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Kilik watched and shook his head. Man, oh man. Koga's in a bind. He slipped his hands into his pockets, then panicked slightly; his PokeNav wasn't there! Then he remembered he switched its location to his breast pocket. Pulling a hand out and up to his chest, the boy snagged his Nav and tossed it up. Good luck, Kas. I'm sure you can beat him. He turned his back on the battle, gazing down at the Navigator.

He took a step into the hallway leading out, sitting down against the wall adjacent from the match. There was low wall in front of him that obstructed his view of the battle, but he was sure he wouldn't miss much. Two Flying-types would do battle high enough were he could see them over the wall, right?

Scanning through the names on his Nav, he paused at M.A.'s. "Oh snap!" he cried out, doing a double take on the object. "Joy told her I'd talk to her in the morning at the Pokemon Center, then I ditched her!" He sighed heavily. Why is it that my newest friends always get the worst impression? Kilik groaned, slapping his forehead and covering his eyes. I...could call her. And with that, he highlighted M.A. on the screen and pressed 'Talk', listening to the ring on the other line.

"Come on out Portabello!" With mass amounts of glee his Ultra Ball was thrown, releasing his trusty Breloom out on the field. He looked almost confused. A battle? He chirped excitedly, the last fight he had been in was with Nina atop Mt. Chimney. As polite and honorable as always, Portebello bowed to his opponent, adopting a fighter's stance.

"Your Pokemon is quite the charmer," Shawn said, snapping his fingers. Sandslash lunged forward, baring its namesake claws for a Fury Swipes.

P.B. Mike decided on trying a new method of battle with the Breloom. If the enemy does not know what commands I give you, imagine the advantage. Portabello smiled, although his trainer could not see it. Intercept him with a Sky Uppercut.

Yes Master. The Pokemon said quickly, sliding a clawed foot on the wooden floor. As he heard the familiar scratchings, Portabello's mind snapped back to the fight with Norman and his Zangoose. He had done much training since then, meditation made his mind sharp. Now for the test of body. He watched the Sandslash get closer...closer... He lowered his right arm.

Now! Thrusting his arm upward, he caught the Mouse Pokemon square in the chin, rocketing them both upward. He smirked as the Sandslash spun in the air, landing on its back, making many pucks in the floor. Shawn gasped. "That's unreal!" He cried out, pleasantly surprised. "Your Pokemon is something special."

You know, it's a crime that I haven't used you more Portabello. Mike said to his Pokemon.

I often thought that myself Master. His Pokemon retorted with a cheeky grin.

The thrill of battle, the rush of victory, these things fueled the boy. Since he was little he had dreams of becoming the Champion, dreams of becoming the strongest trainer around. Watching Portabello execute such a move, with perfect timing and grace, it made him feel like it might actually happen. He drew his thoughts back to the battle, looking at his opponent with confidence beaming from his eyes. "You haven't seen anything yet."

This was what he was born to do.

My form, it must be perfect. Portabello winced as he was scratched three times with his foe's Fury Swipes attack, the power amplified by the Sandslash's annoyance at the abrupt ending of his first attempt. My mind and body must be one. He side stepped, dodging a Rollout move, replying with a Sludge Bomb. Every battle adds experience...

Experience adds excellence...

Excellence warrants perfection.

Mike looked onward on the battle, very impressed at Portabello's performance. Good work, you're doing fantastic. In truth, he was still kicking himself for not training him more. He was very proud. Finish him off with a Giga Drain.

Clapping his hands together, the Grass Pokemon's body emanated a green aura. Portabello shut his eyes, letting out a loud grunt. Apologies my worthy opponent, but I must take something from you. Soon the Sandslash's body gave off the same radiant hue, as dozens of little particles of energy were robbed from him. Unable to stand, the Mouse fainted, collapsing on the ground. Portabello regained the health he had lost in the fight, and stood victorious.

Shawn recalled his Pokemon, bowing to the Pokemon and his trainer. "What can I say, it's infectious." He added a laugh, motioning for the two to follow. In a matter of minutes, he had led the boy and his Pokemon to the entrance of the outside arena. "You may enter when you are ready. It was a pleasure to battle you." With that, he turned and left.

Mike saw Kilik talking on his PokeNav, and decided not to interrupt. He merely waved, entering the sliding door. To his surprise he saw not one, but two Crobats. One a familiar shade of green.

Ah, Mistress Kasiya! Portabello cried out, tugging on Mike's sleeve.

"Are you kidding?" Nina called to her friend, before running to catch up to him; Whitney trailed after the other girl to catch up to her. "Did you see which way it went?" He nodded. "Yeah, actually. There's only the way that we entered, and that ladder up ahead a little bit, as far as directions to travel in. Since I saw it run ahead of us, it must have went down the ladder."
"Oh, like, of course!" Whitney chimed in. "That's like, the only logical explanation!"
"Whitney, stop trying to sound intelligent. Go roll down a hill or something."

Somehow, without too much bickering, the group climbed down the ladder, while Anna simply floated downward. She grinned at Nina, who replied with a quiet "I hate you." and an envious expression on her face. After getting off the ladder, Nina walked with Crater to find herself at a much longer and wider, open space than they had been in previously. She put her hands on her hips and flicked her hair out of her face.

"Well. If that Clefairy's here now, it couldn't have gotten far-- this is a straight path for the most part." She walked in step with her friends, while Anna went a little ways ahead to look around.

"Anna! If you find it, don't hurt it-- just debilitate it or something!"

Psht, debilitate it? Anna thought to herself. Yeah, okay. It's not like I've got a lot of attacks that'll actually hurt a Normal-type Pokemon like that, anyway. Her hair billowed as she flew gently along throughout the cave, keeping her eyes open for the star-shaped Pokemon. "Why the heck did you have to choose a rare Pokemon to have me chase after, Nina?" she asked, to nobody in particular.

Somebody heard her, though. A Zubat divebombed towards Anna, baring and chomping its fangs viciously. "Aah!" the Ghost shrieked in surprise, "Get back! Get away from me!" Clearly the Zubat had no intentions in doing so, and it sped faster towards her, its wings widely outspread.

Anna solved her problem, however, when the bat was close enough to her. Building up an electrical current inside of her body, she waited for the perfect moment before loosing a powerful Thunderbolt upon her adversary, causing it to crash down to the ground. It twitched and squeaked a little bit, before losing consciousness. Clearly, the Zubat was at a much weaker fighting level than Anna was. The Ghost grinned.

"There. I told you so."


Meanwhile, Nina and company continued to keep their eyes peeled for the Clefairy. There were few places to hide that they had noticed, save for dark corners where the rocks connected to one another. Crater made sure to check near every one of those corners, but found nothing, despite his efforts. "Ah, don't worry about it, buddy," Raimundo said, patting the oversized snail on his head; "you're doing your best, and that's all that we can ask." One would think that petting a Magcargo's firey head would result in an excruciating amount of pain, but Raimundo found that Crater's head was squishy and gelatenous, as well as rather warm.

Whitney sighed. "I hope that, like, Anna's having better luck than we are..."