back into his shadow, the young man made his way out of Sootopolis, looking at his texts to find his destination before letting Ashen out. Viridian City, that was where he’d be making his way to.

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OOC: N/A.
Company: N/A.
Opponent: N/A.
Team OoB: .
Current Outfit: Secondary Outfit.