Welcome to Gaia! ::

Henrietta giggled as she pulled herself up and propped herself up on her arms. She looked over at Eunmi and then grabbed her legs and pulled her over so she was fully on the bed.

"Okay~ G'night, Emi," she said with a little wave.

"I got something I gotta do still."

And Henrietta stumbled out into Nacrene City.

Eunmi, huh? He thought as the girl ran away. Maybe she was in a hurry? Avan sighed.

So one of them is entering the tournament? That only further Avan's questioning. Wait, what tournament?

Avan looked around town before finding a poster. So this is it. The boy called Baku out and explained to him the situation. Convinced, for whatever reason in that insane Munna head-body of his, that Avan would be able to last more than two seconds in a martial arts tournament, coerced the boy into signing up; threatening to stop eating his dreams if he didn't comply.

So he did. Avan signed up under the name "Crown", and just that.

"Heh," came the voice of a man as he sat down on the bench. "Sure if ********' cold tonight." Coming up to him as he produced some food from a bag was a Watchog. It nibbled the food from his hand and the man turned to look at the girl sitting beside him.

Then he said, "why aren't you home pleasuring your husband this late at night?" Of course, he recognized her. She'd probably recognize him, too. See, he didn't wear a wig when he went in uniform, cause his ginger hair was the real deal.

Bill looked at Salieri like a judge considering the punishment for a criminal. "He's probably worried sick, that crazy Hitmonlee owning husband of yours," he said, referring to Wayne, obviously.

In the dark of the Pinwheel Forest, N wandered through the tall grass. The pokemon of the wild were out and about, and the green haired trainer found himself at ease. Here, there was no human influence. The pokemon ran freely.

N found himself at a giant hollowed out log that formed a makeshift tube shaped bridge up to a cliffside. He trekked up the log and emerged at the top of the cliff, overlooking a dense canopy section of the large forest.

The green haired trainer sat atop of a small rock next to a tree. A whirling disc of purple light spun into view in front of the trainer, who remained aloof. Zero the Zorua emerged from the spiral, having dropped her invisibility disguise. [I'm really getting the hang of these illusions. I wonder how many senses I can trick at once,] she pondered. With no humans around, she felt far more comfortable.

N just nodded. "Your skill has indeed improved. When Gorm shows up, I hope mine can as well."

((You know that guy, Jump? He's super cool. He's a BAMF.))

((EDIT: The instrumental version of Sal's theme makes good music for this conversation. But that's just my opinion.))

Salieri scoffed. "Kicked my a**? Psssh, yeah right. I didn't get fried nearly as bad as you did. That was basically a tie and you know it."

Well, Salieri had relented from her assault on Bill. He was seriously damaged, but the former soldier still had skill. If their battle continued, she wasn't exactly sure who would have won. "I mean you just suck as a person. Like in general. You could've gone about your way without us ever talking. Seriously, does it look like I make Dream Mist to you?"

She rolled her eyes. "I have a big day tomorrow, I don't want to spend the rest of this one listening to your ramblings. Why don't you go stroke your beaver, or whatever that thing is?" she told him while gesturing to Topper with her head.

****

((Do you mean Mienshao? I'm pretty sure you mean Mienshao))

N turned to Gorm and then moved over slightly on his rock. Even with Gorm's large frame, there was still room on the rock for him to sit. "Have a seat, Gorm. I'm glad you could make it."

Zero barked happily at the sight of familiar faces. She jumped up to Mienshao to get caught in the pokemon's arms. N took out a photograph of Robby, taken from a high angle on Route 3. The obese lad had what seemed to be a roasted Lillipup leg in one hand, holding it to his mouth.

"This abomination was seen entering the tournament. He wants to take the egg as an-erk." He clutched his stomach. It made him almost puke again thinking about it. "An edible prize."

Why does he expect me to be married? I'm sixteen. Salieri wondered what kind of backwards childhood Bill had to make him have such an outlook towards women. But she knew that there was no reasoning with him about it. And even if there was, she simply didn't care about him enough to make him want to change his ways. She just wanted him to leave her alone.

"Why do you care about what I'm doing tomorrow? Are you stalking me or something? I'm getting the feeling you're glad I'm not married so you can swoop me up yourself or something equally as disturbing."

She jabbed her thumb backwards over her shoulder at the dojo set up by John Masters. "There's a martial arts tourney I'm competing in. Could be some high class stuff, but I doubt it. It'll just be a showcase for my skill."

A smile crossed her lips. As much as a part of her wanted to stop the offer, the part of her that wanted to still beat up Bill for the things he said spoke much louder. "If you really want to settle which one of us is better, then sign up. No armor for you to hide behind this time, no dislocated shoulder for me. We'll have an even playing field so you can see just how much better I am than you."

****

"I know that out of all the Seven Sages, your hand to hand skill may be the greatest. Of course I have faith in you, Gorm. I just want to increase our odds. It's slim, but there's a chance that there could be a fighter there who may be able to stand up to you. And if that's the case, I know I won't stand a real chance. But I have to be able to try."

N turned his head to face the giant man. "So I take it you know what favor I'm going to ask of you, then?"