I woke up to the word "Time to clean." As one could guess they came from Puff. I breathed easier than before as flying type energy flooded my lungs and made me feel lighter. I tried to move it, controlling it with my will but a sharp pain stopped me before anything could happen. I wouldn't be able to get super vision or fly any time soon that's for sure.

  I sat up, stretching as Fly shook herself off and stretched before sprinting around in a circle to warm up for the day.

  "Good morning Maxy" Puff greeted in between picking at her wings.

  "Maxy, ok then" she just looked at me and kept preening herself. Her own cleanliness was above mine or anything I had to say, obviously.

  Ian was nowhere to be found until I called out to him. He slowly rose from a shadowed area, his own shadow darkening where he was. He had been getting better at shadow sneak, moving much quicker than normal through the shadows but getting into and out of them was slower than I would have liked. At least he was able to exit point first.

  I ate a couple berries, my haul from picking from the side of the road very good. I had almost 50 oran berries alone and barely fit them in my backpack. Other squishier berries I had to eat when I found them as they weren't the best for storing. My stomach burned calories like nothing else being the efficient machine I knew it to be and I was able to keep snacking whenever bushes were found on the plentiful route. I was kept thin by my childhood lifestyle of running from wilds and sometimes going a tad hungry. I never starved but there were times when I had to wait for my dad or grandpa to go find something in the forest to eat.

  I stood up and twisted once in each direction before walking to the pit. I had a duel to fight in don't-ya-know.

  I walked into the pit to find the walls of darkness still up so I waited, talking with an older trainer who was also up. He had a cup of coffee in his hand, bitter stuff, but was all for talking about things he knew from his three years of experience. I learned about how today was the day of a special weekly lesson, at 3 the boss of the Colosseum would demonstrate his style to the masses for 10 minutes. He then went to describe how when he was here st year he had his Breloom watch and the event helped his Pokemon learn focus punch.

  When the walls of darkness fell I wished him well, forgot his name but he was fine with my use of bro. The Machop was in the same spot as st time, having stopped training and was now doing his control exercises. I went over to a ref, a Bombirdier who was overlooking the area with its long neck. I expined the situation and it agreed to help out.

  The Machop was still practicing its finesse with its eyes closed when we reached it "Good morning, I need a couple minutes to warm up. Fleshy human and all." It just nodded and watched me, imagining how to beat me up no doubt. I keep thinking about how skinny it is compared to the others. Hmmm that may not be the right word for it...his arm muscles are more condensed? Not thick like Machoke but still packed with muscle in a really dense clump that could toss me 20 yards easily.

  As I reached down to one leg I started rambling to it "You know, I have three other pokemon but they are on the younger side. I heard that you are over 10 years old is that right?"

  A gnce to its hand was all that it reacted with "It's really ok with me, see I am kind of a cripple too." It didn't like being called a cripple but seemed interested about me.

  "See I got hit with a lot of dark energy, something about it is resisting any control that I have so I can only watch others. I watched you a lot yesterday, most of the afternoon even before those other Machops joined you. I saw them destroy their rocks much quicker but that's not what I want in my fighting type. Just as you are testing me I want to know something about you."

  At this point the Machop said something and Ian transted "What is wrong with only having one hand when that is all I need to practice?"

  I ponder the question while holding my arm across my body "Other people would say that it matters because you could hit twice as fast but I would say its a matter of leverage. Your species aren't known for speed so they have to be able to catch or hold others that are faster than you. Now what art do you practice?"

  He talks to Ian, remembering that he is needed this time "The single strike style."

  I start ughing when he answers with one of the hardest styles in existence "Good hahaha that's some great confidence you have there hahahahaha." I calm down and finish my chuckling before asking him "So are you ready then?"

  A nod and I wave Ian away. The Machop gets into its stance, feet perpendicur to me, chest facing my left as he had his stump up and guarding his front and fist hovering over his chest.

  I don't have such techniques to rely on, my grandmother only taught me how to do things not the formality or positions behind them. I start running towards him and do a quick roundhouse kick, spinning 90 degrees as my curled knee extends to hit it in the back as it tries to block with the stump by shifting its stance but I am quicker. It falls forwards and stumbles a couple feet while I keep kicking, this time aiming to take out its legs.

  Instead of crumpling he keeps leaning forward until he rolls and my leg washes over him. I take some distance to escape any grab he might make as he rises again. I start imagining that chanting voice again, fueling my movements as I look forward to this fight. The dark energy lingering inside me started stretching as if revving up for something and I feel my emotions get softened. He gets into a different stance, facing me with both hands on his hips and left foot forward. I shift to his left side rush him and make a jab to his face.

  He also tries punching me but he aims for my leg since my face is out of reach. Ruthless, and efficient in this movement he opens his jaw to get hit in the tooth instead. It hurts and I scream as the sharp little thing makes my hand bloody. He nds the punch on my leg but doesn't use any moves as I am unarmed.

  I spoke too soon, at the st moment sparks form over the fist and my thigh spasms once, as I fold over. He moves in and I grab him by his sides and toss him sideways. He weighs over 50 pounds but I can do it, I scamper away and favor my uninjured leg. This time he is the one to approach as I'm not moving because my leg hurts. When he tries punching me I grab it by the fist and elbow to throw him through the air and sm him. His head hits the hard ground once before he opens his fist and grabs my hand to squeeze it. He is in the air but uses the momentum to throw me over his head and onto the ground. The chanting for me to fight gets louder as I focus more and more on the duel and surprisingly I feel my emotions coming back despite the dark type energy. I feel it let go of its hold on most of my emotions but I get more annoyed and angry in return.

  I hold on with my other hand and nd on my knees from the toss while ignoring the situation in my head. It's a hard nding but I pull him off bance into a head smash. It makes him flinch and I start clobbering him when he releases me.

  He tries blocking instinctively but he lets go of his defenses and elbows one punch away and uses that weird punch I don't know the name for on my stomach and then my jaw as I'm recovering. My teeth cck together and I feel some get looser. I keep holding onto the imagined chanting of my grandmother, demanding me to FIGHT while also drawing from my amplified anger. He is in the air since he had to jump up to get to my head. I grab his legs and start smming him around like before after another headbutt stuns him.

  It's more effective this time since he can't reach me and I keep going until the Bombirdier stops the duel. The Machop is unconscious but with a sharp wing sp to the face he wakes up.

  He opens his eyes to see me grinning at him with my bloody face and surely damaged and maybe broken knuckles and leg.

  "Welcome to the team Sin, now please go get a nurse Joy to heal me" as the focus and adrenaline wash away and leave me I lose consciousness myself.