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And the berries fell, but never reached the ground. The boy had no time to escape as a ten foot combusken blocked his path, and the Obese lad advanced on him. No, he wouldn't get past, not now that Robby knew he had food. "Yo! Battle me! Now!"

"Electroball from behind," Henrietta said. "Use the trees."

And Joltik was off, a string shot attaching to a tree and he was pulled away, a speck swinging. Targeting a speck in motion? Forget about it.

Joltik was swinging now, little teensy legs catching each new string as he traversed the 'forest' (to him) of trees.

He'd make to try and come around from a blind spot of Solosis quickly.

With an Electroball, powered up because of the base speed difference, to its near maximum power. As strong as a Solar Beam this level was.

[What, lifting yourself up because no one else will?] came a witty one liner.

"You're battling!" The obese lad called, intending to claim a victory meal from this kid. The combusken kept moving, blocking Kenta's path, and Robby reached for the pokemon on his belt, figuring that'd get his attention.

Crazy kids and not wanting to battle.

((Jump, play Metal Gear Solid 4 and tell me WHY Jump hasn't done the s**t Raiden has? Cause he really needs to get on that that.))

Gyradose wouldn't get the chance to aim that water pulse as it was released. See, the pokemon had just gotten out, having time to aim would be ridiculous here. The combusken's foot would rise at Gyra's center, delivering eight kicks at it, with the final two being aimed for the large pokemon's jaw if it turned into itself to fire the water pulse. Now, one of two things would happen if it fired. One, it's jaw would be smashed shut by the first shot of the ninth and tenth kick, and the skull would be stricken, and pushed towards the ground to crash into it. Or, it would fire, and the combusken would, having been out of range to hit, have moved using the force of his double kick on the ground to push himself in front of the gyradose, which was the opposite way it was facing. And the water pulse? Would probably hit Gyra.

Robby was defended by a water pulse from the leaves as a pokemon flew past, having been perched on a building nearby. Swanna wouldn't stop, though, as aerial ace was activated, and her body would move to slam into the gallade before it could react, before it would realize its attack had just been stopped by the water pressure of water pulse.

"Uh oh," Wayne muttered.

"Back off, let him go! Calm Mind!" he commanded and Solosis put distance between himself and Socant, thereby putting distance between himself and Thunder Wave. Luckily, Light Screen followed him about, so when Thunder Wave struck the screen, it'd have to force its way through like Electroweb.

This was all the time Solosis needed to get completely out of the way, now rising above the battle with his powers increasing further. His special attack power was now double its normal level, as was his special defence. Even if Socant got an attack in at this point, it wasn't likely to do much damage.

"Well, I'd say I've won already," Wayne said, looking up at the ball-shaped pokémon's silhouette. He glanced back to Henrietta, "What's your plan? Or are you just gonna ask if we can stop like last time?"

Since Wayne didn't give another command, Solosis started using Calm Mind once more. He was glowing, which was a visible sign that his power was magnifying further.

It was already 5 o'clock, and still Salieri felt like she had a lot to do in Castelia. Burgh still had to be challenged, and there was the matter of getting supplies before she ventured through the desert. Plus, the situation with her pokemon just added on more stress.

To relax, Salieri found herself doing tai chi motions on the far end of one of Castelia's docks, where the only other people around were sailors on their boats. The slow pace of the routines came naturally to her as she moved her arms, concentrating on de-stressing with every motion.

It was hard. If she sped up her movement and made them more agressive, it would be like practicing kung fu. Practicing kung fu put Salieri in a different mind set. Determined, ambitious, overachieving. And when she couldn't plan out her life accordingly -like right now- then she would only disappoint herself.

So she focused on becoming mellow, closing her eyes and trying to push the distracting bad thoughts to the back of her head. Like how Salem wouldn't even look her in the eye because she was scared of her now.

C'mon Sal, just breathe.

Or how Chen Zhen, her first pokemon, was mad at her for how she treated Salem. Or for other reasons. It was hard to tell when he wouldn't talk to her either.

Salieri still moved, but closed her eyes tighter.

Breathe, Sal. Just breathe.

Chari told her she tried too hard. Moze had said the same thing. If she wasn't going to try hard, then why try at all? No, there was only one way to be the best. And that meant to never stop. Even now, the tai chi motions she did leant to strengthening her muscles. An everyday training exercise.

Salieri grit her teeth. Was it as hard for other people? She never saw the other trainers she knew training like she did. And yet they were still on the same journey she was, getting the same badges she did. Did they have trouble too?

The Battle Girl froze in mid movement, opening her eyes while balanced in a crane stance. Her breathing had become uneven again. She need to start over.

She stood up straight and began her routine again from the beginning. Just concentrate on you, Sal. Not who you are. Just your being.

Her eyes closed again. She tried to visualize her blood flow in her body. Highly trained shaolin monks developed the skill to sense the blood move in their veins. So Salieri tried to do the same.

Just let it flow.

((I'd imagine that Calm Mind would make him more aware of his surroundings, not less. Y'know, because he's spiritually centred like a monk or something))

Solosis suddenly felt himself being yanked down slightly. In spite of its size, Socant still weighed over a pound, which was more than half of Solosis' body weight. He'd notice it. And thanks to being so calm, he wouldn't even be shocked enough to hesitate.

Instead, he'd send a high speed wave of Telekinesis towards Socant, using its own web to get a fix on it. If it wanted to stick around and shock Solosis, it'd have to stay within the technique's wide area of effect.

And if it was struck by Telekinesis, Solosis had full control over its movements.

"Man, you're such a newbie," Wayne said with a shake of his head. He wasn't even paying attention to the battle at this point. "Okay, just keep watching. You might learn a thing or two."

And regardless of whether he'd ensnared Socant or if the bug had managed to land a hit, Wayne would order up another, "Calm Mind!"