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Useless as it may be, that's just the thing Aden was banking on. With the wind and water mixing, it started to dissolve and die out. Unlike before, Poliwhirl was able to land on his feet when the spout was unable to carry him, with the remnants drawing into the Pokemon. Compared to earlier, he felt a little rejuvenated.

But this was all shortlived when Pidgeot went for an assault. The unusual tactic may have been the only thing to save Poliwhirl at this point, taking the attack and stumbling back near Aden. "Too crazy?"

He took a weak Water Gun facial. Too crazy. "Yeah, sorry, it was worth a shot. That bird's still got a lot of fight in it..." As he was seeing it, he didn't have much else to throw past a blind assault. Not wanting to risk that, he opted for something else. He already had a feeling he wasn't keeping Poliwhirl in this fight much longer.

"We can't stop this now. Poliwhirl, let's get our own wind going before it starts up! Icy Wind!" He called, having his Pokemon send a chilling gust in return for the feather dusting.

Aden thought to try and get Poliwhirl again, but he knew he couldn't just go rapid fire on the attacks. With Pidgeot quickly getting out of range, such an effort would be foolish. "Poilwhirl, get ready. We're going for one last shot!"

Unsure of where he was going with this, Poliwhirl held his ground and tried to recover a little. Both watched Falkner and his Pidgeot intently, waiting to see what it was planning to do.

"You go too, Poliwhirl! Body Slam!" If there were any doubts of Aden being a little bit crazy, that might have been enough to remove those for good. Having Poliwhirl do an attack like that meant no way of trying to avoid it or otherwise minimize damage, but when he said about going for a last shot, he meant it in every way.

Watching Poliwhirl spring into the air, poised to flop down on Pidgeot as it drew nearer by the second, he didn't know what to think. All he knew was that the impact was going to hurt, what with his Pokemon getting sent flying. There wasn't much chance of getting up from that one, and Aden knew it. It all rode on what happened to Pidgeot.

"Poliwhirl? Can you get up?" Aden asked. Poliwhirl struggled, getting up for a few seconds. But before he thought he might be able to eek another attack, he found his go at a last shot to hold true. Poliwhirl went back down, unable to keep going.

Close indeed, but not close enough. With Pidgeot still able to go, the fight ended in Falkner's favor. "...Sorry. You've done well, Poliwhirl. Just worry about resting now." He recalled his fallen Pokemon, putting the ball back into his vest pocket.

"I can say the same about you on those last two." Aden said, panting a bit. Not from anything to worry about, just a mild rush. With everything that went on, it wasn't too surprising. "Not quite close enough, though." To him, his doing well or not wasn't the issue. He knew how this went, and choking for that one moment felt like it was what cost him more than anything. "I think I still have a longer way to go than I thought."

"I know. I'm just truly starting out, really." Before now, Aden might have argued that he had some experience. But the last few days quickly made him realize that a lot of that experience meant little. In some ways, he was still very much a greenhorn. A bit hard on himself, sure, but the fact remained. As to how far he might go? He didn't know, nor did he want to. He at least knew of what the region had to offer, if only enough to say that. Anything past that... he was afraid of that possibility right now.

The day he ever gets the chance and dares take on the region's elites would likely be met with his brain cells collectively committing suicide. Regardless, he didn't know what Falkner had in mind, and he was poised to decline any sort of offer that'd involve apprenticeship. Instead, he found an envelope being forced into his hand along with something else. He decided to keep quiet at first, though.

His first thoughts as Falkner spoke, though, remained to decline this. He was glad for the generosity, but he hadn't earned this by any means. He also felt that he might end up disappointing the leader anyway, but when he thought about how well a denial might go over... maybe he'd want to hang up that notion and instead ensure that there wasn't a regret. And hopefully avoid this kind of thing again; next time, he'd aim even more to win.

"Uh..." His brain may have broken a little from everything happening at once. To avoid looking like a bit of an idiot here, he tried to recollect himself in a hurry. "Right. And you won't regret it, I'll make sure of that. I want to come back one of these days too. I won't feel right until I actually do win against you."

"Oh, don't worry, I'd make sure to fight you again too." Aden spoke up. That last one was close, too close. And if he was to give Falkner a match someday, he felt it was only right to have that extend to an apprentice as well. But all wasn't as well as he might be thinking. Seeing the way he and Blizzard stared at each other, he wondered if something was up. If maybe some of this was arranged without his knowing.

He had no way of knowing either which way, and figured he'd know before long if something was going on anyway. "Yeah, really... especially Mareep." He knew all three that fought were hurting, but she seemed to have the worst of it. That Slash didn't hit a spot that settled well to him.

With a quick nod, both as thanks and a means of respect, Aden was quick to get on the elevator. As soon as Blizzard got on, it wouldn't be long before the trip back to the center was made.