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((Nah, the plan's to give Pansear more Pansage leaves ninja ))

During the battle, Cilan snuck himself into the restaurant through the back door. Entering through the front attracted the most attention, and if he just acted like he had been here the whole time, the ladies in the room would be scared of looking stupid if they started fainting all of the sudden.

Cilan tapped his red haired brother on the shoulder as Chili held a tray of food on one hand. "Chili, do you need me back in the kitchen? Or shall I be waiting by the arena?" he asked his brother.

Meanwhile, N stared intently at the battle between Henrietta and Cress. Darumi's trainer did not seem very impressive, and by transitive property, neither did Darumi. What had made him interesting to N before -namely, his kind attitude towards being a trainer's pokemon- was lost on the battlefield. Still, he'd wait and see the whole match-

"This seat taken?"

N looked up to see what familiar voice had asked him that question. It was the girl from earlier in the afternoon. "No," he simply responded, shifting his eyes to watch the battle again.

"Sweet," Salieri said as she pulled out her chair, taking a seat next to N to watch the battle. She took one of the empty glasses and swirled her finger around the inside absentmindedly. "So...you kinda bailed this afternoon."

N sighed. Now Wayne was blocking his view of the battle as well, due to being pressed up against the glass. Which meant he could devote more attention to Salieri. "I'm sorry," he told her, and he said it with some genuine sincerity. Which surprised him. "I don't stay in one place for very long."

"It's cool, I'm kind of a restless girl myself," Salieri replied with a smile. "So then what are you doing here? Came to challenge the gym? Or did you just want a good fight with a good meal?"

N responded, without taking his eyes away from what he could see of the match, by pulling out his badge case and flipping it open. "Ooooooh, that's neat. Was it hard?"

"No. But the chances that you fight Cress are one out of three for the most part. The other brothers may be more difficult."

Salieri sat back in her chair and crossed her arms, blowing a strand of hair out from in front of her eyes. "Yeah, the red head already told me he was the strongest. I'm battling him."

"Is that so?" N considered staying to watch Salieri's fight as well, but decided against it. He had already seen her battling potential first hand, not to mention that Zero would rather be out of the gym's cafe sooner than later.

And now it had seemed that the match was over due to interference. Interference? A waste of my time. N pushed away his chair as he started to get up. "Excuse me, but I think I should be on my way."

He spun on his heel, but felt something grip onto his forearm. "Wait, N."

The green haired trainer looked back. Salieri looked up at him, gently grabbing his arm. "You don't have to be such a stranger, you know. That mysterious act will only get you so far," she told him with another smile, her cheeks slightly tinged pink. N didn't answer, so she continued. "We're both going to the same place. Do you wanna travel with me?"

"Do I..." If N's brain was a computer, it would be experiencing a malfunction. No one had ever acted like this to him before. "...I'm sorry, what?"

“C’mon, you heard me. I met this other girl and this guy who seem pretty cool too. Maybe you can meet them.” Salieri let go of N and rubbed the back of her head, darting her eyes away sheepishly. “Er, well it might be too early to call them my friends, but I’d like to be friends with them…and…” Salieri slowly looked back up to N. “I’d like to be friends with you, too.”

There was a silence between the two of them, despite all of the other noise in the café. Salieri gulped. It wasn’t a good sign.

“I…I can’t. I’m sorry.” N recoiled his arm. What was wrong with him? What was this feeling? He felt like she was boring a hole through his skull with this question. Of course he wasn’t going to travel with her. She simply didn’t understand the world the way he did. So then why did he feel bad about saying no? “Maybe…maybe some other time.”

Tipping his cap down, he turned away, leaving Salieri at the table. Alone. “N,” she whispered to herself as he walked out of view. The Battle Girl frowned. So a boy didn’t want to hang out with her. That was fair, they just met. But why? Why was he so weird?

And why did she give a damn?

“Well, whatever,” she muttered to herself, crossing her arms and gaining her normal, overconfident demeanor again. “Plenty of other fish in the helloooooooo there.”

Salieri now finally noticed that Wayne had been there, after he had starting yelling at Henrietta. Wayne, the first guy that she had met on her journey. If Eunmi gave N a 7, she’d probably give Wayne a higher rating since he wasn’t so clearly…eclectic. He seemed fun in a much more normal way.

“Yo, Wayne!” she called over to him with a wave from her table, despite him clearly in the middle of ranting and raving. She might as well talk to him. After all, she wanted to have some familiar faces on her journey. N might not have been on board, but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t try making some other friends.

*****

She may have lost the match, but somehow N felt that he wasn’t done with her just yet. This was going to take some further research.

“We’ll wait here,” he told Zero. Who was invisible, so it really looked like he was talking to himself. N sat down on the bench right outside the Striaton Gym, waiting for Henrietta to come out.

We’ll find out what kind of trainer you are.

Henrietta looked over at Wayne and Chili as they entered the arena. Of course, it seemed she'd be avoided. Why not? She sucked.

Her eyes downcast as she climbed painfully to her feet.

I got to heal Darumi...

She hurried for the exit and mumbled a quiet apology to Wayne as she went. She was soon out of the arena and then headed for the exit to the gym. She forgot about her food, forgot about what might happen if Wayne got stuck with her bill.

She burst into the cold night air and felt the chill on her skin. Soaked head to toe and out in the cold, she was definitely going to get a cold.

She looked around and realized she was lost. She didn't know how they'd gotten here, she couldn't remember. She bopped her head with one hand and winced.

Think!

And then her eyes settled on the man on the bench. She cautiously approached.

"E-excuse me," she whispered as she got closer.

***

Chili watched Henrietta go and then he took his spot in the arena. Whether or not Salieri had entered didn't matter. It was time for a battle now.

The triangle rose up to hand level and he took Pansear's ball and released the monkey.

This one puffed his chest up proudly.

"Let's get fired up," Chili said.

"Whenever you're ready, trainer!"

"Y-yes," Henrietta responded. She took Darumi's ball in her shivering hands and clenched her teeth to avoid them shattering. With two fingers she turned the button to make the ball transparent and she showed it to N.

"Darumi's hurt, I need to take him to the Pokemon center. P-please, could you tell me where it is?" she asked, sounding as if she was going to cry at any moment.

"Haha, if you can win!" Chili said with a grin. Alright! He was getting fired up! "Work up!"

And Pansear did, growing more lively as Chili evacuated the 'danger' zone.

Hitmonlee had charged forward.

"Close in and-

Pansear was moving forward as Hitmonlee did. The Pokemon smashed into the ground and took to the air and down came the foot. Pansear quickly jumped to the right to avoid it.

"grab on!"

Pansear complied and he grabbed the spring leg before Hitmonlee could retract it.

That done, he let loose the Incinerate attack as Chili called out, "Incinerate!"

It was a unity, as if Pansear already knew the orders. Team work at its finest.

"Nice try! Now-"

But Hitmonlee was already moving. His leg retraction was quick and Pansear was holding on to make his attack work. Hitmonlee had kicked up as the monkey grabbed him. At the same time, Hitmonlee kicked out with his other foot, one hand against the ground for support.

It was timed so that just as Pansear began his Incinerate, before he could release his flames, he'd be stabbed in the face by Hitmonlee's diamond-hard foot. And as Hitmonlee's foot turns diamond hard on contact, this would include making contact with any fire attacks, preventing his foot from being scorched.

Meanwhile Wayne frowned. Hitmonlee was acting on his own again.

Hitmonlee changed his hands around as Pansear shot forward, angling his body sideways. The first foot retracted fully just as the second one reached the peak of its extension, making contact with the floor and twisting around so that its toes were facing its owner.

The fight type then used that as an anchor, arcing up through the air and letting Pansear soar past him, being out of range for the Acrobatic move to work. As Hitmonlee reached a considerable height, his extended leg snapped back to its normal length, the momentum of which knocking his body into a spin.

Then as Pansear released his flames, Hitmonlee kicked out with another Rolling Kick, this one aiming to drive through the fire and strike Pansear before he could see the attack coming at him. With Hitmonlee's considerable special defense and his diamond foot taking the brunt of the attack, he'd be safe from any real harm, though his leg might get a little bit warm.

If he managed the strike, then he'd force Pansear into the ground and pin it there before shooting out with his other foot and stomping on the monkey's head.

All the while Wayne watched. He'd yelled an order, one to "make some distance and Meditate - get a feel for its movements," but Hitmonlee had ignored him outright.

"Block!" Chili called and Pansear knew what was coming. Through the flames shot the leg. He'd take the foot at his right arm, rolling with the blow to mitigate damage and send it off to the side. He'd grab the leg before the leg could fully outstretch and, as it reached its peak, he'd swing an arm to collide with it about midway.

If the Arcobatic blow worked, it would force the leg to swing around. See, the legs acted like springs and thus Pansear assumed that they weren't bony. This attack would either force the leg downward, possibly break it, or if it was flexible, it would force the leg to come back.

Like catching the string of a glowstick midway, the leg would swing back around, aimed to catch Hitmonlee in the face.

Or else, like said before, it would simply force the leg to the ground and injure it.

All assuming it hit of course.

Chili shouted, "as if that would work on my Pokémon!"

The blow forced Hitmonlee's leg to the side. He didn't really have joints or bones, he just had springs for legs; their firmness was pretty much proportional to how much they were retracted.

Hitmonlee twisted his foot, which turned his leg and helped him pull away from Pansear's grip. He touched the ground at an angle, sliding slightly against the dirt before his foot whipped back up to his body. Back in his normal proportions again, the momentum he'd gained sent Hitmonlee a little higher and close enough to reach the ceiling. He span as his leg returned to its natural length and his other foot touched the ceiling, leg compressing while he pointed his body away from Pansear.

He sprang out, moving like a shot and reaching the other end of the arena in no time at all. He was right in front of Chili, landing on his feet with his body bowed low and legs out to the side, sliding back slowly. His hand held the ground for support while his eyes narrowed on the fire type monkey. Hitmonlee stood up slowly, but when he put his weight on the leg that Pansear had punched, he stumbled forward before catching himself.

Wayne's eyes opened wide as Hitmonlee inspected the damaged leg. The trainer grit his teeth and looked to Pansear. The gym leaders were supposed to be using pokémon appropriate for the challenger but that Pansear had taken Hitmonlee's kick without ending up with a shattered arm. It had clearly been trained extensively. Still, there should be some muscle damage, so he doubted it'd be able to use that arm very well any more.

If they could force Pansear into the air and strike when it reached its peak, when its momentum was at its lowest... still, Pansear was a lot faster than he'd first anticipated. He doubted that Earthquake would work too well. Wayne felt a bead of sweat run down his temple when he saw what Hitmonlee was doing; apparently the pokémon was thinking the opposite.

His weight just about supported by his injured leg, Hitmonlee's other rose skyward. Because it wasn't kicking it, the leg was taking some time to extend. When it was all the way up, Hitmonlee would send it speeding around down until it shot into the floor, sole-first, sending shockwaves throughout the arena. Earthquake attack.