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The fire alarm had caused a lot of panic for everyone inside the Pokemon Center and only now were people daring to go back inside as Kasiya walked slowly through the parking lot, keeping her eyes peeled for signs of anyone with red hair. Interestingly enough there were no redheads in sight, and she silently wondered how far Keegan could have gone in only a few short minutes. She began to walk along the sidewalk, feeling as though her heart was in her stomach, and she knew that feeling wouldn't go away until she found out for sure what had happened. I refuse to believe that Keegan would just up and attack someone out of the blue like that, there had to be some reason for it. She probably said something to him that set him off she thought, trying to rationalize things to herself as she walked. Though as luck would have it she happened to walk the complete opposite way Keegan had. After a few minutes she let Nova out of her Pokeball to walk alongside her, though the young Charmander decided that after two steps she wasn't walking anymore and stopped abruptly, holding out her arms to be picked up. "Oh fine," Kasiya sighed, rolling her eyes as she picked up the baby, though the tiny lizard climbed up onto her head to ride as Kasiya walked along.

Down the street there was some sort of gathering going on and temporarily forgetting about Keegan, Kasiya made her way over to investigate. There was a woman calling out to the crowd, seemingly assigning numbers to people, and Kasiya moved closer, tapping the shoulder of a girl about her age. "Hey, what's going on here?" she asked.

"It's a mini-battle tournament," the girl replied, without looking at Kasiya. "The winner gets an Up-grade."

"Up-grade?" Kasiya repeated, but the girl had already gone off to watch one of the matches. It was about then that she saw a familiar figure with auburn hair heading off towards a field clearly marked with a large number 1, and without hesitation, Kasiya followed him, carefully balancing the young Charmander on her head. She arrived just in time to hear the exchange of comments, and she looked over at Dante with surprise. Wait a minute, what was he doing in a battle? However, those thoughts were interrupted by another rude comment from the teen in the wife-beater, and she frowned as the two Pokemon were released, unable to keep herself quiet. "Go get 'em, Dante!" she cheered loudly, Nova mimicking her trainer's every action. "Crush 'em!"

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Jaeshan chuckled a bit nervously hen Kenneth called him 'Mr Devereaux' and he seriously hoped he wasn't blushing. "Uh, Mr Devereaux is my father," he said, forcing a laugh. "Please, Jaeshan is fine," he insisted, noting that the two of them had sort of separated from Riza and Crenu, but that was fine with him, as the two were getting along strangely well. "It's been several months now," he said, trying to follow Kenneth's rapid-fire questions as best he could. "I've won a few badges, but I wouldn't call myself that experienced. I've still got a lot to learn," he said modestly. Sure, he could hold his own quite well, but he was well aware of the fact that there were tougher trainers out there than him. "Nothing really exciting has happened to me, though," he added with a shrug, not really sure what to tell the sparkly-cape-clad man. "What do you want to know?"

“You still have a long way to go before you can ever think of challenging master’s Blaziken. You need to be more aggressive!!” The shrouded tyrogue glared at his master. His breathing heavy from the amount of energy he has been using. It has been the third day since we've been sparring and it seemed as if I have not gotten any stronger. How can this human continue training like this? It has been almost three days and he is standing there like time has not passed? Lee’s thoughts were interrupted as round was cruising his way. The pokemon leaped backward and frowned at his companion. The boy smiled at him with no malice showing up whatsoever and continued to unleash a barrage of attacks upon his trusted friend. Lee began to duck and weave through the attacks, each one coming closer as he begins to lose his breath. “If you can’t take the heat Lee then tell me. We will stop this whole thing and we can say that I am the winner!!” Maxi smiled once more while continuing his barrage. Lee spat his tongue out at Maxi and as another roundhouse almost clipped his head, the scuffle pokemon grabbed onto his opponent’s leg and went into a simple ankle lock. Maxi fell on his bum and yelled as Lee started to apply pressure to his ankle. Maxi tried to relax and think a way out of his situation seeing it was he who taught the Lee the lock, but the pokemon was serious about this match and was not going to let the black belt off easily.

Lee applied more pressure and began to smile almost with a hint of malice on his face. This has been the first time he has put the young man on the ground since they met. It hadn’t been too long, but it felt like an eternity to the pokemon. Lee shook his head feeling silly he was reminiscing and began to roll into a transfer for another lock when he realized that he was now in the air and not holding the leg of Maxi. His face went from a small smile to a huge frown and as he prepped to land safely on a pile of rocks, his companion was already in the air, flying side kick and all. The kick connected with Lee’s torso and the small pokemon flew back into a bush. Maxi landed on his feet gently and dusted off his pants. “You put up a good fight, but it seems your head is not completely in the game. And if it is?... then something is horribly wrong.” The young black belt spat out his tongue as the defeated tyrogue emerged from the bushes. His eyes were locked onto his friend and though he wanted to continue the battle, Lee was sore all over and wanted something to eat so he simply bowed. He didn’t want to, but if he could get a small break then he would do it. Lee did a light bow toward Maxi and the boy returned it almost instantly. Lee looked at the ground to find his shroud/mantle a bit torn up. He picked it off the ground and walked towards Maxi pointing at it as he got closer to his tall counterpart. Maxi was starting to head back towards their home when his tyrogue buddy came strolling in pointing at his ripped mantle.

“So I see your coming for another…” Maxi looked at the mantle and the Lee’s eyes. The young tyrogue stared at him with his huge puppy dog eyes and the young black belt knew what he wanted. “But I bought you a mantle not too long ago!!” Lee continued to stare, his eyes only getting cuter over time. “Lee, come on!! Do you really need the mantle? You look pretty cool without it and that is coming from your best friend!” Maxi gave Lee a “thumbs up” hoping that the tyrogue would give up. The pokemon began to go into a frown and Maxi sighed. “Damnit… okay you win, you win. Are you happy? When we get to another town for food I will get you a new mantle made of nintendium, but you have to promise to take EXTREMELY good care of it, okay?” The tyrogue perked up and gave a low bow winking at his buddy as he faced the ground. Maxi laughed and picked up his buddy. “You are lucky I like you Lee!!” The tyrogue scuffled around and repositioned himself on his buddy’s shoulder. Maxi made sure Lee was stable on his should before they began to return to their small home near the entrance of Mt. Ember.

The two arrive at the small rock home and Lee hopped off his shoulder rushing towards the smell of food. Maxi giggled to himself and took a seat a rock not too far from the stone home. It has been some time since he had felt like this… happy. Five years… five long years since I left Canalave. I wonder if they are worried about me? Probably not. Russ would be the only one and I would send him letters, but he would find a way to track me down and I don’t want that… Maxi gave a small breath and looked towards the sky. He has been thinking of home so much, but he does not want to return. The trouble and chaos that would follow would be unparallel and he did not want to deal with any of it. But at the same time, he had left his sister. Though she had caused him much trouble, she was probably the only one he trusted besides Russ and Lee. Maxi’s mind began to wander, but Lee immediately interrupted by handing his friend a stick of meat. The young man looked at the tyrogue and gave a warm smile taking the stick and beginning to eat. The two were training. Training to become the strongest and to do that both had to be one with mind, body and soul. Maxi knew what the two need to go through to set off on that path and he was preparing his friend for the road ahead. Tyrogue slowly nibbled into his meal as he began to throw roundhouses all over the place. Maxi giggled at his buddy and continued eating. The two needed time to relax and rest because soon the two would be travelling to gain new friends. Friends that would all become one to defeat the four.

Maxi through his stick onto the ground after finishing his last bite of food. He rose from the ground only to sit back onto the warm earth and began doing sit ups. Lee looked at his friend and threw his food into the fire they had made, beginning to emulate his friend. The two had lots of work to do, but they both knew all would be well. It had to be.

It didn't take too long for the inquisitive Treecko to wander away from where his redheaded trainer was resting, and he spotted a girl lying on her belly beneath a tree, a book spread out in front of her. More interesting than the girl was the Pokemon resting against the trunk of the tree next to her: a strange, lizard-like Pokemon, green and yellow in colour with a red zigzag pattern on his belly. Pan tilted his head, intrigued. The lizardy Pokemon was sleeping, and quite soundly it seemed, as he did not stir as Pan approached with silent steps. If there was one thing that Pan was good at, it was stealth, and he liked to practice his art as often as he could. The crafty Treecko went unnoticed as he neared the girl and her Pokemon, and he carefully peeked over her shoulder to try and get a glimpse of the book she was reading. Pan raised an eyebrow when he saw that the pages were completely filled with words and had no pictures in them whatsoever, and he scoffed loudly, finally getting the attention of the girl. She let out a bit of a cry and jumped to her feet. "A Treecko? Where'd you come from?" she asked once she'd calmed down a bit, carefully studying the gecko. Her Pokemon lazily opened one eye to look at what had caused his trainer to jump up, and when he saw the Treecko standing there he too got to his feet. Pan just looked up at the girl as innocently as he could before he grinned at her, and the girl laughed. "Oh, you're cute as a button," she said, looking to her Kecleon. "I simply must capture you!"

When those words were said, the cute look on Pan's face vanished, and he took a step back. She couldn't capture him, he already belonged to that lazy redhead back there. The Treecko gulped as the girl pulled a Pokeball from her bag, and then pointed at Pan. "Let's get ourselves a Treecko, Leon! Fake Out, go!"

Before Pan could even think twice, the Kecleon had opened his mouth and his long tongue had swiftly lashed out and caught the prone Treecko in the stomach. Pan fell to the ground, having had the wind knocked out of him, and he tried to cry out, but could not. Just like that the girl set her Kecleon on the attack again, and there was nothing Pan could do to defend against him as the Color Swap Pokemon tore into him with a vicious scratch attack. As all this was happening just a little ways behind Keegan, who had somehow dozed off even with the battle starting nearby.
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It was a bit comical to watch Sparkle try and shake off the Cotton Spores that had clung to her body, and her tail seemed to light up as a result of her anger. "Relax Sparkle, it's not hurting you," Miharu told the Flaaffy. Sparkle bleated in reply, and looked up at Aska, who was also enjoying the Flaaffy's annoyance. "Why don't you pay Aska back with a Thundershock?" the green-haired girl suggested coyly.

Sparkle definitely liked the sound of that, and again the Flaaffy's tail began to shine with a bright light. She let out a sharp cry before she sent a jolt of bluish electricity up into the sky, and having been too busy laughing to herself to realize it was coming. The Thundershock arched upwards and easily struck the distracted Pidgeotto, and the bird let out a pained shriek as the electricity coursed through her body.

"Feel better now?" Miharu asked, looking down at Sparkle.

"Flaa," the Flaaffy nodded, her woolly body still glistening with static.

Kasiya wasn't at all surprised to see the Machoke's Dig attack miss by a mile. That Pokemon's special ability must be Levitate, she thought, noting the fact that the little guy hadn't touched the ground at all over the entire duration of the battle. The big guy seemed to brush the loss of pretty well, though every time he called Dante a girl it seemed to irk her a little more. "What is with that guy anyway?" she asked once he'd walked away, and now Dante had come over to her.

She looked at the ground as he asked her about Sinnoh. "Yeah, I suppose so," she said, shrugging. Keegan's previous question returned to her mind and she sighed. "At least I was going to. I don't know anymore." She continued to look at the ground, not liking this confused feeling in her chest. Nova sensed that her mama was sad, and gently patted the girl on the head. "Thanks, Nova," Kasiya said, trying to force on a smile. "What about you, Dante?" she asked, looking up at her friend. "Are the legendary Pokemon sending you on a journey to the new region to get the latest dirt on the legendary Pokemon of Sinnoh?"

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To be honest Jaeshan wasn't totally sad to see Mismagius put back into her Pokeball, as she was starting to creep him out a little. "I do miss having him with me, but he had worked very hard for quite some time so he deserved the vacation." He could just imagine the canine lounging around lazily under the shade of a big tree, but after a moment or two he shook the image a way. No, if anything, both Mightyena and Nidoking were probably training nonstop, though he hoped they weren't destroying Professor Birch's property. He just smirked at the comment about him being broke. "Nah, money's never really been an issue with me, but I do think I'm gonna stay here in Kanto a while. After all I did promise one of my Pokemon that we'd go back to Celadon to try and win ourselves a Rainbow Badge when she was a bit more grown up, and she seems to have fulfilled her end of the bargain." He chuckled, knowing Blaziken would most likely be a great asset to have in the match against Erika, but he couldn't help but think that Erika probably had many strategies to counter the many weaknesses her Grass-type Pokemon possessed.

He too looked over as Crenu had started to leave, and he shook his head. "Reminds me of someone I know, always brooding and sulking," he mumbled as Ken told Riza to go after the broody blonde. "It's no problem," he replied, nodding at Riza. "I learned a thing or two as well," he added as the raven-haired girl followed after Crenu. "A couple of oddballs," Jaeshan said as he looked back at Ken.