Eric
[It wasn't worth it.]

He winced as the Fighting-type got in close and hit Ninetales a few more times, but Sarcodes stood up weakly on her feet before howling, showing she was still able to battle. Adam put his hand to his chin for a second as he thought about what he could do; one good Moonblast would knock out the fighting-type, but he also had to watch out for its Poison Jab. Thinking, he came up with the perfect solution and smirked slightly as he observed the field around him. Yes, this would work. "Time for a field advantage! Sarcodes, use Ice Beam on the ground!" The Ninetales turned back towards him; Adam didn't usually try unorthodox tactics, but she obeyed nevertheless; blasting a frozen beam and making sure to cover a full circle around herself, the fighting-type would either have to come from above and risk a Moonblast, or try running across the now-slippery area. Speaking of Moonblast... "Now then, keep range and fire!" Another orb was quickly made and hurtled towards the Fighting-type, though it was more of a warning shot than anything as he didn't quite expect it to connect.
Lolita
"Mienshao move out of it's path!" The Mienshao did as told and scurried to the left avoiding the warning shot but Wisteria smirked "Ice beam towards the ground huh? You're smarter than you look but I luckily have a counter" Wisteria looked at her Mienshao and locked eyes with her, Wisteria nodded at her pokemon and her Mienshao nodded back. "Mienshao use Rock Slide!" The Meinshao took it's paws and dove them into the ground sending chucks of rock hurling towards the Ninetales. 'I usually use Rock slide to get a super effective move off on a flying type but ice is weak to rock as well. Let's see if that Ninetales can keep it's ground any longer'

Wisteria put her hands in her hips and focused in on what the Ninetales was going to do next, she'll have to carefully maneuver her pokemon to make sure she doesn't have to send in anyone else for the time being. 'This hail is slowly chipping away at Mienshao I might have to swap her out, she'll be incredibly useful later on I bet'. Wisteria made her decision and once the time came it was Luxray's time to shine.
Eric
"Dodge, and then fire again!" Ninetales hopped sideways to evade the attack, landing on the ice but not being affected by it, being an Ice-type Pokemon herself. She quickly howled, another Moonblast appearing over her head which then shot towards Mienshao in an attempt to knock it down, while the hail came down onto the battlefield. Adam watched intently, thinking to himself. *I can't take too long, or our Aurora Veil will be all used up... How can I trap her Pokemon, though?*
Lolita
"Mienshao come back!" Wisteria swapped in her Luxray from a duskball taking the hit for the fighting type. The Luxray stared down the Ninetales and growled lowly. "Now, use Iron Tail!" Wisteria commanded and her Luxray followed through with his trainer's command. The Luxray had a red orb dangling around its neck, the electric type gained the burn status. 'Luxray has guts so this burn will make him even stronger and hopefully not take any hail damage. The large lion like pokemon charged at the Ninetails with it tail propped upwards and turning a metal sheen. When drawing near the Ninetails the Luxray would strike the ground to fracture the ice and then would swing at the Ninetails for a super effective steel type move.
Eric
"Sarcodes, dodge it!" The Ninetales tried to jump out of the way of the attack but was hit hard, getting sent back a few paces where it came to a rest, unable to battle. Adam sighed, closing his eyes and nodding for a second as he brought out the Ultra Ball. "You did great, have a nice rest." Recalling his Pokemon as the hail began to near the end of its time, he considered things. *"I've lost Sarcodes, Alstroem, and Hawthorn. She's lost her Scizor, Talonflame, and Lurantis. Her Luxray is still at full health and her Kingdra has probably rested off any wear. Her Mienshao, though, is almost out. So, if I defeat this Pokemon, my win should be practically guaranteed. Rafflesia is my ace in the hole, but who else can I use for the job? .... Of course."* "Alright, you're up next... Come on out, Arum!" Throwing his Luxury Ball high up into the air, a green dragonite popped out, looking around a little before waving at its trainer. It noticed the Luxray and then waved rather cheerily at it as well, before its face narrowed into something a bit more serious as it stayed above the opponent.
Lolita
"Luxray quickly use Play rough!" The Luxray gained a faint pink hue as it charged at the Dragonite, leaping forward the electric pokemon let out a cry and clawed at the Dragonite in the air. 'He might has earthquake but Luxray is really strong he should do a decent chunk, he might not make it past here but I've got to try!' Wisteria held her breath while watching the scene infront of her, she's made up a plan 'I'll have Luxray use Rain dance before he faints then Kindra can easily outspeed and take the Dragonite down with a dragon pulse or two! '. Wisteria's eyes narrowed as she looked over at Adam, 'this is the victory lap, be prepared to taste bitter defeat fancy pants'
Eric
"Dragonite, you know what to do, so show them what you do best!" Arum nodded, quickly flying up into the air to evade the attack. As soon as Luxray had flown past and was going towards the ground, Arum began to do loop-de-loops midair as its body glowed a purple tint [Dragon Dance], before it returned to watching Luxray from its midair position. This was the plan; she had no aerial Pokemon left, and once this was the case Adam would send in Arum and take advantage of its ability to fly in order to setup. Plus, things were made even easier due to the fact that Mienshao and most likely also her Luxray were pure physical attackers, meaning if Dragonite evaded well enough it could setup until it was incredibly strong and fast, then decimate the opponent. On the ground, Adam crossed his arms and smirked across at Wisteria, wondering how she'd deal with this; because if she didn't do something soon, Arum would run away with the entire match.
Lolita
"Luxray use rain dance!" The Luxray let out a loud roar summoning forth rain clouds around the battle field. Rain began to pour down the drops breaking as they hit the dirt. Wistera smirked and called back her Luxray "Good job bud now let's quickly end this Dragonite shall we Kingdra?" She tossed out the dive ball her Kingdra was in and the Pokemon let out a determined cry "Dragon Pulse! Aim for the wings Kingdra!" The Kindra floated up a bit and with incredible speed (Swiftswim) rushed up and shot out a purple beam of pure energy. The Kindrga used the as a sort of blade, motioning it's head and slicing diagonally at the dragon pokemon "You can't outspeed Kindra in the rain! Let's see how you hold up! "
Eric
He watched as she set up Rain Dance and brought out her special attacking Pokemon, as expected. Swift Swim would be a bit of a problem, but Dragonite handled the rain just fine, as he swerved out of the way of the attack. "Arum! You know the drill, make sure that they can't attack!" The Dragonite nodded before suddenly diving down at a sharp angle towards Kingdra. It had one arm outstreched as it shot across the battlefield towards the water type, looking like it was going to use some kind of punching move.
Lolita
"Kingdra move out the way!" The Kindra moved the to the left in a quick sharp turn, the pokemon faltered a bit but faced forward regaining it's balance and awaited a command. "Dragon pulse one more time!" The dual typed dragon and water pokemon used the moves once again, in a straight line the beam aimed at the Dragonite fired. 'I could use muddy water but it's won't do much damage, yet lower accuracy. No, I can't risk it. I've made it too far to screw up now! '. "Kindra keep your distance!" The kindra swayed back and forth floating further away from the Dragonite, gaining distance between the two dragons. 'This became a battle of speed and range, the rain won't last forever so we got to make this quick! "
Eric
As Arum shot past, it suddenly pulled up into another loop-de-loop; it had never been going for a punching attack in the first place. Flying up and behind the Kingdra, Arum grabbed it by the tail and quickly flapped its wings, shooting high into the sky and carrying the opposing Pokemon up into the clouds, all the while carrying it upside down to disorient it; after all, if it hit Arum, he'd drop it and that would be one fall... Then again, they were getting higher and higher and higher, both unable to see their trainers as they passed through the clouds. Arum placed its other pawlike hand on Kingdra and began to spin horizontally in midair, performing some kind of crazy game with the water-type before flinging it straight downwards towards the ground far below, and then trailing after it [Sky Drop].
Lolita
Wisteria's eyes widened as she witnessed her Kindra be easily locked into an attack, while her Kingdra was falling it flailed around but Wisteria yelled out "Use Muddy Water to weaken your fall!" The Kindrga all disoriented from the sky drop attack spun around before using muddy water, the pokemon summoned the wave once again catching it near the ground. The Kindra was pushed by the water and was weakened by a large margin from the attack with Dragonite still trailing behind wisteria had an idea "Use dragon pulse facing down ward then use it once more but right at the Dragonite! " The Kindrga questioned her trainer but did as told her trainer commanded. The pulse being shot downward shot the pokemon skyward giving it na good distance to snipe it's opponent. It's charged up it move and awaited the Dragonite to get a little too close for it's own good. 'I can't let that Dragonite get another move like that off, it'll be the end for me that way. C'mon Kindgra you can land this hit!'
Eric
"Arum! Now's the time to show your stuff! Get in there and USE DRAGON CLAW!" Adam had to go out of character for a second and yell at the top of his lungs so that Dragonite heard him, but one look downwards let him know that the message was clear. Doing something unexpected, Arum chose not to dodge but to flap his wings and fly at top speed into the Dragon Pulse, taking large damage but still advancing. It seemed to be struggling a little, but it pushed on and shot towards Kingdra while it was still in the air, delivering an up close and powerful hit. Adam knew it was a risky move, but Kingdra willingly put itself in the air, a risky but interesting play. It might've worked... But Arum's ability was Multiscale, and that near-guaranteed no single attack could KO it from full health.
Lolita
Once Kingdra was hit by the dragon claw it quickly was hurled further into the air and quickly dropped down into the ground causing a large cloud of dust too form. Once the cloud cleared, the pokemon was knocked out. Wisteria called back her Kingdra and and sent out her Luxray. "Use Thunder now!" The Luxray let out an ear piercing roar as a large bolt of thunder came down onto the Luxray's fur. The pokemon then shot the bolt towards the Dragonite at *Lightning* Speeds. 'I'm backed into a corner here but thunder can't miss in the rain, it might even paralyze. Good work bud, we can't let Kingdra's work go to waste.
Eric
The lightningbolt crashed down onto Arum, but its half-Dragon typing helped him to endure the attack, his wings slowing down their pace as Adam bit his lip. *"So, she did have a special move on it after all? Hm... The best thing to do right now is to withdraw and save Arum for Mienshao, but not yet..."* "Arum! Show them your power with an Earthquake!!" The Dragonite held out its fist before making a divebomb to the ground, and when it did, it slammed its fist straight downwards. Ripples began to surge outwards from the spot, wildly shaking the ground all around them and hitting any Pokemon that was touching it.
Lolita
"Luxray try to endure it!" The Luxray got into a defensive position but this was not enough to save the pokemon from fainting. She called back her Luxray and sent in her Mienshao. 'My last pokemon, at least she's healed up for the most part' "Use Fake out!" The small pokemon jumped up and smacked the Dragon pokemon with it's two paws which in turn should cause a flinch. "Now use Ice punch!" The Meinshao's paws turned a light blue and glistened in the light of day, the rain cleared out and this was the her last pokemon. She might not make it after all that training and years of dedication she would fall to someone of the likes of him. The Meinshao jumped up and prepared it's attack diving into the direction of the Dragonite with full force.
Eric
The first attack was able to make Dragonite flinch, however on the second, as Arum moved to dodge, the attack clipped one of his wings, freezing it up and preventing it from running away, or using Sky Drop on the Mienshao. "Quickly! Dragon Claw!" Adam shouted, seeing what was happening, as Arum set itself on the ground and quickly thrust forward to slash the opposing Pokemon, though it had now lost its aerial advantage.
Lolita
"Meinshao dodge it! -It was a tad too late, Meinshao was hit by the dragon claw and was knocked out before she knew it. She recalled her pokemon and her entire body began to shake her anger growing. She clenched her left fist and made and downward hook motion "I-i lost, and just like that with one Dragon claw" Wisteria looked down and fell to her knees and punched the ground "H-how? I can't believe this..." She looked up at Adam and began to yell " How!? How did you do it!? " She was visibly shaking with pure rage. "No no... I refuse to accept this!"
Eric
A moment after Mienshao fell and he could confirm that the Pokémon had fainted, Zephraxe raised a hand and gave the official announcement. "Mienshao has fallen! Dragonite and Adam win the battle!" He lowered his hand and crossed his arms casually, glancing at Wisteria as she got angry. "That was... Quite a battle." He said, moving towards the knocked out Mienshao. He kneeled down and felt it's forehead, making sure it was okay.

Honestly, Adam hadn't been expecting to have Arum come through like that; he would've gone into Gloriosa, as he promised to use Cosmos last if at all, and then likely would've won there despite type disadvantage and finished it with Rafflesia. But neither of them saw the battlefield; he owed them all some time later, and thank god, he finally had some to give them. Smiling as the match was called and Dragonite quickly breathed a small flame over its wing to defrost it before moving over to Adam, who quickly give the shiny dragon a fist-pump, he looked over to Wisteria and his expression soured a tad.

"Well, you just lost, so I think you're going to *Have to* Accept that. As for how... Like I said, I may be well-mannered and all, but I'm a very good trainer with strong Pokemon, as you just saw. I suggest you keep that in mind whenever you meet someone here; you shouldn't just a book by its cover. Speaking of people and meetings [he crossed his arms with just a tad of smugness and a hint of a smile on his face] we had a deal... Though honestly, I don't care that much whether or not you uphold your end of things."
Lolita
"Tch fine..." *Wisteria got up and sighed heavily. She pocketed her ultraball and went over to pick up her Scizor's assault vest. Wisteria looked over at Adam "A deal's a deal, I don't back out on my deals. I guess you won fair and square but you won't be so lucky next time" The woman now much calmer with saddened eyes re did her bun and slipped on her jacket. Wisteria walked past the professor and waved and spoke to him as she walked off. "Uh Thanks for being the referee back there" It wasn't much but it was something.

"I'm taking my leave now, I got someone to find and places to be" Wisteria kept on walking without looking back, once she was out of sight and earshot she clentched her bag and small tears began to form "All that training... For nothing, Cosmos must of had a better day than me. He doesn't even have to talk to people since they're scared of him... How does he do it... " Wisteria shook her bead and wiped her tears away. 'Next time I'm going to beat that guy down so hard, he won't know what hit him'. The raven haired female continued down a trail edventually leaving the area in a matter of minutes.
Eric
Zephraxe stood up and nodded at Wisteria. "No problem, it was a pleasure to referee." He gave her a small smile, but he wasn't sure she caught it as she left. He could sense she felt defeated, but knew it would be better to let her go off on her own, so he didn't pursue. 

He turned to Adam and walked over to him, smiling at the Dragonite. "That was quite the battle, wasn't it?" He held a hand out to the dragon, gently showing that he wanted to pet it, though waited to get its approval. "And that Z-move... That was something else." He continued.

He watched her go, slowly sighing and letting the rush from the fight wear off, as he sort of just slumped down. He was rather tired, and he hadn't done anything like that in a little while, so he definetly needed to get re-accustomed to it all again. Speaking of being tired out, he fixed his jacket, turning his ring so that the watch was facing upwards and the Z-Ring portion was concealed, as he removed the Icium Z and placed it in his jacket pocket. Finally, he turned to Zeph, as Dragonite bent down just a little, allowing the other trainer to give it headpats and other such affection.

"Yes, I haven't done something like that in quite some time... Outside of Alola, it seems to have increased fatigue which makes some sense, but is rather unfortunate... It seems rather unfair, honestly, that Z-Moves and Dynamax are hindered, while Mega Evolutions are free to go at full power. But, I digress. Did you enjoy watching the battle? I think it was rather fun and helped me get back into the feeling of things."

Zephraxe smiled a bit more and gently pet the Dragonite's head. It's scales were smooth and warm to the touch, despite being a dragon. "It was a good match." He said, glancing at Adam. "I wasn't entirely sure if you would win, but you did get a bit of a lead early on. That Z-move might have made the difference that got you a solid lead." He turned back to Dragonite and gently scratched it under its chin. "I would use that sparingly, by the way. Because you don't have access to any Z-Energy here beyond your crystal, it's drawing on your own life force. That can become dangerous." He warned. Zephraxe hardly wanted to lecture the man, but he also didn't want to see him hurt himself unintentionally.

"I thought I had a good chance; I've fought more esteemed trainers and sometimes come out on top. Even if it's been a little while, me and my team are still in good form." As he spoke, Gloriosa came out of its ball like he usually did, and Adam leaned down quickly to scratch its neck and run a hand through its mane. "I know about the danger Z-Moves can have, but that was something I did for Hawthorn. I wouldn't say I regret it, but I'll try not to do it as often, if that makes you feel better."

Zephraxe regarded Adam calmly for a moment before crossing his arms. "I guess what I'm saying... Just try not to overdo it." He shrugged slightly. "It's like trying to Mega Evolve too often." Zephraxe turned his attention to the Pyroar for a moment and paused. "Anyway... Think of it as advice from an expert. I research this stuff for a living." He smiled a little. "Do you need a teleport back to the mansion? ... Or the Pokémon Center, for that matter?" He asked, changing his mind when it occurred to him that Adam's team needs healing.