The Coumarine Gym was astonishing to look at. Here was an entire artificial tree, several times the size of any tree Skorupi had ever seen, filled with hanging vines, platforms jutting out from the trunk, and, of course, Gym Trainers.

Skorupi grinned in anticipation. The last good fight he'd gotten had been against Grant; since then it had been nothing but easily-defeatable wandering Trainers and Calem's ridiculously strong Wartortle. Even after the Pokemon Center's healing, he could still feel the ache where that last punch had landed.

Gym Trainers and Gym Leaders were always fun: beatable but difficult, exactly how Skorupi preferred. There was nothing more satisfying than triumphing against a powerful foe, especially if they left it in for a while so that Skorupi could exact a good finishing beatdown.

Even if he had to put up with Phantump in the process.

The newest addition to the team was floating merrily beside Kriesh, bobbing up and down as his keen eyes surveyed the gym. He looked incredibly excited, and yet as Skorupi looked at him, all he saw was the other Skorupi, back in the forest, snarling at him.

You should have stayed dead, you insignificant weakling!

He'd thought that he'd put it behind him. He'd thought he'd escaped by joining Marcus. But the story of the Marked One seemed to follow him everywhere he went.

And Phantump was a constant reminder of that. Why was Phantump even on the team? He'd had enabled those Skorupi, led the team right to them! How could he-

"Excuse me?" Phantump asked. "I'm a her. Not a him."

"Ah didn't even say anythin' about-" Skorupi stopped his protest midway through. "Fine. Whatever."

Regardless of his feelings towards Phantump, though, he had to admit as he watched her tear the first Gym Trainer's Exeggcutor apart that she was a tricky and terrifyingly effective battler, using her Ghost-type abilities to run rings around the Grass-Psychic Pokemon and ultimately bringing it down via what seemed to be her favorite finishing move, which both she and Marcus referred to as Curse. From what Skorupi saw, Phantump was able to take some of her own ghostly body and inject it into her opponent, injuring it from inside its own body. It looked extremely painful; even Skorupi couldn't help but slightly wince at the sight of the Exeggcutor writhing on the ground, Ghost energy playing up and down its body, as Phantump hovered above it, cackling gleefully.

But, as the Gym Trainer's Gloom demonstrated, Phantump's frailty was definitively a weak link. All it took was one lucky blast of Poison energy and Phantump crumpled, weakened to the point where the Gloom was able to easily finish her off.

As Medicham was sent out to effortlessly finish off the Gloom, Skorupi was already thinking about how he would fight Phantump. Definitely utilize No Escape, for one thing; the seeking rays would be quite useful in getting that necessary hit on Phantump, and as they'd trained yesterday, he'd finally managed to pull off the three-ray attack that Kriesh loved to use.

A few Potions later, they reached the second Gym Trainer. This one came with a Roselia and a Ferroseed. Skorupi was itching to take this fight, but this time, clearly wanting to save his Potions, Marcus just sent Medicham out and told her to go to town. She did so with aplomb; while by the end of it she was staggering from pain and exhaustion, she managed to beat both Pokemon by herself, to which Skorupi was impressed, but at the same time somewhat irritated.

The journey itself was more difficult than the battles. Even though the place was littered with enough safety netting to make a circus jealous, Skorupi could not avoid seeing the nervousness on Marcus's face whenever he recalled his Pokemon in anticipation of the upcoming vine-swinging challenge. There were paths to the side for the athletically challenged, but since Marcus was a fairly fit teenager those were blocked off.

At length, though, Marcus finally ascended the last staircase leading to the top, with Skorupi, Kriesh, and Phantump trailing behind or overhead. The staircase emptied out into a room, carved into the artificial treetop, with an elderly, hunched man that must have been the Gym Leader standing at the back.

"Well, hello there, whippersnapper," Ramos greeted. "That the team yer gonna use against me?"

"Got it in one," said Marcus.

Ramos's eyes twinkled as he surveyed the team; they twinkled even further as they spotted Phantump, but he said nothing until he had fully scanned the team for about a minute. "Well, I can't begrudge yeh a battle after yeh made it this far. Jumpluff!"

"Phantump, you're up first," Marcus countered.

Out of Ramos's Pokeballs came a Jumpluff, a Victreebel, and a Gogoat; the latter two hung back as the former took the field. "You've got this, Jumpluff," Gogoat encouraged. Victreebel's contribution was a somewhat supportive-sounding gurgle.

"Same to you, Phantump." Kriesh's words came as a bit of a surprise to Skorupi. Skorupi himself said nothing, simply waiting to see how the battle would go.

Phantump giggled as she surveyed her opponent. Jumpluff hovered before Phantump, bobbing up and down as if it were bouncing on air.

"Heh…that doesn't help my Grass moves much," Ramos noted. "All right, Jumpluff, Sunny Day!"

Jumpluff rose all three of its white protrusions to the sky, still bobbing up and down. "Solar Light!" it declared. Light burst from all three protrusions, arcing up into the sky, colliding and expanding where they collided.

A full-blown artificial sun, or at least a facsimile of one, formed above the battlefield. Skorupi had to avert his eyes to avoid being blinded.

"Phantump, Confuse Ray!" Marcus retorted.

Phantump responded quickly with a cackle of "Confuse Ray!", echoing Marcus as she raised one ghostly hand and sent a burst of Ghost energy at Jumpluff. Jumpluff was quick, though; it flew out of the way, avoiding the Confuse Ray with disturbing ease. "Poison Powder!" Jumpluff cried, shaking one of its protrusions. A burst of Poison energy burst forth, spreading towards Phantump.

As Jumpluff had dodged easily, so too did Phantump; she spotted the Poison Powder flying towards her and quickly rose into the air. "Leech Seed!" she cried, tossing a trio of seeds at Jumpluff, the same seeds that Skorupi had seen effortlessly down and drain at least three Team Flare Pokemon.

Jumpluff rose towards them, grinning; the reason for that action became clear when the seeds hit and bounced off, flying uselessly to the ground.

"Uh-oh." Phantump gulped.

"Flying Slam!"

Jumpluff streaked towards Phantump, gathering Flying energy around herself. Phantump giggled in response; in the next split second she was right up in Jumpluff's face.

"Astonish!"

Jumpluff cried out in alarm, staggering backwards in surprise; the Flying energy it had gathered around itself dissipated. Phantump cackled madly. "Confuse Ray!" Still reeling, Jumpluff could not get out of the way in time.

"Gah!" Jumpluff cried out as Ghost energy took hold in her mind. She looked up, clearly unable to make Phantump out properly.

Skorupi smirked. He'd seen enough of Phantump's battles to know that, more often than not, a successful Confuse Ray was the beginning of the end.

"Come on, snap out of it!" The rest of Ramos's team looked quite worried at their ally's plight.

One of Jumpluff's fluffy protrusions shook; the artificial sun in the center of the room flashed, and a beam of Grass energy similar in scale to Kriesh's Beam Impacts shot out in the opposite direction of Phantump, slamming into the floor of the Gym.

"Curse!" Marcus called.

"Curse!" Phantump echoed, lunging for Jumpluff. A grimace showed on Phantump's face as she pulled a struggling part of herself out from her body and touched it to Jumpluff.

Jumpluff howled.

Sheer pain seemed to bring her out of confusion as she plummeted to the ground, Ghost energy playing up and down her body. She hit the floor, writhing in pain and screaming. Phantump floated down, more Ghost energy crackling around her.

"Synthesis!" Ramos barked suddenly. Jumpluff, her face nearly as white as her fluffy protrusions, screwed up her eyes. The artificial sun flashed again; Jumpluff screamed again, but this time it trailed off into heavy breathing. The Ghost energy around her dissipated, fizzling into the air as Jumpluff gasped.

Phantump's face fell as Jumpluff looked up, clearly drained from the Curse but still ready to fight. If Skorupi had to guess, Phantump had never seen someone recover from Curse before.

What's more, Jumpluff looked furious; where her voice had previously been somewhat chipper, now it came as more of a low growl. "Solar Blast."

"Down!" Marcus's shout sent Phantump into a dive. It was well he did, for the sun flashed again, and this time the concentrated beam of Grass energy was perfectly on target. Or at least it would have been if not for Phantump forcing herself to move faster than Skorupi had ever seen her move.

"Poison Powder."

The downside of moving that fast, of course, was that Phantump was unable to arrest her momentum before she slammed straight into the spray of Poison energy that spewed from another of Jumpluff's protrusions. She fluttered away, coughing as the poison rippled through her system.

"Ingrain!" Marcus cried.

Phantump echoed the order yet again (clearly she'd taken a liking to the human names for her techniques) as she sent a surge of Grass energy into the ground. In an instant several twisting, winding roots burst from the ground, wrapping around her body in a surprisingly swift and brutal display.

Whereas before she had been quite mobile, now Phantump was locked in place by the roots twisting around her body. At once, Grass energy began pumping up the roots and into Phantump's body.

"Tradin' mobility fer defense?" Ramos murmured with an eyebrow raised. "Interestin' strategy, whippersnapper, but it leaves ye open. Solar Beam! Pummel it!"

"Growth!" Phantump cackled, seeming surprisingly unworried even as the sun flashed yet again and Jumpluff's topmost protrusion began to glow, first yellow, then white.

Just as Jumpluff fired her Solar Blast, Phantump erupted.

"Whoa!" Judging from Phantump's surprised cry, even she hadn't expected such a flurry of roots to sprout from her body and even the roots created by Ingrain. None of the roots were very thick, but there were a lot of them. The Solar Blast slammed into a suddenly erupting wall of roots, exploding in a burst of light that forced Skorupi to avert his eyes again. He looked back as soon as the light died down; though the roots the Solar Blast had struck were cracked, broken, and oddly enough burnt, Phantump herself looked undamaged, and even better, was surrounded by a thick wall of roots on all three other sides, to the point where Skorupi could barely see her through them.

Marcus, too, looked surprised. "I didn't know you could do that," he admitted.

Ramos chuckled ruefully. "It ain't somethin' that comes up often," he said. "But as that Sunny Day Jumpluff put up supercharges her Solar Beam and Synthesis techniques, so too does it supercharge yer Phantump's Growth. Seems I've made myself a double-edged sword."

Phantump giggled. "I really want to learn how to create one of those artificial suns now. Can I do that?"

Jumpluff narrowed her eyes, clearly racking her brain for something that would be able to deal with this newest problem. Ramos was clearly doing the same.

"Confuse Ray!" Phantump cried, taking full advantage of Jumpluff's inaction. Jumpluff, however, dove to the side, avoiding the Ghost energy.

Ramos finally spoke up again. "Grass Knot! Aim for the base!"

Jumpluff nodded in understanding. "Entangle!" All three of her protrusions fired spurts of Grass energy into the ground.

The effect was immediate. Around the Ingrain-granted roots, vines suddenly sprang up, tangling around the roots and beginning to squeeze. The sound of snapping and cracking ripped through the air. "Whoa!" Phantump cried again as the not-especially-thick roots under her snapped under the pressure and she began to topple over.

"Acrobatics, before it recovers!" Ramos ordered.

"Astonish!" Marcus cried.

Phantump recovered smoothly and quickly, but this time Jumpluff was prepared for the sudden attack. Even as Phantump materialized right in front of her with a cry of 'Boo!', Jumpluff slammed a burst of Flying energy right into her.

Skorupi winced, remembering Phantump's frailty. Indeed, as Phantump landed on the ground with an audible thump, she was clearly unconscious.

As Marcus recalled Phantump, Jumpluff lowered herself gently to the ground to the cheers and congratulations of Victreebel and Gogoat. But she was shaky as she did so; even with Synthesis, Phantump's Ghost-type attacks had done a decent amount of damage.

Whoever was sent in should have a fairly easy time.

The artificial sun faded into nothingness as Jumpluff sat on the ground, resting on two of her protrusions.

"Skorupi, finish her off," said Marcus.

Skorupi stepped into the arena. "You got this," Kriesh murmured as he moved past her, quietly enough that Skorupi was the only one who heard it. But it was encouragement nonetheless.

Jumpluff's body heaved with effort as she stared down Skorupi.

"Pierce." Skorupi opened fire, tossing a barrage of four Bug energy-covered spikes at Jumpluff.

"Dodge it and Acrobatics!" Ramos cried.

Jumpluff hurled herself to the side, evading three of the projectiles. The fourth stuck in her side and she winced, nearly falling but recovering. "Flying Slam!" she cried, leaping forwards with Flying energy gathering around her.

"No Escape."

But her flight was arrested as three rays of Dark energy struck her head-on. After all the punishment she'd taken from Phantump, it was just too much. Jumpluff fell, skidding to a halt mere inches from Skorupi.

"Victreebel," said Ramos as he recalled Jumpluff. "Teach this bug a lesson."

Victreebel oozed forward, hauling himself into the arena with the two gigantic leaves on either side of his body. It only now struck Skorupi just how large Victreebel was in comparison to him; the leaves alone were about as large as Skorupi. Victreebel rose to his full height, bending down so that Skorupi could see the dark inside of the gaping mouth that occupied the top of Victreebel's head.

"I eat bugs for breakfast," Victreebel gurgled. "Literally."

Skorupi clenched his claws. "You're big," he growled. "Means you're easier to hit."

A sound that might have been a chuckle came from Victreebel's maw. "Come on then. Hit me."

"With pleasure." Skorupi charged. "Rip."

He knew that his poisons would be ineffective; Victreebel would simply absorb them. So he did what he did best, weaving Dark energy into his claws as he rushed Victreebel.

"Clutch."

Victreebel aimed one of his leaves towards Skorupi, aiming to swat him out of the air. But the swat was slow and lazy, and Skorupi fairly easily ducked under it and lashed out with his claws at Victreebel's bulbous body.

Victreebel gurgled in discomfort and swiped again. This time Skorupi scuttled to the side, avoiding the leaf as it swept across the ground, and retaliated with a swift Pierce that stuck four spikes into Victreebel's body.

"Reflux." Victreebel made a loud choking noise, crouching as he did so, and fired a massive glob of Poison energy from his maw. Skorupi scuttled to the side again, but he could not avoid all of it.

Much to his displeasure, the Poison energy that did strike him began sizzling. Pain ripped through Skorupi's back as it ate through his armor. Instantly, Skorupi rolled over, aiming to dislodge the attack, and to his great relief it ceased, though it let out an awful hiss as it ate slightly into the floor.

"Pierce." Again, all four spikes were on target. Skorupi's earlier words had not been a mere boast; it was almost impossible to miss the large, slow-moving Victreebel.

Victreebel let out a low rumble. "That hit'll be your last. Tornado."

The rumble of Victreebel's voice was echoed as a surge of Grass energy leaped from his body, emitting a low roar as it grew and grew. A tornado of Grass energy hurled itself at Skorupi, twisting even though there was no wind.

Skorupi gulped. He really needed some more defensive techniques, because he was getting really tired of staring down massive attacks and not being able to do anything about them.

That was his last thought before his claws left the ground.

He could not resist the cry of pain that erupted from him as the Grass energy battered every part of his body. He also noticed, with no small amount of alarm, that Victreebel was looming closer; it appeared he was able to control the tornado, at least to a limited extent.

At least, he had enough control to move it closer to himself.

His mouth opened wide as Skorupi struggled, unable to move in the tornado even as it slowly faded. "Time to disappear," Victreebel growled. "Swallow."

The tornado faded, and Skorupi plummeted.

Kriesh dug her claws into the ground as Skorupi plunged straight into Victreebel's gaping maw, resisting the urge to cry out in alarm. Marcus did not resist that urge. "Skorupi!" he called, fear in his voice.

"Ah, don't worry about it," Ramos grunted. "Victreebel will spit him up before too long. Now whether he'll be conscious or not-"

He cut himself off as Victreebel began to shudder.

"Victreebel?" Gogoat asked, nervousness in his eyes.

"Hurts…" Victreebel grunted. "Tummy…hurts…like insects eating at it…"

"Ah." Kriesh grunted in understanding.

"What is it?" Gogoat asked. "What's going on?"

Kriesh grinned. "Skorupi knows Infestation."

Gogoat's eyes went comically wide. "Victreebel, spit it out right now!"

"Spit…Up…" Victreebel let out a choking sound even worse than last time and horked Skorupi up. The Scorpion Pokemon went flying out, tail over claws, covered in sludge that, from the hissing it was making, was the same as the ball of Poison energy Victreebel had tossed at him earlier.

"Gah!" At least he was still conscious as he rolled along the ground, dislodging the vile substance that clung to him.

Between Skorupi and Victreebel, globs of poison lay on the ground, mixed with spurts of Bug energy. Victreebel was gasping, shaking his entire body; apparently he hadn't managed to get the entirety of the Bug energy out of his system.

Skorupi rose. "What's wrong?" he asked confidently but shakily. "Somethin' ya ate?"

Victreebel let out a deep, hateful rumble. "Reflux."

"Ah crap." Skorupi bolted to the side as another blob of Poison and Bug energy burst from Victreebel's maw. This time, Skorupi had enough of a head start to get clear of it, though from the wince he allowed some of it had managed to slop onto his tail.

Victreebel charged, moving much quicker than he usually did. Compared to Skorupi he was still marginally slow, but he was still much faster than before. "Clutch."

"Pierce." Four more spikes embedded themselves in Victreebel's body even as both of Victreebel's massive leaves, wrapped tightly around Skorupi, one around his head and the other around his tail. The Scorpion Pokemon snarled in rage, but though he struggled he was completely ensnared.

"Wring."

Skorupi howled as Victreebel roughly twisted half his body one way and half the other, producing an audible crack. Victreebel howled, too, for even as he did so Skorupi jammed every spike he could right into Victreebel's leaves.

Victreebel dropped Skorupi, wringing his hands wildly. Kriesh would have winced in sympathy if not for the sight of Skorupi, his armor cracked from the sheer force of Victreebel's brutal attack.

Somehow, Skorupi's eyes flashed open and he rose, determination mingling with pain and exhaustion. "Pierce."

That did it. Victreebel took all four spikes right to the chest; overwhelmed by pain, he toppled backwards, striking the ground with a dull thud.

"Skorupi, come back," Marcus ordered.

Ramos grinned at that. "Good call, sprout." A thrill passed through Kriesh's body as she noted the change in nickname. "Looks like it's one on one. But don't count Gogoat out just 'cause yer Fearow has the type advantage. Y'see, I've heard the sayings. People love to talk about how I'm the easiest Gym Leader. And Diantha agreed. So after the last Conference, the League decided to buff my gym up a little. Fer example, Victreebel here used to be mandated to be a Weepinbell. Poor thing had to wait an entire year to evolve. And Gogoat here is about to show ye another example o' that. Go on, Gogoat."

"Kriesh, don't get rattled," Marcus warned.

"Wasn't planning to," Kriesh muttered as she beat her wings, flying into the arena and coasting gently to a stop on her claws.

Gogoat crouched. "Let's end this quickly," he growled. "Grass Trip!"

"Up!" Kriesh was in the air as soon as Marcus's order rang out. It was a good thing, too, because she felt a sudden vine brush her claws, attempting to grasp at her leg, and she barely managed to yank it out of the way.

Gogoat looked moderately disappointed. "Grass Slash!" His next move was a pair of blades of Grass energy that lanced out from his leafy fur and rushed at Kriesh from either side.

"Sky Impact!" Kriesh dove for Gogoat, avoiding the Grass Slash by a hair as she plunged downwards, gathering Flying energy around herself.

"Grass Slam!" Gogoat lowered his horned head and lunged at the diving Kriesh. The two slammed into each other, beak against horns. Kriesh was shoved back, but so was Gogoat; the energy he'd summoned around himself combined with his horns had negated the bulk of Kriesh's attack, but it had still dealt damage.

"Grass Trip!"

This time Kriesh was prepared. She flew up into the air, opened her beak, and opened fire with a Flurry Impact. "Grass Strike!" A trio of vines extended from Gogoat's back and lashed out, intercepting the Dark-type rays in midair before they could touch Gogoat.

"Grass Blast!" This time, Gogoat merely fired one projectile at Kriesh. As before, Kriesh dove with a Sky Impact, neatly avoiding the attack. Too easy.

Then, of course, the projectile exploded.

Kriesh felt herself thrown to the ground. In an instant, vines ripped out of the ground all around her and bound her tightly, pinning her to the floor. Kriesh let out an enraged shriek, though it was muffled by the vine wrapped around her beak.

"This is what I can do," said Gogoat. "It took an entire year of constantly holding back before the League finally allowed me to use my Ability."

He chuckled at the widening of Kriesh's eyes. "Yeah, I've got an Ability," Gogoat growled. "This is the fourth Gym, after all. The training wheels are coming off. You'll be facing Abilities like mine a lot more in the future. With my Ability, Sap Sipper, I possess control over Grass energy. Those vines I threw at you, for example; to other Pokemon, the vines would have become useless once the attack missed. But to me, the vines become a mere extension of my power. Grass Leech."

The vines around Kriesh began pumping with Grass energy, and Kriesh, much to her alarm, found herself weakening. She could feel her body giving out on her even as she struggled desperately, trying to find some way of escaping the hold Gogoat held her in.

She needed more power.

Kriesh forced Flying energy into her body even as she felt herself growing ever weaker. This was her only chance; she needed to focus, needed to force herself out.

She'd always simply concentrated it in her beak, or her wings, but this time she spread it through her entire body. Then she pushed. At once she felt the vines tighten as Gogoat pushed back, attempting to force the energy back into Kriesh's body.

Kriesh pushed for one, two, three, four, five seconds, and then something snapped. At once, the energy rushed back into her body, but it did not dissipate. Instead, it gathered in her chest, roiling like a storm waiting to be unleashed.

Kriesh did not disappoint.

Instinctively, she opened her beak and sent the energy flying at Gogoat with devastating speed.

"Oh-" Gogoat was cut off by the explosion.

The vines suddenly slacked. At once Kriesh hurled herself out, tearing through the vines. Her body was still weak, drained from the prolonged exposure to the vines, but she was free.

Gogoat was on his side, groaning in pain. He raised his head blearily; Kriesh relished the look of shock and fear in his eyes as he beheld her hovering above him, gathering energy within her beak.

"Beam Impact."

"Grass Blast!"

Gogoat managed to fire off the attack, hoping to contest the Beam Impact, but he simply could not summon up enough power. The Grass Blast lasted for about two seconds before it was engulfed, shortly followed by Gogoat himself.

Ramos recalled Gogoat before the attack even cleared. At once, Kriesh landed heavily on the ground. Her wings were still weak, too weak to remain in the air for too long.

"Was…was that Mirror Move?" Marcus asked.

"I believe so, sprout," Ramos said with a grin. "And I believe this is a Grass Badge. All yers."

"Thank you." Marcus took the badge with a smile.

"Now," said Ramos. "Pardon an old man his ramblings, but I'd like to talk about yer Phantump."

"What about?" Marcus's eyes suddenly were blazing with excitement.

"Well." Ramos pulled a fourth Pokeball from his back. "Do ya know about the International League?"

"It's…an international competition between all regions, right?" Marcus asked. "Happens every decade? Where all the Gym Leaders, Elite Four, and Champions go to Kanto-Johto to compete and see who's best?"

"Yeah, that's about right," said Ramos. "Thing is, Gym Leaders are required to have a four-mon team fer that, even if they use fewer in their Gym Battle itself. And my fourth Pokemon happens to be a Trevenant. So I know a thing or two about trainin' Phantumps, and I know they're pretty tough to get a handle on. If ye want, I can give ye some pointers."

"That would be great," Marcus said excitedly.

Kriesh let out a breath she'd been holding for a little while and looked away as Marcus and Ramos fell to talking about a Phantump's strengths, weaknesses, and techniques that could take advantage of the former and shore up the latter.

"Whoo!" Phantump cried. "That was awesome! I really want to learn Sunny Day now!"

"I'm sure Marcus will find some way of doing that," said Medicham. "I was watching from my Pokeball; he seemed quite excited after you…well, turned into a tree."

It was around midday, and the team had left the Pokemon Center. Marcus had headed to a fairly isolated clearing, near Coumarine but far enough away that no one was around, and then released them while he headed back towards Coumarine to, as he said, 'get something special'.

"Was it weird, getting swallowed?" Shellder was asking Skorupi.

"Ah hated it," Skorupi growled. Then he grinned. "But it was worth it to blast that Victreebel's stomach with Grasp."

Shellder broke into loud peals of laughter at the reminder.

"I really wish I could have seen that," Phantump mused. "That sounded really funny."

"It was…somewhat amusing." Medicham's attempt to downplay the humor was itself downplayed by her obvious attempts to stifle her own laughter.

"Hey, Medicham?" Kriesh asked. "I'd like to talk to you."

"Is this about that 'Mirror Move' thing that you did?" Medicham asked.

"Yeah, it felt kinda like your Psychic Retribution," said Kriesh.

"It's similar, but it's different," said Medicham. "From what I saw, you activate it after you take damage as opposed to before. And it feels like it's very hard to dodge; harder, at any rate, than Psychic Retribution."

Medicham sighed. "Truth be told, I've stopped using Psychic Retribution. It's too much of a drain on my stamina, and nowadays everybody I fight seems to be able to avoid it. Does Mirror Move drain your stamina?"

"Couldn't tell," said Kriesh. "My stamina was already pretty drained from those stupid vines."

"We can run some tests later," said Medicham. Then her eyes averted past Kriesh's shoulder. "Marcus is here."

Kriesh and the rest of the team turned at Medicham's words to see Marcus sitting down on a nearby bench.

"Next up, we're going back to Lumiose," said Marcus. "That's where the next gym is. We've got an Electric Gym on our hands, and…I'll be honest, that one will be difficult. Clemont's got a reputation for being tough, and the only one of us with a Ground-type move is weak to Electric attacks. Skorupi, this should help, and should also be able to help with your dodging capabilities."

Marcus withdrew a TM from his pocket. "This is Dig," he said. "You'll be able to use it to channel Ground energy into your claws, allowing you to quickly move underground during battle."

Skorupi shivered with excitement as Marcus touched the TM to his armor. He sighed in pleasure as Marcus withdrew it.

"Oh, ah'm lookin' forward ta usin' this," Skorupi growled.

"And Phantump," said Marcus. "Ramos gave me this. It's Grass Knot, the move he used to break your roots and trap Kriesh. He thought you'd find it useful."

"Don't worry," said Phantump. "I will. I've already got some good ideas."

Kriesh smiled as she watched Skorupi and Phantump exult about their new techniques. She allowed her gaze to wander slightly, and so it was that she spotted a glint in the bushes across the way.

Her eyes narrowed and she peered closer. There was no doubt about it - it was those same two white eyes she'd seen yesterday. She'd brushed those off as a vision, a trick of the light, but the fact that they disappeared the instant she peered closer told her it wasn't.

Someone was watching them.

"Kriesh, you all right?"

Kriesh turned to look at Medicham. "I'm fine," she said.

Medicham held her gaze on Kriesh for a second before nodding with acceptance. "All right."

"So, Skorupi," said Marcus. "Why don't you show me Dig?"

Skorupi's claws glinted with Ground energy. He raised them and struck down, and all at once he disappeared into the earth.

Kriesh watched and waited. The rest of the team did, too. Not even a breath sounded.

Then Skorupi burst upwards, breaking through the earth some twenty feet from where he'd descended. "Oh, yeah," he growled. "Ah can definitely make use of this."

"Phantump?" Marcus called. "Use Grass Knot."

"Grass Knot!" Phantump squeaked, firing two of those constantly regrowing leaves she used for Leech Seed down into the ground. In an instant they burst upwards, twisting around each other. Kriesh could not help but wince at the memory of those same vines pinning her to the ground and slowly draining her life away.

"Good," said Marcus. "We'll practice those on the way, and Kriesh, you'll get the hang of Mirror Move. Medicham, Shellder, I think I'll try and teach you some new moves as well. We could all stand a bit of time to train, especially with a tough gym ahead of us."

With that, Marcus stood from his bench. "Let's go," he said. "We'll want to get out of here before it gets too late in the day. Lumiose is close enough that we should be able to make it before…"

His voice trailed off. Kriesh, along with the rest of the team, followed Marcus's gaze.

Standing on the path, between them and Coumarine, was a lone Absol.

Its piercing red eyes were locked on Marcus. Its expression was a mask; Kriesh could not make anything out beyond cool indifference.

Marcus took a step forward, then another, moving past his team. "Hello?" he asked. "Are you Serena's Absol?"

The Absol said nothing. Simply continued to stand."

"Do you…need something?" Marcus asked, taking another step forward. "Is your Trainer injured?"

The Absol looked up into Marcus's eyes. "Hello, Marcus," it said. It was definitely female; not, then, Serena's Absol.

Kriesh felt Skorupi shudder beside her. That was expected, considering his hatred of Absols. What was unexpected was Marcus's jaw dropping. "You…I could understand you," he said slowly.

The Absol cocked her head and gave a slow but short nod.

"Goodbye, Marcus," she said, and with that she lunged for Marcus's throat.

Funny little tidbit of information: I currently have exactly 888 views on this story.

Weird how numbers just tend to work out like that.