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((We haven't time skipped to day 6 yet richy <.<; ))

((So is the Pokemon Center melted?))

Before Pansear could throw another Fire Punch, he felt an untouchable force pull him away from Salem. Telekinesis threw him out to the dock, where he clutched onto the end in hopes of not being forced into the water.

Salieri looked back to Foongus, who was hopping around in a vain attempt to put out the fire that recently started on top of it’s head. The waiter clutched his hands onto his crimson hair in panic.

“New kid, you have to battle harder than that!” yelled the chef as Foongus began to float in the air. As the airborne Foongus struggled helplessly, Sal walked back to her table to have a seat.

She put one leg over the other and leaned back, casually pointing at the floating mushroom. Salem complied, firing a full sized Hidden Power at Foongus.

The orange ball of fire exploded on contact. When the dust cleared, everyone would be able to see that the floating Foongus was charred and knocked out.

The Battle Girl looked over head shoulder at the edge of the dock. She twitched her nose when she saw Pansear’s little mitten hands still clung fast to the side of the dock . The monkey was biding his time before the Telekinesis was over so he could come back to fight.

“So do you want to end this? Or should Salem just stomp on his fingers?”

"I dunno, I think we've pretty much won by now." Wayne turned to the waiter combo, "Hey, can we go now? There's no way you're gonna beat the both of us with that thing."

He snapped his pokédex shut and stood up fully, "Seriously, it's been a long day, people got to see a battle, everyone's happy and I wanna go to bed. Nobody wants to see a wet monkey. Not right now anyway."

---

Zack stepped out from behind the bushes. "Hello."

He had a plate of almost-gone food and was just finishing up. "You don't want to go in there. It's awkward to say the least. Hexum. Kiedis." A little nod for each. "What do you guys want?"

((Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's back to work I go))

-and that's how we potty trained Zack," Kero ended his awkward tale.

((Waiting on Takamaru~))

((4000 replies, 4001 posts. hah))

"Psychics are not people," Salieri muttered. She was still a little sour about battling with a Psychic. Even winning didn't offset the feeling completely. For her, it was like The Battle Girl waved her hand through the air whimsically. "People use their muscles to lift things, not their minds. They're just as bad as-"

Before she could even say the word, her untrained sixth sense kicked in. Two ghosts were close by. Salieri turned to face Chari a short distance away just in time to see the Duskulls kiss their way into the ground.

She gulped. "Ghosts." The Battle Girl barely even noticed that an old lady was riding a giant Torkoal. But when she did, she jumped to her first conclusion: a crazy spirit medium. What Sal failed to notice was that Salem had a much less frightened curiosity of the stranger, opting to get close so she could sniff the side of Friar Sand. Because his shell looked kind of like a cookie.

"Way-" She paused and cleared her throat, realizing she was whispering far too quietly for the other trainer to hear. "Wayne, maybe we shouldn't be talking to strangers? Because they might be trying to steal our souls?"

Perhaps if she was to think more rationally, Salieri would see that the old lady had no outward malevolent intentions. But it had been a long, rigorous day. And when it came to the supernatural, Salieri didn't like to take chances.

****

Jump shrugged. He knew that when Zack had to fight, collateral damage was unavoidable. It came with the nature of his ability. But having to desecrate a forest for just one person? It must have been a rough fight.

Hearing that D-Vee and Xen were held back by one pokemon, however, was another story. Those two were strong. And this Sage had given Zack reason to worry.

The Interpol Agent let out a weak laugh. "Haha. Ha. Welllllll then we may have a problem. Cause there are more of those guys. Like, seven of 'em."

Jump reached into his pocket and pulled out a newspaper clipping to hand to Zack. It had a picture of Ghetsis, taken from his speech at Accumula Town only days before. "Interpol's intel says that this guy, Ghetsis, has spent the past few years going around the world and gathering some really smart people. Like, a whole think tank of nerds. And if Gorm is anything to go by, they're nerds who can fight."

"They call themselves the Seven Sages, himself included." Jump put a hand up over his brow as a visor to scan the horizon of skyscrapers and lights. "Intel also says that they may be building an embassy for Plasma in this city. And if they do, they'll probably have a Sage to keep things in check. Maybe even two."

He took a deep breath. "Zack, I'm gonna do what I can to find out more about these guys. I think the only thing that separates them from Team Rocket is good publicity. They're up to something. It's classic bad guy stuff." The Interpol Agent rubbed the back of his head. "You should know because if it comes down to it, this city might not be a safe place to be in the next few days."

Jump looked over his shoulder back to Kero's house. "And you may want to take Elizabeth and Katelyn somewhere else."

"Wait."

Hexum stepped forward. "I met Wayne in the Pinwheel Forest-"

"Oh Wayne!? That's awesome! How's he doing?" Jump grinned. Having not seen Zack's surrogate son for almost a year, he felt like a distant uncle finally getting to see his family for the holidays. "Is he still with that girl-"

His mouth was covered up by Hexum's outstretched paw, shutting him up. "He had a Plasma grunt with him and said he was going to take him back to his people. But I kept him in my radar after that. Wayne tried to interrogate that grunt and got nothing but bruises for his troubles."

The Lucario became flustered momentarily, quickly following up with "Don't worry, he's fine! Some nurse came to heal him." Behind his blindfold, Hexum narrowed his eyes.

"You need to tell him what he's getting into."

"When he was a kid he used the potty," Kero explained to Katelyn. A surreal tale, all tone not by a giddy parent excited for the accomplishments of their child, but in monotone by a man who seemed as if he were simply stating the weather.

Finishing the last bite of her slice of the brisket, he turned his head toward Elizabeth. "They came by earlier and briefed me on what happened in Pinwheel Forest. The four of you - Wayne included - should consider a vacation to Kanto." The next line was like it was spoken from a different person. There was a semblance but just that, of a concerned parent in Kero's tone, "if he gets dragged into another fight he might not come back."