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Kadabra could see it, though not as clearly as he'd like. Using his free arm, he'd take the second chop to the spoon, deflecting some of the force as he tried to push it away, but it would strike his chest.

"Do they? Do you?" Helena's tone remained unchanged as she spoke. "How many of these people do you understand? How many are you prepared for? Does it even matter, if you're sending people to fight against Ratio in the first place? Was that even necessary, considering he spared all of you?"

The force would still push Loki backwards, giving him a chance to clear his thoughts again with Calm Mind. Again, things seemed to slow down. Where Durendal would be became more clear as his power boosted. Even the pain in his chest seemed to dull, even though it remained relevant.

"I'm not warped, Salieri. I just see how selfish you are. Even this battle - it's selfish, and impulsive. You want to win it to feed your ego, but how many of the stakes and aspects did you set out to control in the first place? Using a dark type against a psychic type, for one. How many other things did you do purposefully to pick on a new trainer, and show just how great you are?"

Loki would teleport, using the clear view of Durendal he had to avoid him if he tried to latch on and follow with. The world seemed to slow down, it didn't change the difference in speed, but the more clear his view became, the more Loki saw where Durendal was, and where he would be, with every shift and change in his weight, his stance. It was like correcting a disadvantage, but the gap was still too far for close.

"Meanwhile, I haven't prepared at all. Originally, this was just meant to be fun. A battle between two trainers, something you've taken way too seriously. You didn't care if I had fun, you only cared about showing how much greater you are - which is funny because that went without saying, Salieri. You've never had anything to prove to anyone. Nothing changes if you win, nothing changes if you lose. You're still the better trainer."

Loki, if he went unhindered, would appear far above Durendal, in the sky. If left to his own devices, he would use Calm Mind for the third time.

"Queen me," Helena said flatly.

The world changed in that moment. He noticed Durendal's presence, and it did nothing to stop him. A third eye was opened with his new focus - his Inner Focus - to create Miracle Eye.

"I embrace my selfishness, Salieri, but I think ahead. You've probably spent days trying to figure out how to counter everything that Loki can do." If Salieri hadn't noticed it yet, Helena had paid attention to the entire battle. "For you, this took days."

Psychic energies gathered instantly, something he had learned to do thanks to Charge Beam. Kinesis would distort space as Loki moved himself ever so slightly around the attack area, leaving Assurance to strike air, Durendal's vision would be distorted. Loki could think and respond quickly, and Durendal could move at a frightening speed. Without taking this seriously, the gap between them had been replaced by even ground.

"I noticed how I needed to push Loki today, to make him stronger, as a passing thought while battling Grant last night. You're seeing five or six moves ahead, but it took you days to make those moves. In passing, I've seen ten moves ahead."

Immediately after the attack hit air, Kinesis' psychic energy would change shape, firing off a point black Psybeam in Durendal's face.

"You've only seen your own next five moves, and I've seen the next ten both of us will make."

Route 14

To anyone else, it might seem like Benedict was just playing with his x-transceiver. Well, x-transceivers. Multiple. It was an effort teaching Caboose, the pikachu, exactly what the things did, and that he wanted the pokemon to intercept the signal. Well, not a large effort, the pokemon was practicing within the time limit he'd been given before Alexa would arrive, but they hadn't made much progress. As it was, it would look like Ben was calling himself for a long time teaching Caboose to detect the signals. Differentiate between them and whatever else he was used to feel.

This was, of course, done while Manny the Meditite focused on getting some training in. He wasn't one of Ben's heavier hitters, and still being new to the team meant his teamwork wasn't as likely to fill in where the youth wanted. The rest, though? They would need to be fresh for what was to come.

"Alright Caboose, it's about time for her to get here. Help Manny finish those off and you'll get some rest."

After Dune cut through the Psybeam and Loki used Kinesis again, Dune's gravity and priority speed assisted Spirale Sabre was already in front of the Kadabra's face. Prediction meant staving off the inevitable if you couldn't change the balance, and the balance of power and speed was shifted even more dramatically in Durendal's favor than before by Loki's own hand.

Salieri knew that. What Helena thought was an even playing field was really just Loki struggling to gain some control. His boons in power hadn't really changed a thing. For all of Helena's talk about foresight, everything was still going Salieri's way. Just like Zack, Helena liked to fall back on her pride. The difference was that while Zack had actual skill, his sister's talk about chess and predictions was just that. Talk. An informed ability.

And any other time she would throw a comment back at Helena. Snark and say "bishop slap" or whatever people who won at chess said. But now was different, because as much as Salieri wanted to do that, what Helena had said earlier was affecting her. She was too riled up to quip, not right now. All she could say was, "Shut up and watch!"

Loki's aim was perfect. So was Durendal's even after the Kinesis because their positions were still linear, and he had no intention of stopping. The Kadabra's foresight allowed him to fire the Psybeam right before Durendal nailed him. Spirale Sabre spun against the Psybeam and into it's epicenter. Cutting through this attack was just a little easier than the one that came before with the second Defiant boost. It was like slicing butter.

The buzzsaw that was Durendal chopped right through the second Psybeam like the one before it, throttling him towards the Kadabra.

The tension in Sal's chest dropped immediately as the water erupted. For a moment Salieri didn't know what Helena meant when she said she won, and then she remembered that Helena wanted to dunk Durendal into the water from the start. Sal resisted rolling her eyes. Esoteric victory doesn't mean squat to me.

"Now this is actually what it's like to face someone who knows what they're doing," Sal said with a small forced grin as Durendal flew slowly out of the water, dripping wet and holding Loki's unconscious body in his arms, careful not to accidentally scratch the Psychic type with his rib blades. Her ego had been sufficiently fed enough to let her bask in the victory for the time being, morals aside. "Bishop slap, b***h."

Dune floated over and gently placed Loki before Helena's feet as he touched the ground. He had made sure his attack didn't do any damage that a Pokémon Center couldn't fix, holding back enough to keep the essence of sportsmanship in Sal's grudge match.

"You're capable of not dying fast, that's for sure. If you think swimming is losing, you've got a ways to go if you wanna survive." Salieri's grin began to fade. "...To tell you the truth, your survival isn't my problem."

Matheson told Salieri the night before that she needed to understand where Helena was coming from, that if they talked they'd work things out. Salieri had talked to Helena and understood her just fine. All Salieri saw was a delusional rookie who needed a target to point her in the right direction. In a way it reminded Salieri of herself when she first started training. Sal almost pitied that, but with everything else that had happened, the room for pity or compassion in her heart was nearly gone. Matheson's voice in Sal's head shrunk away into nothing.

She crossed her arms and waited for Helena to finish monologuing, keeping what was left of her grin. There were many things she could say. Instead she allowed Helena to keep going until there were no more jabs to spit out or brags to declare.

"You talk too much, Helena."

Salieri would make to walk out of the cove unless there was more for Helena to say. Durendal took one look at Sal, then at Helena, and did a half shrug of apology before following his trainer out. As she passed Grant, who had remained remarkably tactful in his silence, she would give him a nod and keep going.

And when she was out of the cove, her smile would leave and a weird negative cloud hung over her. This wasn't what winning was supposed to feel like.

((I maaaay have snuck a track into that last post of mine))

Route 14 - Laverre Nature Trail

The thick, lush trees and boggy swamps of Route 14 gave off an eerie vibe, even in daylight. Humidity hung in the air as Alexa approached Benedict and Roy with a crew tailing behind her: a tall and bearded man with a videocamera, a shorter blonde young man with sound equipment, and a woman who looked remarkably similar to the blonde with a small lighting kit.

Each one of them was dressed in dark green colors to blend in with the environment except for Alexa, who wore a leather jackets and hiking boots. Her Vivillon Sazerac fluttered behind her, having changed the pattern of her wings to Jungle.

"Benedict, haven't been waiting too long have ya?" Alexa gave a nod to Roy and held out a hand. "You must be Roy Hunter. You're filled in on what's going on, right?"

Lumiose City - Estival Avenue

'Um, okay, I will admit, it's not bad. And I have yet to have a heart attack.'
'That just means you're not eating enough,' Zack replied as Esme stuffed more Grumpig bacon in her mouth. 'Full Sinnoh Breakfast. If there's a better hangover cure, I don't want to know it.'
'You sound like its campaign manager.'

Zack grinned as he finished his breakfast, which had been something of an experience with only one arm. They had picked out a café on Estival Avenue. People streamed past the outdoor tables where large parasols protected the two from the bright sun. As the days went by, fewer and fewer trainers appeared in the crowds. Whether they gave up their challenge or got scared and went home, it didn't matter. The weak didn't last long when a league was on. Zack's opponents would probably be stronger from here out.

'I must say,' Esme continued, dabbing her mouth with the serviette. 'I am feeling almost human again.'
'See, you don't need revenge, you just need bacon,' Zack said, smiling. But when Esme went quiet, Zack scrunched up his eyes and bowed his head. Goddamn idiot.
She spoke after a second, touched his hand and sent an electric jolt to his gut. 'Zack, it's okay. You've said dumber things to me, I promise.'
Zack brightened, his foot sliding gracefully from his mouth. 'You really mean that?'

'Well, sure,' Esme shrugged. 'And it is not revenge, exactly. I want justice. I want to put the past where it belongs, you know?'
'The past has passed,' Zack leant back in his seat, staring at the underside of the parasol, at the metal lines converging on its centre. 'Moving on can be hard. Especially when you lose something you love.'
'Ah, now here we go,' Esme leant forward, resting her chin on her fingers as a catlike smile played on her lips. 'And what did you lose, Monsieur Redgrave?'

's**t, there's a question,' Zack sat up, rubbing his neck. Where to even start? 'Training was tough to let go. Ever since I was a kid, it's all I ever wanted to do. Then my mother had her accident, and I had to give it all up. Go home, get a real job. Or ten.'
'What happened to her? Is she okay?'
'Oh she's fine,' Zack waved his hand. 'Wrapped her car around another car, landed us with a ton of debt, and now she's blind. Bed of roses.'

Esme winced. 's**t...'
'This league's really our last shot at making some good money,' Zack said. 'The league's in Kalos, so we're in Kalos. Can't say it's been all bad.'
'On behalf of Kalosians everywhere, I accept your glowing review.'
'I'm serious. If it hadn't been for my mother's shitty driving, we wouldn't be speaking right now.'
'And your arm wouldn't be broken, and your sister wouldn't be in the sights of an "insane, murdering freakshow", or thereabouts.'
'...or thereabouts.'

'And what of your friend, the one who punched you at the beach? Kelly, was it? You said it was a long story.'
'That I did,' Zack sighed, remembering the encounter across his jaw. 'Let's just skip the details. We grew up together at the academy, and when we graduated, we travelled together too. For a time. One day, we heard about this legendary pokémon living in an active volcano and, being the bright young prodigies that we were, we went to investigate.'

Esme listened without so much as a nod, her laced fingers covering her mouth, so Zack continued.

'So just as we thought we'd found something, the volcano erupts, as you'd expect. Kelly got trapped, everything was blowing the ******** up.' Zack shrugged. 'So I left him. I tried everything I could, but there just wasn't time. Or maybe there was, I don't know. Not something I like to think about.'
'But he survived.'
'Yes he did. The other day was the first time we'd spoken since then. Never did find that Heatran.'

Route 14

Roy lurched forward to take Alexa's hand for a brief shake. 'Roy Hunter, that's me. Hero, uh, for hire. Don't blame that one on me, I have this agent...'

He cleared his throat and looked around at Alexa's crew. 'Uh, I just know you need a bodyguard while you travel off route. And that's dangerous, so it'll be double my usual rate.'

Roy said the last part confidently, like this wasn't his first real gig since getting fired by the agency.