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Kasiya looked quickly to Flannery, her heart dropping from its happy place and into the pit of her stomach. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the older, redheaded girl was probably very unhappy with her, even though she hadn't done any of this on purpose. She also chanced a glance at Keegan but really wished she hadn't, as looking at him only made her guilt worse. So now she felt an awful mix of happiness and guilt, and she winced a little when Mike asked for a moment alone with Keegan. She was both fearful for what the redhead might say and a little upset that Mike hadn't yet asked for alone time with her, but considering his very recent confession, perhaps he didn't need to speak with her specifically. "Okay," she said, biting her lower lip. She reached over and placed the sleeping Litwick in the redhead's arms, which in retrospect, may have been a bad idea. "We'll be just, um, out there if you need us," she said, looking at the ground as she once again stepped out into the hallway, which was starting to become pretty familiar by now.

The happiness practically shining from Kasiya was both nauseating and blinding and Flannery had turned away from her, her ruby eyes fixed on the continual flashing of the lights on the machinery nearby. She managed a quick glance at Mike as he asked to have a word alone with Keegan and she immediately frowned, glancing at the redhead in question. It wasn't uncommon for discussions between Keegan and Mike to escalate to violence, sometimes quite quickly and over the smallest of things, too. Somehow, leaving the two boys alone, even in a hospital room, didn't seem like the smartest thing to Flannery, but she knew that they wouldn't listen to her regardless so she simply nodded and followed the blonde out into the hallway. "So," she said, leaning against the wall and giving Kasiya a sideways glance, "I guess you're pretty happy, huh?" Her tone had a slight, icy edge to it, but not a cruel one. She still liked the girl, even with these new developments.

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The female Rocket stared at the intruder with disbelief, unable to believe the words coming from his mouth. Suddenly the short black skirt she was wearing felt all too revealing and it took all of her willpower not to grab the sides in an attempt to make it a little longer. She glared at him, her cheeks a fierce red from embarrassment. "H-hook up later? Not on your life, you creep! You're disgusting!" she shouted, adjusting her beret and giving Maz the meanest look she could muster. Her two Pokemon seemed to agree, both snarling viciously. "Mightyena, Houndoom, both of you use Thunder Fang!" The two Dark-types took off, claws tearing at the rocky ground as they raced toward their targets, jaws shining with electricity. Mightyena went after Sharpedo while Houndoom made Honchkrow its target. The Rocket girl clenched a fist; she couldn't fail Leo.

Meanwhile, Leo continued to study the wall, various scientists on either side of him, surveying the area with an array of tools and instruments while their leader waited patiently. Finally, a rail-thin young man wearing a lab coat that was obviously too big for him pointed to a specific section with a shaky hand. Leo smiled, for this was what he'd been waiting for. "Thank you, Vance. If your information proves to be correct, Giovanni will reward your efforts lavishly. Now stand back, all of you." In a slick motion he removed a Rocket Ball from the holster-like strap across his chest and released his Ursaring. The overgrown teddy bear gave a grumpy growl, and Leo pointed forward. "Use Brick Break," he commanded. The Hibernator Pokemon let out a roar and charged forward, smashing his mighty paws into the wall. It was quite thick so it only cracked a little, but there was a resonating hollow sound from the impact. Leo smiled; this must be it. Giovanni would be pleased.

Mike smirked at his friend's advice, tightening his stance. "I'm not gonna break anything el-" an audible pop sound interrupted him.

That sounded like a rib.

"It felt like a rib." Mike said, grimacing in pain. "Boy do I miss adrenaline right about now." He grit his teeth as he staggered over to the bed, taking Keegan's advice. "Should have listened to you in the first place." He looked over at his friend, a weak smile on his lips. "I mean back then, you know. Back when I left for Team Magma. You were right from the very beginning but I was too blind to see it. It's not fun to realize that so much could have been prevented if I'd just listened to my friend," a light chuckle rattled in his throat. "But it's pretty funny, at least. The road to hell truly is paved with good intentions." he sighed. "I know apologies at this point are pretty useless, as they usually are, but I really am sorry. You were right, and I couldn't have been more wrong. I mean, you already knew that, you were just waiting for me to catch up. I've always been a little slow at stuff like that. I don't think you realize how happy it made me that you came to help back home. It couldn't have been fun. And for Pumpkin! I don't even know what it he-I think he's a he-is, but he's cute!" Mike looked at Keegan with an expectant smile, but throughout all that, he still hadn't said a word. He just sat there in silence. Mike's eye twitched, the temperature meters on the machines slowly began to rise.

"Say something!" Mike shouted through grit teeth. "You always do this! You just sit there and don't say anything! I'm trying save our friendship! Smoke rose from his forehead as he yelled.

Calm down. You're in no condition to keep getting this worked up.

"I won't calm down!" Mike hissed to the ghost in the floor. "I said I was sorry to him! I took down Maxie!" he turned to Keegan. "What more do you want from me?! I didn't mean for any of this to happen. Not Lilycove...and not Kassie..." Mike wavered as his vision started to blur. "Just please. Say something."

Amy blinked, alerted by Riza's gentle nudge, and looked towards the two girls leaving the center for another battle of the day. And it won't be the last, either, she thought with a small smile. The thought of her challenging Surge was getting less distressing by the moment--as a matter of fact, she was excited to prove herself as a trainer and see what she was capable of, just a little. The brunette followed the rest out, waiting and politely looking away as Riza paused to talk to Crenu for a moment, although she couldn't help but hear part of their conversation, mostly about how she didn't want to hold the blonde boy back from his training. She glanced over at him briefly, taking in the cool demeanor and the calculating eyes, not to mention the baby Psychic-type at his side, and adjusted her bag a little, biting the inside of her cheek. She almost wondered what it was like, to battle someone so detached as Crenu seemed, especially in the context of a coordinator battle. But it hadn't gone very well for Riza last night, so she didn't think more of the matter, instead choosing to follow Karrigan and Kasiya and watch their battle begin.

"Oh, Zaira," she murmured, mostly to herself, when the redhead released her high-maintainence Shinx to fight. There was a sad note to her voice, the slightest downward turn of her lips, as she looked upon the Electric-type, who seemed quieter than before. Some Pokemon don't work out, she reminded herself as Kasiya called her Pokemon of choice after some deliberation: a Tropius. It seemed like a powerful Pokemon, considering the punch that its Gust packed, even for an Electric-type. From the corner of her eye, Amy noticed that Riza had let her Snivy back out to witness the battle and decided that it wasn't a half-bad idea. After some hesitation, she released her Sandile, who merely looked up at her and offered a view of twin rows of razor-sharp teeth. Amy knelt down to pat his head. "Brutus," she decided suddenly, and the crocodile's grin impossibly widened. "I'll call you Brutus. Now," Amy directed the Ground/Dark-type towards the battle at hand, "pay attention." A pause. "And don't eat anything that doesn't belong to you."

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She couldn't help but notice her companion's sideways glances towards her own battle, whereas Jade hadn't even bothered to look at Jake's own battle. Her jaw clenched tightly but she said nothing, allowing it to pass off as a sign of aggression in the heat of the fight. I can take care of myself, she wanted to insist, but there hadn't been much basis for that assertation, considering the blonde had saved her what, twice now? Cirrus' yowling broke her from her own thoughts, courtesy of that damn Glameow and its sharp, sharp claws! The Electric-type leapt back, snarling and preparing to retaliate until his trainer's voice brought him to attention, sharp and cold: "Cirrus." He cast a baleful glare over his shoulder and his muscles remained taut, but he made no movements. "Leer." Jade was already tired of putting up her Shinx's antics, and she was straight up about to recall him when she suspected he might disobey until he focused in on Glameow again, directing his most terrifying glare upon the Normal-type.

The curly-haired boy glanced hesitantly at his companion's battle, almost wishing she was going to leap in and help him. Misdreavus sure wasn't doing so well thus far, and that Magnemite seemed really tough; not to mention, Jake seemed at ease in his battling method, whereas he was stumbling to remember his own Pokemon's moves. "Misdreavus!" he called uselessly, but the Ghost-type seemed to snap out of confusion and refocused her eyes just in time to avoid the arc of electricity directed her way. Her movements were still quite sluggish, thanks to the paralysis, but it was one status affliction down! "Confuse Ray! Show 'em what it feels like," the boy said, his voice growing clearer. The Ghost-type smiled almost wickedly as she turned upon Magnemite and directed a technicolored beam at it.

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Jett drizzled syrup over his piping hot waffles, looking up as Jasper began to tell his tale. At the mention of the eggs, one corner of his mouth twitched upwards almost imperceptibly, but he said nothing, allowing him to finish without interruption. The boy used the edge of his fork to cut off some of his waffles and began to eat, chewing and swallowing before finally responding. "It doesn't sound stupid," he said quietly, taking a sip of milk. Jasper would probably know that something was up, considering how nonchalant he was being about Pokemon eggs just appearing out of nowhere, but he left it at that for a moment, returning to his food and pausing so Scarlet could react with appropriate (read: actual) emotion. He was glad that the older boy had received an egg like the two of them, though. It must be awful, not to be a part of something like that.

"I got an egg, last night," Jett mumbled, retrieving the Pokeball from his belt. Careful to direct him away from the food (no one wanted a large centipede on their omelettes), he released Viy, and then offered his arm for the green-and-brown-colored bug to scurry up. Already, he was scanning his environment, and receiving several reproachful looks from the other people eating. He knew the red one, but this one with two Pokemon attachments on either shoulders was unfamiliar. His eyes narrowed and he made a disgruntled noise, which Jett rolled his eyes at. "This is Viy," he said to Jasper, hoping that the Venipede would avoid his waffles even though he looked hungrily at each forkful he took between speaking. "He's a um... Venipede."

The Snivy and Kadabra had nothing to fear from the enraged Caterpie. It wasn't as if they had crushed her dreams underneath a great big stupid booted foot. The small bug type was frothing at the mouth as it let out cries of rage as it repeatedly tackled against Kressen arms. The trainer was on the defense from the bug so it was really all he could do, aside from trying to smack it.

That of course was the farthest thing from the red-heads mind. In fact he enjoyed the enraged pokemon's attack mistaking it for "fighting spirit" and not attempted murder. Gigas however saw it for what it was and came up with a scratch attack, knocking it off his trainer.

Kressen struggled up to his feet, thanks to the big ol hiker back pack weighing him down, and shook some debris off himself. "Thanks Alex." He blinked at Hayley's observation. "I did?" He looked around for a moment before lifting his boot to examine the crushed berry.

The sight of it's crushed dreams caused the Caterpie to cry out again, and start squirming towards the trainer from the bush, where Gigas had knocked it. It wasn't hurt all that badly and seemed ready to do battle. "Alright Gigas, let's catch this guy! Use another scratch attack!" They couldn't risk using a fire attack since they were in the forest again. He didn't want to be running from a bunch of Beedrill again.

The Caterpie, was ready this time and rolled to the left of Gigas's attack, causing the inexperienced fire type to stumble as it tried to stop and change direction. Gigas was too slow to avoid the Caterpie jumping onto his back and start chewing on his head. "Uhhhh, try and shake it off buddy!" Gigas simply ran in a circle trying to shake off the Caterpie, who hung on like a pitbull. The capture of this pokemon was going to be a bit more arduous than most Caterpie captures went.

Keegan merely raised an eyebrow at the painful popping sound of one of Mike's ribs, blinking slowly. His own body, while not nearly as mangled as his friends, ached a little in reply, particularly the section of ribs that had been smashed in less than a week ago and all Keegan could think of was how injuries were not like the movies - broken ribs would hurt for a long, long time afterward. He watched calmly as the broken boy managed to half hobble/half stagger back to the bed, and he continued watch him as Mike began to speak. He kept silent for the most part, his stoic expression wavering for a brief moment when Mike seemed to become a bit agitated with the floor. He was yelling now, but Keegan still didn't reply just yet, mostly because he didn't know what to say.

His icy demeanor faltered again when Kasiya's name was mentioned and he involuntarily twitched as a bit of anger coursed through him, and it was plainly obvious that the subject of the blonde girl would be a sore spot for the redhead for a long time. Surprisingly though, he was able to calm himself relatively quickly and he stepped forward and off the wall, throwing his hands up into the air in an exasperated manner. "What do you want me to say?" he nearly shouted, taking another step closer. "Should I forgive you, just like that, for everything that's happened? Should I do a little dance and sing, 'I told you so?' Is that what you want? Because I honestly don't know! Things aren't that simple anymore!" He sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose, now walking around in a small, tight circle. "I don't even know what to say to you anymore. And Kassie, don't even get me started on her, man. I just..." He let out a few very colourful cuss words before turning suddenly and throwing his right fist into the wall, though somehow he controlled himself just enough so that the blow didn't completely crush the bones in his knuckles. There was a disturbing cracking sound, though there was a chance it came from the wall, but either way Keegan had yet to notice as he'd once again turned around, now sliding down against the wall, the dent he'd made standing out above him. "What do you want me to say?" he repeated, his voice wavering, "because I'm not entirely sure you really need to hear what I want to say to you."
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Still feeling a tad embarrassed over the dress fiasco, Miharu's face reddened a bit more when she saw just how easily the Skarmory dodged Sparkle's Thunderbolt. Then again, Jasmine was a gym leader after all, and it wouldn't be wise to assume this first round would be over with a couple of quick Thunderbolts. It's fast, and that Agility won't help us, Miharu thought, glancing at her own, grounded Pokemon. She needed to slow it down somehow, and luckily for her, slowing things down was something most Electric-types were good at. "Sparkle, use Cotton Spore," she called out. The Ampharos gave a nod and held her flipper-like arms together, creating a ball of energy that rather resembled a glowing dandelion puff. She gave a cry and lobbed it upward where it exploded, but rather than yield a fiery destruction, the ball burst into hundreds of tiny, white particles of glowy white fluff that would slow the great Armor Bird down a little, at the very least.

[Time Skip]

As she headed off, Kilik stood by the Pokemon Center's door, making sure she made it out of his field of vision unscathed. A smile made its way onto his lips; a new friend already. Cable placed his large hand on the boy's shoulder, giving a curt nod. Kilik responded with a nod of his own and motioned for Cable to start following. "Considering Chimchar's level," he explained, walking in a direction opposite where Katie had headed, "it shouldn't take too long before he finally hits evolution. Grinding in the Oreburgh Gate should be simple enough." Kilik placed a hand on his chin and tapped his foot in thought. "Brick Break for Geodudes, and Blaze Kick for those pesky Zubats." He took Chimchar's ball from his belt and casually started tossing it up and down. The boy started to laugh to himself as he headed towards the Oreburgh Gate, recalling the Sinnoh Drop Bears that Katie had warned him about. How silly to think he believed that!

As he stepped inside, he was enveloped in a blanket of darkness. Cable illuminated the area with his two red LEDs on the tip of his tails; quite a useful trick. And with a flick of the wrist, Chimchar joined the party. His tail also lit up the cave slightly. "Hmm...maybe.." Kilik also let out his Klink, allowing the new companion to get a little fresh air (not that it was necessary) and to see how his training methods worked. Granted, it would be some time before Klink was ready for one-on-one training.

Chimchar landed on the ground with gusto, holding his arms out and ready for action. He looked around for any sign of movement and when he caught a glimpse of a Zubat fluttering down from the ceiling, he hopped into the air and gave it a swift Blaze Kick to the face, causing the bat to screech and hit the wall with a THUD! before falling to the dirt, easily KO'd.

"Don't get too excited," Kilik laughed, taking out his PokeDex, "It says here that Zubat was only level 4. You're a solid 9 levels over him, so it's logical that you beat him with one hit. Try it on..." he scanned the area with his Dex, smirking when it beeped on a Geodude. "That one. A level 9 Geodude. Let's see how it handles a Brick Break!"

Chimchar's body tensed up. How dare Kilik casualise his victory so carelessly! The flame on his backside flared up and he dashed at the Rock-type with his fist reared back, slamming it hard into the Geodude's face. A twinge of pain went through his body and he took a step back. That hurt him a little too, it seemed. He watched as the Pokemon hovered up out of the ground and began rushing him with a Tackle attack. The chimp dodged out of the way rather nimbly, but was caught off guard as a second Geodude crashed into him from the side. He hit the wall with a crash and slowly stood up, clenching his fists and gritting his teeth. The two Geodudes hovered next to each other, holding hands; it appeared as if they were mates. Alright, a two for one special! Chimchar was ready as ever.

"Oh this should be good," Kilik laughed, stretching his arms. "Think you can handle it, Chimchar?" A curt 'Charara!' from the chimp let him know his answer.

-*-

"Creep? ...Disgusting?" Mazarin shrugged, shaking his head. It wasn't anything he hadn't already heard before. Girls definitely needed to come up with new stuff. "Don't worry, baby! Why don't we make things interesting. If I win, you guys vamoose on outta here and we go on a date. If youuu win...I'll leave and you'll never have to worry about me again. Sound good?" Suddenly, he noticed his Pokemon being bombarded by attacks, both Thunderfangs. Alright, he had to hand it to them. They knew how to battle. "Honchkrow, fly up and avoid it! Sharpedo, attack Houndoom with Aqua Jet!"

The shark waited as the Mightyena got close and shot off like a rocket towards the other canine Pokemon, completely enclosed in water like some kind of bullet. Honchkrow did a turn close to the ceiling and began to divebomb the Mightyena with his wings outstretched; Wing Attack a-go-go baby! This battle sure was cool already!

It was difficult for Kasiya not to stare in awe at the Shinx as it started to build up the electric charge, the glimmering, yellow light reflecting in her eyes. All that time she'd spent in the Vermilion Gym had certainly fostered a deep love of Electric-types, and it was impossible for her not to become enthralled by the kitten-like Pokemon. She did managed to snap herself out of it, however, realizing quickly that the next Electric-type attack the Shinx were to use would be doubly strong, and that wasn't something she wanted her Tropius to get hit with. "Alrighty then, Calliope! Let's use Razor Leaf!" she called. The Tropius squared her shoulders and ruffled her leafy wings, sending a volley of sharp leaves sailing through the air and toward Zaira.

Despite the fact that a flurry of deadly sharp leaves were now flying through the air toward her Shinx, Karrigan found herself feeling oddly relieved - relieved that Kasiya wasn't going to go easy on her. The blonde trainer was obviously experienced and had been doing this a lot longer than the redhead, and not only that but if Kasiya held back, then the whole point of this battle with Zaira would be lost. "Zaira, dodge that," Karrigan called. It should be a relatively easy task considering that Razor Leaf wasn't the most accurate of attacks. The Shinx had other ideas, instead darting forward and trying to skip past the leaves as they came at her. This worked a few times but she was hit by more leaves than she was able to dodge. Even still, she managed to get right up close to the Tropius and when she did, she jumped up, mouth gaping open and fangs bared, which were glowing with a pale, blue energy. Karrigan frowned and closed her eyes, shaking her head. She should have known that Zaira wouldn't want to dodge as she often did things her own way regardless.

Kasiya also frowned when she saw the Shinx moving in for an attack instead of evading, but more so because she recognized the frigid bite attack as Ice Fang, and at once she knew it would be quite effective against her Grass-type. Calliope let out a howl of pain as the Shinx clamped down near the base of her neck, shivering noticeably from the icy attack and it was then that Kasiya recalled that Flying-types were also weak to Ice-type moves, making it super-super-effective against the Tropius. She smiled despite this, realizing that the Shinx probably knew this all along, though she could see that Karrigan disapproved. "Shake her off and try to use Stomp," Kasiya said, nodding firmly. Callie shook herself, sending the Electric-type to the ground and quickly followed up by raising her heavy legs and trying to stomp down on the kitten-like Pokemon.

The icy bite Zaira had used was definitely new to Karrigan, who had to check her PokeDex in order to put a name to the move. It was interesting that the Shinx could even use Ice Fang, but that didn't negate the fact that she had disobeyed again. "Move, Zaira!" she called, her annoyance with the Electric-type not enough to make her want to see the kitten harmed needlessly. Zaira seemed to understand that staying underfoot of the Tropius was a bad idea and she darted around, eyes wide as she carefully avoided being turned into a Shinx-pancake. "Now hit it with Spark," Karrigan called. Zaira gave a nod and threw herself shoulder-first into the Tropius' leg, the electricity that had cloaked her body now transferring to the large, leafy Flying-type.