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((They're eaten by the young, duh rolleyes ))

Lumiose City - Southern Boulevard

Noon sun reached its peak, giving off sweltering, sticky heat. Its intense brightness reflected off Lumiose's buildings and even people wearing sunglasses were forced to squint. There were those who sought refuge in cafés and stores, hiding in shade that was merely warm and gulping down ice-cold drinks. Still, the streets were packed, and Zack found it difficult to believe that so many had squeezed into Centrico Plaza during the parade. He was shoved and jostled as he made his way towards Gate 5, gritting his teeth as he was pushed against another sweaty, hairy back.

Zack was not what you might call a 'people person'. And at that moment, if the whole of Lumiose City's population were to suddenly vanish without a trace, he could not have been happier. The avenue that lead towards Gate 5 was less crowded. As he reached it, Zack slumped rather than walked, still bogged down by his fatigue. There was some commotion up ahead. On his quest to find a big, mean ******** to punch, Zack had stumbled across an unexpected target, and for all the hairy backs he'd encountered on his way over, he couldn't think of a better one.

"Almost forgot about you," he said, frowning. The gate guards were having trouble, their shouts drowned out by deep roars. One of them brandished a Clauncher like a pistol and blasted Pangoro with an Ice Beam. Its arm became encased in clear blue ice, which was smashed against the inside of the gate frame. The casing shattered into a shower of icy marbles, and the guards dashed in different directions as flecks of stone crumbled overhead. The huge bear pokémon was in a frenzy, just like it had been against Zack yesterday. He broke into a run. The guards had Pangoro pinned down with their pokémon, but it was only a matter of time before the situation escalated.

"Enough!" a woman's voice boomed and Zack skidded to a halt. Onlookers parted like waves before a ship, and even Zack found himself standing aside. The first thing he noticed of her was that she was strikingly beautiful, and carried herself in the telltale manner of Kalosian nobility. A rapier clinked at her belt, which she wore over an outfit that put Zack in mind of a pokémon rider; loose white shirt, jeans and knee-high black boots. Her shoulders and forearms were protected by ornate steel armour, which had been engraved with an image of Ho-oh.

Pangoro's razor claws slashed at a distracted guard. He was saved by the fast thinking of his Clauncher, who generated a Protect shield at the last moment. Pangoro's Slash was stopped for a half second, but soon crushed the shield, sending both human and pokémon crashing to the street. The noblewoman did not falter in her stride, and as Pangoro turned its full attention to the downed guard, she slung a pokéball in its direction.

Golurk burst out of the light, fists swinging. The clay automaton had two feet in height on Pangoro, and the force of its blows sent surges of air through the street. Pangoro twisted under each punch, driven backwards into the gatehouse. The noblewoman passed by Zack, not even registering his existence, her sharp grey eyes focused entirely on the matter at hand. Golurk brought its fist back, upper body swinging independently of the lower, arm flying over the heads of the nearby guards, who cowered and yelped. At a speed Zack could barely register, the Dynamic Punch snapped back into Pangoro's face and sent the bear staggering backwards awkwardly.

Half kneeling, eyes blind white with rage, Pangoro sprang towards Golurk and smashed into it with a shoulder tackle. It forced the giant sentinel back one step, dust spitting up a cloud as Golurk caught Pangoro's weight. Pangoro's claws were coated in jagged black, ethereal Shadow Claw spikes, which it stabbed into Golurk's abdomen, over and over, arms moving like pistons. Golurk took the blows, raising its arms to the sky and lacing its wheelbarrow-sized fists. With the same burst of speed that came with Dynamic Punch, Golurk smashed Pangoro's skull with Hammer Arm and laid the bear pokémon flat on the ground. Pangoro twitched once, then remained motionless.

Golurk, its every step met with a low rumble, turned around on the spot. Showing none of the loose movement of an organic being, Golurk walked towards the noblewoman to the sound of awestruck cheers and clapping. Zack watched it quietly as it passed, then glanced towards Pangoro. Fire surged in his stomach as the dark type's claws scraped grooves into the stone street. In a second, it was up, charging Golurk while its back was turned, jaw agape, white fangs glinting in the sun.

"Tch," the noblewoman muttered, gripping her rapier and dashing under one of Golurk's swinging arms. Pangoro was a moment from sinking a Crunch into Golurk's shoulder when the noblewoman got between the two pokémon and slashed upwards with her sword. The blade sank into Pangoro's chest, then carved a slice out of its muscle. Pangoro roared with pain and surprise, bringing its attention to the tiny human before it, one who stared back with defiance. That was all the distraction Golurk needed. In another instantaneous blow, it drove a second Dynamic Punch into Pangoro's face and sent it flying. An unfortunate gate guard was in the path of Pangoro's expanding shadow, but managed to stop screaming in time to dive out of the way, then start crying.

The onlookers broke into another round of applause. Golurk, whose upper body was facing in the opposite direction to its lower, slowly revolved back into position before being recalled. While the crying guard was comforted by his friend, the noblewoman swiped her rapier sharply to the floor, clearing it of blood.

"Someone get this animal in a cage!" she commanded and the gate guards jumped into action, checking to make sure Pangoro was really unconscious, or finding out if they had a big enough cage. Zack noticed that despite the shouting and swordplay, and the neck-length black hair that had become dishevelled in her dash, the noblewoman still looked incredibly, well, noble. He supposed he should have expected that the Kalos nobility weren't all pompous tools who sat on parade floats, but this was still a pleasant surprise. What wasn't so pleasant, however, was Pangoro's part in this situation. If Zack hadn't ditched it by teleporting back and forth, none of this would have happened.

"Hey," he said to one of the guards who didn't seem to be doing anything. "Who was that?"
"That, my friend, was Lady Elizabeth Leroux," the guard said, smiling with relief. Lady Elizabeth had started towards the Southern Boulevard and the two men watched her go. She seemed deaf to the praise of the nearby crowd.
"Huh. I see," Zack said slowly. He hadn't bothered to learn the names of the individual nobility, why would he? But he had a feeling that this was one he'd be inclined to memorise. "Is she always so... pissed off?"
"Where are you from, boy, Unova? Her father was Lord Gabriel Leroux. The man who was murdered yesterday around that very corner. Lady Elizabeth has been on the warpath ever since. It was this poor blob's ill fortune that it rampaged so close by."

Or investigating previous locations, Zack thought, and hoped the guilt didn't show on his face.

"What's gonna happen to the Pangoro? I have my doubts you'll be able to fit it in a cage."
"Hm, not for too long," the guard said, pinching his beard. "I suppose we'll have to keep it sedated, then it'll likely to go where all the other strays end up."
"And where's that?" Zack asked, watching the laboured rise and fall of Pangoro's chest. The other guards had located some chains and were fitting the dark type up so that it could be hauled from the street.
"Lord Nostrad's Battle Chateau on Route 7. It's where he has all the young noble trainers go for tuition. They're in constant need of pokémon. You look like a trainer, you can make a pretty penny in 'donations'.
"I'll keep that in mind," Zack said, not keeping it in mind, "Why don't I just take the Pangoro off your hands right now?"
"You?" the guard stopped short of laughing. "How many badges do you have?"
"Badges?"

This time the guard did laugh. "There is your answer. You won't get far as a trainer in Kalos without any gym badges. This is fact. Maybe we could have parted with the Pangoro if you had, say, seven or eight badges."
"Well that's bullshit," Zack said, mostly to himself. The guards had formed into teams, each pulling on a length of chain to try and drag Pangoro away. There were a few, like the one Zack was talking to, who were standing watch over the gate itself.
"Now boy, I hope you don't mind my saying, but you look like something a Koffing hacked up. We all lost a few hours to the parade, but try not to go overboard, ah?"

Zack said nothing. He simply nodded as they stuffed Pangoro into a cage.

Santalune City - Pokemon Gym

After a quick stop at the Pokemon Center, Salieri made haste towards the gym. Warm ups and training would make her more prepared, but she felt plenty ready and was antsy to get her journey started. The sooner she defeated Viola, the sooner she could get past Lumiose and leave it behind her to rebuild her life.

Before she entered the door she released all of her pokemon, Banksy included, and had them gather around her. "This is the first of eight gyms," Sal told them, pointing up at the sign for the building. All eyes followed save for Banksy's, who already knew how gyms worked and looked irritated to be called out of her pokeball for such trivial reasons.

"It's not going to be easy beating them all. A lot of people don't make it all the way...Moze didn't make it all the way..." She hesitated, clenched her hand into a fist, and kept going. "But I'm not going to stop until it's done or until I fix what happened to Arnaud and my brother. I'm going to ask a whole lot from all of you. This will be the hardest you've ever been pushed before. But if make it to the top you'll be legendary. So If you don't think you can handle it, now's the time to go."

Durendal stood up straight and saluted his trainer. Biz, eyes filled with firey determination, mimicked the Pawniard's stance with his chest puffed out. Banksy simply snorted a plume of steam, but nodded at her caretaker.

Veillantif saw a Weedle crawl by and started hopping after it. "Wait! Hey, Veil! Are you with me or not?"

[Huh?] The Horsea stopped, torn between listening to her trainer's speech that she hadn't been paying attention to or following the Weedle and seeing if it could hop on it's tail like she did. Ohhhh, this was a tough choice.

"Veil. Seriously. Get back here, I'm trying to have a moment."

Veil relented. The Weedle was long gone anyway. She hopped back and jumped up into her trainer's arms. "Prrrrriiii!" she cooed happily, surprising Salieri.

"Alright, all hands on deck." She recalled her pokemon, readjusted her bandanna, and faced the gym. "Viola, here I come!" With a mighty swing, she thrust a kick out at the gym doors to knock them open.

Her foot bounced off the doors and she fell on her a**. They were pull doors, not push doors. She looked around, checked to make sure nobody saw her do that, and dusted herself off. Clearing her throat, she pulled open the doors.

"Helloooo~? Violaaaaa~?"

Salieri took in all of the interior. I bet that souvenier stand works alongside the sponses, don't buy their swag...I could use new gloves though... The surprisingly spry Tubby Man elicited raised eyebrows from Salieri.

Champ in Making, hehehe I like that. Wait, reserved a number? Most trainers would bite the bullet, admit they hadn't, and abide by the bureaucracy in the future.

"Yeah, I'm after that guy," she said with a reassuring nod, pointing to the screen. Sal tried to catch a glimpse of Viola's battle style while talking to the Tubby Man. "Hey, are you the Trainer Tips Guy? Do you have any tips on how to beat Viola?"

Salieri nodded sagely at Scott's joke. Yes, she got it. She understood the struggles of trying to install a wheelchair accessible system in the interior of a multi-tiered facility. Back in Lumiose there was a project going on to design an outdoor lift for Gotengo. It wasn't working out yet.

She perked up at the tip about a trapping move. Infestation? Sounds gross. Better see what Ivan knows about it.

As soon as Viola won, Salieri was headed to the webbing hole. "Thanks Scott!" Before heading down, she tapped the Pokedex in it's arm band cradle. "Ivan, tell me about the move Infestation."

"Beep boop don't get hit by Infestation," Ivan chirped.
"What does it do?"
"Crrrrsh It's a trap!"
"But how does it work?!"
"It traps you."
"You piece of-alright, list effective countermeasures for the move Infestation."
"Now loadingBEEEEEEEEEP Ding! Do not get hit by Infestation."
"...thanks Ivan."
"Beep boop you're welcome, honey."

Salieri shut down the program and attempted to exhale that hair pulling feeling away. Sometimes she wondered if using Banksy's Flamethrower on Ivan would somehow re-meld its circuits to make it work correctly or just be cathartic.

Right now wasn't one of those times. There were bigger fish to fry. Time for the first badge!

She jumped down the webbing hole. "Hey Scott! I just got that joke!.....That joke is laaaaame-"

"No it's not...!"

---

Santalune City - Gym Arena

Salieri would land on the Santalune City gym arena. Light poured in from up above, assisted by floodlights positioned in all four corners. At the edges of the arena, there was a sharp drop of about ten feet, leading out onto a basin. This area was painted black, giving off the impression that the arena was suspended in total darkness. Naturally, this area was considered out of bounds, and would effectively knock the offending pokémon out of the match. The audience sat in the stands, which were raised to the same level as the arena and separated off by wire mesh fences. Although the stands were mostly full, there were far more empty spaces than there had been yesterday. Still, their cheers upon seeing the latest challenger's entrance more than made up for it.

"Wow, you've just shown up and already the crowd's going wild," Viola said, throwing her hands out to the side. "Pleased to meet you, I'm Gym Leader Viola."

She flashed Salieri a grin and a wink. On Viola's side of the arena, there were long strands of webbing hanging down from the ceiling. At the end of each webline there was a pokéball. Depending on the pokémon Salieri led with, Viola would make her decision.

"Aw, that's nice," Viola said sweetly. Ordinarily, she'd pick her pokémon after the challenger threw theirs, but she felt that Salieri might want some special treatment. Knowing exactly which pokémon she wanted to use, Viola plucked a pokéball from its strand and stood with it at her side.

"The rules are we each get to use two pokémon, okay? You can make substitutions as you see fit, but make sure you stick with your choices. Let's give everyone a show!"

Viola lobbed her first choice into the arena. It was a level 25 Vivillon, which fluttered on Meadow Pattern wings.

Octazooka wasn't a particularly accurate attack, and with the benefit of range, Vivillon could easily avoid it. Now was the best time to prepare the arena and take control.

"Gust," Viola commanded with a swipe of her hand. That part was theatricality, something to look good for the camera. Vivillon responded, not by levelling a Gust at Veillantif, but overhead, disrupting the air currents and throwing them into turmoil.

Then, as Octazooka came her way, Vivillon was swept away on the tumultuous airflow, moving faster and more erratically than she could do on her own. It would make getting any kind of ranged hit on the pokémon unlikely, and the blob of ink shot past without so much as a splatter.

As she darted about the arena, Vivillon's wings vibrated, unleashing a "Supersonic!", a high pitched ringing that aimed to throw Veillantif into Confusion.

Luckily for Veil, Supersonic was also not particularly accurate. The sound waves had to reach the target to work, disrupted air flow meant disrupted sound. One "Dragonbreath, full power!" later, and the Horsea bellowed a mighty emerald gust at her target. Combined with Gust's altered airflow from above, the two winds crushed through the sound wave, and the Dragonbreath continued forward at the Vivillon.

Salieri couldn't help but put her feral battle smile back on. Viola wasn't a slouch, and was forcing her to think on her feet. It would have been a severe disappointment to take this match easily. Working for the goal, that's the type of struggle that Sal relished. It'd make getting her prize so much more worth it.

The odds of the Dragonbreath reaching its target weren't good as long as Vivillon kept dancing through the Gust, but with Dragonbreath her defense had become an attack. And that gave her some time. Range will be tough to control. Bounce will do the most damage, but I need to make that a situation that'll work for us.

"Smokescreen and standby!" Salieri ordered with a flick of her wrist. Veil shot a black bubble that exploded into a plume of thick black smoke upon contact with the center of the battlefield. Through her own smokescreen, the Horsea could see just fine, but her position would be cloaked from Vivillon.

The standby order meant one of two things: Disable or Bounce. If Vivillon cleared out the Smokescreen with Gust, Veil would take her chance and Disable the move with a shining wink. If Vivillon opted to attack, Veil would attempt to evade the blow and counterattack with a Bounce.

If we can get rid of Gust we can slow her down. It's the powder moves and Infestation I'm more concerned with.