[PKMN FULL] TRAINERS (IC)

The walk to the factory itself takes only forty-five minutes, but by the time they get there Gwen is visibly tired of hearing Casey's calling of random numbers- anywhere from four to twenty-five, and with no rhyme or reason. Besides that Parsley still can't get below six, and over twenty-five just falls to the ground. He claims it's better training this way- Parsley has to learn to drop certain numbers of leaves on command, and it's more effective for Pepper's aim if he doesn't know what's coming. Either way, forty-five minutes of hearing that and watching him use Ginger as a weight is wearing on Gwen.

Luckily, they've left the main road, which forces Casey to pay attention to their surroundings rather than his Pokémon.

This particular factory is wide and squat, rising only two stories above the ground, but Quartz had said there were many more levels belowground. It had once been a hydroelectric plant, with channels cut through deep rock to create canals to divert the flow of water from the sea, and those structures still lie deep under the earth, out of sight for the time being. What they can see is decrepit- holes in walls, piles of fallen concrete, almost no glass remaining in the plethora of window frames. The main, road-facing doors are inaccessible- a large tree, felled by strong seaside storms, had smashed through the entire entry.

Viveka unfolds a weird piece of equipment from her bag, and Casey's attention is immediately diverted from feeding berries to his Pokémon. "What's that for?"

"Shoulder mount," Viveka answers, securing the thing to her right shoulder. "I don't need bulky batteries for my camera, but it still gets heavy and hard to hold after a while."

Her red Charjabug settles atop her left shoulder, balancing the weight of the video camera mounted to the device. Wires from the camera get wound around its spikes. The green Charjabug spins some silk, anchoring itself to the shoulder mount as it begins to rise, hovering about a foot above Viveka's head to act as a flashlight. Casey is clearly in awe, as well as Gwen, though for different reasons. "Wooow! Is that a Charjabug!? Neat!"

"Yeah, they've been pretty helpful. Red doesn't like to do much besides sit and eat, but Green will participate in things. That's why she's on the string."

"Well what are we waiting for!?" Gwen shouts in anticipation. "Let's go!"

Casey and Pepper cheer with Gwen, but: "We have to find a working door first," Viveka reminds them. "Quartz said they just walked in the main doors, but we clearly can't do that."

"Oh." That was pretty embarrassing for Gwen, but she isn't gonna let it kill her momentum. "Well let's find a door and then let's go!"

Casey takes the lead with enthusiasm matching her own, at least until Viveka drags him backward by the collar. "Get out of the shot, Holt."

"Whatever you say, Anand," Casey sing-songs back at her as she forges ahead through the thick vegetation.

It's a slow pace that they take around the perimeter while Viveka films. She's allowed them to speak, as she won't be using any audio from this venture, but the gloomy, oppressive atmosphere of the swampland keeps the group fairly quiet anyway. The sleepy glares of Silcoon and Cascoon watch them from the trees, and flashes of color belonging to other Pokémon occasionally flit across the ground.

"Thought there were only s'posed to be four kinds here," Casey murmurs, watching the red-orange of a Corphish scurry back behind a tree, which definitely doesn't go unnoticed by Gwen. She needs to stay focused though- Corphish can wait.

"They said that about the interior, not the exterior," Viveka says absently. Casey's "oh" is almost lost in the heavy air.

The black haired trainer examines the building, looking for any sort of entrance. She's not exactly sure what a door on this kind of building would look like, and the vegetation surrounding the area doesn't help. Her pupils continuously study the abandoned facility, and her eyes stop on something suspicious- Gwen spots two pointy magenta fingers sticking out of a crack that quickly retract. She recognizes the shape of those fingers and the exact color of them, and stressful memories of Cerulean come flooding back to her. "It can't be…"

Her voice catches Casey's attention. "Did you find a door?"

Even as he asks, he must realize the answer- he moves toward the building, Pokémon at his heels. "Oh, this's way hidden. Good eye, Gwen!"

"I-I swear I saw something sticking out of it! It was…" She takes a deep breath to calm herself. "It looked like a Morgrem hand."

"Quartz said there were Impidimp, right? Stands t' reason there's Morgrem, too." Casey inspects the door. It's covered in moss up to about knee-level, with vines hanging down from the top of the frame. But it's just slightly ajar, opening inward.

Even with Casey reminding her of the wildlife, Gwen can't shake off the feeling that someone she recognizes will be behind the door. Seeing the hand gave her a bad feeling about the mission in general, but she does want a Technical Machine, so she needs to persist.

"Looks like it'll swing," Casey says, and that's all the warning she gets before he pushes it open, letting the light of Pepper's flame illuminate beyond.

Fortunately, Gwen's prediction was wrong, but what was behind the door was infinitely more overwhelming than a single crook- dozens of Impidimp hop up and down, unleashing high pitched screeches at the teens. Three Morgrem surrounding the batch also turn their attention towards the group, smirking and snickering with bloodlust in their eyes.

"Uh," Casey says, wide-eyed and eloquent. "Pepper, start shootin'!"

As true as Pepper's aim is, he can't hit them all- the Morgrem, especially, are faster than their unevolved kin and race towards Pepper, shoving their way past the Charmeleon and bursting from the entry. At Casey's command, Pepper and Parsley dart away from the door so he can drag it closed behind them.

Three Morgrem and four Impidimp, now separated from their nest, chatter maniacally as they surround Gwen, Casey, and his Pokémon. The bravest Impidimp darts forward, moving as if aiming for Pepper's stomach, but at the last second backhands him across the face. The other three Impidimp follow suit- two aim for Parsley's knees, but the Skiddo's attempt to block only results in one raking its claws across his belly while the other's spindly fingers latch onto his pelt, surprising Ginger with a slap that knocks her from her mount. The last rushes Pepper, but instead of attacking uses the Charmeleon as a springboard, jumping up to slap Casey across the face and triggering a spluttering mess of mild curses.

"You two got this?" Viveka calls from further away, well outside the fairy circle, as the cackling Impidimp return to their places.

"Oh, yeah." Casey grins confidently, despite skimming fingers over his reddening cheek. "Parsley, fifteen! Pepper, Ember! Ginger, Double Kick!"

A spread of leaves nails a pair of Impidimp, knocking them off their feet momentarily. One of the Morgrem takes an Ember to the face followed by two kicks to the knees that bring its head down to Ginger's level, lightning crackling from her coiled ears as they punch into both its eyes. The Morgrem howls, clawing at its face as it reels back, and the two other Impidimp rush to its aid. Ginger leaps into the air and Casey calls for ten- and that perfect spread of leaves hits all three of the clustered imps, with Ember following close behind. Three hits, in succession, and Ginger coming down with a kick to the Morgrem's head- her weight and momentum drives its head into the ground once again.

Before the Impidimp can get their spindly fingers on her, two vines lash out- one to smack the pair aside and the other to yank Ginger back to her place atop Parsley's back. Pepper dashes in to continue the relentless onslaught; he Slashes at the fallen Morgrem, spinning as Casey shouts- one of the Impidimp making an attempt to bite at his tail gets swept off its feet instead, and a "five" from Parsley knocks it out completely. The other sinks its teeth into Pepper's tail at the same time as the Morgrem finally gets its horrible, sharp fangs into Pepper's neck, but Pepper's own fangs burn bright as he snaps at the Morgrem's hair, setting it ablaze and sending the squealing imp dashing away into the woods. The Impidimp attached to his tail gets an Ember to the face and it releases Pepper with a screech, dashing after the retreating Morgrem.

Gwen meanwhile, makes eye-contact with the grimacing Morgrem, nervously gulping.

This is exactly what I caught Jess for.

She grabs one of her Pokeballs, tossing it to the ground, and out pops said Ekans. She rattles her tail and hisses, and Morgrem backs away slightly, but he disappears in a flash but quickly reappears right in front of Jess, catching her off-guard, and smacks her straight in the face.

"Fake out! Damnit!"

As Jess flinches, Morgrem bites on her neck, causing the Ekans to scream out loud. But with the Devious Pokémon so close by, Jess hacks up an Acid that splats directly onto him. Morgrem tries wiping the sludge off of himself, but it only distracts himself from the snake Pokémon coiling around his body. The Morgrem scratches her skin repeatedly, making Jess wince in pain, but it doesn't stop her from tightening her grasp. The dark-type Pokémon yelps and stops scratching, but looks directly into Gwen's eyes, looking a little teary-eyed.

Wait, did I...Did I hurt him? Damn, I'm honestly starting to feel a little bad.

"Jess, let go of him!" The Ekans gives her trainer a baffled look as Gwen wipes her eyes with her sleeve, but she does so anyway, feeling sympathy for both Morgrem and Gwen. Jess completely loosens her grip, and slithers back, looking at the dark-type kowtowing on his hands and knees.

"Jeez, I'm really sorry Morgrem, I mean it. I didn't know you'd be so sensitive…"

Gwen is confused when she hears Morgrem chuckling under his breath, and is shocked to see him suddenly jab his sharp hairtip into Jess' neck. Hearing his prey frantically hiss, Morgrem snickers, the bloodlust returning to his eyes. It all makes sense now- he had used Fake Tears and False Surrender, and Gwen fell for every bit of it.

"You fucking tricked me!" she roars, furrowing her brows. Morgrem doesn't seem to mind her anger, and just chuckles while retracting his hair tip from Jess' neck. Jess is clearly hurt, but still ready to keep going, although Gwen figured she could use some help.

Tusk and Bead would be awful choices right now, and I think Custard would be too scared. That leaves Pix and…

As she makes up her mind, Gwen tightens her fist and tosses another Pokeball to send out Marshall. Morgrem snarls at the Wooper, but Marshall just grins back blankly, throwing him off a little.

"Jess, use Poison Sting!"

The Ekans unhinges her jaw to shoot a quick poisonous dart at Morgrem's chest. He writhes as the poison flows through his body, and then is shocked to see a smokey haze roll in, obscuring his vision. He tries to look around to check his surroundings, but the poison in his body hurts too much for him to move. Morgrem reaches for his chest, but freezes when he notices Jess suddenly wrap around his body, this time entangling his lanky arms.

"Now Marshall, Water Gun!"

A blast of pressurized water hits Morgrem directly in the face, which clears up the Haze. Morgrem feels the Water Gun stinging his face for a solid ten seconds, and the next thing he sees is a blankly smiling Wooper looking at him. The Devious Pokémon tries to repeat his previous tactic, and starts sobbing, but Marshall completely ignores it and just shoots another Water Gun in his face.

"Hate to break it to ya, but Marshall is unaware of cheap tricks like that." Gwen snorts while Morgrem's face continues to be soaked in a Water Gun. When Marshall stops, the Morgrem looks exhausted from battle.

"Alright Morgrem, we'll let you go only if you get outta here! And no funny business this time!" Gwen sneers at the Devious Pokémon, who sighs in frustration. He nods, and immediately Jess disappointedly unwraps herself again. This time Morgrem keeps his promise, and whimpers off into the forest.

"Got that taken care of." Gwen sighs in relief. "Wonder if Casey needs any help." She looks to her classmate to see he's doing just fine on his own- thick roots cage the last Morgrem's torso, draining energy into Parsley as the Skiddo holds it tight with his vines. Ginger and Pepper, back to back, kick and slash respectively at the Impidimp pair- at Casey's call, Ginger jumps to allow Pepper to sweep both opponents and Ginger comes down hard on one and then the other. Parsley whines while the Morgrem tears at his vines, but he pulses with Synthesis's golden light and seems revitalized.

"Quick Attack!"

The Buneary dashes in, dodging undergrowth and fallen Impidimp to slam into the Morgrem's side. Parsley's vines retract, taking Ginger with them, up and out of the way as Pepper Slashes, missing the Morgrem's body but cutting strands of its hair to fall gently to the forest floor.

The Morgrem wails, head bowing to the ground in lament, scooting backwards as Pepper advances.

Gwen loudly gasps, recognizing the stance this dark-type Pokémon takes. "CASEY, LOOK OUT!! THAT'S MORGREM'S SIGNATURE ATTACK, FALSE SURRENDER!!"

Casey whips his head around. "What?! Pepper-" But Pepper can't stop his momentum, careening straight into the hair that stabs and curls around him, dragging the Charmeleon towards the sharp-fanged maw.

"Parsley- three!"

And despite all Casey's talk about how Parsley's never managed to actually get below six, three razor-sharp leaves precisely shear the black hair, leaving Pepper tangled on the ground. Whipping through the foliage is Ginger, boosted by Quick Attack, launching up to arc through the air and crash her little foot into the Morgrem's face. She uses it as a springboard, backflipping out of the way once more as the loose, tangled hair ignites to reveal Pepper, rising up to Slash the Morgrem one final time. The imp sways, and finally falls.

And the oppressive hush settles in once more.

"Morgrem are something else…" Gwen, unusually aware of her surroundings, cautiously roves her eyes around the perimeter. "Wasn't even my first time fighting one."

"Wait, when- oh. That guy, huh?" Casey asks, brushing burnt hair strands from Pepper as Ginger clambers back onto Parsley's back.

Gwen nods. "Yeah, him." The resentment in her emphasis makes itself very apparent. "When I saw the Morgrem's fingers, I honestly thought he would show up here." She wasn't sure how she got here, but getting this off her chest alleviates her. This wasn't something she really did unless Jenny was around.

Casey hums. "Like I said back at camp- I still think all that was just a Cerulean thing."

"Probably." Casey's right- The chances she'll see Morgrem guy again aren't very likely. But that shouldn't be important right now, there are more immediate matters at hand. "And I'm guessing that door is out of the question, huh."

"Well I'm not going through it," Viveka says, forging ahead once more. "Come along, teenagers."

A full circuit of the building's exterior reveals only four more doors. Casey- still not careful about it, despite their previous encounter- manages to shove open two, but both open onto rubble-filled rooms impossible to pass through. The little party gathers once more at the tree-smashed main entry, unsure of their next step.

"I vote we give up," Viveka says. Casey protests, but she talks over him. "I didn't bring any Pokémon that can knock through walls safely, did you?"

"...No," Casey sulks.

"Tusk can probably break down a wall or two!"

"I said safely, and I don't think your Axew knows the meaning of that word." Viveka sighs. "Remind me what you have; I know all of Casey's are out already."

Gwen holds back a knee-jerk response telling Viveka off, but she's absolutely right. "Well, besides Tusk and these two," she quickly gestures over to Marshall and Jess, who are still out, "There's Vulpix, she's called Pix, Pikachu, named Custard, and a Misdreavus who I call Bead… But I don't think Casey would appreciate me having him out." Having to keep Bead in his ball around her classmate was starting to get a tad annoying.

Said classmate has wandered away and is examining the building up close, peering around the corner and apparently ignoring her. Viveka sighs. "I guess I could… no, that doesn't make any sense…" she continues to mutter to herself. Casey disappears around the corner with his Pokémon. Shortly after he does, Gwen hears a clattering and a "good boy, Parsley!" She glances over to see Casey pop his head around the corner and wave at her in a "c'mere" motion.

"I'm goin' up the fire escape," he says casually. Viveka groans.

"I don't want to be responsible for you two getting injured. That thing looked rickety."

Casey shrugs. "You're not responsible for us. I'm an adult in-" he ticks off numbers on his fingers. "-two weeks. And we're on our graduation journey and we're s'posed to be making decisions for ourselves anyway, no matter what kindsa consequences come outta that. An' my decision right now is goin' up this fire escape."

He disappears back around the corner before the short-haired woman can protest further and the clattering resumes, this time at fairly regular intervals.

"Goddamnit," Viveka sighs.

Gwen on the other hand takes no issue with Casey's proposition and with her two Pokémon out, follows her classmate around the corner. After being ambushed by multiple Impidimp and Morgrem, it seems like a smart idea to keep them out, and when seeing the fire escape ladder, the first thing she does is have Jess coil gently around her waist and grabs Marshall with a single hand by his head, holding him under her shoulder. Unsurprisingly, he doesn't seem to mind this one bit.

Above her, on the second-story platform, Casey has Parsley untangle some vines from the second ladder before he tugs on it himself. It gives way with another horrible clatter, but Casey seems pleased enough and climbs it quickly, Pepper ahead of him and Ginger on his shoulder. Once at the top, he has Parsley wrap vines around his hands and reels the Skiddo to the rooftop, disappearing from Gwen's sight once more.

Gwen quickly follows his footsteps, grabbing onto the bars of the ladder with her right hand, followed with Jess reaching her head out to bite onto any bars above her, acting as Gwen's left. It isn't long before she reaches the above platform, and repeats the process, getting up to the roof. First thing that catches her eye on the roof is a nest of squawking Wingull, probably waiting for their mother to return or something. She finds it pretty distracting, and almost forgets about Casey until he speaks again.

"Did Viveka give up?" he asks, peering over the side.

In answer, a whoosh follows the bulky shape of a Togekiss up and over the building, coming to a delicate landing in the corner of the rooftop. Viveka slides down gingerly and recalls Togekiss, testing every footstep as she rejoins the two students and their Pokémon.

"What, you really didn't trust the ladder?"

"Nope," Viveka pops the p sound deliberately. "And I don't trust this roof, either. I can see the holes. Let's get in that stairwell."

Casey, clearly more confident in the roof's stability than Viveka, strides over to the access door and makes a valiant attempt to kick it in.

"It opens the other way," Viveka volunteers, deadpan.

"Ah." Casey turns the handle, pulling it open easily. "Well."

"Alright, now we can finally enter!" Gwen announces, smirking. "We're gonna see lots of cool Pokémon and come out of this with Technical Machines!"

Gwen's team

The tight stairwell only brings them down one level before the group runs into what appears to be some kind of nest, full of tattered cloth and dry leaves. Choosing not to intentionally disturb another one so soon after the Impidimp fiasco, they instead file out into a slightly wider hallway. Viveka shoves ahead once more, Charjabug lighting the much darker interior. Pepper's tail blazes steadily just ahead of Casey, lighting the immediate path for himself, his Pokémon, and Gwen.

The hall eventually opens up onto a catwalk that circles a huge, open room- probably the main part of the factory. Viveka's more interested in filming, but after Casey's done being fascinated by the view, he gestures directly across the room. "Hey. Stairs."

"I thought this place would be crawling with Pokémon!" Gwen impatiently complains.

"It's got basements, right? Bet they're all down there," Casey nudges her in the direction of the stairs. "C'mon, we got things to do and Viveka's busy."

"Wait-" Viveka turns abruptly, partially blinding them with the Charjabug high beams. Casey and Gwen make various noises of complaint. "Normally I'm a sane person, and I don't ask for numbers from random teenagers, but I'd rather you be able to call for help if you need to."

"O-oh, sure…" Gwen reaches into her bag and rustles her hand around. "Uh, it's gonna be a bit before I find my phone."

"Here's mine," Casey says, while Gwen works. He and Viveka swap numbers, then apparently he realizes: "Oh, hey, I don't have yours either."

"There we go!" Gwen announces, holding her phone up. "Glad I didn't lose it again." Looking relieved to have found her phone, she directs her attention over to Casey. "Did you say something?"

"Give me your number," is Casey's blunt response.

"O-oh, right." She mildly blushes before telling Casey her number. "Y-y'know, I've never actually t-traded phone numbers with someone before…"

"No?" Casey says, but he doesn't look overly surprised. "Well, now you have both of ours. Surprised you don't have Flynn's, though."

"Ugh. He's certainly bothered me about it." Something about that kid's name always changed her demeanor.

Viveka types Gwen's number into her own phone. "What's your last name?"

"Alanis! You may ha-" She stops herself, remembering the past few times she's announced her relation to Jenny. Not many people even seem to know who her sister is. Was there any point to it?

"Huh. Battled someone with the same name once." Viveka shrugs, slips her phone away, and goes back to her camera. "Off with you, teenagers. Find a dark corner to make out in or whatever."

"WAIT, YOU DID!? WHAT WAS HER NAME, WA-WA-WA-wa-wa-wa-wait, wh-what???" Gwen felt an intense emotional whiplash from the women's comment, going from delirious to incredibly flustered in a single sentence. Casey just laughs, slipping his hand into Gwen's as he'd done yesterday, and just like the previous day the Unovian trainer's breathing only got heavier.

"Plenty of dark corners 'round here, long as you don't come by with those Charjabug." Casey tugs Gwen toward the stairs, Pepper bounding ahead to light the way and Parsley trailing behind.

"W-w-w-wait, I-I-I-I thought we w-w-w-were looking for machines!" Gwen's face was completely red, and in her state doesn't notice Jess unwrapping herself from Gwen to follow the duo. Casey keeps her hand in his, ridiculously casual as always.

"Sure, but I bet we'll find plenty of other things, too!" His tone falls back into his usual cheer, none of the teasing lingering in his words. "Y'wanted to see Pokémon, right? Bet they're all hiding lower down."

"O-oh, right. Pokémon."

Casey leads her hand-in-hand down to the main floor, the quiet of the factory only broken by their group's footsteps and Viveka's echoing as she moves above them. Down at ground level, the damp creeps in- with no sun to heat the building, the water coalesces on abandoned machines, dripping down the walls and pooling across the cracked floor. It's interesting scenery, for sure, and it was surreal to think about how this facility once run by humans became a natural habitat for different species of Pokémon. But speaking of which-

"I haven't seen a single Pokémon in the entire building. Besides those M-M-Morg… besides those Pokémon, anyways."

"We ain't exactly been lookin' very hard. They're prob'ly more scared of humans than Pokémon that live out near the road, so we gotta try harder." Casey slips his hand out of Gwen's and beckons Parsley forward. The Skiddo places a vine in Casey's now unoccupied hand.

"Y-yeah, I guess you're right." Gwen stares at her own hand again. That was gonna take some getting used to. "I guess, like, where do we start?"

"Dark corners, like Viveka said." Gwen nods while still focusing on her hand, but flinches a bit when the exact quote Viveka said sinks in. Casey continues, either unaware of or unconcerned with her reaction. "And we gotta find some stairs, so we're gonna be pokin' around in 'em anyway."

Gwen starts aimlessly wandering around, a seasoned skill of hers, and looks around the dim room, the faintest of pulsing lights catches her attention.

"Hey, what's that!"

"Not Viveka, that's for sure." The sweeping lights of the Charjabug are still meandering above them. "Let's go look!"

Gwen carelessly approaches the source of the light, and almost trips a few times- whatever the dim light is, it doesn't do a great job guiding the way. Pepper catches up to her to light the way, despite Casey's protests and subsequent stumbling. The dim light is joined by others- nothing brighter, just more of them- and they dance away as Gwen tries to get close, almost as if the light is deliberately trying to flee.

Parsley, apparently seeing it as a game, trots ahead of both Gwen and Pepper. Ignoring both Casey's calls and Ginger's attempts at control, he disappears into the shadows with Ginger on his back.

"Ah, shit, uh- Pepper, c'mon!" And the black haired girl tries to stay within the area illuminated by Pepper's flame as the Charmeleon and his trainer pick up the pace. Gwen tries her best to catch up, but it's near impossible to do that while also being able to see in this environment. She was almost jealous of Parsley, who left the group in his dust, wishing she could just rush forward like that. But they find him again quickly enough- prancing and bounding, as the floating lights spin and dance around him. Pepper's flame finally illuminates their true forms.

"Oh my god! It's an Inkay!" Gwen fawns over the squid Pokémon, mesmerized by its sporadic lights flashing about.

"A few of 'em!" Casey adds, watching two swoop down to nuzzle Parsley and float away again. "Good boy, bein' nice." Ginger doesn't look thrilled, but she hasn't started a fight yet.

"They're so cute!" Gwen reaches her free hand out to beckon forward one, but all she gets is confused looks instead. The Inkay collectively give the only humans in the room quizzical glances. Casey offers one his walking stick and it does its best to lift it, only succeeding when two of its fellows come to assist. They immediately spin, the heavy stick just missing Casey's head as he ducks on instinct.

"Okay, nope, give it back-"

While Casey tries to coax them into handing it over, Gwen giggles as she feels a single Inkay nuzzling her index finger. The Inkay then stares at it before opening its beak and biting down on her finger.

"OWW!" Gwen quickly retracts her hand and recoils in pain, accidentally dropping Marshall onto the dirty floor- she'd honestly forgotten she was still carrying him- and shakes her hand as if that makes the pain go away. "You little bitch!" The Inkay floats away, giggling at its mischief. Casey stifles laughter, even as the Inkay suddenly let go of his walking stick and cause him to stumble backwards.

"Hey! Don't just run away from me like that!" Gwen tightens her fists, but jumps once she hears a new sound- an ominous murmur far lower than the gentle squeaks of the floating Inkay, whose voices falter at the noise. Their lights dim and as one they flock to a brighter, larger light as the noise changes to a sharp command.

Floating from the shadows is a Malamar, full-grown and menacing as it advances upon the teens and their Pokémon. Parsley skitters back, coming to hide behind Casey, and even Pepper takes a halting step backward.

"OH MY GOD, IS THAT A MALAMAR!?" Gwen shouts with excitement, absolutely tone-deaf to the implications of the situation. Casey runs a hand across his face with a groan and shifts his stance as Malamar looks in their direction with glowing red eyes, and shoots a beam of psychic energy towards her. Casey sidesteps quickly, his Pokémon following suit. Gwen tries to hop out of range, but moves too late- she's hit with the Psybeam and is knocked onto her rear a few feet.

"Ah, shit- Parsley, Leech Seed!"

"Wha-" When she looks up, Gwen's blurry vision witnesses the root-wrapped Malamar multiplied into three, all of them shifting their positions around. Could Malamar even learn Double Team? Looking around, she notices how there's also multiples of Pepper, Casey, Jess… everyone in the room. That answered her question at least, but now her biggest problem was how screwed up her vision was.

Gwen tries standing up, but nearly stumbles and falls, feeling the weight in her head completely vanished. She's able to pick herself up from it, but she's completely lost her balance, and can't even stand up without wobbling. Luckily, Casey is on top of distracting the Malamar. It's hard to tell what's going on with her vision so skewed, but she watches Parsley throws Ginger high in order for her to come down foot-first onto the Malamar's beak. Ginger flips away to be launched again by a shove from Pepper's sticks, held parallel to each other to create a platform. Malamar takes only one of Ginger's spinning kicks to the face before plucking her from the air with one tentacle, coiling it around her small body and squeezing.

Gwen tries aiming a Pokeball at Jess, knowing she's weak to a psychic-type, presses the button in the center to beam a laser at her Ekans, but completely misses- it's pretty difficult to aim at Jess when there's three of her that all swap places. "Argh, goddamnit! Uhh, Marshall, use Water Gun or something!" She tries pointing at Malamar to guide her Pokémon, but Marshall looks in a different direction to fire off a water-type attack at its body and catches Malamar's attention as it flinches from the pressurized water blast. "That's something, at least."

"If you can't battle, just let me deal with it!" Casey huffs out a frustrated breath as Ginger writhes in Malamar's grip. "Thunder Punch!"

Ginger's crackling feet kick at Malamar's tentacle, barely making contact. It seems surprised, at both the kicks and the pulsing drain of energy from the roots around its lower half, but simply squeezes Ginger harder. The Buneary's kicks slow as she gasps for breath. "Parsley, grab her! Pepper, jab the- the shoulder, or whatever!"

Parsley's vines wind around Ginger and Pepper darts in, flipping the stick in his right hand and jabbing it up into the space where Malamar's tentacle meets its body. The tentacle goes limp and the Pokémon hisses in alarm as Ginger is torn from its grasp and flung to Casey, who catches her easily. Pepper strikes with his sticks again but Malamar's working tentacle snatches one and lashes out, dark energy surrounding the stick at it smacks Pepper across the shoulder in return. The Charmeleon stumbles, but yanks the stick back before Malamar can retract its tentacle. It shudders as the glowing roots across its torso pull energy into Parsley.

"Circle!"

Parsley begins his trot, just like he had against Gwen and Flynn the day before, and Pepper does the same. The Malamar's eyes track the Charmeleon, but that only allows the Skiddo behind it to execute Casey's order of "twelve". Leaves cut through the air, some tangling in Malamar's "hair" but most echoing as they strike metal and concrete beyond their little circle of Pepper's light.

"Hey, I want in on the action!" Gwen's vision clears slightly, but she still feels light-headed. "Marshall, uhh, just, do your thing!" Marshall interprets this as another Water Gun, clearly irritating the Malamar whose already occupied with one trainer. It screeches and extends a tentacle around Marshall, lifting him into the air and squeezing his torso. The attack hurts, but Marshall doesn't really show it, but that doesn't concern Gwen any less.

"God damnit! Give him back!" Gwen tries to rush up to Malamar, but she trips and falls, using her hands to catch herself. She feels her eyesight going fuzzy again, and writhes in frustration, feeling useless. Jess and Bead were both dead meat against a dark and psychic type, and the rest of her Pokémon weren't much better off. Maybe Pix could do something, but even then she could barely muster up the energy to toss her Pokeball. On the bright side at least, she satisfied her curiosity of what it's like to be hit by a Pokémon.

Not privy to her musings, Casey continues his attack. The Malamar whirls to face Parsley's second onslaught of leaves but is distracted once again by Pepper, calling its attention back with largely ineffective swats to its elongated, glowing torso. But the damage isn't the point, apparently- when Malamar turns to him again, Pepper blows a Smokescreen into its eyes, concealing Casey's real plan.

Ginger, flung in the style of a discus thrower, uses the spin and force Casey has put behind her to slam a kick into the side of the Malamar's head. The Pokémon reels, reaching out blindly with its unoccupied tentacle to grab at whatever has hit it, but Ginger is snatched back by Parsley as Pepper puts himself in the tentacles's path. It winds around him, lifting him to eye level- Pepper jabs at the soft tissue of the other tentacle, releasing Marshall, but the glowing eyes lock onto Pepper and spin in the same way Gwen's head does.

"Pepper, look away- Parsley, Pursuit!"

Parsley's fast, but still hits the Malamar just too late and Pepper goes limp in its grasp, fully asleep despite the battle around him. But the Malamar is clearly worse for wear- it seems like it can't hold Pepper's weight and drops him to the ground, shuddering as the roots drain more of its energy. It glares at the trainers, drawing a deep breath.

A thunderclap and the smell of ozone in the air follow a blinding flash of crackling lightning that strikes the wet floor, sending electricity coursing through Gwen and bringing Casey and Parsley to the ground. When their vision clears, Malamar is gone- leaving only Pepper asleep and Marshall completely unaffected.

This wasn't an entirely new sensation to Gwen- she'd been shocked by Custard a few times- but Malmar's electricity was far stronger. She had already been struggling to get on her feet, and this only made things more difficult- her limbs just weren't responding to her brain. She hears Casey groan and drag himself to his feet. "Parsley-"

The Skiddo's hooves echo on the floor as he meets his trainer next to Pepper's limp form. The flame of his tail is banked in sleep, but flares again when Casey sticks a piece of something in his mouth. "Good thing I swiped those from Arthur, huh?"

"Wait, what is that?"

"Chesto Berry. Arthur said they weren't ripe enough yet, so I took a few. Seems like it works alright for breaking sleep, though." Pepper nibbles on the blue fruit under his own power now, making a face at the dry flavor every time he does but continuing anyway. "Actually-" Casey rummages in his bag, Pepper's sticks clattering as he does. "This one might help if you got dizzy."

He waves a pinkish fruit in Gwen's direction, and while not great for her given how dizzy she is, she immediately recognizes it. "That's a Persim Berry! Give it to me!" she desperately demands. "Malamar really fucked with my head. Literally."

"Literally?" Casey asks, as he makes his way over to her, then shakes his head. "Nevermind, don't wanna know." Parsley, behind him, scoops up Marshall and sets him next to Ginger.

"What's that's supposed to mean?" She raises an eyebrow to Casey, confused by what he means, but it doesn't matter. She tries reaching her hand out, but does so very slowly. She's able to toss it in her mouth and start chewing, but the texture is a little different from what she'd expect- definitely not fully ripe, but she couldn't afford to be picky right now. She feels her lightheadedness alleviate as she chews on the berry and swallows it, but still finds it hard to stand up. "Did I get paralyzed by that damn Thundershock or something? It's hard to move."

"I dunno, d'you wanna Cheri, too?" Without waiting for an answer, he fishes a small red berry from his bag and sticks it directly into Gwen's mouth. Her face temporarily flashes red, but starts chewing on it regardless. The spiciness of the berry comes as yet another shock, but it's a nice flavor. It definitely makes for good seasoning when chopped thoroughly, or even just as a snack.

After swallowing the Cheri Berry she's finally able to stand on her own two feet and stretches her limbs out. It was nice of Casey to offer her berries, but it bothered her how he didn't offer one when she was very clearly affected by Malamar's Psybeam.

"Why didn't you give me one when I was super dizzy a bit ago?" Gwen asks, somewhat passive aggressively.

"Was a bit busy directin' three Pokémon in a fight, wasn't I?" Casey says mildly.

"Sure, but like…" She stops to think about her words. Even if she was a little upset with Casey, she worries about how her tone might negativity impact her friendship. Maybe it wasn't great of him to not tend to his friend who should have easily recognized her status, but it's not worth getting into a fight over. "Uh, yeah, you're right I guess."

Casey gets up properly and glances around, taking stock of his Pokémon. He looks vaguely surprised to see Marshall sitting behind Ginger, but doesn't comment on it. Instead, he says: "We should prob'ly get to doin' our actual mission, huh?"

"Y-yeah. You're right."

For once, aimlessly wandering didn't get Gwen into something she was completely unprepared for.

Well, "aimlessly wandering" might be a bit of an exaggeration- She is still currently traveling with Casey, someone much more attentive than her, and both being guided by Pepper's tail flame. But she doesn't really think about that; rather, her mind is struck with thoughts about her relationship with Casey. She's pretty sure they have something good, but it feels like just a second ago that could have been jeopardized if Gwen got on his bad side, which she feels she almost did. She could always ask Casey directly, but well, that would be a challenge. The possibility she'd receive any sort of rejection just isn't worth the risk.

THUD

The sudden loud noise has Gwen jump. "WHO'S THERE!?" She panics and frantically looks around. She finally takes in her surroundings, sees the corner where two crumbling walls intersect. Looking past this particular corner reveals an entrance to a long hallway, and looking down has her realize the source of the noise.

THUD

It's just Marshall walking into a wall.

Gwen giggles, but it was pretty embarrassing that her own oblivious Pokémon ramming into a wall for god knows why caused her to jump. "Alright Marshall, I think it's time you go back in your ball." She grabs his Pokeball and has him retreat. Gwen looks back at Jess, and does the same with her before attaching both Pokeballs to her belt.

Casey chuckles. "He shoulda stayed sittin' on Parsley."

"Yeah, I guess." She shrugs before looking down the dark hallway. "Hey, I wonder if anything is down there?"

"Might be a stairwell. It kinda looks like the hall upstairs." Casey strides ahead, Pepper at his heels to light the way, and Gwen quickly follows suit. Looking around the dimly lit hallway shows there really isn't much of anything here. Just the right environment for her mind to wander again.

Since her and Casey had officially been friends since last night, how close exactly were friends supposed to be? Jenny always told her to make more friends, but never specified the exact steps to how friendships work. Maybe the relationship that she and Jenny had was supposed to be an example of how these things play out. She never fought with her sister or anything, so it might have been a good idea to hold her tongue after the Malamar attack. But to what degree was her friendship supposed to replicate her relationship with her sister? Would she have to end up opening up about everything? Including…

No. Never in a million years could she even consider confessing that. Back to square one there.

Casey opens doors as they make their way down, but apparently none of them were interesting enough to linger on. The final door, though, turns out to be the stairwell they were looking for- one tight spiral later, they find themselves in another hall, pitch-black but for the light of Pepper's flame.

"Didn't think the sun was doin' much for us up there but… proves me wrong I guess!" Casey observes cheerfully.

Any details the light reveals are just as uninteresting as the hall of the last story. There are a few doors scattered throughout, and Dr. Quartz's map shows the device is somewhere on this floor, but the problem comes in figuring out which room. Casey continues to open random doors and wander in, giving a cursory scan for Quartz's device and wandering back out, but that clearly is getting them nowhere. He shoves open a set of double doors and finally perks up.

"Hey, this room is big. And looks like a lab. Like maybe they did machinery tests here? Wait, isn't something like that marked on the map?"

Gwen checks the map to verify Casey's claim, squinting her eyes as she examines it. "Well, the map says the room the device is in is like, uh, three rooms behind this one. How are we supposed to get there from here…"

"Behind?" Casey peers over her shoulder at the map. "Wait, no, we're… here, and i think we came in this door. So it's… no, that ain't right."

He disappears from behind her and the light goes with him as Pepper follows his trainer, Gwen hurrying to keep up. He disappears into one of the rooms they've checked before. "It's this room, that's what the map says!"

"So that means the device is here, right?"

"Uh… no." Casey, Pepper, and Parsley cluster around a hole in the floor, peering down. "I think it… fell?"

"What do you mean it fell?" Gwen gives him a quizzical expression.

"It fell," Casey repeats, shrugging. "I've looked all around this room twice now and it's nowhere, but there's a hole in the floor here. See?" He sticks his walking stick into the hole, as far as it can go, and it doesn't make contact with anything. "Too bad it's dark, or I'd just jump down. Unless it went through two floors. Quartz said there were lots of basement levels, right?"

"I guess so, but how are we gonna get down there. What if I used Jess to lower us down…" Gwen freezes to think about what she's saying. "Well, could she even carry either of us? I'm… a little heavy, so probably not."

"An' I'm too heavy for even Parsley to lower. But mostly I was thinkin' we'd just go back and use the stairs."

"Oh yeah." Gwen freezes for a second, looking dumbfounded. "I mean, yeah sure, even though it's not as cool."

"I can make anything cool!" Casey says with faux-haughtiness as he leads the group back the way they came, stepping easily around the previously encountered messes of rubble and abandoned memorabilia. The stairwell seems to be clear all the way down- well, as far down as they can see- but Casey pauses at the door to the next level.

"We should prob'ly split up, right?"

His suggestion comes as a shock to Gwen, who was starting to feel comfortable around him. "Wait, split up? But, why?"

"I wanna be back at the lab by lunchtime, so we should try to get this done pretty quick. An' we don't know if it fell one story, or two, or three. Couldn't see down that far! So I'll go see what's on this floor, and you go down to the next one, and if we find it then we call each other."

Casey's suggestion is sensible, but it doesn't sit right with Gwen. She doesn't want to risk upsetting Casey, but she also doesn't want to separate from him. But it's either one or the other, and she has little time to decide.

"Yeah, alright." Gwen sighs. If she separated from Casey now, she'd at least get to see him later- The same couldn't be said for if she got on his bad side. Casey waves as he starts out to explore his floor, taking Pepper's light with him. Gwen watches as he disappears through the hall, upset about their decision. He'd be back, but to her it feels eerily familiar.

Don't worry champ, we'll see each other again during Spring break!

She shudders as the memory flashes in her mind. She feels herself being consumed by her thoughts, but is taken out of it by a Pokeball on her belt wiggling, to which she grabs and presses the white button to send Bead out.

"What is it, Bead?"

The Misdreavus only swoops behind Gwen and grabs her by the back of her flannel and pulls her back towards the staircase. "Hey, watch where you're going, I could fall!"

Even if Bead can be pretty annoying at times, it was good to have him out again- that sure as hell wouldn't happen with Casey around.

Gwen's team

In retrospect, splitting off from Casey was probably a bad idea, solely based on the fact that Gwen had lost her best light source while in a dark abandoned factory.

She's not completely out of luck at least- Bead's "necklace" can emit enough light so that Gwen can sort of see in-front of her, but compared to Pepper's flame, is significantly less bright. It's more like a night-light than anything, but at least it's functional. Bead, having spent most of his life living a nocturnal lifestyle, has his eyes better adjusted to see in the dark, and he's able to quickly pull Gwen out of the way of any fallen objects on the ground. The two make a decent duo for this mission.

The first thing she notices is another hallway, but it was much shorter than the two she just walked through, and this one has no doors. That only leaves her to exit the foyer, where she sees lots of machinery, nothing she knows a name for. She follows the direction Bead yanks her flannel in, but there's no guarantee he's any more confident where he's going.

Gwen makes lots of more turns, left and right, and isn't any more sure if she's getting closer to the device. The most that stands out to her is the light coming from this one hall that's matched with crackling sounds- Hey, wait just a second.

She's not sure where this came from so suddenly- She probably just spaced out again- but that doesn't matter. Gwen runs up to the entryway, Bead occasionally halting her momentum so she doesn't trip, and looks down it. She spots a school of Tynamo, all floating through the air, and emitting enough electricity to light up the hall.

"Wooooow!!" Gwen enthusiastically squeaks, admiring the school of eels, in awe over how they move through the air as if they're swimming. "I wanna-"

She's taken out of her thoughts when Bead forcefully nudges her forward. "Jeez, alright, alright!" She begrudgingly treads through, doing her best to avoid making contact with any Tynamo. Some of them float pretty close to the floor, and Bead does his best to make sure Gwen doesn't step on any- His trainer would feel a chain of all their combined electric energy pulsing through her, and he isn't about to find out the type effectiveness electric attacks have on humans.

After the pair carefully make their wall through the corridor, they see the end is another hallway entrance. Looking left shows nothing but darkness, but to the right, the population of Tynamo continues.

"They might be feeding off the electricity from the machine!" Gwen's eyes brighten as she thinks out loud to herself, and again carefully tip-toes through the crowd of electric-types.

Reaching the end of the hall was the same business as before- to her left was more Tynamo and right was complete darkness. Unhesitantly, she gets ready to trek through the hall with a light source, but she suddenly feels something tap on her shoulder.

"GAAAAAAAAHHH!!!" Dreading the worst, she jumps into the air and lands on her feet facing the opposite direction. She expects to see another Morgrem, or even worse, a Grimmsnarl. What tapped her shoulder, however, wasn't a Grimmsnarl, Morgrem, or even a Pokemon-

It was just good ol' Casey Holt, grinning widely and holding his arms behind his back. He probably gave up on his search on the above floor.

"Oh, Casey." She exhales. "Boy, am I glad to see you!" Casey simply waves as he continues to smile, saying nothing. Gwen studies him, but notices a few things missing.

"Hey, why isn't Pepper out?" She asks, raising an eyebrow. Casey still says nothing, and just shrugs.

"Well with the Tynamo lighting up the way, I guess we don't need him out." She chuckles. "I thought you'd have a better answer than that, though." Casey simply scratches the back of his head in embarrassment. Gwen further examines him, not being able to help that something seems...off.

Whatever it is, it can't be that important. "Oh well." Gwen shrugs. "Let's go already!" The Unovian girl turns around to march down the lit hallway, but abruptly halts when Casey unpromptedly grabs onto her hand. "Wh-wh-wh-wh…"

Gwen turns around to see Casey pointing to the dark passageway while tightly squeezing her hand. Normally she'd question the strange decision, but in her current state, she was rendered near useless. "B-b-b-b-b-but, th-th-th-WAA!!!!" Regardless of any interjections Gwen is unable to make, Casey strings her along into the pitch-black corridor. As the light-source fades further and further away, Gwen does her best to think up why exactly Casey makes such a baffling decision. But it starts to make sense when something Viveka said floats through her mind.

"Find a dark corner to make out in or whatever."

Is THAT what his goal is? It did feel very illogical of him to go along with such a plan, especially when yesterday he told her straight that it was an act. Maybe he changed his mind? What else could drive such strange behavior?

"C-C-C-C-Casey, n-n-n-now isn't the t-t-t-t-time f-f-f-f-f-for-"

As Gwen stutters her way through the sentence, Bead has just as many questions in his mind as his trainer. How did he navigate these dark rooms without his Charmeleon? Why would he just abandon his task? Why wasn't he talking? Maybe there's an answer to these he's overlooking, but that still leaves the most puzzling question of all;

Wasn't this kid scared of ghost-types???

Bead has a suspicion of what's going on, but currently it's too dark to test it, and his neck light isn't a very adequate light-source. And even if he has decent night-vision, this was something that Gwen needs to be able to see.

Casey continues to drag Gwen through the darkness for what feels like an eternity. Thoughts about what Casey's intentions are and if she feels the same way race through her mind, all while the blonde boy says nothing. He must be really determined about this.

Eventually they do come across something of note- A dim light flickers up ahead. As this becomes visible, Casey kicks his speed up, and Gwen has no choice but to follow with their hands locked. Getting closer reveals it's some kind of backroom with a single light-bulb overhead, which shows the room as completely empty, and the only entrance or exit is where the trio just entered from.

By this point, Gwen thinks she knows full well what Casey's aim is, and her face turns as red as a tomato. "C-C-C-C-Casey, I-I-I-I-I-"

The boy still says nothing, and all he does is just stand against the back wall of the room, grinning widely again. Now that Gwen could actually see, Bead decides this as a perfect time to act, and floats out from behind Gwen's back. He barks at Casey, who literally barks back, oddly enough, and swoops forward to collide into the young man. Gwen wheezes in utter astonishment at the sudden decision of her Pokémon.

"B-B-B-BEAD, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU-"

Making abrupt contact causes Casey to suddenly be engulfed in a white light, to the absolute confusion of Gwen. Bead's intuition was correct though- Whoever was leading them certainly wasn't Casey.

"What the-!"

The character who was thought to be Casey morphs, shrinking to a quarter of his previous size, and into the shape of a small quadruped creature. The white light fades away, exposing a small, black fox Pokémon that Gwen stares dumbfoundedly with her jaw on the ground.

"What the… A Zorua!?" This certainly explains a lot in retrospect, but that didn't matter currently, as Gwen felt rage fuel her. Being manipulated into experiencing a bizarre range of emotions by a Pokémon isn't something she's very happy about. She wishes Dr. Quartz mentioned something about Zorua inhabiting the perimeters to prepare her for this. "I've been fooled by a Zorua this entire goddamn time!?!?"

The Tricky Fox Pokémon mischievously snickers before it zips under Gwen's legs to escape. Gwen turns around, yelling "Get back here!" but freezes when she sees an additional character behind her who seemingly came from nowhere. The Zorua leaps onto the shoulder of a shadowy figure that walks out from the darkness Gwen emerged from not too long ago. It doesn't take long for her to realize who exactly decides to show up.



"What's the matter? Disappointed about your lover boy!" The eerily recognizable voice cackles, sending chills down the girl's spine. It starts to become clear why Quartz brought up no word of Zorua.

"Y-y-you!? Wh-what are y-y-y-you doing here!?!?"

The figure walks out from the shadows, revealing himself to be draped in a black cape and a black mask that hides his eyes- Gwen just now notices it resembles the face markings of an Impidimp. His face covered in piercings and unique haircut make it unmistakable who this figure is.

"You know damn well what I'm here for!" He asserts harshly, his jagged voice echoing through the small room. "I was humiliated by some weasley brat in Cerulean who stopped me with some cheap tricks! Now that I've managed to get you out here alone, I'm here for revenge, bitch!" The Masked Man grabs a Pokeball from somewhere behind his cape, menacingly smirking Gwen down with his teeth exposed. He tosses it to the ground, sending out a navy blue Pokémon with a feather on its head and stands on two legs, flashing the sharp claws on its hands.

He has a Sneasel too, huh? Oh boy, I might have needed to be prepared for more than just Morgrem, but I'm ready for this at least…

"Pix, I need you!" Gwen tensely tosses a Pokeball of her own, sending Pix onto the floor. The single lightbulb in the room appears to get significantly brighter as she's sent out, an illusion created by her Drought ability. Despite the obvious type advantage she has, the Masked Man's vicious smirk only widens.

"Bring it on, you little shit!"

This should be enough to actually deal with Morgrem Guy this time around, but given his smug confidence, Gwen remains uncertain how cocky she can be right now.

Gwen's team

Going by type advantage alone, the rematch Gwen is about to have with Morgrem Guy should be a walk in the park. Her Pokémon have drastically grown in the past few days, and Pix's Drought ability should be enough to close the gap between the two. Bead recognizes this as well, and spectates from behind his trainer's head.

"Pix, use Incinerate!"

"Sneasel, Fake Out!"

Pix charges up a fire in her mouth, but Sneasel gets incredibly close to her in a split second, hitting her straight in the face with his palm to make Pix flinch and lose her focus.

"Now, Icy Wind!" Rolls off the Masked Man's snake-like tongue, and his Sneasel exhales a freezing cold fog which expands into the small room, temporarily blinding both Gwen and her Pokémon.

It's not long before the fog clears up, revealing the tile they used as a battlefield to be covered in a thick layer of ice, and the overhead light-bulb's harsh light is severely muted. Sneasel briefly vanishes, but reappears as two instead of a single being- Very obviously Double Team. When visible again, the Sneasels use the ice layer to gracefully slide across the floor, giving the appearance they're both ice skating as their movements are in perfect unison.

"That's nothing we haven't dealt with before! Pix, you know what to do!" Determined, the Vulpix tries with her Fire Spin technique, charging up a ball of fire in her jaw, and hops into the air- Or at least she would have, if her feet weren't currently frozen to the ground, something she and Gwen just noticed. "O-oh, right. Icy Wind hinders movement."

"Good to see you remember what they taught you at trainer school." The Masked Man cackles maniacally. "Sneasel, Triple Axel!"

Both Sneasels gradually close in, spinning on the ground like tops with one leg kicked up where ice begins to form around. Sneasel and his copy slide in to deliver a frozen foot to Pix's left and right cheeks, each one targeting a different side.

"Uh- Pix, melt the ice with Incinerate!" Pix tries again to charge a fire in her mouth, but her concentration breaks when two more ice kicks hit her face in two different directions, feeling a greater pain than she previously did.

With both Sneasels backing away, preparing a third and final strike with Triple Axel, Gwen's mind flails around, struggling to think of a path to avoiding defeat. Her breath kicks up and she starts to panic and lose focus, even as the Sneasels once again use their spinning momentum to fill the distance that stood between them and Pix, their soles of their feet smashing into her face from both sides. The sound of ice shattering against Pix's head takes Gwen out of her detached anxiety, but does little to alleviate it.

"PIX, NO!!!" Despite all the damage she's taken, Pix still stands her ground- Although with her feet frozen, it'd be hard not to. Gwen heavily considers switching Pix out, but she was the only real match for Sneasel. Still, Gwen hated seeing her Vulpix push herself to such levels, so she lifts up Pix's Pokeball.

"Vul!" The fire-type weakly yips at her trainer. Gwen furrows her eyebrows and grits her teeth, begrudgingly trusting her Pokémon's foolish decision. Refocusing her attention to her enemy, the black haired girl notices too late that both Sneasels charge forward frozen fist first, and clock Pix in the face in perfect unison, shattering the ice against her fur, and she yelps in agony. The Sneasels slide back yet again, and increase their skating speed against the ice floor with Agility. Pix tanks the hit, staying in battle for her trainer's sake, but is unsure she can take another attack.

"Trainer school didn't prepare you for this, did they?" The Masked Man kaws with his ill intent, and the young trainer shivers from being so intimidated.

What the hell!?! She's clearly taking damage from the copy, and the ice is even shattering from both sides! I thought with Double Team only one attack is real and the other is an illusion. What's his technique?

Gwen, deep in thought, ignores both Sneasels scratching their claws together to increase their power. Her eyes wander to Morgrem Guy, and staring at him for a few seconds has her eyes light up. Something he had at the start of the match is missing- and that might explain the Double Team conundrum.

"Hey, wait just a sec!" Gwen points directly at the Masked Man, who cocks an eyebrow on his sadistic expression.

"Oh? Why don't I hear your pathetic attempt to delay the inevitable!"

"Where's your Zorua?!"



That one simple question causes Morgrem Guy's to flinch. He gasps and nervously darts his pupils left and right. "He, uh, err,, I sent him- Keep your nose out of other people's business, bitch!"

Bingo.

A smug grin forms on the Unovian trainer's face, and Bead swiftly floats out from behind her head. His eyes glow red, and a small glowing energy ball launches from his mouth, successfully targeting a speedy Sneasel. She knows this one isn't a clone, because instead of disappearing into nothingness, he loses his balance and spins around in place. Normally, a Double Team clone would fade away by now, but the remaining Sneasel's eyes widen, unable to stop his momentum from sliding on the frozen floor, and shouts as he bumps into the other Sneasel. Both are knocked onto the floor, and the Sneasel that was confused glows white, reverting back to a Zorua. This entire time, the Double Team was Zorua disguising himself and using Copycat to follow Sneasel's actions.

"AHAA!!!" Gwen cathartically yells, bluntly pointing at Morgrem Guy, who freezes in a cold sweat. "You know what they say; Fool me once, shame on you! Fool me twice, fuck you!" She's not entirely sure how the saying goes, but she likes her version better anyways.

Before the real Sneasel can even regain his footing, Bead shoots another Confuse Ray at the Sharp Claw Pokémon, who struggles to stand up on the slippery floor. With nothing standing in her way now, a fire sparks in Gwen's eyes.

"Y-y-you bastard!" The Masked Man's collected composure shatters, being switched out for a whiny shriek. "That's the same cheap trick you used in Cerulean!"

"I used my Pokémon's abilities fair and square!" Gwen's confidence skyrockets, and displays a cocky grin that extends to both ears, exposing her pearly whites. "Pix, Fire Spin!"

With nothing to set her back, Pix launches a ball of fire at the floor Sneasel and Zorua lay on, and on impact, expands into a flaming vortex that traps both Pokémon. They cry in anguish, especially Sneasel, and the Fire Spin melts any surrounding ice layered on the floor- including the ice that glued Pix to the ground.

"Now Pix, let's finish them off with Incinerate!"

At the swipe of Gwen's hand, Pix spits a steady stream of flames into the fire tornado, which gradually grows bigger and bigger the more Pix's Incinerate fuels it. The tormented howls of Zorua and Sneasel eventually come to a halt, and both Pokémon lay totally unconscious on the charred floor. The Fire Spin suddenly dissipates, and Morgrem Guy's jaw drops on the floor.

"You saw that! I won!" Gwen taunts. "Now get outta here! You're messing with a future champion here!"

The Masked Man stands silent in shock for a minute before he slaps his cheeks and shakes his head. "Not so fast, brat!" His menacing demeanor is a little harder to take seriously after it was already broken into pieces. "I still have three Pokémon left!" He snickers as he grabs two Pokeballs from under his cape, and tosses them both. As expected, one of them is his malicious Morgrem, who gives a playful but deadly sneer, and is paired with a Houndoom who harshly snarls through his piercing teeth.

Gwen gulps, but remains confident, and grabs Bead and Pix's Pokeballs to have them retreat. "Thanks, both of you. You did a great job, but you need the rest. Right now, I have other friends who are better suited for this job."

Gwen's team