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Lumiose City - Southern Boulevard

"My name's Wayne Lee! I'm a pokémon master!"

The slightly tinny voice came out of a huge widescreen TV attached to a violet building. It showed a gawky, clearly confident trainer and his pokémon surrounded by gaudy, cheap special effects. Every few seconds, the screen would cut to a logo that read 'TRAINER PR STUDIO'. Then it cut back to the trainer walking upside-down across the screen while spinning around. Zack stood watching in quiet contemplation, then pulled a face.

"The hell is wrong with this region?"

Pangoro grunted and scratched his belly. A fresh wave of annoyance washed over Zack and the trainer carried on to his destination. While he still had no idea where the pokémon had come from, at least it seemed strong. Perfect for target practice.

5

At least the route gatehouses were easy to recognize, Zack thought as he glanced up at the sign and passed through the stone archway. The route beyond was a landscape of hills and trees, leading into the distance like green ocean waves. Travelling through it would be hard on foot, but that was a problem for later. Right now, Zack had to train.

Gotengo had been a close call, and looking back it was a miracle he'd come out of it unscathed. With no way of telling how strong his opponent was, taking them on in their own territory was a bad idea. And as the officer before had so kindly pointed out, Zack had little understanding of Kalos. He had to learn more about this new land, and get strong enough to do as he pleased.

He slapped Pangoro's belly, and the bear scratched where Zack's hand had been as if digging for a flea. Nice and sturdy. He'd be perfect.

---

Route 5 - Off the Beaten Track

After a short hike, Zack found a patch of land between a quartet of hills. It was quiet save the whistle of a breeze, devoid of other trainers and pokémon. Pangoro stood opposite him, chewing on his leaf and putting Zack in mind of a fat guy with a cigar. Hazard was already out of her ball, the bright hot sun streaming through her gaseous body and filtering purple light. Ralts stood in anticipation, while Combee flew the sky but didn't stray too far.

"Serene, you get to sit this one out," Zack said, giving Ralts a nod. She took a second to understand that she had a new name, then nodded back. Slightly relieved, the psychic type threw the big, dark-type bear a nervous smile.

"Chrysalis," he called to Combee, "Get down here. You and Hazard are going to attack Pangoro. He'll destroy you both, but that's okay. I've got enough Potion for the three of us.

"Hazard," Zack turned his attention to the ghost type, "Psybeam won't work against a dark type. You're going to need to work out a new technique. Poison should be effective."

A sharp gust of wind blew between them. Trainer and pokémon turned to face the dark type, who shifted his leaf to the other side of his mouth and bore his fangs.

"Get ready," Zack grinned. "Go!"

Route 4

Benedict heard the voice call out, and paused for a moment. That didn't sound like someone that was about to try something dangerous. It sounded like a witness... Of course, the bookie had stayed back where he'd been hit, so it wasn't like the other person approaching would be a problem either...

Still, better to be in the public eye for now. Benedict stepped out of the maze and waved, grin plastered on his face. "Hey." He replied, and glanced back. Other guy wasn't there. He probably picked a different exit then?

"Everything's fine. Why, what's up? Something happen?"

Other guy. Oh. Well, explaining everything to this person seemed like it would be a hassle, at best. Of course, it was already going to be a hassle no matter how he tried to deal with it.

"Somewhere back in there." He explained, gesturing to the maze. It was the truth, so far as he knew. "Left him after I got something he stole from me back. He's fine, far as I know." Also the truth. The grin was still in place, of course. Best to keep it, for now, practice it a little. The next person he used it on might need a little bit of the old charm, after all.

Route 5 - Off the Beaten Track

Chrysalis soared through the air at incredible speed, just shy of crashing through the sound barrier. Zack sidestepped and let her fly past, and she slammed into a heap against the hillside. He sighed.

Pangoro dropped his fist and scratched his belly. Hazard was still upon him, so Zack put his attention back on the battle. The ghost type did a better job than Chrysalis of avoiding the dark type's blows, but just barely. Zack had the feeling that Pangoro wasn't giving its all against such weak pokémon, but threw punches quickly. Hazard darted around his half-hearted attacks, getting a sense of the larger pokémon's rhythm. He bore his claws and they scratched trailing shadows on the air.

"Get back!" Zack shouted, "It's a Shadow Claw!"

Hazard did as commanded, but the edge of her gaseous body got scratched by the tip of Pangoro's elongated black claws. The n** was all it took to send Hazard into the dirt.

As the trainer consulted his notebook, Pangoro decided to use Rest.

---

"That went about as well as expected," Zack said, kneeling down to Chrysalis and Hazard, spraying them both with a bottle of Potion before handing it back to Serene, who had to hold onto it with both hands. "But I'm not expecting you to win just yet. Pangoro's powerful, and if you can get used to an opponent like that, you'll have the upper hand against..."

He trailed off when he noticed their puzzled looks. "Uh, it's a figure of speech. You won't be needing hands." The two pokémon nodded their understanding, but slowly. Zack allowed himself a quiet smile.

"Chrysalis, stay out of his range. You have an advantage in the air and at a distance. Bombard him with Gusts. Hazard, there are a couple new moves that I want to teach you..."

---

Pangoro climbed back to his feet when Zack called for attention. He rotated his arm at the shoulder, the white tribal markings on the fur of his right arm gleaming in the sun. With a sick crack of his neck, Pangoro was ready.

On Zack's mark, Chrysalis launched forward with Hazard right behind. She arced skyward and her wings vibrated, sending a swift Gust attack at her foe's eyes. Pangoro threw his arm up to block the blast, and the diverted air made the surrounding grass bend sideways.

Hazard ducked into the ground, phasing through rock and soil to travel below Pangoro and come out his other side. The Gust left him distracted for a second, and that's all the time she needed. As Chrysalis went higher overhead, blowing Gusts at different angles and staying out of Pangoro's reach, Hazard came out of the ground behind him and launched tendrils of gas at the dark type.

He moved faster than Zack had anticipated, but luckily Hazard was paying close attention. She avoided the swift backhanded Shadow Claw, if only barely. Her tendrils broke free and the work was done. Toxic seeped into Pangoro's blood, and he became badly poisoned.

More Gusts struck his back, and the bear pokémon began to snarl. Hazard's grin crumbled when Pangoro tensed, his body shivering as his guttural growling grew deeper and more frenzied. His body Bulked Up, growing several inches in an instant, ripping the cloth of his noble coat like paper. The ghost type flew backwards and to the sky, but the enraged Pangoro charged up the hill after her, each bounding step the thick beat of a drum.

"s**t," Zack hissed. "Chrysalis, Sweet Scent!"

Sickly-sweet pink air washed over the ground, enveloping the charging Pangoro while Hazard flew above it. Zack knew that Sweet Scent would only be good for reducing Pangoro's ability to dodge, but he hoped that the slowing of the monster's senses would be enough to give Hazard a shot. She still had another new move in her arsenal, assuming she could pull it off.

Hazard's eyes glowed with Hypnosis as she panicked, but the poison coursing through Pangoro's blood blocked the effect. He swung his fist with another Shadow Claw, attempting to rend her in two. It was much faster than she was used to, but not unexpected, and she recognised the subtle movements in Pangoro's posture before he threw the blow.

The ghost type flew vertically as the air beneath her was ripped apart by ethereal jagged claws. Pangoro span on the spot, the stomping of his feet sending spider web cracks across the hillside and pushing out dirt. His normally black eyes had become the purest of white hot seething rage. Before Hazard could dream of safety, Pangoro plunged his hands into the ground and ripped out a massive splinter of stone, soil pouring off it like a waterfall. He launched the Stone Edge and it shot like a bullet. Hazard's eyes opened wide, and she was blown away.

Stone Edge continued sailing skyward while Hazard blinked in surprise. Nearby, Chrysalis gave her a knowing nod and vibrated her wings for a second. A Gust strong enough to shift the gas pokémon while dealing minimal damage. Zack would have been more impressed if Pangoro hadn't decided to throw himself into the air to close the distance.

Chrysalis realised too late and Pangoro's hand closed around her body, plucking her from the sky. No matter how hard her wings buzzed, she couldn't break free. Hazard cried out in protest but her voice was lost amidst Chrysalis' desperate screams. Pangoro seemed to hang in the air at the apex of his jump, and brought Chrysalis to his bare teeth for a sickening Crunch.

The purple of Hazard's gas condensed then shot forward, blasting Pangoro in the face before he could sink his fangs. The dark type howled as Venoshock struck his eyes and arched backward. Reacting to the Toxic already in his blood, Venoshock became all the more painful. Wracking in agony, claws clutching at his eyes, Pangoro fell to earth, kicking up an explosive cloud of dirt and dust.

Hazard towards the dirt cloud, preparing another Venoshock. She had no time to fire it when Chrysalis sped at her and smashed into her gaseous body, flying through and hitting the dirt, but not without doing considerable damage. Hazard reformed slowly, and caught a glance at the settling cloud of filth. Pangoro trudged out of it, purple-black stains of poison gripping at his snarled face. Soil fell from his hunched shoulders, blades of grass and rock clinging at his fur. Hazard was too weak to move when the dark type rushed her.

Shadow Claws wrapped around his hand, each finger arced like a hooked blade, frozen in place with his arm no longer moving. He was poised to strike, but held still, his muscular body quivering while he fought every instinct. Zack stood before him, tiny in comparison, but absolutely off limits.

"Now," the trainer said, breathing heavily, locking the bear in eye contact, "You need to chill the ******** out."

Route 4 - Parterre Way

A series of battles followed the next hour for Helena. They were littered with blue lights of Loki's teleportation as he followed an idea Helena had previously.

"According to the Pokedex you're so tired because you have so much psychic energy built up in your tiny little body. You might wake up and feel better if you teleport around," Helena had told Loki.

The three Pokemon that Helena battled, all of which earned Lilt a potion after the encounter, had their own sort of trial for Helena to overcome. The first was that they were wild Pokemon and didn't have orders, the plus side was that they didn't have direction or coordination.

Lilt's first battle, against a Ledyba, lacked the same sort of coordination. Helena panicked as Lilt stumbled around the field in search of Ledyba while confused. Helena, however, got an idea for direction and they managed to pull through with Lilt remaining still until the last moment, to keep her sense of direction.

The second battle was another where Lilt's senses were messed with. This time, however, it was her evasion that was lowered. The enemy Combee had caught Lilt inside of the sweet scent that it expelled. The scent messed with Lilt's reaction time and kept her within the constant gust attacks.

Their victory was earned with Lilt's relentless attacks through the gust, where her endurance won out against the Combee's.

Their final battle was a lot closer. The Flabebe that they encountered, the little creature that directed itself by use of a flower, was a lot better of a combatant than the previous two. It kept Lilt at bay with a Vine Whip, slamming Lilt into this portion of grass or that field of flowers. It would hit Lilt with Fairy Wind as Lilt tried to recover, and it was only the times where Lilt had managed to strike Flabebe that won them their match.

Not because Lilt managed to defeat Flabebe herself, but because it had weakened the Pokemon enough that Helena managed to catch it in a ball before Lilt could be fainted.

So, their wild Pokemon training at an end, Helena recalled Lilt and moved back to the fountain to rest. She had one potion left, which she decided to save, and instead settled for a trip back into Santalune to visit the center. After that she intended to return to have an actual Pokemon battle against a trainer.

Benedict would, in fact, keep walking. He gave a shrug to the lad's comment that he was pretty tough, and made his way towards the flowers. He stayed at the edge of them, keeping himself out of where pokemon would likely attack you out of nowhere, and he considered the idea of catching one.

Not in front of that guy, he decided. Not much of a need to let a potential rival see what pokemon he had. Or which ones he'd catch.

The trainer would step away from these particular flowers, and make his way farther away Takamaru. If he remembered right, there was a pokemon around these parts that it would be a good idea for him to snatch up before going on his way...

Route 4 - Parterre Way

Helena was seated on the ledge of the fountain basin after she tended to her Pokemon in Santalune. Her shoes rested next to her on the ledge while she massaged her feet.

She had been told that there would be a lot of walking but her body wasn't used to it yet.

When Takamaru called out to her she smiled and rose an arm to wave at him. "Hey TK," she greeted him before he told the tale of the not-actually-lovers-quarrel.

"Maybe he was high on drugs," Helena said let her right foot fall to the ground and propped her left one up so it rested on her right thigh. She started to massage it as well as she looked up at Takamaru.

"Good, I caught another Pokemon, a Flabébé named Jetson." Helena let out a small sound as she pressed into a particularly sensitive spot on her foot. "What about you?"

Route 4 - Parterre Way

"Alright," Helena said as she grabbed Lilt's ball. "I'll start with my ace in the hole."

She stepped a few feet away from the fountain, close enough to be near her shoes but far enough away that they had plenty of room to battle, and released Lilt the Fletchling.

"Ready whenever you are," she said with a lilt in her voice.