Longwei watched Poochyena run circles around the private indoor training arena. The white glow of Tackle was around Poochyena's form, slightly amplifying Poochyena's speed both by itself and by adding that extra bit of force into Poochyena's paws which then allowed them to push off the dirt just that little bit better.

After another another lap completed, Longwei had seen all he needed to see. "Enough!"

Poochyena cut off the Tackle and slowed to a stop, looking to Longwei with a tilted head and a lightly wagging tail as he panted for breath.

Longwei calmly stepped into the arena and walked past Poochyena for several steps before turning around to face them again. With the lecture already done and the demonstrations complete, there was only one thing he had left to do. "Tackle me."

Poochyena did a double take.

To make himself more clear, Longwei widened his stance as if he were preparing to halt the charge of an enraged Three-Tailed Blood Bull.

Still unsure, Poochyena looked to Luxio, who was resting just beyond the edge of the marked arena. She smiled back at him, finding his predicament entertaining.

Poochyena looked between the two of them with uncertainty clear on his face and barked a question. "But, we're not supposed to do that?" he said in pokéspeak, something that Longwei couldn't understand.

Luxio cocked her head to the side and replied with mocking mrowls. "Our human's fought stronger pokémon than you."

"Do not restrain yourself disciple. Tackle me!"

Luxio chuffed. "He even beat your cacnea friend in one hit. Just do it."

Poochyena frowned. "Wasn't my friend…" he grumbled, then took a deep breath. When he exhaled, his eyes flashed with determination. His form shone white and he suddenly charged forward, going a bit under his max speed so that he could easily adjust course or burst forward with greater speed at the end to catch his opponent by surprise. It was exactly what Longwei had lectured him to do.

But to Longwei, Poochyena may as well have been swimming through molasses.

"Toh!"

A slightly orange-glowing palm snapped out and caught Poochyena just below the neck. Even with Longwei holding back, the Fighting energy easily overpowered the Tackle's Normal energy, shattering it to pieces! Poochyena's natural Dark soul was left bare and only served to empower the offensive Fighting energy, causing Poochyena to go flying back!

While Longwei may be immune to Normal energy, he still needed something to deal with mundane kinetic energy. Only once he mastered the Ghostly Phase technique would that no longer be a concern.

'Orange? Was my Force Palm not blue before?'

Longwei had done a bit of online research before renting this room. Because of this, he knew Force Palms were typically some shade of Orange, as was true for most Fighting moves… with the exception of occasional instances from lucario and a few other notable spirit beasts. He discovered this had something to do with "aura", but online documentation of such things were as scarce as they were unreliable. Porybot had even warned him that the information they provided shouldn't be trusted.

'Perhaps it is due to my half-Fighting elemental spirit influencing the technique. It certainly feels easier to pull off now.'

As Poochyena skid across the floor for a short distance and scrambled back to his feet, looking at Longwei in surprise, Longwei tested forming the sphere technique. Curiously, it was still blue, but it did feel a tiny bit easier to create, albeit a bit strangely. He decided to figure this out later.

Luxio chuckled from the side at Poochyena's expense.

'Poochyena has grown much in these last two days. But even though he is significantly stronger than that junior's rowlet was, a pup is still a pup. I'll have to wait until Luxio is recovered before I can truly challenge myself.'

"Again!"

And so Poochyena tried once more, but there was much less heart in the attempt. Longwei barely had to put any effort to rebound them with another carefully modulated Force Palm, strong enough to knock Poochyena away but weak enough to not cause much harm. 'Demotivated already? That will not do.'

Tutting his tongue and shaking his dead, Longwei gave some encouragement. "It takes many steps to reach the peak of Mount Tai, disciple, and each step is as important as the last. You cannot allow yourself to falter after only the first."

Longwei's words had an effect on Poochyena, distracting him entirely from the futility of his own efforts. He didn't know what Mount Tai was nor had he ever been to a mountain to properly visualize climbing one, so instead what came to mind was a staircase. There were only two destinations on a staircase: the top and the bottom. Stopping in the middle doesn't accomplish anything.

Thus he recognized had two choices: either give up and be a housemon, or keep trying and get stronger. The choice was obvious.

Longwei flicked his palm out once more just before another Tackle connected, sending Poochyena skidding across the entire arena. "Again! Use every technique in your arsenal, strive to overcome my defenses!"

Poochyena charged forward again but this time with a Bite to overcome Longwei's natural immunity to Normal energy, and once more was he repelled. But he was not deterred! Again still he tried, and again still he failed!

Luxio watched them continue like this wearing a mixed expression.

In the time it takes to bake a few potatoes, Longwei concluded their training and praised Poochyena for his determination and improvement in form. A bowl was then placed on the floor, and inside it Longwei poured a bit of his brewed potion.

"Drink this and heal. Out of consideration for your efforts, I'll not suffer you with that bitter pokémart-brand filth."

Longwei also took a small sip from his flask, and like that each of their minor cuts and bruises vanished within moments.

"Mraowww…" Luxio growled in an impatient and upset tone, eyeing the flask with narrowed eyes from her prone position on the floor.

"Calm yourself," Longwei scolded, sealing his mostly empty flask and returning it to his bag, "yours is not a malady that can be cured with a simple recovery potion. You must wait until your spirit settles itself naturally."

Luxio gave another long mraow and rolled to her side like a child throwing a tantrum, hamming up how awful she had it.

Longwei scoffed. "Bah, juniors. Human or not, impatience is all they know!"

He marched over and non-seriously glared down at her. "What is this elder to do with such a reckless lion?"

Luxio smiled innocently and sat up. "Mra," she eloquently said, fishing a paw into his pockets and returning herself in a flash of light.

Longwei chuckled. "I suppose that is true."

With a shake of his head, he walked to the center of the arena and sat on the dirt floor, folding his legs in the half-lotus pose. Patting the floor beside him, he spoke. "Come, Poochyena. Join this elder in meditation."

Poochyena walked over and sat by his side, but seemed unsure how to sit and began awkwardly trying to cross his paws in a botched mimicry of Longwei.

Longwei shook his head. "The Dao flows most easily through that which is natural. Do not concern yourself with how others sit, and instead sit in the manner that calls to you."

Poochyena struggled with this for some time. They tried sitting upright like a guard dog, lying down, even curling in on themselves. When none of this worked they began pacing around, gnawing on their chew toy to vent their frustration.

Longwei remained patient, and pat the ground by his side once their frustrations had mostly passed. This was not something that could be forced; patience was needed for both teaching and learning patience.

Poochyena returned and tried once more. Again he went through many styles, and again he met failure. In another bout of frustration, Poochyena sat and stamped his right forepaw on his chewtoy—then froze. It finally felt right.

Longwei smiled. That was the imperial guardian lion pose, a good sign of Poochyena's inner nature. "Now, close your eyes… and breathe."

It was too early to teach Poochyena a more profound meditation technique, so Longwei kept it simple.

"Focus your thoughts on what you have learned from today's training. What you did, what you saw, what you felt, and what you could improve."

Leaving Poochyena to his thoughts, Longwei pulled out one of the D-grade dusk stones he'd purchased just before arriving here. He held the stone in his lap like a buddha, and then began to use the Five Phases of Heaven and Earth cultivation method.

With a single breath the stone's energies were taken into his spirit, causing it to lose its gem-like appearance and appear as regular rock. He then filtered a portion of the energy, and with a single exhale he returned most of it back into the stone, returning the stone's superficial splendor and leaving himself with a portion of the purest energy. He repeated the process until the dusk stone lost so much of its purity that it no longer perfectly absorbed light like the pupil of an eye could, causing it to look like a simple purple gemstone even in its center.

This cultivation method was a bit wasteful, but a pure foundation was necessary to form a golden core and step through a dragon gate.

Longwei stashed the dusk stone in his bag and took out another, resuming the process. D-grade stones were cheap so he'd purchased several, though he kept those purchases limited since he'd be needing that money for an upcoming project.

A while later he finished and returned the final stone to his bag. Though their purity was spent, the impure and now slightly unstable dusk stones could still be used as improvised weapons later.

As Longwei stood up he felt as if he were a hundred times lighter. Much of the spare energy had been spent on reinforcing his body, resulting in enhanced physical capabilities.

Poochyena stirred, his trance broken from Longwei's sudden movement.

"Disciple, as reward for your efforts you may use your nose to find us a good establishment to dine at."

Poochyena's eyes widened and his heart began to pound. He gets to choose where they ate? Say no more! The moment they were out the door, Poochyena's nose was to the air.

They walked through the city for some time, the indecisive pup pausing to consider many a smell and then dismissing them many times. Eventually their search brought them to an ice cream parlor with colorful outdoor seating.

The place was packed but not uncomfortably so, a trend that held true for many establishments he'd seen so far. It seemed the lockdown had been doing the local businesses some favors. A trend that might not hold for long, considering the lockdown was due to lessen by tomorrow.

"Hmm… I will have to appraise the quality of what is offered."

Longwei entered and approached one of the display booths to appraise its contents through spirit sight.

"All milk sourced from miltank…" he read under his breath. "These spirit beasts must be exceptional to render confections healthy."

'Curious that the Dao of Nutrition resonates more with this than the popular kibble brands.'

Poochyena looked up at Longwei hopefully and with a cautiously wagging tail.

Having initially expected that he'd need to turn down Poochyena's wish, Longwei smiled. "Choose what you will," he said, releasing Luxio so she could join Poochyena in making her choices. Her movements were a bit slow and shaky, but she wasn't letting that stop her.

While his two disciples pressed their noses against the display booth's small air holes that were meant to help scent-inclined pokémon make a decision — none of the ice cream in the display booth was actually served to customers for obvious contamination reasons — Longwei moved to stand in the line. Soon it was his turn, and his disciples were quick to tap their paws against the glass to signal what they wanted.

The old lady manning the register looked at each of them. "What'll it be dearies?" she asked, smiling down at the two pokémon who were eagerly tapping the glass.

Moments like these were her favorite parts of the day. Never for a single instant had she regretted settling down to run an ice cream parlor. Lost in the moment, she began scooping out the chunks of ice cream the two pokémon had pointed to without verifying the purchase with the customer, gently depositing them in waffle cone bowls with a genuine smile.

Longwei was also lost in the moment. Her tastefully deep wrinkles which showed a long history of smiling, her silky gray hair that was tied up in a bun, the emerald green of her joyful eyes… this was a jade-like beauty! Longwei was sure that in her youth she would have been a country-destroying beauty if she had the proper care.

"Hey!" an old man from the backroom shouted, poking his head out so he could be seen clearly. "Quit oglin' my wife!"

A few chuckles broke out in the building, but Longwei ignored them and nodded. He had forsook love long ago anyways. Love had no place in the cutthroat world of cultivation, a lesson he finally learned after a kidnapping had turned fatal. Destroying the kidnapper's sect and nine generations had done nothing to ease his pain.

"Oohoohoohoo!" she laughed, waving the ice cream scoop at her husband, "Looks like I've still got it! You best stay on guard Gerald, or this untamed glameow might just hop the fence!"

"Purugly more like! And don't threaten me with freedom!" he barked, but his smile betrayed the convincing nature of his voice acting.

Her following laughter was joined by the regulars of the crowd who were well used to this banter between the business owners. They all knew it was just an act; the two were lovebirds who'd been married for decades and had never been seen anywhere without the other.

Making a choice of his own and paying for their… meals, Longwei left to the outside seating area. It would have been a bit awkward to eat inside after being the star of the host's latest skit.

Longwei sat down at an empty table surrounded by a round bench, setting their plates that had the waffle bowls onto the table as he did so. Poochyena sat on the benchside opposite of Longwei and began slowly digging in.

Longwei was about to eat as well until he noticed Luxio was laying on the floor. 'That tired, hmm?' He grabbed her plate to lower it for her, but a disapproving mraow stopped him. When he arched a brow, she responded by pointedly looking over to another table. There he saw a young girl with a skitty in her lap, the girl hand-feeding the skitty spoonfuls of ice cream.

Longwei snorted. "Spoiled girl." Scooping a portion of her yellow-orange wacan and iapapa berry ice cream, he angled it directly over her head. Unbothered, Luxio looked up and opened her maw.

"Hmph." He turned the spoon, allowing the scoop to fall on target.

Not even savoring the flavor, she closed her eyes and opened her mouth for another. The sound of a plate being lowered to the floor returned her to reality and shattered her cocky smile.

Ignoring her glare, Longwei grabbed his own spoon to begin eating—

He paused mid-scoop when a dog's whining from across the table interrupted him. Looking up from his meal, he saw Poochyena looking at him with puppy dog eyes. Poochyena then quickly turned to look at another table where a boy was lightly flinging spoonfuls of ice cream towards a bidoof seated across from him. The beaver pokémon was gleefully snapping the ice cream mid-air.

Longwei deadpanned at Poochyena for a few breaths, but ultimately was powerless in the face of puppy dog eyes. Sighing, he pulled Poochyena's plate over and gently launched a few spoonfuls of their blueish yache berry ice cream. Poochyena snapped caught each, his tail wagging furiously as he bounced his paws on the table.

Both disciples sated, Longwei finally had time to dig into his own reddish chople berry blend—

A mortal teenager placed a hand on Longwei's shoulder and spoke angrily. "You—!"

Longwei whirled around, his arm snapping upwards to break the purple-haired boy's grip on his shoulder. Within an instant Longwei was on his feet and looming over the much shorter boy. "YOU DARE!?" he boomed.

Furious, but not foolish, Longwei hadn't failed to notice the mortal heading directly towards him, so he had already checked them with spirit sense while tending to his disciples. The boy and his two sealed spirit beasts were just ants, so he dismissed them completely. Even Poochyena was stronger than each individually! Surely junior wouldn't be so foolish! Or so Longwei had thought.

The boy looked up in shock. After a few moments, the boy shook his head and recomposed himself, even daring to step closer to Longwei and raise his chin with a glare. "Yeah I do dare old man! What's the big idea treating your pokémon like that?! Can't you see your luxio is suffering from the after effects of a Roar!"

Longwei snorted three times, then laughed twice! "The dog wants to teach the dragon to fly? Impudence! Kowtow five times then roll over like a dog, and this elder might allow you to leave with your hair intact!"

By now, all eyes were upon them. Even Poochyena and Luxio were watching, although they still nibbled away at their meals.

"M-my hair? Why does that—" the boy shook his thoughts straight. "The name's Reggie old man, and I know a lot more about caring for pokémon than you I'd bet!"

"Hohh! How wondrous! To think this meal came with a comedy act! This junior who does not comprehend the Dao of Nutrition speaks of caring for pokémon? How laughable! Ha! Ha! Ha!"

"I know a lot about nutrition! I learned under the Solaceon ranchers, which is how I knew your luxio—"

In a move of complete disrespect, Longwei turned to sit back down. Before he could fully turn, however, the boy reached out to stop him.

Just before the boy grabbed Longwei's arm, Longwei's own hand snapped up to grab the boy's wrist. Longwei then turned and glared down at the boy, releasing a wave of oppressive aura. "You dare to lay a hand upon this elder after he so benevolently dismissed you?"

To Reggie, it looked as if Longwei was a towering demon leering down at him. Reggie gulped, and shouted the first words that came to mind. "I challenge you to a battle!"

Longwei blinked. Then, he laughed. He laughed so boisterously that his hands were on his sides and his laughs were aimed to the heavens. Finally, his laughter died down. "So this is what it is, then? Junior wishes to take advantage of my weakened luxio?"

"I—"

"Good! Good! Good! Junior wishes to battle so earnestly!" Longwei grabbed his cone bowl and addressed his pokémon. "Come disciples, it is time to begin junior's humiliation!"

Longwei stepped past the boy and began making his way to the nearest public battleground that was a short walk away.

Poochyena and Luxio watched him begin to leave with bewildered expressions. Looking between each other and communicating through looks alone, they hastily gobbled up the leftover ice cream and marched over to follow.

Reggie was stunned as he watched the old man and his pokémon leave. He had no idea how this had happened, all he did was walk up to another trainer and tell them how to raise their pokémon. '… Oh.'

A stern cough broke him from his trance. Looking to the side, he saw an old man glaring at him from the building's entryway. "Causing a scene in my store, kids these days!" The old man shook his head. "Well, what are you waiting for? Shoo! Get!"

"Right." Reggie palmed his two pokéballs and made towards the battleground. To his dismay, some of of the seated crowd got up to follow him. Worse still, a few random pedestrians joined the crowd as they made their way over to one of the many dirt battlegrounds dotted throughout the city, this one situated near a small park.

When Reggie arrived the old man was crouched on one side of the field and whispering to his poochyena. For some reason, the man pulled out a fresh rope-like chewtoy and dunked it into his flask, then gave the now drenched chewtoy to the poochyena.

Once Reggie was on the opposite end of the field the old man stood and gestured a hand to his poochyena, who was already in position on their side the field. "This pup, who has not once fought another under my tutelage, is more than a match for a junior like you."

'This guy's using a pokémon he's never fought with to settle an argument?' Reggie thought incredulously. 'Old man must have lost his marbles. Oh well, his loss!'

"Go Bidoof!"

Reggie's bidoof appeared on his side of the field with a dumb smile and started waving to the small crowd.

A random person from the crowd rushed over to the side of the field to act as referee. "Standard rules match! The battle begins when I say go!"

Reggie squint his eyes and looked at the poochyena. It was young, probably half a year old, but still looked a bit larger than Bidoof who was even younger. He was at a power disadvantage, but Bidoof has fought in a few battles and even earned them their first badge, so that had to mean something!

Times like this almost made Reggie wish he hadn't stubbornly put off getting his starter pokémon until starting his journey, but he didn't regret it. He was the only family Paul had left ever since their parents suddenly passed away, and trying to balance raising his brother with raising a starter wouldn't have been fair to either. Since Paul turned 4 this year and could begin attending school, Reggie was finally convinced by the ranch hands he worked and learned under to get a starter and go on his journey.

"Go!"

Reggie was the first to give an order. "Defense Curl!"

Bidoof curled up and began to glow faintly as the first of their setup went underway. But Reggie wasn't smiling, because Poochyena was already running over without receiving an order! At this rate, Bidoof wouldn't be able to pull off a Rollout in time!

Reggie noticed that Poochyena had dropped his chewtoy at the start of the battle, but didn't think much of it. It was probably just something the young pokémon liked having around.

"Tackle!"

To Bidoof's credit, he didn't get confused by the change from their usual plans. Uncurling itself, Bidoof poised to meet the Poochyena's Bite head on!

But Poochyena braced itself in the last moment and caught Bidoof like a pudgy ball! Despite being pushed back a bit, Poochyena held firm and Bit down harder, eliciting a cry of pain from Bidoof!

"Break out of it!"

Bidoof began to Struggle, an instinctual and costly move that all pokémon could do in a panic to break free of something. Eventually he did, but Reggie could tell that that one attack had done a number on Bidoof. 'How!? The poochyena's so young!'

Reggie had to act quick, but he'd only gotten one badge and Bidoof didn't know too many moves, so there was really only one option. "Tackle again!"

The two pokémon clashed once more, and this time Bidoof managed to avoid getting caught in a bite, lunging at the poochyena at a lower angle! The two sailed in the air together for a couple feet before landing. But the instant they did, Poochyena was upon Bidoof with another Bite, grabbing him by a front leg and whipping him back and fourth along the ground!

Reggie called for Bidoof to try breaking free again, more for encouragement than anything else since Bidoof was already trying. Eventually the Struggle flare proved too much and Poochyena let go mid-swing, causing Bidoof to slide away a short distance.

Regie could already tell it was over. A return beam caught Bidoof an instant before Poochyena could followup with a Tackle, causing Poochyena to Tackle through empty air.

Reggie signaled to the ref that he was withdrawing Bidoof from the battle, then pulled out another pokéball. "The younger trainer has withdrawn his bidoof from the battle!"

"Go Starly!"

Reggie's starly appeared on his side of the field with a chirrup, spreading out its wings proudly.

Starly was a newer addition to Reggie's team, but Reggie knew a trick to make them a real problem on the field.

"Ready?" the ref asked each of them. "Go!"

Reggie shouted his order first. "Growl tactic!"

Starly took to the air, and Reggie smirked when he saw Poochyena halt his unspoken charge forward and look up in uncertainty.

Then came the Growls.

First it was just Starly, which Reggie was fine with. Then it was also Poochyena, which Reggie wasn't fine with. Reggie had forgotten to consider if Poochyena could Growl as well, even though it seemed so obvious in retrospect. His plan to stack debuffs from the safety of the air wouldn't work here since Poochyena had more raw strength and would benefit more if both of them lost their move's power.

"Quick Attack!" Reggie commanded. It didn't matter too much to him anyways, if anything that brief exchange of Growls worked out in his favor. Starly had the better speed, and those Growls would keep a lucky Tackle or Struggle from causing too much damage.

Starly dove in at an angle to strike Poochyena at the side, then quickly shot away before a reprisal could retaliate. This continued several more times, sometimes with Starly aborting an attack entirely before a swiped paw or a snapped jaw reached them. To Reggie's chagrin, Poochyena got in another few Growls between dives, meaning this would take much longer and place Starly at greater risk. But there was nothing else Reggie could do, so he had to allow it.

With no further orders needed, Reggie took this time to look at the old man. 'Why isn't he giving an order?'

The old man simply continued observing the battle, finishing up the last of his frozen treat with a calm smile.

'How can he be so calm? Is he that certain Starly will get caught before Poochyena is worn down? Or does he have something prepared?'

This continued for a while longer. To some members of the crowd the fight commanded their full attention since at any moment things could end in a sudden exchange. To some others it was incredibly boring to watch, so they left.

Eventually it seemed like Poochyena was finally nearing his limits, and Reggie's heart began to beat as the risky battle of attrition was coming to a close. Finally he would—

clap*

All eyes snapped to the old man after he let out a single clap that pierced through the tense relative silence around the battlefield. Was this it? Was he going to throw in the towel? Or was he going to give his first and final order, revealing all along that he could have ended the battle at any moment?

Reggie and everyone in the crowd waited with bated breath for the old man to finally bring this slog to a close.

…

But he didn't.

The two pokémon continued taking swings at each other with one-sided success.

Some were confused. Others were thinking the same thing Reggie was thinking. 'Did… did he just try to make Starly slip up by making a sudden noise?'

No matter what they were thinking, nobody could get a read on the stoic old man's scholarly posture. He simply finished his ice cream and continued watching the battle calmly as if nothing were amiss.

Reggie was annoyed. Was this old man just trying to waste all their time on the gamble that Poochyena might catch Starly? Sure it could still happen because Starly was getting tired too, but Poochyena was on his last legs and—

Too busy thinking about the old man, nobody had noticed Poochyena was deliberately inching his way closer to the chew toy.

When Poochyena scooped up the chew toy, Reggie's fate was sealed. For reasons unknown to everyone, Poochyena seemed to regain its energy, standing taller and responding to Quick Attack dives with renewed ferocity.

"Is that chew toy a held item?!" Reggie blurted out in a frustrated bout of confused anger. "What kind of held item even does this!?"

He gnashed his teeth, watching as Starly had to abort more and more Quick Attack dives to avoid counter attacks. There was nothing he could order that would fix this. Due to whatever strange power that chew toy had, all of Starly's efforts had been reduced to nothing.

When a sudden pawswipe batted Starly out of the air and sent them skidding across the floor, Reggie knew it was over. He returned Starly even before Poochyena began to charge over.

The crowd cheered and clapped; it was finally over.

The ref didn't need confirmation to know Starly was out of the battle, but still looked over to see if Reggie would send out another. Seeing a shake of a head, the ref raised an arm towards the old man. "The senior challenger is the victor!"

After a brief pause to let the crowd filter away, Reggie marched across the field, interrupting the old man and his luxio who were congratulating the poochyena. "What kind of held item is that?" he demanded to know.

The old man raised a brow and stood up. "This little thing?" he said, holding the chew toy. "It's simply a favored toy of my treasured disciple."

"How does that matter!?"

The old man laughed, then gently tossed the chew toy towards Reggie. Reggie caught it and immediately noticed it wasn't damp. 'Did the old man swap it with another? No, he couldn't have, I had my eye on it the whole time.'

"The heart beats strongest when around what it cherishes most," the old man said sagely. "Perhaps if junior had reason to battle other than harassing elders, he would have known this."

Reggie was struck by these words like a dagger. He did have a reason to battle, he wanted to save up enough money to get him and his brother a ranch of their own. But… it was true that he'd also left Paul at Solaceon.

An outstretched hand with its palm upwards broke Reggie from his thoughts. The meaning of this gesture was quickly understood. "Oh, right."

Reggie pulled out his wallet and handed a few bills to the old man. Reggie only had a single badge, so the cost of losing a "serious" match wasn't much.

The old man began to leave. "Wait!"

The old man looked back, but from his body language he looked like he wouldn't humor something trivial.

"Why did your luxio roar? There's a reason people only train fully grown pokémon in that move, so why?"

His question was answered by the old man's sad look before even a single word was uttered. Reggie had seen that look several times throughout his life, usually when the older people talked of the war, but also when he'd been given the bad news about his…

"Tell me junior, have you ever lost any dear to you?"

Reggie hung his head low, feeling ashamed for having ever doubted this old man. "Yes…"

"Then you might be able to imagine how it could feel to see such a loss occur before your very eyes."

Reggie's stomach coiled into knots and he balled his fists, continuing to avoid eye contact by staring at the ground.

"The story I will not regale to you. It is not an enjoyable one. From here on, junior, I advise you to think twice before acting so rashly."

The old man and his pokémon began to leave. Before fully leaving the arena however, the old man said one final thing. "You have this elder's thanks for providing such a beneficial challenge to his disciple."

Despite the old man being unable to see it, Reggie bowed for several seconds. After that, he left to the pokécenter he was staying at. There was someone he needed to call.

With none of his own potion remaining, Longwei opted to visit the nearest pokécenter to top up Poochyena. It didn't take him long to get there, and after handing Poochyena off to Nurse Joy, he sat down in the lobby to wait.

Rather than meditate, however, his attention was drawn to the lobby's large TV screen.

"How terrible," the news anchor said in that classic news anchor tone that made it sound like he was being a bit sarcastic. "What a tragedy."

On the pokécenter lobby's TV screen was a before-and-after of the Michina mountain temple. Many stone structures had been reduced to molten craters, and smoke rose from lingering fires that dotted the mountain. Some parts of the after image had even been blurred to keep the image safe to air.

"Initial reports suggest that the renegade's motivation was financial in nature, as nearly all items of value had been looted. Search and rescue teams are still sweeping the area, but so far only two unconscious survivors have been recovered. Authorities have claimed they will be making a full recovery."

An overly-dramatic jingle played as they switched back to the news anchor.

"And now for what we've all been waiting for: Champion Kengo Kai has arrived at the press conference and is ready to speak on the events. We go live now to Reporter Meowth who is on the scene."

The screen went black before flickering to a meowth with an armband standing in front of a cushioned chair and holding up a microphone. "I'm here on da scene."

The cameraman panned around to show they were at the front row of an absolutely packed auditorium. The sound of murmuring and clicking cameras filled the area, but none dared speak too loud or leave their flash on.

The panning stopped once they circled to the main stage. There, standing behind a podium covered in microphones, was a man wearing what looked like ski gear minus accessories. His clothes bore the off-white and pink colors of the Pearl Clan, and the jacket's hood was currently down.

This was Champion Kengo Kai, and his aura was that of a grizzled old war veteran tough enough to tussle with men in their prime. His brows were locked in an eternal scowl, and the slight squint to his blue eyes only added to it. His black hair was slicked back down to his shoulders and he had a widows peak that would make even the prince of all saiyans blush. Several scars and a sizable burn on his cheek marred his face—although there wasn't one of those cool scars that went across the eye.

Setting down his notes, the Champion cleared his throat and raised a hand, silencing everyone. Rather than gave an introductory speech, he simply pointed at a seemingly random member of the press and started the conference without any fanfare. Perhaps coincidentally, the talking meowth was chosen first.

Meowth stood on his chair, barely able to be seen by everyone even with this added height. "Mr. Champion, what d'ya have tah say about yesterday's perpetrators of Da Michina Massacre?"

"What do I have to say?" he asked, his voice rough like that of a man who'd burn someone's house down with combustible lemons.

Meowth nodded innocently. "Mmhmm!"

"What the hell kind of question is that?!" He slammed his burly hands onto the podium, shaking loose several microphones!

"You wanna know what I have to say!?" Spittle flew from his mouth as he shouted down at the shocked Meowth who'd merely asked a simple question to get things started. "Those bastards killed a war hero! They're dangerous, bloodthirsty traitors that seek to bring our way of life to ruin! What did you think I'd have to say you damned idiot!"

Champion Kai pointed to another person without missing a beat, his voice calm as if he'd never had a sudden outburst. "Next question."

The man he pointed to next wasn't caught on camera since the cameraman was now rigidly locked onto the Champion himself. "How does the Sinnoh League plan to respond to this threat?"

Champion Kai looked at the reporter with utter bafflement. "What do you think we're doing, just sitting around hoping the problem goes away on its own? I didn't fight through hell for 20 straight years just to sit back and watch my homeland burn to the ground! We've already sent squads to find the bastards, and I've even decided to form a strike force with me and a couple of the Elite 4! We're gonna go in there in force, and when I get my hands on those bastards I'll tear their f—"

The channel abruptly changed.

"Happy happy ~yay~!" the cheery sylveon on the screen lip-sang with a big smile, wiggling her ribbons. Several young humans and eevees ran around in the colorful playground behind her, adding to the whimsical atmosphere. "Happy happy ~yay~!"

Virtually everyone in the pokécenter's lobby, even the pokémon, made noises of complaint.

"Oh, don't give me that!" The Nurse Joy behind the front counter stood and waved the remote in her hand, leaning forward aggressively. "That pottymouth champion has caused enough damage to Sinnoh's common vocabulary as is! My pokécenter won't be taking any part in that!"

She finished by crossing her arms and sitting back down, brooking no argument.

Several yes, Nurse Joy's droned in unison.

"Hrmph." Longwei leaned back in his chair, slightly disappointed. He would have to ask his good friend Porybot to show him a recording of the arrogant Champion's outburst later.

A pair of familiar presences approached him, but Longwei played ignorant to it out of politeness' sake.

"Mr. Sun?" Cynthia asked in a quiet voice, as if afraid she were heard by others. "Could you, um, make a strong potion?"

"Seal it," Masayo ordered.

"Yes sir," one of the gym trainer's said.

The gym trainer's tyrantrum stomped the ground, its masterful control of Rock energy keeping the reverberations from traveling anywhere except the mouth of the tunnel they were just in. Masayo couldn't see it, but the other side of the rock face was then expertly sculpted to match the tunnel around it, making it look like any other dead end tunnel in Mount Coronet.

It was likely the ones pursuing them would see through these tricks, but every little bit helped. It forced their pursuers to check every dead end, something which no doubt would cost the pursuers more time than it took to make the seal. Of course, they weren't sealing every tunnel they went through, otherwise it would create an obvious pattern their pursuers could follow.

"It is done," the tyrantrum trainer said.

"Keep moving."

"Yes sir," all of the gym trainer's with him said.

Masayo had given an order to split the groups, so only a few other gym trainers were with him. Only thirty or so of his trainers had survived the battle, and while most of them were mighty it was still nowhere near enough to face whatever the league might throw their way. Their only option to survive was to remain undetected and escape, and that meant moving quietly until the labyrinths of Mount Coronet brought them out of Sinnoh.

Their group came to a sudden halt when several of their dragons suddenly rushed to stand protectively in front of them. They didn't release any extra pokémon despite the implied danger, since that would interfere with their hydreigon's ability to mask their presence from any psychics.

There was a chance that whatever their pokémon sensed hadn't actually noticed them, so it was best to wait until they knew their cover was blown before going loud.

They waited like that for several breaths. Soon, a light-blue haired man with a very masculine form stepped out from around the corner of a connected tunnel, his arrival not announced by any sort of footsteps that Masayo could hear.

The man's clothes were ragged, as if the shreds of several clothes had been stitched on to keep it held together. He was covered in blood, but none of it was his own. To make things even more concerning, a mega bracelet was wrapped around his neck.

A gallade stepped out from the corner behind him and stood at his side, but one might have thought it was a different species entirely due to how crimson red its blood-soaked form was.

Masayo had heard of this man from his father. He'd killed several members of their gym, both human and pokémon. He was why they were never allowed to enter the tunnels of Mount Coronet nearby Michina alone. And for some reason, his father never asked the league to form an official strike force to take him down. Private hunts were launched to capture the man, but none were successful. They only knew what the man looked like because of a single camera that hadn't been destroyed at one of the scenes.

He'd hoped they wouldn't run into the man so long as they moved in small groups — the man had always avoided the hunting teams sent after him — but it seemed Masayo made their groups a little too small.

Masayo clenched his fists, already blaming himself for the possible deaths of the groups he'd sent off on their own.

A blood-covered hand raised and a single finger pointed at them. Masayo felt a chill crawl up his neck when the man looked him in the eyes.

The man's voice was monotone, but carried a danger to it.

"You. Tell me. What do you know of the men who have three marks on the back of their necks?"