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"Again. Dragon Claw."

Serafina the Charizard let out a growl of acknowledgment and started at the training dummy once again. She rushed towards the dummy and slashed at it continuously at it with her claws until she delivered a final strike and sent the dummy flying backwards to the wall. The Charizard turned slowly back towards her trainer, small plumes of smoke coming from her mouth with each breath she exhaled. Lilith stood, arms akimbo, her eyes cold.

"Not fast enough. A counter-attack could have easily been administered between your third and fourth strikes." The Charizard growled in annoyance, her tail swinging back and forth. Lilith sighed. "I'm sorry. I know you're tired, but we have to train and you have to get stronger. Both of you." Lilith turned to look pointedly at Ziazan, who was sitting in a corner, reading a book. The shiny Igglybuff pouted at Lilith, who rolled her eyes and looked back to Serafina. The grunt looked around the training room: no one was in sight. She walked up to the Charizard and spoke in a hushed voice.

"Listen Sera, I know you've been working to the bone, believe me, but we have to get stronger if we want to impress, right?" The Charizard growled a bit. "...We need to get our act together, especially if we're called for another raid. I don't want to embarrass the hell out of myself again." She sighed. "I swear, when we showed up late, that guy Seth was practically burning holes through me! Who shoved a stick up his bum, right?" Serafina chuckled and Lilith smiled. "How about flying ten laps around the room for a wind-down, okay?" The Charizard nodded, spread her wings, and took off into the air.

"And as for you, munchkin..." Lilith addressed Ziazan, who was still reading in the corner. The Igglybuff looked up to her trainer. "Buff..." Lilith smiled. "How about you and I work on the bag, hm? We need to amp up that Pound attack of yours." Ziazan nodded and bounced over to her trainer. Lilith retrieved the punching bag and braced against it while Ziazan worked her Pound attacks on it. Lilith smiled, encouraging her Pokemon on. These... These were the moments that she enjoyed the most.

And thus was the ideal moment shattered by the voice coming from the training room's entrance. Lilith paused Ziazan, who was still working on her Pound attack, and looked over her shoulder to see whoever the intruder was. She recognized the long blonde hair immediately. It was indeed Nikki, who, along with the agent Hayes, was the leader of Lilith's group in the raid that Lilith so horribly embarrassed herself on. Lilith could scarcely breath. As she looked at the agent's cold eyes, she could feel her shoulder and knee where she had been shot beginning to ache. She looked and away and placed the punching bag in the corner.

"I am not quite finished yet... But I shall be in a few minutes. My Pokemon and I will stay in this far corner where it is out of the way if we are bothering you." In her voice lurked an icy cold contempt for the agent and all who had humiliated her on that raid, but Lilith strained to not let it show in her expression. These people were a danger to her mission and she would not be intimidated. With that, she called over Serafina, who landed a few feet away from her trainer and cast a warning glance to Nikki. The three made their way over to the corner, where the Charizard used her Dragon Claw to help Ziazan practice her Copycat.

Lilith watched the progress of her Pokemon closely while keeping one eye on the agent at all times. She just hoped to Arceus that the agent wouldn't recognize her from the raid...

Thank you, Arceus... Lilith issued a silent prayer as it seemed that the agent did not recognize her. That was a relief. Of course... The agent may just have been feigning innocence, which made Lilith wary. In any case, there was more training to be done. She watched as Serafina unleashed her Dragon Claw attack on Ziazan and the Igglybuff used her Copycat to give it back. Lilith made sure that the attack was not at full power as the two Pokemon volleyed back and forth.

As her Pokemon trained, Lilith kept an eye on the blonde agent as she released her Pokemon. Lilith had to fight every urge to drop her jaw. This uppity agent had so many Pokemon... They looked powerful, too. Much more powerful than her Pokemon, she would bet. That Charizard, however... that behemoth took the cake. It was a Dark Pokemon, as far as she could tell, and it looked like it could clobber Serafina with it's eyes closed. Lilith grimaced a bit at that mental image and tried to busy herself by supervising the training of her own Pokemon.

Serafina paused for a second after unleashing her umpteenth Dragon Claw attack on Ziazan. The Charizard fought to catch her breath when the Igglybuff paid back the Dragon Claw attack in full, giving Serafina yet another bruise. Despite the little tyke's size and age, Sera could tell that the Igglybuff was getting stronger every day. It wouldn't be too long before she would evolve. As she caught her breath, the Charizard looked over to the odd blonde agent's Pokemon and caught sight of a snarl and a snort by a nasty looking Dark Charizard that undoubtedly was one of the powerhouses of the agent's team. That guy... wasn't so tough! What a poser! Sera snarled back at the mean-looking Charizard and blew out a plume of smoke.

Ziazan and Lilith watched the angry exchange between the two Charizards worryingly. The Igglybuff's eyes grew wide with fear as she scooted closer to her trainer. Right now, she felt way to close for comfort. Lilith, on the other hand, was almost as angry as Serafina was, though her anger was directed towards the agent. Did she have no plan to stop these two from destroying each other? Did she even think the situation dangerous? Exhaling deeply, Lilith pushed the lock of dyed hair behind her ear and spoke loudly enough that her own Charizard could hear. "Serafina. Enough."

The Charizard stopped her growling momentarily at her trainer's command, but her eyes were still frozen into cold, merciless slits. The flame on her tail grew larger and hotter as her rage ascended. Lilith walked to her Pokemon's side and ever-so-gently placed a warning hand on the Charizard's side. She spoke through gritted teeth. "I said enough." Serafina growled once more, then let the flame on her tail slowly diminish. Lilith spoke in a furiously hushed tone.

"That is a Dark Pokemon. She is more than likely twice your level and three times your strength and stamina. If you got into a scuff with the likes of her, you would be down in a heartbeat." Serafina growled again and Lilith lowered her eyes. "It is annoying, but it is the truth. This is why me must train to become stronger. In the meantime, I do not want any blood spilled here. Do you understand?" The Charizard nodded slowly and turned her back to the agent's Charizard, a look of blind fury in her eyes.

Lilith stood where she was, looking at the agent. Cold contempt oozed from her voice as she spoke. "Your Charizard looks to be tremendously powerful, I must say."

Lilith was infuriated by Nikki's suave confidence as she took the grunt's comment as a compliment. Lilith was positive that the agent heard the contempt in her voice, but that alone was not cause for celebration. Lilith feigned a agreeing smile while, inside, she was steaming. The hatred she felt for Nikki had burned her out, as well as the fact that this agent was so cocky and confident that it made Lilith want to rip the agent's throat out. Her mouth smiled, but her eyes screamed bloody murder. Nikki had not won this fight.

Lilith was tired, though, and the silent fighting was wearing her out. She and Serafina began to put away the equipment to head back to their room. As the three headed out of the training room to leave Nikki and her Pokemon to train on their own, Ziazan caught sight of the large Pidgeot, Darkfeather. The Shiny Igglybuff was entranced by the Pokemon's unique colors and began bouncing towards it happily. Lilith turned around and saw her Baby Pokemon bouncing to the savage looking Pidgeot and began to panic. She quickly took out Ziazan's Pokeball and called her back. "No, Ziazan. Come back!" A beam of light shot from the Pokeball and enveloped the Igglybuff, retrieving her safely into the capsule. Lilith sighed and looked to Nikki. "Sorry... She's just a baby..." Lilith was genuinely embarrassed, but she was happy that her precious Pokemon did not get hurt.

Lilith quickly came to the verdict that she did not, in any way, shape, or form, appreciate Nikki. She knew that what the agent said was, in fact, true. It was her fault for not training Ziazan properly. She could make all of the excuses that she wanted... but the fact remained that she needed to work harder. A lot harder. Nikki turned her back to Lilith and the grunt responded in kind, spinning on her heel and proceeding out of the training room. "Good day to you," she said to the agent coldly.

Lilith briskly walked back to her room in a quiet, seething rage. She made a mental note to never go to that room to train again. Her prime objective of the moment was to avoid Nikki at all costs. Once she returned to her quarters and locked the door, she thought to herself. If what she said was true, then no wonder all of her Pokemon are ridiculously rude and lash out at any and all who come close. Lilith snickered at her private joke.