Kriesh would never begrudge Medicham some time off. She knew what kind of trauma Medicham had been through and was honestly glad she was even practicing with the team at all. But she could not deny that there was a difference between taking care of a flock of Spearow, some of whom could barely think for themselves, and leading a group of Pokemon of similar power level to herself.

Drapion had been amenable, if hesitant, to the possibility of co-leading when Kriesh had floated it. In his own words, "Ah'll try, but ah'm more of a fighter than a leader." Which meant that while he was perfectly adequate at leading the rest of the team in fighting, it fell to Kriesh to tackle the team's other issues.

And it very quickly became clear that it wasn't going to be easy.

The team's preferred method of handling the trauma of the Battle of Geosenge had been to attempt to bury it, which, as Medicham's example had shown, was a fine short-term strategy but in the long term only exacerbated the problem. Trevenant and Cloyster in particular seemed uncharacteristically morose. With Trevenant, it was partially due to their evolution, which they still did not seem comfortable with, but there was definitely something else deep in there. Cloyster, on the other hand, simply exhibited a symptom Kriesh knew moderately well; he threw himself into combat with surprising fervor, an action that, in Kriesh's experience, indicated a feeling of failure. Of not being strong enough to succeed.

Kriesh knew Cloyster had been alone with Marcus. She knew Marcus had been forced to engage in a fight with a member of the Elite Four. And she knew the fight had ended with Cloyster's shell broken. She could fairly easily infer why Cloyster was feeling the way he did.

As the day began, Marcus was quick to have the team split into pairs and practice against one another, promising a more hands-on approach later. Drapion had paired with Houndoom, so Kriesh had asked Medicham to pair up with Trevenant and offered Cloyster a sparring session, which also doubled as a good way to test Sniper safely thanks to Cloyster's Impenetrable Shells. His shell had been repaired by the Pokemon Center's medicine, but there was still a small crack down it, and the employees had advised Marcus to keep Cloyster out of strenuous battling while the crack healed fully. Simply raising Protects in front of blasts of energy probably didn't count as strenuous battling, if Kriesh had to guess.

"Sniper: Beam Impact."

"Impenetrable Shell!"

Kriesh reared up, firing her Beam Impact at a trajectory that would have normally sent it sailing above Cloyster's head. At the same time, though, she tapped into Sniper, commanding the Beam Impact to hit Cloyster anyway. And so it did, arcing downwards straight into Cloyster's Protect.

Sniper seemed a fairly simple Ability; essentially it made it so that Kriesh's ranged attacks would never miss. This was done by automatic redirection, the same type of automatic redirection that propelled Flurry Impact to arc around in pursuit of its targets. Flurry Impact was not foolproof, and so neither was Sniper; a target with Protect could fairly easily negate it considering there was no way to manually aim Sniper, at least not yet, and a sufficiently fast and wily Pokemon could likely trick the beam into striking another nearby target.

But a Sniper-boosted Beam Impact was a terrifying threat all the same, and Kriesh couldn't deny her excitement about unleashing it on her next opponent.

"Sniper: Beam Impact."

"Impenetrable Shell!"

Again, the arcing beam of energy slammed into Cloyster's Protect and dissipated against it. Cloyster dropped it, perspiring. It was rather hot outside today, hot enough that most of the team and even Marcus were sweating under the sun.

"Nice job, Cloyster," Kriesh encouraged.

"Thanks." Cloyster's voice seemed strained even under the praise.

Kriesh sighed. "You know, you don't have to blame yourself."

Cloyster started. "What?"

"You were up against an Elite Four member," said Kriesh. "None of us could have won that battle, not at our level."

"But…but Trevenant did…" said Cloyster. "And Medicham and Drapion…"

"Medicham and Drapion had unlocked Abilities and were working together, and from what I heard they actually lost," said Kriesh. "And Trevenant…I'm honestly not sure how he managed to beat that Chandelure, but I highly doubt he did it alone."

Cloyster still looked doubtful. Kriesh sighed again. "Cloyster. You don't have to prove anything. You're no weaker than anyone else on the team, and you're one of the two defensively strongest Pokemon I know. The Elite Four are four of the most powerful Trainers in the entire region. And you went one-on-one with one of them for, from what I've heard, several minutes. So don't think you're weak just because you didn't come away with the victory."

Cloyster's mouth slowly crept into a smile. "Thanks, Kriesh," he said, a lot more cheerfully this time.

"Sniper: Beam Impact."

"Gah! Impenetrable Shell!" Cloyster barely managed to get the Protect up in time to block the beam of energy. "Come on! I wasn't ready!"

"I know," said Kriesh. "That's part of battling, isn't it? You really think you're going to get faster at using Impenetrable Shell if you always know when attacks are coming?"

"Oh, you asked for this!" Cloyster growled. "Ice Flurry!"

"Flurry Impact!" Kriesh grinned as she fired off the barrage of Dark-type rays, striking the icicles hurled by Cloyster and knocking them out of the air. She could see Cloyster was grinning too as he fired off a follow-up Water Blast that Kriesh had to fling herself away from with a Sky Impact.

And as Kriesh backwinged, readying another Sniper-boosted Beam Impact to fire at Cloyster, she relished the genuine happiness that radiated from the Bivalve Pokemon's body.

Next on the list was Trevenant. He'd been engaging in a sparring match with Medicham, a difficult battle for the Fighting/Psychic-type considering Trevenant's Ghost typing gave him total immunity to her Aura-based moves and resisted her Psychic attacks. She really didn't seem to have a very good matchup against Ghosts.

However, one side effect of the return of her memories appeared to be a pair of interesting new moves that she had begun to manifest. The first appeared to be the ability to coat her fists in Steel-type energy to quicken and strengthen her punches. The second was more definite; in a similar vein to the crackling electricity she could manifest via Thunder Punch (which she called Electric Strike), she now seemed capable of manifesting Fire energy across her knuckles, which was the attack she was dominantly using against Trevenant.

She, of course, was calling the two attacks Steel Strike and Fire Strike. While Medicham had many strengths, Kriesh had to admit that imaginative attack names didn't appear to be one of them.

As for Trevenant…even at a glance Kriesh could tell he was still unused to this style of fighting. After his use of Ingrain during the Gym Battle with Ramos, he'd given up on the move, finding that it clashed with his style of darting around and avoiding attacks. But with his new, much bulkier and far less maneuverable form, he was using Ingrain far more often, as the move gave Trevenant far more defensive capability with the ability to summon thick clusters of roots to block attacks and also provided him healing via connecting to the earth.

As Kriesh watched, Medicham twisted around a hurled Shadow Ball with Psychic Avoidance and lunged with a Fire Strike, only for Trevenant to call out "Grass Knot!" and a cluster of roots to snake up from the ground, wrapping around Medicham's foot. She fell with a huff, yanking her foot free, and rolled to the side as a follow-up Leech Seed struck and sprouted where she had been a second ago. "Psychic Blast!" she cried, flinging a surge of Psychic energy at Trevenant that brought a wince to Trevenant's face.

Then Trevenant saw Kriesh watching from the sidelines. "Oh, hey, Kriesh! Need anything?"

"Actually, yes," said Kriesh. "Medicham, I'm gonna borrow Trevenant for a few moments. Can you snake around Drapion and Houndoom and go help Cloyster practice faster Impenetrable Shells? I bet your Steel Strike will be good for that."

"Sure," said Medicham, following Kriesh's instructions quickly and without complaint.

Trevenant grinned, their new snaggly teeth lending an eerie aura to every facial expression they made. "So, Kriesh, what's the plan?"

Kriesh inhaled, then exhaled in anticipation of what was coming. "Cloyster's curious," she said, "and to be honest, I think everyone else is too. How did you beat an Elite Four-level Chandelure one-on-one?"

As she'd reluctantly expected, Trevenant's grin disappeared in an instant. "I…I don't want to talk about it," they said, the hesitance in their voice a far cry from their usual cheery demeanor.

"Trevenant," said Kriesh softly, "if you don't talk about it, it's just going to stay in your mind, festering like a disease, and eventually it's going to consume you. I don't want that to happen to you, Trevenant. So why don't you just get it off your chest?"

Trevenant slowly blinked their one glowing red eye. "The truth…" Still their speech came slowly and haltingly as if they were straining against the words themselves. "The truth is…I wasn't alone."

Kriesh wasn't surprised at all by this. As much as she liked Trevenant and respected them as part of the team, she knew they would never have beaten Malva's Chandelure alone. "Go on," she said.

"Chandelure…Thanatos, he was called…didn't even attack me at first," Trevenant said, their voice gradually picking up in speed. "I was…thrown clear by the explosion, and next thing I know I'm waking up and I'm hearing fighting from all around, but closer to my left. So I look over and I see Thanatos fighting, of all Pokemon, Heliolisk."

Kriesh's eyes darkened at the mention of Heliolisk. She remembered all too well the smug, almost delusional Pokemon who had believed himself to be a lord and the rest of the team to be his subjects. Hadn't Marcus sent him off to a rehabilitation center?

"And so I'm like, didn't Marcus send him off to a rehabilitation center?" Trevenant continued. "The thing is…Heliolisk is actually really strong. A lot stronger than I thought he was. Like…strong enough that he could actually pretty badly damage Thanatos. But Thanatos had some kind of teleportation Ability, and he managed to outmaneuver and trap Heliolisk. So I decided to help. It was…it was difficult. Thanatos had us both down at one point, but then I…I guess I evolved, because the next thing I knew I was taller and had arms and legs. So I managed to trap Thanatos in the path of one of Heliolisk's blasts of Electric energy, and then Heliolisk just pumped electricity into Thanatos until he stopped moving."

Trevenant swallowed, their speech slowing again. "And then…he just kept going. It felt like he was trying to kill Thanatos. I…I convinced him to stop, and asked him why he was here, and he…he told me he was planning to…exact vengeance on Medicham for…for what she'd done to him. I…I called him a monster, and a coward…and then…he tried to do the same to me…and he fired so much electricity…but he couldn't control it…and I told him to stop, but he just kept going…and then…and then the roof…the roof…c…c…collapsed on top of him…"

Kriesh stepped closer to Trevenant as they completely broke down, laying one wing over his shoulder. "You didn't kill him," Kriesh whispered. "He did it to himself. It was no one's fault but his."

"I know…" Trevenant said quiveringly. "And yet…I can't get that scream out of head…I can't stop hearing it…"

"I know what it's like to see someone die," said Kriesh. "I…I lost my father when I was just a young Spearow. And…it hurts. I get it. The image, the sound…but the thing is, it already happened. It's over. You can't change the past. You can only accept that it happened, and…eventually you have to move on. It took me two months to stop having nightmares about my father's death, but eventually, I did."

"How?"

The sheer broken-heartedness in their voice, the desperate clamor for something Trevenant could use, pierced Kriesh's heart like a thorny root from Trevenant's ingrain. "I couldn't have saved him," said Kriesh. "And when I realized that…I managed to accept that he was gone. No amount of wishes, of pining, of nightmares, none of that could bring him back. Grief is…it's not pointless, but there comes a time where it ceases to be necessary and becomes actively detrimental. So, Trevenant, I know that Heliolisk was…was…" She paused, trying to search for the words to paint Heliolisk in as positive as possible and unable to think of anything remotely positive to say about him.

"He was a monster," said Trevenant. "Consumed by vengeance, by hatred. He…if he hadn't accidentally killed himself…he would have killed me. I…I'll try and ignore it. I think it'll take a little bit of time, but…"

"Take that little bit of time," said Kriesh. "The first time you see death is always the time that sticks with you the longest. But…Trevenant, don't forget that we are still a team, and we've got a Gym Leader to face pretty soon."

"Right," said Trevenant. "So…what do you want to do?"

"I was thinking we could practice your movement speed," said Kriesh. "I know you think you're crippled, but you just haven't adjusted to walking instead of floating yet. And, honestly, I need to work on the same thing…if my wings get neutralized again, I don't want to be completely helpless."

So it was that, for the next fifteen minutes, Trevenant and Kriesh began learning, with the usual stumbling, slowness, and mounting irritation, how to walk, a sight that the rest of the team attempted to ignore (with little success) and attempted to stop laughing at (with even less success).

"So, Fire Punch and Bullet Punch," said Marcus, jotting the new moves down on his Pokedex. "Not bad. Along with Thunder Punch, you're getting some decent coverage. And Pure Power…you're just swimming in new abilities, aren't you?"

Medicham nodded, still trying not to talk in Marcus's presence for fear of accidentally telepathically communicating with him.

Marcus still sounded a little more subdued than usual, though that was understandable after the stern talking-to he'd received from his parents for lying, disobeying instructions, and partaking in a full-scale battle before even finishing his Gym Challenge. It was only their very clear relief that he'd survived (and, though they hadn't admitted it, their excitement about having their son be recognized as 'heroic' by the news and the League) that had prevented Marcus from receiving as punishment anything other than said stern talking-to. That said, they'd made clear their disappointment in him, and so today he'd been less exuberant than he usually was.

"Let's see…Cloyster really needs some better offensive moves, Houndoom and Drapion need more coverage, Kriesh needs to get stronger in melee, and I really want to have Trevenant learn Forest's Curse." Marcus rattled off the list slowly but confidently. "Kriesh will probably be more useful for the Ice Gym than Trevenant, so…"

His voice trailed off as he looked up. Medicham followed his gaze to see none other than Serena stepping into the clearing, looking around at the rest of the team as they continued their practice session.

"Marcus?" Serena asked. "What are you still doing in Santalune? Aren't your Pokemon healed?"
"My Cloyster got its shell broken," Marcus answered. "The nurses said I should wait for it to fully heal, which will take a couple days, so I thought I'd stay here and get in some training. What about you?"

"My Absol." Medicham's attention, which had been fading, suddenly was fully focused on Serena. "He was fighting an Absol from Team Flare…and he got hurt really badly…they weren't even sure if he was going to make it."

So that was where Betrayer-Of-Kin and Seeker-Of-Endings had gone. Medicham had almost completely forgotten about either Absol in the throes of the fight with Hellhound, but she had noticed that Seeker-Of-Endings had not been among Serena's team during the fight with Lysandre, and Betrayer-Of-Kin had completely disappeared following the explosion.

Apparently, they'd wound up in a fight, one which Seeker-Of-Endings had lost, but clearly diverted Betrayer-Of-Kin's attention away from Marcus or his team. Medicham felt shame flood into her at the realization that she wasn't feeling any sadness at the news of Seeker-Of-Ending's injury.

"Is he all right?" Marcus asked.

"He's stable," said Serena. "They rushed him to Lumiose…they said he'll probably be conscious in a couple days."

"How long have we got until the start of the Tournament?" Marcus asked.

"A few weeks, from what I've heard," said Serena. "I'm not worried about time, just about my Absol."

"I get it," said Marcus.

"I know." Medicham only now recalled that Serena had watched her death. She knew exactly what Marcus had gone through, and while Marcus had clearly buried that particular memory, the flash of sadness that rippled through his eyes at that last exchange made it clear he hadn't forgotten it.

"Where's Calem?" Marcus asked, changing the subject.

"He's got Kadabra, remember?" Serena answered. "He's already in Snowbelle, gunning to challenge Wulfric. He seemed oddly excited, all things considered. But enough about him. Since the two of us seem to be stuck in Santalune for a couple more days, I'd like to challenge you to a three-on-three, if that's all right."

"Sounds good," said Marcus. "My Pokemon definitely won't say no to a bit of training. Would you, Medicham?"

"No," said Medicham reflexively. Half a second later she realized what she'd done and barely stopped herself from clapping a hand over her mouth.

It was with no small amount of relief that she beheld Marcus give no reaction to the word. "Great," he said. "Call…Drapion and Houndoom over here."

"Is that only because you know I have two Psychics?" Serena teased.

"No," Marcus retorted, "it's…well, I mean, it's more of a coincidence…"

"Relax, I welcome the challenge," said Serena.

Medicham quickly moved over to the ongoing practice battle between Drapion and Houndoom. Both, of course, were quite excited at the prospect of battling Serena again. So was Medicham, if only because Seeker-Of-Endings wouldn't be around. There would be no trauma, no returning memories, and no murderous Absols to worry about. This would just be a nice, standard battle between fellow Trainers, a way to unwind and forget about all their problems.

Serena swiftly released her Jolteon, Meowstic, Delphox, and Eevee onto the field. "Eevee likes to watch her mother," she said, eliciting a nod from Marcus. "All right, Eevee, get back. The rest of you, let's show Marcus how much stronger you've grown since last time we fought him!"

Meowstic and Delphox smirked at the thought, clearly itching in anticipation of the rematch. Jolteon quickly turned to Eevee. "Remember, you watch only," she said sternly.

"Okay, mama!" Eevee chirped, trotting to a spot on the grass behind Serena.

In the meantime, Marcus brought out and flipped a coin. Serena quickly called heads, and after it landed, the result came out as tails.

"Let's have you go first," Serena said.

"You've got it," Marcus responded. "Houndoom, come on out."

Serena pursed her lips. "Hmm…I don't want to send one of my Psychic-types against that Drapion…Meowstic! Sure, it's a Dark-type, but we've trained for this, remember? Just like that Skuntank near Lumiose!"

Meowstic stepped onto the field to face Houndoom. Medicham politely moved behind Marcus along with Drapion as Jolteon and Delphox settled down on either side of Eevee.

"Houndoom, let's start things off with a Dark Pulse." Marcus wasted no time in ordering the supereffective move.

"Flinching Strike!"

Serena didn't even need to give the order; Meowstic simply raised her hand and Houndoom staggered with a snarl of pain, the Dark energy he was collecting around himself dissipating into nothingness. He shook it off quickly; clearly the attack hadn't hurt all that much, but it had still disrupted his concentration, and now Meowstic was lunging forwards.

"Flashing Beam!" Meowstic's other paw came up as she rushed Houndoom with impressive speed and fired off a multicolored beam of energy.

"Flame Tongue!" Houndoom, though, was quick on the uptake, firing off a blast of Fire energy that incinerated Meowstic's blast and forced her to dive quickly to the side, only barely evading it.

"Bug energy…" Drapion growled. "That Meowstic's got some tricks."

"Serena wouldn't have sent her out if she didn't," Medicham pointed out.

"Bite!" Marcus ordered.

"Reflect and Light Screen!" Serena commanded.

Meowstic and Houndoom's dual cries mingled with one another. "Dual Barriers!" "Dark Jaws!" Houndoom's jaws clamped down on the set of suddenly-appearing Psychic barriers, and though Meowstic stumbled she seemed to take it reasonably well. Houndoom had clearly not expected to bite down on a Psychic wall instead of Meowstic's body; he stumbled, growling in surprise.

"Flashing Beam!" Meowstic took full advantage of the stumble, striking Houndoom's flank with another beam of Bug energy that knocked him to the ground.

"Dark Pulse!" Marcus called as Houndoom tumbled across the ground. Houndoom skidded to a halt, his claws tearing into the earth - "Dark Surge!" - and unleashed a blast of Dark energy straight at Meowstic. "Fairy Voice!" was Meowstic's response, emitting a similar blast of Fairy energy from her mouth. The two blasts exploded against one another, Meowstic's Fairy-type attack sufficient to keep the Dark Surge away from her.

"Flame Storm!" Houndoom was quick to follow up, firing off a swarm of small fireballs at Meowstic. "Mind Rip: Spread!" Meowstic cried. Again Houndoom's attack was countered, Meowstic's blast of Psychic energy sufficient to dissipate the fireballs in midair even if it would do absolutely nothing to Houndoom.

"Charge Beam!" Serena called.

"Lightning Beam!" "Flame Tongue!"

As Meowstic fired a jagged blast of electricity from her paw that reminded Medicham uncomfortably of Heliolisk, Houndoom countered with a swath of flames that caught and held against the blast. Medicham noticed as well that some Electric energy seemed to be crackling around Meowstic's body even as she dispelled the Lightning beam. A good thing to note for later.

"Double Charge Beam!" Serena's next order rang out in the brief silence after the two attacks had ceased.

Meowstic leaped into the air, raising both paws up, and fired a pair of Lightning Beams from her paws. Houndoom's retaliation was another Dark Surge, and again the two attacks were evenly matched. More electricity crackled around Meowstic, but even so she and Houndom seemed quite evenly matched despite the latter's type advantage.

Meowstic did have a lot of tricks. Hopefully Marcus and Houndoom could find a way through.

"Now!" Serena cried.

Meowstic landed back on the ground, abandoning the Charge Beams. "Flashing Beam!" she cried, firing yet another beam of Bug energy from her paw. This time, though, to Medicham's surprise, the Electric energy that had been gathering around her slid into the beam and went along with it, crackling even as the multicolored beam neared Houndoom.

"Flame Tongue!" Houndoom growled. It took half a second too long for Marcus to realize Meowstic's gambit, adjust, and call, "Get out of the way!"

In that half a second, Houndoom had committed.

Even as the Flashing Beam came on, the surge of Electric energy pushed to the forefront, and it was this powerful built-up Electric blast that struck Houndoom's Flame Tongue, pushing it aside to let the Flashing Beam through. Houndoom yelped as the beam slammed into him, throwing him backwards once more.

Marcus sighed. "Clever, building up your energy with Charge Beam to power up your Signal Beam," he said reluctantly.

Serena's face glowed. "Thanks! Meowstic worked really hard on that combination!"

Meowstic preened at the praise, then narrowed her eyes in concentration as Houndoom stood from the blast. Due to his Fire typing, he wasn't taking as much damage from the Bug energy as other Dark-types might, but there was no question as to who had taken more damage so far.

And that wasn't even taking into account the Psychic shields that still enfiladed Meowstic.

But at least the built-up Electric energy was gone, something that Marcus clearly saw. "All right, let's see if you can hold this back! Solar Beam!"

"Of course we can!" Serena cried. "Me First!"

Medicham clenched her fists, remembering that technique with a rub of her cheek where that copied fist had struck. But Serena had made a mistake - then again, she almost certainly didn't know about Houndoom's Power Herb. So while Houndoom's Power Herb glowed, adding its own energy to the surge of Grass energy Houndoom gathered and allowing him to fire it with his usual speed, Meowstic had no such boost, and as such, Me First copying his attack resulted in Meowstic slowly gathering Psychic energy even as Houndoom's Solar Surge came lunging towards her.

To her credit, Serena immediately realized her mistake. "Meowstic, Psyblast!" she cried desperately. But Meowstic, with no warning, could only send a thin stream of Psychic energy at the oncoming Solar Surge, not nearly enough to blunt it.

Meowstic cried out as her Psychic barriers shattered under the brutal blast of Grass energy. Medicham now recalled that Meowstic was quite frail, and while her barriers could help with that, taking a Solar Surge head-on was not something Meowstic was built for.

"Meowstic!" Serena cried as Meowstic tumbled across the grass. The rest of her team joined her in cries of dismay. But they turned to cheers as Meowstic rose, looking pained, her barriers shattered, and smoking slightly in places, but still ready to fight.

And Houndoom had pulled his main trick.

"Bite!" Recognizing that a ranged duel would just result in another standoff that Serena could win with Charge Beam, Marcus was quick to order Houndoom forward.

"Take him down!" was Serena's contribution.

However, while Meowstic and Houndoom's ranged stalemate had been perfect for Meowstic when given time to set up Charge Beams, now it was perfect for Houndoom as he lunged towards Meowstic, knocking a Fairy Voice aside with a Dark Surge and a Lightning Beam with a Flame Tongue. Meowstic's eyes narrowed as Houndoom hurled himself forwards, teeth glinting with Dark energy.

"Sucker Punch!"

In the very next second, Meowstic's fist, now wreathed in Dark energy, was buried in Houndoom's throat.

Houndoom let out a choking snarl of surprise and agony, gagging around Meowstic's fist, his charge stopped short. "Flamethrower!" Marcus cried at the same time as Serena called for a Signal Beam.

Even as a half-reflexive gout of flame shot from Houndoom's throat at Meowstic's face, Meowstic fired a blast of Bug energy point-blank into Houndoom's neck.

The resulting explosion sent Houndoom flying backwards, and this time, Marcus recalled the clearly unconscious Houndoom before he hit the ground. But as the smoke cleared, Meowstic was also flat on her back, dead to the world.

Jolteon, Delphox, and Eevee all cheered. "Good job, Meowstic!" Serena echoed the praise as she recalled her Meowstic.

"Nice work, Houndoom!" Medicham spun to see Kriesh, Trevenant, and Cloyster standing behind her and Drapion; it was Kriesh that had given the congratulations, congratulations which Cloyster and Trevenant echoed. Medicham and Drapion joined in, a flurry of cheers for their fallen teammate's performance.

"Did you really think we weren't going to watch?" Kriesh asked.

"Sort of…" Medicham didn't know why she had thought that; she'd somewhat assumed that the other three members of the team would just continue training.

"Your turn to release, Serena," said Marcus.

"Fair point," said Serena. "Hmm…Jolteon, your turn!"

"Go, mama!" Eevee's cry brought a sad sigh from Kriesh as Jolteon trotted out onto the field, prickly yellow skin shining in the sunlight.

"Medicham, you're up." Obviously Marcus was saving Drapion for Delphox, wanting that type advantage. Her own teammate's encouragements propelling her, Medicham stepped onto the field to face Jolteon, clenching her fists.

"Hope you don't mind if I use my new Ability," Medicham challenged.

"Hope you don't mind if I use mine," Jolteon retorted. "Lightning Quill!"

A swiftly fired quill, crackling with Electric energy, came flying at Medicham. "Pure Power: Aura Strike!" Medicham cried, letting fly with a swift Aura-infused punch to knock the quill straight out of the air.

Then she lunged, feet surging across the ground. Jolteon crouched. "Lightning Rush!" she cried, hurling herself at Medicham in kind, her fur crackling.

"Pure Power: Aura Strike!" Medicham called.

As the two met, Medicham's punch slammed headlong into a blast of Electric energy emanating from Jolteon, a blast which served to knock her backwards. Jolteon's full force rushed at her, but Medicham was ready. "Aura Dodge!" she cried. "Fighting Sweep!"

Quick as a wink, Medicham twisted, shifting out of Jolteon's way and ramming her foot into Jolteon's front legs. Jolteon tripped, tumbling head over tail across the grass, and Medicham pounced. "Pure Power: Aura Finisher!"

"Discharge!" Serena cried.

Jolteon skidded to a halt in time to see Medicham leaping at her. "Lightning Blast!" she cried, hurling a barrage of Electric energy in all directions. Medicham's foot, infused with Aura, slammed straight into the thick of the Lightning Blast. The explosion of energy sent Medicham flying, though she landed gracefully; so did Jolteon, though the newly-created furrows in the earth told Medicham that it had propelled her a ways backwards.

But as Medicham rose to face Jolteon again, a surge of Fire energy rushed across Jolteon's fur.

It was as if a switch had been flipped. Jolteon's entire body crackled with energy and she crouched. "Ahh, now we're getting somewhere," she said. "Quick Feet: Lightning Dash!"

Jolteon moved, if what she did could be called that. It was more like she was flying across the ground, her feet blurring as she sprinted, Electric energy crackling around her.

"Psychic Dodge!" Medicham barely managed to hurl herself out of the way even with Psychic Dodge augmenting her reflexes as Jolteon lunged for her. "Quill Barrage!" Jolteon cried, firing several of her pointy yellow quills at Medicham even as she landed. "Psychic Blast!" Medicham retorted, twisting just in time to knock them out of the air with a blast of Psychic energy.

Or, at least, that's what she hoped to do.

She realized just as she let fly with the Psychic Blast that the quills were covered in Bug energy. "Pure Power: Aura Blast!" she cried instantly as the Psychic Blast proved not enough to push them off their course. The Aura Blast did prove enough, but the distraction caused by her required fix left her wide open.

"Quick Feet: Lightning Dash!"

Something that the ridiculously fast Jolteon took full advantage of. Before Medicham could even think of using Aura Dodge, Jolteon slammed straight into her gut, doubling her over. "Lightning Quills!" A second later, three pointed quills crackling with electricity jabbed into Medicham's right thigh, chest, and left shoulder, sending a surge of Electric energy through her body. She gasped in pain, stumbling backwards.

"My Quick Feet Ability drastically boosts my speed as long as I'm feeling pain," said Jolteon. "And while that doesn't work too well usually seeing as feeling pain is generally not preferable, this Flame Orb that I'm wearing stimulates a Burn when I activate it. This means I'm constantly feeling a tiny amount of pain, but an amount just large enough to activate my Ability. And what's your Ability? Aura manipulation? Impressive, but slow."

"Not as slow as you might think." Medicham thrust her hands out. "Pure Power: Aura Blast!"

As fast as she could, she created and fired a sphere of Aura. "Quick Feet: Lightning Dash!" Jolteon retorted, hurling herself out of the way as the blast cratered the ground where she had been.

"What was that about - oh, crap."

For Jolteon had seen the two other Aura Blasts readied in Medicham's hands.

Medicham grinned. "Pure Power: Aura Barrage."

Jolteon belted out a stream of curses that prompted Delphox to quickly cover Eevee's ears on the sidelines as she scrambled away from the barrage of Aura Blasts that Medicham sent at her. They came thick and fast, and though her insane speed was enough to evade them it was not enough to do it comfortably. Jolteon ducked and wove and backpedaled as the Aura Barrage made crater after crater in the ground, spraying up dirt with each miss.

And then it happened. A near miss sent up a spray of earth that Jolteon caught an eyeful of. She hesitated for a single vital second, just long enough for one of the flying Aura Blasts to slam into her side and send her flying across the field.

Jolteon rolled to a stop, panting heavily. She was frail too; it seemed to be a theme for Serena's team. But she was still up, and excitement was glinting in her eyes.

"Seems I underestimated your Ability," Jolteon commended. "You've got decent control over it for it being so recent."

"Same to you," Medicham responded.

"Thanks," said Jolteon, "though that's mostly because of my Flame Orb. But enough talk. Let's settle this once and for all. Quick Feet: Lightning Dash!"

"Pure Power: Aura Finisher!" Medicham leaped into the air, gathering Aura into her leg as Jolteon rushed straight towards her, gathering up a storm of Electric energy as she did so.

The two neared each other, Medicham bracing herself for the hit. She knew she had enough energy left to take it, and knew this would probably finish Jolteon off. She only hoped it wouldn't do too much damage.

Medicham's foot met Jolteon's electricity, and Jolteon grinned.

"Last Resort."

"Jolteon!" Serena cried.

"Detect!" Marcus cried suddenly, an order that came too late to Medicham's ears.

And everything went white.

Medicham blinked her eyes open, letting out a groan of pain as she felt grass beneath her back. She looked over to see Jolteon, slumped on the ground, being recalled into her Pokeball. Eevee let out a mournful wail that Medicham barely heard. Her body was afire with pain from whatever Jolteon's last attack had been, pain that should not have come from the amount of Electric energy Jolteon had been gathering.

"What even was that?" Marcus seemed just as puzzled as Medicham.

"Last Resort," Serena explained. "It's basically an all-or-nothing attack; pouring as much energy as possible into a single blow that will probably knock you out from the backlash. I don't like it, but Jolteon insists on using it no matter how many times I try to tell her to stop. I dunno, though maybe it's because pain kind of feels familiar to her."

Marcus frowned. "You should get that looked at."

"Yeah, I should," said Serena. "I'm sorry, I've been so distracted with Absol-"

"It's no problem," Marcus said hastily. "Just a thing to deal with before the Tournament."

"Yeah, guess so." Serena smiled again. "So, Delphox, you're up last!"

"Medicham, come back. Get ready to come back out in case Drapion can't finish it." Marcus's voice was quiet as he recalled Medicham back into her Luxury Ball. She was disappointed to be sent back out onto the sideline a second later; she wouldn't have minded spending some time in the cool interior of the Luxury Ball, especially on this hot day.

Drapion stepped out to face Delphox, moving carefully to avoid putting his claws in any of the craters made by Medicham's Aura Barrage. Delphox raised her flaming stick. "Let us begin," she said haughtily.

Medicham did not miss that Serena recalled Eevee, petting her Pokeball and making soothing noises, as the third battle began.

"Drapion, Pursuit!" Marcus called.

"No Escape!" Drapion cried. But Delphox was quick to respond. "Blaze: Scorching Ray!" As Drapion fired four beams of Dark energy, Delphox responded with four beams of Fire energy that intercepted and dissipated Drapion's attack.

"Blaze: Burning Hands!" Delphox waved her stick again, sending a wave of Fire energy at Drapion. "Battle Armor!" Drapion retorted, raising the thick chitin over his arms as he pushed them in front of him, taking the Flame Wave with little discomfort.

"With Blaze as my Ability, I can harness the Fire energy within me to bring forth my true potential!" Delphox cried theatrically. "Blaze: Fireball!"

"Block!" This time, Drapion simply manifested a Protect to disperse the blast of Fire energy that Delphox sent at him. Tiring of this game, Drapion rushed forwards, claws surging with Dark energy. "Rip!"

"Mirror Image," Delphox declared, shifting into four copies. Much to his irritation, Drapion's claws slashed through an illusion. He rounded on the remaining three just as all three waved their sticks. "Blaze: Burning Hands."

"Battle Armor!" Again Drapion blocked off the worst of the Fire-type attack with his manifested chitin, but this time Serena was quick to give another command. "Fire Spin!" she cried.

"Blaze: Flaming Sphere," Delphox called. A sphere of Fire energy sprang up from the ground around Drapion, entrapping him in a circle of heat. He snarled in anger. "No Escape!"

"Blaze: Scorching Ray," Delphox retorted, again firing off her own flurry of rays to counter Drapion's. However, Drapion's rays did their job; while Scorching Ray was occupied dealing with the rays that came after the real Delphox, her remaining Mirror Image clones popped under a single ray each.

Drapion grinned. "Pierce."

Dark energy-infused spikes flew from Drapion's claws and tail at Delphox even as she concentrated on defeating No Escape. Delphox stumbled as they found their mark, half a dozen spikes burying themselves in Delphox's red-and-yellow fur. "Blaze: Hellish Rebuke," she growled, firing off a stream of Fire energy at Drapion in retaliation, though that bounced off a swift block.

However, despite the success of the barrage, it was clear that the Flaming Sphere was not doing wonders for Drapion. His natural armor could only protect him so much, and he didn't seem too keen on using Battle Armor to aid against the Flaming Sphere.

Drapion gritted his teeth and lunged through the flames, which clearly hurt judging by the gasp of pain he emitted, but he pressed onwards. "Rend!" he snarled, this time lunging with teeth bared and glowing with Dark energy.

"Blaze: Fireball."

"Battle Armor!" Marcus ordered.

With a swift flick of her stick, Delphox summoned a sphere of Fire energy and slammed it straight into the oncoming Drapion's face. Even under his swiftly summoned chitin he staggered, and Delphox seized the opportunity, waving her stick again. The Flaming Sphere shivered and shifted at Delphox's command, wreathing itself around Drapion once again. Drapion snarled in pain under the torment.

"I remember when this thing was just a Braixen," Cloyster reminisced. "She wasn't anything like this. Very different attacks, even different attitude."

"Evolution and Abilities can change more than just power," said Kriesh with a meaningful look at Trevenant.

"Right you are," said Trevenant.

"Drapion, Dig!" Marcus called.

Drapion grinned. "Burrow!" he snarled, slamming his claws into the earth and disappearing underground. Delphox frowned, dispelling her now-useless Flaming Sphere with a wave of her stick, and stood ready.

"Future Sight!" Serena cried.

Delphox's eyes widened as she waved her stick in the air. "Detect Good and Evil!" she cried.

"What does that have to do with this?" Cloyster asked.

"Shh!" Kriesh urged.

Delphox grinned and shifted, pointing her stick at a seemingly innocuous piece of ground. "Blaze: Fireball."

"Up!" Marcus's order came too late as Drapion, clearly not expecting an attack while underground, howled in agony under the sudden blast of Fire energy. The ground exploded, revealing Drapion in its midst; he hadn't even had time to activate his Battle Armor against the blast, and it showed in the smoke that rose from his body and his pained snarling.

But as Drapion reared and snarled in agonized rage, Delphox and Serena's eyes widened. Clearly they had not expected Drapion to still be standing after a blast like that. Truth be told, Medicham hadn't either. Then again, Drapion had taken several blasts from Hellhound and still kept going.

She shouldn't have been surprised.

"Prey!" Drapion roared, hurling himself bodily at Delphox unheeding of his own pain.

Delphox gulped at the sight of the raging Drapion barreling towards her. "Blaze: Burning Hands!" A sheet of Fire energy emanated from the stick and washed over Drapion, though this time he was ready with a swift application of Battle Armor that deflected the majority of the blast.

Then Drapion was on Delphox. "Flame Charge!" Serena cried desperately as Drapion's fangs arced towards Delphox's shoulder. Delphox crouched. "Blaze: Flaming Sphere!" This time, the sphere of flame manifested around Delphox's body and she lunged, meeting Drapion's charge with her own.

"Block!"

But Delphox had reckoned without Protect; her flames dissipated as she stumbled backwards, shaking her head from having rammed headlong into an impenetrable chitinous barrier. "Mirror…Image…" she got out, but it was far too late. This time, she had no room to switch places with one of her illusions, and Drapion's claws and teeth struck true.

Delphox howled as Drapion preyed, slamming attack after attack into her with every appendage he could sink in. Serena gaped at the ferocity of Drapion's attack, her hand loosely clutching Delphox's Pokeball. Marcus scowled. "Recall your Delphox! Once Drapion gets like this, there's no stopping him!"

Serena's face twisted into an expression of reluctant acceptance. "Delphox, enough!" she cried. Medicham caught an expression of mingled relief and sadness on Delphox's face as she disappeared into her Pokeball, leaving Drapion alone on the field.

The rest of the team cheered as Drapion roared in victorious celebration. Serena shook her head ruefully. "I really thought that Fireball would take your Drapion down…your team's tough," she said.

"How did you do that, anyway?" Marcus asked.

"I told her to use Future Sight," Serena explained. "It's…a pretty complicated technique, but basically, she was able to pinpoint where your Drapion was going to come up by looking into the future, and then she dropped a Fireball on that exact spot. Fortunately, he was right there. Unfortunately…well, he survived. Good match, Marcus."

"Yeah, good match," said Marcus. "So…Pokemon Center?"

"Definitely Pokemon Center," said Serena.

"Kriesh, Cloyster, Trevenant, keep practicing," Marcus told the trio who had not participated in the fight. They nodded and began to move away as Marcus recalled Medicham and Drapion into their Luxury Balls. Medicham sighed with relief at the touch of the cooling gel as Marcus and Serena began to step over to the Pokemon Center.