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((That wasn't a challenge. razz Also.... Who upsized my post? Large text makes it tougher on my eyes. XD That's why I posted it normal like. XD))

((Poor Richy with his s**t eyes razz ))

((Well you wrote it, so you won't be needing to read it. All of us cool folks will, though.))

((20/20 talk2hand ))

"Hold on tight. Close your eyes, okay?"
"Um...'kay..."

Jacqueline cradled Katelyn in her arms, the five year old hiding her head beneath the woman's chin, long black hair nestled around her face. In a moment, the two would vanish, leaving behind naught but a cloud of dust whipping around the spot where they'd been. The crowd, who had stopped to stare at the two getting down from the military chopper, were now even more shocked.

Finding somewhere quiet to return to normal speed, Jacqueline and Katelyn managed to infiltrate PokéLand. Stationed in Nimbasa City, the theme park was home to a vast quantity of pokémon-derived rides and attractions. There was a rollercoaster with the cars shaped like Geodude, and a haunted house with real ghost pokémon floating about and scaring the visitors. Stalls featured games where you fired water guns shaped like water pokémon to hit a target and win a prize. There was a giant inflatable Pikachu that you could... climb into.

And, of course, the Ferris Wheel.

"Are you okay? You're not gonna barf are you?" Jackie asked, kneeling down to Katelyn's eye line but not pulling off the concerned tone all that convincingly. The little girl just nodded, wiping her eyes where they were watery.
"I wanna cotton candy..." she said quietly and Jackie stood up, eyes squinting as she scouted out stalls. Target acquired at 3 o'clock; a stand where cotton candy was kept in bags and being sold by an exhausted vendor.

"Okay, just stay here," Jackie said once Katelyn had sat on an unoccupied bench, "I'll be right back."


***

"Eathquake! Earthquake! Earthquake!" Wayne commanded, "Earthquake!"

Each shout was met with Hitmonlee performing the technique. Since they couldn't well go causing actual Earthquakes just to train, they'd instead picked a good target to attack: Elizabeth's Snorlax, Fatass. Whenever Hitmonlee's foot shot down from the sky, it'd strike Fatass' stomach and just bounce off, the force dissipating with a wobble of ripples.

"You're too slow," Zack commented, arms folded as he leaned against a tall tree, "Still no good for combat."

Wayne frowned at his father and Hitmonlee gave a grumpy look. He was listening to Wayne's instructions because he'd been promised power; that didn't mean he liked hearing some human tell him his techniques were bad.

Elizabeth sat on a rock by the stream, the gentle water washing her feet as she dipped them into the cold. Such a refreshing feeling. Fatass lay nearby snoring, just absorbing Hitmonlee's attacks, waking up every now and then before falling back to sleep.

Wayne scratched his head, thinking hard about how to make Earthquake battle-ready. While he was doing this, Hitmonlee continued work on his leg exercises; his kicks needed to be fast enough for any situation. Wayne threw off his sleeveless hoodie, now just wearing a black best with the number 7 in white on the front and a pair of white track pants with a black stripe down the side. When he turned back to watch Hitmonlee, he did so just as the pokémon leapt into the air and shot a kick out into nothing.

The trainer's eyes lit up.

"Hitmonlee! I got it!" he yelled, running over. Hitmonlee landed and cocked an eye as he listened. "Okay, so Earthquake's weakness is that it takes too long to set up, right? You have to stretch your leg up high before you can whip it back down."

The Fight type nodded, looked away and then shrugged. Yeah. That pretty much explains it, so what?

"So I was thinking, how about if you jump and compress your leg like you do for high speed kicks. Then aim at the floor and let one off? Bam! That should, like, be able to do the same as Earthquake in way less time."

Hitmonlee rubbed his nonexistent chin then shook his head affirmative. Worth a shot.

Zack closed his eyes and smiled. He hadn't trained in years, didn't even think of himself as a trainer anymore. But still, this brought back memories of when he was Wayne's age. Outside of military training and whatever duties they gave him, all he ever really did with any ambition was train pokémon. Elizabeth too, appeared content as she sluiced water down the length of her leg. Most parents send their kids off on pokémon journeys only to marvel at how much they'd grown when they returned. But the true marvel was in seeing it happen. Watching them grow up.


***

Jacqueline returned with the cotton candy to find an empty bench. Her face froze over, the surrounding crowd chatter fading away into nothing. Her fingers clenched into a hard fist, the plastic wrapping crunching and crinkling. She swallowed.

Oh Crap.

Crap crap crap.

"Katelyn!" she shouted, looking around, "Katelyn?!"

And paused. She'd lost Zack's kid. Oh ********.

((Y'all wish Trop a Happy Birthday now, y'hear?))

((I already did the day before, so I'm probably the best cool ))

((Happy birthday trop!))