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"Hah! Take that!" Kasiya cheered, pumping her fist into the air as Loki brought down the annoying Ghost-type. "That's the way, Loki!" Flash let out a cheer too, but still refused to take his eyes off of the Skarmory. "Flash, use Thunderbolt! Fry that overgrown hunk of metal!" she shouted. The Jolteon took a step forward and let the blast of electricity fly. The Skarmory let out a hollow-sounding shriek as the electrical energy flowed through it, as this time it's Protect attempt failed. It collapsed into a heap on the ground, and was promptly recalled by Baldy, who took a nervous step back as Flash let out a victorious bark, growling at the squat man in front of him. "Chalk up another in the winning column for us," Kasiya said gleefully, grinning at Keegan. They truly did make quite a team; or at least in her eyes they did.

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"Iris, huh? That is a really pretty name," Jaeshan nodded, realizing it wouldn't be too hard to remember it. They went into the Pokemon Center then, and Jaeshan quickly gave his Pokemon to the nurse before sitting down on a couch beside Ryka. He listened patiently to her story, nodding along as she spoke. "I don't think Iris would have had it any other way," he commented, giving the lovely Espeon yet another pat. He was curious as to whom she'd given her other Pokemon to, but he decided to let that question slide for now and instead answer the one she'd given him.

"Let's see now," he mused, scratching his chin. "I finally did get that Thunder Badge from Lt Surge," he said, taking the glimmering item from his pocket and showing it to her. "Then for some reason, I felt really homesick so I boarded a train and came back to Hoenn. It also seems that my parents don't hate me for becoming a trainer after all, and they're actually encouraging me now," he added with a chuckle. "To think, they wanted me to be a neurosurgeon," he said, looking at the floor with a sort of dazed-look. "But anyway, they got me thinking that I could do with winning a few badges from my home region, and I've just been doing some training before attempting to take on Roxanne of well, here." He nodded affirmatively, glancing behind him to see if the nurse had his Pokemon ready yet. "I also just helped stop a thief, and the president of the Devon Corp gave me a brand-new PokeNav and a coupon for a discount on a bicycle at the bike shop in Mauville City. It's been a crazy day, I tell you," he laughed.

The tears evaporated beneath the heat of the Flamethrower, but were very evident when the stream of fire stopped. Weezing stared at his trainer in bewilderment, wondering exactly why he had to stop? Wasn't the point of the training exercise to win the fight? Kilik recalled Weezing and strapped the ball to his waist in a bit of a huff. "Shoot, you're...pretty roughed up, Lairon." The boy knelt down beside his biggest Pokemon and rubbed behind it's neck.

The behemoth loosed a roar and broke away from his trainer. How dare he! He could've been beaten beyond repair! That overemotional bag of gas he called a 'training partner' could've destroyed him! He thrashed around more, splinting trees in the middles and leaving rather large footprints in the dirt. Kilik stood up and watched for a moment before clenching his fist, yelling at the top of his lungs: "LAIRON!" he roared, "Calm down, NOW!" he grit his teeth tightly. He stopped and turned to look at Kilik, his eyes glaring. So that's how his trainer was going to handle it? Like it was some kind of game? He didn't HAVE to stay here. Turning back around, he started walking through the brush.

Kilik whipped out the Great Ball that was used to house his tank. "Return!" he demanded. With the red light shot out, the boy nearly dropped the sphere in response to what happened. Lairon had avoided the beam and dashed off into the brush, completely out of sight. Kilik stood there, alone in the field for a moment before Flygon came back, landing next to her new trainer with a smile on her face. It didn't take her long to notice that all was not well. Her trainer had a large frown and his eyes were wide. His hands shook out of their fists and he dropped them to his sides. "L-lairon...?" he whispered, walking in the direction the beast took.

"I tell ya!" called out a man's voice, "Iffin' I can't get some dag-gum rest 'round here, it's becausa these yungins!" A man appeared down the path, wearing a cowboy hat and overalls. He had a pair of Seviper-skin boots with a Zangoose claw adorning his hat. It appeared that, whatever was left of the Seviper that was used for his boots, had been used for his belt. The buckle was even the blade at the end of the Snake Pokemon's tail. "Wass all this ruckus?!" he bellowed.

Kilik turned his head. "Sorry. I was training my..." he looked at Bahamut then to the man, "Flygon. Things got a little out of hand. I didn't think anyone was out here."

"Figgers ya di'nt! Othawise, I'masure you'd be much quieta!" he scratched his handlebar mustache, "Y'know what we do 'round here wiff loud yungins?" he pulled a Pokeball from his snake skin belt and enlarged it. "We battle 'em. We show 'em that y'can't be as loud as-in ya please. Two on two oughta suf...suffi...be good, right?"

Kilik took a step back and looked at Bahamut again. He really needed Lairon. A battle like this would be perfect for the beast. But maybe, just maybe, he could hold off the man long enough for Lairon to cool down and come back. I certainly hope so... "You're on. I choose my Flygon." She took a step forward, squealing happily and holding her claws up. Her wings flared and her tail thrashed for a moment.

He licked his lips and tossed his Pokeball. "C'mon on out, Bessy!" he laughed. As the light dimmed, the form of a Miltank emerged. The cow Pokemon let out a loud moo and got up on her hind legs, ready to fight.

Come back, Lairon! he thought, I'd like to train you more! You can be stronger! The best! Just...come back! Kilik shut his eyes tightly.

Napalm stood tall over the now burnt and beaten Zigzagoon, ready to finish it off if that was what his trainer wished. "Hold on Napalm, I think he's toasted enough." said the boy as he watched the Tiny Raccoon Pokemon stumble away as the Fire Spin subsided. "Well, Napalm: one. Wild Pokemon: zero." Mike smiled as his Magby did a small jig at his victory, he was on a hot streak.

Following the fight the two boys took a rest on a nearby stump, Mike sharing the rest of his turkey sandwich with Napalm. The Fire Pokemon munched on the scraps happily, thoroughly enjoying the tart-like taste of the mustard his trainer had put on the sandwich. It was spicy, he liked it.

"Break times over champ, time to keep fightin'!" Mike hopped up, brushing off some dirt and stray wood chips off of his pants. The Fire Pokemon also jumped down, but instead of brushing himself, he simply ignited, burning away the offending dust and small wood chunks that stuck to his body. "Oh yeah, you're real clever." said Mike sarcastically in reply to his Pokemon's smug expression upon showing up his trainer. "Just you wait, I'll learn that one day."

Just then, a thought ran through his head, as the boy looked down at his gloves. "Hmm..." He wondered, were they strong enough to let him fly, or at the very least grant him the ability to hover? Now that the idea was in his head, he knew he had to at the very least try it. Here's to hoping I don't make an a** out of myself. He thought to himself, pressing his legs together. "Let's see if I can do this." Mike said under his breath as he lifted his hands in the air. Napalm looked on curiously, wondering as to what his trainer was doing. He was always so weird. "Three, two, one, HiYAH!" Mike let out a loud grunt as he threw his hands downward and activated his gloves, his hands erupting in flames. The flames consumed the ground beneath him, torching the grass and surrounding foliage. The heat on his legs was intense, but he had to hold out for a little longer. To the boy's disappointment, his fuel reserves ran dry and his gloves soon coughed up smoke in thirst for more kerosene. Mike snapped his fingers, annoyed he wasn't able to lift off even an inch. "Looks like you still got one up on me buddy." He looked down at Napalm, who looked perplexed at the boy's actions. He shook his empty gloves as a visual aid. "You don't run on gas." He signaled for his Magby to follow. "Come on Napalm, we're going to go train some more."

The Live Coal Pokemon stopped in thought for a moment after that little spectacle. Maybe he could do something like that. Realizing he was falling behind, Napalm hurried to catch up with his trainer.

After Mike's attempted flight, the two proceeded to continue with Napalm's training. He wasn't going to evolve without work, but man training could be such a bother sometimes. The boy and his Pokemon continued on, past the maze like fence and Safari Zone entrance until they reached a rather spacious meadow type location. There was a narrow path of shorter grass that widened into a nice clearing.

"Perfect." said the boy, admiring the view. There were few trees and the grass was short in the middle. While he did enjoy letting Napalm go crazy with his fire powers, if he could minimize the damage to the surrounding woods, that was something he looked into. Not every kid wants to put out accidental brushfires, especially if this particular boy had gone a whole four months without starting one. "Now all we need is an opponent." Mike motioned for Napalm to take the patch on the right while he would take the one to the left. He figured if the both of them looked it would make the chances of finding a Pokemon much higher. Napalm nodded obediently, and quickly disappeared into the tall grass.

For the next few minutes they searched, but as luck would have it found nothing. Mike swore he saw an Oddish, but each time he picked up what he thought was one, it just turned out to be a clump of leaves or something else useless. He took a break, leaning against one of the few trees that dotted the vast landscape. He smiled as he watched Napalm scour his section in the distance. He couldn't actually see the little guy, as the grass towered over him, but the Magby's extreme body heat caused all the nearby grass to smolder and smoke, making for a reliable means of tracking the Pokemon through the foliage; he was a couple hundred feet away. It was more fun to watch a mobile plume of smoke than you'd think. Occasionally Mike would get a chuckle at Napalm getting turned around and going in circles, only to spout some angry gibberish that echoed across the plains. "How you makin' out over there Napalm?" The trainer shouted through cupped hands. He enjoyed watching his Pokemon trot around, but he felt kind of mean sitting around as his Pokemon was trying so hard. After a few seconds the traveling smoke stack stopped moving, and Napalm hopped up excitedly at the sound of his trainers voice. He jumped up around six times, waving each time. On the last jump he stopped waving and pointed at his trainer, his eyes widening in interest. Mike looked on confused as his Pokemon began running at full speed towards him, burning down the grass in front of him as he ran.

"He's really bookin' it, I wonder what got him so riled up?" Mike said to himself as he saw Napalm pick up speed. It was then that the boy heard a twig snap behind him, no less than ten feet behind him. The hair on his back stood up as he slowly turned around to meet nearly face to face with a rather large (well, large enough) Pokemon.



Its teeth were bared, not like it needed any help looking scary. "Oh...my." Mike said softly, taking a very slow step back.

"Good job, Flash," Keegan said, nodding appreciatively towards the Jolteon. "And your trainer wasn't half bad herself," he added with a playful wink. He looked towards their opponents, who were still backing off with so much as a word. "What's with them?" he wondered aloud, scratching his chin. He glanced at Kasiya again, smiling due to the fact that she was hardly intimidating, and nor was he for that matter, what in those khaki shorts, wooden sandals and plain tee. It was then a simple clapping could be heard coming from down the road, and as the wind picked up a bit, a strange perfume seemed to waft in the air. Keegan wrinkled his nose and turned to look down the road at where the sound was coming from, and almost immediately his stomach bottomed out. "You," he said, sounding as though he had just spotted something disgusting on the bottom of his shoe. "What are you doing here?"

Accompanied by two familiar, black-suit clad bodyguards was none other than Sheridan Hollingsworth herself, clapping slowly and smirking at Keegan. She was still dressed all fancy-like, stilettos and all, and that dark purple hair of hers was pulled up into a neat bun at the back of her head. "Most impressive," she said, continuing to clap daintily. She shot a look over at the two retreating men and scowled. "Pitiful, on your part," she sneered, dismissing them with a wave of her well-manicured hand.

"Apologies, milady," Salt and Pepper said quickly before he and his partner disappeared back into the entrance to Jagged Path.

Keegan stared long after they'd been gone before turning back to Sheridan, wearing an expression of disgust. "Was this some sort of sick test? Is that what this is?" He crossed his arms angrily over his chest, glaring even as the shrewd woman approached him.

"Not so much a test as just an insight into your abilities," she said simply, reaching up and brushing a bit of dirt from his shoulder. "Now, I'm not generally a fan of such barbaric," she emphasized the word and shot a look at Kasiya, "behavior, but you did handle your Pokemon quite well," she went on, surveying the remaining Pokemon around them, her gaze lingering particularly on Seto. "It was a real... treat to watch you battle," she said, choosing each word with infuriating care.

Keegan scoffed and looked away. "Yeah, yeah," he grumbled, shaking his head. "So you sent dumb and dumber out here to test us," he said, looking over his shoulder to make sure Kasiya was still there (and why wouldn't she be?). "Is there a point to all this?"
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Aska cried out as each strike from the Meowth's Fury Swipes tore into her, but she was far from done yet. She let out a loud screech, flapping her wings and pushing the offending cat away with a powerful Gust attack. The Meowth was picked up and tossed back as though it didn't weigh much at all (which it actually didn't) and it lay in a heap for a moment before getting back up. Megan wasn't looking any better than her Meowth, and she was looking at Miharu with wide eyes at the Pokemon's tenacity.

"Starrie, Water Gun," the small girl ordered, pointing at the Raticate. Rearing back, the star-shaped Pokemon let out the stream of water. The large rat was quick to counter with a tough Tackle though, and none of the Pokemon were showing signs of giving up yet, as even the Meowth leaped back into the fray, claws and fangs bared.

"This woman," Keegan sneered, still with arms crossed, "is the person responsible for taking Helios away from me," he said, eyeing her distastefully. "The reason I've been feeling like a part of me is missing."

"Tsk tsk," Sheridan scolded, waggling her finger at him playfully, and pretending as though Kasiya weren't even there. "I'm also the reason you're getting Helios back, in case you forgot." She smiled sweetly and lightly touched the end of his nose with her finger. It took every ounce of willpower within his body to not recoil from her.

"You said at the Beach Party, on Saturday," Keegan said boredly, uncrossing his arms slowly. He glanced over at Seto and Casimir, actually quite glad for the presence of the two tougher Pokemon. "Or have you come to throw some other condition on top of that?" he asked, feeling a little more uneasy by the second.

"I am aware of what I said," Sheridan said, tucking a stray wisp of purple hair behind her ear. "And no, by no means am I going to go back on our deal. In fact," she said, looking over her shoulder before moving out of the way, "I've come to close the deal early."

Keegan had to do a double-take at the sight of the girl walking towards him, two bubblegum-pink pigtails bouncing up and down at either side of her head as she walked. She wore her usual schoolgirl uniform, and smiled when she saw Keegan, giving a little wave with her free hand. "Hi Keegan!" she said, her voice cheerful and upbeat.

"Sheena?" he asked, blinking in suprise as the bubbly girl strolled up to him, carrying a bundled blanket in her arms. She nodded, glancing at Kasiya and the rest of the Pokemon for a moment before she knelt down a bit and pulled back the blanket. There, nestled comfortably in the warmth of the blanket was a tiny, newborn Vulpix. Its single tail was a beautiful snowy white, and it was curled around it carefully. The youngster let out a little yawn, opening its eyes a bit and looking around before deciding to go back to sleep. Keegan was at a loss for words as he stared down at the baby, mouth gaping open stupidly.

"Congratulations Keegan," Sheena giggled excitedly. "You're a grandpa!"

((Seriously? I can't remember either. Let's say he didn't tell her. 's more fun this way. *nod* ))
For a moment, Keegan was so entranced by the newborn Pokemon that he almost didn't hear Kasiya's question. Snapping out of it he blinked and looked at her, a sort of dopey smile on his face. "This is Helios' baby," he said after a moment or so. "Sh-Sheridan said that I could have him back, all she wanted was for him to sire a Vulpix so he would pass on his Heat Wave technique to it," he said, not realizing that he sounded like a robot. He rose back up to his full height, scratching the back of his head and stared back and forth at the two sisters, who seemed to have mended their relationship a little since he'd last seen them together. "So what's this mean?" he asked, watching as Sheena gently bundled the baby back up and passed her to Sheridan.

"Well, Helios was most compliant," Sheridan said, admiring the tiny Pokemon in her arms. "This little one hatched shortly after your gym match was over. You," (for a moment it looked like she was going to acknowledge Kasiya, but then changed her mind) "had already came out here by the time we arrived, so I figured we would come find you." She looked down at Sheena and nodded slowly.

"Well, we know it's a few days early, but SHERIDAN felt so terrible over what had happened that she decided to bring you Helios early." Sheena's smile was so big for a moment Keegan thought it might actually break her face, and he didn't even really register the words until after Sheena had flung her arms around him and was now busy squeezing him to death.

"Some things never change..." he murmured, rolling his eyes as he pried the ever-annoying girl from him.

Sheridan glared at her sister, and Sheena giggled, and straightened herself up. "Here," she said, holding out her palm. In the center lay a single Pokeball, and all Keegan could do was stare at it stupidly until he heard Sheena bark "Take it!" at him, much like Sheridan would have sounded. With trembling fingers (and an ever-present fear that they would snatch it away from him yet again) he reached for the sphere, feeling his heart stop as it brushed up against his fingertips and took it into his hand.