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AND PAIN CAME AS THE ATTACKS COLLIDED! WHAM! IT WAS A SHOW OF FORCE!

And then both Pokemon hit the ground, Kai's weight and momentum leading Panpour into the floor, crushed and defeated by the dual attacks, Arm Thrust and the accidentally fatpokemonlanding.

Cress sighed as Panpour struggled to get to her feet and he recalled her.

"You win," Cress announced and then he'd give Luka his badge and Luka would hopefully leave and this would bring an end to the Striaton City Gym battles.

Finally.

The bearded man’s cheeks turned up, which was the only way one would be able to tell he was smiling behind that cottony beard. “I guess I’m not, thanks to you! What a relief!” the stranger announced in his big jolly voice.

He looked like he was about to laugh again, when he abruptly didn’t. “Zeraaaa- wait, did you say there was a bus route here? Say, young man, why are you walking in a rain like this? You don’t seem to be enjoying yourself in the slightest.” The bearded man tapped his walking staff onto the ground. “Did you miss your bus or something?”

The bearded man raised an eyebrow. “We do? Err, I mean, of course we do! Who wants to use these old things anyway?” he rhetorically asked as he pointed to his own legs. “But I’m not a fan of crowds of wheeled vehicles. Always got me sick to my stomach to get in a car. And the rain is a great way to wash away your problems.”

He could see that Wayne was cold. It was pretty obvious. The Santa man reached into his robes and pulled out a red shawl, shaking off bits of cotton from it. “Say, young man, I’ll give you this if you give me an escort to Nacrene City. You look like you could use some warmth, and I could use a walking partner. Whaddya say, eh? Eh?” he offered, bobbing the shawl up and down in a tempting manner.

As the battle had finished Saden returned his pokemon and ran for the exit. Then he remembered he had left something behind. Flurry. He headed back to where the munna once was only to find his pokeball missing. He looked around the area, seeing if he could find it anywhere. However, his time was wasted as the spheal had been taken. Time is a valuable thing when a place is collapsing, and it was not on Saden's side. The building soon collapsed on him and he slipped into unconsciousness.

Darkness was all he could see. His body aching with every movement, yet Saden was determined to climb out from the rubble and get his revenge on whoever stole his spheal. He slowly inched his way upward with his right arm, as his left one seemed to be broken, or at least fractured. He could see small bits of light through the rubble as he pushed his way to the top. Soon an arm would pop out from the rubble, followed by the rest of his body. As he got out, he saw a figure standing there and his mind immediately jumped to Flurry. Consumed with fury, he shouted, "What the hell did you do with my spheal!" However, soon after he said that, his adrenaline boost had worn off and he slipped back into unconciousness.

The rain poured down heavily for Striaton City. For Nacrene and most of Route three it had let up, but the clouds over Striaton still produced a heavy rain. It came down on Henrietta who had pulled her hood down as she practiced her kendo. Hair clung to her face until she tucked it behind an ear, and she could feel her skin thoroughly soaked underneath her clothes. The rain was bad, despite her attempts at staying warm.

Around the crater had become puddles and mud, which is where Socant and Frate trained together. Frate, who had no rock type techniques, was practicing to utilize the field, or rather, rocks to his advantage. Meanwhile, Socant had set about catching stray purrloin in electric webs for food.

Melty was still nowhere to be seen.

It was around this time that Saden came out of the rubble of the collapsed facility. Henrietta saw him with a gasp and, sheathing her shinai in proper form, she sprinted down the crater side toward him.

Bits of jagged material that were used to construct the facility stuck out of the crater, as if they were devices meant to trip or attack Henrietta. However, through some luck and paying attention, she managed to avoid it.

Soon she'd arrive at Saden's side and she'd drop to kneel down next to him, ignoring the sharp object that pressed against her leg. It didn't puncture but it made her aware of its presence. "H-hello? A-are you okay!?" she shouted, but she got no response. She'd heard him say something earlier, but it'd been lost in the rain.

He was breathing, she noticed as she dropped the side of her head to his face. She then grabbed him around the torso with two hands and turned him over. She looked him over and, frankly, he looked like s**t.

He was, however, breathing. Alive. But for how long? How bad was the damage? There was no time to wait. She didn't have a phone, she couldn't call for help. She couldn't rely on physically weak Pokemon, either. She'd have to do this on her own. So, positioning her arms to get a grip, she'd begin to haul Saden upward. A difficult task considering themselves.

Saden was 5'11, if he was healthy he weighed at least 50% more than Henrietta. Henrietta, by the way, was underweight. Factor in her breasts and you can assume that a good portion of her weight is then her being scrawny. So, the task consisted of her using leverage, slipping as bits of the ground gave away at areas, but in the end she'd manage to get Saden up to the top of the crater.

Tired from the effort, she looked him over again. She didn't have anything she could use to patch up his wounds and the walk to the Government tents was a bit far.

"D-damn," Henrietta said. She was breathing hard and desperate now.

She recalled Socant and Frate, but she couldn't see Melty to call him back. So, figuring she'd come back afterward, she prepared for her journey to the city. Taking Saden on her back was a difificult task, and the only way to keep him positioned so that he didn't fall immediately was to bend forward, placing his weight entirely on her back.

Then, strained and gritting her teeth, Henrietta headed for the city.

Saden drifted in and out of consciousness as Henrietta struggled to move him. Hopefully this endeavor would not cause her to pass out as well. He could tell he was moving, but he didn't know how. As he fell back into his unconscious state, visions of Flurry fell into his head. Not just Flurry though, there was a man, similar to the plasma grunts he had faced earlier. Soon he saw a man with green hair, one that he had seen once or twice before as he walked around. Were they connected somehow? Was this where Flurry went?

However before he could see anything else, he awoke from his coma. He soon noticed that he was being lifted by a small girl about his age. The girl was breathing hard obviously struggling with moving him. He spoke, "You can put me down if you want. I'm pretty sure I can walk." Though he had no clue who she was or what happened, he figured it would be best to prevent her from passing out as well.

Blackbird Mcknight accepted the shake and then let go. He thought Wayne Lee was a fine name. Reminded him of one of his idols, Bruce. "WL? I think I'll help you make it catch on then." A chuckle followed, although it wasn't a full blown crazy laugh like before.

He stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Now, that's a good question there. Ii'd have to say both. See, I knew I was screwing up my life, but I couldn't get out of it myself. I wasn't strong enough to break out of the prison I had built around myself to keep out the rest of the world."

The Santa man's eyes wandered up to the horizon. "But then I heard my calling. It was the voices of the people who cared about me even after I became such a burden in their lives. And I wanted to never stop hearing those voices. So I guess hearing that people really did love me was the melody that saved me. Nothing makes you feel more alive then hearing that people care."

Now his big, jolly grin returned. "So I want to show everyone that I care about them, whether I know them or not. Because everybody deserves a chance. No one is ever truly hopeless. That's the melody I want to share with the world. The melody of love."

He paused. "Actually, I guess it is just metaphorical. But words of love are music to my ears, so it's all subjective I suppose." Blackbird took a deep breath. "But listen to this old coot go! I'm ramblin' aren't I? What about you, WL? Do you have any melodies in your life that are important to you?"

Blackbird nodded in understanding. “Ah, so a lady’s involved. I know all about that kind of song.” For a second, he sounded much younger than he looked as his golden eyes looked out into the distance. There was a sparkle behind them.

“Loneliness can be hard to deal with. When you travel by yourself, only nature can share your lonely view. That much, you’re right about.” As they passed a patch of flowers, the musician reached out and gently lifted one of the petals up. The rainwater fell off as the flower was allowed to stand up straight again.

“But the thing about those kinds of melodies of love is that there’s never just one. Maybe this girl may be your favorite song right about now. And it hurts not to be able to hear her tune.” He sighed nostalgically. “Life has a way of showing you new melodies so long as you’re willing to listen. Sooner or later, that song is going to fade from your ears. You may forget it in your mind, but you’ll always have it in here.”

Blackbird tapped his chest, close to his heart. “And you can choose to keep the bad songs or you can throw ‘em away. New songs are always being played around you if you’re willing to listen. As long as you’re really alive, there’ll always be a more beautiful tune out there for you to hear.”

The musician stopped speaking, then blinked the rain out of his eyes. “Zeraaa~shasha, I’m not making much sense am I?”