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Aster fell on his face and slid, the intensed gravity causing his feet to catch on each other. "Come on, Aster, don't give up!" Keiko shouted encouragingly. It took a moment for the bug to lift himself off the ground, but Aster was far from out of the count.

"R-reflect!"

As Keiko stutters to shout out a defensive move, Aster stretches his hands out and forms a protective barrier of light that persists during the smashing. The intensity of the strikes has Aster reaching out, as if holding the barrier in place. It hurt like crazy, but if he could keep up like this, it wouldn't hurt as bad as it would if he let go.

Must... endure...

"A-agility! Get out of there!"

Aster ran off, a second attempt to build its speed, with the perk of getting out of the way of Vicegrip. That other move was hard enough to hold off, and Aster was not enjoying the thought of getting crushed between that thing.

"U-uh-!"

Keiko was unable to stammer out an attack in time, and Aster suffered the last attack it could endure. Taking the Gear Grind, he fell to the ground lifelessly, only to weakly try to pick himself up.

Keiko recalled Aster before the bug could rise, however. "You tried your best, Aster."

A white, black, and pink mess of ribbons appeared from the second pokeball Keiko weilded. "Telle?"

"It's okay, Rita. I know you can do this. Just take it nice and slow, and watch your step. Are you ready?" Keiko asked eagerly.

"Gothii!" the Gothitelle cried before facing Klink with a look of determination on her face. She had always regarded Keiko as a close friend, but she was finally being trusted with a battle? How she had waited for this opportunity!

Meanwhile, a group of individuals teleported into the main lobby. A Combusken carefully sat the freakishly tall, powerfully built psychopath in her arms down on a sofa, to help him rest.

The Combusken sighed, then spoke in the human language. "I am not looking forward to him waking up," she said in a wistful tone.

"I wonder if the others succeeded." Sub pondered as he sat down in the lab, awaiting the Snagems he sent out to return to base with a report on the trip to the former Cipher lab in Orre.

Odd was a bit surprised to see a Pokemon using Tickle. He'd never witnessed the attack in motion before and he had to admit he was laughing as much as Beat was. The Cubone rolling around on the ground as he was tickled. "Beat, try to break free and use Bone Club!" He called after a moment, managing to calm himself down enough to give an order.

Beat prepared to attack, raising his bone high into the air when Rita started to cry. Eyes clenched shut, the little Psychic-type rained teardrops upon the ground, causing the Ground-type to hesitate. Could he possibly strike a Pokemon who was so obviously scared of him? Despite Odd trying to convince him to continue, he lowered his club.

In the main lobby, a teenage hybrid appeared with a Gardevoir at his side. "What was I thinking?! Why did I have to go and challenge him to a battle?!" He asked of himself, hands against the sides of his head as he began to pace back and forth in front of the unconscious Chaos. "Oh Arceus! I can't afford to take my time with my training anymore! I have to go on these training missions as fast as Master Varuna gives them to me and learn what I'm doing as I go...." He told himself, realizing that in order to defeat Wallace not only would he need to be stronger but he would need to widen his focus from just water-type Pokemon.