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It had been a long time since Raskal was pitted against two trainers simultaneously. He didn't like having to split his concentration between multiple targets, especially Pokemon that were well trained for fighting. Luckily though it soon became apparent to the former gangster that these Pokemon weren't of that variety.

Scizor would tear right through them both.

Koffing came in a second time, bobbing in the air like a poisonous balloon and spitting globs of putrid gunk towards Akaizashi. The steel type just ignored the barrage though, its hard exoskeleton prevented such feeble attacks from harming him in any way. Instead, the big red bug focused on the smaller of its two adversaries, attempting to track its movements as it burrowed through the sand.

"Keep your eyes on it!" Raskal commanded his ace partner. "Don't give that Hippopopo a chance to sneak up on you!"

"Hippopotas," Saleem corrected, leaning in close behind the battling trainer.

Raskal ignored his would-be teacher and kept his eyes on the scene in front of him. Suddenly the taller and skinnier biker issued another command to his subterranean subordinate, yelling, "Bite its feet out from under it!"

The small plump Pokemon emerged from the sand a second later directly beneath Akaizashi and opened its mouth wide to deliver the attack. The Scizor proved faster however as it leaped up into the air several feet, enough to dodge those powerful jaws. In doing so it left itself open and Koffing came in hard from behind, seizing the opportunity to plow into the aloft Pokemon for a strong tackle.

Akaizashi didn't take much damage from the unexpected attack but it was enough to send him off balance and spinning to the ground where a plume of sand was kicked up from beating wings. "Yeah get em' Koffing!" Phil cheered from where he was standing. "Tackle that pest again!"

Koffing puffed out more smoke and flew in for another strike. Akaizashi looked up and dodged at the last moment, leaning far to the side as the green balloon sailed past. It was enough to evade the attack from above, but from below Hippopotas came up again, this time clamping onto Akaizashi's plated foot and holding firm with its powerful jaws.

"Got you this time!" Luke taunted. "Don't let go Hippy, just keep on eating that leg!"

Raskal frowned, suddenly aware that the two bikers were at last gaining a lead in this battle. He couldn't allow that and knew he'd have to think fast for a solution to the problem of dodging attacks from above and below.

"It would seem that one has gained a foothold!" Saleem laughed.

"Fly up high and shake it loose!" Raskal called out. Akaizashi responded immediately, propelling itself skyward with a buzzing gyration of its wings. "Great, now try a bullet kick!"

The improvised attack worked like a charm. Akaizashi lifted its free foot above Hippopotas's tightly clamped jaw and brought it down with enough force to dislodge the tightly clamped mandibles of its opponent with a solid kick to its nose. The squat little Pokemon fell to the ground with a soft thud and laid there on its back for a moment, slightly stunned from the drop.

Hovering back into range, Koffing again tried to take advantage of its target's prone state and rushed in for another tackle. The swift Scizor was ready for it though and threw one of its claws out, connecting dead center on the skull and crossbones pattern on Koffing's chest. This sent the bulbous Pokemon soaring down to the earth to land next to its partner, but its gaseous body sent it bouncing back into the air, though it now splayed a not-too-anxious look on its ever droopy face.

Raskal knew his opportunity had come, and he smiled.

((Sorry for the late reply crying ))

Allie felt a claw catch against her foot and barely managed to stifle a shriek. Her eyes darted down and her whole body turned with them to face the foot-attacker directly. Aww, so cute, she thought. But in spite of that she had to ask one simple, albeit slightly daring, question.

"What the heck are you?" she said with a raised eyebrow. She knew she had a pokédex somewhere. The handbag plonked down on the table and opened wide at the top. As Allie began to rummage Wooper bolted to the edge of the table and balanced on the tips of its ball-like toes.

"Woo peheheh," it giggled before trying a bubble attack at the sight of another pokémon. What happened seemed more akin to a violent frothing at the mouth before the pokémon fell onto its back.
"Found it!" Allie announced, as she held the Sinnoh Version Pokédex up proudly. She put it down with a short clatter before bending forward and going to grab Furret by its flanks and then set it down on the table. Assuming it let her she'd click open her pokédex and hold it between her and the pokémon. "Now let's see. No, you don't look like a Linoone. Not too much anyway. Hmm..."
"Wooper!"
"Ah, a Furret!" Allie said happily as she snapped her pokédex shut. "So, what's up, O' Patient Furret? You scroungin' for handouts?"
Wooper belched loudly and Allie winced at the noise.
"Well Fatso here went and ate that free burger so..." Allie frowned in thought, "Well, since you are cute and all, I suppose I could get you something."

"Oi! git yer poh-key-man offa dat der tay-bull!" came the sudden call from across the cafeteria. Allie flinched like a child being caught by their parents before letting out a long sigh.
"Sorry!" Allie called back. She went to grab Wooper then stopped to think. "Wait, who the heck said that?" The girl stole a suspicious glance over her shoulder. It couldn't have been that nurse, could it? She squeezed a little more tightly around Wooper's neck and lifted the pokémon into the air. As it was kicking wildly, trying to run in the air, she had to make sure it didn't belt Furret across the face before setting it down on the floor.

Allie stood up and hung her bag over her shoulder. "What do you say, Patient One? Free food? One nod for 'No', two for 'Yes'."

"I didn't even know what a Furret was until a few moments ago..." Allie said. She looked over to the fluffy brown animal as she spoke and squinted, as if she were observing keenly but she was kidding around. She reached her hand out to pet Furret's head then realised something. "Hey wait, if it won't stop followin' you around then how come it decided to ditch you?" The girl looked back to Furret and leant in for a closer look, "there must be some kind of trick. A rotten burger can't really be enough."

At this point Wooper was already trying to bop its head through the new arrival's leg. All that could really happen was that it'd run headlong into the calf, back off slightly then rush in for another bop.

"Gah, I almost forgot!" Allie held her hand out, still seated and with an uneasy expression on her face, like her stomach was hurting her or something. She hated this part. The naming. The worst. "My name's Allie."

Allie watched Cooper's little performance then burst out laughing. It probably didn't help matters that the moment he'd shifted his feet Wooper broke past him and carried on running across the length of the cafeteria. It would take a few seconds but there would finally be a soft 'boink' sound as Wooper collided with a wall and fell on to its side.

"Ahh," Allie wiped the corner of her eye and grinned. "So are you here for Super Contests or somethin'? How flamboyant..." she bit her index finger's middle knuckle lightly, a small smile creeping from the corners of her mouth. Then she put on an expression that looked like she was freaking out. "Gaah! You asked me something first, didn't you?!"

The girl's face shone red as she covered her forehead with her hand, eyes closed as she tried to remember. C'mon, Allie, it was only a few seconds ago. Uhh, what was it now? Oh yeah!

"A boat brought me here," she said nodding, arms folded, "there was this really weird guy who owned it but, eh, free ride. Err, and I'm here for..." she put a finger to her chin and looked to the ceiling thoughtfully. "I wonder..?"

"So what about you?" Allie talked as she rose from her seat and took a couple of steps forward. "I can't believe you're just here to skulk around pokémon centers and send little Artemis over for an excuse to talk to girls."

Amaya had already fallen asleep when Lilly angrily let her frustrations of the noisy poke-center be known. And so, didn't hear a single word of what Lilly said when the female attempted to wake her. Instead the deep sleeper swatted away the offending hands that was daring to wake her and dozed on. Her mind already far gone due to the medicine's side effect.

With the now free extra space that was available due to the coordinator's departure, Amaya unconsciously stretched out all but her injured arm to fit the couch more perfectly. Her small smile forming as a light snore was heard coming from the trainer. Even if her body was a little cold, nothing as of this moment would be able to wake this teen.

GD hid her face sheepishly behind her brother's arm, too embarrassed to look the newcomer in the eye. All three of the them jumped suddenly though, when the door on the opposite end of the foyer cracked open to reveal an older man, barely into his twenties with a jagged crew cut hair style that looked half thought out and a pair of large shaded goggles strung around his neck. He scanned the faces of the grunts gathered around the room lazily, his eyes were puffy and half closed, and when he let out a loud, long yawn, it was clear that the man was recently woken from what could have been a good sleep.

It was Wallace who first broke the silence. "Jaxon! We didn't mean to wake you, we're sor-," he stammered before cutting himself short when the man raised a hand to silence him.

"You woke me up with all of your blathering, Wallace." Jaxon replied with a weary tone to his voice. "You know not to cause trouble when I'm taking my nap." He set his lazy eyes over the boy accusingly, as if he expected the boy to melt into a pool of guilt before him.

"Never mind that now," he continued without pause. "So this must be our new number four. Silver, was it?" He eyed Silver for a moment, taking all of his features into account and sizing up the boy who would be his latest underling. "Are you prepared for your first field mission?"

{(,_,,T+R,,_,)}

"Huh?" Jaxon shoved his little finger into his ear and turned his head to the side as if plunging water from within. "Not my problem," he retorted with little enthusiasm. "You'll have to take that up with your branch supervisor back in Viridian City, though if Armond still conducts business like the old days he should have returned your pokemon to you once you completed his training. You did finish his course didn't you?"

{(,_,,T+R,,_,)}