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So Wayne had figured out Zero’s cover after all. This was something N had expected after he let the move’s name slip out of his tongue. After all, Wayne had a pokedex and seemed to be a talented trainer himself. But all of this did not make the situation any better, as now the jig was up.

Zero dropped her disguise as soon as Wayne pointed it out, turning back into her black fox form. Keeping up an Illusion took some concentration, and now she could focus more on battling. So he’s outed me? Very well, I’ll end this now!

N could see Zero lean forward, preparing to slice through the air to dodge the attack with Aerial Ace. He knew what the result of that would be. “Don’t-“

It was too late. Zero disappeared.

And then reappeared on top of a train behind Hitmonlee, falling over to her side when she became visible.

Aerial Ace moves the user in one direction. Once they started their dash, there was no stopping. So not only did the speedy gravel projectiles all ram into her at full force, but she ran into them. The result being that the pain was magnified much more, pelting her entire body with an assault of rock at a far higher speed.

The Zorua huffed as she got to her legs, turning around to see the airborne Hitmonlee. Purple welts could be seen growing through her slick black fur, becoming small visible bruises. Her species was naturally poor with defenses. It was why they hid behind illusions and tricks. [That all…you got?]

“Zero!” N called over to his pokemon. He didn’t look so stoic anymore. Now, he looked nervous, worried for his pokemon’s safety. “Zero! Are you okay?”

Zero nodded, gritting her teeth without looking away from her opponent. N breathed heavily, weighing his options. And then, looking down at the ground, he cast his hand out to the side. “This battle is ov-“

[NO!] Zero stomped her foot on the ground, with bitter fury ringing through her voice. [No, not now! Not yet!]
“You’re going to lose if you keep going!” N screamed. He was beginning to look a little frantic now. “I can’t see you hurt yourself like this!”

She growled, her voice becoming guttural and vicious. [I’ll show you I can win!]

Zero ignored N’s pleas, firing off an Extrasensory attack at the airborne Hitmonlee. There were no fancy tricks to hide it this time. It was a simple, purple ball of psychic energy, warping around in bizarre ways as it flew towards the kicking pokemon from Zero’s mouth.

N grit his teeth and ran towards the battlefield, his feet pounding the ground with determination. He cared not for the dangers of venturing into the fray, or being on the receiving end of one of their pokemon’s powerful attacks. It meant little to him at the moment.

He just needed to get his friend out of there.

Salieri bent her legs, loosening her arms at her sides by shaking them. "Right. Here I come."

And then she lunged forward, sprinting low to the ground. "Don't let me out of your sight!" she yelled up to Fried as she traveled towards his side under his flank. One weakness of being a big guy was that the small guy could easily hide. It was important not to lose track of the target, especially if they were on the offensive.

Then she jumped up, to land on the giant Combusken's outstretched arm. His natural strength would hold her up with ease, and so if she could she'd run up the length of his arm to his head. If she got there, she give him a light "BONK!" on the head with her fist for letting her get to him. If Fried actually did swat her away, she'd land on the ground to prepare the next move.

"And don't let yourself be a jungle gym!"

Meanwhile, Liuye Dao sighed. Chen Zhen rubbed his chin as he held out a hand to catch the egg that flew through the air. [So Roast missed. That means she switches places with the egg, right?...but Bacon just punched her, so it's okay?]

The Pansage rubbed his temple. This training regime was getting confusing.

Liuye walked over to Roast and pointed to his eyes. They did not blink. The Pawniard was showing Roast that she needed to look at where she was going. She knew what to do now, she just had to keep her eyes open through all of that air pressure. Then she'd fully learn this high speed movement technique.

Chen Zhen held out the egg for Bacon again. [Why don't we move over here and give them some space?] he suggested with a sheepish smile. He was a much kinder teacher then Salieri.

Before the yolk from the egg could explode all over Chen Zhen, the Pansage quickly clapped his hands and then pointed his palms at the midair mess. As the green Recycle symbol materialized around the egg, it began to repair itself and come back together like before. Chen Zhen snatched it out of the air, holding it delicately in his mitten-like hand.

[Much better! You're doing great! Don't go all out at first, you need to work up to a higher speed first.] Chen Zhen gave the egg back to Bacon. [C'mon, let's keep going.]

Liuye crossed his arms and nodded. It seemed that she had actually done it. While the training may have seemed impossible, it was much easier than that. At the speed of Aerial Ace, cutting through water drops was simple. Landing, on the other hand, was a harder task.

But he motioned with his hand for her to do it again.

Salieri wobbled on Fried's arm. "Good, don't let me gain balance," she muttered as she jumped off of the arm while the second was coming at her. Reaching up, she grabbed at the incoming arm and swung underneath it, using it as an overhead bar for leverage.

"But don't give me more holds either!" she noted loudly as she flipped through the air by letting go of the swinging arm. If Fried was still in the same position, Salieri would land deftly atop his shoulder. And from her new perch, she'd wave down to Robby and yell, "Who's that guy with the video camera?"

And as that all went on, Hitmonlee landed and Wayne said to him, "Cool, I didn't think you could actually pull that off."

Hitmonlee shrugged, [Eh, it was nothing. Just seemed to click into pla-] then the pokémon scowled and turned away, arms folded, [I mean whatever. Not like you can understand me anyway.]

"Just kiddin' - I had total faith in you, Hitmonlee!" Wayne grinned and Hitmonlee's scowl intensified. "Oh hey, they're doing stuff again."

Extrasensory shot through the air as Hitmonlee turned around to face it. He sidestepped slightly and it flew past; with the many shapes it made, not one of them could reach Hitmonlee. The attack sailed along and eventually slapped into the side of one of the trains and vanished ineffectually. Hitmonlee could react to Zero's attacks at close range; long range was easy mode.

Wayne let out a whistle. "Wow, N, you're not very in sync with your friend. It was kinda fun watching you command her about like that. Cause that's like, what you're always calling humans evil bastards for, isn't it? Shouldn't she be ordering you around? Hah, maybe you're not that special after all."

Wayne, it seemed, was not above rubbing it in.

Also, non-trainer owned tympole are now extinct

Suck it Ren.

Getting his hypocrisy pointed out to him was nothing new for N. Although he was reluctant, the only way he could walk the path of being Unova’s hero was by being a pokemon trainer. So he would have to participate in the league the same way as the trainers he sought to defy. He hadn’t fully expected Wayne to understand. Nobody else did, why would he?

Wayne’s words still hurt him, though.

N stopped running as Zero hopped down from the train. Although bruised, she was not down for the count. The Zorua still had some fight in her. [Let’s go,] she growled to Hitmonlee as she stepped forward. [I’ll take you on-]

“Zero, please,” N pleaded, holding out his hand to stop her. Zero looked over to N, and then upturned her nose at the green haired trainer.

[I’ll give you a few seconds before I finish what I started,] she told him pridefully.

N nodded, and then turned his attention to not Wayne, but Hitmonlee. He had no use talking to Wayne anymore. Clearly, he was a competent battler if he managed to get a good hit on Zero. Besides, he didn’t want to have to respond to the gloating putdowns Wayne was giving him. He had heard this kind of thing before. There was no arguing there, nobody ever got on board with what he was trying to do and how he was trying to do it.

What he really wanted to hear was the voices of the pokemon, who he trusted so much more.

“You say he can’t understand you, but I can,” N told Hitmonlee while clutching at his chest. “Tell me, do you feel like you need to be tamed? Do you feel like you’re in good hands, or that you’re being held back?”

****

Liuye shook his head, swiping at the air for Roast to do it again. They did not have the same body structures. For her to learn how to land, she needed to do it on her own. And with Bacon, Chen Zhen nodded and clapped happily at the Pignite's progress.

[If we get this down, we can move you onto something even more advanced!]

Salieri rolled her eyes, and drove her comparatively tiny kunckles into Fried's massive skull for a little noogie. "Quit being such a baby," she teased before looking back to Robby.

"I was trying to show him how to not let me use him as a playground," the Battle Girl called down. Wait a second. "A montage!? No way!"

Salieri stood on one leg, posing in a typical Battle Girl high kick atop Fried's shoulder. "Hey you! Get me good side!"

Liuye Dao nodded. Roast seemed to have made her own way of coming out of the attack, and that method was better then falling over. Silently, the Pawniard used Aerial Ace, disappearing and slicing through the water drop himself as a demonstration to Roast. The demonstration essentially said for Roast to continue doing what she was doing.

Chen Zhen held up his hands for Bacon to stop. [Okay, so your precision is definitely improving. Should we move onto another kind of target?]

Salieri looked over to her pokemon, checking to see if they were teaching properly. Then she flipped off of Fried, who had conveniently lowered himself to make her jump easier. She landed right in front of Robby, planting a hand on her hip and taking out two more pokeballs.

"Yeah, I'm definitely ready!" she said as she released Wukong and Salem. Sal bent down to talk more closely with her pokemon. "Guys, that massive chicken over there is Fried," she told them with a thumb gesture to the pokemon behind her.

Salem's jaw dropped at the sight of the giant Combusken. [Damn,] Wukong whispered, letting out a low whistle.

"I'm supposed to be teaching him how to fight, but he's kind of a wuss. Think you guys can train with him?" Sal asked. "I don't know, just bring him out of his shell a little bit. Try mastering Sunny Day with him."

Wukong sneered. [If he's such a wuss, he shouldn't be worthy of my skills,] he huffed. Salem, on the other hand, nodded enthusiastically at Salieri.

[I'll give it a shot!]

Sal grinned, rubbing the top of Salem's head affectionately. Wukong looked over and sighed. If Salem was going to try, he might as well too. "Alright, thanks guys! If you need me, just holler! I'm going to learn how to cook!"

As all of her pokemon (except for Liuye, who was always silent) cheered in unison, Sal stood up and turned to Robby. "Where do we start, master?"

Her Monferno and Eevee approached Fried. [Hiya!] Salem mewed. [I'm Salem, and this is Wukong!]

Wukong gave Fried an upwards head nod with his arms crossed. [Yo.]

[We were going to start training. Actually, Sal told us she had a move in mind for us to master. Wanna learn it?]

Roast didn't get what Liuye Dao meant immediately, it seemed odd that he would just be all silent. Couldn't the pokemon just say one thing to her? Like, [again?] With a sigh, the ducklett went back to the training, practicing how long it took her to come out of the glide, now. She kept the aiming bit too, she had to be sure she aimed well always, but coming out of it in a glide when she couldn't fly meant she had to come out of the glide fast. Practicing that for now would be best, she guessed.

Bacon stopped with the egg on his hand and looked to Chen Zhen. Then he nodded slowly, why not? [Alright, whatcha got in mind? A heavy chunk of metal? Or Roast? Ooh ooh ooh! Maybe Fried? I betcha I could lift him on one arm and do it!] It was obvious that Bacon was getting ahead of himself.

Robby looked to Sal with an intense look of concentration on his face. "We're gonna start with a simple recipe. Stew. Here, got the ingredients." Item balls were handed over to Sal, and from somewhere, a pot and various other things had been set up over a place where a campfire could be set. There was also a rock with a chunk of wood on top to be used as a cutting board for the vegetables. All-in-all, there was a decent make-shift kitchen. "There's some delicious stew meat in there, just make it like you did the other stew. Y'know. Without the moonshine." He hadn't bought cabbage. Besides, that was a really special recipe that required at least plus eight to cooking. And, of course, all of this had been said in a dramatic voice.

Fried looked at the tiny Eevee and then the Monferno. Whoah! Should he step? What if he squished one of them? Oh Arceus! It was getting even worse than before! The combusken moved slowly, taking a step back to be sure they weren't in his steppin' range, and nodded. [Sure.] He squeaked, and looked between the two. Wukong looked dangerous. Would it try hitting him? He bet it would try hitting him. [I'm Fried.] He managed to force out, as courtesy. Being courteous would keep it from hitting him, he bet!