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On Route 3, a man walked along happily in the rain. He had a mass of white, fluffy hair atop his head, and an equally impressive white fluffy beard, like cotton. He also had a big potbelly under his black and white monk robes. Despite his older appearance, he had the skin of someone very youthful.

The bearded man carried around two things. One was a violin case that was strapped to his back. The other was a long walking stick, which grew a little wider at the top until it ended with a smooth, claw like extension of prongs that curved inward. It looked like it was supposed to be holding some sort of spherical ornament in those prongs, but they were empty.

Even in the rain, the man was whistling happily to himself, but stopped when he saw a trainer walking in a sulk ahead of him. “Helloooooo~!” he yelled ahead to the trainer. “Young man, wait for meeeeee~!”

The bearded man then jogged forward in a ridiculous manner, looking like he was attempting high knees but couldn’t do it because of his stuffed animal-esque potbelly. Regardless, he caught up to Wayne Lee, panting profusely.

“Excuse me young man, but is this the way to Nacrene City?” he asked jovially. “I’m afraid I might be a bit lost. Zeraaaa~shashashasha!” he laughed. It was a weird laugh, but jolly nevertheless.

Luka nodded, " Thank You." He sent out Kai and the Pignite stood strong and proud on the battlefield.

"Kai, Defense Curl into Flame Charge."

Kai trumpeted before curling up into a ball and spinning rapidly to up his defense. As he span he trumpeted again, his body set itself alight. The flame burned bright as Kai's hatred for the simian Pokémon ignited his fighting passion and then he stopped spinning and then he charged. His feet pounded against the plain arena, leaving a trail of fire in his path. It may not cause much damage, but, it would increase Kai's speed and get Kai close enough to use an Arm Thrust which would cause some decent damage against the Panpour.

((The Attack Dex just says "Building up more power, it increases the User's Speed Stat".... So..... I'd assume it doesn't need to hit. ))

Luka was thinking rapidly as the Rock Tomb headed for Kai. There was one hope. "Slide, spin and fly!"

Kai trumpeted as he continued his charge. The order was clear to him, but it might not be so to Cress. As the Rock Tomb was coming down above him, Pignite would use his speed to slide under the tomb before it hit the ground. He may have been rather rotund, but he'd gathered enough momentum to carry him through the gap before he would have gotten stuck. Then he quickly span around creating a circle of flame around him, before he started to charge up the now landed Rock Tomb. He was aiming for the Panpour perched at the top of that tomb and if he didn't hit the bugger then he would soar into the sky, with the tomb acting as a make-shift ramp.

If Kai reached the Panpour before it either left or made an attack then he would launch a flurry of Arm Thrusts in the Panpour's direction, if not, Luka would have to think of something a little cleverer.

The Grass Knot could be dealt with. Easily. But did Luka really want to do that? If Kai used a Defense Curl as the Grass Knot hit, then he would definitely lessen the impact. If he repeated the Defense Curl/Flame Charge strategy then he could get rid of the vines as he landed, thus getting rid of that damage and then he could charge out of the way of the Scald.

No, that wouldn't work. There was something better. Something that Cress wouldn't be expecting. Scald sends boiling hot water at the opponent. It isn't hot enough to turn into steam, but it's certainly close enough to that to burn the opponent.

Cress wouldn't be expecting Luka to kill that Scald with fire.

"Ember the Grass Knots and then Ember that Scald."

The Grass Knots fizzled out under the flames and Kai landed with a thud. The Scald was heading towards him the moment he hit and he launched an ember into the already really hot water. The water should turn into steam and that wouldn't harm Kai in the slightest. It would only make the air around him damp. He simply had to move out of that area to launch his next fire attacks.

A look of panic shot across Luka's face. s**t. s**t. s**t! The steam and the hot water hitting the ground had caused the battlefield to be covered and a thick steam. It was hot and it was difficult to see the Pokémon. He closed his eyes in defeat and noticed something that he hadn't been expecting. Kai, you little gem, you.

What had happened was that as Kai had launched the Ember, he had edged back. The steam caught him, but that had given him enough time to escape the stream of water which crashed into the ground just in front of him. He was a tad damp, but that was it.

"P-ignite...." He said with feigned upset. He hoped that Cress wouldn't see through the blatant lie. What he had just done was issue an order. Smog and then Ember to ignite it.

Kai smiled as the purple poisonous gas oozed out of his snout towards the Panpour. The monkey hadn't moved, and the Smog would be hidden in the steam for a time. By the time it reached Panpour, Kai would ignite it and then hopefully it would be too late for Cress and his mighty Panpour.

This was bad. They still hadn't hit the Panpour and a Surf attack was about to come down upon Kai. How the hell was he going to dodge this. The answer? He wouldn't. "Flame Charge."

The flames grew around Kai as he trumpeted loudly. He started his charge towards the wave. With enough speed, Kai could cut through the wave, relatively unharmed. There was that thin wall, just below the froth that he could jump through. He could do it and he did. The Surf plunged down behind him, not affecting him in the slightest thanks to the heat of the flames.

Now, the question was, how to get closer to Panpour.....

They had a split second. Luka had already noticed their locations and had already yelled, "ARM THRUST!"

As the Panpour started to rise towards Kai, he thrust out his fists towards the monkey. It either had to call off the attack or get pummelled in the face which would surely knock its concentration on the waterfall, causing it to glide of Kai's head or fizzle at his feet. Either that or both attacks connected, in which case, Kai would have to steel himself greatly for the pain that was about to come.