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Biz was torn between stopping to think and continuing to learn Bulk Up. He decided to continue his training while thinking minimally. [Sure! You just gotta, erm...well you gotta be cool, but not like you're trying too hard. And you gotta do smart things that make people say they woulda never thought about doin' it. Oh, and if you're gonna do something cool make sure you have a one liner for after.]

The Chespin nodded at his own advice, self motivating as he continued to flex. As he Bulked Up his muscles compressed, tightening the increased mass into his small frame. The Pokefan family was going nuts over watching the two pokemon flex cutely, furiously taking selfies and putting them on their blogs as fast as they could click buttons.

Sal tilted her head to the side, mildly pleased. So this guy wasn't just a one hit blunder after all. Well, no sense in telling him off so quickly if he was going to be clever about it. Besides, she saw him check her out as well. Although she wasn't sure if he liked what he saw, she knew a male gaze when she saw one.

The bandana girl leaned forward, still grinning. If Benedict was after her attention, he was succeeding. "You think I'm a Slowpoke? I'm not Oblivious, so let's cut to the chase. What's your name, kid?"

It should be noted that both Durendal and Veillantif were still next to Sal as she and Benedict exchanged flirtatious linguistics. Dune blushed, embarrassed for some reason, while Veil hopped around to Benedict's side to get a better look at him. Those were some nice shoes. She wondered if they tasted like any others shoes she had tried to eat before.

Lumiose - Gotengo

"Takamaru Takashi, TK's good too," The silver haired youth introduced himself. Also not sure if he met Mia face to face last night. He assumed he did since he recognized her face, and he knew a bit about her as well as she was close to Sal. Or at least from what he gathered from the bandana wearing girls dialog last night.

"A Message?" he prompted, tossing the stale breakfast bar into a large wooden plant basin that was being used for a trash can. "Wait, she already left?" He followed up, frowning. For some reason or another this fact put him off slightly. That or the disgusting breakfast bar he just attempted to consume was the cause.

Either way, his first goal for the day was to battle some trainers to get some cash to fill his uncomfortably empty stomach.

Francis chirped back excited agreement to Biz's statement. Part of him felt the word might be being used incorrectly but that his mentor surely knew better than him. If Biz said it was regal, it was regal, and so the pidgey continued his odd flexing as the pokefan family took their pictures. [Regal indeed!]

Essence blinked when Veil suddenly spouted out a stream of speech, which almost stopped the budew from keeping up. Luckily, a light sprang forth and returned the somewhat frightening thing before she could completely lose track. She would turn her attention to the Pawniard and tilt her body, as a human might their head, in curiosity. [That one always like that?]

Benedict found that he recognized that sort of stance, though not so much from pokemon battling as from gambling. When someone got really competitive or serious about it, they got a sort of aura about them, something that told you what they wanted. More often than not, it was that they wanted to compete with you.

"An easy catch, hm?" The womanizer shrugged and crossed his arms. "Not so easy as you'd think, actually." If he was right, this was about to turn into a battle. It would probably also turn into a horrible situation where his pokemon had to go to the pokemon center. It didn't take a genius to note that she was at least somewhat practiced, with how she had that pokemon practicing a move, or at least the foundations for it. The most passive-seeming of her three pokemon also seemed a bit tough...

But then, the plan was to be the best, or at least among them. You didn't get there by being completely careful and avoiding what was likely a challenge. If nothing else, surely he'd learn something here. Him or his pokemon.

"If you'd like, I can prove it too."

Serene returned to her ball in a whipping bolt of light. When Zack saw Helena smiling, he had to consciously avoid grinning back. That was better; a far cry from the girl who had called him yesterday, upset over losing a battle, and from the girl who'd grown frustrated from sparring. Helena was progressing bit by bit. It was a rare sort who could hardily endure defeat and still remain motivated to keep trying. Even rarer was the one who endured defeats so early on in learning a new skill. For that he was proud of her. Zack felt sorry for the gym leader who had become his sister's target. If they fought her with the same intensity as last time, then they were in for a rude awakening.

"Well then," Zack said, tossing Serene's ball up and catching it again. "I'd say the lesson's over. Keep practising, next time we battle it's gonna be for real."

And unless he got his pokémon up to snuff, Zack thought, she might actually beat him. Trainers milled between battlegrounds. Occasionally, the heat from a fire attack, or the breeze from maladroit gust could be felt from the other battles. Zack shook thoughts of losing from his mind. He still had to get his pokémon properly fed and watered, and he was becoming increasingly aware of a group of trainers waiting for their arena to free up.

"Yeeeeep," Zack said as he stretched. Breakfast and coffee had performed a strange kind of necromancy, transforming a zombie into something that resembled a human being. The process was not yet complete, however, and Zack found himself dealing with aches he hadn't felt for a long while, and an increasing sensation of foggy tiredness. The group of trainers by the arena were still staring. One of the looked as if they were about to say something, but declined when Zack made eye contact. He didn't look that rough did he?

"Well what are you waiting for," Zack growled, taking offence at his own assumption, "an invitation?"

---

Back inside the Pokémon Center, Zack's pokémon chewed on their first proper meal of the day. It was some brown and round pokémon chow called Pokébble, which Zack had poured into a large bowl normally reserved for huge pokémon like Snorlax and Rhydon. His pokémon ate from the same plate, essentially, even Fletchinder, who had scooped up her share and taken it off to the side for quiet consumption. The Center gave pokémon food away for free to any trainer who required of it, and that was that.

Zack lay on some fixed seating, red leather on a white plastic frame, which acted as a divide between the cafeteria and the video station, an area stocked with video phone terminals. Since the cafeteria was mainly occupied by late-risers and video phones had become an increasingly dead technology after Xtransceivers and Holo Casters took off, Zack had a reasonable level of privacy. He held up his Xtransceiver and used it to study his reflection from different angles, hoping it was a trick of the light that his eyes looked so sunken in, framed by dark bags. He didn't just feel tired and achy, his skin was dull and seemed drained of blood, and he needed a shave.

"Perfect," the trainer groaned to himself as he slid flat. Had he really slept that badly? He shifted onto his side, not wanting to move further, and watched his pokémon eat. Was he imagining it, or did he actually feel worse than he had ten minutes ago? His pokémon didn't seem to notice. He hadn't taken much time to get to know them, that wasn't really Zack's style. As long as they worked hard and did what they were told, he could care less what their individual quirks were. He paused, then shook his head and sat up, surprised at how cynical he was feeling. Stretching again, Zack leant forward.

"I've got a plan," he said, and his pokémon turned around. Mostly. Corphish kept devouring the pokébble. "Let's go find the biggest, meanest ******** around here, and go punch him in the face."

Her grin had changed from charming to slightly feral. "Cool." Salieri had seen many Budews in action while training on this route the day before, which spared her the embarrassment of having to use Ivan for analysis. "Durendal, you're up."

The Pawniard joined her, clanking with every step as they walked a short distance away from Benedict and Essence to create a makeshift battlefield.

Once Ben was ready, she'd call out a move. "Aerial Ace."

In one step Dune propelled himself at Essence with confounding speed, ready to whip his arm out for a diagonal slash at her side if he got close enough. If the attack succeeded, he'd still be mid step during it, and would slide to a stop when he landed a short distance behind the Budew.

((Rollin for the para hax, 1 is fully paralyzed
EDIT: wootwoot))

Sal pursed her lips together. On one hand, she was glad that Aerial Ace had worked like a charm. Dune hadn't had the chance to test the attack out on a pokemon weak to it since learning it yesterday, and from the looks of it the damage wasn't a disappointment. On the other hand, Dune could do nothing about the Stun Spore, inhaling the cloud as he struck.

Biz Marquis snapped out of his muscle building trance when he saw a battle start between Durendal and the Pidgey's trainer. [Oh snap!] He sat on the fountain and watched intently.

Once he landed behind Essence, Dune could already feel his muscles tighten. Movement had become difficult. It's probably too hard to try another action when he's moving at that speed, or he would've cut through the cloud like he did with Banksy's White Smoke. I guess Aerial Ace isn't as great of an approach as I thought it could be. We'll have to train past that.

Megadrain shot at Dune. WIth his speed dropped to 25%, dodging wasn't an option. He'd still try it though, but his shoulder was struck by the bolt of green energy and part of his health was absorbed into Essence. His Steel typing may have resisted the attack, but his low special defenses didn't help matters. This Paralysis could be good for him. He can't rely on his speed all the time, he'll have to try something else. "Go for range," she suggested, sounding more like a guide than a battler.

Dune complied and swiped his hand out in a wide arc. Psycho Cutter created a translucent pink blade that flew at the Budew's midsection, covering a lot of horizontal space.