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'Used to be your whole team would suck against any type, so that's progress,' Zack grinned. He caught Dexio's eye and held up five fingers. Dexio shrugged, perplexed, so Zack pointed to an imaginary watch, then held up five fingers again. Dexio smiled and nodded, then paused and shrugged again. Zack closed his eyes and swore under his breath.

'We'll be five minutes!' he shouted across the center, turning heads. There was a few arenas laid out around the back of the pokémon center where trainers were engaged in friendly battles. Zack and Helena made their way to the outdoor arenas, and felt hot sun on their skin.

A couple of ten year olds were hogging one of the arenas, so Zack told them to 'Get the hell outta here, s**t-tips.' And they scrambled away from the 'mean' 'a*****e' 'jerkdick' as Zack pretended not to hear them.

'Think you're ready for me, little sister?' Zack asked, slinging his backpack to the ground as he entered his trainer box and drew a pokéball from his belt.

'Ugh, what is that again?' Zack muttered to himself when Tyrant materialised. He wasn't too familiar with every type of Kalosian pokémon, let alone ones that had been dead for thousands of years. He was experienced, but not that experienced. Times like this, having a pokédex would actually be useful.

'Look at you, got that thing whipped,' Zack said across the arena. More than a few heads turned in fright when the Tyrantrum appeared, and even more were shocked when it seemed so docile with its trainer. After their initial faux screaming match.

Zack wasn't too sure what to use against the brute. His team leaned distinctly more towards special attacks, which he assumed would rip right through the Despot pokémon's thick hide. It'd be a more even battle with Malis, but he didn't want to give what was clearly a rock type too much of an advantage. But then again he ******** it,' he said to himself. 'Let's bring the old bird out of retirement.'

The trainer put his initial ball back on his belt, then brought out another. He hadn't spent much time training this pokémon at all, so this would be the perfect opportunity to spread its wings. He threw it out, and the ball exploded in a flash of light.

His pokémon materialised. Her dark grey body huge and worn with scars from battles ages past. Her maw parted to reveal rows of serrated fangs, that led back to a pair of hungry eyes. And then she parted her wings to reveal a wingspan that would dwarf that of any ordinary Aerodactyl.

'Antiq,' Zack said, 'Let's take my sister to school.'

((Gonna be sticking to Gen 6 moves unless it's like a Quillon or Ratio or something))

Coumarine City Gym

The arena was barren with flat dirt collected in a rough rectangle atop the tree. It was deep enough for pokémon to use moves such as Dig, and firm enough to walk on. At its side was a small wooden stand with several rows of pokéballs. Ramos inspected each ball, then plucked one from the stand, as if selecting the right tool for gardening. He then slowly made his way into his trainer box, his age apparent with each slow, stiff movement.

'If yer ready, Salieri,' he said, apparently and potentially deaf to her boasts. 'Let this be a one 'n one battle.'

He tossed the ball underhand and let it roll onto the arena floor. It blew open, and Ramos's level 50 Jumpluff named Jumpluff flew into the air. It immediately began to soak up the sun's rays, bolstering its speed with Chlorophyll.

Helena moved to th trainer box, using the railing to keep herself upright. She was still exhausted from the depletion of her aura and using what she had regenerated to make sure Tyrants temperament was right for the match was playing a dangerous game.


Still, her relationship with Tyrant was different than the rest of her Pokemon. "hold," she said then she turned her attention to Zack and spoke not just loud enough for him to hear but for nearby onlookers as well.

"I will let you have the first move, after all it would be rude of me to pick on a trainer without any badges!"

Sal took glance at Ivan's screen. Cotton Guard boosted Defense faster than Durendal could raise his Attack. They couldn't win the arms race this way, and the deficit just grew. No choice, time to poke and see what happens. "Make 'em scream."

Dune brought his arms back as wide as he could before clapping together. The shrill high frequency noise that followed was enough to make Sal wince, and enough to Torment their opposition. Salieri aimed to force more options out of Ramos to see what else the old man had hidden up their sleeve. In the future, it could give them an opening to buff themselves again, but for now it would help them control the tempo of the match.

Still, she grit her teeth and braced herself for what was to come. Oftentimes she carefully planned her assaults, but Sal was itching to go on the offense. Training with Gurkinn had belayed her battle lust for days. A proper Pokémon battle was bringing it out of her again.

"Crunch," Helena said and Tyrant would move to leap into the air. Unless the number was one to two then he would trip and crash into the air and take the ancient power. Otherwise he would tear through the skies, and the ancient power,off powerful legs to try and bite into Antiqs right wing. As a bonus? On a four his confusion would end.

((Uh oh, I've started something here))

Courmarine City Gym

Ramos raised his eyebrow when Dune split the Solar Beam in two. Interesting. Then the pokémon disappeared. He was fast, but Jumpluff was still faster, and when the Aerial Ace slashed into her, she used the opportunity to trade her own attack. With a move like Aerial Ace, the user moved with such speed that nuance was incredibly difficult - you move like a bullet, you have the manoeuvrability of one too. While it was hard for Jumpluff to outright dodge Dune's strike, it also made it nigh impossible for him to dodge her counterattack.

Jumpluff rebounded, flyng through the air to make distance between Dune and herself. It was after a second or two that he'd start to notice it. The Infestation. In the moment Dune struck, Jumpluff sent a ream of tiny insects that slipped inside his metal armour and began to gnaw away at him from the inside. There wasn't much he'd be able to do to get rid of them either; crush one bug, and two more would take its place. Every turn, the Infestation would burrow deeper, and take off another 1/8 of Dune's maximum health in addition to the roughly 10% of his health taken from the initial attack.

Couple the mitigated Solar Beam damage with damage from Infestation, and Jumpluff only needed a few more solid hits to end this battle. Her little brow furrowed with determination.

'Solar Beam.' Ramos gave the command in his characteristic, calm tone. Jumpluff complied in roaring thunder, blasting at Dune with another beam of green energy.

Shalour City Pokémon Center

Zack winced when Tyrant tripped and fell on its face, and got spiked by the Ancient Power. With those stubby little arms, it'd struggle to get back up too. Well, they had the advantage, might as well make use of the opening.

'Ancient Power it again,' Zack said, the shrug audible in his voice. With Tyrant flat on his face, but no longer confused, he was a prehistoric sitting duck for another round of Ancient Power spikes. It was unlikely that he could avoid them from that position. Two Ancient Powers alongside Tyrant's confusion damage, and Zack really only needed one more hit to win.

((Rolling for the random power boost to all stats from the first Ancient Power. 1 gets it))

((The dice gods have blessed you))

"Not again," Sal groaned, flashing back to her Gym battle with Viola as Durendal scratched at his armor. There wasn't much Biz Marquis could've done about the Infestation either. Now they were on a clock, and every hit they took would lower the timer.

Sal and Dune had a feel for the Jumpluff now. She didn't hit hard. Instead, it was a death of a thousand cuts. It made her no less dangerous. If anything, she was the toughest foe they had faced in a Gym yet.

Thanks to Torment, it was easier to predict when another Solar Beam might occur. Durendal didn't need an order to make his reaction this time. Crimson sparks of lightning coursed through his body. The voltage wasn't enough to cook the bugs inside of him. It would be enough to boost his speed and reaction times to levels he couldn't achieve otherwise. With Fleché a la mode, he had the mobility to dodge the Solar Beam. He darted under it and moved forward, trying to close the distance again.

One of Salieri's early advantages in the league was the depth of her roster's movepool. Oftentimes, it took her opponents by surprise. Last week, Fleché a la mode had been televised, and though the Pokémon researchers they brought on TV to explain the phenomenon had differing opinions, they all reached a common conclusion: it made Durendal fast, and it must have a serious drawback to not be used constantly.

Dune turned Fleché off when he was in the clear, having made a semi-circle around to get closer to Jumpluff. If he got hit while it was active, he'd end up flinching. And with Jumpluff's speed and Ramos' skill, they could lead their next shot if they predicted where Dune would go, Fleché or not.

PLaying it safe won't work here, Jumpluff is better at it. We have to play to our strengths. Salieri still had tricks that hadn't been televised yet. She didn't want to use them so early into the week, but the gap between her and victory was getting wider. Time to be bold.

"Balestra a la Mode!"

Gusts of wind formed near and around Durendal's body as the Pawniard's ability changed, inverting his Pressure to create and control pressure zones, and thus the wind. He Levitated above the ground, going up higher. From this height, he could see some of the tree's topmost branches. The dirt near him swirled close and he swatted it away. It trailed behind him like a scarf of Mars colored dust.

He winced as bugs ate into the soft skin below his armor. The sensation was excruciating. Sal watched Dune's hit points tick away on the big screen. This is gonna hurt Dune, but you'll have to bear it.