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But now it was time for the girls to fight back. And with the way the female is in general they used more “underhanded” tactics, that brute force stuff just doesn’t cut it with them like it does with males. It was Tsunami’s turn to use Helping Hand as her partner Shining pulled off a rather large Attract. She swayed and gave an obvious wink to the opposing side as hundreds of pink hearts flew throughout the clearing like a tidal wave engulfing Sunfire in their lovey-dovey wrath. Mag gave an internal sigh, that poor Sunfire was a goner when it came to female pokemon and the move Attract. “Don’t drown him too badly Tsunami!” Mag cautioned as his beloved Flareon swooned at the sight of Shining racing at him in a Quick Attack, she was actually going to touch him! OUCH! That was a harsh touch!

***

Earlier that morning… Lenalee sat at the table while Alice and Pete were fixing up breakfast. “So, I take it Mag has already headed out?” Lenalee asked as she glanced at her watch, it was pretty early, 7:30 and the boy had managed to sneak past his friend and escape on his own once again. Alice noticed Lenalee’s change of expression and caught on to her thoughts. “Don’t worry about Mag. Since his parents died he has been a bit obsessed with helping out, more like protecting, his friends and family so he’s probably off training in his ‘secret’ spot right now since he let you get kidnapped right under his nose.” The two elderly people exchanged knowing glances and sat down brining a hearty meal before the girl. “But a growing girl like you needs to make sure to have a hearty breakfast before you go out chasing some scampery boy.” Pete joked. The meal was indeed immense with pancakes, bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, toast, bagels, and two glasses that contained orange juice and milk. Lenalee smiled at Mag’s grandparents, how he managed to leave with their great cooking was beyond her. “Thanks a lot!” Lenalee said as she dug in.

After her delicious meal, which she gave a large portion of to her two pokemon, Lenalee was ready to set out. She obtained directions to the couple’s cabin where Mag was most likely to be at and she set out. It wasn’t that hard to find, you just had to follow the trail until it ended and then keep going up the countryside for a little bit longer before the lake would be in view. The sounds of training would likely alert her to the location long before she saw it through the trees.

Kasiya watched Keegan wander away, trying not to interrupt the sisterly moment Sheridan and Sheena were sharing. However, Sheridan made it evident that she did not care for Kasiya's presence, and that was fine with her. b***h, please, Kasiya thought, watching her walk away. It wasn't until Sheena started speaking again that she tore her eyes away from the overdressed-woman's back. The statement confused her, and for a moment she didn't know what to say.

"What do you mean they let you?" she asked curiously, but the question would go unanswered as Sheridan let out a shrill scream from down the path. A dark figure seemed to have jumped out of the shadows at her in a threatening manner, and reflexively Kasiya took a position in front of Sheena, telling her to get back. She saw Keegan and Helios start to run to her aid though, and she couldn't help but smile a bit. "Yeah, he can be influential," she said, nodding as Seto took a few steps forward in case he were needed. "But he's a lot nicer and caring then he'll ever care to admit." Seto growled, and Kasiya reached down and put a hand on his head. "Stay back," she told the Persian. "Let them handle this. This goes for you too," she added, looking at Sheena. "From my experiences, guys seem to really get a kick out of playing hero. And it's kinda dashing, too," she added, turning back to Keegan and smiling a bit. I'll be right here if he needs me though.

=-=-=-=-=

The only sounds currently coming from Mai's office were the steady clicking of her keyboard and the gentle hum of her computer. With several final keystrokes, Mai saved her work and then proceeded to forward it to Giovanni, 'it' being her report on the so-called 'Team' from Sinnoh. The information she could gather was very vague, as supposedly their leader, a man named Cyrus had been imprisoned in a mental institution for delusions of world ruin. It seemed he had tried to summon some legendary Pokemon in order to destroy the world in order to create a new one, only an unnamed hero stopped his plans long before they ever left the ground. Since then, the organization known as "Galactic" had been disbanded and most of the top admins had either been imprisoned or gone missing.

Mai leaned back in her chair and put her hands behind her head, staring up at the ceiling. It was to be a busy week, and she knew without a doubt that the annoying back of self-saying heroes would be right there at Slateport, ready to interfere. A figure stopped in the doorway of the office, and as Mai looked up at him, he continued on his way. "Damn you, Leo," Mai grumbled, noting that this was the third time in an hour that he had walked past her office. No matter what she said to him he didn't seem to understand. She would not jeopardize neither their jobs nor his life for a bit of inter-office romance. She closed her laptop with a bit more force than necessary and signaled for her rose-coloured Typhlosion to follow her out of the room before she locked the door behind her. Intent on taking a walk, Mai made her way down the stairs and towards the front door, Kero in tow, when she heard a knock at the door. This surprised her as very rarely did anyone ever knock on these doors. Hand resting on the handle of her trusty pistol hidden underneath her long overcoat, she nodded for Kero to be ready as she opened the door, finding herself face to face with a ruggedly handsome man with short, black hair hidden underneath a large brimmed hat. Actually caught of guard for a moment (another rarity in itself) Mai stuttered a bit, but quickly regained her composure as very suddenly her Typhlosion collapsed in a heap on the ground beside her, fast asleep.

"Who are you and what do you want?" she said quickly, narrowing her eyes to indicate she meant business.

Well this is certainly a sour spot of trouble I've gotten myself into. Mike found himself slowly backing away from a menacing Mightyena, a Pokemon who was slowly advancing towards our hero. I can't always be this careless. the boy thought accusingly. This time he was in real danger. People can for the most part be reasoned with, or outrun. A hungry four legged Pokemon could not be dealt with in either fashion. He could try to reach for one of his Pokemon, but that would certainly give the hungry looking Pokemon just enough time to tear into his throat. Yeah, we don't want that. He took another step back, looking around for where Napalm was; that little guy was his only hope. The Bite Pokemon lowered his head, raising his tail in the air. It looked like he was ready to pounce.

The boy had to think fast. "Ha!" Mike shouted, throwing his hand out before him. "I hope you like sucking on a fireb-" the gloves sputtered and coughed a small puff of black smoke as he was forcefully reminded that he was out of fuel due to that stupid stunt he tried earlier. "-oh son of a b***h!" He screamed, shaking his hand in futility. How could I forget, that was like, five minutes ago!? Mike slid his foot back and adopted a fighting stance, maybe he could get a solid few hits on it and run far enough away to send out one of his other Pokemon. His time was up. The Mightyena leaped into the air, its teeth bared. Our hero let out a loud battle cry, drawing back a clenched fist; he wasn't going down willingly.

Just as the predatory Pokemon reached the height of his jump, a loud shrill scream could be heard as Napalm shot out of no where and tackled the Mightyena mid-air at top speed, causing the two Pokemon to crash into the ground. The collision caused the ground to erupt in dirt as the Dark Pokemon flailed about, kicking the Magby off of him. Napalm rolled away, quickly getting up and standing between his trainer and the Mightyena.

"You get an A for dramatic timing Napalm," Mike gave his Pokemon a thumbs up before breathing a sigh of relief. "Thanks. You think you can take him buddy?" inquired the boy. Unsurprisingly the little spitfire nodded once, not taking his eyes off of his new enemy, who had risen and let out an angry howl. The fight was on.

Not wasting any time, the Mightyena ran towards the smaller Pokemon, clamping down on his arm with its sharp teeth. The Magby let out a cry of pain and flailed in attempt to get free of the larger Pokemon's grip.

Mike noticed that his Pokemon's movements only served to widen the wounds from the bite. "Napalm, don't struggle, that will only make it hurt more!" He shouted, his mind was racing as he tried to think of what to do next. The opposing Pokemon had Napalm in a lock. Perhaps he could blast him off? "Use your Overheat, get him away from you!"

The pain shooting up his arm was intense, but the Magby trusted his trainer's insight enough to stop thrashing about. After a deep breath Napalm grabbed onto the Mightyena's jaw with his other arm and began to charge up the strongest move he had. His body began to become covered in flames, the air nearest to the Pokemon rippling intensely. With a loud shriek, Napalm pointed his beak at the Mightyena and fired. At point blank range, the Overheat caused an explosion, the wolf-like Pokemon yelp ping in pain, releasing Live Coal Pokemon from its grip. Napalm shuddered following the attack, his body lowering in temperature slightly. That attack always drained a lot of power from him.

Mike took note of the Mightyena's condition. It looked like it was hurting, but that only seemed to make it angrier. It let loose a loud howl that made the boy's arm hair stand on end and shot a chill up his spine. The Pokemon glowed faintly following the move, signifying a raised ability; but what one? Mike was not about to sit and twiddle his thumbs just to find out. They were in a sore spot. Sure, Napalm could hit hard with another Overheat, but by then all of his moves would become so low powered that Napalm wouldn't be able to score any type of effective damage for the rest of the fight. Not to mention all of his other moves aside from Smog wouldn't affect a Dark type much. "It's settled, I'm getting him a new move after this fight. I'm finally going shopping." As for the battle, it seemed like he would have to stick to basics until he was sure he only needed one more solid hit. Mike called out for an Ember attack on the Mightyena.

Napalm took another short but forceful breath, the pain in his arm still stung whenever he flexed his arm. He locked eyes with his target, who bared its teeth in retaliation. Breathing in deep, the Magby launched a shotgun spread of small fireballs that traveled straight for the Mightyena.

"Alright, Bessy!" Sammy laughed, "Take tha hit and unleash yer energy at point blank range!" The man made his fingers into a gun shape and shot a few times into the air, laughing. The Miltank prepared herself and took the Crunch right on, feeling her opponent's teeth sink into her bulky arm, causing a huge deal of damage. With a low moo, she placed her hand on Flygon's nose.

"Get out of there!" Kilik snapped, but he knew it wouldn't work. She was just way too close. Before she could even blink, Bahamut was on her way into the air, spiraling out of control. The dragon flared her wings open in an attempt to slow herself down. It worked to a degree and she finally managed to stop before hitting a flock of passing Swellow. She looked down at Kilik and smiled. Bahamut had it in the bag. The trainer clenched his fist and let out a light 'Yeah!' under his breath then stared at Samuel. "Alright, cowboy. Try this on for size!" he opened his palm and looked at Miltank, "Dragon Claw, Bahamut!"

"Yeee-haw!" he laughed, kicking his heels together, "It's been too long since I've had me one of these here battles! Ya'know the gooduns that get yer heart pumpin'!" With an adjustment to his Seviper belt, he clenched his fist. "Ready, Bessy? Go with a Rollout!" Her moo echoed through the land as she curled up tightly and began to spin into the ground, gaining enough speed before 'kicking' off in a way to send her body up into the air to meet Flygon on the way down.

Bahamut had initiated her attack, her claws glowing with a dark blue and red hue. She squealed with a rising inflection before her attack connected with the spinning Miltank. Her hands opened and she held onto Bessy as if she were a rotating ball. It took her a moment before she let go and slashed upwards: the direction opposite of Miltank's rotation. "That's the way!" Kilik called up from below.

Miltank crashed into ground, sprawled out like a rug. Her eyes were closed and her ears drooped. "Well TAR-nation!" the man laughed, recalling his cow, "I cert...certai...really didn't expect that! Let's see whatcha got against my Ross!" With a flick of his wrist, another ball was thrown and from it emerged the massive bull Pokemon Tauros.

Kilik raised an eyebrow. He'd yet to see a Tauros before. Taking out his PokeDex, he analyzed it. A male's mechanized voice was heard saying: "Tauros: the Wild Bull Pokemon. Tauros are rowdy Pokemon, once they've started a rampage they will not stop until they hit something. They live and travel in herds with the herd's protector probably leading the others. Tauros are also known to lock horns with each other in battle and they usually take pride in their battle-scarred horns." Kilik tucked the device away and gulped. This was one rodeo he wasn't ready for.

It was aparant that Miharu had the upper hand by now, as her Pokemon seemed to be slightly more experienced. On the small girl's command, Starrie shot through the air like a throwing star, slamming into the Meowth and finally bringing it down. Aska was able to take her opponent out as well, delivering a well-timed Aerial Ace to the Raticate. With both opposing Pokemon now down for the count, Miharu smiled, crossing her arms as Megan recalled her two Pokemon.

"You're some kind of tough," she said, backing away from the green-haired girl somewhat timidly. "Whitney is gonna have her hands full with you..." she threw one last glance over her shoulder before she retreated from sight, and Miharu was left with a sense of satisfaction over her two victories so far. Either way, only Tingle and Lily were still at full strength, and Miharu didn't like the idea of going on without the rest of her party at their best. She made a hasty retreat from the gym. quickly pulling out her bike and riding back to the Pokemon Center. Her crew was quickly tended too and she headed back outside, and was busy unlocking her bike as a young man, probably about her age walked up to her.

"You just came from the gym, right?" he asked, watching as she climbed onto her bike. Miharu just eyed him for a moment and nodded. "Well, seems to me like you ran out with your tail between your legs," he chuckled. "Which means that a half-pint like you would be no match for me!"

"Wanna bet?" Miharu said grumpily, a bit surprised at her own response. She was tired of all these slack-jawed idiots thinking that just because she was so small she wasn't a threat. "Have you defeated Whitney?"

"Uh, well, not yet," he started, but Miharu cut him off sharply.

"You, me, battle. Now," she practically barked, quickly locking her bike up again and grabbing the boy by the collar of his shirt. There was a free area near the Pokemon Center, and as the two squared off, Miharu couldn't help but think that the residents of Goldenrod City were in for a show tonight.