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Copying appearances wouldn't give Zero access to Hitmonlee's techniques, certainly not those he'd undergone special training to attain. So with Wayne's command of "Go!" Hitmonlee would shoot forward, his leg extending and retracting rapidly for a super-powered kick start. It made his body move like a blur; too fast to keep track of for the inexperienced, especially so if they weren't expecting it.

"Vacuum Wave!" Wayne commanded and Hitmonlee would shoot past Zero, a powerful air pressure following him that would stagger the other pokémon's movements if he was caught up in it.

"Rolling Kick!"

Hitmonlee turned as he completed the Vacuum Wave, halfway looking back at his adversary, toes touching the gravel for a moment before he flipped over sideways, his leg shooting forth at blinding speed. Assuming Zero hadn't moved, this would charge straight into the back of the other pokémon's skull, a weak point, aiming for an immediate knock out.

Hitmonlee knew the weaknesses to his own attacks. A slow kick like this one was easy to avoid. He could read the trajectory and use his momentum to aid his speed, meaning that as the kick soared towards him, he'd be leaning away from it and making to snatch where Zero's ankle would be.

But in spite of this maneuver, he still felt a kick and was knocked back into the gravel. His leg, which he'd intended to strike Zero with on the way back, span away and retracted like a mechanical measuring tape.

"Hitmonlee!" Wayne shouted with concern, stepping forward but Hitmonlee held up his hand, telling Wayne not to interfere. The trainer glowered, a simple understanding nod.

Luckily Hitmonlee was tough when it came to special attacks. His will to fight, too, was strong and making up for his species' frail bodies. Unfortunately, it was a psychic move that he just took, so he couldn't help but feel a pounding pain that made him wince and lower his stance.

"Just," Wayne said, "Do what you can, okay?"

Hitmonlee nodded and Wayne ran back, diving and sliding behind a station and using it as cover. Hitmonlee shot sideways, vanishing out of view as he disappeared behind one of the train cars. At this point he'd stretching out his leg, then shooting it down for a horizontal Earthquake and slam it into the giant metal structure.

The effect would be that Hitmonlee kicked the train over at Zero. A giant weapon that would fly through the air, crash into the ground, tumble and skid at high speed with sparks flying everywhere. It was huge, casting an enormous shadow over the battleground and would, to the small pokémon, seem like a big trainy Godzilla stepping down on it. A train, tougher than Hitmonlee, would be able to tank the dark type's psychic moves.

And if Zero used Aerial Ace to dodge, or just dived out of the way, then Hitmonlee would be sending a Rolling Kick out with his other leg as his Earthquake leg shot back, spinning him around with the momentum. It would be aimed well, not surprising given the level of control expected of the kicking pokémon.

N had expected Hitmonlee to take the Extrasensory attack well, even if it was super effective. Their species naturally tanked Special attack,s and this one seemed to be a determinator. Unfortunately for Zero, Hitmonlee had a very powerful type advantage. But Wayne didn't know that yet.

As the train soared through the air, Zero's first instinct was to use Aerial Ace to move out of the way. But she stopped her motion when N yelled out another order.

"Power through."

Zero gulped. She looked up at the incoming train, nervous about it's impact. But she knew why N had given the order when she got a better look at the flying hunk of metal. She'd need more speed to pull this off.

She ran at the train, her speed doubling with Agility as she jumped up. With increased reaction time, she was able to jump through one of the train's broken windows. Inside of the train, she jumped out another window on the other side, resulting in her passing through the metal projectile. Zero jumped off of the train, allowing it to fall behind her as she looked down at Hitmonlee's incoming Rolling Kick.

N did not flinch as the train crashed down onto the ground just behind him, screeching along the gravel past him. The Rolling Kick was coming for her.

"You seem to have a lot of trust in your pokemon. Does he trust you the same way?" N cast his hand out to the side, looking up to his Zorua. The pokemon had leaned her body back all the way, allowing the kick to zip right past her. But the extended leg would snap back into position before Zero landed on the ground based on N's calculations, which would leave her vulnerable to another attack if she stayed in midair much longer. Even with the opening created by the extension, the retraction was fast and Hitmonlee was using the recoil of the snapback with expertise.

"Again!"

She used Aerial Ace once more, this time not as a dodge. When Aerial Ace was used, the user could only move in one straight direction. This time, the direction was downwards.

Once again, she disappeared, reappearing right in front of Hitmonlee with a burst of wind. Hitmonlee probably expected a kick at this point, but Zero instead aimed a swift jab at the Hitmonlee's face. In reality, the small fox was using her front paw to swipe at Hitmonlee's face. If the attack landed, he'd feel a slashing attack rather than a punch. She knew that if she took a hit, her cover would be blown.

But it was just too priceless for her to see the look of confusion on people's faces when she tricked them.

~~~~

Once again, Sal wiped the water from her face. This time, after a deep breath, she lunged at Roast. "You little-"

She felt her arms being restrained by Chen Zhen's Vine Whips, which came out of his wrists as he sighed. [Uh, first try is a freebie,] he told Bacon. He didn't know if that was true or not, but it wouldn't be a good idea to have Roast be the target just yet.

Sal huffed, and Chen Zhen slowly loosened her grip on the girl as the vines retracted back into his arms. The Battle Girl looked over to the Ducklett with disdain, letting loose a string of curses under her breath as she marched away, expecting Fried to follow her to another part of the clearing. "Let's go," she barked at the giant chicken.

Liuye Dao silently walked over to Roast, holding out his elbow to help her up. If he offered her his hand, he might accidentally cut her. Such was the curse of being a Pawniard.

Chen Zhen held up the egg to Bacon. [So, you're ready to start? C'mon, give it a shot.]

Roast accepted the elbow and nodded to the Pawniard. [Thank you.] Now, the odd sight of a ducklett using her wing like a hand to push herself up with the help of a Pawniard's elbow was lost on all but the most random of travelers. And it was very obvious that the ducklett was ignoring that annoying human girl... [Can I see it one more time? I want to see how you prepare.]

Bacon nodded as though that was the most obvious thing in the world and took the egg onto his hand. One... two... three... He pulled back and the other one came out, a little too wide, and would nearly hit Chen Zhen. The egg would drop. [I'll get it sooner or later.]

Meanwhile, the big chicken was following slowly, and one would probably swear he was being dragged on an invisible leash after the angry battle girl. [Wait! Why do I have to train with the angry person?!] Of course, his cries did nothing, and the combusken would end up staring at Sal with a shiver running through him. Why were they being trained by someone other than their trainer? And where was he?

((Does hair dye work like that??))

((I WOULDN'T KNOW I HAVE DARK ASIAN LOCKS THAT YOU MUST BLEACH TO DYE.))

Eunmi staggered into her room and dropped her bag on the bed. A second later, she was lying face down in the covers.

"Smeargle smear?" D-Vee said, crawling up onto the bed. He sat down near her head and stared at her. After some time, she made the effort to twist her neck enough to look up at him.

"Today was draining," Eunmi murmured. The smeargle raised his paw and brushed the hair out of her face.

"Smear smeargle smear smear," he nodded. Despite their odd dynamic, on a very basic level, D-Vee and Eunmi did have a connection. He had been with her for a few years now - he'd seen her fall from grace. Or rise to and then fall.

"I don't want to do this," Eunmi muttered. She turned, burying her face back in the comforter. In all his years with Eunmi, he had never seen her cry - she wasn't going to now either. But she did get sad sometimes. He pat her on the back a few times, knowing that she might even be annoyed by this - Eunmi was, despite her appearances, very closed about when things bothered her and didn't like people trying to pry open closed doors.

"Smear," the pokemon said. He wasn't sure what she was talking about, but he was trying to be supportive.

"Today didn't feel real," Eunmi said. She laid there several minutes more and then pushed herself off the mattress. "I'm going to take a shower."

D-Vee stared absently after Eunmi. She glanced at him a second before she closed the bathroom door - in that moment, D-Vee was reminded of someone. There was a certain sadness in Eunmi's eyes that looked familiar to him.

"Smeargle...smear?" he muttered. He placed his palm on his forehead, closing his eyes, trying to capture the image that had found its way for a split second into his mind. It was no use. Gone before he had the chance to focus on it. He looked back up at the closed door.

"Eunmi... promised that girl to help her find her Pokemon. But is Eunmi the type to keep her promises? Will she keep her one to me?"

The smeargle stared longingly at the door, as though when it opened again, he would be greeted with his greatest desire - to find his trainer.

"Do you still have your integrity, Eunmi?" D-Vee could only hope - with her past actions, he could not tell what path his current trainer would take.


On the other side of the door, Eunmi was leaning against it. She had turned on the water already, but while waiting for it to warm up, she had found herself unable to keep standing.

"Why do I feel like I'm chasing a false dream?" Even in solitude, Eunmi did not cry.

Zero's paw ran right into Hitmonlee's foot, and she brought her claws back in shock. Although she had assumed his form, she had no idea just how tough a real Hitmonlee's foot could be. She shook off her paw, which would look like a Hitmonlee shaking off a sore hand as the Brick Break attack came in. At this range, Zero was all out of fancy dodges. But she did have a not-so-fancy one.

"Detect."

Her eyes glowed blue as her body moved itself out of the way of the attack automatically. She allowed Detect to do it's thing as she spun out of the way, creating some distance between her and Hitmonlee by jumping onto a train.

If Wayne knew that Hitmonlee's could not learn Detect, he may have realized that something was amiss about N's pokemon. N himself did not know whether or not Hitmonlee could learn Detect, as he had no pokedex. In fact, calling out the order was a slip of the tongue. But he did not allow his frustration with himself to show as he folded his arms in expressionless observance.

"Your Hitmonlee looks like it outclasses my pokemon in power. But the things we see with our own eyes are not always the truth."

And then Zero disappeared.

It wasn't like when she used Aerial Ace, since there was no burst of wind to follow her path. She had become invisible under the power of Illusion, and was making an effort to go sneak up on Hitmonlee.

Zero reappeared a few feet in front Hitmonlee, swiping out with an extending roundhouse kick at the kicking pokemon. If he attempted to block it, nothing would happen. If he allowed it to hit, he'd take no damage. This was because the Zero that had reappeared was a fake created by Double Team. As soon as the kicking motion was done, it would disappear as quickly as it came.

"Sometimes, the truth is more than what meets the eye."

The real Zero was behind Hitmonlee, becoming visible once more as soon as her Double Team copy began to fade away. Although she trained hard for invisibility, she could not attack while maintaining it as of yet. This was something she needed to work on. But now was not the time.

Instead, she launched out an extending side kick to Hitmonlee's back. Or at least that's what it looked like. Once again, she was simply shooting an Extrasensory attack that would feel like a kick if it was to hit. Because of it's straight path, the bizarre energy wave would reach it's intended target before the illusionary kick did.

She giggled, and a high pitched animalistic chuckle could be heard coming from what looked like a Hitmonlee.

~~~~

Liuye Dao nodded, then turned to face the water bottle set up. He bent one of his knees and leaned forward, looking like he was about to sprint. And then he swiped his hand.

The path of air was cut in front of him, and he traveled along it, disappearing to the untrained eye as he sped at ridiculous speeds towards the water drop. The water drop was sliced clean in half, creating another bit of mist as Liuye Dao reappeared and skidded to a halt across from the tree stump.

He turned back to Roast and flicked his hand for her to see, the same way that he had done when he began the move. That was the secret to the attack: he literally cut the air in front of him.

Meanwhile, Chen Zhen simply bobbed out of the way of Bacon's misaimed punch, going with the motion and picked up the egg. [Practice makes perfect!] he answered cheerfully, fixing up the egg with Recycle. The more complicated the break, the harder it was to fix. But the speed of his Recycling was improving with each try.

The Pansage gave the egg back to Bacon. [Here, try again. Try to position your punch in your mind before you throw it, yanno?]

As for Salieri, she stopped walking and turned to look up at Fried. "So, being a big guy has some disadvantages. For one thing, smaller enemies will always be attempting to out maneuver you, and they usually can. But no matter how fast a car is, it can't defeat a mountain. Fried, you're going to become the mountain."

"What I'm going to train you on is your Agility. I'm going to come at you from all sorts of angles, and I want you to try and swat my away. Like a fly. Just because you're big doesn't mean you're slow."

She could see that he was still timid, even when put up against Bacon's fiery personality. "Listen, you have nothing to be afraid of, I promise I won't hurt you. Okay?"

((Time to dye, Ren))

"I'll say, your Hitmonlee can fly!" Wayne exclaimed, sitting atop the train wreck Hitmonlee had caused before, leg dangling as the other one supported him. He seemed relaxed, watching the battle like a spectator but still being very much involved. In his hand, his pokédex, often used for training but now in battle.

Hey, he had to teach his own Hitmonlee to fly at some point, right?

Zero vanished, and Hitmonlee appeared to be battling on his own. Wayne tipped his head to the side, sucking his cheek.

"Though it says here, that was Detect," and with a lazy point of his finger, he went, "And that's a Zorua."

He pointed as the opponent reappeared, seemingly in two places. Hitmonlee, who had spent about half of yesterday practising his Hitmonlee Double Teams knew very well what a Hitmonlee Double Team clone looked like, and knew to jump over the attack instead of blocking.

"Vacuum Wave Earthquake!" Wayne commanded, kicking off his perch and slamming into the ground, standing up with his eyes blazing. Hitmonlee complied, rising above his foe as her attack shot out, his speed aided by his trained reflexes and leg-springs.

Air pressure built up around the pokémon as his leg retracted and shot towards the ground in practically an instant. Given that Hitmonlee had dodged as Zero began her real attack - Extrasensory - the window in which she herself could dodge had been almost closed; by the time the attack was finished, he'd already begun his split-second counter assault.

Which would manifest as an airborne Hitmonlee stabbing the ground with a high speed foot. The attack would hit, causing the earth to quake, shaking wildly across the attack area; if Zero remained on the ground the violent vibrations would easily course through her body, her bones, and cause her immense pain and injury. The Vacuum Wave accompanying the Earthquake would explode outward as the foot hit the ground, generating an all-encompassing dome of crushing air pressure, its force magnified by the Earthquake impact.

This had the air covered, meaning that if Zero attempted to go skyward to avoid being mangled by Earthquake then she'd be crushed by Vacuum Wave. If she used Aerial Ace to cut through the air pressure again somehow then when she reappeared - or even as she moved - she'd still have to contend with a third aspect of the technique; the gravel layering the trainyard ground was being kicked up, shooting in all directions like bullets.